Big Thief’s second album that they released this year is more stripped down and more emotional & raw. It includes some of their best songs such as ’Shoulders” & “Not”.
The electronic music duo sample nothing but plastic for this album. Like their previous release “Ultimate Care II” they use these samples to create something that sounds primal and often rather visceral.
Sort of a continuation of the direction that Earl Sweatshirt initiated with “Some Rap Songs”. This album is skeletal, minimal, and very stream of conscious. Mike’s writing is raw and emotive and blends perfectly with the instrumentals on here. While “May God Bless Your Hustle” (which came out this year as well) features some of his best tracks so far, this record is amazing through & through and is Mike’s best release so far.
This is an indie-folk record with a vapor wave center. This album has Alex G’s best songwriting to date & his most consistently great. The hooks are extremely catchy, the lyrics switching between the surreal and the personal / real, and the sounds switching between the organic/acoustic & neon synthesized vibes - but somehow it all works.
My pick for top hip-hop album of the year, “Bandana” improves on Freddie Gibbs & Madlib’s previous project - with Freddie being on the top of his game & Madlib diversifying and expanding the sonic pallet he’s drawing from and often favoring more a more through-composed approach to the tracks on here.
Although this technically leaked in 2013 and I did include it on that list, it is now available for download and streaming everywhere on the internet and the mixes are slightly different on some songs - so wanted to include it again here. Jai Paul’s mix of Princesque R&B, “world music” rhythms (such as the Indian percussion groove on “Str8 Outta Mumbai”) and electronic music still sounds as fresh as it did when this first leaked 6 years ago.
This is my pick for the best jazz album of the year - and is one of the most important of the decade. The Comet is Coming bridge the gap between groove oriented hypnotic electronic music (often favoring almost tribalesque ostinatos over improvisational solos) & jazz fusion in a way that is accessible while being extremely forward thinking.
John Luther Adams is a minimalist modern classical / “serious music” composer. This newest piece of his is truly ethereal and one of his most beautiful. To me the best way I can describe it programmatically is watching a sunrise in the dessert - starting with nothing but the void and rising into glorious droney gorgeousness - with microtonal shifting harmonies and a grand ensemble of over 100 musicians. I highly recommend this album to anyone a fan of modern-classical or ambient/drone music.
This album is Big Thief’s most experimental so far. The songwriting on this album is Adrien at her most mystical & the production is other worldly. Big thief are incredibly prolific and continue to put out some of this decades best music in this genre - & in my opinion this album is their best so far and is a landmark album for modern folk music & indie rock.
Shoutout to 100 More Records
(organized by Genre)
AMBIENT:
Fennesz - Agora
Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma - Tracing Back the Radiance
Of the Sun - Earthrise (Favorite local release in this genre)
Sunn O))) - Proclasts
Anoyo - Tim Hecker
Julianna Barwick - Circumstance Synthesis (EP)
Earth - Full Upon Her Burning Lips
Aiden Baker - the Forever Tapes
ELECTRONIC:
Barker - Utility
Floating Points - Crush
Moodymann - Sinner - KDJ-48
KAYTRANADA - BUBBA
Complete Walkthru - Scrolls
Thom York - ANIMA
Telefon Tel Aviv - Dreams Are Not Enough
Iss004 - EP - Skee Mask
Cassius - Dreams
No Geography - Chemical Brothers
FAVORITE BOSTON LOCAL RELEASES IN THIS GENRE:
Home Body - Spiritus
Radio Skotvoid - Install All
J. Bagist / Moondrawn - Restraint 1
Solid State Entity - Chorea
SINGER-SONGWRITER:
Bill Callahan - Shepard in a Sheepskin
Cate Le Bon - Reward
Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
Nick Cave - Ghosteen - This record is also absolutely devastating - the first album Nick Cave has made since the death of his son
Alders Harding - Designer
Soft Landing - Sandro Perri - the 16 minute opening track on here is worth it alone
Lina Tullgreen - Free Cell
Sun Kil Moon - I Also Want to Die in New Orleans
(Mark takes it even more meta - a little more so than I can fully get on board with…there are some difficult tracks in how stream of conscious they are such as the 23 minute closer…but worth it if you’d like to see how far he’s been going in this direction)
Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
Sam Amidon - Fatal Flower Garden
Leif Vollebekk - New Ways
Pheobe Bridgers & Conor Oberst - Better Oblivion Community Center
Mount Eerie - Lost Window Pt 2
FAVORITE BOSTON LOCAL RELEASES IN THIS GENRE:
Ciderdown - It Leaves Stains
Hawthorne - Maggie Willow
Bix MacMaghan - 30
Ruby Luna & the Fox - this can help us in the end
Tuna - Mercury (EP)
INDIE-ROCK:
Mega Bog - Dolphins
Broken Social Scene - Let’s Try the After
i,i - Bon Iver
Wilco - Ode to Joy (better than their previous two releases, but still doesn’t measure up to their stuff around the turn of the century)
Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
HIP-HOP:
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places
(my favorite release from Billy Woods so far)
Danny Brown - uknowwhatimsayin?
Earl Sweatshirt - Feet of Clay
JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes are Cornballs
Tyler, the Creator - IGOR
Mike - May God Bless Your Hustle
Guns - Quelle Chris
Young Thung - So Much Fun
Slauson Malone - A Quiet Farewell (sort of minimalist madlibish vibes)
Denzel Curry - ZUU
Hobo Johnson - The Rise & Fall of Hobo Johnson
Clipping - There Existed an addiction to Blood
slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain
Lizzo - Cuz I Love You
Little Simz - GREY Area
Ghostface Killah - Ghostface Killahs
Czarface & Ghostface Killah Czarface Meets Ghostface
Beast Coast - Escape from New York
METAL:
Tool - Fear Inoculum (not as good as their previous releases, but if you’re a Tool fan worth giving a listen)
Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race
EXPERIMENTAL:
Xiu Xiu - Basket of Fruit - this shit’s scary
100 Gecs - 1000 Gecs (abrasive hyper mutant pop)
Swans - Leaving Meaning
Guerrilla Toss - What Would the Odd Do? (EP)
These New Puritans - Inside the Rose
No Home Record - Kim Gordon
Fly Pan Am - C’est Ca
Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
Lightning Bolt - Sonic Citadel
Holly Herndon - PROTO
Anna Meredith - Fibs
Matt Bachman - Walking Preference
Black Midi - Schlagenheim
“SERIOUS” MUSIC / MODERN CLASSICAL:
Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Cheogyal & Jesse Paris Smith - Songs from the Bardo
Terry Riley / Kronos Quartet - Sun Rings
EMO:
Oso Oso - Basking in the Glo
American Football (LP3)
PUNK / HARDCORE:
Show Me the Body - Dog Whistle
FONTAINES D.C. - DOGREL
Otoboke Beaver - Itekoma Hits
Seaford Mods - Eaton Alive
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie (their best release since their reunion - but still doesn’t compare to their stuff from the 80s & 90s)
JAZZ:
The Comet is Coming - The Afterlife (EP)
Craig Tabor & Steve Lehman Trio - The People I Love
Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain, & Chris Potter - Good Hope
Chris Potter - Circuits
Kneebody - Chapters
Brad Mehldau - Finding Gabriel
The Bad Plus - Activate Infinity
The Bad Plus - Never Stop II
Kneebody - By Fire (EP)
R&B:
Jamalia Woods - Legacy! Legacy!
Anderson .Paak - Ventura
FKA Twigs - Ma
Tank and the Bangas - Green Balloon
Solange - When I Get Home
“WORLD”
Burna Boy - African Giant
Ibibio Sound Machine - Dora Mien
ONE’S THAT DON’T REALLY COUNT FOR COMING OUT THIS YEAR:
Death Grips - Steroids LP (EP released in 2017 - but first time that there's been physical release with B side being previously only on youtube)
Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990
(compilation from this period)
Prince - Originals (posthumous release)
Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream (posthumous release)
