Best Ever Albums

Re: Best Year This Decade

Luigii — Thu, 6 Jun 2019 21:39:51 GMT

Author: Luigii

Posted: 06/07/2019 01:39

This might be a spur of the moment but for the best of the decade, I'd go with either 2015 or 2017.

2013 is probably a personal favorite since I got a varied top 10 but would have to dig further.

2011 is where I would agree with sidney where this is underrated. Because I continue finding dope albums.

And lastly need to shout out 2016 and 2018 due to having a dense batch of albums listened and need to continue to dig further.

Otherwise, I would mirror the consensus that this decade has been pretty stellar.

Re: Best Year This Decade

craola — Thu, 6 Jun 2019 13:51:35 GMT

Author: craola

Posted: 06/06/2019 17:51

personally, i have to put 2019 at the top of my year lists. ranking them by my top ten looks something like this (number of albums i've listenedin parenthesis):

01. 2019 (376)
02. 2018 (280)
03. 2017 (311)
04. 2016 (198)
05. 2010 (143)
06. 2015 (278)
07. 2014 (438)
08. 2011 (152)
09. 2012 (152)
10. 2013 (170)

realistically, 2014 was probably the worst year for me given my hit/miss ratio. in 2010, on the other hand, i found a lot of great stuff on fewer swings...

Re: Best Year This Decade

saltysurprise — Thu, 6 Jun 2019 12:34:21 GMT

Author: saltysurprise

Posted: 06/06/2019 16:34

S Tier
2016 (David Bowie, Kanye West, Radiohead, Nick Cave, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Childish Gambino, Car Seat Headrest, Sturgill Simpson, JPEGMAFIA, Jeff Rosenstock)

A Tier
2015 (Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Death Grips, Tame Impala, Jeff Rosenstock, Earl Sweatshirt)
2018 (Idles, Kids See Ghosts, Death Grips, Daughters, Car Seat Headrest, Pusha T, JPEGMAFIA)

B Tier
2012 (Death Grips, Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, Swans)
2010 (Tame Impala, MGMT, Kanye West, Flying Lotus, Vampire Weekend)

C Tier
2014 (Flying Lotus, D'Angelo, Swans, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib)
2017 (Tyler The Creator, Big K.R.I.T., Algiers, Alvvays)

D Tier
2013 (Deafheaven, Vampire Weekend, Kanye West)

E Tier
2011 (Bon Iver, Death Grips, The Beach Boys (kind of))

Not Done Yet Tier
2019 (Tyler The Creator, Flying Lotus)

Re: Best Year This Decade

StreakyNuno — Wed, 5 Jun 2019 14:07:42 GMT

Author: StreakyNuno

Posted: 06/05/2019 18:07

2019 of course

Re: Best Year This Decade

StreakyNuno — Wed, 5 Jun 2019 13:49:08 GMT

Author: StreakyNuno

Posted: 06/05/2019 17:49

Rozi Plain with what a boost ... top 5 2019

Re: Best Year This Decade

LedZep — Wed, 22 May 2019 04:03:54 GMT

Author: LedZep

Posted: 05/22/2019 08:03

It's a toss between 2015 and 2016, but I'd choose 2016 and not just because so many legends have given us their last albums, but cause there were so many gems from that year that just didn't get enough attention. Now that I think of it, almost every 2016 album I can remember from the top of my head was the artists' best or at least in contention to be the best. From Car Seat Headrest, Frank Ocean, Chelsea Wolfe, Danny Brown, Lisa Hannigan and King Gizzard to Nick Cave, Bowie, Swans, Xiu Xiu, Weezer and Cohen to Gojira, Vektor, Dillinger Escape Plan and Megadeth. And so many in between... It is a bit of a throwback year since so many older bands have released their albums, but all of them were excellent! And newer bands weren't behind, many great debuts that year. Also worth a shout: 2011 and 2014 (this one mainly because the best albums that year were excellent, overall the year was ok).

Re: Best Year This Decade

Daydreamer — Wed, 22 May 2019 03:16:47 GMT

Author: Daydreamer

Posted: 05/22/2019 07:16

Slightly off topic, but I feel this is the most appropiate place to say it - I fell this has really been the decade of comebacks. So many older, respected artists had really great albums this decade (and it's not just one great album, it's consistent quality throughout the decade).
When I think about the artist and albums of the 10's, some of those that come to mind are Nick Cave, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Queens of The Stone Age, Weezer - artists who are well past their prime, and all of them released more than one quality album this decade reminiscent of their best days. Hell, I even think Nick Cave hit his prime in 10's given how good these last two albums were.

Re: Best Year This Decade

Fischman — Fri, 17 May 2019 11:59:07 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 05/17/2019 15:59

I'm gong to break this down a little further:

2012 is a winner for rock, especially classic rock and, to a lesser degree progressive rock

2013 is a winner for progressive metal with 2016 coming in close behind

2014 is a winner for jazz

2017 is a strong winner for progressive rock with 2012 and 2018 also making good showings

2019 is, so far doing well with diversity, although that may be a bit skewed as it's the first year this decade I've been making a concerted effort to seek out new music across styles and genres, so I may just be discovering it more.

Re: Best Year This Decade

travelful — Fri, 17 May 2019 11:39:06 GMT

Author: travelful

Posted: 05/17/2019 15:39

doing a deeper dive in 2017 right now since I didn't listen to a lot of 2017 at that time. I actually think I might have underestimated the year, finding lots of great albums. 43 albums in and already 7 albums I've given a 9/10. not to mention lots of 7 and 8's.

Re: Best Year This Decade

SleepDealer — Fri, 17 May 2019 06:08:41 GMT

Author: SleepDealer

Posted: 05/17/2019 10:08

2015 for me, so many good albums and quite a few great ones.

Re: Best Year This Decade

JOSweetHeart — Thu, 16 May 2019 16:49:49 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 05/16/2019 20:49

2017 for me because that is when I discovered my newest favorite singer, if only I had discovered my late beautiful precious Steve Sanders of the Oak Ridge Boys sooner. 😢 😢 😢

God bless you and those who have loved him longer than me always!!!

Holly

Re: Best Year This Decade

ForegroundNoise — Thu, 16 May 2019 04:14:10 GMT

Author: ForegroundNoise

Posted: 05/16/2019 08:14

In these discussions without fail I always see 2011 massively overlooked! Which I think is mad given the extent of great releases that came out that year.

The big hitters are obviously Let England Shake, Bon Iver, Bon Iver and
Helplessness Blues, with the latter being a huge leap forward in sound for a band whose debut I was thoroughly unimpressed with, but if we dig a little deeper into the underground there are so many gems that emerge:

Ambient had a phenomenal year with Tim Hecker's Ravedeath, 1972 gaining him the most acclaim in his career thus far.
Oneohtrix Point Never released career high Replica that I personally didn't like but some people have placed as one of the decades best.
A Winged Victory For The Sullen released their highly acclaimed debut, as did Julianna Barwick (her's was my AOTY), whilst Grouper released her A I A double album series. And that's just ambient? (some people also loved Tycho's Dive but I thought it was a very underwhelming).

In hip hop we had Kendrick Lamar and Shabazz Palaces releasing their fantastic debuts, as well as Danny Brown releasing the sprawling XXX and Death Grip's Exmilitary (which I still think is at the top end of their discography).

The most defining vaporwave album of the entire genre, Floral Shoppe by Macintosh Plus got released this year.
A lot of people went mad for James Blake's debut.
Colin Stetson released the highly acclaimed New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges.
Chelsea Wolfe had a solid release with Ἀποκάλ�...ψις [Apokalypsis], as did Destroyer.
Neutral Milk Hotel hit back from hiatus with a fantastic EP, Ferris Wheel On Fire, and Car Seat Headrest released underground favourite Twin Fantasy (Mirror To Mirror), the re-recording of which is currently battling it out with Kids See Ghosts for last year's AOTY.
If you're fans of Have A Nice Life, Dan Barrett released the eponymous album from his Giles Corey side-project.
King Creosote & Jopkins released the stunning ambient/folk album Diamond Mine, a beautiful overlooked album from that year I'd highly recommend.

And finally in terms of retrospective compilations, this year boasted no less than Disco Inferno's The Five EPs and The Beach Boys' The Smile Sessions.

I get that other years have albums with much bigger reputations (MBDTF, To Pimp A Butterfly etc.) but it terms of the depth of great music from a variety of genres it makes me sad 2011 doesn't get enough love!! So many people writing it off as average and I don't understand why ...

Re: Best Year This Decade

revolver94 — Wed, 15 May 2019 12:50:00 GMT

Author: revolver94

Posted: 05/15/2019 16:50

definitely gonna be 2015 for me, with 2012 being the only real contender. also my two favorite years for music of all time but thats a me thing

Re: Best Year This Decade

cestuneblague — Wed, 15 May 2019 07:43:23 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 05/15/2019 11:43

Yeah I was going to start a series of threads going into more in-depth discussion of each year's music, but I guess for a general haphazard ranking here:

2013: Easily my favorite year for music this decade, and I didn't even care for much of the albums that were getting the most attention. There was just so much I really got obsessed over compared to any other year this decade, not so much albums of Towering Ambition but just really personal, engaging and really adventerous masterstrokes from a wide variety of different artists. Also a lot of really exceptional releases from some long-time veterans too. It may not have been a banner year for every genre, but I found so many albums to love from all my different musical tastebuds, and had great trouble cutting my year chart down to a 100, which is always a good sign.

2016: Didn't feel so much at the time but 2016 really turned out to be an extremely rich year, not so much a whole lot of outright masterpieces but a great blend of both exciting new voices pushing things forward and a lot of trenchant and surprisingly emotional final albums from the all-time greats (the notable deaths that year was staggering).

2015: The year of the Colossous, the big, flashing statements put onto albums moreso than any other year this decade. Even the singles were massive barn-burners. It was definitely one of the more top-heavy years, but dang it was certainly the most meomorable time for really invigorating larger-than-life releases and a reminder of a more innocent time.

2012: Aww, my first BEA year, and I think where I really started streching the most as a listener with all the great recs from the likes of those assholes Lethalnezzle & purple & Squishypuff & CellarDoor. Don't think there was any "great" albums from the year but a lot I really liked, definitely the year where culturally the 2010s were starting to take shape and you could see the breakouts of a lot of new voices and musical styles.

2011: Sometimes derided, a lot of the buzz bands initally dissapointed with their follow-up releases, but I found it to contain some of the more piquant and exciting releases from both old and new, everything from house to sadcore to alt-rock to r&b to England-Shaking.

2010: Not as high as some are on 2010, even this certainly had some watershed releases, but still plenty of attractive flash and a good amount of darker mini-masterpieces in the post-punk, metal and electronic underground... = 2014: A lot of good stuff but not as much to get really excited about compared to other years, a lot of the big name albums were pretty humdrum dissapointments at least in my eyes. Still there was definitely a good show of quality though if Black Messiah hadn't dropped at the eleventh hour I would've considered it a rather dissapointing year.

2018: Again I was intrigued by the music being put out this year but I think it lacked a lot of really notable albums or singles, perhaps the days of the 22 minute masterpiece are upon us. Thin at the top, but I still found the year engaging overall.

2017: This... will probably go down as my weakest year in the 21st century. Just didn't get quite immersed in even the albums I liked the most (and it certainly didn't help that fittingly my favorite album of the year was made by a sexual predator), though like every year there were still a good number of worthwhile releases. Personal Mood may have something to do with it as well.

x

2019: Can't comment. Listened to around 17 albums or so. All ceases to exist until the Sky of Ferreira puts out Masochism (IT. WIll. COME. OUT. THIS. YEARRRRRR!!!!!!)

Re: Best Year This Decade

travelful — Tue, 14 May 2019 17:44:15 GMT

Author: travelful

Posted: 05/14/2019 21:44

my best to worst, roughly. overall I think this is easily the best decade for music thus far.

2015
2016
2018
2014
2013
2011
2012
2017
2010
2019

Re: Best Year This Decade

HoldenM — Tue, 14 May 2019 17:16:52 GMT

Author: HoldenM

Posted: 05/14/2019 21:16

If I'm ranking them thus far...

All-timer year
2015 (To Pimp a Butterfly, In Colour, Algiers, Carrie & Lowell)
2010 (MBDTF, Teen Dream, The Suburbs, High Violet)

Great
2013 (Trouble Will Find Me, Shaking the Habitual, You're Nothing, Modern Vampires of the City)
2016 (Atlas; 22, A Million; Skeleton Tree, Lemonade, Blonde)
2014 (Benji, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, To Be Kind, Roads to the North)

Good
2011 (Bon Iver, Bon Iver; Hurry Up, We're Dreaming; Helplessness Blues, Burst Apart)
2017 (A Crow Looked at Me, Saturation trilogy, CTRL, The Underside of Power)
2012 (GKMC, Channel Orange, A Church That Fits Our Needs, Coexist)

Meh
2018 (Now Only, You Won't Get What You Want, 2012-2017, Us)
2019 (TBD)

Re: Best Year This Decade

Hayden — Tue, 14 May 2019 16:26:40 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 05/14/2019 20:26

brun027 wrote:

As for 2019 anticipation I can't wait for the new Freddie Gibbs/Madlib to drop

Quote:

Danny Brown!

Right! Forgot about those. No dates yet...

Quote:

2019 will see a new Battles album, new fka twigs album, and I haven't heard much of em but ppl are probably gonna flip their dicks for the Black Midi album... I wouldn't count 2019 out just yet.

Battles have been a little iffy recently, but definitely looking forward to the new Twigs. That single is stellar. I'm definitely not going to count out 2019 by any means (I've enjoyed a lot of records this year), it just has some stiff competition. 2010-2016 is a seriously strong run. I also think artists are keeping projects under wraps more than ever... it seems the current norm is 3-weeks notice or less (sometimes even just a couple days), so, you never know.

Quote:

At this point I might only put the 70's above the 2010's , this has really been a blast of a decade! My favorite year was probably 2014.

And I'm probably likewise. Still amazed at the amount of 70's gems only coming to light now.

Re: Best Year This Decade

brun027 — Tue, 14 May 2019 15:20:37 GMT

Author: brun027

Posted: 05/14/2019 19:20

At this point I might only put the 70's above the 2010's , this has really been a blast of a decade! My favorite year was probably 2014.

As for 2019 anticipation I can't wait for the new Freddie Gibbs/Madlib to drop

Re: Best Year This Decade

Tap — Tue, 14 May 2019 14:48:45 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 05/14/2019 18:48

Hayden wrote:

There's been great releases every year, so no complaints, but looking back on 2018, I think it'll go down as a historically weak year for music, and can't help but feel 2019 is going to be in a similar boat. I've been really digging into this year's releases from day one, and January and February certainly had a strong independent/experimental scene, but the typical annual spring boom for big releases has been slightly dull (particularly hip-hop...). Looking forward to the upcoming Tyler, Cate Le Bon, Slowthai, Carly Rae Jepson, The National, and FlyLo records though, should be a saviour or two in the bunch. Haven't the damnedest what to look forward to come summer/fall (Hatchie? Grimes? Kanye? RTJ? Maaaaaybe Nick Cave?)

2019 will see a new Battles album, new fka twigs album, and I haven't heard much of em but ppl are probably gonna flip their dicks for the Black Midi album... I wouldn't count 2019 out just yet.

I think I end up preferring most of the even years to the odd ones, except for 2010. I wasnt paying much attention that year though.

Re: Best Year This Decade

dihansse — Tue, 14 May 2019 12:57:48 GMT

Author: dihansse

Posted: 05/14/2019 16:57

The years are getting better by the year but I don't have a clear view on 2019 yet so 2018 by far.