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Haven't been into too much outside of the new UK art-rock stuff. My release of the year so far is honestly probably the Seefeel compilation, Succour and the EPs disc especially. Other than that just been listening to mountains of Bob Dylan. In no particular order: Squid - Bright Green Field Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg Skee Mask - Pool Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Carnage Black Midi - Cavalcade Lost Girls - Menneskekollektivet Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders - Promises Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END Madlib - Sound Ancestors

Yo I've been hella obsessed with Steely Dan this year and Pretzel Logic is definitely my favorite behind Aja. It's so freaking tight, and "Any Major Dude" and "Barrytown" are two of the best songs I've ever heard.

This is sort of what I feared based on the singles, but I’m not too beat up about it. I really liked Masseduction, and even Masseducation, and I don’t hear what others hear when they say the songs aren’t there (Hang on Me, Young Lover and Slow Disco are some of my favorite songs of hers). But like the review says, she’ll go somewhere different next time and I can wait till then. She’ll never return to Strange Mercy, and I’ll always fondly remember that album and live set, so I’m good.

Man this brings me back, I forgot all about this one. This Mellowhype joint always gets randomly stuck in my head to this day thanks to Frank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4loO3MyH1bk

Ok here we go: 1. In Rainbows 2. OK Computer 3. Amnesiac 4. A Moon Shaped Pool 5. Kid A 6. The Bends 7. Hail to the Thief 8. The King of Limbs

“Supercollider” is one of my all time favorite Radiohead songs but I don’t mind it not being on the album. This album was the first that came out when I was a fan and I’ve always really appreciated it as something different.

“Hang With Me” is one of the best pop songs ever made imo.

This list is insane. A Pearl, Francis Forever, Geyser, Fireworks and I Bet on Losing Dogs should all be here, they are each and every one masterpieces and way better than... A Horse Named Cold Air??? The least song like song on an album of already truncated pieces?

New Autechre is so good, I have no complaints. Both albums are fresh, lush, emotional and mind bending. “X4” on the new one is comfortably one of their best ever tracks, just absolutely slamming.

"Metaz form8" is absolutely gorgeous. That main, almost Rhodes-y chord stab that makes the track is a sound I never thought I'd hear from them.

Stoked to see this piece on Stereogum! I'm echoing everyone else (and already said in the AOTW thread) that this is remarkably a great entry point for newcomers. It's arguably their most consonant, nakedly emotional release since their early days and even reminds me some of their (absolutely fantastic) Garbage EP, which is another great place to start. For anyone who wished there was an easier "in" to their music and loves warm, spacey textures, SIGN is it! I won't go far as to say that it's even among my favorite records of theirs. Their progressive, long-form generative jamming of late is probably my favorite of their eras, and I've come around on Exai in a big way lately. But they've already been so generous with the amount of material in that vein that I can't complain at all, and I'm super excited to see if they have more humanistic material (especially more beat-oriented material) to follow in SIGN's direction.

SIGN is a lovely, synth-heavy, melodic and very ambient album from the boys Sean and Rob, which is not at all what I expected after the black holes of abstraction they’ve dived into over the 2010s. It’s surprisingly a great entry point for Autechre newcomers, so if you like Blade Runner and Boards of Canada check it out!

It was so tight. If you preordered the album you can get high quality digital files already. It’s a gorgeous, melancholy album that will appeal to newcomers which is not what I expected!

Really all of “Sleep” but “Broken Windows, Locke of Love” in particular, which just gets me every time. I saw them play “Monheim” live separate from it which was incredible but not the same, I need those drums!

This is my favorite Walkmen album and “Juveniles” and “Angela Surf City” are my favorite Walkmen songs. What a one-two punch to start a record.

That SVE "Machine Gun" cover had me revisiting Third this week and holy shit. I've always loved that record but I'm hearing it with fresh ears now. I'm honestly struggling to think of an album from the 2000s that I like better. What kind of maniacs put a sequence like "We Carry On" > "Deep Water" > "Machine Gun" on a record? I think my past self bought into some narrative that the final stretch of the album drops off somehow but that is emphatically not the case... the demon prog of "Small" and the absolutely crushing closer in "Threads" just seal the deal.

Both parts of “It’s No Game” and “Ashes to Ashes” are probably my favorite Bowie songs, which is saying a LOT.

Very happy that the Thank Your Lucky Stars > Depression Cherry gang is strongly represented here. The B side is indeed Beach House’s strongest work outside of Teen Dream, and if you know you know!

A lot of good ones here, and I’ll double down on London Calling. I’d also single our Exile in Guyville, Illmatic, Nevermind and Rumours.

Again, I think you have a point here and perhaps I’m just splitting hairs, but I feel that musicians should be valued for their labor just as much as an hourly worker at a fast food chain. I understand that there has been a proliferation of privileged white kids expecting to make it big in music, but that doesn’t describe every independent musician.