About This Blog

My name is Joel. I look like this:

Some facts about me and music:

• The first song I remember loving was The Great Beyond by R.E.M.
• The first album I ever owned was - if memory serves - B*Witched by B*Witched.
• The first song I learned to play on guitar was My Beloved Monster by the Eels.
• My most-listened-to song of all time is either Nights of the Living Dead by Tilly and the Wall...
• ...or The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah...
• ...or It Ends With a Fall by Okkervil River.
• I sometimes write my own songs and perform them under the name Shiny Tiger (listen on SoundCloud).

About The Album Wall

I started this blog in June 2013 because I had a lot of thoughts about music and nowhere to put them. Once all of those thoughts had been written down, I continued to blog because it was turning me into a more analytical, switched-on listener: writing about albums on a regular basis was forcing me to pay closer attention to lyrics, and to think harder about the music and what it meant.

'The Album Wall' is what I used to call the wall of my bedroom on which all my CD racks were mounted. It looked like this:

(Of course, that was when I still lived with my parents; at time of writing, all of those CDs are stored in boxes under my bed.)

Above all else, The Album Wall is a blog about albums. I've been listening to albums since I was a child, and as much as I love making playlists, burning mix CDs, and clicking 'Shuffle All' when I'm in that sort of mood, I ultimately still feel that songs are supposed to be part of a larger whole. Even as music becomes increasingly fluid and fragmented, the album format still remains relevant - just look at how people react when a major artist releases a new LP.

How to Contact Me

If you want to get in touch with me for any reason whatsoever, please email thealbumwall@outlook.com.