Fair warning: I’ll be posting in this thread fairly regularly for a couple weeks. 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.
I’ll be using this thread to collect 3 lists of music in 2015: 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 2015, but some are from late 2014 (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 2016’s list).
70. Container- Absorb [Industrial Techno]
69. Fatima Yamaha - What's A Girl To Do [Electronica/Adventure]
68. Minami Deutsch- Surise, Sunset [Krautrock/Meditative]
67. Sun An- Full World View [Ambient/Static]
66. Scandinavian Star [Passive Electronica/Sweet Comfort]
65. Destroyer- Times Square [Chamber Pop/That Charming Bard]
64. Open Mike Eagle- Split Pants in Detroit (Or Hyrule) [Hip-Hop/It Really Does Sound Zeldaish]
63. Mac Demarco- Another One [Psych-Pop]
62. Chilly Gonzales- Advantage Points [Neo-Classical/Tension]
61. LA Priest- Party Zute/Learning to Love [House/Funk/Yeah]
60. Algodón Egipcio- Multiestabilidad [Maximalism/Dismembered Cover]
59. HEALTH- Stonefist [Power Noise Pop/Cynicism That Goes Down Smooth]
58. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment- Windows [NeoSoul/That Memory You Forgot]
57. Paul Kalkbrenner- Cloud Rider [Tech-House/Brutish]
56. Paul Kalkbrenner- Feed Your Head [Tech-House/Will I Ever Regret This?]
55. Project Pablo- Follow It Up [House/Ticking Drums]
54. Archie Pelago- Clammy Customer [Kitchen Sink House]
53. Vince Staples- Loca [Rap/Film]
52. Low- What Part Of Me [Indie Rock/It Wasn’t Any Easier For Me]
51. Priest- Strong Hearts [Synth-Pop/I Might Be Going Through The Motions, But It Feels Right]
50. Cool Uncle- Break Away (ft. Jessie Ware) [Soul/R&B]
49. Police- Voices Inside My Head (DJ Harvey Edit) [New Wave/Newer New Wave]
48. Robert Leiner- Laniakea Part 1 [Krautrock/How Much Dancing Can I Get Away With Here?]
47. Alex G- Sarah [Acoustic Guitar/A Kind Hand On Your Shoulder]
46. Susanne Sundfor- Delirious [Dark Synth Pop/You’re Implying I’m Holding The Gun, Right?]
45. Tom DeMac- Guilty Measures [House/Spy Movie Shootout]
44. Night Court- Panic In The Streets [Experimental/Literally Panic In The Streets]
43. Jack J- Thirstin’ [Deep House/Wanna Get Out Of Here?]
42. Cities Aviv- Graced and Blessed [Heaven & Earth Rap/Are You Damaged?]
41. Courtney Barnett- Pedestrian at Best [Indie Rock/What You Wish Your Stream Of Consciousness Sounded Like]
40. easyFun- Laplander [POP/POP/POP/POP/POP]
39. Matt Karmil- Moment [House/Dystopias Make For Great Music Though]
38. Bully- I Remember [Punk Rock/I’m Not Imagining This, I Wasn’t The Only One]
37. Fred Thomas- Bad Blood [Indie Rock/Spoken Word/Not That Bad Blood]
36. DJ Paypal- Slim Trak [Footwork/Manic]
35. Mount Eerie- Sauna [Drone/A Captured Organ Tone]
34. Nicolas Jaar- Fight [Microhouse/Why Even Make Albums?]
33. Cavern of Anti Matter- Phototones [Krautrock/Stereolab I Love You]
32. Death Grips- Inanimate Sensation [Deff Graps/Darth Gribs/Jeff Drips]
31. Monte Booker ft. Ravyn Lenae- Baby [Minimal Soul/Sweet Breath Into Your Ear]
30. The Weeknd- Can’t Feel My Face [R&B/Pop/Hooked]
29. Tame Impala- Let It Happen [Psychedelic Rock/I’ll Grind Your Bones To Make Fertilizer To Put On My Wheat That I’ll Eventually Harvest To Make My Bread]
28. Erykah Badu- Hello (Ft. Andre 3000) [Soul/We Came Out Better, Didn’t We?]
27. Valerio Cosi- Hosianna Mantra [Krautrock/Tearing At It’s Own Skin]
26. Young Fathers- Still Running [Lo-Fi Hip-Hop/The Last Piece Of Music Ever Made]
25. U.S. Girls- Window Shades [Psych-Pop/Resolve Won’t Be Enough]
24. Weird Together- No Compromise [Dance/World/It Doesn’t Have To Be Like This]
23. Holly Herdon- Morning Sun [Experimental/Glitch/No Electric Sheep Here]
22. Sufjan Stevens- 4th of July [Minimal/A Few Drops Fall From The Bottle Above My Head And To My Right One Hundred Rows Of Roses]
21. Admin- Sugar Loaf [Disco/Heel-Toe-Heel-Toe]
20. Melody’s Echo Chamber- Shirim [Pysch-Pop/The Works, Please]
19. Girlpool- Cherry Picking [Guitar/Bass/Vocals]
18. Gilb’R- Les Maitre Des Illusions [House/Get Lost In The Crowd]
17. Cass.- Lantern (ft. Emil) [Ambient Pop/You Don’t Have To Be Like Them]
16. Kamasi Washington- The Rhythm Changes [Jazz/Soul/They Say It’s Lonely At The Top, But It’s Easier To Find Each Other Above The Clouds]
15. Kendrick Lamar- The Blacker The Berry [Rap/We Are, But We Don’t Say]
14. David Bowie- Blackstar [Art Rock/Yes, Even Heroes]
13. Grimes- REALiTi (Demo) [Pop/We Used To See What No One Else Could, But Then]
12. Jenny Hval- Kingsize (Kelly Lee Owens Rework) [Minimal House/Spoken Word/I Will Not]
11. Young Fathers- Shame [Lo-Fi Hip-Hop/Right Before It Comes Apart]
10. Tapes- Somebodies Baby [A Bit Of R&B/A Bit Of Pop/Lo-Fi]
9. Monika- Secret In The Dark [Disco/I’m A Coward At Heart, But I Can’t Look Away]
8. Sufjan Stevens- John My Beloved [Minimal Theology/The Love Isn’t Incomparable; I See It In You]
7. Chicklette- Predator [Experimental/Attack]
6. Grimes- Flesh Without Blood [Pop/If You Think It’s Unconditional, You Just Haven’t Found The Right Condition]
5. HNNY- There Is No One Else [Downtempo/A Force Of Nature Binds Us Now]
4. Hot Chip- Dancing In The Dark [Synth-Pop/I’m Under The Covers]
3. Wondaland Records- Hell You Talmbout [It’s Not Right]
2. De De Mouse- Milkyway Drive [Everything, All At Once]
1. Darren Keen- It’s Hard To Say No [Footwork/Unbelievable]
25. Scandinavian Star- Scandinavian Star [Ascetic House/Unyielding Dustbowl Spirit]
24. i:Cube- VER105 12 EP [Experimental Techno/Nothing Is Really Waiting Anymore]
23. Knightlife- Don’t Stop [Dance/House/Don’t You Miss The ____ties?]
22. Poncho Brothers- Disco Azteca EP [Funk/Something Is Off]
21. Aphex Twin- Computer Controlled Acoustics pt 2 [Computer Controlled Acoustics/Yep]
20. Hot Chip- Dancing In The Dark EP [Synth-pop/And Here I Thought You’d Gone]
19. 2000black- Make It Hard [Broken Beat/I Talk To All The Townspeople, Except Actually]
18. Mac Demarco- Another One [Psych Pop/Breezus]
17. Ty Segall- Mr. Face [Garage Rock/Acoustic/No Stopping Until You’re Dead]
16. Lutto Lento- Mondo Hehe [Outsider House/Your Brittle Bones Now Bend]
15. Japan Blues- Stoned Bird [Eclectic/Where Will I See You Next?]
14. Panda Bear- Crosswords [Psychedelia/Warm Waves Knock Me Down To Cement]
13. Jack J- Thirstin’ / Atmosphere [Crisp House/I Know That Look]
12. Maaskant- Mere Oblivion EP [Downtempo/Folktronic/It’s Not True]
11. Outerzona13- Cold Meat Lights No Fire EP [Leftfield/How Did I Get Here?]
10. Admin- Super Lover EP [Disco/House/Hands, Hearts, And Minds]
9. In Media Res- リンキンパーク Viginti Sex [Experimental/Other People’s Memories]
8. In Media Res- リンキンパーク Quindecim [Experimental/Regardless]
7. Tom Demac- Smoke Stained Ivories [House/I’ll Stir The Martini If I Damn Well Please]
6. DJ Paypal- Buy Now EP [Footwork/Strobe]
5. Spaces- Potential [Abstract Techno/Implied Rhythm]
4. Various- Workshop 21 [Deep House/Where I Look, I See A Family]
3. Emily Yacina- Pull Through [Acoustic/The Sense Of Scale In Other Lives]
2. Open Mike Eagle- A Special Episode Of… [Rap/Not Over, I Hope]
1. Consumer Electronics- Repetition Reinforcement [Experimental/This Is In You]
50. Apprentice Destroyer- Glass Ceiling Universe [Krautrock/But Why Limit Yourself?]
49. Chilly Gonzales- Chambers [Classical/Lead By Long Muscular Fingers]
48. C V L T S- A U D I A L / S [Ambient/Soft Electronica/S H I R E M U S I C]
47. DJ Paypal- Sold Out [Footwork/I Can See You Doing Anything]
46. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment- Surf [Neo-Soul/Ensemble/Do You…
45. Event Cloak- Life Strategies [Electronica/Pass It Off And Try Not To Think About It]
44. Nerftoss- Mood Index [Terranimba/Zergop]
43. Drawing Trees & Ant'lrd- Balanced Breakfast [Ambient/Selection Via Cross-section]
42. Dylan Stark- Heartland [House/Collage/Of Course, I’ll Still Be Sad That I’m Leaving]
41 Sleater Kinney- No Cities To Love [Rock/Nostalgia Is Prettier In It’s Own Context]
40. Kamasi Washington- The Epic [Jazz/Coalition/You Smiled Because They Belong]
39. Ash Koosha- Guud [Experimental/Glitch/How Instead Of Why, For Once]
38. Stefano Pilia- Blind Sun New Century Christology [Folk/Blues/Tell Him How You...
37. Tame Impala- Currents [Psych/Rock/Pop/Take Your Thin Thoughts To The Loom]
36. Sasha Conda- BRONCO [Psych-House/Sultanas Of Swing]
35. Grischa Lichtenberger- La Demeure; Il Y A Péril En La Demeure [Glitch/How Uncanny]
34. Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld- Never Were the Way She Was [Collaborative...
33. Minami Deutsch- Minami Deutsch [J-Krautrock/The Butterfly That Catches The Child]
32. White Poppy- Natural Phenomena [Ambient/Dream Pop/Liquid Through A Lock]
31. Robert Leiner- Melomania [Krautrock/We’ll Disco Until I See The World In Neon Gray]
30. Shye Ben Tzur / Jonny Greenwood / The Rajasthan Express- Junun [Qawwali…
29. Quicksails- Fleurs De La Lune [Free Ambient/Be Tender, Young Gadfly]
28. HEALTH- Death Magic [Synth-Punk/Industrial-Pop/We’ll Be Sweet Nothings]
27. Food- This Is Not A Miracle [Nu-Jazz/Maybe Not, But It Can Seem That Way]
26. Four Tet- Morning/Evening [Microhouse/I’ll See You In July]
25. De De Mouse- Milkyway Drive [J-Synth/We Loved The Vocals, You Loved The Tempo]
24. Bruised Skies- Guide [Ambient/The Brick Is Gorgeous, Even Before Aggregation]
23. Dan Friel- Life [Noise Pop/What Candy Ads Promise Your Mouth, But In Your Ears]
22. Ian William Craig- Cradle for The Wanting [Ambient/Somehow, Turning To Dust...
21. Milo [Abstract/Dream Rap/Hellfyre/Restraint To Himself Is More Than Anyone Else]
20. Lubomyr Melnyk- Rivers & Streams [Neo-Classical/Dissolve Into A Camera, Biased]
19. U.S. Girls- Half Free [Indie/Pop/Psych/Short, Deep, And Wide]
18. Colleen- Captain Of None [Minimal Psychedelia/Someday I’ll Be A Symbol Of Decay...
17. Container- LP [Industrial/Techno/We Turn On The Sculptor, We Work In Its Muscle]
16. Boan- Mentiras [Dominant Synth/Gothic Figure In Spinning, Colored Lights]
15. Death Grips- The Powers That B Part 2: Jenny Death [Yes, I Count It Separately]
14. Holly Herndon- Platform [Electronica/The New Industrial/I Saw You In A Fragment]
13. Joanna Newsom- Divers [Chamber Folk/What’s Redacted Will Repeat]
12. Vince Staples- Summertime ‘06 [West Coast Rap/Familiar Shapes, Cut From Marble]
11. Destroyer- Poison Season [Chamber Pop/Love The Student More Than The Person]
10. El Ten Eleven- Fast Forward [Instrumental/Post-Rock/The Last Comfort]
9. Julia Holter- Have You In My Wilderness [Baroque Pop/I Promise, I Haven’t Forgotten]
8. Jenny Hval- Apocalypse Girl [Art Pop/Avant Old Guard/Spoke Someone With Choice]
7. Mohammad- Segonde Saleco [Drone/Chamber Doom/Strings/Prayers To An...
6. Young Fathers- White Men Are Black Men Too [Lo-Fi/Experimental Hip-Hop/Shaking...
5. Grimes- Art Angels [Pop/Scream The Comfort You Feel As Others Take The Wheel]
4. Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp A Butterfly [West Coast Hip-Hop/Kin At Every Turn]
3. Girlpool- Before The World Was Big [Minimal Indie/I’d Like To Talk To Me From Then]
2. Fred Thomas-All Are Saved [Spoken/Keycodes To Password Protected Memories]
1. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie & Lowell [Indie-Folk/Minimal/Sufjan, Me, Kinbote]
The descriptions of the tracks are generally shorter than albums as I’ve always been a little more album focused than track focused.
Bonus Track: https://laurice.bandcamp.com/track/wonderin This is a unreleased song from decades back, so even if the official release was 2015, it's a little too far for me, even though I often bend the rules.
75. 2000 Black- Counter Attack [House/Broken Beat] In a way, this track is why I pushed the list to 75. The list was pretty long, and there were a lot of great tracks beyond Counter Attack, but I saw it at 75 and felt I couldn’t bear to leave it off. So 75 it is! Counter Attack is a crisp House jam. The presence of a duo is felt, there are two sides, no more and no less.
74. Mbongwana Star- Suzanna [Soukous/Electronic] Suzanna has a wonderful propulsion to it. The track has a pounding beat but feels light on its feet. The beat is spread across both ears but everything else comes in a slight angle.
73. Dan Friel- Cirrus [Noise Pop] This sound is a weakness of mine. I love warm synths drenched in noise. I love screaming, hopeful notes. I love the notes breaking. I love how it hits me in the chest.
72. Jeff Zagers- Neighbors Knock [Electronica/Hymnal] The song swells up and up. I remember church as a child. The beat builds. I remember the large mossy rock in the back yard. His voice fades further into the cascading noise. Suddenly it cuts out, and I’m not where I was.
71. Herbert- Smart [Microhouse/Affirmation] The slightly off-kilter keys throw you off a bit. The beats are a little strange, not striking just when you want. There’s something incomplete, and that’s when the chorus hits.
70. Container- Absorb [Industrial Techno] There’s so little to the sound. Raw doesn’t seem right, everything is so carefully placed. The feeling is hard to contain…er.
69. Fatima Yamaha - What's A Girl To Do [Electronica/Adventure] The frail synth line has an alluring charisma. It feels like a young, strong willed character, primed for a time of growth. I want to follow it, just to see where it travels to.
68. Minami Deutsch- Surise, Sunset [Krautrock/Meditative] A simple riff, again and again. There’s a blissful character to the direction the sounds come from; a pattern and a satisfying geometry.
67. Sun An- Full World View [Ambient/Static] It’s not often an ambient single really draws my attention. But the textures wash over my ears so easily, completely cleansing my palette. The second half of the track pushes slightly against the boundaries of what I’d call an ambient track; but while it teases something of a beat it never quite commits.
66. Scandinavian Star [Passive Electronica/Sweet Comfort] You think of how the person you wake up next to feels like the ambassador back to the real world. Each time you’ve gone on this strange adventure, this is the person that welcomes you back. They’re the talisman, a signal, the dividing line.
65. Destroyer- Times Square [Chamber Pop/That Charming Bard] Poison Season is very much an album that’s hard to break apart. But my mind would drift to this track again and again over the year. You could fall in love.
64. Open Mike Eagle- Split Pants in Detroit (Or Hyrule) [Hip-Hop/It Really Does Sound Zeldaish) Sometimes you only need about a minute.
63. Mac Demarco- Another One [Psych-Pop] The movement on the synth notes, how it winds up and down. The clean and dampened drums. Mac’s sweet croon.
62. Chilly Gonzales- Advantage Points [Neo-Classical/Tension] Very different from the last CG song to appear on a top tracks list (Kenaston), but there’s an urgency to the track that lends an air of suspense to my surroundings.
61. LA Priest- Party Zute/Learning to Love [House/Funk/Yeah] A full suite, beginning with vocals reminiscent of Hospice era Antlers, a few minutes of false starts where the beats almost come together to form a backbone but cede into the background, then the main course, then a reluctant series of endings.
60. Algodón Egipcio- Multiestabilidad [Maximalism/Dismembered Cover] The song is teeming with expression; an attempt to communicate how full his heart feels when he listens to music. The song is similarly overfilling at the brim, dripping energy at every turn.
59. HEALTH- Stonefist [Power Noise Pop/Cynicism That Goes Down Smooth] The most accessible HEALTH has sounded since the Crimewave remix. The actual music video is appealingly creepy, but I love the simple flashes of red on this one, and less distraction from feeling your veins pulse in time.
58. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment- Windows [NeoSoul/That Memory You Forgot] Incredible production. It activates other senses as it swells and subsides, I can feel my skin get a bit warmer.
57.Paul Kalkbrenner- Cloud Rider [Tech-House/Brutish] Everything about this track feels like I should hate it. The bass is mixed too high. The lyrics are insipid. The delivery is overwrought. Even the cover of the album is god-awful. But it comes together, somehow. The song isn’t just more than the sum of it’s parts; it’s the opposite. This song feels like shouting during an argument, it’s stupid, it’s self-indulgent, it strangles the meaning of what you’re trying to say, but it’s also incredibly relatable; it’s a reaction and we’ve all let it happen.
56. Paul Kalkbrenner- Feed Your Head [Tech-House/Will I Ever Regret This?] In my head this is not discernible from Cloud Rider. And just like CR, it’s clumsy, awkward, basic. The sample from White Rabbit doesn’t even fit right. But there’s a dumb magic to it. I have no idea why it’s these 2 songs. This is how huge pop tracks are supposed to strike the alternative listener, right? Aren’t I supposed to be having this struggle against some massive hit? But instead, it’s this, and I give up, I love it.
55. Project Pablo- Follow It Up [House/Ticking Drums] I love super dry drum machines. Other beats can fade into the background, but when it has that bit of sharpness it comes forward on the stage a bit.
54. Archie Pelago- Clammy Customer [Kitchen Sink House] Goes through several incarnations as the song progresses. It never quite sticks to any one theme exactly. Quick 9 minutes.
53. Vince Staples- Loca [Rap/Film] The album is non-stop excellence, and many songs are as good or better than the tracks here, but Loca was the only one that I sought outside of the context of the record.
52. Low- What Part Of Me [Indie Rock/It Wasn’t Any Easier For Me] Personal vanguard, this band has seen me through more wonderful and horrible times than I can accurately collect and count. Simple as it needs to be, there’s not an extra word. Why are you so afraid?
51. Priest- Strong Hearts [Synth-Pop/I Might Be Going Through The Motions, But It Feels Right] There’s this dissonance to the song. The lyrics are about the feeling of finding someone to connect to in this place you’ve desperately tried to escape. This heartfelt message is put up against this completely robotic backdrop. It’s moving.
50. Cool Uncle- Break Away (ft. Jessie Ware) [Soul/R&B] A confluence of expertise, an earnest message, playful & crisp production, fleeting moments of harmonization, and trying to the best you can.
49. Police- Voices Inside My Head (DJ Harvey Edit) [New Wave/Newer New Wave] A work of magic, this edit keeps the core of the original but stretches it out and lets some much needed air in. There was an older version of this edit elsewhere, but there was an official release this year, so HA!
48. Robert Leiner- Laniakea Part 1 [Krautrock/How Much Dancing Can I Get Away With Here?] God damn what a groove.
47. Alex G- Sarah [Acoustic Guitar/A Kind Hand On Your Shoulder] A recovered track from earlier days. The song is breezy and lovely, and there’s a bit of vocals that just seem to hang in the air, you’re sure they’ll bridge and they never quite do.
46. Susanne Sundfor- Delirious [Dark Synth Pop/You’re Implying I’m Holding The Gun, Right?] For some reason, it’s strongly reminiscent of Phantom of the Opera. Both in music and the way in which it’s sinister lyrics are delivered. Which until now, I didn’t realize that I actually really liked the sound of it. Damn, I guess I like Phantom.
45. Tom DeMac- Guilty Measures [House/Spy Movie Shootout] That ringing synth. God.
44. Night Court- Panic In The Streets [Experimental/Literally Panic In The Streets] Sometimes I hear criticisms of experimental music saying that it’s purpose is too obscure, too abstruse. This might be true some of the time, but honestly if you just let yourself experience the music, you’ll get it (even if you don’t like it). Panic In The Streets is just that, the confusion, the racing heart, the desperation; it just takes a listen.
43. Jack J- Thirstin’ [Deep House/Wanna Get Out Of Here?] Capturing that wonderful moment after curiosity, after attraction, after letting yourself be pulled into a conversation; the anticipation. The moment of locked eyes and shared intimacy in a crowd.
42. Cities Aviv- Graced and Blessed [Heaven & Earth Rap/Are You Damaged?] A moment of clarity. A bit of poetry. Imagine if just every so often, fortune cookies mattered. The glimpse of the writing on the wall; all you see is Graced and Blessed.
41. Courtney Barnett- Pedestrian at Best [Indie Rock/What You Wish Your Stream Of Consciousness Sounded Like] Fun, perfectly balanced fun. The fun of mashing ideas together until it makes sense. The fun of the tongue rolling over the satisfying lyrical curves. The basic fun of dense internal rhyme and rhythm.
39. Matt Karmil- Moment [House/Dystopias Make For Great Music Though] For some reason, really good house has me seeing in black and white. I imagine dancefloors in Sin City. Or dancefloors with moonlit discoballs. Or dancefloors with white strobes. Okay maybe the theme is actually just dancefloors and the black/white is just incidental.
38. Bully- I Remember [Punk Rock/I’m Not Imagining This, I Wasn’t The Only One] There’s an urgency, you want to spill everything out, but you only have a few moments to do it. In that frenzy you desperately pull from every source that needs expression. How do you boil down an entire relationship into a couple minutes? You probably can’t, but there’s something special about trying as hard as you ****ing can.
37. Fred Thomas- Bad Blood [Indie Rock/Spoken Word/Not That Bad Blood] Honest expression is more than just telling the truth; it’s guiding the audience through the same experience. It’s trying to create a picture with as much as you can remember. Filling in all the space as best you can. Then you can go back and see what it looks like.
36. DJ Paypal- Slim Trak [Footwork/Manic] What makes Footwork so exciting is that we’re getting tracks this good already, and we’ve barely gotten a start. Is it going to get better? Can it?
35. Mount Eerie- Sauna [Drone/A Captured Organ Tone] I’ll never get tired of that single note. How is that? I get bored almost every moment. How does this capture me? How is there mystery to my attention span? What is this?
34. Nicolas Jaar- Fight [Microhouse/Why Even Make Albums?] How is this such a full experience? There’s so many clear parts, but I can’t describe it. Craftsmanship hasn’t gone anywhere.
33. Cavern of Anti Matter- Phototones [Krautrock/Stereolab I Love You] This song sounds a lot like Stereolab! I love it! What’s Stereolab up to these days? Oh, there’s a side project...called Cavern of Anti-Matter. That...makes sense. I guess I’ll write about that.
32. Death Grips- Inanimate Sensation [Deff Graps/Darth Gribs/Jeff Drips] No! It’s not possible for revving an imaginary motorcycle to sound good! No! How! No! Just when I thought they’d finally started running out of steam, there was this.
31. Monte Booker ft. Ravyn Lenae- Baby [Minimal Soul/Sweet Breath Into Your Ear] There’s a bit of an uncanny valley with proximity. On one side, you can keep your distance, there’s comfort to having the space between you. Then there’s uncomfortable closeness, you feel trapped, the nearness is disconcerting. Then finally, there’s touch. There’s holding and being held.
30. The Weeknd- Can’t Feel My Face [R&B/Pop/Hooked] I know what this looks like. Toss in a megahit, make yourself look like a poptimist. And it is pop, no doubt. But what draws me to the song again and again is that it completes a piece of Weeknd’s extended mixed metaphor on love and drugs. His earlier work is written during the painful comedown, or the beginning of regret, or the confrontation of starting to undo the problems it caused. A lot of art describing destructive relationships fails because it doesn’t properly frame the high. You don’t come away from the experience identifying with the character because the decision to break the habit seems so obvious. How could they be so stupid? But here’s a song, one great feeling repeated again and again; when it’s over you feel a compulsive urge to feel it again. Well, all of that, and it’s a tad catchy.
29. Tame Impala- Let It Happen [Psychedelic Rock/I’ll Grind Your Bones To Make Fertilizer To Put On My Wheat That I’ll Eventually Harvest To Make My Bread] We call it a lifecycle; but it never looked all that circular to me. When I experience life, there’s a linearity, a progression. I could nominally call it circular, there’s a beginning, middle, end, and then my body decays into a new beginning, middle, and end. But when I see beginnings middles and ends in others, I see change, not a reversion. As I listen to this song, the ends of one section lay the foundation for the next, taking you far away from the beginning. It’s difficult to remember where you started until you try the beginning again, and then you’re stuck. But what I resent is the idea that you’re right back where you started, when you’ve grown so much.
28. Erykah Badu- Hello (Ft. Andre 3000) [Soul/We Came Out Better, Didn’t We?] Fear of commitment all the way to fear of losing it. You gained more than just the relationship, and you lost more than it when it was over, but it wasn’t all the same.
27. Valerio Cosi- Hosianna Mantra [Krautrock/Tearing At It’s Own Skin] Almost irresponsibly effective. The first 4 minutes make your skin feel hot and your bones feel weak. The last 5 are dredging the sickness from your body.
26. Young Fathers- Still Running [Lo-Fi Hip-Hop/The Last Piece Of Music Ever Made] No way to navigate, success measured by survival, there is nothing outside of trying to stay alive; you will never get inside of the gate.
25. U.S. Girls- Window Shades [Psych-Pop/Resolve Won’t Be Enough] A delayed reaction to being broken. The hardest parts come after you think it’s finally over. As hard as you try, you’ll miss it.
24. Weird Together- No Compromise [Dance/World/It Doesn’t Have To Be Like This] Fighting with someone close is hard. Saying anything less than exactly what you feel feels dishonest. Saying everything exposes exactly how different you view the world. Do you actually want to know?
23. Holly Herdon- Morning Sun [Experimental/Glitch/No Electric Sheep Here] Piece by piece you fade. I can get rid of this first, but should I keep this for next time? Everything I’ve learned discharges and flashes for a moment. The colors dim, and my eyes close. Calming orange letters appear; it is now safe to turn off your computer.
22. Sufjan Stevens- 4th of July [Minimal/A Few Drops Fall From The Bottle Above My Head And To My Right One Hundred Rows Of Roses] Could I ever sit down next to your bed and truthfully say: you did so much for me, and I can never repay you.
21. Admin- Sugar Loaf [Disco/Heel-Toe-Heel-Toe] There’s a strange magic to awareness of otherwise routine processes. Like how just mentioning that you weren’t controlling your breathing before but you are now gives the unnoticed switch a strange mysticism. Likewise, when I hear this song I become immediately aware of how I move, and I’m compelled to fill every motion with purpose.
20. Melody’s Echo Chamber- Shirim [Pysch-Pop/The Works, Please] This came out over a year ago, but it was supposed to be followed by a record so I let it slide to 2015. But here we are, and no record! You can hear Kevin Parker all over this track, and yet I like it better than any song of his.
19. Girlpool- Cherry Picking [Guitar/Bass/Vocals] A small, graceful arc. A bitter tone at the person who you thought you had a connection with. But in the end, you knew when you started ignoring everything wrong you had made your choice; fully aware you just wanted the moment. Your problem was getting your hopes up after.
18. Gilb’R- Les Maitre Des Illusions [House/Get Lost In The Crowd] I hate clubs, and I hate dancing in large groups, but even I have “Oh **** this is my jam” moments.
17. Cass.- Lantern (ft. Emil) [Ambient Pop/You Don’t Have To Be Like Them] The plucked notes and warm embrace. I know how badly you don’t want to carry the faults of your family, and I will try as hard as I can to help you.
16. Kamasi Washington- The Rhythm Changes [Jazz/Soul/They Say It’s Lonely At The Top, But It’s Easier To Find Each Other Above The Clouds] More than any other song, this song showcases what makes the full album so special. These artist ending up on the same record is something of a small miracle. Though it bears the name of only one member, this band is a supergroup. The instrument at the center of the song changes several times over the course of the song, and the richness of each layer is progressively understood.
15. Kendrick Lamar- The Blacker The Berry [Rap/We Are, But We Don’t Say] Feeling like a hypocrite is a familiar but underexplored moral position. It’s not being wrong, as is so often portrayed. It’s not a simple negation. Sometimes there is no escape. There is just acknowledgement, and a firm commitment to change.
14. David Bowie- Blackstar [Art Rock/Yes, Even Heroes] The best song Bowie has ever done. Come at me.
13. Grimes- REALiTi (Demo) [Pop/We Used To See What No One Else Could, But Then] A parting gift from a different incarnation of Grimes. While I’ll miss it terribly, it seems appropriate. You don’t get to go back into that dream, but I promise you’ll have another.
12. Jenny Hval- Kingsize (Kelly Lee Owens Rework) [Minimal House/Spoken Word/I Will Not] The polar opposite of the backing music of the original. The sounds are so masterfully produced they feel shapeless. Also it bears a slight resemblance to Super Mario RPG’s “Fight Against An Armed Boss”, which might drive up it’s stock a bit. I desperately want more of this.
11. Young Fathers- Shame [Lo-Fi Hip-Hop/Right Before It Comes Apart] I told you a lie so long that I let myself dream it. But now it’s over.
10. Tapes- Somebodies Baby [A Bit Of R&B/A Bit Of Pop/Lo-Fi] Longing isn’t the easiest to describe, because what you want is so often so simple. The universal sense of being alone and wanting that feeling to end. At least you know other people feel this way too.
9. Monika- Secret In The Dark [Disco/I’m A Coward At Heart, But I Can’t Look Away] I knew I was going to love the song as soon as it began. But what I didn’t expect was the dry vocals. And really that’s it, the production on those vocals drive me crazy. I love disco, I love the rhythms, I love the themes of intimacy, I love the agile hat hits, but often the vocals don’t match. They are sung by powerful divas;a powerful, but distant figure in a spotlight. The voice here is present, right in front of you, eyes locked.
8. Sufjan Stevens- John My Beloved [Minimal Theology/The Love Isn’t Incomparable; I See It In You] If you died today, I would remember you at the front of the church in the light that came through the stained glass windows. I never really believed, but I still hope to keep you there.
7. Chicklette- Predator [Experimental/Attack] You have only a moment to consider your annihilation, was it always going to be this simple? It seems too natural to die like this; a reminder you were always just an animal.
6. Grimes- Flesh Without Blood [Pop/If You Think It’s Unconditional, You Just Haven’t Found The Right Condition] As a one who loved Visions and hated Go, I feel guilty listening to the song; I feel accused. She’s right, and I know it. I’m sorry for loving the art that came out of your suffering, and for feeling disappointment for the art that came out of your renewed strength. Even from a limited art first, person second view; you’ve earned the right to do whatever you want.
5. HNNY- There Is No One Else [Downtempo/A Force Of Nature Binds Us Now] My greatest wish is being able to relive my life. Maybe I got the chance. Maybe that’s why I feel so certain; maybe I’ve already done this and I know what happens next.
4. Hot Chip- Dancing In The Dark [Synth-Pop/I’m Under The Covers] I can’t remember a musical moment as devastating as the transition into All My Friends. I was on a train, whipping my head around to the already incredible beat; my neck nearly snapped; I cried before I even knew what I was feeling.
3. Wondaland Records- Hell You Talmbout [It’s Not Right] I’m ashamed that this has moved me more than any argument. It’s just the way to reach me I guess. These are just people asking for you to say another person’s name. That’s all, really. That might be enough.
2. De De Mouse- Milkyway Drive [Everything, All At Once] Simply put, the song makes me feel less alone. There are so many people like me that I’ll never even meet. But I get to see them every once in awhile, even if it’s only a glimpse.
1. Darren Keen- It’s Hard To Say No [Footwork/Unbelievable] My biggest fear is that I’ll hurt someone because I want to help someone else. I love life so much I’m worried I’ll try to grab from a different one. I’m so utterly weak, I hope I never have to face the test.
I'm aiming to be done by the end of January. Next up will be a much shorter list, my top 25 short releases (mostly EPs).
Then the Top Albums (will try to cut it to 50, but I'll also have a list of Honorable Mentions with either no blurbs or very short blurbs). The hardest part will be figuring what gets cut altogether, so it might be a bit before it starts, but then it should be about 5 a day.
My kind heart has decided to release this in 2 parts rather than 5 (I'm sure you loved the daily spam).
Admittedly I’ll be using a nebulous definition of short releases, but generally they are shorter than 25 minutes. Mostly these will be EPs, but there are several singles and mini-albums.
First, an honorable mention to the Nymphs II-IV by Nicolaas Jaar all of which were great, but no one release was quite enough to make it on to this chart (I almost lumped them together to get onto the list, but it didn’t feel sporting).
25. Scandinavian Star- Scandinavian Star [Ascetic House/Unyielding Dustbowl Spirit] Favorite Track: Untitled 5 I sincerely hope this is a primer for a larger album. There’s a raw talent for setting mood even though it skips over several genres. The tracks are disparate enough to evoke a feeling of mixed media, even though it’s all sound.
24. i:Cube- VER105 12 EP [Experimental Techno/Nothing Is Really Waiting Anymore] Favorite Track: Ou Ailleurs Quite varied for an EP. Starts with a track reminiscent of Computer Controlled Acoustics (appearing a couple slots down), then there’s a winding piano ballad, a horn backed kraut-lite track, and even a psychedelic ambient track. This sounds like a veteran producer stretching and flexing before diving into a full release. I hope it’s this good.
23. Knightlife- Don’t Stop [Dance/House/Don’t You Miss The ____ties?] Favorite Track: Don’t Stop When you hear this, you’ll immediately know if you want to listen to the rest or not. It’s in a pretty well tread path, but I still love to wander town.
22. Poncho Brothers- Disco Azteca EP [Funk/Something Is Off] Favorite Track: Amantes Latinos What a charming release. The first track sounds like the background music of a potion shop in an old school RPG. The second track is a super slight remix of the first, which almost feels like an intentional joke. The third track delves partially into a krautrock jam. The final track feels like bits and pieces were taken out and patched into other places.
21. Aphex Twin- Computer Controlled Acoustics pt 2 [Computer Controlled Acoustics/Yep] Favorite Track: diskhat1 (side note, I linked to a remix of this song) The title is nearly literal, except there is no part 1. To be totally honest; I think it’s his most consistently interesting release. The gimmick likely would have overpowered many other musicians, but rather than just trying to push as many boundaries as he could, James adapts to the situation and creates something unsettling and new, even though it’s all “real”.
20. Hot Chip- Dancing In The Dark EP [Synth-pop/And Here I Thought You’d Gone] Favorite Track: Dancing In The Dark While the title track alone makes this EP a worthy commitment, the remixes on this are actually among the better remixes of Hot Chip tracks. The RAK remix rightfully emphasizes the wistful synth behind Cry For You’s chorus, marking an overall improvement on the original. The Soulwax remix of Huarache Lights turns the song into a rising action (although it doesn’t trump the original). The last remix of the same song does roughly the same, but takes longer to reach it’s climax, and ends up being the weakest. But really, holy **** the Dancing In The Dark cover is fantastic, best HC song in years. Maybe a decade.
19. 2000black- Make It Hard [Broken Beat/I Talk To All The Townspeople, Except Actually] Favorite Track: Counter Attack The right bundle of qualities, mixed the right way, and in the right proportions. The world seems a bit friendlier, but I think it was always that way.
18. Mac Demarco- Another One [Psych Pop/Breezus] Favorite Track: Another One Finally, an opportunity to properly use Breezy. Fits so perfectly I shouldn’t say anything more. Stop. Stop Typing. We’ve done it. It’s over now. Breezy.
17. Ty Segall- Mr. Face [Garage Rock/Acoustic/No Stopping Until You’re Dead] Favorite Track: Circles Only a Fuzz release and an EP? Are you okay? You used to release 4 records a year, what happened? Don’t tell me you’re getting old? Yes, the EP is really good, but you’re not off the hook bro. A live record too? **** off, you know that doesn’t count.
16. Lutto Lento- Mondo Hehe [Outsider House/Your Brittle Bones Now Bend] Favorite Track: Mondo Hehe Here’s a good example of not overusing knick-knack samples. They pull a bit of your attention back, without stepping all over the track. I’m so pleased this EP isn’t ruined by cheap shots.
15. Japan Blues- Stoned Bird [Eclectic/Where Will I See You Next?] Favorite Track: Stoned Bird I’m never quite sure if a good EP should leave me satisfied, or leave me wanting more. This EP is squarely in the latter, so much so that it feels like an almost intentional tease.
14. Panda Bear- Crosswords [Psychedelia/Warm Waves Knock Me Down To Cement] Favorite Track: Jabberwocky Wiped the taste of ambivalence toward Reaper off my pallette. I’m fully excited for the next AnCo release. An archipelago of sunny thoughts and colorful minds.
13. Jack J- Thirstin’ / Atmosphere [Crisp House/I Know That Look] Favorite Track: Thirstin’ Jack J makes such infinitely replayable tracks that I’d be immensely satisfied with his work, even if he only releases an EP or Single each year and not a full LP. Just never stop.
12. Maaskant- Mere Oblivion EP [Downtempo/Folktronic/It’s Not True] Favorite Track: This Language (note: the youtube video is mislabeled) This seems to go against the way I think about EPs. An EP allows the artist to sculpt the length to what they want without filler. When I listen to this EP, I’m struck at how easily they could have added in filler, or lengthened the songs to reach an LP length. But, it’s perfect at its length, and still I almost always listen to it all over again. As if the EP was actually doubled with identical tracks. I’d hate it normally, but when I do it of my own accord, I can’t help but be mesmerized.
11. Outerzona13- Cold Meat Lights No Fire EP [Leftfield/How Did I Get Here?] Favorite Track: Don't Worry About A Thing Seemingly from out of nowhere, a collection of songs with unknown artists. There’s a journey, a slow build into a classic soul track that spins in place for 7 more minutes. An oddball jam that evokes a mediterranean take on a Santana jam. Then, a truly uneasy voice murmuring about his fantasies about you, simultaneously frightening and seductive.
10. Admin- Super Lover EP [Disco/House/Hands, Hearts, And Minds] Favorite Track: Sugar Loaf Everything I want from a 15 minute Disco EP.
9. In Media Res- リンキンパーク Viginti Sex [Experimental/Other People’s Memories] Favorite Track: Suck Puppet Part of a trio of EPs released by In Media Res this year. I very nearly lumped them all together and called it an album, but 1) they really should be considered separately considering the gulf in sound and 2) Triginta Septem sounded a bit like diet Ian William Craig (though still good). Viginti Sex takes fully formed samples of songs and pushes a detuned and distorted aesthetic on them. It’s a bit vaporwave at times, except the sample palette is so small and repetitive. This gives it the strange feeling of stumbling across a beaten cd on the side of a road, that moment where nature conspires to give you an entirely new and personal take on a finished work.
8. In Media Res- リンキンパーク Quindecim [Experimental/Regardless] Favorite Track: Orior Would you believe me if I told you I didn’t anticipate having these back to back? Well you shouldn’t, because I did. This time the source of sampling appears to be of traditional sounding eastern music. Whether or not the source is a properly executed turn in a long line of traditional songs, or a cheap and rushed cd made for cheesy aesthetics I do not know.
7. Tom Demac- Smoke Stained Ivories [House/I’ll Stir The Martini If I Damn Well Please] Favorite Track: Guilty Measures Tends to pivot on one spot while the rest is allowed to run. The beats shift, the melodies persist, the beats stay, the melodies go. After a while it just seems to make more and more sense. It’s a conversation partner where when you talk long enough, you start to sense what they’ll say next.
6. DJ Paypal- Buy Now EP [Footwork/Strobe] Favorite Track: I’m Ready Footwork is a bit hard to describe. It’s incredibly agile, intensely precise. Layers of rhythm, changing structure on a dime. It seizes any opportunity to reinvent itself, even if just for a moment. There’s an overzealous work ethic, if you’re not radically shifting the song every measure are you just slacking off?
5. Spaces- Potential [Abstract Techno/Implied Rhythm] Favorite Track: Assembly The heavy phasing on this allows for some pretty unconventional rhythms to sound completely natural. Beat shifts are typically jarring and unsettling, but if you’re not looking for them they might completely pass you by. It’s a strange place for experimental music; making the unfamiliar appealing and cozy.
4. Various- Workshop 21 [Deep House/Where I Look, I See A Family] Favorite Track: Somebodies Baby I think of two types of family. One, how this EP serves as a living room for these 4 artists, a spot to tell each other what they did today. Two, whether familial resemblance counts as cohesion, or if I’m pressing Wittenstein too far.
3. Emily Yacina- Pull Through [Acoustic/The Sense Of Scale In Other Lives] Favorite Track: Pull Through Everyone I love saw something beautiful today, realized something about themselves. I’m a bit sad that I won’t get to know about all of it, but I’m incredibly encouraged that it happens. The extrapolation between the wonderful moments of connection gives me courage.
2. Open Mike Eagle- A Special Episode Of… [Rap/Not Over, I Hope] Favorite Track: Split Pants In Detroit (or Hyrule) A real time exposure to an artist digesting his own successful release. It always feels strange when the recorded life of an album ends months before its ship date. I’m overjoyed we got treated to an epilogue.
1. Consumer Electronics- Repetition Reinforcement [Experimental/This Is In You] Favorite Track: Murder The Masters It’s easy to creep someone out in music. It’s easy to have someone whisper madness into your ear with a vicious snarl and make them uncomfortable. But it’s harder to give the voice a murderous charisma, to extract the appealing nature, the bit of you that wants to speak the darkest parts of your thoughts. If you pull back far enough, you can dismiss it all, it’s garbled, it doesn’t fit. But when you’re there in the moment, each word is so carefully placed that you’re sure there’s something. You’re not sure what piece of your mind is crying out for expression, but just knowing it’s there…
Pure List:
25. Scandinavian Star- Scandinavian Star [Ascetic House/Unyielding Dustbowl Spirit] 24. i:Cube- VER105 12 EP [Experimental Techno/Nothing Is Really Waiting Anymore] 23. Knightlife- Don’t Stop [Dance/House/Don’t You Miss The ____ties?] 22. Poncho Brothers- Disco Azteca EP [Funk/Something Is Off] 21. Aphex Twin- Computer Controlled Acoustics pt 2 [Computer Controlled Acoustics/Yep]
20. Hot Chip- Dancing In The Dark EP [Synth-pop/And Here I Thought You’d Gone] 19. 2000black- Make It Hard [Broken Beat/I Talk To All The Townspeople, Except Actually] 18. Mac Demarco- Another One [Psych Pop/Breezus] 17. Ty Segall- Mr. Face [Garage Rock/Acoustic/No Stopping Until You’re Dead] 16. Lutto Lento- Mondo Hehe [Outsider House/Your Brittle Bones Now Bend]
15. Japan Blues- Stoned Bird [Eclectic/Where Will I See You Next?] 14. Panda Bear- Crosswords [Psychedelia/Warm Waves Knock Me Down To Cement] 13. Jack J- Thirstin’ / Atmosphere [Crisp House/I Know That Look] 12. Maaskant- Mere Oblivion EP [Downtempo/Folktronic/It’s Not True] 11. Outerzona13- Cold Meat Lights No Fire EP [Leftfield/How Did I Get Here?]
10. Admin- Super Lover EP [Disco/House/Hands, Hearts, And Minds] 9. In Media Res- リンキンパーク Viginti Sex [Experimental/Other People’s Memories] 8. In Media Res- リンキンパーク Quindecim [Experimental/Regardless] 7. Tom Demac- Smoke Stained Ivories [House/I’ll Stir The Martini If I Damn Well Please] 6. DJ Paypal- Buy Now EP [Footwork/Strobe]
5. Spaces- Potential [Abstract Techno/Implied Rhythm] 4. Various- Workshop 21 [Deep House/Where I Look, I See A Family] 3. Emily Yacina- Pull Through [Acoustic/The Sense Of Scale In Other Lives] 2. Open Mike Eagle- A Special Episode Of… [Rap/Not Over, I Hope] 1. Consumer Electronics- Repetition Reinforcement [Experimental/This Is In You]
50. Chilly Gonzales- Chambers [Classical/Lead By Long Muscular Fingers] Favorite Track: Advantage Points It feels bittersweet putting down your lowest entry in a list. It’s the worst spot you could give while also including it. These mixed feelings are particularly strong here. My gut feels like it should be higher; until I look at everything in front of it. -- Chilly’s always had a bit of a goofy streak, made obvious by his obnoxious videos and lame-pun titles (Freudian Slippers, Myth Me, Cello Gonzales). Myth me in particular takes this a bit further by having the actual lisped lyrics in the track, which I’ll admit brought it down to my clear least favorite. Other than that, the album is emotive and can lead me as it pleases. Delicate and agile, heartfelt and persuasive, peculiar and goofy.
49. C V L T S- A U D I A L / S [Ambient/Soft Electronica/S H I R E M U S I C] Favorite Track: Geotag I’ve always felt strangely at home in my best friend’s basement. More than being welcome, but thinking of the times growing up I remember it the way you remember your special spot in your backyard. I felt like I had a particular place there. It was a place of odds and ends, a very old poster from a film I would hate, terrible adventure novels, a wonderfully obsolete whining air organ, song writing, speech writing, my departure to surely dying, when will be our last meeting?
48. DJ Paypal- Sold Out [Footwork/I Can See You Doing Anything] Favorite Track: Slim Trak There’s a lot of fun in parsing out what an album means, but with Sold Out, I haven’t even made it through parsing out what the album actually contains. Trying to identify the flickers consumes all my mental energy, and the album defies interpretation on the basis of my inability. What I do feel when I listen to the album is optimism; I want this movement to grow and spread to other genres. I want to hear takes from the entire spectrum on what’s happening in the footwork community. I want crossovers, I want minimalists. I feel ungrateful, it’s already delivered one of the best songs I could ever hope to hear in the Darren Keen rework of It’s Hard To Say No, and here I am, asking for more.
47. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment- Surf [Neo-Soul/Ensemble/Do You Remember How Once You Said You Had A Thousand Lives, And This Is The Last One?] Favorite Track: Windows Honestly, I have no idea where this album will end up in my lists years from now. When I first heard it, I was blown away, and was sure it’d be top 10. Then it fell all the way off the list entirely until I came back to it right before rounding up my last spots. Part of that initial feeling hit me again, how overwhelmingly positive it is. It’s more than occasionally cheesy, and it’s uneven (there are many, many weak guest appearances, but it finds strength in odd places. The interludes are actually among the strongest moments on the record).-- It makes me want to be nostalgic, rather than actually making me nostalgic about something specific. I look for things in the present that remind me of the past. It’s mawkish, but so was I when I was a kid. The first time I saw it snow, I asked if I could sing about the snow, and I did. The memory still makes my cheeks burn, but I still kinda miss the kid.
46. Event Cloak- Life Strategies [Electronica/Pass It Off And Try Not To Think About It] Favorite Track: Life Strategies Looming scarcity seems to a bit of an obsession when thinking about dystopia. We have never ending advancements in providing for more and more people, and we unnervingly accept each one with trepidations; those systems will fail, the rug will be pulled out. We’re into speculation now, far from the fundamentals, worried about the crash. -- There’s an enigmatic pull to the album, which has resulted in a disproportionately high amount of listens relative to albums higher on this list. Because of this, the album is woven into my year, anxiety into restless contentment.
45. Nerftoss- Mood Index [Terranimba/Zergop] Favorite Track: Hates Birthdays In SC2, there’s an oversimplified version breakdown between the 3 races, Zerg rewards macro and mechanics, Terran rewards strategy and execution, Protoss rewards unit control. Protoss has always been the most hated in SC2, and I think that’s in no small part due to the eclipsing of RTS by MOBAs. It was the race that most easily transferred MOBA skill into the SC2 environment. And as their game was losing its spot in the sun, players looked at toss as an infiltrator; rotting the game out from within. Additionally, if toss gets an edge, they can quickly exploit that edge because of warpgates (negating much your defender’s advantage). But I personally love those aspects; because they are a rare opportunity to match up asymmetric skill. As if to say: Yes, let’s compare apples and oranges; to the death. -- I have no idea if that’s actually the reference this group’s name is making.
44. Drawing Trees & Ant'lrd- Balanced Breakfast [Ambient/Selection Via Cross-section] Favorite Track: Backyard There’s a moment on this record that I keep returning to. It’s a short home recording of someone talking to their dog in that inane way we all do. There must be nearly infinite recordings of nearly the same expression with almost no difference. And yet, for some reason, they chose this one. -- I think of wandering into paintings for each song. In sight is exactly what’s shown, and nothing more. Seeing the still life, evaluating the scene, considering what’s emphasized, what’s not. There’s something about pictures and paintings. There must be nearly infinite moments surrounding immediately before and after the moment the picture was taken or a painting created of nearly the same scene with almost no difference. And yet, for some reason, they chose this one.
43 Dylan Stark- Heartland [House/Collage/Of Course, I’ll Still Be Sad That I’m Leaving] Favorite Track: Parade Here’s a bit of arrogance I haven’t really confronted until now. I think about dying a lot, sure. But one of the feelings that has come along with thoughts about dying, is this gut level sense where I worry about leaving behind the world. What would existence do without me? I worry that wonderful details will go unnoticed. I was listening to Heartland, and I saw a little girl laugh uncontrollably. Her sister was clearly a bit fed up and she rolled her eyes, but the sister would crack as the laughing fits went on next to her. No one else could tell why they were laughing, not even me. Seeing this makes me happy, of course, but this time it’s for a bit of a different reason. It’s not that the joy is just rubbing off on me, it’s that I feel myself let go of an unnoticed burden; I worry less about the world I’ll someday leave behind.
42. Sleater Kinney- No Cities To Love [Rock/Nostalgia Is Prettier In It’s Own Context] Favorite Track: New Wave It’d be like they never left, if the backdrop wasn’t so discordant. Feeling like you’ve been gone too long and you’ve been changed [Hey Darling]; you still feel it burn, but cast into impotence [Fangless]; did you ever do anything but go through the motions [Fade].-- Do they still make time-capsules in schools? I hope they do. It might feel like an outdated idea, now that everyone leaves behind data. But there’s something to be said for the whiplash of recovering a memory specifically hidden from your consciousness. Sometimes you get a bit more by spacing yourself. A mirror is fine for seeing what you look like now, but a picture is how you can tell what’s changed.
41. Kamasi Washington- The Epic [Jazz/Coalition/You Smiled Because They Belong] Favorite Track: The Rhythm Changes While the sheer length of the album has some downsides (one being listener fatigue if you attempt to give it a focused listen from beginning to end) one positive is that the solos retain their dynamicism. Even after the dozen or so listens I’ve given this, I can’t predict the movement of nearly any solo. It gives the album a feeling of an eternal live recording, that it’s never quite finished, that the musicians sneak in between listens and re-record their jams. It’s a permanent and fixed object rejecting what your intro to classical music teacher taught you about the crystalizations of classical recordings; that classical pianists often wrote space into their songs for the performer to improvise on the piece, but that over time there was a canonization of the solos; overwriting the improvised space. But here we are in the future, and now even well-trod recordings feel like they can surprise you.
40. Ash Koosha- Guud [Experimental/Glitch/How Instead Of Why, For Once] Favorite Track: I Feel That This album has a tendency to have beats and odd noises that come back together on every other down beat. It doesn’t quite make it “poppy”, but it helps break up the chaos into discrete, understandable chunks. Many experimental albums get away with pure expressiveness, but this stands almost entirely on its musicality. It’s difficult to append an agenda to this album; other than its vision to overlay waves of intricate and unique sounds. The appeal is almost like that of a Girl Talk record, but without leaning on nostalgia or the inherent humor of layering rap over oldies. It takes a peculiar spot on this list, it doesn’t leave me emotional, just impressed.
39. Stefano Pilia- Blind Sun New Century Christology [Folk/Blues/Tell Him How You Found Faith, And He’ll Tell You If It’s Convincing] Favorite Track: Stand Behind The Man Behind The Wire It’s hard to love people, but it’s also hard to hate individuals. Is that just an aggregation issue? Where the good parts are additive and the bad parts multiplicative? Maybe it has more to do with appreciation. If I looked at a single flawed gemstone, I might grow to appreciate that flaw and love it better than a perfect one; but if I had 1,000 I’d always choose 1000 perfect over 1000 flawed. Maybe it has to do with proximity. With distance I can obviously say this is good and this is bad. But put me in a small room, and it’s less clear. That’s why you’ve got to keep playing your blues in small rooms, Charles. -- If you give this a try, the first and second halves are significantly different, sample both.
38. Tame Impala- Currents [Psych/Rock/Pop/Take Your Thin Thoughts To The Loom] Favorite Track: Let It Happen I always have trouble writing about Tame Impala. Everything seems so obvious. His voice sounds like Lennon, but not his lyrics (which I’d put just above average, though his smooth delivery sometimes makes the lyrics feel very appropriate “They say people never change, but that’s ********; they do” actually sounds great in context). His touch as producer is intricate and viscerally satisfying (Even the sound of his mouth separating from his tongue on k’s and hard c’s are noticeably pleasant). His songs draw from a pretty cohesive sonic pallette; at once making the songs cohesive though slightly redundant (I can never place myself within his albums, I can’t remember what came just before it, and what’s coming next). Compulsively listenable (It’s Pop, but in a strange way, it’s not that it was structured for ease of consumption, but the aggregate of the smooth sounds and relatable themes coalesce into Pop). But just like what I just wrote, the obvious leads to the specific. It’s near impossible to write about Tame Impala without retreading the common theme that everyone notices; your job is to think about what connected with you. Hey, intimate riffs on a common theme coming together to form a lucid and unique POV; I know a band that sounds like that.
37. Sasha Conda- BRONCO [Psych-House/Sultanas Of Swing] Favorite Track: In The Dark Man, this sounds smooth. This is nice. Like going slowly across a river. Steamboats. Steamboats are the sexiest form of water travel. You suck the water in, you get it hot and steamy, and then you spank that dirty, dirty river-water until it takes you where you want to go. Ah, but you’re in no rush, you take it willfully slow; you might be on the river for an hour, maybe you’ll ferry people up and down for days. You haven’t made up your mind yet. -- BRONCO may or may not warp your views on riverboats, but you’ll have fun.
36. Grischa Lichtenberger- La Demeure; Il Y A Péril En La Demeure [Glitch/How Uncanny] Favorite Track: Sf Rect As I’m writing this, I’m watching a sign. It’s a cardboard cutout of a person, but the top half is holding an advertisement and is swaying in a decidedly inhuman motion. I’m concerned. This is either the perfect metaphor for the album, or a red herring that disrupts any interesting thought I would have had about the actual music. But now I can’t stop thinking about it. We sourced a job that was most suitable for a metal pole out to people because it drew more attention (at a higher cost for that attention, presumably), and now we’ve outsourced even that to a machine to lower that cost. For some reason, that idea, just trick them long enough to look at the sign, is startling. Even when I consider myself numb to the invasion of both advertising and automation, when it combines in this cynical manner, I start to understand the sort of technological paranoia that underlies many of these types of records.
35. Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld- Never Were the Way She Was [Collaborative Minimalism/Saxophone/Violin/The Second Grave Is Filled] Favorite Track: With The Dark Hug Of Time When I think of what is good and not good background music, I usually think of it relative only to how good. Usually music in the background is good if it’s can be at least partially processed even without being actively involved in listening, and it’s bad if it doesn’t add anything. This is actually beyond that, it’s actively disruptive if I put it on in the background. It’s agitating and I wonder why I think fondly of it at all. Then when I revisit it, and actually listen to it, it’s really easy to love. All it requires is attention.
34. Minami Deutsch- Minami Deutsch [J-Krautrock/The Butterfly That Catches The Child] Favorite Track: Sunrise, Sunset Why do I love some forms of repetition, and get bored of others? I’m not sure, but here are my thoughts on it as I listen to this. It’s not the act, but the results. Repetition that I dislike can function as an advertisement; it’s repeating a message until you internalize it. It can feel lazily condescending; akin to “if you don’t like it, you must not understand it”. But this type of repetition feels more like an invitation to adventure. There’s an allure that dances just out of reach, and the act of pursuit takes you through fields and skylines. Repetition can act as a microcosm for “growers”, those records that get better each time you listen to them. With this, we’re treated to a repeated moment, and as the backdrop shifts it serves to define the moment’s edges.
33. White Poppy- Natural Phenomena [Ambient/Dream Pop/Liquid Through A Lock] Favorite Track: Confusion It’s funny, for something as varied as the concept of “dreams” are, the notion of musical “dreaminess” has collected a pretty specific set of qualities. Soft distortion, vocals mixed so deep in the cut that the lyrics are typically unintelligible, pleasant, and calm. It’s not an unuseful term, and I apply it often, but it’s always struck me as incomplete. I have a specific attachment to dreams. I can almost never remember my dreams, but I often wake up satisfied, like I’ve just completed a journey. Last night I was having a very involved dream, and I was suddenly awoken by my alarm. This often puts me in a strange state, I’m haunted by a feeling that something’s been left unresolved, but I don’t know what it is. I spend the day as an investigator, I seem to have this feeling; where did it come from, can I possibly fix this? I didn’t have to do much of that today, because I listened to this. This sort of music tangles with my unconscious mind in a way my conscious mind finds indescribable. I lost track of my thoughts; when I recollected myself, I felt complete. Dreamy, in every sense.
32. Robert Leiner- Melomania [Krautrock/We’ll Disco Until I See The World In Neon Gray] Favorite Track: Laniakea Part 1 The structure of the beats is mechanical in its ruthless pace and precision. But there’s a jazzy and unpredictable flourish to the instruments that sprout up. The recording is dry and natural, a constant feeling of witnessing a collective decision to go nuts within the lines; anything right up until the exact boundary. It’s sharpening the line between clever and genius. Clever feels like playing by the rules; and still winning. Genius feels like it could see beyond the rules. This album is squarely the former. The pieces, while unpredictable, immediately make sense. Rather than turning your understanding upside down, it enhances your understanding. It gives breath to a subconscious sense, and when recognized it colors the rest of your perspective.
31. Shye Ben Tzur / Jonny Greenwood / The Rajasthan Express- Junun [Qawwali/Folk/Electronic Edges/On The Edge Of A Fever Dream] Favorite Track: Allah Elohim I feel a little guilty that essentially the only reason I listened to this with was through a Johnny Greenwood/PT Andersen connection. But it’s just undeniably well executed.I first heard the album during the opening segment of a day long train ride. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep, so I put the album on and attempted to rest. I sat in this state just bordering on unconsciousness for the duration. This created a break from my everyday reality. It reset my internal navigation, and all I knew was I was on a journey to somewhere new.
30. Quicksails- Fleurs De La Lune [Free Ambient/Be Tender, Young Gadfly] Favorite Track: Find Flux Here’s a gentle adventurous spirit. One that pokes at your perspectives; Socratic music; watching your thoughts tumble through someone else’s mind. It’s hard to describe a lens in the abstract, at some point you really have to look through it. I look at the floor, my eyes unfocus, and only then do I notice that the windows on my right are filled with green, vivid, vegetation; and the left is entirely painted with silky greys. I glide across the middle, passing right over the divided line; it is nice to see thoughts and objects in the same scene. Usually that means standing pretty far back, but sometimes if you stand in just the right spot...
29. Jefre Cantu Ledesma- A Year With 13 Moons [Noisewave/Songs, Not Forgiveness] Favorite Track: Love After Love I stumbled across an email sent to my oldest account on the blue moon of July 2004. How many people in our group don't like me? Just tell me, I won’t care...it was good to meet some new friends, my only friend was ____ before (I was in homeschool) So that was one good thing about this year. Uncomfortably direct and earnest, but my response was callous. I began the search for 13 moons thinking I’d love my old self a bit better but now I only want penance.
28. Food- This Is Not A Miracle [Nu-Jazz/Maybe Not, But It Can Seem That Way] Favorite Track: Where Dry Desert Ends Orbits. It’s about the only way I can think to describe the album. There’s a habit in music like this for the rest of the music to stay relatively fixed while one instrument is sent off on improvisation. It makes sense, having the rest of the sound fixed means the soloist can more easily play off that backdrop without worrying it’ll change on them. But rather, Food is able to maintain an orbit around each other. Each part is freely able to move, and there’s a slight draw on each change that causes the other pieces towards it. This could all very easily devolve into a cacophony, but there’s almost a prescient awareness of the band members to stay within distance. Which is incredible given the constant variations. A common center of gravity; one they neither revolt or capitulate to, rather using their trajectories to dance in their motion; concurrently respecting and leveraging its vitality.
27. Four Tet- Morning/Evening [Microhouse/I’ll See You In July] Favorite Track: Morning There’s a drawn out and high pitched voice, and a slight tug on the strings. They will guide you. When it plays I release the tension in my muscles and ask the world to show me beauty. Even though I know full well that it must be more active; it must be that I am opening myself to receive it. But intuitively it still feels like the world acts in concert with the record, and conspires smiling passersby, bright blue reflections, hazelnut scents, and the soft pull of the train.
26. HEALTH- Death Magic [Synth-Punk/Industrial-Pop/We’ll Be Sweet Nothings] Favorite Track: Stonefist Notes from Death Magic: There’s a consistent loving guiding theme. Reassuring. Are they fathers now? Comforting others, or comforting themselves by comforting others. Charismatic, confident,and empathetic. Not preachy or angry. Music with this sort of edge is harder for me to open up to, especially if lyrics are ubermensch bs, but there’s real caring in the lyrics. “Am I stuck with myself, along with everyone else?” - I can’t fully empathize, I just want more lives, but I kind of like NOT identifying with lyrics, but understanding others through them. When did I start loving myself?
25. De De Mouse- Milkyway Drive [J-Synth/We Loved The Vocals, You Loved The Tempo] Favorite Track: Milkyway Drive I’m always pleasantly surprised that the rest of the album holds up after the tremendous opening track. The thing that stands out about this record is how easily it fits into my life. It’s like meeting someone that you instantly connect with, you could see being friends with them earlier in your life, and you can imagine the same for the future. It brings to mind that one of the things I’d most love to do in an afterlife is hang out with a bunch of versions of myself and talk about these records that seemed to have this common appeal across all our lives. Then again, I guess that’s what I’m trying to do right now.
24. Bruised Skies- Guide [Ambient/The Brick Is Gorgeous, Even Before Aggregation] Favorite Track: Come Out When it comes to mood albums, I usually have to wait for the correct frame of mind before I allow myself to step into the record’s space. Guide is able to coerce its necessary mental state; which is odd to say about a record which I would overwhelmingly describe as “tranquil”. It’s a trusted friend who can grab me by both shoulders, look me dead in the eye, and tell me to slow down. I’ve often wondered where ambient musicians come from; it’s not the most alluring or obviously expressive genre. I suppose it’s like someone who loves creating shades of paint; they have one specific and cohesive goal, condensing a tumultuous mind into a single hue.
23. Dan Friel- Life [Noise Pop/What Candy Ads Promise Your Mouth, But In Your Ears] Favorite Track: Cirrus The first wonderful quality that shines through on this project is that it is so clearly the output of a single person. Before I ever saw a video of Dan Friel performing live, I knew exactly what it’d look like. A single person thrashing their head above a keyboard, grinning during the breaks at the electrified crowd. It’s a bit odd to categorize something as “pop” when it contains squeals and layers of feedback. Scratch that, this album is entirely squeals and feedback, and yet it is still bouncy and fun. When the squeals harmonize...man. I don’t even feel the need to cajole you into liking this, if you give it listen I have a feeling you’ll instantly know if Life is for you.
22. Ian William Craig- Cradle for The Wanting [Ambient/Somehow, Turning To Dust Doesn’t Sound So Bad] Favorite Track: Habit Worn And Wandering I’ve wondered about my dying moments for much of my life. Would I violently trash? Would I cry? Would I just be so gone by that point that I had already died? I have a lot of affection for myself, so I don’t much like the idea of dying. I’ve always thought about the concept as somewhat distinct from myself; that I’d be observing as much as participating. But this album marries those two thoughts, I do feel that separation sometimes, and I do love myself. When I think of it, I want to step outside of where I am, find myself at that moment, and try to cradle my dying thoughts and softly reassure that what I was will always be.
21. Milo [Abstract/Dream Rap/Hellfyre/Restraint To Himself Is More Than Anyone Else] Favorite Track: Song About A Raygunn (An Ode to Driver) Inevitably when dealing with Milo, there’ll be someone that calls him pretentious. This type of usage infuriates me. You can certainly call this music dense, abstract, and possibly even elitist; but it’s not pretending to be anything other than what it is. I understand, it sucks to feel like you just don’t “get it”. It might feel better to just say it’s pretentious, and that all the people that put in work to understand it were wasting their time. But make that claim! You can say it wasn’t worth it! That while you were working on trying to understand this one album, you could have listened to so many more. That makes sense; I’m not going to learn latin to read Ovid, even though I’m sure it’d be very interesting in it’s original form. But what kills me is that’s not what happens, instead people undercut the effort of trying to figure something out; otherwise they’d feel like they’re left out; that through their insecurity they try to sabotage someone else’s enjoyment.--- Milo has been consistent in telling his audience that if he wanted to, he could rap like others (rather than in his persistently dispassionate but agile style). On the final track, we get a taste of just that when he allows his style to morph in and out of Busdriver’s cadence and sound (to the point where I actually lost my breath during the final “So we do the math and we always carry clipboards”; flawless impersonation). Add in “I’m trying to strip myself, myself and be a mirror for someone else” and you have one of the few perfect syntheses of sound and message that exist.
20. Lubomyr Melnyk- Rivers & Streams [Neo-Classical/Dissolve Into A Camera, Biased] Favorite Track: The Amazon: The Highlands A bit of a change for someone who’s music has been so consistent during my exposure to him. There’s more of a collaborative focus, tying the swells of piano to light and agile plucks at the guitar or a harsh tugging horn. Out of all the Melnyk releases I’ve listened to, this one has the most appropriate title. The speed of the notes changes the experience from discerning a melody into divining a direction, a course. Each note a drop; get enough water and emergent properties arise. Timelessness; the constantly shifting physical body but an everlasting motion.
19. U.S. Girls- Half Free [Indie/Pop/Psych/Short, Deep, And Wide] Favorite Track: Window Shades An autobiography provided through the stories of others. Remy is able to see out the eyes of other people, and experience their pain, channel it into understanding her own. There’s an authenticity here, a focus on providing perspective over telling a story. Empowering, like the ability to turn “that tune” into an open letter to someone that hurt you.
18. Colleen- Captain Of None [Minimal Psychedelia/Someday I’ll Be A Symbol Of Decay To The Youth, And I’ll Use That Leverage To Force Strange Conversations] Favorite Track: This Hammer Breaks My thoughts are trimmed into brief visions. The shapes made by incense in a hot room. A band loses their electric instruments and performs acapella. There’s a video of Colleen performing, singing and playing against her echoes; exactly what this record is. Looping your creation until it’s disconnected from you, and turns into a collaborator. I know this feeling well.
17. Container- LP [Industrial/Techno/We Turn On The Sculptor, We Work In Its Muscle] Favorite Track: Cushion While it might seem pedantic to point out, it’s interesting how we separate the “natural” from the “artificial”; are people part of nature? Corn syrup, artificial. Honey, natural. Colloquially we use natural to mean something that human interference isn’t necessary to create. But that’s a bit interesting, no? It’s rebellion against our collective parents, and I respect it. It can feel like nothing we do can be cleanly attributed to ourselves and not to the motion of ancestry; unless we do something wildly different. If my father owns a shoe store, and I become a stockbroker, the lineage story becomes one of evolution: I’m just my salesman father, applied to modern times. But what if I were a mercenary thug or a wild eyed busker? The connection is harder to draw, and you might be forced to consider me on my own terms. We sometimes worry about our growing separation from natural fundamentals; how artificial our lives have become. There’s a lot of problems there, and much that needs fixing. But once in awhile I just like to marvel at nature’s rambunctious children succeeding in overthrowing a once inevitable power structure. Humans are a furious and erratic force; one that is sometimes rightly divorced from nature.
16. Boan- Mentiras [Dominant Synth/Gothic Figure In Spinning, Colored Lights] Favorite Track: Boan Acid There’s this interview with Oneohtrix Point Never, and the thing that still sticks out to me is when he talks about his fear of drums. He tries to stay away from drums, because when he uses them the song starts to coast on rails. He’s not wrong. Drums can serve as the outlines, and all there is left is to pour the colors. This album has a victorious response at the height of Boan Acid--- Beats! I am your master!
15. Death Grips- The Powers That B Part 2: Jenny Death [Yes, I Count It Separately] Favorite Track: Inanimate Sensation I remember looking up at the trees, it’s really been a year. I realize the way I grasp time is really related to visuals, to structure. If I didn’t have a clock, I wouldn’t be able to separate out what the last hour was. But the shifting of the day, measuring between looking up at my ceiling and losing consciousness, I can measure that. A year seems like it’d be trickier, and there’s some wiggle room, but I realized it’d been a year when I saw the light in the spring trees. I remember because a particular bench I would lay on would catch the shade of a tree in just this one way at just the right time in the morning. I remember seeing the wind softly tussle with the leaves and thinking; I can’t believe this feels fitting. Death Grips have a way of hitting my brain until it’s willing to accept any change in sensation as reasonable. Even when it lurches the way Jenny Death does, between pounding riffs and noisy techno. There’s even a little experiment that naturally happens that exposes the change. Nearly every time I start a DG album, I wonder what the hell I was thinking during the first track. But by the time the album ends and circles back to the first track again I’ve grown fond of the dissonance.
14. Holly Herndon- Platform [Electronica/The New Industrial/I Saw You In A Fragment] Favorite Track: Morning Sun The routine is being overwhelmed with information, moment to moment our lives are in constant flux, the amount of data has become impossible to discern. My opinion changes constantly, right? This is scattered, disparate, and distracted. The sounds are pieces, pure stimuli, and incomplete information. I couldn’t tell you what 90% of the sounds are; I can’t tell you all the articles I read today. This might make the album sound scary and depressing; but a hopeful strand of thinking emerged. Sometimes it’s a mosaic of wonderful pieces that form a cohesive body. There are so many little things that pass through them in a day, and I’ll forget 90% of them; but even though they’re gone, their collective imprint remains on my outlook/affect/life. It’s data aggregation. Figuring out what the mosaic means, and if it was worth breaking the tiles for.
13. Joanna Newsom- Divers [Chamber Folk/What’s Redacted Will Repeat] Favorite Track: Leaving The City I’m wrong a lot. In 2007, I heard Peach, Plum, Pear for the first time, and I absolutely hated it. I never thought I would ever grow to love that voice; but I did. In 2010, I loved the music of Have One On Me, but I largely ignored the themes of the lyrics; I thought that certainly they would be too sophisticated for me, just listen to this music, I shouldn’t even be allowed to listen to this. In 2015, I thought Have One On Me would be the enemy of this album, that its shadow would be cast over it, and initially had difficulty not being disappointed. Now, after the concert, it basks in its reflected glow; a welcome continuation of the story. While I’ve been committing myself towards this list, hearing this album made me need to listen to Have One On Me again; normally I’d worry because I wouldn’t want the albums to mix in my mind as I’m trying to separate the new from the old, but the stroke is too complete and smooth to discern. Not to mention, 2015 brought new life into my own 2010 experience of that album.--- Divers shatters some of my feelings of unworthiness because the situations are sympathetic when you pay attention. Even if you understand the lyrics it might take a while to live through a point of comparison that you can draw on to understand what Joanna is feeling, and how it can help you. Somehow when I dearly need some guidance, I often find an old favorite song’s words describe the same situation. A hymnal that’s left your mouth a hundred times, but you didn’t need the words when you sang them. Each time it unwittingly added to a growing chorus of your past selves; someday you’ll come to the scene of which you sang; you’ll finally understand, and you’ll sing in harmony. There’s comfort in knowing my life is full of advice I don’t need yet.
12. Vince Staples- Summertime ‘06 [West Coast Rap/Familiar Shapes, Cut From Marble] Favorite Track: Loca Bread and butter rap releases like this are usually mixed affairs, but surprisingly there’s not filler on this. Every one of these tracks is consistently interesting. While the lyrics are a little more grounded than I’d like, they’re delivered about as well as you could hope. But honestly, it’s the variety on display. It’s strange because they all feel familiar, but each track is disparate. I’m torn on it’s placement on this list, I don’t have much of an emotional connection to it; but the execution is amazing. When I listen to it, I go into a short worship of form over substance; something I didn’t expect from traditional West Coast Rap.
11. Destroyer- Poison Season [Chamber Pop/Love The Student More Than The Person] Favorite Track: Forces From Above A clear love of writing paired with a wry voice and crisp enunciation. He seems to care about you in the way that a stern professor does. It’s not unconditional support, you have to open yourself up. You can tell he wants you to get it, but he’s not meeting you halfway, you need to get here. He seems to tell me that it’s about more than feeling something and then writing it down. Sometimes your first draft isn’t good enough. If you start to believe that you write pure expression, you won’t revise it (it might feel like censorship). But you can lie to yourself in the moment, and actual self reflection is taking the time to pause and consider. I sometimes get carried away with a thought, even if it starts with pure expression, sometimes the act of trying to communicate it pollutes the transfer of information. I can sit and get wonderful seeds of thoughts, but they never stick unless I take the time to consider them, and why they are there. I still can’t tell if Bejar is a master improviser or a calculated lyricist, or both, or neither; I don’t want to know.
10. El Ten Eleven- Fast Forward [Instrumental/Post-Rock/The Last Comfort] Favorite Track: Three Sides of a Coin For the first time in a long time, last night I cried about something that wasn’t art. I cried because I actually had to confront insecurity, and not come away fully victorious. Experiencing the mental overload that leads to crying in those circumstances is memorable; but I always forget about the next morning. The release, the catharsis, why doesn’t it ever stick? It causes me to fear change; I overrate the pain; and I underrate the relief.--- A couple of years ago, I went to a El Ten Eleven concert. That night I let go of something. I had to, and for a long time I struggled because it would have been easier to hold on. I didn’t feel the relief until I listened to Transitions. Today I listened to Fast Forward, and I felt relief because I held on when it would have been easier to let go.
9. Julia Holter- Have You In My Wilderness [Baroque Pop/I Promise, I Haven’t Forgotten] Favorite Track: Everytime Boots A thick marsh with silver oil portals, Lyra and Will, I haven’t forgotten. I can’t see more than a tiny fragment, even though I can see to the horizon. There’s a precisely crafted scene, pristine but utterly inert, but Holter is the voice of god that animates the ashes.--- There are these moments I drift a bit out of myself, I stop recognizing my own thoughts. I feel as though I can hear the faint voices of friends unmet calling out my name. My children are the people I’m most desperate to meet; I’ve waiting so long to meet you. In my heart I want to reclaim the meaning of teaching and motherhood. I want to tell that they mean so much to me; already I’m living vicariously.
8. Jenny Hval- Apocalypse Girl [Art Pop/Avant Old Guard/Spoke Someone With Choice] Favorite Track: That Battle Is Over I was worried at first. The tracks I heard in advance of the LP sounded a bit too much like poetry superimposed on music, but when I heard the full work I discovered that Hval has much to say lyrically and melodically. Hval slips between talking and singing, and when she does sing she has incredible vocal manipulation, unfocused on a tune but textual emphasis. Not a performance; a friend in need of a confidant’s clarity. The record has an ability to hit on such specific axes; the varying points on the spectrum between a naive child trying to find an outlet for the connection she feels towards a boy after a dream of mismatched bodies and a tired veteran of desperate struggle being told that they’ve won as a way to stop them from progress. There’s a particular line, about holding and being held; it snuck deeply inside; a thought so familiar that I couldn’t discern it from my own, I unintentionally used the line in the tracks list; with no recollection I had ever heard it.
7. Mohammad- Segonde Saleco [Drone/Chamber Doom/Strings/Prayers To An Omnipotent But Utterly Unresponsive God] Favorite Track: Ah Ya Em Hamada Admittedly, Mohammad sticks to a fairly narrow band of sound. While that is exactly what I hope they continue to do, it does make it difficult to discern between albums on the basis of the actual noises (that said, one of the most powerful moments of the record is a hair raising clap that so separates itself from the rest of the record). Instead, when I listen to a Mohammad record, the sounds are colored by the thought processes I had before. Listening to Mohammad opens my mind up to different forms of thought. Most of the albums I grow the most attached to are very intimate; this is the opposite. Mohammad has the sound of tectonic movements, and my thoughts scale to match. The stars never really put me in my place, I could hold up a finger to snuff out a galaxy from view. But instead this is what makes me feel small; like the last noise life gasped before Heat Death.
6. Young Fathers- White Men Are Black Men Too [Lo-Fi/Experimental Hip-Hop/ Shaking Me By The Shoulders, If I Ever Trusted You It Has To Be Now] Favorite Track: Shame Strangely, one of the most unconventional records of the year, one that challenged me more than most others, even though it has an immediate and bold sound. I spent the first few listens desperately wishing they hadn’t taken the lo-fi route. It took thinking of the alternative, how would this album sound if it wasn’t compressed? Then it clicked, it wouldn’t come together. Even now, I can’t fully comprehend the collection of sounds. I sense the thread that connects them that I cannot grasp. I’m not sure they even know, but they know its boundaries.--- When children are learning how to speak; attempting to describe novel experiences while using an unfamiliar set of tools. Innocence as seeing the world as pure experience; no associations. When you have as few layers as they do, everything fits together.
5. Grimes- Art Angels [Pop/Scream The Comfort You Feel As Others Take The Wheel] Favorite Track: Flesh Without Blood I can’t remember how many layers of clothes I needed to wear on the November night this finally released, but I do remember the overpass. I planned on walking further, just to do something as I listened to this extremely anticipated release. But I didn’t make it far, the lights of the freeway were too gorgeous. I was spinning. The headlights lit up the concrete piece by piece. If a car came by the road I’d contain myself into small bobs, to be released with greater force in a few moments. It would take a while to feel guilty. This album is strange to listen to as a fan, because if you liked Visions, you’re going to find out how painful the creation was, and how powerless Grimes felt after the underground became infatuated with it. The album isn’t angry with you, but it’s quite clear; this relationship isn’t going to be this way anymore. Either you can be a positive influence, or you can leave. It’s also strange because I never really participated in outward discussions surrounding Grimes, but I’ve had a long internal dialogue as Visions started moving further up my favorites. I roughly discovered the backstory of Visions in proportion to its growing power over me, and deep down I felt myself think; her pain was worth it to make this. I never really was cognizant of it until Art Angels sat me down and looked me in the eye; but I was glad she went through it. And that’s something that’s a bit hard to perfectly deal with. Because I’m still glad Visions exists, but I should have to reconcile that feeling with the knowledge that it was hell for her. I can still have my feelings towards the album, but as far as I’m concerned she never had to release another album again; but I’m glad she did. I’m a bit better now for it, and that’s hard for music to do.
4. Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp A Butterfly [West Coast Hip-Hop/Kin At Every Turn] Favorite Track: U The first few times I listened to this album, there was this bit of dissonance. I had a lot of issues with the album: the ending of How Much A Dollar Cost undercut the tone, Rhapsody’s guest verse on Complexion was distractingly similar to JayZ in both voice and flow, the “boo-boos” in Hood Politics gets grating...but I still felt it was “great”. Was I just saying that because everyone loved it? Am I just concentrating on a few songs? It’s not until I’m writing this that I can see two ways in which this album is special to me. First, it’s been awhile since I’ve really loved an album along with the musical community at large. The hidden meanings and theories were shared with breathless excitement, and the buzz cut across to everyone. It was heartwarming. Despite what you may think, I love being part of a large scale appreciation of music. I’d rather think that I’m not alone in the way I listen to music; and for this once, it’s true. Second, faster than any album I can think of, TPAB skipped to masterpiece consideration (even in my mind!). The issues I had were the kinds of things you try to find when you are organizing your all time greats. I seemed to have skipped the slow acceptance of the record, right into which throne it’d sit in. I’m still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.--- It’s like witnessing the birth of an extended universe, a franchise you can lose yourself in.
3. Girlpool- Before The World Was Big [Minimal Indie/I’d Like To Talk To Me From Then] Favorite Track: Cherry Picking I don’t need to remind myself that the journey happened, but the details have already begun to fade. For once it was for someone else. Well, actually, it was for me, to rob myself of the destructive option. It sounds like I don’t trust myself, but it’s more of the idea of helping myself, limiting the addictive and easy options.I think about you more than you’d guess. Yes, you, the actual you, the one thinking it’s not about them. I have a song in my heart for you.--- It’s almost uncomfortable to listen to, it’s like getting a taste of visiting my past, and making me long for more. In 10 years, what would I ask myself? What would I miss about now? I feel a bit guilty, when there’s such personality on display from these two bandmembers, I still think of myself. I can only hope that if I truly only love myself, I can see others as versions of me.
2. Fred Thomas-All Are Saved [Spoken/Keycodes To Password Protected Memories] Favorite Track: Bad Blood I wonder what losing my virginity would have been like in those woods, at that time. I wonder if the people I thought of as popular thought of themselves that way. There was a senior project by one of the more popular girls in school. She made a video of kids at school. Obviously bias played a huge role, and the lion’s share was footage of her and her friends at pep rallies. But there was this one 20-30 second shot of my group of friends sitting at lunch. It was shot like a nature video, but somehow it didn’t seem creepy, it seemed like actually getting to live out that fantasy of being a fly on the wall, looking at yourself from a disconnected point of view. We all looked so sweet and happy. I remember now the couples at the time holding hands and talking just into the other’s ear. For some reason it’s not sad that none of those pairs still exist, it feels like it exists out of chronological order. I dearly hope that video still exists, and those couples are still there, finding security before they found themselves.--- Thomas is reassuring in a weird way, he encourages social interactions, though acknowledging their occasional perilousness. He has a gift with pairing words, he gets at pretty intricate feelings with just a phrase. Thomas shows a very real disdain he has for shallow lyrics; much in the same way that I hate shallow wedding vows. I know you don’t want to make people uncomfortable, but they want you to talk about yourself, and you wasted the chance. It’s the little things; Every Song Sung To A Dog fulfilling its promise by the closing track.
1. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie & Lowell [Indie-Folk/Minimal/Sufjan, Me, Kinbote] Favorite Track: Fourth Of July There’s a lot of reasons to love Pale Fire, most of which require stronger reading abilities than mine. But the reason I think of it as a favorite is because I feel a strong connection to the obnoxiously self absorbed narrator. He only took the slightest excuse to launch into a personal tale, a part truth that spun into fantasy. I feel a distinct sorrow for the narrator, because he loses someone close, and because of his intense narcissism, casts the blame on himself.
I’ve been thinking about Pale Fire a lot as I write about this album. Every lyric seems to send me spinning on personal memories that have little connection to the subject matter. I have to specifically focus to keep the story on Sufjan, the actual author. Soon I’ll lose focus and as always, I think and write only of me.
But there’s something there, something possibly good about my narcissism. There’s a variety of self-absorbed people. There’s the type of selfish and arrogant, uninterested in the fate of others (simply irrelevant). But that’s not quite Kinbote, it’s not quite Sufjan, it’s not quite me.
50. Apprentice Destroyer- Glass Ceiling Universe [Krautrock/But Why Limit Yourself?] 49. Chilly Gonzales- Chambers [Classical/Lead By Long Muscular Fingers] 48. C V L T S- A U D I A L / S [Ambient/Soft Electronica/S H I R E M U S I C] 47. DJ Paypal- Sold Out [Footwork/I Can See You Doing Anything] 46. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment- Surf [Neo-Soul/Ensemble/Do You…
45. Event Cloak- Life Strategies [Electronica/Pass It Off And Try Not To Think About It] 44. Nerftoss- Mood Index [Terranimba/Zergop] 43. Drawing Trees & Ant'lrd- Balanced Breakfast [Ambient/Selection Via Cross-section] 42. Dylan Stark- Heartland [House/Collage/Of Course, I’ll Still Be Sad That I’m Leaving] 41 Sleater Kinney- No Cities To Love [Rock/Nostalgia Is Prettier In It’s Own Context]
40. Kamasi Washington- The Epic [Jazz/Coalition/You Smiled Because They Belong] 39. Ash Koosha- Guud [Experimental/Glitch/How Instead Of Why, For Once] 38. Stefano Pilia- Blind Sun New Century Christology [Folk/Blues/Tell Him How You... 37. Tame Impala- Currents [Psych/Rock/Pop/Take Your Thin Thoughts To The Loom] 36. Sasha Conda- BRONCO [Psych-House/Sultanas Of Swing]
35. Grischa Lichtenberger- La Demeure; Il Y A Péril En La Demeure [Glitch/How Uncanny] 34. Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld- Never Were the Way She Was [Collaborative... 33. Minami Deutsch- Minami Deutsch [J-Krautrock/The Butterfly That Catches The Child] 32. White Poppy- Natural Phenomena [Ambient/Dream Pop/Liquid Through A Lock] 31. Robert Leiner- Melomania [Krautrock/We’ll Disco Until I See The World In Neon Gray]
30. Shye Ben Tzur / Jonny Greenwood / The Rajasthan Express- Junun [Qawwali… 29. Quicksails- Fleurs De La Lune [Free Ambient/Be Tender, Young Gadfly] 28. HEALTH- Death Magic [Synth-Punk/Industrial-Pop/We’ll Be Sweet Nothings] 27. Food- This Is Not A Miracle [Nu-Jazz/Maybe Not, But It Can Seem That Way] 26. Four Tet- Morning/Evening [Microhouse/I’ll See You In July]
25. De De Mouse- Milkyway Drive [J-Synth/We Loved The Vocals, You Loved The Tempo] 24. Bruised Skies- Guide [Ambient/The Brick Is Gorgeous, Even Before Aggregation] 23. Dan Friel- Life [Noise Pop/What Candy Ads Promise Your Mouth, But In Your Ears] 22. Ian William Craig- Cradle for The Wanting [Ambient/Somehow, Turning To Dust... 21. Milo [Abstract/Dream Rap/Hellfyre/Restraint To Himself Is More Than Anyone Else]
20. Lubomyr Melnyk- Rivers & Streams [Neo-Classical/Dissolve Into A Camera, Biased] 19. U.S. Girls- Half Free [Indie/Pop/Psych/Short, Deep, And Wide] 18. Colleen- Captain Of None [Minimal Psychedelia/Someday I’ll Be A Symbol Of Decay... 17. Container- LP [Industrial/Techno/We Turn On The Sculptor, We Work In Its Muscle] 16. Boan- Mentiras [Dominant Synth/Gothic Figure In Spinning, Colored Lights]
15. Death Grips- The Powers That B Part 2: Jenny Death [Yes, I Count It Separately] 14. Holly Herndon- Platform [Electronica/The New Industrial/I Saw You In A Fragment] 13. Joanna Newsom- Divers [Chamber Folk/What’s Redacted Will Repeat] 12. Vince Staples- Summertime ‘06 [West Coast Rap/Familiar Shapes, Cut From Marble] 11. Destroyer- Poison Season [Chamber Pop/Love The Student More Than The Person]
10. El Ten Eleven- Fast Forward [Instrumental/Post-Rock/The Last Comfort] 9. Julia Holter- Have You In My Wilderness [Baroque Pop/I Promise, I Haven’t Forgotten] 8. Jenny Hval- Apocalypse Girl [Art Pop/Avant Old Guard/Spoke Someone With Choice] 7. Mohammad- Segonde Saleco [Drone/Chamber Doom/Strings/Prayers To An... 6. Young Fathers- White Men Are Black Men Too [Lo-Fi/Experimental Hip-Hop/Shaking...
5. Grimes- Art Angels [Pop/Scream The Comfort You Feel As Others Take The Wheel] 4. Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp A Butterfly [West Coast Hip-Hop/Kin At Every Turn] 3. Girlpool- Before The World Was Big [Minimal Indie/I’d Like To Talk To Me From Then] 2. Fred Thomas-All Are Saved [Spoken/Keycodes To Password Protected Memories] 1. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie & Lowell [Indie-Folk/Minimal/Sufjan, Me, Kinbote]
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