____twoism

The Telepathic Kid wrote:dude check out Microcastle and Halcyon Digest, the latter in particular is one of the best records of the past decade (in my opinion)

Beautiful albums. I can't get into the latest one though. I have the same problem with the new Tame Impala and UMO. They seem to have all lost a bit of edge.


My favourite albums of the year:

Teeth Of The Sea - Highly Deadly Black Tarantula
Cat's Eyes - Duke Of Burgundy soundtrack
Disasterpice - it Follows soundtrack
Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh
Various Artists - The Delaware Road soundtrack



It has been the Year Of The Creepy Soundtrack.

The Telepathic Kid wrote:dude check out Microcastle and Halcyon Digest, the latter in particular is one of the best records of the past decade (in my opinion)

I can only second what TTK has said here. Both great albums. Halcyon Digest is really that good!

IanRedpoint wrote:

The Telepathic Kid wrote:dude check out Microcastle and Halcyon Digest, the latter in particular is one of the best records of the past decade (in my opinion)

I can only second what TTK has said here. Both great albums. Halcyon Digest is really that good!

Thanks, I'll check these out asap.

FortonServices wrote: I can't get into the latest one though. I have the same problem with the new Tame Impala and UMO. They seem to have all lost a bit of edge.

I dug the new Tame Impala, but it was a slight disappointment. I understand the change, though, as they had to progress so they didn't get stale. I thought Parker could have experimented more with the synthetic sound which he chose to colour the record with.
Tracks like Past Life and the various interludes (Nangs & Disciples) showed what he could do if he tried not necessarily create a pop song per say, but more push the envelope on what a song could be.
I wanted more experimentations of structure and ideas, like I loved how on past records he'd write pop songs which would veer off into jams while still being incredibly structured (Remember, Kevin recorded Keep On Lying entirely by himself, every note there is intentional and planned), or just not hang on the pop song structure.
Currents is a very well written, but very standard pop record, with all of the positives and negatives which come with a pop record.

On the other hand, I feel the new UMO is their strongest work yet, and at only 9 tracks, not a single one of them is a dud.
It's funkier, livelier, and has more energy than anything I've heard from the project.
I also feel the record has stronger song writing and is more impressive on the production side, with more layers and intricacies than ever before.

Definitely have made it a conscious effort to listen to more new albums these past few years, so I had tons to choose from. Here's my top 25 and a couple honorable mentions / things that came out too late for me to really absorb them but are still good.

1. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
2. The Mountain Goats - Beat the Champ
3. Anti-Flag - American Spring
4. Dance Gavin Dance - Instant Gratification
5. Airospace - All Dreams End
6. milo - so the flies don't come
7. Emancipator - Seven Seas
8. Vivians - Vivians
9. Laura Stevenson - Cocksure
10. Long Arm - Kellion / The Stories Of A Young Boy
11. Clear Soul Forces - Fab Five
12. Ott - Fairchildren
13. Tonik Ensemble - Snapshots
14. Hop Along - Painted Shut
15. Veil Of Maya - Matriarch
16. Botany - Dimming Awe, the Light is Raw
17. Anthony Raneri - Sorry State of Mind
18. Open Mike Eagle - A Special Episode Of
19. Pawcut - Maverick
20. Cotton Claw - Volutes
21. Enter Shikari - The Mindsweep
22. Scallops Hotel - Plain Speaking
23. Woob - Adaption
24. Lucid Optics - SADLIBS
25. [MIIIIM] - [MIIIIM]

Honorable mentions

Cavanaugh - Time & Materials
L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae - The Night Took Us In LIke Family
Nym - Convex
Shigeto - Intermission
Various Artists - One on Twoism Volume 6
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman - Lice

Top Three...
Sweet Boys - Foible Pangs
Morti Viventear - Trip de boucles piquées
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

The rest...
Ghost Culture - Ghost Culture
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
Steve Hauschildt - Where All Is Fled
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
Ekoplekz - Reflekzionz
Nils Frahm - Solo
Tame Impala - Currents
Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs
Panda Bear - Meets the Grim Reaper
Joanna Newsom - Divers
Viet Cong - Viet Cong

The length of your lists seriously remind me just how out of touch I am with newer music. Of everything new to me this year, I can only think of six off the top of my head that were released this year I properly listened to: Sweet Boys debut, the Any Colour You Like (corrected) debut, Cupz' house release, Garden of Delete by OPN, Beat the Champ by The Mountain Goats and Money Shot by Puscifer.

I've of course also listened to the new One on Twoism, which has more than a handful of very good tracks, but seeing as that's something I'm on and a compilation, it's kind of in its own different mental category to me.

So yeah, I'm going to have to say those six I named are probably what I enjoyed the most seeing as everything else never got more than one or two listens and I can't really judge them. Personally, nothing quite mind blowing to me this year. Some great tunes but no major game changers (same as the last few years and incidentally how I feel about almost every Mountain Goats release since Heretic Pride).

Always love these lists as a starting point to retrospectively hoover up anything I've missed. Keep em coming guys!

I finally heard an album from this year that I really care about, so my AOTY for 2015 so far is El estilo errante by Los Niños. It may not be a full-length, but it's something. I've been listening to their debut album so much ever since it was released, so this album is extremely exciting for me. The new Current 93 album should be out just days before the year ends, so that'll probably end up being my true favorite of the year.

Edit:
This is obviously excluding AE_LIVE, which was absolutely incredible, but I don't really count it since it isn't a studio album. deejay selek was also probably my favorite Aphex released this decade, but it also doesn't count since the tracks were all made last decade.

IanRedpoint wrote:Top Three...
Morti Viventear - Trip de boucles piquées

Thank you my good sir!

Can I just say
Floating Points - Elaenia
Is absolutely terrific
I definitely recommend it

Get To Heaven - Everything Everything
Panda Bear vs Grim Reaper
Drones - Muse
Matador - Gaz Coombes
Architect - C Duncan
Yume - Helios
Dead Planet - Eat Static
The Mindsweep - Enter Shikari
Technicians Of The Sacred - Ozric Tentacles
Hand Cannot Erase - Steven Wilson

Peacock Tail wrote:Get To Heaven - Everything Everything
Panda Bear vs Grim Reaper
Drones - Muse
Matador - Gaz Coombes
Architect - C Duncan
Yume - Helios
Dead Planet - Eat Static
The Mindsweep - Enter Shikari
Technicians Of The Sacred - Ozric Tentacles
Hand Cannot Erase - Steven Wilson

I totally forgot Yume in my list. such an amazing album. Absolutely love it.

In no order.

Yume - Helios
New Clear Dawn - Any Color You Like
Fairchildren - Ott
My Love is Cool - Wolf Alice
One On Twoism Vol 6!

heres some of my favs including notabl traks (- means by)

16 fallen gods - slashing cousin / t: ascend
15 lost themes - john carpenter / t: vortex
14 beyond belief - mark mcguire / t: the past presents the future
13 foam island - darkstar / t: stoke the fire
12 lingua franca - len leise / t: forlorn fields
11 spiraling - trash daemon / t: spiraling 2
10 captain of none - colleen / t: captain of none
9 expanding flower planet - deradoorian / t: your creator
8 panda bear meets the grim reaper - panda bear / t: selfish gene
7 just sayin - onewerd / t: slow down
6 garden of delete - oneohtrix point never / t: lift
5 into - vinyl williams / t: greatest lives
4 visions - jupiter jax / t: the light
3 magical magical - cass / t: atlon
2 gliss riffer - dan deacon / t: when i was done dying
1 user48736353001 - aphex twin / t: 14 07 B

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
Kamasi Washington - The Epic

I will definitely forget some albums, but I enjoyed (in no particular order):

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm goin down
Vince Staples - Summertime '06
D'angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
Arca - Mutant
Alex G - Beach Music
Panda Bear - Panda Bear Vs. The Grim Reaper
Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
Jamie xx - In Colour

I *must* listen to the whole Kendrick Lamar album.

I used to be such a massive hip hop fan but haven't heard anything for ages which grabbed me. Tellingly until I heard King Kunta, the last hip hop tune I heard that I really loved was a couple of years ago & by Busta Rhymes & Q Tip, so none more '90s. But I've loved everything I've heard from ...Butterfly.

A_Northern_Soul wrote:I *must* listen to the whole Kendrick Lamar album.

I used to be such a massive hip hop fan but haven't heard anything for ages which grabbed me. Tellingly until I heard King Kunta, the last hip hop tune I heard that I really loved was a couple of years ago & by Busta Rhymes & Q Tip, so none more '90s. But I've loved everything I've heard from ...Butterfly.

Absolutely. It's easily my #1 of the year.

Definite kudos to both Beach House albums, Courtney Barnett, Tame Impala, Kamasi Washington, Father John Misty, Hiatus Kaiyote, (!!!), Blessed Feathers, Grimes, Sleater-Kinney as well.. Damn fine year!

TTK, I see we still have just about the same taste, even if I've been gone from the forums for a few months..

Man I completely missed the new Foals album as well, just discovered it the last few days.

It is fucking amazing.