Albums of 2019

[Higgs]

And I'm still at the office listening to music as I plod along. I've enjoyed a lot of what I've heard from Haiku Salut over the years. They recently were tasked with putting a live score together to Buster Keaton's 1926 movie The General. The result is a surprisingly enjoyable album taken as a whole, with various individual pieces that stand on their own. It's a lovely ambient instrumental trip that touches various bases across the course of the 23 tracks. This one gets my vote for the most pleasantly surprising release of the year for me - I went in expecting nothing and was rewarded with a face-full of goodness.

Here's the dreamy Loves:

[j's brain]

I'm really enjoying Hello Exile from The Menzingers. This band seems to be getting better and better.

[tragabigzanda]

[Brett]

Giving a listen to the new Battles album right now. "Fort Greene Park" is amazing. I'll try to report back with more thoughts after I'm finished.

[tragabigzanda]

[Brett]

I enjoyed the first half of the album. It's the kind of Battles I'm into. Second half was weaker, and most of the vocal features are meh. It further confirms my notion that there's at least an album's worth of excellent tracks scattered through their discography, but there's a lot of weak material, too. I don't think they've ever been able to maintain a consistent identity or level of output.

[bune]

So there are people who have received their copy of the newest Desert Sessions album. Apparently it's ~31 minutes and also not good.

[tragabigzanda]

[bune]

You know what's one of my favorite albums of the year??

King gizzard and the lizard wizard - infest the rats nest

listening to this now and wow.

[tragabigzanda]

[tragabigzanda]

[Higgs]

Will def-o be grabbing that. I too very much enjoyed Elaenia. And for sure this fits neatly into my current jam "albums to work at the office by".

[kreng]

After one listen, I love this thing, will be playing it all winter. I also loved Elaenia (2015), and didn't really latch onto Reflections (2017) for some reason, but this one feels like more of a progression from Elaenia. All sorts of apparent influences float in and out: Autechre, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Four Tet, and deep house music sort of works as the lynchpin... But it all seamlessly blends together into its own thing. He continues to make some of the most emotional electronic music I've heard.

queuing this up for later today

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[tragabigzanda]

[kreng]

After one listen, I love this thing, will be playing it all winter. I also loved Elaenia (2015), and didn't really latch onto Reflections (2017) for some reason, but this one feels like more of a progression from Elaenia. All sorts of apparent influences float in and out: Autechre, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Four Tet, and deep house music sort of works as the lynchpin... But it all seamlessly blends together into its own thing. He continues to make some of the most emotional electronic music I've heard.

queuing this up for later today

Environments > Birth > Seawatch

wasn't feeling the whole thing too much, but i'll try again later when i'm not as preoccupied as i was first time around.

[tragabigzanda]

[kreng]

new Swans is not bad, but also not as great as the last few albums.

[super nintendo chalmers]

new Swans is not bad, but also not as great as the last few albums.

Swans shirts are tantamount to MAGA hats in my eyes.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem