Day 0892 - Le Tigre

Le Tigre "Le Tigre" (1999)

Le Tigre - not just one of Derek Zoolander's many varied looks.

After the breakup of her riot grrrl (90s feminist punk movement) band Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna released a solo album under the name Julie Ruin.   She put together a band with Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning to play the album live but they soon moved beyond that and began making music together.

The abrasive punk of Bikini Kill is less prominent here, outside of the odd track like "The The Empty".  There is still that coiled spring energy but it's channelled into much catchier (though still rocking and lo-fi) danceable fare, like opener "Deceptacon".  Or there's "Hot Topic" which name-checks a number of notable creative people in a way that works as almost a kind of beat poetry.   "My My Metrocard" has kitschy 60s, Austin Powers-esque organ over a shouted punchy groove.

The whole thing has a retro feel to it that seems like it's referencing catchy  50s and 60s pop-rock but without sounding specific to that period thanks to its underlying raw power and punk attitude.

Day 0134 - The Beatles (AKA 'The White Album')

The Beatles "The Beatles" (AKA 'The White Album") (1968) - got it

The band were not on best terms by this point, and were clearly heading off more and more in their own creative directions here.  They still had enough input on each other's music that it still sounds like a band.

Lennon and McCartney deliver some great cuts between them such as "Julia", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Helter Skelter", "Back in the USSR" etc etc, with "Sexy Sadie" being shameless ripped off by Radiohead a few years later for 'Karma Police'.
Ringo contributed a song too, but the real star songwriting-wise is George with the beautiful 'while my guitar gently weeps' and 'long long long' that really sounds like it could have been released last week... possibly because a few bands are still copying/being influenced by that sound at the moment.

The band mostly eschew their former psychedelic and baroque pop sensibilities (outside of a few tracks) for a more stripped down blues and rock sound.

Basically you know it's a good collection of songs when everyone is trying to use/copy/reference them; the most famous example probably being Danger Mouse's "the Grey Album" which combines this album with Jay-Z's "Black Album".