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Chorus.fm Members EOTY Lists 2020 • Page 10

Discussion in 'Music Forum' started by Craig Manning, Dec 7, 2020.

  1. ComedownMachine

    Prestigious Supporter

    looks like 12 of em
     
    irthesteve likes this.
  2. White Dec 20, 2020
    (Last edited: Dec 21, 2020)
    White

    Cum for the Cum God. Prestigious

    1. hubris. - Metempsychosis
    Favourite track(s): Hepius; Dedalus; Heracles
    2. Dance Gavin Dance - Afterburner
    Favourite track(s): Lyrics Lie; One in a Million; Parody Catharsis; Night Sway; Say Hi
    3. Properties of Nature - Wolves in Business Suits
    Favourite track(s): Sorry Excuse; One Nightstand; You Didn’t Start a Fire in My Heart, You Started It in My House!
    4. Protest the Hero - Palimpsest
    Favourite track(s): From the Sky; Gardenias; Rivet
    5. Hope the flowers - Sonorous Faith PT.1
    Favourite track(s): Warchestra; Shout Out for the Sea; Rewind Nature
    6. pulses. - Speak It Into Existence
    Favourite track(s): Speak It Into Existence; Mt. Midoriyama (feat. Sierra Binondo); Don’t Say Anything, Just RT; Rebel, the Mightiest Cat
    7. Gloe - Dead Wait
    Favourite track(s): Dead Wait; (Aichmåloto) Asterias
    8. Purity Ring - WOMB
    Favourite tracks: i like the devil; femia; sinew
    9. Driftless - The Greatest Need
    Favourite track(s): Willing; Nothing
    10. Plini - Impulse Voices
    Favourite track(s): Pan; The Glass Bead Game
    11. GoGo Penguin - GoGo Penguin
    Favourite track(s): Signal In The Noise; F Maj Pixie; To The Nth
    12. Loathe - I Let It in and It Took Everything
    Favourite track(s): Aggressive Evolution; Heavy Is the Head That Falls with the Weight of a Thousand Thoughts
    13. VAR - The Never-Ending Year
    Favourite track(s): Moments; By the ocean; Where to find you
    14. Aesthesys - Alignments
    Favourite track(s): Transcendants; Replicant Party; Me2
    15. Nidus Expire - Siren One
    Favourite track(s): When the World Falls Apart; Mr. Grey
    16. Vasudeva - Generator
    Favourite track(s): Breaks; On The Up; Yamaha
    17. wthAura - GROCERY
    Favourite track(s): Floral; Frozen
    18. Mammal Hands - Captured Spirits
    Favourite track(s): Ithaca; Late Bloomer
    19. Zealand The North - Brightness of an Endless Light
    Favourite track(s): Come Promise
    20. aswekeepsearching - Sleep
    Favourite track(s): 11 Degrees; Dreams Are Real

    ——

    Honourable mentions:

    A Burial At Sea - A Burial At Sea
    FALL OF MESSIAH - Senicarne
    Flies Are Spies From Hell - Final Quiet
    fox capture plan - Discovery
    A Good Man Goes To War - The sounds of a large crowd
    I Am Abomination - Passion of the Heist II
    Luo - Unspoken
    Olhava - Ladoga
    still motions - Mirrors
    Tape Studies - Kept Underneath
    Tycho - Simulcast
    Yppah - Sunset in the Deep End

    ——

    EPs:

    Arch Echo - Story I
    Ben Rosett - Booster Pack
    Cartoon Theory / Visenya - Euphoria
    Dan James Griffin - Unxplored
    The Emergency Alert System - Perimeter
    Hail Your Highness - SOFTBOY
    Hail Your Highness - Trilogy
    Jardín de la Croix - Letargo
    Kaguu - Rosewood
    Lights x MYTH - Dead End
    Nova Charisma - Exposition III
    Österreich - sisi
    Pray for Sound - Waves B-Sides
    A Sudden Burst of Colour - Forever/Captivator [AA]
    A Sudden Burst of Colour - Transgressor/Decoder [AA]
     
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  3. Jbent

    Trusted

    Nate_Johnson and White like this.
  4. Weird LiBrary

    Regular

    2020 releases I enjoyed the most:
    • Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown
    • Duma - Duma
    • Battlemaster - Ghastly, Graven & Grimoireless
    • Sweven - The Eternal Resonance
    • Nubya Garcia - Source

    2020 most-listened, regardless of release year:
    1. Orchestra Baobab - Pirates Choice
    2. Strike Anywhere - Change is a Sound
    3. Balla Et Ses Balladins - Objectif Perfection
    4. Alan Jackson - Everything I Love
    5. Hot Snakes - Suicide Invoice
    6. Honor Role - Album
    7. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
    8. Yazz Ahmed - Polyhymnia
    9. Cloud Rat - Pollinator
    10. Brand X - Unorthodox Behavior
     
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  5. Fixed Glitch

    AP Attitude Era Superstar Supporter

    Hmmm
     
    Weird LiBrary likes this.
  6. BenSmith94

    Trusted

    topsters2 (1).jpg
    topsters2 (1)a.jpg
     
  7. StreetSpirit Dec 22, 2020
    (Last edited: Dec 22, 2020)
    StreetSpirit

    play the blues, punk Supporter

    1 The 1975 - Notes On a Conditional Form ("Frail State of Mind")
    2 Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher ("Chinese Satellite")
    3 Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia ("Pretty Please")
    4 Taylor Swift - folklore ("exile")
    5 Boldy James & Real Bad Man - Real Bad Boldy ("Thousand Pills")
    6 Run the Jewels - RTJ4 ("JU$T")
    7 Pop Smoke - Meet the Woo 2 ("Shake the Room")
    8 Ruston Kelly - Shape & Destroy ("Under the Sun")
    9 Hum - Inlet ("Cloud City")
    10 Charli XCX - how i'm feeling now ("enemy")
    11 Boldy James & Sterling Toles - Manger on McNichols ("The Middle of Next Month")
    12 Brian Fallon - Local Honey ("21 Days")
    13 Taylor Swift - evermore ("ivy")
    14 Caspian - On Circles ("Wildblood")
    15 Deftones - Ohms ("Ohms")
    16 Ashley McBryde - Never Will ("Voodoo Doll")
    17 Bartees Strange - Live Forever ("Stone Meadows")
    18 The Weeknd - After Hours ("After Hours")
    19 Grimes - Miss Anthropocene ("Delete Forever")
    20 Kali Uchis - Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞ ("¡aquí yo mando!")
    21 Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA ("Who's Gonna Save You Now")
    22 PVRIS - Use Me ("Loveless")
    23 Chris Stapleton - Starting Over ("Cold")
    24 Mac Miller - Circles ("Blue World")
    25 Caitlyn Smith - Supernova ("I Can't")
    26 The Killers - Imploding the Mirage ("Caution")
    27 Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure? ("In Your Eyes")
    28 Tame Impala - The Slow Rush ("Breathe Deeper")
    29 Caribou - Suddenly ("Never Come Back")
    30 Burna Boy - Twice As Tall ("Wonderful")
    31 Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You ("Rainmaker")
    32 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions ("Overseas")
    33 Black Foxxes - Black Foxxes ("Swim")
    34 Ariana Grande - Positions ("Positions")
    35 Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans ("Baby")
    36 Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never ("I Don't Love Me Anymore")
    37 Katie Pruitt - Expectations ("Out of the Blue")
    38 Sault - Untitled (Rise) ("Little Boy")
    39 beabadoobee - Fake It Flowers ("Worth It")
    40 HAIM - Women In Music Pt. III ("I Know Alone")
    41 Sault - Untitled (Black Is) ("Bow")
    42 Clams Casino - Instrumental Relics ("I'm God")
    43 Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts VI: Locusts ("Around Every Corner")
    44 Boldy James - The Price of Tea In China ("Surf & Turf")
    45 Matt Berninger - Serpentine Prison ("Loved So Little")
    46 Soccer Mommy - color theory ("circle the drain")
    47 070 Shake - Modus Vivendi ("Guilty Conscience")
    48 Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo ("God is Perfect")
    49 Purity Ring - WOMB ("pink lightning")
    50 Kamaiyah - Got It Made ("Set It Up")


    HMs:

    21 Savage - Savage Mode II ("Many Men")
    Abby Gundersen - Sleep Comes Then I Wake ("White Flowers")
    Acceptance - Wild, Free ("Bend the Light")
    Allie X - Cape God ("Sarah Come Home")
    Aluna - Renaissance ("Off Guard")
    Arca - KiCk i ("KLK")
    Autechre - PLUS ("lux 106 mod")
    Boldy James - The Versace Tape ("Cartier")
    Brandy - B7 ("Saving All My Love")
    Cold Years - Paradise ("Northern Blues")
    Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers ("How You Get Hurt")
    Dogleg - Melee ("Kawasaki Backflip")
    Donovan Woods - Without People ("Grew Apart")
    Ellie Goulding - Brightest Blue ("Brightest Blue")
    Fleet Foxes - Shore ("Quiet Air / Gioia")
    Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress ("Cries of Pleasure, Heavenly Pain")
    Hayley Williams - Petals For Armor ("Over Yet")
    Kamaiyah - No Explanations ("Big Step")
    Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn't ("Grieving")
    Kiiara - lil kiiwi ("Empty")
    Mil Spec - World House ("The End of History")
    Nils Frahm - Empty ("Black Notes")
    Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts V: Together ("Apart")
    Polo G - The GOAT ("Go Stupid")
    Sylvan Esso - Free Love ("Ferris Wheel")
    Ty Dolla $ign - Featuring Ty Dolla $ign ("Powder Blue")
    YG - My Life 4Hunnid ("Laugh Now Kry Later!")
     
  8. ImAMetaphor

    absence 8/20/21 Prestigious

    1. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
    2. Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    3. Adrianne Lenker - songs
    4. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
    5. Lomelda - Hannah
    6. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    7. Soccer Mommy - color theory
    8. Moses Sumney - græ
    9. Christian Lee Hutson - Beginners
    10. Dogleg - Melee
    11. Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor
    12. Anjimile - Giver Taker
    13. Bright Eyes - Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    14. NNAMDÏ - BRAT
    15. Bully - SUGAREGG
    16. Andy Shauf - The Neon Skyline
    17. Samia - The Baby
    18. The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers
    19. Bartees Strange - Live Forever
    20. Frances Quinlan - Likewise
     
  9. PauLo

    43% Burnt

    Some great stuff on there
     
    Nate_Johnson and Weird LiBrary like this.
  10. Think this is the best I can do! Had more time to listen to music this year than I have for a few years but also feel like my tastes have narrowed recently. Anyway a really really strong year for music in my humble opinion, and I also have to shout out three releases that aren't all-new studio releases but that would be at the very top of this list if they were:

    The War on Drugs – Live Drugs (seriously the best live record anyone has put out in a very long time)
    Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin' Grass Vols. 1 & 2 (no commentary needed, Sturgill rules)

    Okay, list:

    1. Ruston Kelly – Shape & Destroy
    2. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
    3. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Reunions
    4. Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
    5. Bruce Springsteen – Letter to You
    6. Adrianne Lenker – Songs
    7. Fleet Foxes – Shore
    8. Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
    9. Margo Price – That’s How Rumors Get Started
    10. My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall II

    11. John Moreland – LP5
    12. Dogleg – Melee
    13. Tame Impala – The Slow Rush
    14. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
    15. Bob Dylan – Rough & Rowdy Ways
    16. Soccer Mommy – Color Theory
    17. Cartalk – Pass Like Pollen
    18. The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form
    19. Kathleen Edwards – Total Freedom
    20. Pallbearer – Forgotten Days

    21. Brandy Clark – Your Life Is a Record
    22. Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling
    23. Touché Amoré – Lament
    24. Steve Earle & the Dukes – Ghosts of West Virginia
    25. Katie Pruitt – Expectations
    26. Futurebirds – Teamwork
    27. Hum – Inlet
    28. Ratboys – Printer’s Devil
    29. Drive-By Truckers – The New OK
    30. Freddie Gibbs / The Alchemist – Alfredo

    31. Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    32. Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death
    33. Dehd – Flower of Devotion
    34. Lily Hiatt – Walking Proof
    35. Bright Eyes – Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    36. Jeff Tweedy – Love Is the King
    37. Bartees Strange – Live Forever
    38. Country Westerns – Country Westerns
    39. Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake
    40. Chris Stapleton – Starting Over
     
  11. JM95

    Trusted

    I keep forgetting about that My Morning Jacket album. Need to give it another listen or two.
     
  12. Craig Manning

    @FurtherFromSky Moderator

    Lots of great stuff on here. I really was not able to get into that Brandy Clark album though, for whatever reason. I loved her first two, but this one just never grabbed me.
     
    DaydreamNation likes this.
  13. Yeah it's really good. Would be top 5 for me in a less-strong year. Cannot wait to hear some of those songs live someday post-pandemic.

    Damn that sucks. I'm a bit of a late comer to her, checked her stuff out after my brother rec'd it to me earlier this year and I'd say the new one is pretty easily my favorite of hers right now.

    Anyway looking forward to seeing your list whenever the staff feature launches!
     
    JM95 and Craig Manning like this.
  14. Craig Manning

    @FurtherFromSky Moderator

    In fairness, I just wasn't really feeling that kind of country music this year in general, so maybe it'll click for me down the road. I was pretty enamored with Big Day in a Small Town back in 2016 and wrote a fair amount about it. There are 4-5 songs on that album that just knock me on my ass. That never happened with this one, but I'll revisit it at some point I'm sure.
     
    DaydreamNation likes this.
  15. Fair enough. I'm just happy to have gotten around to checking her out finally, great stuff
     
  16. Tomozaurus

    Regular

    Ok I think I am finally happy with this / convinced nothing else is going to come out I need to listen too.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. Nick

    @fangclubb Prestigious

    top 17-ish. no numbers or sorting, all are good.
    • Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
    • Dogleg - Melee
    • O'Brother - You and I
    • Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    • Hum - Inlet
    • Frances Quinlan - Likewise
    • Gleemer - Down Through
    • Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
    • Bdrmm - Bedroom
    • Dikembe - Muck
    • Coastlands - Death
    • Vasudeva - Generator
    • Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated Side B
    • Taylor Swift - folklore
    • Gladie - Safe Sins
    • Mansions - Big Bad
    • Svalbard - When I Die, Will I get Better?
     
  18. St. Nate

    من النهر إلى البحر Prestigious

    i dunno
     
  19. smowashere

    Trusted Supporter

    1. All Time Low – Wake Up, Sunshine
    2. The 1975 – Notes On A Conditional Form
    3. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
    4. Bartees Strange – Live Forever
    5. Enter Shikari – Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible
    6. The Front Bottoms – In Sickness & In Flames
    7. Touché Amoré – Lament
    8. Bombay Bicycle Club – Everything Else Has Gone Wrong
    9. Halsey - Manic
    10. BLACKSTARKIDS - Surf

    11. Run The Jewels – RTJ4
    12. Charli XCX – how I’m feeling now
    13. The Strokes – The New Abnormal
    14. IDLES – Ultra Mono
    15. Taylor Swift – folklore
    16.Told Slant – Point the Flashlight and Walk
    17. Seahaven – Halo of Hurt
    18. Cloud Nothings – The Black Hole Understands
    19. Everything Everything – Re-Animator
    20. Sylvan Esso – Free Love


    21. clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
    22. STRFKR – Future Past Life
    23. The Naked and Famous – Recover
    24. Silverstein – A Beautiful Place to Drown
    25. beabadoobee – Fake It Flowers
    26. Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
    27. Jónsí – Shiver
    28. Lauv – ~how I’m feeling~
    29. LANY – Mama’s Boy
    30. Childish Gambino – 3.15.20


    31. Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon III
    32. The Killers – Imploding the Mirage
    33. Car Seat Headrest – Making a Door Less Open
    34. Hum – Inlet
    35. Joji – Nectar
    36. July Talk – Pray for It
    37. Hayley Williams – Petals for Armor
    38. Jeff Rosenstock – NO DREAM
    39. Beach Bunny – Honeymoon
    40. I Am The Avalanche – Dive

    EPs:
    1. The Japanese House – Chewing Cotton Wool
    2. The Dangerous Summer – All That Is Left of the Blue Sky
    3. PUP – This Place Sucks Ass
    4. Local Natives – Sour Lemon
    5. Thunder Dreamer – Summer Sleeping
    6. Lowertown – Honeycomb, Bedbug



    SMO AOTY 2020 MiniMix, a playlist by Shane O'Donohue on Spotify
     
    Gianni28 and ComedownMachine like this.
  20. JM95

    Trusted

    I couldn't be bothered sequencing my top 20 this year - partly because it does feel a bit arbitrary, but also I'm lazy. So this isn't in any particular order, apart from Couch Slut possibly being a tentative first place.

    Couch Slut - Take A Chance On Rock 'n' Roll


    With a name like Couch Slut, you can't really expect an oblique album. But I didn't expect such a bleak album. Noisey, angry, jarring, visceral, vile, painful; frankly, at times, antagonistic. Megan's lyrics are staggeringly raw and unfiltered, and her delivery is a perfect match. A heavy noise-rock album without an inch of fat on it; it also understands how to incorporate different colours and ideas to make the attack even more devastating. The trumpet solo on I'm 14 is my favourite musical moment of 2020. And the whole album may be my favourite of 2020. The album title feels like a(n intentionally) perverse joke.

    Bohren And Der Club Of Gore - Patchouli Blue

    Ultra-slow, dark, brooding jazz. It's what Bohren do. The most beautiful, contemplative pieces for a feebly glimmering night. Gorgeous as usual.

    Deftones - Ohms

    One of the reasons, great songs aside, that I think this is better than the many Deftones-inspired records that have come out in 2020 (and a few of those are genuinely good) is that they're just so much better at bringing each member's personality out in the music. The Stef/Chino dynamic aside, this is the most synth-heavy record they've ever done (Pompeji for example), the bass lines hold everything firm whilst also being melodic - the bass on Ceremony almost feels like it's singing at times - and Abe Cunningham brings that hip-hop bounce and groove that elevates everything that bit further; another reason why they're better than all the bands that rip them off. See a track like Radiant City, with the way the tempo pushes forward slightly in the chorus, then pulls back in the verses to give it more weight. The production is colossal but really emphasises the raw, live element - no click track, slightly rawer vocal production at times, more focus on the low end. And while they're not reinventing themselves, it's still artistically so strong - the lyrics, even the song titles (e.g. calling such a romantic, almost worshipful, song 'The Spell Of Mathematics'), and bringing out a thrash riff as a texture in a gliding, new-wave inspired song (Urantia). Some of my favourite choruses of the year too - Ceremony is so good it basically has two different ones.

    Nils Frahm - Empty

    I think it's my most played album of the year. It's what Nils Frahm does; piano recordings that are so intimately produced, you feel like you're in the room while he's playing them. So much space. As silly as this always sounds - every note feels like it belongs. This is the album I put on at night.

    Code Orange - Underneath

    It's not a perfect album but it thrills me in a way that almost makes me feel that way. Not a bad song on here. Claustrophobic production aside, I'd be nitpicking to find too many faults. What's really great about Underneath is it still sounds like a band playing live - just put through a blender afterwards. I imagine there'll be a lot of 'nods' to this record from other bands in the coming years but I doubt whether any of them will be able to combine these glitchy and electronic elements as well, as rhythmically, and in such a viscerally exciting way as Code Orange do. Fantastic record.

    Roly Porter - Kistvaen

    The heaviest ambient record of the year and probably just the heaviest record of the year in general. A conceptual, though wordless, album about death, burial and ancient rituals surrounding those things (yeah...I know). Made up of a mixture of field recordings, acoustic and digitally created sounds, put together to form an incredibly immersive, dark and evocative album. People talk about how the sign of a great album is being able to spot new things months and years down the line; listen to this through headphones and I don't think you'll ever stop hearing new things. The most visceral, sensory album I've heard in a long time.

    DUMA - DUMA

    Hard to categorise this record. A fantastic primal, metallic, industrial, grind, noise album. Amazing production, a genuine sense of both horror and hollowness, with hauntingly filtered vocals that weave in and out. Pleasantly surprised to see it in quite a few critics end of year lists.

    Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

    I don't think any album this year nails its vision better than this one. It's not the easiest listen; in terms of the big, well-reviewed critical darlings of the year, it lacks the sonic warmth of Phoebe Bridgers, or the more obvious, in-your-face hooks of HAIM or Rina Sawayama. But it's so raw, so detailed and off-kilter at times lyrically, it builds upon rhythms in such an interesting 'DIY' way, and the hooks sink into you in a way that I can't remember another album doing - Robert Christgau, a critic I don't like generally, summed that aspect up really well in my opinion... "the music grows on you before you realize it because it’s not hooky in a hummy kind of way. Instead it’s beaty, clattering like nothing I can recall and hence hard to recall itself—you have to refer back to the record."

    Hum - Inlet

    The heaviest album they've ever made yet maybe the warmest too. Some of my favourite guitar tones ever. A colossal, beautiful sound; so huge yet so hollow. Matt's 'lifeless' vocals somehow suit Hum and I like that they're often pushed up a bit more on Inlet than on previous records. Desert Rambler is one of my favourite songs of the year, and The Summoning has my favourite riff of the year (the one that appears at 2:07 and again at 4:18)

    clipping. - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned

    I'm finding myself more drawn to dark, cinematic, spacious records recently and this album is one of the year's best. It took me a few listens - it didn't click as immediately as TEAATB - but I really like it now. A great companion piece to that record. The production is still clear and sharp, the industrial soundscapes still really evocative and chilling, and Daveed's clarity and flow is still ridiculous. Given how haunting the little motifs are, I often find them oddly beautiful. Great band.

    Nation Of Language - Introduction, Presence

    Spacey synthpop, with nice, clean drum production, great melodies through forlorn vocals. Hooks and melancholy - what more can you want? It is derivative but they get enough of their own personality in there and the songs are killer. Indignities is just fantastic - the dark guitar tones, playing off with the synth lines... yes please.

    Tony Allen - Rejoice

    A great, spacious jazz record, minimalist, with catchy hooks but done with such groove, subtlety and restraint. Each member is given their own space in the songs and in the mix. The drum production in particular is a work of art; everything sounds so clear and crisp, each drum perfectly given its own space and flipped from their usual position - snare in the right channel, with each tom moving across from right to left, rather than left to right. The whole thing feels effortless. Lovely album to have on in the background or through headphones. RIP Tony Allen and Hugh Makasela.

    Adeline Hotel - Solid Love

    Such a beautiful, tender album. My problem with this emotive indie-folk style is I often find it becomes a bit montonous, a bit too sentimental, and doesn't develop enough to retain my interest. This has so many little ideas, different 'colours'; subtle drumming, soft glimmering guitar riffs, piano flourishes, joined by other instruments sometimes for brief moments; none of these elements ever outstay their welcome and they always add something. Dan Knishkowy, the singer/songwriter, described it as "five people with loud playing personalities, playing as quietly as possible", and that really comes across. Rythmically, it also feels great - nuanced, interesting, with a lovely, subtle swing at times too. Really like this record.

    Nicolas Jaar - Cenizas

    The album cover really summarises this album perfectly for me; introspective, minimalist, lots of space. I've read it described as an 'abyss' and I like that; in a way, it often seems like it isn't going anywhere but it forces you to settle in and let it take over. Gocce, for example, could be genuinely annoying but for some reason the quick, chaotic bursts on the piano and the other instruments feel just right.

    Caspian - On Circles

    Huge, beautiful, heavy, melodic. One of the best rock albums of the year. The vocals that enter on Nostalgist kill the vibe for me a bit but other than that, this is really good. Wildblood is still my highlight; that song is monumental.

    Dave Grubbs & Taku Unami - Comet Meta

    Lots of space. Similar to Nils Frahm in that it feels like every note has a purpose. Emotive guitar interplay and harmonising on some songs; others are haunting, slow piano pieces. None of the 'artificial' dynamics of normal post-rock albums. Beautiful, melancholy record.

    Urlaub In Polen - All

    I guess this is the more experimental side of krautrock? The rhythm section is often really locked in but there's lots of ambient, spacey guitars and synths, which means it feels big but never floats away or loses momentum. The various different filtered vocals genuinely feel like an additional instrument. And a song like The Witcher feels heavier than most metal bands nowadays.

    Touche Amore - Lament

    Raw, heartfelt and never comes across as mawkish. Ross Robinson's production is EXACTLY what I wanted it to be on this record too. He always seeks to capture performance and I think here he nails the balance between the rawness and the nuanced melody and atmosphere.

    Bob Mould - American Crisis

    I love it when angry albums are also fun as hell. It's a very starkly political album and, truth be told, it's not that aspect that I personally care for that much - it's more the emotion behind it, the energy, the hooks. It just goes the fuck off. A great guitar-heavy pop rock/punk album. Picking a favourite song is really difficult but Forecast Of Rain is fantastic.

    Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA

    I'm not a fan of the 'genre-smashing' bands of recent years, like Sleep Token and Poppy. They generally leave me cold to be honest. I think Rina Sawayama does it in a much more cohesive and natural way. More personality, huge undeniable pop hooks, better songs in general...and that laugh on 'STFU' that transitions smoothly into a sung note is so badass. Not one-paced - see, for example, the tempo change-ups in the run from 'Akasaka Sad', into 'Paradisin'', into 'Love Me 4 Me'. Deserving of its praise.
     
    Toner, duffe, Gianni28 and 5 others like this.
  21. PauLo

    43% Burnt

    Damn, there was a new Roly Porter album this year? Need to check that out, completely missed that.
     
    JM95 likes this.
  22. Nate_Johnson

    CCRN, MSN Prestigious

    Code Orange was dethroned?! Couch Slut is a very worthy opponent though.
     
    JM95 likes this.
  23. JM95

    Trusted

    Haha depending on the day or my mood, it could be one of about four or five, Code Orange being one of them. Partly why I didn't order my list. Lyrically and musically, the Couch Slut record provokes such a response in me though.
     
  24. marioeatworld

    Keep on moving. Busy street.

    Here's my list :)

    1. R.A.P. Ferreira - purple moonlight pages
    2. Jeff Rosenstock - NO DREAM
    3. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
    4. Hayley Williams - Petals For Armor
    5. The Front Bottoms - In Sickness & In Flames
    6. Taylor Swift - Folklore
    7. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    8. Charli XCX - How I'm Feeling Now
    9. Run the Jewels - Run The Jewels 4
    10. AJJ - Good Luck Everybody
    11. Open Mike Eagle - Anime, Trauma and Divorce
    12. clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned
    13. Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated Side B
    14. dogleg - Melee
    15. Beach Bunny - Honeymoon
    16. Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone
    17. The Mountain Goats - Getting Into Knives
    18. Nana Grizol - South Somewhere Else
    19. Poppy - I Disagree
    20. Touché Amoré - Lament
    21. Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
    22. Car Seat Headrest - Making A Door Less Open
    23. Idles - Ultra Mono
    24. Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG
    25. The Mountain Goats - Songs for Pierre Chuvin
     
  25. jdr2187

    jdr2187

    Enjoyed the little write ups.
     
    JM95 and Nate_Johnson like this.