Really think itās Little Simzās to lose. I think the post punk candidates will split votes and that Self Esteem is not the critical success that the reception on here would have you believe. FP/PS got the midyear hype but expect it to lose steam.
Not sure if thereās been a break out artist this year.
Self Esteem is great and deserves all the plaudits. Sheās a favourite on sites like this as is Cassandra Jenkins but yāknow thereās a different view out there.
I donāt see it in many top 3s. Itās long without bangers. Itās a grab to be taken seriously without being an essential album. I like it and her but donāt see it troubling the top of the lists.
I always tend to think that loads of reviewers for big sites and also on here pick their 4thās and 5th spots for a safe pair of hands like The War On Drugs or Wolf Alice and so they get boosted a bit higher but wouldnāt top too many individualās pick of the year.
I think thatās where my album of the month thread was born out of.
I think I started it in 2013. Fuck me. I really have nothing better to do with my time.
I remember really enjoying scrolling through various usersā top five of the year to see the variety of their picks but when all the votes were counted some dull band won as so many users had it as their top 4 or 5.
Not sure how that made me start an AOTM thread but thatās how it was born I think.
(And apologies for over using the word āthinkā.)
Huge fan of your threads. Donāt think Iād be here now if it wasnāt for them. Iāve discovered lots of great music through them and I hope perhaps helped others discover some through those threads too.
Itās become my thing for almost a decadeā¦on the last Thursday of the month post the thread and on the first Sunday of the month, count the votes up.
Think the Rough Trade one is out next Tuesday, Iāve spotted a few of their year end exclusives with a release date of 16/12/21.
Weāre looking at:
Bicep
Black Country, New Road
Cassandra Jenkins
Dry Cleaning
Jane Weaver
Japanese Breakfast
Squid
Iāve been enamoured with Cassandra Jenkins, think thatās got a good shot this year. Think I saw some Pitchfork bigwig tweet that they could imagine Jazmine Sullivan taking the top spot.
Thanks, I saw a bit of them at Mutations festival last weekend, but it didnāt work for me that much. Partly because they were playing in a big room with not too fee people in it, and I was also eyeing my watch to decide when I would have to change venues to see my next band. But also because it was just two guys stood behind some electronic devices, twiddling and sliding bits about. It sounded nice, but without having any singers to watch it didnāt end up being the most enjoyable set of the weekend for me unfortunately. Maybe in a different setting it might have been better!
Seems to be way more big releases in November than usual, I guess cos of the schedule disruption in the past year and a half. Wonder if this will have an impact on when lists are published or what they might contain?