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I didn't see a thread like this here so I thought I'd kick-start one. Year-end lists are usually a great way of finding the releases you might have missed completely. A lot of places are putting up their "best of the year" lists lately, and now feels a good time to sum up one of the weirdest years in recent history.  Some top lists I've seen floating around: The Guardian New York Times Pitchfork Line Of Best Fit Consequence of Sound DIY Mag Any Decent Music aggregates reviews and posts an average score What's your favorite album from this year? Favorite single? Favorite live album or performance? What release do you feel was overlooked? Maybe answer some of these questions or post more freely about your year in music, it's all good imo. Half the fun is finding stuff from different genres so feel free to post about your favorite obscure micro genre if that's what floats your boat. MIDWIFE CRISIS fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Dec 18, 2020 |
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Dec 18, 2020 14:25
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 16:21 |
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I'll mention Deftones' latest album 'Ohms' because I know there's a lot of fans here but it seems to have been overlooked? It's a fairly solid album and they went back to Terry Date to produce it. It sounds pretty similar to Diamond Eyes but with more synths, and it's refreshing to see their keyboardist have more of a presence on tracks for a change. Their guitarist seems to have found his footing as well and it's just a massive improvement from Gore all round. They sound like a band again even if the album sounds more like a follow up to Diamond Eyes than Koi No Yokan. Fans of the latter won't find the experimentation and soundscapes that were present on this one, it's more straightforward but that isn't a bad thing, in my opinion. For anyone who cares they also did a 20th anniversary re-release of White Pony and I had no idea Scott Weiland provided guest vocals on RX Queen. Wonder why they only credited Maynard James Keenan for his guest appearance? Anyways, here's a couple singles from 'Ohms' for anyone curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbp0bET06wc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDbj0oeAj0 The whole album seems to be on their YouTube channel, along with the Black Stallion remixes from the second disc of the White Pony anniversary re-release. Grimes also released Miss Anthropocene back in February which I think was overshadowed by all the celebrity drama surrounding her, collaborators and her husband but it's not a bad album. Have a feeling it will probably be her last one for quite a while unless she maybe puts out one of her scrapped albums? Sometimes wonder if they actually exist or not, though.
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Dec 18, 2020 17:18
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1_rQXOQLA8 Nobody seems to know exactly who Sault are. They released two albums this year having realised two last year. The above is from the 'Untitled (Black Is)' which was given BBC 6Music Album of the Year (and number five in the Guardian list linked above. Their other album 'Untitled (Rise)' is 25 on the same list) Pablo Bluth fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Dec 18, 2020 |
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Dec 18, 2020 20:53
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Deftones- Ohms got a lot of plays from me since it was released. Every track is pretty consistent, and there's a good balance of band interplay, moments of space, and some ferocious riffs. I didn't like Miss Anthropocene as much as Art Angels, but thought it was a more laid-back kind of effective creepy vibe that had great moments like So Heavy I Fell To Earth. More atmospheric. I wonder what Grimes will do next. It's pretty obscure modern jazz, but some of my favorites were a couple of nu-jazz albums by trios that sound like live drum n' bass mixed with classical piano. Gogo Penguin- Self-titled, and a Polish trio Immortal Onion- XD (Experience Design). I wouldn't say they swing at all, but have great chemistry mixed with experimentation and a sense of constant forward momentum. Immortal Onion is a little more electronic, math-y and video game inspired at times and Gogo Penguin more acoustic. There was a lot of grindcore and tech death that came out this year that I loved, and I was surprised by Miley Cyrus-Plastic Hearts which came out recently. Her voice really fits the new more rock direction she's going for and it was pretty consistent as someone who never really liked anything she put out before or even followed her.
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Dec 18, 2020 20:54
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Speaking of, Boris put out a good album this year called 'No'. It's a departure from their usual long drone tracks with most songs being in the 2-3 minute range but it's still heavy and if you like Boris you'll likely dig it. Was surprised by how many albums they've put out since I last listened to them and apparently they have their own label now? Fangs Anal Satan is a good name.
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Dec 19, 2020 00:44
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the pop music thread has had enough of my slow build to this reveal so I'm just gonna say it here: Taylor Swift released two albums this year, both with absolutely no build-up, and somehow each one was the best thing she ever made. I'm aware that a good portion of the audience here might immediately just glaze over when they see the words Taylor Swift but for those of you willing to give it a chance, I'm gonna show you three songs that might change your mind. This is Exile. If you're not a Taylor Swift person and you've heard a track off of these albums, it's probably this one, and that's probably because of the other name on the track. The whole big special thing about these albums, aside from completely tossing aside the traditional 6 months of build-up and hype that come before the release of a new TS album, is that they were made with Indie Music People. And not just any indie music people, and maybe not the first indie music person you'd expect, but Aaron Dessner from The National, plus some of his friends, including one Justin Vernon. This is inarguably the first time Taylor has had a male vocalist feature on a song and it hasn't been lame in her entire history of releasing music (my apologies to Kendrick Lamar and Future, no apologies to Ed Sheeran or Snow Patrol guy). The album very much sounds like What If Taylor Swift Made A 2010 Indie Record, and it gives her writing a lot of room to go new places. She's less pop-oriented on this album than she has been in years, and while that doesn't mean that there's no bops here (there are bops), it does mean that she's making music that isn't always just intensely personal diary entries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA This is Marjorie. It sounds like Someone Great filtered through a folk lens. My dream is that she'll just keep going down the list of the 2010s most influential indie producers until she makes an album with James Murphy. It's a very sweet and wistful ode to Swift's grandmother, Marjorie, who was an opera singer (and if you listen closely you can actually hear a sample of her voice in the track!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP6QpMeSG6s This is Mirrorball. It's Swift's try at making shoegaze music with Jack Antonoff and it's just really pretty and happy and I didn't want to leave you with three sad songs. (there's lots of really good sad songs on these albums, especially my personal favorite, Champagne Problems, which is a very simple piano ballad about a wedding proposal that goes wrong) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaM1bCuG4xo I haven't stopped listening to these albums for over a week now, combined they're probably my favorite album in a very long time. After her last couple albums, which were just fine at best and yikes in their worst moments she's started to transition into a new phase of her career and could make another album like this a year for the next few decades given how much variety she was able to squeeze out of two hour-plus albums made mostly by the same people. edit: also entirely unrelated to Swift, iPhone is the single of the year because it goes hard as gently caress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuhvdaDabpU
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Dec 20, 2020 04:20
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I fell off the new music grid pretty hard this year and tried to broaden my tastes with old stuff. The three new albums I listened to this year were SPICE, which was really good, After Dark 3, which was really good, and Rolling Blackouts CF, which was a little disappointing outside of the singles. I got into talking heads this year which is inarguably the only good thing to come from this waking nightmare. Fear of music is the best one imo
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Dec 20, 2020 17:10
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Green Day turned in one of the most embarrassing albums of this year. It really was that astoundingly bad
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Dec 21, 2020 04:22
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-Two 2000s indie rock bands I listened to a lot back in the day put out new albums after ~15 year hiatuses, Criteria and Sparta. Criteria's was very consistent with their old stuff and I'm really glad they're still making music. Sparta's was... disappointing. The two songs they released as singles a few years back are on the album, but they're the best tracks on it. Otherwise the new stuff is nowhere near the quality of their first two albums, or even their third. Which is too bad because they were awesome live when I saw them last year and I was hoping for a stronger comeback. Likewise, the new Strokes album is pretty middling. Nice to hear from them again, but not their best. -Agnes Obel's Myopia is another really solid one from her. I liked her previous album better but this one has a lot of cool stuff on it as she keeps getting more experimental. -Another nod to Deftones' Ohms. Easily upper-middle tier for their catalog. -Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou's collaboration was great. More is coming from them next year and I'm really looking forward to it. -Enslaved's Utgard is probably my favorite metal album of the year. Their longevity and constant reinvention is pretty amazing.
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Dec 21, 2020 23:48
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Rob Zombie put out a single in late October for a new album that's releasing next year so I don't know if this counts or not but the single is actually a pleasant surprise after so many uninspired and boring albums from him. This song sounds like something off a never released follow-up to White Zombie's Astro Creep 2000. Rest of the album could be disappointing but I thought this was worth sharing since it definitely went under the radar and I'm fairly sure a lot of folks here liked his early solo stuff and White Zombie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WULTU6zl2E
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Dec 24, 2020 11:26
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