Cassidy

I haven't finished compiling tracks yet but if I get the time it's certainly something I'm hoping to complete!

#16 Let’s Eat Grandma I, Gemini http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/923/I7GimG.jpg Heralding from East Anglia and basing their artist profile on a grammatical musing, Let’s Eat Grandma somehow managed to release one of the most bizarrely compelling records of the year back in June. On their debut, the two female teens show you glimpses of naughty and glimpses of nice, glimpses of dreamy childhood frolic and glimpses of stone cold brutality. It’s clear to the listener where one begins and the other ends, but they allow us to interpret it as a crossover of their befuddled reality. Perhaps being unaware of the distinction themselves. For such a mature and often in parts disturbing record, Let’s Eat Grandma constantly run a trace of pre-adulthood throughout. On ‘Deep Six Textbook’ they emphasise narrative frustration and teenage angst declaring ‘We live our lives in textbooks / I feel like standing on the desk and screaming I don’t care’. Further to this, the duo open up ‘Rapunzel’ with a mesmerising, dreamy piano solo fit to accompany a children’s lullaby before quickly losing its carefree nature when the droning lyrical imagery of ‘My cat is dead / My father hit me’ kicks in. Probably their most telling point of how masterfully they can toe the line between adolescent naivety and red-eyed demonic tendency. There are parts on the record where you genuinely believe they’d cut you in your sleep and not give it a second thought afterwards. #15 Ariana Grande Dangerous Woman http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/922/Y2B5dH.jpg On Grande’s third full length she insisted that we took everything we knew previously about her and put it to the backs of our minds, for now at least. Spearheaded by the image of a throwback-to-Spring-Breakers-esque balaclava with bunny rabbit ears she goes on to throw out vivacious, almost arrogant lines such as ‘Maybe you got lucky ‘cause you’re rocking with the best’. She flirts with the idea of indulgence, desire and (of course) danger. While she may not be entirely comfortable with the moniker herself she certainly pulled it off exceptionally. Awash with superstar guest appearances (yes Macy Gray we hear you) Dangerous Woman allowed Ariana to not only showcase her incredible vocal qualities but create some of the most insatiably moreish pop jams we’ve heard in a long time. Casting our minds back to when Ariana announced the album with the title ‘Moonlight’ it’s easy to understand how this album may never have come to fruition. The named track to the opening song is a slushy, slow-burning melody which sees her in her natural form. Prolonging an issue of being hurt and how she never knew she could be stung so badly. As soon as we hit the second track, that’s when we know she means business. The key changes hit you with immediate impact and suddenly we have a record that is accompanied by a confident swagger, not an awkward foot-shuffling jaunt. In reality it’s not an album we will ever see again from her, but for the 55 minutes it lasts it’s quite something.

The release kind of flew under the radar I thought but given time it really is a wonderful record. Beautiful from start to finish <345

Saddened to see Solange, Kanye and Frank O have already been and gone :(

Greedy could have been and would have been an UNDENIABLE SMASH HIT.

ScHoolboy Q isn't my favourite on TDE but he's certainly part of a bigger, more beautiful picture. Blank Face LP is definitely my favourite work of his so far ///

#18 Nicolas Jaar Sirens http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/922/B5YBFT.jpg When pondering over huge musically political statements you would be forgiven for not jumping to Nicolas Jaar and his work straight away. The name Sirens immediately gives the impression of something going down and he duly delivers throughout. On his second LP, Jaar leaves us with a litany of unanswered questions and droplets of knowledge to use when judging our own personal worth. All intelligently disguised under a repetition of the finest electronic synths of the year. On ‘History Lesson’ he systematically lays down a retelling of events. ‘Chapter one, we f*cked up / Chapter two, we did it again, and again, and again and again.’ A key theme of a much bigger picture being painted by Sirens. Conveying an idea that we are all guilty of being unaware and unwilling to acknowledge our failings. However, he wears it down almost to the nub under a succession of rhythmical finger snapping. Allowing us to get lost in the beauty of such a damning reality. The first three minutes of the album are nothing more than breaking glass. Again we are then lulled in by ambient repetitive piano strokes and thus the cycle begins. Throughout this record Jaar is constantly drawing us in and taking the most critical swipes when we are too busy admiring the view. #17 Wet Don’t You http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/924/Q9pOkf.jpg At the end of 2015 ‘Deadwater’ was lodged in my brain as one of the most delicate and beautiful tracks of the year. When Wet found the time to release Don’t You earlier in the year we weren’t treated to new deviations of sound or scattering changes in direction. We were treated to a full-length of the most delicate and beautiful tracks of the year. They understood their niche and pulverised it until there were 11 tracks greasily sliding through the acts of neediness and the depths of heartbreak. Not to say they make something of misdirection or tedium, more that it’s all part of the same hegemonic machine. With each new track Kelly’s vocals plumb new depths and open us up to a whole new world of emotion. At the beginning of the album we hear Kelly pining in despair at the idea of not wanting to be someone’s ‘girl no more’ despite still feeling an indescribable attachment to them. As the record progresses we see a yearning for recognition as she stubbornly cries to be called by her real name. A list of almost insistent demands and a far cry from the uncertainty six songs previous. The piece de resistance, however, is saved preciously until the final track of Don’t You. On ‘These Days’ she passes through you hauntingly like that of a mythical ghost, leaving you with nothing more than a wobbly lower lip and a cold feeling throughout. At their humbling best the Brooklyn three-piece allow you to connect the dots between interpersonal struggles and the subconscious knowing of how to resolve our own issues. A theme built up gorgeously over 41 minutes of confusing ambivalence.

#20 Blood Orange Freetown Sound http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/923/xx6Wwn.jpg When Dev Hynes returned with his third Blood Orange album in the summer of 2016 it was an intriguing prospect to see where he would take the project. For a man of 30 he’s covered such a multitude in the music industry already. Throughout Freetown Sound we see much of the traditional Blood Orange. We see Hynes vocally ghosting out of songs with elegance and grace, we see him experimenting with genres and guest vocals almost methodically. It sprawls across numerous different pigeon-hole categories and comes out the other end as, simply, Blood Orange. Amongst all the experimentation however, he still has his axes to grind. In its entirety it is an album of unity and strength, showing the realms with which music can pass in to when standing up against oppression. In equal measure it also calls to attention society’s failings and refuses to hold back. One of Hynes’ strongest attributes in his repertoire is to paint a picture allowing people from all walks of life to understand, not really paying attention to the afterthought of whether people care. It’s the listener’s problem to then mask the miasma or stand up and deal with it. In terms of facing the issue of US racial prejudice head on, this album stands up to any ‘Cranes in the Sky’ or ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’. Certainly a far cry from the days of singing about inanimate shapes as part of Test Icicles. #19 Topaz Jones Arcade http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/921/Kzkcy6.jpg In all honesty, when I first heard Arcade I would never believe it to be a sure-fire top whatever album of the year. It’s nice, it has hooks and it has melodies. There are a few potential smashes mixed in between the maelstrom and hodge podge. However it would appear to lack anything that could be remotely described as a moment. Listen a little more intently and you realise Topaz and his debut piece don’t need moments. It’s a byzantine documentation of his life so far, developing throughout the record with each song. He invites you in to some of his most intimate moments such as coming to grips with the global lusting of money and, on a more personal level, the eventual loss of a sweetheart after waiting around tentatively. It doesn’t need any specified markers along the way to take you on a journey. Spinning yarns aside, Arcade also allows Topaz to showcase his incredibly sharp flow on tracks such as ‘Powerball’ and ‘Howlin’ to the Moon’. Cutting through the backing blends with the precision of a peregrine falcon, dusting witty one-line quips along his trail. For a debut album it cannot be denied that Topaz created one of the most relevant, free-standing pieces of music this year. Whether he’ll eventually ‘blow up’ as predicted when he teased us with certain sound-of-the-summer-esque jams earlier in the year remains to be seen. In hindsight I’m sure I’d prefer to see him continue on his carefully-crafted path of identifying a true funk-rap crossover framework. It certainly worked for me.

http://imageshack.com/a/img921/7452/Aoy99t.jpg COUCOU MES BEAUX AMIS. 2016 is coming to its end and so it’s time for us all to stop everything and make our favourite lists of life (OMG SAD). Aside from literally everybody in the music industry still being sued for copyright infringement it was quite a magical year for musical experimentation and thus produced some of the most exciting releases of the decade. Special mentions to the following albums which, up until three weeks ago, could still have been very much included in my top 20 albums of the year. • AlunaGeorge I Remember • dvsn SEPT 5TH • Isaiah Rashad The Sun’s Tirade • James Blake The Colour In Anything • Kweku Collins Nat Love • Pantha du Prince The Triad • Parquet Courts Human Performance • ScHoolboy Q Blank Face LP MORE TO FOLLOW

Oh my :o

Are Arsenal a real thing or just some bizarre element made up by the FA to keep things interesting?

Twitter was getting RIGHT ON MY TITS earlier with all the 'another forgettable season where Chelsea win it by being efficient in 90% of their matches' comments. City are bound to go on another run, Arsenal still look good value Everton match aside, Liverpool can beat anyone with ease on their day. Add that to the fact that IT'S NOT EVEN CHRISTMAS YET.

Was Zlatan's second as good as Twitter makes out?

I don't care about any of the specifics I've won two separate amounts of £12.28 and £332.37 on the football today. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

They r splitting up guys sorry 😐

0 Crystal Palace vs Chelsea 2 1 Middlesbrough vs Swansea 1 0 Stoke vs Leicester 0 3 Sunderland vs Watford 2 2 West Ham vs Hull 1 1 West Brom vs Manchester United 3 2 Bournemouth vs Southampton 0 3 Tottenham vs Burnley 0 0 Manchester City vs Arsenal 0 0 Everton vs Liverpool 2

Surely the first time you've played *this* generation Boro though? I'd imagine you'll coast past them. Scenes at Goodison this evening :o

ME AND YOU BOTH BAPS

Beav your prediction for me was woeful. I mean EVEN JASE OVERTOOK ME.

Blind is a really curious case. Both him and (for a period) Van Gaal have seemed to be completely disenchanted by him. I don't know if it's the 'jack of all trades, master of none' persona that phases them or what. It really shouldn't because the only time he has been really exposed is when he's in defence against a pacey attacker. Even his height (or lack of) was counteracted for the most part last season by having Smalling at the side of him. Interesting point you make about him being an eventual Carrick replacement though. He's certainly too good to be sold. Fellaini was definitely Mourinho just proving a point though and I completely get why he did it. No matter which way you look at it he's still a United player and therefore it's Jose's job to instil him with confidence, cue the full time comments 'dedicating' the match to him. The booing was frankly embarrassing.

1 Bournemouth vs Leicester City 2 1 Everton vs Arsenal 3 1 Middlesbrough vs Liverpool 2 0 Sunderland vs Chelsea 1 0 West Ham vs Burnley 0 1 Crystal Palace vs Manchester United 3 2 Manchester City vs Watford 0 0 Stoke vs Southampton 1 3 Tottenham vs Hull City 0 1 West Brom vs Swansea 1

You can talk about banter or bad luck but the harsh reality is that if Arsenal want to win the competition they'll have to beat a Bayern, Barca or Real along the way. Judging by their squad and the way they have (at times) played this season it's certainly not beyond them.

Not really too familiar with the goings-on in Ligue 1 but my initial reaction was that we've been handed a decent fixture. That being said, for this stage of the competition, the quality of teams in the mix isn't very high at all.

Predict me pl0x baps

Madness have their audience but I wouldn't imagine it would translate over to the X Factor audience. Bizarre booking.