urgency to bleed

Alright, I've realized that if I don't start posting this I'll never actually get around to finishing it. I still have a few reviews to write in the upper half of the list but I figure if I put myself on a real deadline I'll be able to crank them out at the last minute. Besides, I'm writing about albums I've already written about once. It should be a no-brainer, right? Anyway, so, here we go, the first of five parts (because I'm going to be a jerk and withhold number one for its own separate entry, mwahaha - mostly because the review is three fucking paragraphs long) if anyone really still cares about my now slightly outdated opinions on last year's music. If you can believe it, I still had to do some last minute re-ordering earlier today. Yeah. But now that I'm posting it there shall be no more of that. Now let us commence with the dramatic reveal! (Though, honestly, if you follow this blog at all you will not be surprised by about 90% of these choices. There are only two albums I've not mentioned at all and just one or two others I've mentioned briefly. The rest I've pretty openly gushed over at some point in the past twelve months.)

( You know you're the reason that I felt alive out here. )

A few things. It was extremely hard for me to decide on these last five albums; honestly, I probably should have left it at fifteen because I've switched different ones out and re-arranged them so many times it's ridiculous. There was a lot of music I liked this year but, apparently, there wasn't a lot that truly wowed me because there's a massive difference in how passionately I feel about these lower five compared to the upper fifteen. I'm finally satisfied at the moment with the order I've decided on but, ugh, I'll probably look back on this in a few months' time and wonder what the hell I was thinking. Anyway, there I go dampening the mood already. I'll just get to the list now.

( TOP 20! PART ONE! )

So, in honor of last night's Oscars ceremony - which I surprisingly thought were decently interesting this year - here are a handful of songs that work well for the occasion.

First, a few that go hand-in-hand with some of the winners (all very deserving, in my opinion):