Posts Tagged ‘best of’

The year 2020 was a difficult year for most people in the world due to the pandemic. It was a hard year for me too, especially mentally. I listened to a lot less new music in 2020 than I did in the years before.

Nevertheless, on this last day of the year, I came up with a list of 20 albums that I enjoyed a lot this year. There are tons of albums that I missed when I look at the end-of-year lists that people post on social media. I will be interested to check them out and pick out a few albums that I haven’t heard yet.

For every album I included links where you can buy the albums, and a links to odesli that function as hubs to all big streaming services.

Enough with the introduction, and enough with 2020.
On to a new year and hopefully a better year!

• clown core – van (bandcamp / stream)
• Pure Reason Revolution – Eupnea (bandcamp / stream)
• The Flower Kings – Islands (shop / stream)
• John Petrucci – Terminal Velocity (buy / stream)
• Ellen Andrea Wang – Closeness (bandcamp / stream)
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• Gazpacho – Fireworker (shop / stream)
• Innesti – Apperception (bandcamp / stream)
• Matt Cardin – About Time (bandcamp / stream)
• A Girl Called Eddy – Been Around (buy / stream)
• Keys for Eclipse – Pictures in a Rough Mosaic (bandcamp / stream)
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• 36 & zakè – Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel (bandcamp / stream)
• Sons of Apollo – MMXX (buy / stream)
• Michelle Qureshi – Within (buy / stream)
• Paul Randall – Close ups (bandcamp)
• Mount Shrine & Alphaxone – Dream Chambers (bandcamp / stream)
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• Crystalline Reflections – Inside and up Above (bandcamp / stream)
• Michael Grigoni & Stephen Vitiello – Slow Machines (bandcamp / stream)
• Andrew Heath – A Trace of Phosphor (bandcamp / stream)
• Endless Melancholy – A Perception of Everything (bandcamp / stream)
• Hilyard – On the Sorrow of Firn (bandcamp / stream)

It’s the second day of Christmas, which I think is an excellent time to look back on the albums that I enjoyed in the year 2019. My music taste has shifted more towards the ambient music genre in the past year, so you will find a lot of ambient releases on the list. My most favorite albums are near the top, but the order of the albums is not a hard ranking. I liked every single album in this list.

Where available I included a link to the artist’s Bandcamp page. If the artist did not use Bandcamp, I linked to their official store, shop or to their album on Amazon as a last resort. All streaming links were made with Odesli (previously song.link) that generates a hub with links to all popular streaming services.

Of course I won’t mention my own ambient album in this list, that was also released in 2019 (which you can check out on Bandcamp over here and stream over here. 😉 ) That would be too narcissistic, right? 🙂

So without further ado, here is my list of 25 albums that I enjoyed a lot in 2019.

• M. Grig – Mount Carmel (bandcamp / stream)
• Dead Melodies – Primal Destination (bandcamp / stream)
• Mount Shrine – Secluded Loops (bandcamp / stream)
• RPWL – Tales From Outer Space (shop / stream)
• Netherworld – Algida Bellezza (bandcamp / stream)
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• Yann Tiersen – ALL (shop / stream)
• Frönäs – Moored (bandcamp / stream)
• The Flower Kings – Waiting for Miracles (shop / stream)
• Black Brunswicker – Hidden Amongst the Trees and Foothills (bandcamp / stream)
• Deepspace – Deep Blue Universe (bandcamp / stream)
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• Michiru Aoyama – Everything Is Beautiful (bandcamp / stream)
• Ilse DeLange – Gravel & Dust (shop / stream)
• Devin Townsend – Empath (shop / stream)
• Michelle Qurechi – Sage (bandcamp / stream)
• celer – Xièxie (bandcamp / stream)
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• zakè – 扎克 (bandcamp / stream)
• Cholosus – Way of Life (bandcamp / stream)
• Bruce Hornsby – Absolute Zero (shop / stream)
• Desolate Horizons – Every Dream Is a Lifetime (bandcamp / stream)
• Loneward – Home (bandcamp / stream)
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• Through Silence Kept – Due North (bandcamp / stream)
• Little Birds – Generative & Collage (stream)
• The Neal Morse Band – The Great Adventure (shop)
• Arkmoth Dahunt – Words (bandcamp / stream)
• Low Chord – LC01 (bandcamp / stream)

The year is nearly over and Christmas Eve knocks on the door. I think I’ve waited long enough now to publish my list of the 25 albums that I enjoyed the most in 2018. The list is somewhat ranked to show the albums that I enjoyed the most near the top of the list, but it’s definitely not a definitive ranking of these 25 releases.

I have included links to the music using the marvelous song.link website, so you’ll have a hub for every album that shows you links to your available music buying/streaming websites.

Happy listening and happy holidays!

• Lydian Collective – Adventure (song.link)
• Roine Stolt’s The Flower King – Manifesto of an Alchemist (song.link)
• Field Music – Open Here (song.link)
• Saariselka – Ceres (song.link)
• Alasca – Plea For Peace (song.link)
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• Flying Horsemen – Rooms / Ruins (song.link)
• Juha-Matti Rautiainen – Above Me Weeps The Sky (song.link)
• Telomere – Supergiant (song.link)
• William Basinski & Lawrence English – Selva Oscura (song.link)
• Chris Weeks – Journey to Mars (song.link)
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• 36 – Ego Death (song.link)
• James Murray – Falling Backwards (song.link)
• Mount Shrine – Winter Restlessness (song.link)
• Kenji Kihara – 点 線 面 – ten sen men (song.link)
• Spock’s Beard – Noise Floor (song.link)
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• Ryley Walker – The Lilleywhite Sessions (song.link)
• The Pineapple Thief – Dissolution (song.link)
• Gazpacho – Soyuz (song.link)
• Biosphere – The Hilvarenbeek Recordings (song.link)
• Manuel Guimarães – Bloom : Synopsis of Generative Compositions (song.link)
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• Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society – Wow and Flutter (song.link)
• Clown Core – Toilet (song.link)
• Audio Wallpaper – Inlets (song.link)
• Wolfgang Merx – Triptychon II (song.link)
• Oak – False Memory Archive (song.link)

For the first time in my life I have taken the time to compile a best-of-the-year album list. When you browse through the list you may notice that there are quite a number of indie artists among them. Most of these I discovered through Bandcamp: a website where artists can showcase and sell their music. I use Bandcamp myself too for my ambient project Crows Labyrinth. Bandcamp is a real treasure trove for discovering new music and new artists.

1. David Bowie – The Next Day
2. Spock’s Beard – Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep
3. Yellowjackets – A Rise in the Road
4. Udo Pannekeet – On
5. Grey Frequency – When Do We Dream?
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6. Ulver with the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra – Messe I.X-VI.X
7. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories)
8. April Larson – Tempête
9. Grey Frequency – Cold Geometry
10. Microvolt – Peacedrifts
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