10. Liam Gallagher - "As You Were". Now, you can have your own thoughts about this album, but I stand by my word that a whole lot of this album really isn't that bad at all. Even some of the more ballad tunes on here since my initial review have really grown on me. Now, Liam in every way on this album is so far from reinventing his sound it's not even funny. Hell, you can argue that a lot of these tunes do sound a lot like Oasis songs that never got recorded. And yes. you can argue that a whole lot of this album is egotistical, pretentious, and marked with some ridiculous drama, which certainly made me think twice about this album at first. But at its core, this is a really solid Pop Rock album, with plenty of nods to Oasis’s 90’s heyday. Not to mention, for Liam’s debut solo album this far into his career, this certainly could have been a lot worse.
09. Blanck Mass - "World Eater". Now, I gave this album a very positive review when I first chatter about it months ago. But the fact of the matter is, the more I listen to it, the more I realize that this is by far the most important and wild Electronic music album of the year. Some of the less intense tracks on this album like “The Rat” originally sort of didn’t hit me nearly as hard as tracks like the intense and striking “Silent Treatment”. But over time, start to finish I really do feel like Benjamin John Power has released one of the most solid, most progressive and crushing electronic music album’s that I’ve heard since Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Garden of Delete”. Obviously, this still is far from an easily dissectible electronic, but if you’re into the much more aggressive side of the genre this is an incredibly solid release.
08. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - “Murder of The Universe” - This was an album that I was seriously excited for listening to its opening singles. Tracks like “The Lord of Lightning” showed King Gizzard playing with more intensity than ever, and they just seemed so out of control. But numerous listens really had me scratching my head, well after my initial review. This album as a whole is a very different beast than what we’ve come to expect from King Gizzard. This entire album has much more of a narrative, with the kings of Australian Psych taking us through a bizarre, futuristic tale full of Gene Splicing and elemental overlords. My initial feelings were mixed on this, because the album to me just uses so many spoken word tracks to sort of tie the story together, which is totally fine. But it got to the point where these spoken word interludes just got to be so damn long that they would really mess up any excitement that the tracks were building. However, eventually, I was able to look past that and just enjoy this album for what it is. Also, I think a huge part of what makes this album so decent is the humor behind some of the story King Gizzard are telling, but I won’t spoil that any further.
07. Beach Fossils - “Somersault” - Here we have another album that initially I gave a very positive review of. But as this year has gone on I feel like this album has simply become one of my favorite rock albums of the year. Beach Fossils in the past few years have been dying to break out of their very Dream Pop oriented sound, which is exactly what they do on “Somersault”. This album shows Beach Fossils breaking out of their hazy guitar licks with some beautiful orchestrations and lush instrumentals. Now obviously, this is a far cry from where they began. But if you’re into Beach Fossils trying something VERY different from where they started, this album just continues to be such a blissful and sweet Rock album.
06. Oh Sees - “Orc” - This new Oh Sees album took a while to really grow on me as it has. On the surface, this is another unhinged, wild, intense and throttling Psychedelic Rock album. There are tons of wild solos, and frontman John Dwyer is certainly at his weirdest on vocals. However, I sort of had a problem with more of the Jam-oriented tracks. I don’t think any of them really came off truly terrible. But there were a handful of tracks on “Orc” that I simply felt would be so much more interesting in a live setting, where Oh Sees would be able to expand on a lot of these tunes with even longer solos. Too much of this album to me just seemed like it could be much more experimental. However, this album over time really grew on me in a lot of ways. I just love how outlandish and gory the performances and lyrics are on here. “Orc” to me just seems like the perfect soundtrack to some unbelievably violent animated film, which is basically where I love hearing them.
05. Code Orange - “Forever” - So my initial thoughts on this album were pretty simple. I felt like this was easily the best thing that Code Orange had done, and that this contained a slew of easily their best-crafted tracks yet. And you’re damn right I still feel that way, but as I’ve listened to this album here and there throughout the rest of the year, I just have more and greater things to say about this one. Code Orange have come so far from being just a crossover Hardcore Punk band. They’ve become more or less THE Metalcore band on the market today, and tunes like “Forever” prove it time and time again.
04. New Pornographers - “Whiteout Conditions” - Now, when I first listened to this album, yes I enjoyed it. But I did have one very glaring problem when I was reviewing this one initially, and that was the departure of longtime singer and songwriter Dan Bejar. As much as I listened to the unbelievably catchy tunes here, I couldn’t shake just how much I seriously missed Dan’s style of songwriting on this album, which eventually lead to me criticize a lot of this album in my initial review. However, 6 months later I have a whole different perspective on this album, mostly because I realized that I was looking at this album completely wrong. The fact of the matter is, the New Pornographers are just as on their game as ever. The songs here are catchy, and sonically much more interesting than the tracks on their last album. But I think Dan’s absence should still be talked about because if New Pornographers can still make this solid of an album without him, they can still make great albums for years to come.
03. Cigarettes After Sex - “Cigarettes After Sex” - This is an album that I really thought I was never going to be sitting and reviewing like I did. Cigarettes After Sex dropped an EP years ago and have been quiet ever since, to a point where I really didn’t think we’d ever hear from them again. But low and behold, they dropped a seriously solid Dream Pop album this year. While at first, I did like a lot about this album, over time I’ve thought about it more and more and have realized there is A LOT about this album that’s seriously underrated. The Noire vibe that this band has is just so classy, and it’s something that a lot of bands have dropped recently or don’t go for anymore. Also, Cigarettes After Sex bring in a steaminess and sexiness that I haven’t heard in Dream Pop probably ever. Don’t let this one slip by!
02. Real Estate - “In Mind” - Now, I’ve gotten a lot of heat with people over the years for not being a Real Estate fan. I’ve always appreciated their atmospheres and sweet, blissful style. But more times than not, I’ve felt like their style is just a little too breezy for my liking. Sure, it's one thing to put their stuff on and just tune out. But personally, I wanted something more engaging from Real Estate. And that’s exactly what I got with this new album “In Mind”. My initial review of this album was pretty darn positive, as I felt that Real Estate’s added instrumentals made their tracks just heavier enough for me to really dig into. As this year has gone on though, I feel like it’s just grown even more pleasant, sweeter, and easily my favorite thing that Real Estate has ever done. Hell, I would even say that I wouldn’t mind them pushing this new, more instrumentally heavy sound even further in the future.
01. Black Lips - “Satan’s Graffiti Or God’s Art?” - OK, so I have a lot to say about this one. The Black Lips are easily one of my all-time favorite bands. Their sleazy, greasy, and energetic brand of Garage Rock is just something that quite frankly you don’t hear anymore. So of course, when I heard the singles leading up to this album, and I heard some of the Producers and collaborators the band was working with, I was seriously excited. Then I listened to it, and I just had so many questions. Why the hell is this album well over an hour long? Why are there so many tracks? Why is this a concept album? What’s up with all of these absolutely dreadful interludes? Since this is a concept album, why is it so ridiculously hard to follow? All of these questions lead me eventually to review this album to be pretty darn poor. But over the year, I’ve eventually come to terms with it. Now, let's get some things straight. As a concept album, this is dreadful. Black Lips can barely tell a story, and when they do string some ideas together, they’re flimsy as hell. The interludes on here win the award for the collection of most unnecessary tracks of the entire year. But as far as the rest of this album goes, I’ll be damned if Black Lips don’t have one of the coolest sounds around. The singles here like “Occidental Front” and “Squatting In Heaven” are among some of the best tracks the band has ever written. So if I may give some advice, if you choose to listen to this album, skip over some of these dreadful interludes and treat this album as a rock album and nothing more. Because let’s be honest, if this was trimmed down, this could have easily been one of the best albums of the year.
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