Desert Island XI - QUARANTINE ISLAND - Group 1 Listening Thread

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yeah Dave that artwork is mad, love to hear more about it.

10. Madvillain - "Do Not Fire!" - Madvillainy (0:53)

Some Wax Tailor kinda stuff here. THIS is what I need. Stereo much approved, clear and clever way to just shake up this list and induce some energy. I tried to get some mental dissonance in my own list like this, a few times.

You need to purchase Madvilliany immediately.

14. The Tragically Hip - "Impossibilium" - Day For Night (4:06)

Ah, back to Canuckistan. It’s amazing to me just how much he sounded like Michael Stipe, but maybe I’m the only one who hears that.

not alone, myself & LJT had the same observation.
 
I like to think of Gord Downie as part of a Canada/US/Australia triumvirate that also includes Michael Stipe and Peter Garrett.
 
I keep forgetting to also say that the artwork for Dave's list is awesome!

Alright, Laz, let's round this group out.
 
iTunes wouldn't work for me, but I am SHOCKED to report that Windows Media Player got the job done seamlessly.

EDIT: Just kidding. It brought the songs in and teased me with it being in order, but then wouldn't play.
 
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Alright...I'm now in Winamp...what a time to be alive...not that it fixed my playlist problems, but for some reason, WMP wouldn't let me build a playlist and I kinda forgot iTunes was an option.

Anyways, thank you for putting "Alphabet Street" on here. For some reason I had it in my head I don't like that song, but I was VERY wrong.


EDIT: Also, I was trying to remember what I recently heard "New York Groove" in and it was either an episode of The Blacklist or American Animals. I feel like I'm thinking more of the latter, but had recently come to love this song and just as quickly forgot about it, so thank you for putting it back in front of me.

EDIT EDIT: Oh Lord, I forgot the name of this song ISN'T "I Saw You First". I haven't heard it in years, either. I love this song so much. Takes me back to being a kid instantaneously.
 
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EDIT: Also, I was trying to remember what I recently heard "New York Groove" in and it was either an episode of The Blacklist or American Animals. I feel like I'm thinking more of the latter, but had recently come to love this song and just as quickly forgot about it, so thank you for putting it back in front of me.

The former...

 
I love that The Blacklist is the Hewson Signal <3


Every time I hear a song by Rancid, I think I need to listen to them way more.
 
Loved the first disc, Laz. Had a great time with it and boy were there some numbers on here I could find myself listening to forever. Really surprised by that Sinead song. China Crisis is great and another band I wish I'd listen to more often. The Underworld song may have been my favorite, though.
 
no, they don't.
A google search begs to differ, however, it's worth noting, and is done so many times in the quick search I did, that they're called Canada's R.E.M. by Americans, not Canadians. That stands to reason, to me. Why would Canada call one of their own bands that?
 
sure, but that's a descriptor so that non-canadians have a quick sense of what they sound like, it's not the band's nickname. the only nickname that band has ever had is "the hip".

[/pedantry]
 
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anyways it makes me so happy that the canadian content that i put in there seems to be pretty much universally liked. my initial thought for this playlist was to make one consisting entirely of cancon but it was going to be a lot heavier on the 90s-00s rock sound than i wanted it to be so for the sake of variety i tossed out that idea. i might come back to it though if we do another one of these in the future.

and i'm also glad that everyone seems to love the slade song too, noel gallagher calls it "one of the best songs written, in the history of pop, ever" and i happen to agree with him. it's certainly one of the most underappreciated. even the band's manager didn't want them to release it or make any other songs like it, for fear of alienating their young fanbase who just wanted more 2-3 minute glam-rock bangers (he was right about that but then disastrously moved the band to the states to try and break them there, even though KISS was already fully occupying that lane in the US). i knew i had to get it on my playlist somewhere either as the opener or the closer, and it fit the vibe a lot better as the closing song here than the first one IMO.

i'll also be sure to let my dad know that you guys enjoyed his artwork too.

going to plow through a bunch of this today - i've been behind since most of last week i was sick in addition to a bunch of family stuff happening, so i haven't had much time or ability to focus on this as yet. i'll make it a priority to work on these and should be able to catch up by friday.
 
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and i'm also glad that everyone seems to love the slade song too, noel gallagher calls it "one of the best songs written, in the history of pop, ever" and i happen to agree with him. it's certainly one of the most underappreciated. even the band's manager didn't want them to release it or make any other songs like it, for fear of alienating their young fanbase who just wanted more 2-3 minute glam-rock bangers (he was right about that but then disastrously moved the band to the states to try and break them there, even though KISS was already fully occupying that lane in the US). i knew i had to get it on my playlist somewhere either as the opener or the closer, and it fit the vibe a lot better as the closing song here than the first one IMO.


That Slade song is awesome. They had some real killers back in their heyday, and I even like the hits from the later years as well. Good stuff.

It’s inexplicable to me that they never had major success here.
 
Alright, I'm done with the first disc in Laz's playlist.

I always trust Laz to point us to a Prince gem. This is a high energy start that I enjoyed, with a particular mood that works just about perfectly for me right now.

Certainly did not expect this from Ace Frehley, but that’s a cool song (could have fit my own playlist)

Seeing this Tim Maia song in your playlist makes me so happy. I flirted with the idea of making a playlist only with Brazilian artists (next time, maybe). He fits so well too in this funk-infused portion of your list. I can’t say enough things about Tim Maia, he’s fantastic (especially his records in Portuguese).

The initial stretch through the Brenda Jones song is so fun.

I have never listened to Joni Mitchell’s album with Mingus, but if this is an indication of the overall sound, I am going to enjoy it a good deal. I felt that the bass style was quite distinctive and now I see that Jaco Pastorius played in these sessions. And freaking Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock are in it too. What a cast she managed to put together.

Not sure if you’ve read Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings (it’s brilliant!), but this Rancid song would fit its (very rich) musical references so well. It might even be mentioned somewhere in the book.

Oh I like what Busy Signal did with Lorde’s Royals.

As others have said, Sinead O’Connor with a reggae beat is not something I expected.

Out of the last few songs that were more dance and synth heavy, the Tracy Thorn song was my favorite. I didn’t know the closing Bowie track, and it ended this first disc perfectly.

Great stuff.
 
starting with LM's:

1. this song's intro reminds me of the start of obscured by clouds. the groove is nice but rest of the song doesn't do much for me though.

2. i've never been a bjork fan and this song certainly did not do anything to make me one.

3. this is more like it. got my head nodding. really dig the chorus on this song. reminds me of a really good mashup of a 90s pop/R&B song with a classic DJ premier-style hip hop beat.

4. surprised i've never heard this before. another one that has bits that remind me of obscured by clouds. the swell at the middle of the song is nice.

5. ooh this is a good one. nice solid groove and that guitar lick in the chorus is cool.

6. the transition would have been better without the chatter in the intro but i get why it's there in the context of the song. the verse is good and her voice is great, but the chorus makes me want to skip to the next song. i'm glad i didn't though because the outro is good and the transition into the next song was excellent.

7. aside from the voice, i get "unforgettable fire outtake" vibes from this one for some reason.

8. another good transition. feels like this could be on the new thundercat album if there was some crazy bass work added to it.

9. yet another killer transition, but this song sucks. i despise migos with the fire of a thousand suns. the beat is super generic too.

10. meh. fairly unmemorable.

11. same. the outro was by far the best part of the song except for the abruptness of the ending.

12. these "quietly sing the first few lines with minimal instrumentation then drop the beat in around 0:20" songs aren't doing much for me. they're fine songs but this kind of pop is not really my thing. again the song only really seems to get going in the last third or so once the beat starts doing a daft punk impression.

13. way better, robyn always kicks ass.

14. i really liked that transition. not sure why, but i thought grimes sounded TOTALLY different than this and i expected to hate this song but it's got a cool tempo to it and really moves along. this is definitely something i'd listen to while on a long drive at night.

15. okay this song kicks ass. another one that gives me U2 vibes. sucks to read from some others that they don't have anything else quite as good as this, but i'll be coming back to this track for sure.

16. this sounds like one of those tracks from the 90s that sound like they should have been instant #1 hits, but just faded into obscurity for whatever reason. great tune, another keeper.

17. smooth transition again. you're really good at the segues, travis. the song itself was okay but didn't get me in the way the last three did.

18. another awesome one that in another era probably could have been a massive hit. easily my favourite lyric of the list so far.

19. this one was cool, it came and went pretty quickly though. it's not often that i wish songs were longer but this time i did.

20. i like the way this song kicked in. i feel like there's way too much fuzz on this track and it muddies the whole thing. it's distracting and takes away from what's otherwise a good song.

21. cool old-school 60s vibe on the verses here with a neat modern spin in the choruses. i could have done without the minute of noise at the end but the 30 seconds before that were absolutely top-notch.

22. this feels like something i should really like since it sounds like it's highly influenced by early pink floyd, but it never really stuck the landing for me on this listen. it does seem like something that could grow on me though so i may give it another spin down the road.

23. yeah, another good old-school vibe here. normally i don't like songs where the verses are spoken but it really works here. this one sounds like it took some influence from "the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald" and obviously i have a very soft spot in my heart for songs that sound vaguely nautical.

24. this song just makes me want to go listen to the actual motown artists that they're cribbing bits from. it's fine i suppose but for me it's a drop off from the last few tracks.

25. the transition was good here. never been able to get into beach house very much, this track included, but i will always be thankful for the sample that became "money trees".

26. well, i definitely didn't expect a beach boys song from 1970 to sound like this. i'm honestly shocked - this song is awesome! sadly it's not on spotify canada so i can't add it into any playlists outside of youtube. oh well.

27. another one that i feel like i should like but that didn't really catch me on first listen. this is another that i might give another shot down the road.

28. the last 2:30 here is fantastic. the first five minutes, less so.

29. i feel like these two songs should not be together. that's a weird transition. not super hot on this track either.

30. it's an improvement over the last few but again not something i would come back to.

31. the list is sorta starting to drag a bit for me at this point. the kinda edge-y guitar in the background of the verses is cool. i'd probably like this song more on its own than if it was the 31st song in a long playlist.

32. nice transition into this one. the instrumentation was fantastic but the vocals left me cold. just not a big fan of his voice, if someone else were singing i think i would really enjoy it.

33. dusty springfield is a goddess so i will never not love her inclusion on any playlist. this is no exception.

34. same with dionne.

35. "and my axe" with the ronettes. a fantastic sequence.

36. this flows nicely from the earlier segment. i didn't like it quite as much as the previous trio but still a great tune.

37. i never really got into fiona apple aside from knowing "criminal" and her version of "across the universe", because even though she's obviously excellent her voice has sometimes grated on me a bit (i don't like that production technique where it's so much louder than everything else on the track), but recently listened to fetch the bolt cutters late one night a week or so ago and really enjoyed it. this song was cool too so i'll definitely be listening to more of her stuff as soon as DI is done.

38. good choice as a closer but i wasn't super hot on the song itself.

overall i enjoyed this quite a bit. there were a few parts that dragged a bit for me and a couple songs i actively disliked but the highs here are much higher than the lows are low. the sequence from 13-20 is absolutely top-notch and 33-36 was also a big highlight. and like i said you clearly are good at sequencing, other than a couple of spots the tracks and sections all flowed into each other really well. thanks for making this list!

i'm pretty bored and don't have much work to do today so i dunno if i'll be able to get as granular with the commentary on all of these playlists (i'm the billing guy for my company and the first week of the month is fast approaching) but i'll definitely listen to them with the same sort of ear.
 
Onto Laz's:

Prince is always great as an opener and this entry definitely has a different feel and vibe compared to the other entries so far. In general, it is a much groovier and funkier start than what others have gone with and it is very much appreciated. Songhoy Blues is a new one for myself, but Mali produces quite a few amazing artists, such as Amadou & Miriam, Ali Farka Toure and I think Tinariwen are from there to? I toyed with adding a Salif Keita track to my list but it fell by the wayside.

Mellencamp I have never really listened to much of. He is one of those big American artists who never seems to have jumped much over the pond. I liked the track though and need to maybe give him another look if you have any particular recommendations?

There were a few tracks in the first half I wasn’t that into like the Ace Frehley and Rickie Lee Jones, however I still felt they fit in with the flow and sound you were aiming for.

There were a few surprising tracks such as Rancid’s as I had a very different pre-conception of what they sounded like, which was then followed up by Busy Signal. Which initially confused me because isn’t this just Lourde’s Royals? But a google sorted me out, thought it was a fun different version of the track though. Sinead O Connor I think at times remains underrated mainly due to her troubled life, and probably even within Ireland as well, so it was cool to see her dropped in there. Another surprise was the Lady Gaga song which I had to double take whether that was Gwen Stefani or not!

The closing section of the first half was brilliant, I really enjoyed it from Space on down. I love Tracey Thorn and Underworld and as well. La Femme were new to me but I loved the sound of it, it’s something I could imagine enjoying at a local indie club (if such a thing will ever survive this!).

So just finished the first half so far will give the second a spin tomorrow and finish off my thoughts.

Thanks for the comments!

Tinariwen is a band I'm familiar with because they're a favorite of the Desert Daze festival that I work for, I'm pretty sure they have been booked by us multiple times. Really unique artist. As I may have mentioned before, I learned about Songhoy Blues because of Nick Zinner's affiliation with them, he participated with some kind of Africa/USA musical exchange and wound up doing production work for them.

Re: Mellencamp, it's a bit hard to make suggestions because that album (and song in particular) aren't very indicative of what he's known for, which is often a somewhat generic Midwestern rock. He did explore rhythm & blues on some occasions, and I guess the albums that typify this the most are Dance Naked, Human Wheels, and Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky, the latter where my selection came from. But if you wanted to try and just go with his best work, period, I'd likely say The Lonesome Jubilee or Whenever We Wanted.

I knew that the "reggae" section would be a stretch for a number of people, but once I had committed to a couple of tracks I realized I had to find a way to segue in and back out of it, so I sought out some other tracks from artists I love with a similar vibe. The Busy Signal track was just so bizarre to me when I first heard it in that of one of those Dancehall guys wanting to cover a song written by a young New Zealand girl, I was kind of delighted by it.

La Femme is so good, and I hope people take a chance on their two albums despite the language difference. They really have a cool sound.

iTunes wouldn't work for me, but I am SHOCKED to report that Windows Media Player got the job done seamlessly.

EDIT: Just kidding. It brought the songs in and teased me with it being in order, but then wouldn't play.

Alright...I'm now in Winamp...what a time to be alive...not that it fixed my playlist problems, but for some reason, WMP wouldn't let me build a playlist and I kinda forgot iTunes was an option.

Ugh, I'm so sorry about all the difficulties for you and everyone. I did foresee some issues due to a non-streaming list but I thought I had made it as seamless as possible. :sad:




Loved the first disc, Laz. Had a great time with it and boy were there some numbers on here I could find myself listening to forever. Really surprised by that Sinead song. China Crisis is great and another band I wish I'd listen to more often. The Underworld song may have been my favorite, though.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it so much. The Sinead track is from an album (Faith & Courage) that i think was meant to be a bit of a comeback, as it's fairly poppy and features collaborations with Wyclef, Dave Stewart, some others. But it didn't do as well as they'd hoped. It's not on the level of her breakthrough album but there are a lot of great tracks on it.

I learned about China Crisis because when Walter Becker died I was reading about artists who he had produced, and these guys were one of them. They don't sound like Steely Dan but you can hear Becker's touch in the precision of the arrangements and production, and I believe he's playing guitar on here as well. He also produced the Rickie Lee Jones song and the album it's on.

I realized too late that there was an official shorter edit of the Underworld track which I might have gone with had I known about it sooner, but I do like how it builds and it gives me the feels.
 
This thread is moving fucking fast now and I may have missed someone, but thank you to Jerry and Dave for their commentary. While I'm pleased to see the same generally positive conclusions, it's the wide range of opinions on the individual sections that I find especially fascinating.

Also, I'm through Laz's first disc and will listen to the second today. I am having a very good time.
 
Onto Jerry’s list.

I had a meeting postponed today so I can get to this a day earlier than I expected.

Yeah so if I hadn’t read the commentary, the intro would have been a little jarring. Well, it still kinda was, but I had braced for it. Ha! I loved the Vacationer song. I’m familiar with their album Gone but haven’t explored the rest of their discography yet. Seems like I should. The translation to Dreams and Nightmares was good. I liked the first half better than the second half. Didn’t care too much for P2, but I really dug the vibe of Hoodrich Disco, which make sense because I like Toro y Moi. Thoughts @ Work and I Can’t Go On This Way fit well together, but I didn’t really care too much for them.

The only song I know for sure that I’ve heard by Todd Rundgren before is Hello It’s Me, which I love. Wolfman Jack is good! Surprised it wasn’t familiar. With both Need To Feel Your Love and Bad Art & Weirdo ideas, I like the music more than the vocals, but that’s not a dig, because the vocals were alright. I just really liked the music on those. This next section is losing me a little though. I probably would have liked it all a lot more about 10 years ago. One thought is that the singer of The Wonder Years reminds me a little bit of The Used, who I used to like a good deal a long time ago. The guitars in the Circa Survive song grabbed me. Those harmonied leads were great, but overall my sentiment echoes that of the previous group, though on the strength of these vocals I like it more. I liked Hear You pretty well, but it’s bookends really fit the whole section. This whole section flowed incredibly well, even if it wasn’t my favorite.

I’m taking a break here.
 
Okay, on the the rest.

The Ween song was interesting. Not what I was expecting. But I’ve never heard them before so I had no idea what to expect. Another Hall & Oates song I liked but didn’t know. I’d been thinking I really gotta check them out further, and this solidifies that thought. Shadow People was a solid song but now thinking back on it, I can’t remember anything about it other than it being a solid song. Work From Home is a very timely song for sure, but I honestly could go the rest of my life not hearing it and not feel like I’m missing a thing. The Purling Hiss song was alright and fit well with the overall feeling of the playlist, but probably nothing that will draw me back.

Next is Was All Talk and I’ve never heard Kurt Vile before, but I thought it reminded me of something The War On Drugs would release. Then through some googling, I can see why. I really liked this one, it was like a droning version of something off of one of the most recent two albums by The War On Drugs. I’m gonna have to investigate Kurt Vile further. Immediately Japanese Breakfast reminded me of Cults, which is a good thing. I think I’ve heard of them but had never heard them before. Love the guitars. Not a Minute Too Soon was alright, and I really liked Head On quite a bit. The music was fantastic and the so was the melody.

Myth is one of my favorite Beach House songs, so that’s definitely a height. And especially when followed with my second favorite song by The War On Drugs. I think someone mentioned that this would have been a perfect closer, and I think I agree, because the transition there is jarring. Fox In Motion seems to follow my thoughts on a lot of this list - I really like the music but could take or leave the vocals. The music here is really, really damn good though. Hope was just fine but after this song and the song in Travis’ list I’m not sure why I’ve heard such great things about (Sandy) Alex G. Like, yeah, it’s okay. I guess from the hype I’ve seen I was expecting more. Funeral Beds was a good ended. I could have seen that going right after An Ocean... and being perfect, with the other songs an an earlier section.

Final thoughts:

Highlights were Paradise Waiting by Vacationer, Dreams and Nightmares by Meek Mill, When the Morning Comes by Hall & Oates, Was All Talk->An Ocean In Between The Waves

My least favorite part was the emo/indie rock section in the middle. It felt like it dragged a bit there and it’s not really a genre I care for these days. And the intro song. Haha!

The flow was fantastic throughout most of this with only a couple hiccups. On the whole I enjoyed your list more than the sum of its parts. Thanks for this!
 
15. okay this song kicks ass. another one that gives me U2 vibes. sucks to read from some others that they don't have anything else quite as good as this, but i'll be coming back to this track for sure.

Don't listen to Cobbs. The whole Prisoner album is great, one of my favourites from the entire 2010s. Long Highway and Rosebud are, in my view, both better than Endless Summer, and the whole sequence of six tracks at the start of the album is epic. From the back of the album, Deep Wide Ocean and Catch Me are well worth attention.

They're also great live. The first gig I didn't get to attend thanks to COVID-19 was a solo show by Hayley Mary, the lead vocalist.
 
The Jezabels are a quality band :shrug: Prisoner, Synthia, She's So Hard EP, Dark Storm EP all good releases that are worth hearing. The Brink is kinda boring.
 
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Lazarus! Your list!

Firstly, I'd like to add to whoever said... I've thoroughly enjoyed all the lists so far, really great listening. High quality stuff.

If there's such thing as "vintage Axver" then this list was vintage Laz. Prince. Bowie. Steely Dan. Dylan. Eclectic. Weird-ass b-sides of b-sides of b-sides from big-name artists, songs from artists you've never heard of and aren't sure really exist, stuff in French.

I think I vastly preferred part one to part two. I do wish I'd re-read your paragraph, because for some reason I thought the first part was meant to be more to do with beats, so a couple tracks threw me off, but no biggie. Definitely nailed the rhythm part. I know next to nothing about Kiss, the Ace Frehey track was a good catchy little tune, sounded like one of a million artists I'd hear on a classic rock station, but enjoyed it for sure. The first track I really liked was the John Mellencamp one, which suggests to me, along with my recent post about his music, that I really need to check out more of his music. Sounds quite a bit different to his big hits, too. Enjoyed the next little run that was more soul-inspired.

The Steely Dan track, was, to no surprise, fucking fantastic to my ears. I really, really need to invest more into them, learning about them, consuming stuff, getting all the records. I just fucking love their sound so much man. Fagen's vocals are a dream and the music is just always so well-considered and constructed. I'd love to know which other tracks Becker produced on this list?

The transition into Coppers was well done. Well Prepared, I don't know what you were thinking here. :lol: That was fucking horrible, I absolutely hated it. It stuck out like dogs balls, not only sonically, but because it was a well-known song (a riff on one) in a list full of lesser-known tracks. It couldn't have come to an end sooner.

Sinead track was terrific, and from this point on I loved everything. Gaga track was good fun, Bigger the Punch was good, Ova Nova was definitely my highlight - really need to check out Underworld a lot more (I had Born Slippy Nuxx in my list for a long time!) - Queen was great, sounded like the sort of thing Bloc Party would be inspired by, both it and Dead Against It. Cool finish with a rarer Bowie track, never heard the full soundtrack, only the sublime Strangers When We Meet.

Part two I kind of felt however suffered from too much of the same thing, all of the songs were good, but most were a little too stylistically similar for me. Kind of like parts of Ax and LM's lists, where it's a genre I quite like, but a lot of 'nice' 'enjoyable' without things standing out enough to really capture my attention.

Quite enjoyed Sketches - that main lyric really sticks in your head. Quite liked the Jayhawks track, had flourishes of Stones and Hunky Dory that I enjoyed. Neil Diamond is my mum's favourite artist ever, I recognised the voice and style immediately, it was cool to have that pop up in a list as his music has always come across as quite lame. This didn't really shift my opinion, but I'm glad you went for it, decent tune. The Bob Dylan song was quite good. Enjoyed that. Also dug Why'd You Want Me, Don't Touch That Dial.

Lonesome Tonight was a terrific closer, not heard it, not heard much from New Order, really enjoyed it. Overall, your playlist was a great listen and I came away from it with lots of stuff to follow up on and I will try to give them both an extra listen. Great job man!
 
Just to say I have finished Laz's second part but it's been an interrupted listening session listening to it. On bight shifts atm will post final thoughts Friday.
 
Dave C: I really appreciated the flow and succinct character of this playlist. As others have noted, it does a have a jukebox feel to it, but for me that felt organic in a way that the more meticulously-crafted lists often do not. Da Funk is an absolute banger - maybe my favorite Daft Punk song - and I am also partial to the raw blues side of the Stones as reflected well in Ventilator Blues. The J Dilla track was the most significant discovery for me - I need to check out the album. And I'm realizing that I have liked every Hall & Oates song I have ever heard but for some reason have never bothered to seek them out more fully. Need to change that.
 
Dave C: I really appreciated the flow and succinct character of this playlist. As others have noted, it does a have a jukebox feel to it, but for me that felt organic in a way that the more meticulously-crafted lists often do not.

i spent less time making this than it takes to listen to the majority of the playlists that have been submitted lol but i'm glad that people don't seem find the selections too scattershot. i think the end product is better that i did it all at once and didn't spend a ton of time overthinking every aspect.

The J Dilla track was the most significant discovery for me - I need to check out the album.

i would recommend checking out donuts first. i think most people agree that's easily his best album.
 
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