Aoty 2025: Ongoing Release Polls

I'm really sure that my top 4 will continue to rank very high:

1. (S) Pink Floyd - At Pompeii (MCMLXXII) (Live, first listen) [SPO]
I've always loved this version of Echoes and STCFTHOTS, and the other tracks as well. The SW remix/master is really well done.

2. (S) Tiktaalika - Gods of Pangaea (listened often) [BC, SPO]
I really love this hommage to old school Death/Thrash, with a slight prog angle.

3. (S) Tremonti - The End Will Show Us How (listened often) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
Amazingly deep intelligent metal, and really well played. Resonates with me.

4. (S) Devin Townsend - The Moth (On-Air Stream) (Video, several listens)
Really weird and experimental, but a truly amazing effort by over 70 musicians. Really well recorded, and I hope this will translate well to a conventional release later this year.

Here's my updated list for 2025, keeping it more inclusive for the time being (e.g. including first listens):

1. (S) Pink Floyd - At Pompeii (MCMLXXII) (Live, first listen) [SPO]
2. (S) Tiktaalika - Gods of Pangaea (listened often) [BC, SPO]
3. (S) Tremonti - The End Will Show Us How (listened often) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
4. (S) Devin Townsend - The Moth (On-Air Stream) (Video, several listens)
5. (A) Ghost - Skeletá (several listens) [AP Prog-Adj] [BC, SPO]
6. (A) Bumblefoot - ... Returns! (several listens) [BC, SPO]
7. (A) Chercán - Chercán (several listens) [BC]
8. (A) Steven Wilson - The Overview (listened often) [SPO]
9. (A) Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar (first listen) [BC, SPO]
10. (A) IQ - Dominion (first listen) [BC, SPO]
11. (A) Echolyn - Time Silent Radio VII (first listen) [BC]
12. (A) Echolyn - Time Silent Radio II (first listen) [BC]
13. (A) Ekzilo - Quantum Phase Transition (first listen) [BC, SPO]
14. (A) SAOR - Amidst the Ruins (first listen) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
15. (A) Messa - The Spin (first listen) [BC, SPO]
16. (A) Benediction - Ravage of Empires (first listen) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
17. (A) Karmakanic - Transmutation (first listen) [SPO]
18. (A) Dim Gray - Shards (several listens) [AP Prog] [BC, SPO]
19. (A) Motorpsycho - Motorpsycho (several listens) [BC, SPO]
20. (A) The Aurora Project - Evos12 (several listens) [BC, SPO]
21. (A) Ghost Of The Machine - Empires Must Fall (first listen) [BC]
22. (A) Squid - Cowards (first listen) [BC, SPO]
23. (A) Atomic Time - Subsounds (first listen) [BC, SPO]
24. (A) The Night Flight Orchestra - Give Us The Moon (several listens) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
25. (A) Epica - Aspiral (first listen) [SPO]
26. (A) Destruction - Birth of Malice (first listen) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
27. (B) Pattern-Seeking Animals - Friend of All Creatures (several listens) [BC, SPO]
28. (B) Cosmic Cathedral - Deep Water (first listen) [BC, SPO]
29. (B) Nospūn - Ozai (EP, first listen) [BC, SPO]
30. (B) The Flower Kings - Love (first listen) [BC, SPO]
31. (B) Avatarium - Between You, God, The Devil And The Dead (several listens) [AP Prog-Adj] [SPO]
32. (B) Jacob Roberge - The Passing (first listen) [BC, SPO]
33. (B) Dream Theater - Parasomnia (listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
34. (B) Mogwai - The Bad Fire (first listen) [BC, SPO]
35. (B) Dominic Sanderson - Blazing Revelations (several listens) [BC, SPO]
36. (B) Soniq Circus - Cursed Cruise (first listen) [BC, SPO]
37. (B) Mostly Autumn - Seawater (first listen) [SPO]
38. (B) Øresund Space Collective - Alotta Hella Down In Estrela (first listen) [BC, SPO]
39. (C) Psicolorama - Explorers (first listen) [BC, SPO]
40. (C) Avantasia - Here Be Dragons! (first listen) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
41. (C) Amplifier - Gargantuan (several listens) [BC, SPO]
42. (C) Jethro Tull - Curious Ruminant (first listen) [BC, SPO]
43. (C) Rolf Zero - Poseidon (first listen) [BC, SPO]

Using Greg's criterion, these are the albums that I continue to "adore" since I first discovered them:

CHERCÁN Chercán
HIROMI'S SONICWONDER Out There
MAUD THE MOTH The Distaff
SOLSTICE Clann
SQUID Cowards
DOMINIC SANDERSON Blazing Revelations
GÉRALD MASSOIS Demain à l'aube
MALABRIEGA Frippada Andaluza

1. (A) Вежливый отказ - That's Not the Point (several listens) [BC]
2. (?) Lost Crowns - The Heart Is In The Body [BC]
3. (B) Squid - Cowards (several listens) [BC, SPO]
4. (?) Hesse Kassel - La Brea [BC, SPO]
5. (B) Yazz Ahmed - A Paradise in the Hold (several listens) [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
6. (?) Luke Stewart / Silt Remembrance Ensemble - The Order [AP Prog] [BC]
7. (?) Happy Family - 4037 (EP) [BC]
8. (?) Emma-Jean Thackray - Weirdo [AP] [BC]
9. (B) Shackleton - In the Cell of Dreams (Live Version) (Live, several listens) [AP Prog] [BC, SPO]
10. (?) Moundabout - Goat Skull Table [AP] [BC, SPO]
11. (?) Black Flower - Kinetic [AP Non-Prog] [BC, SPO]
12. (?) Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas - Totality [AP] [BC]
13. (?) maud the moth - The Distaff [AP Prog] [BC, SPO]
14. (?) Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong [BC, SPO]
15. (?) Kali Trio - The Playful Abstract [AP Prog] [BC, SPO]
16. (?) Roger Clark Miller - Curiosity for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble [AP Prog] [BC]
17. (?) The Exu - The Exu [AP Non-Prog] [BC]
18. (?) Action & Tension & Space - New Dimensions [AP Prog] [BC]
19. (?) Eclectic Maybe Band - Cosmic Light Clusters [BC]
20. (?) The Reference Group - File Under Unpopular [AP Prog] [BC]

And I tend to use the rateyourmusic charts as a guide (it's not the only way I find music). And I like how customisable that is and the multi-genre tagging. I would not wish to limit myself to albums on this site, and do find albums worth suggesting to PA from those charts. Aside from that, I don't much care if the music is Prog or not. My favourites often change on a daily basis, or even depending on what I am listening to at the moment, but I often do settle on particular preferences within a set over time even if there remains a fair amount of interchangeability. The lists tell one something about my interests and hhavle led to excellent recommendations based on my tastes.

For 2025, I have Hesse Kassel - La Brea currently at one. I'm sure that will change. For 2024, I have Beth Gibbons' Lives Outgrown. For 2023, I have Swans' The Beggar. For 2022 I have Weyes Blood's And in the Darkness Hearts Aglow, for 2021 it's Lingua Ignota's Sinner Get Ready... It just says something about my interests. Looking at my top 10 would give a better idea. We all have preferences.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: ... Do you not have favorite albums? We all have. Not everything we come across is equally good. It might seem unfair to the "less good" releases, but some are actually better than others. And with thousands of releases each year, it does help (me) to know which releases people prefer.  ...

Hi,

It's hard for me to look at something and think "favorite" since another album, 15 minutes later, changes the equation. The thought that scares me the most is how a "like" ends up being something that you like better than others within the music, and that kinda eats into the objectiveness of the listening and the listing.

After 3K+ LP's 10 years ago, and now 2K CD's and about 1K LP's ... the idea of favorites is more of a joke than it is some kind of meaningful thought about the music and its players. I don't sit here and mark Stravinsky, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, or Berlioz ... and they might show up depending on moods, I suppose, but in general I am emotional "neutral" when listening to music ... other than Space Ritual that I will blast out my neighbors when they play their mariachi on repeat 10 times daily at the same time! It usually gets the point across, and they can't argue with the power of a good and strong sound system!

I will say that I have some bands that I have a special heart and touch for, but that is not a comment on all the other music, or that they are better than everyone else and need to be "ranked" and "rated" ... so folks know that is a favorite.

I have 2K CD's and 1K LP's of favorites ... end of story! Why have them at all, if it doesn't matter? But I will not, for example, rank or rate an album I do not have or intend to get ... though I might comment on the fly, from what I heard, as has been the case with JMA that has examples, much better listed than how they are done here ... your ability to listen is much more detailed and you have a better idea of what you are going to listen to!

I often think that these lists will alienate a lot of folks that are not going to spend the time listening to 15 albums, and leave behind their favorites. Not sure that is a good way to attract new fans! (though I'll be darned if I have any idea what is!)

^ Still waiting to be put on a list  https://awesomeprog.com/releases/77255

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - April 14 2025 at 13:12

^ I'm not completely sold on it either. It's similar with last year's Absolute Elsewhere - sometimes the dissonance/growls strike me as out-of-place and uncalled-for.

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - April 14 2025 at 00:00

^ I think Richard's list is ranked ... but maybe I'm wrong 

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - April 13 2025 at 14:01

Logan wrote: I have yet to find an album I adore from this year.

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - April 13 2025 at 13:50