What I'm Listening To: May 2019
Despite spending 20 hours a week listening to audio entertainment, music has consistently gotten a smaller slice of that pie over the last two years. Between audiobooks, podcasts, and Narro articles, I haven't had time for much else. I'll occasionally bump some old tunes when I'm dragging in the mornings, but the intentional listening to an album and getting to know a piece has been void for years. To change that, I'm going to write one of these short blog posts each month. My goal is to highlight some of the albums I've listened to and share a few bullet points on each.
Father of the Bride - Vampire Weekend
The new Vampire Weekend album Father of the Bride is some of the best music I've listened to in a long time. There is something eerily familiar about their sound. In some ways, I feel like it's 2008 again and I'm listening to their debut album. I don't feel like they took many risks on this album, or stepped too far out of their comfort zone. It's still the kind of music I think I can listen to any time, it's calming and fun while leaving you with some lyrics and music to explore.
IGOR - Tyler, The Creator
IGOR is the latest album by Tyler, the Creator and it's completely unrecognizable from his early work with OFWGKTA. I've only listened to it once all the way through, but I've gone back and listened to "A Boy is a Gun" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" because they had me shook on the first listen. I don't want to conclude anything about this album quite yet, but I'm going to be listening to it a few times over the next few months to get a feel for it. It is incredible to see Tyler mature from someone I thought would burn out around 2012 to a real artistic force.
Tales Of America - J.S. Ondara
Tales of America is J.S. Ondara's debut album, and it hit me like a ton of bricks when I first heard it. I listened to his single "Saying Goodbye" during a commercial and I spent the next week trying to track it down (I didn't get my SoundHound out in time). His song-writing is far more advanced than I'd ever expected for a solo album. His voice is a departure from other artists in this genre but in the most refreshing way possible.
