Penny Sparkle

I’m probably the only person in this entire universe with all its galaxies & black holes who considers Blonde Redhead’s Penny Sparkle to be the best 2010 album. I mean, sure, 2011 was a great year for music, but I’m so attached to this album, and I much rather rave about it. They’re the only artists/group that I listen to who see and acknowledge the path to fame, and decide to happily stray away from it. They remind me of Radiohead; they live in their own universe.

It’s hard to describe why I really like this album, but -luckily!- I’m a person who love to draw comparisons: Blonde Redhead albums are the equivalent of Metroid games (sans the atrocious Other M). They try to engulf you with an overly extreme sense of melancholy and despair and, for a lack of a better word, tragedy. It feels like all the sadness in the world is compressed into their crafts. And I just love it.

You can’t put a finger on what makes an album so good. Really, pinpointing emotions for the sake of it is silly, and I rather not delve into this path. It may even link to the fact that I cherish the art of sadness and therefore find this album -in particular- so mesmerizing. But I do, and it takes me to places no other album could ever dream to achieve.

You probably won’t like it. It’s slow and subtle, and requires a long attention span to fully grasp and appreciate it. But, when it clicks, and it will eventually, you’ll thank me. My favorites are Penny Sparkle and Spain.