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Last Active 01-08-23 8:51 am
Joined 02-13-12

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 Lists
04.17.22 Pon's Top 50 ov2k2104.10.22 2021: Rejects
01.21.21 Jac's Top 50 m/ ov2k20 10.08.20 Every Ulcerate Song Ranked (Again)
05.19.20 some classical jamz05.03.20 some metal jamz
05.05.19 For BlushfulHippocrene 05.02.19 Recent 2019 jams
04.19.19 Some 2019 Classical 04.18.19 Some 2019 m/
01.16.19 Jac's Top 50 m/ ov2018 07.25.18 Hard as Feck Riffs
07.08.18 Classical in 2018 04.23.18 Jac's (late) 1st Quarter 2018
12.27.17 Jac's Top 30 of 2017 10.20.17 Classical in 2017
04.01.17 Every Ulcerate Song Ranked 03.29.17 Dissonant Tech
More »

Jac's Top 30 of 2017

I was a slacker this year. Listened to lots of flavour-of-the-month metal albums and neglected entire genres - maybe I don't like music anymore and I don't know it. Oh well, here's a compendium of some 2017 tunes that tickled my lobes in all the right ways.
30Musica Secreta / Celestial Sirens
Lucrezia Borgia's Daughter


Renaissance music / choral - Best not to listen when you're in a hurry, but I can think of less cathartic things to listen to when you've 73 minutes to spare.

https://open.spotify.com/album/09cGO09uvbIuQVvdmnKalG
29Funeral Chant
Funeral Chant


Black Metal - Nails the balance between atmosphere and musicianship.

https://funeralchant.bandcamp.com/releases
28Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Tüür: Peregrinus ecstaticus; Noēsis; Le poids ...


Modern Classical - Somehow strings together in a cohesive way despite drawing from a muddled pool of influences from all eras and styles.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3NwSFWcU9qRDtpL2DWu58k
27Tomb Mold
Primordial Malignity


Death Metal - If you like riffs you'll like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGoko_kI1WI
26Luc Ferrari
Hétérozygote / Petite symphonie…


Musique concrete - I listened to this unaware it was an archival release at first, then it dawned upon me that the dog you can hear barking is long dead and it made me sad.

can't find stream link rip
25Jean Rondeau
Dynastie: Bach Concertos


Baroque music - Very interesting to hear how trends in the common practice period evolved as illustrated by Bach and fam.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0nctM62YjYfdEG6dIdIHFm
24Vanessa Rossetto
Rocinante


Musique concrete - Uncanny blend of musical escapism and the "real world". Fascinating though not always pleasant.

https://vanessarossetto.bandcamp.com/album/rocinante
23Psallentes
Salzinnes Saints


Renaissance music / plainsong - A no frills testament to the beauty of the human voice.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6RqRydiuZ5gYAD4PhOXF6l
22Brecon Baroque
Grandissima Gravita


Baroque / chamber music - The Tartini pieces are some of the best music I've heard in 2017 - hear this for those alone.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0AD7puopUQojZIAfTN5xTL
21Archspire
Relentless Mutation


Tech death - See my review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiY4zwcjt-s
20Impetuous Ritual
Blight Upon Martyred Sentience


Tech death / "caverncore" - Pushing the fold of extremity once again.

https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/blight-upon-martyred-sentience
19Rossella Spinosa
Scelsi: Opere per pianoforte


Modern classical - Scelsi's piano works don't quite possess the other-worldliness of his works for strings but these are still delightfully creepy.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5FUlHs4uXbMuioCOBOL8N0
18Spectral Voice
Eroded Corridors of Unbeing


Death doom metal - Appeal stems from aesthetic as much as it does from composition but I still love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keSYfJ3fBRE
17Collegium Vocale Gent
Bach: Du treuer Gott: Leipzig Cantatas


Baroque music / oratorio - Wasn't familiar with these pieces but this steadily crept up in my estimations as the year went on. Beautifully recorded renditions of The Maestro's work from Herreweghe as ever.

https://open.spotify.com/album/42bSu7k6kaFzBOeXyRbhEw
16Angles 9
Disappeared Behind the Sun


Jazz / experimental big band - Trades in some of the ear worm-y phrasing of Injuries for spontaneity but remains impossibly easy to get into.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBbAgxNUhIc
15RIAS Kammerchor / Freiburger Barockorchester
Requiem - Sussmayr / Dutton 2016 Completion


Classical period / Choral - A slight revision on Sussmayr's original completion of Mozart's Requiem. Sounds pretty faithful to these ears.

https://open.spotify.com/album/67zG8CNG56vAuuG4yiVeDj
14Venenum
Trance of Death


Death metal - Psychedelic tunes with atmosphere that you could cut with a knife.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPU_xMwcFg4
13Irvine Arditti
Caprices


Modern classical - Frenetic solo violin works from various modern composers. Extended technique in droves; have no idea how to dissect this, don't really care.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3GJazpAJcnd9rTVr8zryks
12Phrenelith
Desolate Endscape


Death metal - What it lacks in innovation it more than compensates for in energy. Production is superb as well.

https://phrenelith.bandcamp.com/album/desolate-endscape
11Forest Swords
Compassion


Ambient Dub - Doesn't quite nail the melancholia like Engravings but that's not really a slight. "Panic" is a contender for SOTY.

https://forestswords.bandcamp.com/album/compassion
10Gringolts Quartet
Schoenberg: String Quartets 2 and 4


Serialism / chamber music - The scores are brilliant enough that any rendition of Schoenberg's string quartets without discernible flaws was bound to end up here. Always keen to hear more.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4imTrhRzgGsAV0ujoqVVHq
9The Doppelgangaz
Dopp Hopp


Hip hop - More of the same from Doppelgangaz but I'm not complaining. Plenty of mentions of strong ankles, in fact, there's even a namesake song.

https://thedoppelgangaz.bandcamp.com/album/dopp-hopp
8Silesian String Quartet
Weinberg: String Quartet No. 7 + Piano Quintet


Modern classical / chamber music - Content with its eccentricities while also being tactfully performed.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5RryRJUW496bPPQBmwTm89
7Pyrrhon
What Passes for Survival


Dissonant tech death / mathcore - Took until the twilight of the year to grow on me but once it did, oh my.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMYR9vGRblA
6Stile Antico
Giaches de Wert: Divine Theatre


Choral / Renaissance Music - Unassuming and poignant, with just the right amount of aural slickness so as to make for comfortable listening while shirking grandiosity.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7sTnOYl0nFTSwZsK2ZKvJ5
5Inconcessus Lux Lucis
The Crowning Quietus


Black / heavy / speed metal - See my review.

https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/the-crowning-quietus
4Sunless
Urraca


Dissonant tech death - Was an early pick for AOTY but was usurped along the way. Still probably my fav production job this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEQtXBr1BU
3Jurg Frey
Ephemeral Constructions


Lowercase - Sparse at a glance but vividly textured - you could hear a pin drop. Best played in isolation with out (any potential for) distractions.

no stream rip
2Arditti Quartet / Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France
Pascal Dusapin: Quatuor VI; Quatuor VII


Chamber music / modern classical - Tense, chaotic, discordant, [buzzword] pieces from a dude who studied under Xenakis, performed to perfection by Arditti.

https://open.spotify.com/album/13agtu4Iibw8M2OhtghJU4
1Artificial Brain
Infrared Horizon


Dissonant tech death - Shocker, the 2017 album with the most enduring appeal for me was what some scrubs would call a "Gorguts clone". I'm even less surprised than you are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxNkGupr4fg
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