Hi! Happy New Year! I hope that this year sucks less!
That’s right! My first post of 2018 is going to be about music! I feel like it has been a long time…
I found myself deep in contemplation about what makes an album “the best” in my mind. Was it that every song is fantastic? Is it just that I really enjoy the feeling that the album leaves me? Is it repetition? Timing? Singles? Not the singles?
As I write this, I am listening to Mudvayne. Specifically, the end of all things to come. I love this album, and have since its release back in 2002. 16 years of pleasure? One would be forgiven in believing that it is a favourite. Not one song is of lesser quality, minus the last song, and the tone is the brilliant oppressive feel that I look for in so many things. The lyrics, which I usually do not pay any head, are fantastic. I can confidently say that it does not even enter into the top five.
Of course, surprise to no one, Cursive’s Domestica and Bibio’s Ambivilance Avenue will always hold the top two spots. I really cannot choose which of those two win the battle.
Why those two? They both speak to me on both an artistic level and a personal level. Both albums forgo traditional focus in their own ways. Cursive in its deconstruction and self-depreciation. Bibio in its adaption and twist on contemporary and modern music.
Now, why do those albums win above something like Melody’s Echo Chamber? You see, an argument could be made that this versus Bibio would expose how a whole genre similarity and demonstrate how different artist could tamper with music tropes to create something different but similar but fantastically unique. My arguments over why Bibio is fantastic could be applied to why Melody’s Echo Chamber (2012) is better in someways. In fact, it would be hard to have one without the other.
I believe the difference comes down to a lack of disappointment, but in a very strange way. Bibio released, following Ambivilace Avenue, what I consider to be two of the worst albums. They had a lot to live up to, granted, but they fell flat in every respect. I have only heard the first release of Melody’s Echo Chamber. Melody Prichard has an album coming up this year, and we will see if Bibio gets dethroned, but the lack of releases makes me forget about this album. I look at my list of Bibio currently, and remember how far he has fallen. I realize that is a strange way to quantify my love for AA (I am sick of my computer saying that I spelt everything wrong, so AA it is) but that is the way I do it.
Cursive’s Domestica is much clearer why I love. Yes, Sparta’s Wiretap Scars is very similar in the feel. That album is also very close to being in this internal debate. What it lacks is the honesty and the brutal self-actualization that Cursive brings. One listen to Radiator Hums and you will understand what I am talking about.
Although, I will concede to Wiretap Scars having the best ending of any album ever.
Well! That was a much needed ramble! This debate had been going on in my mind, so I though that I would write this without any planning or debating. I hope you enjoyed my recap for 2017 (AKA: the worst year I have lived in my life so far). I have an idea to talk about winterizing wheelchairs for this, the season to stay inside with coffee. I hope that I can string that together and get it to you by next week.
Also, I am financially fucked. Please consider donating to my Patreon to help me keep this site open for another year, I would really appreciate it. Remember, just $2 and I will post about how we have met, OR, I will post a story about dragons. Really, it is up to you, but I thank you for reading this far regardless.
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