LPS/TAPES
Tantalising Mews/Cateared Chocolatiers - Moon Wiring Club
Dust - Laurel Halo
Take Me Apart - Kelela
AZD - Actress
The Ghost Of Hope - The Residents
Cassettera - Ekoplekz
When It's Time To Let Go - Lo Five
The Saddle Of The Increate - Sun Araw
async - Ryuichi Sakamoto
HNDRXX - Future
Dulce Compañia - DJ Python
Dulce Compañia - DJ Python
Maredidt - Myrkur
Lack - Pan Daijing
Reassemblage - Visible Cloaks
Colón Man - Equiknoxx
Rock Bottom - Rangers
Ambient Black Magic - Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement
Mnestic Pressure - Lee Gamble
Bioprodukt - Ekoplekz
Insert Genre Here/Epson's Bladder Salts - Ashtray Navigations
New Age Sewage - Robedoor
I've been trying to put this list together for over three weeks now. This morning I just thought 'Bugger it I won't do a list.' Then later this afternoon I thought I'll just write a small paragraph about a handful of records I didn't mind but didn't necessarily love to death and leave it at that. Listening to Moon Wiring Club's latest epic 2CD & LP combo I thought 'Well...they need a place to go don't they because they're fucking outstanding as usual.' So now I've put this together but I'm still not a hundred percent convinced about it.
Should it just be a top 3, a top 6 or maybe a top 8 list?....
Anyway many of my usual favourites did not make the list. I didn't hate the records by Ariel Pink, The Focus Group, Gas or Omar Souleyman but I didn't love them either like I usually do or wanted to. I mean that Ariel Pink LP is a bit lightweight innit? Yet It's also pretty good but it's just not in the same league as The Doldrums, Worn Copy or Pom Pom is it? It was still my most played LP of the year though. The best film score was from Oneotrix Point Never for the crime movie Good Time. Toi Toi Toi and Migos just missed out, Chino Amobi was (oh so) interesting (not), Tyler The Creator, SZA & Thundercat were alright, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith was way overrated and that Zomby record just did my head in. Then there was my usual hip-hop entrants (Future, Young Thug, RJ, Beatking) whose LPs just didn't leave lasting impressions on my mind. I'd have been happy to make a top fifty list if there were fifty excellent albums released this year. I listened to a lot of stuff including black metal, even shoegaze and drum'n'bass plus a whole lot more rap but it just wasn't innovative, exceptional or consummate enough for me to write about.
REISSUES/ARCHIVES/COMPILATIONS
Selected Classics - The Mover
Frontal Sickness - The Mover
Final Sickness - The Mover
Afternooners - Patrick Cowley
U-Men - U-Men
Voyage Cerebral - Didier Boquet
Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale - Heldon
Interface - Heldon
Stand By - Heldon
Fetus - Franco Battiato
Pollution - Franco Battiato
Sulle Corde Di Aries - Franco Battiato
Miracle Steps: Music From The 4th World 1983-2017 - Various
Pop Makossa: The Invasive Dance Beat Of Cameroon 1976-1984 - Various
TELLY
The Deuce
Sure The Deuce isn't as good as The Wire but it's fine entertainment.
The Crown
Sure The Crown isn't anywhere near as cool as The Deuce but season two was ten dramatic mini-movie masterpieces in a row. I can't explain it, just watch it. Who would have thought twenty hours (two seasons) of television about the bloody Queen could have been this amazing?
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Sure they didn't really need to do another season but it still had me laughing out loud a lot.
Twin Peaks - Episode 8
Sure I kinda preferred it when BOB was just a mystery. When BOB just was. Anyway this is a pretty cool episode that was all about early, experimental, cult & avant-garde cinema and much more. Exquisite. The other 17 episodes weren't a patch on this.
Black Mirror: Hang The DJ Episode
That was romance.
Line Of Duty
Best cop show since or perhaps ever. Season 4 was probably the finest so far with incredible performances from Thandie Newton and my current favourite actor Adrian Dunbar as Superintendent Ted Hastings. Gotta wait 'til 2019 for the next episode, sheesh!
Lack - Pan Daijing
Reassemblage - Visible Cloaks
Colón Man - Equiknoxx
Rock Bottom - Rangers
Ambient Black Magic - Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement
Mnestic Pressure - Lee Gamble
Bioprodukt - Ekoplekz
Insert Genre Here/Epson's Bladder Salts - Ashtray Navigations
New Age Sewage - Robedoor
I've been trying to put this list together for over three weeks now. This morning I just thought 'Bugger it I won't do a list.' Then later this afternoon I thought I'll just write a small paragraph about a handful of records I didn't mind but didn't necessarily love to death and leave it at that. Listening to Moon Wiring Club's latest epic 2CD & LP combo I thought 'Well...they need a place to go don't they because they're fucking outstanding as usual.' So now I've put this together but I'm still not a hundred percent convinced about it.
Should it just be a top 3, a top 6 or maybe a top 8 list?....
Anyway many of my usual favourites did not make the list. I didn't hate the records by Ariel Pink, The Focus Group, Gas or Omar Souleyman but I didn't love them either like I usually do or wanted to. I mean that Ariel Pink LP is a bit lightweight innit? Yet It's also pretty good but it's just not in the same league as The Doldrums, Worn Copy or Pom Pom is it? It was still my most played LP of the year though. The best film score was from Oneotrix Point Never for the crime movie Good Time. Toi Toi Toi and Migos just missed out, Chino Amobi was (oh so) interesting (not), Tyler The Creator, SZA & Thundercat were alright, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith was way overrated and that Zomby record just did my head in. Then there was my usual hip-hop entrants (Future, Young Thug, RJ, Beatking) whose LPs just didn't leave lasting impressions on my mind. I'd have been happy to make a top fifty list if there were fifty excellent albums released this year. I listened to a lot of stuff including black metal, even shoegaze and drum'n'bass plus a whole lot more rap but it just wasn't innovative, exceptional or consummate enough for me to write about.
REISSUES/ARCHIVES/COMPILATIONS
Selected Classics - The Mover
Frontal Sickness - The Mover
Final Sickness - The Mover
Afternooners - Patrick Cowley
U-Men - U-Men
Voyage Cerebral - Didier Boquet
Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale - Heldon
Interface - Heldon
Stand By - Heldon
Fetus - Franco Battiato
Pollution - Franco Battiato
Sulle Corde Di Aries - Franco Battiato
Miracle Steps: Music From The 4th World 1983-2017 - Various
Pop Makossa: The Invasive Dance Beat Of Cameroon 1976-1984 - Various
TELLY
The Deuce
Sure The Deuce isn't as good as The Wire but it's fine entertainment.
The Crown
Sure The Crown isn't anywhere near as cool as The Deuce but season two was ten dramatic mini-movie masterpieces in a row. I can't explain it, just watch it. Who would have thought twenty hours (two seasons) of television about the bloody Queen could have been this amazing?
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Sure they didn't really need to do another season but it still had me laughing out loud a lot.
Twin Peaks - Episode 8
Sure I kinda preferred it when BOB was just a mystery. When BOB just was. Anyway this is a pretty cool episode that was all about early, experimental, cult & avant-garde cinema and much more. Exquisite. The other 17 episodes weren't a patch on this.
Black Mirror: Hang The DJ Episode
That was romance.
Line Of Duty
Best cop show since or perhaps ever. Season 4 was probably the finest so far with incredible performances from Thandie Newton and my current favourite actor Adrian Dunbar as Superintendent Ted Hastings. Gotta wait 'til 2019 for the next episode, sheesh!
it was a struggle this year for me too. a lot of underwhelming records from longstanding favorites and too few new things that really clicked. Agree with you about The Crown BTW!
ReplyDeleteSecond that about The Crown, they don't deserve it, the Windsor's but that's kinda the point. The BBC cd never have come up with the same levels of lavish ambiguity. Esp after all the jingoism of their (limited) sports coverage over the decade
ReplyDelete