Written on:
20 11 22

Some Fav Albums

Someone took the joke too far and gave io a Verified™️ Apple Music Artist profile.

The Apple Overlords added a new section to artist profiles where we can answer generic questions. There’s a question about our fav albums, but I couldn’t find mine on Apple’s janky tool. SoOo I’m blogging about them like a real blogger.

Here’s 5 albums I love. With some pairings.

1. Akiko Kiyama – 7 Years

Music had a great year in 2008. I heard this in 2012 right before going to business schüle. Akiko Kiyama is probably the first woman I discovered in electronic / techno.

I picked this album up on a whim, purely because we share initials. I find a lot of cool stuff that way. This kind of minimal, sadder techno makes me happy. I think there’s a lot of nonchalance in this album, a crafted and deliberate coolness.

Fav song: I Was Weak In the Knees
Analogous Pairings: Black coffee with cinnamon. Berry matte lipstain. A single dangly metal earring. The book Sputnik Sweetheart. A worn leather coat with ripped lining. A sticky club floor vacated only one hour ago. Six ants following each other in a circle. Bank station walkway connecting the Northern and Central lines.

2. Selected Ambient Works 85-92 – Aphex Twin

This is on most producers’ lists, for good reason. I like to break apart components of art and figure out how to get somewhere similar myself, and there’s no album more fun to do that with than SAW 85-92. Every song is a different ambience but always hazy, refreshing, interesting. Also he invented ironic self-mythologyzing.

Fav song: Xtal
Analogous Pairings: Three blades of grass covered in fresh frost. Citron tea with sparkling water and mint leaf. Tiny eyeliner wings in teal blue pencil. Getting incrementally better at something. Shampoo suds. A coriander and vetiver scented candle. Acid. Crispy courgette fries. Tinkering with music hardware. The smell of chlorine.

3. 7G – A.G. Cook

7G is to the 2020s what SAW 85-92 is to the 90s. 7 is a really, really pleasing number. There are 49 songs in total, so there’s a lot of variety. There’s something a little bit folkpop about this too, as much as it is a truly electronic-feeling album. I think this one is worth listening to end to end, several times over.

Fav song: Windows
Analogous pairings: Glossier You perfume. Pink pepper and rose kombucha. Pale, matte, cool pink blush. Foggy prescription glasses. The number 4. Cream waffle textured Henley neck long sleeve T shirt. Spaghetti and clams. Small, overly warm room.

4. Born This Way – Lady Gaga

Born This Way is my teenage dirtbag album!!! This is the pinnacle of pop music. It’s integral to my identity. I keep finding new ways to fall in love with this album, and it continues to mean so much to me throughout my life. I also love the darker, campier and musical theater-esque energy of these songs. The lyrics on Born This Way are so creative, beautiful and inspiring.

Fav song: Bloody Mary
Analogous pairings: Customised leather jacket with spikes. Mermaids. Edouard Manet’s “Olympia”. Disco balls. Beige latex. 2000s photo filters. Incantations. Cutting your own bangs over the sink. Mugler Alien perfume. Art class focusing on charcoal. Mint. Church organs. Coffee and hot croissants.

5. POP 2 – Charli XCX

Avant-garde, different and crispy – in the way Missy Elliot’s song “Get ur Freak On” is. Pop music will never be lowbrow, and electronic pop is my favorite. I love music with texture, and this is pleasingly textured. This is what liquid, metallic pop sounds like.

Fav song: Unlock It
Analogous pairings: Body glitter. Mountain drive with friends. The decorative plastic covering sweet or baklava trays. Isamaya SkinLacq. Being the last one to arrive to your birthday party. Shimmery purple balloon. Silver Tiffany’s key necklace. Writing in a physical journal with pink glittery gel pen.

Those are 5 of my favorites. Happy listening.

xoxo, io ◠‿◠✿

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