User
Reviews 20 Approval 97%
Soundoffs 112 News Articles 6 Band Edits + Tags 266 Album Edits 222
Album Ratings 2202 Objectivity 72%
Last Active 01-09-23 1:15 am Joined 04-20-15
Review Comments 24,474
| Boney's Current Top 30 Artists
Loosely ranked after the top 10 or so. Favorite album by each artist shown. Some artists were excluded because I haven't known them long enough or haven't heard enough of their work to know conclusively what my favorite album by them is or how I rank their work as a whole. Notable exclusions include Talk Talk, Spiritualized, David Bowie, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Joanna Newsom, and Sufjan Stevens. | 30 | | Deer Tick War Elephant
It is by no particular design that Deer Tick, Dawes, and Delta Spirit end up together in this ranking, but they are three artists with whom I always associate one another due to my being introduced to them by Middle Brother, a supergroup composed of the frontmen of each of these bands. Deer Tick, fronted by the raspy voice of John McCauley, play a range of alt-country, bar rock, and folk rock that I find quite irresistible. Their debut War Elephant is their clear peak, but across their discography there is a variety of gems. | 29 | | Dawes Nothing Is Wrong
On paper, Dawes are a pretty boring band. They play tame, pleasant folk rock that perfectly captures the sound of 70s SoCal folk/country rock. What distinguishes them is the great chemistry among the band's members and the excellent songwriting of singer Taylor Goldsmith. Goldsmith's finely-tuned lyrics analyse love and life in greatly detailed, poetic, and philosophical character sketches. The emotion in songs like "Million Dollar Bill", "Most People", "Somewhere Along the Way", and especially "A Little Bit of Everything" is undeniable. | 28 | | Delta Spirit History From Below
My favorite of the Middle Brother trio, Delta Spirit's music is an atmospheric mixture of folk and indie rock. Singer Matt Vasquez can absolutely belt when he wants to, but his voice lends itself just as well to thoughtful slow-burners. Their most consistent collection, History From Below, contains their absolute peak, "Ballad of Vitaly", as its closing track, and the song (one of my favorites of all time), a haunting (and true) story about a man who loses his family in a plane crash, perfectly encapsulates all that is great about this band: emotional lyrics, gorgeous arrangements, great melodies, and passionate singing. | 27 | | Brandi Carlile Bear Creek
Brandi Carlile is another fairly unassuming artist, playing simple folk rock tunes, but she is gifted with an incredibly emotive voice that elevates what in lesser hands would be fairly average singer-songwriter fare to incredible heights. Also essential are her collaborators and co-songwriters the Twins (Tim and Phil Hanseroth) whose pure harmonies provide Carlile's songs with a natural sense of beauty and ease. | 26 | | Beck Sea Change
Admittedly, I have no particular emotional attachment to any of Beck's work, and I don't return to his stuff terribly often of late, but his fantastic run from the wacky Odelay to the gorgeously bleak Sea Change is just so great that he earns a place here by default. | 25 | | Tame Impala Lonerism | 24 | | Wye Oak Civilian | 23 | | Ryan Adams Heartbreaker | 22 | | Father John Misty I Love You, Honeybear | 21 | | Sigur Ros Agaetis Byrjun | 20 | | Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues | 19 | | Sturgill Simpson Metamodern Sounds In Country Music | 18 | | The Beatles Rubber Soul | 17 | | Phosphorescent Muchacho | 16 | | Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 15 | | Drive-by Truckers Decoration Day | 14 | | Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here | 13 | | Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga | 12 | | PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love | 11 | | Sunhouse Crazy on the Weekend | 10 | | Neko Case Blacklisted | 9 | | Jason Isbell Southeastern | 8 | | Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited | 7 | | Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism | 6 | | Arcade Fire Funeral | 5 | | The Decemberists The King Is Dead | 4 | | Lucinda Williams Car Wheels On A Gravel Road | 3 | | Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 2 | | The National High Violet | 1 | | Radiohead OK Computer | |
theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | No particular reason for doing this, idk I just felt like it. | iloveyouall
07.19.16 | where's vomir? | zakalwe
07.19.16 | Boney dude if you haven't already check
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
You'll dig and that's a guarantee. | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | Alas Vomir came in at 31 and just missed the cut
zak I've heard and quite like her debut, Time (The Revelator) is on my list but I've never gotten around to it | zakalwe
07.19.16 | The title track is up there with Sunhouse man. | DoofusWainwright
07.19.16 | Great list:
Needs expanding to 40 for:
- Bill Callahan / Smog
- Will Oldham / Bonnie Prince Billy
- Cass McCombs
- Richmond Fontaine
- Califone
- Sparklehorse
- Vic Chesnutt
- Mark Kozelek / Sun Kil Moon
- Jason Molina / Songs: Ohia
- Mark Eitzel / American Music Club
All better than Beck ;]
| theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | I'll give that song a listen later on zak.
You should check out 4 yourself, it's hard to pick a standout tune from that since they're all amazing but try "Joy", "Right In Time" or "I Lost It" if you're looking for a quick sample. | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | Doof due to your influence those artists are all already on my ongoing list, alas it's slow going but someday I'll get to 'em all. | TVC15
07.19.16 | A tad surprised no Spiritualized is in here | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | TVC, they would likely make top 15 but I've still only heard Ladies and Gentlemen... so they fall into the "haven't heard enough of their work" category described in the description at the top. | Conmaniac
07.19.16 | woah nice for 29. saw em live and they blew me away. they have some really legit songs, Most People I still jam a lot.
also 7 is making its way into my top bands as of recently. nice list, lots of great bands | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | Yeah Dawes rule, they're particularly great live. | Rowhaus
07.19.16 | needs more metal | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | So I didn't initially plan on doing descriptions since it was a fairly spontaneous decision to make this, but I changed my mind. I'll be adding them in batches over the next couple weeks or so. The first, for 26-30, is up now. | DoofusWainwright
07.19.16 | Good work putting up descriptions, agreed that Beck is an artist whose work you admire more than love | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | Yeah he's pretty unique among my favorites in that I primarily just find him fun to listen to. | ArsMoriendi
07.19.16 | Nice PJ Harvey | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | Thanks Ars, she's pretty easily my favorite artist with nothing I have rated a 5, though TBYML is really close to a 5. | ArsMoriendi
07.19.16 | TBYML is one of my strongest 5s :P
Have you checked Uh Huh Her yet? haha | theBoneyKing
07.19.16 | Lol I still haven't checked Uh Huh Her, I need to just get it over with. | Conmaniac
08.08.16 | u ever gonna update this? | theBoneyKing
08.08.16 | Oh shit I totally forgot about this
Yeah I'll have to update this soon | BallsDeep
08.08.16 | Needs more metal and hip hop | Conmaniac
08.08.16 | nah | TVC15
08.08.16 | Needs more metal and hip hop [2] | theBoneyKing
08.08.16 | I'll admit this could use some diversifying but metal and hip hop are just not for me | DoofusWainwright
08.08.16 | In the context of Sputnik I'd say every other list needs more country/Americana ahead of this list needing hip hop/metal if we're championing diversity | theBoneyKing
11.02.16 | Doof's list is reminding me I really need to finish this whoops | zakalwe
11.02.16 | You need to check Time (The Revelator) if not boney love falls by 1% and it's a double blow what with doofs nonsense. | theBoneyKing
11.02.16 | Forgot about that one zak, I'll try to check it soon. I revsited her Revival album recently and it grew on me a lot. | zakalwe
11.02.16 | It's a special one mate it really is. | theBoneyKing
01.24.18 | Needs an update. |
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