best of Vxspertine's 2017 In Review |#1 Album Revealed: Björk LOST

[World Eater]

This is a lot of an update for someone (aka me) who has a lot to say about almost all of these albums  I still regret not going to see Richard Dawson at this festival I was at this summer, his album is v good  The OOZ and Dirty Projectors' s/t were kinda all over the place, probably the reason why I didn't feel the need to revisit them. Good to see Process, Plunge, Yaeji and Kamasi here 

[volition]

Whew I'm loving this set.

 

Peasant is certainly an interesting album  I really liked the whole vibe it went for.

I get what you mean about Fever Ray. Tbh I hated Karin's vocals for so long but now they're so endearing to me, I love them so much.

Process didn't age super well, but for me Under and Plastic 100C are highlights.

Reaching for Indigo! Black Fly and Paper Bag are SONGS. THe opening lines of Black Fly>>. Also her voice is nice and haunting.

Oxbow and King Krule's albums are both pretty good, prefer individual tracks tho

Might be in the minority but I enjoyed the glitchy direction on DP's new album.

And Truth is a life-changing experience 

[ultraviolence.xx]

2 hours ago, theblackestday said:

Couldn't disagree more about your Plunge paragraph and I can't at you dragging nearly every album in your BEST ALBUMS of the year list

screaming   

[ultraviolence.xx]

this just reminded me of the fact that i really need to listen to fever ray!

[Lovesong]

Fever Ray first album was much better 

*hides*

[Vilppu]

Appreciate the Sampha mention, do NOT appreciate the Piano slander

 

This reminded me I still haven't got to King Krule's album for some reason? But also the write-up isn't really encouraging djfhjfd

[fossora]

everybody praising Yaeji, yet I have not heard not one song from her   

[Vxspertine]

Spoiler

 

4 hours ago, Zay said:

Plunge is amazing for the most part, Sampha's album is cute, and Dirty Projectors album was one of my favorites earlier in the year. Nice update 

Thanks 

4 hours ago, theblackestday said:

Nnn I can understand that. I had a hard time with her vocals when I first discovered her/The Knife but now she's like... one of my favorite vocalists.

 

edit: HoD  Liked that Oxbow album and The SNOOZE is overrated. DP's album was decent.

I should give her and The Knife more listens  The bOOZE is definitely overrated but I still enjoyed it 

4 hours ago, Dom said:

dirty projectors is ummm. interesting, we like ?

I love their album Bitte Orca, one of my favorites of the last decade  This one wasn't as good but I still bop to it 

3 hours ago, Unoriginal said:

was going to drag but this is actually kind of accurate

3 hours ago, AlexisNeiers said:

This is a lot of an update for someone (aka me) who has a lot to say about almost all of these albums  I still regret not going to see Richard Dawson at this festival I was at this summer, his album is v good  The OOZ and Dirty Projectors' s/t were kinda all over the place, probably the reason why I didn't feel the need to revisit them. Good to see Process, Plunge, Yaeji and Kamasi here 

I'll start posting 5 per update with the next few since I have a lot to say about each one  Idk if Richard Dawson would be good live in a festival tbh  He seems like an artist that would do great in a bar or something like that. The OOZ is definitely all over the place but I actually found the DP album to be pretty focused, it sounds like it was done in like 2 weeks in the studio, some songs sound rushed.

3 hours ago, volition said:

Whew I'm loving this set.

 

Peasant is certainly an interesting album  I really liked the whole vibe it went for.

I get what you mean about Fever Ray. Tbh I hated Karin's vocals for so long but now they're so endearing to me, I love them so much.

Process didn't age super well, but for me Under and Plastic 100C are highlights.

Reaching for Indigo! Black Fly and Paper Bag are SONGS. THe opening lines of Black Fly>>. Also her voice is nice and haunting.

Oxbow and King Krule's albums are both pretty good, prefer individual tracks tho

Might be in the minority but I enjoyed the glitchy direction on DP's new album.

And Truth is a life-changing experience 

I hope I'll get into her vocals eventually since her music and production is top notch.

Under and Plastic 100C are definitely among the best tracks on the album 

Omg Black Fly's outro is so amazing 

I feel like Oxbow's album doesn't have enough tracks to like individual ones over others tbh  I agree with The OOZ though I don't really come back to the album as a whole, but Dum Surfer is still a BOP

I don't know why it's considered to be a minority thing to like this new DP album 

And it really is  I was kind of hesitant about it when I first heard it since the intro kind of sounds like elevator music, but when it picks up WHEW 

2 hours ago, ultraviolence.xx said:

screaming   

 

2 hours ago, ultraviolence.xx said:

this just reminded me of the fact that i really need to listen to fever ray!

Get to it then fat

2 hours ago, Lovesong said:

Fever Ray first album was much better 

*hides*

It really was though 

2 hours ago, Vilppu said:

Appreciate the Sampha mention, do NOT appreciate the Piano slander

 

This reminded me I still haven't got to King Krule's album for some reason? But also the write-up isn't really encouraging djfhjfd

Piano is probably the most generic and boring song on the album, it's still cute though unlike Incomplete Garbage

And I'd recommend you to listen to it once the whole way through and then just pick favorites and dump the rest 

2 hours ago, artangel said:

everybody praising Yaeji, yet I have not heard not one song from her  

Get into ha she's great

 

 

Replies, and a reminder that the next update will be coming tomorrow (Sunday) 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Vxspertine

[Tom Vercetti]

Oxbow, Richard Dawson & Yaeji were great discoveries of the year.

I think some would've liked Dirty Projector's more had Amber's presence been there still.

The Beach Fossils album was so-so/Just there.

I also think the OOZ needed some trimming, but that's usually the case with most 18-19+ track albums that aren't electronic/instrumental records. 

[ColdKeane]

King Krule + Beach Fossils  

[Lazuli]

Quote

it could have been much better if tracks like Like The Piano and Incomplete Kisses weren't in it

Shut up  

 

Somersault  

I love Dum Surfer but I've not heard The Ooz cuz I can tell it's gonna be a damn laborious listen  

[Pink Matter]

Solid list  Glad to see Sampha is getting love on YEL's on here. I've been seeing Yaeji love on here too so I guess I'll have to get into her at some point in the future. And for whatever reason I never checked out Fever Ray's album even though her album was getting a lot of attention on here too  Oxbow and Kamasi are great and The Ooz is a snooze fest  Barely made it through one listen but I'll give Dum Surfer it's just dues.

 

Edit: I also enjoyed DP's album too. Not sure why it got so much hate as well  

Edited December 17, 2017 by Pink Matter

[World Eater]

9 hours ago, Vxspertine said:

I'll start posting 5 per update with the next few since I have a lot to say about each one  Idk if Richard Dawson would be good live in a festival tbh  He seems like an artist that would do great in a bar or something like that. The OOZ is definitely all over the place but I actually found the DP album to be pretty focused, it sounds like it was done in like 2 weeks in the studio, some songs sound rushed.

 

A lot of people said he was  Would love to see him live nonetheless. As for DP, I agrih with the album sounding rushed, which is quite funny considering it was over 4 years in the making

[Eeveelution]

Quote

t could have been much better if tracks like Like The Piano and Incomplete Kisses weren't in it

Loving this tea.

 

Plunge has some bops. DP is a cute girl. I've heard lots of good things about the Ooz but I've been putting it off, I just have a bad feeling about it idk.  

[artangels]

omg plunge flopped 

[K$Ellie]

After Laughter was a huge disappointment for me  I love Hard Times and I expected to like the album to be as good but it wasn't

[ChapelHooker]

Yaeji, Sampha, Fever Ray, Dirty Projectors

 

[Tsareena]

Yaeji and Fever Ray  tried to get into Sampha but I struggled with it

[Navyofbadgals]

ugh I hate myself for not getting into Fever Ray  

[Vxspertine]

Spoiler

 

17 hours ago, Tom Vercetti said:

Oxbow, Richard Dawson & Yaeji were great discoveries of the year.

I think some would've liked Dirty Projector's more had Amber's presence been there still.

The Beach Fossils album was so-so/Just there.

I also think the OOZ needed some trimming, but that's usually the case with most 18-19+ track albums that aren't electronic/instrumental records. 

You didn't know about Oxbow? They have some great albums in their discography  Nothing really that noteable though so you're not really missing out on too much 

Yeah definitely, people miss her.

And why is this so true?  It's really just that long albums that are not electronic usually don't really have a diverse sound so they usually get pretty dreadful

 

15 hours ago, Lazuli said:

Shut up  

 

Somersault  

I love Dum Surfer but I've not heard The Ooz cuz I can tell it's gonna be a damn laborious listen  

Am I wrong though? 

 

I wouldn't care for The Ooz too much either but it does have a lot of highlights

15 hours ago, Pink Matter said:

Solid list  Glad to see Sampha is getting love on YEL's on here. I've been seeing Yaeji love on here too so I guess I'll have to get into her at some point in the future. And for whatever reason I never checked out Fever Ray's album even though her album was getting a lot of attention on here too  Oxbow and Kamasi are great and The Ooz is a snooze fest  Barely made it through one listen but I'll give Dum Surfer it's just dues.

 

Edit: I also enjoyed DP's album too. Not sure why it got so much hate as well  

You really should get into Yaeji, she's pretty good  You should also listen to the Fever Ray album, her production is superb 

7 hours ago, AlexisNeiers said:

A lot of people said he was  Would love to see him live nonetheless. As for DP, I agrih with the album sounding rushed, which is quite funny considering it was over 4 years in the making

I feel like during those 4 years they were probably doing almost nothing tbh 

6 hours ago, Eeveelution said:

Loving this tea.

 

Plunge has some bops. DP is a cute girl. I've heard lots of good things about the Ooz but I've been putting it off, I just have a bad feeling about it idk.  

Again The Ooz isn't really a big miss so I wouldn't worry about listening to it, but you should listen to songs like Dum Surfer which is great.

4 hours ago, artangels said:

omg plunge flopped 

Didn't flop as much as I thought it would tbh 

3 hours ago, K$Ellie said:

After Laughter was a huge disappointment for me  I love Hard Times and I expected to like the album to be as good but it wasn't

Yeah kind of same  but I was expecting it to sound like this so I wasn't really surprised

 

33 minutes ago, Tsareena said:

Yaeji and Fever Ray  tried to get into Sampha but I struggled with it

What did you struggle with? It was one of my favorites of the year when I first heard it  it's this low because it aged pretty badly 

28 minutes ago, Navyofbadgals said:

ugh I hate myself for not getting into Fever Ray  

She's not that easy to get into so don't do too much on yourself 

 

Replies, thank you guys for commenting 

 

Anyway #20-#16 coming up in a bit 

[Tsareena]

6 minutes ago, Vxspertine said:

What did you struggle with? It was one of my favorites of the year when I first heard it  it's this low because it aged pretty badly 

(no one knows me) like the piano was so boring to me and I tried going through the album and that was such a struggle too 

[Vxspertine]

2 minutes ago, Tsareena said:

(no one knows me) like the piano was so boring to me and I tried going through the album and that was such a struggle too 

Yeah the Piano song is pretty awful  But the highlights are so good 

[Vxspertine]

Let's get started with my top 20!

 

These are all albums that I've listened to quite a lot this year, because I thought they were pretty great. This next batch has 2 albums that freefell down my list during these last few months of the year from my top 10 to here. Let's start this off with a widely praised album that had a lot of ATRL shook when it came out…

 

 

20. Lorde – Melodrama

 

Quote

Please could you be tender
And I will sit close to you

Let’s give it a minute before we admit that we’re through

 

Spoiler

Score: 7.5/10 (7.9/10)

Trinity: Liability, Hard Feelings/Loveless, Writer In The Dark

Worst track: Garbage Places

 

This is Lorde's 2nd album, the long awaited follow up to her last album that was a huge success worldwide, with the huge single, "Royals", being one of the biggest tracks of that year.

 

She's clearly been going through some **** while making this album. It's kind of like a breakup album in a way, it's very somber with troubled lyrics and the loss of love definitely effects the mood of this album. It's definitely nothing like the innocent Pure Heroine. This album deals with a lot of rejection.

 

I have to say that I think this album is very overrated by publishers. It's definitely not the best female record of the year, and it definitely doesn't deserve all the praise that it's been getting imo. With that being said, I feel like this is like her Bjork - Post moment of her career. With a lot of acclaim and buzz after her debut, It's kind of a random album, but it does have a good theme and a good vibe going on, some tracks are amazing but other tracks are pretty boring, some tracks are moving and have great lyrics, and other tracks are a bit random and generic.

 

I think it's a very solid record for her, her lyricism has always been pretty good, and she's finding her sound and trying to come up with new ideas with this album. While I think Perfect Places and Supercut are probably the worst tracks in her discography, the better tracks on this album are pretty great and some of the songs here are very touching. I really hope her next album will be her grown up Homogenic moment, and for that I have a lot of faith in her.

[artangels]

4 minutes ago, Vxspertine said:

Worst track: Garbage Places

THIS TEA

i hate this track so much  

[Vxspertine]

 

19. Feist – Pleasure

 

Quote

'Cause a man is not his song
And I’m not a story
But I wanna sing along
If he’s singing it for me

 

Spoiler

Score: 7.5/10 (7.8/10)

Trinity: Lost Dreams, A Man Is Not His Song, Baby Be Simple

Worst track: I'm Not Running Away

 

Feist has been around for a while, with her biggest record being her 2007 album Reminder. Since then she released a few questionable albums, but this time she came out with a really lovely album, a great improvement from the overdone Metals.

 

While some tracks are a little boring, the highlights are heavenly, I enjoyed it a lot when it came out and it puts me in a really good mood. With pretty simple lyrics this album isn't really all that complicated, which actually makes the album more relaxing. While the lyrics are simple I think they're very effective on most tracks. Lost Dreams for example, which is my favorite track on the album, is super calming and dreamy, with an amazing outro.

 

I will say though, the 2 tracks that close the album off are obviously filler tracks, and it's the main reason why this album didn't age very well for me.

 

Also, the cover of the album is just gorgeous.