As we’re putting together our list of albums that could possibly make our Albums of the Year list, we want to open up discussion on specific albums to gauge what we think of them as a community.

I wanted to open it up so that everyone can get a shot at explaining what they think of each album and be able to say you helped with the list. For tomorrow, I’d like each person who wants to be involved to give the full album a listen and then discuss ITT what you think of it. So without further ado…

Sun Kil Moon – Benji

• What’s good/bad about it?
• What sets it apart from the pack?
• What are the standout tracks?
• Where should it be on our list?
• Etc.

@rock-genius-editors @palacelight @thatkidfromlakewood @stormface @JamesTurkey @Ezzo @Sabbath @YuriTheCosmonaut @cuddlepuddle

For me it’s not on the list. Despite a brief honeymoon period following my initial listen, I have subsequently dialed back the praise. It is good but there’s nothing that really equals taking a risk or doing something different: it’s Mark Kozalek, doing Mark Kozalek, which is cool, but… the guy has spent the better part of a month mocking The War On Drugs, specifically that they were the whitest band that he’d ever heard, and that it took them nine years to record three albums.

Well, yeah, Mark, bands that actually write songs, instead of just narrating their lives over this acoustic riff or that one, take time to do so. Anyone who’s talented can burp out “songs” like SKM stuff. The best songs on the album, “Carissa” and “I Watched The Film The Song Remains The Same,” were awesome because they actually WERE songs. After “War On Drugs Suck My Cock,” it occurred to me just how little work was put into this album. If this is what Mark can do without trying, maybe HE ought to be slowing down his release schedule.

Obviously his manchild behaviour is colouring this but I can’t get to the same reverie I got to after the first few listens anymore. I prefer music made with a little fucking sincerity. @nietzsche waxed poetic about this album and autheticity but it just seems like so much Pitchforky hipster posturing to me now

It should be on there but low, lower than other media outlets will put it.

And “Carissa” really is amazing.

Okay so this is p. much right up my alley. My thoughts:

Which, you know, is pretty much my jam.

• Benji is really, really, really good from a musical and literary perspective. The characters, the pacing, the whole thing is just top notch, Sufjan-esque beauty.
• Yes, its a little one note, but its definitely really good at that one note. I wasn’t as put off by his behavior re: WoD as @xWHALESHARQx was, but it was something that negatively impacted my opinion of him.

Best song: Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes

@xWHALESHARQx Oof, what a way to start the discussion. But honestly, I think it’s a good way to start it, because it forces supporters of an album’s inclusion to address objections. (I felt the FKA twigs discussion lacked enough of this until it was too late, but we’ll get back to it.)

I’ll listen to this tomorrow, since I’m currently reviewing another album that I might propose (it’s still too soon to call, it’s Pop, and I need other opinions), but I listened to the first lines of “Carissa”, and thought “my poetry teacher might like this”, but it was only the first few lines I heard before I switched to some cheerier music. I needed to hype up for a race that day.

I’m just dropping by. Continue on.

Real time writing: I’m beginning my third listen to Benji. The first two times I really didn’t enjoy or feel drawn to it at all, but I’m coming back into it with an open mind because several albums this year have meant little to me until the 3rd/4th listen – e.g. Lost In The Dream or Atlas

“Carissa” – this is a beautiful song. It took until my third listen to truly get into it, but it’s a beautiful song. As I get into “I Can’t Live Without My Mother’s Love.” The themes are undoubtedly connectable and it’s this that is so obviously appealing to everyone. As I’m forced to think about the inevitable fact that my mother won’t be around forever, I feel the feels. They’re strong. I’m thinking about it. That’s the beauty of music, but the texture of everything isn’t all that impressive to me. The background strumming is simple and beautiful, but I’m not hooked by his voice. It’s unimpressive to me. When the monotony of it all changes, I hear a scratchy/pitchy voice. Yeah, it’s real. It’s accessible. But if I don’t listen to the words it just plain doesn’t sound good to me.

I’m now onto “Dogs” and I can’t help but notice that each song is getting progressively worse imo. “Carissa” – beautiful. “I Can’t Live…” is also good, but not as good. The message was strong, but the actual sound wasn’t appealing to me (I think this sentence sums up my relationship with Kozelek’s music more than anything can). “Truck Driver” was nothing special to me. “Dogs” I dislike a lot. Rather than sitting in a deep secondary setting, his voice is thrust into the front of the noise and it just doesn’t sound good to me. “Pray for Newtown” hits me with the message, but his voice is again struggling to carry the weight of the words – and not in the full of emotion way but in the fails to live up to the songwriting way.

I enjoy “Jim Wise” (carried by the female background vocals?), “I Love My Dad” is mostly great until the supposed climax – when he gives the simple statement “I love my dad” while being echoed by a chorus behind him. It’s that signature sentimental Kozelek pushed too far. I love my dad too. I want to enjoy the chorus, but it seems too forced of a connection. He tries to fit “the album ___ by Edgar Winter” into one line for pure biographical reasons and sacrifices the flow and rhythm of everything for it. I’m all for saying exactly how you feel, but like @xWHALESHARQx said, he’s just narrating his life over a few guitar riffs.

I seem to feel like I’m repeating myself and this is a huge wall of text. I feel like I can give a final word on the album thru 7 songs, which I know is premature, but in my mind fair when I’ve only been truly struck by one/two songs and everything else underwhelmed.

Benji is an audiobook with a guitar in the background. A pretty good one I might add. If I follow the storyline closely, I can connect, but I don’t really like the audio presentation (voice, rhythm, rate). I’d rather read the book.

I have subsequently dialed back the praise. It is good but there’s nothing that really equals taking a risk or doing something different: it’s Mark Kozalek, doing Mark Kozalek

My thoughts exactly, no need to rephrase it.

I’d rather read the book.

Go on Brock.

I’ve never been this turned off by an artists personal life in regards to their music. Idk, it’s probably unfair but he’s an asshole in a way that isn’t interesting to me at all. Kanye is a hyper self-aware asshole that makes his music more engaging. I can’t listen to this any more. The story was a lot more interesting before; the music never really gripped me.

Where the supporters at?

Go on Brock.

@BennySwans are you agreeing with me there or do you think I left an incomplete thought? Lol I guess I should’ve been more clear. I was comparing the album to an audiobook that I’d rather not listen to, but read instead. Just that I didn’t like the actual music, like you said.

Anyways, this doesn’t fall in my personal top 25, will probably fall in the top 10 of most sites' lists we see, and is generally highly acclaimed. Looking forward to hearing from the supporters like @nietzsche. Loved your mid-year piece, though not necessarily in total agreement with its personal impact.

@Brock sorry I was agreeing. It’s a phrase I used to use a lot when someone was going in on something. Might be more of a British thing, idk.

First off, I’m thrilled that my little piece about Benji has entered the discussion – that’s when you know a piece of writing has impact. So thanks for that, everybody!

But my biggest complaint with “Best Album” lists in recent years and why I find Benji so captivating still is because the concept of an album as analogous to a novel seems to have faded. LP1 is a fantastic album. But it’s a collection of excellent songs first, and an “album” second. Benji, on the other hand, is one of the most complete works of music made in this decade. We shouldn’t waste an opportunity to take this into account. Short of Too Bright, there is no other album that captures the essence of its creator so purely, allowing us to see his (many) flaws, vices, and daily troubles. No matter what, though, the limited music behind it gives us the incessant droning of time, acting more as a river to carry us to his next life event rather than an event itself. There’s something to be said for an album which can do that properly.

Responding directly to the questions:

• What’s good about it?

  If a top-tier autobiography was set to a few chords, this would be the result.

• What sets it apart from the pack?

  Unabashed honesty, universal themes packaged into a singular figure, and it’s an album that you can both sink into and float on top of – it demands nothing of you.

• Best tracks?

  “Dogs”, “Pray For Newtown”, and “Carissa”

• Where should we place this on our list?

  Despite my championing the album, I couldn’t honestly tell you. I just want you all to like it as much as I do. There’s so many quality albums out this year, though, and for me, the lone metric for Benji so far is that Perfume Genius’s Too Bright did a superior job of the low-key personal aesthetic than did SKM. So behind Too Bright, but currently sitting comfortably in the top-15.

How about @genius-editorial-board, you guys got any input? Albums of the year list get pumped!

Haven’t had the chance to relisten today (forgot that I had a meeting in the evening), but at the time I quite liked it. I didn’t think it would be in the running for AOTY but that’s how it has turned out.

I like the way it captures little moments and draws them out. The irony of having two family members die from aerosol explosions (“goddamn, what were the odds?”, for example. His voice and the run on lines have both been criticised, but for me those were a big part of the charm of the album.

I couldn’t tell you much about most of the albums I listened to this year, but I can remember several lines from Benji, which to me emphasises the quality of the character portraits and storytelling.

Best songs: Clarissa, Micheline, Jim Wise, Pray For Newtown, Truck Driver

Top five for me. Above Lost In The Dream. Although I didn’t seem to like it as much as Brian, who has ranked it lower.

Those of you who liked the storytelling but not the songwriting or his voice, check out the Andrew Jackson Jihad album – it’s much the same, but electric, with better songwriting and much poppier. I’m unsure which I prefer, but I’m leaning towards Benji – the anecdotes have a much bigger impact, whereas the highlight of Christmas Island is a metaphor.

@Vesuvius to clarify: the top-15 is just because I haven’t finalized my list yet – were my list completed today, it would go -

1) Perfume Genius – Too Bright
2) Amerigo Gazaway – Yasiin Gaye (The Departure)
3) Wolvves – Go Demon Or Go Home EP
4) Sun Kil Moon – Benji
5) Rich Gang – Tha Tour Vol. 1

But with Amerigo, Wolvves, and Rich Gang not on our discussion board so far – unless you want to discuss the Wolvves that I suggested -, I’d throw LP1 up there, Lost In The Dream up there, and Pinata.

It’s ever-changing for me, though, and I know my list won’t be the list that we put up there.

@nietzsche Being careful not to derail this thread (or at least lampshade hanging), I didn’t like the Wolvves EP and I’ll need to give the Perfume Genius record another few listens. I hadn’t even heard of the other two but I’ll check them out! Understand what you meant by “top 15” now.

@Vesuvius completely understandable! That’s also what I meant by differentiating my personal list from our Genius list and I think that’s something that I and we all should continually take into account, especially when considering the rankings.

Amerigo Gazaway’s is a mashup album of Mos Def (Yasiin Bey) and Marvin Gaye vocals.

I’m very behind with my non-rap listening (Childish and Vince Staples dropped projects recently #priorties #ashamed) but this week I’m diving into Alt-J’s new joint as well as Hozier’s because I’ve apparently been sleeping on him and I’m ashamed it took some fantastic SNL performances for me to pay attention. I’ll give this some spins as well but I’m not sure I can really say something potent on it cause I’ve never heard of this guy but his name is ill haha. Lemme just say that this is my AOTY for Rock Genius regardless tho :3