HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

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.

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

Jean-Michel Jarre 'Equinoxe Infinity'



Dead Can Dance 'Dionysus'



Tesseract 'Sonder'



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' !!!!

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!

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!)

Every year has been a bad year since the 80s.

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.

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.

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

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

Is this for real?

Not playing current, but had to post this cover.