Kay sure whatever

I never really use RYM, (or even Last.fm. both sites most MB members use). I rely on YouTube, and sometimes refer to other sites for band names. I find Youtube to be helpful in bringing up related bands. But it's not perfect, every so often I need another site to help inject new ideas. I do sampling a lot songs and albums on YT that are just meh before I find something that strikes a chord. Once I find something I like, I find the odds actually increase in finding more stuff I like. The only difference between me and Trollheart is that I don't post the music I come across that I don't like.

I could be wrong but I kinda thought of RYM as closed-knit as MB. Hypothetically if the vast majority of the community likes 3/5 to 4/5 albums I'd be stuck listening so stuff I don't care about. So I avoid it. I don't want other people's taste in music, I want my own taste. I could be absolutely wrong about RYM, but that is how I surmised it.

That being said. I think your are right that Trollheart should use RYM. I think if Trolls used another resource (whatever it is) it will help facilitate in finding music that is relevant, the good/great album he's looking for.

Eh?

RYM doesn't dictate what I think about an album, it's just a pool of well-received albums to sample from. I choose to listen to albums on the basis of within-year rank and genre, but it doesn't determine what I think when I hear it. RYM is just a convenient tool for music research, basically.

I don't use youtube because I don't like to hear songs out of their album context before I listen to the album. I listen to the whole thing as one piece of work and make up my mind based on the whole of it.

This isn't really true from my experience. Other than a sometimes abnormal bias towards certain metal albums, RYM tends to follow the norm regarding its highest rated albums. I don't think anyone is arguing that we all have to like the same music, but it's just a common belief/practice that looking at the general consensus 'best albums' for a certain year or genre is a reliable way to find good music. I mean if it at the end of the year, multiple sites and multiple MB members have ranked an album I haven't heard in their top 5, I want to know what I'm missing out on.

First: as you all know, I'll do what I want so stop trying to convince me to change my modus operandi.

Second: We're now a month into this thread so I'm hardly going to change it now

Third: I don't in any way regret doing it the way I have done. I've discovered some good albums, some great albums, some hilariously bad albums and those I really can't stick I just use one of my clauses to bail on

Fourth: see first.

Wiki's is a completely unbiased list, whereas RYM, no matter what way you look at it, is skewed by people's favourites and tastes. This is NOT what I want. I don't want to hear what other people think is good: I want to discover the good (and the bad, believe it or not; it amuses me) albums MYSELF, not be handed this information. There's no feeling quite like discovering a gem nobody else knows about. Wiki doesn't say "Oh this album is great you should listen to it". There is no bias either way. It's purely a list, and nothing more, and it's up to me to make up my mind as to the merits, or demerits, of each album on that list.

End of argument.
We now return you to our scheduled programming, already in progress.

Translation: nyeeeeh stop being mean

Yeah. **** off and leave me alone. You want to make a thread based on this year's RYM albums, ain't nobody stoppin' you, chile!

friend request me on rym trollheart

RYM are a solid starting point but definitely not ideal if your trying to dig deep for "hidden gems". The top 200 albums every year at any given time is just a glorified popularity contest. You'll still find lots of good albums, but ranking seems like more of a byproduct of marketing than anything else.

I have a good example of this. My number one album last year (Designs In Rhythm by Ice Choir) was a phenomenal pop experience yet it was only ranked #617 for 2016. The album was released independently on Bandcamp and the guy behind the project doesn't have a massive PR machine.

The music is fantastic, but you'd likely never discover that album on RYM unless you got down to a very specific set of search criteria based on genre tags related to synth-pop and then started looking at rating, number of votes, etc.

The better your search criteria...the more likely you will find what you are looking for.