#yo the fact that there is actually this patron saint is a bit cool?

[wanderingwinstonz]

Saint Roch (Rocco, Rock, or Rollox), São Roque, Sant Roc, San Roque

The Patron Saint of bachelors, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids (defined as someone not well, in ill health/sickly, unable to work, is weak/feeble/infirm), surgeons, and more.

;will graham, the patron saint of all strays —

[hardman5509]

Secret Santa Project: Alice’s Amazing Holiday Bash

For @arumi-mangotroid under the banner of @touhousecretsanta

So I took a look at the pet peeves section and decided, hey...I could make a story around subverting these concepts! So I had some fun with this one. : >

Please enjoy!

Alice isn't the most social person in Gensokyo, she and pretty much anyone who had ever laid eyes on her knew this. She did like working alone on her various projects, just her and her thoughts to keep her company. And she did want people to respect her privacy and not barge into her home at some random moment for some random thing. That goes for you Marisa. Especially you Marisa.

But Alice isn't some social outcast! She scoffed out loud as she placed down some money to pay for her bill at the cafe she stopped at for a small break while in the middle of a shopping run. Nice spot of tea and some rice-cakes, but were the customers ever so rude! They were discussing rumors about her out loud, right behind her too! False rumors too!

Alice isn't a loner. She does attend some social events, mostly just the parties hosted at the Hakurei Shrine and that one time at the Scarlet Devil Manor...and that would be the only time in the latter's case. She just likes being alone, she's not in love with it! These people in the village think she's the patron saint of edgy loners! She's not some bratty teenager!

And that other rumor...ooh that other rumor! She's not a tsundere!

...far from it too. If not for Marisa's habit of sticky fingers, then Alice might consider just moving in with her. But people saw her being both annoyed and in love with Alice...which is true, but that's about the same with everyone in Marisa's life really. Some more or less so than others for those two qualities. One could turn Marisa's cluttered mess of a home into a museum of Gensokyo history of the last few years. Akyuu had been spending a lot of time as a matter of fact!

And that doesn't annoy Alice! Every girl in Gensokyo has come by Marisa's pad by this point. Not to hit on her or do something romantic; they just wanted their stuff back!

But no, she and Marisa are (maybe, possibly, hopefully) pursuing a romantic relationship, so Alice must be jealous. She has to be a tsundere! That really...

Alice took a stop in her furious walk to try and calm herself down. This isn't helping matters. People are walking by, humans and youkai alike, and discussing her in hushed whispers. She's getting angry, they're saying about her. Must be going through a rough patch with that thieving magician, they discussed out quiet-like. “Probably annoyed she has to be around people NOT as smart as her.” Someone just used their normal voice to talk about her.

Well, time to fix that! Alice put on a confidant smile as she pumped her fists. She's going to show everyone that she's NOT any of those qualities! She's going to throw the best Christmas party ever! At her own house, no less! She's just needs to clean her place up, move all of her special projects to a locked room, get some decorations and some party favors, and send some invites out to the more restrained people of Gensokyo.

...okay, nothing too crazy. She doesn't want to have a bunch of onis running around all drunk in her home and workshop. So just regular fruit punch and no wine or any alcohol. She might need to hire a bodyguard to watch the door and prevent any contraband from entering. Okay she had already gone too far with the preparations. She needed to keep this nice and simple.

She got this. She's going to run the best party ever!

------------------------------------------------------------

Alice sighed as she examined her house. All of the material relating to magic and/or puppets had been cleared off the way and stored into the other rooms of her house. A big deal of cleaning up would have to be done after the party; no way she's going to be able to sleep in her own bed until she did so.

The tables of her house were now decorated with various foods that Alice had procured for the party; both the legal method of buying them up or the method of using magic as a shortcut. She had to buy the things that she realized would require more effort on her part to summon. Various cheese-related products ranging from cubes to cracker-size cuts, chocolates of all different sizes and shapes, several different bowls of punch, and the most important thing for a party: a ice statue of a certain fairy who is absolutely not invited to this little party.

There's some nice music playing. The lights are dimmed down. Alice clapped her hands together. It's perfect.

And there's the doorbell! Amazing invention she had picked up at that junk shop. It allowed her to prepare for visitors by giving her a few more seconds to at least a full minute to actually get ready. Her first visitor! Who is it going to be...

“Howdy Alice!” Waved Marisa as she walked into the house, carrying some bottle-shaped wrapped gift. “Looks like I'm early...” She settled the gift down onto a empty table. “So...” Marisa sighed as she clutched onto her hat, tugging on it. “I think it's a time for me to go ahead and...”

“No, no!” Alice waved her hands around. “Don't strip! Don't strip!”

“What?” Marisa batted a eye over to her. “Nah, I'm just going to...do this!” Marsia started to spin around on the spot, some glittering sparkles starting to shoot all over the area. She's doing some...sort of transformation? Alice couldn't believe she's going to do this! Marisa's body became dominated by a powerful glow of light that forced Alice to look away.

Man, this party hasn't even really started and it's already getting off on a great start. Alice felt like letting out a squeal of pure unadulterated happiness. Marisa is going to be some sexy Santa baby! ...that's what those magazines from the Human World were talking about.

And as the light faded and Alice could see again, she looked on to see...Marisa in a red and green version of her usual witch's outfit, with some dangly Christmas lights strewn around her hat going off at random intervals. “Ta-da!” Marisa announced as she showed off her rather tacky dress. “I've been working on this transformation spell just for parties like this.”

“Oh.” Alice clicked her tongue. She...really didn't like it. She honestly expected something more a bit more interesting; like a magical girl from those other magazines she had been buying from that pawn store. Man, most of her money is going into buying random magazines. She had one hidden around here about something called 'guns'...useless things really.

“I'm going to show this to everyone that comes here.” Marisa flexed her own 'guns' (Equally useless) before going to hit on the cheese platter and not on the host. This has gone down a weird path. Alice held back from clicking her tongue. Okay, nothing really bad happened so far. Just something annoying. Keep a cool head, Alice.

The door-bell went off again. Next guest! Potentially guests. Alice did hear some footsteps coming from outside. She went over to the door and opened it up to find two people: Suika Ibuki and Reimu Hakurei. Or rather, in an weird turn, Reimu is drunk and Suika is dragging her by the arm. “Yo!” Suika announced as she took Reimu inside; Reimu somehow almost tripping despite the

“Reimu got blitzed already?” Alice asked with a gasp. “What happened?”

“Well...” Suika waved her free hand around. “I might have tried to get Reimu to loosen up before going to this party...”

“Heathens, the lot...” Reimu started to splutter out before her voice quietened down and she started to slump. Alice turned her head to see if Reimu had somehow fallen asleep on her feet. Suika gave the shrine maiden a slap on the back, a gentle one. Enough to make Reimu jump and for her to continue: “...I purify 'ya...” Reimu continued as she stumbled across the room.

“She ended up downing a entire keg.” Suika sighed while shrugging. “I'll make sure she controls herself.” She said that right before Reimu picked up the first bowl of punch and lifted it up to her mouth to try and down it all in one gulp. “After this!” Suika flashed a worried smile before she jumped forward to go and yank Reimu away from drink.

Okay, now it's time for her to start panicking. Alice almost considered pulling out a spell card to go ahead and blow everyone out and consider the party a wash. Hey...hey. She's learning. Next year, or just the next time she decides to throw a party, she's going to do better. No annoying party tricks and just kicking out drunk people...

...well, she would kick out Reimu, but Alice didn't want to piss off the shrine maiden. The last time she did that...Alice didn't want to think about it. Sometimes, when she looks into a mirror, she sees the mark of the yin-yang symbol all over her exposed flesh.

Door-bell! Next guest! Please be normal! Please be normal!

“Yuuka?” Alice asked as the green-haired girl stepped into her parlor. The flower-loving youkai had her usual pattern of her faded-black and red plaid, but this one...is an actual Santa baby outfit. Low-cut to show off her belly, skirt and black leggings, and even a plaid Santa cap. But really, Yuuka just dressed this way to show off her shapely body...despite the thin layer of snow and the thick layer of cold wind present all over Gensokyo.

“Yup, it's me.” Yuuka dug a finger into her ear and dug it around. “Medicine couldn't come due to her going to that other shrine up the mountain, so she gave me her invite.”

Alice almost, almost, made a retort about not inviting Yuuka due to her rather...poor relationship skills with others. Reimu and Marisa she's fine with...despite Yuuka having originally sent an army to tear down the Hakurei Shrine when they first met...aaannnddd Marisa having 'borrowed' quite a number of Yuuka's skills.

But why is Yuuka dressed like that?

“Oh, this?” Yuuka whistled as she stood still, doing a little and slow spin to show off her body. And Alice thought for a second that Yuuka is pushing out her chest and her ass...to try and seduce someone? Most of these people are 'accounted' for! “I just wanted to show off how 'friendly' I am.”

“Friendly...” Alice questioned before going wide-eyed. “Are you trying to hit on people?” Yuuka nodded. “You're looking for a one-night stand.” Yuuka pursed her lips, looked off to the side, and then nodded. “Please tell me you're taking them home before...”

“I don't have a house or a bed.” Yuuka shrugged. “So I'll be commandeering either your bed or your couch...your couch have a bed?” Yuuka asked as she went over to the couch so she could examine it.

“Hey, hey!” Alice protested as she scooted past the lumbering Reimu. “This isn't this kind of a party! This is a nice get-to-together...”

“That's nice being nice.” Yuuka admitted as she threw away the cushions. “Shoot, it isn't a bed...”

“Why do you think I will allow this?” Alice actually got a bit angry and confronted Yuuka, grabbing ahold of the woman's arm to yank her away from the couch. This turned out to be a mistake as the moment Alice's fingers even touched against Yuuka's arm, the air in the room suddenly took on a very...violent aura. Yuuka didn't even need to do anything, just her sheer presence of anger convinced Alice to let go.

“Eh, I think this is the best way to try and make friends.” Yuuka commented on as she walked over to a locked door. “I heard that from a human that was picking flowers out of my garden. I let him go...” Alice didn't bother feeling relaxed upon hearing that; let's hear the rest of the statement first. “...but not before he helped tended my fields.”

Alice breathed easily. “And then I ate him.” Alice then groaned.

“Look.” Alice stated after wiping her brow, somehow already stained with sweat. “Having sex is a deeply intimate thing between usually two people, it's not just find someone and then get to a bed...”

“Actually, that's just one way of doing it.” Marisa suddenly appeared from behind Alice to rest a arm across the shoulders. “Sometimes I do it myself, you know, to have some fun when nothing else is going on.”

“...with whom?” Alice just had to ask, right before the doorbell rang. She groaned, raised a finger to put this 'enlightening' conservation on hold so she could greet the next guest. Who could this be, and what sort of headache will they bring to the party.

“Yo.” Greeted Patchouli with a weak wave of her hand. “I have arrived.”

“With a important guest.” Announced the little Remilia, all proud-like as she walked past her librarian and into the house. “And now the party has reached a new level of class!”

“I apologize.” Patchouli bowed. “She refused me to come unless I brought her.”

“Okay...” Alice shuddered as she clenched down on the bridge of her nose. “And where's Sakuya then? I sincerely think she wouldn't allow Remilia to go without her...”

“Babysitting Flandre.” Patchouli shrugged. “Someone has to do it.”

“Oh hey.” Marisa approached Alice...rather slowly and rather awkwardly. “Patchouli...”

“Sorry, I'm here with Remilia.” Patchouli waved to her mistress, currently prodding the somewhat comatose Reimu. Suika seemed to be looking around for a dolly or something to move Reimu around. “I best prevent her from doing anything...idiotic...” She started to mumble something as she went over to pry her mistress off the shrine maiden.

Alice went over to an empty corner of the house and started to take a series of deep breathes. She's not a tsundere, she's not a tsundere, she's not a tsundere! But right now, she's starting to feel like one...even though she already knows that Marisa is a bit of a lay-about, it's just having this information being blatantly displayed right in front of her is really annoying her!

...but she cannot blame anyone but her, she did invite Patchouli. She can complain however about Remilia going around and smugly thumbing her nose all over the place. She had started to talk with the ignored Suika about how Suika is basically a hobo, with Suika clearly trying to break away and look after Reimu.

...speaking of which...

Alice turned towards the table with the punch, and saw Reimu downing down the last bowl. Alice should really go over and knock out the drunk shrine maiden...but Suika might take that the wrong way. Well, whatever. Reimu is actually drinking the stuff down and no-one else seemed interested...hey, speaking of Suika...

“Suika.” Alice pointed to a weird-looking deer-shaped vase that she just noticed that Suika has been carrying around the entire time. “What is that?”

“This is booze.” Suika swung the vase around. It looked...so jarring. To both Gensokyo and to the mood of the party. Okay, a deer-shaped vase would be perfect to a Christmas party, but the current mood is currently chaotic. “Want some?” Suika pointed the nose of the vase to Alice. Alice immediately got a huge whiff of sour grapes. Onis just love any booze, regardless!

“No, no!” Alice protested as she clenched her nose shut and walked away, bumping into Patchouli. “Sorry...” Alice apologized as she backed away again, this time away from anyone.

“ASSAULT!” Reimu pretty much burped out. She whipped out her gohei, proceeding to strike out against anyone. Yuuka, who had been casing the joint at her own leisure ever since Marisa overtook the conservation, effortlessly dodged the swinging paper, but everyone else wasn't so lucky. Marisa got smacked across the head, causing the lights across her body to flicker on and off. Remilia got hit as well and started to cower behind Patchouli. Suika took her blow well, pretending to faint to avoid further trouble. And Alice?

Alice got hit several times. She had to cover her head as Reimu rained down blow after blow, trying to use the gohei more of a hammer than a ward. Alice started to run around the room, trying and failing to avoid taking blows to her head. Reimu just seemingly didn't want to stop for any reason. And Alice looked around, hoping that someone would come to her rescue.

But nobody did. Not for a full three minutes. What it took is for Reimu to fall over drunk-asleep on the floor. Alice rubbed her sore, sore head. It honestly felt like she had a mountain of bumps on top of her head. The rest of the party just worked around her, besides Suika, who attended to Reimu and moved her onto the couch after she returned the cushions to it. Alice decided to go ahead and do the most logical thing one should do.

Scream.

“OUT!” She pointed to the door. “EVERYONE!”

“But I've been here for less than ten minutes.” Patchouli shrugged.

“LEAVE!” Alice stomped over to the door, kicked it open, not even caring that she just tore out the top bolt. “Just leave, and let me clean up.”

“Yeah.” Yuuka breathed out as she tossed away the glass of punch, the one surviving thing of punch in the house...and that glass is actually made out of glass, so it shattered against the floor. “No not babes, no hot guys, and the bed is too small for what I have planned.” She thumbed over to the door leading into the bedroom. “Yeah, I also threw off the sheets. Sorry, but I got to go...” Yuuka shrugged and left the house.

“Same.” Suika pursed her lips as she retrieved the hopefully comatose Reimu. “Sorry about this. She's...” Suika started to nervously laugh as she shook around on the spot. “...just having a bad day.”

“Bad day.” Alice merely replied in the dullest voice she could muster. “Bad day.” She commented again in the same tone of voice. Suika nervously chuckled as she shuffled herself out of the door.

“I'll just go home too.” Patchouli stated as she reached out and took ahold of Remilia's hand. Remilia, who really hadn't done much, followed right behind Patchouli. At least they left civilly, unlike the last guest that just stuck around and started to shovel cheese into both of her mouth and into her pockets.

Alice beamed knives at Marisa as she approached the witch, her lights still going off. “Are you going to leave?” Alice asked in the same and dead tone she now adopted.

“Well...?” Maria questioned. “I think you would like some company on a cold night like this.”

“I don't want company, I want to be left alone.” Alice told.

“Oh?” Marisa gave her hips a bit of a shake. “You sure?”

“Certain.” Alice told as she flapped her arms at her sides. “Look, if you want to go around and call me a tsundere or a loner, go ahead.” She turned around and examined the damage. The punch bowls had been drained, and two of them had been thrown onto the floor. The food had remained mostly untouched outside of Marisa's borrowing, and the ice statue's head had been shattered, leaving the thing to melt. Most likely Yuuka doing that as revenge for some that the statue's model had done in the past. “What a mess.”

“Eh, still somewhat more controlled than Reimu's parties.” Maria shrugged as she placed a hand around Alice's shoulders. “But hey, it's Gensokyo, you cannot control how people act or do their usual things. You tried to throw a rocking party, and it failed not because of you, but because of how Gensokyo runs.”

“Yeah..” Alice sighed as she looked down. “I guess I should just leave the parties to the really powerful people...the ones that have more of a presence, more friends, and more power...”

“Nah, small parties are good to have as well.” Marisa told as she both interrupted Alice and placed a kiss on Alice's cheek. That sent a shockwave all across Alice's body that lead her to stand in place like a statue, her jaw slack, and her eyes wide as a powerful blush cam over her face. “And while you do act like tsundere and a loner...” Marisa nudged Alice in the arm with her elbow. “...I don't mind it!”

Alice...really should take out her anger on this rather stupid and insensitive witch. Yes, she likes being called those things alright and totally didn't throw this party to dispel those nasty rumors. Okay, thinking that in her head does make her realize that she does have some tsundere qualities...damn, totally not what she wanted to think right now.

...but hey. It is a cold night, and Marisa is offering to spend it with her. So, somewhat mission accomplished! The mess can wait until morning. Right now, there's only one thing she needs to do: open her bedroom door, put her bed together (Or not) and invite Marisa inside...oh, and to destroy that obxinous outfit of hers when she's not looking or sleeping.

...or perhaps to avoid people looking at her like a tsundere, she just won't do it. A new year's is coming up, so it's high-time she ditches the old thoughts and turns over a new leaf.

[thirstinmore-blog]

Best Albums of 2018

BEST ALBUMS 2018

20. Noname: Room 25

19. Jeremih & Ty Dolla $ign: Mih-Ty

18. Tierra Whack: Whack World

17. Parks Burton: Pare

16. Oneohtrix Point Never: Age Of

15. Angelique Kidjo: Remain in Light

14. Shannon Shaw: Shannon in Nashville

13. Curren$y & Freddie Gibbs: Fetti

12. Ariana Grande: Sweetener

11. Vince Staples: FM!

10. DJ Koze: Knock Knock

9. Mariah Carey: Caution

8. Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel

7. The Carters: Everything is Love

6. Snail Mail: Lush

5. Shannon & the Clams: Onion

4. Teyana Taylor: K.T.S.E.

3. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour

2. Blood Orange: Negro Swan

1. Dirty Projectors: Lamp Lit Prose

(Spotify playlist)

(Capsule reviews of Top 10 below) 

10. DJ Koze: Knock Knock.  The music writing trope of “a sounds like b + c” is as lazy as it is played, but sometimes you hear a record and those type of comparisons spring to mind, like when I first heard Saint Pepsi’s Hit Vibes and instantly thought of J Dilla making a disco record.  That was also my response to Knock Knock, which sounds like the Avalanches making a more patient update of Since I Left You for 2018 ears.  The record is long and lush, and draws from roughly nine billion different aesthetics, but its particular mélange still manages to sound fresh.  As with SILY, the album is best experienced as a complete piece of music (though several tracks, such as “Lord Knows” and “Scratch That” would sound great in a mix or DJ set).  Knock Knock takes the listener through ambling pathways that wrap around and revisit each other, like an evening stroll through the spacious Joshua Tree National Park depicted on its cover.  It’s nearly a two-hour journey, but it’s well worth the price of admission.

9. Mariah Carey: Caution.  Mariah got a dirty mouth and I’m here for it.  As mother, a twice-divorcée, a woman nearing 50, her work and her image are all her own; if she wants to include the word “fuck” in a bunch of songs on her new album (“GTFO,” “With You,” “The Distance”), then who the fuck are we to tell her no?   It’s a refreshing twist from someone whose public persona is often so curated, but I’m burying the lede.  The real story here is that Caution is a batch of excellent R&B songs from one of the genre’s all-time greats.  It’s not overwrought – by contrast, the album’s sultry blue cover art is indicative of the moods within.  The Ty Dolla $ign-featuring “The Distance” is laid extremely deep in the cut, assisted by some subtle production from Poo Bear, Lido and—holy shit, Skrillex?  Yup, and like Mariah herself, everyone involved uses an even hand and measured patience to let each song breathe.  

A personal highlight for me is “A No No,” which flips the Lil Kim/Lil Cease classic “Crush On You” on its head.  Here, where Biggie intones “he’s a slut, he’s a hoe, he’s a freak/got a different girl every day of the week,” there is no irony intended.  She gauges her suitors’ intent and responds simply: “that’s a no-no.”  In fact, the word “no” accounts for easily half the song’s lyrics, but it’s still a blast on subsequent listens.  But don’t get it twisted – highlights abound herein, from aforementioned singles “GTFO” and “The Distance” to the thoughtful, expansive, Dev Hynes-helmed “Giving Me Life,” which begins as a downtempo club hit and morphs into a surrealist dream.  Mariah Carey is one of the artists who’s been in my life the longest – I’m so happy she’s still killing it.

8. Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel.  Courtney Barnett is what I was raised to believe an indie rock star should be: an unassuming, smart slacker with regular clothes and the ability to unleash earthbound poetry and atmosphere-puncturing solos with equal aplomb.  That effortless cool permeates every facet of her work, from her casual half-singing style to her loose but proficient playing, a mighty guitar god in the body of a humble 31-year-old.  (That she recorded a collaborative record with renowned cool guy Kurt Vile should surprise no-one.)  But what’s really striking about Barnett’s work is her wryly observant lyrics; whether she’s describing the banalities of urban life (“City Looks Pretty”) or eviscerating toxic masculinity (“Nameless, Faceless”), her keen eye and incisive wit pervade every line.  Tell Me is the sound of a strong artist getting stronger.

7. The Carters: Everything is Love.  I often say that as I get older, my favorite elements of songwriting are editing and restraint.  That’s why I tend to hate double albums and love EPs.  I just believe that most double albums would be better if distilled down to one really strong record.  EPs, on the other hand, leave the listener wanting more.  Such is the case with Everything is Love, which reads like a Beyonce trap record with a number of guest verses from Jay. Regardless of speculation on who did the lion’s share of the writing on the record, both are in top form.  Bey’s signature vocal virtuosity is on display as ever, but the real delight is in her capable delivery as a rapper.  She glides effortlessly through triplets like “Poppin, I’m poppin, my bitches are poppin, we go to the dealer and cop it all.”  Big Sean could never.  Meanwhile, Jay turns in a few of my favorite bars of the year (and also a very slick Drake diss) on “Boss:”

“You not a boss, you got a boss. N*ggas gettin’ jerked, that shit hurts, I take it personaly.  N*ggas’d rather work for the man than to work for me.  Just so they can pretend they on my level, that shit is irkin’ to me.  Pride always goeth before the fall, almost certainly.  It’s disturbing what I gross.  Survey says: you not even close.  Everybody’s bosses till the time to pay for the office, till them invoices separate the men from the boys. Over here we measure success by how many people successful next to you.  Here, we say you broke if everybody is broke except for you. BAWSE.”

I don’t know if they intend to release more records as The Carters, but Everything is Love is a fun, successful experiment.

6. Snail Mail: Lush.  There’s no reason for a debut LP to be this good.  The record, from solo project-turnt-band of 19-year-old Lindsay Jordan is focused, clever, and sophisticated.  Every component of these songs appears exactly as it should.  Jordan’s songwriting is clean and incisive (“I hope whoever it is holds their breath around you/’cause I know I did,” she sings on album standout “Heat Wave”).  The arrangements are smartly simple; seldom do they deviate from the four-person rock lineup, so the embellishments that are included (the French horn on “Deep Sea,” the layered keys on “Speaking Terms”) really leap out.  The playing throughout is lovely, with Jordan’s beautiful guitar technique front and center (the finger-picking on “Let’s Find an Out” is a particular delight). Everything in its right place – only where Radiohead’s inward gaze can be mopey and self-indulgent, the core strength of Lush is its efficiency.  There’s no filler here – just the exact amount of support that each piece requires.  The drumming feels especially strong in this regard – there’s an economic directness in Ray Brown’s playing that prioritizes the backbeat over everything, including his ego. The fills that he does include are modest and workmanlike.

It’s right that the record would be released by Matador, because these songs are drenched in the influences of the 90s slacker rock of Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney and Sebadoh.  And as with each of those bands, Snail Mail’s songs are buoyed by excellent lyrics.  Jordan doesn’t just sound wise beyond her years, she actually seems to have lived more in her 19 years than many folks twice her age.  There’s a subtext of sobriety in some of the songs (“It just feels like the same party every weekend, doesn’t it?” on “Pristine,” or “I’m so tired of moving on/spending every weekend so far gone” on “Heat Wave”).  Perhaps the self-reflection that’s required in recovery has helped to distill her worldview.  

And look, I don’t mean to be patronizing here – this album would be a major achievement from any person of any age.  But to hear an artistic vision this crystal clear and laser-focused from a 19-year-old is something truly special.  I can’t wait to hear what she does next.

5. Shannon & the Clams: Onion.  Upon first listen, Onion struck me as the best record the Clams have released to date.  Now, admittedly, I’m a sucker for keyboards, and the inclusion of organist Will Sprott is pure Patrick-bait.  But beyond my own tastes, the organ both fills out and anchors the Clams’ garage doo-wop sound.  There’s a welcome succinctness to Onion: the songwriting is tight, the guitar playing is melodic and utilitarian, and the vocal performances from both Cody and Shannon are more technically refined than in any of their previous outings.  One wonders if Shannon’s work on her own solo album (the very good, Dan Auerbach-produced Shannon in Nashville, which also came out this year) pushed her to improve her technique.  And don’t get it fucked up – this is still a Clams record.  It’s still shaggy and loud and rambunctious – but they’ve worked hard to reign in their wildest tendencies.  Some might say that it’s layered, just like-- *an oversized cane hooks around my throat and drags me offstage* ….Well…..let’s just say it’s good.

4. Teyana Taylor: KTSE.  Of all the seven-song mini-albums Kanye produced in Wyoming this year, KTSE is both the best and the least talked-about.  She arrives seemingly out of the blue, a fully-formed artist who knows her strengths exactly.  She has bars when she feels like spitting them, a beautiful husky alto when she feels like crooning, and a profound connection to multiple styles of club music that’s borne of her history as a dancer.  It’s become a bit trendy to nod to vogue & ballroom culture in the last few years, but while Drake’s Big Freedia feature on “Nice for What” feels a little forced, Taylor can walk it like she talks it.  A dancer by trade, her comfort in the ballroom is palpable. 

Ye keeps it simple, remaining comfortably in his wheelhouse and flipping excellent soul samples such as Billy Stewart’s “I Do Love You” (which he repurposes into a nostalgic 4/4 slapper on “Hold On”) and The Stylistics’ “Because I Love You, Girl” (which he expands into a melancholy mediation on the horn section of the original).  It’s a welcome return to form.

3. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour.  In her SNL performance earlier this year, Kacey Musgraves appeared as a flat-ironed, longhair disco queen.  As she slayed Golden Hour’s catchy lead single “High Horse,” I was reminded of Dolly Parton.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with Dolly’s mid-70s and early-80s catalogue this past year, having purchased vinyl copies of All I Can Do, New Harvest…First Gathering, and Dolly, Dolly, Dolly.  Parton is one of those artists whose discographies are so gigantic as to seem practically impenetrable, so I’ve been trying to hear as much as I can.  Dolly, Dolly, Dolly is an especially interesting entry: released in 1980, it was her 23rd album, and it represents a pretty clear swing for crossover success.  A handful of the tracks are straight-up disco, and these are what Musgraves called to mind.  I was thrilled – Dolly’s disco experiments were widely panned, but I think there’s a lot of good there, maybe Golden Hour would be an attempt to vindicate Parton’s vision?

Unfortunately or not, I was incorrect.  In total, Golden Hour bears more resemblance to Dolly’s friend & frequent collaborator Emmylou Harris (Kacey’s hair should’ve tipped me off, SMH).  It’s a beautiful, understated, and thoughtful set of songs that could fit as well on a folk radio station as a country one.  Like Harris, Musgraves has an innate sense of how to let a great song be great, hanging back in both arrangement and vocal performance.  She’s emotive when she needs to be (“Rainbow”), and contemplative as needed (“Golden Hour”), always letting her writing breathe.  Also, she has the confidence to bury the lead single so deep on Side B that you almost forget it’s there (and are thrilled when it is).  As a person who prefers the full album experience to that of a shuffled playlist, this is one of my very favorite tricks.

Quite simply: great songs + great arrangements = a surprising list-topper for me.

2. Blood Orange: Negro Swan.  For years, the roles of sexuality and gender in black identity have been foci of Dev Hynes’ work as Blood Orange.  He spent time with drag queens and sex workers while writing his debut album Coastal Grooves, and has often cited transgender icon Octavia St. Laurent as one of his primary influences.  But while these interests have colored his previous albums, on Negro Swan they’re the bedrock.  In a press release preceding the album, Hynes described the album as “an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of color.  A reach back into childhood and modern traumas, and the things we do to get through it all.  The underlying thread through each piece on the album is the idea of hope, and the lights we can try to turn on within ourselves with a hopefully positive outcome of helping others out of their darkness.”

These ideas are fundamental to the songwriting, and they’re reinforced by snippets of conversations with Janet Mock and Kai the Black Angel (who adorns the cover in a durag and angel wings) peppered throughout the album’s 49 minutes.  On “Family,” Mock defines community as “the spaces where you don’t have to shrink yourself, where you don’t have to pretend or to perform, you can fully show up and be vulnerable in silence, completely empty, and that’s completely enough.”  That search for community, the desire to be seen and loved and supported as your whole self informs each of these beautiful songs.  Already a competent producer, Hynes continues to grow, selecting beautiful flourishes like the jangly, perfectly out-of-tune guitar on “Charcoal Baby” or the soft, echoing snare drum on “Dagenham Dream” to characterize the thematic content of each piece.  Negro Swan is a powerful and complete work of art.  It sounds like he’s finally found some answers to the questions he’s been asking. 

1. Dirty Projectors: Lamp Lit Prose.  On Lamp Lit Prose, David Longstreth appears to be having more fun making music than he has in years, probably because almost 100% of his band has turned over (kudos to longtime bassist Nat Baldwin, whose playing tethers him to his own beginnings).  Beyond the new Projectors themselves, Longstreth spent the months during the writing of the album making new friends in the LA music scene, and bringing them around the studio to record various parts.  Members of Haim contribute to album standout “That’s a Lifestyle,” Syd (of The Internet) anchors the refrain in “Right Now,” and Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and Vampire Weekend alumnus Rostam Batmanglij stack harmonies onto the swirling ballad “You’re The One.”

I see LLP as the second half of a diptych begun by the self-titled Dirty Projectors, released last year.  While that record wallowed in the pain of a broken relationship with former Projector Amber Coffman, LLP reveals a healed and newly in love protagonist.  Both records feature David Longstreth at his most vocally competent: he’s now able to truly execute the melismatic R&B runs he lovingly wrote and charmingly attempted in his earliest work, his diaphragm now supports his every leap and bound, and his croon is sweeter than ever before.  But furthermore, both albums expand on ideas that have popped up throughout his illustrious and impressive body of work.  Whether he’s reviving the Rise Above era blasts of noisy guitars on “Zombie Conqueror” or revisiting the orchestral ambitions of The Getty Address on the stunningly soulful “I Wanna Feel It All,” Longstreth sounds like a worker with a complete toolbox and a detailed blueprint.  He’s been working at honing his craft for years.

I saw the Projectors in June, at a time when only “Break-Thru” and “That’s a Lifestyle” had leaked.  I didn’t know what to expect, being among the seemingly small minority of fans who liked their previous record.  But their set was staggering.  Flanked by his group of mostly-new faces, Longstreth was bouncing all over the place, proudly showcasing each instrumentalist & vocalist (seemingly everyone had at least one moment in the spotlight), visibly excited about playing with this group of people.  And that makes sense: LLP is Longstreth relishing the fundamental glee of musical collaboration.  The joy is positively bubbling over in tracks like “Right Now,” “I Feel Energy,” and “I Found it in You.”  To see him play these songs live is to wonder if he’s talking about the act of musicmaking itself when he sings: “Ask now, I’m in love for the first time ever.”