tragabigzanda wrote:
Bill Callahan Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest
A fairly different album for Callahan, in that instead of his longer meditative songs, he instead takes the opposite approach of having much shorter bits of music -- like, often less than two minutes -- segue from one into the next, to create something large and less immediately memorable, but more rewarding on repeated listens. Similar to Ode To Joy, I had a tough time connecting to this one until I started putting it on while getting my kid ready for bed. Diaper change, bath time, reading, rocking...Callahan's loose exploration of his own journey into marriage and fatherhood made a lot more sense once I started soundtracking my own domestic changes to his aimless musings.
I had this same experience with Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream album.
I like the Callahan album a lot, too -- thanks for the reminder to give it another listen
tragabigzanda wrote:Album Of The Year:
Wilco Ode To Joy
I was vocal in my disappointment with this when it first came out. But its release happened to coincide with my hitting about 10 months of sobriety, and about six weeks of being a parent. The lack of sleep was starting to take hold over my brain (and my marriage) just as winter was setting in here, and I was having this odd repeated experience of feeling totally hungover in the morning, without having consumed any intoxicants. The joys and fears of parenthood mixed with my pervasive grogginess, and the whole record clicked one day: The existential dread of White Cross, the druggy awakening of Bright Leaves, the subdued enthusiasm of Everyone Hides, the mangled negativity of We Were Lucky, the pull to connect in Quiet Amplifier...
I don't expect other Wilco fans to love this one as much as I do, but it became the perfect soundtrack for a singular period in my life, and I'm super glad to have it in their catalog.
It's been a long time since I'd given up hope that a Wilco record would hit me emotionally first and intellectually second, but this one did it. Your write-up resonates with me, and for a few of the same reasons. I'm happy we have this album and I'm happy that I've been able to experience it with another RMer through similar circumstances.
dimejinky99 wrote:I could destroy any ai chatbot you put in front of me. Easily.
1- Mark Lanegan - Somebody´s Knocking: When it came out i was disappointed, thinking this one was Phantom Radio pt2...boy, i was wrong. The strongest album since Blues Funeral for sure, with a few personal favorites that rank amongst his best, Gazing From The Shore and Paper Hat might be the best thing he did in a while.
2- Pixies - Beneath The Eyrie WOW Pixies are back! Best album since their comeback for sure, and it ranks up there with their classic material. The first three tracks are AMAZING. They really sound good.
3- Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Colorado what can i say? im hooked with this one. Milky Way is the best song NY did since Walk With Me.
4- Miley Cyrus - She Is Coming Yeah, i guess this in an EP and the album is coming next year...but damn! Mother´s Daughter, D.R.E.A.M and The Most are so good. She is in another level for me.
5-Tyler, The Creator - IGOR Another cool surprise for me. Mostly a fun, refreshing album. I love Tyler´s sense of melodies and how much he glues different types of music.
6- Les Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL Teri Gender Bender should be a complete star right now. This is the best album from the band but also her best collection of songs. It might get a little boring on the second half though.
FAVORITE ALBUM OF THE YEAR THATS NOT FROM 2019
REM - Monster I became hooked like it was 1994 again. I got into a huge REM phase this year and this one was my favorite by far. The guitars, the experimental approach, the melodies. Masterpiece.
their version of the three unnumbered Chopin etudes is a breath of fresh air
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Favorite of 2019 - Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars - it’s a completely different approach for him, but the lush sounds are so great and the soul pours through. Despite dropping the rock sound and the Americana vibe he had been going for with the E Street Band at varying points since the beginning of the century, this feels very authentically Bruce.
Honorable Mention - Jim James - The Order of Nature - I wasn’t sure if I would be bored by this the first time I was listening through but each subsequent listen reveals more and more. Yes, it’s recorded live and yes there half the songs are either covers or previously released originals, but they are all re-conceived stunningly behind this orchestra.
Genre with a big comeback - southern rock - The Magpie Salute, Allman Betts Band both releases very good albums. Marcus King released one at the very tail end of 2018 that was a real trip back, and the next one is slated for next month. Saw Marcus King Band twice this year and both were amazing shows.
Live show of the year - My Morning Jacket at the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester NY 8/9/19 - the Tennessee Fire show. They turned what was a good 55 minute album into an epic journey, stretching it to 2 hours by building and playing off the soundscape of these songs without ever seeming to veer off course or have a moment that bored me. An encore of covers and b-sides from that album and time period was icing on the cake. One of the best shows I’ve ever attended.
BurtReynolds wrote:I've listened to a handful of new albums this year, but I listened to Sturgill Simpson's one a whole lot, so it wins easily.
To add to the album's success is that it has the greatest long form video ever that goes with it. If a year ever needed music to do drugs to, it was this year and this album/video delivers over and over.
Think I’m going to try being kind to everyone a chance.
For those of you who know me well, this probably isn't that big of a shocker, considering Radiohead is my favorite band. But the latest solo album by Thom was by far my favorite of his, and taps into my favorite aspects that he brings to the greater Radiohead collective. It's dark and distant, and at the same time, warm and intimate.
Runner-Ups of 2019:
Dave Harrington Group – Pure Imagination
Orville Peck – Pony
A Winged Victory For The Sullen – The Undivided Five
Burial – Tune 2011-2019
METZ - Automat
Durand Jones & The Indications - American Love Call
MorMor – Some Place Else
Avishai Cohen – Playing The Room
black midi – Schlagenheim
The Murder Capital – When I Have Fears
Biggest Disappointment of 2019:
I'd consider The National a top 10 favorite band, but I just COULD NOT get into this album, as much as I tried. There was absolutely nothing here that made me curious, or pulled me in, or made me want to listen to again. I know a lot of people loved this album, and I wish I could too. But this was a huge pass for me.
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Bandana
Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet
Danny Brown - uknowwhatimsayin?
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas
Worst:
Puddle of Mudd released a new album, so it’s gotta be them right?
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Bandana
Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet
Danny Brown - uknowwhatimsayin?
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas
Worst:
Puddle of Mudd released a new album, so it’s gotta be them right?
My top 3 are all very close, and pretty much interchangeable depending on my current mood, so I can't choose just one:
Sandro Perri - Soft Landing
This has got to be the most chilled out thing Sandro Perri has released. It's comfort for the soul, like wrapping up in a blanket and sipping cocoa. I was initially put off by the long opener, but I've since come around to it being as golden as the rest of the album. "Floriana" and "Wrong About the Rain" are the highlights.
Fly Pan Am - C'est ça
Fifteen years since their last album, but these guys haven't missed a beat. It helps that they've all remained musically active in the meantime and have matured and expanded their skillsets to finally make the kind of album they wanted to in the first place. If you like the first wave post-rock and shoegaze scenes of the early '90s, this will probably be rather appealing.
The Mike Smith Company - Songs of the Mike Smith Company
Sci-fi salsa meets Space Age pop, where shades of Stereolab or Pram coexist with soaring trumpets and grooving maracas. The whole thing is wrapped in a mildly Zappa-esque package with songs that obliquely opine about topics as varied as collective nouns, the mourning of missing out on a unique flavor of ice cream, and stuffy collection addicts.
After that is a bunch of other stuff that didn't resonate like those top three, but otherwise made the year another good one overall, especially in the latter six months:
Land of Kush - Sand Enigma
The fourth release from this Sam Shalabi-led ensemble, and they continue to get better. Eclectic mix of Egyptian psychedelia, Arabic folk, noise, and free jazz.
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter 4: Memphis
Another fourth chapter from an artist who tackles some heavy and heady subjects. It's a hypnotic collage of free jazz, American spiritualist music, and strains of art rock, all run through with Roberts's fragmented, spoken-word storytelling.
Some Became Hollow Tubes - In 1988 I Thought This Shit Would Never Change & Keep It in the Ground
A new duo of two pillars in the Montreal experimental community, Eric Quach and Aidan Girt. They put out two albums this year, both loaded with Eric's layers of ambient, drone, and post-rock style guitars and effects and framed and driven by Girt's tireless, studious, and intimately human drums. Relentless and energetic like crashing waves.
Aurochs - Perdidox
Like the title suggests, this album is a bit of a paradox. It's simultaneously the most concise and wide-roaming sprawl they've committed to tape so far. The two pieces are long and multifaceted, but combined have the shortest running time of their three releases.
Kiefer - Bridges & Superbloom
Two mini albums of lovely instrumental, jazz-flavored hip-hop. For someone who has a difficult time with rap as a vocal delivery style but enjoys the amount of musical creativity that can be found in hip-hop, this kind of stuff is a godsend.
Efrim Manuel Menuck & Kevin Doria - are SING SINCK, SING
Supersaturated drones and processed vocals. Songs for broken souls in a messy complicated world. Feels a bit rushed, but I look forward to what this project brings in the future.
Bon Iver - i,i
Maybe the last Bon Iver album? Completes the vaguely seasonal quadrilogy with an autumnal theme. Wraps up Justin Vernon's musical explorations in a way that encompasses them all with a new spin.
The Titillators - Your Kind of Music
Album number two from this new Toronto jazz combo, this time with all new original tunes. Bandleader Ryan Driver has a thing for quirky sentimentality and it's all over the ten pieces he penned for the group, pushed even further by their unusual arrangement choices.
Marla Hlady & Eric Chenaux - Fluff
This always sounds like there's something going on just down the hall or in the room next door that you can't quite make out. Chenaux and Hlady have a collaborative history of sound art installations, but this is the first one to be translated into a record. Lovely subconscious drifts.
Sarah Pagé - Dose Curves
Sometimes I get a thing for an artist who explores the compositional and textural possibilities of a single instrument. Pagé's specialization is the harp which she accentuates with pedals and extended techniques. This is her solo debut and she explores the intersections of natural and digital phenomena, the mathematics that run the universe and our sense of wonderment in the face of it all.
Duster - Duster
I probably haven't listened to this enough to grant it a place here, yet, but given the fact that I've immersed myself in most things Duster throughout the year, I think it'll get here anyway. It's almost like they didn't break up nearly twenty years ago. It's a natural follow up to Contemporary Movement, though I do wish it had a bit more in common with Stratosphere, since I like a little more eclecticism. But it seems any Duster is good, so this is too.
Lastly, here's a handful of stuff that's a bit weaker overall, has a few good songs but not enough to lift into the upper tier, isn't quite my thing most of the time, but I dig when I'm in the right mindset, or is still a bit too new to me to say for sure:
Praed - Doomsday Survival Kit
Sam Shalabi - Min
Siskiyou - Not Somewhere
Lungbutter - Honey
Marc Codsi - A New World
Joni Void - Mise En Ebyme
Automatisme - Rate
65daysofstatic - replicr, 2019
Black Midi - Schlagenheim
Last edited by Brett on Sun January 05, 2020 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You're welcome, Trag. I did post a mix in the mixtape thread that samples most of the albums I listed here if you don't want to commit to full listens.
