Tag Archives: Best Music

Justifications for Idleness

Best of 2016 (So Far…)

Idle Time was more or less founded on the principle that enthusiastically sharing the stuff we’re excited about naturally makes that stuff a little more enjoyable. Somewhere along the way, our innate affinity for competition and chicanery, catalyzed by pop culture obsessions, transformed into any number of ranking projects, contests, and year-end games. Water cooler recommendations are one thing, but we take our idle time seriously.

A midpoint check-in on the year, however, has only ever been to return to that simple exchange of so-far favorites: albums in heavy rotation, comics we all need to be reading, or movies good enough for a repeat trip to the box office. Check out these lists, all presented alphabetically, of the stuff we’re excited about through the first half of 2016.

Favorite Albums
BibsBeyoncé – Lemonade
Bibio – A Mineral Love
Black Mountain – IV
Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
Frankie Cosmos – So Far
The Field – The Follower
Gold Panda – Good Luck and Do Your Best
Hinds – Leave Me Alone
(Hinds and four other first-half faves are featured in the latest Idle Time Tunes of the Month mix)
The Hotelier – Goodness
Kettel – Wingtip
Kendrick Lamar – Untitled Unmastered
nikiThe Last Shadow Puppets – Everything You’ve Come To Expect
Niki & The Dove – Everybody’s Heart Is Broken Now
Anderson Paak – Malibu
Esme Patterson – We Were Wild
Polica – United Crushers
Joey Purp – iiiDrops
The Range – Potential
Maria Usbeck – Amparo
Venetian Snares – Traditional Synthesizer Music
Leon Vynehall – Rojus (Designed to Dance)
Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
White Lung – Paradise
Continue reading Best of 2016 (So Far…) →

Magical Milk Crate Tour

The Immortal Iron List of Singles: 2016 part 1

The first half of 2016 is over. The semiannual cycle of list making begins again. The best albums so far, the best films, the best video games. Often overlooked though are singles that aren’t included on albums, or singles that have been released to support albums coming later in the year. This list recognizes those songs in no particular order.

“Good to Love” by FKA twigs

The singer formerly known as “twigs” stuns with another emotive, minimalist ballad. “Good to Love” features the least accompaniment FKA twigs has ever used, but when the full arrangement swells toward the end of the song she creates one of her most powerful music moments, as a high pitched synth voice bends upward to ecstasy. Continue reading The Immortal Iron List of Singles: 2016 part 1 →

Magical Milk Crate Tour

The Ultimate Mixtape

Setting aside a few loosely defined origin stories, records indicate that the Idle Time heroes first teamed up in 2001 to save their friends and the community at large from shitty music. Empowered by the wild, wide open wonderland of the Internet, they moved a metric ton in CD-R burns within those first few years, like little prismatic shields against the commercial tyranny of mass-marketed radio pop.

Lots of things have changed over the last fifteen years, including how people listen to and discover new music. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is how passionate we all are about the music that affects us, and the songs we hold dear.

As our roster has changed and grown since ’01, so has our stable of musical interests. To acknowledge that, and to celebrate our little anniversary, nine Idlers started working on a ranked list of our 150 favorite songs from our first fifteen years, 2001-2015. It was a glorious, argumentative pain-in-the-ass, but we did it. And it culminated in a celebratory bonfire this past April. Follow the link below to count down with us, from #150 to our favorite song from the Idle Time era.

The Ultimate Mixtape: 150 – 126

Few people have the endurance required for near eleven hours of tunes, so this massive mixtape has been broken down into seven separate countdown jams for your listening pleasure. Enjoy, and happy idling.