Maybe it’s not saying much, as I feel like I have been coming to this conclusion often yearly, but there were some truly fantastic records released this year. It would be a bit dishonest if I didn’t mention that as someone who fell in love with music through hip-hop, the genre is definitely the one that I keep up with the most. Left-field hip hop - the more lyrically abstract an … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Favorite Non-Jazz Albums of 2017
The Nextbop favorite non-jazz list is always a fascinating beast because it exemplifies the widest interests of the staff. It frequently doesn't coalesce around many of the same ideas. There are numerous ties (for this and our jazz list). There's frequently something off the wall from someone that isn't at all a common pick, as if that couldn't be expected from a group of jazz … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Favorite Non-Jazz Albums of 2016
It was difficult to find engagement in this year's music. This was a year of loss, of disappointment, of scattershot feelings and even moreso scattershot expression. This isn't to say there want immense work of quality, which makes discovering it even more intriguing. There wasn't a lot of overlap in our staff lists this year, which made for a group of rather exciting … [Read more...]
Nextbop/The Art of Cool Project’s Favorite Everything Else Albums of 2013, #18-12
The Everything Else lists don't get nearly as much web traffic as our jazz lists do. Of course, this makes sense-- this is a jazz and fringe jazz website. People visit this site to learn about what's going on in this specific genre. Talking about music that doesn't fit in this genre is a move outside of the format and purview of Nextbop, and eventually of The Art of Cool … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Best Everything Else Albums of 2011
I knew this list was going to be interesting. We've got a pretty diverse staff of writers with different sorts of taste. As diverse as our jazz list is for this year, when lumping every other genre of music together and giving everything a ranking, it doesn't lead to the typical lockstep decisions. We had a lot of ties. It's a sort of interesting list.--ADHTie 9) PJ … [Read more...]