Greatest Short Releases
by ForegroundNoise

A love letter to those musical journeys that are cut intentionally short.

Back in 2018 when we were flooded with 25-minute releases whose creators insisted were 'albums' and not EPs, I was struck by our strange obsession with musical megalomania.

I remember reading a comment online re. Kids See Ghosts that read: "it's amazing that the only difference between an album and an EP now is what the artist says it is". Certainly artistic intent matters. But personally I find separating formats along these lines completely non-sensical. Daytona is an 'album' that clocks in at 21:08; should we regard it as a different category to the Signals, Calls, and Marches EP, which is only 20 seconds shorter?

Meanwhile there have been plenty of EPs that far exceed the requisite length to be considered an 'album', (Autechre's EP7, 12 Rods' Gay?, Sufjan's All Delighted People EP), not to mention that the category seems also subject to the mood of the artist.

All this doesn't even begin to get into the tricky business of mixtapes, which like EPs had a strict basis for the format though now emerge as shorthand for album off-cuts (Quadeca's Scrapyard) or more light-hearted releases (e.g. FKA twigs' Caprisongs).

Why is it so important for these artists to make these distinctions? And if size doesn't matter, what even sets apart an "album" from an "EP" in the modern age?

Back in the physical era this kind of question wasn't even intelligible, but with the line between these two formats blurrier than ever (just look at how certain releases on this site flit between the two categories), I reasoned for my own cataloguing to draw a hard barrier between the two: everything 30:00 or over can be considered for my AotY lists, and anything under the half-hour mark classified as a "short release". I know 30 minutes is no less arbitrary, but I think this sits at a good ball park. Please feel free to recommend your favourite EPs/shorter albums!

Others that aren't eligible as per BEA's album guidelines would include SPK - Mekano / Contakt / Slogun (1979), Yōran - Montparnasse (1981), Interpol - Interpol (2002) and Lil Ugly Mane - Uneven Compromise (2012).

FN xx

• Chart updated: 08/01/2024 13:15
• (Created: 06/27/2019 22:03).
• Chart size: 20 albums.

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1. (=)

Desertshore 

 Nico

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avant-folk • chamber folk

(Reprise, 29:44)

10/10

"You are beautiful and you are alone"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 06/28/2019]

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

269 charts

Rank Score:

1,977

Rank in 1970:

25

Rank in 1970s:

187

Overall Rank:

873

Average Rating:

 77 (295 votes)

Comments:

18

2. (=)

Slow Riot For New Zerø Kanada 

 Godspeed You! Black Emperor

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post-rock

(Kranky, 28:36)

9/10

"'Don't get loud?' I says 'I've got every right to get loud.'

I says, 'You can't do a god damn thing about it, because I'm expressing myself in your court, and there is nothing you can do about it.

You think you're god because you have a robe and you can put people up the goddamn river for 20 years? Well you're not.'

And I left it at that"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 06/28/2019]

Year of Release:

1999

Appears in:

268 charts

Rank Score:

2,116

Rank in 1999:

17

Rank in 1990s:

146

Overall Rank:

813

Average Rating:

 84 (428 votes)

Comments:

17

3. (=)

Pink Moon 

 Nick Drake

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contemporary folk

(Island, 28:22)

9/10

"Which will you hope for?
Which can it be?
Which will you take, now
If you won't take me?"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 06/28/2019]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,551 charts

Rank Score:

17,771

Rank in 1972:

3

Rank in 1970s:

17

Overall Rank:

56

Average Rating:

 86 (1,853 votes)

Comments:

144

4. (=)

Some Rap Songs 

 Earl Sweatshirt

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abstract hip hop • experimental hip hop

(Tan Cressida, 24:39)

9/10

"Flashing through the pain, depression this is not a phase
Picking out his grave, couldn't help but feel out of place"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 08/05/2019]

Year of Release:

2018

Appears in:

310 charts

Rank Score:

2,071

Rank in 2018:

10

Rank in 2010s:

119

Overall Rank:

834

Average Rating:

 78 (388 votes)

Comments:

31

5. (=)

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Blood Visions 

 Jay Reatard

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garage punk

(In The Red, 29:09)

9/10

"I won't stop
Until your dead
Because of voices in my head"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 06/28/2019]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

99 charts

Rank Score:

428

Rank in 2006:

60

Rank in 2000s:

587

Overall Rank:

3,449

Average Rating:

 77 (111 votes)

Comments:

8

6.

Jeromes Dream / Orchid 

 Jeromes Dream / Orchid

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emoviolence

(Witching Hour, 11:43)

9/10

"Your wife hates you
We're doing donuts on your lawn
It's hard to look good
All the time, isn't it?
Drag the bones out
Drag them, one by one
Drag the bones out
Drag them, one by one

'This wine tastes so sweet'
Well, it tastes like turpentine to me
Tastes like turpentine
Turpentine
Drag the bones out
Drag them, one by one
Drag the bones out
Drag them, one by one"
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Year of Release:

2000

Appears in:

7 charts

Rank Score:

101

Rank in 2000:

203

Rank in 2000s:

2,047

Overall Rank:

11,491

Average Rating:

 75 (4 votes)

Comments:

0

7. (6) 1

Dialoghi Del Presente 

 Luciano Cilio

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post-minimalism

(EMI, 29:47)

8/10
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 06/28/2019]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

34 charts

Rank Score:

288

Rank in 1977:

70

Rank in 1970s:

797

Overall Rank:

4,794

Average Rating:

 80 (42 votes)

Comments:

1

8. (7) 1

Demo? 

 The Brave Little Abacus

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emo • experimental rock

(n/a, 21:16)

8/10

"Don't you know, you're tearing me apart
Yeah, my insides with your antique brand of clumsiness
The halls, they reek of your scent
Oh, please crawl out
And tell me where have all your buffalo gone"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 08/19/2020]

Year of Release:

2008

Appears in:

3 charts

Rank Score:

1

Rank in 2008:

3,120

Rank in 2000s:

28,178

Average Rating:

 73 (8 votes)

Comments:

0

9. (8) 1

Ferris Wheel On Fire 

 Neutral Milk Hotel

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indie folk

(NMH, 24:25)

8/10

"My dream girl don't exist
At the age of five she slit her wrist
She didn't know that I'd be hanging around
So her parents buried her in the ground"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/21/2021]

Year of Release:

2019

Appears in:

85 charts

Rank Score:

218

Rank in 2019:

88

Rank in 2010s:

1,148

Overall Rank:

6,031

Average Rating:

 80 (141 votes)

Comments:

7

10. (9) 1

Zombie 

 Fela Kuti & Africa 70

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afrobeat

(Coconut, 25:21)

8/10

"Zombie no go go, unless you tell 'em to go (zombie)
Zombie no go stop, unless you tell 'em to stop (zombie)
Zombie no go turn, unless you tell 'em to turn (zombie)
Zombie no go think, unless you tell 'em to think (zombie)"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 06/28/2019]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

296 charts

Rank Score:

1,928

Rank in 1977:

22

Rank in 1970s:

192

Overall Rank:

895

Average Rating:

 81 (292 votes)

Comments:

15

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Total albums: 20. Page 1 of 2

Greatest Short Releases composition

Country	Albums	%
	12	60%
	2	10%
	1	5%
	1	5%
	1	5%
	1	5%
	1	5%
Show all

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From ForegroundNoise 03/09/2021 13:03 | #267116

@DommeDamian thank you will check it out!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From DommeDamian 03/09/2021 09:57 | #267115

Downsided by No Comment.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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