Albums and playlists I am currently listening to

Today I hit the record store to see if it had copies of the new Janelle Monae album Dirty Computer, and they did. I also bought Birds of Chicago's Love in Wartime album too. If it wasn't for either the VNV Nation show tomorrow night or my doctor's appointment on Thursday, I would have totally took PTO off on Friday to go see BoC at the Dakota on Thursday night. UGH! Oh well, I bought their new album today and very much glad I did. It sounds better on my portable stereo than streaming on my tablet or laptop. Same with Dirty Computer.

Sometimes I need a break from listening to all the postpunk, darkwave, industrial, and synthpop, it can be redundant at times, and I need something different to listen to. I have been listening to a lot of Birds of Chicago in the past month or two after I found them on Spotify. The music is definitely needed in these dark times with that orange dictator in the White House. I find the husband and wife duo's brand of Americana quite comforting. Their latest album Love in Wartime which was released earlier this year. It is more subdued than their previous albums but I don't mind. It is good to chill for a moment during the day especially considering what I listen to on a daily basis at work.

Dirty Computer was an unexpected surprise to me. I only started listening to it because it is rumored she is dating actress Tessa Thompson. I checked out a couple of songs from the album on YouTube, and then listened to the entire album on Spotify earlier this week. I absolutely loved the album and have been listening to it every day. Today I went over to the Electric Fetus and bought a copy of the album (along with the Birds of Chicago album). I find Dirty Computer to be a far more compelling electropop album than Robyn's Honey. I like Honey but I find it lacking the oomph that Dirty Computer possesses and to me repetitive, and the material is far more compelling to listen to.

Noire  has grown on me considerably in the past few weeks however I still don't think it is Ronan's best album to date. It is quite good but personally I will take the last 4 VNV Nation releases over this album.

This week I listened to quite a bit of hip hop music for my Hip Hop playlist I created earlier this week. The genre is definitely a hit or miss with me. I completely forgot how good Dessa's first album A Badly Broken Code is. On the downside, I fail to see the appeal of the music of Prof. His lyrics are juvenile to put it kindly but it isn't as bad as 6ix9ine's music who released a new album Dummy Boy which is absolute garbage. That said, I do like the sounds of Brother Ali, Angel Haze, Psalm One, Dessa, Astronautalis,  P.O.S, and Maria Isa.

Now that 2018 is inching closer to the end, I have to now think of my best of 2018 list and what albums will be included on my list which means I have to re-listen to some albums that have been neglected from the onslaught of new music that has flooded my ears. Lost Souls by Loreena McKennitt and Lightflare by Psy'Aviah are two of the albums that have been pushed aside this year. I enjoyed Lost Souls but I don't think that album is on the same level as say The Mask and the Mirror or Book of Secrets. It is a good album but not one of my favorites from Loreena McKennitt. As for Lightflare, that is a great album which has been neglected for a good chunk of 2018. If you haven't heard it, go listen to it. I am sure I will find a place for it on my end of the year best of  list. 


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