|
User
Soundoffs 66
Album Ratings 3014
Objectivity 76%
Last Active 12-11-18 5:41 pm
Joined 06-18-11
Review Comments 294
| Albums/Artists I "discovered" in 2016
Thanks to Spotify, I'm able to find just about anything that suits my fancy for any given day of the week. In between new releases I like to look backwards and find the influences many of my favorite acts today have come to be so inspired by. Some of these artists I've listened to before but never really gave much attention to. Others, I like a specific album by them and nothing else... until now. In no particular order... | | 1 |  | Guided by Voices
Alien Lanes
Dear God! The only GBV album I ever listened to was Bee Thousand and it didn't really resonate with me. Their 21st century output has been fairly sub-par to me, but this... this is incredible. 28 songs, very few breaching the 2 minute mark, but all of them being blissful lo-fi garage rock perfection. "As We Go Up, We Go Down," "Motor Away," "The Ugly Vision," I could go on. | | 2 |  | David Bowie
Hunky Dory
I'll be the first to admit that prior to his death, I didn't listen to much of Bowie outside of his classic tracks (which this album has a lot of). After his death, I figured it was due time to take a look at his 70s catalog. Falling in love with music is a great feeling. Hunky Dory especially is just so riveting, so complete, and so warm. I love every track from front to back, something I can only truly say about a few albums out there. I covered his entire 70s output, and though I love love love Ziggy Stardust, Station to Station, Low, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, and the Man Who Sold the World - Hunky Dory is immaculate. | | 3 |  | Blue Cheer
Outsideinside
Hot damn. And here I thought heavy metal, psych rock and the similar genres were all a late 70s creation! (I'm joking). But I'd never heard of these gents until a list on here that I found, and ended up giving it a spin. Summertime Blues is insanely catchy but I think Sun Cycle might be my favorite. | | 4 |  | Public Image Ltd.
Metal Box
I'm big on post-punk, the kind that leans further from new wave and more towards punk type (Gang of Four, Television, etc.). I'd heard of PIL, and I checked out First Issue awhile ago. It didn't really stick with me though. But here we are, a few years later and I check out Metal Box and am blown away, especially with Poptones and Memories. | | 5 |  | John Cale
Fear
The Velvet Underground is a top 3 band for me. I love everything the band put out, but I've never been a huge fan of Lou Reed's solo output, and never bothered with John Cale until a friend suggested Fear. Still keeping with that punk region of music (I think it's considered proto-punk, since it predates Patti Smith, The Ramones, etc.) Either way, wonderful record. | | 6 |  | The Cars
The Cars
I know right? I'd always considered the Cars to be one of those bands that weren't very important to music. What an idiot, right? Well, I've corrected the mistake and engaged their self-titled full force and love it. Almost entirely front to back. It's just a fun record, not sure why it took me so long but here I am! | | 7 |  | The Beach Boys
Surf's Up
Everyone knows the Beach Boy's biggest hits, as well as their time on Full House, and the issues Brian Wilson faced for years. But Surf's Up? Amazing. It's a shame that Carl Wilson didn't have such a promising solo career, because his contributions here are some of the best I've heard, especially "Long Promised Road." | | 8 |  | Wipers
Land of the Lost
Ya know for a long time, Greg Sage purists only would quote the first three albums by the Wipers as being worthwhile. Well, they're wrong. Land of the Lost, on a whim, entered my playlist this year to much acclaim from myself, and I consider it the best Wipers album. I love their first three, don't get me wrong. But the mix of punk, melodies, and ideas is so perfectly blended here that it's now my go-to Wipers record. | | 9 |  | The Kinks
Something Else by The Kinks
During college, there wasn't a week that went by when I wasn't spinning The Village Green Preservation Society, still to this day one of my top 10 albums, one of those "front to back" albums. Never even once considered going back to the 60s for the Kinks, I knew that "Really Got Me" was their calling card, but Something Else? Never considered it... until last year when, along with Powerman, I ended up having a month long exploration into the rest of their catalog. JFC, Something Else is on par with Village Green, as is Powerman. Ever since Village, I've preferred the Kinks over the Beatles, and this string of late 60s to mid-70s albums is just a perfect example of why. | | 10 |  | Ultravox
Ha!-Ha!-Ha!
My buddy Russ threw this my way around July, based on my latest listening activity on Spotify and suggested I give it a spin. Unsurprisingly, I loved it. I'm still early into exploring Ultravox, and I know there's some John Foxx material I'll need to catch up on, but so far I'm loving it. | | 11 |  | Echo and The Bunnymen
Crocodiles
I know, I know, - "enough post-punk," well I'm sorry, it's a genre I've fallen completely in love with and Echo and the Bunnymen are still an act I'm enjoying quite a bit lately. Crocodiles and Ocean Rain were the soundtrack to my autumn. | | 12 |  | Madvillain
Madvillainy
I apparently don't listen to enough rap/hip-hop according to my friends. They suggest newer stuff and I can't seem to get into Kendrick Lamar or Run the Jewels very much. Buddy of mine decided to go backwards and start rec'ing me some of his classics. I'm not 100% a fan just yet, but it's far better than the hip-hop suggested to me previously. | | 13 |  | A Tribe Called Quest
The Low End Theory
So in keeping with the hip-hop/rap string, this one I went for on my own because I loved the new album. Again, this is far better than anything I've heard lately from the genres. And I could be entirely mistaken, but the content is what I find more engaging here. | | 14 |  | Autolux
Future Perfect
I'm a big shoegaze fan, and this one was always on my list to check out. I must have jammed it for a good two weeks straight before putting it into my regular rotation. Some albums you just never get around too, but I think due to their 2016 album release I felt more compelled to check this one out and I'm glad I did. One of the best shoegaze releases of the 2000s. | | 15 |  | Swirlies
Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Speaking of Shoegaze... um... can we talk about the Swirlies? Fell in love with this the minute I turned it on. One of the best things about music is that there's so much out there for you to find. I've listened to so much shoegaze - Loop, Ride, Swervedriver, MBV, Slowdive, Nothing, 93millionmilesfromthesun, Deerhunter - and never once considered the Swirlies. Glad I found them when I did though, as Blonder Tongue is incredible. | | 16 |  | Sparklehorse
It's a Wonderful Life
Truly a tragic story, and I wish I'd been able to hear him live at some point, because his music is so engrossing. It's hard to separate yourself from it sometimes though, and while I fell in love with a lot of his music, I don't revisit it often. There's such a dark cloud over it. Hard to explain. Either way, truly remarkable catalog, and I'd recommend it to anyone. | | 17 |  | Gil Scott-Heron
I'm New Here
I revisited this album out of the blue, as I'd forgotten about it for quite some time. Truly a remarkable and unforgettable experience. Forced me to take another look at Gil Scot Heron's older material and find some truly wonderful material. "the Revolution Will Not Be Televised' especially. I think I was inspired to give his work some more listens after watching The Get Down on Netflix. Regardless, love it. | | 18 |  | R.E.M.
Fables of the Reconstruction
Not an R.E.M. fan prior to 2016. My major exposure to them was their 90s work, which isn't terrible, just not really my thing. My brother was always a fan of them and suggested I listen to Fables, an album I didn't even know existed. I wouldn't say I'm an avid R.E.M. fan now, but this album is fantastic. I've listened to Murmur and Reckoning, Document and Life's Rich Pageant, and all are great, but I think Fables may be my favorite of theirs. | | 19 |  | Fiona Apple
Tidal
Back in 2012 I got hooked on the Idler Wheel, and it's definitely a great album. I heard "Sleep to Dream" on the radio (which is weird for 2 reasons, 1: I never listen to the radio and 2: this song is from the 90s and my local radio station doesn't play 90s female artists... ever. It may have been a request, who knows) . So it urged me to revisit Tidal. There's a reason why this album catapulted her to a short lived stardom in the 90s, it's such a dark and disturbing trip, but very rich in content and texture. Love it. | | 20 |  | Heatmiser
Mic City Sons
My girlfriend listens to a lot of Jimmy Eat World, and there's a song (can't thing of which one) that mentions Heatmiser, and she played it in the car one day. I'd never heard of them, so I pulled them up and boom. Pop in G ftw. | | 21 |  | Prolapse
Pointless Walks To Dismal Places
More Post-punk that I meant to add earlier. A lot of these came from skimming many of the lists I see on here. Lots of good stuff here. | | 22 |  | Swell Maps
Jane From Occupied Europe
Fell in love with this almost immediately along with Trip to Marineville. There's just something I can't describe about music like this. It's just so gripping to me. | |
pizzamachine
01.05.17 | "Others, I like a specific album by them and nothing else"
Happens all the time for me | onionbubs
01.05.17 | If you like 1 id definitely give under the bushes under the stars a spin. My favoirte is definitely bee thousand, but all 3 are full blown classics in my book | Spluger
01.05.17 | Have you tried Enter the Wu-Tang? Might be my favorite classic rap album. | McMegaMountain
01.05.17 | ^ nope but I will give it a try. always open to new music to explore. | JamieTwort
01.05.17 | Nice list. Great to see 17 on here, Heron was a legend. Have you heard the Jamie xx version of that album? | McMegaMountain
01.05.17 | ^ yes I have, was not too much of a fan of it but didn't hate it. Prefer the original most definitely. | JamieTwort
01.05.17 | I like it a lot but then again I dig Jamie xx's stuff in general. Probably listen to it more than the original tbh. | Drifter
01.05.17 | Have you heard TPAB? It's what got me into hip hop when I hated it and now it's most of what I listen to | JamieTwort
01.05.17 | Gill Scott-Heron is the godfather of hip-hop so he's on the right track. Also pretty much anything produced by Madlib should help with getting into hip-hop if you dig Madvillainy. | McMegaMountain
01.05.17 | @ Drifter, I listened to both Good Kid and TPAB, neither of which did anything for me. In 2016 I enjoyed Anderson Paak above all else, mainly for his jazz influences, but I did dig some of Kanye's Pablo record and most of Chance's Coloring Book. |
|
