Album Archetypes?

[mcatzilut.livejournal.com]

(On recommendation of Frank+Dave, I'm starting a post here for the first time. No crucifixion, plz!)

So I noticed, while switching this week between my new favorite albums of the month (Dolly's Backwoods Barbie, Vampire Weekend's Absurd Indie Debut, and Laura Marling's Alas I Cannot Swim) that I keep returning to similar sounding albums each year. Not only that, but to a specified, almost dogmatic number of them. Two years ago I really dug Beth Orton's Comfort of Strangers, last year I was really into Paula Cole's new album. Now I've got Laura Marling - another dark-sounding folky record. Every year there's at least one country album that really speaks to me, and at least one indie album that gets played a bunch.

Now some of them serve social purposes. There's the album that I listen to while on the subway (2006: Lily Allen's Alright Still. 2007: Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High. At the moment: Vampire Weekend). There's the defining summer album, the album I like to listen to when it rains outside, the album I hear in every club and @ every party I attend.

So, how about you guys? What kind of album archetypes do you come across year after year? Have you ever found yourself thinking that the album you're currently listening to sounds a lot like a certain album from last year? And the year before? Do you think that this is due to lazy listening? (These albums serve somewhat as a 'free lunch' to use a Koganism.) Or is it that you relate to something in each of these archetypes that attracts you to new examples of them. (For me, probably every folk album goes back to listening to my mother's copy of Joni Mitchell's Hits.)

Comments

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Every folk album of mine goes back to my dad's Leonard Cohen mixtapes.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i don't do this at all i don't think!

but i don't really listen by "LPs-worths", i listen by moments and fragments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

(Good post! More please!)

I think my answer to this would be slightly skewed, as the majority of albums I consume are dance compilations - last year the album I listened to most was probably Ellen Allien's Fabric mix, and the year before it was probably Tiefschwarz's Fabric mix (or Sci.fi.hi.fi vol 2), and the year before that, Kompakt Total 6. Almost certainly lazy listening choices on my part, but in my defence this pattern's only been going for those three years (before then I couldn't really afford to buy albums). HOWEVER in the sphere of techno all those mixes I've mentioned are pretty different: the Luciano is all blippy poc-poc-poc, the Ellen is squelchy techno with loads of vocals, Tiefschwarz is buzzy electrohouse, Total 6 is woozy fluffy microgoth. Those differences have kept me interested, I think - compare them to Sci.fi.hi.fi vol 3 and Kompakt Totals 7 and 8, which I haven't played a 1/4 as much despite them not really straying from the formula.

I will have to have a think about whether this applies to my pop album listening as well!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I do consume music in "LP-worths" but I don't repeat-listen to very much at all.* I'm always on to the next thing (or am resurrecting things that I've not played in such a long time I've largely forgotten how I feel about them). So when what you're describing applies, it tends to be accidental or at best subconscious. And if the outcome is that new record X conforms to an archetype that is just as likely to put it in a poor light rather than a good one. (I am a LOT more tolerant of specific artists I like repeating themselves however.)

*I do find it fascinating that other people 'cane' songs or records over a short time period, but it's not for me.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I know Dave Bedbugs talks about his yearly dozing-off-techno record!

My album consumption is very odd - for the last several years I've not been consuming in that way at all, and then recently, because of writing more reviews &c and having more access to new albums, I've listened more again, but in quite a skewed way.

I dunno if it's quite an archetype but if a good album turns up around springtime I'm always happy: a lot of my favourite records, I'd guess(without being able to think of any bar Daft Punk's Discovery), are released in March or April. My birthday is in March so when I was a teenager it coincided with an influx of cash to spend on records, and generally I like the weather at that time of year and it brings on a feeling of optimism.

(Ah, I've remembered more examples! The Divine Comedy's Promenade, a record I rate despite barely being able to tolerate the idea of him, was a birthday purchase. A Guy Called Gerald's Black Secret Technology and the Virgin Routes From The Jungle comp were spring buys too - and my favourite style of D'n'B is that thick, lively, bustle-in-your-hedgerow type)

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

This year it's the DIAL RECS SEQUEL by Efdemin, his s/t record. Had it by like the third week of January! There's a song with a great sample that I wish was a better song (sample being: "His head disappeared...then reappeared," ad infinitum = grebt), forget what it's called. h/t Todd. Will prob respond to this later, just saw it.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

PS - the Dolly album is really great, so far my album of the year. I think one of her tracks might make an appearance on the podcast in a bit.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Interesting question. I think I'll have to give it further thought to do it justice, but ideas which spring to mind immediately are;

- I have always acquired music in bursts, which is contrary to my usual inclinations (get album, listen to it over and over til peak of enthusiasm has waned), but was always down to lack of cash ie I want x, can't afford it, will compensate by buying a stack of things from 2nd hand record shop when I can afford it. I also can't listen to music at work/during day much. As a result, I get miniature obsessions but have some amazing albums I've still only listened to once. I think I do have a tendency to fixate on artists rather than musical themes, but it's certainly true that there are many recurrences of particular preferred themes - the dreaded pot-punk guitar comes up a lot. At present, a big recurring theme is cabaret/chanson-influenced goth & indie stuff, which is probably an offshoot of my Marc Almond obsession.

- 80s and 80s-influenced pop love is prob influenced by the fact that the first time I *ever* watched TOTP, Duran Duran were on with the 'Wild Boys' video, and it blew my little 8 year-old mind, maybe because it was the first bit of pop music I'd picked out fornmyself, instead of hearing it through my parents.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I tend to have specific albums for walking: there was a summer when I walked about a mile each way to work in Boston that I could only listen to one of two albums (actually three or four now that I think about it, but usually before or after one of the others). So it's actually difficult for new music to become my walking soundtrack -- there needs to be a major element of familiarity to it. I like listening to dance and pop stuff on the subway, and this Yeasayer album has been good for reading, interesting-enough arrangements but hides itself in the background a bit...unlike, say, Battles, which was the kind of album I could only listen to while sitting at a computer ready to write something about it. This is what I call "Albums to Blog By," not nec. blog-faves, though tend to be, that are a weird combo of grating and ingratiating, making them impossible to fit into your day.

I can fit plenty of obtrusive music into my day, though. But Albums for Blogging demand a certain kind of attention; they're needy, they want you to know that they're this or that (complex, fragile, insert adjective). It's a bit like the Koganian "sore thumb," except an interesting feature of A for B is that they also tend to pretend to be backgroundable. Like, you could soundtrack your day to this and ignore it, but in practice you don't. (And this is probably totally different for different people, of course.)

MOST albums I listen to actually fall into this category -- I just can't find much use for them except sitting there, listening, thinking, and then either writing something or turning it off, usually never to listen again.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Going down last year's top 10:

M.I.A. - album to barbecue by
Britney - album to everything by
Miranda Lambert - album to wake up to
Hyphy Hitz - album to imitate
Gogol Bordello - album to drive by
Ashley Monroe - album to drink coffee on Sunday morning by
Hilary Duff - album to get frustrated with but keep listening to
Kelly Clarkson - album to walk by for two or three days at a time then have to put away for a while
Tegan and Sara - Album for Blogging
Aly and AJ - still don't know what exactly to do with this one. It's actually kind of an Album for Blogging for me.