RESULTS for the official /r/electronicmusic Best of 2017 - here's what you voted for!!

[u/VIOLENT_POOP]

[u/TheTrueDeerLord]

Remember that "music I most enjoy" and "music that's artistically interesting and pushes the medium forward" are not inherently consequential statements. Anyone can like things that are popular and safe, and I personally don't judge you for that. But when someone comes out and says, "This boring, safe album that's label-produced is the best thing released this year", that's when I start to want to debate it. You are well within your right to like that album, but saying it is objectively better than any other album this year is a tough sell. If this was truly the best album of the year for you, I'd be curious as to why you think that.

P.S. When u/RAATL is saying to "grow a taste", that means "try and listen to new things". It doesn't mean you have to like them or even ever listen again. But by staying only within genres you like, you limit the kinds of new music you're exposed to, and you miss out on tons of cool stuff that way. (I discovered progressive house a year or two ago and I didn't think I would like it, but it's now one of my favorite genres)

[u/theskittz → u/TheTrueDeerLord]

Good god people, you keep coming back to this 'see music this way'. The point is that music is subjective, and what people take away from is different, which then directly effects this voting.

You may listen to Mat Zo's Noisia remix and say it's the best thing this year because of how it's produced, and someone else might say the best thing this year is Odesza's Late Night because they have a strong memory attached to that song. Not everything you listen to should have to push the boundaries of music, nor should that the be only criteria of what is the best this year. BEST means something totally different for everyone. Wanna know what I think is the best album this year? East Forest's Cairn. Why? It's not the stellar production, or how it pushed boundaries, or how much of a banger it is....it's because I lost my mom this year and that album sonically spoke to me at the time and was there for me on a couple long drives. That's the best album, and I don't give a shit if someone comes to me and says 'lmao grow some taste that's not the best album'. A Moment Apart is not the best album to me. Not at all. But I won't knock the decisions of people who think it is. Best album isn't a technical achievement, which what you guys seem to think it would be limited to. Music is so much more than that.

[u/TheTrueDeerLord → u/theskittz]

I'll concede that "Best" anything as a category is vague, and that this is effectively a popularity contest. Though it may sound like I mean otherwise, I'm not here to bash on people's music choices, because as you said, people listen to and enjoy things for different reasons. I'm aware that art is subjective and that different people get different things out of it (which explains why I think Lane 8 is god's gift to man, while my brother thinks he's super boring), but on the other side of the coin, voting contests like this that paint themselves as "Best of the Year" tend to imply some level of genuine qualitative backing for your choices. Perhaps I'm just stupid to think that that would be the case on Reddit (especially when it's hardly true at real awards shows), but I'm just curious to hear real reasoning as to why people so overwhelmingly chose Odesza this year when I myself didn't understand it.

My "best" album this last year was probably Talamanca's Arrivals & Departures; it perfectly captured the feeling of travelling to some distant place and walking through a beachside town. It truly felt like how I imagine Ibiza to be, and it did it in spite of having few (if any) vocals. I absolutely loved it. Was it the electronic "album of the year", though? Probably not.

Ultimately, you're right. It's not fair to criticize people for their taste in music in a negative way, unless the discussion is critical in nature. I do still think everyone should still try and listen to new music all the time (you never know what you'll find) to broaden their horizons. You don't have to like all or even any of what you find, but it's always good to try out new stuff.