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Chez's EOY lists 2018, ferdig, takk~

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King Rollo View member profile	12th January 2019, 06:50 PM Post #41
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 3 January 2017 Posts: 10,150 User: 23,961	Great to see you choose 'Superstar'. Those acoustic chords at the start are just for the video narrative. They are not part of the song when I listen to it on Spotify.


Chez Wombat View member profile	13th January 2019, 04:23 PM Post #42
The owls are not what they seem Pronouns: He/him Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,120 User: 9,232	^Ah that'd be because the MP3 from the contest contains the opening from the video -x- 10. Andromedik – Your Eyes A rather simple number, but I'm always up for a bit of drum'n'bass and this track had a really nice vibe to it, there was wonderful poignant and warm feel to it's production and some cute vocals to it. Taken from masters of the emotion-tinged dance track, SuicideSheep, I'd expect nothing less. I've been somewhat disappointed with their output recently, but this has reminded me that they can still offer up a banger. 9. Bassnectar feat. W Darling – You & Me I did get to know the songs in the Club Bizarre edition that I hosted a bit better than other contests so they it was these that stuck with me, probably my favourite discovery from here probably even more so than my own entry, the beautiful Lucid Dreams by Soulfy, was this excellent bit of melodic dubstep. When this genre is done right, it honestly is the best in the world, I love how the instrumentals can mimic high emotions and melodic music and accompanied by some wonderful dainty and delicate vocals, it's wonderful. The drops in this hit you out of nowhere and pack a real punch with the 'you and me against the world now' lyric, it feels so epic in scale, and the verses give it an emotional core which combines two quite distinct segments. Still wonderful to listen to. 8. Priest – Our Time Will Come I'm not sure what it is, but there's something so beautifully soothing and ethereal about Priest's vocals that makes almost any song by her a real beauty to listen to. Our Time Will Come, criminally underrated in it's contest, is no exception. Accompanied with a jittering and jumpy electronic keyboard, but the appeal is still her voice and the delicate power and sometimes pained twang to them that really gives the song it's character. Not to mention it's relative simplicity makes it very easy to listen to and get stuck in your head. It's grown on me so much throughout the year and gets her further on my radar. 7. Moby – This Wild Darkness (CYA remix) A very well deserved TBO winner! I've always been meaning to check out Moby's music as Porcelain is one of my all time favourites and this has still encouraged me to do that further. It's a masterpiece in gradually unveiling itself as it goes, starting with Moby's lamented and darkness-filled lyrics, the stakes raise as a gospel choir enters and then a chord bassline that gradually builds and though simple, capture the essence of the light through the darkness that the song calls for. I haven't heard the non-remixed version so I don't know if it features there, but it seems to fit so well to bring an uplifting presence to what is lyrically a fairly grim track. It certainly always put me back in a good mood whenever I listened to it and I would've said it should have won but... 6. Jean-Michel Blais and CFCF – Hypocrite Well yeah, I didn't actually see it when compiling this but I wasn't lying when I said this was one of my favourite top 2s! Hypocrite is a beautifully crafted, complicatedly structured piece of classical music that I am honestly envious I didn't find myself given how much I love the genre and send it to BJSC so much, but I also can't help but admire it. Starting with a simple melancholy piano chords before launching into a whole symphony of electronic backing and going a number of directions you wouldn't have thought it would go and becomes almost trance like by the end, it never loses you though, it adds a brilliant new dimension to the genre and I'd love to hear things like this on Radio 3 sometime.


Chez Wombat View member profile	13th January 2019, 05:49 PM Post #43
The owls are not what they seem Pronouns: He/him Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,120 User: 9,232	5. Rex the Dog – Maximise I was quite surprised to see Rex the Dog entered again with a track I really don't remember him sounding like, maybe he is a hard dance producer at heart but his last songs were much more mellow (I may be getting him confused), also call me thick for being late, but this is actually JX I never knew that, There's Nothing I Won't Do is quite the tune. Anyway, onto this song, it's easily the best I've heard of this artist, it's pretty much the same throughout in out and out noisy and banging techno house stomper that I would surely lose my shit to on the dancefloor if I were the type that actually did that at all, it's never any less interesting despite it's constant tempo and you almost don't want it to end when finished. 4. Susumu Hirasawa – The Girl in Byakkoya Over to UP now, this was actually entered way back in 2017 and I believe I pointed it and downloaded it, but I somehow found it while shuffling it one day and it really clicked in a way that it didn't at the time. I haven't seen the film it's from, Paprika, even though it does look very good but I love this music, I obvs have no idea about the lyrics but the music is very inspiring and uplifting in tone with some beautiful strings in the background and some wholesome, sometimes emotional vocals and the little spoken soundbeds are very infectious. I don't know why this didn't click with me at the time, I blame the limited time I give songs that contest, but hey, better late than never and here's some belated appreciation for it! 3. Kiasmos – Looped I've come across so many slow building instrumentals like this and kept them on the backburner in terms of song contests, so I'm always glad to find another one! Starting with just a few piano keys and keeping them throughout as the drums kick in, it keeps the glum, somber mood and keys throughout but it unravels as it builds, strings crow in the background, synths find their way in, melodies spiral out of nowhere, if you give it enough patience, you're soon listening to a wonderful cacophony of sound. Looped also feels a very apt name as it seems to constantly come back to the same sounds in a different way. A real experience of a track. 2. Yoko Kanno – Cyber Bird One that I believe goes all the way back to the early 2000s, originating as a soundtrack to Ghost in the Shell. I did check out the movie (original ofc., not that whitewashed remake) and it certainly has the fast moving, sad underlying tone that the movie has. I think even outside of that though, it's a very emotion fraught multi-instrumented experience that anyone can enjoy. The sad almost wailing vocals add most of the melancholy tone that surrounds the movie's inner themes as well as crying strings that surface, and an ongoing industrial drum beat and moving tone under that also have undertones of the fast moving action and technological aspect in the film, it's in sum a perfect piece of music to the movie and a great song on it's own if you're into anime style Massive Attack-esque numbers. 1. Nervous_testpilot – Deeper Possibly a strange choice for this, but I admire this song so much for just how much it emotional punch it packs into it when it has such a short running time, it manages to convey a whole range of moods and styles in that time. Starting off with a quiet piano and sad strings that gradually build into an explosion into a trip hop-esque sound with a melancholy (I rlly like this word) choral vocal and the track explodes into life before quietening down all before the three minute mark. It's quite stunning and so ambiguous in it's meaning and genre that it always intrigues me to listen to it a number of times. This is very much the kind of thing that I love finding and sending to song contests, so it's excellent to find it anyway, and while it is a close run thing, it's my favourite Buzzjack related find of the year, thank you very much, Leonardo xo (and anyone else who sent an entry on this list ofc.!) -x- So that's that for 2018 songs! Just one more list to share with you though in celebration of songs released outside of 2018 (or indeed, the 21st Century altogether) that I alas discovered too late, I hope at least some of you get some enjoyment out of that~


dandy* View member profile	13th January 2019, 05:59 PM Post #44
Mansonette Joined: 7 March 2006 Posts: 35,298 User: 54	Kiasmos I adored their album back in 2015, it accompanied many of my Winter walks along the South coast and early morning train journeys and it was a perfect soundtrack for them. I think you'd like their album so would recommend further investigation if you haven't done so already... Plus double FLJ so yayayay x


Chez Wombat View member profile	25th January 2019, 06:57 PM Post #45
The owls are not what they seem Pronouns: He/him Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,120 User: 9,232	I will try and take that recommendation thank you! I love music for long walks too any new suggestions for that are welcome. -x- Sorry for the slight delay, let's get this finished~ Music Part V: Retro I wanted to include a section on this as last year more than perhaps most others, I was very much into searching out the classics and building my wider musical knowledge than just the current charts which just weren't all that fulfilling. My few forays into streaming have helped with that and also my gift of the 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die book which I've been working my way through gradually and am up to the 1980s, and I should also note that some tracks from here originally released prior to this decade have caught my fancy too (this was a grey area between this list and the Buzzjack one, but I decided songs released outside of this decade/century are probably best kept to this list so there may be more Buzzjack related discoveries to come xo). All in all, it's been really great and while it might seem like I'm living in the past, if music today was anywhere close to as diverse as it was back then, I wouldn't need to x But anyway here are the top 10 songs that I discovered this year that were not released in recent years. 10. Isao Tomito – Clare de Lune Clare de Lune is ofc. one of the greatest pieces of classical music of all time and I was very familiar with that, but I wasn't aware of this quite groundbreaking 1970s composition from the iconic Japanese composer. It really does sound very modern and ahead of it's time even now, replacing the silent piano with swirling, warping synths and sweeping strings that take you all over the emotional scale as it develops and it's so grand in scale it's impossible not to still be in awe by it today. It really is a song that can be listened to in any tranquil and atmospheric setting, it's put you in the mind of various natural phenomena like coming outside after a rainstorm to staring at a great mountain to looking contemplatively at the stars at night, this will always put you in a calm state of mind. A beautiful piece that I'm very glad I stumbled upon on a Reddit classical page. 9. Secret Garden – Windancer I have never been aware of this group before (even though apparently they won Eurovision in 1995) and I'm very thankful to that BJSC 90s/00s spin-off thing for introducing them to me as I'm wondering where they've been in my life listening to this instrumental. A predominantly string based, celtic style track, it's chimes through a beautiful melody throughout and never sounds anything less than charming and pleasant to the ears throughout and there even starts to build a sense of urgency throughout as you get near the ending. It gives me a lot of vibes to Vivaldi's Spring and sure enough the video does evoke various sweeping countryside shots. Much like the last track, it's always guaranteed to lift your mood through its pristine nature. 8. Krzystof Penderecki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima Another BJSC spin-off discovery, I'm glad I enter these! This is another groundbreaking composition of work that I'd never really been aware of before. I don't tend to veer towards the experimental side of music a whole lot, though that has changed this year a bit as you can see with Anna Meredith. One of the most unsettling and harrowing pieces of music I've ever heard, it tells the solemn and heartbreaking stories of the victims of the Hiroshima Bombing purely through it's instrumentation and sonoristic style . It's so evocative and striking in it's form that it's impossible not to take notice and the ever growing sense of danger makes it perfectly suited to it's purpose, however difficult it is to listen to, it's like you can almost hear the cries at one point. A piece I won't soon forget and I will always be a strong appreciator of music that exists to bring certain events and feelings to life. 7. Boy Meets Girl – Waiting for a Star to Fall And if you did just listen to the Hiroshima song, here's a nice change of pace I'm aware it's pretty awful of me that I wasn't really aware of this prior to this year, I was obviously aware of the Falling Stars songs that were hits in the early 00s and ofc. the excellent In My Arms by Mylo, but I never thought to look beyond that. More fool me I guess for not having this joyous bit of 80s pop in my life, it's nothing particularly standout for what it is I guess, but it's still so feel good and sweet to listen to that it will brighten your day, the suitably twinkly and vibrant synth production is great, the vocals filled with charisma and sincerity and there's even a sax solo, and I'll be damned if that's ever a bad thing. What more can you want from 80s cheese? 6. The Cranberries – Linger Now having listening to this, I did realise it was a song I'd known for quite a while and just couldn't put a name to, it's great I can now as it's a lovely song that sits along nicely with their iconic Zombie, it's unfortunate the circumstances that made me getting back into this were, the very sad death of Dolores O'Riordan was very out of the blue and when I listen to their songs now, it's always pinged with sadness. Linger though is the prime opposite to Zombie, whereas that was angry and striking in it's delivery and lyrical context, this is faint and much more dainty, yet don't be fooled by the very radio friendly production, it still maintains that sombre tone with it's lyrics reflecting a one sided relationship that is torturing one of them. The sad tone in Dolores' voice during the song is very sad to hear even without the context and it certainly represents a sad loss to the world with a vocalist so evocative of the strongest emotions.


Chez Wombat View member profile	25th January 2019, 08:28 PM Post #46
The owls are not what they seem Pronouns: He/him Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,120 User: 9,232	5. Stan Ridgway – Camouflage Credit to Spotify discover for providing me with this, when you're not constantly forcing me to buy Premium, you're not too bad! I love songs that tell a story, they are something of a rarity so I was very glad to discover this top 5 hit from 1986. I must admit it's that incredible opening instrumental that remains the best part, you just know you're in for a really epic journey from listening to it and I feel like I'd enjoy the instrumental of this just as much as I do the current version, but I won't discredit the story told in the lyrics either as they tell a very moving story of a Vietnam soldier who finds a guardian angel of sorts that helps him to survive even at the expense of himself. I'm not so much into war stuff but it's still an engaging tale. I'd highly recommend it if you don't know it, although really, just listen to that opening instrumental, it's so wonderful. 4. The Dream Academy – Life in a Northern Town I know, I know, it's shameful it took me this long considering the song that sampled it, Sunchyme from 1997, is one of my all time favourite songs, but hey I can be thankful for that 1001 Songs to Hear Before You Die book for this as I think I saw the beauty in this that I still see in the song that sampled it this year, albeit in a very different way, in comparison to the striking positive vibes of Sunchyme, this is rather melancholy (given it was a tribute to the tragically early death of Nick Drake) and sad even though that chorus with the chanting is still wonderful and uplifting in any context, and the song as a whole is a wonderfully chilled number combining classical and world music that makes it's quaint and home-grown feel as the Northern town it's describing seem much bigger and anthemic. I have received much joy out of it as I have done Sunchyme for years before it, but I'm glad I've got the full musical story now. 3. Laurie Anderson – O Superman I will be honest, this was part of the reason that I wanted to do a section on music not from this year with this incredible piece of avant-garde music that's from the aforementioned book and I really want to talk about it. Think this sounds like a conventional song going by that title? Think again! Sung throughout with a vocoder and in spoken verse though there isn't really a structure to speak of apart from the constant 'ha' synth sound occuring throughout. The lyrics start to convey something of a phone conversation from the speaker looking for 'mum' before the conversation takes a lot more of a sinister tone as the 'American planes' arrive and 'the hand that takes' is apparently speaking and you realise the implications of what you're hearing. A very cleverly done swipe at the implications of justice turned to war as the closing lyrics exemplify. There's so much to admire in this song, it's bizarre and at times unsettling but always engaging in it's eclectic and fast jarring movement, striking visuals and layered yet subtle instrumental throughout. It was stunning to hear that this was a UK hit, I wish Radio DJs these days would support music this experimental. I really implore anyone that doesn't know this to listen, it's one of the most unique songs that has ever charted and it's reputation deserves to live on to this day (I'm glad Black Mirror's Bandersnatch noticed this!). 2. Propaganda – Das Testements Das Mabuse Again this was a grey area of this list or the Buzzjack one but it's so 80s and unlike today's music, I think it fits best here, I'd again never heard of this or them so I'm very glad to have been given that opportunity to discover them. This is such an epic journey of a track, with it's frantic 'sell him your soul' bassline, hushed male vocals, creepy whispers and frantic synths and a speeding drum beat as well as a sound that sounds distinctly German along with it makes the track, or the first five minutes at least, an absolute thrill ride. But the second half shouldn't be discredited either with more high powered drumming, a very strange yet intriguing spoke passage in German and some rather out-there production from the layered instrumental. Every time I listen to it I feel like I'm in an 80s crime/mystery film and it's always amazing. I've had a lot of fun listening to this throughout the year, thanks again for the discovery, Rollo! 1. Goblin – Suspiria You probably saw this coming, but yeah. There isn't a super clear reason I got really into this this year, I'd known it from years ago when I first watched the film but the news of a remake had me excited and reminding myself of how good a film and soundtrack it was, and they very much go hand in hand as the soundtrack is what makes the film as intense, striking and terrifying as it was. Built around a constant synth refrain with very few vocals apart from some muffled chanting and 'la la la's, the first part of the song is very much reflecting of the horror that gradually creeps up on Suzy in the film as she realises she has walked in on a coven of witches and the sinister chanting (it's impossible to make out what they're saying, I think MAY be a version of an ancient poem about three ravens 'whenceforth shall our breakfast take', make of that what you will) and it's ever present in the film, constantly deepening and growing in volume as it goes to make the intensity of the surrounding landscape and colours feel oh so real and then strike when the inevitable kill comes. But even in song form, it's very unsettling, and it additonally launches into a fiery second half of the song as the beat and tempo increases and around the panicked shouting of 'witch!', an array of synths come in accompanying it, making the chase and terror seem all the more real before gradually fading out. It highlights what really is missing in the new remake as it evokes the true aesthetic and strange horror present in the film and reflects the gradual building of tension that made the original so great, it's quite something that a soundtrack can embody the film but this is true here. The BJSC performance of this made me sad, but maybe it's not as effective if you've not seen the film, but it's still extremely chilling as a work of 70s post rock in it's own right, and I suppose that means I'll have to remind you all to watch the 1977 film as well as spam this until you love it! That's that for Music, I'll post a list later.


PeteFromLeeds View member profile	25th January 2019, 08:42 PM Post #47
Buy yourself a car, and a house in Devon Joined: 6 May 2016 Posts: 23,892 User: 23,247	Linger is a beautiful song, I've listened to it a lot since the death of Dolores, of course it's the complete opposite of Zombie but I think how this one is composed just works really well! Das Testaments Das Mabuse was a great discovery this year as well!


Chez Wombat View member profile	25th January 2019, 09:44 PM Post #48
The owls are not what they seem Pronouns: He/him Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,120 User: 9,232	Full list for (mainly my own) convenience. Top 40 songs 1. Tom Walker – Leave a Light On 2. Calvin Harris feat. Dua Lipa – One Kiss 3. Lady Gaga feat. Bradley Cooper – The Shallows 4. Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like a Heart 5. George Ezra – Paradise 6. Panic! At the Disco – High Hopes 7. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho 8. Arctic Monkeys – Four out of Five 9. Jax Jones feat. Ina Wroldsen – Breathe 10. Jorja Smith – Blue Lights Non-top 40 songs but still blog/critic favourites 1. Olafurr Arnalds (feat. SOHN) – Unfold / re:member 2. Olafurr Arnalds – Only the Winds 3. Apparat feat. Soap&Skin – Goodbye 4. Moodoid feat. Wednesday Campanella – Langage 5. Seven Lions, Illenium & Said the Sky – Rush Over Me 6. Pale Waves – Eighteen 7. CHVRCHES & The National – My Enemy 8. Jade Bird – Love Has All Been Done Before 9. Christine and the Queens – Five Dollars 10. Sufjan Stevens – Visions of Gideon 11. Thom Yorke – Suspirium 12. Muse – Thought Contagion 13. Alice Merton – No Roots Obscure/random internet artists 1. Fractal Dreamers – Kingdom of Silence EP / Helblinde 2. Anna Meredith and Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons 3. The Midnight 4. Brony songs 5. Mytischi 6. LSDREAM 7. Think Up Anger Buzzjack-related discoveries 1. Nervous_testpilot – Deeper 2. Yoko Kanno – Cyber Bird 3. Kiasmos – Looped 4. Susumu Hirasawa – The Girl in Byakkoya 5. Rex the Dog – Maximise 6. Jean-Michel Blais & CFCF – Hypocrite 7. Moby – This Wild Darkness (CYA Remix) 8. Priest – Our Time Will Come 9. Bassnectar – You & Me 10. Andromedik – Your Eyes 11. Laibach – Vor Sonnen-Aufgang 12. Ninet Tayab – Superstar 13. Audio Paradyne & Stahl! – Paradise 14. Mikael Seifu – Yarada Lij 15. Wings of the ISANG – Dark Sea 16. Goreshit – The Nature of Dying Non-2018 songs 1. Goblin – Suspiria 2. Propaganda – Das Testements Das Mabuse 3. Laurie Anderson – O Superman 4. The Dream Academy – Life in a Northern Town 5. Stan Ridgway – Camouflage 6. The Cranberries – Linger 7. Boy Meets Girl – Waiting for a Star to Fall 8. Krzystof Penderecki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima 9. Secret Garden – Windancer 10. Isao Tomito – Clare De Lune And that's that for 2018, only 25 days late. If you have been reading and/or commenting, thank you very much. Sorry it was a little sparse,, but I feel this was the best way to get across my musical habits this year when I couldn't do a whole top 100... ...but fear not, because now the countdown is on for the mighty END OF DECADE LIST starting Dec 2019 . Now this is one big music list I can share with you and I can't wait to get into it, even if I have no idea how I'm going to do it yet. See you in 11 months~


Jade View member profile	1st February 2019, 11:47 PM Post #49
Alone and wounded Pronouns: She/her Joined: 18 January 2011 Posts: 60,158 User: 12,810	Sorry that I've taken my sweet time to comment here (trying to make an effort now that I'm going to be in here for a while x) but I have been stalking and I just want to say that I'm so pleased that 'the nature of dying' snuck into your BJSC favourites list <3 I actually heard the (beautiful) song it samples in the background of an advert recently which was quite a surreal moment _ definitely one of my most standout entries to date anyway! Most of those top 40 songs are really good too, firstly, I'll always have fond memories of 'One Kiss' soundtracking the summer of glorious heatwave and football . and also my dissertation but let's not think about that xo Funnily enough I wasn't thaaaat into your #1 (it is decent though) but the rest of that top 10 is so good, most of 'em hit the top 10 in my personal chart! I feel an utter fool for snubbing 'Blue Lights' in BJSC now


Liаm View member profile	3rd February 2019, 12:29 PM Post #50
Brown cow, stunning! Joined: 7 December 2009 Posts: 67,174 User: 10,139	Fab top 10 of chart songs, Arctic Monkeys and Tom Walker aside Shallow, High Hopes, SBP are all in my top 10 of 2018 and Paradise just outside, plus Blue Lights, One Kiss and Nothing Breaks Like A Heart are all particularly fantastic, taste .