Interactive 2024 Thus Far Poll

But of course the vote should be on the musical quality, and I also tend to like Barbara's a bit more.

Honourable mention to Decemberists, Burial Ground may be the track from this list that gets stuck in my head easiest.

More later.

This time through, the heavier tracks started to gain some ground, especially Sgaile and Caligula's Horse.

Haven't finished listening yet, but I thought I'd share some of my very subjective impressions, at least for the main nominations...:

I discoverd this Beth Gibbons' track thanks to the radio and I think it's beautiful. I listened to her album twice now and although all of the tracks keep that beauty I'm afraid that it doesn't have enough diversity to keep my attention throughout.

After the first minute of Still House Plants i thought "this is not for me", but it has something quirky, punky and intriguing over it. Interesting. Will listen to it again, although I don't think it will end up high on my lists.

Idles deliver a rich kind of indie rock; a short full sounding hypnotic epic. Very nice.

Yes, this Barbara Morgenstern track is beautiful. An interesting rich minimalist piece (if such a paradox makes sense) with clear chamber pop qualities. Will explore her album.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is a band I should like, but I don't. Somehow their chamber rock + metal formula doesn't work for me. I recognize the quality, but especially the metal side rather puts me off.

Talking about metal (is it?), I prefer Sgàile then. I probably wouldn't become a fan, but it is nice to hear this kind of polished hard rock sometimes. A bit conventional maybe, but quite enjoyable.

Melvins deliver a kind of 80s flavoured RIO punk () on this track - quite nice, actually. Not sure if I would like a whole album of it, but a track like this every once in a while is great.

I do like the The Decemberists track. Very "radio friendly" in a way: accessible, melodic, captivating... Nice, but not "outstanding".

Oh, how I hate growling... But there are other elements in this Ihsahn track that I appreciate much more: the (normal) singing, the orchestral/symphonic aspects, a.o. Maybe a bit conventional on the composition side but by moments quite enjoyable, despite the growling bits.


The first bonus section is of more consistent high quality music, to my ears. I like all of them: the Bryan Ferry goes chamber rock track by Eunuchs. I love that Blues track by Solar! The Ghost Funk Orchestra very enjoyable, just like the chamber-rock jazzy (duh) Adult Jazz track, the beautiful dreamy electronic folk-pop of Bat For Lashes... Even Caligula's Horse is not unpleasant (but maybe a bit too conventional to my ears).

I'll have to read the manual again to understand how we may vote, but I haven't decided yet, anyway...

Oh, and the Orange Blossom track doesn't play for me in the playlist; if other people encounter this problem they can find it on page 1 of this thread.