Closing Time | Tom Waits | 1973 | Asylum | #341 Finally, after many recommendations from people whose musical opinions I trust (yet apparently I ignored), I’m listening to Tom Waits. I don’t suppose I would have ever got around to it if not for doing this challenge. This is his debut album which I think is important to consider prior to forming of any opinions. Apparently he experimented a lot more with his sound in later albums so I’ll be sure to give those a listen before I judge. (three more of Tom’s albums appear on this list later on) ...

Lazer Guided Melodies | Spiritualized | 1992 | Dedicated | #342 This is the album I needed to listen to today. I couldn’t be more appreciative of how close it brought me to absolute contentment. This is atmospheric space-rock with an incredibly chilled vibe which purposefully forfeits anything musically intricate or obtrusive to create a totally tranquil soundscape. The whole album casually flows and almost drifts by inconspicuously, yet there’s something pleasantly tactile about it; it felt like having a brain massage. ...

John Wesley Harding | Bob Dylan | 1967 | Columbia | #343 The first of seven Bob Dylan albums I’ll be listening to this year. I’m sure the decision to place this particular one as his seventh best wasn’t as automatic as the predictability of placing seven Dylan albums on the list in the first place, so I’m concious to not prematurely make any conclusions. This is not so much an album, more a collection of frontier-style stories and religious fables and musings sung over an unobtrusive folk-rock musical backdrop. Listening to this now, 49 years after its release, provides an albeit obvious point of reference to observe how far music has come. Not just in the purely musical sense but in whom society heralds as heroes. Maybe it’s a shame that contemporary musicians are not as poetic but perhaps there are other aspects that should be celebrated. If it’s a toss-up between Nicki Minaj using her fame to make serious political challenges and actions against racism or Dylan’s lyrically pretty ramblings - simplistic and frankly rudimentary in content which they are in this album - I know which I would choose. (and that’s two Nicki Minaj mentions in as many posts) ...

Beautiful Freak | Eels | 1996 | DreamWorks | #344 I’ve never given any time to Eels. Perhaps they came a bit too early for me - I don’t think I was struggling with issues of self-worth and isolation at the age of 8 when this album was released - either way it passed me by. So I had no idea what to expect here. It’s a reveal of lead singer E’s mental health (that’s his stage name, real name Mark Oliver Everett - outcast and misfit). Contemporary indie-pop with elements of grunge and basic 3-chord rock indicative of depressed, mid-90s teen anxiety, but in a good way. ...

Punch the Clock | Elvis Costello | 1983 | F-Beat | #345 So far I’ve been true to listening to one album a day. I did indeed listen to this on Friday but it’s now 12:33 am on Sunday as I write. Some days it just won’t be feasible to find the time to write something down and so I’ll be playing catch-up. This is one of four Elvis Costello albums on the list and its first occurrence is also my first proper chance I’ve given Elvis to impress. Unfortunately though it didn’t. ...

Low-Life | New Order | 1985 | Factory | #346 Another first for me in listening to an entire New Order album. In fact I’m sure this is the first time I’ve listened to a synthpop album all the way through. Previous encounters with the genre were limited to listening to the classics most likely at parties as part of some sort of weird nostalgic experiment which almost becomes ritual at any student house party. (weird in the way that none of my friends were even alive when the likes of New Order were at their peak) ...

Dirty | Sonic Youth | 1992 | DGC | #347 Admittedly sometimes it feels like a chore to begin the listening and writing process every day, especially when I leave it as late as I have tonight (again). But I’m thoroughly enjoying the extreme transitions between genres and moods that this list is providing. Though that’s a purely accidental fallout of NME’s debatable ordering rather than anything calculated that I can credit them with; I hardly suspect they fancied their choices as inspiration for a daily playlist. ...

An Awesome Wave | Alt-J | 2012 | Infectious | #349 This is a bit more than just another indie-pop album created by some nerds with a penchant for geometry and bizarre sexual innuendos; their name being the method for deploying a triangle on a mac (or rather the Greek letter Delta, which in physics we use to denote the change in a variable or quantity - interesting), and lyrics such as “triangles are my favourite shape” or “In your snatch fits pleasure, broom-shaped pleasure Deep greedy and googling every corner”. Beneath the geometry-referencing lyrics and the album’s apt pitching, oblique production is a very accessible and reassuring sound. Not in the same vain as the easy-listening achieved by repeating a hashed-out, dependable formula though, but instead through something more profound and unique. Basically that sound that every indie-dance-pop band has been trying and, in my opinion, failing to achieve for about the last 10 years. ...

B.R.M.C | Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | 2001 | Virgin | #351 Today was the first day in which the difficulty of this challenge caught up with me. It’s late, I’ve had other stuff to do today, and I desperately want to go to bed. Thankfully then, BMRC don’t offer much here to make me excited enough to lose sleep over. I get the feeling they’re primarily about image - that’s what they’re selling - second comes the music. We’re far too cool to be looking at cameras whilst casually hanging out in this street spot with our leather jackets. Now buy our album. ...

White Light/White Heat | The Velvet Underground | 1968 | Verve | #352 A piece of trivia I found quite funny; apparently Tom Wilson (producer/engineer) couldn’t stand the noise over the couple of days they spent recording this album such that he started the tapes, walked out, and said “call me when you’re done”. It goes that The Velvet Underground had just sacked Andy Warhol as manager and were fed up with being over-produced and didn’t care whether they sounded good. The result is an aptly-named, wilfully under-produced cacophony. ...