I can see why Jamie's album would be an HM rather than on a full list. Good to see a little Jason full album inclusion. I enjoyed WTWM but haven't checked out his full album, so I'll get on that soon! Wavves I listened to their album with Cloud Nothings and it sucked (well imo) so it's good to see their solo album from this year was better.
Some other cool stuff here that I'll need to check out. I was never too into Ghostface Killahhhhh though. Not sure why.
Also, merry Christmas!
Oh Joy!
Jason's album has its moments. Talk Dirty had its moments, but Everything is 4 has some good times also.
I didn't listen to the Wavves Cloud Nothings album though I could see that being really obnoxious though. V though was pretty fun.
Ghostface Killah is good, but he does a lot of niche projects that aren't exactly the most important or pressing releases if you feel me.
And thanks!
Quote:
Originally posted by Vapour
So the ones that I've listened to on this set are In Colour, The Magic Whip, Honeymoon, Storyteller and Everything Is 4
I can see though why they didn't make the actual list coz most of them are kinda non-events.
They were kind of non-events you are correct. They also just didn't do it for me like some of the other albums did.
What's this about canceling your list though? Do a text only update if you can
Quote:
Originally posted by Maleficent
I actually love Honeymoon and I think it might be her best work to date. It's been awhile since I listened to In Colour but I like it. Storyteller is def. on my to-listen list.
I could see how Honeymoon is really loved. I just really liked Ultraviolence a lot. Maybe I was just expecting something in that vein and was disappointed.
In Colour is a solid listen, I didn't dislike it, just wasn't my favorite thing released this year. I would recommend Storyteller though, especially if you like Carrie. It's a solid listen.
Quote:
Originally posted by Wicked
Didn't really like Blur's album much.
I love Ghostface so much, but not a single **** will be given until SC2 is released.
Blur's album grew on me. I wasn't too crazy about it at first. At first, all the songs blurred together, pun unintended, and the album didn't seem to really go anywhere. It eventually sunk in. Still, there were albums I enjoyed more.
So true on Ghostface. I like how he's doing everything but working on a SC2
Quote:
Originally posted by genetic fail
Honeymoon
There are some really good tracks on Everything is 4 too
There really are!
Quote:
Originally posted by rl231
102-98: 2/5 but YES Lush Life and Classic Man
97-93: 3/5 but love Dark Times and Don't
92-82: I love Uptown Funk...before it got overplayed like crazy
81-76: HOTLINE BLING...but I see your point, and Slip Slide is great too!
75-71: Worth It's a total jam and guilty pleasure for me
70-66: Leaves...but seriously DIAMONDS DANCING!!!!!! YES.
65-61: In the Night
60-56: RUN AWAY WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEE
55-52: I know all of them, except for the Blur song, but they're all great
Thanks for checking it out rl!
Yes at you loving Dark Times I love how mixed the reception is for that one. It seems to be a love it or hate it type song.
DIAMONDS DANCING!!!!!!
and Run Away With You? Well this is so sudden, I have to pack.
Quote:
Originally posted by enxe
In Colour, The Magic Whip, V & Honeymoon slay.
What kind of flawless prose writing is this.
Thanks
That was kind of the result of not knowing quite what to say about Honeymoon and having a terrible cold
Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Rih
Honeymoon
Quote:
Originally posted by AshleeSimpsonFan
Blur
Honeymoon isn't bad, but BTD is still my fave Lana album!
I like UV most, but BTD is second
Quote:
Originally posted by Eeveelution
Honeymoon only in the honorable mentions , but you explained your reasons really well and I definitely understand why you didn't like it as much . It's refreshing since most people just post things like 'it's boring' or 'I want another born 2 die!!1!!'.
And yeah, I listened to the Blur album a few times and it was good but I can't remember how any of the songs go.
Sorry, it was close, but it pretty much just came down to the fact that there were just some other albums I liked more. I almost expanded the list to include more albums, but I was lazy I do love how Lana is always working on pushing her sound though and she's not done here yet!
Also, if there is any consolation, Ultraviolence outranked 1989 on last year's list.
Quote:
Originally posted by backtoback
Good to see Storyteller on your list
Jason always releases great singles from all of his albums
I need to go back and listen to some of Jason's earlier albums tbh.
Quote:
Originally posted by madonnas
I couldn't make it through the Jamie xx album
Glad we agree on Jason's album!
I don't think Honeymoon is Lana's worst, I think it's about equal to BTD. Though it kinda is lana just being lana.
Thank you! Jamie's album has some great moments, but he just kind of loses me when I play the whole thing through.
Glad we agree about Mr. Derulo also.
That's very true on Honeymoon. It does feel like the most Lana album yet.
Quote:
Originally posted by Superpower
In Colour, Storyteller, Everything Is 4, Honeymoon, The Miracle Whip
I loved Blur's Cool Whip
Quote:
Originally posted by igor
I don't know or use any of these albums, so I'm okay with they not making it.
Excellent.
Quote:
Originally posted by Green
Honeymoon had some good songs
It did have some good songs, it also had some that were kind of
Quote:
Originally posted by MP2K
I agree with everything you said about In Colour. I still need to check out the rest of these, so much I missed.
Thanks. I say Blur's is probably the best.
Quote:
Originally posted by Red
Not too much to comment on...wait, never mind...Blur and Jamie xx, the former because I should have listened to that album again, the latter because I should have listened to that album PERIOD.
Blur's definitely blurs together on the first couple listens, but it's a grower.
You haven't taken a listen to Mr. XX?. Colour me surprised. It was an alright album, I think it might have been a little overhyped but it did have some nice moments.
Quote:
Originally posted by Vilppu
In Colour was good but I slept on it as well. Stranger in a Room is fantastic though, I don't know why I didn't include it in my countdown.
I only listened to The Miracle Whip once and didn't really like it.
You did Honeymoon wrong by putting it only on the HMs but I'll forgive you 'cause the description is so beautiful
This is problematic though
Stranger In A Room is great. I just might prefer it to Loud Places. But then again, Stranger In A Room is kind of a more electronic XX track.
Not miracle whip
Thanks for forgiving me. Maybe I need to spend more time with the Lana album
Get into High By The Beach though! It's amazing! And so is 24.
Quote:
Originally posted by t.A.T.u.
not a fan of this set
Quote:
Originally posted by Legend E
Aw Not my basic format inspiring you
Honeymoon & Storyteller are so great
However, I haven't seen you much in the survivor. You missed a lot of rounds
I love your formatting! Thank you for the inspiration! It's also better formatting than I could do
Both albums are great
Sorry for missing survivor rounds, I was on a Smoke Break I think I played this round though.
Quote:
Originally posted by Topmaster 2
Jamie xx, Lana Del Rey and I think I should listen that Coliseum album those beards tho.
You might like the Coliseum album It's kind of punkier.
Do they not have enough beard
Quote:
Originally posted by mathuss
The Magic Whip
Still need to check In Colour from Jamie xx and V from Wavves.
In Colour is pretty chill, I would probably rec that one.
Quote:
Originally posted by popstar
Slay a bit Jamie, I want a new album from The xx now.
Rock music has slowly been making a comeback. Just in time too, because it's been downright terrible for years. So much of mainstream rock and alt rock now just feels like straight up pop music sold under a different label to appeal to the people that don't want to admit they like pop. I don't have a problem with pop music, I love it or I wouldn't be here. It's just, when presented with the option of listening to something labeled as alternative, that's more or less the same thing you'd hear from someone like The Weeknd, Rihanna, or Coldplay (who have officially gone straight up pop), I'll go with the straight-up pop artist.
Rambling aside, it is nice to have a more straight-forward alternative band back. The new Catfish & The Bottlmen album is pretty good, it's poppy, and catchy of course, but it actually feels distinct enough from what you might hear on a pure pop radio station. Actually, Kathleen more or less feels like it picks up from where The Strokes and their first album left off. It's just a super solid alt song filled with disaffection and that is a very nice thing to have in 2015. Thank you to prezli for introducing me to these guys.
From The Strokes to Muse I fell in love with Nothing But Thieves this year. What a great new band. They may be Muse-esque, but I think they have their own flavor and personality. Nothing But Thieves is less concerned with sci-fi epics, government conspiracies, and over-the-top ridiculousness and have more of a romanticized gloominess that's more in common with Radiohead.
If I Get High, one of my favorites off their debut album, kind of feels like it's cut from the same cloth as Creep. But where Creep is concerned with questioning one's value, If I Get High wants to connect with someone. It's all very Drakelike. Anyway, the song is kind of stunning, and perfect for the winter months. Thanks again prezli.
49: A$AP Rocky - Everyday (feat. Rod Stewart, Miguel, and Mark Ronson)
To be honest, I hated this one at first, it's probably been the biggest grower on A$AP's grower of a second album. I love the trade-off between Rod and Miguel. It's an anthem though, and that drop!
I've never been a fan of Demi and never thought she'd make a non- worst of year end list of mine, yet here we are. I didn't hate her, I've just never paid much attention to her or seen the need to. More on that later I guess. Has there been a pop era that has been as ridiculously entertaining as Confident in recent memory though?
Anyway, I took a listen to Demi's album because I fell in love with the turbo charged Cool For The Summer and thought it was pretty solid album. This one song caught my ear though more than any other. It's a ballad yeah, but there are a lot of really interesting things going on with this one. To be honest, Demi does a serviceable job of carrying the song, but the eerie production is the most interesting thing about this one. It's completely hypnotic. Instruments pop in and out, and it just maintains this unsettling atmosphere throughout. Those little ghostly wails in the background, who outside of the Elusive Chanteuse is doing it? .
From out of whatever bombed out post-apocalyptic landscape Demi was singing in to the country... Smoke Break continued Carrie's streak of excellent singles. It's all about when you need that relief from everyday life. Things get stressful in life, and sometimes you just need that relief from a drink or a smoke, even if those are things you don't regularly do, everybody needs that Smoke Break.
Yes! If I Get High is also one of my faves from NBT's album, I hope it becomes a single eventually and I hope they do well when they release in America next year.
Smoke Break was sort of a letdown for me, it's a cute song but that's pretty much it.
Wait, I only just realised it's not the real title I like my version more though
Mike Will Made It by the Beach is a mess tbh The atrocious intro/outro, the lyrics are really weak, and Lana kind of feels like she's sleeptalking over the not-exactly-inspired beat. It might not be tragic but became pretty much useless when we got Art Deco and Freak.
24 takes, like, 4 minutes until it gets good. The orchestral bridge is nice though.
____
I got some Muse vibes from If I Get High too but despite that I really like it Kathleen is cute, however, it feels like a song I'd forget about two days from now.
Wildfire is one of the better songs on Confident but that's not saying much.
i once saw catfish + the bottlemen live at a festival once
i liked ur description of honeymoon being about long, summery ennui. she knows herself pretty well
Quote:
Originally posted by Brandon
Everyday
Were they good? I would probably guess they're more of an in studio band tbh.
Thanks! That compliment means a lot coming from you. She has her persona down that's for sure.
Quote:
Originally posted by Mr.Link
Yes! If I Get High is also one of my faves from NBT's album, I hope it becomes a single eventually and I hope they do well when they release in America next year.
Smoke Break was sort of a letdown for me, it's a cute song but that's pretty much it.
Really?! That's great! Th song is pretty amazing. I hope it becomes a single also. Actually, I just hope the album is released here to some success. I had to import it.
All of Carrie's songs weren't really immediate for me since Something In The Water. They're all taken a decent of time to really sink in.
Quote:
Originally posted by holyground
Wildfire
What are you talking about (Though I guess you mean it in a non-musical aspect)
Smoke Break I still can't figure out why people hate it
I did mean from a non-musical aspect. I mean Demi is pretty much unending messiness. It's very entertaining. I like mess it's interesting!
And right? Smoke Break is great. Maybe because it wasn't very successful, people didn't give it a chance, or maybe people just prefer coffee breaks?
Quote:
Originally posted by Mezik
I absolutely adore 'Smoke Break', it's really grown on me.
Glad to see the diversity in your chart, your taste has a little bit of everything for everyone.
Yes Smoke Break is amazing. Glad it's grown on you!
Thanks for the compliment too. That's cool of you to say
Everyday and Wildfire. Checking out Smoke Break now.
EDIT: I liked it! It was pretty typical but it was nice.
Thanks for listening Sam. Smoke Break more or less is typical country. It's pretty solid though.
Quote:
Originally posted by Vilppu
Wait, I only just realised it's not the real title I like my version more though
Mike Will Made It by the Beach is a mess tbh The atrocious intro/outro, the lyrics are really weak, and Lana kind of feels like she's sleeptalking over the not-exactly-inspired beat. It might not be tragic but became pretty much useless when we got Art Deco and Freak.
24 takes, like, 4 minutes until it gets good. The orchestral bridge is nice though.
____
I got some Muse vibes from If I Get High too but despite that I really like it Kathleen is cute, however, it feels like a song I'd forget about two days from now.
Wildfire is one of the better songs on Confident but that's not saying much.
I thought it was just a shady name for the album. I would've gone with it tbh. Miracle Whip is mayonnaise.
Mike Will Made It by The Beach I love it I actually would be here for that I see the song as her being detached, groaning her way through whatever she's doing, yet fantasizing about the beach, and getting high there.
I like the Muse shade there They really haven't been on their game and are looking to get their sound stolen by the thieves.
Maybe I overrated Kathleen slightly. I just missed rock this year
I have a cousin that's a Game stan and she got me into him. Really, the Documentary 2 was just a solid album. It may not have been the absolute best of the year, it definitely was not even the best to come out of Southern California (To Pimp A Butterfly and Summertime '06 both were flashier offerings from the area and unquestionably better), but The Game did offer up a consistent and enjoyable release. Right off the bat, Kendrick Lamar adds some fire to On Me and it doesn't dip in quality too much from there.
Not much else to say besides it's a solid album. I could do without the partial Black Eyed Peas reunion at the end though.
My understanding is that Ruby worked as a backing singer for Jack White before recording her solo album in a cabin in the woods. Unlike some other albums that may have have been recorded in the woods, this one is pretty good. Admittedly, it was a little bit of a late bloomer for me, I slept on it for some time, I finally listened to it one day (it takes me a while to get around to listening to new things sometimes, this will be a recurring theme here), and it clicked. I heard her folky crestfallen Street Lights, and thought to myself, "hold on, I know this song. Where do I know it from? Where do I know it from?" I wracked my brain for awhile, and went searching through my iTunes for older folk tunes that may have inspired this cover. I was convinced it was some forgotten classic, that Ruby had covered and breathed some fresh air into. I finally came to the realization that I had no idea of what the original song was and that I should Google the lyrics. I only got results for Kanye's song, and well, it took an embarrassingly long time to realize that this was a revamped version of Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak song.
It was an embarrassing moment for me as a Kanye stan as he is one of my main favorite artists, but in my defense she took his song and took it out to the country, putting her own heartbroken spin on the song and making it sound like some lost classic out of the Nashville woods. The rest of the album is similar to the cover of Street Lights. She doesn't have the biggest pop hooks, there's a folk album later that has that covered, and to be honest, that can cause this album to feel a little too sleepy but she did make a solid forlorn folk album that stands more or less outside of time.
This band was probably my favorite discovery of the year. Apparently, Millencolin is a Swedish punk band and has been around for some time, but hey, we discover new things all the time right? Pop-punk has gotten a little bit of a negative connotation since the blink-182s and Good Charlottes of the world took over (not knocking those bands or anything, I grew up on them), they just seem to have become associated with emos and maybe more fluff and style than substance.
Millencolin feel more in the same vein as a band as Against Me! but even then, they don't seem as self-serious, seeming to place the priority on hooks and song structure rather than the statement behind the songs. That's not to say the songs don't say anything interesting, they tackle everything from racism, narcissism, opportunism, they pretty much cover a lot of the -isms, but just don't shove your face in the message of their songs. Instead, listening to their songs, you're much more likely to find yourself singing along with their huge hooks before realizing exactly what you're singing along with. Really the main focus of the record is focusing on being an individual, captured perfectly in the song titles, especially "Perfection is Boring" which might as well be my life motto; it all would be cheesy if it wasn't so catchy and fun. Also, here's my favorite Youtube comment about the band: "Damn now I just wanna drink beer, skateboard, and graffiti small businesses all while dodging cars and cops."
This was a pretty nice album. It's a brutal (at times, most times), post-punk? album that focuses a lot about life and the occasional futility of it. From the opener Newspaper Spoons you already know that the album will not be an easy listen. Newspaper Spoons immediately attacks you with blaring drums and some violent chanting, it still maintains that and while the album isn't quite as immediately confrontational and overwhelming after the intro I think it was a little overlooked throughout the year, possibly because it came out near the very beginning of the year, but also because it just isn't that easy of a listen sonically and lyrically. That being said, it is still a great listen and a very interesting one in which there is a lot to discover.
Alright. Like I may have said before, I never thought I would have something by Demi Lovato on a best of. It's not that I hated her or anything, I was more or less... excessively indifferent I guess. She was mildly annoying, but easy enough to avoid and I planned on doing just that this era. I'm glad I didn't. I saw the Cool For the Summer cover and thought it was one of the most hilariously messy covers I have seen (more on that later) and thought the song was probably worth a listen. I expected a lot of yelling and unplesantness, maybe some kind of warmed over pink reject.
I was pretty snatched. The song was everything. It hinted back towards the 80s, but it wasn't just an homage, it took the 80s, turbo charged them, fed them a steady diet of steroids, and nails, and unleashed it upon an unsuspecting populace. It's almost what Bonnie McKee's Bombastic, an already amazing song, wishes it could be. Basically, Cool For The Summer was pop music's Indominus rex , a monster made up of only the best bits and pieces of previous pop hits, but yet, stronger than the sum of it's parts. I'll talk a lot more about the song later. It's just important to know that the song grabbed my attention this year in a way that no other did, it was nuanced, smart, just everything. I took a listen to Confident the album expecting my CFTS love to be a fluke, and... well... I was kind of proven wrong, not completely, but the album surprised me. It was probably the biggest surprise of the year.
The album just delivered what was missing in a lot of pop in 2015, personality (so I guess if you aren't receptive to Demi's personality, you probably won't like the album ). It was also a big, overblown spectacle. I mean, there's the Black Skinhead beat of the title track (and the entertaining as hell video for the song), the eerie Wildfire, the turbo-charged Cool For The Summer, the over-the-top Gagaisms of Stone Cold, and even ballads like For You seemed to be ready to blast off to Venus. It was just a big, fun, pop album. I loved it, and it definitely stood out in a slightly boring and low key 2015. It would be higher, but it's dragged down by a couple of the more predictable songs like Kingdom Come and Old Ways. Still though, I can't help but shake the feeling that I have this a little underrated.
I guess since my next set of songs has some pretty well known ones, here are some hints, because they're fun.
46.The country fans would know this one, but everyone would be better knowing it
45. Full Disclosure: This song was my second favorite on the album it came from
44.
43. I've seen this on a lot of worst ofs but I love it. ****
42. The highest mainstream country song here, turning this cornfield into a party.
Rihplies
I could see that being really obnoxious though. V though was pretty fun. 
Do a text only update if you can 
, but you explained your reasons really well and I definitely understand why you didn't like it as much . It's refreshing since most people just post things like 'it's boring' or 'I want another born 2 die!!1!!'.
I do love how Lana is always working on pushing her sound though and she's not done here yet! 
Not my basic format inspiring you 
Kathleen is cute, however, it feels like a song I'd forget about two days from now.
I thought it was just a shady name for the album. I would've gone with it tbh. Miracle Whip is mayonnaise. 
