10 albums that probably changed me

perhaps changed the way i see the world, the way i see music, changed my listening habits, made me think differently about an issue, or just affected me lots in an emotional way.
big blog to make up for lack of recent posts.
I have lots of songs that i would say have changed me, but this is a list of full albums, that i listen/ed to from start to end, followed by a short paragraph about why, and the context of life when it first hit me.

1 Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
2 The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show
3 Outkast - Aquemini
4 Anathallo - Floating World
5 Cursive - The Ugly Organ
6 Ratatat - Ratatat
7 The Prodigy - Experience
8 Brand New - Deja Entendu
9 Bomb The Music Industry! - Album Minus Band
10 Sigur Ros - Untitled



Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
This album fell into my position in year 10 when I started my drama gcse. The scratched cd was hidden under a bunch of others, out of their cases, and we needed some music to go with a bit of physical theatre we came up with. I only played the start of the first 2 songs, and track 3 sounded good, so we used it. While practicing our piece it played for longer and i heard bits of other tracks, and I really really liked all these snippets i'd heard. I took it home with me, hoping the teacher didn't notice one of his cds was gone. I listened to every track and some made me really happy, others really sad. But this cd is one which i think is close to my heart. It was written by Mark Everett because all of a sudden his family and friends started dying, and he didn't know what to do. The album is seriously depressing, but I listened to it at just the right time in my life. I think it made me appreciate things more, and feel more positive about what I have.
Look at this

The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show
In my early teens I found a young man called Alex, he was a photographer (this is way before 'photography' was 'cool' n stuff) and he was into some good music - ie pretty much exactly what i listened to, so I asked him to send me some albums which i didn't have. This was one of them. It hadn't been out long, and I didn't think much of it at the time, I mean, it was good but it seemed like straight pop-punk. Years later, I listen to a track and it catches my attention once more. I am preoccupied by doing something else, like work, so the following tracks play until the album ends and a different band starts playing, which really ruins the mood Guilt Show set. I immediately set play to the first track on the album, and get preoccupied with work again. I end up listening to the album on repeat and realise that each song blends into the next and each has such a mixture of sounds and moods, is amazing. It's made me so happy and positive, knowing the songs, the words and being able to sing and shout along in the car... a great feeling, It's perfect for summer.

Outkast - Aquemini
Again, this album was a late bloomer. I only really got into it in about late 2007. When I first listened to Aquemini, it was a bit after Stankonia had come out. I was in year 9 or 10, and a guy lent me Stankonia too, I was much more into that. Aquemini seemed nowhere near as catchy or poppy or easy to 'get'... But over time, it started getting played more and more. Particular tracks and riffs roped me in bit by bit - the horns in Spottieottiedopaliscious, the vocal harmonies in Liberation, the hoe-down feel of Rosa Parks... it all is really honest and real hip-hop. It's not at all what hip-hop seems like. Sure, this album IS hip-hop, but behind that surface it's actually more like spoken word, poems with undercurrents of funk, soul, jazz, blues, pop, a bit of everything. And it all feels so real and raw. There is some brilliant music, and (even though I don't pay attention to the lyrics until i've heard to music a million times) the words and raps are equally brilliant. Everyone knows it, don't just take my word for it. Q magazine gave it 5 stars. Rolling Stone gave it 5 stars. Source gave it 5 stars. Entertainment Weekly gave it an 'A'. Rap Reviews gave it 10/10. Spin gave it 10/10...
I wouldn't believe them on first listen, but now I totally 'get' this album. It is near perfect.

Anathallo - Floating World
I went to see Manchester Orchestra for the 2nd or 3rd time, in London, in late 2007 or early 2008 (i don't remember!). Supporting were Anathallo - I was drawn to them, their d-i-y feel, lots of people playing lots of different instruments, interpretive dancing, Chris from MO running on and 'acting' in time with the music. But the music... seriously amazing. No recordings can compare to their live performances. If you ever have the opportunity to see Anathallo.... PLEASE go. You will miss the best gig of your life. A couple of weeks later they were playing up the road, in a pub. I HAD to go. I tried to get a photopass/guestlist. I got it. Supporting were (in order of appearance) This Town Needs Guns (see my review from a few blogs back), Surrounded (Scandinavian Visual band with projectors and walls of sound), and Indigo Moss (uk bluesy folky quirky male/female duo fronted band). They all rocked beyond belief. But what rocked even more is that before the gig I spent my afternoon going round london with Matt Joynt (singer from anathallo) going to coffee shops, reading newspapers, chatting about the stories and UK music, and hanasakajijii, and why the songs are like what they are, and the evolution of his band... so much stuff... he really was a great and interesting guy! I was amazed to meet him, and I was really happy and positive, but it felt like he was amazed to meet me! That's the level of coolness. This band have really made a big impression on me. Their music is indescribable, and that week where i first heard of, saw, took photos for, and met Anathallo, turned my musical world into something else completely.

Cursive - The Ugly Organ
In 2005 it must have been, I got sent a song called The Night I Lost The Will To Fight. It was pretty cool. I put it in to my music collection. Some days later I asked to have another song by the same band, and was sent The Recluse. This was even better, so I decided to find the rest of the album. One by one, the songs were limewired and each one was darker, creepier and more intense. It wasn't that easy, limewiring all the songs... it took me a while to find each one, but by then the ones i had were played many many times through. Each day I could find a new one, I'd be more excited about getting it. The album got pieced together and the outcome was a painting of suffering and... ugliness really. But at the same time intricacy and sheer beauty. (Speaking in Disney terms,) If Anathallo is Pocahontas, Cursive is Quasimodo - the album is largely gritty and distorted, angry and angsty. It opened my ears to a whole new sound, a new way of making music be ugly and beautiful. It changed the way I felt about the world for a long time, I was addicted to this album!

Ratatat - Ratatat
I was 15 or 16, in my last year of secondary, and I was chatting with a guy from the year above, who had just gone to 6th form, on msn. We started chatting about anime, and music... just nerdy stuff we had in common, and he recommended Ratatat. He said they were sort of like Daft Punk. Now, at the time I wasn't really that keen on Daft Punk, so I decided not to check them out. A little while passed and i thought i'd illegally get a song or two, just for fun, whenever i thought i'd need an electro fix. Turns out Ratatat are the masters of melody and harmony. There is no possible way you can't want to dance listening to their songs. I then got their 2 albums that were out at the time, and found amazing remixes of rap and pop songs they'd done. A year or two later, and their third LP came out. I was so hooked on Ratatat I got it the day it was out. Incredibly catchy songs that I could (and have) put on repeat all day. And secretly danced around the room to.

The Prodigy - Experience
When I was 8 or 9, this was one of my first albums I bought with my own money for my new portable CD player. I've always loved Prodigy, since Mickey introduced me to them over headphones on the way to orchestra. So much energy and different moods and soundscapes... The remixes and songs were nothing like I'd heard on the radio. I had already got some Prodigy singles on cassette, and Mickey came over my house with all his Prodigy CD's and we made mixtapes of the best ones. Basically all I listened to on my cassette walkman was Prodigy. If it wasn't for them, the very first group I really really loved, I wouldn't be the person I am today, I am sure of it. They were my only music for a big part of my childhood!

Brand New - Deja Entendu
Soon after this album came out, I was shown the video to the lead single from it. The video was cool but not that cool, but the bassline was awesome. I checked out some other songs and they were all totally different, really poppy and upbeat. This was a musical turn-off, but I continued listening to the first song. Turns out the poppy songs were from their first album (which funnily enough I came to love, once i understood the context of it), and the songs in Deja are very varied and often had dark themes. Again, speaking to Alex (see Get Up Kids), he sent me their two albums. They took a few listens to get used to, but I started to realise I really appreciate Brand New. If their music, even though I didn't love it right away, was to go away somehow... there would be a big gap in my heart/brain. From the naive punky i'm-so-sad-boo-hoo days, to their dark, subtle no-really,-i'm-seriously-sad. days, all the way through to their third album, when it came out I'd seen them live once or twice, and been living with their songs (or maybe their songs had been living with me?) for all that time. The same thing happened, I didn't quite get it at first, it was another new direction, but I quickly grew to love it. All Brand New 'fans' are big Brand New fans, they realise their music has so much in it, emotionally and otherwise... and I regard myself as one of them. Bring on the summer gig!

Bomb the Music Industry! - Album Minus Band
A massively inspiring album, done totally D-I-Y on a laptop, and distributed online for free. It is amazing. The music itself is genius, and to think it's one guy working in such constraints, is amazing and commendable. I really really wish I could do something like this. I don't know how I first found BTMI, but when I did, a whole new way of making and thinking about music opened up. I applied a new set of values to what I could do with my music, thanks to this album. I could never write anything so amazing, but I can at least try, and its easy to give stuff away for free, so... my Album Minus Band is possible, someday, I think...

Sigur Ros - ( )
The first hard copy Sigur Ros album I bought. Before I went to Canada in summer 2005 I had a few songs which I listened to a tiny bit, and liked the sounds, but didn't really 'get' them. In Canada I was introduced to more by my friends dad, who gave me about 10GBs of music in mix CDs. It was a great band to chill out to, as soon as I got back I bought ( ) and listened to it from start to finish. In first listen I had nearly been reduced to tears, been really elated, and been really angry. The music was doing all of this to my mood, like a movie would with visuals and sound and words, but all of this was just... noises. Such amazing power. I find it hard to listen to this album on shuffle, it can only be in order, it's like a journey. The band released Takk... a little while later, which I nearly bought the day it was out, but instead waited patiently to get as a birthday present. I loved Takk too, but there was my natural disposition to not-want-poppyness that somehow made me want to stop and listen to ( ). It's a special album to me, and i'm sure it's special to everyone else that sits down and listens to it, from track 1 to track 8.

I realise this is probably really uninteresting for you, apart from perhaps the choices themselves.
I could talk lots about other bands and particular songs that have changed me, but this will do for now
End.
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