--- 
title: three albums - september 2023
date: 2023-10-01
---

this month was a really fun one! i dabbled in a lot of stuff in september, and while i did dip back into my ambient roots a little, i also stumbled onto some really solid albums from a couple of other genres: 

[this month's playlist!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0t11mLUo7bEX1Nh2tQ1oQJ?si=7eefa457b0014663)  

### hanging masses - cell  
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 320px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3034410748/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://ultimae.bandcamp.com/album/hanging-masses">Hanging Masses by CELL</a></iframe>  

i've listened to this album loads of times - it's basically considered the next logical step from solar fields, a rung on the ladder for mirrors edge fans to get into the wider world of downtempo / space ambient / psychedlic ambient music. this month, however, i had a super lovely moment where i just sat down and listened to this album with no other distraction, and i was absurdly impressed at how it builds its _space_. individual drones seem to move around you, completely disconnected from one another in a way that evokes floating through space or being surrounded by some cosmic force. the melodies are simple and repetitive, but give the tracks structure, and clever processing gives these more upfront tracks a glitchy style that makes it just a little more interesting. on top of this, there are an array of little mechanical noises popping throughout each track to give it texture and keep your ear bouncing around

i'm honestly amazed that this album sat in my library for this long, enjoyed but not truly appreciated. i'm going to give their newer album, onwards system, a really solid crack next month to see if it holds up the same way

### rum sodomy & the lash - the pogues  
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/2wRH4pcI8TIQFCK1MeByWO?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="380px" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>

i take back everything i said about fontaines cd last week, because _this_ is the irish music i really want to listen to. it definitely sits more in the folk music corner of the genre wheel, but it has the same "waving a fist at authority" feel as punk music, but perhaps a smidge more hedonistic. part of the beauty of this album is its pure catchiness; the sick bed of cuchulainn throws you directly in the deep end with the high energy and toe tap-pability, in a way that the rest of the album actually generally avoids; there are some more somber tracks like a rainy night in soho, and some purely instrumentals like planxty noel hill, but the rest seem to sit comfortably in the middle, evoking the blissful back end of a night out partying with friends

this album also managed to shoot me off on a research tangent on the striking similarities between irish folk tunes and the iconic pirate sea shanty. the answer wasn't as cut and dry as i was hoping, and my personal perspective is probably swayed by public media's depiction of the classic sea shanty, but it was a cute little historical rabbithole nevertheless

### phoenix: flames are dew upon my skin - eartheater  
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 320px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=700091752/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://eartheater.bandcamp.com/album/phoenix-flames-are-dew-upon-my-skin">Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin by Eartheater</a></iframe>  

i have no recollection how i stumbled onto eartheater, but they're quickly becoming one of my favourite discoveries of the year. i laughed out loud when i checked rym for the genre they consider phoenix to be:

![](/_assets/img/three_albums_august_2023/genres.png)

these people have NO idea what's going on, but that also shows how out there of a style that eartheater is serving really is. the bones of their music is actually sitting somewhere around the old indie folk i used to listen to after i finished life is strange for the first time (i do still love daughter and amanda palmer and will not apologise for it) but this is more of a springboard than anything. the fairly conventional and familiar part of these tracks is layered with some bjork-adjacent lyricism and vocals, as well as heady, sometimes screechy synthesised sounds that are more in line with the heavy experimental music i touch on every now and then. despite all this, the album is extremely easy to listen to, enough so that i comfortably binged both this album and the rest of eartheater's discography over a work day or two

### honourable mention: good time film score - oneohtrix point never  
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 320px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1063657529/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://oneohtrixpointnever.bandcamp.com/album/good-time-original-motion-picture-soundtrack">Good Time Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Oneohtrix Point Never</a></iframe>  

on top of everything else, i managed to put away 2017's good time this month, a film that leans extremely heavily on its score by oneohtrix point never (who i saw in person [just a couple of months ago](/blog/three_albums_july_2023/#honourable-mentions)). while the crazy droning of this score integrates with and heightens the experience immensely, my favourite track is probably the credits track 'the pure and the damned', sung silkiliy by iggy pop, of all people