I started this quest for a musical genre with the album as the most basic unit of musical biology in mind. This post, the "album-of-the-year" post, is exactly what I had in mind last January.
As the year took shape, though, and my musical discovery habits evolved, the album became less and less prominent. When you're looking for music all the time, starting from the assumption that you know nothing and seeking to discover new artists, then you don't spend very long on any one album. Instead, you obtain the album, stash it away, and move on to finding more.
There were a few albums, though, that I came back to throughout the year. At pretty much any point, I could put one of these albums on and listen to it from beginning to end without feeling compelled to skip anything.
Another way of putting it is to say that I would buy these albums and pay full price for them, and I would recommend anyone do likewise. And when these artists put out their next album(s), I will most likely buy them before hearing them.
These albums paint a picture of a music listener drawn to the reliable conventions of pop music. That recognition disappoints me, even though these albums stand on their own and, in some cases, can't be confined to any one genre.
My albums-of-the-year list is what it is. I think this project, rather than creating new musical tastes and sensitivities, simply brought what was already there out into the light. And I'm fine with that.
It's interesting to me to note that only three of these albums contain a song that made my "songs-of-the-year" list. In the case of "Middle Cyclone," "Love at The End of The World," "Road To My Love," "Time to Die," and "Adult Nights," the total package is greater than any one of its components. And that's an achievement in itself.
Listen to these albums. Add them to your collection. They're good.
