2019 Roundup Thread

#1

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It’s that time again
 looking back, looking fwd


#2

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This is what Apple Music says I’ve listened to the most this year. I really do like that Becoming Real EP tho. The kind of cyberpunk I actually needed in 2019.

#4

Lee Gamble’s stuff this year has been pretty killer and has probs been my favourite stuff, but here is a complete list of literally everything I’ve bought this year (dl’s, cd’s, lp’s, new, old, good, bad etc):

Throwing Snow ‘Noma’ (Houndstooth)
Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois ‘Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois’ (Timesig)
Various Artists ‘Matrix Downloaded 008’ (Alpha Matrix)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross ‘Bird Box (Abridged)’ (The Null Corporation)
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross ‘Mid90’s Original Soundrack’ (The Null Corporation)
Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement ‘Venus Flytrap Exotica’ (Editions Gravats)
Ricardo Donoso ‘Calibrate’ (Denovali Records)
Vladimir Tarasov ‘Atto IV’ (SĂ€hkö Recordings)
Julius Eastman ‘The Nigger Series (Special Edition)’ (Editions Blume)
Nkisi ‘7 Directions’ (UIQ)
Logtoad ‘Rat Full Of Coins Vol 1’ (AF Trax)
Lone ‘Ambivert Tools Vol 4’ (R & S)
Curse Ov Dialect ‘Lost In The Real Sky’ (Mush/Valve)
Various Artists ‘The BestOfJungle Vol 3’ (Low Cost Music)
Snap! ‘World Power’ (BMG)
Superorganism ‘Superorganism’ (Domino)
Mira Calix ‘Utopia’ (Warp)
Various Artists ‘Happy New Year! We Wish You Happiness’ (TRIP Records)
Freeform ‘Human’ (Skam)
Basic Rhythm ‘Raw Trax’ (Type)
Jay Glass Dubs ‘Epitaph’ (Bokeh Versions)
The Caretaker ‘Everywhere At The End Of Time Phase 1’ (History Always Favours The Winners)
Lee Gamble ‘In A Paraventral Scale EP ’ (Hyperdub)
!!! ‘Myth Takes’ (Warp)
!!! ‘Louden Up Now’ (Warp / Touch ‘n’ Go)
The Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘Time Out’ (Columbia)
Slikback ‘Tomo’ (Hakuna Kulala)
Autechre ‘AE_Live’ (Warp)
Vessel ‘Queen of Golden Dogs’ (Tri Angle)
Basic Rhythm ‘Dough Boy / Can’t You See?’ (Arcola)
Rian Treanor ‘Contraposition EP’ (Arcola)
Ethiopian Records ‘Ye Feqer Edaye ዹፍቅር ኄዳዏ’ (Arcola)
Primitive Art ‘Crab Suite’ (Arcola)
The Doubtful Guest ‘Voyage to Blacklantis’ (Arcola)
Our Souls Are In The Hands Of The Translator ‘sÉȘƋkrÉȘtÉȘzəm’ (Arcola)
2814 - ‘Pillar / New Sun’ (Arcola)
Black Lodge ‘MWR157’ (Arcola)
Nkisi ‘The Dark Orchestra’ (Arcola)
Bone Head ‘Soft Power’ (Arcola)
Dub Kult ‘Stop the World’ (Arcola)
Louis Digital ‘Insurgency Soul EP’ (Arcola)
Clark - Growls Garden (Warp)
Bjarki - Arthur And The Intergalactic Whales (TRIP Records)
Objekt - Objekt #4 (Objekt)
Volruptus - Alien Agenda (bbbbbb)
Ossia ‘Devil’s Dance’ (Blackest Ever Black)
Brassfoot ‘Realms EP’ (Apron Rcords)
Code Walk ‘Distance’ (Mannerfelt Produktion)
Barker - 2019 - Debiasing (Ostgut Ton)
Anastasia Kristensen ‘FACT mix 647’ (n/a)
The Bug ‘Killing Sound Chapter 4 - Poems & Drones’ (n/a)
Duppy Gun Productions ‘Miro Tape’ (Bokeh Versions)
Anastasia Kristensen ‘Ascetic’ (Arcola)
Dub Syndicate ’ Displaced Masters’ (On-U Sound)
Floating Points ‘People’s Potential / Shark Chase’ (Eglo Records / Pluto)
Floating Points ‘Vacuum Boogie EP’ (Eglo Records / Pluto)
GAIKA ‘The Spectacular Empire II’ (Warp)
Jay Glass Dubs ‘Thumb Dub / Index Dub’ (Dub On Arrival)
ZULI ‘Bionic Ahmed EP’ (UIQ)
Sim Hutchins ‘Vantablank Stare EP’ (UIQ)
Jung An Tagen ‘Agent Im Objekt’ (Editions Mego)
King Midas Sound ‘Waiting For You’ (Hyperdub)
Modeselektor ‘Who Else’ (Monkeytown Records)
Shackleton ‘Deadman (King Midas Sound Mix)’ (Honest Jon’s Records)
Shackleton ‘Fireworks (T++ & Mordant Music Mixes)’ (Honest Jon’s Records)
Sote ‘Electric Deaf’ (Warp)
TASO x Siete Catorce ‘Grandes Éxitos Vol. 1’ (NAAFI)
TILLIANDER ‘Expect Resistance / Respect Existence’ (Dub On Arrival)
Zdenek Liska ‘Ikarie XB-1’ (Finders Keepers Records)
Monkey Mafia ‘Shoot The Boss’ (Heavenly Recordings)
Eat Static ‘Science of the Gods’ (Ultimate Records)
Basic Rhythm ‘New Style EP’ (Sneaker SocialClub)
Belief Defect ‘Decadent Yet Depraved’ (raster)
Leyland Kirby ‘When We Parted My Heart Wanted To Die’ (History Always Favours The Winners)
Rian Treanor ‘ATAXIA’ (Planet Mu)
Shackleton ‘SCUBA005’ (Hotflush Recordings)
The Black Dog ‘Radio Scarecrow’ (Dust Science)
The Caretaker ‘Everywhere At The End Of Time (Complete Edition)’ (History Always Favours The Winners)
The Caretaker ‘Everywhere, An Empty Bliss’ (History Always Favours The Winners)
V/Vm ‘White Death’ (History Always Favours The Winners)
RiDylan ‘Micro EP’ (Cock Rock Disco)
Lo Kindre ‘Chlorophytum’
Cold / James Bernard ‘Strobe Light Network / Lapis Lazuli (Stroom)
Various Artists ‘Pay It All Back Volume 7’ (On-U Sound)
Roy Of The Ravers ‘2 Late 4 Love’
Mouse on Mars ‘Instrumentals’ (Sonig)
Cabbageboy ‘Genetically Modified’ (Ninja Tune / N-Tone)
Akira Rabelais ‘Spellewauerynsherde’ (self released)
Bogdan Raczynski ‘Rave ‘Till You Cry’ (Disciples)
MMM ‘Donna’ (MMM)
Various Artists ‘Patina Echoes’ (Timedance)
Suuns ‘Hold/Still’ (Secretly Canadian)
Children of Alice ‘Children Of Alice’ (Warp)
Mana ‘Seven Steps Behind’ (Hyperdub)
Abu Ama ‘Arabxo Ishara’ (Bokeh Versions)
Walton ‘MURDAH EP’ (Kaizen)
Madam X ‘Kaizen Movements Vol 1’ (Kaizen)
dĂ€lek ‘Deadverse Massive Vol. 1: Dälek Rarities 1999-2006’
Electric Wizard ‘Dopethrone’
Various Artists ‘SURPRISE PARTY’ (Epoxe Records)
Scanner ‘Mass Observation’
Various Artists ‘Headz: A Soundtrack Of Experimental Beathead Jams’ (Mo’ Wax)
Justin Warfield ‘My Field Trip to Planet 9’
Stock, Hausen And Walkman ‘Organ Transplants Volume 2’
Wata Igarashi ‘Mood of the Machines’
GWAR! ‘America Must Be Destroyed’
Various Artists ‘Future Massive Volume 1’ (Future Massive)
The Focus Group ‘Stop-Motion Happening’ (Ghostbox)
Slicker ‘Confidence in Duber’
JPEGMAFIA ‘Black Ben Carson’
JPEGMAFIA ‘Communist Slow Jams’
Caterina Barbieri ‘Ecstatic Computation’ (Editions Mego)
Sote ‘Parallel Persia’ (Tri Angle)
Monkey Steak ‘Grim Dubs Volume 1’ (Werkdiscs)
EVOL ‘Wabbit Trax’ (Diagonal)
Heatsick ‘DĂ©viation’ (PAN)
Various Artists / Kode9 ‘Diggin In The Carts Remixed’ (Hyperdub)
Rainer Veil ‘Vanity’ (Modern Love)
Basic Rhythm ‘On The Threshold’ (Planet Mu)
Black Midi ‘Talking Heads / Crows Perch’ (Rough Trade)
LEVL ‘LEVL#1’ (Arcola)
IXNA ‘Knotpop’ (Concentric Circles)
Rupert Clervaux ‘After Masterpieces’ (Whities)
Moderat ‘III’ (Monkeytown)
Coil ‘Threshold Archives 1’ (Threshold Archives)
Nine Inch Nails / Coil ‘Uncoiled Extended’ (Cold Spring)
Various Artists ‘Drumcode Compilation’ (Drumcode)
DJ Zinc ‘138Trek’ (Bingo Bass)
Fat White Family ‘Serfs Up!’ (Domino)
Venetian Snares ‘My So Called Life’
Godflesh ‘Songs of Love and Hate’ (Earache)
Love Grips ‘Much Love Deep Web Volumes 1-3’ (self released)
Naked City ‘Grand Guignol’
Howard Shore & Ornette Coleman ‘Naked Lunch Original Soundtrack’
Scorn ‘Colossus’
Scorn ‘Anamnesis’
Various Artists ‘Disciples Of Dread EP’ (Shockout)
O.L.D. ‘Lo Flux Tube’ (Earache)
Flying Lotus ‘Flamagra’ (Warp)
Xyn Cabal ‘Perfect Oracle’ (The Death Of Rave)
JK Flesh ‘In Your Pit EP’ (Pressure)
Special Request ‘VORTEX’ (Houndstooth)
Headstone Lane ‘Back In The Day’ (fsoldigital)
Seekersinternational - The Guncontrolla (ICS Library Records)
Kelman Duran - 13th Month (Apocalipsis)
The Future Sound Of London ‘Live Kiss 102 (Manchester) 06/11/1996’ (fsoldigital)
Plaid ‘Polymer’ (Warp)
Various Artists ‘Warp20 (Unheard)’ (Warp)
Underworld ‘A Hundred Days Off’ (Junior Boys Own)
William Basinski ‘The Disintigration Loops 1’
John Carpenter ‘Anthology (Movie Themes 1974-1998)’ (EVP Records)
Wu-Tang Clan ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ (Loud/Epic)
Lee’ Scratch’ Perry ‘Rainford’ (On-U Sound)
Burial ‘Claustro / State Forest’ (Hyperdub)
Headstone Lane ‘Back In The Day’ (fsoldigital)
Mr. Scruff ‘Ninja Tuna’ (Ninja Tune)
Various Artists ‘Ninja Cuts: Flexistentialism’ (Ninja Tune)
GAIKA ‘HEATERS 4 THE 2 SEATERS’ (Warp)
Plaid ‘Trainer’ (Warp)
Plaid ‘Maru (Orbital Remix)’ (Warp)
Prefuse 73 ‘Everything She Touched Turned Ampexia’ (Warp)
Req ‘Car Paint Scheme’ (Warp)
The Other People Place ‘Lifestyles Of The Laptop Cafe’ (Warp)
Two Lone Swordsmen ‘Stay Down’ (Warp)
John Barry ‘Walkabout (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ (The Roundtable)
Charles Wain ‘The Last Wave (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ (The Roundtable)
Boards Of Canada - Societas X Mixtape (Warp)
black midi ‘Schlagenheim’ (Rough Trade)
Metrist ‘Pollen Pt I’ (Timedance)
Equiknoxx ‘Eternal Children’ (Equiknoxx Music)
Jung An Tagen ‘Proxy States’ (Editions Mego)
East Man & Walton ‘Horse Mouth / Gunshot’ (Hi Tek Sounds)
Don Zilla ‘From the Cave to the World’ (Hakuna Kulala Records)
Will’stone feat Le Bon ‘MBv5’ (Hakuna Kulala Records)
Various Artists ‘The World Of Keith Haring’ (Soul Jazz Records)
Autechre ‘Warp Tapes 89-93’
Neil Young ‘Dead Man Original Soundtrack’ (Vapor Records)
Dean Hurley ‘Anthology Resource Vol. I: △△’ (Sacred Bones Records)
Dean Hurley ‘Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy of Beyond’ (Sacred Bones Records)
Lego Feet ‘Ska001CD’ (Skam)
Oberman Knocks ‘Remhex Coyles EP’ (Aperture)
Metrist ‘Pollen Pt. I’ (Timedance)
North Manc Beds ‘GazOhmEater EP’ (Skam)
SND ‘tender love’ (SND)
Pinch ‘Walking With Shadows / AHH FFF SSS’ (81)
Hypho ‘Round Ere’ (81)
LOFT ‘Three Settlements Four Ways’ (Wisdom Teeth)
Mr. Mitch ‘Not Modular’ (PRESSURE)
Sisso ‘Mateso’ (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Kieran Hebdon and Steve Reid ‘The Exchange Session Volume 1’
808 State ‘Utd. State 90’ (Tommy Boy / ZTT)
Mouse On Mars ‘Live04’ (Sonig)
Pendulum ‘3 Knocks’ (Vicious Vinyl)
Pimmon ‘snapscracklespops’ (Tigerbeat6)
Qua ’ Q&A’ (Mush)
DJ Lag & OKZharp ‘Steam Rooms EP’ (Hyperdub)
Antwood ‘Delphi’ (Planet Mu)
Various Artists ‘YesKru Presents - Merry Yesmas Free LP!’ (YESKRU)
Various Artists ‘SOUTHFRAP VOL.1 - DANS TES MORTS’ (SOUTHFRAP ALLIANCE)
Datach’i ‘Bones’ (Timesig)
Clark ‘Kiri Variations’ (Throttle Records)
Der Kindestod ‘God As Daddy The Deranged’ (Halcyon Veil)
irel.ier ‘Guang Guai Li’ (Disk)
M.E.S.H. ‘Scythians EP’ (PAN)
Sea Urchin ‘Tahtib’ (Bokeh Versions)
Horsepower Productions ‘Stranger / TP’ (Sneaker Social Club)
I Jahbar ‘Inna Duppy SKRS Soundclash’ (Bokeh Versions)
Clock DVA ‘Thirst’ (Mute)
Various Artists ‘Cache 01’ (SVBKVLT)
The Bug ‘Infected EP’ (Ninja Tune)
Zonal ‘Zonal’ (Relapse Records)
Flame 2 ‘Dive / Rain’ (PRESSURE)
33EMYBW ‘Golem’ (SVBKVLT)
Silas & Snare ‘Pressure EP’ (Kaizen)
SP:MC ‘Vintage / Slugfest’ (Sentry Records)
Thom Yorke ‘Anima’ (XL)
Atomℱ ‘Hard Disk Rock (Don’t Stop)’ (Atom Audio Archive)
L. Lund ‘Lo-Tech’ (Youth)
Various Artists ‘Cairo Concepts’ (Phil Battiekh)
Rey Sapienz ‘Mushoro’ (Hakuna Kulala)
The iDEALIST ‘Say Yes To No’ (iDEAL Recordings)
Barker ‘Utility’ (Ostgut Ton)
Slikback / 33EMYBW / Osheyack / Yen Tech ‘Slip A’ (SVBKVLT)
Slikback & Hyph11E ‘Slip B’ (Hakuna Kulala)
Elvin Brandhi ‘Shelf Life’ (C.A.N.V.A.S.)
Head Technician ‘Zones’ (Ecstatic)
W00DY ‘My Diary’ (W00DY)
Various Artists ‘Fabriclive 100: Kode9 & Burial’ (Fabric)
Various Artists ‘Axiom Dub: Mysteries Of Creation’ (Axiom)
Low Jack ‘Breizh’ (Hospital Productions)
Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ (EMI)
GZA ‘Liquid Swords’ (Geffen)
Tribe Of Colin ‘Age Of Aquarius’ (Honest Jon’s Records)
xin ‘Melts Into Love’ (Subtext Recordings)
33EMYBW ‘DONG2 䟗2’ (Merrie Records)
33EMYBW ‘Medusa’ (D Force Records)
Basic Rhythm ‘2 Da Core’ (Planet Mu)
Various Artists ‘Street Jams: Electric Funk Part 3’
Various Artists ‘Tommy Boy Greatest Beats The First 15 Years Volume 3’
Dub Syndicate ‘One Way System’ (On-U Sound)
Miss Red ‘K.O. Dubplates’ (PRESSURE)
Ride ‘Weather Diaries’
Raime ‘Raime EP (2 Track Edition)’ (Blackest Ever Black)
MC Yallah x Debmaster ‘Kubali’ (Hakuna Kulala)
Otim Alpha ft Leo PaLayeng (UMOJA Production) ‘Tong Gweno’ (Hakuna Kulala)
Rush ‘Moving Pictures’
Bruce ‘I’m Alright Mate / Post Rave Wrestle’ (Timedance)
The Bug ‘Zim Zim Zim’ (Ninja Tune)
The Bug ‘Exit’ (Ninja Tune)
The Bug ‘Box / Iceman’ (Ninja Tune)
The Bug Vs Earth ‘Boa / Cold’ (Ninja Tune)
Grandaddy ‘The Sophtware Slump’ (V2)
Half Japanese ‘1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts’
Massive Attack ‘Massive Attack vs Mad Professor Part II (Mezzanine Remix Tapes ’98)’ (Virgin)
33EMYBW ‘Arthropods’ (SVBKVLT)
Tortoise ‘A Lazarus Taxon’ (Thrill Jockey)
Tortoise ‘The Catastrophist’ (Thrill Jockey)
Lanark Artefax ‘Corra Linn EP’ (Numbers)
Tunes Of Negation ‘Reach The Endless Sea’ (Cosmo Rhythmatic)
Battles ‘Juice B Crypts’ (Warp)
Cam Deas ‘Mechanosphere’ (The Death Of Rave)
Kim Gordon ‘No Home Record’ (Matador)
Underworld ‘DRIFT Series 1’
Clark ‘Branding Problem’ (Throttle Records)
Giant Swan ‘Giant Swan’ (KECK)
Kingdom ‘Dreama EP’ (Night Slugs)
Lamont ‘Titanic / Eyes Closed’ (81)
The Sabres Of Paradise ‘Sabresonic’ (Warp)
Topdown Dialectic ‘Vol. 2’ (Peak Oil)
RXM Reality ‘Panic Cycle’ (Hausu Mountain Records)
Yeasayer ‘Erotic Reruns’ (Yeasayer Records)
Skepta ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’ (Boy Better Know)
Two Lone Swordsmen ‘From The Double Gone Chapel’ (Warp)
Vangelis ‘China’
Vangelis ‘Albedo 0.39’
Liaisons Dangereuses ‘Liaisons Dangereuses’ (Soulsheriff Records)
DAF ‘Alles Ist Gut’ (Groenland Records)
Lensk ‘Incised Shards’ (Hypermedium)
Plaid ‘Peel Session 2’ (Warp)
Squarepusher ‘Vortrack’ (Warp)
AFX ‘Houston, TX 121716 [Day For Night]’ (Warp)
Coil ‘Worship The Glitch (Dias)
Stereolab ‘Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (Expanded Edition)’ (Duophonic / Warp)
Danny Brown ‘uknowhatimsayin¿’ (Warp)
The Olivia Tremor Control ‘Black Foliage: Animation Music’ (V2)
Various Artists ‘Abrasion Invasion EP’ (Mutant Bass)
Lee Gamble ‘Exhaust’ (Hyperdub)
Max Richter ‘The Blue Notebooks (Special Edition)’ Deutche Grammophon)
Gorillaz ‘Humanz’ (EMI)
Various Artists ‘Hyperswim’ (Hyperdub)
Burial ‘Tunes 2011 to 2019’ (Hyperdub)
Various Artists ‘Phalanx Pt.2’ (Typeless)
Gray ‘Shades Of
’ (Ubiquity Recordings)

#5

top 10
Drab Majesty – Modern Mirror
Carbomb – Mordial
Shlohmo – The End
Nathan Micay – Blue Spring
Barker – Utility
juneunit – s/t
Loraine James – For You and I
Keith Fullerton Whitman – Generatorss
The Chemical Brothers – No Geography
William Fields – FieldsOS

honorables
DJ Charme – Opera
Basic Rhythm – On The Threshold
DJ Nate – Take Off Mode
RXM Reality – DEViL WORLD WiDE
Oli XL – Rogue Intruder, Soul Enhancer
black midi – Schlagenheim
Black Spirituals – Black Access/Black Axes
Empath – Active Listening: Night on Earth
Special Request – Offworld
Kindohm – Meme Booth
Felicia Atkinson – The Flower And The Vessel
Goncalo Penas – Ego De Espinhos
Bill Orcutt – Odds Against Tomorrow
r hunter – rrrrrrafael
Kanye West – Jesus Is King
Bjarki – Happy Earthday
Ghostride the Drift – Ghostride the Drift
Logos – Imperial Flood
Tasho Ishi – Dentsu2060
Bibio – Ribbons
American Football – LP3
King Midas Sound – Solitude
Leafcutter John – Yes! Come Parade With Us

(edited!!!)

#7

oof i’d better fit Barker into my list huh :grimacing: how could i have forgotten?!

#8

pretty meh year

alex - memo
eccentric edits - deux edit
empath - active listening: night on earth
tink thomas - vibrationz ep
instra:mental comp
loefah - ginnochio
loods - 3 blocks
low life - downer eden
sam binga & marcus visionary - doubles
sfire - sfire1
stereolab reissues
various - kankyo ongaku comp
various italo reissues on mr disc / major problems / best record
y u qt - u belong 2 me

#9

Damn, how good was that black midi record?! Still a little life left in rock yet ha ha

#10

That Rainer Veil record friggin killed it

#11

He did good with that one

#12

i will never give up on rock music :metal:

#13

Lots of good stuff this year! :slight_smile: Here’s my list, in no particular order:

Daniel Wohl - Etat
Regular Citizen - Sleeping Unique
Unknown Mobile - Daucile Moon
Loraine James - For You And I
Fadi Mohem - Klockworks 27
Afriqua - Colored
Mapstation - Present Unmetrics
Theodore Cale Schafer - Patience
Pyur - Oratorio for the Underworld
Koeosaeme - Obanikeshi
Fire-Toolz - Field Whispers (Into the Crystal Palace)
Johanna Knutsson - Tollarp Transmissions
DJ Python - Derretirse
Galen Tipton - Fake Meat
Velf - In a Sense
CVN - I.C.
Vanishing Twin - The Age of Immunology
FET.NAT - Le Mal
Jacques Greene - Dawn Chorus
Emotional Indulgence - s/t
Network Glass - idiot/smiling
Mor Air - Life Behind Glass
Ice_Eyes - Individual Drops
Steel Dangerous - Split
Rod Modell - Captagon
Sa Pa - In a Landscape
HTRK - Over the Rainbow
Vilod - The Clouds Know

#14

13 pages of stuff I dug this year lol

#15

@sorryrecords Nick, i mean this in the most genuinely nicest way possible but, were there any releases that came out this year that you didn’t like?

#17

Outside of a confoundingly bland Palms Trax set at Bossa Nova Civic Club and all the tracks on the Taylor Swift record besides the ones I mentioned, uhhhhh Lizzo?

#18

word. i guess my default reaction to new releases is either 1) intense skepticism or 2) flat-out dislike, so i’m always just really surprised when people have room in their heart every year for, well, 13 pages of music


#19

yay.

@zurkonic :slight_smile:

#20

Same here. Going through that top 100 Boomkat list 
 I don’t know, I’ve said it before, I’m probably getting old. Lots of it just sounds like someone randomly plobbing down a few harsh synth notes on loop. So much utter bollocks (even in a top 100 list!).

I hate to shit on someone, but I see a lot of praise for Ellen Arkbro’s “Chords”, for instance. What the actual fuck? Why have anyone released that on a record? Where’s the musical merit in it? Why do people like it, nevermind namedrop it as one of their best listens of 2019? Yeah, great, you can play chords and sort of morph them into one another. How very special! :joy:

#21

yeah i really don’t understand the appeal of drone music in general. or, rather, i understand it if maybe i’m in the right setting and the volume is punishing enough and my mind is being sublimated to some primal, transcendental state. but just casual listening? not my thing and very overrated as a musical statement. (<~ in my humble opinion!)

#22

yeah, i agree. I think droning can be a quite “useful” part of a composition, but if you’re just going to play a sustained chord over the course of 4 minutes or whatever 
 I don’t know - I just don’t see the musical merit in it. As you say, not much of a musical statement. So much of it is just so bland as well.

Ben Vida, 21 on Boomkat’s best of the year - it’s basically 4 long drones. It’s not terrible, obviously, but it’s like listening to 
 I don’t know, rain or traffic or some mundane sound you have in your living room. I just don’t see why it’s special or why I should bother listening to it, and something in me tells me people who say they like this stuff just say they like it because they don’t get it either but want to look smart. :stuck_out_tongue:

#23

I think you need to approach these records in the context of what Boomkat ‘is’ and the kind of albums they – and the circle of people they – signal boost. It’s an intensely small circle of artists and a small set of records that are ‘approved’ within that circle. Boomkat then sells these records to these people, who then put it on their end of year list. It’s a hugely insular back-and-forth.

It’s really not a reflection of what goes on in a wider context – I doubt even people who buy records from Bleep or Norman, for instance, would be aware of some of the stuff that charted highly on Boomkat’s list. Drone records aren’t selling more than a couple of hundred copies anywhere, if that.

Keep in mind Boomkat also have a stake in actually producing/distributing some of these albums in the first place (The Caretaker, etc) so they’re more likely to spotlight these. It’s really not a reflection of what’s popular (or was even good) in avant garde/electronic.

Drone records are really boring a lot of the time.