Well I finally finished relistening to everything I listened to in 2015. Around 300 albums, probably. Around the same amount as last year, but this year I felt was slightly stronger in terms of overall output, though I had some trouble deciding on the best album of the year until the last minute. In the end I think I picked a deserving #1, but really, the top 10 albums were all pretty close for me in terms of enjoyment.
Lubomyr Melnyk - “Rivers and Streams”
port- royal - “Where Are You Now”
Julia Kent - “Asperities”
Stefano Guzzetti - “Ensemble”
Gunship - “Gunship”
Elder - “Lore”
Julien Baker - “Sprained Ankle”
Slow Meadow - “Slow Meadow”
Haruka Nakamura - “Ongaku no Aru Fuukei”
Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld - “Never Were the Way She Was”
I have only listened to a few of this. The Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld album is amazing! Don't know anyone from the top 5, not even the names. This will be good. Thanks
Do you only listen to new albums? I still discover treasures of the past constantly, started a few years ago to make top 10 album lists for every year since 1959 to keep track of the goodies.
Tame Impala's Lonerism, Grouper's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and Memory Tapes' Seek Magic really clicked with me this year
On February 15 2016 22:03 holzofenbrot wrote: oh wow 150 albums :O
I have only listened to a few of this. The Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld album is amazing! Don't know anyone from the top 5, not even the names. This will be good. Thanks
Do you only listen to new albums? I still discover treasures of the past constantly, started a few years ago to make top 10 album lists for every year since 1959 to keep track of the goodies.
Tame Impala's Lonerism, Grouper's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and Memory Tapes' Seek Magic really clicked with me this year
If you liked Stetson and Neufeld, then you'd like 1, 3, 4, 9, 12, 15, 16, 25, 34, 36, 57, 72, 74, 78, 101, 133. Especially #1, Lubomyr Melnyk is a genius of piano. I would describe it as classical piano music played like shoegaze.
I mostly listen to new stuff, but if I stumble upon some good old album I listen to that too but don't list it. I only started making lists recently, though. I could only do that for years when I've listened to 200+ albums otherwise I wouldn't feel knowledgeable enough about that year in order to make one.
On February 16 2016 01:09 Luolis wrote: Well now im sad that Muse - Drones isnt in there Atleast iron maiden got in tho ^^
I feel like Drones is a weak album compared to their other stuff. And I am saying this as a huge fan. reapers and a few songs were good but not as good as stuff they have made before resistance
On February 16 2016 01:09 Luolis wrote: Well now im sad that Muse - Drones isnt in there Atleast iron maiden got in tho ^^
I feel like Drones is a weak album compared to their other stuff. And I am saying this as a huge fan. reapers and a few songs were good but not as good as stuff they have made before resistance
Yeah for sure Drones isnt their best or anything, but i think itd still deserve to be on this list Its imo good enough atleast (though wtf was Revolt :D)
On February 16 2016 01:09 Luolis wrote: Well now im sad that Muse - Drones isnt in there Atleast iron maiden got in tho ^^
I feel like Drones is a weak album compared to their other stuff. And I am saying this as a huge fan. reapers and a few songs were good but not as good as stuff they have made before resistance
I really like the album since I decided to listen with a open mind and not as muse album. Mercy gives me shivers. And I really like handler and revolt. You have to listen to it loudly though
@ lichter. My band released an album this year and I'm not trying to plug my band here but after reading through your list I'm really interested to know what you would think of it. If you'd like I could pm you my bands name.
On February 16 2016 09:26 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: #1 just sounds extremely derivative of glass/reich/part and the minimalism of the 60s - 80s?
on the surface it appears similar but it isn't. what takes glass/reich several musicians to perform, melnyk does alone. his technique of "continuous music" has a really rich and complex sound because he always has his foot on the sustain pedal, and that creates very interesting overtones. if you really listen you can hear an entirely different world echoing in the background. he creates such pleasant and melodic music with what is essentially a wall of sound and an approach similar to shoegaze.
On February 16 2016 04:03 vult wrote: no To Pimp A Butterfly? aww.
good list tho
Wouldn't even put TPAB top five rap projects of the year, personally.
? which would you put over it.
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth Vince Staples - Summertime '06 Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$ (Mick Jenkins - Waves, too, although these two are more personal taste) Open Mike Eagle - A Special Episode Of EP Milo - So The Flies Don't Come
On February 17 2016 00:19 kollin wrote: How do you discover new music? There's a ridiculously diverse range of stuff on here and so far all that I've listened I've enjoyed very much
I'm fairly sure lichter gets a list from somewhere like spotify and just kind of listens to everything. My personal method is just by following reviewers and listen to what they review- exposes you to a lot of music, and you get to skim stuff without having to go too in-depth. Theneedledrop and SpectrumPulse are my two favorites.
On February 16 2016 04:03 vult wrote: no To Pimp A Butterfly? aww.
good list tho
Wouldn't even put TPAB top five rap projects of the year, personally.
? which would you put over it.
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth Vince Staples - Summertime '06 Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$ (Mick Jenkins - Waves, too, although these two are more personal taste) Open Mike Eagle - A Special Episode Of EP Milo - So The Flies Don't Come
tetsuo and youth is not even a top lupe album summertime is pretty good but is probably #3 or #4 (i also liked ds2 though from your tastes i can see why you wouldn't mention it and jenny death which was awesome)
I will admit that joey badass is sick OME is artsy and people over value his 'artsyness' So the flies dont come was not bad but is not even in the same league as TPAB
conclusion: in my opinion u and lichter criminally underrate what is universally recognized as a contender for greatest rap album of the decade
I'm surprised Tame Impala so high. Maybe it's because I'm a Lonerism fan boy but that album was a little bit disappointing to me. Some good songs on it though.
Tetsuo & Youth was a lyrical feast. You should really give it a listen and try to understand the double and triple entendres that Lupe uses. TPAB was decent. Listened to it maybe 2 times all the way through. T&Y is a constant replay for me.
Also, no Death Cab for Cutie - Kintsugi? Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color? TV on the Radio - Seeds? Logic - Incredible True Story?
In general TPAB is so centered around one message and one theme that it tends to fail (at least in my eyes) whenever it departs from it, and I don't really connect to that message on a personal level. If you do it'll resonate a lot with you and it'll be one of your favorite albums because it's good at focusing on that message, but if you don't there's just not much to take from it. It does have a few other flaws, such as 'u' being too blunt for me to really appreciate, or 'King Kunta' having a so-so groove thanks to a pretty poor flow, or the rapping on 'Institutionalized', or the repetition of a lot of the album, but a lot of those are disputable.
Personally, I connected to A Special Episode of EP and The Waves a lot more, while T&Y and So The Flies Don't Come use the jazzy elements a lot better and have significantly more interesting and varied rapping.
I always feel amused when I read such lists and realize that I not only have not heard any of those albums, but I have heard no albums by any of those bands ever except maybe one or two.
what is so funny about the tame impala album is that most of the popular songs dont really do much for me, but "brand new person, same old mistakes" just sounds wonderful on a good stereo with decent subwoovers
So I love music but have absolutely no knowledge of hiphop. I recently picked up TPAB out of curiosity and love it - what should I be listening to? For example, Soularion, what are a couple tracks you'd suggest that have a better flow than King Kunta? I love that track and I'd love to hear something that a knowledgable fan thinks blows it out of the water.
I'm not a music connoisseur myself (but was a fairly good musician in my time :D), I've only listened to #1 and wasn't moved, nor especially impressed. I feel so disconnected with today's music
I'll try to listen to more of the top 10. Thanks for compiling your list, we need more of those!
On February 18 2016 07:33 AmericanUmlaut wrote: So I love music but have absolutely no knowledge of hiphop. I recently picked up TPAB out of curiosity and love it - what should I be listening to? For example, Soularion, what are a couple tracks you'd suggest that have a better flow than King Kunta? I love that track and I'd love to hear something that a knowledgable fan thinks blows it out of the water.
I personally don't listen to much with a similar groove to King Kunta, so you might have to venture into De La Soul or A Tribe Called Quest or The Roots to find some similarly-jazzy stuff. A lot of the stuff I like has more of a verbal flow, so I can list some of those, but it's more of a personal preference. 'King Kunta' works well if you like more instrumental-driven grooves.
Atmosphere - Smart Went Crazy Lupe Fiasco - Of, Mazinger Aesop Rock - ZZZ Top (this also shows a much better synergy between instrumental and vocals) (Kendrick Lamar's Ritamortis, and honestly a lot of his older stuff, did this a lot better)
Now, these aren't /necessarily/ amazing, and they aren't some classic that anyone will know, but they're songs that I really like for how the vocals show. If you like TPAB, it's all good 'cause everyone has different tastes, so I'm not trying to start any shit there. I'm just explaining why it doesn't work for me. <3
Thanks for the tips! I'll listen to them today at work.
Don't worry about shit starting. It's just what I wrote - I love music but I'm pretty ignorant and am always interested to hear suggestions by people who spend more time than I do listening to new stuff. And I certainly don't take offense at anyone who doesn't share my taste, I find it enrichens my experience of music to hear what others think of what I like, even if it's just understanding what they don't like about it.
Hey you didn't tell me this was posted. I'm gonna go through it and see how much we have in common.
Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle
Viet Cong - Viet Cong
Heather Woods Broderick - Glider
Hop Along - Painted Shut
Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool
Tame Impala - Currents
Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Haiku Salut - Etch and Etch Deep (should be five spots up imo)
Eskimeaux - O.K.
Beach House - Depression Cherry
Gengahr - A Dream Outside (the best tracks are already available on the demo from 2014)
Built to Spill - Untethered Moon
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
Chastity Belt - Time To Go Home
Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
Ibeyi - Ibeyi
Lower Dens - Escape From Evil
Dengue Fever - The Deepest Lake
Braids - Deep in the Iris
Kamasi Washington - The Epic
Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs (I'd probably bump this one higher up on the list if I made a top list)
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (Too cool to care. I actually liked this one a bit less as time went by but I still love it.)
Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion (Surprised me)
Tobias Jesso Jr - Goon
EEK - Kahraba (Thanks for showing me EEK)
Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up
Everything Everything - Get to Heaven
Eyeliner - Buy Now
Pong - Man It Feels Like Space Again (DID YOU MAYBE MEAN POND)
Colleen - Captain of None
Ladylamb and the Beekeeper - After
East India Youth - Culture of Volume
Health - Death Magic (not even top 100 wtf dude)
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (see above)
Jenny Hval - Apocalypse, Girl
Marika Hackman - We Slept At Last
Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness (Julia's best release to date imo)
San Fermin - Jackrabbit
Jamie xx - In Colour (easy top 100, probably top 50)
Inventions - Maze of Woods
2 8 1 4 - 新しい日の誕生 (easy top 20 what are you thinking)
Circuit Des Yeux - In Plain Speech
Empress Of - Me
Say Lou Lou - Lucid Dreaming (Top 100 imo)
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color (bump it up)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete (Did you smoke beer out of your ass again cus this is honestly a Top 5 release and I want to know why it's down here)
Neon Indian - VEGA INTL. Night School
Deerhunter - Fading Frontier (I guess 150 is a good spot for this.)
Arca - Mutant (I think this should've had a spot on the list)
Didn't necessarily agree with
Tenement - Predatory Highlights (Pretty tame, leaning more towards indie rock than pop punk, with the hardcore sound completely gone?)
Chvrches - Every Open Eye (Tame, bland, lost most of the fire that made Bones a great album. Was hoping it'd grow on me but it never did. Big disappointment)
Pure Bathing Culture - Pray For Rain (Not bad, but... really safe? It's not really memorable, though with the chillwave genre having slowed down and the sound changing, it's still decent enough release.)
The Go! Team - The Scene Between (I admire Go! Team for how they go about making their pop, but I thought this one was a bit of a let down. Good record but not something I've gone back to)
Son Lux - Bones (I don't understand this pick at all)
Shamir - Ratchet (I mean I guess I think this one deserves a spot on a list, there's a couple really solid tracks on it, but Darker and Hot Mess are just no.)
I mean 49/150 isnt bad. Some of the releases I'd completely forgotten about so I can finally get around to checking them out now. Most of it is just music that I don't particularly enjoy listening to though.
This isn't my ranking btw I just numbered them so I didn't have to count how many there were.
On February 19 2016 03:25 Darkhorse wrote: how the fuck do people have enough time to discover/listen to 150 albums in a year?
I dont see anything unusual about it. Thats roughly 1 album per 2 days. So about 30-40mins of music per day. Also its possible he works in front of a computer so he can listen to music while working. Not everybody is so busy doing important stuff that theyre unable to spend 1hr/day listening to music.
On February 19 2016 03:25 Darkhorse wrote: how the fuck do people have enough time to discover/listen to 150 albums in a year?
I dont see anything unusual about it. Thats roughly 1 album per 2 days. So about 30-40mins of music per day. Also its possible he works in front of a computer so he can listen to music while working. Not everybody is so busy doing important stuff that theyre unable to spend 1hr/day listening to music.
This might get me yelled at but he basically listens to ~2800 songs over about a month to make this list.
It's pretty crazy.
ALSO
My picks for albums that weren't mentioned here that I feel deserve a mention.
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth High quality artsy-rap, if you like jazzy instrumentals and ridiculous lyrics check this out. So many themes to decode that it ends up way, way deeper than any other album this year quite easily. Definitely flawed, but definitely a step up from Lupe's recent work in a big way.
Panopticon - Autumn Eternal Very atmospheric, folk-inspired metal with some genuinely beautiful moments. "Sleeping To The Sounds of Waves Crashing" is just as gorgeous as the title implies, and really the entire album contrasts serenity and brutality amazingly well.
Mgla - Exercises in Futility This fucking album. Grimdark lyrics done right with some really clever mindfucks, amazing drones, intricate drumming, the instrumentals on this thing are layered and endless and the atmosphere is consistently superb. If you like black metal, or drone metal even, and you haven't heard this- you're missing out.
Leviathan - Scar Sighted Surprisingly calm yet elegantly brutal metal, kind of in the vein of Panopticon except less calming and more tension-filled. Kind of devilish, but the atmosphere fits the aesthetic well enough for me not to mind. Great music to have on while you write, nice and ambient.
Vanden Plas - Chronicles of the Immortals, Netherworld II Not quite as polished as it could be, but still admirable for how grandiose it feels and how creatively the symphonic elements are used. A lot of the instrumental portions on this album reach highs only contested by Blind Guardian's Through The Red Mirror in symphonic metal this year, and it makes for a pretty brilliant listen. Worth a mention especially considering its so utterly underground ;p
Soularion, thanks so much for the tips. Aesop Rock is amazing.
Lichter, I'm really curious about your process. Are you just always listening to new music? How many listens do you give an album before you feel like you have a handle on how well you like it? If I like a track I usually will listen to the album at least three or four times before I'll even decide whether I like it or not, because I find that the stuff that really grips me is often music that I didn't really grok until a few listens. When I find something I like, I listen to it on heavy rotation for weeks. I memorize all the lyrics and often learn at least the chords of my favorite tracks. The way I engage with music I like there's simply no way I could listen to hundreds of new albums in a year, and I wonder what your relationship with the music you love is like that you're able to listen to so much of it.
On February 19 2016 08:38 AmericanUmlaut wrote: Soularion, thanks so much for the tips. Aesop Rock is amazing.
Lichter, I'm really curious about your process. Are you just always listening to new music? How many listens do you give an album before you feel like you have a handle on how well you like it? If I like a track I usually will listen to the album at least three or four times before I'll even decide whether I like it or not, because I find that the stuff that really grips me is often music that I didn't really grok until a few listens. When I find something I like, I listen to it on heavy rotation for weeks. I memorize all the lyrics and often learn at least the chords of my favorite tracks. The way I engage with music I like there's simply no way I could listen to hundreds of new albums in a year, and I wonder what your relationship with the music you love is like that you're able to listen to so much of it.
If you haven't checked it out yet, he released "Rings" a couple days ago. It's pretty sick- the new album (coming in april!) is gonna be great, dude is legit.
"Rubble Kings Theme" is a good example of rhythm rap from probably my favorite rapper, El-P. And if you think that shit was good, hear Aesop and El together on "Run the Numbers" ;p
Lupe Fiasco - Pharoah mixtape, Friend of the People (Jesus), Lilies, Haile Selassie, Yoga Flame, SLR (1-3). Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass Fabolus - Summertime Shootout Logic - Under Pressure and The Incredible True Story Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$ and lastly Common - Nobody's Smiling
I don't really feel TPAB either. It sounds as if it's crafted to receive great reviews from the critics (and it did). Like someone above, I don't rate TPAB highly due to its replay value.
T&Y is way more enjoyable imo (and it's inspired by Akira!)
On February 19 2016 03:25 Darkhorse wrote: how the fuck do people have enough time to discover/listen to 150 albums in a year?
I dont see anything unusual about it. Thats roughly 1 album per 2 days. So about 30-40mins of music per day. Also its possible he works in front of a computer so he can listen to music while working. Not everybody is so busy doing important stuff that theyre unable to spend 1hr/day listening to music.
This might get me yelled at but he basically listens to ~2800 songs over about a month to make this list.
It's pretty crazy.
ALSO
My picks for albums that weren't mentioned here that I feel deserve a mention.
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth High quality artsy-rap, if you like jazzy instrumentals and ridiculous lyrics check this out. So many themes to decode that it ends up way, way deeper than any other album this year quite easily. Definitely flawed, but definitely a step up from Lupe's recent work in a big way.
Panopticon - Autumn Eternal Very atmospheric, folk-inspired metal with some genuinely beautiful moments. "Sleeping To The Sounds of Waves Crashing" is just as gorgeous as the title implies, and really the entire album contrasts serenity and brutality amazingly well.
Mgla - Exercises in Futility This fucking album. Grimdark lyrics done right with some really clever mindfucks, amazing drones, intricate drumming, the instrumentals on this thing are layered and endless and the atmosphere is consistently superb. If you like black metal, or drone metal even, and you haven't heard this- you're missing out.
Leviathan - Scar Sighted Surprisingly calm yet elegantly brutal metal, kind of in the vein of Panopticon except less calming and more tension-filled. Kind of devilish, but the atmosphere fits the aesthetic well enough for me not to mind. Great music to have on while you write, nice and ambient.
Vanden Plas - Chronicles of the Immortals, Netherworld II Not quite as polished as it could be, but still admirable for how grandiose it feels and how creatively the symphonic elements are used. A lot of the instrumental portions on this album reach highs only contested by Blind Guardian's Through The Red Mirror in symphonic metal this year, and it makes for a pretty brilliant listen. Worth a mention especially considering its so utterly underground ;p
Good year for metal, overall. 2016 is hype.
MGLA - exercises in futility good call, really good.
I think it's fairly impressive that I've only even heard of one of these artists (Iron Maiden).
Still I think it's important to challenge yourself so I listened to at least one track from the top ten and I didn't like any of them (although I came close to liking Gunship). For reference I would put myself in the lower quartile of giving a shit about music though.
Just curious: are you involved, or planing on being involved, with music in a larger sense than being a consumer? I have a similar compulsiveness with books and sometimes feel I should slow down and write/review/absorb more but inevitably the next book calls and the pages start to turn.
EPT
Atleast iron maiden got in tho ^^
Its imo good enough atleast (though wtf was Revolt :D)
