Skipping Through Music History

[RPS]

With working from home remotely, I have a lot more free time and I have been listening to a lot more work. As such, I thought it would be a fun little experiment do something similar to the 1001 Songs To Listen To Before You Die project that Liam did, but more of me compiling my own personal list of what I thought the best songs of the years were. So I am going to go through various best of lists and websites (Acclaimed Music, Metacritic, and RateYourMusic mostly) to compile a list of my 3 favorite albums and my 8 favorite songs of each year. I already know there is going to be some years where picking 8 songs will be difficult (looking at the 80s...), so that may be a challenge. I'll also highlight some of the new artists that I never heard but was exposed to through my listens. I'll also arbitrarily grade the years.  The goal would be to compile my own list of the 500 best songs of all time. Everyone is free to jump in with the fun.

I am going to start at the year 2021 and move my way backwards. My goal is to get to the 1960s -maybe earlier! I will try to post one or two years a week. Feel free to play along at home and join me in my journey.  If you wanted to do a little playlist like me, I'll add it at to the first post so everyone else can see. I have my now empty playlist, but each time I post a year I'll add my songs here or there.  

 

 

 

[Naitch]

I'm partway through a similar project, which is essentially creating a year-by-year library of all the music I like ever. One key reason is to then see which years have the most music I like, which I'm expecting to be somewhere between my high school/sixth form years - 2006 and 2012. 2007 is currently winning at 233 songs but 2006, 2009, and 2011 aren't far behind with all four years still to be properly looked at. 

I'm through 1950-1987, as well as ~2012 to now; the entirety of the 1950s and 1960-64 are lumped together in one playlist due to there being so few. Initially, I started working backwards from my starting point in 2017. Working on and off, finding new music that I like, and sometimes those artists already having quite significant back catalogues, I decided that working forward would be easier as I could then go through an artist's entire catalogue when I reached their debut album.

Finding out which songs of wildly different genres came out around the same time has been an interesting experience. Here's 1970 as an example:

I'm expecting the 1990s to be even more eclectic when I start looking at them properly.

[RPS]

2021

Albums:

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee: Japanese Breakfast explores the topic of “the other” while accompanied by an exuberant backdrop. You can take the songs at face value - fantastic melodies that marry pop and indie aesthetics. Or you can dig deeper for the critiques of privilege and the request for compassion. 

The Weather Station - Ignorance: There is a warmth to Tamara Lindeman’s voice that is comforting. That warmth allows for various instruments to underscore her vulnerability, joy and anger. This is an album about divorce and the distance that is created in relationships. 

Magdalena Bay - Mercurial World. This album sounds like the dance and pop music you listened to when you were 19 years old. Instantly danceable but also something you can put on for a low-key night in. 

Songs: 

1. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen - “Like I Used Too”: This sounds like the climax to every 80s teen movie, but modern and complex. 

2. Wet Leg - “Chaise Lounge”: Such a fun earworm of a song - so many great slogans that will fill your head. 

3. Kacey Musgraves - “Justified”: The feelings of regret and justification in the face of divorce.  

4. Low - “Days Like These”: I love this song because it is challenging, experimental and yet beautiful.  

5. Billie Eilish - “Oxytocin”: Dirty and liberating pop music. 

6. C. Tangana - “Ingobernable”: I listen to a lot of Spanish influenced music, but there are modern edges that make this song sparkle. 

7. Arca - “Rakata”: Coolest nightclub in outer space.   

8. Elvin T: “Get Close”: This is euphoria in a song - it is everything great about the dancefloor. 

 

Playlist:

 

Hidden Gems:

The Weather Station I discovered upon going through this experience and it made my top 3 albums of the year. C. Tangana’s album is really good - everyone who remotely likes Latin inspired music should check it out. I had never heard a LOW album before and I am excited to hear their other albums. Mdour Moctar had a really great album that I could see being good to turn onto a Saturday morning while doing chores. Amyl and the Sniffers are really cool, I enjoyed them. 

2021 Overall Grade: 

B-. The pandemic definitely hurt music. There were lots of fun things to listen to too, but it felt sparse at times because of the lack of big name hitters. Also, lots of good but not great albums.

[RPS]

2020

Albums:

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters: Fiona Apple saved me during the pandemic. Rather than explore the frustration and anger of the pandemic that locked me inside, I was able to explore it through her eyes. Whoever made Fiona Apple feel this way should be ashamed. 

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia: I still don’t know what half of these songs feel like on a dance floor, although I want to know. Repackaging the early 00s in a slick package with all bangers, no ballads. 

Jeff Rosenstock - NO DREAM: Punk for the anxious suburban parent. Who knew someone could so succinctly describe the feeling of social isolation? The hardest part of growing up is letting go. 

 

Songs:

• Perfume Genius - “On the Floor”: Perfume Genius explores the question - what if sexual gratification can be harmful to somebody. 
• Haim - “The Steps”: Everything about this song is perfect - that chorus is out of this world.  
• Fione Apple - “Cosmonaut”: I picked one Fiona Apple song to limit myself, but I could have picked ten - a total stunner of a song. 
• The Strokes - “The Adults Are Talking”: It sounds like the Strokes from 2002 - great times. 
• KLK /ft Rosalia - “KLK”: Avant-garde experimental electronic music meets the club.  
• Jeff Rosenstock - “The Beauty of Breathing”: This succinctly describes every bit of anxiety I have had over the last five years of my life. 
• Rina Sawayama - “STFU”: Nu metal is good. 
• Caribou - “Home”: My kids love this song, proof that dance music is universal and we should all bow down to it. 

 

Playlist:

Hidden Gems:

I actually enjoyed the Strokes album - a first since Room on Fire. Kelly Lee Owens album was a dense techno dream. Bartees Strange will be selling out shows in 5 years - he has a universal sound that I do not love, but is certainly easy to listen too. Jessy Lanza had a great bedroom pop album called All The Time - check it out, it sounds like the best soundtrack for a night club at home. The two SAULT albums released their year were really good and I do not envy anyone trying to explain what they sound like. I had written HAIM off as boring, but I actually really enjoy their soft rock stylings. 

2020 Overall Grade: B+

2020 definitely did not feel impacted by COVID, but that is probably because so much of it was recorded pre-COVID. This was a very good year for music - there was great music from every genre. But it did lack some of the heavy hitters from pop stars/established acts.

[RPS]

2019

Albums

• Tyler the Creator - IGOR: Raw and beautiful. Tyler has an unmistakable singing and rapping voice that mixes so well with the production and samples throughout. 
• Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?: Pop stars have to wait 10-15 years to make something as groundbreaking as Billie did here. I imagine some people critique this album as juvenile, but that is the strength of it. It reminds me of being 15 years old and hanging outside the movie theater, cracking jokes with my friends and getting high.  
• PUP - Morbid Stuff: A tight, fun pop punk album that explores the responsibilities that weigh us down. Sure we all want to have fun, but we have to find that in between the responsibilities of mundane. 

Songs

• Billie Eilish - “Bad Guy: Duh. 
• Vampire Weekend - “Harmony Hall”: This will probably be the most beautiful song Vampire Weekend ever record. 
• 100gecs - “hand crushed by a mallet”: This sounds like crushing up 100 adderal and snorting them while high on cocaine. 
• Brittany Howard - “Georgia”: There are not enough great lesbian love anthems and this is a banger of a song. 
• Tyler the Creator - “GONE GONE / THANK YOU”: Maybe one of the best examples of how to use a sample. 
• Thom Yorke - “Not the News”: I know EWB hates Radiohead and Thom Yorke, but this album and song were great. 
• Panda Bear - “Buoy”: All those edibles are kicking in. 
• Sharon Van Etten - “No One’s Easy to Love”: What a great brooding tune. 

Playlist:

Hidden Gems: Michael Kiwanuka’s album Kiwanuka was a great mix of modern pop with classic R&B. Purple Mountains is certainly for someone but not for me - I find the monotone nature of the singers voice not very interesting. I had forgotten I loved the Sharon Von Etten album Remind Me Tomorrow - it is fantastic indie pop. I probably never would have listened to Weyes Blood before this and she was really good. Helado Negro’s This is How You Smile is instantly uplifting. 

2019 Grade: C+: Some good stuff here or there, but also lots disappointments - I did not love the FKA Twigs, Solange, Big Thief, Vampire Weekend, or Bon Iver albums. A great year for singles, but not necessarily the best year for albums.

[RPS]

2018

 

Albums

• SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES: This album is art. Music can be something we look for comfort. However, it can be used like a painting or a movie or a novel to explore themes and ideas that go above and beyond. When SOPHIE released her series of songs from the PRODUCT era, people questioned whether she was serious about critiquing consumerism and identity, or whether she was going to simply be another cog in the machine. SOPHIE released OIL and proved she was interested in moving the medium of music to a space of art. The music is enjoyable, but at times challenging and intended to force reflection on the audience. Every song itself forces the audience to reflect uncomfortably about sex or social media. This is a masterpiece. Overall, the album begins and ends with exceptional highlights and in the middle of the album SOPHIE lingers in moments that seem quieter only for a burst of sound to emerge and disrupt. The first three tracks are outstanding pieces of art exploring beauty, sex and social media. After the first three exceptional songs, SOPHIE languishes in uncertainty, abrasion and a lack of structure. It all culminates in the song Pretending, which is 5 minutes of abrasion and chaos with little to no structure. Almost immediately after, we switch to IMMATERIAL, SOPHIE's love letter to her own transformation and explores the question "what does it mean to exist and be happy?" Is it the material things around us that define us or is the body? It is uplifting and transformative, an individual seizing their new self. This would be the ideal end to the album. SOPHIE has transformed and has become the person she is satisfied being. However, the whole album falls apart as a robotic female voice sings 'WHOLE NEW WORLD'. The entire album feels as though it is disintegrating before you. Sounds and voices emerge and disappear before your very ears. 
• Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour: I hate country, but I love Kacey Musgraves. Kacey seems less interested in the tropes and expectations of country music and more about taking influences of soft rock and pop. Great stuff.  
• Against All Logic - 2012-2017: House music that expertly uses sample and EDM touches to make it interesting. Nicolas Jaar understands the benefit and expectation of a drop, but constantly expertly avoids providing that release to the audience. Just when it expect that big drop to happen, the music shifts in focus and seems uninterested in your expectation of what it should accomplish. 

 

Songs:

• SOPHIE - “Immaterial”: Transcendent and transformative. 
• Ariana Grande - “Thank U Next”: Race faking aside, Thank U Next pop perfection while also incredibly witty. 
• Parquet Courts - “Wide Awake”: ‘Mind so woke 'cause my brain never pushed the brakes’ is such a great dunk on fascists piece of shit. 
• Kacey Musgraves - “High Horse”: Who knew four on the floor disco would work well with country?
• Against All Logic - “Now You Got Me Hooked”: These hooks are out of control. 
• DJ Koze - “Pick Up”: Beautiful house music. 
• Mitski - “Nobody”: Sounds like it was ripped from seven very different songs in the best way possible. 
• U.S. Girls - “Incidental Boogie”: Very good pop music that is also bit off putting and challenging. 

 

Playlist:

Hidden Gems: DJ Koze’s Knock Knock was amazing - I heard standout single Pick Up, but the whole thing was riveting. I loved Beach Houses music but rarely listened to recently - but 7 was fantastic. Christine and the Queens album Chris was really good - the first time I listened to it, it was all French and I thought it would be great if there was an English version. Shame Songs of Praise was really good intense and rock music. There was an English version and it was great. I said I liked LOW’s 2021 album, but Double Negative is great experimental stuff as well. Listening to Mitski Be the Cowboy again I have a better appreciation for it, but its still just very good and not excellent in my brain. The Rosalia album was a good album - very breezy. 

 

2018 Grade: A-: This was a great year for music. There were like 4-5 albums hovering around my top spot. Practically every new album I skipped over on my previous listen commanded my attention. 

[RPS]

2017

Albums

• Jlin - Black Origami: Origami expertly describes this album. Each beat, each vocal sample, each synth has so many deep and interesting curves to them. It is 45 minutes of expert production and precise beats that can be at times oppressive but also comfortable. Some may find this album exhausting, because Jlin is relentless with how she never takes her foot off the gas pedal. But to me, that is fun and interest to me. How can Jlin fold each beat and each sound into itself over and over again in interesting ways.  
• Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.: DAMN feels like a victory lap for Kendrick Lamar. He feels confident and prepared to have fun. His last two albums were excellent and DAMN feels like he is just having fun. 
• Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory: BFT oscillates between being this super fun party and the sounds of nightmare. Vince Staples wisely decided to enlist great producers to make interesting and non-typical hip hop beats to accompany the album. 

 

Songs:

• Charli XCX - “Boys”: A universal song we can all agree with. I was thinking about boys. 
• Tyler the Creator - “Boredom”: The sample, the synths, Tyler’s rapping are so interesting. It is funny to see what a beautiful song writer Tyler the Creator has turned into. 
• Vince Staples - “Yeah Right”: Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples and SOPHIE make a rap song that sounds like it might eat your face in a horror movie. 
• The XX - “Say Something Loving”: What a beautiful duet between two great singers. 
• Thundercat - “Uh Uh”: How Thundercat’s brain works is beyond me. Musical excellence. 
• Phoebe Bridgers - “Motion Sickness”: Phoebe Bridgers is very upset and I am not happy she is upset but I love this song.  
• Jay Z /ft Frank Ocean - “Caught Their Eyes”: Frank Ocean and the sample elevate Jay Z to very high heights. 
• St. Vince - “Los Ageless”: Okay, the lyrical content is far too on the nose, but damn if that synth is not the fucking sexiest thing you ever heard. 

Playlist: 

Hidden Gems: This year there were lots of albums I had missed over. I don’t think I ever listened to this Thundercat album from beginning to end and it was fabulous. I had never heard the Jlin album and it is legit a banger. I also had never heard of Algiers before - their album The Underside of Power was really on the nose politics wise, but it was a fantastic mix of punk, gospel and soul music. Alvvays are a band I am going to listen to a lot more - I found their slower more ballad-like songs on Antisocialites were a downer, but the highs of the album were great. The Jay-Z album from this year - 4:44 - was really good much to my surprise. I enjoy Jay Z, but he rarely puts out great albums and that one was really good. I always enjoy a good thrash metal album and the Power Trip album Nightmare Logic was really good. The War on Drugs are always easy going, but I found the flourishes on A Deeper Understanding were great. Sampha’s album Process was really enjoyable, but did not step across that threshold to amazing. The Phoebe Brigers album - Stranger in the Alps - was really good. 

Grade: B+. There were a lot of very good, but not great albums. And definitely a lot I had not fully listened to before.  Even of my top 3 albums, only one was excellent no brainer - the Kendrick Lamar album. I thought about swapping the Vince Staples and Jlin album for the Tyler the Creator or Alvvays or Algiers album.

[RPS]

2016 

 

Albums

• Frank Ocean - blonde: This album was a revelation for me when it came out and it still holds out. On blonde, Frank explores the inner workings of his anxieties and fears, but always makes sure to keep his distance. Equal levels depressing and beautiful. 
• David Bowie - Blackstar: Blackstar is the sound of someone dying. It is so evident through every song, ever lyric, every aspect of the album that Bowie was preparing to depart. I still cry every few times I listen to this album.
• Kaytranada - 99%: A great experience. Zips through so many different sounds and experiences. A must have for anyone into electronic or hip hop music. 

Songs

• Frank Ocean: “Nights”: Like every great Frank Ocean song, it morphs every single twist and turn. 
• David Bowie - “Blackstar”: 8 minutes of captivating music. 
• Charli XCX - Vroom Vroom: The literal sound of a car revving up. 
• Beyonce - “Hold Up”: Jay-Z really did a real number on this poor woman. 
• Nicolas Jaar - “No”: What a really captivating song. 
• A Tribe Called Quest - “We The People”: Throwback hip hop made to sound relevant. 
• Danny Brown: “Ain’t It Funny”: The song sounds like it may blow apart at the seams. 
• Anohni: “Crisis”: A very devastating and pertinent song.  

 

Playlist:

 

Hidden Gems:  I had listened to Kaytranada before, but I believe this was my first time ever listening to 99% front to back and it was so great. The Kate Tempest album Let Then Eat Chaos was an interesting experience. The A Tribe Called Quest album probably would have broke the top 3 if it was not so bloated - too long of an album. I am not a huge Nick Cave fan, but I did actually listen to a bit of the Skeleton Tree and enjoy it. 

2016 Grade: B-. I actually thought this year would have a much higher rating, but I found there was 4-5 really excellent albums and everything else was just good. Not a lot of new stuff really stuck out to me. 

[RPS]

2015

Albums

• Sufjan Stevens - Carrie And Lowell: I could write pages and pages about how pivotal and important this album is to my understanding of grief. Grief is a wave that hits and stays with you for a period of time, surrounding you in a haze of guilt, shame and regret. Sufjan sings at one point “Do I care if I survive this?” is the what grief is. You grapple with the reality that life is is finite and at one point will end. How do we deal with our thoughts, emotions and feelings when we realize that the ones around us will leave? For Sufjan Stevens, it is faith and God. I do not belief in God and I do not have faith, but there is a beauty in the art that gives me hope.
• Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly: Ambitious, but not annoyingly so like certain hip hop stars. Kendrick Lamar did not strive for pop excellence - he strived to make a piece of art that could also be pop music. Kendrick decided that jazz would be his framework and did not care that it was not in vogue. 
• Holly Herdon - Platforms: Truly breathtaking experimental electronic music. Herndon asks the question - how can I use the voice to challenge and unsettle the audience. Exceptional album and a must listen to anyone who loves electronic music. 

Songs:

• Kendrick Lamar - “Alright”: In my humble opinion, the best hip hop song that has ever been released. 
• Sufjan Stevens - “Should Have Known Better”: Do not let the black shroud hold you down. 
• Jamie XX ft. Popcaan & Young Thug - “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)”: The sounds of summer and partying. 
• Carly Rae Jepsen - “E- mo - tion”: What a shocker at how great this album was and in particular, this amazing song. Pop fantasy that is so delicious. 
• Alabama Shakes - “Don’t Wanna Fight”: I love the mix of throwback rock vibes with modern touches in production and song writing. 
• Sleater Kinney - “A New Wave”: This song embodies 18 year old me going to small dingy venues and listening to local punk bands. 
• Courtney Barnett - “Aqua Profunda!”: I have never visited Australia, but I felt like I did after listening to Courtney Barnett. 
• Kurt Vile - “Pretty Pimpin”: What a great little tune. 

Playlist:

Hidden Gems: Wow. What a year for music. Jlin’s album from this year was stellar. Protomaryr’s album was really unexpected and abrasive. As mentioned before - never listened to Holly Herdon but she is amazing. I had listened to Brittany Howard, but I so much preferred the Alabama Shakes - I love the classic rock feel with the modern touches. Kamasi Washington’s album The Epic I have almost certainly heard, but god damn it slapped. Preoccuptions debut album (fka as Viet Cong) was intense and unnerving at times. Bilderbuch was the most bizarre album I ever fucking heard - it sounded like The Bee Gees, mid 00s indie rock and Pharrell Williams but an Austrian singer.The Internet was good shit - no bangers or stand outs, but the whole album was exceptional and almost made my top 3. The Deerhunter album was really fantastic - everyone should listen to Deerhunter. Carly Rae Jepsen - who knew that girl from Canadian idol would turn into a star. 

2015 Grade: B+. A pretty good year. 

[RPS]

2014

 

Album:

• Todd Terje - It’s Album Time: What a fantastic album that is almost impossible to define. Is it dance, pop, house or some other subgenre of electronic? The answer is that it is Todd Terje. Lots of electronic music is based in references and in repetition, Todd Terje revels in eccentricity, surprise and precision. This should be essential listening. Every note hits perfectly. The layering and arrangements of instruments is perfect. Todd Terje goes left when everyone goes right. 
• Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else: What a wonderful chaotic album. I had heard the Cloud Nothings here or there before, but I really enjoy them. Rough around the edges, but still approachable and fun. 
• St. Vincent - St. Vincent: I listened to later St. Vincent and appreciated, but never her earlier work. My mistake. This list may just become the St. Vincent love fest. I really, really enjoy this album. St. Vincent is rock music, wherein she approaches rock music and asks how she can recreate them with modern and electronic touches. But in the same vein, it also sounds like someone trying to make electronic music with rock tendencies. It is fascinating.  Take Birth in Reverse for example - it is a rock song using more electronic sounding guitars and a drum machine. St. Vincent is excellent. 

Songs:

• St. Vincent - “Digital Witness”: A fun little boop. Gotta love those horns. 
• Flying Lotus /ft Kendrick Lamar - “Never Catch Me”: Frantic and fun. 
• Spoon - “They Want My Soul”: I have always been a fan of Spoon, but this song really has such a great chorus. 
• Shamir - “On the Regular”: What a fantastic song that is instantly quotable. 
• Cloud Nothings - “I’m Not Part of Me”: I love that lo-fi garage grunge that just feels so right. 
• Ty Segall - “Tall Man Skinny Lady”: Scuzzy and psychedelic. 
• SOPHIE - “Lemonade”: In this song, SOPHIE posits the question - can you critique consumerism while also selling your song to McDonalds?
• Todd Terje - “Inspector Norse”: Technically this song was released earlier, but I am by and large going by release dates on major albums. What a song! 

 

Playlist:

 

Hidden Gems: This year was a slog. I enjoyed three albums I had not really heard before - the St. Vincent album. Cloud Nothings and Ty Segall. Everything else was very okay in my opinion. I also did enjoy the Spoon album, but I doubt I would go back and listen to it again. 

 

2014 Grade: D. A list of albums I did not care for - D’Angelo, FKA Twigs, Run the Jewels 2, Beck, Taylor Swift, The War on Drugs… and so forth. I did not like this year very much.

[RPS]

2013

Albums

• Darkside - Psychic: There are moments in time that you can remember certain feelings or sounds or experiences. I can remember precisely the moment I heard this album. I began working at a law firm in a city 3 hours away from my husband and the city I wanted to be in. I was deeply unhappy and wondering why I had even taken this job. I probably was depressed, spending each day second guessing the decisions I made. I was in a dark place in my life. The day I first listened to the album, I had taken my dog to the park close to the house, headphones on. I remember putting this album on and I stayed the full 45 minutes at the park listening to this album. I distinctly remember the guitars on the song Heart - how they were filled with such emotion. Every single aspect of this album has something new for me to experience when I listen to it. Each track, I try to pick something out different to focus on. You can melt into the songs. Rarely is electronic music introducing live recordings and so often uses samples. On Psychic, the acoustic guitar takes center stage and is the audio guide. 
• Beyonce - Beyonce: To me, this is peak Beyonce. I think Lemonade tried to recreate the scattershot, mixed bag approach that Beyonce mastered here. She is confident, unafraid to take risks and it results in a really fun album. 
• The Knife - Shaking the Habitual: It is an experience that is unmatched. Grab some headphones. Find a quiet space. Put your phone away. And just listen. I will likely only ever listen to this album once, because it is so relentless and challenging - lyrically, sonically and thematically. Not happy music, but inherently interesting and ready to challenge it’s audience. 

Songs

• The Knife - “Full of Fire”: This is the intersection of pop and avant garde. An essay could be written on how masterful this song is. 9 minutes of just a pure mind fuck. It is at times enjoyable and ravishing in the sounds they create. Voice is key to the Knife - Karin’s voice is always front and center because it at times sounds alien and hostile. Karin openly laughs at the audience as she is talking about liberals, cocks and vaginas. I read the song as a challenge and call against complacency and patriarchy, but I presume like all great art, Karin’s intent was left open ended to the audience.  
• Disclosure /ft Aluna George - “White Noise”: White Noise is the intersection between pop and house. It takes off the edges of house, but it is still fun.  Shame that Disclosure became mediocre after this. 
• Beyonce ft/ Jay-Z - “Drunk in Love”: Everything about this song is so great. I love that vocal sample, it just hits so hard. 
• Daft Punk - “Get Lucky”: I thought this was a slam dunk to be on my top list of 2013, and even the album. Still an amazing song, but maybe we all listened to it too much in 2013. 
• Haim - “The Wire”: That drum and guitar are so cheesy, but so good. 
• Savages - “I Am Here”: I had not listened to this song is almost a decade. Listening to it in 2022, it is so energizing. 
• SOPHIE - “BIPP”: Another classic song by SOPHIE.  
• Sky Ferreira - “24 Hours”: I don’t think Sky will ever hit the highs of 2013 again, but what a high note. This song should be featured in media more. 

Playlist: 

Hidden Gems: I had never listened to the Knife’s Shaking the Habitual, despite being a huge fan of the Knife. What an experience. I really enjoyed Kurt Vile’s Waking on Pretty Daze - light and breezy. Check out Jon Hopkins album Immunity. I dug the Arctic Monkey’s AM Album - a bit boring, but that is fine. The way that CHRVCHES spell their band name is bad, because they are a really good band. I thought they were going to be some edgelord crap. The Laura Marling album Once I Was an Eagle was a great, understated affair.  I had heard the Sky Ferreira album before, but you should go out of your way to listen to it front to back. 

2013 Grade: A-. An amazing loaded year that had great hip hop, pop, rock and electronic music. 

[RPS]

2012

Albums

• Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do: Fiona Apple’s music is timeless, because it is clear that she is not influenced by trends or making her music modern. Each song is a brief peak into the mind of Fiona Apple, ever so briefly. For those who love to seek meaning or interpretations of songs, Fiona Apple’s music is fantastic for that. There is so much richness to the subtext of each song. 
• Frank Ocean - Channel Orange: On Channel Orange, Frank Ocean does a tour through a variety of subjects. Frank Ocean’s songwriting is exceptional - each song you have a clear perspective about who the song is written about. Frank Ocean in other albums looks inwards, but here Frank Ocean looks outwards at various constructs he has created. 
• Ty Segall - Slaughterhouse: This rocks. The riffs kick ass and there is just the right amount of fuzz and scruff here to keep things dirty. This kicks ass. 

Songs

• Frank Ocean - “Pyramids”: A ten minute journey that was such a bold proclamation. Before, Frank Ocean was the guy sampling MGMT and the Eagles. With Pyramids, Frank Ocean jumps from genre to genre, sound to sound. 
• Death Grips - “I’ve Seen Footage”: I like Death Grips in theory more than in practice, but I’ve Seen Footage is peak Death Grips - messy, chaotic and pop. 
• Kendrick Lamar ft/ Jay Rock - “Money Trees”: Kendrick Lamar samples Beach House and embraces the chill. 
• Jai Paul - “Jasmine”: It was tragic what happened to Jai Paul’s debut album, but Jasmine is beautiful. 
• Perfume Genius - “Hood”: This is such a beautiful and heart felt song, almost seeming to end prematurely before Perfume Genius even reaches his climax.
• Ty Segall - “Tell Me What’s Inside Your Mind”: What a chaotic and messy song. 
• Cloud Nothings - “Separation”: I love how Cloud Nothings can do really unexpected things with melodies and choruses.  
• Fiona Apple - “Periphery”: As noted above, Fiona Apple excels in the odd and abstract and you can take away so many different meanings from this song. 

Playlist:  

Hidden Gems:  I had only heard of Ty Segall briefly before starting this, but I fucking love Ty Segall. Never heard Django Django before. What a great band! While I had heard Andy Stott before, his album Luxury Problems is a must listen too. I have now listened to a lot of Tame Impala. I think they are decidedly average. But Lonerism is definitely the best album so far. I have heard the Dirty Projectors before, but I really enjoyed their album Swing Lo Magellan. Purity Ring’s album Shrines was really good - I had heard them featured on a few songs, but a really good album. Definitely lacking a really truly great pop album. 

2012 Grade: B: Great albums by a lot of the heavy hitters, but I felt it did not stack up to other years.

[RPS]

2011

 

Albums

• Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise: Nicolas Jaar is obsessed with noise and how it can be used to the full benefit. On Space is Only Noise, Jaar is obsessed with the notion of space and how it can be used. There is a sonic depth to each song that scratches an itch. By taking a minimalist approach, Jaar can explore that space. Sounds move closer and further away from you. Nicolas Jaar’s often distorted vocals weave in and out throughout the entire album, often times in unexpected times. Nothing here resembles pop. They are brief snippets into a world crafted by Nicolas Jaar, contemplating how he can push the audio experience in different ways, but never in a way to challenge the audience. Not to be dismissive, but a lot of avant garde music can be interested in pushing the audio experience, but in ways to challenge or overwhelm their audience. Jaar does not set out to overwhelm his audience. Instead, he will inject a small idea into a song and think about how he can utilize that idea for maximum benefit. Take Space is Only Noise If You Can See It - the song is all about echo. Jaar’s voice echoes, but so does that synth and the drum. Every instrument in some way echoes and reverberates throughout the song, creating depth and the experience. Jaar does this every single track and sometimes spans several tracks. How can he manipulate the audio on each song to create a space for them to listen and enjoy the album? I imagine that lots of musicians and artists have the same expectations as Jaar, but it is his attention to detail and minimalist intentions that allow him to thrive where others fail. 
• St. Vincent - Strange Mercy: What is a terrible shame is that it took me this long to get into St. Vincent. God damn. There are just so many unexpected moments throughout this album. There was this moment on the song Northern Lights where everything goes off the rail in the song, just becoming chaotic and aggressive noise. There was lots of artist who wanted to recreate rock music with electronic music and vice versa, but St. Vincent is in a category in her own.
• Destroyer - Kaputt: What an experience. I remember when Destroyer was quite big and getting all of this attention, I listened to an earlier album and proclaimed to my brother - “This is boring”. I can definitively say that Destroyer is not boring. 

Songs

• PJ Harvey - “The Glorious Land”: The first time I listened to this song, I was taken aback. When I listen to albums, I don’t typically stop and relisten to a song. But I had to relisten to the Glorious Land again, because I was so curious about so much. The bass is low-key incredible in this song and gives it almost foreboding and sinister vibe. A+
• St. Vincent - “Cruel”: I can’t even name my favorite thing about this song - it is all so great in every single way. 
• Destroyer - “Bay of Pigs (detail)”: Eleven minutes of indie rock jazz warmness. 
• Tune-Yards - “Bizness”: I have probably heard this song before, but what a bizarre and engaging sound.  
• Jai Paul - “BTSU (Edit)”: It is kind of sad that someone leaked all of Jai Paul’s debut album in demo form and he seems uninterested, because he would have hit super high peaks if not for that. 
• Danny Brown - “Die Like a Rockstar”: Emo rap. 
• Real Estate - “It’s Real”: The whole album was just lovely and instantly listenable indie rock, but this song is a stand out. 
• Rihanna ft Calvin Harris - “We Found Love”: I have listened to a lot of music at this stage and here is what I will say - this is the perfect pop song. But it is also imperfect, because it so clearly shifted the trajectory of pop music and therefore made it much more uninteresting. Everyone is chasing that final drop that Rihanna gives you at the finale. 

 

Playlist: 

Hidden Gems: I had never heard the Destroyer and St. Vincent albums before this - god damn were they great. Tune-Yards are great and I will go back and listen to this discography after this is all done. If you can find the Caretaker album An Empty Bliss Beyond This World - listen to it on YouTube. It was a really interesting album. Unfortunately he does not stream his music. I actually listened to a Fleet Floxes album and while I thought I disliked them, I actually enjoyed Helplessness Blues. I had not listened to Real Estate in years and checked them out - really good music. I listened to a Foo Fighters album and thought it was fine. The EMA album was great experimental pop. I listened to the album by Girls this year - really good stuff. 

 

2011 Grade: A-. Great albums by St. Vincent, Destroyer, Fucked Up, Tune-Yards, Nicolas Jaar, Jay Z/Kanye West, Lady Gaga, James Blake, Fleet Floxes, Bon Iver, PJ Harvey. Seriously most of everything released this year was outstanding.