What are you listening to?

[Josephus]

Yes - Yes (1969)

All the elements of Yes are already in place in their debut; wild mix of influences, lengthy solos, three part harmony and Jon Anderson's odd worldview.  The album suffers from some bad mixes; their recording team were mostly inexperienced and didn't know what to make of Yes.  There's a few standout tracks on this; "Survival" is the best.  They cover The Byrds' "I See You" and The Beatles "Every Little Thing"; both are excellent reinterpretation, "Every Little Thing" is well worth the listen.

[Josephus]

King Crimson-Three of a Perfect Pair (1984).
Continuing with my Crims run through.  This is the third and last of the early 80s Fripp, Belew, Bruford, Levin lineup. IMO while this also doesn't hold up to the first in this series, it is better than the previous, Beat. While Side One (left side) is mostly shorter, more commercial tunes, Side Two (right side) is more expressive, free form stuff which this Crimson period primarily lacked. There is a heavy industrial sound to a lot of Side Two which is unique. The album ends with a throw back to Larks Tongues and the song LTIA Part Three, which is similar in structure to Part Two but again, very industrial and 80s sounding.
This album also holds a special place in my collection as it's the first "new" Crimson I picked after I discovered them a couple years earlier.

[The Minsky Moment]

My 2021 according to spotify:

Shirley Scott, David Murray, Emily Remler, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Bokani Dyer, Miles Davis, Eddie Palmieri, Paul Desmond, Horace Silver, Ahmad Jamal, James Brown, Chick Corea, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Tito Puente, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Guillaume de Machaut, JS Bach, Wayne Shorter, A Tribe Called Quest, Teddy Wilson, Henry Purcell, Charlie Christian

At least I got the ethnic diversity covered.

[garbon]

One of my top genres: Lilith

[Syt]

It says my most listened to song is Morded's Song by Blind Guardian (7 times). That may be, but I feel there are others I listened to more often than that. I apparently listened to Spotify for 500 hours this year ... which seems about right. Top genres: Power Metal, Death Metal, Soundtrack, Synthwave, Black Metal. That .... seems right. 75 genres total.

[The Minsky Moment]

My top genre was Baroque. 
Probably because my classical listening is heavily focused in that era whereas the jazz stuff is split among a bunch of subgenres.

[garbon]

They do love a subgenre.

[garbon]

Spotify has their yearly summary bit out and my top categories were:

Pop
Dance Pop
Post-teen Pop
R&B
Pop Rap

It is that time a year again where Spotify reveals your top genres and top artists.

I guess this represents an evolution in my tastes?

Pop
Dance Pop
Rock
Rap
Indie Pop

2020 and 2021 diverged.

Dance Pop
Art Pop
Neo Soul
Lilith
Soul

[Syt]

WHat I find funny is I listened to the Final Fantasy XIV soundtrack for one or two workdays, and now that composer is up in my year end rankings.

[garbon]

WHat I find funny is I listened to the Final Fantasy XIV soundtrack for one or two workdays, and now that composer is up in my year end rankings.

Damn you must have been bingeing that.

[Syt]

 

[Syt]

Eskimo Callboy have released a new video and it returns to the 80s stylings of their Hypa Hypa clip: https://youtu.be/OnzkhQsmSag

I don't think it's quite as catchy as some of their other recent songs (Hypa Hypa, We got the moves, Love/Hate), but I did get somewhat extracted by the visuals. 

[Syt]

Unleash The Archers' cover of Northwest Passage still gives me chills: https://youtu.be/XRD3vrSLPaw

The Stan Rogers original: https://youtu.be/TVY8LoM47xI

[Savonarola]

Handel's Messiah (London Philharmonic Orchestra)

I'm not sure of the year of this; but I think it was older since the sopranos in the choir kept over-driving the microphones.  There's usually two approaches to The Messiah; my preferred way is the understated performance best exemplified by Christopher Hogwood's 1980 recording with the Academy of Ancient Music and done with a small orchestra on period instruments.  This version goes the other way with a full orchestra and large choir.  This works well in the final act when all the music is performed in major keys and meant to sound triumphant; but in the first two acts it sounds over the top for the material. 

[garbon]

SZA - I Hate U