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[2016 Recap] A Few Of My Favorite Things
bless Topsters for assembling this graphic infinitely easier than prior years
Surpriiiiseee!! I'm going to do my year end wrap up differently than most of the ones I've seen. Mostly because I have so many to share, but mostly because I like to let the music do the talking and help you get better connected to the artists themselves. Instead of recaps of each record, I'm going to point you to my favorite tracks so if any of these are new to your ears you'll have the best starting point I can give you.
Personal Observations for 2016
This was a weird year for me in terms of listening/discovery habits. Instead of fighting against music consumption trends, I decided to play along. I dove head first into my Discover Weekly playlist. I even followed some of my friends' in order to see what I would find and set up an IFTTT recipe to archive everything recommended to me so I could go back and reference it later if I wanted. I barely touched my SKOA inbox, which probably upset a lot of publicists. Anyway, according to Last.FM's data (since Spotify never ended up sending me mine), I listened to 1,919 new artists this year, which is ABSOLUTELY INSANE. But really when you think about how much music Discover Weekly puts in front of you, it's really less than what everyone had the potential to check out (which is 1,560 if you figure we get 30 new tracks a week for a year). I am in the 98th percentile in music listening per Last.FM (meaning I listen to more music than 98% of people who still scrobble to Last.FM) and I found myself panicky and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music that Spotify thinks I can get through on TOP of the music I already love and want to enjoy, or the random rabbit holes I end up falling into that typically bring me great new baby bands. I guess most people approach Discover Weekly differently than I do, letting artists come and go as they please, but knowing the transformative power that music possesses, I'm always wary of passing on an opportunity to be affected and share those experiences with others.
It's crazy to think that 20% of what stuck with me this year was randomly generated by The Algorithm and not delivered to me by humans. I almost said that the human delivery was through cosmic forces, but really, if music finds its way to your ears/hearts by friend or by Algorithm, both are cosmic in a way, no?
This is my struggle at present. I value the connection that happens when a humans experience music together, whether it be by recommendation or attending shows together. I worry this experience will continue to be diminished the more we silo ourselves into our algorithm-based echo chambers. I really hope I'm just out of touch and someone will point me to where this is the opposite, but I can't ignore how self-serving shows feel now every time I treat myself to a Night Out. This has been on my heart/mind too much lately to ignore it, so expect some changes to how things go down on the site (starting with making more time for this now that my new job isn't crazy busy for awhile).
What music moved you this year? Did you like some of these records but different tracks? I'd honestly love to know so please drop me a comment. Also if you want more than favorite tracks out of me for these records, feel free to bug me on Twitter I am happy to share!
My Favorite Things Of 2016
[Listen] James Blake - "40455"
After announcing in December that the likes of James Blake and Steve Angello will have shows on the BBC Radio One's Residency programme this month. Last night Blake was on the other side of the desk and on his show he debuted a new track of his titled "40455" and it is everything we've come to expect from him. Swooning, sweeping, soaring and all round staggering. I honestly don't think I'll ever get bored of his style and music. It's perfect to pass the time on a hectic Friday morning in the office. It's helping me fight off the caffeine shakes at least so why don't you all just take a break and enjoy. The weekend is nigh.
You can re-listen to the entire show over here, on which he also dropped a remix of Beyoncé's "Drunk In Love". Alternatively, you can jump to the aforementioned tidbits by listening to a radio rip of both below.
[Album Stream] Jay-Z - 'Magna Carta Holy Grail'
Well here it is folks. After a few weeks of build up we can finally stream Jay-Z's highly anticipated new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. It features guest spots from Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Swizz Beats, JT, Pharrell, Timbaland and Rick Ross. Samsung users have lucked out as the first 1million people to download the album via an app get it for free. For us people on the Apple train we'll have to wait until the 8th to get our hands on a physical copy. For now though, enjoy it in full below via Fist In the Air / Hypetrak.
[News] Kanye West & Jay-Z's Collaborative Album 'Watch The Throne' Tracklisting
I've been extremely hesitant about posting anything involving Ye' and Jay's upcoming collaborative album Watch The Throne until a majority of the information has surfaced. Last month, we received the revealing of the album's artwork along with the pre-order website and today we've received the full tracklisting as confirmed by Jay-Z’s Life and Times website.
Take a look at the album's full 12 tracklisting and deluxe bonus tracks after the jump which guest features Odd Future's (OFWGKTA) Frank Ocean, Jay-Z wifey Beyoncé, G.O.O.D. Music's Mr. Hudson and the legendary late Otis Redding. The album's first official preview "H.A.M." will appear as a bonus track on the deluxe version of the album, alongside the Curtis Mayfield sampled G.O.O.D. Friday's track "The Joy" and the previously leaked track "That's My Bitch" which featured La Roux's Elly Jackson.
The highly anticipated, long awaited, collaborative album is rumored to drop on August 5th but as of right now no official announcement has been made. Preorder the album here.
I've been extremely hesitant about posting anything involving Ye' and Jay's upcoming collaborative album Watch The Throne until a majority of the information has surfaced. Last month, we received the revealing of the album's artwork along with the pre-order website and today we've received the full tracklisting as confirmed by Jay-Z’s Life and Times website.
Take a look at the album's full 12 tracklisting and deluxe bonus tracks after the jump which guest features Odd Future's (OFWGKTA) Frank Ocean, Jay-Z wifey Beyoncé, G.O.O.D. Music's Mr. Hudson and the legendary late Otis Redding. The album's first official preview "H.A.M." will appear as a bonus track on the deluxe version of the album, alongside the Curtis Mayfield sampled G.O.O.D. Friday's track "The Joy" and the previously leaked track "That's My Bitch" which featured La Roux's Elly Jackson.
The highly anticipated, long awaited, collaborative album is rumored to drop on August 5th but as of right now no official announcement has been made. Preorder the album here.
Watch The Throne Tracklisting:
02 Lift Off f. Beyoncé
03 Ni66as In Paris
04 Otis f. Otis Redding
05 Gotta Have It
06 New Day
07 Who Gon’ Stop Me
08 Murder To Excellence
09 Welcome To The Jungle
10 Sweet Baby Jesus f. Frank Ocean
11 Love You So f. Mr. Hudson
12 Illest Motherfucker Alive [Bonus]
13 H.A.M. [Bonus]
14 That’s My Bitch [Bonus]
15 The Joy f. Curtis Mayfield [Bonus]
[Listen] Beyonce - "Party" Feat. Andre 3000 (Prod. By Kanye West & Consequence)
Here's a new one off Beyonce's upcoming album 4 titled "Party" featuring none other than OutKast's Andre 3000 and produced by Kanyeezy and Consequence. I'm not a big fan of B, but when you are bringing collaborations like Kanye, 3Stacks, Diplo, Jay-Z and hopefully Sleigh Bells its definitely worth a listen. Someone find Andre so we can get another solo album or OutKast album 4 hits shelves on 6/28. Shouts to 2DopeBoyz for this one.
[Listen] Beyonce - "Girls (Who Run The World)" (Prod. By Diplo)
As some of you may remember, a couple of months back it was rumored that Jay-Z wifey Beyonce was working on music along with Sleigh Bells and Diplo and now today we get our first listen of the Diplo collab with Beyonce's brand new single "Girls (Who Run The World)." The track samples or shall I say utilizes Diplo's dancehall group Major Lazer's hit daggering single "Pon De Floor." I'm not a big fan of Beyonce but I am of Diplo and Major Lazer and this tune is pretty dope. Check it out below.
Beyonce - "Girls (Who Run The World)" (Prod. By Diplo) by Some Kind of Awesome
[News] Glastonbury 2011 Line-up Revealed
It's almost Festival season which is my favourite time of year. Who doesn't love a weekend in some fields somewhere in some country with a bunch of friends maybe a few drinks and the key ingredient, good music. Glastonbury has always been a landmark in the calendar for any festival goer and this year the rumours had been rife for months about the headliners and confirmation came months ago. Yesterday however the announcement of a crazy number of bands playing across the weekend at Worthy Farm were released. You can see them all in the poster above. Being Glastonbury their will be god knows how many more still left to be announced but to whet the appetite just a little the likes of QOTSA, The Chemical Brothers, Lykke Li, Biffy Clyro, Crystal Castles, Gruff Rhys, U2, Coldplay, Beyonce, Tame Impala, Yuck, The Vaccines and Warpaint just to name a handful.
To get a grasp on the days the bands are playing and a better feel of how the weekend will unfold, head on over to the official Glastonbury site. The size of this festival is unfathomable and the bands that have graced its iconic Pyramid stage will go down in. If you ever get a chance to go to this festival in your lifetime. It needs to be done.
[Listen] Preview Beyonce x Diplo's Major Lazer Sampling Collaboration "Girls (Who Rule The World)"
Don't fret, you have read that title correctly, we have a snippet of a new Beyonce tune for you to listen to. It's not the norm of what you'd expect though. Remember when word got out about the collaborations she may or may not be making on the album, Sleigh Bells said they'd worked with her and so it goes on. This track uses a SKoA favourite as a sample though, Major Lazer, and his biggest hit from his Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do release, “Pon De Floor.”
I'm going to let the jam below cheer up your afternoons with some Mrs Z and Mr Lazer.
Beyonce x Diplo - "Girls (Who Rule The World) (Snippet) by Some Kind of Awesome