Given how much I loved True Blue, I think she could have really pulled off more upbeat covers, though this cover does work for me a bit better than Gloria.
I wonder if I'll love her version of Eyes Without A Face as much as Stef Chura's.
I meant to put on Painted Ruins last week to give it another try but got the title confused with Horn of Plenty and was listening to that instead. I enjoyed it. But mostly I listen to Yellow House/Veckatimest/Shields.
I've liked a song or two off each of her albums since I first heard "Daniel" and I loved "Let's Get Lost" with Beck, but I didn't really get into her full albums until a while after Lost Girls came out. After revisiting Two Suns and The Haunted Man I finally realized how amazing they are and eventually warmed up to Lost Girls, a lot.
I have yet to listen to Fur and Gold, for some reason?
It's not me but I probably see the same thing in Chrome and Edge. Sometimes when I come back to the site hours or days later on the /all page it shows the same articles that were there last time, usually with the same "x hours ago" indicators.
I wonder how differently this album would have been received/remembered if it was billed as an EP instead of an LP, and if they were a bit more prolific around that time. It's a bit long for an EP, but Sufjan got away with it a year earlier with All Delighted People.
I had issues with mine after the redesign but then it worked after I went to gravatar and did Sign In With Google (my stereogum account is apparently tied to my gmail address).
I don't know a ton about Taylor Dayne, but her and Martha Wash did St. Louis Pride in 2019 and it was kinda fun, so it's disappointing to see she was involved in this bullshit. Is it actually still 2020?
Every time I listen to Punisher all the way through I have several moments where I wonder "is this my favorite song on the album?" until I get to "I Know The End" and it's very obviously that.
When I first typed this up I was going to make some comment about how my top 20 is unfinished because I can't finish anything this year. But screw it, here's 18-20.
18. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
19. The Strokes - The New Abnormal
20. Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
1. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
2. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
3. Jeff Rosenstock - No Dream
4. Wares - Survival
5. Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
6. Moses Sumney - Grae
7. Holy Fuck - Deleter
8. Chubby and the Gang - Speed Kills
9. Little Kid - Transfiguration Highway
10. Bartees Strange - Live Forever
11. Porridge Radio - Every Bad
12. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
13. Laura Marling - Song For Our Daughter
14. Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
15. Sault - Untitled (Rise)
16. Roisin Murphy- Roisin Machine
17. Ela Minus - Acts of Rebellion
I feel like I've been more distracted than usual this year, still a bunch of albums I'd like to spend more time with, and I'm looking forward to finding the stuff I've overlooked completely this year.
I like the stuff Phoebe Bridgers has done before this year but maybe didn't love it, although I do love the title Stranger in the Alps. So I was optimistic about Punisher, but it completely blew me away and was exactly the album I needed this year.
I think "Strange" was the song that made Galaxie 500 click for me. Not a bad song at all to draw more listeners in, though given the way the last 5 years have gone I'm surprised it's not "Leave the Planet" that's trending.
I think I tend to feel similarly about this album but for different reasons, aside from your take on "Someone's Calling Me" which I feel EXACTLY the same way about.
I actually like the first 4 songs a lot (although "Dance Yrself Clean" isn't quite transcendent for me like it is for some). I've warmed up to "Pow Pow" after seeing it live, and based on the flow of the albums I liken it to "Us V Them" (which I've never been a fan of) and "On Repeat" (which is okay but my least favorite part of the S/T).
Also I totally forgot that "You Wanted A Hit" is over 9 minutes. That's too long.
This was possibly my favorite album of the whole decade, along with John Talabot's ƒin which scratched the same itch for me when I was waiting for the Caribou follow-up.
I probably listened to her last 3 albums once each around when they came out, but after listening to "Fire" I pretty immediately preordered Saint Cloud and dove into the whole catalog as well as her sister's projects. I think Out in the Storm is my favorite, but I just got this CD today so we'll see how it goes after I spend more time with it.
Also I had been meaning to give Beach Bunny a listen and really like the track added to the weekend playlist, but then it flowed into Comets on Fire and holy shit cp thank you for that. I am listening to Blue Cathedral now and loving it.
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