Winesburgdecade
so far. unfortunately it won't let me submit with descriptions so just assume they're exceedingly good. |
| 55 |  | Jenny Hval
Viscera
I don’t think I’ve ever been as thrown by a lyric as I was with Jenny Hval’s beginning (and thus introductory) line: ‘“I arrived in town/ with an electric toothbrush/ pressed against my clitoris”. This is not typical singer-songwriter fare; sexuality is, more’s the pity, rarely treated with such brazen candour. Hval, however, lives to subvert expectations. She spends the course of the album exploring her notion of self, deconstructing her sexuality and her gender and attempting to reconcile it with what femininity is supposed to entail, how female sexuality is supposed to manifest. As such the record almost demands Feminist interpretation; more broadly, however, the album is about ‘finding yourself’ and coming to terms with inevitable disjoints between innate personality and societal expectation. Viscera is a rigorous self-examination in the midst of twenty-something confusion with gorgeous instrumentation attached. The result is fucking astounding. |
| 54 |  | Graham Lambkin
Community
It's a community. |
| 53 |  | A. G. Cook
Personal Computer Music
UH UH AQUARIUS |
| 52 |  | Sea of Shit
Sea Of Shit
powerviolence for the sake of powerviolence for the sake of powerviolence for the sake of |
| 51 |  | Farrah Abraham
My Teenage Dream Ended
no equivocations or postmodern qualifications; just a wonderful record. |
| 50 |  | Everyone Asked About You
Let's Be Enemies
Yet another archival release, released 15 years too late, that is as essential as it's illustrious fore-runners. this little band from little rock started the trend. |
| 49 |  | Lil B
God's Father
tybg |
| 48 |  | Off Cells
60/40
the most onkyo album that ever did onkyo; mathematical precision yields ineffable beauty, duh. |
| 47 |  | My Bloody Valentine
m b v
who would have predicted that this album, locked in a vault to gather dust, would usurp Loveless? miraculous. |
| 46 |  | Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet
Air Supply
ambient with almost too much pathos, discovered lurking in nooks and crannies, rectified by traces of mordant humour ("oh yeah i've done that"). |
| 45 |  | Excoriation
Excoriation
don't you dare sneer at the snare |
| 44 |  | Deerhunter
Fading Frontier
What starts as understated indie rock par excellence morphs into a Kraut-infused melange; the wonder is in the transition and, more importantly, in that it's so seamless you didn't notice it. |
| 43 |  | Various Artists
I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates...
an album perfectly described by its name |
| 42 |  | Andy Stott
Luxury Problems
the subterranean drops on "Numb" and "Drop the Hatch" should get Stott a medal for archaeological excavation |
| 41 |  | Aaron Dilloway
The Gag File
see review |
| 40 |  | American Football
American Football (LP2)
see review |
| 39 | | Various Artists (Onkyo)
Ftarri Collection
not recommended for newbies, but as a blo- err, sprawling straggle of the finest onkyo practitioners doing their stuff, this is essential. |
| 38 |  | Arditti String Quartet
Streichquartette 1997-2011
don't like this? that's streich one |
| 37 | | Garotos Podres
Historical Guitar Recordings
straight from the fingers of an uncommon virtuoso: i'm grateful for this albums existence daily. |
| 36 |  | Harvey Milk
A Small Turn of Human Kindness
hilarious and harrowing in equal measure. |
| 35 |  | Francisco Meirino
Undetected
tossed off, sure, but never has he been so intimate or turned to face the camera without obfuscation. |
| 34 | | Concrete Mascara
Excess Takes It's Toll
proto-MediumRude PE |
| 33 | | Marc Baron
Carnets
Being watched through binoculars as you take a midnight stroll in an affluent suburb |
| 32 |  | Lil Ugly Mane
MISTA THUG ISOLATION
bitch i'm morose (and lugubrious) (and the best memphis/mississippi restoration imaginable) |
| 31 |  | David Thomas Broughton
Crippling Lack
put "open to suggestion but too timid to ask" on my epitaph |
| 30 |  | The National
High Violet
the worthy conclusion of a contiguous trilogy ups the exhilaration without forfeiting the depression |
| 29 |  | Justin Timberlake
The 20/20 Experience
blow me down with a feather this is good |
| 28 |  | Sophie
Product
PC Music's second-finest hour, and an essential document of the most beguiling pop movement on the decade. |
| 27 |  | Toshiya Tsunoda
Somashikiba
shh, peaceful. the ethereal captured on tape. |
| 26 |  | James Ferraro
Live at Primavera Sound 2012
I live inside the "go-go-go" and the inevitable climax: got me through many a 5 or 6am shift as the best coffee substitute imaginable. |
| 25 |  | MURAL
Live at the Rothko Chapel
uppers |
| 24 |  | Black Thread
Meadowlark (Premonition)
downers |
| 23 |  | Nikos Veliotis and Klaus Filip
Slugabed
tag yourself i'm the horse |
| 22 |  | Diamond Black Hearted Boy
Father, Protect Me
mantra |
| 21 | | Various Artists
Arkansas at 78RPM
old-timey violin fiddlin' (my fetish) guaranteed to put a smile on your face. |
| 20 |  | GFOTY
Secret Mix
let's kiss / let's make it sound like this |
| 19 |  | Macintosh Plus
FLORAL SHOPPE
disassociating to this album: correlation of causation? |
| 18 |  | Takahiro Kawaguchi / Utah Kawasaki
Amorphous Spores
a symphony of peaks and troughs, rendered with "joke" instruments and judicious application of negative space. |
| 17 |  | Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle
Perils from the Sea
Putting things in beautiful perspective; as warm as a hug from your Mum. |
| 16 |  | DJ Rashad
Just A Taste
This one hurts, but at least we're left with this veritable feast; a blueprint for footwork that has not been built since. |
| 15 |  | Hong Chulki and Ryu Hankil
Objets Infernaux
an EAI album with a tangible climax, one better than a prostate-induced one no less? count me in |
| 14 |  | Mark Templeton
Gentle Heart
ephemera that bleeds into ephemera; one would be frustrated if each warped tape loop didn't outdo the next. an accumulation of dust on memories you long forgot. |
| 13 |  | Vampire Weekend
Contra
i find this album achingly sad; every pretty melody belies a band who came of age at a difficult, horrid time. |
| 12 |  | The National
Trouble Will Find Me
in lieu of ingenious, pithy lyrics, i offer the gorgeous blink-and-you'll-miss-it guitar upstrum at about 2:23 of Hard to Find, the pulse in Fireproof, the resigned ambient running through i need my girl |
| 11 |  | Taku Unami, Moe Kamura & Tetuzi Akiyama
Hontatedori
spectral existence that made me cry first listen; my partner at the time asked why i was weeping so profusely and i said "i don't know", and i still don't. magic. |
| 10 |  | Women
Public Strain
a death knell as well as an explosion; after this, where was indie rock meant to go? |
| 9 |  | Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool
left me quipless so no quips here |
| 8 |  | Flying Lotus
Cosmogramma
one of our best flings everything he has - wonky, electronica, jazz, funk, prog, electro-house, indie, his late mothers respirator, Thom Yorke - at constructing a masterpiece. he succeeds. |
| 7 |  | Henning Christiansen
Op. 50 Requiem Of Art
not as good without it's companion piece but my god |
| 6 |  | Hideaki Shimada
Septet//2013
delicatesse and atonality walk a tight-rope affixed to two skyscrapers, until the inevitable plunge |
| 5 |  | Sufjan Stevens
Carrie and Lowell
an album haunting enough to feel posthumous |
| 4 |  | Huerco S
For Those of You Who Have Never...
the best dream i've never had, but i'm trying, trying, inching further, |
| 3 |  | Babyfather
BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow
epochal |
| 2 |  | Reed Evan Rosenberg / Ethan Tripp
Medium Rude
a labour of love directed towards at a howl into the chasm |
| 1 |  | Sun Kil Moon
Benji
i hear it everywhere |
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