And the Best Album of all Time is...

“Best of all times” lists are fun. In music, where everybody is entitled to their own tastes and opinions, lists are naturally controversial and deliver an opportunity for vindication, analysis, and face-palm moments.

The Apple Music 100 Best Albums list kicked off last week, and we almost missed it. As usual, communication from Apple is sparse, but they say that it is curated by artists and industry professionals (not journalists!) and streaming numbers were not taken into account.

The reveal of the first ten albums, 100 to 91, demonstrated that approach: Eagles’ Hotel California made it only to 99, despite being one of the best-selling albums of all time and having a title track with lyrics pretty much everybody can sing along to. Also, for a very long time, it looked like every artist was only eligible for one album, a rule I would have approved to keep the list diverse.

That idea was blown out of the window on Tuesday when Radiohead placed both Kid A and OK Computeron the list (I disagree that the latter was ranked higher, though). That changed the game completely: everybody could now make the top 10, and some supposed omissions, like Prince’s Sign ‘o the Times over Purple Rain are not omissions at all.

Who made number one? Not Michael Jackson with Thriller, a choice everybody could have concurred with, but The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, a welcome surprise element.

Elke and I had a lot of fun with the reveals, mainly since we have been focusing on albums more lately. We surely missed some artists, but we have to acknowledge that it was about great albums, not just great songs bundled onto a record. Still, as kids from the 80s and huge synthpop fans, we’re saddened not to see Tears for Fears’ Songs from the Big Chair, Depeche Mode’s Violator, or Pet Shop Boys’ Actuallyincluded in the list. Luckily, we can listen to these albums – on vinyl – any time we want.

Check out the list and let us know if your favorites made the cut.

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Sony Warns AI Companies

Technology companies are falling over each other to develop software that creates new music from AI models. The problematic point is that those models have to be trained with something, and Sony Music made it clear that their content is not available for that.

Using intellectual property for training AI models will be a legal battle for many years to come, but the cat may already be out of the bag. Where does this leave music? Will the stars of tomorrow be TikTok creators who dance to AI-generated songs? I still hope and believe that the reverence for technology has peaked and that people will increasingly embrace humanity as Apple did with its not-algorithmically generated Top 100 albums list.

Album Watch

We have three albums on our watch list for tomorrow:

• London’smui zyu with her second album, nothing or something to die for
• California quartet La Luz with News of the Universe.
• LA dream pop queen Winter with her new EP ...and she’s still listening.

Here are two records to look forward to:

• The new EP Sinkhole by LA singer/songwriter Sarah Grace White will be released on June 28. Check out
• Berlin singer, composer, and producer Anna von Raison released her debut album under the name AVR on June 7. On Salvation Anna shines with gorgeous vocals and presents a futuristic vision of pop music.

Nine Photos Around The Oculus & The WTC

When we lived Downtown from the fall of 2001 until the spring of 2004, a certain sadness but also the creative challenge of reconstruction and the spirit of community was in the air. At times, it was rather hard to live there because of all the toxins that were in the air too, the clean-up, and the construction noises.

However, more than twenty years later, the area developed into something very vibrant, beautiful, and even peaceful. No more street vendors who are pushing high gloss gruesome photos of the 9/11 events onto you, but only a few clearly marked memorial kiosks with a charity mission.

And then there’s new architecture in its most glorious form, inside and out! I am referring to the Santiago Calatravas’ designed The Oculus, one of New York’s major transportation hubs. Walking through the Oculus brings me joy, and for the first time since its 2017 opening, I also experienced calm and contentment walking around outside. The area that has been ripped apart feels whole and healed again. Certainly, my heart and spirit have been healing too.

I hope the photos invite you to visit Downtown Manhattan too (again) soon.

(1) Walking towards the Hudson, facing West.
(2) Looking at The Oculus, facing East.
(3) The South Tower Pool. (The North Tower Pool is currently undergoing maintenance.)
(4) Plenty of fields in Downtown Manhattan to play sports. Here, it’s Volleyball near the North Cove.
(5) We’re enjoying the open sea, incl. the Statue of Liberty (not in the photo) behind us.
(6) Looking East.
(7) Standing at the North Cove, looking at Jersey City.
(8) View up the Winter Garden Atrium.
(9) This looks so different now! So many new buildings. We used to live on the 18th floor in the 31-story 15 Park Row building. In the photo, it is the “little” one with the two green towers on top. Hard to believe that it once was the world’s tallest office building!