Working order atm, before catching up on everything:
1.Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
2. Clarissa Connelly- World of Work
3. Godspeed - No Title
4. Burial - Dreamfear/Boy Sent From Above
5. Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor
6. Ruthven - Rough and Ready
7. High Vis - Guided Tour
8. Spresso - Pretty Penny Slur
9. Omni - Souvenir
10. Chat Pile - Cool World
Days getting darker 
Heading towards Christmas
TIME FOR MY ALBUMS OF THE YEAR PLAYOFF!
I’ll hide this behind a summary otherwise it’s a lot to scroll past, but every year I pick my fave 64 records* and then use a random tournament generator to play them off against each other: listening back to back with my favourite of the pairing going through to the next round. Two records enter, but only one leaves alive! Sort of.
*I’ve been working with 60 for the past few weeks with four slots open for late entries like that Kim Deal record last week
Here we go for this year!
| Group 1 | |
|---|---|
| competitor #1: | Adam Wiltzie |
| competitor #2: | Infant Island |
| Group 2 | |
| competitor #1: | Duster |
| competitor #2: | Marika Hackman |
| Group #3 | |
| competitor #1: | Shellac |
| competitor #2: | Mary Lattimore / Walt McClements |
| Group 4 | |
| competitor #1: | The Body |
| competitor #2: | Julie Christmas |
| Group 5 | |
| competitor #1: | Soccer Mommy |
| competitor #2: | Chat Pile |
| Group 6 | |
| competitor #1: | Heriot |
| competitor #2: | Dora Jar |
| Group 7 | |
| competitor #1: | KRM/KMRU |
| competitor #2: | Nilufer Yanya |
| Group 8 | |
| competitor #1: | Ka |
| competitor #2: | English Teacher |
| Group #9 | |
| competitor #1: | Pye Corner Audio |
| competitor #2: | Jon Hopkins |
| Group 10 | |
| competitor #1: | Your Old Droog |
| competitor #2: | Craven Faults |
| Group #11 | |
| competitor #1: | Father John Misty |
| competitor #2: | Kim Deal |
| Group #12 | |
| competitor #1: | Kim Gordon |
| competitor #2: | The Cure |
| Group #13 | |
| competitor #1: | Decemberists |
| competitor #2: | Big Brave |
| Group #14 | |
| competitor #1: | Floating Points |
| competitor #2: | Virgins |
| Group #15 | |
| competitor #1: | Chelsea Wolfe |
| competitor #2: | Kelly Lee Owens |
| Group #16 | |
| competitor #1: | Pan American / Kramer |
| competitor #2: | Magdalena Bay |
| Group #17 | |
| competitor #1: | Colin Stetson |
| competitor #2: | Loma |
| Group #18 | |
| competitor #1: | Cassandra Jenkins |
| competitor #2: | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds |
| Group #19 | |
| competitor #1: | Blood Incantation |
| competitor #2: | Kali Malone |
| Group #20 | |
| competitor #1: | The Smile (Wall of Eyes) |
| competitor #2: | Beth Gibbons |
| Group #21 | |
| competitor #1: | Billie Eilish |
| competitor #2: | Nails |
| Group 22 | |
| competitor #1: | David Boulter |
| competitor #2: | Thom Yorke |
| Group #23 | |
| competitor #1: | Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan |
| competitor #2: | Adrianne Lenker |
| Group 24 | |
| competitor #1: | MJ Lenderman |
| competitor #2: | Heems |
| Group #25 | |
| competitor #1: | Jamie XX |
| competitor #2: | Four Tet |
| Group #26 | |
| competitor #1: | The Smile (Cutouts) |
| competitor #2: | British Stereo Collective |
| Group #27 | |
| competitor #1: | Heems(Veena) |
| competitor #2: | Yoo Doo Right |
| Group #28 | |
| competitor #1: | Half Waif |
| competitor #2: | Whitelands |
| Group #29 | |
| competitor #1: | Last Dinner Party |
| competitor #2: | Midwife |
| Group #30 | |
| competitor #1: | Godspeed You! Black Emperor |
| competitor #2: | Bed Maker |
| Group 31 | |
| competitor #1: | Alcest |
| competitor #2: | Dvne |
| Group #32 | |
| competitor #1: | Dirty Three |
| competitor #2: | Mount Eerie |
I’ll be back with results of round 1 fairly soon as I’ve been working through a few of these for the past couple of weeks.
I look forward to posting GIFs of people throwing chairs. 
Oh there are going to be so many thrown chairs and wigs all over the place. Can’t wait!
Put up a placeholder list. That number 5 spot could also be taken by so many; MJ Lenderman, Rosie Tucker and Beth Gibbons in particular. Real headscratcher.
I think men can pretty much give up making new music now, girls seem to have got it covered.
Men will probably absent from my list - all of these are candidates:
Nilufer Yanya
Halina Rice
Adrianne Lenker
Julia-Sophie
Mabe Fratti
Kim Gordon
Empress Of
Tierra Whack
Remi Wolf
Charli
Hildegard
Another big bunch bubbling just under, and a load I haven’t even got round to listening to yet. So yeah.
My yearly lists have thankfully been moving away from the sausage fests they used to be. My embracing of pop over the past 2/3 years has definitely had a difference in my listening habits.
Don’t have the capacity for new music I did a few years ago. Have maybe 20 - 25 (including some compilations) for the year I’ve really enjoyed and a handful I liked giving a few listens to but aren’t keepers.
Hopefully the eoy lists and discussions on here will reveal a few more gems for me. One of my favourite albums from last year - Jbal Rrsas by Deena Abdelwahed - I only discovered right at the end of the year.
Have a nice top ten I think but no obvious top pick.
Chat Pile, Charli XCX and Claire Rousay are my definites. Then it’s two of Infant Island, Frail Body, Blood Incantation, BABii, Thou, Whitelands, The Cure, State Faults, meth., and Chelsea Wolfe.
Los camp went straight to number one, but theres so many other good albums that 2- 5 is going to be tough
Hard agree on Cha Preto. Heard nothing like it before or since. Amazing year for Principe, I’d add Nuno Beats to the two you have here.
Done a first pass of a list this afternoon. Need a bit more time with order but won’t be far off this:
20: Mabe Fratti: Sentir Que No Sabes
19: Mach-Hommy: Richaxxhaitian
18: Claire Rousay: Sentiment
17: Jabu: A Soft And Gatherable Star
16: Fergus Jones: Ephemera
15: Jessica Pratt: Here In The Pitch
14: Moin: You Never End
13: Total Blue: Total Blue
12: Jawnino: 40
11: Tim Reaper & Kloke: In Full Effect
10: Naemi: Dust Devil
09: Charli xcx: Brat
08: Chanel Beads: Your Day Will Come
07: Milan W: Leave Another Day
06: Astrid Sonne: Great Doubt
05: Loidis: One Day
04: DJ Anderson Do Paraiso: Queridaro
03: Still House Plants: If I Don’t Make It, I Love U
02: DJ N Fox: Cha Preto
01: Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee
Few thoughts.
Would include all the Principe LP’s as one really if I could (DJ Lycox & Nuno Beats too), an almost unparalleled year of records that sound so current, and so relevant, but also so amazingly listenable. Edging to Cha Preto as I’ll only pick one… such a weird, unique record.
Cindy Lee just edging them out though. Still captivated by that album. I love records that just create their own world, and this is… well, it sounds like a past that never quite happened.
Surprise of the year - I love guitar records again. So many doing such interesting things with such an old formula.
It’s been an incredible year for electronic LP’s (feel like I’ve been waiting a few decades for a record like that Loidis record) which isn’t always the case.
Not my favourite year for rap. That Mach-Hommy miles ahead as my fave US rap record of the year (the beats, his flow, the vibe all irresistible), Jawnino my pick of the UK.
DJ Anderson do Paraiso that Boomkat went early with last year… well they were right. Stunning. So guttural and alive. Records like that don’t come along often.
Urrrggh I’ve just remembered that I haven’t properly listened to the Cindy Lee thing. Remember it getting a great write up but not being available on streaming or on vinyl, my two go two methods and then trying to remember how to actually download things and then listen to them on a decent set up and it’s like it’s 2009 and I ran out of enthusiasm for the whole thing and never actually listened to it.
It’s on Bandcamp now, if that helps
Hardly gonna be any men on my list this year too.
Think that’s cos of what I’ve been fed by the algorithms and the stuff I’m seeking out rather than men not making good music anymore. Might try to listen to more men next year
This year I feel like I was into more songs than albums but the albums I did spend time with, I was obsessed with.
Due to working on a tactical voting campaign around the general election and lots of long days of meetings, as well as trying to process the endless deluge of awful news, I definitely felt like I leant on music that was softer and more expansive than usual (hence Julia Sophie and Cassandra Jenkins making my top 5). A few others that could have made the list like the brain bath of Alessandro Cortini
When I’ve been angry the Sprints album has been essential - love the way it has a Gilla Band energy but also something of 90s skate punk that makes me feel nostalgic. Also reached for the Mannequin Pussy album pretty often too.
The Cure truly outdid themselves after such a long way. I can’t believe how apprehensive I was to hit play on the record as I felt like I couldn’t take another favourite act fading out.
El Perro Del Mar’s album really took me by surprise. Been a fan of her music since the mp3 blog era and this record was not what I was expecting at all. It’s got a really heavy fug of film grain and distorted meandering mellowness to it before the record rises from a soup of melancholy with this breathtaking clarity.
Is the Foxing record not featuring in anyone else’s lists because they don’t like it, or haven’t heard it?
They’ve gone heavy and epic - nothing like their previous albums really, if you weren’t a fan before (I avoided this band for so long because I don’t like The Albatross at all, and that’s meant to be their ‘masterpiece’) - and it absolutely kicks ass. My AOTY.
I made an immaculate nine-track edit of the new Half Waif album that probably would have been my number one in that format, but at 16 tracks it’s just a bit too long for me, even if they’re almost all good songs.
Round one of my AOTY playoff is DONE! Results are in!
Prepare your tables for flipping / chairs for hurling / etc.
| Group 1 | |
|---|---|
| competitor #1: | Adam Wiltzie |
| competitor #2: | Infant Island |
| Group 2 | |
| competitor #1: | Duster |
| competitor #2: | Marika Hackman |
| Group #3 | |
| competitor #1: | Shellac |
| competitor #2: | Mary Lattimore / Walt McClements |
| Group 4 | |
| competitor #1: | The Body |
| competitor #2: | Julie Christmas |
| Group 5 | |
| competitor #1: | Soccer Mommy |
| competitor #2: | Chat Pile |
| Group 6 | |
| competitor #1: | Heriot |
| competitor #2: | Dora Jar |
| Group 7 | |
| competitor #1: | KRM/KMRU |
| competitor #2: | Nilufer Yanya |
| Group 8 | |
| competitor #1: | Ka |
| competitor #2: | English Teacher |
| Group #9 | |
| competitor #1: | Pye Corner Audio |
| competitor #2: | Jon Hopkins |
| Group 10 | |
| competitor #1: | Your Old Droog |
| competitor #2: | Craven Faults |
| Group #11 | |
| competitor #1: | Father John Misty |
| competitor #2: | Kim Deal |
| Group #12 | |
| competitor #1: | Kim Gordon |
| competitor #2: | The Cure |
| Group #13 | |
| competitor #1: | Decemberists |
| competitor #2: | Big Brave |
| Group #14 | |
| competitor #1: | Floating Points |
| competitor #2: | Virgins |
| Group #15 | |
| competitor #1: | Chelsea Wolfe |
| competitor #2: | Kelly Lee Owens |
| Group #16 | |
| competitor #1: | Pan American / Kramer |
| competitor #2: | Magdalena Bay |
| Group #17 | |
| competitor #1: | Colin Stetson |
| competitor #2: | Loma |
| Group #18 | |
| competitor #1: | Cassandra Jenkins |
| competitor #2: | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds |
| Group #19 | |
| competitor #1: | Blood Incantation |
| competitor #2: | Kali Malone |
| Group #20 | |
| competitor #1: | The Smile (Wall of Eyes) |
| competitor #2: | Beth Gibbons |
| Group #21 | |
| competitor #1: | Billie Eilish |
| competitor #2: | Nails |
| Group 22 | |
| competitor #1: | David Boulter |
| competitor #2: | Thom Yorke |
| Group #23 | |
| competitor #1: | Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan |
| competitor #2: | Adrianne Lenker |
| Group 24 | |
| competitor #1: | MJ Lenderman |
| competitor #2: | Heems |
| Group #25 | |
| competitor #1: | Jamie XX |
| competitor #2: | Four Tet |
| Group #26 | |
| competitor #1: | The Smile (Cutouts) |
| competitor #2: | British Stereo Collective |
| Group #27 | |
| competitor #1: | Heems(Veena) |
| competitor #2: | Yoo Doo Right |
| Group #28 | |
| competitor #1: | Half Waif |
| competitor #2: | Whitelands |
| Group #29 | |
| competitor #1: | Last Dinner Party |
| competitor #2: | Midwife |
| Group #30 | |
| competitor #1: | Godspeed You! Black Emperor |
| competitor #2: | Bed Maker |
| Group 31 | |
| competitor #1: | Alcest |
| competitor #2: | Dvne |
| Group #32 | |
| competitor #1: | Dirty Three |
| competitor #2: | Mount Eerie |
Ooh Heems with the double
Depending on the day, my no. 1 could either be Charli or MagBay.
Funny to me that they are both synth-pop records because the rest of my list is probably all guitar music, which I think it has been a really strong year for. Something like Vampire Weekend, Fontaines, Nilufer, Manequin Pussy, Sprints, Personal Trainer etc.