DiS Users' March 2019 Album Of The Month

CHANGES CHANGES CHANGES!!!

VOTE FOR YOUR TOP FIVE ALBUMS!!
VOTE FOR YOUR TOP FIVE ALBUMS!!

I’ve often wanted to award points to my 4th and 5th favourites especially on strong months for releases and wasn’t able due to my own rules and they end up as honourable mentions.

Vote for your favourite five albums. Make your selections clear please as it makes tallying up the scores easier. If you list a whole bunch of albums without making your selections clear I’ll take the first five mentioned as 1st, 2nd,3rd, 4th and 5th. No joint positions please. Sorry to be a pedant.

Your album of the month will get five points, 2nd placed album four points, 3rd placed album three points, 4th placed album two points and 5th one point. If you name only one album I’ll give that five points. If you name two albums I’ll score them with five and four points etc. You get the message.

Always a lot of great recommendations from you guys about albums that I’ve missed or overlooked

My choices:

  1. Jenny Lewis - On The Line
  2. Self Esteem - Compliments Please
  3. CHAI - Punk
  4. Nilufer Yanya - Miss Universe
  5. Westkust - Westkust

Jenny Lewis’ album is just lovely. A brilliant follow up to to The Voyager.

I wasn’t expecting Self Esteem to be so good. Brilliant live too. Her track “In Time” is my favourite of the month.

Please forgive any shameless bumps of this thread during the week. I’ll keep this thread open until Sunday 7th April and so you’ll have over a week to listen to tomorrow’s releases before choosing.

Vote now!! (Or later in the week) but make your choices clear please.

1 Like

Great month

  1. Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond
  2. CHAI - Punk
  3. Weezer - The Black Album
  4. Stephen Malkmus - Groove Denied
  5. Pond - Tasmania
  1. Solange - When I Get Home
  2. Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile

Listened to these 2 albums so much this month, I’ve neglected to check out much else. Of the first impressions::

  1. Tamaryn - Dreaming The Dark
  2. Self Esteem - Compliments Please
  3. Westkust - Westkust
2 Likes
  1. The comet is coming - Trust in the life force of the deep mystery
  2. Foals - Part 1 Everything not saved will be lost
  3. Karen O, Danger Mouse - Lux prima
  1. SASAMI - SASAMI

That’s it for me for now, I’m hoping to discover more through other people’s lists. This album is great though and a really nice surprise given that I’d never heard of her before. I’m struggling to find the right words to describe it, it covers a lot more ground than it initially seems so any comparison I try to come up with falls way short. I think if you like “Pot Kettle Black” by Wilco but wish it had a very light shoegaze touch, this is worth a shot. Some of the guitar kind of reminds me of a more melodic, sadder, more downbeat, softer Speedy Ortiz too, with a little bit of Hebronix thrown in maybe? And the album closer has shades of “Common Reactor” by Silversun Pickups.

Basically if you like sad, downbeat but not boring, hypnotic, melodic music, give this a shot. It’s gotten decent reviews, but I think it’s one of those that’s going to get looked back on much more fondly as time goes on and as she (hopefully) releases more music.


3 Likes

Considering only one of these releases was even on my radar I’m very pleased with this month

  1. Little Simz - GREY area
  2. Self Esteem - Compliments Please
  3. Dave - Psychodrama
  4. The Japanese House - Good at Falling
  5. Solange - When I Get Home
2 Likes

Went and listened to Nilufer Yanya after seeing it on your list @BMS1, lovely stuff so far

1 Like
  1. These New Puritans - Inside the Rose
  2. Fews - Into Red
  3. Self Esteem - Compliments Please
  4. Snapped Ankles - Stunning Luxury
  5. SASAMI - SASAMI
    .
  6. Hand Habits - Placeholder
  7. La Dispute - Panorama
  8. Little Simz - GREY Area
  9. Stephen Malkmus - Groove Denied

Chris Cohen’s new album, out tomorrow, might mix this up a bit

Edit: oops I’ve responded to TAFH33 post for some reason

Great stuff out this month.

1/ Solange - When I Get Home
2/ Robert Forster - Inferno
3/ Sasami - Sasami
4/ Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You)
5/ Stephen Malkmus - Groove Denied

Really enjoying Jenny Lewis & Apparat also, both very unlucky to miss out.

actually got more than 2 this month! And some stuff out tomorrow so I’ll have to have a big ear n brain session to decide on an order

  1. Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile
  2. Malik Djoudi - Temperaments
    .
  3. Emily Wells - This World Is Too _____ for You
  4. Lomelda - M For Empathy
  5. Amanda Palmer - There Will Be No Intermission
  6. Die Heiterkeit - Was Passiert Ist
  7. Teho Teardo - Grief Is The Thing With Flowers

I have listened to the Helado Negro album so much this month. It’s absolutely lovely. I think Sufjan plays piano on one of the songs, and that’s not even remotely close to being one of the best things about the album.

Malik Djoudi was a late discovery, after going through The Great Escape line-up and then seeing he was playing in London the next day. One of my favourite gigs of the year and the album works so well together. French singing electro sounds.

The others above are all really good also, but these two are the stand-outs for me.

So much other music this month that I’ve not properly listened to or not sure about yet: Deaf Center, Apparat, Lambchop, Finn Andrews, We Show Up On Radar, Petr Aleksander, These New Puritans.

1 Like
  1. Dave - Pyschodrama
  2. Little Simz - Grey Area
  3. Chai - Punk
  4. Fews -Into Red
  5. American Football - III

Actually been a great month. I liked Avery Tare, La Dispute and Royal Trux a lot too

1 Like
  1. Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile
  2. Weval - The Weight
  3. Malik Djoudi - Temperaments
  4. Apparat - LP5
  5. Little Simz - GREY Area

RAP - Export would be vying with Weval, but I think it came out in Feb. Haven’t listened to it as much as I would have had it been on spotify though.

Helado Negro is just great. Some tracks remind me a little of Richard Hawley, if he was Ecuadorian and sang in Spanish.

2 Likes
  1. American Football
  2. Sasami
  3. Helado Negro
  4. The Comet is Coming
  5. Self Esteem

A fine month of nice surprises- I never expected the American Football album to be that good - it’s a proper AOTY contender - and I’d never heard of Sasami, Helado Negro or Self Esteem before. It’s a strong month when new Lambchop and Robert Forster albums don’t make my top 5.

If I could count the five songs Tierra Whack released separately this month as an album they would definitely be towards the top of this list too.

I couldn’t work out who Helado Negro reminded me of then I realised it is Davendra Banhart

  1. The Japanese House - Good At Falling

  2. Self Esteem - Compliments Please

  3. Apparat - LP5

  4. Babybird - Stupid Happy Nothing

  5. Mansun - Six 21st Anniversary Edition

  6. Asian Dub Foundation - Rafi’s Revenge 21st Anniversary Edition

Lots of stuff I haven’t had the chance to listen to yet (These New Puritans, The Comet Is Coming etc). Heavy month.

Helado Negro has a pretty big back catalogue. Well worth checking out. Private Energy is great

1 Like

Huge month. Think January was slightly better for quality, but only just.

  1. Helado Negro - This is How You Smile
  2. Rosie Tucker - Never Not Never Not Never Not
  3. Hand Habits - placeholder
  4. Sasami - Sasami
  5. Lomelda - M For Empathy

But The Comet is Coming, Stella Donnelly, Nanami Ozone, Nilufer Yanya, Ibibo Sound Machine, Leggy, Shady Bug or Andrew Bird could’ve made it in there

I’m very pleased with the number of Helado Negro votes so far. and am extremely pleased/surprised of another vote for Malik Djoudi! Am checking out Weval from your list now.

1 Like
  1. Mary Lattimore & Mac McCaughan: New Rain Duets
    Harp meets synth. Might be my favourite ML record to date.

  2. Maja S. K. Ratkje - Sult
    Musically reminiscent of early 70s era Nico harmonium (?) with some, I’m going to say elegiac, vocals.

  3. Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet.
    He whistles, he rides a bike, he’s Dr. Strings. Waiting for the record to arrive though so tbh haven’t actually heard this beyond the preview tracks.

  4. Ela Orleans - Movies for Ears.
    Compilation so not strictly new but definitely a nice introduction if you don’t know her stuff. AllMusic calls it lo-fi pop, which seems fair.

  5. Marja Ahti - Vegetal Negatives
    Electronic & field noise noodling? Not sure. Not a keeper for me but I enjoyed giving it a couple of listens and will probably give it a couple more.