I like it - the first three tracks, "Lavatory Lil", "Deep Deep Feeling", "Slidin'", "The Kiss of Venus" - that's a strong core right there and well over half of the album.
Not that it sounds like you'd agree about those all being highlights.
I wish he'd have just died in January, honestly. I LOVE his music and have enjoyed exploring deeper and deeper into his catalog over the last ten years. I saw him in 2018 and it blew my tepid expectations away. But fuck him, these guys are sad, pathetic, walking corpses who do harm every day they draw breath. What a couple of old jokes.
Eh, I felt like a basic, old square trying to find anything enjoyable or even that felt like music to me in Cezinas.
The new AAL, which I was stoked for going in because of how much I loved the first one, shifted too far from what I liked about 2012-2017.
I didn't listen more than once to whatever the other one was, so maybe it warrants a revisit, but it definitely didn't leave any kind of positive impression on me.
His set at P4K 2017 was lots of fun, though. I liked a good chunk of Sirens that year, too.
Voidz can be that way. I liked them from the first album, but I took a couple friends to see them play a small show at the Boot & Saddle (RIP...thanks 2020) in Philly during that summer residency the Voidz did in NY & Philly on the last album cycle.
Said friend wasn't feeling the (more accessible!) Virtue, but went because it was Julian in a 100-capacity venue. A couple days after the show, he told me he'd been all about the album since and that seeing them made it click.
It was fun realizing years later, when I started actively listening to Prince, that I had actually liked one of his songs since I was like 6. "Party Man" forever!
Kendrick of course, yes.
MMJ of course if you know me, yes (first NEW new content since 2015! both Waterfalls were amazing!)
Madlib/Four Tet (how is that not higher?)
Definitely curious about The Cure (one of the only Top 20 ones that I'm somewhat excited about :( )
Funky St Vincent
Denzel Curry (is this the year he makes an album I like as much as I always like his features? For that matter, can Schoolboy Q put out an album on level with his 2020 features rather than his last album?)
Parquet Courts (can they continue to keep getting better? ps that 10th Anniversary stream kicked so much ass)
Tierra Whack (like Four Tet/Madlib, how is this not even higher? She's on commercials, this will presumably her most proper album yet, she rocks, etc)
Rihanna (after all this time? Hell yeah I'm curious to see what she comes with)
QotSA
Those aren't the only ones, but they're the ones that most excite me right now.
I had a huge debate with a friend recently about Punisher and Saint Cloud - not about which is better, but whether or not they're similar albums in feel and content.He loves both artists but is super into Phoebe lately; she bores me, but I love Saint Cloud, which is my favorite Waxahatchee and in my 2020 Top 3.
Any thoughts? I (and my bias shows, disclaimer) feel like S.C. is vibrant, organic, feels like a collaboration between skilled professional musicians playing together in a room. Punisher seems muted, introverted, like something made by one person locked in a room during a grey winter.
Now, Phoebe Bridgers fans probably won't love that breakdown, but even if I loved both albums, I still don't think they feel at all alike (despite very similar runtimes and track numbers).
Nice! I was getting sad that it felt like not a single review, blurb, or online comment about the album mentioned it, when I loved it on impact. The little pseudo-yodel she applies to some of the lines - mwuah!
A bit bummed to see none of the Khruangbin singles make the song list; "So We Won't Forget" was my SotY so obviously I was pulling for that, but I would have been happy with "Time (You and I)" since that seemed to be the bigger single. Conversely, I knew there was no way my album pick of The Waterfall II stood any chance in Hell, lol.
Hurray Strokes, RtJ, and Waxhatchee!
I wish I'd made "Walking in the Snow" my RtJ song pick though now that I see it's the one that made the list (and I had already considered it for my pick).
I've been a bit surprised during year-end season at how much it seems like everyone's favorite track from Saint Cloud is "Fire"; I know literally nobody else in the world except me though "Hell" was a standout, but I thought "Lilacs" would be the one getting the nod. All great tracks in any case!
I really dislike the recent trend of super long rollouts like this and Tame Impala had for The Slow Rush. Both nearly killed my enthusiasm for the albums...I guess it was telling that The Avalanches finally dropped something awesome ("Take Care in Your Dreaming") late in the cycle and wound up being the album I like a lot more of the two.
In any case, chill with the extended release cycles, Aussies!
I don't think there's any way I'll like it more than Wildflower, my hot-take favorite Avalanches album, but then again I didn't know just how deeply I'd wind up bonding with and loving that album in the first couple of weeks after it dropped (it took a while for the back end to click).
It has definitely exceeded my expectations, which had gotten pretty low by summer, though, and is hovering just outside my Top 10-12. The only single I still don't like is "Running Red Lights."
Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans was my #1.
Also really liked the Caribou, Autechre's SIGN, and Darkside's live album (as much as Jaar's new studio stuff consistently didn't connect for me this year). The Dan Deacon was pretty standard Dan Deacon, but that means it had a few really good tracks and a lot of listenable fluff, which is fine, too.
OH! If it counts, Chance デラソウル's Besides played like an awesome, fun mashup of Avalanches & Girl Talk.
S/T is maybe the definitive/most "St Vincent" St Vincent album, but it's middle of the road for me in her discog. Which is still not a bad place to be.
MASSEDUCTION is still, I'm pretty sure, my favorite. And not for lack of other strong options (AND I'm not usually the guy who loves when favorite artists go synth-crazy).
I thought it was pretty bad. I don't have any issue with him being happy about his life on it, I'm happy for the guy. But most of those songs just didn't have it, IMO. It felt like a colossal failure, plain and simple.
But he's 3/4 on albums if we count Surf, which I think is my favorite project he was heavily involved with, so I'm not one of the people just writing him off for one dud.
Great full-album listen. I don't see myself liking it more than Wildflowers, but I like that it shares the positive, flowing feel that album excelled in. And hey, I took a while to fully embrace the back end of that album and now I love it so who knows where I'll be with We Will Always Love You in a couple of months. "Wherever You Go" is probably my favorite of the ones I hadn't already heard, and "Take Care In Your Dreaming" is still my favorite overall.
Also, I got a goofy grin on my face when Kurt Vile popped up with his first few years at the top of "Gold Sky" - hearing him outside of his usual universe/sound was cool.
This is going to come off like I don't appreciate the core guys, which isn't true, but I was happiest to see "Shoot Sideways", "Lemon", and "327" on there because these guys brought out the best in a very nice selection of established favorites. Q's hook on "Shoot Sideways" is huge and that Meth verse on "Lemon" is a blast every time I hear it.
Well, is it really a country album? Maybe n album of Appalachian instrumentals (mostly) should go on the country list, but I feel like there's an easy path for explaining why they left it off.
I was surprised they completely left off Stapleton, too. I think the album is a mixed bag and he takes himself a bit too seriously, but when he's on, he sings the Hell out of a song (and there were some quality tunes on there for sure).
And I also agree the Isbell album is on the overrated side, but that's how I always wind up feeling about his music - it comes out, I enthusiastically listen and try to embrace it, and then by year's end I'm ready to accept that something about his music just fails to connect with me beyond the odd song here and there. I like that he's out there doing his thing and that people respond, I just wished I liked more songs per album.
So many great RtJ options, btw - JU$T, Holy Calamafuck, Ooh La La, Walking in the Snow. And I know everyone loves "A Few Words..." (I do, too, for that matter), but I kinda prefer the very slept-on "Pull the Pin".
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