Thanks Six, I wasn't being rude, somehow I missed seeing this post and have only just seen it now when I came here to ramble on about a few of the selections. I am going to see Car Seat Headrest in 3 Sundays time. Really excited about it. Unfortunately it's part of a festival and they are not doing any sideshows this side of the country so it will probably only be a 30 or 40 minute set, but there was no way I was missing seeing them and I will take whatever I can get. The album might be a bit long but not too long, and hey...Swans, the Glowing Man??? I often listen to a whole album on my drive to work. I got a song and a half into that album and I was there! It took 2 days there and back to get through the whole album. I had been meaning to listen to this album but hadn't gotten around to it. It's always an experience listening to their albums but I rarely do it more than once per album. Frankie M was the pick of the album for me, and Cloud of Unknowing was also good.numbersix wrote: ....Leets, nice post about Car Seat Headrest. Have you caught them live? I saw them at a fest in Portugal during the summer, and was blown away by how crazy the crowd were about them. Great show. I suppose the only reason it's not my #1 is because I feel the album is too long. Not sure if it's intentional, but due to streaming sites bands make more money if their albums have more tracks (maybe that's why the albums of James Blake, Kanye, DIIV, Solange, etc have too many), which is diluting the quality....
I have now listened to most of these albums and all of the songs. Some I had already heard and are in my collection, and may have been in my top 25 if I had done one like Surfer, namely Preoccupations (not as good as their last album), Parquet Courts (again not as good as some of their others, but still good, and Berlin Got Blurry is brilliant - they played quite a few of these songs when I saw them a couple of weeks ago, but sadly nothing from Sunbathing Animal, their best album, a few from Light Up Gold though so that was awesome), Savages, Iggy Pop, DIIV, Omni. Some I had already heard once but never went back - Angel Olsen (like her last album she just doesn't click with me), and Mitski (although I did really like the song Your Best American Girl and listened to that multiple times throughout the year).
I already had Shearwater in my collection to get around to listening to but never did. Now I have and I will again. It was pretty good - my "ïf you like this you should also check out..." recommendation is City Calm Down, one of my top 10 from last year...similar Joy Division/New Order/The National vibe.
Had not heard ANOHNI before but great song!. Didn't like the album as much but I've given the song quite a few spins since hearing it.
Sad to hear about the singer of The Tragically Hip, a band who I seem to have always known of but never really listened to before. Liked those two songs a lot, and the rest of the album wasn't too bad. His presence on stage reminded me of Mercury Rev a bit.
The Wild Beasts album surprised me because I didn't really like their last two but this one I enjoyed. I got a similar vibe and feeling to Big Scary, my #8 album, but you know.. not as good and not as varied.
It wasn't posted in this thread but I gotta say I liked the album by Nothing, who I had never heard of, a lot. That was my 3rd favourite find from this after Pill (Six - my "if you like this..." recommendation is Jaala - jazz influenced genre bending punk(?) with an enigmatic female vocalist, like nothing I've ever heard before - you should check out the songs Salt Shaker, Ticket, Hard Hold or wtf why not..the whole album).
And best find - Ray LaMontagne.