2015
9/10 - 6
8.5/10 - 3
8/10 - 27
7.5/10 - 21
7/10 - 34
6.5/10 - 32
6/10 - 27
5.5/10 - 25
5/10 - 11
meh - 12
TOTAL: 198
WITH WRITING: 152
2016
9/10 - 3
8.5/10 - 5
8/10 - 29
7.5/10 - 16
7/10 - 61
6.5/10 - 41
6/10 - 36
5.5/10 - 21
5/10 - 16
meh - 15
TOTAL: 243
WITH WRITING: 209
2017
10/10 - 1
9/10 - 4
8.5/10 - 3
8/10 - 30
7.5/10 - 23
7/10 - 44
6.5/10 - 41
6/10 - 34
5.5/10 - 22
5/10 - 17
meh - 15
TOTAL: 234
WITH WRITING: 132
2018
9/10 - 4
8.5/10 - 5
8/10 - 28
7.5/10 - 21
7/10 - 49
6.5/10 - 32
6/10 - 24
5.5/10 - 20
5/10 - 11
meh - 18
TOTAL: 212
WITH WRITING: 134
2019
9.5/10 - 1
9/10 - 3
8.5/10 - 4
8/10 - 43
7.5/10 - 28
7/10 - 39
6.5/10 - 34
6/10 - 29
5.5/10 - 22
5/10 - 10
meh - 13
TOTAL: 226
WITH WRITING: 32
2015-2019 WHOLE
10/10 - 1
9.5/10 - 1
9/10 - 20
8.5/10 - 20
8/10 - 157
7.5/10 - 109
7/10 - 227
6.5/10 - 180
6/10 - 150
5.5/10 - 110
5/10 - 65
meh - 73
TOTAL: 1,113
WITH WRITING: 659
----------------CLARIFICATIONS/WORDS--------------
- All amounts listed here are albums that were released and rated during the year in question. If you look in the 'ALL' entries for any of these years, you'll find maybe a dozen albums there that were listened to and rated and sometimes written about after the year had already passed; those aren't included in the above tallies.
- I always considered 2016 to be my banner year blog-wise, which the stats proved to be true: it was when I rated the most, wrote the most, and had the highest percentage of written about vs. simply rated (209 out of 243). Considering 2015 was when I first started listening to and rating a constant stream of new albums, it was no surprise to see that was the year I rated the least; just under 200. Definitely was still getting the hang of things back then.
- As you can see the writing bit of it took big dips in 2017 and 2018, and stopped altogether around June 2019. I'm not sure how the fuck I wrote about over 200 albums in 2016 while still maintaining a life lol (on top of writing about older stuff sometimes to boot). I do remember even while taking breaks and "taking it easy" in 2017 and 2018, writing still very much ruled my life to an eventually overwhelming degree. There were many periods during that time I wanted to quit and persisted for better or worse. Crafting em in the end was often rewarding and to me was very much, well, a craft. Time-consuming, too. Maybe I'll get back into it someday. But this year was when I decided spending 2+ hours to write a dizzying paragraph multiple times per week had just become somewhat of a torturous chore I wasn't as passionate about anymore. More time to spend, say, skateboarding. Or simply listening to and critiquing those albums in peace instead.
- At around six paragraphs, the longest review I wrote was for Sun Kil Moon - I Also Want to Die in New Orleans; which interestingly took less time than many of my reviews that were like five sentences. Probably because it was mostly stream of consciousness instead of laborious thesaurus abuse methinks. My shortest review was Guided By Voices - Please Be Honest ("K.", with a 5/10 score attached).
- HIGHEST RECS were awarded to any album rated a 7.5 or above, which came out to 308 albums out of 1,113. It was also amusing to see how lenient I was in giving 8's versus giving 9's -- 177 versus 21 if you count .5's. What can I say, 9+ is supremely special, and in my mind, should be rare. The only 10 is Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me, pretty fitting -- undoubtedly a one of a kind album that does deserve to kind of exist on a plane of its own. On the whole though, the ratings are largely positive. I'll chalk this up to usually having some sort of high-ish expectations for what I bother to put my ears to, or at the very least a faint interest or curiosity. Rarely will I get something I can reasonably suspect I'll outright loathe, but sometimes it needs to be done. That being said: nearly half the total ratings were a 7 or above, and almost another third were 6/6.5; which to the contrary of others still is a rating that to me signifies a 'good' album. They can't all be great ya know. Only 73 out of the 1,113 received the dreaded 'meh'. And some people call me a hater ;).
- Here's ten albums from 2015-2019 that made a major impact on me, in alphabetical order. Not necessarily all THE BEST -- though they are indeed up there -- but these for me personally changed the game, have lasting emotional impact, and expanded the way I listen to and enjoy music. Changed my life?? Dramatic, but perhaps. Now let's see what the '20s have to offer.
Camp Cope - Camp Cope
Elysia Crampton - American Drift
Dance Gavin Dance - Artificial Selection
DJ TiGa - The Sound: Vol. 1
Dance Gavin Dance - Artificial Selection
DJ TiGa - The Sound: Vol. 1
Hamell On Trial - Tackle Box
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Leviathan - Scar Sighted
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me
Sir Babygirl - Crush On Me
Young Thug - Barter 6
