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.
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
Yeah, Yasmine Hamdan is great. Seek out 'Soap Kills' as well, if you don't know it yet, her previous (electro)pop band.
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 25 December 2017 01:25 (six years ago) link
(though her solo effort 'Ya Nass' is my fave)
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 25 December 2017 01:26 (six years ago) link
Any impressions of Jo Harman? She seems not to have been mentioned on ILM ever. I think she's good, but I'm not sure how good yet. I love the 70s (probably more than any decade for English language popular music, maybe popular music in general), but sometimes the echoes of the 70s seem too obvious.
― _Rudipherous_, Monday, 25 December 2017 02:10 (six years ago) link
Very good singer. I'm still on the fence about the songwriting.
― _Rudipherous_, Monday, 25 December 2017 02:11 (six years ago) link
Really enjoying the Charlotte Dos Santos; thanks Rudipherous!
― anatol_merklich, Saturday, 30 December 2017 16:15 (six years ago) link
Fabiano do Nascimento - Tempo Dos Mestres: Gilberto Gil Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday
Listening to this one. So far it's beautiful.
― Dinsdale, Saturday, 30 December 2017 20:26 (six years ago) link
haha, yes it's a great one
― niels, Saturday, 30 December 2017 20:41 (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 400http://www.suncitygirls.com/abduction/Plainlight.php🕸
― flappy bird, Sunday, 31 December 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link
it is soooo good
― sleeve, Sunday, 31 December 2017 17:28 (six years ago) link
I will repeat: Camille is fantastic and you don't know what you're missing if you haven't given it a spin. It's not the cabaret music I suspect some are expecting. It's very melodic, but there are often separate layers of Camille's vocals doing primarily rhythmic things (in addition to the rhythmically oriented instrumental layer). The technique is often very adventurous, but it's much too catchy to be filed with extreme experimental vocal music.
― _Rudipherous_, Monday, 1 January 2018 02:50 (six years ago) link
(anatol_merklich, glad you like the Charlotte Dos Santos. I think I might rank Camille slightly higher at the moment, because it's so polished. And it feels like Camille is inventing her own unique sub-genre of pop music.)
― _Rudipherous_, Monday, 1 January 2018 02:55 (six years ago) link
I like the Camille album
Casey Dienel's Imitation of a Woman To Love (https://caseydienel.bandcamp.com/) is very overlooked - found out about it thanks to maura's write-up. ambitious artpop riyl roisin murphy albums especially
― ufo, Monday, 1 January 2018 04:53 (six years ago) link
*the last two roisin murphy albums
― ufo, Monday, 1 January 2018 04:54 (six years ago) link
Ouï didn't quite rise out of the pack of good 2017 albums for me but it's definitely Camille's best record since Le Fil. Did anyone try the alternate version, Ouïï, which seems to be the same songs arranged for voice and tambour?
― Jeff W, Monday, 1 January 2018 12:37 (six years ago) link
Gilberto Gil Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday
not sure you could write a more appealing 8 word description of an album, diving into it now
― ogmor, Monday, 1 January 2018 21:59 (six years ago) link
Xiu Xiu - FORGET
― cwkiii, Tuesday, 2 January 2018 01:51 (six years ago) link
^absolutely
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 2 January 2018 03:48 (six years ago) link
Billy Woods - Known Unknowns
― octobeard, Tuesday, 2 January 2018 04:34 (six years ago) link
thinking plague hoping against hope
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 2 January 2018 15:22 (six years ago) link
Blind Boys of Alabama - Almost Home
― ... (Eazy), Tuesday, 2 January 2018 15:32 (six years ago) link
alvarius b with a beaker in the burner and an otter in the oven
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 2 January 2018 23:54 (six years ago) link
that fabiano do nascimento album is great, been caning it
― ogmor, Friday, 5 January 2018 08:51 (six years ago) link
I had no idea Camille released an album last year - thanks for the heads up!
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 17 January 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link
https://www.toneglow.net/reviews/2017/11/16/jurg-frey-lame-est-sans-retenue-i
sounds massive on the stereo.. like intermittent surf (breaks), or a jet plane carving out the sky - but very, very intermittent at parts. lot of silent breaks, it's aggravating to listen to actively
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Thursday, 18 January 2018 21:14 (six years ago) link
I think I read about it here first but now can't find it. Anyway, the Upper Wilds' Guitar Module 2017 is kinda wild. Dan Friel and Aaron Siegel making a glorious racket.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 11 February 2018 20:13 (six years ago) link
I briefly mentioned it in the 2017 end of the year lists thread
― Dinsdale, Sunday, 11 February 2018 21:00 (six years ago) link
Ryan Power - They Sell Doomsday. Perfect smooth prog pop, kind of like a spikier, cynical Prefab Sprout. This guy is basically at Rundgren levels of one-man-band production.
https://ryanpower.bandcamp.com/album/they-sell-doomsday
― J. Sam, Sunday, 11 February 2018 21:26 (six years ago) link