 Front cover | |
| Author | James Acaster |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | James Acaster |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Headline Publishing Group |
Publication date | 22 August 2019 |
| Media type | Print Audiobook |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | 1472260309 |
Perfect Sound Whatever is a 2019 book by James Acaster charting his project to catalogue the music of 2016, with the aim of proving that 2016 was 'the best year for music ever'. The book is named after the song of the same name by Jeff Rosenstock [1]
In 2017, Acaster broke up with his girlfriend and terminated his relationship with his agent. [2] [3] He was also exhausted from recording several live stand up specials and an unrelenting touring schedule. This combination of events left him feeling depressed and lost. [4] Acaster found solace in purchasing music albums from the year 2016, initially as an effort to reconnect with music, something he had previously got great joy from, and felt that he had lost. [5] Eventually, this project saw him purchasing over 500 albums from various artists and genres, the only thing connecting them being the publication year of 2016. [6] [7] Eventually, Acaster becomes convinced that 2016 was 'the best year for music ever'. [8] [1]
The book lists all the albums that Acaster purchased as part of his project, with a brief description of each one, accompanied by various stories from Acaster's earlier life, his experience playing in the band 'The Wow! Scenario' and the events that led up to the project.
Jeffrey Lynne is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and leader of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970, and as a songwriter has written most of the band's hits, including "Evil Woman", "Livin' Thing", "Telephone Line", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Hold On Tight".
Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up includes vocalist Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones and drummer Danny Carey. Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist since 1995, replacing its original bassist Paul D'Amour. Tool has won four Grammy Awards, performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping the charts in several countries.
Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its first decade, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. Since early 2004, the lineup has been unchanged, consisting of Tweedy, Stirratt, guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, keyboard player Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released twelve studio albums, a live double album, and four collaborations: three with Billy Bragg and one with The Minus 5.
A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their four studio albums in the early 2000s: their debut Mer de Noms in 2000, a follow-up, Thirteenth Step in 2003; and an album of radically re-worked cover songs, Emotive, in 2004. Shortly after Emotive's release, the band went on hiatus; Keenan returned to Tool and started up solo work under the band name Puscifer, while Howerdel released a solo album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, under the moniker Ashes Divide. Band activity was sporadic in the following years; the band reformed in 2010, and played live shows on and off between 2010 and 2013, but fell into inactivity after the release of their greatest hits album, Three Sixty, and a live album box set, A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo in late 2013. The band reformed in 2017 to record a fourth album, Eat the Elephant, which was released in 2018.
The Tea Party is a Canadian rock band. Active throughout the 1990s and up until 2005, the band re-formed in 2011. The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling over three million records worldwide, including four double-platinum awards, one platinum and four gold albums in Canada. Between 1996 and 2016, The Tea Party was the 35th best-selling Canadian artist in Canada.
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. Former bassist Andy Nicholson left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released.
Polyvinyl Record Co. is an American independent record label headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The label also has satellite offices in New York, Austin, and the Bay Area. Polyvinyl has put out over 400 releases to date.
Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as well as for his work as a solo artist and as a composer for Craig of the Creek. He is the founder of Quote Unquote Records, the first donation-based record label.
Richard David James, best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publications including Mixmag, The New York Times, NME, Fact,Clash and The Guardian have called James one of the most influential and important artists in contemporary electronic music.
Anthony Fantano is an American music critic and YouTuber who runs the YouTube channel The Needle Drop and its tie-in website, as well as its Twitch streaming channel. Self-appointed as "The Internet's Busiest Music Nerd", Fantano discusses and reviews music from a variety of genres online.
James William Acaster is an English comedian. As well as the stand-up specials Repertoire and Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, he is known for co-hosting the food podcast Off Menu and the panel show Hypothetical. Acaster makes use of fictional characters within his stand-up comedy, which is characterised by frequent callback jokes, offbeat observational comedy and overarching stories. He has won four Chortle Awards, a Just for Laughs Award and International Comedy Festival Awards at Melbourne and New Zealand.
Antarctigo Vespucci is an American indie rock band, formed in 2014. The band is composed of punk musicians Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock.
Lemonade is the sixth studio album by American singer Beyoncé. It was released on April 23, 2016, by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records, accompanied by a 65-minute film of the same title. It is Beyoncé's second visual album, following her self-titled fifth studio album (2013), and a concept album with a song cycle that relates Beyoncé's emotional journey after her husband's infidelity in a generational and racial context. Primarily an R&B and art pop album, Lemonade encompasses a variety of genres, including reggae, blues, rock, hip hop, soul, funk, Americana, country, gospel, electronic, and trap. It features guest vocals from James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, the Weeknd, and Jack White, and contains samples and interpolations of a number of hip hop and rock songs.
The Tuts were an English DIY pop punk, "three-tone" band from Hayes, Greater London. They received extensive coverage from alternative music radio, most notably Amazing Radio, and from music websites such as Louder Than War which published multiple articles on the group, calling them "one of the UK's most exciting bands". The band, particularly frontwoman Nadia Javed, were the subject of a feature in the ITV series Young, British and Muslim in April 2018.
Worry is the second solo album by American rock musician Jeff Rosenstock, released on October 14, 2016 by SideOneDummy Records. Released over a year after his debut solo album We Cool?, Worry was recorded in April and May 2016 at a house in Stinson Beach, California. Much of the album was written shortly after Rosenstock's band's gear was stolen while on tour in 2015. Worry saw the former Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches frontman achieve his greatest critical success, with numerous placements on year-end lists and previously unseen media exposure. The album addresses themes including urban gentrification, economic inequality and police brutality in the United States.
Post- is the third solo album by American singer-songwriter Jeff Rosenstock. It was released on January 1, 2018, without any promotional lead-up. The album was released on Polyvinyl Record Co. in the United States and by Specialist Subject Records in the United Kingdom.
Mer de Noms is the debut studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The album was released on May 23, 2000, and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 4, making it the highest ever Billboard 200 debut for a rock band's first album. It sold over 188,000 copies in the first week, and was certified platinum by the RIAA later that same year. Three singles were released in promotion of the album, "Judith", "3 Libras", and "The Hollow", all of which hit the top 20 of both the Billboard US Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.
James Acaster's Classic Scrapes is a 2017 autobiography by English comedian James Acaster. Consisting largely of stories told from a XFM radio show presented by Josh Widdicombe, the book describes amusing incidents in which Acaster ended up in embarrassing situations, referred to as "scrapes". The scrapes are often one-off stories, but many are on the subjects of childhood embarrassment, Acaster's experiences performing as a drummer, and his early ventures into stand-up comedy. The book was a bestseller in The Sunday Times and received positive reviews. Acaster's second book, Perfect Sound Whatever, followed in August 2019.
No Dream is the fourth solo album by American singer-songwriter Jeff Rosenstock. It was released on May 20, 2020, without any promotional lead-up. The album was released on Polyvinyl Record Co. in the United States and by Specialist Subject Records in the United Kingdom. It is also available directly from the artist through Quote Unquote Records and Really Records.
Just Got Back From the Discomfort—We're Alright is the second and final studio album by American emo band The Brave Little Abacus, released on May 29, 2010. The album was a lo-fi home recording that developed a popular following only after the band broke up and was noted by critics for its varied instrumentation and unorthodox vocals.
