This year was weird to me with music i think it might have
been better than last year but in my opinion i wasn't digging too much new
stuff this year, i was too busy going backwards and picking up all the stuff i
wanted to hear but never did. This was the year that i delved deep into reggae
and deeper into 60s and 70s music, i also got into a bit of dark wave and 80s
synth music. what i didnt do was listen to dubstep, chillwave and witch house.
not to say these genres didnt have kick ass stuff to offer, i just felt the
music world was oversaturated with them i couldnt even pick any because every
week it seemed some hazy tripped out kid with a 4 track made some
"masterpiece" i dunno what it was but i just didnt care and i wanted
more punch to my music and felt this year was lacking in that department. but
alas here is my list of what did kick me in the pants.
in no particular order except alphabetical:
Best
Coast-Crazy for You
Lazy summer rock that recalls the best parts of LA in the
summertime while being reminiscent of Patsy Cline and The Breeders, perfect for
sipping some sweet tea chilling out in your backyard(if only i had one!) sure
she rhymes "lazy" and "crazy" a bit too much but that's
fine.
Big Boi-Sir
Lucious Left Foot...The Son Of Chico Dusty
Full of ridiculous production and rapid fire
rhyming and probably the best thing i have heard out of the entire Outkast
camp, yes even better than Stankonia. This album is just super tight and really
solid and i can easily compare it to one of my other favorite hip hop albums of
all time...the good ol Boy in Da Corner.
The Body-All
the Waters of the Earth Turn To Blood
Didnt listen to too much metal this year but
this one sure as hell stuck out, maybe it was the 7 minutes of chopped up
female choir, maybe it was the tuvan throat singing, perhaps the tortured as
shit vocals or maybe its the way they chopped and screwed the last two and
added a possessed preacher over the top of it and created a new
metal/electronic sampling genre in one song, who knows but its crushing and
good.
Dem
Hunger-Caveman Smack
Fun with dark samples and 4 track recording,
this album was all about cut and paste and i love doing that with music, it's
nice to see someone weave a dark and twisted quilt out of such an array of
samples these days, it kept me interested and had such focus i kept coming
back
Earl
Sweatshirt-Earl
This kid is 15 years old, he just got sent to
boarding school supposedly, he is part of the Odd Future Crew, the beats are
awesomely simple and very downtempo, the lyrics are a bit dark and bit un PC
which in this day and age i am a huge fan of. Where Big Boi was like Dizzee
this kid is more like a young verion of Madvillain, oh and the whole crews
albums are FREE!!!!!!
Fol
Chen-Part 2: The New December
This record is weird, because it's kind of not
weird. it's very poppy and on the surface would seem like something i would
hate but instead i kinda love it, basically they take normal indie pop stuff
kinda like metric and enon but instead throw some weird samples and loops and
build pop out of some odd instrumentation and it all works, the leadoff track
might be my favorite song of the year.
Forest
Swords-Dagger Paths
This has been a recent pick but i am sinking
into it quite nicely, it's like instrumental simpler Panda Bear with a definite
nod to dubstep, not much else to say about this one except its weird and a nice
little change of pace for the olde english roster
Grinderman-2
I asked my brother a few days ago "what
happened to hard music this year?" it seemed over the past few years
people have stopped giving a shit about non metal aggressive music, i remember
when lightning bolt and wolf eyes were held in the same regard as arcade fire
and sufjan stevens, i had lost hope for this year until i heard this, it took a
50+ man to bring the aggression and bring the rock, this shit has face melting
guitars and a possessed preacher in Nick Cave screaming at the kids to get up
and rock the fuck out
Zach
Hill-Face Tat
This was a nice little weird record and easily
his most accessible and focused, the guest spots from No Age are the best stuff
they did this year and to have a cameo of Devendra Banhart where i cant tell
its him is a true gift from Zach Hill, this album is weird and intense and full
of some of the best drumming of the year
Julian
Lynch-Mare
This reminded me of an Arabic influenced Ween
on downers. it's a crying shame everyone loved this upon release and then just
forgot about it at the end of the year, he deserved more and it's better than
Forest Swords(they share the same label). This is the stoner album of the
year
MGMT-Congratulations
Ahhh....such a nice surprise. Somewhat cheesy
indie pop band stops making earwormesque disposable pop and decides to make
some real shit, they enlist Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 fame and Jennifer Herrema
of Royal Trux and RTX fame and hole up in a malibu mansion and take tons of
drugs and ended up writing an amazing ode to 60s and 70s psychedelica. A lot of
their fans ran for the hills upon hearing this, I instead was converted.
Ariel Pink's
Haunted Grafitti-Before Today
You can throw this album on at any point in any
situation and that's what makes it great, it's what i wish Beck were doing
these days, he made the best choice in genre regression, deciding not to mine
"good" music of the past and instead opted to take everything shitty
from 70s and 80s and turn it on it's head with his perfect sick sense of humor,
this music was for everyone!
Sufjan
Stevens-The Age of Adz
What can i say, he threw down the gauntlet much
like MGMT did, threw out most of the preciousness of his old stuff for a more
whacked out electronic sound to match the concept of outsider art and cult like
religious imagery, this was the sound of Sufjan taking a step to the left of
all the indie garbage out there and doing what he wanted.
Surfer
Blood-Astro Coast
This has the same beachy feel as the Best Coast
album, very summer fun times and laid back beach vibes. this is kind of like
Vampire Weekend for the non-retarded. Kinda reminds me of that really kick ass
Clearlake album that came out in 2002.
Avey
Tare-Down There
Bass heavy murky stoner dream. great twists and
turns within the repetitive loops and beats, to me it sounds like a dubbed out
remix of Animal Collective.
Tobacco-Maniac Meat
Awesome analogue drum machines crashing with
old farty ancient synths in a funk and hip hop influenced electronic soup all
with cameos from Beck. This was some dirty bedroom music dark and dripping with
demon sweat, Ween would be proud
Kanye
West-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I have always hated Kanye, i still cant stand
his earlier albums but the production and executon of this album cannot be
ignored, it's good and he is crazy and an idiot but this is the work of someone
who has lost their mind a bit
Wise Blood-
'+' ep
Blatant samples of Zeppelin and Prince collide
with a bunch of other samples i cant recognize all topped with RnB influenced
white boy soul vocals, it's nerdy, it's short, it's free and all done by some
supposed religious freak in the midwest somewhere i highly reccommend
this.
Comments
Post a Comment