@amc2, that's actually kind of a cool idea...spend a period of time watching for new releases and spending the time with an old release by that artist...
If my schedule ever lets up enough, the album I most want to review next for MiG is actually one that came out over a year ago that I keep going back to.
Well, having checked, it looks like I did buy/download less current-year-released albums in 2013 than last year, but there are still enough to sift through - 47 full album releases. And I can see why they don't overlap with the public best-of lists. Some that I liked best were relatively obscure. And looking at the albums by familiar artists, I have to think this was not the strongest year for my niche. Not very many of this year's releases in my library look like potential life-long loves. Five or six artists that I have loved a lot in the past put out things this year that didn't thrill me.
Looking back at my last year's top 20 list, it is massively stronger than the playlist of this year's purchases that I'm looking at now. And it had 20 also-rans, many of which I still like. If I do a top 20 for MiG this year it might risk including stuff that I just kind of liked for a while. Maybe I should just do a top 10. (There's one album that I would expect to be high on my list (the new Nils Frahm) that is on my Christmas list, so I am resisting streaming it.)
ETA, when I go over the list and ask myself just from memory: which of these do I remember triggering a burst of enthusiasm, however brief, I am already down to 19 titles. (Of course I loved other things this year, new to me but not to the world). Time for some re-listening.
I am curious how this year was for others - was this a strong year for anyone?
I bought a fair amount of new jazz releases from emusic this year, mainly guided by Jonah's weekly Jazz Picks column. Before checking I'd estimate this to be around 30-40 2013 albums. Alongside this I also bought, mainly emusic, but also Amazon, perhaps 20 or so new Folk albums, but I also downloaded back catalogue music from artists I'd discovered this year. I've downloaded probably 90-100 albums from emusic during the year, so perhaps 50 were 2013 releases. When I have more time I will check that out, as it'll be quite interesting to see.
This seems like a good, eclectic list: Greg Kot. Savages again, and any list that places Allen Toussaint #3 is OK by me. Don't think I've heard of Parquet Courts, though
ooh, I have two from Gioia's list!
#15 - Dobrinka Tabakova
#43 - Attacca Quartet
...both of which might make my top 20 for the year. It's been a very strong year for me, as I've put much more effort into getting new classical releases and much less into filling gaps in the repertoire. Plus, in the past I've tended to get my ideas from what's been getting good reviews, whereas this year I've been going directly to the new-releases lists, which has turned up quite a few gems I might not otherwise have found. Narrowing down to a top 20 might be pretty tricky.
Amazon UK have their Best of the Best list. To quote them
To pull together the Best of 2013 list, we did a sweep of sources including the BBC, NME, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Q, Rock Sound, The Observer, The Independent, Resident Advisor, The Telegraph and Drowned in Sound.
I have none on that McManus guy's list. Interesting list though; always interested to see things not on any other list. Listening to RTJ now. Stopped scrolling at #2.
Seriously, what you say at the start is half true for me - I scroll these lists and don't read the blurd (or sometimes even the title) until something catches my eye as maybe interesting, then I stop and read the whole blurb to see if I should pursue them.
ETA "blurd" - I meant blurb of course. But given the quality of many blurbs, "blurd" seems like a useful term, like a hybrid blurb/...
@craig - If he puts out an instrumental version I might be able to enjoy it, but I'm trying to cut back on misogyny these days so even the $1.99 sale wasn't enough to entice me.
@craig, you mean you didn't want to put in another couple of hours for that one paragraph that I would have read????
Re Kanye, I'm with thom on this one, and while no fundamentalist, more sensitive than some to the blasphemy angle too. I do buy to a fair degree your argument about needing to listen to the grittier side of hip hop as social anthropology with regard to urban/black culture, and I found what I listened to a while back from that "bastard" album quite moving. But in Kanye's case I need a lot of convincing that I'd really be learning anything rather than just listening to the most objectionable end of mass popular culture. Listening to the samples it was the "free at last" line that really terminated my patience - a line evoking theologies of liberation, quoting Martin Luther King Jr, referencing God's presence with the oppressed and racial justice...and here reappropriated for...bra removal. Witty? In some sense. Worthy of respect? Again, I need a lot of convincing. Clearly a great number of people really liked it; musically I don;t know the genre well enough to be at all sure of my judgments. I don't really give time to shock music from any genre, so I'm not the target audience here. Still glad to learn from your list, thanks!
GP - Honestly, for a couple albums it took me almost as long to come up with one word/phrase as it would have to write a paragraph. Hence my total cop out on The Knife.
Howard Reich's jazz list. More free-jazzy selections than I would have guessed, as a regular reader. Where the hell was I when a new Yusef Lateef/Roscoe Mitchell project came out?
rats, I got it wrong again, I'm the one NOT putting Kanye on my list but liking arguing about music...
Some of those are funny categories...others I didn't even understand.
@Doofy, thanks for linking that. @Nereffid, it led me to read and greatly enjoy your piece on preconceptions. Is it just me or is classical music a peculiar hotbed for more or less unconsciously learned lessons of what one really *ought* to like to count as civilized, regardless of whether it's actually "better"? I guess not many other genres have had time develop quite as fierce a canon.
For what it's worth, my list will look something like this:
Juba Dance by Guy Davis (traditional Blues)
Second Time Around by Jason Davis (Bluegrass)
The Boatman's Cure by Paul Downes (Contemporary English Folk)
Trio by Hamilton de Holanda (Choro)
Battleplan by Bella Hardy (English Folk)
Born with the Caul by Cian Nugent (American Primitive)
Los Ministriles in the New World by Piffaro (Medieval)
When the King Will Land by Postdrome (Drone)
Hard for the Win ... by Nathan Salsburg (American Primitive)
Adeline by Sun Aesthetic (Ambient)
Kaani by Tal National (West African/Malian)
I Cannot Sing You Here, But for Songs of Where by Thirty Pounds of Bone (Scottish Folk)
Mates by Diego Urcola (Latin Jazz)
I'll say this for all these lists: I've added three titles that might make my own list from perusing them. I always find it hard to know how to weight things I discover very late the year - it can be hard to know how much I love them without more playing time.
ETA I now have two from the Amazon UK top 100 - Tamikrest (26) and Rokia Traor
I bought Kanye West's previous album, now I am tempted by all the mentions here and elsewhere for the latest. I'll have to listen to it on iTunes -they give the longest samples! I was going to go on hold at emusic, but didn't because of these lists so when it refreshes later today, I see a few downloads already. I actually own one of the albums on Craig's list (Arcade Fire), and did think about a few others at the time of release.
@ Doofy: appreciate the shoutout, but alas the Nereffid's Guide Awards have had their day. This year, I haven't had the time or, to be honest, the enthusiasm. Though - sudden evil thought - perhaps I might just abuse whatever authority I have and come up with a completely arbitrary list of albums! (Which I think is how they do the classical Grammys)
@ Germanprof:
Is it just me or is classical music a peculiar hotbed for more or less unconsciously learned lessons of what one really *ought* to like to count as civilized, regardless of whether it's actually "better"? I guess not many other genres have had time develop quite as fierce a canon.
Yeah, in the sense of a "canon" classical music is more like the world of art or literature than other genres of music, with the added complication of performers, so there's two canons in effect - the music itself, and performances/recordings.
Comments
If my schedule ever lets up enough, the album I most want to review next for MiG is actually one that came out over a year ago that I keep going back to.
Looking back at my last year's top 20 list, it is massively stronger than the playlist of this year's purchases that I'm looking at now. And it had 20 also-rans, many of which I still like. If I do a top 20 for MiG this year it might risk including stuff that I just kind of liked for a while. Maybe I should just do a top 10. (There's one album that I would expect to be high on my list (the new Nils Frahm) that is on my Christmas list, so I am resisting streaming it.)
ETA, when I go over the list and ask myself just from memory: which of these do I remember triggering a burst of enthusiasm, however brief, I am already down to 19 titles. (Of course I loved other things this year, new to me but not to the world). Time for some re-listening.
I am curious how this year was for others - was this a strong year for anyone?
Craig
#15 - Dobrinka Tabakova
#43 - Attacca Quartet
...both of which might make my top 20 for the year. It's been a very strong year for me, as I've put much more effort into getting new classical releases and much less into filling gaps in the repertoire. Plus, in the past I've tended to get my ideas from what's been getting good reviews, whereas this year I've been going directly to the new-releases lists, which has turned up quite a few gems I might not otherwise have found. Narrowing down to a top 20 might be pretty tricky.
Amazingly I have 6, including 3 in the top 20!
I like that dude, and I have all 20.
Craig
Seriously, what you say at the start is half true for me - I scroll these lists and don't read the blurd (or sometimes even the title) until something catches my eye as maybe interesting, then I stop and read the whole blurb to see if I should pursue them.
ETA "blurd" - I meant blurb of course. But given the quality of many blurbs, "blurd" seems like a useful term, like a hybrid blurb/...
I've scrolled through some of these lists, and so far Bleep's is my favorite.
GP - I do sometimes go back to read about an album I haven't heard. It's pretty darn rare, though. Plus, I felt like being lazy.
Craig
Craig
Textura top 20
04. Caleb Burhans (That's more like it !)
09. The Knells
19. James McVinnie (the Nico Muhly album)
+ HONOURABLE MENTIONS, COMPILATIONS AND MIXES and EPS / SINGLES / 12-INCH DISCS / MINI-ALBUMS
Re Kanye, I'm with thom on this one, and while no fundamentalist, more sensitive than some to the blasphemy angle too. I do buy to a fair degree your argument about needing to listen to the grittier side of hip hop as social anthropology with regard to urban/black culture, and I found what I listened to a while back from that "bastard" album quite moving. But in Kanye's case I need a lot of convincing that I'd really be learning anything rather than just listening to the most objectionable end of mass popular culture. Listening to the samples it was the "free at last" line that really terminated my patience - a line evoking theologies of liberation, quoting Martin Luther King Jr, referencing God's presence with the oppressed and racial justice...and here reappropriated for...bra removal. Witty? In some sense. Worthy of respect? Again, I need a lot of convincing. Clearly a great number of people really liked it; musically I don;t know the genre well enough to be at all sure of my judgments. I don't really give time to shock music from any genre, so I'm not the target audience here. Still glad to learn from your list, thanks!
GP - Honestly, for a couple albums it took me almost as long to come up with one word/phrase as it would have to write a paragraph. Hence my total cop out on The Knife.
Craig
I have no idea who she is, or what a guy has to do to earn such an characterization, but yow.
Howard Reich's jazz list. More free-jazzy selections than I would have guessed, as a regular reader. Where the hell was I when a new Yusef Lateef/Roscoe Mitchell project came out?
She's been in a lot of stuff, probably most visibly as first Joey's then Ross' girlfriend on Friends.
Craig
Some of those are funny categories...others I didn't even understand.
Anyway, aren't we really just marking time until the most prestigious list of all?
Juba Dance by Guy Davis (traditional Blues)
Second Time Around by Jason Davis (Bluegrass)
The Boatman's Cure by Paul Downes (Contemporary English Folk)
Trio by Hamilton de Holanda (Choro)
Battleplan by Bella Hardy (English Folk)
Born with the Caul by Cian Nugent (American Primitive)
Los Ministriles in the New World by Piffaro (Medieval)
When the King Will Land by Postdrome (Drone)
Hard for the Win ... by Nathan Salsburg (American Primitive)
Adeline by Sun Aesthetic (Ambient)
Kaani by Tal National (West African/Malian)
I Cannot Sing You Here, But for Songs of Where by Thirty Pounds of Bone (Scottish Folk)
Mates by Diego Urcola (Latin Jazz)
Amazon:
42 - Pet Shop Boys
- Will get 98 - Niels Frahm as soon as my mu refreshes.
Amazon classical:
- Seems like 0 (I can't see the last column)
ETA I now have two from the Amazon UK top 100 - Tamikrest (26) and Rokia Traor
@ Germanprof: Yeah, in the sense of a "canon" classical music is more like the world of art or literature than other genres of music, with the added complication of performers, so there's two canons in effect - the music itself, and performances/recordings.