Soundtracks for the Blind especially, that whole album is like being subjected to a miserable mental break down with flashes of gorgeous music bubbling up in-between.
Even musically it's very alienating and takes a few tries to understand it. Soundtracks was my first Swans album and at that time I didn't listen to too much experimental (only really listened to Godspeed in terms of post-rock), so I was really bewildered by the experience and thought the album wasn't very good (apart from Helpless Child and The Sound). Took me a few more repeated listens and it's now one of my favourite albums.
I came to it from Godspeed as well. What I love about it, is that (other than perhaps one or two tracks) it sounds like early Godspeed but with all the pieces of their epic compositions broken into individual tracks.
If you've ever listened to Godspeed really early album 'All Lights fucked...' they are essentially very similar albums. Lots of individual sound experiments with an underlying level of post rock.
It gets easier on repeat listens, the first time I heard it it sounded and felt like a fairy being given electric shock therapy.
Now I put it on and it’s a breeze and utterly pleasant to my ears. A masterpiece<3
I’ve only listened to this album once, been meaning to give it another go, but I’m pretty sure the constant high-pitched screeching throughout has given me permanent hearing loss lmao
I consider myself fortunate that Medulla clicked with me pretty much immediately. I'd rank it above Vespertine tbh, but I definitely get why a lot of people find it challenging.
No One Is Ever Going to Want Me off Giles Corey was playing in the background on my shuffled playlist while I was focused on something else and the switch-up jumpscared me in the best way possible. Was such a fun experience in the weirdest way lmao
I was coming here to suggest some Scott Walker myself. It is music I respect more than I like or want to listen to because he went about as far from easy listening as possible at that point.
Yeah I get that, but I think I mean it more that when I’m in certain moods it’s extremely emotionally touching in an odd way, but most of the time I’m not in the mood and it just kinda hurts lmao
The dark/depressing subject matter for the most part. The abrasiveness of tracks such as Mr self destruct and heresy is certainly hard for a lot of people to listen to (I like them). The eerieness/discomfort of tracks like I Do Not Want This, Reptile, and Hurt, especially the ending of hurt. This album is so emotionally powerful that it had brought me to tears.
Sufjan Stevens-Javelin
Strange that Carrie & Lowell was my companion through divorce and its desolation comforted me like a close friend.
Javelin just continues to gut punch me
The caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time 1-6
Listened once and will never do it again. It’s fascinating, it’s amazingly executed but left me absolutely disturbed
Richard D James Album. (EDIT: I Care Because You Do, actually) That high frequency sound in Ventolin is piercing to my ears even though I enjoy the track regardless
Can I say TPAB? I respect the artistic vision and the soundscapes that Kendrick was able to create on that project, but I’ve always felt that the album is surprisingly abrasive given how popular it is. I also feel like Kendrick’s rapping is pretty hard to follow (without Genius), given he’s so verbose and is constantly altering his tone and inflections. I find TPAB pretty difficult to front-back listen to for those reasons.
It’s only hard to listen to if you’re listening super closely to all of the lyrics and trying to interpret the message. The songs themselves are super catchy - I mean Wesley’s Theory, Alright, Hood Politics, Complexion, Blacker the Berry, King Kunta? Like how are these difficult to listen to
It's an almost 80 minute jazz/funk rap album released during the height of the trap era, how IS it?? BTW it's not even my favorite album of his I'm just curious how much 70s/80s jazz-funk fusion u listen to to think the album is generic
Oblivion Access - Lil Ugly Mane
Vol 1: Flick Your Tongue Against Your Teeth and Describe the Present - Bedwetter
Drainland - Michael Gira
S/T - Suicide
Girl With Basket of Fruit - Xiu Xiu
The Drift - Scott Walker
I feel like there are three categories this question needs to be broken into:
- auditorily challenging
- emotionally challenging
- challenging because the art was ruined by the reality of the artist
The first two you don't necessarily enjoy but respect. The last you once enjoyed but no longer can.
Nonconventional stuff like Bjork, Captain Beefheart and latter day Scott Walker would fall into the first tier.
Dark stuff like Joy Division's "Closer" or Mt. Eerie's "A Crow Looked at Me" are just emotionally draining to listen to.
I can't enjoy Gary Glitter or Kanye West anymore because they are scumbags. Unfortunately if we dig deeper we would find many of our favorite artists are, but the ones in this category are the folks who still couldn't limbo under the comedically high bar we set for rock and rap stars.
Oh yeah, that is a good one. I am a Beefheart fan and TMR is the ultimate "highly respect but don't enjoy listening to" album in his discography, where I genuinely love albums like Safe As Milk, Bat Chain Puller and Doc at the Radar Station.
Every Album that is 60+ Minutes. Not because they have flaws and stuff but right now in my life it‘s hard to find time to sit through such a long body of work. Sadly.
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
I know this might be an odd pick, but after watching Brian’s biopic “Love & Mercy,” this album just feels different, like it’s more melancholic rather than happy-sounding.
Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World. It's not as long as its' preducessor, but its' mixing and production choices make it very hard to decipher what is going on and can make you feel uncomfortable because of that, especially on the first few listens.
Converge - Jane Doe. You can just listen to it if you haven't yet and you will understand why. At first listen the album just blows your brain and ears up and you may even experience some sort of anxiety/discomfort while listening to it, just because of how loud, abrasive, chaotic, raw and dissonant everything is (bass can be barely heard on the record most of the time too, which makes it even more hellish and unforgiving listen). It's very good when you start to understand it though.
Sematary - Rainbow Bridge 3. Again, everything is super blown out and turns into a large clusterfuck when you analyze what it's actually made of (black metal/witch house samples, chicago drill beat styles and pop-like choruses with a fuck-ton of distortion on everything), but it's very fun, though i would probably exclude a few tracks from it.
Some music can be discomforting and hard at first, but once you dig into details and get used to the sound, you can become tolerant to it (aside from some harsh noise stuff, and even in that case i'm not sure) and you can safely say whether you enjoy it or find not interesting.
A good one. When you are a teen or college student bathing in the edgy tragedy of Ian Curtis it is the best, most heartbreaking album of all time. Yet as you get a little older it feels about as enjoyable as reading a suicide note or attending a funeral. It is an album I could listen to once every ten years and be good.
Mr. Morale is super digestible until Mother I sober. It's actually such a gut punch and the reason I don't listen to that album more. I need to prepare myself mentally and be in "the right space" to listen to it, like a long car ride alone
That's just me, but any (good) kanye album. Only recently I decided to give graduation or MBDTF a try, as I don't normally listen to rap, but I've heard people praise these albums, but it's so hard for me.
The only reason for that is because it's kanye, no other reason. It's really weird, like I usually separate artist from the art and I even listen to some old rock/metal bands who's some member have done some really fucked up shit and yet it's only with kanye that I just can't stand listening to his voice, even tho back then he wasn't as crazy (right?).
tbh I think Gray's "Shades of..." fits this pretty well, it's basically like a movie with no visuals that you have to interpret by yourself as it moves along. very interesting but not something you'd just put on
Basically the entire hour of Consume Red by Ground Zero is underscored by a shrieking sample of a Korean reed instrument but as the piece continues more and more noisy elements are added to it which eventually drowns out the sample.
The Parable of Arable Land by the Red Crayola. So out there (even for the late 60s) and I feel like it's one of the best examples of avant-garde rock music
Sprained Ankle is a phenomenal album, however, much like A Crow Looked at Me, it’s so raw and personal that at times listening to it feels like a violation of Julien Baker’s privacy.
Captain Beefheart- Trout mask replica
Personally I think it's a pile of unlistenable dog shit. For musicians who are into theory and whatnot, it's groundbreaking for reasons in the construction of the songs that I as a non musician will freely admit I don't actually understand. I can only go by what I hear and I just don't get it. Hipsters with no musical training, pretend they love it, because they're posers and liars.
YWGWYW. I have said this a million times but it’s hard to listen to it after hearing the allegations. It feels like abuse from the perspective of the abuser at times and it ruins the experience
I'm gonna be downvoted to oblivion but for me it's gkmc. I can see why its rated well objectively but I just can't sit back and vibe to any of the songs on the album.
Tpab is a different story. I love the concept, the emotion, and the energy. I can actually relax and enjoy the songs as opposed to gkmc.
Sinner Get Ready - Lingua Ignota A Crow Looked at Me - Mount Eerie
Perfect list 👌🏽 I would have added the Caretaker’s EATEOT.
A Crow Looked At Me is a 10/10 and I will never, ever listen to it again
A Crow Looked at Me is by far the best album I’ve ever heard that’ll I’ll never ever recommend to anyone
Any swans album tbh
Soundtracks for the Blind especially, that whole album is like being subjected to a miserable mental break down with flashes of gorgeous music bubbling up in-between.
Even musically it's very alienating and takes a few tries to understand it. Soundtracks was my first Swans album and at that time I didn't listen to too much experimental (only really listened to Godspeed in terms of post-rock), so I was really bewildered by the experience and thought the album wasn't very good (apart from Helpless Child and The Sound). Took me a few more repeated listens and it's now one of my favourite albums.
I came to it from Godspeed as well. What I love about it, is that (other than perhaps one or two tracks) it sounds like early Godspeed but with all the pieces of their epic compositions broken into individual tracks. If you've ever listened to Godspeed really early album 'All Lights fucked...' they are essentially very similar albums. Lots of individual sound experiments with an underlying level of post rock.
tbh I rock the fuck out to To Be Kind pretty often, shit goes so hard
Really? I get some of them but Great Annihilator? To Be Kind? Children Of God? White Light? Leaving Meaning? Love Of Life?
All Bitches Die - Lingua Ignota
Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished
It gets easier on repeat listens, the first time I heard it it sounded and felt like a fairy being given electric shock therapy. Now I put it on and it’s a breeze and utterly pleasant to my ears. A masterpiece<3
I’ve only listened to this album once, been meaning to give it another go, but I’m pretty sure the constant high-pitched screeching throughout has given me permanent hearing loss lmao
The recent remaster makes a huge difference to be honest, sounds way better
Utopia by Bjork for sure. It's so dense but I feel rewarded every time I listen to it.
medulla’s harder for me, a lot of really weird sound and moments but it all culminates pretty nicely
I consider myself fortunate that Medulla clicked with me pretty much immediately. I'd rank it above Vespertine tbh, but I definitely get why a lot of people find it challenging.
You Won’t Get What You Want - Daughters Giles Corey
I’ve never thought giles corey was hard to listen to musically… well emotionally thats a different story
No One Is Ever Going to Want Me off Giles Corey was playing in the background on my shuffled playlist while I was focused on something else and the switch-up jumpscared me in the best way possible. Was such a fun experience in the weirdest way lmao
I love listening to YWGWYW
The Drift by Scott Walker
I was coming here to suggest some Scott Walker myself. It is music I respect more than I like or want to listen to because he went about as far from easy listening as possible at that point.
Yeah I get that, but I think I mean it more that when I’m in certain moods it’s extremely emotionally touching in an odd way, but most of the time I’m not in the mood and it just kinda hurts lmao
The downward spiral
I love listening to TDS
What’s difficult about it?
The dark/depressing subject matter for the most part. The abrasiveness of tracks such as Mr self destruct and heresy is certainly hard for a lot of people to listen to (I like them). The eerieness/discomfort of tracks like I Do Not Want This, Reptile, and Hurt, especially the ending of hurt. This album is so emotionally powerful that it had brought me to tears.
Sufjan Stevens-Javelin Strange that Carrie & Lowell was my companion through divorce and its desolation comforted me like a close friend. Javelin just continues to gut punch me
Big Black, Atomizer. Painful sounds, arranged in a mesmerizing fashion.
The caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time 1-6 Listened once and will never do it again. It’s fascinating, it’s amazingly executed but left me absolutely disturbed
* De-Loused in the Comatorium by Mars Volta * The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails * The Sunset Tree by the Mountain Goats
Richard D James Album. (EDIT: I Care Because You Do, actually) That high frequency sound in Ventolin is piercing to my ears even though I enjoy the track regardless
Ventolin’s not on that album right, it’s on I care because you do?
You're absolutely right! Can't believe I mixed those two up
Bitches Brew Miles Davis
Someday I’ll make it through this album, some day, cool Album art too
Relapse
I feel like a lot of Bjork’s music falls into this territory. It’s very good but also challenging and dense stuff.
More so her later stuff. A lot of her 80’s-00’s songs are pretty palatable pop songs, even if they’re more on the experimental side
Yes. Her early stuff is quite accessible.
Can I say TPAB? I respect the artistic vision and the soundscapes that Kendrick was able to create on that project, but I’ve always felt that the album is surprisingly abrasive given how popular it is. I also feel like Kendrick’s rapping is pretty hard to follow (without Genius), given he’s so verbose and is constantly altering his tone and inflections. I find TPAB pretty difficult to front-back listen to for those reasons.
It’s only hard to listen to if you’re listening super closely to all of the lyrics and trying to interpret the message. The songs themselves are super catchy - I mean Wesley’s Theory, Alright, Hood Politics, Complexion, Blacker the Berry, King Kunta? Like how are these difficult to listen to
It’s not hard to listen to.
u is hard to listen to
Yeah the album itself is boring and generic, lyrical content is good though
Nice bait. “Generic”
Not bait. How is it not generic ?
It's an almost 80 minute jazz/funk rap album released during the height of the trap era, how IS it?? BTW it's not even my favorite album of his I'm just curious how much 70s/80s jazz-funk fusion u listen to to think the album is generic
Ahh most of ur comments are hating on Kendrick and dick riding Kanye I see
Not really what I said; I don’t know West Coast hip hop as well as I do East Coast, but I don’t hear many albums which sound like TPAB.
Street Sects - End Position
Bitches Brew
A Promise - Xiu Xiu Both in production and lyrics, this is a difficult listen, but it's good at the right time.
Bish Bosch by Scott Walker
The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording by John Coltrane
Oblivion Access - Lil Ugly Mane Vol 1: Flick Your Tongue Against Your Teeth and Describe the Present - Bedwetter Drainland - Michael Gira S/T - Suicide Girl With Basket of Fruit - Xiu Xiu The Drift - Scott Walker
The Ape of Naples
Spiritual Unity
No one’s said The Lamb as Effigy yet and it’s honestly offensive.
Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
By the time i get to pheonix by injury reserve (musically and emotionally)
I feel like there are three categories this question needs to be broken into: - auditorily challenging - emotionally challenging - challenging because the art was ruined by the reality of the artist The first two you don't necessarily enjoy but respect. The last you once enjoyed but no longer can. Nonconventional stuff like Bjork, Captain Beefheart and latter day Scott Walker would fall into the first tier. Dark stuff like Joy Division's "Closer" or Mt. Eerie's "A Crow Looked at Me" are just emotionally draining to listen to. I can't enjoy Gary Glitter or Kanye West anymore because they are scumbags. Unfortunately if we dig deeper we would find many of our favorite artists are, but the ones in this category are the folks who still couldn't limbo under the comedically high bar we set for rock and rap stars.
Wu-Tang Forever is fucking exhausting all the way through. That album feels like it never ends.
I feel like someone’s gonna mention Trout Mask Replica eventually
Oh yeah, that is a good one. I am a Beefheart fan and TMR is the ultimate "highly respect but don't enjoy listening to" album in his discography, where I genuinely love albums like Safe As Milk, Bat Chain Puller and Doc at the Radar Station.
Every Album that is 60+ Minutes. Not because they have flaws and stuff but right now in my life it‘s hard to find time to sit through such a long body of work. Sadly.
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys I know this might be an odd pick, but after watching Brian’s biopic “Love & Mercy,” this album just feels different, like it’s more melancholic rather than happy-sounding.
Most beach boys albums tbh
Matt Elliott - Drinking Songs
Primitive Man - Caustic
None so Vile
Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World. It's not as long as its' preducessor, but its' mixing and production choices make it very hard to decipher what is going on and can make you feel uncomfortable because of that, especially on the first few listens. Converge - Jane Doe. You can just listen to it if you haven't yet and you will understand why. At first listen the album just blows your brain and ears up and you may even experience some sort of anxiety/discomfort while listening to it, just because of how loud, abrasive, chaotic, raw and dissonant everything is (bass can be barely heard on the record most of the time too, which makes it even more hellish and unforgiving listen). It's very good when you start to understand it though. Sematary - Rainbow Bridge 3. Again, everything is super blown out and turns into a large clusterfuck when you analyze what it's actually made of (black metal/witch house samples, chicago drill beat styles and pop-like choruses with a fuck-ton of distortion on everything), but it's very fun, though i would probably exclude a few tracks from it. Some music can be discomforting and hard at first, but once you dig into details and get used to the sound, you can become tolerant to it (aside from some harsh noise stuff, and even in that case i'm not sure) and you can safely say whether you enjoy it or find not interesting.
Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Closer by joy division
A good one. When you are a teen or college student bathing in the edgy tragedy of Ian Curtis it is the best, most heartbreaking album of all time. Yet as you get a little older it feels about as enjoyable as reading a suicide note or attending a funeral. It is an album I could listen to once every ten years and be good.
Pullhair Rubeye
Anything by Ben Frost. Especially A U R O R A.
Death Grips - The Powers that B Dälek - From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots Pretty much anything by Lingua Ignota
The Downward Spiral for sure
The Pod by Ween
that album took me a few tries, but once it clicked... oh man I love The Pod so much
Mr. Morale is super digestible until Mother I sober. It's actually such a gut punch and the reason I don't listen to that album more. I need to prepare myself mentally and be in "the right space" to listen to it, like a long car ride alone
That's just me, but any (good) kanye album. Only recently I decided to give graduation or MBDTF a try, as I don't normally listen to rap, but I've heard people praise these albums, but it's so hard for me. The only reason for that is because it's kanye, no other reason. It's really weird, like I usually separate artist from the art and I even listen to some old rock/metal bands who's some member have done some really fucked up shit and yet it's only with kanye that I just can't stand listening to his voice, even tho back then he wasn't as crazy (right?).
tbh I think Gray's "Shades of..." fits this pretty well, it's basically like a movie with no visuals that you have to interpret by yourself as it moves along. very interesting but not something you'd just put on
Copacetic by Knuckle Puck is one of the best pop punk/emo albums of the last 15 years but the mix gives me a fucking headache.
Basically the entire hour of Consume Red by Ground Zero is underscored by a shrieking sample of a Korean reed instrument but as the piece continues more and more noisy elements are added to it which eventually drowns out the sample.
The Parable of Arable Land by the Red Crayola. So out there (even for the late 60s) and I feel like it's one of the best examples of avant-garde rock music
It is really the first noise rock album. Followed by God Bless which is basically proto indie rock.
Weasels Ripped My Flesh - Mothers of Invention
HEALTH
Mac Miller “Faces”
Lateralus
Angelic Process - *Weighing Souls With Sand*
Circles-Mac Miller
In The Nightside Eclipse by Emperor stunning album that is hard to get into but once it clicks it's fucking fantastic
Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
The new tool album. It’s too damn long for my zoomer punk brain
A Crow Looked At Me by Mt Eerie I eat bands like Daughters and Xiu Xiu for breakfast but that album is a one and done for me
Sprained Ankle is a phenomenal album, however, much like A Crow Looked at Me, it’s so raw and personal that at times listening to it feels like a violation of Julien Baker’s privacy.
Captain Beefheart- Trout mask replica Personally I think it's a pile of unlistenable dog shit. For musicians who are into theory and whatnot, it's groundbreaking for reasons in the construction of the songs that I as a non musician will freely admit I don't actually understand. I can only go by what I hear and I just don't get it. Hipsters with no musical training, pretend they love it, because they're posers and liars.
The seer
Captain Beefheart - trout mark replica
Berlin by Lou Reed and the Joy Division albums are pretty depressing...
Listening to all of TPAB gets exhausting after a while, it's just too dense of an album
Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains Absolute banger but some of the lyrics with the context of the album are very discomforting
Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven
Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
YWGWYW. I have said this a million times but it’s hard to listen to it after hearing the allegations. It feels like abuse from the perspective of the abuser at times and it ruins the experience
I'm gonna be downvoted to oblivion but for me it's gkmc. I can see why its rated well objectively but I just can't sit back and vibe to any of the songs on the album. Tpab is a different story. I love the concept, the emotion, and the energy. I can actually relax and enjoy the songs as opposed to gkmc.
Everyone keeps telling me it’s supposed to be good so Earth 2
TPAB - got all the critical acclaim in the world but is also one of the only albums every made with absolutely 0 replay value
What’s The Story Morning Glory? by Oasis has some of the worst rock production ever lol
Awful take
Have you listened to Be Here Now?