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The VT Albums of the Year 2019


bickster

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5 hours ago, rjw63 said:

Oooh I've got three of those. How exciting.

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Knowing how your collecting goes it’ll be the same one, three times, because they changed the shade of black on the cover of Dark Side.

 

We’ve got 4 of them in the house, 2 Oasis CD’s that are mine deep in storage somewhere, then Coldplay and Guardians CD’s for wife and nippers. Absolutely nothing from that list on vinyl.

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5 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Knowing how your collecting goes it’ll be the same one, three times, because they changed the shade of black on the cover of Dark Side.

 

We’ve got 4 of them in the house, 2 Oasis CD’s that are mine deep in storage somewhere, then Coldplay and Guardians CD’s for wife and nippers. Absolutely nothing from that list on vinyl.

Yeah that sounds like me :)

Only one copy of DSOTM though, the other two are "Rumours" and "Nevermind".

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Ah yes, Rumours. I’d be amazed if the missus hasn’t got a copy of that somewhere.

Doubtless I’ll have put it somewhere safe for her... along with her Joe Walsh, Dr Hook and the likes. Very big on middle of the road americana with perms.

 

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Excellent clip @Brumerican that whole show is a work of genius.

Even the vampire movie by the same team had me laughing the other evening, ‘we are werewolves not swearwolves’. Now I’m going to disappear down a Conchords YouTube rabbit hole.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been bad as always with keeping up on new music in 2019 so it's only fitting I add a list a month late. A list that isn't even my own :D 

Have a friend who is a music (metal) journo and this is his top-10 from 2019. Make of it what you will.

 

1. This gift is a curse - A throne of ash

- A static dark genre hybrid with a sound image that is both dense, massive and musty. A muted seriousness that embraces like a gray Monday morning in November.

2. Mephitis - Emberdawn

- Dark metal with a detail richness similar to classic painting where the nuances are hidden in layers. A methodology that was once developed by the teacher Emperor.

3. Rotting Christ - The heretics

- The Hellenistic banner sounds higher and more proud than ever. The epic appropriations almost float over the goblet as the Tolis brothers blacken their tunes.

4. Murg - The pursuit

- As a friend of words, I am triggered by the misanthropic duo's minimalist song list and the envelope being equally spartan, the suggestively bold black metal expression reinforces yet another shade of darkness.

5. Idle hands - Mana

- Music doesn't have to be complicated to be good, but it has to be performed with a heart. It swings in the dark and I feel rebelliously satisfied.

6. Alcest - Spiritual instinct

- The atmosphere of the French duo opens the mind with existential essence. Post-embossed shoegaze-black metal that provides a reflection tool if you dare to open that portal.

7. Cattle decapitation - Death atlas

- Environmentally-packaged mortuary death where the journey towards sustainable development for both humans and animals is as complicated as addictive development.

8. Wolf Brigade - The enemy: reality

- The Skaraborg veteran refuses to slow down. Lycanthro-punk sugared with traditional d-beat, cocky tunes and memorable choruses.

9. Desolation - Screams of the undead

- This adds exactly zero innovation, but who needs it when the guitars cut through the air and it is offered classic Swedish death metal in the wake of Dismember.

10. The dead and living - The author's curse

- Congratulations Karlstad, Värmland, Sweden, The World. Without losing its patented sound, the quintet has landed in an emotionally volatile expression that will stagger many bands that interfere with contemporary media noise.

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A couple of things happened in 2019 that changed the way I pick up tunes.

My New Year's resolution for 2019 was to ditch Amazon. That was quite a biggy. It spelled the end of Youtube to Amazon instant gratification.

Then the Lomax catalogue went online, for free! (Thanks @Seat68 for bringing that to my attention).

That was a bit of a watershed moment for streaming. There are some recordings on there that can't be beat and perhaps more importantly? Can't be bought on any format.

Game changer - So I went about streaming in earnest. Trying to squeeze as much out of the various codecs as possible with quite a posh DAC.

Soundcloud and Bandcamp are immense for new music.

Soundcloud's basic codec is quite low quality, but technically decent and the soundwave display is good for picking out different sections in the music. It's stable and responds quickly. It's good for auditioning tracks and albums quickly, cos you can jump about without it spagging out and locking up.

Bandcamp's codec is better quality, but not as nimble and no visual guide beyond the time position on the clip. Bandcamp does offer physical media though, and there's some quite lovely stuff on there. I bought a beautiful Russian soundtrack from Black Pearl that I'd been coveting for years.

The other thing about streaming, it's cheap. Was picking up a few bits from Foyles, charity shops and picked up a stack in Hamburg, but my spend was well down on previous years. So I bought box sets and boutique items from Discogs and the record labels direct. Because box sets are generally quite economic that ended up being over 200 discs over the year.

Christmas came and I went in search of the new, and listened to a load of tunes from 2019 from a list of a 1000 titles.

Two things weirded me out: the quantity of new tunes that'll likely never see a physical format, and that the 90s revival is on.

Actually the everything revival is on. There's some really very good facsimilies of bands past which is sort of cool, but sort of weird.

Do I want to buy Screamadelica or Melody A.M. again? Not sure?

It's a bit too retro tbh. The music tech as well, lots of new devices that sound like old devices.

 

Anyway, here's a couple of 2019 titles. One I bought and one that's download only.

Bibio - 'Ribbons' - I know this one is cool because my Missus walked into the room and said "Can you get this for my Dad?" :rolleyes:

Howie Lee - 'Socialism Core Value III' - Howie is Chinese and doesn't sound like he's just using an Oriental sample pack. Reckon it likely that the Chinese will smash it in the relatively near future, particularly with electronic music.

 

Looking abroad generally pays off if you're seeking new sounds?

Here's a fun one. Tanzania likes insane up to 300 bpm music called Singeli. They dance until they drop and concert promoters leave mattresses around the floors so they can do just that.

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Should add some of my own from last year.

The Moth Gatherer - Esotheric Oppression 

Cult of Luna - A Dawn To Fear

Gatecreeper - Deserted

Monolord - No Comfort

Nicole Sabouné - Come My Love (EP)

 

 

 

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On 29/01/2020 at 20:25, Xann said:

Here's a fun one. Tanzania likes insane up to 300 bpm music called Singeli. They dance until they drop and concert promoters leave mattresses around the floors so they can do just that.

This is great. I don't often listen to much hardbass / speedcore / j-core anymore but man, this is such good fun

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  • 2 months later...
3 minutes ago, Xann said:

She sounds like Rumer, yet it's on Sub Pop.

I think it could appeal to fans of both. Juniors and Seniors welcome.

Good album this.

I like Weyes Blood too and can hear the Rumer comparison but i think she also sounds like Carly Simon (which isn’t a bad thing either) 

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27 minutes ago, Xann said:

She sounds like Rumer, yet it's on Sub Pop.

I think it could appeal to fans of both. Juniors and Seniors welcome.

Good album this

See you spend too much time being Dave the Obscure and miss this stuff that's right out there in front of your nose :trollface:

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Just now, bickster said:

See you spend too much time being Dave the Obscure and miss this stuff that's right out there in front of your nose :trollface:

Fookin 'ell. I've listened to so much new music since late December.

Regular people music too 😮 

Lana Del Rey, JPEGMAFIA, FKA twigs... Got quite annoyed. Grimes does a good single, but can't sustain an album.

So I bought a wadge of classical SACDs to listen to, but they didn't clear before the Pestilence lock down, whilst her bloody Amazon keeps arriving Grrrrrrr.

Dived back into finding something I can walk into a shop and buy, come the day.

Yes - Got one...

Nooooooo - He's gone download only for this album. 

Back into the search again, found Otoboke Beaver and the Protomartyr (that album's not out yet. She wants it when it comes out 😮)

Found more stream/download tunes - The World is definitely changing, and yet somehow certain genres have found a niche on cassette :wacko: and not just Dungeon Synth. 

Today I bloody mindedly piled through a Pop list for 2019, which threw up a enough familiar likeable titles to persevere with it as far as 38 to find 'Titanic Rising'.

Watched the last Star Wars film a few days ago. It's put me right off turning the telly on.

More lists then! Got weeks!  Lolicore? Masters of the Paraguayan harp? :) 

 

 

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