Well, yes, I love looking at everyone’s end of year lists,
favourite albums, top 10 tracks etc. Well, no, I can’t possibly ever
do any myself.
I’ve listened and liked loads of new music this year but I can’t do
that ranking thing. Any order of
preference would be a sham as it is likely to change on a daily – hourly, even
- basis.
But at 10.15 this morning coming in as one of my Top I Don’t
Know How Many Because I Haven’t Been Counting for 2016 is this. It'll definitely still be in there at 11am....
Hope you enjoy it too!
Deap Vally - Smile More
Narrowing down the long-list is the easy part, putting them in order is the tricky bit. How do you rate an album of avant-jazz against another of synth-pop or an acoustic singer/songwriter? Some years I just stick with the long-list to save myself time and pointless heartache! It's all good fun though and I enjoy reading everyone else's rundowns immensely.
ReplyDeleteDeep Valley make a rather (I really must trademark this phrase) glorious racket. I can't help feeling sorry for the bass players of the world though - there are so many guitar & drum duos around these days.
I have complete admiration for you - especially with such eclectic taste I appreciate the problem with ordering - how to compare? You do a great job of it. I was once asked to judge a competition of primary school children's drawings and had that same problem, I could pick out several which caught my eye but they were so different it was really hard to rate them against each other, in the end I think I just closed my eyes and pointed randomly! (Then felt desperately sorry for the kids who didn't win.)
DeleteI love that glorious racket but it's the lyrics which make me smile even more - kind of in the vein of Courtney Barnett, not taking themselves too seriously. Know what you mean about bassists - mind you look at what Mike Kerr from Royal Blood does with four strings - his fingers must be hard as nails.
Will have to correct you on the spelling of Deap Vally tho' -you know how important it is to spell things deliberately incorrectly these days... I also just said that so nobody thinks I can't spell 'valley' in the post title! ;-)
Haha - I hadn't even noticed! I obviously didn't have enough coffee this morning!
DeleteWell I was never going to be able to do a top ten as my current life just doesn't make time for discovering much new music nowadays. Having said that, I have been making time for this place which means I've inadvertently heard a fair bit I would never have experienced otherwise - Another added bonus.
ReplyDeleteThanks for introducing me to Deap Vally though (see I did get the spelling right!) which I enjoyed - Made me feel old though. I think my days of wearing leopard print vests are over!
Like you a lot of the new music I've heard has been through our fellow bloggers, so much I wouldn't otherwise have known. Surprisingly too I first heard this Deap Vally track on Radio 1! It's getting a bit more eclectic, especially Annie Mac's evening show.
DeleteAnd I feel the same about leopard print vests... although I have a little leopard print coat which I hope I can still get away with!
I don't know why I even try to rank new music, maybe you are smarter than the rest of us by not doing it at all! I like the song and will add to my playlist. As you say, it sounds like something that would hold up over time. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, glad you like it. Whilst I'm not into gender stereotpying, I'm starting to think the listing/ranking thing may be a bit of a male preference?!
Delete@C: Trying to achieve order in a chaotic world is certainly part of the fun of rankings! I also use year-end lists to keep track because my memory is not good.
DeleteI agree with you and Rol that the lyrics do stand out.
Have you listened to the rest of the Deap Vally album and if so, what did you think?
Using the year-end lists to keep track to help with memory is a great idea. I've taken to jotting down names and titles of things I hear and like in a notebook (with a view to checking out further, but then not getting round to it) and often when I eventually return to them months down the line I can't recall what they were like.
DeleteI haven't listened to the rest of the DV album, but I definitely should do so. (I'll make a note!)
That's excellent, thanks for the tip off. Love the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteRanking songs in order is my curse, but I stopped worrying about the accuracy of the ranking a while ago since it's all totally subjective. My biggest problem at the end of the year is knowing there are better records out there which I haven't heard yet. I may have come up with a solution for that though...
That's my constant worry too Rol. I'll be interested to hear your solution!
DeleteAh, pleased you like it too Rol. It's the lyrics which make it stand out for me too.
DeleteOf course I'm talking to an old hand here when it comes to ranking songs in order, you must have it down to a fine art and I'm full of admiration. I'm imagining a points system or maybe a graph and some complex calculations involving pi ;-)
And like TS I'd be v interested to know the other solution!
The solution is probably to share end-of-year lists a few months/years later, so there's extra time to deliberate!
Delete