2017 end of the year lists

Rush it's not depressing tho? I mean to care about consuming too much is depressing to me, there's not enough time to hear every record and if I did I would probably devalue them by not listening that closely anyway

The person that knows the names of all the trees forgets their true value

om shanti

great player

This Nadah El Shazly album is really good so far, certainly better than a lot of the token Arab music that crosses over to western lists. Not sure it can be considered strictly Arab music, but that's a big part of what's going on in the music.

(It's definitely not one of those ultra-classical recordings I have sometimes pushed in the past.)

does bandcamp release a list of bandcamp-only / self-released stuff? I'd be curious to see something like that.

yeah that L'Rain album is really nice, a lot of other interesting-looking things too

L'Rain album was my discovery of the bandcamp list, it's fantastic.

stritram, thanks for the Big Ups link! I didn't know Perturbator had a new one out this year. I'm not much into the synthwave scene, but this guy does everything I like about the genre.

Bandcamp list also had a couple unique punk/post-punk choices:

Agent Blå – Agent Blue (Luxury) - Swedish post-punk and dream pop, better than Makthaverskan, nearly as good as Desperate Journalist, just more shambolic production along the lines of Orion.
https://agentbla.bandcamp.com/album/agent-bl

French Vanilla – French Vanilla (Danger Collective) - L.A. minimalist art punk with saxophones, plus a song about Carrie!
https://frenchvanilla.bandcamp.com/album/french-vanilla-2

Spiritual Cramp – Mass Hysteria EP (React!) - This was recommended by Kristina Esfandiari of King Woman.
https://reactrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mass-hysteria

These were recommended by members of French punk band Mary Bell. I got their album when it came out in Jan, kind of got tired of it, but am enjoying it more again - https://marybellftw.bandcamp.com/album/mary-bell-lp

Dazey And The Scouts - Maggot EP
https://dazeyandthescouts.bandcamp.com/album/maggot?from=embed

Peninsula, LALALALALALA
https://peninsulawebpage.bandcamp.com/album/lalalalalala

gSp (girlSperm) – gSp EP (Thrilling Living)
https://thrillingliving.bandcamp.com/album/12

Cocaine Piss - Piñacolalove EP
https://cocainepiss.bandcamp.com/album/pi-acolalove

Patsy - LA Women MLP
https://lavidaesunmus.bandcamp.com/album/la-women-mlp

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-20-best-electronic-albums-of-2017/

1. Fever Ray - Plunge
2. Jlin - Black Origami
3. Kelly Lee Owens - Kelly Lee Owens
4. Mount Kimbie - Love What Survives
5. Laurel Halo - Dust
6. Yaeji - EP2
7. Visible Cloaks - Reassemblage
8. DJ Python - Dulce Compañia
9. DJ Sports - Modern Species
10. Errorsmith - Superlative Fatigue
11. Equiknoxx - Colón Man
12. Midland - Fabriclive 94
13. Call Super - Arpo
14. Four Tet - New Energy
15. Karen Gwyer - Rembo
16. Sophia Kennedy - Sophia Kennedy
17. Davy Kehoe - Short Passing Game
18. UMFANG - Symbolic Use of Light
19. Nídia - Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida
20. Actress - AZD

Ha, I discovered L'Rain a week or so ago when someone who plays on it shared it on a jazz guitar group I read. It's pretty cool.

Second the moderate hyping of L'Rain after listening to it because of the bandcamp list.

i am hard pressed to consider Fever Ray an "electronic album"

in what way isn't it?

in comparison to, say, actress or karen gwyer? I think of the primary instrument with fever ray being Karin's voice. if fever ray is an electronic album, so is bjork's.

FR's primary instrumentation is electronic i suppose but so is Migos?

pfork painted themselves into a corner by filling their experimental list with gloopy electronica

Inc.com - 10 Best Albums of 2017 to Pump Up Your Productivity Over the Holiday Break

https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/10-best-albums-of-2017-to-pump-up-your-productivity-over-holiday-break.html

lol that poor sad guy

Second the moderate hyping of L'Rain after listening to it because of the bandcamp list.

― _Rudipherous_, Monday, December 18, 2017 9:50 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is v exciting at first but is possibly a little too shapeless for me

"If you don't know the band Elbow, you're missing out. Prog rock masters from England, the band released an organic-sounding album that fits perfectly with your daily work duties."

Reuniting to make their finest album, Wolf Parade seems like a basic punk band with two people playing synth, but they write with revelatory insight. You're Dreaming is their best song, mostly because it made me type faster and think about post-work activities.

this needs a poll

"If you don't know the band Elbow but are wondering who that git is singing on the John Lewis advert with a stage northern accent that makes you want to kill, maybe give them a miss as doing time for murder will decrease your productivity."

10 Best Albums of 2017 to Pump Up Your Productivity Over the Holiday Break - You won't be disappointed by any of these albums.

There ought to be a "shit that looks like a clickhole but isn't" thread, too

this is v exciting at first but is possibly a little too shapeless for me

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, December 18, 2017 5:22 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I get this, it's "fleeting" in a way. But it's a helluva trip imo, I keep coming back to it. The shapelessness appeals to me, in that I don't necessarily need to know where what song begins or ends.

Last night I was getting frustrated with how much of what I've been listening to year-end is a bit shapeless and "experimental" in a way that often ends up sounding the same to me (possibly my fault). I like tunes, but admittedly, I usually pass over some genres where they can be found. I haven't listen to L'Rain enough to know what I think about it specifically though. But in general, I get a little frustrated by the lack of sharp lines in much of the year-end alternative/underground/experimental I check out.

The L'Rain album clocks in under 30 minutes iirc, and it's got a story to tell, too. That's pretty succinct and manageable. The 'sharp lines', or red thread, or story, or whatever you want to call it, draws itself.

I need to listen again more attentively.

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2017/12/18/aquarium-drunkard-2017-year-in-review/

https://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/2017-favorite-50-music-releases

Aguarium Drunkard the first to give The New Year a well deserved nod?

Brand New album seems erased from collective memory. It's a shame, but probably for the best.

Spin's list is up: https://www.spin.com/featured/50-best-albums-2017/

cool. it looks like all the other lists :)

:D

maybe like a tiiiiiny bit more Brad-tastic than the others. does he write for them? ;)

^makes sense, at least a quarter of all of the summaries were written by ilxors!

haha wait he DOES - i don't even know if i knew that

*retracts any grouchiness implied above*

I don't know why I always think Aquarium Drunkard is an Americana site until they put out eoy lists full of electronic stuff and then I forget again until the next year

maybe like a tiiiiiny bit more Brad-tastic than the others. does he write for them? ;)

― Cardi Acs (imago), Monday, December 18, 2017 12:40 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i submitted a list and wrote the kehlani blurb

xp i mean, AD's name leans Americana, haha (a wilco reference). I contribute there, the writers are all pretty wide open listeners, in my experience. this year's list seems even more eclectic.

AD's list > everything

Yeah, that list is fantastic.

The AD list is indeed great. I'm kinda shocked the twofer reissue of Ornette Coleman's Crisis and Ornette at 12 didn't make it, though.

That AD list has given me the willies. I need a dictionary of the sublime(s), in which there'd be a big entry for the 'sublime of the unheard' - a Borgesian audio library containing all those bits of music you've missed, avoided, will never hear, multiplying recklessly in the dank infinities of the great inner ear.

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-20-best-pop-and-randb-albums-of-2017/

1. SZA - Ctrl
2. Lorde - Melodrama
3. Kelela - Take Me Apart
4. Sampha - Process
5. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest
6. Ibeyi - Ash
7. St. Vincent - Masseduction
8. Lana Del Rey - Lust for Life
9. Syd - Fin
10. The xx - I See You
11. Kehlani - SweetSexySavage
12. Sevdaliza - ISON
13. Paramore - After Laughter
14. Charli XCX - Pop 2
15. Sophia Somajo - Freudian Slip
16. Khalid - American Teen
17. Goldfrapp - Silver Eye
18. Haim - Something to Tell You
19. Rina Sawayama - RINA
20. Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa

AD is blocked at my work - if someone could post it here that'll be appreciated!