Album of the week

Steven Newman50 said:Nah, musically speaking... they're just a pale imitation of Oliver. 🙂

Oliver is gone, long live the new king.

It’s just an undeniable fact that Rađa absolutely shut down Grašo 😁

Jason Mendoza said:bottom line is—Rađa absolutely destroyed Grašo😁

honestly, his biggest contribution to American pop culture was just getting bodied by Rađa. 😁 🙏

I’ve heard all sorts of stories about him and Danči, but definitely not this one. 😳 You’d honestly think they were a couple of total bores.

Steven Newman50 said:Either you're living under a rock, or you just hung out with the wrong crowd. 😁 I was only in sixth grade when Ozzy Osbourne dropped that "Thief" duet and completely drove my whole generation crazy.

Generation Z, tell me I'm not alone—it's the same thing. 🤣 Honestly, I felt that pop music explosion even more during high school. Think school bus trips where everyone was blasting Britney Spears' "Nicotine" and some Kitićev šampanjac, lol. Just those classic light pop hits.

Btw, I tried guessing who suggested what in the poll and actually nailed 6 out of 10! It made me think it would be so cool if we could have a round for anonymous suggestions. 😁

Steven Newman50 said:And what about all that forum drama and the petty conspiracies—you know, the stuff that ended up having such an unexpected impact on your life? If only it were yours—just for you. ☕) My mental state—honestly, I’ve got some lines that capture it perfectly. 🙂

Listen up:

When you’re just itching to go off on someone online—
And they’re just looking for drama—honestly.
Sometimes you just gotta unplug—it's necessary.
Gotta read this book.

Matt Haig—*Notes on a Nervous Planet*.

Well, hopefully you guys can finally chill out now that this is over.

👍

I was just thinking about that Morrissey line—"There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more." —and man, it hits home.

I totally messed up with that whole mental breakdown thing—though honestly, it’s probably just because I said Hope Sandoval could actually go hard.😁

Thanks for the Tomaž shoutout, I've already got this album on repeat for the second time now 👍

Glad you liked it. 🙂

This week just feels right, so I finally suggested it, even though I’ve been meaning to for ages. Honestly, last week’s Townes Van Zandt didn't really click with me, but maybe that’s just because he never quite hit the spot for me, I don't know why. I love a few of his songs, but the albums themselves? Just didn't work. It felt like I had to force myself to "like" it, which usually isn't a great sign. But, I guess I'll give him another spin this weekend.

The first listen of an album is actually a pretty big deal to me, and with those songs and music (and later, those gorgeous lyrics), it was just one of those discoveries... where everything just clicks effortlessly.



Here’s a fun fact. This is the artist's debut from back in his college days. The whole thing was recorded in one go on a cassette using mono tech, right in a dorm bathroom in Austin, where Tomaž was living at the time...

The guy was only 24 back then. Makes you wonder what else he could have achieved if he'd actually had the chance... Miljenko Jergović wrote about it all pretty beautifully, here. So, I guess people shouldn't say we never had any truly great talent here either.

Personally, though, this goes way beyond its genre or where it was made. It easily slides into my personal top ten or twenty albums.

Ashley Grant66 said:Generation Z, it's the exact same vibe. 🤣 I actually felt that pop music breakthrough even more when I was in high school. Those bus trips where everyone would belt out Britney Spears' "Nicotine" or some fancy champagne hits, lol. Like, those little lite-pop moments...

Oh man, that champagne stuff was huge right at the end of middle school. 😵

We heard it in high school too, of course, but luckily my class was a bit more selective—most of us were heading to punk and metal shows instead. It was such a great time, honestly, can't complain one bit!

And hey, that's a fun idea for anonymous posts, we should totally do a round of those...👍

Ashley Grant66 said:By the way, I tried guessing who suggested what in that poll and actually nailed 6 out of 10. I guess it would be pretty cool if we could have a round for anonymous suggestions, maybe? 😁

Steven Newman50 said:That’s actually a pretty solid idea for an anonymous thread. Maybe we could make it its own dedicated circle. 👍

Oh yeah, sure. This is a brilliant idea. I guess. 🙂
I just don't know how we're actually going to pull this off.

It’s easy! Let’s just announce ahead of time that everyone should shoot their suggestions over to one of us via DM... and then we’ll get them all posted on the thread.

Awesome! They could totally do that for some big hundredth anniversary. 😁

Yeah, everyone just sends their suggestions to one person—either our awesome moderators 😁 or a volunteer who lets us know they aren't submitting anything themselves—and then that person posts the whole list at once. It’s a bit of a hassle for that one person, I know, but... maybe it would be cool to try voting 'blindly'? You know, just based on the music you hear without knowing who wrote the intro text.

Tomaž is wonderful. I’m listening to the full album for the first time; I always seem to forget or feel like 'it's just not the right time,' even though everything I've ever heard from him has been lovely. Honestly, I have such a soft spot for the language.

I absolutely love Out of Time—listening to Texarkana for the first time actually brought me pretty close to tears. 🙄 ...They even mentioned it today over at Yammat while I was listening at work; apparently, Nikola Jokić picked Near Wild Heaven as his absolute favorite track from the album.

And this Cocteau Twins album never quite clicked for me as a complete listen, even though it definitely has some gems. It feels a little intense for me, and I worry it might be a bit much for new listeners too. They have other albums where you can just totally lose yourself in the songs without any struggle. 🤣

OP, our doctor just showed us his softer side. 😁 But seriously—if some American or Englishman performed the EXACT same songs as Pengov, would it still be dismissed as "mediocre playing with folk clichés and redundant pastiche"?😁

I guess it’s finally time to poke my head back into this corner of the internet...

R.E.M. - Out of Time (1991)
I used to listen to them quite a bit maybe 10 or 15 years ago, though it was mostly just greatest hits compilations; I don't think I've ever actually sat down and listened to this specific album from start to finish, so this feels like a good chance to do just that. Plus, I'm curious to see how their sound lands with me these days.

Opeth - My Arms, Wounds, and Perils (1998)
I'm really feeling an Opeth mood right now; I might end up picking a different record eventually, but it'll be nice to revisit this one too.

Blue October - Approaching Normal (2009)
I haven't checked them out before. What I've heard so far sounds interesting enough that I might want to dig around and find something new here.

Fugazi - Repeater (1990)
Uh, yeah, this is also pretty good—I'll probably be spinning this one for a while...

Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll (1988)
It feels like the right time to finally comb through their discography since I've been putting it off forever, and I'm currently in one of those phases where dreamy music just hits the spot.

Shriekback - Oil and Gold (1985)
First time hearing them, but it sounds promising—honestly, this might be the one that pulls me in most to listen to the whole thing.

Rod Stewart - Tuesday (1999)
This one kind of took me back to my childhood and some old school talent show...😂

Ljubojević - Rejoice All Ye Land (2020)
The vocals are phenomenal. Kudos on the selection because it adds some variety, though it isn't really something I'd personally loop.

Tomaž Pengov - Odpotovanja (1973)
A total hidden gem that I still need to properly explore.

The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials (1979)
Their discography has always felt like a bit too much to tackle at once. I think it might be time to ease into it slowly.

I'm not sure yet who gets my votes; I need to sit and think about which vibe actually fits my headspace lately.

Karen Kelly35 said:Divna Ljubojević - Rejoice All Ye Land (2020)
Vocals are killer. Huge props for picking this—it adds some much-needed variety to the mix—but honestly, it’s just not my vibe.

Thanks for the input, 🙂

I love tossing stuff like this on, laying back with my eyes closed, and just letting the music take me on a trip.

Divna is actually pretty great. I first heard her in this ridiculous video where they decided she’d be the perfect soundtrack. 😁

Dennis Hall41 said:Whoa, look at that—Dennis Martin6 is showing us his soft side. 😁

You're dead wrong, fascist! 😁 I haven't listened to a single second of any of those suggested albums. Instead, I decided I’m gonna switch up my voting strategy every week—using some kind of ideological fear of categories just to maintain moral objectivity and aesthetic obscurity. This week's theme? Albums with titles that rhyme with "shaking." But there's a self-destruct clause in this little tactic: it's totally useless if someone suggests an old-school rock legend or brings up a classic soul singer during the same week. So, after checking my horoscope, I actually asked my cat who she would vote for. Seriously!

Man, oh man... there's such a massive shortage of decent people to actually talk to in this thread, and here I am, deciding to just opt out... what kind of luck is this for us?🙄

Dennis Martin6 said:You're totally wrong, man! 😁 I haven't listened to even a single second of any of those suggested albums. Instead, I decided to switch up my voting strategy every week—basically using ideological phobia just to stay morally objective and aesthetically obscure. This week's theme was specifically albums with titles that rhyme with "shaking." Though, this whole tactic has a built-in self-destruct clause where it fails if someone suggests a classic rock legend or brings up a certain pop icon during the same week. So, honestly, I just ended up asking my cat, Mrmu, who she would vote for while I was checking my horoscope. Seriously!

So, what does the horoscope say, ATMA?😁