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#1 (post thread) |
2016 in Music: A Retrospective
2016 was a mixed bag for music (which is still substantially better than it was for a number of other fields, most notably politics). We lost a horrifyingly large number of beloved musicians from David Bowie to Prince to Leonard Cohen, but there were a number of absolutely stunning releases this year. I'm posting this thread to review some of them. I will probably post detailed thoughts on both releases this year and people we've lost later tonight. First off, though, a preliminary list of strong releases this year, in no particular order apart from the first two being probably my top two:
1. David Bowie - Blackstar 2. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner 3. Moonsorrow - Jumalten aika 4. Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones 5. Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust 6. 40 Watt Sun - Wider Than the Sky 7. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool 8. Alcest - Kodama 9. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation 10. Babymetal - Metal Resistance 11. Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep of Reason 12. Nocte Obducta - Mogontiacum (Nachdem die Nacht herabgesunken) 13. Panopticon / Waldgeflüster 14. Nokturnal Mortum / Graveland - The Spirit Never Dies 15. Ulcerate - Shrines of Paralysis 16. Blut aus Nord / Ævangelist - Codex obscura nomina This is not a complete list and will be updated eventually. Anyway, let's talk about music, since despite the number of tremendous losses this year, there's still a lot of great new stuff being released.
__________________ ff · tmv · reds · lj · last.fm · soundcloud · pm for facebook (which I never check) “The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.” -Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” “I never knew a man could tell so many lies He had a different story for every set of eyes How can he remember who he’s talking to? ’Cause I know it ain’t me, and I hope it isn’t you” -Neil Young, “Ambulance Blues” |
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#4 (post thread) |
1. No
2. Great, easy top 10. 3. Great. 4. Also Great. Above that even. 5. Haven't heard. Colored Sands wasn't convincing. Almost bland. Will give it a try eventually. 6. Liking the Slowcore approach to this album. Good. 7. Definitely no. 8. Great, possible top 10. 9. Nah 10. plsnol0l 11. No. 12. Haven't got around to listening to these guys yet. 13. Great, would be top 10 in my list if I included splits. 14. Also great. 15. Great, top 10 stuff. 16. Great. |
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#5 (post thread) |
I haven't taken much of an academic approach to 2016 as far as music because the world was on fire all year, but the 2016 releases I listened to the most were:
Light Upon the Lake by Whitney--the one I listened to the most, and I almost feel guilty admitting it's my favorite album of 2016. It's so light and inconsequential, and I feel like so many albums that came out this year, especially by a lot of my favorite artists, were really dramatic and self-important. Not that that's a bad thing, but I really connected to a simple folk-pop album. I saw them live twice this year and both shows were fantastic. I almost always have some light, folksy album floating near the top of my list, like Hippies by Harlem in 09, but they never end up being my absolute favorite. Then, in no particular order: Blackstar by David Bowie We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service by A Tribe Called Quest The Life of Pablo by Kanye West (probably his worst album, but the worst Kanye album is still probably gonna make my list) Atrocity Exhibition by Danny Brown A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead Wildflower by The Avalanches Then there are a handful of albums that I've listened to once and need to revisit. Thee Oh Sees released two albums this year that I listened to one time, same with Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, James Blake, Leonard Cohen and Chance the Rapper. Further, this has been a year where I mostly just kept to artists I already know and like and didn't spend much time digging around finding new artists. I finally got deep into Danny Brown, but that's about it. Again, the world was on fire. I spent a lot of time listening to news, politics and policy podcasts. I'll catch up on music later. |
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#6 (post thread) |
1. Panphage - Drengskapr
2. Eternal Champion - The Armor of Ire 3. Legacies Unchain - Satan Is Strong and Always Near 4. Blood Incantation - Starspawn 5. Tarot - Reflections 6. Lord Vicar - The Gates of Flesh 7. Barrow Wight - Kings in Sauron's Service 8. Legendry - The Mists of Time 9. Demon Bitch - Hellfriends 10. Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith
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