26 Years, 26 Records — Part 1

Amin
Amin
Sep 7, 2018 · 5 min read

As I reached the 26th year mark of my life, I thought a brief sharing of 26 of my favourite records will be quite fun. Why not eh ? if you’re a music fan and find any of the record’s description interesting, it might be the start of your musical exploration.

Without further a do:

  1. Abbey Road — The Beatles

Quite obvious this one will be on the list. This record really feels that they’ve come full circle from the early pop, doo-wop influenced to more experimental years later on. It has it all, from catchy sing along in Maxwell Silver Hammer, Here’s Come the Sun to beautiful Something to more vocal harmonies, experimental stuff in Because and the medley at the end. All time classic.

2. Black Sands — Bonobo

I like the fact that the record albeit fell into electronic, trip hop ambient category, it has an organic feeling to it. Bonobo approach in getting sounds from instruments like upright bass, classical guitars, vibraphone and harp does contributed to the ‘oriental’ vibe of the record. Guest singer on this record, Andreya Trianna, did a pretty good job too.

3. IV — BadBadNotGood

Few people recommended the record before I actually give it a proper listen. I’m looking for a modern, jazz-fusion record for quite a while and happy to finally listened to this. I like the vibe throughout, from instrumentals, interludes and guest artists that sing on multiple tracks. Track like In Your Eyes and Time Moves Slowly probably the standouts but overall a very good record.

4. Commemorate ! — Dirgahayu

First Malaysian post rock band that I’m aware of, stumbled on their live performance for The Weeknd. They played very well and the tracks sounded really good, so I seek out to listen to the full record. You can’t really tell the difference between the recording and live performance, which indicates their musicianship. The track Istinggar probably my favourite, especially during the intro.

5. Efek Rumah Kaca — Efek Rumah Kaca

Indonesian indie band, which I wish I found about them sooner. I like their approach to songwriting or music in general. From writing songs about social and political comments, profound lyrics, interesting guitar parts and melodies, they deserved the attention they’ve got, I think. One of my favourite artist in recent years, go and listen to the record if you can.

6. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antenna to Heaven — Godspeed You ! Black Emperor

It’s quite a commitment listening to this one, as a track usually clocked around 20 minutes but the experience was worthwhile. All post rock instrumental tracks in this were brilliantly arranged to provide you with a listening journey with the twists and turns. If you got time at your disposal and fancy an ambient soundtrack, this record will sort you out.

7. Jake Bugg — Jake Bugg

In the time where a solo artist writing their own songs (and a good one) was a rarity, it’s quite pleasing to stumble upon this debut record. I like the simple approach — a guy with an acoustic guitars having a go at songwriting and taking the country, folk fingerpicking or Dylan-esque strumming styles into the process. Good collection of tunes.

8. A Love Supreme — John Coltrane

One of the all time jazz classic, this record intentionally has a spiritual and religious vibe to it. All instruments were beautifully played and arranged throughout. This record fills the room when played, nothing less than I expected from a jazz record.

9. My Goal’s Beyond — John McLaughlin

First acoustic record by the guitar’s juggernaut, John McLaughlin. One of the early records which showed his direction to jazz fusion, he made it more interesting by playing with the Mahavishnu orchestra — contributing to the Indian music influence to the record. Beautifully performed, as expected from him, this record provide the fundamental feels to the jazz fusion by the acoustic performance.

10. Kosong (EP) — Laila’s Lounge

I like their simple, melody based songwriting but still experimented with layers of instruments (keyboard etc). Vocalist, Hadi Jaafar is a good lyricist, which lyrics covers from the daily life overview to social comments which sometimes sounded quite rebellious at that time. Its good to see creative and honest artist to ‘infiltrate’ mainstream market with art that meant something to people.

11. The Age of the Understatement — Last Shadow Puppets

I’ve always liked the spaghetti western, surf music in the 50s/60s hence when a songwriting duo, Alex Turner & Miles Kane decided to look at Ennio Morricone’s film scores, Everly Brothers or David Axelrod for inspirations, it can’t go wrong. They managed to pull of the trick of writing tracks with good melodies and poetic lyrics very well with this one. Orchestral strings arrangement by Owen Pallet also helps.

12. Les Revenants (Soundtrack) — Mogwai

One of my favourite soundtrack, Mogwai opted against composing tracks with horror, eerie feelings but a more simplistic but still has the unsettling vibe throughout. As simple as it is, it doesn’t deter Mogwai from experimenting with textures and layers of sounds that they’ve been known for.

13. The Resistance — Muse

A symphonic Muse record, moving away from the usual alternative, space rock vibe sound. Matt Bellamy mentioned his admiration towards instrumental music, especially piano symphonies with people like Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Mozart largely in the mix. Piano intros and orchestral arrangements dominated the record with lyrics overtly political as book titled 1984 by George Orwell quoted to be one of the main source of inspirations.

Amin

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Amin

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