What was your last year like?

[Sebasty]

Hey! 🙂

The new year is now running at full speed (or still slowly gaining speed: me right now).

Spotify Wrapped came in last year's December. Those with last.fm also have new last.year stats live. My last.year is quite boring. :')

My last year was pretty colorful. It saw Amon Tobin becoming very active again and releasing 3 LP's, an array of Two Fingers singles and a few other things. It saw me still venturing around  the edges of my musical tastes. It saw me having some newfound insomnia and therefire lying in bed listening to Tid and Steven Wilson. Obviously a lot of good music.

What I found last year:

1. the song that got me oh so good:

spotify:track:43vBuonU6UgCHd92VSz52z:small 

2. the saddest song I have heard so far:

spotify:track:69WzNkdbqaJEK6XanOkB4P:small 

(goddamnit)

3. one lo-fi track I really enjoy hearing:

spotify:track:52RWWbz0S68Ulbg5Ifppjg:small 

4. A really good label releasing some awesome deep dark dubstep:
spotify:user:deepdarkdangerous 

5. An artist I picked from Amon's musical ventures, for the beautiful melancholic sounds:

spotify:artist:4GolrXXRODq7bAGCod4JoV:small 

6. That album by Oscar And The Wolf, for the taste of indie folk/indie pop:

spotify:album:4H4igjOIgoUYUnnUPL2AW9:small 

7. This album by Bolten M for its amazing soundwork:

spotify:album:0ULnnlSAE837QwK3pntlTh:small 
(i really love "Eco Inestable"! It feels as if you're diving into liquid space)

8. Crazy beats with awesome sound design:
spotify:track:6iRVA1EJYbI6g7Zq0svHDX:small 

spotify:track:3sIIpuGQAMfe4SzQV5RhLo:small 

9. Music I should have known before, but better now than never:

spotify:track:3Wkho6tesTh4aF80T6evqH:small 

10. The "ooops I overplayed this one":

spotify:track:0ka8T3oHOAI8fPmfAbyiGr:small 

Feel free to share what you found in your musical ventures. 🙂

[AdamDamon]

Here are my top 12 favorite tracks or albums that I discovered in 2019, by bands that I also just discovered last year:

• Dead Roots Stirring by Elder: this album is tagged as a “masterpiece” on Last.fm, and I couldn’t agree more; all the tracks are great (in my opinion)

https://open.spotify.com/album/4N5iqXMXJUZMUzhxDqYQxp?si=WM8UyGSFQlK5ugdQWAWCHg

• “Homage” by Causa Sui: From Copenhagen, Denmark are this excellent instrumental psychedelic/stoner/space rock band, and this is my favorite track of theirs. The studio album version is great, but Causa Sui are also apparently really good live, so I’m sharing this version from their Live in Copenhagen album

https://open.spotify.com/track/5sSw6MT0m3pgUJZwTdinBx?si=rK2H6NwMQ1-mzxBY7V7m8Q

• “Brahama” by My Sleeping Karma: this awesome band also plays a unique mix of instrumental psychedelic/stoner/space rock that I absolutely love; and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/3yuVr8VQbkRCrdk8ekHVjC?si=CIgCStSUSgKMOPb0dNCLbA

• “Aquamaria” by Colour Haze: One of the first stoner rock bands, Munich, Germany’s Colour Haze play with a really nice fuzzy guitar tone reminiscent of Kyuss; and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/6s5BwPPzz4bdY5aUHWzqAE?si=f3e4EJ5tTiWCH6AFsUP96Q

• “Up in the Sky” by Somali Yacht Club: This band from Lviv, Ukraine plays a unique mix of stoner rock, psychedelic rock, shoegaze, and post-metal; for me, there’s an almost hypnotic quality to their washes of distortion and heavy riffs, and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/0eXfZ0Tq12ErDNOJFnhZRm?si=_q6G6wplQseAXfqG6xOveQ

• “Smoke Sea” by The Re-Stoned: From Moscow, Russia are another awesome psychedelic/stoner rock band. This track appeared on their 2018 studio album, but The Re-Stoned are apparently great live, so I’m sharing their live version from their 10π album released last year

https://open.spotify.com/track/6uvHO6LOjectCm3gFQQP6U?si=ws225MVhTNOsEdAOj_KKTw

• “Navigator” by Dopelord: An amazing stoner/doom metal band from Poland, Dopelord are easily my favorite doom metal band of the past decade, and this is my favorite track of theirs:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3l1x1c7nhemfObYaOImsHR?si=0CgE-mQVT2O1-Qh03_8uqQ

• “Sleep of the Black Lotus” by Wo Fat: From Dallas, Texas, Wo Fat play a heavy riff-oriented style of stoner rock/psychedelic doom metal that I am appreciating more and more with each listen; and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/1gwWcQf0CmJxQPc4AlOoEh?si=4QMq5-VCS5SjN5VHl2Sncg

• “Wall of Confusion” by Hazemaze: A truly underappreciated artist, Hazemaze are a stoner rock/doom metal band from Stockholm, Sweden who have so far released two (really good) albums: Hazemaze (2018) and Hymns of the Damned (2019); and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/5WBVhnnDi524EXR4lewDPm?si=m2Pngvr0RxeayUWw3JMvaQ

• “Beginner’s Guide to Suicide” by Orange Goblin: From London, England, Orange Goblin have gradually become one of my favorite stoner/doom metal bands, perhaps because of their unique blues and space rock influences; and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/7imiaRB49Lcf9qygZDJnTt?si=wlopo2d5Rniw-y6bAG80nA

• “Doomsday Machine” by Kadavar: A great retro stoner/psychedelic rock band is Berlin, Germany's Kadavar, whose sound brings listeners back to a time before heavy metal fully distinguished itself from rock; and this is my favorite track of theirs

https://open.spotify.com/track/32I4UsC1WmfIv09pvJtjxh?si=aWa1PYu3SsunPunm8DhJsQ

• “Black Woods” by Stoned Jesus: From Kyiv, Ukraine are this awesome stoner rock/doom metal band, whose sound on “Black Woods” is very similar to early Black Sabbath (which in my opinion is a really good thing):

https://open.spotify.com/track/0mZT9OQnGPcl8WjA5H8pjm?si=RzRXyzcpT8-CogIZE_Ndcg

[ReinisV]

Good but 2018 was a bit more interesting, I think.

Here's a list of my 20 favorites from last year:

https://open.spotify.com/user/reinis_vazdiks/playlist/5S5pt4J8ITYillcDcywqUT?si=yQ3CvcsLT3O16zY6-V6M...

[osornios]

@Sebasty 

Wait, you listened to artists different than Amon? I'm shocked! xD

I haven't seen my statistics yet, but I'm sure they'll be dominated by Tool. I've had their last album in repeat since it came out. lol.

[Sebasty]

I do listen to artists other than Amon Tobin, now and then, @osornios .. :')

I guess I have my last.fm account to prove just that, lol

I guess my year of listening was also a bit more diverse in 2018, @ReinisV

There was quite a lot of awesome releases in 2019 as well, but it's not something I can pinpoint exactly as I don't really care about how old or new the track is.. : )

Great selection @AdamDamon! I'm yet to listen to them though. :')

[osornios]

@Sebasty 

How many artists do you have in your last.fm?

I finally took a look at my yearly stats, and it seems I listened to less artists than the year before, which I found interesting.

[Sebasty]

@osornios 

I have a little over 7000 artists. About half of which I've listened to more than once.

I also listened to less artists and music in general. I had a job which didn't really allow to enjoy as much music. I hope to find a job that does...

[osornios]

That's a lot of artists!