Year End Best Album Lists

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nghst
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Year End Best Album Lists

Post by nghst »

Metacritic.com has collected many top ten lists from the music world. And Nothing Hurt got 4th best in Uncut Magazine and 9th best in Mojo Magazine. :D
nghst
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by nghst »

Consequence of Sound gave And Nothing Hurt 10th best album of the year.
endsprings
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by endsprings »

Should definitely be number 1.
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stegraham
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by stegraham »

Well, I know this thread was started to look at what other people where saying about the best albums of 2018. We usually do a forum best of at the tail end of the year, so might as well start off here? I gotta admit I'm not sure if And Nothing Hurts is my fav album of the year - I've got 5 albums which are all in the top spot. Any road - here goes:

V - Wooden Shjips
Meadow Sweet - Chatham Rise
And Nothing Hurts - Spiritualized
Dean Wareham vs Cheval Sombre
Innerland - Mark Peters
The Shadow People - The Limiñanas
All Good Wishes - Gulp
Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe
Masana Temples - Kikagaku Moyo
Black Heaven - Earthless

There's no particular order, but the first 5 are deffo my top 5 of the year. Each one a cracker. There's also been some good compilations too:

State of the Union: the American dream in crisis 1967-73
C89
PWEI Box Set
The Triple Threat - Brisk Mix (Kniteforce records)

Looking at next year, there already looks to be some decent releases in the pipe line: Steve Mason, Dandy Warhols, BJM and Cheval Sombre (please!).

Ste
flokie
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by flokie »

I'd definitely be curious to see some of people's lists here :)
I just haven't been paying attention at all this year! I certainly enjoyed albums by the Wooden Shjips and Gwenno a lot but I'd struggle to make a decent list. And hoping to catch up on what I've missed over the holiday.
Billy Whizz
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by Billy Whizz »

This site collects loads of end of year lists. And Nothing Hurt is in 19 on there. Here's a list of the publications and the positions.

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/11 ... all&y=2018
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johnnyboy
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by johnnyboy »

Some favourite albums of mine this year have been:

John Johanna - I'll Be Ready When The Great Day Comes
Alabaster dePlume - The Corner Of A Sphere
Oh Sees - Smote Reverser
Beak> - >>>
Amen Dunes - Freedom
Dylan Carlson - Conquistador
angelsighs
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by angelsighs »

not sure if 2018 was a vintage year, i'd struggle to get a top 10 together although that may be a reflection of my inability to keep up with new releases.

honestly think And Nothing Hurt may be my #1, not just because it's a 'return to form' of sorts but in sheer number of listens it got around these parts, its gotta be up there.

albums I also enjoyed:

Sunwatchers - II (another superb mixture of jazz, punk, drone and world music, really love this band)
Daniel Bachman- The Morning Star (a new discovery for me, always been into the American Primitive style of fingerstyle guitar but he mixes it with drones which is even more up my street)
Meg Baird & Mary Lattimore - Ghost Forests (droney folk with lots of harp and a gorgeous cover of a traditional folk song)
Dylan Carlson - Conquistador

perusing the various albums of the year lists has also caused me to investigate Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Fire!, and Szun Waves.
stegraham
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by stegraham »

oh yes, I also enjoyed the Belle & Sebastian one, Primal Scream new/old version of their 4th long player and Vive La Void, but .....

not that keen on:

Les Big Byrd - Iran Iraq Ikea: great single (I Little more numb), but thought the rest of the album was a bit dull really

The Lucid Dream - Actualisation: this got rave reviews, but I find it very underwhelming and dare I say, boring! They are getting priased for mixing up guitars and "rave", but surely this isn't anything new or revolutionary - it's been going on for over 30 years! Maybe it comes across better live?

Eels - Deconstruction: maybe I've got all the Eels albums I need? Maybe it's really good, but for me it's just much of the same.

The Hanging Stars - Songs somewhere else: just abit twee and country for me. I know... what did I expect!?

Gaz Coombes - World's Strongest Man: bring back Supergrass! nuff said!
olan
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by olan »

I think 2018 was a relatively weak year for music in general and psyche in particular. In no particular order here are my favourite LPs of last year:

Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth
Cavern of Anti-Matter: Hormone Lemonade
Primal Scream: Give Out But Don't Give Up - The Original Memphis Recordings
Electric Moon: Live In Cosmos
Spiritualized: And Nothing Hurt
Low: Double Negative
Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is Reptile
Charles Mingus: Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden
Dean Wareham Vs Cheval Sombre
Asteroid #4: Collide

There were some superb reissues this year though. The Felt back catalogue was really sensitively handled, as were the This Mortal Coil reissues. A quick mention for the new pressing of Alpha Stone's Stereophonic Pop Art Music with additional material which arrived very recently but is a 2018 release.
mc
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by mc »

Better late than never for me ;) My list is somewhat provisional given there's a few 2018 releases I'm still very keen to hear, but this is what I've got so far (alphabetical order):

A Forest Of Stars - Grave Mounds & Grave Mistakes
Belle & Sebastian - How To Solve Our Human Problems
Brian Eno - Music For Installations
Daniel Bachman - The Morning Star
Dub Surgeon - Lost Future
Dylan Carlson - Conquistador
Erland Cooper - Solan Goose
Erland Cooper & William Doyle - Murmurations
Grouper - Grid Of Points
Hannah Peel - Particles In Space
Harmony Rockets - Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos
Heart Of Snake - Heart Of Snake
Ivar Bjornson & Einar Selvijk - Hugsjá
Jenny Hval - The Long Sleep E.P / Lost Girls - Feeling
Julia Holter - Aviary
KGD - Peaking
Kode9 & Burial - FabricLive 100
R.E.M. - Live At The BBC
Sleep - The Sciences
Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
Stuart A. Staples - Arrythmia
Urthona - Destruction Rules

I still need to get and/or digest albums by Alice Coltrane, Alexander Tucker, Bruce Springsteen, Helena Hauff, Kamasi Washington, Pendant, Skee Mask, Sons Of Kemet, Sophie, U.S. Girls, Yves Tumour and probably plenty more ;)

Special mentions must go to Dylan Carlson's latest doom-country epic, Erland Cooper's ambient birdlife meditations, Harmony Rockets' pastoral psych, Heart Of Snake's doom-folk, KGD's astonishing analogue drones and Urthona's genuinely beautiful take on Sunn O)))-esque drone metal. Stuart A. Staples' solo album is a joy to behold - three lyrical songs that rival Tindersticks at their finest, then one 30-minute long instrumental for an art installation that plays like an extended tribute to Miles Davis' "In A Silent Way".

Oh yes, Spiritualized released an album too ;)

Long story short (and I really didn't think I'd be saying this six months ago), "And Nothing Hurt" is definitely my album of the year. It continues the "classic" songwriting direction Jason has set himself on (a direction I've often wished he'd abandon) but finally he's combined it with some of the classic Spz tropes I adore. They're nothing major taken individually, but the subtle burblings and drones and tremeloes underpinning this album make it the best thing he's done since LICD at least. Most of all, J's finally brought back those magnificent keyboard/synth tones that made Kate Radley such an integral part of early Spz, and also added new sounds to the mix as well.
The analogue synths on Let's Dance, On The Sunshine & The Morning After add so much to the songs, and the latter two feature such unusual (for Spz) chord changes I still can't help but smile when I hear them four months later (I love the Stereolab-esque tones and Electric Mainline-like meandering guitar line in OTS in particular).

For once, even the moments of excess (40 bars for the instrumental break in Damaged!!!) and occasionally clunky lyrics (Feel like I'm living/feel like I'm alive is particularly gauche) don't bother me. Maybe I've reached that age and stage of life, but the lovelorn resignation in some of the songs (The Prize and Sail On Through in particular) feels like a suckerpunch to the gut even though my personal life contains nothing of the sort, and although it might sound silly, I can't listen to the album without wanting to give J a massive hug.

Ultimately, ANH represents the strongest set of songs he's recorded in nearly twenty years, and the album sounded epic at the Hammersmith Apollo - that run-through plus an amazing back catalogue set plus the best sound I've experienced at a concert in years made it my definite gig of the year. So well done Jason, and thank you for the music :)
angelsighs
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by angelsighs »

olan wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:22 am
Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth
might check this out as you've chosen it Olan.. it's been mentioned a few times in end of year lists. for some reason I thought I picked up that it's split opinion with a lot of jazz fans sniffy about the amount of hype it got?
olan
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by olan »

angelsighs wrote: Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:36 pm
olan wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:22 am
Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth
might check this out as you've chosen it Olan.. it's been mentioned a few times in end of year lists. for some reason I thought I picked up that it's split opinion with a lot of jazz fans sniffy about the amount of hype it got?
It opens up with 'Fists of Fury', a cover of the theme music from the 1970's film. I could understand how this would irritate the jazz-wanker brigade. Ignore the jazz thing, it is simply a really well put together LP.

It is probably worth trying to listen to a stream as it is 5xLP, and £35-odd if you want the vinyl. Also, the packaging is very odd. You need to cut your way into the cover to retrieve the 5th LP (aptly titled 'The Choice') which reminds me a bit of the first Durutti Column LP. Unless you are careful you run the chance of destroying the sleeve and/or the hidden LP. I really like this kind of art-for-art's sake gesture, but it is not for everyone. There is a similar hidden CD IIRC.His first LP 'The Epic' is very good too.
sunray
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by sunray »

angelsighs wrote: Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:36 pm
olan wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:22 am
Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth
might check this out as you've chosen it Olan.. it's been mentioned a few times in end of year lists. for some reason I thought I picked up that it's split opinion with a lot of jazz fans sniffy about the amount of hype it got?
Still not listened to this but I did catch him live at a festival last August. Enjoyable set, kept a groove going throughout. Although my own biases dictate that i'd prefer more funk and less jazz. He is playing his own gig here in March but i'm unwilling to pay the €43 required to get in :evil: :roll:
Nineteen...Nineteen...Six Five
angelsighs
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Re: Year End Best Album Lists

Post by angelsighs »

Thanks Olan and Sunray, I will certainly check him out. didn't realise how lengthy the album was :shock:
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