I know I'm late but these are my favorites of 2016
1. Zonkey | Umphrey's McGee
2. The Getaway | Chili Peppers
3. Wild Style | Robots With Rayguns
4. Brighter Future | Big Gigantic
5. The Psychedelic Swamp | Dr. Dog
I saw them live at Unsound and really enjoyed Tooth more with a live drummer (who I believe has been added to the band as a regular now), but since going back to the album the songs sound flat and stubborn in their pursuit of minimalism: the percussion on the album is pushed so far back in the mix all I hear now is "negative space" where the live drummer kicked the shit out of it. I don't feel like it would have sacrificed what they were trying to achieve and would've made each of the tracks stand on their own instead of blending in to a leitmotif.
I get what you're saying, the live version does indeed sound fuller, but I'm ok with the studio version: while the drums have a lighter touch the bassline is more prominent and overall it sounds more like a post-rock album than an electronic album, which I think was the intended feeling. The minimalism is there even in the live version (as a side note I liked a lot that they retained their minimalism and their use of non-electronic sounds but in a completely different way compared to the first album).
I do understand that the dislike of production choice can sometimes significatively impact the enjoyment of an album... I could make some examples too.
Fucking fantastic list. Did you listen to the efforts put forth last year by Yussef Kamaal, Tangents, 75 Dollar Bill, Peter Mannerfelt, Botany, Tomaga, Nicolas Jaar, Ash Koosha, and Kristoffer Lo?
Thanks, unfortunately I did not listen to that many new albums the past year (although that was more a choice than a time contraint), so a lot of stuff including Yussel Kamaal, Ash Koosha and Nicolas Jaar was on my "to listen" list and stayed there all year. Never heard of the other ones! (I might check them out one day...)
Damn I missed it, really thought it'd be open until the end of the month at least, doesn't really give people a lot of time to catch up on anything they missed and revisit things.
Damn I missed it, really thought it'd be open until the end of the month at least, doesn't really give people a lot of time to catch up on anything they missed and revisit things.
I'm with Des. Came here ready to copy and paste my rap list, only to find out voting already ended. We're not professional music critics. We're not getting paid to have albums sent to us early. It's Servbot's thread of course so whatever they say goes.
Have you heard the EP she put out, "Bury Your Name"? I'd only listened to Strangers maybe once or twice before the voting deadline and it didn't really do anything for me until listening to it more afterwards. The EP on the other hand instantly clicked with me and I actually prefer it to Strangers. Would have made my top 25 if I'd heard it before voting closed.
I'm with Des. Came here ready to copy and paste my rap list, only to find out voting already ended. We're not professional music critics. We're not getting paid to have albums sent to us early. It's Servbot's thread of course so whatever they say goes.
To be honest, there's so much music output in a year that there's simply never 'enough time' to really extensively listen to everything that might be in line with my taste. Just like every year I'm still discovering new albums from last year by scanning other people's lists. If I would have listened to Klangstof before I submitted my list they would have ended up on it. Now they didn't. At some point you just have to draw a line and just make a list, otherwise you can wait till the summer and you will still discover new things you've missed during the year.
The goal of EOY lists isn't really to form a complete list. You would need a decade to listen to and evaluate everything for a single year. There's certainly a ton I didn't get a chance to hear. EOY lists are typically just a reflection of what you enjoyed.
