So there we are. 51 albums. 51 calendar years. And my 50th birthday on Saturday. It wasn't the year that any of us were expecting. And as a result of the minor inconvenience of a global pandemic, my options for a venue for celebrating my 50th are somewhat limited. So it's going to happen on … Continue reading 51 for 50 – The Final Countdown
Category: 51 for 50
And so we reach the end of this project, album 51 in a series of 51 albums that chart the 51 calendar years that I've been around on the planet. As I set out at the beginning (my game, my rulz), this isn't necessarily the 51 best albums in my lifetime. There are masses of … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2020
A sound system from Glasgow. A singer from Bristol. An opening track that's a cover of a cover. Dancehall. Reggae. Drum and bass.What's not to like? More Fyah is a wonderful little album. And the penultimate one in this collection... https://open.spotify.com/album/4gEwOC20SzNUWXTP7gs8Vx You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/
Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe's 2018 album, is an incredible work. Black Rights, Feminism, Coming out. But also science fiction dystopia where we become but computers. The tribute to Prince in the form of Make Me Feel. The feature(ish) length video. I've listened to this album so many times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdH2Sy-BlNE https://open.spotify.com/album/2PjlaxlMunGOUvcRzlTbtE?si=7HKhcIT4SIevSinFku8Ciw You can see the #51for50 … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2018
The routes by which I find music have changed dramatically in the last 35 years. It used to be occasional things on the radio and rummaging around in record shops (when you used to have to base an album on its cover). Word of mouth is still important. But there are now entirely new ways. … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2017
Sometimes I find that a tiny element of a song can transfix me. A riff. A lyric. A voice. Here, for example, are my all-time top three snare drums in pop music: 3 - Swing Out Sister - Breakout Apparently not about the hit computer game, SOS provided a top notch bit of smooth 80s … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2016
I think I first came across Belle and Sebastian when hearing their song The State I'm In whilst in The Fox Reformed wine bar in Stoke Newington in the late 1990s. The first album that really got me hooked was Dear Catastrophe Waitress, particularly after the song If You Find Yourself Caught in Love shuffled … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2015
With the exception of opera, I have had a number of fascinations with songs sung in other languages. There are vast swathes of Brazilian music I adore where the musicians could be singing about the price of frozen peas for all that I know of Portuguese. I have absolutely no idea what Sigur Ros are … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2014
Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, silly hats and Giorgio Moroder. What's not to like?Random Access Memories is a cracking album. https://open.spotify.com/album/4m2880jivSbbyEGAKfITCa?si=0qoVAqvARHSNCy3xWS1ToA You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/
Alt-J's An Awesome Wave is a wonderful, stupidly pretentious album. It made a beautiful counterpoint to the flurry of sick and poo that was living with a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old, four days a week driving them over to Reading to arrive at nursery early in the morning with at least one of us invariably … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 2012
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