Sunday, December 17, 2017

Favorite Albums 2017

#1 Corbin - Mourn
Key Tracks: Revenge Song. Giving Up.

#2 Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent
Key Tracks: Half Sister. Winsor Hum.

#3 Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy
Key Tracks: Potholes. Ain't Got Time. Who Dat Boy.

#4 Liars - TFCF
Key Tracks: No Help Pamphlet. Cred Woes.

#5 Alvvays - Antisocialites
Key Tracks: Not My Baby. Dreams Tonite.

#6 Kendrick Lamar - Damn.
Key Tracks: Yah. Love.

#7 Tim Darcy - Saturday Night
Key Tracks: Still Waking Up. Found My Limit.

#8 Algiers - The Underside of Power
Key Tracks: Walk Like a Panther. Underside of Power.

#9 Nathan Fake - Providence
Key Tracks: HoursDaysMonthsSeasons. SmallCityLights.

#10 Sza - Ctrl
Key Tracks: Supermodel. Normal Girl. Go Gina.


Albums I wish I heard more before making this list:
James Holden - The Animal Spirits
Bjork - Utopia
Daniele Luppi & Parquet Courts - MILANO
Fever Ray - Plunge

Honorable Mentions
John Maus - Screen Memories
Richard Dawson - Peasants
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Don't Get Lost
Ariel Pink - Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
Drake - More Life
IDLES - Brutalism
Why? - Moh Lhean
Sleaford Mods - English Tapas
Bibio - Phantom Brickworks
Fourtet - New Energy
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Avey Tare - Eucalyptus
Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett - Lotta Sea Lice
Thee oh Sees - Orc
Mac Demarco - This Old Dog
Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory
Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors
Fionn Regan - Meeting of the Waters
The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding
Forest Swords - Compassion
Mac Demarco - This Old Dog

Artists I like who I just wasn't in the mood for in 2017 (or they released a bad record?):
Do Make Say Think - Stubborn Persistent Illusions
GYBE - Luciferian Towers
Sun Kil Moon - Common As Light
St Vincent - MASSEDUCTION
Actress - AZD
Portico Quartet - Art in the Age of Automation
Kevin Morby - City Music
Blondes - Warmth
Gold Class - Drum

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Revisiting 2016 AOTY in Retrospect

I am in the middle of making my 2017 list and thought it would be revealing to re-evaluate my 2016 list. If I made it now it would look like this:

#1 Lambchop - Flotus
#2 Angel Olsen - My Woman
#3 David Bowie - Lazarus
#4 Tinashe - Nightride
#5 Preoccupations - Preoccupations
#6 Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
#7 ANHONI - Hopelessness
#8 Parquet Courts - Human Performance
#9 Swans - The Glowing Man
#10 Kevin Morby - Singing Saw

Angel Olsen jumps from 9 to 2. That album in retrospect is much better than I knew then and still gets constant rotations.

Tinashe is straight in at #4 from nowhere. I knew I liked it at the time but didn't know quite how much and felt it was too "pop" to include. I regret that now. I still listen to it weekly. It's a totally different mood than anything else I listen to so when that mood hits I put this on. Tinashe and Banks hit that spot like nothing else.

Danny Brown in at #6 from nowhere too. Again I new I liked it in December but had no idea how much.

Parquet Courts from nowhere at #8 too. I was whelmed by that album at the time but now it sounds like a classic to me. I was whelmed because of how much I loved "Light Up Gold" and this didn't seem as good, and it isn't but it easily fits in this end of year list.

Lamchop is still #1. Nothing will change that. I don't listen to it as often as some of the others because the mood is not something I am craving this year but when I do listen I still love this record.

So what dropped out for those new 3?

LVL UP - Return to Love
Deakin - Sleep Cycle
The Thermals - We Disappear

All good records but in retrospect not albums of the year - just good records from 2016. I think I included Thermals because I listened to it alot in 2016, probably the most infact of any record. And I weighed that too heavily in my placement of it. Yes listens is an important factor but not as much as I gave it.