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Staff
Reviews 98
Soundoffs 73
News Articles 1
Band Edits + Tags 34
Album Edits 58
Album Ratings 2441
Objectivity 79%
Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70
Review Comments 10,160
| A Sleepy 2016
2016 hasn’t been a good year for me on a personal level, but has probably been the best year ever for me for music. This isn’t at all due to what came out in 2016 (though it seems like its been a good year) but because I’ve expanded my tastes far more than I would have ever expected a few years ago and I’ve gained an immeasurable amount from it. Listening, sharing and exploring music as well as interactions on Sput with some fantastic people has all kept me sane, so thank you all and here’s to another great year of music. | | 35 |  | American Football
American Football (LP2)
3.2 - Emo: Still enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing as predicted. Whilst a lot of the instrumentation and even some of the lyrics are wonderful, a large chunk of the lyrics are unforgivable | | 34 |  | Culture Abuse
Peach
3.3 - Rock: Loud, straightforward rock for funsies | | 33 |  | AJJ
The Bible 2
3.3 - Lo-Fi Rock: Quite far from their roots, and certainly worse than most of their past work, but enjoyable for what it is | | 32 |  | Alan Gogoll
Boutique Bear
3.4 - Classical Guitar: Beautiful and delicate classical guitar pieces, unfortunately tainted by some shoddy production | | 31 |  | All Human
Teenagers, You Don't Have to Die
3.4 - Indie Rock: Some elements off this are perfection, whilst others I cannot get into at all. Regardless, it’s certainly an interesting and creative listen | | 30 |  | Flower Face
Fever Dreams
3.5 - Atmospheric Folk: Lovely, intimate, barebones bedroom folk project | | 29 |  | The World Is a Beautiful Place...
Formlessness [2016]
3.5 - Emo/Post-Rock: Not actually as good as the original, but its nice to have the alternative versions all the same | | 28 |  | NxWorries
Yes Lawd!
3.5 - Hip-Hop: Love the vibe on this; one of the only things all year that just sucked me into it and stopped me over analyzing everything it was doing on first listen | | 27 |  | Street Sects
End Position
3.5 - Industrial: Some messed up industrial stuffs here | | 26 |  | Jeff Rosenstock
Worry.
3.6 - Rock: Not listened to this enough to love it, but from what I’ve heard it’s bloody impressive | | 25 |  | Shooter
Last Day
3.7 - Post-Rock/Ambient: One of the most impressive user projects I’ve heard this year. Incredibly easy to listen to and creates a beautiful atmosphere and vibe in a very short run time. It definitely helped me though a couple of rough patches in the last month, giving me the little musical escape that we all need every now and then | | 24 |  | Old Gray
Slow Burn
3.7 - Skramz: Quite a polarizing listen. Its disjointed, but in a way that makes the record all the better in linking to its themes. It encroaches on melodrama, but just about manages to avoid it. However, some of the spoken word is a bit hit and miss on subsequent listens despite destroying me on the first go, and I kind of wish they kept a bit more straightforward Skramz in their sound. Still love the hell out of this though when the mood takes me | | 23 |  | Bon Iver
22, A Million
3.7 - Folk/Electronic: This came so annoyingly close to doing something mind-blowing. Admittedly it has fluctuated between a 3 to a 4.5 for me, and I still love it, and 29 still remains one of the best songs of the year to me. In the end though the ever-so-slightly excessive electronics usage and lack of the intimacy that made his debut so captivating made this a little bit of a let down. And the stupid song names and resulting pretentious vibe annoyed me. Still better than the s/t though | | 22 |  | David Bowie
Blackstar
3.75 - Art Rock: This is certainly one of the best records of the year and it feels good to know that Bowie went out on a spectacularly high note. Indeed, the record feels quite unique in the closeness and intimacy with which it confronts the user with death, yet in how it doesn’t shove it down the listener’s throat at all, exceptionally well done. Despite all of this, I haven’t had an urge to revisit this since binging it a while back, hence its probably unjustly low placement on the list. It could be for similar reasons to the Nick Cave record, or possibly that, despite the record’s artistic merits and importance, I just don’t always enjoy a large bulk of its songs. It could just be that I’m too new to Bowie for the record to hit me as hard as I’m sure it hit many. Regardless, we will miss you Bowie and I’m sure this is a record I will come back to after delving into his discog a bit more and gain a newfound appreciation for | | 21 |  | Car Bomb
Meta
3.75 - Djenty Metal: Djenty metal done properly: dizzying and face crushing, just as it should be | | 20 |  | Moonsorrow
Jumalten Aika
3.75 - Folk-Metal: An epic and sprawling record that somehow remains easily digestible and catchy despite its monolithic nature | | 19 |  | Thank You Scientist
Stranger Heads Prevail
3.75 - Jazz-Fusion: This is just good fun. And it has horns. ‘Nuff said. | | 18 |  | Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
3.75 - Rap/Hip-Hop: Trying to delve into this genre more these days, and this really blew me away with its nutso instrumentation and the sporadic rapping by Danny. The themes Danny chooses to explore are also very well executed to the point where I have to question whether the dude is really okay despite his ever cheerful persona | | 17 |  | Regina Spektor
Remember Us To Life
3.8 - Pop/Singer-Songwriter: Cheers FullOfSounds for pointing me towards Regina’s music, definitely one of the best and quirkiest modern singer-songwriters out there and this is a super solid effort. Quite a recent listen, so could definitely grow on me, but this appears to be Regina up to her usual antics with fantastic results | | 16 |  | Pinegrove
Cardinal
3.9 - Indie Rock/Country/Emo: Quite a unique blend of styles, but one that works perfectly to the point where I’m left wondering why more people aren’t doing it. The vocal style here is full of character and the tunes are captivating. Could see this growing as it’s another recent listen, cheers Con for pointing me in its direction | | 15 |  | Wormrot
Voices
3.9 - Grind: Really impressive grind with some gorgeous melodic elements | | 14 |  | Horse Lords
Interventions
3.9 - Jazz/Math Rock/Electronic: One of the weirder and more difficult listens of the year, ranging from a 3 to a 5 depending on my mood. Its essentially built around continuous grooves, the instrumentation slowly shifting and morphing as you go, which can either take you to another world and pull your emotions in all sorts of directions, or it can bore you to death. Definitely recommend anyone slightly interested give it a go | | 13 |  | Vektor
Terminal Redux
3.9 - Progressive Thrash: Grew off me pretty fast. This feels a bit bloated, though the highlights are some of the best songs they have ever released. The narrative was kind of interesting, but ultimately nothing mind-blowing. For me, Black Future is still the best thing these guys have done. Nonetheless, still a fantastic record proving Vektor’s consistency and staying power | | 12 |  | Converge
You Fail Me (Redux)
4 - Hardcore: Never listened to the original, but this seems to be Converge at their finest | | 11 |  | Stimming
Alpe Lusia
4 - Electronic: The hype train for this unfortunately ground to a halt, but this is still by far one of the most engrossing and intricate records of 2016 for me. I implore all electronic scrubs such as myself to give this a go, and certainly don’t judge it on the first few listens; it’s a grower and it’ll rip your nips clean off | | 10 |  | Nails
You Will Never Be One of Us
4 - Grind/Hardcore: Another genre I’ve only recently dipped my toes into, in response to which the genre ripped my toes off and punched me in the stomach. Exceptionally fun and heavy stuff containing some of Nails’ best-produced and catchiest work | | 9 |  | TotorRo
Come to Mexico
4 - Math Rock: Quite a predictable pick for me considering I appear to be one of their bigger fan boys on Sput. Spirit-raising, energetic and soothing math rock that may be too simple and no-frills for some but which I find presents a really interesting meld of math rock, post rock and, to a lesser extent, ambient | | 8 |  | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Skeleton Tree
4.1 - Sadness: Heart crushingly, gut wrenchingly, and tear jerkingly devastating. Indeed its way too mood souring for me to listen to too consistently, hence why it’s not as high on this list as it probably deserves. Nevertheless it’s a stunning project born out of tragic circumstances | | 7 |  | JANK
Versace Summer
4.1 - Emo, but the happy kind: Gloriously silly and fun emo, yet really well put together and far more consistent, in my opinion, than their LP. Used this as a consistent pick me up this year. | | 6 |  | Racing Glaciers
Caught in the Strange
4.2 - Indie Rock: Serene, atmospheric and pleasantly varied indie rock. Not much to say, it just does what it does incredibly well. | | 5 |  | Drei Affen
Drei Affen
4.2 - Skramz I Suppose: This one caught me completely by surprise. In quite new to the genre, so I’m sure this’ll get bumped down when I find a band that does it better, but my god this tears me to shreds every time and I have no idea why. | | 4 |  | PUP
The Dream Is Over
4.3 - Pop Punk: Best Pop Punk I can recall hearing in a few years, full to the brim of surprisingly technical musicianship and an unreal amount of energy, passion and charm. Not much to say about this one, its just very very very good Pop Punk with everything you’d expect and more. Check it. | | 3 |  | Death Grips
Bottomless Pit
4.4 - Hell if I Know: So this is higher up than I thought possible, but here we are. These guys offer an oddball mix of catchy hooks, complex instrumentals, perplexing lyrics, and sheer brutality that really shouldn’t work but just does. Probably the best thing they’ve done since The Money Store, nailing the balance between indigestible noise and hooks for days. | | 2 |  | The Hotelier
Goodness
4.4 - Indie Rock: I initially hated this. Now, thank goodness (see what I did there…), I don’t. What initially felt like a shockingly poor follow up to one of my favourite records eventually matured after a good dozen or so listens into one of the most interesting listens for me of 2016. Whilst I think Ashcrash’s critique of this perfectly exemplifies everything wrong with it, there is something about the barebones, naturalistic and oddly positive approach they went for that makes all the little errors seem non-existent. Additionally, it has a lot more depth than is initially apparent, containing a lot of recurring themes, lyrics and concepts, some obvious and some that took hours of listening to hit. In summary I think it’s a fantastic record of positive songs for negative people that acts as the perfect contrasting record to Home. | | 1 |  | Car Seat Headrest
Teens of Denial
5 - Indie Rock: To anyone spoken to me at all this year, in real life or on Sput, this will come as no surprise. From the painfully singable hooks to the gorgeous instrumentation to the intricate and varied song structures, this pretty much has everything I look for in a record. Above all though, the lyrics came at just the right time in my life to hit me like a train, but also to give me a helping hand up. The way the record honestly and brazenly tackles the trails that most all 20 something year olds go though has this brilliant vibe and message of ‘Yeah it sucks, but don’t feel embarrassed or ashamed to feel like crap every once in a while; we all go though it and come out the other side the better for it’. Will bares his soul for us, and I for one am incredibly grateful to him for doing so. | |
Tyler.
12.24.16 | ???? | Conmaniac
12.24.16 | this is a great list man, we have a ton of similar picks (and the exact same 1/2). need to check 30 and 9 tho, seems like stuff up my alley. also glad to see ya dug Cardinal! | AsleepInTheBack
12.24.16 | Cheers con. Yeah figured we'd have a bit of overlap. I could see you appreciating those 2 definitely. And yeah, took me by surprise as to how good it was, definitely going to be a grower I think | Tyler.
12.24.16 | im gonna check 9 | danielcardoso
12.24.16 | Some really good stuff here buddy, happy holidays :] | Conmaniac
12.24.16 | still need to rate 14 lol. it ranges from a 2.5-4.5 for me and idk what to do | FullOfSounds
12.24.16 | Sick list, awesome descriptions. Glad I got you into Regina! | Artuma
12.24.16 | really appreciate the effort put into this, nice list man. one thing though, old gray is skramz now? | AsleepInTheBack
12.24.16 | I get you con, its a weird one haha
cheers dan, full and art, appreciate it.
and art I'm no good with genres haha, I swear a lot of the first half of it was quite skramz-y, but you know the genre far better than I | Artuma
12.24.16 | i mean sure they have some skramz elements but in general i wouldn't call them that. then again, i haven't heard the new one yet so idk | AsleepInTheBack
12.24.16 | fair to be honest, definitely not entirely skramz I'll agree, though I'd struggle to define precisely what its mixed with | dreamgazing
12.24.16 | 1 is 1 | AsleepInTheBack
12.24.16 | hell yea it is | zaruyache
12.25.16 | 32 was really pretty guitarmanship, but the songs didn't feel like they really went anywhere. | BlushfulHippocrene
12.25.16 | Great list, man! Some lovely descriptions, too, glad the year was so good for music for you. Props for Flower Face, and for Bottomless Pit being so high, I need to listen to that again. You make 5 sound so appealing, going to check that first. | AsleepInTheBack
12.25.16 | I ultimately agree about 32 yeah, the songs don't really develop, they all kind of go with 1 or 2 ideas and repeat them for 3 minutes. Still a very enjoyable LP though, often use it as background study music.
And cheers Blushful, appreciate it. I could see flower face growing alot to be honest, or at least me loving her other stuff, her style is just so addictive. DG definitely stayed with me much longer than I expected. I'd definitely check 5, not sure it's entirely your kind of thing, but it's certainly worth a shot. |
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