#xoty

[octoberwinters]

XotY 2024

Book of the Year! 3. Piranesi a friend’s worthwhile recommendation. House of Leaves for dark academia, veering in and out of the territory of Paul Auster’s City of Glass. the beauty of the House is immeasurable; its kindness infinite.

2. Neuromancer so foundational to the genre that its random one-off lines invoke ideas still new and exciting today. the bleeding edge of the digital then, almost an analogue delight now. plays a magic trick with perspective in its final third that’s still on my mind.

1. The Hydrogen Sonata Banks’ final Culture novel, and the second of the lot that feels right as an ending. ultimately, deliberately, much ado about nothing. transcendent. i will return to these and reread, someday, and until then i will miss them.

Comic of the Year! 3. James Tynion IV’s paranoid ongoings (W0rldtr33, Dept. of Truth, The Nice House…, etc.) JT4 is telling too many versions of this story to pick just one, but i’ve come to love his indie horror work. betraying your friends and conspiracies of hate…

2. NYX Lanzing & Kelly are my favorite new authors in comics these days, and NYX may be their best work yet. goes further with Krakoa-X-Men Phonogram: Singles Club than Gillen ever dared to. sometimes the only big 2 book right now meaty enough to keep thinking about.

1. The Power Fantasy post-Thunderbolt, post-Immortal, post-WicDiv Kieron fucking Gillen at the peak of his powers. Wijngaard’s consistency maintains a Watchmen-descendant so enthralling you could almost see it existing even if it went back and killed its grandfather

Game of the Year! 3. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut my first time revisiting Revachol since its original release. still exceptional: deliberate friction with contemporary RPG modes of play, politically incisive (& smarter than its fans), & essentially, pathetically human.

2. Cyberpunk 2077 2.X thank god i didn’t play this at release. gameplay is smooth and responsive and generally feels good, but the high drama and performances hooked me—cherami leigh is exceptional. understands the cyberpunk genre better than the hangers-on of its moment.

1. Life is Strange series cringeworthy dialogue comes and goes, but the plots and themes of these—young adult under the weight of the world, high-stakes navigation of social life—just work. first game found my true weakness: nostalgia for the 2013 indie scene.

Film of the Year!: Theatrical 3. Don Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow I-III shorts almost feel essentially home/digital viewing these days, so seeing these with an audience at the Paris was unexpected. bitterness and laughter, memory and legacy, and the hope for a paycheck to come.

2. I Saw the TV Glow Justice Smith’s best performance yet and the best soundtrack of the year. nostalgia for Buffy and Nick at Nite boiling over into transgender existential horror. that final scream, man…

1. Tenet (70mm IMAX) works even better on every new loop. bullets from the future, fired at the past. particles and antiparticles annihilating, becoming each other, ending history. too big for your eyes, too loud for your ears. an expression of faith—

Film of the Year!: Home 3. Mystery Train Jim Jarmusch just wants to hang out all night. you should want to hang out with him.

2. Run Lola Run peak Tykwer. a cartoon, a soap opera, a tragedy, a race. the most nineteen ninety-nine anything has ever been. you absolutely see how he ended up with the Wachowskis and David Mitchell.

1. My Own Private Idaho 50% shakespearesque stage acting blank verse, 50% stylistically-out-there gay tragicomedy. a smidgen of SNL’s Sprockets; nude portraiture standing in for sex; the Pogues and the B-52s. narcolepsy is my favorite scene transition device in cinema.

Album of the Year! 3. Moons Melt Milk Light my first Anenon album, which technically came out late last year. gorgeously breathy sax and bass clarinet jazz. the type of piano playing where the wood of the bench settling is part of the instrument. highly recommend.

2. Only God Was Above Us in love with the odd-numbered VW albums, and seeing them live this year didn't hurt. a return to form while maintaining the new jam band aspect that enlivens the act post-Rostam. in dreams i scream piano!

1. All Hell + More Hell i've spent more time this year listening to All Hell and its companion EP More Hell than any other album. Los Campesinos! pulled 00s emo through the pasta-shaper of leftist twitter-tumblr and came out the other end with a masterpiece noodle.

[princehenry11]

Real Nox – Sweety Ft. Xoty

Real Nox – Sweety Ft. Xoty

DOWNLOAD Real Nox Sweety Ft. Xoty Mp3 Fakaza

Real Nox Sweety. Here comes this amazing tune called Sweety, Real Nox beckons on the assistance of Xoty to make it an interesting one.

Check out the track below.

DOWNLOAD MP3 Real Nox – Sweety Ft. Xoty

View On WordPress

[new-pseudonym]

Album of the Year - 2019

Below are my five favorite albums from the year 2019.

In my opinion, 2019 was an insane year for music. We really sent the decade off with a bang. Picking my favorite album this year was much more difficult than previous years.

Also, look out for my top 50 albums of the decade list, coming soon!

5. Chai - Punk

I totally missed this album when it was released early in 2019, first hearing it in December. I’m glad I got to hear it at all, though, as it is a total sugar rush of an album. Punk is energizing, crisp, but also a powerful assertion of the independence of this all-female band.

4. Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿

Danny started the decade in 2010 with The Hybrid, followed quickly by 2011′s XXX. Without following his persona and music throughout the decade, it’s hard to believe that those albums were made by the same musician that made this album. Hybrid and XXX were panicked albums about growing up in poverty and cycles of drug use and abuse. In contrast, uknowhatimsayin¿ is Danny’s debut “dad rap” album, a subgenre comprised of late thirties/early fortysomething rappers who are sort of having fun with their already well-established rap career (see: Run the Jewels). I’m happy Danny got his life together (fixed his teeth, got a haircut) while at the same time not sacrificing his musical integrity. That is to say, he handles this subgenre-shift nicely.

3. DIIV - Deceiver

Album #3 follows Album #4 in that it is also an album of personal redemption, although Deceiver is much more explicitly a mea culpa. Zachary Cole Smith is much more clearly in the middle of his redemption than Danny Brown. Deceiver is a departure from the jangly, krautrock-inspired indie rock of previous DIIV records to a much more heavy, shoegazing sound. And, God I love it. I hope we get at least one more record in this sound before DIIV starts to make dad-gaze à la Brown.

You can read my full review of Deceiver here.

2. Charli XCX - Charli

On her self-titled album, Charli goes hard, she goes fast, and she never looks back. Her first proper album (sorry Pop 2) since she started hanging out with the PC Music weirdos is a masterful blend of stadium pop hooks and experimental production. This album reinvigorated my interest in pop music completely.

You can read my full review of Charli here.

1. 100 gecs - 1000 gecs

Ah yes, 1000 gecs. If you have been following music journalism this year, you have probably heard of this album. This indescribable wizard-pop duo has been written about in the New York Times and Rolling Stone, which suggests their music is more accessible than it actually is. I first heard a track from this album in my Spotify Discover Weekly, "xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx." My mind was instantly bombarded with the dozens of catchy-yet-shitty vocal trance tracks I heard when I was in middle school. This one track had triggered some sort of very specific musical nostalgia for the 2000s in my brain, and I was delighted when almost every track on 1000 gecs did the same thing. Sure, the music can be abrasive at times, especially when Dylan Brady is just showing off the weird sounds he can make in a DAW (also see: the end of “Click” from Charli). But, there is a simple, almost magical effect these songs have on the listener once you get past the weird bits.

[new-pseudonym]

Album of the Year - 2018

Below are my five favorite albums from the year 2018.

5. Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

I have a lot of respect for Wye Oak, and I was surprised when I learned that they're only a two-person act. I'm usually not a fan of this style of indie rock/pop, but Wye Oak is an exception because of how everything they do just "clicks." The lyrics are just catchy enough while maintaining a level of depth in the themes they explore to keep me listening. The instrumentation is tight while being innovative enough to catch the listener's attention. This album is satisfying from start to finish, but not much else on top of that, which is why it isn't higher (lower?) up on my list.

4. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

Yeah that's right motherfuckers. I love Cardi B, and if you don't, then fuck you. OK, in all seriousness, don't let Cardi's abrasive social media personality distract you from what is secretly a very talented musician. She even put on a great show for Saturday Night Live while being very pregnant! Her debut definitely has some tracks on it that are less than good, but others are great. That's my biggest problem with this album: Cardi B is a talented songwriter but her music in non-single form lacks some of the cohesiveness I've come to expect from albums.

3. Ichiko Aoba - qp

There's a YouTube video, shot on a smartphone, of Ichiko Aoba performing on top of a giant rock in the overcast Japanese countryside. It's such a perfect encapsulation of this album's sound. Aoba's voice is a haunting siren song over fingerpicked classical guitar accompaniments that are more complex than you'd expect from what is on the surface another folk singer. Listen to this album and let it teleport you to another part of the world, or another world entirely.

2.JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

This is a must-listen for any non-meme-based fans of Death Grips out there. Peggy innovates on the glitchy, abrasive production style of the revoltionary Northern California group in a fashion that I think eclipses most if not all of their work. The way he samples on this album is insanity, like, some songs are uncomfortable to listen to if you try to resist them. But once you give in they are so much fun. Veteran also takes a lyrical stance as a contrarian, attacking the alt-right and NIMBY white liberals in equal parts. The aggressiveness of the lyrics fits with the experimental production style to form a cohesive picture of frustration with the state of Trump's America.

1. Soccer Mommy - Clean

My brother showed me this album and I am so proud of him for discovering this artist for me. Soccer Mommy (Sophie Allison) is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter whose lead single "Your Dog" is a deconstruction of benevolent sexism that all the forehead-kissers out there need to hear and internalize. Most of this album though I would describe as "anti-love songs." Allison sings about what it feels like to be somebody's second choice, not being wanted anymore, and realizing that sometimes it's harder than you think to realize that you can do better than who you're with. The tone is melancholy, but I find the overall message of the album to be uplifting in the same way you feel resolve at the end of a session of ugly-crying.

[new-pseudonym]

Album of the Year - 2017

Below are my five favorite albums from the year 2017.

5. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

Kendrick's follow-up (well, if you don't count Untitled Unmastered) to his magnum opus To Pimp A Butterfly is unique in Kendrick's discography in that it's his closest work to something that resembles just an album. It isn't immediately apparent as a concept album. That's not to say that there aren't lyrical themes to dive into, it's just missing the explicit storytelling of his other studio albums. It's my least favorite Kendrick album but it still makes my Top 5 because Kendrick is the greatest rapper of all time. Like, DAMN.

4. Björk - Utopia

How many years does it take to recover from heartbreak? "Two," Björk answered on her follow-up to 2015's Vulnicura. Utopia is a very beautiful album that comes in stark contrast to the melancholy of Vulnicura. It's a celebration of the joys of being single and of blossoming love. The production is very innovative in typical Björk fashion, sampling a lot of South American birdsongs collected by her parter-in-crime Arca. This album makes me want to DM a Dungeons & Dragons campaign set with this as the soundtrack.

3. Deca - The Way Through

Deca is a Denver-based writer, rapper, and producer who I discovered on Bandcamp at the recommendation of one of my childhood friends. His flow is very steady, production is solid, but what makes The Way Through stand out is the density of its lyrics. The album is just, like, lyrical syrup. The imagery and vocabulary of this guy are really impressive and if you haven't heard of him, definitely check him out.

2. SZA - Ctrl

SZA's debut studio album is going to be remembered as one of the defining albums of the millenial generation. The way she talks about intense themes in her hallmark stream-of-consciousness style such as sex, self-esteem, anxiety, and the moratorial state of today's twenty-somethings is at times uncomfortably relatable. I started seeing my therapist again after listening to this album and I thank SZA for that. All this praise is just for the lyricism, though. The production on this album is also phenomenal. "Doves In The Wind" is my favorite beat of 2017.

1. Oh Sees - ORC

Another album recommended to me by a friend, ORC sent me on a huge garage rock rabbit hole that lasted months. The first ten seconds of "The Static God," the album's opener, redefined to me what rock music was capable of. How can you get such a large sound out of four people? Well, I guess it helps that two of them are drummers. After listening to this album I am convinced that John Dwyer is literally a goblin, or some sort of demigod of mischief. His ability to create a sound that perfectly encapsulates anarchy and mayhem is unrivaled. I bought tickets to one of his shows after hearing this album and it's still the best concert I've ever been to. Perhaps the most impressive part of ORC though is its ability to hold a cohesive theme together behind all the noise and chaos that it brings.

[new-pseudonym]

Song of the Year

It’s a month late, but here we go.

Below are my five favorite songs from the year of 2013.

5. My Bloody Valentine - wonder 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyRfqfEC2s

MBV’s comeback album, in terms of its reception, was primarily cross-listed against Loveless, with critics discussing whether or not it could compete with shoegaze’s greatest album. Wonder 2 is the only spot on m b v where I think the band goes above and beyond the call of Loveless, pushing the envelope of what sounds they can make with guitars while at the same time making a catchy and almost danceable tune.

4. sasakure.UK - Mirai-Atarashism feat. Hatsune Miku

http://nazr.in/iWQ

Mirai-Atarashism is a fun and fast song. Although sasakure.UK uses Vocaloid software and chiptune synthesizers to create a poppy, energetic song like most doujin artists do, sasakure.UK manages to distinguish himself as among the poppiest and energetic...est. The solo and drum beat in this song both frequently find a way to get stuck in my head all day.

3. Candy Claws - Pangaea Girls (Magic Feeling)

http://candyclaws.bandcamp.com/track/pangaea-girls-magic-feeling

Candy Claws, the band behind my favorite album of 2013, have created an outstanding single in a fuzzy, fluid wonderland of an album which takes a lot of talent. Many bands that write “run-together” concept albums have a hard time picking songs that stand out, but this one jumps off the page by itself and still manages to maintain the flow of the album.  That’s what I look for in a single, and that’s what Pangaea Girls is to me.

2. CHVRCHES - Lungs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGMrnfrNM0

And this year’s award for perfect pop song goes to Lungs by CHVRCHES. It’s a perfect length, it’s ear-grabbing, it’s well-produced, agh! I love it. It’s also my choice song for showing that CHVRCHES as a band aren’t two monkeys with a cutesy frontwoman. Each member of the band really synchronizes on this song. I wish they had used it as a single for their album.

1. きのこ帝国 - 国道スロープ

http://nazr.in/iWR

My 2013 song of the year. Translated as “National Highway Slope,” it portrays its title well. This is a song for going quickly on a road in the rain. The guitar manages to captivate me even though they rhythm section is only two chords for the entire song. Satou’s vocal delivery on this one are a perfect example of what I love the most about her style: counterpoint between soft, shy vocals and ambitious high sections that go out of her vocal range (especially while in concert). It it is far and away the best J-rock song I have ever listened to, but it holds its own to fans of any genre. It’s a solid song.

Honorable mentions:

きのこ帝国 - 風化する教室

きのこ帝国 - ミュージシャン

きのこ帝国 - ユーリカ

nano - Palette

CHVRCHES - Strong Hand

TWIABP - Picture of a Tree That Doesn’t Look Okay

My Bloody Valentine - only tomorrow

[new-pseudonym]

X Of The Year

Hey guys! Sorry for being so inactive. I had some finals and now I am in Mexico with limited internet access.  Following is a list of my favorite music things for 2013, starting of course, with albums. If I have more time here in Mexico, reviews for some of these items will follow!