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Hunty Bear

Reycism: The Year In Reyview, 2019 Edition

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3 minutes ago, Hunty Bear said:

it's a short album and honestly strangely addictive! she has a unique tone without it being indie girl kitchen vine at all + I even got Sean to like it somewhat enough, which is enough of an accomplishment jj2 and that's facts! @Andres wendy3 

Hurts Me Too kinda song of the century. oprah5

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Highlights: "Mile High," "Barefoot in the Park," "Can't Believe the Way We Flow," "Lullaby for My Insomniac"

Here's an album I almost completely forgot existed! That being said, I gave it another listen a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised by how well it aged. Assume Form is an album heavily inspired by Blake's relationship with Jameela Jamil, who also produced a song on the record and is also known for playing Tahani on NBC's The Good Place. As such, the songs tend to be unabashedly romantic odes to love and the emotional highs that accompany it, all held together by brilliant production across the board. My only real gripe with the record is that the songs seem to blend into each other at certain points. Still, from the hypnotically catchy slow burn of the trap influenced "Mile High," to the breathtakingly gorgeous minimalism of "Lullaby," the record offers enough variety to be a thoroughly rewarding listen from start to finish.

 

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1 hour ago, Lachlan said:

Maybe be thankful I didn't not listen to IGOR like I did with Flower Boy until a year after it's release. oprah5

Side note: Faye is cute imma just give the whole album a spin. oprah5

Side note part 2: We're gonna finish our countdowns before Andy appears again. oprah5

 

1 hour ago, Hunty Bear said:

it's a short album and honestly strangely addictive! she has a unique tone without it being indie girl kitchen vine at all + I even got Sean to like it somewhat enough, which is enough of an accomplishment jj2 and that's facts! @Andres wendy3 

impatient heauxs wendy3 saving the best for last and that's on periodT. wendy3wendy1

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lit rally Assume Form is one of my most played albums of the year (and is also still a good album) but it's MIA on my list wendy3 it was a year highlight when it came out but there were too many great albums that came out after that eclipsed it for me

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14 hours ago, Lachlan said:

Favourites: Julien, No Drug Like Me, Want You In My Room

The beauty of Carly’s work is in its simplicity. The lyrics are easy to understand; expressing feelings that everyone can connect to, and I often find myself being struck by a different phrase or description with each listen of her music. She continues her unabashed love affair with 80s synth-pop on this record, with a few hints at the disco sound she was exploring on her scrapped album (still hate her for that). While it doesn’t overall reach the insane heights of Emotion, it doesn’t have to. It’s just as vibrant and infectious. Looking forward to a Side B in 2020!

Randomly low since this is all you listened to for weeks in May eve1 

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Flying Lotus is a musician that I feel has had an underrated impact on the soundscape of instrumental music this decade on the whole, and his many opuses (Los Angeles, Cosmogramma, You’re Dead!) have been served to touchstone that influence throughout the course of his career. Flamagra, his first full-length album in five years, is a consummation of all the unique aesthetics that molded those albums, broadcasted on a widescreen musical landscape. Flamagra is his longest album to date, both in runtime and in track listing, and musically soundtracks the apocalyptic catastrophe of a “world on fire”. The album blurs in and out of focus throughout the whole tracklist, staggering between a state of dreamlike bliss (“Takashi”, “Land of Honey”, “Heroes”) and chaotic disaster (“Fire Is Coming”, “Burning Down the House”, “Black Balloons Reprise”). Flamagra is both a light and intense listen, merging some of the most sublime melodies and instrumentals with some of the wonkiest, absurdist grooves (“Pilgrim Side Eye”), and the whole tracklist musically chronicles this artistically-intentioned inconsistency. Perhaps the album would have benefitted from a shorter runtime like many critics have suggested, since the brevity of his last project was one of its many strengths, but I loved being able to just loop and shuffle Flamagra for hours on end and immerse myself in the mind of one the decade’s finest musical talents.

tKm9eZb.png?1 "Spontaneous", "Takashi", "Land of Honey", "Pilgrim Side Eye", "Fire Is Coming", "Post Requisite"

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If I had to boil 1000 gecs down to one world, it’d be “clusterfuck”. “Refreshing” could work too, because 1000 gecs is one of the funniest and most memeable (see: “money machine”) comedy albums I’ve ever heard in my life. If PC Music is a hyper-stylized satire of pop music, then the music of 1000 gecs almost seems like a parody of the trademark PC Music chipmunked vocal stylings and grating basslines. 100 gecs’ both eloquent lyricism (“Hey little piss baby”, “gec gec gec gec gec gec”) and minimalist production techniques (speaks for itself) converged to satisfy my craving for chaotic energy for the final leg of this year. But even though it’s essentially a collection of scattered noises and synthlines, some songs on here are actually bona fide bangers with grooves that just click despite being discordantly ugly. This was a late discovery for me, so I’m still in the process of actually registering its novelty, but I know I’ll have a blast spinning and processing 1000 gecs well into the new decade.

tKm9eZb.png?1 "money machine", "745 sticky", "800db cloud", "stupid horse", "gecgecgec"

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Despite the beautiful neo-soul and nu-jazz aesthetics of her music, the crux of Snoh Aalegra’s art lies in her gorgeous, satin voice. - Ugh, those feels again is carried by all of those aesthetic forces and amounts in one of the most elegant meditations on romance of the year (take notes, Camila Cabello). - Ugh, those feels again is more notably forward-thinking than her previous efforts, with songs like “Situationship” and “I Want You Around” being distinctly modern in their interpretations of her generally slow-burning R&B. But though the music on this album is more contemporary and stylish, the roots are undeniably old-school like the rest of her work (particularly highlighted on the gospel-tinged “Find Someone Like You” and the old-fashioned “Peace” and “Charleville 9200, Pt. II”, both of which wouldn’t feel out of place on her Don’t Explain EP). Considering the momentum and critical reception of this project, I’m excited to see Snoh’s music continue to evolve and orient itself towards the future of R&B, because I feel like her masterpiece is still yet to come.

tKm9eZb.png?1 "Situationship", "I Want You Around", "You", "Peace", "Find Someone Like You"

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While not as caustic as most of her neckbeard haters, I couldn’t help but identify myself with the “Clairo is bedroom-pop gentrification!!” camp last year. While I still find her back catalogue to be grating and underwhelming, Clairo seemed to experience a full-body musical evolution this year. The release of the album highlight “Bags” seems to hallmark the pivotal moment in her career (similar to Lana) where even her naysayers start to shut up and begrudgingly accept that there’s real musical potential starting to manifest itself in her art. What previously served as grating minimalism on songs like "Pretty Girl" transformed into that of artful restraint on songs like "North" and "Closer To You", moments on the album that would've been tainted by an instrumental a modicum louder or by even slightly strained vocal performances. Immunity is yet another 2019 example of an artist tapping into the current zeitgeist and hitting their stride, with Clairo documenting the fundamentally millennial story of a queer popstar navigating her truth and unlocking musical capital in that sense of insecurity.

tKm9eZb.png?1 "Bags", "North", "Closer To You", "Softly"

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Highlights: "No Drug Like Me," "Julien," "Want You in My Room," "I'll Be Your Girl"

Carly Rae Jepsen and her endless supply of lovestruck, relentlessly catchy pop anthems need no introduction in 2019, especially to a forum full of pop music loving homosexuals. Dedicated is the follow up to Emotion, a modern pop classic that both amassed Jepsen a cult following and almost singlehandedley revived #poptimism in both indie and critic circles. It was inevitable that the follow up to such a record would only disappoint. While Dedicated may not be as thrilling as Emotion was when it first released, it's still a surprisingly mature and cohesive record in its own right. "No Drug Like Me" is the best song in Jepsen's already stacked discography, an achievement that is by no means an easy feat. It perfectly encapsulates everything that makes a Carly Rae Jepsen song a Carly Rae Jepson song. It's euphoric, shamelessly and overtly romantic, and, above all, an absolute #bop. Other highlights such as "Julien" and "Want You..." take homage from 80s pop while standing as certified bangers in their own right. Overall, Dedicated cements Carly Rae Jepsen as one of pop music's most reliable titans.

 

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21 hours ago, Lachlan said:

Iirc I said I didn't like Mile High when it was released in a thread but I really switched like a sissy after listening to it on almost every night time drive I had this year.

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Perfect song for late driving yes

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Favourites: Gone, Cross You Out, I Don’t Wanna Know

This year, leader of the gay cinematic universe Charli XCX dropped her first proper ‘album’ since her shift away from the pop-rock of 2015’s Sucker (which now seems like an eternity away). It does however follow through from her 2017 mixtapes as a record that is stacked with collaborations from a slew of underrated pop artists. This record sees a marriage between some more commercial cuts (‘White Mercedes’, ‘Blame It On Your Love’, ‘1999’) and some of the wild PC stylings that she has become associated with (‘Click’, ‘Warm’, ‘February 2017’) - yet nothing feels out of place. The huge, industrial thumpings of the Sky Ferreira-featuring ‘Cross You Out’ has become one of my most played songs of the year, while some of the quieter cuts like ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’ and ‘Official’ showcase some a vulnerable edge to Charli that we don’t get to hear too often. Here’s to the inevitable Charli music that we’ll get in 2020!

 

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Favourites: Golden, Lights Up, She

Although this album was released just under a week ago, I’ve had it playing every time I’ve been in the car. Opening with the driving, sun-soaked punches of ‘Golden’, ‘Watermelon Sugar’, ‘Adore You’ and ‘Lights Up’, this album moves us away from the intimate world that he shared with us on his debut before throwing us straight back into the depressive state we thought we had rid ourselves of with ‘Cherry’ and ‘Falling’. There are still some obvious influences from the Beatles and Fleetwood Mac that Harry has toyed with since the start of his solo career, but overall it feels like another step forward into finding his own sound. Poor Liam Payne.

 

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Favourites: Closer to You, Bags, Sofia

None of Clairo’s earlier music stuck with me, so I was pleasantly surprised when listening to Immunity for the first time to really connect with it and find myself getting lost in soundscape that she had created. There is nothing immediately demanding about Clairo’s music; don’t go in expecting a banger as the closest thing you’ll find is ‘Closer to You’ with it’s woozy synths and erratic drums hits (even then, it’s still a pretty laid back song). There’s a real charm to the simple and lackadaisical way that she sings about her qualms with love. While they aren’t entirely comparable, I do think there is a compelling directness to both Clairo’s lyrics and that of the lyrics on Kacey Musgraves’ 2018 Golden Hour. I’m excited to see where Clairo progresses from here, because she’s definitely turned me into a fan.

 

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Favourites: Light On, Say It, Fallingwater

Maggie Rogers has been one to watch ever since her encounter with Pharrell Williams over her song ‘Alaska’ went viral. After being drip fed by an EP and a couple of stand-alone singles, Maggie finally kicked 2019 off with a bang with her debut full-length record. This album feels cathartic, from the bare piano confessions of the title track, to the gentle drum-wrapped realisations of  ‘Fallingwater’ and the thundering warmth of the final song ‘Back In My Body’. It’s a very polished record, with nothing ever feeling too strange or out of place; but there’s plenty of time for her to go wild in the future if she chooses.

 

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Favourites: Stormy Weather, Save Room for Us, Perfect Crime

This is the one album I was more nervous than any other to listen to this year. After the disastrous rollout of her last effort Joyride, and the termination of her contract with RCA, Tinashe had a lot to prove. At last, she wasn’t being moulded into a million different characters for marketing resulting in a jumble of sounds - she was in control. Thankfully, she well and truly delivered. This album feels confident and focused, and the perfect starting ground for the next phase of her career. The mix of sounds never feels frustrating or jarring like it did on Joyride. The modern late-night jams (‘Feelings’, ‘Touch & Go’), blend perfectly with influences from 80s and 90s (‘Save Room for Us’, ‘Perfect Crime’), and the outright bangers (‘Hopscotch’, ‘Link Up’). This record is a huge win for Tinashe.

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