Ball Park Music Album Recommendations

The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Ball Park Music

[#] Museum (2012)

Indie rock to write a cynical webcomic about modern life and monsters to—hey wait.

Reviewed November 16, 2024

See, I wish this album sucked. I have the perfect shitty reviewer opener: "Ball Park Music: they're not even in the right ballpark." Distinctly less twee than the damndable "indie pop" tag had me expecting, Museum actually reminds me at times of a more fantastical (don't miss the quick mention of chefs on PCP in "Coming Down") Australian version of the Strokes—mostly thanks to singer-guitarist Sam Cromack's unintentionally uncanny imitation of Julian Casablancas' drunkenly careening mumble, with some of Cold War Kids' Nathan Willett on top for good measure. That's not to say you're getting rough and straightforward garage rock, more an occasionally dreamy, occasionally cutesy mean-spirited indie rock record that's as catchy as all get out.

These Somnolian album requests have had such killer openers so far, and Museum doesn't break that trend—"Fence Sitter" starts with this silly keyboard vamp that turns a barreling lament about becoming a political extremist for a girl, and it's a tall favorite. Being millennials, Ball Park Music are plenty cynical about the state of things, but this is no clunky awkward Adulting AJR affair (thank Christ)—"Bad Taste Blues, Part II" even reckons with the idea that maybe it's okay to do bad things as long as you feel something afterwards. Sometimes, like on "Surrender", their taste for grand hooks overcooks some of the quieter tracks, but on the whole, it's really those, the windy "High Court", the quivering "Pot of Gold", or the cozy, downtrodden shoegaze of "What's On Your Mind?", you should listen for the most.

(Thank you Savannah for the suggestion!)