Bedex 2019
Tis a retrospective not just 2019 albums. Volume wise, 2019 was much better than 2018 (~500 soundoffs). Rating on sputnik again was a good motivator to try and discover new stuff m/ Started doing discog runs almost exclusively starting in the middle of the year. Genre wise, reinforced my taste for gritty drone a fair bit, and explored more pop-related things than before, especially in the last third of the year. Less jazz and hip-hop than usual but not because of shifting taste – I really want to get back to those genres. The genre that did fall massively for me this year was math-rock, but still jam some from time to time obviously. |
| 60 |  | Unknown Error
The Yearning / Midnight Special
I really don’t listen to enough electronica these days, but this is a banger. Superb DnB, just jam it will ya |
| 59 |  | I Hate Models
Midnight Cults
Not a discovery but properly explored this guy’s discog beyond Warehouse Memories EP this year, and honestly I can’t say I’m incredibly impressed – but this one is pretty effing cool |
| 58 |  | Emmanuel
All Killer No Filler
Yup few electronica albums made the cut, but this is varied and really fun |
| 57 |  | Horseback
The Invisible Mountain
This year’s award of album that once again proved that you should not give up on an album based on the first couple tracks is this bad boy with its absolutely gorgeous closer but somewhat disappointing first half |
| 56 |  | Chippr Jones
Tropics / COSM
Pretty much my only notable math-rock discovery this year, everything else I jammed felt pretty forgettable but this is really cool. LP when? |
| 55 |  | Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor
I am really behind on my classical homework (I’ll probably say something like this for every single genre), but this was my classical discog run of the year. Took me a good while hey. Tahnks to my potato friend 50il for all his good advice on navigating Mahler |
| 54 |  | The Newfound Interest in Connecticut
Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home
Completely random find initially from a track on youtube, but glad I looked into it further. Lovely post-rocky emo that I rejam quite often when walking about |
| 53 |  | Patrick Watson
Je Te Laisserai Des Mots
Welcome to the Sowingcore section of this list. For starters, a sublime track that I jammed a lot this year and that is irritatingly not on any of his full lengths as far as I can tell |
| 52 |  | The Jezabels
Prisoner
Oh yes this is sublime, bound to become one of my top tier bands I think |
| 51 |  | Astronauts
Hollow Ponds
Really sweet too, albeit not as marking as the above two |
| 50 |  | Memoryhouse
The Years
Budgie’s ubiquitous memoryhouse spam finally paid off with me, and I’m glad it did because this is really nice dream pop |
| 49 |  | Old Sorcery
Realms of Magickal Sorrow
Partly owing to my good pal garas’ impulse, I have given dungeon synth a closer ear this year, and this is one of my favourites. Don’t crucify me garas, I know there’s loads more to discover |
| 48 |  | Evilfeast
Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest
Smooth transition from the dungeon synth section of this list to the bm section, and honestly one of my fav bm jams this year. |
| 47 |  | Andavald
Undir Skyggðarhaldi
Also an absolute dig with this super brutal, riff-heavy brand of bm. I didn’t really click with the vocals but this was incredibly sweet nonetheless |
| 46 |  | Downfall of Nur
Umbras de Barbagia
Please give this more attention people? Really cool bm with ear-piercing shrieks and sparse use of ‘traditional' folk instruments that gives ancient mysterious vibes to the music, as if it were a lost beacon from an extinct civilization. |
| 45 |  | Gnaw Their Tongues
L'arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante
Knew this by name for years but first time I gave it a proper listen I think? Bleakest album I discovered this year, hands down |
| 44 |  | Paysage d'Hiver
Paysage d'Hiver
Not a discovery but went through his discog, and this time I completely clicked. Winterkaelte is my fav album, but Welt Aus Eis is now such an emblematic track in my bm repertoire that the self-titled feels like a more appropriate choice. |
| 43 |  | Alcest
Spiritual Instinct
I guess this belongs in the black metal section? Revisited their discog and dug their last one – Alcest needed a spot on this list. |
| 42 |  | Unwound
Leaves Turn Inside You
Have known this for years, but this is the album that felt closest to a 5 this year and it felt like it belongs on the list. I have to say the competition isn’t super fair since I am doing this whole 5 review thing |
| 41 |  | Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas
Mariner
Also a good old fav band of mine, but this year I caught up on their discography including Mariner (switfly reached absolute top tier in my book), as well as more obscure side EPs and splits, saw them live again and obviously heard their latest album, so they’ve been an important part of my year. |
| 40 |  | Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna (EP)
I know it’s kind of cheating but technically this is a different db artist. This is just to tell people to check this out if they’re into earlier The Beyond-era CoL |
| 39 |  | Breag Naofa
Breag Naofa
It’s been a post-metal heavy year for me, and this is one of my favourite somewhat niche discoveries. Cooking up a review for this because it is really not getting the attention it deserves |
| 38 |  | SUMAC
What One Becomes
The other massive post-metal discovery this year. Finally jammed those guys and I dug this brutal crass headbang of an album like crazy. Feels underrated a bit? |
| 37 |  | Brutus (BE)
Nest
Don’t really know where to put those guys, but since they happened to be the opening act for CoL (amazing!) I guess they belong in this area of the list. Female singer/drummer fronted post-hardcore-ish band from my homeland? I dig. |
| 36 |  | Demolition Hammer
Necrology (Demo)
Made me want to start my thrash binge, and my binge lists in general. So effing cool. The thrash binge hasn’t been super fruitful so far, but I am still attached to this album for starting it all off. |
| 35 |  | Exhorder
Slaughter in the Vatican
The binge hasn’t been super fruitful yes, but this is the one good find beside Demolition Hammer. Riffsriffsriffs |
| 34 |  | Denzel Curry
TA13OO
For various reasons I listened to a whole lot less hip-hop this year compared to any time before – both with old friends (which I am taking a break from for my 5’s review) and new discoveries. Denzel’s one of the few English language artists to have made the cut with a discog run. Although I knew several of his track from before, there’s a lot I was missing out on. Lots of digs, but I am waiting for his magnum opus still. |
| 33 |  | Billy Woods, Kenny Segal
Hiding Places
Despite my not so high rating I come back to this a lot, probably more than to Denzel actually. Really like how bleak it is. Glad to see hip-hop evolving and not stagnating |
| 32 |  | Noname
Telefone
Probably the last English-language hip-hop related discovery on this list already. I don’t come back to it often but I dug it a fair bit. |
| 31 |  | Alpha Wann
Une Main Lave l'Autre
Partly owing to my dexbro’s input I’ve tried to vaguely catch-up on French rap which feels like it exploded in the 2010’s. This is a sweet one |
| 30 |  | Nepal (FR)
444 Nuits
The first half of this is sublime, and probably one of my best French rap records period. Shame that the second half is there to spoil the perfection, but at least it doesn’t ruin the party either. |
| 29 |  | Freeze Corleone
Projet Blue Beam
Fairly inconsistent, and you’d probably be better off jamming the two albums above if you want to discover FR rap, but this marked my end of November/early December for some reason. |
| 28 |  | Drake
Scorpion
Obviously not a discovery and to be fair I actually haven’t listened to a single one of his albums in whole this year, but I just jammed some of his tracks fairly often. Suited the US mood hey. |
| 27 |  | Booba
Temps Mort
Same as Drake, literally here just for Ma Définition and Lunatic’s Pas de Temps Pour les Regrets which I jammed a tonne this year for some reason. |
| 26 |  | Nuvolascura
Nuvolascura
This was a good year for skramz [1] |
| 25 |  | State Faults
Clairvoyant
This was a good year for skramz [2] |
| 24 |  | Viva Belgrado
Ulises
This was a good year for skramz [3]
Well it’s from 2016 but you should check it out |
| 23 |  | Immortal Onion
Ocelot of Salvation
As I said, also listened to a whole lot less jazz than I would’ve liked, and practically just modern day stuff. This is one of the few that made the cut, basically Gogo Penguin but from Poland |
| 22 |  | Ghost Park
物の怪 (Mononoke)
No clue how to tag this but it was a really fun jam |
| 21 |  | Koffee
Rapture
Jammed this a bunch while working for some reason, the one reggae discovery of the year I guess (don’t worry folks, there’s a reggae binge list that will shortly fix my illiteracy in the genre) |
| 20 |  | Ariana Grande
Dangerous Woman
While she obviously isn’t a 2019 discovery, her discog run started off my mainstream binge list, and I jammed her songs a surprising amount this year. Really glad she made me go back to more pop music. |
| 19 |  | Shakira
Laundry Service
The list wouldn’t feel right without some Shakira given how much I’ve been jamming a select few of her tracks. Can’t say I found any of her albums amazing but I’m glad I was able to discover or rediscover those few tracks. Rihanna’s Anti was kinda good too but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it as much as I do with this |
| 18 |  | Ximena Sarinana
Donde Bailaran las Ninas
I didn’t really dig the album, but I jammed Que Tiene all the time this year and the list just wouldn’t feel complete without it. Marks the continuation of my 2018 move towards a lot of latino music, but I can’t put Natalia Lafourcade on here because I genuinely listened to her the exact same amount as in 2018. |
| 17 |  | Anderson .Paak
Malibu
Not a discovery at all, still have to catch up on his discog, but like the above the list just wouldn’t feel right without it because I jammed Malibu so much |
| 16 | | Stan Getz
Getz/Gilberto
Same comment as above but with a different album title |
| 15 |  | Danny Ocean
54+1
Continuing the latino theme, I was genuinely surprised at how consistent an album this was. Didn’t expect reggaeton as a genre to deliver something like this – I stand corrected |
| 14 |  | Holding Absence
Holding Absence
Yet another album that’s not that solid, but I jammed Perish about a million times (for inspiration) |
| 13 |  | Belong
October Language
Ah here it is, the inevitable drone/noise section of any good Bedex list. This is sublime and probably my favourite finding from my drone binge so far. |
| 12 |  | Internazionale
Elegy for the Victors
Sublime [2] |
| 11 |  | Celer
Para
Sublime [3] |
| 10 |  | Amulets
False Horizon
Not quite sublime but gritty and aggressive in a way my ears love to be tickled in. |
| 9 |  | Controlled Bleeding
Distress Signals
Kind of jammed this randomly while reading A Clockwork Orange, and it suddenly became the first pure harsh noise album that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have to say I’m still baffled at that fact. |
| 8 |  | Prurient
Frozen Niagara Falls
Another name I’ve known for years but only checked out recently, to continue on the noisy theme. Unbelievably entertaining and not annoying for an album this noisy and this long |
| 7 |  | Daughters
Hell Songs
One of my first discog runs early in the year, and while I still need to revisit the latest one which I didn’t click with hugely, Hell Songs was a fantastic TDEP craziness fix. Gutted I haven't seen them live yet |
| 6 |  | Erika de Casier
Essentials
Yet another part of my going into softer, poppier music this year. Sublime dreamy RnB that I only recently discovered but am pretty sure I’ll jam a lot in the future. |
| 5 |  | Sea Oleena
Sleeplessness
Discovered around the same time as Grouper, vaguely similar but in a less droney, folkier fashion, good stuff |
| 4 |  | Georgie Sweet
Stories
My favourite random Bandcamp discovery this year, and one I jammed all the time. Incredibly pumped to see if she can deliver material this solid on a full-length next year. |
| 3 |  | Y La Bamba
Mujeres
My second favourite random Bandcamp discovery, and one sort of continuing the theme of latino/Hispanic music a bit. Just a bizarre but lovely and diverse album that you should jam. |
| 2 |  | Banks
III
I absolutely love Bank’s evolution along the years, and I’m glad I have been following her outputs. Although I did not find the album that solid overall, I have a crush on its artistic direction and I am really hoping her next LP will be the magnum opus I know she can deliver. Jammed the first few tracks on this to no end |
| 1 |  | Grouper
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
Undoubtedly my most marking discovery of the year. Grouper has very rapidly become a favourite artist of mine, and this album started it all. I absolutely love almost everything Liz has put out, including her numerous side projects, and of my 2019 discoveries she probably is the one I come back to most often. |
|
