2017 end of the year lists

22. Differ-Ent - It's Good to Be Differ-Ent

This is amazing by the way - full length albums from Detroit techno legends (this is DJ Bone fwiw) don't often do it for me but this one bangs and bangs and bangs.

Boomkat lists: https://boomkat.com/charts/2017

it's probably not the best look to put a boomkat editions-released record as #1, but it's my aoty so i don't really mind

Is this the first year the 'overlooked' lists are so omnipresent? I like it, but can't remember those being around as much as they are right now.

I noticed that too.

perhaps you overlooked the overlooked lists

Might be! :)

What are the best overlooked lists I may have missed?

Rather, which one is overlooked?

Yeah, not many people know my favorite overlooked lists. I'm not really into mainstream lists of overlooked artists? Most people wouldn't get them anyway.

In the 90s Spin always had an overlooked list (10 Albums You Might Have Missed, or something) on the page after their top 20. I think that's how I found out Possum Dixon had a second album.

Meanwhile, Magnet's been rolling out their list. #1 = Waxahatchee

http://www.magnetmagazine.com/category/best-of-2017/

xp well he's easily overlooked as he's playing possum

Sakro from my hometown at 9 on mixmag! First person I know in an EOY list.

another slept on selection from okayplayer
http://www.okayplayer.com/music/most-slept-on-albums-2017-okayplayer.html

that magnet magazine list might be the worst so far

Brooklyn Vegan's overlooked albums list is hilarious - it includes Vijay Iyer's new one, which has topped or placed highly in just about every jazz poll.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/five-overlooked-albums-of-2017/

I hear he dives fully into the avant-garde on that one

the magnet list stinks, but at least they gave proper shine to that Manchester Orchestra album. some days, i think it might be the best thing i heard all year.

resident advisor albums

https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3134

i made a list

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2017/12/21/maura-johnston-picks-for-best-albums/hC89P5ZRNAxBKwQU1XBrMI/story.html

there are other globe critics' lists at the bottom too

Lex's albums

finally got my EOY lists together, here are 50 albums I enjoyed this year + playlist https://t.co/0ks0whJjZG pic.twitter.com/JpLP6EKvpi

— Alex Macpherson (@alex_macpherson) December 21, 2017

finally got my EOY lists together, here are 50 albums I enjoyed this year + playlist https://t.co/0ks0whJjZG pic.twitter.com/JpLP6EKvpi

— Alex Macpherson (@alex_macpherson) December 21, 2017

Sorry about that I don't get links on zing

ah, makes sense lex wld like that iamddb, still not sure if it's the right sort of insubstantial but definitely nice enough

Phonica (London electronic music shop) - various best of 2017 lists:

http://offtherecord.net/phonica-records-best-of-2017/

I don't know who this is (looks like it could easily be someone who posts here, not that I have anyone in mind). Some releases by artists I am vaguely interested in, that I was not aware had come out.

https://optimisticunderground.com/2017/12/13/50-best-albums-of-2017/

resident advisor tracks list put me onto s.a.m.’s “pour aisha” which is the best thing in the world

I really like Pour Aisha

I'm enjoying the Girl Ray album from Maura's list. A mention of Heavenly and Camera Obscura in the same sentence will always get my antennae up. I definitely hear them, and more than a hint of the Dolly Mixture.

Couple of sleeve/packaging lists:

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/our-12-favourite-record-sleeves-of-2017/

https://acloserlisten.com/2017/12/11/acl-2017-the-years-best-packaging/

love that Jeff Mills one

resident advisor tracks list put me onto s.a.m.’s “pour aisha” which is the best thing in the world

Dream State Of A Bellmaker is an album of the year contender for me, seems to have been mostly overlooked though.

i checked it out the other day and it rapidly ascended my own list

lex's album list, especially past the top end of it, has some surprises and some things I've seen nowhere else. A particular standout for me is Ariwo, which I need to listen to some more before attempting to describe it.

Kind of "fourth world" actually.

He's got a bunch of electronic/world fusion sorts of things I am honestly surprised he likes, but they are good. (A bunch, well, maybe a couple at least. Seems there were others.)

The rhythms on this first Ariwo track at least seem closer to typical "dance music" (with maybe even the ghost of house) than what you'd find on a Jon Hassell album.

Opening trumpet lick on "Caldera" awfully close to a specific melodic snippet that appears in Latin music all the time. People (who can tolerate the idea of ethno- jazz electronic music) should check this out.

The more I listen to it, the more it sounds like standard Latin jazztronica. I appreciate that the trumpet doesn't sound all that much like Miles. It usually does in things like this. And I do like it, I'm just not sure how exceptional it is.

Listening to the Ariwo album now on Spotify. Their bio (from Bandcamp) is interesting:

Ariwo are a Cuban/Iranian four-piece focused on intersection between electronic and ancestral music.

The band brings together Iranian electronic composer Pouya Ehsaei and three of London’s most influential Cuban musicians: Irakere's Latin Grammy-winning “percussion virtuoso”, Hammadi Valdes; Sierra Maestra lead trumpeter, Yeleris Valdes; and godfather of London’s Cuban scene, Oreste Noda.

Interesting. I was actually enjoying not knowing anything about them, but that's an impressive lineup. I don't hear anything that sounds Iranian, but perhaps the Iranian electronic composer doesn't particularly draw on Iranian music.

He does in some of his other stuff, I think. There's a lot of really cool shit coming out of Iran - I interviewed an Iranian black metal musician, and another guy doing ambient music with field recordings, this year.

Interview with Akvan (black metal)

Interview with Porya Hatami (ambient music)

I've always been curious about the Hermes label out of Iran, but have heard very little from it. It's not streaming anywhere that I know, except youtube in a hit or miss way, and I definitely don't have the money these days to take chances on CDs.

xp: particularly among expats, cf:
Ata Ebtekar (Sote - Sacred Horror in Design)
Nima Aghiani & Sara Bigdeli Shamloo (9T Antiope - Isthmus)
Sevda Alizadeh (Sevdaliza - Ison)

I tried that Sote album a while back. I thought it had a good sound, but there wasn't much going on (or what was going on didn't have much emotional impact, for me). Not familiar with the others though.

This is one of the best I've read all year, because

a) he lists all the publicists for the various albums, and/or reveals how they came to his attention

b) "My bass player, Brett, tells me I’d like the new Converge but I’ve never understood Converge as I don’t enjoy sports."

Link is not working for me.

https://med✧✧✧.c✧✧✧@zach✧✧✧.li✧✧✧/real-life-nepotism-top-51-d81723a0d349

Try this one: https://tinyurl.com/ycb79max