VMP Magazine

It’s natural to view any “so far” list with a healthy amount of skepticism. “How can you judge that already?” you’ll ask, as you click the link. “Isn’t the end of June a more appropriate time for this?” you’ll think, as you scroll down. “This list doesn’t have [album of the year to you], this list is trash,” you’ll Tweet when you finish. And that’s part of the accepted process when it comes to lists; we expect it, and you know it’s expected of you.

But I’ve never bought the inherent distrust of list making as a process. It’s a brutally efficient way to take stock of a year. Given that every day brings a torrent of news that makes it feel like mere existence is on the brink of being cancelled, why not stop, this clear June day, and think about our favorite music of the year so far? We hope this list will remind you of some great music that came out this year, or, even better, finally convince you to take the plunge on listening to something you’ve put off.

For the first time in recent memory--with the exception of media Twitter’s annual complaints about brands or whatever--SXSW week started this year with bad “buzz.”