hello this is my biannual tumblr update

lots of good albums this year but not that i ‘love’ or feel really invested in. Obvs Kendrick and Sufjan and Jamie XX are dominating the conversation around the critic blocs, deservedly, but i’m gonna mention some lesser known ones that i think are worth checking out (unranked tho, ok)

zs - xe 

this is experimental, improvisational modern free jazz that’s impressive in its rhythmic presence and ambition. never dull

waxahatchee - ivy tripp

i never realized how much i liked this until i was thinking about which albums to mention here and then it clicked. maybe her best album. took awhile for me to like as much as her debut.

hop along - painted shut 

ditto with this release. the vocals dominate here more than on Get Disowned and the songwriting isn’t as catchy but still some great tracks. grew on me, and i keep coming back to it

billy woods - today i wrote nothing

one of the year’s best rap albums; underground and harsh, intelligent. 24 tracks long without any duds. highly lyrical

titus andronicus - the most lamentable tragedy

outstanding massive release. as good as The Monitor. not even officially out yet but worth buying on 3LP.

death grips - the powers that b

skip the memes; great double album

vince staples - summertime ‘06

just came out today, it’s 60 minutes over two discs. Tries lots of different ideas, rarely faltering. tons of energy and skill even if it’s a more accessible effort. The production throughout is unreal, No I.D. and Clams Casino putting in killer work. 

mount eerie - sauna 

ideal swan song for phil elverum…if that’s what it is. 

godspeed! YBM - Asunder etc etc

ahhhhhhhahahahhhhhahhh

jim o’rourke - simple songs

the sort of almost-yacht-rock-but-not-quite you’d listen to if you were a really, really cool Dad.

father john misty - i love you, honeybear

life n marriage (funny)

bjork - vulnicura

divorce and after (sad)

mewithoutyou - pale horses

returns a band that’s felt fairly dormant for several years into the ‘great’ tier, but you can’t really call them post-hardcore anymore…religious content is thoughtful and makes for interesting lyrics in this indie styled record

viet cong - viet cong 

this band was dropped here from the late ‘70s and now we’re stuck with them

holly herndon - platform

future shit, legitimizes ASMR, looks forward in time towards a world where the sun opens up like an iphone lock screen

follakzoid - III

stoner jams that u can dig if yr not a long-haired stoner, it’s chill, it’s psychy.

marching church - the world is not enough

if you love Iceage, you’ll love this, which is basically just Elias being self-indulgent. (i love Iceage)

i’ve heard a bunch of other stuff too that i more or less like but need more listens to articulate in any sort of coherence why. like i said, it’s a good year for stuff that’s good, but i haven’t been floored a w h o l e lot.

also since you are here already here is my ranked list of movies from 2015, the year that we are halfway through. http://letterboxd.com/orangehologram/list/2015-films-ranked/

thank you for reading tumblr

Things im listening to this week: Can you believe the new J. Cole record doesn’t suck? Edition

• J cole - 2014 forest hills blah blah (it’s good! i didn’t like his earlier stuff. forgettable. this one is good.)
• frank sinatra…anything, everything 
• bob dylan - tempest (didnt get around to it in 2012)
• of montreal - lousy with sylvanbriar (i GUESS..i dunno.)
• susanna/jenny hval - meshes of love
• jenny hval - innocence is kinky
• and lots of Bill Evans Trio

space is the plcae

im trying to pare down my spotify playlists so im gonna drop some notes here, alright

-deerhoof have a lot of albums, and i should listen to them someday, but not today. 

-there’s so many MINOR indie albums that i’ve hardly spent time on: 

• the weakerthans - reconstruction site
• casiotone for the painfully alone - etiquette (i think this was okay but i’m never able to remember it)
• okkervil river 
• the walkmen
• the fiery furnaces - bitter tea
• the front bottoms - s/t
• wild flag
• wild beasts 
• the hotelier (i listened their latest album once and it reminded me of that Grandaddy album from 2000, “The Sophtware Slump”…)
• Pulp (firm MAYBE with them because im skeptical AF of brit-pop)
• keaton henson (re-eval)
• mountain goats - we shall all be healed + tallahassee 
• the twilight sad
• lydia-illuminate
• papercuts
• hey marseilles (prob bad tbh)
• akron/family 
• the dodos
• o'death

-i wanted to listen to some twee shit earlier but couldnt think of anything beyond like, beat happening. i’ve had too much beat happening 

-operation ivy are so nostalgic

-U.S. MAPLE

-dylan’s freewheelin and cohen’s songs of love and hate always worth listening to

-fuck mr. bungle

-bands that sound like early swans: foetus, COIL, Current 93, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Nurse with Wound

-overlooked post-punk:

• kimono my house 
• the raincoats
• young marble giants
• half japanese
• aksak maboul
• the feelies

rap stuff havent gotten around to:

• travis scott
• mos def- black on both sides 
• gravediggaz
• the constructus corporation
• snoop dogg - doggystyle
• camp lo

-who even are “And you will know us by the trail of dead”? what kind of name is that 

-are The Horrors even good

-The Streets

-other music i should write down: Niechec, Ryoji Ikeda, Xenia Rubinos (eh), Solex, Skream, Ulver, The Church, Ulrich Schnauss, The Depreication Guild, Unexpect, Rosetta, Laika

-marvin gaye’s Here My Dear is his best

-metal: opeth have way too many albums, carcass’ surgical steel, Ulver yea yea yea yea

songs:ohia and arthur russell are essential