{"id":246,"date":"2021-05-25T17:02:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T17:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/?p=246"},"modified":"2021-05-25T17:09:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T17:09:18","slug":"top-albums-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/2021\/05\/25\/top-albums-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Albums Of The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year felt particularly cruel as we watched so many of our pop-culture icons get taken from us without warning. By December, we all yearned for a pause, an ending, a reset. However, none of the comfort that comes with the hopeful act of flipping a calendar page lasted long into 2017. Instead, we\u2019ve felt the pain more acutely and more personally than a year ago. Most of us have witnessed our core values challenged, felt our realities shaken, and endured daily reminders that who we are in our most basic integrity remains very much at stake. For that reason, it\u2019s been a year in which we\u2019ve turned to music out of necessity perhaps more than ever. The albums you find on this list aren\u2019t just records we admired or caught ourselves dancing to. In many cases, they\u2019re part of the reason we\u2019re still here. They\u2019ve consoled and empowered us, understood how we\u2019ve felt, and in a time of such ugly, bitter divisiveness, reminded us that we\u2019re never truly alone in mind, heart, or spirit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

These are the 50 albums we\u2019ve leaned on most this year. Here\u2019s hoping they don\u2019t have to do such heavy lifting in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u2013Matt Melis
\nEditorial Director<\/em><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

50. JOHNNY JEWEL \u2013\u00a0WINDSWEPT<\/em><\/h3>\n
\"windswept
Top Albums – Music WordPress theme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Origin:<\/strong>\u00a0Los Angeles, California<\/p>\n

The Gist:\u00a0<\/strong>After placing Chromatics\u2019\u00a0Dear Tommy<\/em>\u00a0in the Red Room, Italians Do It Better producer and multi-instrumentalist\u00a0Johnny Jewel<\/a>\u00a0issued this daring solo album mostly inspired by his work behind the scenes on\u00a0Twin Peaks: The Return<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Why It Rules:\u00a0<\/strong>With\u00a0Windswept<\/em><\/a>, Jewel sounds more assured as a producer than ever, conjuring up a moody amalgamation of his signature brooding synthpop and a style of free-form jazz akin to\u00a0David Lynch<\/a>\u00a0go-to Angelo Badalamenti.<\/p>\n

Essential Tracks:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWindswept\u201d, \u201cSlow Dreams\u201d, and \u201cBetween Worlds\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Michael Roffman<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

49. ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER \u2013\u00a0GOOD TIME<\/em><\/h3>\n

Origin:<\/strong>\u00a0Wayland, Massachusetts<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The Gist:<\/strong>\u00a0Two years after the interstellar, metallic\u00a0Garden of Delete<\/em><\/a>, esoteric electronic experimentalist Daniel Lopatin (AKA Oneohtrix Point Never) returned to score a crime drama starring Robert Pattinson. Retaining his own burning palette and pushing it through a Vangelis\/Carpenter mesh, Lopatin continues to find new ways to inject anxiety and awe under the skin.<\/p>\n

Why It Rules:<\/strong>\u00a0A somber, piano-heavy collaboration with\u00a0Iggy Pop<\/a>\u00a0in which the Stooge dreams about petting crocodiles is a good place to start, but Lopatin delivers the high-voltage thrills all on his own.<\/p>\n

Essential Tracks:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cHospital Escape \/ Access-A-Ride\u201d, \u201cThe Acid Hits\u201d, and \u201cThe Pure and the Damned\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u2013Lior Phillips<\/em><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

48. JAY SOM \u2013\u00a0EVERYBODY WORKS<\/em><\/h3>\n
\"jay
Top Albums – Music WordPress theme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n

Origin:\u00a0<\/strong>Oakland, California<\/p>\n

The Gist:<\/strong>\u00a0Multiple-instrumentalist Melina Duterte (aka\u00a0Jay Som<\/a>) rode her production and recording acumen on debut LP,\u00a0Turn Into<\/em>, to a deal with indie major Polyvinyl for\u00a0Everybody Works<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why It Rules:<\/strong>\u00a0In what can only be described as bedroom maximalism, Duterte dug her lyrics into the granular, banalities of existence and aimed her production at expansive soundscapes. On \u201cThe Bus Song\u201d, Duterte sings, \u201cI can be whoever I want to be,\u201d and that\u2019s exactly who she is on\u00a0Everybody Works<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Essential Tracks:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe Bus Song\u201d, \u201cEverybody Works\u201d, and \u201cFor Light\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Geoff Nelson<\/em><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

47. THE JUJU \u2013\u00a0EXCHANGE<\/em><\/h3>\n
\"the
Top Albums – Music WordPress theme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Origin:<\/strong>\u00a0Chicago, Illinois<\/p>\n

The Gist:<\/strong>\u00a0After rising to session-player fame by collaborating with Chance the Rapper, Kanye West, and Vic Mensa, 24-year-old trumpeter\u00a0Segal<\/a>\u00a0(FKA Donnie Trumpet) wrangled three fellow Chicago musicians together to expand his interest in experimental jazz, ultimately showcasing how the backbeat of hip-hop\u2019s new sound is worthy of its own spotlight.<\/p>\n

Why It Rules:<\/strong>\u00a0On their debut LP,\u00a0The Juju Exchange<\/a>\u00a0follow in the footsteps of producers like Flying Lotus and Knxwledge \u2014 not in sound, but in audience awareness, drawing listeners out of their usual jazz associations and into a world of smooth, free-form, low-key musings that inspire with their use of ample space.<\/p>\n

Essential Tracks:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe Circuit\u201d, \u201cWe Good\u201d, and \u201cMorning Of\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Nina Corcoran<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year felt particularly cruel as we watched so many of our pop-culture icons get taken from us without warning. By December, we all yearned for a pause, an ending, a reset. However, none of the comfort that comes with the hopeful act of flipping a calendar page lasted long into 2017. Instead, we\u2019ve felt […]<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,34,55,53,36,37],"tags":[38,28,39,32,54,30,50,51,31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aesir.visualmodo.com\/prebuilt-website\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}