2018 - The Albums

All music posts here please.
User avatar
Fretless
Posts: 9290
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 12:15 pm
Location: Somewhere in Holland
Has thanked: 1487 times
Been thanked: 2280 times
Netherlands

2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Fretless »

How was the last year in terms of new music?

Great - tons of excellent sounds.
Average - with a few OK records but nothing special.
Rubbish - everything released these days is crap.

Let us know what your faves were, what the rest of us just HAVE to hear...
... and what we really need to avoid.

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

User avatar
Fretless
Posts: 9290
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 12:15 pm
Location: Somewhere in Holland
Has thanked: 1487 times
Been thanked: 2280 times
Netherlands

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Fretless »

For me there weren't a lot of albums that came out in 2018. Of note:

Jean-Michel Jarre 'Equinoxe Infinity'

Image

Dead Can Dance 'Dionysus'

Image

Tesseract 'Sonder'

Image

These would all fall into the category: 'Pretty good but not mind-blowing'
For the rest I have concentrating on remastered versions of CD's that I already had and filling-in gaps in the collection concentrating on bands like: Yes, Asia, Saga & Poco

Did discover some wonderful artists this year, though. The profoundly moving works of the late Johan Johannsson, the stunning atmospheric pop of Efterklang, the passionate neo-prog of Magenta, Hammock's angel-choir rock, Lost Horizons, No-Man.

Oh, and I mustn't forget some serious time spent in the company of REO Speedwagon and The Marshall Tucker Band
'yee-haw' !!!! :dance: :dance: :dance:

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro, Monolith & AQ

User avatar
Mississippi Blind Child Assburn
Posts: 2174
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:07 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 14 times
Canada

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Mississippi Blind Child Assburn »

Fret: I would say, without hesitation, that it was a bad year.

Prog bands are coming out at a frequency unheard of - and that is just the problem: back in the day a new band attempting vinyl release had to pass thru somesort of filter beefwhore a vinyl contract was signed. ESPECIALLY in Britain there were few private presses.
Nowadays anyone with a broom and sawdust can startup a band and RELEASE PRODUCT.
At first the filters (Im thinking of the case in Britain) were very good - people/loose hippies who were true music lovers running the studios . Later things got sad: suits knowing nothing of the Underground were running things and bottom line was profit, not musicianship.

Now there are no filters. And this is the entire problem.

(Also -but this is a big guess on my part - because of the downloading problem and the total unlikelyhood of a new band ACTUALLY MAKING MONEY FROM MUSIC; because of this, perhaps up-coming bands are less inclined to try hard and PRACTICE. They just slap PRODUCT together and get it out there into this vast sea of music within which nowadays new bands almost immediately DROWN and are unheard of in short time.)

There is too much out there. Too much competition. And quality is given short shrift.

Because there are so many goddamn prog bands spread out, you no longer have true audience devotion. Audience is hopping like fleas from one (perceived)sensation to the next. No longer do you take your newly purchased Beatles lp home from the store and play it to death,SAVOURING IT. Even going so far as to actually studying it*...and go to the mall and discuss over and over the features of the lp with kindred spirits.

*I recall in grade 13 English class I went beefwhore the class and dissected Dylan's "Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall" and THE TEACHER did Procol Harum "In Held Twas I".



It was a bad year - not only these limp new bands, but old geezers from the classic 70s reforming bands which - in Blind Child's opinion are alright but hardly up to snuff compared to what these bands achieved back in the day. I could list you at least ten - say Italian bands - that fall into this pidgeonhole for 2018. But I wont.

Now your getting "best of" lists on the prog forums. I don't even GLANCE at the lists coming from idiot metal-prog heads, but I know the posters with good taste and, following their suggestions, I have tried many a 2018 release , mainly all of which fall flat ....no matter how much others have praised them.

Ones I just tried in the last few days:
bABA yOGA (iTALIAN with everyone IT SEEMS IN IT - GUYS FROM gOBLIN, oRME ETC . Only half the tracks are good and most I would not even call prog - just a meld of all sorts of styles.)

Piniol, Aquaserge,Far Corner-risk, ....ALL SUFFER THE SAME: too much repetition and composition not up to standard. And these are consistently being deemed the best of the year!
Last edited by Mississippi Blind Child Assburn on Wed Dec 26, 2018 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Mississippi Blind Child Assburn
Posts: 2174
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:07 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 14 times
Canada

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Mississippi Blind Child Assburn »

A few good ones though.
Bands that have been around:

Manna/Mirage
Bubu
Homunculus Rez
Elephant 9
Koenjihyakkei
Gryphon (fuck, its been something like 40 years!)

User avatar
CN211276
Posts: 6522
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 9:29 am
Location: Cardiff
Has thanked: 1401 times
Been thanked: 976 times
EUROPEAN_UNION

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by CN211276 »

Every year has been a bad year since the 80s.
Main System
NVA BMU, P90SA/A80s (latest spec), Cube 1s, TIS, TISC(LS7)
Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord Mscaler & Qutest, Sbooster PSs
Network Acoustics Eno, ifi iPurifier3, AQ JB FMJ, Cisco 2940 & 2960
DH Labs ethernet, BNC & USB cables, Farnells cat 8 ethernet cable

Second System
NVA P20/ A20, Cubettes, LS3, SSP, SC
Sonore MicroRendu, Chord Mojo 2 MCRU PSs, AQ Carbon USB cable & JB FMJ

Headphones
Grado SR325e/Chord Mojo, Beyerdynamic Avetho/AQ DF Colbat

RIP Doc

User avatar
Mississippi Blind Child Assburn
Posts: 2174
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:07 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 14 times
Canada

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Mississippi Blind Child Assburn »

the new Forgas Band Phenomenon did little for me -getting jazzy.

Ring Van Möbius - Past The Evening Sun This was good. With van der Graaf moves,

Cheer Accident - Fades Old US RIO band going back to 80s. Pretty good.

Then there was that band with the French-sounding name - I forget now - wot had Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett's brother amongst others. Pass.

User avatar
karatestu
Posts: 5945
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 4:40 pm
Location: North Yorkshire
Has thanked: 1865 times
Been thanked: 1378 times
Great Britain

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by karatestu »

I have no idea if 2018 was a good or bad year. I am too busy mining the jazz back catalogue from years gone by. Maybe i should pay more attention ?

Most recent jazz band i liked were Dinosaur.
DIY FREE ZONE

User avatar
savvypaul
Posts: 8633
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:14 pm
Location: Durham
Has thanked: 1657 times
Been thanked: 2978 times
Contact:
Great Britain

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by savvypaul »

Ashley McBryde: Girl Going Nowhere
Rosanne Cash: She Remembers Everything
Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain
IDLES: Joy As An Act Of Resistance
Parquet Courts: Wide Awake
Cabbage : Nihilistic Glamour Shots (sadly not got the charm of their earlier stuff)
The Lovely Eggs : This is Eggland
Goat Girl: Goat Girl
Giant Sand: Returns To Valley Of Rain
Willie Nelson: Last Man Standing
Daniel Romano: Finally Free
I am in the hi-fi trade
Status: Manufacturer
Company Name: NVA Hi-Fi
https://nvahifi.co.uk/

User avatar
Mississippi Blind Child Assburn
Posts: 2174
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:07 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 14 times
Canada

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Mississippi Blind Child Assburn »

Man Paul, but that is a ripe load of cob.

Is this for real?

User avatar
Mississippi Blind Child Assburn
Posts: 2174
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:07 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 14 times
Canada

Re: 2018 - The Albums

Unread post by Mississippi Blind Child Assburn »

Image

Not playing current, but had to post this cover.

Post Reply