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1 Burial - Rival Dealers 2 Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus 7 3 Tim Hecker - Virgins 4 DJ Rashad - Double Cup, IDGAF EP & Rollin' EP 5 CFCF - Outside 6 Julia Holter - Loud City Song 7 Bill Callahan - Dream River 8 Kanye West - Yeezus 9 My Bloody Valentine - MBV 10 Tape Loop Orchestra - In a Lonely Place @RaptorJesus - Man do I love that Dirty Beaches album, so so much, but it is too painful to listen to now and I haven't been able to without breaking down, for 7 months - so I haven't been able to fully collect my thoughts on it but it's probably #0. A truly transcendent musical effort.

Bro, Beyonce ~IS~ Burial http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1049/9u5q.jpg

Never really been around much yet for years I somehow became entrenched in the chaotic-yet-occasionally-caring community fostered here (having gone as far as meeting RaptorJesus - real cool dude btw, hope he don't hate me), so because I'm not going to be around any more (online, though no-one cares and I'm being a melodramatic ass posting this) I just wanted to give my thanks, so thanks. lol. and because ima self-centered, impatient fool here's my top 15 of the year: 1 R Plus 7 - Oneohtrix Point Never 2 Virgins - Tim Hecker 3 Double Cup - DJ Rashad 4 Outside - CFCF 5 Loud City Song - Julia Holter 6 Dream River - Bill Callahan 7 Yeezus - Kanye West 8 MBV - My Bloody Valentine 9 Our Nation - Shine 2009 10 In a Lonely Place - Tape Loop Orchestra 11 A Chance of Rain - Laurel Halo 12 Amygdala - DJ Koze 13 In Transit - Recycled Culture 14 The Man Who Died in his Boat - Grouper 15 The Knight's Gambit - KA Peace, Love <3 - Sloth

I'm not that into rock music, even though I really enjoy the No Age album from this week (though I would place that more among an outsider purview due to its excellent use of texture and shifting of traditional notions of rock instruments to inhabit other roles - bass as melody, bass as percussion, guitar feedback as strings, etc) my favorite of this week - and top 5 of the year - is Loud City Song, it's just a beautiful album that focuses all of Julia's wily avant-garde tendencies into a cohesive experience.

Your and Gabe's departures have worked to remind me - against all my fighting to remain ignorant to it - that I've gotten older. It's crazy that I've been reading this website for 8 years; my life has been change by my exposure to it, I've made incredible friends through the Videogum community - I still remember the day Scott announced it, unfathomable to think where I've ended up now all because of a music blog. I was 15 when I started reading, I remember that dude (though I do too much mythologizing of that period) - I remember trying to stream some Shins song on my gen 1 sony vaio off sub dial-up cable internet (we were poor). Maybe it's my time to move on too, lol jk. Thanks for everything, lookin forward to Revolt <3 -Sloth

Ultimately while Earl is - and I have no qualms calling him this, tho it might be stretching - a genius, with a singular style (a style already inspiring imitators - who don't even come close *GLARES AT MAC MILLER*) he is not a good songwriter, or at least one to elongate his ideas into fully conceived songs, most of the songs on his first release were 1-2 minutes long and the ones solely featuring him here are around 2:00 (save for Chum, tho that's due to the extended outro). At straight spitting he's masterful, (and even though I hate talking about what an album could've been... a simple 12 track album with 2 minute straight spitting songs and maybe 3 guest spots would've been great). The spittin villain, -Sloth

I feel like the guest verses ruin what should've been (and is in the case of most of Earl's verses here) an introspective and insular experience. Though on second though they could work to ground the album, whereas Earl is concerned with his experience, and there are other things happening outside of that.

Similarly on a lot of the tracks featuring guest (except: Hive) he is the second one to rap.

Reminds me more of Julee Cruise Nightmare-Neo-Noir lounge stuff, shit rocks regardless.

I mean as far as neo-lite-brite psychedelia goes this is far more nuance than the last Tame Impala album despite it appearing simple, which is why it ultimately works, there's a lot going on here between the channels--its simplicity a fraud giving way to superb sound design; or whatever B|

SAME AS IT EVER WAS

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down Letting the days go by, water flowing underground Into the blue again, after the money's gone

THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL WIFEEEEEEEEEEEEE

This place - the commenters and its community; and you for bringing us together - saved my life in 2010, so thanks. <3 Sloth

OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN I've always repped these dudes, solid tunes, solid #vibes! Really excited for this album especially because of this song, seems like they're stripping away more and more with each release, (this might be sacrilege) but they might beat Deerhunter on the dark 60's vibe.

IMMA LET YOU FINISH BUT WINTER IS THE MOST DEPRESSING AND LONELIEST SEASON THO, MAYBE IT'S OVERRATED (AND CLICHED AND OVERPLAYED [LIKE A LOT OF THESE SONGS OOOOOHHHHHH]) AND YOU'RE TRYING TO SUBVERT ITS MEANING BUT I'LL STICK TO BEING DEPRESSED IN WINTER!!!

Meh, again a bunch of white people co-opting black people's music, jk y'all lol <3 bye

Yeah, I haven't even listened to their last 2 albums and I barely listened to Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust but ( ) has such a hold in my life from my history with it, though I feel like I need to be in such a super-specific Sigur Ros mood to enjoy their music, like I can't just put it on and vibe to it, I need to need it. but yeah Agaetis and ( ) are pretty perfect, I love them, they help me remember my younger (more melodramatic) self - and for the comfort they provided me I will always be grateful.

YUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Nahhhh Loveless is my favorite album and that hit me almost immediately emotionally. It wasn't the music that was being difficult it was me, I was scared, angry - I was thinking of it like Loveless, I wanted it to be Loveless - in an emotional sense, in the way that Loveless comforted me when I was younger (in the way that it reminds me NOW how foolish I was), and then if it wasn't the same - how do I feel about that, like I've been betrayed. I know that's a selfish sentiment but I'm a selfish person and I listen to music selfishly. So at first, the album started - I was at work the night of the main fervor for its release, waiting (insatiable) - and because I was so used to the sonic language of Loveless, of understanding it completely I was sorta disgusted. Haha. and that colored the rest of the listen, then barely finishing the album. I kept listening and listening found sparks of what I found so enthralling in Loveless - similar emotional motifs - and then came to terms with them moving forward; and respected it much more so. I've grown up - I've gotten over my juvenilia, my (self-imposed) solitude, much of what Loveless has come to represent for me, of being (lol) unloved for a lot of my life. Of music being my love - so why couldn't my favorite band also grow up, move forward.