Love the Beaches album; have had it on heavy rotation the past month or so. Not too long as far as I'm concerned!
― early rejecter, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 05:45 (six years ago) link
thanks for the beaches link! loved the first album and completely forgot about them
― nxd, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 09:44 (six years ago) link
2nd Algiers album much, much better than debut imo
― imago, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 09:49 (six years ago) link
I think the songwriting on the 2nd Algiers album is much, much stronger, as is the singing.
"Irony, Utility, Pretext" is probably still my favorite song of theirs (and I was bummed they didn't play it when I saw them) but overall I agree w/ this
― Simon H., Tuesday, 5 December 2017 13:30 (six years ago) link
damn, this beaches album is great, thanks.
― correlated noise of conformity (Hunt3r), Thursday, 7 December 2017 16:12 (six years ago) link
If the rest of the Meglamancha album is as good as the first track, it's going to be very high on my album ballot:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=675TUqcGlV8
― ArchCarrier, Friday, 8 December 2017 09:33 (six years ago) link
Update: it is, and it will be.
― ArchCarrier, Friday, 8 December 2017 10:05 (six years ago) link
I thought the Aimee Mann album was an obvious classic, and her second best, but I guess it's overlooked.
― geoffreyess, Friday, 8 December 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
everything here is technically (I think?) from 2016, but if you (like me) were disappointed at the Susanne Sundfor album for not being over-the-top, Lena Cullen (formerly of She Is Danger, with Maya Jane Coles) exists: https://soundcloud.com/lenacullenmusic/
― sick, fucking funny, and well tasty (katherine), Friday, 8 December 2017 23:09 (six years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/y1zu5cQ.jpg
― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Friday, 8 December 2017 23:16 (six years ago) link
The live looping afro R&B of violinist/vocalist Sudan Archives, featured on her eponymous EP Sudan Archives (bandcamp), really deserves more attention.
I regret I'll miss her West Coast / Midwest tour in February/March. This sample (which doesn't appear on the EP) is representative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4aPe8f7Sn4
― Sanpaku, Thursday, 14 December 2017 17:46 (six years ago) link
^ heard that for the first time yesterday, sounded really nice
― faust apes (NickB), Thursday, 14 December 2017 17:47 (six years ago) link
Really enjoying that Justin Walter album.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 December 2017 17:49 (six years ago) link
Sudan Archives is good. Listened to it a while back thanks to some mention or other here.
― _Rudipherous_, Thursday, 14 December 2017 17:57 (six years ago) link
I should spend more time with that, that guy is great
Thing I’m really into right now is the Pan Daijing album ‘Lack’, which is a noise album that’s full of interesting textures and rawness and horror and beauty
― faust apes (NickB), Thursday, 14 December 2017 17:57 (six years ago) link
Xp
I like that Sudan Archives EP, several plays already now, thanks Sanpaku.
― correlated noise of conformity (Hunt3r), Friday, 15 December 2017 00:18 (six years ago) link
yes, listening now!
― sleeve, Friday, 15 December 2017 00:56 (six years ago) link
Cosign this x100, one of the few artists I've heard this year who sounds like nothing else.
― Matt DC, Friday, 15 December 2017 09:36 (six years ago) link
Dunno about "single best", but am a bit surprised that exactly zero of these zillions of yearend roundups mention Ouï by Camille. Of several enjoyable things about this album is her sense of melody, which I find to be akin to that of Liz Fraser.
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 15 December 2017 09:55 (six years ago) link
not sure how much of a factor it is, but that was an album not available on Spotify until about 5 months after release. It seems like non-streaming albums suffer a bit on these lists.
― President Keyes, Friday, 15 December 2017 13:42 (six years ago) link
Thanks to djp and this thread I checked out the Drab Majesty album today, liked it
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 15 December 2017 20:04 (six years ago) link
Going back to beginning of thread, I was excited when the Shadow Band album first came out, but I've sort of neglected it. Need to revisit.
My #1 so far has not shown up on any other EOY list that I'm aware of:
Motorpsycho - The Towerhttp://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-17/
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 15 December 2017 20:27 (six years ago) link
ha, I listened to a few tracks off that on your recommendation - not my style, but definitely worth a listen!
― niels, Friday, 15 December 2017 22:18 (six years ago) link
that motorpsycho album is stellar as always. another proggy candidate ~ elbow little fictions
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 15 December 2017 22:36 (six years ago) link
thanks to whoever mentioned beaches, into this
― In a slipshod style (Ross), Friday, 15 December 2017 22:44 (six years ago) link
Yeh that beaches record is great, dunno if i listened to an extended one but it was a bit too long for me
― nxd, Friday, 15 December 2017 22:48 (six years ago) link
Really love this release from Rings Around Saturn. Maybe not technically an album but it's 40 minutes of music. Just really emotive music from Drexciyan electro to balearic electro-funk.
https://firecrackerrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/unthank011
― DigitalDjigit, Saturday, 16 December 2017 00:22 (six years ago) link
Deep Purple - In Rock
― calstars, Saturday, 16 December 2017 00:32 (six years ago) link
Thanks, enjoying this on first listen in a way that makes me suspect I will be listening further.
― _Rudipherous_, Saturday, 16 December 2017 03:25 (six years ago) link
Also, the vocals sometimes go off in unexpected directions (Twix).
― _Rudipherous_, Saturday, 16 December 2017 03:54 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP4tsnttO-k
― _Rudipherous_, Saturday, 16 December 2017 23:12 (six years ago) link
Simple, but terrific video, I think.
Spellling from Oakland, CA arrive seemingly fully-formed making an amazing sound that brings to the tip of your mind many sonic reference points, but is good enough to quickly push that tendency away and just demand attention on its own merit:
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1443573223_10.jpg
https://spellling.bandcamp.com/album/pantheon-of-me-2
(Since there's nothing on Youtube I can embed, I guess I'll play the references game to get anyone to check it out. The record has tones of Sade, Cocteau Twins, Erykah Badu, Portishead, This Mortal Coil, Nona Hendryx, Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook's 'Sleeps With the Fishes' record, The Knife, and my favorite record from last year (discovered this year), Serpentwithfeet. Really bracing, singular, confident stuff.)
― Soundslike, Sunday, 17 December 2017 21:20 (six years ago) link
^thank you Soundslike, that Spellling album is really good!
― Dan S, Sunday, 17 December 2017 23:12 (six years ago) link
tonstartssbandht - sorcerer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vv2se_K_J0
― budo jeru, Monday, 18 December 2017 03:20 (six years ago) link
they are terminally underrated and overlooked, great band
― flappy bird, Monday, 18 December 2017 05:36 (six years ago) link
What about the album of 2016 that you feel is overcooked??I don’t know the answer, but I feel it’s worth asking because it rhymes
― Karl Malone, Monday, 18 December 2017 05:43 (six years ago) link
Changing my answer from Nelly Furtado to The Rubs
https://therubsaretrash.bandcamp.com/album/impossible-dream-lp
― billstevejim, Monday, 18 December 2017 07:02 (six years ago) link
yeah that Rubs record rulz
― alpine static, Monday, 18 December 2017 07:55 (six years ago) link
I like what Spellling is doing generally so much i have no idea after 2 listens if they are good. I think def yes.
― y'know, LIBS! libertarians, libertines, even liberians and librarians (Hunt3r), Monday, 18 December 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
Surprised there wasn't more love for the Rostam record. Pretty sure it's my fave of the year.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66y8JMEvTas
― DJI, Monday, 18 December 2017 16:10 (six years ago) link
I liked some tracks on the Rostam album but didn't really feel compelled to revisit it much, maybe I should though. Bike Dream was especially good
― ufo, Monday, 18 December 2017 16:27 (six years ago) link
Spellling reminds me of some of His Name is Alive maybe?
― y'know, LIBS! libertarians, libertines, even liberians and librarians (Hunt3r), Monday, 18 December 2017 17:26 (six years ago) link
xp - I love most of the tracks on the album. Fun, kitchen-sink production, sing-along harmonies - all the stuff I love.
― DJI, Monday, 18 December 2017 20:25 (six years ago) link
pretty sure i have not seen this album getting any love, but i love its dirty beats and weird atmospherics.
https://ninjatune.net/release/kutmah/trobbb
― mark e, Monday, 18 December 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
sorry to perseverate, this is one of the better reimaginings of a classic i've heard:https://spellling.bandcamp.com/track/higher-ground
the whole sequence of bolt from the blue/higher ground/blue (american dream)/place without a form is fucking nice imo.
― y'know, LIBS! libertarians, libertines, even liberians and librarians (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 20 December 2017 18:14 (six years ago) link
I have a new favorite to replace the Mdou Moctar record, Eyvind Kang's Plainlight. maddeningly released in a non-streaming vinyl-only edition of 400
http://www.suncitygirls.com/abduction/Plainlight.php
― sleeve, Wednesday, 20 December 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link
whenuweremine nominated the Charlotte Dos Santos album Cleo. I had not seen it mentioned anywhere before that. Incredible voice, incredible singer. Might be too whimsical for some tastes (covering a 13th century song, writing new lyrics for Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay, doing a new 60s-sounding Latin soul song in English) but I think she makes it all work. File under vocal jazz and soul, I guess.
― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, 24 December 2017 23:51 (six years ago) link
yasmine hamdan - al jamilat
https://yasminehamdan.bandcamp.com/album/al-jamilat
i came across a video for a song off this album while i was just clicking through a "recommended for you" playlist on youtube, so i don't really have any idea what the larger social or musical context for this artist is. she's lebanese, the lyrics aren't in english, the video i saw had subtitles that made the lyrics seem very apocalyptic and political, but the music is very beautiful and ethereal. it's not lo-fi but it doesn't seem to have any interest in being conventionally hooky and poppy. i guess i would say RIYL grimes' visions, maybe juana molina or susanne sundfør.
it's really good, i know the language barrier is a factor in why it isn't more well known, but i'm really surprised that i haven't seen it show up in any year-end discourse given the quality and how good the videos are.
― james brooks, Monday, 25 December 2017 01:16 (six years ago) link