Year End Lists – Staff
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Sunday December 2, 2018
Welcome back to the greatest show on the internet! The SMA’s have returned! Duh – Sowing’s Music Awards? It’s cute that you pretended to forget – it’s only the biggest name in sputnik user profile, end-of-year, blog-based award shows. It’s kind of a big deal. So anyway, after a one year absence, the SMA’s are […]
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Monday January 8, 2018
50-26 | 25-1 (25) Manchester Orchestra – “Lead, SD” A Black Mile to the Surface Imagine the heart-wrenching emotional reach of a track like “Colly Strings”, only blasted through the sleek production of an album like Simple Math. This is Manchester Orchestra in peak form. –Sowing (24) Lorde – “Hard Feelings/Loveless” Melodrama 2017 […]
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Friday January 5, 2018
50-26 | 25-1 (50) Frank Ocean – “Chanel” Chanel – Single Frank’s been labeled (by me) a Modern Day James Joyce, 12 months ago, when “RAF” and “Slide” weren’t even a thing. Truthfully, he exceeds his own influences, and renders himself as his own auteur. “Chanel”, a song that juggles sexuality and 21 […]
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Friday December 22, 2017
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 10. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] I have a special connection with Vince Staples’ music because my partner lives in Long Beach. The first time my partner drove me around Long Beach, I saw the city through the lens of the rappers that call it home and […]
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Thursday December 21, 2017
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 30. Propagandhi – Victory Lap [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Seven albums deep, Propagandhi know how to riff. They also know how to write evocative political lyrics. Combine these two qualities and it becomes difficult to craft a subpar record. Seven great albums in a row, Propagandhi have perfected their blast-to-the-face thrash-influenced punk. While […]
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Wednesday December 20, 2017
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 50. Sorcerer – The Crowning of the Fire King [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] 2017 was a solid year for epic doom metal, with some of the best releases of the last few years arriving in the form of Below’s Upon a Pale Horse, Doomocracy’s Visions & Creatures of Imagination, and Arduini/Balich’s Dawn of Ages. However, if […]
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Wednesday December 17, 2014
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 10. Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Stream: “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” (3:16) From the opening punch of the track of the same name, Transgender Dysphoria Blues is a haymaker of unapologetic transgender perspective made to come across in one of the few avenues of emotion we […]
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Tuesday December 16, 2014
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 30. The Antlers – Familiars [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Stream: “Intruders” (5:25) By now, everyone knows what to expect from a record by The Antlers, and Familiars sees the American indie rock/dream pop outfit choosing not to buck that trend by tunneling even deeper into the niche that they’ve been […]
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Monday December 15, 2014
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 50. Thou – Heathen [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Unofficial Facebook] Stream: “Into the Marshlands” (6:58) Thou have been creating some of the most soul crushing doom metal ever set upon human ears for the last several years. Heathen is no different. It’s an unholy manifestation of distorted guitars and the burliest of […]
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Wednesday December 18, 2013
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 10. Jenny Hval – Innocence is Kinky [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Language is the issue at the heart of Innocence is Kinky: how it changes by dialect, accent, personality, interpretation. “The voice,” Jenny Hval posits on “The Seer”, the album’s closing track, “is a wordless tissue, the fog from Heart […]
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Tuesday December 17, 2013
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 30. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Whether unabashed optimist or sterling cynic, everybody can hear a bit of themselves in Pedestrian Verse. It’s a collection of solemn songs, and anybody who’s even vaguely familiar with Frightened Rabbit should have expected that from the minute they learnt […]
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Sunday December 15, 2013
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 50. Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Summoning have proven time and again that they are absolute masters of their craft, however small their niche may be. Not only are they arguably the best symphonic black metal band ever to play the genre, they take a concept […]
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Friday January 4, 2013
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 10. The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] I think it’s about time that I let you all in on a little secret: I’m just a touch older than the average SputnikMusic user. Shock horror, huh? In fact, I may even be old enough to have seen items […]
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Thursday January 3, 2013
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 30. Yellowcard – Southern Air [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Ever since frontman Ryan Key took the reins with 2001’s One For The Kids, Yellowcard has been an example of what is right with pop-punk – the sunny vibe, the catchy choruses, the heartfelt lyrics, and the ever-so-rare element of consistency. An […]
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Tuesday January 1, 2013
50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 50. Propagandhi – Failed States [Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook] Failed States is Propagandhi’s bitter album. The Canadian punk rockers have always worn their angry, fist-raising politics on their sleeves – a particularly effective formula when mixed with the band’s more recent thrash-punk inclinations – but this time around it’s accompanied […]
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