Evan otm
― brimstead, Friday, 1 December 2017 15:29 (six years ago) link
rom what I've seen so far the following albums are generally missing in these lists:
Destroyer - KenJulien Baker - Turn Out the LightsThe Weather Station - s/tFour Tet - New EnergyMac Demarco - This Old DogJoan Shelley - Joan ShelleyThe Clientele - Music for the Age of Miracles
― niels
Yeah noticed that too! Another one which I thought would be the indie rock record pick in almost every list is
Alvvays - Antisocialites
Other artists which I thought would appear in several lists but I also haven’t seen mentioned that much: Jens Lekman, War on Drugs, Ariel Pink, Spoon, Broken Social Scene, Fleet Foxes, Sun Kill Moon, Vince Staples, Big Krit
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 1 December 2017 15:56 (six years ago) link
not that it matters in any real way but here's my first very fast pass on favorite albums of the year thus far:
2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music21 Savage - Issa AlbumA-Wax - Rx LordAlash Ensemble - AchaiAlice Coltrane - World Spirituality ClassicsAndrew Bird - Echolocations: RiverAngaleena Presley - WrangledBargou 08 - TargBicep - BicepBig Boi - GoomiverseBjork - UtopiaBlanck Mass - World EaterBola - D.E.G.Brooklyn Rider - Spontaneous SymbolsCanzoniere Grecanico Salentino - CanzoniereCecile McLorin Salvant - Dreams and DaggersChloe x Halle - The Two of UsColin Stetson - All This I Do for GloryDaniel Caesar - FreudianDawn Richard - Infrared DELUXEDBH - MassDeem Spencer - We Think We AloneDevin the Dude - Acoustic LevitationDJ Quik - RosecransDJ Raff - MovimientoDua Lipa - Dua LipaEfrén López Trio - TaosFat Joe - Plata O PlomoFatima Yamaha - ArayaFever Ray - PlungeFloating Points - Reflections-Mojave DesertFloor Plan - Let the Church Frankie Bones - Bonesbreaks Vol 16Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live twiceGabriel Garzò-Montano - JardinGeorge Michael - Listen Without Prejudice / MTV Unplugged DeluxeGoapele - DreamseekerGunplay - The PlugHAIM - Something to Tell YouHauschka - What If***Ibeyi - AshIron and Wine - Beast EpicJamila Woods - HEAVNJuana Molina - Halo***Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.Kronos Quartet - Folk SongsLecrae - All Things Work TogetherMark McGuire - Ideas of BeginningsMatt Martians - The Drum Chord TheoryMigos - CulutreMount Eerie - A Crow Looked At MeOddisee - The IcebergParamore - After LaughterPrince - Purple Rain DeluxeQuelle Chris - Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More OftenRun the Jewels - Run the Jewels 3Sevyn Streeter - Girl DisruptedSnoop Dogg - Neva LeftSomi - Petite AfriqueStokley - Introducing StokleyStormzy - Gang Signs and PrayerSyd - FinSZA - CtrlTHEY. - Nu Religion: HYENATony Allen - The SourceTQD - UKGTrad.Attack! - KullakarvaVince Staples - Big Fish TheoryWeaves - Wide OpenWiley - Godfather
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:01 (six years ago) link
lol at "goomiverse"
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:03 (six years ago) link
what do the *** signify?
― rob, Friday, 1 December 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
oh, heh, that was a "things likely to be in the top ten" signifier; this is rough draft stuff. I would tentatively call this a top 11 but things are moving around... I'm sure I've forgotten at least twenty other albums that should be in there and i've got a backlog of another hundred "i should listen to this first"
***Alice Coltrane - World Spirituality Classics***Bicep - Bicep***Daniel Caesar - Freudian***Gabriel Garzò-Montano - Jardin***Ibeyi - Ash***Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.***Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me***Prince - Purple Rain Deluxe***Stokley - Introducing Stokley***Syd - Fin***SZA - Ctrl
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:08 (six years ago) link
one album i haven't seen in any of these is the jonny nash record, passive aggressive. prob one of my favourites this year.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:17 (six years ago) link
that was the collab with suzanne kraft right? still haven't got round to getting that but his other album, eden, is really good. also gaussian curve obviously! that guy's been a regular brian ebow this year
― damian green is people (NickB), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:22 (six years ago) link
there's a couple tacks on that i really love but it's not a patch on his album Eden from this year, imo
― brimstead, Friday, 1 December 2017 16:22 (six years ago) link
xp ha yes
― brimstead, Friday, 1 December 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link
I know it's niche music pandering directly to my musical interests but I hope The Demonstration by Drab Majesty makes an appearance somewhere
― Embalming is a flirty business (DJP), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:37 (six years ago) link
Good luck with that. As I was ranting in the psych thread, it appears, not necessarily ILMers, but the yobs making most of these lists, have settled into very limited range of genres and rarely venture outside of their comfort zones. All I'll say here is it's unhealthy in a variety of ways.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 16:50 (six years ago) link
i would like to see more ibeyi in these lists! second album was a quantum leap forward imo
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
Folks are pigpiling on Pop Matters, but this is one of the best metal lists I've seen so far:
https://www.popmatters.com/the-best-metal-of-2017-2513310213.html
New to me:5. Rebirth of Nefast: Tabernaculum (Norma Evangelium Diaboli)6. Endon: Through the Mirror (Hydra Head)13. Aosoth: V: The Inside Scriptures (Agonia)18. Succumb: Succumb (The Flenser)
Listening to the Best of episode of Sound Opinions, and while there a few okay choices, probably the best recommendation was from their producer Ayana Conteras (39 minutes into podcast):http://www.soundopinions.org/show/627
Bottle Tree - Bottle Tree (International Anthem)https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/bottle-tree
"Bottle Tree is a new collaboration conjured from the Southside Chicago storefront chapel of singer/scholar A.M. Frison and composer/cornetist Ben Lamar Gay (AACM). With Italian expat Tommaso Moretti on traps, the sound-rendered folklore of Bottle Tree embodies a heart beating to West African mutated funk with the spirit of avant-garde jazz and a Motown-molded melodic mind — like a futuristic fantasy of Stevie Wonder backed by Don Cherry and Novos Baianos in the early 1970s."
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 17:12 (six years ago) link
Listened to the Daniel Brandt album that was listed in, I think, the Norman Records list (or was it the Bleep list?) - it's terrific. Now I've gone back to discover his group Brandt Bauer Frick. All of which has a strong Dawn of Midi vibe.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 1 December 2017 17:33 (six years ago) link
Nearly every year there's an album that's grossly overrated because it's an uncomfortably personal moment of oversharing by someone who is grieving. The untimely loss of a loved one is an experience many of us will unfortunately have to endure much sooner than others. I listened to A Crow Looked at Me, and it's a plodding, maudlin, terrible album. I can't imagine listening to this again in any circumstance. It doesn't seem like it would be cathartic while going through a similar experience, just soul-crushing. Perhaps some masochists would choose to wallow in this. I'm not saying it shouldn't have been released, as it was apparently therapeutic for the artist, who I empathize with. But perhaps even his wife might have preferred he made something that had a least a little joy and humor in tribute to her, and would have preferred this had stayed in the vault.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:16 (six years ago) link
well that is a take
― Simon H., Friday, 1 December 2017 19:18 (six years ago) link
i feel like the straight-forward rawness would def appeal to ppl but i personally feel the same way that it's just too much for me.
― Mordy, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:18 (six years ago) link
I can see why one can't stomach it, but this:
But perhaps even his wife might have preferred he made something that had a least a little joy and humor in tribute to her, and would have preferred this had stayed in the vault.
is in extremely poor taste.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:19 (six years ago) link
"I, the person who did not know the deceased, think her husband should have put more humor in his tribute to her. I'm sure she'd agree with me."
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:21 (six years ago) link
Yeah, your wording is so much better. Go with that.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link
It bothers you that much, huh?
― Evan, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:32 (six years ago) link
I thought it was an excellent evocation of grief and a decent album, in that order. I've heard his subsequent material is sounding better
― imago, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:35 (six years ago) link
Maybe feeling the intensity of it is a legitimate reason to be moved enough to rate it highly, despite how boring the songs might be without that context? Whether or not your cynicism is correct just doesn't seem worth the energy putting sad artists in their place because you're angry at the reception they get. And maybe you seem angrier than you are. It's the internet so I'm not sure.
― Evan, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:40 (six years ago) link
i don't think it's particularly maudlin or plodding. its straightforwardness feels unsentimental to me, in a way, and musically it really doesn't plod much. have you been holding yourself back from telling your truths about this album about intense grief all year or what
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Friday, 1 December 2017 19:40 (six years ago) link
Nearly every year there's an album that's grossly overrated because it's an uncomfortably personal moment of oversharing by someone who is grieving.
I'm almost curious as to what the other ones that fn'b is thinking of here
― Simon H., Friday, 1 December 2017 19:44 (six years ago) link
also "when real death enters the house / all poetry is dumb" is pretty humorous and also harrowing and piercing and true in the way humor can occasionally be
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Friday, 1 December 2017 19:45 (six years ago) link
― Simon H., Friday, December 1, 2017 2:44 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Sun Kil Moon - Benji?
― Evan, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
maybe the sufjan album?
― Mordy, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
those and Nick Cave came to mind, but none deserve blanket dismissal
― Simon H., Friday, 1 December 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
grief only makes up a portion of the substance of benji, there are also songs about sex and prog
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Friday, 1 December 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
how soon we forget the old taylor
― sonnet by a wite kid, "On Æolian Grief" (wins), Friday, 1 December 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
there is room in art for all varieties of expression. it may be a bummer, but there are all these quotidian details that really take me to a world of grief I haven't quite heard before. that may not be what you look for from an album, but saying it never have been released, and ventriloquizing a dead body to say it, is some bs
― President Keyes, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:49 (six years ago) link
it's uncomfortable [for me] to listen to in the way that it's uncomfortable to visit someone who is grieving or observe someone's grief at a funeral. i don't think this makes it a lesser piece of art tho - if anything being able to capture this sensation in an album is an achievement imo.
― Mordy, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:49 (six years ago) link
otm xp
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:50 (six years ago) link
sufjan is certainly more overrated than the mt eerie album. for example on rym 'a crow looked at me' is #4 on the 2017 chart, which feels fine tbh, but #1 is fuckin 'carrie & lowell live' -_-
― imago, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:50 (six years ago) link
OK I guess I'm thinking the albums in question all have a notable mix of (varying degrees of) grief + "confessional"
xp to Brad
― Evan, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:51 (six years ago) link
yeah i get why it came up in the discussion
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Friday, 1 December 2017 19:52 (six years ago) link
the sufjan album is beautiful to this particular non-sufjan-believer but i think talking about these albums in terms of how "overrated" they are is misguided and uninteresting
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Friday, 1 December 2017 19:53 (six years ago) link
well fine. just illustrating the point that ACLAM isn't as, um, acclaimed as fnb is saying
― imago, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:54 (six years ago) link
what does checking "live" mean on the rym search?
― Mordy, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:54 (six years ago) link
results will include live albums, which RYMers LOVE
― President Keyes, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:56 (six years ago) link
oh that makes sense. that's crazy!
― Mordy, Friday, 1 December 2017 19:56 (six years ago) link
I get why someone might find Crow gauche and awkward because it feels like an intrusion on someone processing grief, and I've listened to it and thought it might be evidence of someone not thinking straight and making an odd decision to release it. But I'm drawn to it, and for the same reasons. Its awkwardness and nakedness are structural and what makes it such a powerful statement. I can't think we'll ever see the likes of it again; that's a good enough reason to salute it.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Friday, 1 December 2017 20:02 (six years ago) link
One of the producers of today's Sound Opinions picked it as his choice for album of the year, and suffering through the clip brought me flashbacks of the album. It's currently #32 in the AOTY aggregate, which seems quite high, given the hundreds and hundreds of albums out there.
"Ventriloquizing a dead body" seriously? It's pretty clear that I was not doing that. No one knows what the dead would have thought, but it was certainly a possibility. That's all I said. Raise your hand if you'd like to be eulogized that way.
Yes, the album at times accurately captures harrowing moments of despair, hollowness, and endless mundanity. I just disagree that it's good music. I'm not going to spell it out for you all beyond the fact that some people will be going through a similar experience sooner than most. I believe there are many better options that deal with grief that are more balanced and healing, that's all.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link
Raise your hand if you'd like to be eulogized that way.
I for one cannot imagine giving a fuck though admittedly I am not dying, to my knowledge
― Simon H., Friday, 1 December 2017 20:10 (six years ago) link
having a poet describe some of the things that i could never put into words with such directness has definitely helped me view my own grief in a different way. and for that alone it is an excellent piece of art, whether you want to call it "music" or "spoken word poetry with accompaniment"
― scoff walker (diamonddave85), Friday, 1 December 2017 20:17 (six years ago) link
At least you know what should go on your tombstone.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 20:18 (six years ago) link
a tombstone? in this economy?
― Simon H., Friday, 1 December 2017 20:21 (six years ago) link
In bas-relief using your ashes? That would be pretty metal.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 1 December 2017 20:23 (six years ago) link