My Top 10 Favorite Album
NOT IN ORDER
I know I say "emotional" a lot, but this IS a top 10 list, so it's true for everything here |
| 1 |  | Deafheaven
Sunbather
This record made me appreciate blast beats and screaming because it finds the beauty in those rather than the anguish. The warm major chord shoe-gazey blast beats hold extreme power, and you really feel the emotion behind the chord changes. The long tracks feel like odysseys, and everything flows really nicely within each track and as a whole. |
| 2 |  | Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward
Has so many powerful and emotional moments over its runtime, particularly Could've Moved Mountains, which never fails to MOve me. Nails that sweet spot between hopeful and bleak, embraces a quietness, and swells with beautiful orchestration |
| 3 |  | Colin Stetson
New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light
Colin Stetson redefines the saxophone with his solo projects, mining for every interesting sound he can pull from it, and turns that into something thrillingly foreign, emotionally and viscerally powerful. The 15 minute title track is enthralling every time I listen to it. I really dig the fluttering arpeggios and thudding bass that is prominent on this album. |
| 4 |  | Tim Hecker
Virgins
It seems like Tim Hecker dissects the soundscapes of the earth that are invisible to the eye. His instrumentation, though often heavily manipulated, feels extremely organic. Trying to imagine how Hecker created every perfectly placed detail just makes me further appreciate the magic of this hectic, haunting, and ethereal ambient album. |
| 5 |  | Jon Hopkins
Immunity
Jon Hopkins' music stands out from other IDM and electronic music because of the textures in every sound. His songs are full of detail, with ear tingling bass fizzes, scratchy percussion, and soft ambience and it's foot tapping as hell. The more ambient moments like Abandon Window and Immunity are incredibly well placed in the track listing and add some emotion between the beats. |
| 6 |  | Paavoharju
Laulu Laakson Kukista
Represents the best of what lo fi, ambient, and folk have to offer. Songs drift in and out of different sections, and into one another with the static-y wind that floats all across the album. There's a feeling of listening to something uncovered from a forgotten past, and a sadness that accompanies it. There's so much sonic variety as well, and the ever evolving, drifting state of the album always leaves me engaged. The album paints a portrait like NO other. |
| 7 |  | Daughters
Daughters
Hard hitting from start to finish in a way that no other album I can think of is. Daughters build intensity out of experimental guitar noises that crush and squeak in 100 different ways. Viscerally tremendous throughout nearly every second, so much so that it can be emotional, and that's especially the case with the final track, when the organ (or keyboard idk) comes in and there's a sense of profound beauty, but maybe that's just me. |
| 8 |  | Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
I enjoyed this album pretty early when getting into music and that hasn't changed. It is Animal Collective at their most catchy, fun, and inventive, with a couple of emotional sweet spots. Tons of personality and unique sounds on every track that contribute to good feels. |
| 9 |  | Eluvium
False Readings On
I hate how underrated this is. I can just sit in this album for an hour and six minutes and drift into the clouds teary eyed. |
| 10 |  | Jon Hopkins
Singularity
Transcendent bangers. Contemplative ambience. The flow of the album is amazing. Sometimes I'll just listen to one of its halves based on my mood. But I also love how the two come together when taking it in as a full experience. |
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