Album Rating: 4.5

Where you hear aesthetically bare I hear welcomingly open. This doesn't feel the need to clog every free second with some form of experimental noise. It all feels very organic to me and that's specifically why I like this and dislike Herndon (just using her as an example of any music that prioritizes highbrow experimentalism over the actual songwriting). But different strokes, it's all good. Appreciate you giving this your time regardless.



@luci not sure who that is and if it's good company to be in or bad lol

Please check "Door" by Polachek, quite stylistically similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w6R4I7I3wA
Also "Ocean of Tears": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ku7o_25wU

Polachek is great, good company

i definitely see why people dislike herndon, for the same reasons you cited. it's a bit too up its own ass at points and i get people calling it pretentious. at the same time, i kind of wish this was maybe a little more pretentious lol. i don't find it as engaging as PROTO. i do like the 3 songs i listed though, so i'll return to the album when i'm not so tired and see if it resonates more with me. 2.5 may be a bit harsh but this probably won't ascend past a 3 for me personally.

I fucking loved Proto too fwiw

Album Rating: 4.5

Oh damn never heard her before but those were both good, especially "Door". I get the comparison (esp vocally, and with the occasional electronic accent/complement), but it feels a lot more basic in premise than this. It seems like it would make for an easier and perhaps even more pleasing cursory listen, but nothing on those songs rivaled the complexion of "Bloodletting", for example. I say this having only heard 2 of her songs, so what do I know. You've definitely made a Polachek fan out of me though, I'll be checking out whatever album(s) those tracks are from.

Re: Proto - I'm just not a fan of clashing aesthetics/ideas at all costs for the sake of pushing a new frontier. To me that album is a prime example of maybe a cool concept that got out of hand in the studio. Every minute of it just feels gratuitous and pretentious. Sophie too, but to a lesser extent because you can tell on songs like Immaterial that she actually remembered someone has to listen to it.

So to summarize, this gives me the hipster/ intellectual/experimental satisfaction that comes with albums like those, but it's also what I consider to be melodic and expressly "musical", whereas many comparable artists and albums sound more academic. Hope that makes sense because that's the best way I can describe my adoration for this.

dudes need to check ian william craig's centres for cold electronic pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYXfh1mBbsI

Album Rating: 4.5

At the very least, we're getting a ton of great recs out of this thread lol.

I enjoyed that song, Observer. Any chance you'd fancy this album? Seems like maybe your kind of indie-pop.

this picked up for me in the second half, pleased that the songs feel expansive rather than cluttered. not much latched onto memory (has me wishing for stickier hooks) but it's quite enjoyable in the moment. looking at a 3 or 3.5

glad you dug the polachek singles, her solo record is coming out later this year (she was the singer for chairlift). def one to look out for

Album Rating: 4.5

"pleased that the songs feel expansive rather than cluttered"

precisely, the album breathes and flows rather than forcing a glitch or studio effect into every possible crevice

"has me wishing for stickier hooks"

this is the one complaint levied so far that I actually buy (aside from different taste/different strokes, etc) - her voice isn't glossed over very much for being such a heavily produced record, and I feel like maybe she could have crafted more memorable melodies as the backbone for all these gorgeous experimental/classical accents...the melodies did imprint on me a little harder after my 3rd or 4th listen, which is perhaps why I find this so much more alluring than those who have commented itt so far, but I find this to be much more about the atmosphere/flow/instrumentals than being "catchy", per se. At the very least, it's far more memorable than a Herndon or Sophie (not to keep taking shots at them, they're just good examples of artists in this general wheelhouse who represent the antithesis of Angels on the Slope).

Ill check some tracks sowing. I'm really picky with female singers sometimes but we'll see

Album Rating: 4.5

It's like an artsier version of what luci linked above, and with more classical/electronic elements. Can't say what you'd think of the vocalist though. Check Bloodletting (linked in very first post) for a good idea of what you'd be getting into. I'm going to check the rest of that Ian William Craig when I get a chance, btw.

Album Rating: 3.0

Sowing, I think this has been a breakthrough year because scanning your faves of 2019 list I don't think I've rated many under a 3 out of 5 :/



Think we share two or three 4.5s as well

Album Rating: 3.0

Ok, I double checked



You like 'Thank You Scientist' and for me that one is unlistenable



That withstanding the original notion applies

Album Rating: 4.5

It's a rare feat indeed that I have a year that overlaps so favorably with yours. It went something like this:

2017: Bloody hell Sowing, all of your top 25 are a 2/5 at best!

2018: At least we both like Ben Howard!

2019: "This has been a breakthrough year"

Album Rating: 3.0

I'm genuinely not sure whose taste is moving towards the other the most

Album Rating: 3.5

This is really pretty so far.

Album Rating: 4.5

I've also resigned myself to the idea that any time I'm floored by an unknown record and give it a 5, the community will decide it's a 3.0 at best. The average for this will probably end up below the new Of Monsters and Men. I really like that album, but c'mon. Sometimes I wonder if I'm hearing the same album as everyone else because this is transcendent and groundbreaking for me.

@Doof - It's gotta be an equal move. You've been listening to a lot more indie folk by my estimation, and I've been gravitating more towards baritone vocals and sad adult midlife crisis lyrics...basically an extension of my National gateway into that style. Best example this year is probably Finn.

Album Rating: 3.0

This was good enough that I'll return for another go before the year is done, similar to luci I thought it got better second half...but perhaps I just warmed to her style as the album progressed



It's certainly not a million miles from a 3.5 bump...I could listen to this again the next few days....go on then

Album Rating: 4.5

I'm interested in seeing if it aspires to that 3.5 ceiling Doof. I suppose I shouldn't take it hard either when my 5's aren't reciprocated (not that a 3.8 is shabby at all, plus it's still very early in the ratings process). After all, I treat it like the America's Got Talent golden buzzer. I don't reserve it for the 2-3 best albums of each decade like some do; for me the score signifies an album that I couldn't ask anything more of and/or will qualify in my AOTY running (usually I have about 3-5 classics per year).