Year in Review
Well it is 2019 now. 2018 was definitely a huge improvement after the awfulness of 2017. The number of new releases in 2018 was unbelievable. There were moments this year I felt overwhelmed by all the new music. In case anyone has missed it, here is my list of my favorite albums from 2018 Best of 2018: Albums and Best of 2018: Songs.
I had a very difficult time creating this list, there were some incredible late comers to the game like A Journey by Train to Spain (synthpop), Shadows and Serenades by A Covenant of Thorns (synthpop), and Shadows by Twin Tribes (darkwave). I really struggled with my top 5 list and which order those albums would be ranked as from 5 to 1 because I love those albums by Birds of Chicago, Ashbury Heights, Kaelan Mikla, Promidal and Autumn (US band). Ultimately the top spot did go to my favorite band (local and overall Autumn) with Promidal in a close second, followed by Kaelan Mikla, Ashbury Heights, and Birds of Chicago.
I hate saying this but I am starting to find myself bored with the whole EBM scene. A lot of it has gotten redundant to to say the very least, which has led me to venture outside the perimeters of my usual musical genres that I listen to and started listening to more hip hop, funk, and Americana music. There definitely was some great releases in the EBM scene because I have listed a 3-4 albums in my top 20 list, and 5 more in my honorable mentions category. The new Ashbury Heights album The Victorian Wallflowers was the best of the lot. Songs had excellent melodies and great lyrics that I personally could relate to.
I was really disappointed in the new VNV Nation album Noire because most of the tracks lacked the energy from their previous albums Transnational and Automatic. The songs sounded great live when I saw them in concert last month but on record, I was bored. Citybeats was even more dull. Every song sounded the same. I am not sorry what I just said here. This is just how I feel about those albums and to a certain extent the genres they fall under. It has all started to sound the same to me.
This past spring/summer, I created a Post-Punk Playlist and in the process, I started listening to the genre quite a bit. Really discovered a lot of great bands while I created the playlist from ACTORS to VV and The Void. My favorite band I discovered this year is Kaelan Mikla who is from Iceland. When I first heard "Nornalagio", I was hooked. Other faves includes Panic Priest, Laura Carbone, Death Bells, and Saigon Blue Rain (just to name a few).
Outside of the dark underground scene, I have come to love some mainstream music: Love in Wartime by Birds of Chicago, By the Way, I Forgive You by Brandi Carlile, and Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae. Those artists/bands really put out some incredible music this year. Whenever I needed a break from whatever I have been listening to that day at work, I will throw in one of those albums in my portable CD player and listen to it. I am torn who should win Album of the Year award this year's Grammys Brandi or Janelle, love both of their albums but since Brandi has been in the industry a little longer and slugging it out, I have to root for her a bit more. If Janelle wins, I will be very happy for her. Her latest album is wonderful. It is so obvious that her music is heavily influenced by Prince.
2018 has been a fantastic year for the local music scene. On my best of 2018: Albums list, I have included three local releases by Autumn, Promidal, and Dessa. Atmosphere's new album got an honorable nod. I liked his album just a bit more than Maria's new album Sasa which is still quite good. Autumn released their long anticipated third album Chandelier. It was so worth the wait. While I love the new HuG album, I felt that Promidal's Magnum Tenebrosum was a far better industrial/metal album. The music is incredibly brutal yet super catchy as hell.
Not long ago I started listening to some Oaxacan rap music by the amazing Mare Advertencia Lirika (after I read about her in a NYT article dating back to October). Her album SiempreViva (2016) completely blew my mind. After I started listening to Mare's music, I started to dig around the internet on youtube and bandcamp for Mexican/Central/South American rap music and discovered other artists/acts like Rebel Diaz and Rebeca Lane. My views of rap music in recent years has definitely changed for the better although I do think soundcloud rap is absolute garbage, and I am definitely NOT a fan of Cardi B's bombastic music.
Concert wise, 2018 did not disappoint me. I started off the new year with a trip to Chicago to see Nightwish (great excuse to go to the windy city). A few days later, the legendary synthpop band Covenant. What made me very happy the most was seeing L7 at First Avenue. That had been a lifelong dream of mine over the years. They did not disappoint me. I think that has to be my favorite concert of 2018. Also saw Alice Glass with Zola Jesus/Pictureplane, VNV Nation, Pale Waves, Belly, Chvrches, Psalm One, Nahko and Medicine for the People, Autumn and Promidal. I had to miss some concerts because of some costly dental work that had to be done in August which was disappointing but health comes first.
I had a very difficult time creating this list, there were some incredible late comers to the game like A Journey by Train to Spain (synthpop), Shadows and Serenades by A Covenant of Thorns (synthpop), and Shadows by Twin Tribes (darkwave). I really struggled with my top 5 list and which order those albums would be ranked as from 5 to 1 because I love those albums by Birds of Chicago, Ashbury Heights, Kaelan Mikla, Promidal and Autumn (US band). Ultimately the top spot did go to my favorite band (local and overall Autumn) with Promidal in a close second, followed by Kaelan Mikla, Ashbury Heights, and Birds of Chicago.
I hate saying this but I am starting to find myself bored with the whole EBM scene. A lot of it has gotten redundant to to say the very least, which has led me to venture outside the perimeters of my usual musical genres that I listen to and started listening to more hip hop, funk, and Americana music. There definitely was some great releases in the EBM scene because I have listed a 3-4 albums in my top 20 list, and 5 more in my honorable mentions category. The new Ashbury Heights album The Victorian Wallflowers was the best of the lot. Songs had excellent melodies and great lyrics that I personally could relate to.
I was really disappointed in the new VNV Nation album Noire because most of the tracks lacked the energy from their previous albums Transnational and Automatic. The songs sounded great live when I saw them in concert last month but on record, I was bored. Citybeats was even more dull. Every song sounded the same. I am not sorry what I just said here. This is just how I feel about those albums and to a certain extent the genres they fall under. It has all started to sound the same to me.
This past spring/summer, I created a Post-Punk Playlist and in the process, I started listening to the genre quite a bit. Really discovered a lot of great bands while I created the playlist from ACTORS to VV and The Void. My favorite band I discovered this year is Kaelan Mikla who is from Iceland. When I first heard "Nornalagio", I was hooked. Other faves includes Panic Priest, Laura Carbone, Death Bells, and Saigon Blue Rain (just to name a few).
Outside of the dark underground scene, I have come to love some mainstream music: Love in Wartime by Birds of Chicago, By the Way, I Forgive You by Brandi Carlile, and Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae. Those artists/bands really put out some incredible music this year. Whenever I needed a break from whatever I have been listening to that day at work, I will throw in one of those albums in my portable CD player and listen to it. I am torn who should win Album of the Year award this year's Grammys Brandi or Janelle, love both of their albums but since Brandi has been in the industry a little longer and slugging it out, I have to root for her a bit more. If Janelle wins, I will be very happy for her. Her latest album is wonderful. It is so obvious that her music is heavily influenced by Prince.
2018 has been a fantastic year for the local music scene. On my best of 2018: Albums list, I have included three local releases by Autumn, Promidal, and Dessa. Atmosphere's new album got an honorable nod. I liked his album just a bit more than Maria's new album Sasa which is still quite good. Autumn released their long anticipated third album Chandelier. It was so worth the wait. While I love the new HuG album, I felt that Promidal's Magnum Tenebrosum was a far better industrial/metal album. The music is incredibly brutal yet super catchy as hell.
Not long ago I started listening to some Oaxacan rap music by the amazing Mare Advertencia Lirika (after I read about her in a NYT article dating back to October). Her album SiempreViva (2016) completely blew my mind. After I started listening to Mare's music, I started to dig around the internet on youtube and bandcamp for Mexican/Central/South American rap music and discovered other artists/acts like Rebel Diaz and Rebeca Lane. My views of rap music in recent years has definitely changed for the better although I do think soundcloud rap is absolute garbage, and I am definitely NOT a fan of Cardi B's bombastic music.
Concert wise, 2018 did not disappoint me. I started off the new year with a trip to Chicago to see Nightwish (great excuse to go to the windy city). A few days later, the legendary synthpop band Covenant. What made me very happy the most was seeing L7 at First Avenue. That had been a lifelong dream of mine over the years. They did not disappoint me. I think that has to be my favorite concert of 2018. Also saw Alice Glass with Zola Jesus/Pictureplane, VNV Nation, Pale Waves, Belly, Chvrches, Psalm One, Nahko and Medicine for the People, Autumn and Promidal. I had to miss some concerts because of some costly dental work that had to be done in August which was disappointing but health comes first.
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