Disc Course Results 2025: Tier 5, Week 2

This particular set of showdowns really brought into focus an often confusing distinction that arises when I am considering what album should proceed through the Disc Course: choosing an album I respect versus an album that I love. 

There are an awful lot of albums that I appreciate in terms of the way they “tickle my brain,” so to speak.  Perhaps they have concepts and constructions that make me think, for example, or maybe I appreciate the inherent virtuosity of their performances.  I like these albums – and they often do enjoy replays and get attached to experience. 

Conversely, there are others that just “speak” to me in an indescribably subjective way.  In these cases, they may not necessarily contain the same objective appeal, but they make my hairs stand on end, give me a knot in my gut, or a lump in my throat.  Ideally, the best albums fire on both cylinders, but this is relatively rare.

Virtually all the showdowns this week forced me to contemplate this balance.  Sometimes, depending on my overall state of being, I’ll lean one way or the other to help inform my choices.  This week just happened to be one in which I leaned towards the subjective, finding myself selecting albums that I “just liked” over ones that I find interesting or could talk about in an intellectual mode.

 

Teitur Magusson – Orna VS. Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

Great example of this here.  I really, really like Orna and would gladly listen to it anytime.  He’s an interesting character and his music is breezy and beachy in the most carefree way.  I’m a sucker for well-crafted power pop, however, and I miss Adam Schlesinger something fierce.  Perhaps there are objectively better albums in the style than Tinted Windows, but it hits me where I live.  Can’t ignore that.

Misþyrming - Með hamri VS. Clutch – Blast Tyrant

Clutch – Blast Tyrant

This one was surprisingly close.  Anyone who has followed me know that I have a cautious acceptance of non-pitched vocals, and I really thought that Blast Tyrant’s gutbucket groovyness would totally shut Með hamri out.  While Clutch’s clever use of vernacular wordplay did win in the end, focused listens of Með hamri revealed compelling orchestrations and melodic depth hiding under the hood that ended up giving Blast Tyrant’s inarguable accessibility a startling run for its money.

Vök – In the Dark VS. Alan Sparhawk – White Roses, My God

Vök – In the Dark

Here’s a great example, because the context of White Roses, My God really provides the album with some gravity.  Its his first post-Low album since the death of Mimi Parker, and its robotic nature seems to be everything his previous band was not, seemingly intended as a place to hide from the stylistic affectations with which Alan Sparhawk would normally be associated.  In the end, however, I continued coming back to the consistently engaging funk-pop of In the Dark.  Ask me next week, and I might change my mind.

 

Hjatalin – Enter 4 VS. Sheena Ringo - Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana

Hjatalin – Enter 4

Sheena Ringo is undeniably ingenious.  She packs a HUGE amount of thought into her music, with the sense that the full scope of Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana will never unfold, but be subsumed within its endless detail.  The intimate, bleak melodicism of Enter 4 emerged to profoundly haunt me, however, inviting nearly endless repeats over the course of the week. 

 

Viewer’s Choice

Teitur Magusson – Orna VS. Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

Teitur Magusson – Orna

Misþyrming - Með hamri VS. Clutch – Blast Tyrant

Clutch – Blast Tyrant

 

Vök – In the Dark VS. Alan Sparhawk – White Roses, My God

Vök – In the Dark

 

Hjatalin – Enter 4 VS. Sheena Ringo - Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana

Sheena Ringo - Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana