Friday, December 29, 2017

2017 Year End Longlist, Part 6

So, as I type this, we're a little over 48 hours from 2018 so the NYE countdown show and the reveal of my Top 20 is just over a day and a half away. Here's the last of the longlist selections that didn't make the cut. And it should be mentioned that while I didn't do these posts in any order, the last half-dozen or so on this list were the very last records I ruled out for the 20.

Ibibio Sound Machine - Uyai [Merge]


Karriem Riggins - Headnod Suite [Stones Throw]


Mary Lattimore & Maxwel August Cory - Terelan Canyon [Constellation Tatsu]


Sam Amidon - The Following Mountain [Nonesuch]


Slow Spirit - Unnatured [Don't Get It Wet]


Louise Burns - Young Mopes [Light Organ Records]


Bottle Tree - Bottle Tree [International Anthem]


Dori Freeman - Letters Never Read [Free Dirt Records]


Emie R Roussel Trio - Intersections [Effendi]


Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Kid [Western Vinyl]


Bjork - Utopia [One Little Indian]


Faith Healer - Try ;-) [Mint Records]


Moses Sumney - Aromanticism [Jagjaguwar]


Big Thief - Capacity [Saddle Creek]


Shannon Lay - Living Water [Woodsist]


Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear [Anti-]


The Courtneys - II [Flying Dutchman]


Jordan Rakei - Wallflower [Ninja Tune]


Sunday, December 24, 2017

2017 Year End Longlist, Part 5

It's Christmas Eve as I write this, which means New Years' Eve is a week away. I'll be revealing my Top 20 that night on UMFM as part of my 13th annual countdown show, but in the interim here's more from the very long longlist I considered when compiling my picks.

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya - Drool [Sooper]


AndyFellaz - Beatbop Street [Cold Busted]


Scarper - Warmer Squares [Plexus]


Chip Wickham - La Sombra [Lovemonk]


Fauvely - Watch Me Overcomplicate This [Independent]


Japer Lee - Mirror Of Wind [Noumenal Loom]


Hector Plimmer - Sunshine [Independent]


Sufvyn - Ascension [Independent]


Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Feed the Rats [Rocket Recordings]


Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Navigator [ATO]


Ice Tha One - In The Paint [Independent]


Don Gero - Wizarding [Crash Symbols]


Toxic - This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People [esp-disk]


Satomimagae - Kemri [White Paddy Mountain]


Alex Lahey - I Love You Like A Brother [Dead Oceans]


Ingrid Laubrock - Serpentines [Intakt]


Fawda Trio - Road to Essaouira [Original Cultures]


Bei Bei & Shawn Lee - Year of the Funky [Legere Recordings]


Don Bryant - Don't Give Up On Love [Fat Possum]


Father John Misty - Pure Comedy [Sub Pop]


Heliocentrics - A World of Masks [Out There]

Saturday, December 23, 2017

2017 Year End Longlist, Part 4

Inching closer toward NYE and my Top 20 of 2017. In the meantime, here's more from the longlist of great music released this year.

Surfer Blood - Snowdonia [Joyful Noise]


L.A. Witch - L.A. Witch [Suicide Squeeze]


Chicago / London Underground - A Night Walking Through Mirrors [Cuneiform]


Nerina Pallot - Stay Lucky [Idaho]


Homeshake - Fresh Air [Royal Mountain Records]


Nicole Mitchell - Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging World [FPE Records]


Gokcen Kaynatan - Gokcen Kaynatan [Finders Keepers]


Izo FitzRoy - Skyline [Jalapeno]


Lunar Lemur - Meat Blob Groove Machine [Independent]


Nathan Fake - Providence [Ninja Tune]


The Atomic Bomb Band - The Atomic Bomb Band Plays The Music Of William Onyeabor [Luaka Bop]



Soul Scratch - Pushing Fire [Alive]


The Drip - The Haunting Fear of Inevitability [Relapse]


Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors [Domino]


Jonwayne - Rap Album Two [Authors Recording Co.]


The Cosmic Range - New Latitudes [Idee Fixe]


Tennis - Yours Conditionally [Mutually Detrimental]


The Meltdown - The Meltdown [Hope St Recording]


Pallbearer - Heartless [Profound Lore]


Laura Marling - Semper Femina [Kobalt]


Thundercat - Drunk [Brainfeeder]

Friday, December 22, 2017

2017 Yearend Longlist, Part 3

Working our way towards the end of the longlist and the reveal of my Top 20 on NYE.

The Weather Station - The Weather Station [Outside]


Ikebe Shakedown - The Way Home [Colemine]


Cold Specks - Fool's Paradise [Arts & Crafts]


Susanne Sundfor - Music For People In Trouble [Bella Union]


Weaves - Wide Open [Buzz / Kanine]


King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard with Mild High Club - Sketches of Brunswick East [ATO]


Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Soul of a Woman [Daptone]


Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice [Matador]


Mostly Other People Do The Killing - Paint [Hot Cup Records]


Four Tet - New Energy [Text Records]


FKJ - French Kiwi Juice [Roche Musique]


Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die [International Anthem]


Yazmin Lacey - Black Moon [Running Circle]


Songhoy Blues - Resistance [Fat Possum]


The Shiverettes - Dead Men Can't Cat Call [Transistor 66]


Ross McHenry - The Outsiders [First Word Records]


Madeline Kenney - Night Night at the First Landing [Independent]


Shilpa Ray - Door Girl [Clandestine]


Gabrielle Shonk - Gabrielle Shonk [Universal]


Kamasi Washington - Harmony of Difference [Young Turks]


Queens of the Stone Age - Villains [Matador]



Thursday, December 21, 2017

2017 Year End Longlist, Part 2

I'll be revealing my Top 20 albums New Years' Eve on the 13th annual countdown show on UMFM, but in the interim, here's a rundown on the great stuff that didn't make the cut.

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.

Yasmine Hamdan - Al Jamilat [Ipecac]


Half Waif - form/a [Cascine]


Bottle Tree - Bottle Tree [International Anthem]


Harriet Brown - Contact [Innovative Leisure]


Quantic & Nidia Gongora - Curao [Tru Thoughts]


Girlpool - Powerplant [Anti-]


Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog [Royal Mountain / Captured Tracks]


She-Devils - She-Devils [Independent]


Arve Henriksen - Towards Language [Rune Grammofon]


Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa - Are Euphoria [Thrill Jockey]


Binker & Moses - Journey to the Mountain of Forever [Gearbox]


Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up [Nonesuch]


Golden Retriever - Rotations [Thrill Jockey]


Ex Eye - Ex Eye [Relapse]


Kacy & Clayton - The Siren's Song [New West]


The Accidentals - odyssey [Sony Masterworks]


Partner - In Search Of Lost Time [You've Changed]


St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION [Loma Vista]


Destroyer - ken [Merge]


Roadkill Ghost Choir - False Youth Etcetera [Freakout]


Les Filles De Illighadad - Eghass Malan [Sahel Sounds]


Wares - Wares [Double Lunch]




Wednesday, December 20, 2017

2017 Year End Longlist, Part 1

Just eleven days until NYE and my 13th annual countdown show on UMFM. I'll be revealing my Top 20 albums that evening, but in the interim, here's a rundown on the great stuff that didn't make the cut. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.


Baast - Bazaar [Ubiquity]


Austra - Future Politics [Domino]


Fleece - Voyager [Independent]


Alejandra Ribera - This Island [Pheromone]


Stef Chura - Messes [Saddle Creek]


Bonobo - Migration [Ninja Tune]


Dayme Arocena - Cubafonia [Brownswood]


Mean Lady - Nature [Independent]


Ondatropica - Baile Bucanero [Soundway]


Teen Daze - Themes For Dying Earth [Flora]


Jeb Loy Nichols - Country Hustle [Inkind Music]


The Bug vs. Earth - Concrete Desert [Ninja Tune]


Jungle Fire - Jambu [Nacional]


El Michels Affair - Return To The 37th Chamber [Big Crown]


Future Islands - The Far Field [4AD]


Miles Mosley - Uprising [Alpha Pup / World Galaxy / Verve]


Ronald Bruner Jr. - Triumph [Alpha Pup / World Galaxy]


Blay Ambolley - Ketan [Agogo]


Onra - Chinoseries pt. 3 [Project: Mooncircle]


Mike Gao - Land Escape [Alpha Pup]


Yoko Miwa Trio - Pathways [Ocean Blue Tear Music]
Sadly, no embeddable tunes.