Slappy's favorite music of 2016

[Slappydavis]

Pretty Version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YzxtFbhrmUM3ZIApKGpa0qDvhsXPA7Z027VIx3ER9RU/edit

(I'm lazy and keeping most of my description from last year, because it's still accurate)

Just in time for your President's Day music purchases it's time for some LIIIISTS! Just when you thought 2016 would never rear it's ugly head again, I'm here to extend its lifespan.

Fair warning: I’ll be posting in this thread fairly regularly for the next month or so. This is your chance to hide the thread/turn off notifications/set your monitor on fire.

More important fair warning: I am bad at describing music.

When I write about music, my imagined audience is an older version of myself; one who is seeking to remember how I used to think. Because of this, please feel no obligation to read what I wrote out; they probably won't help you understand the music, but they might help you understand me (at least that's the hope, I want to understand me in the future).

I'm going to write about fewer songs/EPs/albums because I'd like to write better blurbs. But I still really want to write many, so likely there'll be about half of each list that has no writing, and half that does.

Compared to last year there'll be a greater number of songs, roughly the same number of short releases, and a smaller number of albums. That's not out of any particular design I had, I just liked more songs this year, and I couldn't stand the idea of leaving many off so I went with 100 songs, while focusing on fewer albums than 2016.

I’ll be using this thread to collect 3 lists of music in 2016: My favorite tracks, my favorite short releases, and my favorite albums.

The lists at this point are more or less “captured”, they represent a ranking at a point in time, and will substantially change over the years. But I like figuring out my perspective on the year’s music at this particular point, right as the year comes to a close.

Generally the music is all from the calendar year of 2016, but some are from late 2015 (while putting a list together, you generally start before the year actually ends, and there are a few releases that I love already from December, but I’ll push back to 2017’s list).

I’ll edit the first & second post as I progress.


Complete: Top Tracks 100-76 (no blurbs)

Next Up: Top Tracks 76-51 (no blurbs)

[Slappydavis]

Saved for pure lists.


2016 Top 100 Tracks

Youtube Playlist:
https://tinyurl.com/zfl8wfa

100. TEEN- All About Us [SynthPop]
99. Skeppet- Sargasso [Psychedelic/Electronica]
98. Death In Vegas- Consequences of Love [Minimal Wave]
97. Jamila Woods- HEAVN [Neo-Soul]
96. Kero Kero Bonito- Trampoline [Electropop]

95. Froyo Ma w/ Nick Hakim- Home Phone [Alt R&B]
94. Michael Mayer & Agoria Blackbird Has Spoken [Tech-House]
93. Mlada Fronta- Melt Into The Road [Synthwave]
92. Goat- Goodbye [Psych/Folk]
91. Mannequin Pussy- Denial [Garage Punk]

90. Blanck Mass- D7-D5 [Industrial/IDM]
89. Bon Iver- 33 "GOD" [Glitch/Folk]
88. Randomer- Running Dry [Techno]
87. Fear Of Men- Sane [Dream Pop]
86. Rezt- Gwuap [Left Field Hip Hop]

85. Danny Brown- Ain't It Funny [Experimental Hip Hop]
84. Leafar Legov- Talk [Ambient]
83. R.L. Kelly- Mad [Indie Folk]
82. Laura Mvula- Let Me Fall [Neo-Soul]
81. EasyFun (ft. Noonie Bao)- Monopoly [Experimental Pop]

80. Dim Wit- Wow Ow Now [Garage]
79. The Nativist- TASCAM 0058S34D06 (Demo) [Minimal Techno]
78. Clubkelly- Mitsuki [House]
77. Spectres Sea of Trees (Andy Bell Remix) [Post Punk/Alt Rock]
76. Jenn Champion- No One [Gothic House]


75. Noname (ft. Raury & Cam O'bi)- Diddy Bop [Consious Hip Hop]
74. Serpentwithfeet- Four Ethers [Art Pop]
73. Mitski- Happy [Indie Rock]
72. Death's Dynamic Shroud.wmv- Rare Emoji Collection [Vaporwave]
71. Angel Olson- Shut Up Kiss Me [Indie Rock]

70. Mac Miller (feat. Anderson .Paak)- Dang! [Funk/Rap]
69. Little Scream- Evan [Indie Rock]
68. Kero Kero Bonito- Picture This [ElectroPop]
67. Joey Purp Ft. Chance the Rapper- GIRLS @ [Hip-Hop]
66. The Phantom's Revenge- Posterizing Patrick Ewing [House]

65. Beyoncé- Hold Up [R&B]
64. Ponzu Island- Ponzu Beach [VG/Baleric]
63. Chinese Slippers- Shellfish lovers [Lightcore/Pop]
62. Bon Iver- 22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Glitch/Folk]
61. Death Grips- Bottomless Pit [Noise/Rap]

60. A Tribe Called Quest- Dis Generation [Conscious Rap]
59. Casey Burge- Comin' Fulfilled [Funk/Folk]
58. Moses Sumney- Lonely World [Neo-Soul]
57. Tuff City Kids with Annie- Labyrinth (Club Mix) [Disco/House]
56. Katie Dey- Fear O The Light [Noisepop]

55. Blanck Mass- The Great Confuso Part 1 [Industrial/IDM]
54. G.L.O.S.S.- Give Violence A Chance [Hardcore]
53. Flock of Dimes- Semaphore [Indie Rock]
52. Underd0g- aftershock [Lightcore/Pop]
51. Whitney- Golden Days [Indie Rock]

50. Anna Cook- 22/7 [Dance/Lo-Fi/My Memory Is Pulse]
49. Laura Mvula- Phenomenal Woman [Pop/Neo-Soul/Lay Hands, Unbroken Chain]
48. Brame & Hamo- Cert City [House/Judging By The Past; Often]
47. Tay Sean- FML [Left Field R&B/With One, Without Either]
46. Phork- SWiM (OBE1) [Outsider House/Letters In Hope]

45. Homeboy Sandman- Real New York (ft I Am Many) [East Coast HH/Just That]
44. Rizzla- Burning Boat [Experimental/Electronica/Mrah----Mrah----Clap-Clap]
43. Jamila Woods- VRY BLK (ft. Noname) [Neo-Soul/All We Want Is All Anyone Wants]
42. Danny L Harle- Broken Flowers [PC Music/TTLTTILW-TTLTTILW-TTLTTILW-&_&_&_]
41. Huerco S.- On The Embankment [Ambient/ Fever Dreaming of Curse Eaters]

40. Frank Ocean- Pink + White [R&B/You Showed Me The Way Out, I Remember...
39. Jefre Cantu Ledesma- Love’s Refrain [Ambient/Noise/Another Life; A Longer Life]
38. Sunshower- So Romantic [Lightcore/Mutated Until Your Contortions Reverse]
37. Jenny Hval- Conceptual Romance [Art Pop/Stand In Front Of Me, Let’s Be A Mirror]
36. Solange- Cranes In The Sky [Soul/The Bell And You Beneath It]

35. Don’t- Gold & Glowing [Indie Rock/From Mesh To Cocoon]
34. Bob Dylan- Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright (Animal Collective Remix) [Folk/Psych-Pop...
33. Azealia Banks- The Big Big Beat
32. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- I Need You [Alt Rock/More Than Your Context]
31. AKBSHI- Stronger Than You (Remix) [Jersey/Footwork/Flow To Match The Feeling]

30. Deakin- Golden Chords [Folk/Psychedelic/In Which I Got Two Thumbs Up...
29. MLiR- People [House/Trusting My Balance As I Did On The Rocks]
28. Serpentwithfeet- Blisters [Art-Pop/My Dream At The Station, Kept Until Forgiven]
27. Kero Kero Bonito- Break [ElectroPop/Ignore The Aching For The Sake Of Metaphor]
26. Moses Sumney- Everlasting Sigh [Alt R&B/Reverse Death]

25. Traumprinz- 2Bad (DJ Metatron 'What If Madness Is The Only Relief' Rework) [Soft...
24. PUP- DVP [Punk/I Said When You Drink You All Seem The Same, But Actually]
23. Lindstrøm- Closing Shot [Nu-Disco/I Do Not Own My Memories, I Just Love Them]
22. Cloudland Canyon- An Arabesque [Cosmic Synth/ Again Tomorrow, And I Can’t Wait]
21. Kines+hetiaC- Poll U Tion [Synth/If The Stories Were Meant To Have The Message...

20. ¬ b- 3m12-Disc 2 [Instrumental Hip Hop/There, Just After They All Stopped Searching]
19. Clipping.- Wriggle [Experimental Hip Hop/Maybe It Would Have Come Naturally?]
18. Open Mike Eagle & Paul White- A Short About a Guy That Dies Everynight [Abstract...
17. Cottam- Breaking Through The Pain Barrier [House/From Nerves, To Heart, To Hands]
16. Frank Hurricane- Who U Is [Psych-Hop/It Happens All The Time, Right Around...]

15. Avalon Emerson- The Frontier [Tech House/We Reflect When We Relent]
14. TV Girl- Heaven Is A Bedroom [Indie Hip Hop/Never Kept My Promises On The Phone]
13. Lorenzo Senni- emotiva1234 [Minimal House/Make Sense First, Add More Later]
12. Thunder Tillman- Exact Location Of The Soul [Kosmische/All My Skipped Heartbeats...
11. Mitski- Best American Girl [Indie Rock/Her Pain Isn’t Mine, But Mine Might Be Hers]

10. Rodion- Gamma [Dance/Even If You Lose Everything But The Sun]
9. Kanye West- Ultralight Beam [Soul/Rap/Hey Man, I’m Glad You’re Still Here]
8. Animal Collective- Floridada [Neo-Psychedelia/This, And Everything To Follow]
7. Chinese Slippers- Viibrate [Pop/We Under That Threshold, We Under That Pressure]
6. Children of Pop- Jealous Lover [Synth-Pop/Lucky Soul, I Love You So]

5. LUH- I&I [Indie Rock/Standing Over The Frictionless Pit Where I Was Born]
4. These Hidden Hands- These Moments Dismantled [Industrial Techno/I Don’t Belong In...
3. Marie Davidson- Naive To The Bone [Minimal Dance/Bored Of Proud Indifference]
2. The Blow- Think About Me [ElectroPop/I Put Your Play Together: 2-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3...]
1. Hannah Diamond- Fade Away [PC Music/I’m Sorry My Garnet]


2016 Top 20 Short Releases

Youtube Playlist: [B]https://tinyurl.com/ln8nn3a

20. Kelly Lee Owens- Oleic [Tech-House]
19. Disclosure- Moog for Love [UK Bass]
18. Chapelier Fou- Kalia [Folktronic Soundtracks]
17. Brame & Hamo- Kebab Dreams [Deep House]
16. Karen Gwyer- Prophase Metaphase Anaphase Telophase [Techno]

15. Lindstrom- Windings [Nu-Disco]
14. G.L.O.S.S.- Trans Day Of Revenge [Hardcore]
13. Floating Points- Kuiper [Jazz/Electronica]
12. Cottam- Breaking Through The Pain Barrier [Deep House]
11. Anthony Naples- Mixes For My Mates [Mixes For The Floor]

10. Toby Gale- DNA Party [Dance/Pop/Meaningless Fun, Meh. Directionless Fun, YAY!]
9. Seabuckthorn- I Could See The Smoke [Folk/It Can Feel Good To Get Knocked Down]
8. Thunder Tillman- Jaguar Mirror [Kosmische/Your Guided Tour To Thunder]
7. Jefre Cantu Ledesma- In Summer [Experimental/Noise/How Sounds When Blood Rushes…]
6. Lil Siva- Jimi [UK Bass/I’m Glad You Speak, Even When It’s So Little]

5. Simon12345 & The Lazer Twins- Cheveux Propres, Cheveux Gras [Tech House/T-420]
4. Don't- Forget It [Bedroom Pop/How Much Of This Takes Place In A Shared Space?]
3. Serpentwithfeet- Blisters [Post-Gospel/Without Light I Don’t Know Where Not To Look]
2. Chinese Slippers- House Party [Lightcore/If I Can Just Keep My Balance For 60 More]
1. Moses Sumney- Lamentations [Neo-Soul/My Sighs Are Many And My Heart Is Faint]

[Slappydavis]

2016 Top Tracks
Part 1: 100-76

Youtube Playlist:
https://tinyurl.com/zfl8wfa

100. TEEN- All About Us [SynthPop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCGm2soyEqo
99. Skeppet- Sargasso [Psychedelic/Electronica]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsK8ubRx5tI
98. Death In Vegas- Consequences of Love [Minimal Wave]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mp8a0ka7L8
97. Jamila Woods- HEAVN [Neo-Soul]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhX4_rYq2vo
96. Kero Kero Bonito- Trampoline [Electropop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjBm7ivQfMY
95. Froyo Ma w/ Nick Hakim- Home Phone [Alt R&B]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM0LmHkQ-pM
94. Michael Mayer & Agoria Blackbird Has Spoken [Tech-House] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0PntGEQ_1Y
93. Mlada Fronta- Melt Into The Road [Synthwave]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S34jigNANVo
92. Goat- Goodbye [Psych/Folk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP50781p-3M
91. Mannequin Pussy- Denial [Garage Punk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oe57tQpnRg
90. Blanck Mass- D7-D5 [Industrial/IDM]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tW38jvb3xc
89. Bon Iver- 33 "GOD" [Glitch/Folk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C5sB6AqJkM
88. Randomer- Running Dry [Techno] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTYZlaF9Ye4
87. Fear Of Men- Sane [Dream Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWlZ1i1l3aE
86. Rezt- Gwuap [Left Field Hip Hop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z59Qm32y0Os
85. Danny Brown- Ain't It Funny [Experimental Hip Hop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNogzmuULLM
84. Leafar Legov- Talk [Ambient]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9evne6q6f-I
83. R.L. Kelly- Mad [Indie Folk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GANX8aTq-1w
82. Laura Mvula- Let Me Fall [Neo-Soul] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5A0yBJBhyw
81. EasyFun (ft. Noonie Bao)- Monopoly [Experimental Pop] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0dT0BujwAU
80. Dim Wit- Wow Ow Now [Garage]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYXRcxYb08c
79. The Nativist- TASCAM 0058S34D06 (Demo) [Minimal Techno]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjT7RV76PRk
78. Clubkelly- Mitsuki [House]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLi5Yj5JOYo
77. Spectres Sea of Trees (Andy Bell Remix) [Post Punk/Alt Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGhy_8bpRMI
76. Jenn Champion- No One [Gothic House]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8xgrGQ_Hao

[Swan]

Kero Kero Bonito in the house!

[jiraffejustin]

Danny Brown in is bih

[Slappydavis]

I really didn't care for KKB the first time I heard it. But god damn it's grown on me hard.

I didn't care for DB the first time I heard him either, but it's been what, 5 years since XXX, so I'm loving most his stuff almost instantly these days. Accelerator might show up on 2017's list.

[Slappydavis]

2016 Top Tracks
Part 2: 76-51

Youtube Playlist (starts from #76):
https://tinyurl.com/z2qskg9

75. Noname (ft. Raury & Cam O'bi)- Diddy Bop [Consious Hip Hop] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUncXbXAiV0
74. Serpentwithfeet- Four Ethers [Art Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a4N_lOAieA
73. Mitski- Happy [Indie Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QKNg6o9SaU
72. Death's Dynamic Shroud.wmv- Rare Emoji Collection [Vaporwave] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0ALkNKQzmA
71. Angel Olson- Shut Up Kiss Me [Indie Rock] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nleRCBhLr3k
70. Mac Miller (feat. Anderson .Paak)- Dang! [Funk/Rap] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDOdFRLV0U
69. Little Scream- Evan [Indie Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMVtJwcX2zs
68. Kero Kero Bonito- Picture This [ElectroPop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaVWvcuy3Cg
67. Joey Purp Ft. Chance the Rapper- GIRLS @ [Hip-Hop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DZ-7SOchGQ
66. The Phantom's Revenge- Posterizing Patrick Ewing [House] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkxkRzqaHZw
65. Beyoncé- Hold Up [R&B]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeonBmeFR8o
64. Ponzu Island- Ponzu Beach [VG/Baleric]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPzTOXp09XQ
63. Chinese Slippers- Shellfish lovers [Lightcore/Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51XxDbF1J9g
62. Bon Iver- 22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Glitch/Folk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISCEilPMNak
61. Death Grips- Bottomless Pit [Noise/Rap]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwkliy8qEyA
60. A Tribe Called Quest- Dis Generation [Conscious Rap] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pRmc8f1NaU
59. Casey Burge- Comin' Fulfilled [Funk/Folk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCCcm46AENs
58. Moses Sumney- Lonely World [Neo-Soul]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dhBNQ25fqE
57. Tuff City Kids with Annie- Labyrinth (Club Mix) [Disco/House] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLdYuX-7vfc
56. Katie Dey- Fear O The Light [Noisepop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IeutlB84Nc
55. Blanck Mass- The Great Confuso Part 1 [Industrial/IDM] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcAsebTLSkk
54. G.L.O.S.S.- Give Violence A Chance [Hardcore]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SMH2KVz-E
53. Flock of Dimes- Semaphore [Indie Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQH7rIbw0Qk
52. Underd0g- aftershock [Lightcore/Pop] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Rd93rM3DA
51. Whitney- Golden Days [Indie Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op4HT0-W428

[Slappydavis]

2016 Top Tracks
Part 3: 50-26

Youtube Playlist (starting from #50):
https://tinyurl.com/jxks9sf



50. Anna Cook- 22/7 [Dance/Lo-Fi/My Memory Is Pulse]
Almost entirely a handful of loops filtered through phasers, each getting their turn to shift slightly their few moments of prime exposure. It resembles recent memory; like the lingering feeling of a dance floor, recalling the hook of the beat again and again. Not how it was, but how it felt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR6LvUsR9KA

49. Laura Mvula- Phenomenal Woman [Pop/Neo-Soul/Lay Hands, Unbroken Chain]
She felt inspiration from Maya’s gift, and her reaction after feeling this wonderful and light feeling was to pass it on; receiving and treasuring with one hand, while cultivating more to provide with the other. This is how legacies survive, and it’s a special thing to witness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7---iGdDIBQ

48. Brame & Hamo- Cert City [House/Judging By The Past; Often]
First of all, mmmmm, that wonderful teasing section at the beginning. Second, this song made me acutely aware of the code switching that happens while I write these. The dominant form is a breadcrumb trail for my future self, a way to re-experience an idea that the music provoked; this is important for songs whose current appeal has a basis in some sort of mental state. But when I come up against a track whose enjoyability seems obvious, I’m a bit lost. Honestly if I ever got to the point where a track like this one wasn’t enjoyable, I’d be far more interested in hearing from my future self about why not. It also makes me realize that I’m trying to translate my current mind for a generalized audience (such as my future self, which I can’t assume much about except the ability to translate a few key phrases that have personal meaning, or by relying on specific memories); I’m curious how often it’ll seem like these were written by another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWU5fVToVk4

47. Tay Sean- FML [Left Field R&B/With One, Without Either]
A candid and parsimonious confrontation with the irrefutable, immutable, and inescapable set of facts that there are the girls Tay loves, the girls he thinks about, and the girls he dreams about.
And that their mutual existence ensures his permanent misery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJwrGmsHlxo

46. Phork- SWiM (OBE1) [Outsider House/Letters In Hope]
One of my most cherished rituals comes around the end of summer. I put together a handful of my favorite tracks from the year so far (it hasn’t even approached list form at this point), and I head to a pool with my waterproof headphones, snorkel, and TWO plastic ziplock bags to wrap around my ipod (I’m actually pretty surprised I haven’t wrecked my ipod yet with this). Going under the water with the headphones on to this song is the dominant association now. You don’t think about it, but you get a reflection of the bottom of the pool when you look towards the surface of the water, it locks you in. This is the space you’re given; you’re only going to be here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4jAoSKZkDI

45. Homeboy Sandman- Real New York (ft I Am Many) [East Coast HH/Just That]
While actually knowing nothing about the song’s origin, the history feels clear. The breathless beat could have been just a hint of an idea that never found its hook or bridge. But to him, this sounded like a 2 minute Everest. I’ve never been strictly opposed to the bravado streak in hip-hop, but I do prefer a show-not-tell approach to broadcasting talent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAtbYlq9OHQ

44. Rizzla- Burning Boat [Experimental/Electronica/Mrah----Mrah----Clap-Clap]
The very first one into the breach, how do they possibly do it? I suppose I could see it in the very short term, you allow your mind to fall for it’s own tricks. But how do they do it when they’re forced to see it coming? When they know hours, days, months in advance. Looking at the ocean, their fresh dead end, how did the heat feel? Backs to the wall, they say:
feed your faith to keep you warm, you need your faith to keep you warm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kl4M_fiMtk

43. Jamila Woods- VRY BLK (ft. Noname) [Neo-Soul/All We Want Is All Anyone Wants]
A reappropriation of a childhood song designed to hide the words they weren’t supposed to say from the powers that be, into an adulthood song designed to hide the word’s they aren’t supposed to say from the powers that be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8oAaA_8fZs

42. Danny L Harle- Broken Flowers [PC Music/TTLTTILW-TTLTTILW-TTLTTILW-&_&_&_]
People seem to think of repeated epiphanies as failures. That our moments of clarity come in only two flavors: watershed moments where your life is irrevocably altered or self-indulgent wheel-spinning. The value of the epiphany is directly proportional to the distance between your life before and your life after. The same epiphany means you’re right back to where you were, ∴ V(e)=0, right? Maybe I’m just extending empathy to a concept I’m now personifying, but to my bones this feels like the wrong way to treat them; especially if you want to see any again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwpP6gNiIWE

41. Huerco S.- On The Embankment [Ambient/ Fever Dreaming of Curse Eaters]
I’ve loved many, many ambient albums, but due in part to the genre’s tendency towards cohesive wholes over particularly audacious pieces, I don’t often think of ambient tracks as discrete from the album. The appearance here sprang from two parts; first is that this album is one of the rare ambient albums that is very distinct from track to track (more on that later) and second it’s that Embankment had the opportunity to stand out as I was trying to find one piece of repeatable music to fall asleep to while I was horribly nauseous. I knew I wasn’t going to get there; instead I looked for a single song that could possibly trick my mind into believing I was in a dream. I chose this and I spent the restless night in some sort of peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgEENExanM

40. Frank Ocean- Pink + White [R&B/You Showed Me The Way Out, I Remember That Each Time I Walk Away]
The really unfair thing about revisiting nostalgia is how I stay the same age. It gives the false impression that during that time I was immortal, experiencing the same loop again and again. I feel culpable, like I chose to leave the loop. You know I wouldn’t leave you dude.
https://vimeo.com/183253581 (Youtube Unavailable)

39. Jefre Cantu Ledesma- Love’s Refrain [Ambient/Noise/Another Life; A Longer Life]
I don’t often notice how I carry a slight chip on my shoulder that noise music can have an undeserved association with nihilism, but inspirational songs like this really twist that knife. Some of my optimism flows from the tendency to acclimate to bitter surfaces; just enough for a second look. Noise is the reminder that you might have missed something, because you weren’t meant to see it all in one go. Whether or not aching is built in or incidental, it’s part of me now. You might not believe me, but part of the reason I wish on eternal recurrence is for our refrain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK2lY8VXw-o

38. Sunshower- So Romantic [Lightcore/Mutated Until Your Contortions Reverse]
The sound puts me right back into childhood drives, in 96.7 it was 87.8 on 92.5, the awkward marriage of synths, chimes, and sharp voices. The words remind me of how I thought of them then; they’re just like everyone else, doing their best in a low tide. Looking at (and thinking of) the original I can’t help but feel like I’m witnessing a performance. You don’t feel any of this, do you? But now I’m here, and the memory is rebranded. Decades later it’s changed, and I know you do feel something. The pitch has turned fragile; you lied about your feelings, but still desperately working to hold yourself together. I can’t blame you for trying; but you should have failed better. As bitter as that sounds, the catharsis is welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0zCZVLGIwc

37. Jenny Hval- Conceptual Romance [Art Pop/Stand In Front Of Me, Let’s Be A Mirror]
Here’s something I never thought I’d say about myself, something no one’s really supposed to say about themselves; but I’ve gotten good at seducing myself. Let me clarify before you start to worry too much about the content rating of the rest: I mean that my romantic side is able to convince my intellectual side to follow it. Maybe it’s just my imagination Jenny, but exposing our inner romances has helped us connect to fuller company. After years of madness and combined failures, contrasted and seemingly conflicted with a vast trove of self-infatuation, was the answer really to treat others like we treat ourselves? Well, it seems to work for some.
It’s more than I thought I’d ever have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY7eLAVrfK4

36. Solange- Cranes In The Sky [Soul/The Bell And You Beneath It]
The pitch of the strings is held so tight that at times it sounds like a synthetic sine or theremin.
I try to conceptualize a song’s identity separately from its video, but the two are hopelessly intertwined on Cranes. Maybe I’m just too far gone, but I think it was a good thing this time. The zoom, the shining desert, nearly sci-fi in it’s forward thinking attempt to capture our projections onward. The video is not only one of my favorite music videos ever; I think it’s a favorite film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qrinhNnOM

35. Don’t- Gold & Glowing [Indie Rock/From Mesh To Cocoon]
You can be annoyed by hypertext (https://tinyurl.com/jhx35bw) fiction all you want, but in the end you know it’s all hypertext.
-Rebuilt the world just to watch it wash away (https://tinyurl.com/hb2uv7l)-
Especially when you surround yourself with only that context. People talk about speaking a word until it loses all meaning, like wringing out a dishrag. How’d it get wet? Did you listen too hard?
-You can walk in circles far from the water (https://tinyurl.com/gqolcb9)-
I love it though. Because for all my worries about trying to strike a balance between expression and communication; I do it all the time without conscious thought. Hard to be intimidated then.
-And when the sun (https://tinyurl.com/gn3d4n5) pours through another window (https://tinyurl.com/jsjoxzb)-
But do I try to find balance when listening? I’d think my balance would be listening once for myself, listen again for intention (and in that order, as not to spoil). But that’s not the concurrent type of balancing I do for writing and speaking. Seems difficult. I wonder why that is?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fd2LYuwLRU

34. Bob Dylan- Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright (Animal Collective Remix)
[Folk/Psych-Pop/In Nature, Because How Could Design Allow This?]
There’s a mysterious forest trope in video games where there’s 4 paths, one in each direction. The game tends to cheat, applying non-euclidian principles to your choices. Take a turn the game doesn’t want and you’ll be back at the start. It’s not like other “wrong” choices in games where you are directly punished for choices by injury or fighting monsters. In these, the punishment is simply non-progress. Gentle in its directions to just try again. Oppressive in its implication that anything that isn’t novel is wrong; that feeling familiar means you’ve failed. I tend to push these puzzles, looking for each possible outcome. Sometimes there’s a secret or two, sometimes there’s nothing. But the game is almost always insistent that you don’t belong in a cycle, like you are wasting its time by letting your heart wander; a break from always pushing forward. I disagree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHHhjAFQsnM

33. Azealia Banks- The Big Big Beat [Big Big Big Big Beat/Dirty Retcon]
Azealia makes it hard to like her, except when she’s making cuts like 212 or BBB. This song is so well designed it makes me misremember how awkward 90’s big beat and detroit house could be. It’s cheating. You and I both know it didn’t sound this good, you liar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQBqQxjLQw

32. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- I Need You [Alt Rock/More Than Your Context]
Then trying to match your stuttered pace, mismatching your warped tone, hearing your cracked voice. But I didn’t get you then. Now alone on a wet street with no sounds, singing nothing really matters to myself. I didn’t understand you, I didn’t want to understand you. But now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAMZYpZi_M4

31. AKBSHI- Stronger Than You (Remix) [Jersey/Footwork/Flow To Match The Feeling]
I fail often, but my cautious nature refuses to allow me to be in situations where my failure can’t be fixed by me alone. It’s terrifying, seeing a group of people hold back their panic because they don’t want to expose you to it; but we really need you to leave for a moment. I had only spent a day feeling this, until this floated into my life. Songs tend to enhance feelings but this song shook mine away. It’s not going to be alright, everything is already incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WngKqE3fao

30. Deakin- Golden Chords [Folk/Psychedelic/In Which I Got Two Thumbs Up In The Space Of One Second, And I Don’t Think Either Was Sarcastic]
The trick to confidence is knowing where to step. Familiarity with the sturdy ground in your character. There starts to be a natural sort of navigation to problem solving, the paths you develop, the halls you can walk straight down, the spots you have to hop from board to board. But those times you were caught off guard, you had to press down on a spot that’s always been too tender, but it’s stronger than you thought. Or the times you stepped on foundation and it gives way. Looking at hole left behind, thinking: is that something I’m not anymore? --
Is it fair? Giving up on the chemical mix that gives rise to a new variety of you. Old cities, old roads, old jobs, old mantras; they lead you to this place. You wouldn’t be who you are without them. Is this variety of you so bad? Does it really deserves to be pulled up by the roots?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LLqi6fQmXE

29. MLiR- People [House/Trusting My Balance As I Did On The Rocks]
There is one overriding memory to this song. Running down a street as fast as I could, tapping my feet on unnecessary tangents up curbs and along rail tracks. I was trying to get to a Pokemon before it despawned. It was one of the most fascinating game releases of all time. I’ve never, ever, seen as massive a change in the social climate this suddenly. I absolutely treasured the few weeks of insane popularity that it had. By the time I had made my run there, there was this cluster of players forming. There’s just something about chasing something down that exists in this dimension just beyond our sight, and to find a crowd gathering around that spot of shared imagination. I dearly hope something like it happens again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjRzRsHEIoU

28. Serpentwithfeet- Blisters [Art-Pop/My Dream At The Station, Kept Until Forgiven]
I nearly always wish to fully connect with a song’s intent, but here I find myself grateful for a degree of separation. Thoughts that someone could hate me to their grave makes my stomach turn, but I still keep blisters on repeat. I’m drawn toward penance in listening to the song. I feel the need to repeat our prayer until I’ve earned some sort of temporary respite; even pain caused by my abstraction; an obligation to gingerly wind their time spent hurting back into the spool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_-1NGbsMBU

27. Kero Kero Bonito- Break [ElectroPop/Ignore The Aching For The Sake Of Metaphor]
For the last several years I’ve had a birthday dinner tradition. We search within ourselves for specific appetites, and indulge. This takes place over the course of several hours as we drive around. Finding the pieces of meals that you’ve been craving, even if they don’t fit together. It’s actually kind of refreshing, to give control to your half-hearted appetites. This comes to mind when I think about the concept of a break. I often feel like I don’t deserve a break because of combined time spent uselessly meandering surely constitutes a break. But that’s not really a break, at least not for me. Breaks are really about expanding out a mental silence so that meditation fills the gaps. Committing to nothing allows your little pieces to express.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGzMCPVSPME

26. Moses Sumney- Everlasting Sigh [Alt R&B/Reverse Death]
Good advice can often fail to reach me, especially when I’m defending a dying identity. I know you shouldn’t draw out transitions; but the simple existence of that knowledge just moves the battle further out the semantic line. Deny the transition at all, then there’s no issue. I’m too good at fighting; or actually I’m too good at delaying defeat. Kindness has to be the first move on me. But there’s nothing in it for him, not even the hint of smug satisfaction of passing on a well-worn piece of wisdom. The feeling is fresh, offering a bent arm where I can lock mine. Our first step is to look back, the second is to turn, the third isn’t important yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfurJzX7HAc

[Slappydavis]

2016 Top Tracks
Part 4: 25-1

Youtube Playlist (starting from #25):
https://tinyurl.com/gl52rkk

25. Traumprinz- 2Bad (DJ Metatron 'What If Madness Is The Only Relief' Rework)[Deep House/Soft Thoughts Take Place In The Space Swords Make]
When I call a song meditative, I often mean it clears my head. It takes me to a distinct place where I’m not pressured to think about anything. This song is a bit different, as if the way it clears my head is quick and violent, leaving behind a vacuum that searches for anything to fill itself. What it finds it tends to be a neglected thought, something I was so unaware of I wouldn’t have even thought to discard it. --
I never quite thought you were dead; I still let myself make small plans. The structure of your eulogy started coming together, here’s what you’d want me to say, here’s what I’d want to say, is there common ground? Where would I go? I know you wanted me to travel with your ashes, but I felt unprepared; you never quite told me this directly but you wanted me go with my own child. Like the trip we took when you thought you were dying. You tried to show me so much of your identity in those places, but you were also so quiet. I felt like you were holding back, like always.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L8Wcj1r2zM

24. PUP- DVP [Punk/I Said When You Drink You All Seem The Same, But Actually]
When she called me to say she was worried about him, and asked me to go. When I talked with him over the phone outside his house; he didn’t want to be his dad. When he hardly knew me, then he put his hand down her pants he got scared. When she gave her number to me and I said it was reckless. When he told me that he needs her forgiveness, I told him I can’t speak for her. When she told me she lied to him, I agreed he couldn’t ever know. When we were on the overpass he told me that he wished people were like broken faucets, I think they just cover it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVuB1ZASrGw

23. Lindstrøm- Closing Shot [Nu-Disco/I Do Not Own My Memories, I Just Love Them]
One of the first playlists I ever remember making was designed for a character mindset. I’d use it as a way to get into a cocky attitude as I strutted the retail store I worked at when I got off work. Yes, delaying my own departure; this was my version of a goodbye as I teased my favorite coworkers. I made another, songs that made me skip when I felt like no one was watching. It was a little bit of the opposite, something that made me move in a decidedly giddy and uncool fashion. I think of it now, as I think this song could honestly bridge the gap between the two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOIibxEtebg

22. Cloudland Canyon- An Arabesque [Cosmic Synth/ Again Tomorrow, And I Can’t Wait]
When I wake up there’s a fading part of me desperate to tell everything about the dream we had. It’s so excited and it has so much to say. It’s so conscious of how much is behind it and how little it has ahead. I have to beg it to sit still and give me something. You’ve lived forever, piece it down. --
I’ve been told journaling helps you remember dreams for longer. So odd, why would that work? Now that I’m here, maybe it’s because I can prove to that part of me that it’ll be back. Maybe just knowing that it’ll be back, that we’ll talk again, that this isn’t its only chance to try to make sense of all it’s ever known before being lost forever. Slow down, you’ll get to tell me everything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFIcJa41t4Y

21. Kines+hetiaC- Poll U Tion [Synth/If The Stories Were Meant To Have The Message “Peaceful Life Is To Be Desired”, They Shouldn’t Have Killed The Story In Comfort]
There’s a tear in the song. It starts with this very sweet village/shire. Then it starts to complicate, call to action type stuff. Then there’s just this tiny hint of the start of the journey, then it rips apart and swings forward into the tender resolution. I don’t know quite how to feel; sad that there wasn’t a journey, or happy they didn’t have to experience the struggle. It’s the part of life that the hero is fighting for, and here they just have it. You can’t really complain, can you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvCXsgDOXMU

20. ¬ b- 3m12-Disc 2 [Instrumental Hip Hop/There, Just After They All Stopped Searching]
I grew up being in an empty church a lot. I always felt more when it was just me, and I can’t say that place isn’t beautiful when the sun’s on the right side; putting the constant stream of dust from the pillars and pews through the colored light of the stained glass windows. I loved that I felt totally alone in this place designed to make you feel like there’s something outside of yourself, because every time I feel alone I just feel my own permanent presence.--
I hear the lone voice in the church, singing wordless notes. The place feels like it’s designed to redouble the sound falling from the ceiling, reminding you of what’s above. I think he meant to be alone (he called them reflections); someday I hope he’d understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0AAiSnWp6c

19. Clipping.- Wriggle [Experimental Hip Hop/Maybe It Would Have Come Naturally?]
Clipping makes the disturbing palatable. No, more than palatable; compulsive. Maybe it always was, and clipping just reveals it. Nesting itself within a deep part of your brain, too compelling to ignore its implications. Is all that separates you from violence the right rhythm?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5msWb1l2j6g

18. Open Mike Eagle & Paul White- A Short About a Guy That Dies Everynight [Abstract Hip-Hop/My Brand New Ford Theseus, Built From Every Car I’ve Ever Owned]
--Sometimes it feels like I inherited my current cell from my past self. As if I was some sort of ancest--t’s like an inverted Groundhog Day; living countless different days but ne--etimes I think of identity as if it were some sort of pattern. Where identity is the configuration, the structure of your tho--ore I start to dream, before there's that big break; I feel like I have to have some sort of faith that all reform the next day to continue being the same “pers--seem to think of myself as one continuous thought process that has a straight line from birth to death. But then when I look at some look at younger pictures of myself and try to remember things from a long time ago I'm completely unable to; the intuition is that I'm a completely dif--f all the experiences I’ve ever forgotten were used to form another person, would I recognize them as m-- Mike, I feel our struggle against being switched from one topic the next; that you wanted you want to keep the thought go--ometimes I have to just accept the assemblage of interrupted thoughts and hope there’s some sort of emergent quali--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOSGIi5qp0I

17. Cottam- Breaking Through The Pain Barrier [House/From Nerves, To Heart, To Hands]
I speak a lot about how music might cause me to dance, though not often the form. This one is a bobbing and heaving motion in a shower, drawing in the water spilling over my lips and spraying it above. Paul may have done the same as he emerged victorious over his own body.--
I’m skeptical of the current value placed on the idea of the self-reliant man, but I can’t lie; I’m so deeply impressed by Cottam creating his own path out. It’s a long song as it is, but I bet this is culled from hours of repetition and rehabilitation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkEHoaoiktk

16. Frank Hurricane- Who U Is [Psych-Hop/It Happens All The Time, Right Around...]
If you’ve played music with friends, most of the time it’s a mess that never deserves to leave the basement you’re in. But every once in awhile, you might get into that slight swing. None of you are quite good enough to know what you’re even doing, so you know you can’t really repeat it once you leave, so you keep it going a bit. It’s not that it sounds amazing, it’s that it actually carries you away like “real” music does. You’ve made that feeling for yourself, and that’s what you want to capture, yet you can’t. Still, even today I recognize its echo in this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je-iM7MHElE

15. Avalon Emerson- The Frontier [Tech House/We Reflect When We Relent]
People like to think about what parts of themselves are the most core, which parts would survive catastrophe (It’s where we get: “In a certain light, wouldn't nuclear war be exciting?”). We cleanse, we turn the heat on ourselves, we make our minds inhospitable to see what happens. If something leaves, good riddance, it couldn’t have been depended on anyway.--
I can’t ever remember how the song actually goes. I can only recreate the environment as best as I can remember. I let my body go limp and here come the warm jets...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1DUG29Hcao

14. TV Girl- Heaven Is A Bedroom [Indie Hip Hop/Never Kept My Promises On The Phone]
It was like the streets cleared just for me. Pretty warm for being damp and 1am. During just the right moments, you’d swear my skittering feet actually made a pretty good job expressing how I felt. I had just seen a reminder of it all. I know you think about high school all the time, but it still catches you off guard when you run into the other particles that careen away from that initial singularity. You remember that one night you spent together? You just watched each other under the covers. It’s hard to remember the tension; it must have been there? I fell for TV Girl before the street and the memory; but something just brought it together right then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-7hMD2OgBc

13. Lorenzo Senni- emotiva1234 [Minimal House/Make Sense First, Add More Later]
The restriction inspires the creativity here. I’m still shocked that he can do so much with so little. This is one of the best form songs I can think of. It’s hard to feel like they’re notes anymore. Tiny fists striking your whole body. It feels like being tossed around in ocean and rain. The bursts of warmth, small punctures of cold. Less like sound and more like waves in air. Wait.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQDiIiYSD2U (Snippet, Check Spotify)

12. Thunder Tillman- Exact Location Of The Soul [Kosmische/All My Skipped Heartbeats, I’ve Found Where You’ve Gone]
So yeah, I’m a total sucker for the near-motorik beats and sound palette in this brand of psych. Coming across this felt strange, because I could have sworn it was already part of my life. I’m struck by images on each beat. I’m trying to make sense of it. It’s like spilling out a case of photos; the pictures of moments that I could hardly stand to move to the next second. The moments I try to stretch outside myself so that I’ll never forget the feeling of my exact location. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuwjKP89t8o

11. Mitski- Best American Girl [Indie Rock/Her Pain Isn’t Mine, But Mine Might Be Hers]
She was really good at it, she said all the right things. Not even just the right words, but spoken the right way, like they were spilling directly from her heart. She spoke from the top of her rock. She was a good role model. She spoke with his breath on her forehead. But the inspiration wasn’t hers. But she was a conduit. But the very best she could ever hope to be was a tool. When it changed, in one breath they said: we’re so proud of you. In the second: well it’s not like we’d go out of our way to let people know how you turned out. Were they really that surprised that she didn’t dream like they did? Was her big mistake living up to expectations at first?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrfO6xSQs0

10. Rodion- Gamma [Dance/Even If You Lose Everything But The Sun]
Dance gets a raw deal sometimes. Especially when it comes to interpretational form. We don’t crack as many jokes about music or literature. If we were bees, the joke would be dancing about music is like buzzing about honeycomb. Do you remember what this means?--
I wonder what it was like for the person that wrote revelations. Pursuing grander and grander ideas, trying to make a perfect idea visceral. Simplicity is too easy. Infinity too conceptually unwieldy. A need to go beyond your own imagination; how would you know when you’re done?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrN2U4r49Q

9. Kanye West- Ultralight Beam [Soul/Rap/Hey Man, I’m Glad You’re Still Here]
There aren’t many moments I was happier for a musician than when Kanye was just starting to debut TLOP at Madison Square Garden. He seemed a little anxious and unsure; maybe even a little bashful? Proud, but nervous. You could see him wander around to his friends, followed by the halo of a spotlight. It looked like he was going to get swept up in a rapture, right then and there. I’ve wondered what it’s like for him. To him it must all seem so arbitrary, as if he’s unsure what people will love him for, what they’ll hate him for. As this song played, I think he knew he did well. Sure, it all goes to his head sometimes, but man is he magnetic when happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkBKJMTCHGk

8. Animal Collective- Floridada [Neo-Psychedelia/This, And Everything To Follow]
There are so many visceral and pleasurable moments left in my life. That sounds obvious to “brain” but doesn’t feel certain to “gut”. If I were approached with a deal to either live out my lifespan naturally or be able to relive my life up until now (without changing it) again and again; I’d have a tough time deciding. I’ve loved my life so much and I’m always concerned that at some point there’ll be a reversion to the mean. This song breaks that feeling and brings my over-nostalgia back into balance. It’s more than optimistic; it’s excited, ecstatic, absolutely thrilled about all the moments from before, and all the moments to come. Brief moments you catch your gaze in the mirror, have that feeling of recognizing yourself and thinking of all the times before that you looked into your own eyes; you feel truly grateful for whatever this all is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuoIvNFUY7I

7. Chinese Slippers- Viibrate [Pop/We Under That Threshold, We Under That Pressure]
I’m curious to see how I feel about this song in a year or two, because something about it feels so utterly woven into 2016 as a year that I’m not sure what it’ll be without its context. Every time I hear it I think of it as this special treat, taking this moment to feel bright and happy. I almost never let it repeat, but I can listen to it multiple times in the days I need it. The opening moments are like walking under a series of banners welcoming me to the best part of my day. I choose to be around that which makes me happy. I’m sorry if I lose the forest for the trees sometimes, but these moments are just so wonderful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey1H1YeShrQ

6. Children of Pop- Jealous Lover [Synth-Pop/Lucky Soul, I Love You So]
I’m hoping it’s just human nature to be obsessed with the moments you become aware of your relation to an era. When I think of the past, I’m almost always resolute that I would never change a thing, but if I was told that my future was determined I’d get nauseous and resentful. It bothers me, but don’t I let myself indulge in both fantasies anyway? Don’t I spend all my time there? An impossibly idyllic future, reliving an unreliable past; where my heart went my heart is.---
When I had a chance to realize what was happening I wanted it to last forever. I wanted this feeling of optimism and possibility to linger, I knew that someday I’d have context on this moment, and I didn’t want it. I could see myself at the end; where my hardened heart is. ---
When I thought about myself then, I actually didn’t want to go back. I wanted to stay here. I wanted to relive everything that came before, and cycle again and again. I can feel myself slip back into the last thought that happened before, like all of this was just one long tangent. Now I’m pointed back toward my personal canon, my natural state; where my heartward heart is.
http://youtubeloop.net/watch?v=EDLXWEfesUk (Can’t we stay in this loop? Stanley?)

5. LUH- I&I [Indie Rock/Standing Over The Frictionless Pit Where I Was Born]
Motivation is often viewed as this capricious and fickle resource, and its only value is whether or not it can get you through your current task to the next; from stone to stone. I&I is gentler, a reminder that the life you want exists in each day; but only when you’re ready.--
I’ve thought sometimes; why isn’t the golden rule, treat others like they’d like to be treated? It does feel like we’ve kind of moved towards this version (at least when we talk about these sort of rules), but when I compare the two versions, this one seems pretty frail. I’ve thought a lot about how I treat myself this year, and; it’s hard to get started; to get any sort of good initial principle going to gain momentum. I’m thinking of starting simple, an inverted golden rule; treat yourself as you’d treat others. It’s even something I’ve said to other people, but not something I’ve really considered for myself. Treat other people how you’d treat yourself. Treat yourself like you’d treat other people. Yes, clearly circular. But keep a thread going during the recumbent motion and you’ve begun to weave. Discovering your personal principles by braiding countless intuitions and finding a center of gravity. Maybe it could support your weight.--
I have no idea how I’d approach initial language at my current age; with my ideas about ideas so fixed and specialized. When I was young I was just able to take an idea and hold it. That act allowed progress even when the change was imperceptibly small. I could use that idea to describe another idea. I could use that word to describe another word, and if I could just get this one foot up, maybe I could grab the ledge...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUGBpSL5kg

4. These Hidden Hands- These Moments Dismantled [Industrial Techno/I Don’t Belong In The Wild]
The exact center of this song is how the two rapid salvos of percussion play off each other. The first is a tightly managed and forceful attack. The sound of the drum is smooth and intact. The second comes apart and its deep tissue is exposed and barely linked to the cartilage. I have a sense of being pursued; the slow bass beat has a solid head start, before it’s quickly overtaken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFBSSY4BQgQ

3. Marie Davidson- Naive To The Bone [Minimal Dance/Bored Of Proud Indifference]
It was going so well there for a while. Vulnerability was in. I remember right at my introduction to the internet as a social experience, there was a sudden release of guarded thoughts and the accidental vulnerability (upon revisiting, not only how could I have said that, but how could I have said that out loud?). Because of the new availability and permanence of the public record, how could you do something as irresponsible as putting anything subjective to a point in your life/day/minute out there with the force of a life manifest. We even routinely punish the temporal disagreements between people and their past words. Those sound suspiciously like feelings, not fully formed life ideas! If you’re going to put feelings out there, make sure you express doubt or contradictory ideas in equal measure to create a path out after the fact.--
The song itself is vulnerable, as it pins its whole structure on a scarce few beats, synths, and words; if they failed on any the entire thing comes apart with no excuse.--
I resent the saying “tell the truth and you’ll never have to remember anything’’, because that’s not how it feels god dammit! I search myself endlessly for how I truly feel and I’m never ever sure. If truth is objective and consistent, then it doesn’t exist moment to moment with me. I know that leaves me open in the future, but come at me. Like this list, I might be hating this ten years from now, but I’m not you and you’re not me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnsqWdVOfrU

2. The Blow- Think About Me [ElectroPop/I Put Your Play Together: 2-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3...]
A tightly packed peek at the conflicted mind of an ex-lover: I deserve something permanent, some proof that I ever mattered to you. Looking at your life now, I can’t see my markings. I don’t even need to hear that you still care for me, I just want to know that I come into your thoughts at all. I know you won’t let me be the light in your life, but I don’t deserve to be written out of it altogether. You’re being cruel when you make it look forgetting so easy. Remember when you were the problem? When you were the one doing the convincing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIPpSD3wJE4

1. Hannah Diamond- Fade Away [PC Music/I’m Sorry My Garnet]
Whenever I say goodbye it’s not even losing that person that hits first; because there’s some comfort in recognizing the person will live on without you. The thing that immediately disappears is that mixture you’d made together. The character transitions into memories, the potential for more of the same ended and only the echoes remain. I immediately hold a small funeral for the memories. I remember the first time; I watched him disappear while I stood under the streetlight.
Maybe the pain is the reorganization that mentally takes place. Moving the remnants of your time together out of the present folder and into the past section. --
When I think of my terrible wrongs, I should think first of my seconds. But I inevitably feel most drawn to our thirds. I feel ashamed for hollowing out their stone, I’ll do better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmgp7MHzmBM

[Swan]

Oh my God... Hannah Diamond at #1?

HELL YES.

I'll be turning to this thread for more recs when I need them. Great stuff.

[Slappydavis]

Oh my God... Hannah Diamond at #1?

HELL YES.
Eventually the whole damn list will be PC Music.

Wasn't expecting Fade Away to be in the top slot at the end, I had initially put it in the 20's or something earlier. But man, I honestly think it's an actual perfect song moment to moment.

[Swan]

PC music is amazing, yeah. I think if I had to bring one genre (or whatever you want to call PC music) to a desert island for the rest of my life... it'd be Hannah Diamond, AG Cook and co.

[Yoda]

Slappydavis: I posted these questions and comments on the SpyParty forums but I'm not sure if you saw them. Might as well cross-post them here, though, and you can cross-post the answers if you like:

1) You have a discernible taste. I say that in a completely value-neutral way.

2) Before that Beyonce song, I had heard of exactly zero of these people. I am no longer With It™.

3) Do you actually listen to the instrumental/trace stuff, or is it primarily background music for something else?

4) How much thought was put into the ranking? Is it very specific, with each decision receiving genuine thought, or is that just the case near the top, and the rest are general ranges?

5) I like what you said about having a connection to your past emotions. That seems smart, and like a great personal investment you'll be glad you made later.

6) Have you done these for previous years (I think I remember that you have)? I like to discover new music, and used to put a lot of time into it, but it's hard to justify that effort now. So effectively outsourcing that, and piggybacking on something you're doing anyway, would be cool. EDIT: nevermind, found last year's. How far back do these go?

[Swan]

it's hard to justify that effort now.

Curious, why?

[Yoda]

Curious, why?
Just a combination of a) being busier in general and b) having fewer situations where I can listen to it. When I was younger I listened to a lot of music in the background while doing site work, but I work in shorter, more focused bursts now, and often find music to be a distraction.

That said, if I can find a good way to have a bunch of semi-curated recommendations just going in the background while I drive or use the stationary bike or something, that would work, at least occasionally. I guess just Pandora?

[Swan]

I haven't used Pandora much but as far as I know it's just radio. You should try Spotify. They're fantastic for finding new music.

[Yoda]

I thought the idea behind Pandora was you pick a station based on a song you like, and you get recommendations based on that? I mean, I don't imagine it's great, given such little input, but I assume that would at least eliminate a lot of stuff I wouldn't like, even just based on that one choice.

Does Spotify have something like that, where with a little time upfront, I can basically discover passively? If I have to pick each song or artist, that's when it becomes an activity unto itself, and then it becomes another thing vying for time and attention, as opposed to something I can layer on top of an existing activity.

[Swan]

I thought the idea behind Pandora was you pick a station based on a song you like, and you get recommendations based on that? I mean, I don't imagine it's great, given such little input, but I assume that would at least eliminate a lot of stuff I wouldn't like, even just based on that one choice.

Does Spotify have something like that, where with a little time upfront, I can basically discover passively? If I have to pick each song or artist, that's when it becomes an activity unto itself, and then it becomes another thing vying for time and attention, as opposed to something I can layer on top of an existing activity.

Spotify has radio like Pandora, but it also has access to full albums, personally curated playlists like "Discover Weekly", and artist pages with "related artists" sections. I really love it, personally. I've found a lot of great stuff I wouldn't have heard before. I think the "Discover Weekly" playlist is what you're looking for. After you get it and listen to the kind of music you like for maybe a week (so they can figure out what you listen to), they start making a weekly playlist for you with recommendations. You can just turn that on and find some great new stuff. And then there is the radio section, which is just like Pandora as far as I know. Man, I sound like an ad, but yeah - it's cool.

[Slappydavis]

@Slappydavis (http://www.movieforums.com/community/member.php?u=86075): I posted these questions and comments on the SpyParty forums but I'm not sure if you saw them. Might as well cross-post them here, though, and you can cross-post the answers if you like:

Oh damn! I did see them but I got down a rabbit hole on how to answer the last question and I never actually did it and then forgot.

1) You have a discernible taste. I say that in a completely value-neutral way.

I think that's very true. I kinda wish I was able to equally enjoy all forms of music, but there are entire genres I just can't seem to get into (big band, reggae, most jazz tbh).

2) Before that Beyonce song, I had heard of exactly zero of these people. I am no longer With It™.

Most of those before Beyonce I can't shame you for not knowing. Except Bon Iver, shame on you old man. And I guess Mac Miller (though that song is an exception, I'm not usually a fan).

3) Do you actually listen to the instrumental/trace stuff, or is it primarily background music for something else?

Depends on the song, and even for the songs it can change. For example I have these hue light bulbs that react to sound in my apartment. And I definitely listened to all of the Skeppet track while just looking at the lights and loving the trance state.

But often, the longer songs are just really good for getting me into a state of mind, rather than the actual trajectory of the song.

4) How much thought was put into the ranking? Is it very specific, with each decision receiving genuine thought, or is that just the case near the top, and the rest are general ranges?

General overview:
Over the course of the year, I collect songs that particularly stood out to me into a playlist. I listen to this playlist a few times over the course of the year and some tracks fall out and some tracks stand out even more.

Before I start getting serious about the list, I "seed" the songs into a pre-ranking. Where I order the songs on a gut feeling about where the song will end up. What this is supposed to reflect is that when it comes to my favorite music, there will often be an advantage to whatever I heard most recently. As I listen to the songs to get my thoughts in order, they can rise or fall up or down (or off) the list.

To directly answer your question, I did try to put them in an exact order, but I'd suspect that there's something like a +/- 5 spots on each song. But if you go beyond 10 spots, I'd say there's a discernible difference in my own enjoyment. At a point in time of course, they'll change "rankings" forever as I age. I do aim for the rankings to have some personal meaning because I actually like going back through the lists and having the thought, man, how did this song end below that song when it's clearly so much better?

5) I like what you said about having a connection to your past emotions. That seems smart, and like a great personal investment you'll be glad you made later.

Thinking about the investment the only way I ever make these. To be totally honest, the amount of effort I put into this is embarrassingly large, and it feels like work a lot of the time. But I know how much I love going back through old lists of mine, and it's the only way that I'm able to functionally have some sort of journal of what the music is compelling from me at a given time.


6) Have you done these for previous years (I think I remember that you have)?

I've done top albums since 2012, when it was part of a challenge of an old music community I was part of at that time. That community is dead now, but I kept the habit because of how rewarding it felt. I didn't really dive fully into songs until last year. And I really enjoyed it and it'll probably end up being the "best" of the 3 lists because it's more accessible, and it's more personal to a specific feeling. The albums list will do more of a traditional evaluation, though certainly still self centered because, cmon, it's me still.

I like to discover new music, and used to put a lot of time into it, but it's hard to justify that effort now. So effectively outsourcing that, and piggybacking on something you're doing anyway, would be cool.
To be honest, I looooove trying to figure out music that will fit people. If you (or anyone else) is looking for recommendations, hit me up with any criteria (or none!).

[Mr Minio]

No J-pop? THE LIST IS WORTHLESS!!!!!!!!!!111111111

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4oOZoB2eI0

Seriously, though. A pretty cool list. I'd replace some of these (HIP-HOP!!!!!!!!!!111111) with some better choices, but it's your taste after all. I hope the 2017 one will have some bitchin' choices!!!!11

[Yoda]

Oh damn! I did see them but I got down a rabbit hole on how to answer the last question and I never actually did it and then forgot.
All is forgiven. This time. :suspicious:

I think that's very true. I kinda wish I was able to equally enjoy all forms of music, but there are entire genres I just can't seem to get into (big band, reggae, most jazz tbh).
I actually meant that in a much more specific way: not just that there were clearly a few genres you favored, but that some of them felt very much "of a kind" with a dozen others. Or maybe that's just my lack of knowledge about some of these genres, since all the really long songs that were 90% just looped beats all felt kind of the same to me (with the exception of that Blanck Mass song, which stood out for some reason.

Most of those before Beyonce I can't shame you for not knowing. Except Bon Iver, shame on you old man. And I guess Mac Miller (though that song is an exception, I'm not usually a fan).
Good news, I actually just forgot Bon Iver was in the first half (that's when I wrote the question; I recognized a few after). Like many (I assume), I first heard him because of "Skinny Love."

Depends on the song, and even for the songs it can change. For example I have these hue light bulbs that react to sound in my apartment. And I definitely listened to all of the Skeppet track while just looking at the lights and loving the trance state.

But often, the longer songs are just really good for getting me into a state of mind, rather than the actual trajectory of the song.
The background/foreground thing is a big distinction on my end, because of the focus stuff I mentioned to Swan earlier. I ended up just listening straight through, and if I liked something, I saved the link. I saved them into three lists (there was some overlap, with songs ending up on more than one list):

First, a list of songs I just liked and wanted to hear again.

Second, a list of songs my wife might like, that I'll listen to again and consider putting on a tape for her.

Third, songs that would make good background music for work (almost all lyric-less).

I'll have to re-listen to that first list to say for sure, but it's possible that TEEN song at the very beginning could end up being my favorite. It'll definitely be on the short list.

General overview:
Over the course of the year, I collect songs that particularly stood out to me into a playlist. I listen to this playlist a few times over the course of the year and some tracks fall out and some tracks stand out even more.

Before I start getting serious about the list, I "seed" the songs into a pre-ranking. Where I order the songs on a gut feeling about where the song will end up. What this is supposed to reflect is that when it comes to my favorite music, there will often be an advantage to whatever I heard most recently. As I listen to the songs to get my thoughts in order, they can rise or fall up or down (or off) the list.

To directly answer your question, I did try to put them in an exact order, but I'd suspect that there's something like a +/- 5 spots on each song. But if you go beyond 10 spots, I'd say there's a discernible difference in my own enjoyment. At a point in time of course, they'll change "rankings" forever as I age. I do aim for the rankings to have some personal meaning because I actually like going back through the lists and having the thought, man, how did this song end below that song when it's clearly so much better?
Dig. This is how I assumed you did it, and it's probably how I'd do it, too. It's more or less how I compose my lists for the film countdowns here, too.


Thinking about the investment the only way I ever make these. To be totally honest, the amount of effort I put into this is embarrassingly large, and it feels like work a lot of the time. But I know how much I love going back through old lists of mine, and it's the only way that I'm able to functionally have some sort of journal of what the music is compelling from me at a given time.
I don't know if this is the kind of thing everyone does, but thinks is weird, or if you just happen to be talking to someone else who thinks this way, but I don't find this strange or embarrassing at all. I find making lists and turning over things and comparing them in my mind to be very gratifying.

In my case, it's usually to-do lists. Over the years I've scribbled (or typed) out dozens of to-do lists, sometimes about whatever, but usually about web development; either features for an existing site, or entirely new sites. Lots of it never happens, but I find creating them enjoyable, and often clarifying.

Honestly, I think taking anything you think about with any regularity, and going over it or writing it out or something, is inherently valuable, and increases your understanding of it (and your own thought process) in lots of intangible ways.

I've done top albums since 2012, when it was part of a challenge of an old music community I was part of at that time. That community is dead now, but I kept the habit because of how rewarding it felt.
Fun fact: at various times I considered starting a music forum to run alongside this one.

I didn't really dive fully into songs until last year. And I really enjoyed it and it'll probably end up being the "best" of the 3 lists because it's more accessible, and it's more personal to a specific feeling. The albums list will do more of a traditional evaluation, though certainly still self centered because, cmon, it's me still.
Well, I've already gone back and listened to last year's list (the ones that are still there, at least), so I'll gladly listen to this year's list, too, if you do another.

To be honest, I looooove trying to figure out music that will fit people. If you (or anyone else) is looking for recommendations, hit me up with any criteria (or none!).
That fifth "o" convinced me you're not just being nice, so I will definitely take you up on this.

[Yoda]

Spotify has radio like Pandora, but it also has access to full albums, personally curated playlists like "Discover Weekly", and artist pages with "related artists" sections.
That last one is what I used to do: I'd go on Napster (late-stage, subscription-based Napster, which actually was probably the thing most like Spotify at the end), start searching, and when I found something I liked, I'd go down the rabbit hole of Related Artists, where one leads to another to another, and so on. That ended up requiring a fair bit of time and focus, though.

I really love it, personally. I've found a lot of great stuff I wouldn't have heard before. I think the "Discover Weekly" playlist is what you're looking for. After you get it and listen to the kind of music you like for maybe a week (so they can figure out what you listen to), they start making a weekly playlist for you with recommendations. You can just turn that on and find some great new stuff. And then there is the radio section, which is just like Pandora as far as I know. Man, I sound like an ad, but yeah - it's cool.
Wow, sounds like a good fit, then. I gave up unnecessary spending for Lent, so I can't try it for maybe a month, but I might give it a go then. The customized recommendation thing sounds promising, though so many of those things are just okay (be it movies or music or whatever). Would you say it does a decent job with your tastes, based on your listening history?

[Swan]

Yeah, I do personally believe Spotify does a great job of curating to your specific taste. And from what I've seen, a lot of people feel similarly. I've heard some people say they can't live without their "Discover Weekly" playlist. Obviously take that for what it's worth, I don't mean to build it up too much, but I do think Spotify does a good job.

[Slappydavis]

Pretty version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vSE9vffWjrTd1Vnh09Y5Ol-QWQ8gjO70bQXKT7NFH2s/

Top 20 Short Releases of 2016

Youtube Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/ln8nn3a

20-11 (No Blurbs)

20. Kelly Lee Owens- Oleic [Tech-House]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZyrhdumHIk

19. Disclosure- Moog for Love [UK Bass]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3VMldMErSY

18.Chapelier Fou- Kalia [Folktronic Soundtracks]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh-oPGIDGtQ

17. Brame & Hamo- Kebab Dreams [Deep House]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CR08186HLo

16. Karen Gwyer- Prophase Metaphase Anaphase Telophase [Techno]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu6IbVj6w-A

15. Lindstrom- Windings [Nu-Disco]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRmxNqFaIJo

14. G.L.O.S.S.- Trans Day Of Revenge [Hardcore]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhz9LXX5AkE

13. Floating Points- Kuiper [Jazz/Electronica]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUFBmgYQWM

12. Cottam- Breaking Through The Pain Barrier [Deep House]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27qy7PTxZBY

11. Anthony Naples- Mixes For My Mates [Mixes For The Floor]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l91gqlVEH6I

10-1 (With Blurbs)

10. Toby Gale- DNA Party [Dance/Pop/Meaningless Fun, Meh. Directionless Fun, YAY!]
We can get caught up in justifying fun. I think it can be justified, but why? I think fun can be explained, but why? I think explaining why fun could be explained could be fun, but why now? DNA Party effortlessly side-steps the whole conversation with a: hey, I think you’ll like this. Your first steps into colorful world, the new taste on your tongue; lay down your good habits for a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaQkH4e_i3k

9. Seabuckthorn- I Could See The Smoke [Folk/It Can Feel Good To Get Knocked Down]
I love feeling like I have a grasp on music. I love feeling like I’m really starting to get a handle on the underlying language. But man, I also love releases that hit me sideways and make me feel like I don’t know anything. Isn’t folk supposed to be the intimate genre? The one where you can see the fire, half a lit face, an acoustic guitar, and it’s just the two of you? How could it also encompass this record, where the music seems better fit to play over the formation of canyons, the breaking up of continents, aeons of geological progress? Each of these songs have tremendous scale, coupled with the breadth of styles on display… I mean, at this point I’m gonna quit talking and wait for the follow-up album to tell me how this story could even progress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VffJ8vgL6Mc

8. Thunder Tillman- Jaguar Mirror [Kosmische/Your Guided Tour To Thunder]
The duo call themselves a shaman and a visionary. While I’m skeptical of how sincere that description is (this being the internet and all), it works pretty well to describe the feeling that the music brings about; how it feels like guided meditation. My intuition is that this started as a way for them to contextualize how they made music, possibly when they were trying to locate their spring of creativity. How having a producer/drummer seems to both guide and interpret the work of a gifted perspective; how the percussion shapes a structure waiting to be filled with inspiration, then how the finished work is contextualized for the audience (both via the production and seemingly as the primary media contact). It also helps explain the conflicting qualities of the music; handled yet unimpeded. Similar to how groups of people seem to be easier to understand than individuals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaoUVjSL0ps

7. Jefre Cantu Ledesma- In Summer [Experimental/Noise/How Sounds When Blood Rushes To The Part Of Your Brain That Makes You Feel Like You’ll Never Die]
I don’t think I’ll be able to really pin down how happy I am that JCL’s work exists. There are so few artists that operate in the area of beautiful noise with this sort of precision. It’s experimental noise, sure, but it’s so easy to listen to. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of experimental music that sneaks up to me in a daydream; and JCL, I will never stop loving you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKG_8mu4zQc

6. Lil Siva- Jimi [UK Bass/I’m Glad You Speak, Even When It’s So Little]
Three: She says time is against her, but it’s not that she doesn’t have enough. It’s that it’s bending itself so that she experiences the same pain again and again; feeling the same realization, the same commitment to change, the same failure to actualize it.-- Four: Hands in your pockets with your head angled toward the ground. Just barely reacting to the fragments of communication that you pick out when people try to interact with you. Never truly bothering to put it together; you’re not concerned about reacting to the sentiment of what's being spoken, just speaking enough until they leave you alone.-- Five: Someone he knew a long time ago that’s changed so much that he’s not sure if it's worth taking on their new baggage; he’d never even consider it if was anyone but a friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGJ8SSwCEnw

5. Simon12345 & The Lazer Twins- Cheveux Propres, Cheveux Gras [Tech House/T-420]
The first track sounds like a premonition about the next Terminator, where there’ll be a robot assassin from the future who’s sent to destroy all the other terminators from the other films. Then that robot kills John Connor. The rest of the EP sounds like we find out that the robots that sent it are these cool ass rave-bots, so everything turns out hella sweet and they party forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0IyXfRYYrc

4. Don't- Forget It [Bedroom Pop/How Much Of This Takes Place In A Shared Space?]
An outline of a relationship judged by the distance between the fantasies and the actual events. The beginning, where she recognizes herself as an object of interest to someone else, but she’s worried her specifics will break the spell; she wants to be that fantasy for them rather than end up disappointing. The winding down, where after all this effort she put into this dream their indecision is ruining their chance to connect. The immediate after, where she sees how the other person has rewritten the history of the relationship, and they’re congratulating themselves on the resilience to move on from this invented pain. The long after, she still misses all these sweet moments, and she can forget how they left her heartbroken. Left weak by the world, she’d be unable to fight the allure of old fantasies; she’s just asking not to be put through it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAtfX0FC580

3. Serpentwithfeet- Blisters [Post-Gospel/Without Light I Don’t Know Where Not To Look]
Hearing it, I get the sensation I’m listening to an arcane language. Something with primordial truths; axioms I can only take short glances at before I’m overwhelmed and my gaze is forced away. It articulates how individuals interact with the great underlying forces of the world; fleeting, personal brushes against the edge (we don’t actually get to fight physical embodiments of evil like the stories say). The lyrical mixtures on the EP are thick and abstract, but consistent. References to rejected motherhood where the child refuses to take nourishment from the sole person who could provide it, the umbilical becoming gossamer, the hole left in the belly. Relationships that have turned the inner monologue, what kind of person am I if the ones that care about me would risk running away into the dark than spending their love on me? Residing in the dark for so long that you feel a blindness pressing through your open eyes and pouring down your neck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coaAbXevV_g

2. Chinese Slippers- House Party [Lightcore/If I Can Just Keep My Balance For 60 More]
This artist speaks my language, and is eager to interpret music for me. Viibrate and Shellfish Lovers already got their place in the sun during the tracks list, but take “Want Me” a reappropriation of a Young Franco track. The original’s backing music is far too smooth and self assured to complement the lyrics of confusion and rejection, while the track here is breathless and scattered. 1inamille transforms the backing music to sound like it’s playing from a JRPG on the Gameboy Advance; you and I are a team. The speed of these tracks is uncomfortable; decorum isn’t being followed. Something urgent is going on. Like how you feel when life is moving unnaturally quick; unfairly speeding up at a rate where you’ll never feel like it’s going at the proper rate, always a step in front of you as you stumble to stay upright.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cTvsIatNGw

1. Moses Sumney- Lamentations [Neo-Soul/My Sighs Are Many And My Heart Is Faint]
The Book of Lamentations describe an absolutely desolate Jerusalem. How great the things that she once had are now gone. How those that destroyed her profit, and how her enemies laugh at her ruinous state . How the few survivors have starved and wasted away while looking for some sort of grace. It’s a few moments of absolute anguish with no redeeming qualities.--
We start with a bit of wistfulness for the time when he’ll have the opportunity to lay his troubles to rest. When he was young, he used to sing to himself about how his inherited life won’t get him off track from the life he wants, but now that he’s older he’s worried he squandered his gift from his younger self; not sure they’d be proud to be a part of the person he is now. If someone approaches him in his deeply wounded state, while he’s still reeling from the loss of any self recognition, he doesn’t trust himself to be able to be what they’re looking for.--
In the infrequent releases Moses has to his name so far, there’s some reverence for the idea of implied opposites. Feeling desperately alone implies a deficiency, but also that the missing pieces do exist. The idea includes a healthy skepticism of total delight, and an embrace of utter despair. So this sort of EP might not just be a tumble in heartache, but it also could be drawing back a sling; it causes me to think of his current state, and I think of this primed potential energy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JeSL44Rrfw

[Yoda]

Educate me on short releases, if you would. I've only been vaguely paying attention, but it seems like less music is released all at once, on an album, but comes out more piecemeal. Is that what you're referring to?

[Slappydavis]

Educate me on short releases, if you would. I've only been vaguely paying attention, but it seems like less music is released all at once, on an album, but comes out more piecemeal. Is that what you're referring to?

It's basically where I group EPs, 12'', singles, and mini-albums.

They each used to have specific, technical differences because they'd actually come on different sizes of vinyl. But now it's pretty vague, so the main distinction I draw is between Short Release and Album. I don't have a good consistent definition, but typically if it's over half an hour and has at least several songs, I'll call it an album. But it definitely is more of a "feeling" sometime, as there are projects much longer than 30 minutes (like Sufjan Stevens All Delighted People EP) that I'll consider a short release, and projects that are under 30 minutes but just "feel" like albums to me. Those tend to be exceptions though.

There is a release that'll certainly be in my albums list that is specifically called an EP, but my gut feels like it's an album, and it's a little over 30 minutes.

Usually there's more variety in non-EPs on the list, but actually this year might be all straight up EPs, I didn't actually check.

[Slappydavis]

AND DONE

Pretty version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-8HDb1lVYkjrjNi5AisQi_CgpukRlR9mTyDfd0JGuoY/edit?usp=sharing

Maybe after I have more energy I'll put it in here too, just for consistency's sake.

Edit: I will do that, lazy not to.

[Slappydavis]

Pretty Version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-8HDb1lVYkjrjNi5AisQi_CgpukRlR9mTyDfd0JGuoY/edit

Top 50 Albums of 2016

Youtube Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/l72rkq8


50-26 (No Blurbs)


50. Frankie Cosmos- Next Thing [Indie Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpSldqqiLXs

49. NON STOP NXC® x Pedicure Records- Vol. 1 [Nightcore]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPR4n4jNFfM

48. Blithe Field- Face Always Toward The Sun [Ambient/Electronic]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAT8l2TV6Q8

47. Nerftoss- Crushed [House]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJhHK5syiXc

46. Nails- You Will Never Be One Of Us [Grindcore]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKdbz5HJAUI

45. Frank Ocean- Blonde [Alt R&B/Soul]
https://vimeo.com/179791907

44. Cloudland Canyon- An Arabesque [Electronica/Psych-Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhyKgITI31I

43. Shy Layers- Shy Layers [Chillwave/Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el8ILYAebKw

42. Rebolledo- Mondo Alterado [Tech House/Funk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YIZilYhLh0

41. Open Mike Eagle & Paul White- Hella Personal Film Festival [Alt. Hip-Hop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQE-BcLTWz0

40. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith- Ears [Progressive Electronica]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlqJ40xDbdY

39. Mitski- Puberty 2 [Indie Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOclQK8uocI

38. Weval- Weval [Downtempo]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=621xWnrAcMU

37. Yohuna- Patientness [Ambient Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgwENjPvxP0

36. Koen Holtkamp- Voice Model [Psychedelia/Electronica]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_3DQDmTk9Y

35. Jenny Hval- Blood Bitch [Art Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk9lsTNoSfo

34. Hanssen- Transit [Ambient Dance]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ui_JIELy0g

33. Goat- Requiem [Psych Folk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ7VQdbUyiA

32. Danny Brown- Atrocity Exhibition [Alt Rap]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spfsdpuvUyQ

31. OMI5- Kyoto 1986 [Vaporwave/Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7eb5ZKZ04k

30. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Skeleton Tree [Alt Rock]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugvL86i9Y-4

29. Anderson .Paak- Malibu [Alt R&B/Funk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIG35tCV7ws

28. Mannequin Pussy- Romantic [Garage Punk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2tTknEpvZk

27. Golden Brown- Perfectly Toasted, Vol. 1 [Indie Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsIjmctf8TI

26. Sad13- Slugger [Synth-Pop]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-z-Opt6v4Q

[Slappydavis]

Pretty version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vSE9vffWjrTd1Vnh09Y5Ol-QWQ8gjO70bQXKT7NFH2s/

Top 50 Albums of 2016

25-1 (With Blurbs)

Note: the bulk of these descriptions will resemble a journal more than communicating what the music sounds like. I’m bad at that, and other people are better, you’ll probably just have to listen to the song at the bottom.

Youtube Playlist (starting at #25): https://tinyurl.com/mvuvpkg

25. Eluvium- False Readings On [Ambient/Modern Classical/Showering Leaves]
I’m suspicious of the album because it feels like it cheats. There have been so many beautiful moments that accompany it each time I listen. The wind in particular seems a popular co-conspirator; it mixes with the constant choral hum, as if this prayer was was being channeled rather than sung, wind moving through the body and out the mouth. It’s happened every time, and I feel compromised because of it.
But I’m not going to hope it stops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17uSusVZg_I

24. Oren Ambarchi- Hubris [Kosmische/Oh Milgram, It’s The Least I Could Do]
I walk a bit unpredictably, a bit more vigorously. I break into small sprints, I stay on my toes. The compulsion is a bit unique from other music. It’s not that it’s taking over, or that I’m losing myself in it. It’s that it feels impolite not to respond. What is it even asking me to do? I’m trying… am I making those people over there uncomfortable? Do I have some communal responsibility here? But there’s so much energy, and the flights of improvisation are so inspired that it seems simply rude not to reciprocate in my mild way. In a sense I’m relieved, because it could have asked for even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8z535m8nyg

23. Mohammad- Pèkisyon Funebri [Drone/Ah, But This One Has Chanting]
I’ll be up front. Not much has changed. And that really means a lot for a band that really doesn’t have much to distinguish between songs in the first place. To be honest, if you played songs from multiple albums, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you where they were from. Even with that considered, I don’t find myself wishing they’d switch it up. The only wish that comes to mind is that they keep going until there’s enough of their music that I could fill an entire waking day listening to only their sound, unrepeated. They have about 10 hours to go, but considering their unusual dedication to this one pure sound, we might actually get there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyP2P2lU2SI

22. Various- Radiating Light: Orchid Tapes & Friends [Is Healing A Genre?]
There seems to be a subliminal self-governance to groups that recognizes a desire to stay together. The members, willful and independent as they may be, release a piece of identity to the collective, expressing their happiness by performing a role that keeps the group together. Every time I listened to this comp I’d recognize a new artist that came to me in 2016. How Orchid Tapes were able to bring artists like Owen Pallett, Katie Dey, Yohuna, Blithe Field, and more into a single satisfying whole; I just don’t know. Family can do that to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo__BiWVyog

21. Ian William Craig- Centres [Ambient/Gentle Noise/Write Again Soon]
The static that coats much of Ian’s music seems like it was produced by coaxing it out of something like a pump organ (and there’s some of those here as well). The noise doesn’t seem menacing at all, resembling something more like a coil of distressed spirits either to be soothed by lullaby or embraced until calm. Ian tangles with it a bit, his voice and melodies get swept up, cloaking one another.--
When you really get used to loving a specific artist’s output, it can start to feel like a pen-pal relationship. I feel like I’m opening up a package with a note on top: I think you’ll love what I’ve found. Maybe this is discounting the artist’s hard work, but it feels as if it was just like a matter of collecting it all, like seashells on the beach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwce-8kBB10

20. Beyonce- LEMONADE [R&B/Pop/And To Let Collaborators Into An Open Heart?]
You know, we shake our heads at the professionalized PR responses of celebrities. We complain about politicians not speaking their hearts. We demand honesty from our icons. But damn, imagine the pressure not to be open. I get to basically say anything I want all the time, with the (relatively) predictable responses of the people I know well. So when I see something this personal, at this level, from someone who is an industry unto herself, I delight in how bold it all is. Part of that recognition on my part developed from what I saw as a weakness on the record: the track Freedom. Freedom comes off as thoroughly focus-grouped future background music for advertisements; the chorus is depressingly non-descript, Kendrick continues his uneven streak on major pop-songs, and it contributes nothing significant to the arc of the album (I’m also not a fan of Daddy Lessons, but it’s contributes to a special part of the narrative). Freedom feels broad in that I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being sold something, and it’s what I expected on a record like this, but it’s actually the exception. I’m not just excited for this album itself, but also the ripples it may have caused for pop music. I’d love nothing more than a wave of albums like this that I can share a common understanding on, a method to break into those guarded thoughts of acquaintances; one of those shared touchstones I can finally join in on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM89Q5Eng_M

19. Machinefabriek- Minuten [Avant-Garde/11 Tracks, Each 1 Minute Long, Loop Them]
I feel like I'm on the defensive from the get-go here, but I promise you it’s a less opaque project than you might think. The loops themselves have a bit of variety, but they tend to be small bursts of static and sparse field recordings. You are invited to loop each track for as long as you want (the link below is an hour long, but you should feel free to exit whenever you’d like). Maybe you’ve played around with your own loops in the past. Maybe you remember feeling content as they played again and again; feeling no need for it to change for other people. You should see that idea through to the end, even if it’s only repetition. The question “What’s music worth?” has been asked a lot, for this album you get a pretty exact answer, if only through attention spent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuO0Hk-n7gQ

18. Marie Davidson- Adieux Au Dancefloor [Minimal Synth/I Used To Love C.L.U.B.]
When it comes to genre critiques contained within the targeted style, Hip-Hop has reigned supreme for over a decade (at least). You could even make a decent argument that genre critical hip-hop is a subgenre in itself (though with a fair amount of conscious hip-hop overlap). This seems relatively anomalous within music. Sure, there’s a lot of genre discussions in their surrounding communities,, but there’s not many musical culture discussions within the releases themselves, especially not electronic music. Enter Adieux Au Dancefloor. This album criticizes dance/club culture while showcasing what makes it great, what makes it unique. Davidson has been struggling to reconcile how bare and proud dance can be with how superficial the communities are, how calculatingly indifferent, how vapid. It’s not that she’s even seeking to root out all superficiality everywhere, it’s just tragic to her that it’s happening in this space she loves, the space that should stand tall against the exact thing that contorts it. How could music so exposing be wasted on a culture that holds their guards so tight? If this is actually her goodbye, I respect her greatly for leaving a letter at the door.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnmLy0twS4o

17. Various- PC Music Volume 2 [Post-Pop/Very Nearly More]
I can’t really make my normal arguments for why a comp is on an album list. It’s a bit uneven, there’s sometimes a bit of whiplash between tracks (especially transitioning from a highlight Monopoly to the mess that is Poison). So it’s not that this release resembles an album in spirit, it’s that this comp rides on the individual heights, and it feels unfair to omit it. Here’s the best argument for the release I can make, see: Top 100 Tracks entries #81, #42,and #1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKztreA6e7Y

16. Radiohead- A Moon Shaped Pool [Chamber Pop/Alt. Rock/I Hope You Don’t Either]
Radiohead’s legacy stands tall over every successive album, but truthfully, it’s not something I even resent. It presents this unique situation, where each song isn’t just a piece of an album, it’s a part of a larger mythology. How would Burn The Witch have fit on In Rainbows? Is the “edge” in Desert Island Disk the same “edge” as Lucky’s? How would Glass Eyes flow into Sail To The Moon? True Love Waits, conspicuously held from the studio for decades despite the grassroots adoration by fans, appears on the album accompanied by breathless discussion on what the act of a song being included could mean. Yes, the obsessive regard the band is held in changes how the music is perceived. Yes, Radiohead can’t just put out an album and have it be considered on its merits alone. Yes, the traditional relationship of listener and music is irrevocably tainted by the strength of the brand. Yes, nothing I write here can match either the fervor of the deepest fans or the relative objectivity of a more distant listener. But I won’t say I’m not glad it’s happening. There are hundreds of albums in a given year where my first moments with it are establishing a new relationship with an artist, where there is some sort of purity in my lack of outside knowledge. Here I am compromised, and as such I also think about what music sounds like when you’re both listening and considering your own bias. Maybe it’s not fair that many of the lyrics and sounds on AMSP would have been ignored if it were on an album by any other artist, not fair that it’s intensely scrutinized by a thousand investigative minds because it’s Radiohead, but even then I can’t say the situation isn’t a rare and wonderful thing to exist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAU7lLDZYU

15. Katie Dey- Flood Network [Glitch-Pop/Lo-Fi/When I Say It’s Alright To Touch Me, It’s Not That I Don’t Care, It’s That I Want You To]
By now I would have thought I’d have a good idea of what my consistent physical stimuli mean. Like when I listen to Katie Dey, I feel a slight buzzing all over my skin, my gut feels empty (but not hungry?), and my movements become stuttered . I’m curious if we used to be better at reading our bodies, back before our reliance on words. I’m so very used to using terms to express ideas (though I might not actually be good at it). So much so that there’s a basic frustration when my body won’t just tell me what’s going on; I’ve become over-reliant on the semblance of objectivity that words provide. Flood Network creates an approximation of this disconnect; most of the album is made up of odd yet pleasant bursts of energetic noise with the occasional decipherable lyric bubbling up. The majority of my experienced life are in those kinds of sensations; those odd yet pleasant stimuli that are only in the background because I put them there (that’s what they get for seeming indirect). Here, I love it when a discernable lyric is revealed, because it gives me just a bit of solid ground. It takes a bit of focus, but it gets me closer to recognition. Shouldn’t I be doing that all the time? How did I get to the point where I stopped looking for “aha!” moments about my own body? When did I decide I was above trying to decode physical sensations?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzjwW3Y2m2g

14. David Bowie- Black Star [Art Rock/Jazz/Our Coda As Overture]
You might be tired of this album being tied up in David’s death, so here’s a short list of context free moments before I dive into talking about just that: the surprisingly fluid and pleasant shift from the meandering drums of Dollar Days to the crisp mechanical backbeat of I Can’t Give Everything Away, the charming melodrama of his voice on ‘Tis A Pity She Was A Whore, the mesmerizing melodic shifts back and forth on the title track. --
If I could, I’d like to bring up transitional space just once more. There’s a piece of a game called “The Beginner’s Guide” where your approach to a transitional space is given the spotlight. Some unconsciously see it as a trap or impediment; some approach it backwards, looking at everything that came before as they close themselves off; some find the lack of purpose relaxing and remain in the space for great lengths; some dive into the space as the past is sealed from them, eyes fixed forward. This record has such a distinct sound from the rest of his catalogue. It doesn’t make sense that an album as dramatic and invigorating could be created in that transitional space at the end of life. Dying doesn’t make sense, and that’s a feeling I want to keep; I don’t like what I think I know about it, and whatever conflicts with that is precious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw

13. Jamila Woods- Heavn [Soul/Some Summer, Long From Now, Close To Her Heart]
Beyond all the prevalent things to love, the stunning vocals, the varied and playful production, the seamless integration of talented collaborators, the down to earth but high minded messages, possibly my favorite thing about Jamilia is how she harmonizes with loaned moments. She borrows from sources as varied as Mr. Rogers, The Cure, childhood rhymes, Dawson’s Creek, the lord’s prayer, John Denver (and probably many more, including the hook on Blk Girl Soldier, which remains on the tip of my tongue) but they all coalesce through her. It fully cements her relatable and intrepid charisma, already a force on message and delivery alone. I hope someday I hear this album in the background as I enjoy the actualized life she wants for me and all others; because that seems like the only proper ending to the album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asVhafDASjo

12. Huerco S.- For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)
[Ambient/The Calm Determination To Burn So Bright That The Contours Of Your Character Could Be Recognized In The Silhouette You Leave Behind]
I’ve found myself in the possibly reckless position that I rely on music to make sure I routinely check in on the various parts of my psyche. I feel release on discovering a great album of a certain genre each year. I attributed that sense to a sort of genre satisfaction, like I need a certain vitamin in my music diet to stay stable. But I’m wondering if the feeling truly stems from how certain types of music cause me to consider certain parts of my life. It’s like how I love taking personality tests and really getting involved in what each question means; why it’s worded the way it is, and whether I should answer my interpretation of the words, or what I think the author meant. I believe I comb through these tests as a sort of check up. I’m so caught in the present that I don’t trust myself to follow any sort of self-made structure, so the closest I can get is cultivating an appreciation for things that provide that sort of check up structure for me.--
The album itself has an odd collection of low and high end, formless tones and light scratchy textures. Looked at individually, the sounds seem arbitrarily put together, but their collective compass points along a singular bearing, as if they were debris from another song’s mastering process. The outline is so sharp, and the guiding hand so composed, that the shadow of that initial track seems almost tangible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feJ61KVCyCY

11. A Tribe Called Quest- We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service [East Coast Hip Hop/Boom Bap/Pixel Art And The Old, Old School]
I don’t claim to know exactly why it’s not this way anymore, but way back, in the way before, philosophers used to offer up accounts for just about everything. We’d get their epistemology, their metaphysics, their ethics, their aesthetics; and a multifaceted sense of the person rose up out of the intersections between those concepts. The person lived on through an understanding of the insights and inevitable faults of entire sets of ideas. Legacy has changed a bit, now the path to the everlasting seems to be the pursuit of a narrow but perfected idea. It’s not better or worse, but it can feel stale. Maybe it’s not the way I think it is, or maybe it was never the way I thought it was; but when I heard this record I felt like I knew, and I felt that I’d been longing for the old ways. Which is honestly a bit odd, as I’m not even a big fan of ATCQ’s heyday. But this album offers up a perspective that isn’t designed to convey a single message, rather communicating a full worldview. You can sense the appetite for expression, never settling for one sound or one topic, especially not when the hibernation has been so long and they’ve been so far from the mic. Somehow they’re able to avoid the missteps that accompany these sort of huge statements. Well, there are those god awful Jack White parts...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQaSDJYwdh4

10. Pinegrove- Cardinal [Indie Rock/It’s Not That I Forgot I Said It Before, It’s That I Feel It Again]
Sometimes I just get a sense that a track is the last track of an album. There’s something about it, the way it might tie the rest of the album together, the way that it’s reflective but also gathering momentum to get out of the album’s gravity well and on to what’s next. It’s not the most accurate sense, it triggers on the wrong song sometimes (and I can get upset with the artist for it). I get this last track feeling on all of Cardinal. If the band shares my sensibilities, this album might have felt easy to sequence. I give a lot of credit for due effort given toward track order, but my gut tells me this album could have been put together any way (which I recognize probably isn’t true). I’m typically very particular about listening to an album in order, but on Cardinal I just hop to a song and start from there. It makes me feel like this album is continually existing in a loop on some radio frequency, and I just get to tap in for a few songs at a time. I don’t get that feeling that I left something incomplete if I put the album down, allowing it to be a steady companion throughout the year. Sometimes I get intimidated by an album’s arc, knowing that I’ll actually feel uneasy if I’m interrupted. There’s no pressure here, like a comfortable conversation with a friend (one that’ll forgive my obnoxiously repeated sentiments).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbFGMw1mY48

9. Solange- A Seat At The Table [Soul/I Never Earned Your Invitation, But Thank You]
I don’t like learning new things. I love bringing context and nuance to old things, but I can’t stand starting fresh. If I can parse something as a mix of some other, older ideas I can trick myself into starting something new. I feel entitled to subtlety and I don’t take proper care to understand the basics. Then when I fail to understand the refined idea I’m left discouraged and sour. As hard as it may be to admit, I need a helping hand. --
While the connection is clearly a product of this particular year, I can’t help but think of Tarot. It’s partially because of the basic nature of the album where each piece flows as a short meditation on the range and trajectory of life. But it’s also because of the focus on granularity, taking care to keep each song discrete from one another (and this is helped rather than hindered by the spoken intermissions, which as a trend has seen vast improvements in the last decade). Be willing to fall, but by your own moral compass. Be cognizant and suspicious of your place in society. There are pieces of your life, trauma, responsibilities, that you cannot escape, it’s time to accept its fixture in your horizon without compromising your vision. Take a moment to say goodbye, but it’s time to start considering our resettlement. Take respites from fighting, otherwise you might give up for good. Even if I keep going until I’m out of view, I hope you’ll follow the lights I left for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3gNFtRwWAU

8. Lambchop- FLOTUS [Lounge-Country-Ambient-Vocoder-Pop/Gold Panning For Character Makes You Wish Your Sand Was Valuable To Anyone But You, But You Wouldn’t Fight To Keep It]
Supine on the bed, just before sleep, processing your day out loud. Not trying to connect it all into some grand meaning, just letting the day pass from mind to tongue. I think of mouths often during this album, these touches on the vocals give the impression of a mouth partially full of water. There’s a focus on enunciation, a playful relationship with words, the kind of odd bits of fun that occupy so much of our lives but are left out of the curated tale we put in our autobiography. It has an improvised quality that sounds like you are hearing a thought process in real time; you hear the things that would be left out of the edited tale, it gives you a sense of the day-to-day person. You can hear the actual search going on, not just the results like so many albums that describe journey after the fact. It makes me think of a lounge musician, who plays the same club every night. A sense of profession and duty, but something where the regular patrons would get a sense of the everyday going-ons of the singer under the soft spotlight, just out of the center of attention; a communally overheard inner-monologue. The album tempts me to appeal to a lot of schemas, so much so that I recognized it for once. I have this warehouse of analogies in music that can be counterproductive at times. I can actually feel my brain turn from thoughtful pursuit into something more resembling an auto-complete. Like when I think of the music as therapy. My typical comparison is that an album is like therapy in that it helps me sort through my own thoughts in search of a moment of clarity. But that’s not quite the quality of that brought me to the idea of therapy for this album. Instead I think of all the other moments in therapy, how you dig and shovel through the piles of loosely held thoughts, the process of excavation isn’t just the will to search and sudden gratification. There’s a process to this sort of therapy. Like dumping out your backpack, with everything scattered all over the floor; the first step towards figuring it all out. I’ve always had an obsession with having everything I’d ever need in the trunk of my car. My car is an absolute mess sometimes, but I claim I need it all. The first car I ever had had a trunk like this, but when that car suddenly blew a gasket and became inoperable, when confronted with the accumulated pile of necessity, I shrugged and handed my problem off to the scrapyard. This year, I forced myself to go through my current trunk, and honestly, most of it was garbage. I think this compulsion to keep comes from a belief that the personal is sacred. This item is a piece of my history, how could I get rid of it? But the stress of carrying all of these pieces of “my personality” can become unbearable, and when I take the time to look; man, I actually don’t care about most of this. I can come out of the process cleaner, more flexible, once I let it go. Every once in awhile, I’ll find an idea that lasts and because I’ve taken the time to ponder these concepts it’ll stick. A random internet comment on the album: “it’s too long in a good way”. Yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsYY6xdJ8Bk

7. The Field- The Follower [Minimal Techno/And You Belong, You Do]
I have the same thought in the back of my mind each time I heard this album: this is your least favorite Field record. I thought that’d be it for this album, seems pretty hard for a record to develop a positive identity when the overriding initial idea is “least”. I knew I enjoy it, but just that sense of it suffocating below 4 other personal giants seemed like it’d swallow up any lasting relationship. But the record was just a bit too compelling, I always wanted to sample it again, and I was able to push through. The music became a soundtrack to deciding if I’m doomed to be a fanboy, if this list will eventually be just nominally my pursuit to find my favorites, but actually just a collection of that years releases by Mohammad, Animal Collective, Julianna Barwick, Radiohead, Matthew Dear, Ian William Craig, JCL, The Field, and so on. The topic was easy to get lost into; that familiar meditative quality caught up and suddenly I had a newborn to place into the family, one whose cumulative affection was already bursting at the seams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUdX-9wQ1sk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsy7poCv2AQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ONu9uumvyA

6. Bon Iver- 22, A Million [Glitch Pop/2 Bent Ellipses,Overlapping At The Bottom, Nearly At The Top]
Symbology and music make a good pair. Music has a proximity to speech but often intentionally skirts just beyond the reach of direct and absolute understanding, symbols have a proximity to written language but often maintain a vague set of subjective boundaries that play off of the aggregate associations one forms to shapes. Numbers also show up prominently on the album, and this informs a sensibility to the album, possibly interesting, naturally divisive. Letters are prone toward chaos, and numbers are mandated into order. Hit 7 letter keys at random, hit 7 number keys at random, it’s likely only 1 set is going to have prescribed meaning. Much of my enjoyment for this album comes from this sort of mismatch, trying to square the circle of lyrics and music. The songs’ melodies and structures seem clearly cinematic and are forcefully confident that there’s a story here. But the lyrics are small, seemingly disjointed phrases, ones that can seem logical when considering a single line, but not when strung together. Each moment has specific purpose for just its length, with no obligation toward sustained meaning. If it weren’t for the specific motion of the music, you might guess there’s just no connection between the lyrics at all, but your brain is compelled to puzzle out what the connection could possibly be. The phrases seem more like symbols than series of words. The normal reciprocal relationship in music, where you are swept into a melody or lyric, and in turn you seek understanding of the other, which gives you even more insight into the first, seems absent. And the further you get involved in one, the greater the urge to connect it to the other, and the greater the frustration at being so tantalizingly close but lacking a solution. You might give up altogether; the difference between the resentment of an arbitrary obstacle and the allure of a designed puzzle. (The difference, in my case, would be its completion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9utVR5Q67_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOE3R_8UvXM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISCEilPMNak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96t0rlPmn2E

5. Julianna Barwick- Will [Ambient/It’s Strange To Think The Voice In My Head That’s Always Provided Comfort In My Anxious Moments Has Aged Along With Me]
For someone that puts a lot of care into the structuring of their personal history, I’m sure wrong about it a lot. I’ve thought a lot about being trapped in the present and expanded upon it a few times in these lists, but I’ve been dead certain that this feeling was a phenomena unique to the last several years. I’m listening to Nebula, and I’m realizing how mistaken I am. I remember being 8 or 9 years old, and feeling trapped on a waterslide. The slide was admittedly pretty long for what it was, lasting 2-3 minutes, and from the beginning to the end you were in a pitch black tube (strikes me as odd for a slide now, usually they have a few openings at least). I’m a big fan of these longer slides (and terribly nervous of the ones that are straight drops), but it was one of the most distressing experiences of my life up until that point. After the first 30 or seconds of enjoyment, I felt a strong sense that I was going to be trapped in the dark forever. I panicked and screamed and cried, all within what couldn’t have been much more than 100 seconds. I was certain, absolutely certain that I’d never see light again. This memory was triggered by a ghost of a lyric (often the closest you’ll get to understanding the vocals): I will live through the dark. I remembered a wave of memories where the only way I could possibly move beyond the present was listening to my inner voice tell me that I’ll get through it. A china tea cup with a gold rim and lined with charcoal, the light through the slats in the closet when I promised to grow old, the piece of a broken headlight with a touch of grey. I can feel close to my conflicting feelings on being trapped in the present. My intense fear of death appreciates the sense that I’ll live forever, but feels helplessly unable to control of the flow of my life; I’ll live until I’m spit out the other end into non-existence. I feel trapped and intensely free (I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with dichotomies). I wonder if part of the reason I love artists like Julianna Barwick (ones with a consistent aesthetic over their discography) is how it soothes my sense of being trapped in the present because I can connect with the memories of other moments I heard similar sounds that I heard on their other albums. Maybe it gives me a small sense of continuity, portals to travel back to the other times I heard the artist. Maybe I should just listen to old favorites more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHSrKW-99so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjgnlaqydWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAEgvZSHduc

4. Daniel Lanois- Goodbye To Language [Instrumental/I'm In Some Strange Bed, Comfort, Comfort]
While the album is deserving of more than this one association, this is my go to nap album. I love napping outdoors. I can easily absorb myself in nature. Small amounts of time seem to stretch forever, or really it seems like I can just step out of reality. I forget that I exist. I would have assumed that’d mean time would disappear because I’m not managing it (I’m often late because of lapse in concentrating on time) but instead I’m often surprised by how little time has passed in a given song. As if the only thing binding time to me is my recognition and subsequent acceptance. The tones don’t always seem to register as such, like garbled or backward speech, I can recognize it as a note, but the fuzzy aura rejects any efforts to pinpoint a center. This is a tough album to talk about, because I’m just so heavily taken by the sensations. It doesn’t heavily benefit from associations (a linchpin of my adoration for many records) but rather it’s just a slow drip of enjoyment into my ear, coating my brain. I think this is what it’s like to be pet as a dog, a general sense of the embrace of a benevolent caretaker whom I can’t quite understand distinctly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOSDVkXXmFU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a_5WO1DtXk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5MJkkgkzj4

3. TV Girl- Who Really Cares [Sample/Indie Pop/When Schools Taught Me That Sex Was What Happened When You Shared Love, It Only Really Made Me Think I Wanted It With Everyone]
I used to see everyone as individuals. They were all complicated algorithms to be figured out. Groups of observations formed into loose rules that would be inevitably, violently overthrown by a radically incongruent datapoint. Every stranger was a possible new archetype. Nothing seemed entirely certain. Now I tend to divide people into me, like mes, and others. I don’t care as much about individuals anymore. I don’t wonder what the informally-known think of me like I used to, and I’m not sure I like it. For better and worse I ended up being content with the me and like mes. I like that I don’t overhaul my personality with each person I talk to, but I also really miss the incentive to figure other people out. I wish I thought as highly of the average person as I do musicians, I wish I thought more people were worth getting into cryptology over. I doubt the album is enough to overthrow the system of me, like mes, and others, but while listening the scope of the like mes grows.--
The record is petty, but the pettiness is presumed reciprocal and fair, an even break in the games we play. It still doesn’t shy away from the contentious and adversarial way that love, sex, and pride can intersect. It tussles with its numerous trivial feelings until it reaches heartfelt and sneakily profound moments of awareness. It feels consistently nostalgic, both in the pseudo-timeless nature of the production (timeless as in, could reasonably come out in the 90’s, which is when the world began as far as I’m concerned) and the way it manipulates the filing system of my brain to brings up my youthful methods of thinking, and the people I miss. Shane, Andy, Chase... My mind is screaming at me to hold on to this feeling, maybe I could have been TV Girl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UC7n07acNQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox5ENW0CeAU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afAl6e8r_mw

2. Lorenzo Senni- Persona [Minimal Trance/There’s A Classic Balance & Dilemma, Trying To Be Better Vs Trying To Accept Yourself, I’ve Gotten Too Comfortable With The Second, Let’s Move]
To start, yeah, it’s half an hour long and it was literally released as an EP. But it felt disingenuous to put it on the short releases list, because every time I put this on, my instinct called it an album. I’m not sure why I felt so strongly, it’s not as if I believe EPs and other short releases are inherently less powerful than albums, but the thought of leaving Persona off this particular list gave me a pang of moral anxiety.--
Persona is like a sentence of pure punctuation. I don’t feel that I’m peering into someone else, it doesn’t make me feel like a different version of me; rather it makes me feel like the most authentic, most animated version of myself. Each time I hear it I’m able to fully connect the present to the next step. I feel as it I know exactly what to do (possibly a dangerous belief!) and the willpower that I so frequently lack is suddenly overwhelming. I hesitate to call it an alternate state of mind (often the backbone of my experience with other pieces of music) as it seems less an alternate and more what’s left behind after every alternate is dismissed. There aren’t any shadows of a doubt when the rays seem to be omnidirectional. Everything positive about the word engineered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2AEex59eVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-INk1qkPEw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQDiIiYSD2U


1. Kero Kero Bonito- Bonito Generation [ElectroPop/Sometimes If I Think Too Hard...]
[I]
I just put the radio on
Heard a song, I can't stop thinking about it

When I first heard Kero Kero Bonito, I dismissed it as a gimmick. It seemed like the PC Music affiliated group was taking the collective’s ambiguous appreciation/satire approach to pop and applying it to childlike media. My dismissiveness wasn’t even in reaction to anything in particular on the album, just a general skepticism of anything cloaked in childlike qualities. Theoretically I should be a prime target for childhood stories, because they should have easily decipherable argument structures and a motivation to tackle fundamental issues. But my skepticism has grown because generally when I try to interact with childlike media I try to immerse myself, I bump up against inconsistencies, and then I’m told that I’m looking too closely. It feels like a punishment for being myself, and in turn I’ve given up on a lot of it out of frustration. It seems like it’s just something I’m not meant to interact with, and I figured Bonito Generation would be just another iteration of the same old process.

When I need a hand, no matter where I am
I pick up the vibrations

I didn’t learn I was wrong all at once. I simply liked the production at first. I noticed how the lyrics were wonderfully cute without striking me as cloying. I became curious about how I found this tolerable, I looked for possible pieces of subversion that my subconscious might have picked up on without bothering to let my aware mind in on it. And there is a lot of coded rebellion in the lyrics, but it’s not what kept drawing me back; I actually liked the straightforward messages on the songs. There’s a hint of production seizing Marxism on Break, but I also think it’s important to take time off. When I return to Try Me again and again, it’s not just that it’s comparing the interaction of businesses and potential employees to that of a shopper looking through an aisle of dolls with “try me!” stickers, it’s that it’s an honestly fun and empowering song. It’s such a refreshing change of pace, not because simplicity and practicality should always rule, but because it always seems like most artists operate in a space where you pick a side; you either consider the philosophical or the pragmatic.

I sure don't know if making me was part of the plan
But that's what happened, and I'm cool with that

If coming of age stories are about how we eventually have to trade our childhood lessons for adult ones, doesn’t this in some way represent a failure in our childhood lessons? It seems like childhood lessons are the forms, the pure essence of ideas that are uncomplicated by “real life”. It’s a reversal of the analogy of the cave; we start out considering the sun, the forms, then we’re brought down to earth, then we’re expected to distance ourselves even further, choosing the shadows on the cave wall. I think of someone who still thinks in these forms, someone who doesn’t immediately compromise them upon meeting the real world. There are a few words to call someone that still holds these pure ideas, one is naive, another is principled.

でもわいてくるよ、やる気 [But I feel the motivation welling up]
始まる一日 波に乗りたい [The day begins, I want to ride the wave]

I’m concerned that I’ve become unprincipled. I’m not sure how it happened, but I think it’s because whenever my former principles came into conflict, I’d try to cobble together some sort of compromise principle instead of acknowledging a disconnect and making a choice where one principle was selected above another. Making a conscious choice that assigns any sort of value, even just a hierarchical one, is an uncomfortable position because it seems like what you’d need to do is start figuring out the *prime* principle and assign some sort of ranking from there, but that end seems neither realistic nor desirable. I’m not sure it’d even be useful beyond the instant it was created; just like how this list represents a moment, not a definitive statement.

Life looks better
When you're on your trampoline

I recognize that this sort of struggle for purpose exists only because of my fortunate position in life. Within my personal canon, 2016 as a year is the first where I have a stable footing in every aspect of life. My sense of déjà vu is set off by seeing the same season from the same place, and I’m not as frightened by that as I thought. I’m in a position I really care about, trying to turn safety nets into something… bouncier.

I hit the street
Feeling good to be me

I’m in that place they warned me about, where “what’s next” runs out, and I’m trying to decide what that means.

When you're old and wise you'll find
All the shots you've got
Bring back the time it's easy to believe
Yesterday was so sweet

Did I imagine this melody?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kaR-yi76Xw&list=PLkDEZfPPdP2tGgLkvxS5czBjyzEPANwtW

[Swan]

Bonito Generation is my fave 2016 album too.

I'm seeing them live tonight! Hope I get to meet Sarah, Gus and Jamie afterwards.

[Slappydavis]

Bonito Generation is my fave 2016 album too.

I'm seeing them live tonight! Hope I get to meet Sarah, Gus and Jamie afterwards.

I tried to swing tonight's show, I want to hear about it after!

[Swan]

So the song KKB did at the concert for the encore, I thought it was a new one or just a weird experiment they liked to perform for the encore. Turns out it's "Build It Up," which I actually had not heard before until tonight. Probably my fave KKB song now. Really shows all three at their best. Gus and Jamie are two of my fave current producers but I don't feel they let themselves shine often like they do in this song, which is the perfect blend of their great producing abilities and Sarah's vocal bubbliness. Funnily enough, despite being an older song of theirs (2014) it's exactly how I want their next album to be - more experimental and wild to change it up a bit, while retaining that fun, energetic, bubbly quality of KKB. Listen to the song if you haven't before and you'll get what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ixEHJvbJE