Tag: suddenly

Posted in Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, New Tunes, Playlists, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Ep. 51 | Caribou | Honey

Posted on by misterstory

EP.72 | Phoebe Bridgers | Lost Weekend – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 72 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Guy has chosen an album that feels inevitable, Phoebe Bridgers much anticipated and long awaited 'Lost Weekend'In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, taking inspiration from Phoebe our theme is 'Miserable Music'. Tracks that make Phoebe Bridgers sound uplifting.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Phoebe Bridgers | Lost Weekend.Phoebe Bridgers is one of the biggest artists outside of mainstream pop but this is only her 3rd album in 8 years. She doesn't lack for creative output or activity but still, her albums are a rare, anticipated thing. The critical response has been mostly positive but there are some naysayers dispite its current 91 score on Metacritic. But what will we make of it? The four of us have varying degrees of fondness for her music but again mostly positive. Jump on the socials and tell us what you think?Listen to the ever brilliant Switched on Pop episode on this album.Have a look at the spread of critical response on Metacritic.Watch Rolling Stone break down the album here.Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Miserable MusicThe theme this month, inspired by Phoebe's melancholic machinations is 'Miserable Music'. Feels like a slam dunk for Joey but what will the brothers bring?The task is pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey choseDavid choseGuy choseNolan choseWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP.72 | Phoebe Bridgers | Lost Weekend
  2. EP.71 | Steve Lacy | Oh Yeah?
  3. EP.70 | Olivia Rogrigo | You seem pretty sad …
  4. EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty
  5. EP.68 | Robyn | Sexistential

Another month, another pod. A very warm and most welcome to Episode 51 of This is Not Happening (TINH), an Album of the Month (AOTM) Podcast. In Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, Joey sits in the middle of a ‘divisive discussion’  focused on Caribou’s new album Honey. One of us think it’s some of the best of Caribou’s work, one of us thinks it’s much less than that.

In Part 2, Spin It or Bin It, our theme this month is ‘Basslines’, for once we stipulated no other rules.

Part 1 | Caribou | ‘Honey’

We all love Caribou. There are few artists that sit in the centre of the TINH venn diagram, but Caribou is one of them.  However, we all have different favourite Caribou albums and therefore have different expectations and hopes when it comes to a new Caribou album.

The debate is fierce. We cover many topics including how to be fair when an artist produces something we weren’t expecting, can you remove the bias of your disappointment and critique the album without bias? Unfortunately, we also end up talking about AI and music too.

  • Listen to the album … HERE
  • Watch some of the videos for the tracks discussed …  HERE
  • Watch this Boiler Room set in Belfast … HERE
  • Watch this short of Dan talking about ‘Volume’ … HERE
  • BBC Sounds interview with Dan Snaith from this month … HERE


Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘Basslines’

The best Spin It or Bin It’s are often the simplest. This month, the theme is one word and no extra rules or exclusions, ‘Basslines’. However you want to interpret it, it’s cool.N

Here is a 16 track playlist where we all contribute 4 ‘basslines’ themed tracks to an extended playlist.

See you on Episode 52 …

Posted in Music chat

Not quite albums of the month…. the ones that got away.

Posted on by GuyHornsby

It may seem like there’s always a nailed-on candidate for our albums of the month. But there’s all sorts of reasons that an album may not be chosen as AOTM. Way before we did the podcast, we were still having the same discussions and dilemmas. So why would it get derailed? Sometimes it’s as simple as the fact that we’ve already got it and have rinsed it before it could be chosen – Caribou’s Suddenly and Roisin Murphy’s Roisin Machine are both good examples of this last year – or sometimes there’s a veto from in the camp. Or it simply falls at the wrong time: your album’s released in March, you have June, and by the time your choice comes around, its old news.

I think we can all agree that should time be taken again for Roisin, we’d have chosen her over Sufjan 99 times out of 100. Hindsight is an easy out. But we loved it so much it sometimes feels like taking the less worn path (though Sufjan is hardly unlikely) is a better choice than choosing something everyone will love. Other times while one – or more – of us loves it, it’s pretty clear that it would be likely hated by the other. I know what I’ll be playing still in a year.

With Ep11 and April’s AOTM in question, this is a great example of that dilemma. @misterstory put me onto Menneskekollektivet by Lost Girls, a strange, ethereal collection of 5 tracks from Norwegians Jenny Hval and Havard Volden, that he brought to my attention as one of the 4 ‘new tracks’ up with Episode 10. 11 minutes of hypnotic music that’s part spoken word, part dancefloor chug, then in between meanders into the areas in between. I was half-captivated, half confused by it, but it definitely stuck in my head. And it pointed me to the album, which was just as off the wall, but just as beautiful. While it was in the mix for April, we also knew that it really wouldn’t be a ‘David’ album, and we weren’t sure it was a Nolan one either, and so it went to the cutting room floor. Which is odd as the album we chose – Genesis Owusu‘s Smiling With No Teeth – was just as ‘out there’ in many I(but different) ways. But it just seemed to be an album which would be a choice that would land with the four of us better. Having said that, we chose Macca, and look how that turned out for Ep7!

Going a bit deeper into the album than even Joey has so far, Love Lovers is probably the standout of the 5 tracks (total: 44 minutes for, yes, only five tracks). A tribal beat that morphs into techno, as Hval’s spoken words then wailing notes and Volden’s chords drive the melody, until it breaks out into an epic peak. Carried By Invisible Bodies also weaves around, its chords de- and re-tuned throughout, a sort of woozy, disorienting melody that I’m still not sure if I’d ever have the cojones to play out anywhere. It definitely skirts the fine line between musical genius and pretentiousness, and no doubt knows that. But the artist background of Hval (and this being considered an accessible counterpoint to her solo work!) makes this less of a surprise when you delve deeper.


We could probably do a whole series of albums that never quite made it to a chosen each month – we don’t by any means have just those 12 albums in our lives each year – but this one definitely stood out. For every choice there’s always one that ends up on the floor. If I had time again, I’d have chosen Everything Everything’s Reanimator because – no diss to Yves Tumor, my EP3 choice – I’m still playing it, all the time. In fact it’s turned into one of my favourite albums of the last 6 months. In music as in life, you live and learn.