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Moderators: lazyben, static14, texasvinyl

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By inksb
#123964
Hey guys, not sure if you any of you do year end lists but I figured I'd make a catch all for them here. I don't rank stuff, it's too hard but I do enjoy compiling lists for favorite movies, music and games. Both from a standpoint to remind myself of what actually released this year and to possibly revisit some stuff that slipped to the ways side.
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By inksb
#123965
First up:

Favorite Cassettes I picked up this year

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Rendezvous - Suoni Della Paura IV (vol. 1-3)
Steve Greene - Distant Transmissions: Kona, Hawaii
Dallas Campbell - The Seven Sisters & The Serpent
Ogre & Dallas Campbell - All Hallows II
Pet Sematary II OST
Mort Garson Plantasia
Majeure - Mass Flashback
Angel's Egg OST
Phantoms Vs Fire - My Mind As Your Amusement Park
Heresie - Sisters of the Bare Goddess
Simon James - Space No Space
The Relations - Night's Prelude
Hattie Cooke - The Sleepers
Antoni Maiovvi - Where Dreams Go To Die
Stefan Bachmeier - Döppel
Ikaruga OST
The Coupe De Villes - Waiting Out the Eighties
Mike Wallace - Immagini

And after listening late last night I'd add that wonderful Exorcist tape from that mysterious Blow Out Records...
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By maxlevel
#123989
Niiice!

I just got the new Unsolved Mysteries from TV and it’s snuck into my top of 2019. Need to sit down and do a proper list

No particular order:

Unsolved Mysteries two - Terror Vision
Steve Green’s tape
Morricone Groove - beatball
Spontaneous - allesandroni - four flies
Super ground - brugnolini- four flies
The Roy Budd 7” series - dynamite cuts
Anthology resource 2 - dean Hurley
The Hitcher - mark isham - Ryder records
Nights Prelude - the relations - spun out of control
Cosmic Surgery - Simon James - spun out of control
Your god is too small - deadly avenger - burning witches

Also got the Black Pearl reissue on DeWolfe
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By inksb
#123991
Yeah, Unsolved Mysteries Vol 2 shot right to the top of the year for me. It's so good. I want so many of those Four Flies releases but they cost so much over here that I have to be very picky with what I grab. Although I noticed juno has a few of theirs at a reasonable price to import so as long as they continue to have stock I may grab a few after the holidays.
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By inksb
#123993
Here are some of my favorite reissues & soundtracks to be released in 2019

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Berserk OST
Haruomi Hosono - Philharmony
Yutaka Hirose - Nova + 4
Yukihiro Takahashi - Saravah!
Fabio Frizzi - The Beyond: Composers Cut
Akiko Yano - Japanese Girl
Thunder Force IV OST
Seaside Lovers - Memories in Beach House
Unsolved Mysteries Vol 2
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By Hatter313
#123996
Yeah these are all superb
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By Hatter313
#123998
In no particular order:

The Keep, Tangerine Dream - blow out
The Hitcher, Mark Isham - Ryder
Eyes Down, Mr. Eff - burning witches
Paranormal sounds of the synthesizer, Timothy fife and repeated viewing- burning witches
When it all gets to be too much, Cory Kilduff - burning witches
The Beyond: composers cut, Fabio Frizzi- Cadabra
Kwaidan, Alone in the woods - Cadabra
Tonight she comes, Wolciech Golcewski - DW
Echoes in a crystal tomb, Joel Grind- DWO

This year really belonged to burning witches, just an incredible roster of releases from them.
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By Hatter313
#123999
Ah, and special mentions for two releases that are just awesome in their own special way.

Once upon a time in Hollywood, various artists.

Not just an awesome compilation, but the way the record is set up to basically be a radio show from that summer, complete with ads and old vintage DJ bits, just makes this so much more than a pop selection. What a fun concept for a soundtrack, perfect summer party.

By the same token, Something Weird Spook Show Spectacular A-Go-Go, a record I slept ok until it was almost too late, might be one of the best things to release the whole year, if not all years. So much fun to be had, and while I already had a decent handful of the songs themselves, the spook show adverts elevate this thing beyond expectations. If OUATIH is a one stop summer bbq soundtrack, then this is it’s October equivalent. Throw this one on and get you Halloween party going.
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By inksb
#124011
Honestly I'm so thrilled to have The Hitcher, The Keep, Wolfen & Jessica, they are all favorites to come out this year.

I think I've pretty well locked in my favorite albums of the year. Probably post those tomorrow or this weekend.
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By inksb
#124012
Hatter313 wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:16 pm Ah, and special mentions for two releases that are just awesome in their own special way.

Once upon a time in Hollywood, various artists.

Not just an awesome compilation, but the way the record is set up to basically be a radio show from that summer, complete with ads and old vintage DJ bits, just makes this so much more than a pop selection. What a fun concept for a soundtrack, perfect summer party.

By the same token, Something Weird Spook Show Spectacular A-Go-Go, a record I slept ok until it was almost too late, might be one of the best things to release the whole year, if not all years. So much fun to be had, and while I already had a decent handful of the songs themselves, the spook show adverts elevate this thing beyond expectations. If OUATIH is a one stop summer bbq soundtrack, then this is it’s October equivalent. Throw this one on and get you Halloween party going.
I really should check out OUATIH OST. I'm curious to hear how sequenced. That Something Weird LP is excellent, definitely something I discovered really late too. I did not grab a copy unfortunately and I'm sure it's sold out now.
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By Mateo Sanboval
#124032
In descending order:

1. Wolfen
2. Wolfen
3. Wolfen
3. Wolfen
4. Wolfen
5. Wolfen
6. Wolfen
7. Wolfen
8. Wolfen
9. Wolfen
10. Wolfen

Runners up:
Wolfen, Wolfen, and Wolfen.

It was a tough list as ever and there were so many great releases that were tough to leave off (like Wolfen, for example). I'm sure I'll think of another one later today and kick myself, but that's how these lists always go.

EDIT: I've already remembered one. It's Wolfen of course. I don't know how I missed that. Man alive. I'll probably slot it in at 7 and bump Wolfen down to the honorable mentions just between Wolfen and Wolfen.
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By Mateo Sanboval
#124079
ScoJo wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2019 3:43 pm Did... someone release Wolfen??
Oh, man. Wouldn't that be amazing?
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By texasvinyl
#124121
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I bought virtually no 2019 releases. But this was the best thing I put my ears on this year. I really can't stop listening to any of these three Q records. I don't know a thing about these guys or have a clue who played on the records, but they are all incredible.

#2 and #3 probably have the best standout tracks but #1 is the one I put on the most. It's also the only one to have been reissued so far.
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By maxlevel
#124241
@tex I need that album in my life. All 3 would be lovely!

Also I think Watchmen HBO might be sneaking into my 2019 list. It’s like Neon Demon all over again
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By inksb
#124247
Here are my top albums of 2019. Arbitrary number with no actual order. A lot of great music this year.

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truly fantastic.
Skeleton Beach - Ritual
Alone In The Woods - Kwaidan
Mr. Eff - Eyes Down
Steve Moore - Beloved Exile
Haruomi Hosono - Hochono House
Broken Lamps - Kaleidoscope
Pentagram Home Video - Who's Here? I'm Here, You're Here
Cory Kilduf - Where It All Gets To Be Too Much
Heresie - Sisters of the Bare Goddess
Griselda - WWCD
Hunter Complex - Open Sea
Circadian Rhythm Section - Safety In Numbers
Denzel Curry - Zuu
Burning Tapes - Black Lake OST
Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue
Earthgang - Mirrorland
Tyler Childers - Country Squire
Repeated Viewing & Timothy Fife - Paranormal Sounds of the Synthesizer
Madlib & Freddie Gibbs - Bandana
Repeated Viewing - The Beach House
Pye Corner Audio - Hollow Earth
JPEGMAFIA - My Heroes Are All Cornballs



A lot of great albums came out this year. I surprisingly return to a lot of albums too.
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By inksb
#124248
Here are my favorite games of the year. A lot of stuff that I've been waiting a long time to play and they all lived up to expectations.

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Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
An expansion that essentially doubles the size of the base game, adds new monster and a handful of fan favorites from previous games. This is the game I stay up way too late playing multiple times a week. I have 300 hours into Iceborne expansion since the beginning of September and 500 hours into the base game. It's absurd, just think of all that sleep I could have had.

Devil May Cry 5
The perfect return to the series after a 10 year gap between games. It's damn near perfect. The story is wonderful if you are already a fan, the action is some of the best in an action game, ever. I love just trying to get SSS on everything. I still need to finish the game on the hardest difficulty, it's tough but I'm about half way through it.

Sekiro
The creators of Dark Souls & Bloodborne tackle a more combat focused ninja game. This game lives and dies by it's combat and it's the best they have ever done. I miss the variety in builds that the Souls games had and I won't return to this like I do the others but it's still an incredible game.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
A spiritual successor to Castlevania Symphony of the Night (one of my all time favorite games) that mostly lives up to the lofty goals it set for itself. I was skeptical but once I started I ended up 100% the entire game. It's really fun and looks pretty great too.

Mortal Kombat 11
I'm not a huge MK fan but I play every game, it's a series that's usually fun for a little while but never holds my attention. This one is probably the best in the series to me as far as a real fighting game goes. MKII is still my favorite game due to nostalgia but this is their best game to date. Graphics are incredible and the combos don't feel unreachable. I never have and never will like using a block button....

Blazing Chrome
A throwback to the days of Contra Hard Corps & Metal Slug. They nailed the aesthetic, controls and feel of those games. It's tough but not too hard for beginners and the hard mode offers up classic Contra difficulty.

Death Stranding
I should hate this game. I had no intention of buying it. Fetch quests suck in open world games and they generally make me stop playing. This entire game is fetch quest after fetch quest and it's engaging. When I start playing I have to force myself to stop because I can just lose hours of time to it. Kojima is crazy and I love it. He's too heavy handed and doesn't know the definition of subtlety but if you like his style you will love this.

Resident Evil 2
The perfect remake. Nothing has come even close. It's incredibly impressive. I beat the game 4 times and still went back to try and unlock the special unlocks that require you beat the game in 5 hours . I never finished that play through but I will at some point.

Luigi's Mansion
Probably the best looking game on the Switch. It's charming and a ton of fun. The best Luigi game to date.

Astral Chain
Made by Platinum Games who are responsible for Bayonetta, Vanquish, Wonderful 101 and the combat of Nier Automata. This is the first game they made on their own with out another studio involved. I loved it, it has what appears to be super simple combat on the surface but is actually quite deep. You control your character and your "stand" at the same time. It's challenging and rewarding. And when you finish the 30+ hour story you unlock one last chapter which is over 70 combat levels which is the perfect way to end that game. Story wise it mashes up all the 90's anime tropes, takes inspiration from Neon Genesis Evangelion and creates an interesting story about sibling cops in a weird future.
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By havershaw
#124251
@ink, you’ve got enough records that I really love on your best records list that I feel like I better check out all of the ones I don’t already know.
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By inksb
#124253
havershaw wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 1:45 am @ink, you’ve got enough records that I really love on your best records list that I feel like I better check out all of the ones I don’t already know.
There's definitely some stuff on there I feel like you'll dig that you may have not heard before. A few stuff depends on your taste outside of what we normally discuss around here. There's some hip-hop, country/folk and a hardcore album on there.
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By inksb
#124337
I think this is my top 5 favorite films of 2019. I watch so many movies through out the year I tend to forget what comes out when. These are 5 films that seemed to have left the biggest impression on me. There's a bunch of others that I enjoyed quite a bit too.

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By ScoJo
#124359
My favourite movies/shows in '19, off the top of my head:

Dolemite is my Name
Knives Out
Parasite
Midsommar
Luz
Watchmen
Castle Rock S2
Chernobyl
Barry S2
Mindhunter S2

*EDIT* and Marianne!
Last edited by ScoJo on Fri Dec 20, 2019 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By inksb
#124360
ScoJo wrote: Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:28 pm My favourite movies/shows in '19, off the top of my head:

Dolemite is my Name
Knives Out
Parasite
Midsommar
Luz
Watchmen
Castle Rock S2
Chernobyl
Barry S2
Mindhunter S2
I really need to check out Mindhunter, every one raves about it. Knives Out keeps creeping back into my head at random times. I think I like that one a lot more than I initially thought, it would definitely make the top 10 as well as Midsommar. I am hoping to start Castle Rock S2 once I finish Marianne this weekend.
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By Mateo Sanboval
#124362
ScoJ, did you like Castle Rock season 1.