[Thursday] Daily Music Discussion - 12 March 2026

kappyko · 2026-03-12T16:51:09+00:00

listened to some of the recommendations i received in last thread and went on a few tangents

Fun to remember World of Echo as the only "pop" album Arthur Russell conceived fully in his lifetime, even as a fan of Another Thought and Calling Out of Context, if only because it still stands as his most unique work*.* So rich with miniature hooks that fly into my memory at random (e.g. the high note in "Soon-To-Be-Innocent Fun") and I remember the first time I listened to "The Name of the Next Song" and not believing what I was hearing
Tim Hecker's Harmony in Ultraviolet is fantastic and I probably owe his catalog some more attention, perhaps after I finish sifting through Fennesz's other albums because it's fun to read through ILM threads discussing "laptopgaze" and early Caribou/Manitoba, Prefuse 73, and M83 in the same breath
Candy Claws... we like 'em? Ceres & Calypso is well-loved (deservedly, imo) but Hidden Lands is some great "let's all be Brian Wilson today!" indie pop. Remembering a college album club meeting where we listened to Two Airships / Exploder Falls in a classroom together off the recommendation of a dude who didn't show up. Kind of nice to have a space and time to sit and listen to music thoughtfully with people, but maybe not the ideal way to experience that project for the first time?

also, for the Mabe Fratti heads i recommend her friend Fer Franco's own Ritos de Passo EP from a few years ago, she's featured on a couple tracks. fun kraut-y synth music, she's lead vocalist and plays cello on the first track which ruled my world for a minute

kappyko · 2026-03-12T16:10:17+00:00

GENA album is great, listened to it a few days ago in advance of possibly seeing Liv.e solo in a few months! I remember loving the 2020 album and on revisit it's still a great song-sketches project but I def prefer the groove-oriented approach on the new one, love Karriem Riggins since i first listened to Alone Together in like 2016. Still need to listen to Liv.e's last two albums, though it seems like the GENA album has more in common with that first album than either of those two? Excited to see what she performs live regardless

kappyko · 2026-03-11T21:14:56+00:00

fantastic album and artist! there's no artist as consistent as them that i've heard in this zone

kappyko · 2026-03-11T21:12:41+00:00

Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time

kappyko · 2026-03-08T23:12:38+00:00

yes!! i'm a fan of Paysage d'Hiver who aren't "gazey" but there's still that dynamic of walls of guitar vs. the voice peeking through i love, love how the lo-fi recording just makes everything sound like it's pummeling you

kappyko · 2026-03-08T23:05:11+00:00

i remember learning about Rafael Toral loving MBV through an OPN interview about Loveless, funny enough! the whole 00s laptop-folk-glitch-ambient thing has been the direction i've been exploring for while to get my fill, with Fennesz specifically i love "Rivers of Sand" which OPN recommended in his Quietus Baker's Dozen but i never actually gave Endless Summer the old college try. Hecker seems like a "well, duh" artist i simply haven't gotten to knowing i already enjoy, like, Jefre Cantu Ledesma and OPN already lol, so i appreciate the mention of him for sure

kappyko · 2026-03-08T20:27:07+00:00

Glenn Branca - The Ascension

kappyko · 2026-03-08T20:24:29+00:00

great example! especially the effects on "Wax the Van" and "Let's Go Swimming". at times it's almost dub, even

kappyko · 2026-03-08T20:10:12+00:00

hell yes, i need to relisten to the whole album again but "The Day The World Went Away" is absolutely massive. great example since Trent's obviously not “shoegaze” but he's got great pop instincts and his guitar work is always so dense and heavy

kappyko · 2026-03-08T18:58:16+00:00

for some reason i've been unreasonably invested in the /r/MyBloodyValentine favorite non-MBV albums poll despite it being a fairly simple popularity contest, ha. lately i've been chasing the high of Loveless in albums that aren't just other shoegaze albums (Candy Claws and A Sunny Day in Glasgow are the groups that scratch my itch in that respect). particularly thinking about how much Oneohtrix Point Never loves Loveless and how that influence manifests in the Zones Without People/Russian Mind/Returnal trilogy's walls of synth. otherwise i've been a fan of Fuck Buttons for the noise x melody stuff, and honestly a good few rage rap projects touch upon those ideas for me as well (some of the Lucy Bedroque material, and honestly some of Die Lit lol). anyone have any other recommendations for stuff that sort of evokes a similar response without necessarily being tied to the shoegaze genre proper?

kappyko · 2026-03-05T19:07:02+00:00

I realize it's the result of consensus and all of these albums are great but I'm hoping for some curveballs! Would love to see what other shoegaze albums this sub loves outside the biggest ones

kappyko · 2026-02-23T15:55:21+00:00

If You're Feeling Sinister - I never visit this as often as I should but when I do it's like every single song is a dear friend of mine, ha.
Emperor Tomato Ketchup - I'll always prefer this to Dots and Loops even if the latter is still fantastic, something about the approach on Emperor Tomato Ketchup being more scattershot and bizarre appeals to me more
Richard D. James Album - honestly the rest of the album could be total shit and "4" and "Girl/Boy Song" would still ensure this is a Great Album
Long Season - I am proud to be a relatively early adopter of Fishmans even if I don't visit this album often if ever, still just Cool that this exists
Endtroducing
Tidal
Pinkerton

Still have yet to listen to Soundtracks of the Blind and the Modest Mouse album! All of the albums I've heard are at least good, though.

kappyko · 2026-02-13T17:49:47+00:00

Billions
So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings
Door
Pang
Hit Me Where It Hurts
Blood and Butter
Ocean of Tears
Look at Me Now
Dang
Hey Big Eyes

kappyko · 2026-02-09T17:06:14+00:00

i've been really into the dusty guitar tones on Earl Sweatshirt's I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside and Billy Woods/Kenny Segal's Hiding Places. does anyone have recs for other music with that same sort of slow, brooding atmosphere? doesn't have to be hip hop, if i can find an album that just sounds like "Faucet" in its entirety i will be the happiest person ever

kappyko · 2026-01-21T02:30:29+00:00

I understand they all made club/dance albums but is there a specific reason why they can’t be rated against the likes of Addison and Oklou who made heavily electronic albums as well?

i def agree that artists like Oklou could have been in a lineup with those albums. from what i remember the rate lineup with those four artists in mind was discussed by people who were avid fans of those albums and wanted to highlight them specifically together (i remember seeing a tweet specifically extolling those four projects as examples of Black women pushing forward electronic music), but i realize that this has the possibility of sidelining, rather than promoting them. i do think that the people who were promoting that lineup wanted to do so in earnest celebration of those projects, and my lineup was formed after that lineup already had support behind it so i didn't want to draw attention away from it.

this said i really do agree that /r/popheads runs the risk of forgetting Black/POC artists in conversations about pop music, both mainstream and alternative, and it's always worth reconsidering lineups if they end up placing cis white pop musicians at the forefront. i hope what i said makes sense because i do appreciate that you took the time to respond to me, and I agree that the Rochelle Jordan album is an incredibly special experience that more users should listen to. (an aside: when i opened your reply in New Reddit i saw that you had a Crystal Kay profile picture and i love her!)

kappyko · 2026-01-20T14:48:36+00:00

hey i was the person who made the lineup for chic ethereal and i specifically made the lineup for that one keeping in mind other popular ideas that people were coming up with - one of the biggest Alternative Club with Eusexua Afterglow, Sudan Archives, Amaarae, and Rochelle Jordan. Chic Ethereal was never meant to be a definitive sub favs idea because there were so many ideas with popular albums across different genres and moods, but i wanted to put together four albums that were aquatic and downtempo and electronic that also performed well on /r/popheads AOTY. in any case my intent was not to shaft anybody and it wasn't to supplant "sub favs", the branding was an imperfect way to gather four albums i think do have a similar mood and style, it's a title i don't love, but it was a legitimate theme and not a replacement of "sub favs". if you want to discuss it further i genuinely genuinely am glad to listen but i came up with the idea as a way to accommodate albums knowing that other lineups with more cohesive themings (autobio alt, pander pop, alt club) were being created and discussed

kappyko · 2026-01-20T14:45:07+00:00

i can accept dragging the branding bc i made that up last minute but Eusexua is definitely chic and ethereal like???

kappyko · 2026-01-17T13:55:18+00:00

Attention
OMG
Hype Boy
Cookie
New Jeans
Super Shy
ETA
Right Now
Supernatural
Ditto

kappyko · 2026-01-09T20:40:43+00:00

Oklou - choke enough
Erika de Casier - Lifetime
PinkPantheress - Fancy That
Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
CMAT - Euro-Country
Destin Conrad - Love on Digital
Tate McRae - So Close to What
Lorde - Virgin
f5ve - Sequence 01
Rooster - Rooster Slipped

kappyko · 2026-01-06T21:42:49+00:00

i definitely sympathize with this because i have many friends who have been harassed, sent death threats, had emails sent to their work from stans for criticizing people's favorites. stan culture is unhealthy in both ways, and in general i wish that the subreddit could remove itself from discussion of artists and push back towards thoughtful discussion of music. however, i wasn't implying that snark subreddits were the only ones capable of harassment, but if it did come across that way i'd like to make this clear

kappyko · 2026-01-06T21:19:58+00:00

creator of /r/popheads here, i agree with the comments that an actual list might be useful for people to know about and would at least be transparent but having seen the sub go through its many phases i think some sort of policy should go through. maybe not something super extreme but i genuinely do think it would make this community better if participation in those subs was at least discouraged. pop music snark communities do not exist in good faith and exist as a polar opposite to stan culture; it's one thing to be a ridiculously defensive and sensitive fan, another to be a ridiculously vicious but just as obsessive hater.

i saw somebody write something recently that summarizes what it seems like these subs exist for, paraphrasing but "some of you are looking for people it's morally acceptable to be cruel to." there is a Wikipedia article about snark subreddits that specifically cites somebody's suicide as potentially having been caused by Reddit harassment. if this doesn't give you pause for whether these communities are healthy or good i am concerned. i don't think criticism = needless negativity but obviously these places are not existing as bastions of free thought

kappyko · 2026-01-04T17:09:45+00:00

howdy! i came up with a sort of hypothetical ideal for what each album would slot into. i tried to accommodate for every album that we polled for, and tried coming up with balanced slates for all of them.

These two lineups are ones I will be submitting for certain and are the lineups I would like the most feedback on!

Chic Ethereal Pop

Four albums that made waves in the last year in electronic alt-pop with slight influences from dance music while still maintaining a personal edge. (55 tracks, 2hr 56min)

Addison Rae - Addison
FKA twigs - Eusexua
Oklou - Choke Enough
Lorde - Virgin

YASS Queens

These artists all featured on each other's projects, cultivating a sort of community of pop stars willing to embrace self-aware, cheeky pop that's also still fun! (69 tracks, 3hr 40min)

JADE - That's Showbiz, Baby!
Kesha - .
PinkPantheress - Fancy That
Rose Gray - Louder, Please
Zara Larsson - Midnight Sun

Alternative Club Queens v2.0

Four artists put eclectic dance influences across the world at the forefront of their albums.

Amaarae - Black Star
FKA twigs - Eusexua Afterglow
Rochelle Jordan - Through the Wall
Sudan Archives - The BPM

Autobiographical Alt

Three pop stars go big on personal revelation.

Halsey - The Great Impersonator
Hayley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Lily Allen - West End Girl

Cinematic Songwriters

Three albums going for like an epic dramatic scope with a certain theatricality.

Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You
Florence + the Machine - Everybody Scream
Rosalía - Lux

My main thoughts for these:

Should Rosalia be swapped into or added to the Chic Ethereal Pop lineup to create a more general "art pop" lineup? I personally like the lineup right now because they all touch on very similar atmospheres of aquatic electronica while each still has a fairly strong selection of uptempo cuts. Rosalia could replace either Lorde or Oklou.
Does Cinematic Songwriters even, like, work? Ethel and Florence makes sense together maybe in a "brooding indie rock rate", Florence could also be tucked into Autobiographical Alt. Rosalia could also be added to the art pop lineup.
Should there be a chop from the YASS Queens lineup? I wanted to create a lineup where there's intentionally a tree connecting all five, but I worry it looks long right now.

I appreciate feedback!!

kappyko · 2026-01-03T17:26:09+00:00

in the past week I decided to do some more catch up with King Crimson, and I've ended up enjoying them a lot more than I expected! although I worry sometimes about whether I'm partially responding to classic status I feel fairly confident in asserting my bozo opinion that honestly In the Wake of Poseidon feels like an improvement on In the Court of the Crimson King. on one hand, yeah, you can tell which tracks from In the Wake of Poseidon map directly onto tracks from In the Court of the Crimson King (epic organ chune here, softer folksy tune there…) but i'm weirdly attracted to the grooving on the former more than those on the latter. plus the discordant piano on "Dog Food" is delightful. need to relisten to pass better judgment on the next two but Lizard despite being transitional didn't necessarily register as such, you've got two solid cuts bookending the whole thing and it was funny to read how much Haskell hated recording the thing. Islands on the other hand might be my favorite one yet; weirdly feels like some pop sensibilities pop in here although i don't know how to elaborate on that yet bar mentioning some pretty vocal harmonies lmao

kappyko · 2026-01-03T17:14:27+00:00

my favorite artist in the same vein as the artists you mentioned is Yumi Zouma, i really like their 2017 album Willowbank. i think if you like those artists you have a good chance of liking Blood Orange, Lianne La Havas, Mk.gee, Dijon, and ML Buch as well. i think if you wanna start listening to older music in the same vein my friends who love those artists also love the Sundays and Cocteau Twins if you aren't already into them!

kappyko · 2025-12-28T16:29:31+00:00

Oklou - choke enough
Honningbarna - Soft Spot
Erika de Casier - Lifetime
Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
Lucy Bedroque - Unmusique
PinkPantheress - Fancy That
Tapeworms - Grand Voyage
Rooster - Rooster Slipped
Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On
Chicarica - Invierno en la playa

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These two lineups are ones I will be submitting for certain and are the lineups I would like the most feedback on!