FACT's 20 albums for 2011

Sorry about the all caps, Word wasn't letting me re-format.

i've heard three of them.

james blake - absolutely fucking dreadful. this is gearing up to be the biggest war i fight in 2011. i don't get how people can't see how awkward and rudimentary the production is, let alone get over the WORST SINGING IN THE WORLD EVER ALL OVER THE STUPID THING.

jamie xx/gil scott-h - it's nice, has some great moments on it, but i feel rather cynical about why it exists. it seems very safe and obvious.

isolée - hmm i haven't got into this yet? i know how his stuff grows on one, though.

anyway, voting jam city - easily the one i'm most anticipating from that list. "arpjam" last year slayed everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs5sEaYGNBU

oh fuck, panda bear is releasing more music :((((((((( is there ANY way to prevent this?

also totally uninterested in david lynch making music. would there be the same hype if sofia coppola suddenly said she was going to release an album? or would there be mockery instead?

detox lols

portishead? excited! is jam city the guys who did 'wut'?

i guess thats not a new gil scott heron album?

Could be awesome = Gil Scott Heron & Jamie XX, Dam-Funk & Nite Jewel, Isolee, Jamie Woon, Portishead, maybe Villalobos

The disproportionate fawning praise around this album is going to be unbearable = Kode9 & The Spaceape, Burial vs Massive Attack, Panda Bear, Jam City, maybe Villalobos

Would like it to be great, probably won't be = Dr Dre, Aphex Twin

Meh = everything else

Voting Isolee.

if she was going to release an album after virgin suicides/lost in translation, people would be jizzing with excitement. now straight mockery.

"wut" is by girl unit
"arpjam", "ecstasy refix" and "magic drops" were jam city's 2010 releases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_smD-kOd3jQ

Oh, add Matthew Herbert and James Blake to the disproportionate fawning praise category.

not that I'm personally anticipating it, but David Lynch already has a pretty decent track record for releasing great music (or at least being involved w/ great music) which might explain why others are

james blake - absolutely fucking dreadful. this is gearing up to be the biggest war i fight in 2011. i don't get how people can't see how awkward and rudimentary the production is, let alone get over the WORST SINGING IN THE WORLD EVER ALL OVER THE STUPID THING.

love you for this

he's as overrated as his tennis namesake ("grand slam contender" for years and years and years according to the stupid US sports media ughhhhh i wanted to kill every time i saw blake classed as a contender when davydenko was always ignored despite having a WAY superior record)

you think matthew herbert will get fawning praise? i didnt think anyone even cared abt him any more

Yeah I think lynch actually has some cred here - remember the julee cruise albums!

The first kode9/spaceape album was actually really great in parts, though dude switches up his sound enough that past performance isn't really any barometer.

Most interested to hear the jamie woon.

MattDC's post is OTM, up until the part about voting for Isolee :)

I can't get excited about hearing a new Aphex or Villalobos record these days. Panda Bear has been playing new songs live for over a year (I have no idea exactly which ones will end up on the album though) and anyone who liked "Person Pitch" shouldn't be disappointed.

I'm voting Portishead because if their album sucks then it would be the biggest letdown out of all the choices on the list.

Voted for the last option.

lol@detox being in there. kode and spaceape could be interesting though i think i might like an instrumental version. dont care about panda bear or lynch making music. dre and afx are prob past their peak though afx is likely to be the more decent. burial and ma = two artists destined to work together but prob wont sound that good together, mainly as burials pallette is quite limited. give not a shit about the gil scot heron remix album and am actually kind of offended that gil scot now has to share billing with the insipid limpness of jamie xxs production. untold will prob be ok but not really a very good album, dam funk the same, james blake suffers from his voice. 2011 not looking like a good year for albums in other words.

ive heard the isolee album and its pretty forgettable. Im probably most excited about a new chromatics record but i doubt i'll tell anyone.

Come on Titchy you know full well that this represents a *very* skewed view of 2011 albums.

There's something about Kode9 that brings out the chinstroking bore even in writers I usually like reading.

Looking forward to a full year of Lex saying how much he hates James Blake, up to and including the EOY poll.

Doubt the James Blake bandwagon will last that long if the general reception of the album is anything to go by.

I like it a lot. Voted Portishead though.

don't see why a new Aphex album shouldn't smash it, personally speaking, but I guess maybe a lot more ppl were let down by 'Drukqs' than I realised at the time

DAM-FUNK & NITE JEWEL - NITE FUNK

This one could be awesome or it could be catastrophic - I already have a feeling about whether or not I'll like each of the other albums on the list.

Portishead is the only one which I have no idea what will sound like, so deserves a vote for that. I hope they don't go into overly proggy territory with it though.

which I have no idea what will sound like

This is some shocking grammar btw, sorry.

I'm most excited for: Kode9 & Spaceape, Instra:mental, Jam City, Untold, Forest Swords. I'd kinda like to hear more Aphex Twin and Villalobos but I'm not that fussed. Same with the Burial remixes, I've never been that into Massive Attack, I'd rather hear Burial do another record but I won't hold my breath its coming anytime soon. Dam-Funk & Nite Jewel could be brilliant or a bit of a miss but I really dig both their stuff so hope they pull something cool off. I'm not to sure about Jamie XX yet the single on the way for Numbers has grown on me but still not doing it for me like others with that kinda sound like Hackman, Deadboy, Doc Daneeka etc... He might pull off some good stuff at some point though, I just though that Gil-Scott album was really boring as it was anyway so I'm not fussed about hearing it remixed. I do love James Blake but I'm not really a fan of vocals in general so a vocaly indie-esq album from him isn't gonna be my bag to fully get behind, I'm hoping he pulls out more of the strange stuff though cos I love that. Saying that Darkstar's album went in that vocal/song direction and it really crept up on me in the end so who knows.

I like Kode9's production a lot, but Spaceape gets annoying after a couple of tracks so I'm kind of medium excited for that one.

Kode9 DJ Kicks was predictably dope but guessing the LP won't be sound that much like it

gotta be Jam City

also looking fwd to new Washed Out, more Games, Feist maybe, STUDIO (unlikely tho it may be), Broadcast, more Roisin (not sure how likely), St Vincent (ditto), GAGA, Zomby (if he sorts his shit out), Lusine, Subeena, Toddla T...and a whole bunch of people i've not yet heard of obv

Still waiting for news of a new Gang Gang Dance, but maybe their moment has passed?

Anticipating Nite Funk.

you all heard the dâm-funk/nite jewel collab from last year, right? it's ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NBF8VD7QW8

by last year i think i mean 2009

That didn't thrill me, honestly, but I think there is potential.

LOL is that the herbert album where he record the pig from birth but then the farm wouldn't let him record the slaughtering or something. oh, herbert.

i think i only really care about untold. and yeah yeah it's easy to hate blake but i'd check it out.

hahaha, nevermind i was confusing blake with woon. not into that.

it's too bad that backlash against the james blake record is going to overshadow the really brilliant stuff on his eps.

as far as records that will a) actually come out, and b) probably be interesting & good, i'm checking for forest swords and untold.

The more I hear Instra:mental the more I'm hyped for an album. If there is anything half as cool as the late night sleezy electro funk as this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of0PL0xp17A

I'm going to be happy.

JAM CITY - TBH

Isolee's is the only one whose album I'll probably buy when it comes out. But Kode & Ape, Aphex, Villalobos, Untold, and Panda Bear are enticing.

Now for snarkiness:

If James Blake's EP's were brilliant, and his album is horrible, I absolutely dread to hear what his album sounds like.

I'm not going to bother with Jam City, because I absolutely abhor everything to do with Night Slugs; however I really love that Endgames Remix.

also totally uninterested in david lynch making music. would there be the same hype if sofia coppola suddenly said she was going to release an album? or would there be mockery instead?

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Wednesday, January 5, 2011 8:21 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

love that you had to pull an imaginary example out of your ass to demonstrate THE GENDER INEQUALITY OF THE CRUEL WORLD WE LIVE IN

because I absolutely abhor everything to do with Night Slugs

how do you really feel about them

This is a great list, and there are obviously numerous promising options, but I'm going with Chromatics. Their debut wasn't so much under-rated as it was under-heard.

Save for that endgames remix, nothing I've heard from them has interested me in the least, stuff like Wut etc just sounds tedious to me. But of course that's just me.

sure, i was just kidding, people have their tastes, it's just funny that someone could "abhor" a label like they stole your candy or something

Could be awesome = Gil Scott Heron & Jamie XX, Dam-Funk & Nite Jewel, Isolee, Jamie Woon, Portishead, maybe Villalobos

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 13:22 (4 hours ago) Bookmark

isolee album is awesome

oh dang new isolee album — gonna have to check this out

nite funk should be dank too obv

okay lol at the isolee cover art

first track sounds great so far

is he playing the bass? either way it sounds sorta... clumsy

KODE9 & THE SPACEAPE - wack
PANDA BEAR - could be okay
DR DRE - wack
RICARDO VILLALOBOS - wack
GIL-SCOTT HERON & JAMIE SMITH - wack
APHEX TWIN - wack
BURIAL vs MASSIVE ATTACK - wack
TORO Y MOI - wack
MATTHEW HERBERT - ONE wack
JAM CITY - FTW
CHROMATICS - wack
DAVID LYNCH - wack
INSTRA:MENTAL - could be okay
DAM-FUNK & NITE JEWEL - wack
ISOLEE - wack
JAMIE WOON - wack
UNTOLD - will probably be good
FOREST SWORDS - wack
JAMES BLAKE - wack
PORTISHEAD - probably will be wack

ugly edits are all old although I guess it would be nice to have them in one place. That cant be an official release can it?

lol @ the dream & the drake being the token pop picks

You have to be in a very very very dozy state of mind to truly appreciate that Actress album. Only then can the mindworms start weaving their magic. Or something.

At least, I really like the first track, the one that's supposedly based on Erotic City.

Hubble - that's it

oh really, as in it samples erotic city?

awesome track btw

What do you call it when you're over-generous with your time on something you don't like, but you want to learn to 'appreciate'?

oh god, all the time with acts i love in the first place - is it worse when it doesn't pay off, and you feel like you've wasted all that time, or when it kind of pays off but, you suspect, only cuz you gave it those 940339 chances that you wouldn't have given to anyone else

Hackwork?

Yeah!

You have to be in a very very very dozy state of mind to truly appreciate that Actress album. Only then can the mindworms start weaving their magic. Or something.

Man, Splazsh should come w a how-to guide. I get told how to listen to it as often as I get people telling me I should try acupuncture

I like Actress because it's house music for dimensions with different physical parameters to our own. Or something...

'Hubble' is apparently a "study" of 'Erotic City'. I tried playing them back to back, and really there's little similarity, but at the same time I can kind of understand this. Something about the jitter - the groove in there.

the thread title The producer known as ACTRESS and his r&b concrète will put me off ever listening to that stuff at all

I'll listen to anything new by Actress and Cooly G tbh

the Martyn album is good, I think, but he is definitely down the (loosely dubby) techno rabbithole more than anything now

last time i spoke to someone IRL he started telling me about how to listen to actress as well - he even started talking about deleuze & fkn guattari as part of this stupid guide, at which point i tuned him out and may have actually wandered off mid-conversation. can't be doing with stupid people.

Some of these people make records I might be interested in, but have no real desire for there to be albums by any of them. I realize this is my issue but whenever i think of the word album, i think "track wasn't good enough to release by itself"

I have no real feelings about Herbert either way (in 2011), but why the smh, lex?

Actually I don't give a shit about the rest of the Actress album, but Hubble is great. It reminds me of this experimental track I made in Reason that's largely based on semi-generative ideas but comes off sounding like the world's most complex 8-bit video game.

the thread title The producer known as ACTRESS and his r&b concrète will put me off ever listening to that stuff at all

― lil dawg (some dude), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 15:53 (1 minute ago)

awes

I have no real feelings about Herbert either way (in 2011), but why the smh, lex?

oh because of the whole dumb killing a pig thing or whatever it was

oh because of the whole dumb killing a pig thing or whatever it was

oh because of the whole dumb killing a pig thing or whatever it was

― lex pretend, Wednesday, August 31

oh! I just googled and saw that. Didn't know about that. Don't really understand things like that (but then I don't even like records to have cover art so...)

actress seems to be one of those ppl destined to be resented forever by ppl who somehow feel obliged to take an interest

last time i spoke to someone IRL he started telling me about how to listen to actress as well - he even started talking about deleuze & fkn guattari as part of this stupid guide, at which point i tuned him out and may have actually wandered off mid-conversation. can't be doing with stupid people.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 31 August 2011 15:54 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

God forbid anyone try to explain why they like a record...?

rustie is great....the anti-actress

oh god, all the time with acts i love in the first place - is it worse when it doesn't pay off, and you feel like you've wasted all that time, or when it kind of pays off but, you suspect, only cuz you gave it those 940339 chances that you wouldn't have given to anyone else

The second scenario is worse, because at least with the first you can decisively say "NOPE" and move on. The second leads to this vortex of indecision combined with the dead dullness of a weak response to something you really want to like, which leads to overthinking your feelings about a record, which further damages your ability to truly respond to it... I've gotten better over the past year or so with differentiating between the "meh" of indecision and the "hmm" of indecision; the "meh" rarely results in me coming around to a record (so I'm less inclined to spend lots of time with it), but the "hmm" often means something will eventually click.

that is like academic or beard-stroking intellectual analysis

fwiw I like splazsh and to a lesser extent the first actress record and my greatest enjoyment of them comes from the times I think as little as possible and crank up the volume

God forbid anyone try to explain why they like a record...?

― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Wednesday, August 31

i dunno i think if anyone tried to explain to me how to listen to a record i would think this record perhaps isn't for the likes of me

Might be different if i had asked them for their opinion though

I wonder what happened to the UNTOLD album.

i don't think i've ever heard anyone talk about actress in irl and would never presume to tell anyone how to listen to it, i just love his sound. it's very...tactile.

God forbid anyone try to explain why they like a record...?

if you have to mention deleuze & guattari to explain why, god should indeed forbid it

sub in any critical theorists really

^^ I am a philosophy/D&G stan and I think music fails a little, unless it's a conceptual art music, if you can't explain why you like it without delving into such talk

thread for random crit theory bloggers discussing pop music

fwiw I think most of the tracks on splazsh could go on for at least ten minutes but they're all so short

still kicking myself for missing a live actress set at a festival last year where I assume this happened

I've still never heard Actress! Will remedy shortly. I'm excited for the Oneohtrix record for sure, ditto Theo Parrish. Don't know a good pile of stuff on that list. I feel like I'm over The Weeknd already; the American Apparel cover art and font put me over the edge finally. It's just too obvious.

I don't think there's anything wrong with crit theory engaging with pop music, and I enjoy reading some crit theory sometimes and really digging into things, but anyone who lets crit theory override their own intuitive aesthetic responses is pretty misguided, I'd say, and I feel sorry for them and their vast chasm of intellectualized distance between themselves and their music.

Not to say that the intellectualization of a piece of music can't be a huge part of its appeal and enjoyment, nor to say that there's really any such things as "unmediated pure aesthetic experience" or whatever, but you can tell when someone's really reaching.

btw, going back to the top of the thread:
BURIAL vs MASSIVE ATTACK - TBA [HELIGOLAND REMIXED]

still worth lols

Crit Theory just makes me go "okay... wha?" - is that the idea? It may as well be in Russian for all I can understand it.

i'm still looking forward to the next forest swords record

So do you guys have a problem with people saying "this album's best heard on big speakers" or "this is dark-room headphone music"? Just asking. I agree if someone started using crit-theory to deconstruct an album, they'd need extremely good grounds to pass the bullshitometer.

no, those are perfectly acceptable

I don't resent Actress any more than I resent a sit-up fwiw

So do you guys have a problem with people saying "this album's best heard on big speakers" or "this is dark-room headphone music"?

I'd hope anyone would have some idea of how to talk to me about something, and can tell difference between talking to me and talking at me.

ie

f someone started using crit-theory to deconstruct an album, they'd need extremely good grounds to pass the bullshitometer.

it doesnt matter how good or bad their grounds are - if someone started down this track when talking to me about a record, then they're talking at me not to me

I think it's mostly "know your audience." Some of the best speakers/conversationalists I know are great at packing in information by giving a quick summary of salient points to the point where even if you're familiar, it's not annoying to hear again.

If you're immediately referencing a philosophical concept I may or may not know and are attempting to engage with me about an album on that standpoint, it's kind of a failure of communication, or you're a dick for implying I need to know these concepts to enjoy music.

ahh well no, you seem quite understanding xxp

thing is I picked up the Actress album less as a result of nakh's thread (although it was interesting), or anything else I read, but on the merch table after seeing him play live

which was just one unsmiley dude w/ his hood up doing raw semi-generative on-the-fly techno on a small table of kit - the more I think about that the more bringing crit theory on board seems like abject madness

this is where I reiterate for the 50th time that I want kodwo eshun to write more on music

Am I wrong in thinking that it misses the entire thrust and point of critical theory to employ it in the service of explaining *why* one enjoys a piece of art?

haha yeah, it seems like you are more explaining why you like critical theory than why you like music

Am I wrong in thinking that it misses the entire thrust and point of critical theory to employ it in the service of explaining *why* one enjoys a piece of art?

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 31 August 2011 16:46 (1 minute ago)

sure

actress is just particularly amenable to that post-grime theory blog tendency

'wack'

this rustie clip is pretty exciting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8C1RmVJ1xE