TDDS - 2020 Shelter-in-Place on a Desert Island Music Draft - BONUS 5

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Going to spend a couple of picks in the hip-hop section:

MF Doom - Mm.. Food (2004)


This is about as "underground" as I get, in this or any other genre. I love this album, not only because of the way that Doom blends food metaphors throughout every song on the record, but also because of how he loves to intersperse clips from the 1960's Fantastic Four cartoon. I've listened to several of Doom's solo albums, as well as albums he's done in collaboration with other DJ's/producers, and I've always enjoyed how he leans into the Doctor Doom-adjacent alter ego. This is a great album to have on in the background, while I'm grinding XP against barbarians on Civ4. As an independent release, Mm.. Food had no presence on the charts, but did peak at #17 on the Billboard Independent Albums list, and received an aggregate score of 81/100 on Metacritic.

As someone who's screen name is an anagram of his real name, I'm also a fan of how Mm.. Food is an anagram of MF Doom.


Track Listing (no links provided, due to NSFW. Songs released as singles in bold):

1. "Beef Rapp"
2. "Hoe Cakes"
3. "Potholderz" (featuring Count Bass D)
4. "One Beer"
5. "Deep Fried Frenz"
6. "Poo-Putt Platter"
7. "Fillet-O-Rapper"
8. "Gumbo"
9. "Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate"
10. "Kon Karne"
11. "Guinnesses" (featuring Angelika and 4ize)
12. "Kon Queso"
13. "Rapp Snitch Knishes" (featuring Mr. Fantastik)
14. "Vomitspit"
15. "Kookies"

Favorite non-singles:

• "Beef Rapp"
• "Potholderz"
• "Deep Fried Frenz"
• "Kon Karne"
• "Kon Queso"
• "Rapp Snitch Knishes"

Source: Wikipedia

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

So... am I the only one who already has the write-ups for all their picks finished, and is just waiting for the rest of y'all?

 

[Spike]

Pretty much.

 

[hrdboild]

So... am I the only one who already has the write-ups for all their picks finished, and is just waiting for the rest of y'all?

I've been doing that too for most of these. The trouble with that is the longer I look at something the more I second guess myself so I started hypothetically swapping in other albums and deciding what I could give up. I'm set for the rest of the draft though unless I change my mind again.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

MF Doom - Mm.. Food (2004)

There were 5 picks this round where the album title was an exact anagram of the band name, but yours is the only one that is interesting.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I've been doing that too for most of these. The trouble with that is the longer I look at something the more I second guess myself so I started hypothetically swapping in other albums and deciding what I could give up. I'm set for the rest of the draft though unless I change my mind again.

See, this is where the "G³ rule" has actually been liberating for me, in a way. Quiet as it's kept, I'm not that big a music fan so, if I'm challenging myself to pick twenty albums that I'd be willing to be stranded with, without selecting any of the thirty-eight that I've selected in previous drafts, well... Let's just say that doesn't leave me with enough choices to be second-guessing myself.

In fact, I went ahead and did the write-ups for all of the rest of my picks, as soon as I got Tragic Kingdom, because I felt that confident that there was no chance that anybody was going to get any of the rest of mine. I even did three "backup" write-ups, in the event of the <1% chance that I was wrong.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

For my 17th pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album Draft I select:

Dulcinea - Toad the Wet Sprocket (1994)

Track Listing:
1 Fly From Heaven
2 Woodburning
3 Something's Always Wrong
4 Stupid
5 Crowing
6 (Listen)
7 Windmills
8 Nanci
9 Fall Down
10 Inside
11 Begin
12 Reincarnation Song

Dulcinea had two singles ("Fall Down" and "Something's Always Wrong"), but when I bought this album, I'm not sure I had actually heard either hit the radio yet. Rather, it had an interesting cover and the band was clearly named after an entry in the Monty Python "Rock Notes" sketch, and it was featured in a listening station (man, I miss those) at the record store so I stuck on the headphones and clicked quickly through the tracks. It sounded like it was about my speed, so I bought it. I was right. Eventually I ended up buying every one of their albums and for a while there I could claim them as my "favorite band". They're a pretty straight if sometimes on the mellow side "alternative" band but just seem to go a few levels deeper in the symbolism department. It takes a while to figure out that the almost-bluegrass twangs of "Nanci" are about a breakup - they're splitting up some albums by two redacted artists. The album actually has a somewhat unusual structure in that the last three songs take a real left turn into this slow and brooding death and reincarnation trilogy - not that it's of lower quality than the rest of the album, in fact "Begin" is one of my favorites - but it just throws you for a bit of a loop.

The album title is a reference to the Lady who is the love of Don Quixote, and perhaps my favorite song on the album is "Windmills", which has the obvious connotations.

 

[hrdboild]

See, this is where the "G³ rule" has actually been liberating for me, in a way. Quiet as it's kept, I'm not that big a music fan so, if I'm challenging myself to pick twenty albums that I'd be willing to be stranded with, without selecting any of the thirty-eight that I've selected in previous drafts, well... Let's just say that doesn't leave me with enough choices to be second-guessing myself.

In fact, I went ahead and did the write-ups for all of the rest of my picks, as soon as I got Tragic Kingdom, because I felt that confident that there was no chance that anybody was going to get any of the rest of mine. I even did three "backup" write-ups, in the event of the <1% chance that I was wrong.

The only rule I'm following is that I'm only picking albums I already own but because I haven't done this before, I'm trying to curate the best possible sampling of everything I listen to and that's pretty tricky! Every time I think of something I want in there I have to kick something else out. I can definitely see myself just picking a theme next time and making it easier on myself.

It's been interesting seeing what everyone else has chosen. It started out with all well-known albums that we all felt we needed to grab early but after around the 5th or 6th round things have gotten much more diverse and personalized. There's some huge albums still available but I like the idea that I might introduce somebody else to some music they wouldn't have found otherwise. And I think I'm enjoying reading about and listening to other people's picks more than posting my own at this point.

 

[rosa u podne]

With my 16th pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album draft I select:

Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits (1985)

Track Listing
1 So Far Away
2 Money for Nothing
3 Walk of Life
4 Your Latest Trick
5 Why Worry
6 Ride Across the River
7 The Man's Too Strong
8 One World
9 Brothers in Arms

When I was in my early teens, my dad mostly listened to what was even then considered "Classic Rock", but I remember that he would mention basically any time he listened to two comteporary album releases that they were basically "perfect" records. One of those albums I took in the last album draft, the other was this one. While "Money for Nothing" is the big hit and a great song that had a revolutionary video (for the time!), in a lot of ways it's not a great representative for the album or for the band as a whole. Dire Straits pretty much never sounded like "Money for Nothing" - it was a bit of a gimmick song. (It worked.) And while the two other hit singles on the album (both "So Far Away" and "Walk of Life" made the Billboard top 20 in the U.S.) are a bit more representative of the band, the strength of Brothers in Arms is that it is able to blend those hits together with the slower, more introspective style more commonly associated with Dire Straits on the back half of the record. It's tough to pick tracks to highlight, but without worrying myself too much over it, the soothing "Why Worry" and the war-criminal confessional "The Man's Too Strong" are the ones I'm going to go with.

Of course, for the direct link I'm going to pick my favorite song on the album, and that has to be the eponymous closer, in which a dying soldier addresses his comrades over a plaintive guitar. One of my friends also had this album on vinyl, and I think he eventually got tired of me repeatedly dropping the needle back to hear this track again as the record was ending every time he played it. Sorry, Jacob. (And luckily for me, I played the "more interesting visuals" of the single version of the track on YouTube before linking it, because it cuts off the hypnotic two-minute guitar outro for...reasons. This is for listening, not for watching!)

I have so many great memories related to that album! Ah, youth!

 

[Cojc]

Well I have always like and listened to this group but sometimes it’s hard to pick a best album but I do like this album and if I hadn’t boxed them all up and took them to a storage locker earlier in the week I would put it on.

From 1970 and For all you Dead heads out there or not here’s the Grateful Dead’s AMERICAN BEAUTY

That’s like 50 years ago and it’s hard to believe.



Box of rain

Friend of the devil

Sugar magnolia

Operator

Candyman

Ripple

Brokedown palace

Till the morning comes

Attics of my life

Truckin

And last but a great song

 

[hrdboild]

Well I have always like and listened to this group but sometimes it’s hard to pick a best album but I do like this album and if I hadn’t boxed them all up and took them to a storage locker earlier in the week I would put it on.

From 1970 and For all you Dead heads out there or not here’s the Grateful Dead’s AMERICAN BEAUTY

That’s like 50 years ago and it’s hard to believe.

View attachment 9794

Box of rain

Friend of the devil

Sugar magnolia

Operator

Candyman

Ripple

Brokedown palace

Till the morning comes

Attics of my life

Truckin

And last but a great song

I was just thinking that I might need to throw some Grateful Dead in here if no one else does it. You're right though that trying to find an album that summarizes the Dead experience is a challenge. Good choice!

 

[Turgenev]

Invasion Parade. Alfredo Rodriguez. 2014.



Cuban pianist. Contemporary Jazz. Good fun and come back to this album often.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The only rule I'm following is that I'm only picking albums I already own but because I haven't done this before, I'm trying to curate the best possible sampling of everything I listen to and that's pretty tricky! Every time I think of something I want in there I have to kick something else out. I can definitely see myself just picking a theme next time and making it easier on myself.

Hrmm... that would make things even more challenging for me, since I only own fourteen of the twenty albums on my draft board. For the other six, I can only paraphrase Heinlein, and say, thank god and Daniel Ek for Spotify.

 

[Cojc]

I have my last 3 picked out and my last one I think may be safe. The two in between Maybe snatched up but we will see?

 

[Warhawk]

Imagine Dragons - Night Visions (2012)



https://www.allmusic.com/album/night-visions-mw0002409529

I hadn't planned to go to this concert (G1C in 2017) but we got my son tickets as a gift. I'm glad we did. They put on a good show with all their hits. Everyone, young and (ahem) older, had a great time.

From allmusic:

Historically, there's a progression that bands usually follow before their sound goes full-on arena rock. Things will start small and gritty, and then as the fame and crowds build, the sound changes to match the massiveness of the venues. However, on their debut album, Imagine Dragons buck tradition and swing straight for the cheap seats, doing away with generations of sonic evolution in favor of the huge, arena-made sound of Night Visions. Dramatic and sweeping, the Las Vegas band works in the same vein as pop giants (redacted), offering up track after track of hooky and emotional midtempo jams. While a move like this might seem overly ambitious for a freshman band, Imagine Dragons are able to pull the sound off, with songs like the already ubiquitous, seemingly soundtrack-ready "It's Time" having no trouble worming their way into whatever part of the brain it is that likes to trap songs against listeners' will.

What this means is that even though Imagine Dragons might have skipped a few steps along the way to their arena sound, Night Visions is still an album that, at least for a few minutes at a time, will make everyday life seem just a little bit bigger.

From Wikipedia:

However, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling more than 83,000 copies within its first week where it has since been certified double Platinum. It also peaked at the summit of the Billboard Alternative Albums and Rock Albums charts, as well as in the top ten albums in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Night Visions appeared in the Billboard 200 top 10 in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The album became the fourth best-selling album of 2013 in the US. It was nominated for the Juno Award for International Album of the Year (2014) and won the Billboard Music Award for Top Rock Album (2014).

Both "Radioactive" and "Demons" spent more than 60 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, making Imagine Dragons the first artist to accomplish such a feat.

Track List:
1. Radioactive
2. Tiptoe
3. It's Time
4. Demons
5. On Top of the World
6. Amsterdam
7. Hear Me
8. Every Night
9. Bleeding Out
10. Underdog
11. Nothing Left to Say/Rocks

 

[Löwenherz]

For my next three picks, barring an unexpected and unlikely visit from Swipa the Fox to my draftboard, I'm planning to take albums that aren't going to blow anyone away critically, culturally, or ecumenically. They are neither paragons of their genres nor floating around many acclaimed "best of" lists. In fact, I would sheepishly describe them as "guilty pleasures" if I thought the term had any use beyond self-deprecation. Instead, I confidently say I've listened to these albums multiple times, and for whatever reason, they've resonated with me. I can always find a place for them in my rotation.

Power in Numbers - Jurassic 5 (2002)

By critical consensus, this isn't even J5's best album, but it's the one I take without hesitation. That's largely because I have a personal and slightly eccentrically insane connection to the hit single, What's Golden. We're talking, "Dr. Evil's father claimed to have invented the question mark" bonkers.

It's been famously and exhaustively documented in this thread and others that music was not an essential part of my life until the 2010s. I did however listen to the radio on long drives. About the time I started making regular 2 hour treks between SF State and my parent's house in Elk Grove, What's Golden was a regular on the alt-rock airwaves for some reason. Just a super chill party anthem that got my head bobbing. Fittingly, it always seemed to hit while I was midway across the Bay Bridge and the sun was hovering over the Golden Gate.

That memory was so impactful evidently, not long after when people would ask me how I was doing in general conversation, instead of saying I was good, fine, great, etc, I started telling them "I'm Golden" completely organically. I don't even remember consciously choosing to do that. I just started saying it as my shorthand for smooth sailing, getting a flash of my Golden Gate image, and it felt right.

Nearly 20 years later and now replacing "good" or "great" with "golden" is a thing I see in popular culture and private conversations not a lot, but a lot more frequently than never - which is where my awareness of the term was prior to 2002 and What's Golden. Maybe it's always been a thing and I'm just keenly cognizant of it now, but I'm half-convinced I came up with that slang because of What’s Golden and everyone stole it from me.

Wait a minute; where were we? Oh yea, Power in Numbers. Once I started exploring music post-2011, after my first wave of "Best Albums Ever" lists, I gravitated toward singles I remembered liking to see if their albums had anything to offer. Power in Numbers had that same jazzy, celebration of old-school "golden age" hip hop as What's Golden I didn't even know I was thirsting for.

There are accusations of J5 being hip hop-lite or warm-fuzzy feel-good rap, sanitized and safe for suburban consumption. But, that's kind of the point, although not in such indelicate terms. They grew out of a reaction and counter-point to the dominance of gangsta rap and the bling era at the time. What's Golden is entirely about a rejection of gangsta aesthetics and materialism in favor of the roots of hip hop. It isn't simply a party anthem with a catchy chorus - it's trying to make a point.

Whether that is particularly poignant, or even remotely effective, I don't know. I don't even know if taking this album locks me into the stereotype of the suburban kid grasping onto safe "soulless" hip hop.

All I know is that's the type of thinking that prevented me from exploring music in the first place. Other than that ...

... You guessed it ...

... I'm Golden.

Tracklist
1."This Is"
2."Freedom"
3."If You Only Knew"
4."Break"
5."React"
6."A Day at the Races"
7."Remember His Name"
8."What's Golden"
9."Thin Line"
10."After School Special"
11."High Fidelity"
12."Sum of Us"
13."DDT"
14."One of Them"
15."Hey"
16."I Am Somebody"
17."Acetate Prophets"

 

[VF21]

Gather Me - Melanie - 1971

Track list:
"Little Bit of Me"
"Some Day I'll Be a Farmer"
"Steppin'"
"Brand New Key"
"Ring Around the Moon"
"Ring the Living Bell"
"Railroad"
"Kansas"
"Some Say (I Got Devil)"
"Center of the Circle"
"What Wondrous Love" (Arranged and adapted by Melanie)
"Baby Day"
"Tell Me Why" (Michael Edwards, Richard Parish, Sigmund Spaeth)

Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (known professionally as Melanie) would be one of the few artists whose works define parts of my life so closely it's almost as though she and I walked our paths together. My daughter is named after her...something I don't think my mother ever quite accepted. I loved my mother deeply but she had a very old-fashioned name that just didn't resonate and would have, I knew, been problematic for my little girl growing up. So I went with "Melanie" and hoped Mom would forgive me (which she eventually did. )

There are other songs that brought Melanie's works more to the forefront ("Brand New Key" is one of them) but the ones I have picked to showcase all have a deep personal meaning to me. I knew in my heart this album would most likely be safe, but at this point I just couldn't wait any longer.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I love Brand New Key, but I guess that's all I knew of her.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Gather Me - Melanie - 1971


Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (known professionally as Melanie) would be one of the few artists whose works define parts of my life so closely it's almost as though she and I walked our paths together. My daughter is named after her...something I don't think my mother ever quite accepted. I loved my mother deeply but she had a very old-fashioned name that just didn't resonate and would have, I knew, been problematic for my little girl growing up. So I went with "Melanie" and hoped Mom would forgive me (which she eventually did. )

You've told this story before, I think. 'Tis a good story. I feel like the part about your mom expecting you to name KG4 after her is a new addition.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Well, I've just completed a full re-listen of the albums on my draft board, time to fire up Spotify and see what the rest of you guys are hitting on. Might as well try to figure out who I'm going to vote for, and I might as well jump straight into the deep end, and start with @whitechocolate's list.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Update: "Frownland" sounds like a bunch of musical instruments being violently murdered. I don't know what I was expecting from an album with a man wearing a fish head on the jacket, but it wasn't that.

 

[whitechocolate]

Well, I've just completed a full re-listen of the albums on my draft board, time to fire up Spotify and see what the rest of you guys are hitting on. Might as well try to figure out who I'm going to vote for, and I might as well jump straight into the deep end, and start with @whitechocolate's list.

I hope you find something you enjoy. I promise there's some really good stuff there. But if you find yourself feeling like my list just isn't for you, I urge you to still listen to Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt. Its structure and melodies are fairly conventional, at least on side A, but it offers a unique beauty with well developed emotion.

Update: "Frownland" sounds like a bunch of musical instruments being violently murdered. I don't know what I was expecting from an album with a man wearing a fish head on the jacket, but it wasn't that.

One of the all time great openers to a record in my book.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Update #2: So, Spotify apparently doesn't have a full version of this album, so I am listening to a playlist of the album assembled by another Spotify listener. Currently listening to a live version of "Moonlight On Vermont," and I think that maybe the album is starting to settle in.

EDIT - Nope, just got to "Sweet Sweet Bulbs." Spoke too soon.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

If your favorite band (or say 3rd favorite) surprise dropped their first album in 35 years earlier this week do you pick it #20 without even getting a chance to fully digest it?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I wouldn't. I did that once, with my 19th pick's fifth album... I regretted it.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Update #3: Just finished "Trout Mask Replica" and, on second thought, I think I'm going to need to ease my way into @whitechocolate's playlist. Instead, I'm going to start at the top of the draft order, and work my way down. Man, you really undersold the nature of that album, in your write up.

Thought "Pachuco Cadaver" was okay and, as a sailor, I could appreciate the sea shanty-type nature of "Orange Claw Hammer." Had a hard time getting into the rest of it, though.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

On to Led Zeppelin IV: I've obviously heard of Led Zeppelin, but I'm not at all familiar with their body of work, so the first thing that I noticed about this album was that many of the song titles were used as episode titles for Season 5 of That '70s Show. Leggo.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I wouldn't. I did that once, with my 19th pick's fifth album... I regretted it.

When you were literally stranded on a desert island and couldn't listen to anything else?

I think given that I had decided early on to focus my final 3rd on albums released since the first time we did this, it becomes compelling. Especially since I am only certain of 3 other picks and I have 5 left. I have a few rounds before I have to worry about it.

 

[hrdboild]

For my next three picks, barring an unexpected and unlikely visit from Swipa the Fox to my draftboard, I'm planning to take albums that aren't going to blow anyone away critically, culturally, or ecumenically. They are neither paragons of their genres nor floating around many acclaimed "best of" lists. In fact, I would sheepishly describe them as "guilty pleasures" if I thought the term had any use beyond self-deprecation. Instead, I confidently say I've listened to these albums multiple times, and for whatever reason, they've resonated with me. I can always find a place for them in my rotation.

Power in Numbers - Jurassic 5 (2002)

By critical consensus, this isn't even J5's best album, but it's the one I take without hesitation. That's largely because I have a personal and slightly eccentrically insane connection to the hit single, What's Golden. We're talking, "Dr. Evil's father claimed to have invented the question mark" bonkers.

It's been famously and exhaustively documented in this thread and others that music was not an essential part of my life until the 2010s. I did however listen to the radio on long drives. About the time I started making regular 2 hour treks between SF State and my parent's house in Elk Grove, What's Golden was a regular on the alt-rock airwaves for some reason. Just a super chill party anthem that got my head bobbing. Fittingly, it always seemed to hit while I was midway across the Bay Bridge and the sun was hovering over the Golden Gate.

That memory was so impactful evidently, not long after when people would ask me how I was doing in general conversation, instead of saying I was good, fine, great, etc, I started telling them "I'm Golden" completely organically. I don't even remember consciously choosing to do that. I just started saying it as my shorthand for smooth sailing, getting a flash of my Golden Gate image, and it felt right.

Nearly 20 years later and now replacing "good" or "great" with "golden" is a thing I see in popular culture and private conversations not a lot, but a lot more frequently than never - which is where my awareness of the term was prior to 2002 and What's Golden. Maybe it's always been a thing and I'm just keenly cognizant of it now, but I'm half-convinced I came up with that slang because of What’s Golden and everyone stole it from me.

Wait a minute; where were we? Oh yea, Power in Numbers. Once I started exploring music post-2011, after my first wave of "Best Albums Ever" lists, I gravitated toward singles I remembered liking to see if their albums had anything to offer. Power in Numbers had that same jazzy, celebration of old-school "golden age" hip hop as What's Golden I didn't even know I was thirsting for.

There are accusations of J5 being hip hop-lite or warm-fuzzy feel-good rap, sanitized and safe for suburban consumption. But, that's kind of the point, although not in such indelicate terms. They grew out of a reaction and counter-point to the dominance of gangsta rap and the bling era at the time. What's Golden is entirely about a rejection of gangsta aesthetics and materialism in favor of the roots of hip hop. It isn't simply a party anthem with a catchy chorus - it's trying to make a point.

Whether that is particularly poignant, or even remotely effective, I don't know. I don't even know if taking this album locks me into the stereotype of the suburban kid grasping onto safe "soulless" hip hop.

All I know is that's the type of thinking that prevented me from exploring music in the first place. Other than that ...

... You guessed it ...

... I'm Golden.

Tracklist
1."This Is"
2."Freedom"
3."If You Only Knew"
4."Break"
5."React"
6."A Day at the Races"
7."Remember His Name"
8."What's Golden"
9."Thin Line"
10."After School Special"
11."High Fidelity"
12."Sum of Us"
13."DDT"
14."One of Them"
15."Hey"
16."I Am Somebody"
17."Acetate Prophets"

This one was on my short list. I sortof came into liking Jurassic 5 by accident. Chali 2na played a free show at USC one year opening for a famous Brooklyn rapper who hasn't been picked yet and I really dug his live backing band. About a month later J5 had a concert at the (now defunct) House of Blues in Hollywood to celebrate the release of their last album and tickets weren't that expensive and I was upset that I'd just missed getting tickets to another rap group who hasn't been picked yet... so I figured, what have I got to lose? It ended up being such a fun show! Plus if you bought a copy of that album at the show you could meet the band afterward and get it signed! It was a weird string of coincidences that led me there but I now have a signed Jurassic 5 CD and a great concert memory.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Huh. So that was the infamous "Stairway." I feel like, after all these years, I may have built up an unreasonable expectation in my head.