Invoking the ghost of casecandy: The Be(a)st of 2016

[casecandy]

Actually I'm inclined to agree with the sentiment, "I am still terrible at staying on top of new music I have heard very little of it"! This has been a slow year for me and I'll probably only hear half the relevant shit that's come out by year's end, at this rate. I've listened to a couple of vaporwave thingies I like, the new Ulver, new Brand New, I'm looking forward to the new Frank Ocean, uh... honestly, I'm gonna be real, I haven't gotten out from under last year's record by Titus Andronicus. It's three LPs and a concept record and I'm just not over it.

I'll come back and make a list in a few weeks but I'm definitely interested in the thread.

[casecandy]

Actually I'll give it a shot but it'll be sparse

Some 2016 Thingies Case Candy Listened To

Ratings

NSFW: show

★★★★★
This is the super good shit. Instant classics. Recommended.

★★★★☆
Really good. Maybe not a classic but memorable. Love it.

★★★☆☆
Decent record. Some real bangers on it. Like it a lot, maybe not love it.

★★☆☆☆
Okay at best. Most of the songs are filler. The main problem isn't that it's bad so much as that it's not memorable. Meh.

★☆☆☆☆
Total crap. Few redeeming values. Avoid. Hate it.

★★★★★
Black Kirin - National Trauma (黑麒 - 哀郢)
Nails - You Will Never Be One Of Us
Phurpa - Rituals of Bon I

★★★★☆
Black Kirin - 箫韶 Xiao Shao
Boris & Merzbow - Gensho
Brand New - 3 Demos Reworked
Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial
Conan - Revengeance
Crystal Surge – VCR朋克
Crystal Surge - Mix 4 AMDISCS
Death Grips - Bottomless Pit
Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
Phurpa - Chöd
Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
Ulver - ATGCLVLSSCAP
Wreck & Reference - Indifferent Rivers Romance End

★★★☆☆
Brand New - "Mene" b/w "Out of Range" 7"
Brand New - "I Am A Nightmare" 12"
GAAP KVLT - Jinn
Ihsahn - Arktis.
Nubiferous - Primevil Forest Hymns
Pity Sex - White Hot Moon
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Savages - Adore Life
Wintersleep - The Great Detachment
A Year In The Country - The Quietened Bunker

★★☆☆☆

★☆☆☆☆

Looking Forward To Listening To:

NSFW: show

Frank Ocean
Gorguts
Darkthrone
The Hotelier
Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties
The World Is A Beautiful Place

I think that might literally be everything I've heard from this year

[casecandy]

This is a Russian YouTube comment on a song from Phurpa's Chöd, that I ran through Google translate.

I do not know what it is, but I began to truly hurt the top seven. In general, what kind of music ? The worst thing that intrigued and I'm afraid that drunken ever on total sucks start listening ( headphones , of course, and loudly , otherwise there is no point yet ) and completely then go mad , I walk around at night with flying hair and finally me here this pile burn like nothing ; )

Honestly I can't disagree with any of it LOL

[Blackened Soul]

so far this year has been a year of good intentions of paying attention to new stuff and have yet not to put it off..

[kbit]

I feel like I haven't listened to a lot of new new music in 2016, but Andy Stott's Too Many Voices has definitely been what ive listened to the most this year. The beats on this album are so top notch I can hardly stand it, and his level of composition has increased to where these start to feel more like songs with a clear journey, not just different parts coming in and out (not that that's a bad thing). His use and manipulation of Allison Skidmore's voice is getting better and better with each album. Some of the super digital sounds and heavy manipulation on certian songs kinda puts me off at times, but I also really enjoy that he's using more risky and unconventional techniques/sounds.

& as always with Stott, this album is sexual as fuck

[tremolo3]

Actually I'll give it a shot but it'll be sparse

Some 2016 Thingies Case Candy Listened To

Ratings

NSFW: show

★★★★★
This is the super good shit. Instant classics. Recommended.

★★★★☆
Really good. Maybe not a classic but memorable. Love it.

★★★☆☆
Decent record. Some real bangers on it. Like it a lot, maybe not love it.

★★☆☆☆
Okay at best. Most of the songs are filler. The main problem isn't that it's bad so much as that it's not memorable. Meh.

★☆☆☆☆
Total crap. Few redeeming values. Avoid. Hate it.

★★★★★
Black Kirin - National Trauma (黑麒 - 哀郢)
Nails

Stopped reading there...

[Strange Tales]

Some of my favorite stuff from this year so far:

https://amygdalatx.bandcamp.com/album/p ... -control-2

New Negative Standards is a real kick in the dick.
https://negativestandards.bandcamp.com/album/fetters

https://tfvsjs.bandcamp.com/album/zoi

https://sassya-band.bandcamp.com/album/ ... munication

https://selfdeconstruction.bandcamp.com/album/wounds

https://huejapan.bandcamp.com/releases

https://tiedknots.bandcamp.com/album/th ... he-rainbow

https://arikarika.bandcamp.com/album/a-press-conference

https://lalunaband.bandcamp.com/album/always-already

https://ittochicago.bandcamp.com/album/pursuant

And many others. Killer year, this year.

[casecandy]

Actually I'll give it a shot but it'll be sparse

Some 2016 Thingies Case Candy Listened To

Ratings

NSFW: show

★★★★★
This is the super good shit. Instant classics. Recommended.

★★★★☆
Really good. Maybe not a classic but memorable. Love it.

★★★☆☆
Decent record. Some real bangers on it. Like it a lot, maybe not love it.

★★☆☆☆
Okay at best. Most of the songs are filler. The main problem isn't that it's bad so much as that it's not memorable. Meh.

★☆☆☆☆
Total crap. Few redeeming values. Avoid. Hate it.

★★★★★
Black Kirin - National Trauma (黑麒 - 哀郢)
Nails

Stopped reading there...

Well, I'm really into it right now. It'll probably get demoted to ★★★★ by year's end.

What's wrong with Nails? For me I'm liking it because it sounds like the stuff I was into back in 2004... metalcore that isn't also mallcore, you know?

Well, actually, I guess their shirt made Hot Topic. But only like a week ago. Not a literal statement.

[D.o.S.]

I feel like I haven't listened to a lot of new new music in 2016, but Andy Stott's Too Many Voices has definitely been what ive listened to the most this year. The beats on this album are so top notch I can hardly stand it, and his level of composition has increased to where these start to feel more like songs with a clear journey, not just different parts coming in and out (not that that's a bad thing). His use and manipulation of Allison Skidmore's voice is getting better and better with each album. Some of the super digital sounds and heavy manipulation on certian songs kinda puts me off at times, but I also really enjoy that he's using more risky and unconventional techniques/sounds.

& as always with Stott, this album is sexual as fuck

Not to get all 'stop liking what I don't like' but this album is pretty much a sum of everything I can't stand about modern electronic-based music.

[casecandy]

I haven't heard it, I'll have to check it out and get back to you on who's side I'm on lol

Re: Nails, THE CHARIOT! That was who I wanted to say they remind me of. The Chariot would be another example of metalcore that's not also mallcore. When I listened to Nails (on recommendation from ILFers) I felt like I did when I heard The Chariot back in 2008 or so.

The difference being that I was biased in favour of The Chariot because I was already a huge Josh Scogin fan from his Norma Jean days. I don't know who Nails even are, haven't even read the Wiki or anything, which (as D.o.S. will attest) is very uncharacteristic of me, to just let a band I like be "the invisible band"

[D.o.S.]

Nails are pretty fun, I think. They certainly did that thing where they got very 'famous' very quickly.

I don't want to put my own records on here but the album I did with Phanta and Blackened Soul is really good, and so is the ILF-EU live record and the Collab record. #ShamelessSelfPromotion.

[casecandy]

Yeah, I got a Bandcamp email about it! I'm excited to listen. Sorry I didn't get around to it sooner.

[kbit]

Not to get all 'stop liking what I don't like' but this album is pretty much a sum of everything I can't stand about modern electronic-based music.

elaborate, I'm curious what yr thinkin.

[D.o.S.]

Ok, so, title track. You've got the generic Roland swell, the breathy female vocals in desperate need of a de-esser and a little more reverb, and the sparse 'beat' driven by the 'is it voices or is it MIDI (hint: it's MIDI) -- all prerequisite -- and then... nothing? It's like the dude doesn't have enough confidence in the vocal performances or his soundscaping to make a real 'ambient' track but he doesn't think he can make a techno track that isn't super generic (like listen to the intro of New Romantic and tell me that's not just a generic choral pad and a 'my first Ableton beat') so he decided to make a bunch of Massiv Attack covers and then delete the elements that would make you go "oh, this guy really likes Massive Attack (i.e. the subsonic bass), so you get this 'unfinished backing track' vibe for the whole record.

[Olin]

Feels like this was kind of a slow/disappointing year for music, but I think that's entirely my fault for hoping too much.

The new Attic Abasement record wasn't bad by any means, but wasn't at all what I wanted, so was a huge letdown, still this song is a tru clvb banger.
http://atticabasement.bandcamp.com/trac ... esque-mess

Marissa Nadler came out with Strangers which was really strong at points but felt overlong to the point that by the end her voice was just annoying. If this was just 3-4 tracks shorter, Strangers would have been her best album yet.
http://marissanadler.bandcamp.com/track ... f-the-dark

Swans was another case of an overlong record. As a massive, long-time Swans fan it was pretty easy to be patient with it, but the sheer duration of the songs eradicates almost all of the replay value and I don't see myself going back to it anywhere near as much as some of their stronger albums.

Wreck & Reference came out with a really surprisingly strong release this year; it feels like they've finally settled on their "sound" and have slotted into quite a neat little groove that they're riding on. Textures galore and a generally enjoyable release.

Matt Elliott's new album was again, a little disappointing because of the sheer level of expectation I hold him to. I keep wanting a Failing Songs v2 or something similar but this just wasn't tragic enough, and seemed to just lull by. If I had no previous knowledge of him I probably would have loved this, but
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVZvrKu6oM[/youtube]


I think that's all I can remember for now, and as critical as it sounds, they are all albums I like, just not as much as I wanted to.

I'm incredibly excited for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds new album. This is the first "proper" album he'll have done since his son tragically died, so I'm hoping this album absolutely dwarves No More Shall We Part in terms of misery. Expecting this to be the album of the year, but feel like that's a really bad attitude to go into it with.