Best Ever Albums

Re: Taplog

Skinny — Sat, 4 Feb 2017 06:43:18 GMT

Author: Skinny

Posted: 02/04/2017 11:43

Tap wrote:

my journey thru the nurse with wound list just struck some gold

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Samtvogel by Gunter Schickert

I'm a big nerd for when delay is used a lot to make cool patterns and also krautrock, so maybe this won't be of interest to everyone here, but if those things are of interest to you, then you should really give this a listen. honestly it's worth knowing for the cover alone, but the music is really worth hearing too.

Just spotted this, listening now. It's great, thanks for the tip.

Re: Taplog

Tap — Sat, 4 Feb 2017 06:18:21 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 02/04/2017 11:18

so since I have all this data I've decided I'm really going to go for it and try to write something that will be interesting no matter how long into the year I finish it, which works out because it is going to take me a while. it's going to be very long. I'm going to finish it no matter what, but I'm curious if it's actually something anyone would be interested in reading, and how much they actually want to read. So here's the beginning of it, I still need to put the polish on to some of it but this should give an idea of what I'm working on, let me know if you have any thoughts

link

so would you be mad if you read that much and I still hadn't even really talked about a 2016 release in any detail?

oh and as far as current listening goes, Oto Hiax - s/t, Keith Fullerton Whitman - rsp-00, and Katie Gately - Color are all getting lots of plays and are all great

Re: Taplog

Tap — Sun, 8 Jan 2017 02:21:36 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/08/2017 07:21

Been looking at listening experience density (how many days before I listen to an album again), got a cool little animated graph of it.

the appearance of each dot represents the 2nd listen of every album I listened to in 2016 with more than 4 listens. albums sink lower and grow in size when there are a larger number of days between listens, and they disappear after their last listen of the year. I'll be writing about this more but I thought it looked cool so I wanted to post it.

Re: Taplog

Tap — Sun, 1 Jan 2017 04:21:46 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 01/01/2017 09:21

Going to write something up but here are my final stats for 2016 (though some of the counts may be a little off due to quirks, and the total time spent listening estimate is very rough but should be in the ballpark)

Final Tally '16

First Listens: 479
Releases Heard Previously: 440

Releases Listened This Year: 919
Artists Listened This Year: 663

2016 Releases Listened: 280
Pre-2016 First Listens: 199

Total Listens: 2317

Most Listened Album: Painting With (Times Played: 36)
2nd Most Listened Album: Zauberberg (Times Played: 22)

Only Listened Once: 468
Only Listened Twice: 215
Listened Three Times: 77
Listened Four Times: 46
Listened Five Times: 19
Listened Six Times: 20
Listened Seven Times: 18
Listened Eight Or More Times: 56

One listen, but listened before: 265
One listen, first listen: 203

Days with no new listens: 131
Days with no listens: 15

Album Count By Decade
1950: 1
1960: 22
1970: 107
1980: 46
1990: 76
2000: 174
2010: 492

Listens By Decade
1950: 1
1960: 34
1970: 185
1980: 85
1990: 120
2000: 255
2010: 1639

First Listens By Decade
1950: 0
1960: 10
1970: 50
1980: 23
1990: 13
2000: 43
2010: 339 (2010 without 2016: 59)

Average release length: 0:50:14
Estimated Total Listening Time: 1939:40:21 (for perspective, if I slept 6 hours a day, that would be 2196 hours, and I slept more than 6 hours a day)

Re: Taplog

Tap — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 02:24:11 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 09/14/2016 06:24

my journey thru the nurse with wound list just struck some gold

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Re: Taplog

Tap — Mon, 5 Sep 2016 02:29:17 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 09/05/2016 06:29

Any of you all use the follow feature on other fan accounts on Bandcamp? I was looking at this cool reissue of Odion Iruoje's Down To Earth on bandcamp (https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/down-to-earth I think a lot of you guys on here would be very interested in this), and I noticed one of the people who was listed as having purchased was named Dan Snaith, and I think it might just be the actual Caribou dude. The purchase history seems like it would make sense for him, and he's following one fan account, and it seemingly belongs to Four Tet. So yeah, I'm following them both now because that seems like a great source of recommendations.

Re: Taplog

Tap — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 04:28:30 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 08/29/2016 08:28

I added some things to the database for 2016, they're good

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Speak To Me by 3/4HadBeenEliminated

this is an Italian band with Valerio Tricoli and some other dudes, I think this description from the label gives you a good idea on whether you will want to check it out

Quote:

Although their live performances have always been entirely improvised, in their recorded work the group focuses on using improvised recordings as source material for compositions built up through layering, editing and analog manipulation, extending the practices of Teo Macero, Faust and This Heat. Melancholic instrumental ruminations sit alongside cracked electronics, concrete sounds and Tricoli’s whispered vocals, drawn together into dense assemblages animated by gradual transformations and sudden jump cuts.

It's really great, it's short, but it gets a lot done.

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Trouble by The Dead C

I'd never bothered to listen to these dudes but I guess they're well regarded? This is like a trashy kosmische infinity jam, great stuff.

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System by Datach'i

Everyone who liked Venetian Snares' modular synth album from this year should check this one out, because it's better.

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Interior Architecture by M. Geddes Gengras

MGG's last thing really did not sit with me very well at all. This one is good, feels more carefully constructed and diverse. I dunno if I'd go as far as what tmt said about it but its good stuff, if you dig on the wilder modular electronic stuff then you should check this out.

and then there's other stuff but it's late, I gotta get sleepin

Re: Taplog

Tap — Mon, 1 Aug 2016 03:37:40 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 08/01/2016 07:37

So here's where I'm at now

Running Tally '16

First Listens: 272
Heard Previously: 386
Releases Listened This Year: 658
Artists Listened This Year: 488
2016 Releases Listened: 142
Pre-2016 First Listens: 130
Total Listens: 1310

July '16

First Listens: 23
Heard Previously/Not In '16: 76
Releases Listened This Month: 99
Artists Listened Month: 93
2016 Releases Listened: 14
Pre-2016 First Listens: 9
Total Listens: 140
Most Listened Album: Cheetah by Aphex Twin (Times Played: 7)
2nd Most Listened Album: The View From Nowhere by Matt Carlson (Times Played: 5)

So yeah not a lot of listening this month. However, as you can see here, about half of the month's listening was done in the last 8 days

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this happens to be around the time I got sorted out after moving in to a new place, a reminder of the inexorable march of time via a birthday, having dental work done, and having my laptop die. It wasn't just that I was busy, just making the decision felt difficult to make due to a sort of listlessness from the grumpy child part of my brain resistant to change. I think maybe losing the ability to make that decision for lots of music in my digital collection might have helped me snap out of that. So that's cool at least.

Even with that though, I still got really into these 10 things that I listened to 3 or more times and had a pretty fulfilling July.

Aphex Twin - Cheetah
Matt Carlson - The View From Nowhere
Valerio Tricoli - Clonic Earth
Eric Copeland - Black Bubblegum
Dan Deacon - Gliss Riffer
Elysia Crampton - Demon City
Eilbacher/Moskos/Moore - SEF III
Igor Wakhévitch - Logos
Marzette Watts - Marzette & Company
Tomutonttu - Trarat

Re: Taplog

Tap — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 03:45:36 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 07/28/2016 07:45

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was playing around on the spreadsheet and figured out a new visualization for the data. each x represents an album, plotted over number of listens. So there's sort of that floor at the bottom with the albums with 1-3 listens. There's a part of me that's like "hey you should give albums more listens than that", but I think actually it's important to have it like this. A lot of those albums I've already heard and they're sort of internalized, so it's nice to check in. And by popping in on all these different bits of music, it's sort of like the fuel for all the listening, really. I don't know, I started this late, and also I somewhat recently had some oral surgery, healing fine but still needing to use the remaining medication that was provided. so this is something I'll be thinking about. But anyway, yeah that base stuff is sort of the fuel, and then the albums that really define the year for me are out with some space between em, so you can see that it's not really that many albums, but still it's a decent amount. I wonder how much of the remaining year will be building up the points that exist vs actually building up the thickness in the >4 part.

oh and I still haven't gone back to that new Ferraro, I dunno there's just been so many things with more compelling timbres for me. like seriously, you guys wanna hear some crazy shit, give this a spin

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The View From Nowhere by Matt Carlson

also you all who like rock music, this is from 2015 and I just added it to db so I think everyone missed it but it's fantastic

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Trading Basics by Palm

Re: Taplog

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 10:42:25 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/23/2016 14:42

Tap wrote:

James Ferraro - Human Story 3: Not so hot on this one, some really well composed moments but I lose the nuance of it and it sounds too samey. Giving it some distance at the moment, maybe I'll track thru it better later.

I suggest you do, it is truly stunning.

Re: Taplog

Michaell13 — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 14:58:42 GMT

Author: Michaell13

Posted: 07/16/2016 18:58

I'm glad you liked my Braxton rec and got the same kinds of things I got out of it. I don't think I'll ever have that album or him figured out, but he's one of my favorite mysteries to come back to.

Re: Taplog

Tap — Fri, 8 Jul 2016 20:08:21 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 07/09/2016 00:08

I'm slacking, but here's some thoughts

Dan Deacon - Gliss Riffer: I was underrating this, been listening to it a bit lately and it's some fun listening
Aphex Twin - Cheetah: Really nice stuff, tho it's more consistent/steady than Syro so it isn't hitting me on that level but still some really nice listening. And together with the new Autechre, it proves that the most significant IDM release wasn't even an album, it was the press release for Do You Know Squarepusher where the titular pusher talked about making electronic music as a collaboration with machines.
Valerio Tricoli - Clonic Earth: Leaning harder towards this taking my number one spot, it's so good. Seriously, anyone who's into weird shit on the fringes, this is essential listening.
Eilbacher/Moskos/Moore - SEF III: This is some bonkers stuff, spoken word and modular synth noise, with a very strong sense of fun and play. This ones got me grinning.
James Ferraro - Human Story 3: Not so hot on this one, some really well composed moments but I lose the nuance of it and it sounds too samey. Giving it some distance at the moment, maybe I'll track thru it better later.
DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will Fall: Old man dresses like young man, looks silly.
Eric Copeland - Black Bubblegum: He's got it down to a formula now, but the results are still some really catchy tunes.
Arca - Entrañas: I'm glad he wasn't singing all over it and I hope he collaborates more with Mica Levi.
Suzanne Ciani - Buchla Concerts 1975: Mmmmmm buchla. Great afternoon minimal blooping.
Jerry Paper - Toon Time Raw: I need to listen to more Jerry Paper, his songs are just so easy to listen to.

edit: I forgot I also was jamming Neon Indian - VEGA INTL Night School and I'm underrating that one too, it sorta lags for me toward the end, but when it's hitting, it's hitting a really sweet spot.

Re: Taplog

Tap — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 03:14:04 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 06/28/2016 07:14

I'm all moved in to my new apartment now. Gotta still build some furniture and get things put away to be fully settled. I'll be getting back to posting more here, and listening to more music. I had actually been saving the new Fennesz & O'Rourke collab and the new Valerio Tricoli albums until I moved in, so they could fully be associated with the new chapter. Tricoli album is incredible and I put it at #2 on my chart for now but with some more listening it could overtake the Autechre juggernaut. Though it'll be a while before I get the 24 hours of listening in that like I have with the elseqs. Fennesz & O'Rourke album is super pretty and I'm going to be listening to it a lot as well. That second track especially.

6/28
Running Tally '16

First Listens: 246
Releases Listened This Year: 618
2016 Releases Listened: 126
Total Listens: 1150
Only Listened Once: 394

Re: Taplog

Tap — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 01:24:07 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 06/13/2016 05:24

Things have been busy. But I just want to say these things are really worth hearing.

The whole of the Guerilla Toss vs Giant Claw EP but especially this song https://guerillatoss.bandcamp.com/track/doll-face-on-the-calico-highway-giant-claw-remix

And also the new Cloud Becomes Your Hand album, haven't been listening to a lot of music lately but I'm returning to this one a lot https://cloudbecomesyourhand.bandcamp.com/album/rest-in-fleas

Worth checking out!

Re: Taplog

Tap — Fri, 3 Jun 2016 02:27:50 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 06/03/2016 06:27

Intended listening of things that came out today or within the week:

Sote - Hardcore Sounds From Tehran (listening now, I thought it was gonna be new material performed live but this first thing is from last year's album, but that was awesome and this is different enough, I think I'm in for a good time) https://opaltapes.bandcamp.com/album/sote-hardcore-sounds-from-tehran
Francesco Cavaliere - Gancio Cielo 2 - Il Gruppo Respingi Comete (boomkat made it sound cool and the samples sound cool, I guess gancio cielo 1 came out earlier this year, gonna give that a listen to. it's like spoken word in italian and weird electroacoustic structures around whatever the narrative is or something, seems like it'll be fun)

and hmm yeah I dunno if anything else has really jumped out at me, tho I could be missing something. this is good tho, I can catch up on the things from previous weeks that I still haven't checked out.

6/2
Running Tally '16

First Listens: 230
Releases Listened This Year: 577
2016 Releases Listened: 116
Total Listens: 1046
Only Listened Once: 375

Re: Taplog

Tap — Thu, 2 Jun 2016 02:00:27 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 06/02/2016 06:00

Oh hey a month ended. I've been quite busy sorting out a new place to live. I've been living in a warehouse sort of thing but the real estate has become much more valuable than when I moved in since weed stores can set up here, so there's no chance to renew the lease. Ah well, got something solo and quiet just about sorted out, so that's cool. But yeah, I seem to be listening to less music lately. Part of it is because I'm (correctly) counting the new Autechre as a single release, and so the 4 listens I have on that count for over 16 hours of listening. But even with that, I've still been listening to a lot more comedy stuff. It'll still be hectic for a while with moving and everything, but I imagine I'll be back to some heavy listening when things are comfortable.

Still got a fair amount of listening in this month tho, and I still turned around the downward trend on my first listens.

Final Tally May

First Listens: 41
2016 Releases Listened: 29
Total Listens: 171
Most Listened Album: Ez Minzoku (Times Played: 😎
2nd Most Listened Album: A Moon Shaped Pool (Times Played: 6)
Only Listened Once: 106

6/1
Running Tally '16

First Listens: 229
Releases Listened This Year: 575
2016 Releases Listened: 115
Total Listens: 1042
Only Listened Once: 374

Re: Taplog

Tap — Fri, 27 May 2016 02:20:42 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 05/27/2016 06:20

Ok no, it wasn't Icy Demons I was thinking of. Tho it was fun to go back and listen to their first album "Fight Back!", a really nice little indie sort of thing with a heavy focus on the instrumental bits but some occasional singing. But way far off of what I was thinking of. Like this band had icy synths (hence my confusion) and drums, and I think that was it. I figured I'd must of heard it via a connection to a drummer I already knew at the time, or maybe it was on kill rock stars/5rc but I was looking thru discogs and could not figure it out.

I also ended up getting a listen in on the Lone and Second Woman albums. Second Woman continues this annoying trend of dudes using feminine language in band names for no discernible reason, but had a really cool thing going with a Mark Fell sort of approach to severely impractical IDM, I dug it. Lone I'm sort of getting diminishing returns on, I really liked Galaxy Garden but these followups have been a little too focused on re-contextualizing specific parts of dance music past, I don't know, it just isn't hitting me so deep. Still a good listen and I'll jam it a bit more I'm sure, but I don't think it'll have the staying power of GG.

5/26
Running Tally '16

First Listens: 222
Releases Listened This Year: 563
2016 Releases Listened: 110
Total Listens: 1014
Only Listened Once: 370

Re: Taplog

Tap — Thu, 26 May 2016 22:22:27 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 05/27/2016 02:22

I think I'm just gonna stop posting the listening lists here. I'll still be keeping track of the year's listening so I'll probably post graphs occasionally.

But hey! That means that when you see a post in here, it will contain valuable information for sure! Like right now here's some stuff that's come out today:

PAN records has finally put out something for the year! A new M.E.S.H. EP. Give it a listen http://www.factmag.com/2016/05/26/mesh-damaged-merc-pan/

FACT mag also have a stream of this new thing on NNA Tapes, Fox/Soper Duo - Magenta Line. It's like this really aggressive noisy synth and drum combo, I haven't listened to Icy Demons in forever but I feel like they were sorta on this tip? This is a really cool thing tho, I recommend it http://www.factmag.com/2016/05/25/greg-fox-ryan-soper-magenta-line-stream/

the Haino / O'Rourke / Ambarchi trio, responsible for some of the greatest song titles of our generation, have a new one called "I wonder if you noticed “I’m sorry” Is such a lovely sound It keeps things from getting worse". I haven't given it a listen yet but I'm looking forward to it.

and then in other electronic music happenings, there's new ones from Lone, Debruit, this Second Woman album on Spectrum Spools is probably cool, and SS also have a new Prostitutes album out, and then Edition Mego have something out from someone named Klara Lewis that I should probably investigate, Helm has a collaboration out with someone named Decimus, and Pye Corner Audio has a split with Dalhous. And then there's probably other stuff, there sure is a lot of stuff that comes out.

Re: Taplog

Tap — Tue, 24 May 2016 22:31:44 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 05/25/2016 02:31

5/22/16

1. LP (2015) by Container (LTY)
2. Magnetoception by Joshua Abrams
3. Future Days by Can
4. Crepuscular Hour by Maja S.K. Ratkje (FL16)
5. Earrings Off! by Adult Jazz (FL16)
6. Dominions by Sarah Davachi (FL16)
7. Ez Minzoku by FOODMAN

_____________________

5/23/16

1. Field Recordings From The Cook County Water Table by Brokeback
2. Interventions by Horse Lords
3. Antico Adagio by Lino Capra Vaccina
4. Under The Sun by Mark Pritchard (FL16)
5. Elseq 1-5 by Autechre (completed on 5/24)

_____________________

5/24/16

1. RY30 Trax by µ-Ziq (FL16)
2. Centipede Hz by Animal Collective
3. Between by Keith Rowe & Toshimaru Nakamura (FL)

_____________________

This Rowe & Nakamura one is kinda long, and I'll probably finish the night in the dubtrack noise room, so I might as well post this now. Because I hit 1,000 listens! An arbitrary milestone, but on the other hand, there's 3 zeros! So that's pretty cool.

I'm so lazy about adding things to the DB rn. Like this Rowe & Nakamura thing has to be added, it is fantastic. And the µ-Ziq archival thing, I think I might like it more than his other one from this year, tho it's still not on the level of Jega's or anything. Crepuscular Hour seemed really cool but I need more listens on it, it'll probably make my list at the end of the year tho. Adult Jazz is kind of a wtf tho. Like there's 4 songs and 3 interludes, and I'm only really into some of the songs. So the whole thing just feels so slight, I dunno, I'm probably not gonna bother adding it, so hopefully someone else does so that I can have the cover art in here when I listen to it again. And then there's that Sarah Davachi thing, which is really good, maybe my favorite thing I've heard from her? But again, need more listens. I'll probably add that soon tho. And then the Mark Pritchard thing, I really thought someone would've added that, like there's a track with Thom Yorke on it! It's an interesting album, like there's echoes of Global Communication and Harmonic 33 but he's definitely going for something different on this album. Again, need more listens. This is difficult since I have now spent 12 hours with the new Autechre album, which now sits on the very top of my year chart. I feel like that's gonna take up a decent amount of my time. I am OK with this.

_____________________

Running Tally '16

First Listens: 217
Releases Listened This Year: 556
2016 Releases Listened: 105
Total Listens: 1000
Only Listened Once: 366

Re: Taplog

Tap — Sun, 22 May 2016 19:09:20 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 05/22/2016 23:09

catchin up

5/19/16

1. Elseq 1-5 by Autechre (FL16)
2. Bad Timing by Jim O'Rourke
3. Oto Redactions by Keith Fullerton Whitman

_____________________

5/20/16

1. Am I Home? by Skeletons
2. Elseq 1-5 by Autechre
3. Ez Minzoku by FOODMAN
4. Rest In Fleas by Cloud Becomes Your Hand (FL16)
5. Medium Rude by Reed Evan Rosenberg & Ethan Tripp
6. First Record by Petr Kotik (FL)

_____________________

5/21/16

1. La Fabbrica Illuminata; Ha Venido, Canc... Auschwitz by Luigi Nono (FL)
2. Field Recordings From The Cook County Water Table by Brokeback (FL)
3. Pale Calling by Oren Ambarchi / Kassel Jaeger / James Rushford
4. Water Above Sky Below Now by Pauline Oliveros And Ione
5. When We Were Eating Unripe Pears by Bee Mask