Meanwhile, the umbrella term “indie rock” continues to embrace an increasingly unwieldy array of artists. Yet, despite a few superficial similarities, for the most part there is more separating the sound of these artists than unifying them. Indeed, this could be said of a pretty diverse range of releases including Purity Ring’s Shrines, Flying Lotus’ Until The Quiet Comes, The xx’s Coexist, Jessie Ware’s Devotion, Shigeto’s Lineage, and Zammuto’s self-titled debut. But r&b continued to get “weird” too leading to some really fantastic experiments – THEESatisfaction’s Awe Naturale being a prime example.Įlectronic minimalism continues to embrace lush, sonic texturalism in new and interesting ways, resulting in some of the most forward-facing music you’ll hear this year. Some of this is a result of revitalization caused by blending traditional r&b with contemporary aesthetics: Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE & Miguel’s Kaleidoscope Dream being my two favorite examples of this trend. For example, when I look at a list of the best music of 2012 (my own list or any other), I can’t help wonder if the world of music is slowly splintering into hundreds of disparate genres or actually converging into a more amorphous genre-defying state.įor example, following up on a strong year in 2011, r&b continues to push into new territory and faces a continued critical and popular resurgence. It’s also fun to contemplate the different threads that run through the world of music in any given year – even when it isn’t clear quite where they all lead. But when I let them needle drop on those albums I was instantly reminded of why I’d loved them so much. For example, I’d loved Cloud Nothing’s Attack on Memory, THEESatisfaction’s Awe Naturale, and Shigeto’s Lineage early in the year, but over the course of the year I’d let them slip from my mind. In some cases this means re-listening to records that I haven’t played in months. Around this time each year, I sit down in front of my record player and pull LPs from my collection to play them one by one. I think one of the best parts about compiling my year end list is forcing myself to take the time to look back upon the year in music.
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