Album of the year 2020

  On 12/18/2020 at 3:52 PM, scumtron said:

How does his other albums compare?

a little more southwestern desert vibe sounding than this one, but still great. "Impossible Truth" is one from him I'd say has more of a similar ambient shimmering guitar thing going on. his last 2 albums have included more of a full band sound than his early stuff, which was mainly just guitar and effects.

  On 12/18/2020 at 3:52 PM, scumtron said:

Wow. For us with one foot in pop/rock and one foot in electronic music, and...well...the crotch in ambient, this is really nice stuff. How does his other albums compare? I recently discovered Durutti Column, and I need more of that dreamy guitar-ambient music.

North Americans is good too, really similar. Same with rootless, Mat Eric Hart, and Talk West

William Ryan Fitch and Ancient Ocean have put out some ambient leaning stuff with a western bent.
 

In no order : 

Autechre - Sign & Plus

Torn Hawk - Here comes language 

Akira Rabelais - Boomkat tape

the font on that ancient ocean album is really sick

  On 12/18/2020 at 6:47 PM, Alcofribas said:

the font on that ancient ocean album is really sick

lol was thinking the exact same thing

Although I had been waiting a few years for something new from Botany I somehow completely missed the fact that he actually put out a new album a couple months ago, as well as a dump of sketches and this other thing earlier this year. 

I did a search and he only has a couple of mentions on WATMM so, although I haven't listened to this new material in full yet and can't share an opinion on it, I thought it was highly worthwhile to mention him here. 

I find his material to be hit-and-miss, but the stuff he's done that I love I REALLY love. Deepak Verbera, Raw Light II and his debut Feeling Today EP are essential. 

LoveKrafty - Rainbow Drifter
Rupert Lally - Where The Dark Speaks / Strange Systems / Marine Life / Lost To The Past
Correlations - HotPots
The Heartwood Institute and Panamint Manse - Parapsychedelia
Los Days - Singing Sands
Fire-Toolz - Rainbow Bridge
Kruder & Dorfmeister - 1995
Jerry La Flim - Just Connect
Daniel Avery + Alessandro Cortini ‎- Illusion Of Time
Autechre - Sign / Plus
Squarepusher ‎- Be Up A Hello
Call Super - Every Mouth Teeth Missing
dgoHn ‎- Undesignated Proximate
Roel Funcken ‎- Dragomane Misinize
Smackos - Eden in a Sea of Misery
Legowelt ‎- Pancakes With Mist
Messer Chups ‎- Don't Say Cheese
Christian Kleine ‎- Touch & Fuse
Merrin Karras ‎- Northwest Passage
Kiln - Astral Welder

A mix of comfort and new parameters for me, but generally a very good year for music, in my opinion. Here's my definitively subjective top ten:

T1.  Arthur - Hair of the Dog

T1.  Kate NV - Room for the Moon

3.  Julianna Barwick - Healing Is A Miracle

4.  Charli XCX - how i'm feeling now

5.  Andy Shauf - The Neon Skyline

6.  Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never

7.  Beatrice Dillon - Workaround 

8.  DJ Python - Mas Amable

9.  The Weeknd - After Hours

10.  Eartheater - Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin

lol

  On 12/19/2020 at 9:59 PM, Rubin Farr said:

lol

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I wonder what Trump’s are?

Oh! I forgot to include: 

Boreal Network – Killiniq

  On 12/19/2020 at 10:15 PM, Extralife said:

I wonder what Trump’s are?

macho man. 

Forgot to mention :

Hum - Inlet 

best guitar music since forever...

Argh, oops another great summer release I forgot:

Sparkle Division - To Feel Embraced

... now I'll stop it's getting embarrassing.

  On 12/1/2020 at 1:48 AM, xyrofen said:

Hey WATMM! Good thread.

I'm going to try to list only things I haven't seen in this thread, sorry if any have been mentioned already. I don't feel a need to talk about how much I enjoyed "SIGN/PLUS" or "Be Up A Hello", as great as they were. I do want to note I didn't yet listen to John Frusciante's "Maya" nor have I listened to Richard Devine A+ Student's "SYSTIK" yet.

Format of Artist - Album name -- personal notes

• Yaeji - What We Drew -- I'm really enjoying all of her output. There's something really down-to-Earth about it all, feels personal and human.
• Sunken Foal - Hexose -- Generative sounds, all in the very pretty Dunk Murphy way that the Friday Syndrome albums were. Overall very relaxing.
• Sewerslvt - Draining Love Story -- Basically everything I loved about Porter Robinson's "Virtual Self" EP, but then mashed in with my undying teenage love of breakcore. It's nostalgic for me, very dissociative whimsical styling for my inner angst.
• Purity Ring - WOMB -- I have loved all of their output; I have a friend that also really likes them and didn't like this album at first, but I insisted it's a grower. This is true, it's only grown on me and it's worth a listen.
• Pantha du Prince - Conference of Trees -- Not as strong as other output in my opinion, but that's because Black Noise and The Triad are some of my top favorite albums. All the practical percussive sounds are great.
• Dan Deacon - Mystic Familiar -- This is my favorite album he's released thus far. "Fell Into the Ocean" is beautiful, as is the entire "ARP" sequence on the album.
• Cut Copy - Freeze, Melt -- Probably my favorite of theirs since "In Ghost Colours". My favorite will remain "Bright Like Neon Love" but this album has definitely shown a maturing in their sound a lot.

Thanks for reading.

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couldn't stand the yaeji, but that cut copy album was definitely great and a real surprise. 

I don’t listen to enough new releases to have anything too interesting to add that hasn’t been mentioned but I would like to give a shout out to this record which I have probably listened to like a hundred times:

https://subcontinentalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/illusion-harbor

he puts out a lot of records and I can see how they might seem “samey” to people but i think he’s really talented and the first 3 tracks in particular on this are about the best examples of this type of music I have ever heard. 
 

I think it can be easy to miss the detail in this stuff and how much careful listening he must do to get these overlapping, fog-layers of sound. when I listen closely with headphones and hear edits I’m always so impressed, like never would I be able to pull of something so subtle and elegant. 
 

I don’t know if people on watmm are into this sort of stuff but just my two cents. 

  On 12/21/2020 at 1:59 AM, Alcofribas said:

he puts out a lot of records and I can see how they might seem “samey” to people but i think he’s really talented and the first 3 tracks in particular on this are about the best examples of this type of music I have ever heard. 

 

I think it can be easy to miss the detail in this stuff and how much careful listening he must do to get these overlapping, fog-layers of sound. when I listen closely with headphones and hear edits I’m always so impressed, like never would I be able to pull of something so subtle and elegant. 
 

I don’t know if people on watmm are into this sort of stuff but just my two cents. 

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I agree, he is very talented. I've never listened to his music in headphones, gotta try that. This one from 2015 has always been one of my favorites from him

https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/moonlight-reflecting-over-mountains

  On 12/21/2020 at 2:17 AM, bupkis said:

I agree, he is very talented. I've never listened to his music in headphones, gotta try that. This one from 2015 has always been one of my favorites from him

https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/moonlight-reflecting-over-mountains

that one is awesome. 
 

I’ve listened to his stuff for several years but 2020 was the first I’ve listened on headphones lol. Tbh I was at times genuinely surprised at the level of detail in certain tracks I hadn’t previously noted. 

  On 12/19/2020 at 8:33 PM, malaria said:

T1.  Kate NV - Room for the Moon

love this album. saw it on another list the other day and checked it out and it immediately clicked with me. such grooves!

  On 12/19/2020 at 9:59 PM, Rubin Farr said:

lol

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he didn't include WAP?! fess up man, you're the ex-POTUS and there's nothing to lose

  On 12/21/2020 at 2:19 AM, Alcofribas said:

that one is awesome. 
 

I’ve listened to his stuff for several years but 2020 was the first I’ve listened on headphones lol. Tbh I was at times genuinely surprised at the level of detail in certain tracks I hadn’t previously noted. 

I couldn't quite pin down why but this makes sense why his stuff stands out in the fairly bloated genre of drone/ambient

In no particular order

  On 12/18/2020 at 6:35 PM, khov said:

In no order : 

Torn Hawk - Here comes language 

he put a great archive album this year too, surprised it wasn't noticed more but he seems pretty lo-key PR wise lately

^ 2 hour mix of my favorite tracks.

Favorite albums, alphabetical order by title and not ranked:

Windy & Carl - Allegiance and Conviction

Soccer Mommy - color theory

Loma - Don't Shy Away

Sewersvlt - Draining Love Story

Tim Heidecker (feat. Weyes Blood) - Fear of Death

George Clanton & Nick Hexum - S/T

Ssaliva - God Room AND I'm the One with No Soul

Torn Hawk - Here Comes The Language

Burial / Four Tet / Thom Yorke - Her Revolution/His Rope

Cindy - I'm Cindy

Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini - Illusion of Time AND Love + Light

White Poppy - Paradise Gardens

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Andrea - Ritorno

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately

Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders

Cindy Lee - What's Tonight To Eternity

Khrungbin and Washed Out put out decent albums but not worth EOY list. Angel Olsen was great as always but more of an alternate release + previously unreleased. This new Maggie Rogers album seems similar - haven't listened to it yet. Dang Olsen Dream Tape (just stumbled upon) Yppah, Caribou, Nathan Micay, Omar-S, DMX Krew, SW., Khotin and Tennis and are notable mentions. Dubbed a lot of great tapes for Aural Canyon.

Heavy on female vocal indie rock as my local public radio station listening habits tend to lean me toward. The Ssaliva albums were some of the most interesting and engrossing I've heard all year. The Tim Heidecker album was oddly comforting and appropriate for this fucking dumpster fire of a year including a close death in January and the silver lining of spending more time at home with my family. There was an under the radar album I just heard in the last week that's hopefully going to get a physical release next year so I'll hold off on posting it. Honestly I revisited a lot of stuff too and listened to more podcasts than every before, my favorite new one being This Is Branchburg.

  On 12/20/2020 at 3:08 PM, dr lopez said:

couldn't stand the yaeji, but that cut copy album was definitely great and a real surprise. 

 

 

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I totally get it. I think I have a soft spot for some of the way she produces stuff.

I found the new Cut Copy release by accident, didn't even realize they were still together. Totally a pleasant surprise.

  On 12/21/2020 at 4:00 AM, joshuatxuk said:

In no particular order

he put a great archive album this year too, surprised it wasn't noticed more but he seems pretty lo-key PR wise lately

yeah criminally under rated, the latest Torn Hawk album is a melodies goldmine but that compilation is phenomenal as well (loving that early LIES white labels). Dont miss out ! 

https://valcrondvideo.bandcamp.com/album/here-comes-language

Next best: Gigaton, Dedicated Side B, Mr Experience, Boombox Eternal