Category: recommendation

There’s lots of talk about 2016 being a tough year, a strange year – a year full of drama, tension, uncertainty, frustration… sounds a lot like my teenage years.  And one thing I did as a teenager was look for comfort and identity in music.  I’d say I did quite a bit of that in 2016 as well. 

Here’s part 1 of my annual “Best of” music review.  The music I’m listing is the “Best” based on it being my personal favorite:  the music that I listened to the most, that I found the most interesting, that spoke to me the most, or that I felt was most worthy of recommending.

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FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2016

1. Teens of Denial, Car Seat Headrest – No hesitation, no debate.  This was clearly my favorite album of the year.  Each song in the album twists and turns, changes direction, sometimes almost frantically, but like the best joy ride it rattles along on the edge of control without ever loosing momentum or intent – and always remaining kick-ass rock and roll.

2. We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, A Tribe Called Quest – This band was my gateway into (good) rap music back in the 90’s although I didn’t come to fully explore and appreciate their full catalog until a decade later.  Now they come back with an album that maintains the same soulful groove of their original sound while making it fresh and topical – so topical that the timing was almost eerie.

3. MY WOMAN, Angel Olsen – Olsen’s last album was all low-fi and although it was well received by the critics I felt all the fuzz and distortion got in the way of song writing that would pull me in.  With this 2016 release, Olsen has changed gears significantly and put together the album Kurt Cobain was thinking of when he said the future of rock and roll was women.

4. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, Sturgill Simpson – I had to sit with this album a bit to fully appreciate it.  I think the key was listening to it all the way through, in it’s entirety, as a complete work – and that’s exactly how Simpson intended it.  (Seeing Simpson touring for the album and playing it live also helped solidify it for me.)  The album is many things:  it’s a touching perspective on fatherhood, a blurring of musical genres while paying special homage to the soul and R&B influenced country of the 70’s, and it’s a second middle-finger to the mainstream country music establishment (Simpson’s previous album being the first middle -finger).

5. American Band, Drive-By Truckers – This isn’t my favorite DBT album.  I’ll say up front that I think it lacks the same musicality and catchy tunefullness that many of their past albums have.  But its lyrical power and timeliness are undeniable and make this an album that has to be appreciated.  Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have always embraced the complexity of real people and this album is probably their most impactful work from that standpoint.

“He was running down the street when they shot him in his tracks
About the only thing agreed upon is he ain’t coming back
There won’t be any trial so the air it won’t be cleared
There’s just two sides calling names out of anger and of fear
If you say it wasn’t racial when they shot him in his tracks
well I guess that means that you ain’t black, it means that you ain’t black
I mean Barack Obama won and you can choose where to eat
but you don’t see too many white kids lying bleeding on the street” – from “What It Means”

6. Dancing with Bad Grammar, L.A. Salami – This is an album that seems to take the lyrical poetry hinted at in the best hip-hop and bends it towards Bob Dylan’s rambling acoustic style.  There’s a lot going on with his lyrics, more then I’m sure I’ve grasped, but it’s a great album to digest and another one that seems very well timed for 2016.

7. Goodness, The Hotelier – There’s a lot of personal tragedy, layered meaning and even transcendentalism behind these 13 tracks but for me it’s just a good rock album.  The kind of album I could pull up on any day, cranked loud or just laying back.

8. Hurtling Through, Tiny Ruins & Hamish Kilgour – I’ve realized I tend to have one mood record each year that ends up on my list, an album that’s meaningful to me for the way it instills a particular feeling or has the ability to transport me to a certain space and time.  Hurting Through is sparse and feels small in some way.  At first glance it has a melancholy that might fool you – but listening more, letting it wash over me, I found a quiet and contended happiness.  I doubt you’ll find Hurtling Through on any other “Best of” lists and I don’t know if it will work for others, but this is an album that transports me to the bitter-sweet feel of a quiet, shaded back porch in early summer, drifting in and out of sleep as the afternoon slips away.

9. Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic, The Gotobeds – Pitchfork slammed this album, which can sometimes indicate it’s actually really good.  They did have a point about it not being anything terribly original, but I’m okay with that.  There is a distinct argument that nothing in music (or art) is original anymore and often, the more original it is the less accessible (or enjoyable) it tends to be.  With The Gotobeds, I’m more then happy to get a fresh hit of Pavement, Silkworm, and Television for 2016.

10. Revolutionaries, You Won’t – This is my second dark horse on the list.  I questioned whether to include it.  As with Hurtling Through, it’s probably not an album you’ll find on other lists and Josh Arnoudse’s voice is not going to win any beauty contests.  But it’s the albums I went to most when I needed something upbeat in 2016 and I’ll stand by it’s witty, infectious folk-rock.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Lemonade, Beyonce – I’ve only listened to this album a handful of times.  I can’t say it’s something I’m going to throw on when I’m hanging around the house.  But I can’t deny that this is a great album.  Beyonce has done lots of catchy pop tunes before, but this is a true album and it goes well beyond catchy – it is influential, meaningful, and sincere.

22, A Million, Bon Iver – I still don’t know exactly what to think of this album and that’s why it’s here in the Honorable Mentions category.  Is it a beautiful, ambitious work filled with layers of mystery that pull you in?  Or is it a muddled, self-important, pretentious self-masturbation?  When I just let the music play without thinking about it,  loosing myself in the soundscape, then I start to think this could be a great album…  But the lyrics?  And the numerology, and all the hokey symbols, and the antics of Justin Vernon’s showmanship with the media?  That’s when I start to think this could be the result of an artist who no longer has anyone around him willing to call bullshit.  Ironically, my favorite song from this album is actually a cover done by Gordi which strips away the extracurricular activity and finds the beautiful core within.

Blonde, Frank Ocean – I came to this one late because, despite the critical acclaim, I wasn’t really that into his last album and kind of expected the same for this one.  But with Blonde, Ocean focuses his music a bit more, simplifies it just a bit, while still deftly mixing genres and producing a powerful orchestration.  This is an album that I feel I struggle to fully appreciate but it’s one I enjoy coming back to.

To share a little more of the music I’ve enjoyed this year, here’s my list of favorite songs.  I’ll include a link to my 2015 Spotify playlist at the end.  Hope you enjoy – and please feel free to let me know what you think.

 

 Favorite Songs of 2015 (in no particular order):

The Front Bottoms, “HELP” – The anthem I adopted for 2015.  (“This is what I want Motherfucker, Make it Happen For Me.”)  I can’t say it it got me anywhere, but it made me feel a little better.

Buddy Guy, “Come Back Muddy” – Like a lot of people (especially generations of semi-cultured white Americans) I was introduced to the blues through B.B. King and his passing this year felt particularly significant. With most of the blues giants already gone, it felt like the closing of an era in music that will never be repeated. Ironically, it’s the one blues icon still alive, Buddy Guy, who captures this sadness best with this tribute to the great Muddy Waters.

Hop Along, “Horseshoe Crabs” – It starts with a simple, stutter-step melody that sets the foundation for a roots rock ballad. Then Frances Quinlan uses the harsh edges of her voice to pile on a layer of punk rock anger.

Sufjan Stevens, “John My Beloved” – The most touching track from a very melancholy album.

Bill Ryder-Jones, “Satellites” – A dreamy, sedated ballad that finally bubbles up.  Admittedly, this probably rides the edge between meaningful and over-dramatic but sometimes that’s right where you want to be.

FIDLAR, “Punks” – No surprises here. If the title doesn’t clue you in, you’ll get the picture in the first raspy scream, “Well I’m still alive!”  I put this one in the category of aggression pallet cleanser.

The Underachievers, “Illusions” – Take a little philosophy and mix with New York rap – follow the lyric and see where your mind ends up.

John Moreland, “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars” – Moreland is a talented guitar picker but it’s his vocal delivery in this rather traditional country-blues song that grabbed me.  The song doesn’t sound new – it feels like it came off a Steve Earle album (or then again, maybe a Tom Waits album).  But I guess it shows there’s nothing necessarily wrong with a classic sound.

Sweet Spirit, “If You Wanna” – Mixing a bit of 50’s pop, 80’s  punk and 90’s grunge-guitar, this siren song has given me something to fantasize about.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Nightlife, “S.O.B.” – Some might criticize as being derivative, hipster music stylings but I’ll go ahead and take the Blues Brothers nod for what it is because sometimes fun is what you need.

 

 

Bonus Pick:  Favorite Video for Getting Over a Crap Day

In the tradition of Red Fang‘s best work, I found the video for “Paradise Day” from The Armed a useful tool for getting a little release after especially crap days.

I may have only written two posts in all of 2015 but somehow not doing my Best Music list would seem like giving up entirely.  So, ignoring the mountain of more constructive things I should be doing, let’s take some time to prattle on about my favorite music this year.

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Overall, I don’t feel 2015 was a particularly exciting year in music.  I bought less music this year then any year since I graduated from college (and was too poor to buy any music).  And this was the first year in a long time when I struggled to come up with ten albums I would but on a “Best of” list.  At first I thought this might be a personal issue; maybe I was too distracted to really notice and appreciate what was out there.  And maybe there is something to that, but I’ve talked to other friends who’ve said the same thing about 2015 so I’m not so sure.  Whatever the case, there were still some gems out there and plenty to keep me interested.

Best Album of 2015

Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I just Sit – Barnett has a particular music style (most obvious, her speak-singing vocals) that some people will either love or hate but the song writing is hard to deny and she brings a bit more rock-n-roll intensity to this album that she didn’t have in her previous EP release.  I think the Nirvana comparisons that some critics have made is stretching it, but still an album every rock fan should get to know.

Albums Tied for Second Place

Beach Slang, The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us – I know there are any number of 90’s era albums you could point to as influences in their sound.  (For me, it was the All Shook Down era of The Replacements that drew me in.)  But somehow they do it without sounding overly dated or derivative.  A great rocker.

Jason Isbell, Something More than Free – Once again, Isbell shows his mastery of writing  song lyric that cut to the bone.  (It’s a Thursday night but there’s a high school game / Took a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name / These 5A bastards run a shallow cross / It’s a boys last dream and a man’s first loss)  I loved Isbell’s contributions to the Drive-By Truckers but I have to admit that since leaving that band and sobering up he’s reached a level that solidifies his place as one of the best current song writers in America.  If you’re not a country music fan, good – because “Country” music doesn’t want what Isbell has to offer.

Bully, Feels Like – Loud, fuzzy, Grrrl rock that’s got some 90’s vibe to it and maybe even a bit of surf rock. I saw them perform at the Mississippi Studios this year and Alicia Bognanno had punk rock intensity to spare.  Recommend sampling at extremely elevated volume for full appreciation.

Other Heavy Rotation Albums in 2015

Iron and Wine & Ben Bridwell, Sing Into My Mouth – This is an album of covers, many of which are songs that I had not previously cared much about.  But Sam Beam and Ben Bridwell bring a smooth, sultry style that breaths in new life.  Across the album it feels as if they’ve taken a 70’s sound, stripped away all the crap and updated it with a modern sensibility.  (The strategic use of slide guitar doesn’t hurt either.)

The Milk Carton Kids, Monterey – Simply a sweet, beautiful album.  Nothing fancy.  No groundbreaking, genre defining sounds.  It’s just a record that made me feel better every time I played it.

Telekinesis, Ad Infinitum – Looking over my list, I guess this would be the closest thing I have to a “dance” record this year.  This Seattle band has put out some great individual tracks in the past (see 2009 Best Songs list) but I think this is the first solid full length album they’ve done.

– posted by Colby

There were great albums released this year – albums that I was drawn back to over and over again without them ever getting old or tired.  As soon as I sat down to review the contenders and do my end-of-year review, research and sorting I immediately knew who the top picks were.  But picking a #1 was difficult.  And ranking a Top 10 just didn’t seem to fit this year.  So, I’m going to use a little different format for my list this time.

Best Album of 2014 – a three-way tie for overall album of the year.

Benjamin Booker, Benjamin Booker – This kid is awesome. Mash together Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, the Ramones and crank it up with grit and distortion.  This album will make you move.  It will make you want to drink hard liquor.  It will make you think about your youth and scream about the injustices of the world.  Even if you can’t tell what he’s singing about.

Spoon, They Want My Soul – I try not to be biased when a favorite artist puts out new music. I want to listen to it with fresh ears and let my impressions come honestly.  I think I generally do a good job of that (ex. sadly, no New Pornographers album on this year’s list).  So, upon first listen to this new Spoon album, I had to hesitate a bit.  It sounded really good.  Was it?  Was I just getting swept up in the hype?  I listened again.  And again.  I went back and listened to older Spoon albums to compare.  Oh no.  It is that good.  Standing on it’s own today, or compared to their back catalog – it’s great.

Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music – I grew up on Outlaw Country.  I didn’t know what it was at the time – I was eight – but I knew the sound of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Charlie Daniels.  It wasn’t until I hit my 30’s that I realized how much those early sounds really meant to me and how strongly they influenced my musical sensibility.  Needless to say, Sturgill Simpson immediately resonated with me.  However, what’s most impressive about Metamodern Sounds is that it honors the ethos of Outlaw Country while still being original instead of being another trite parody of it like so much of mainstream Country these days.  If you’ve never been a country music fan but have wanted to give it a try, this is the album.

Most Impressive Albums of 2014 – the albums that blew my mind with power, emotion and/or beauty.

Rodrigo Amarante, Cavalo – A masterfully delicate album. I was not familiar with Amarante before I heard this album, however, it took just one listen to strike me as something special. I rarely hear an artist who can be this beautiful and tender without slipping in to “precious.” This is an album that some might play as simple background music while those who hold their headphones close and listen carefully will be swallowed up in Amarante’s wonderfully illuminated world.

Run The Jewels, Run The Jewels 2 – I’ve been a fan of El-P as a producer and rapper for some time and I thought there were good tracks on the first Run The Jewels album he did with Killer Mike.  But I was not expecting much from the second release – and maybe it was that underestimation that helped accentuate the impact this album made. Aggressive, deadly-serious, while never afraid to laugh at themselves.

Sun Kil Moon, Benji – To be honest, I’ve had a hard time getting in to Sun Kil Moon in the past, but right away I was sucker punched by this album.  His vocal delivery may not suite everyone and there’s not a lot of musical range in this album but it’s all about the lyrics.  The stories he tells, the pictures he paints, are so raw and emotional that you can’t turn away. Some might find the overall tone too dark (I could almost imagine this as an album adapted from some Daniel Woodrell collection) but I see it balanced with wonder, love of family, and hope for a better life.

Heaviest Rotation Albums of 2014 – the albums that simply drew me back over and over again without wearing out.

James Vincent McMorrow, Post Tropical – Justin-Vernon-like falsetto, some R&B sensibility, a little James Blake pacing, and some 80’s schmaltz combined under an intentionally cheesy (I hope) album cover.  This is the dark horse on my list.  It’s certainly not an album I’ve seen on any other Top Album lists.  Simply put though, iTunes and Spotify told me it was the album I listened to most this year.  (Note: it did get helped in that scoring by an early January release.)  But I can’t deny the personal appeal and in the final equation there’s a bitter-sweet charm in McMorrow’s songs that created a sustainable draw for me.

The Orwells, Disgraceland – As long as there are bands still making music like this, the world has not gone completely to shit.

TV on the Radio, Seeds – I heard some music reviewers criticize Seeds for not being as experimental as their earlier albums. It might not be. Instead, it’s an album full of sonically fresh anthemic rock – not an easy task. I’ll agree this isn’t the most innovative album TV on the Radio have done, but it’s one that felt natural and hard to say no to.

The War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream – From the first airy guitar riffs of track one, I knew I loved this album.  Almost everything has reverb. There’s driving beats, slightly tempered to create a touch of tension.  Guitar lines that sweep back and forth like waves.  And lyrics that come in and out of focus like the music.  A lot has been written about his Dylan-esque vocals on certain tracks.  To me, this album has a sound like something from my past.  Thinking about now, I’d almost say it’s a purified version of what late 80’s rock wanted to be when it matured.

Honorable Mention

St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Half the City – I couldn’t finish my 2014 list without these guys on there.  I saw Paul and the Bones back in March with my friend Henry and it had to be one of the most captivating shows I’ve ever seen.  With an insane wealth of charisma, sincerity and raw energy, Paul Janeway fronts this band channeling the Blues Brothers and Southern Soul.  If you ever have the chance to see them live, do not pass it up.

– posted by Colby

This year I’ve decided to start by reviewing my favorite songs and save my top albums for the next post.  As a quick reminder, there are a few rules I follow when listing out my top songs – only one song per artist, no songs from my top albums (since those artists will already be highlighted), I don’t try to rank my top songs (it’s just to hard), and I don’t necessarily hold myself to ten picks.

Favorite Songs of 2014:

“Bury Our Friends” – Sleater-Kinney, Bury Our Friends (single):  The full album won’t be out until next year but thankfully they dropped a couple singles early and I was quickly reminded why these ladies ruled the end of the millennium – and it’s great to have them back at their best.

“Lazaretto” – Jack White, Lazaretto:  With his solo work, I wouldn’t say that he’s been able to put together a consistently great album, but Jack White knows guitar hooks.  There’s really no denying it.  Listen to this and try not to strut – I dare you.

“Left Hand Free” – alt-J, This Is All Yours:  Funky college rock.

“5-Sax Piece” – Moon Hooch, This is Cave Music:  To me, their best tracks sound like a mix between jazz and EDM.  In this one, Moon Hooch make a slow build – give it 100 seconds – and then let the funky hammer fall.  (And in case you hadn’t heard, saxophones are cool again.)

“Coffee” – Sylvan Esso, s/t:  A great example of how hard it is to do just enough, but not too much, especially with electronic based music.  A very simple song at first blush with hidden complexity.  Layers of clicks, snaps, thumps, beeps and chimes with Amelia Meath’s voice floating over the top and just the right space all around.

“No Rest for the Wicked” – Lykke Li, I Never Learn:  Reminds me a bit of the track “Youth” that I had on my list last year.  Melancholy with a driving beat.

“Hotel” – The Antlers, Familiars:  This song grabbed me just with it’s tone, the melody that rises and falls.  I didn’t even listen to the lyrics the first dozen times and then it gradually pulled me in further.  I couldn’t tell you for sure what it’s about but the meaning seems to be just under the surface.

“Chris Issak” – Lydia Loveless, Somewhere Else:  Lydia Loveless is Outlaw Country in a skirt (I hope she wouldn’t find that offensive, I mean that in the best possible way) and this is self-aware country music with a bite.

“Seven” – Blake Mills, Heigh Ho:  Blake Mills takes what could have turned in to a sappy, cliche love song and made it rich and complex by adding the undertow of a bowed stand-up bass, a great blues guitar sound and bitter-sweet tone.

“The Body Electric” – Hurray for the Riff Raff, Small Town Heroes:  As some may know, I love murder ballads and this is a beautiful addition to the catalog.

“Lucia” – Hiss Golden Messenger, Lateness of Dancers:  A song for my beautiful little niece.

“Madman” – Sean Rowe, Madman:  This is the best “ear worm” of the lot for me.  There were many times this year I found bits of this song repeating inside my head.  But it’s one of those rate tracks I didn’t mind invading my inner soundtrack.

Here’s my my full Best Songs of 2014 playlist on Spotify:

 – posted by Colby

I’ve picked ten of my favorite songs of the year to highlight below but it’s hard for me to really rank the individual songs or keep it to just a Top 10 so as with last year I put together a Spotify playlist and let the list grow with the idea that it’s a good way to share a wide range of music.  Hopefully everyone can find something new in there that would make their Best of 2013 list.

Best Songs of 2013:

“Easy,” Son Lux – Some hand claps, a spare keyboard line, a pulsing sax, lots of open space – how does such a simple song pack such a wicked hook?

“Youth,” Daughter – A song that almost drowns you in sadness (And if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones./’Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs./Setting fire to our insides for fun) before the drum line picks you up and makes you run.

“What are they Doing in Heaven Tonight?” Colin Stetson – Honestly, I am not a Justin Vernon zealot.  I didn’t even know he was featured so heavily in this album when I gave it a listen.  But Colin Stetson is an impressive musician, both as a sideman for an amazing number of my favorite artists (Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Feist, Bon Iver, Jolie Holland, LCD Soundsystem, The National…) and now solo.  His solo work, generally labeled avant-garde (jazz? rock? experimental?) and often utilizing circular breathing combined with his pulsing drone style, may not be immediately accessible for everyone, but I think anyone can fall in love with this take on the classic spiritual.

“Daddy Was a Real Good Dancer,” Dismemberment Plan – A bitter-sweet story hidden in a fun, rollicking rock song, played by a veteran indie band.  A song that I think would make any son stop and think.

“Lurker,” Steve Gunn – With a subtle droning quality just under the surface, Gunn plays a guitar line the seems to circle around you in waves, gentle and mesmerizing.  After listening to this song many times, I unexpectedly started to feel like I was playing some hidden acoustic track from an early 70’s Led Zeppelin album (think first 1:30 of “Over the Hills and Far Away“).

“Party Kids,” Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside – Fittingly named, this song oozes a cool, party vibe and was already one of my favorite tunes before we saw Sallie Ford and her band play live at Bumbershoot this year.  Sadly, that show  turned out to be part of their final tour as the Portland band has announced it’s breaking up.

“Brother Bryan,” Waxahatchee – Previously, Katie Crutchfield’s work risked being lumped together with a certain ultra-hipster-cliche-lowfi typecast (think about the worst of the Juno soundtrack) but I like her new album.  The addition of some electric guitar (or driving bass in the case of this track) gives her some dynamic punch to go with the sorrow.

“Low F,” Superchunk – Another indie-rock band from my college years (like Dismemberment Plan) that came back to make some great, infectious rock songs.

“Aubergine,” Lady Lamb the Beekeeper – I honestly know nothing about this artist.  I’d never heard of them (her) before and don’t even remember how I stumbled upon this track.  But something about the raw vocals, and maybe the horn section, made it stick with me from the first listen.

“Chum,” Earl Sweatshirt – I know there were quite a few hip-hop albums the critics liked (Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, Pusha T…) but for me this was a dry year in rap music.  I wasn’t even all that in to the rest of Earl Sweatshirt’s album, but this track stood out right away.

 – posted by Colby

[Post Script Note: It just dawned on me that most of the links I’ve provided below are to Spotify and will only work if you have a Spotify account (which you can do for free).  But not everyone wants a Spotify account and I can certainly appreciate that – it seems like every time I turn around I’m being pressured in to signing up for one more account or membership.  My apologies for those of you who don’t have or wish to have sign up. This was not an attempt to push the service and I’ll try to use a more ubiquitous method in the future.]

Best Albums of 2013:

#1.  Southeastern, Jason Isbell – If you’ve followed any of my past music lists you may remember I’ve been a big Jason Isbell fan going all the way back to his days with the Drive-By Truckers.  Since leaving the Truckers, he’s put out a number of great solo albums but this is the one that’s gotten the most critical acclaim and I can understand why. I’m not sure the music is quite as dynamic as some of his past stuff, but the lyrics (always an Isbell strength) set a standard this year that few could match.

#2.  Light Up Gold, Parquet Courts – I love this album because it’s fun, whitty, and full of layed-back punk attitude.  It also pulls off the miraclulous trick of somehow sending me through a time machine to my college years (full of Archers of Loaf, King Kong, Pavement and Silkworm) without sounding dated.

#3.  6 Feet Beneath the Moon, King Krule – Soul?  Singer-songwriter?  Jazz?  R&B?  I have no idea how to classify this album and I don’t think I’m the only one who struggled with that.  But it’s good – really good.  It may take a couple listens to fully sink in, but if you set aside any pre-conceived barriers you can’t help but get sucked in by the power that flows through the open, spacey arrangements.  I’m nowhere near experienced or connected enough to make any kind of predictions, but I won’t be surprised to see King Krule develop into one of those underground music figures loved by other musicians, indie-critics and music “snobs” around the world.

#4.  The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight…, Neko Case – I admit it, I love Neko Case.  But because I can admit it, I honestly think I was able to set aside my feelings and give this album an objective listen.  And well, it still amazes.  Over the years her sound has become more complex (maybe less accessable – which is kind of ironic considering that at the same time she’s gotten more main-stream attention) and certainly harder to put in a genre bucket, but as I’ve said before (in this blog), I believe Neko Case to be one of the best song writers of our time.

#5.  Grownass Man, The Shouting Matches – I continue to be surprised at how little attention and critical notice this album received.  I understand the sound isn’t particularly ground braking, it’s pretty much straight-up blues rock, but an album doesn’t have to create a new sub-sub-genre to be great.  Maybe it’s snubbed because it’s too accessible.  Maybe it’s the victim of more Justin-Vernon-Backlash.  Whatever the case, it hasn’t affected me because I’ve loved this album since the first listen.  It’s probably the album I’ve listened to the most this year and if I was rich and could have live music at my house party, this is the band I’d have.  SPECIAL AWARD:  Hands down, this album wins Best Album Title of 2013.

#6.  The Graceless Age, John Murry – This is a dark, gritty, intense album both musically and lyrically.  Maybe a cross between Elliot Smith and Richard Buckner.  Sonically similar to one of my favorite albums from last year, Father John Misty’s Fear Fun.  Reviews of the album quickly mention Murry’s relation to Faulkner and the painful results of his battle with addiction but none of this background story is needed to appreciate the brutal power behind his songs.

#7.  Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend – From what I’ve seen, this is the album on my list that you’ll be mostly likely to see on the top of professional critics lists and by ranking it #7 I may be selling it a bit short.  This really is a great album by Vampire Weekend and I was excited to see that they were able to follow up on the light-hearted fun of their earlier albums with this more mature, complex work.  It’s still the same Paul-Simon-Afrobeat-like sound they had before but with better song writing.  (I just wish they had skipped playing around with the voice distortion.)

#8.  Talon of the Hawk, The Front Bottoms – This is the newest (to me) album in my 2013 catalog but I really didn’t hesitate to put it on my Best of 2013 list.  You could call it basic guitar-bass-and-drums driven rock but it worked for me right away with smart lyrics set against catchy rock hooks.  I turn it up, I pound my fist, I sing along.  That’s what rock music is supposed to do, isn’t it?

#9.  Melt Yourself Down, Melt Yourself Down – From the very opening notes, this album makes me jump up and down, twist my hips, and flail around like an idiot.  The mix of Afrobeat, electronical and fusion pulls me into the imagined chaos of a crowded nighclub in a dirty corner of a large European metropolis, filled with the influences of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.  Globalization gets a lot of bad press but I’ve found one up side with this album.

#10.  Pushin’ Against a Stone, Valerie June – I believe you’d be hard pressed to deny that Valerie June has made an excelent album, masterfully mixing primitive Americana, blues, gospel, folk and rock (all very well traveled genres) in a genuinely original, sincere and timeless sound.  Her voice brings a mystery to the music, at once delicate and punchy, simultaneously floating by lightly and pulling you in deeper.  It’s a voice that some may not appreciate right away, but the more you relax and give it a fair listen the more you’ll come back to it.

Bonus Selection – Best Reissue:  Magnolia Electric Co., Songs: Ohia – I didn’t discover Jason Molina’s music until well after this album was originally released in 2003, which is kind of a surprising to me considering how obsessed I was with alt-country in the early 2000’s.  But Magnolia Electric Co. is a timeless album that’s as accessible now as it was then.  That’s why it succeeds so well as a reissue this year – not only on it’s 10^th anniversary but also in the year that Molina died.

Bonus Selection – Best Kind-of-2013 Release:  Spectral Dusk, Evening Hymns – Okay, I had to cheat a bit to fit this one on the list.  It was actually released in the US in 2012 (which I missed) but it was released in the UK this year which is when I found it while checking out ADM.  But I had to include this album because it struck such a deep chord with me.  Frontman Jonas Bonnetta has written some incredibly personal lyrics about the death of his father which may not resonate with everyone, but for me this was an album that I was irresistibly drawn to.  It’s heartbreaking and ethereal; well suited for late nights when everyone else is asleep, headphones on, the house dark and silent.  I don’t know all the back-story of Bonnetta’s family (“I’m gonna chop down the family tree/Mill them into boards and build an effigy/I’m gonna set it on fire/It’s gonna set Dad free/Show no mercy”) but his reflections on parental loss and the growing awareness of becoming an adult hit me like a punch (Oh, please come back to me/I need you if I’m to be a man/Oh, I’m not doing that well/That is just what I tell my friends”).  Turning forty this year may not have made me face my own mortality quite yet, but listing to Bonnetta’s music has helped me look at the emotions of confronting my father’s mortality.

For the “Best Songs of…” portion of my annual music review I thought I’d put together a playlist on Spotify and provide a link to it.  Below you’ll find an embedded playlist of 50 great songs from the year.  This isn’t necessarily a list of the top 50 songs – it’s just too hard to rank all the individual songs.  Instead, I made a rule that I could only pick one song per artist and then just started grabbing the songs I listened to most or that stood out to me.  Finally, for a little context, I’ve added some editorial comments on a few of the songs.

Best wishes to all on 2013 and I hope you find some music that you enjoy.

Best Songs of 2012 Playlist

“Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant,” Diamond Rugs – Given the season I thought I should start off with a holiday song.  Sad Christmas songs being one of my favorite sub-sub-genres, this closing track on the Diamond Rugs album stood out to me.  (Although it’s tough to match the bar set by the Tom Wait’s classic in this category.)

“Longevity,” Yeasayer – This could be my #1 song of the year – at least it has been for the last couple months.  Gotta love the striding bass line combined with the staggering keyboard hook.

“Same Love,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Some might say it verges on sappy, but I think the message is piercing enough to drive through the cynicism and strike a deep cord.

“Brothers,” Tanlines – A lot of similarities with “Longevity” but a little more electronic/dance.

“Plumage,” Menomena – Hand-clapping, foot-tapping opening track from this Portland band’s new album.  If you’re a Gorillaz’s fan, I think you might like this.

“The Magic Clap,” The Coup – Speaking of hand-clapping… This song should come with a surgeons general warning:  may cause earworms.

“Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings,” Father John Misty – The spacy, melancholy vibe combined with the subterranean beat made for a hook I couldn’t resist – and the songwriting on the entire album is engrossing.

“Deer Creek Canyon,” Sera Cahoone – Sera Cahoone has an amazing voice.  Regretfully I have to say the producers on this new album didn’t help much by playing with it – adding an extra touch of reverb, echo or something that just isn’t needed.  (Check out her 2008 album Only As the Day Is Long for comparison.)  Regardless, this is still a beautiful song.

“If I Needed You,” Andrew Bird – Always a busy man, Bird put out a full-length album and two EP’s this year.  All of them are great.  (His album was on the cusp of my “Best of…” list and I may regret leaving it off.)  But this track off his EP of folk songs is a true stand-out gem.

“Birmingham,” Shovels & Rope – Another band in that crowded folk-rock genre but a great combination of modern song structure with a sound that could have rolled in from a 1930’s radio set.

Hey there blog followers, once again it’s time to wade through another monologue on my favorite music from the year.  It’s hard to believe I’ve bothered to keep this going but this is in fact the sixth year I’ve formally documented my “Best Music of…” selections for the blog.

Before I get in to my picks – starting with best albums – let me say a few things about my general impression of the new music released this year.

First off, I thought it was a good year for new music.  I certainly didn’t have any problem coming up with a list of candidates for my best albums.  There was a point in  the year when I felt there was a lack of new releases that had me excited.  In hindsight though, I think that had more to do with a lack of seeing live shows.

Second, for me this was the year of Spotify.  Back in January I started using Spotify pretty heavily and found it was a great resource for filtering new music.  Almost any time I heard about an artist or album I could go to Spotify first and listen to the full album (and back catalog) as much as I wanted.  This became the “triage” process for picking new music and I guess you could say I’ve  adopted a modified Sound Opinions type rating system:  if it’s a good album I go ahead and purchase the album (i.e. Buy It); if it’s an okay album or has some good and bad songs then I just continue to stream it off Spotify (i.e. Stream It); and if it’s junk then I can just forget about it (i.e. Trash It).

The third thing I noticed came as I started putting together my end of year music lists.  As part of the process I usually review other “Best of…” lists from various sources to see if there’s anything others are recommending that I haven’t heard or maybe that I forgot about.  Although my picks don’t typically match anybody elses, they generally share a lot of common choices from this list or that.  For some reason there was far less of that overlap this year.  Of the twelve albums in my list below, almost all received good critical acclaim, but only three commonly showed up on other “Best of…” lists I saw.  On the flip side, although some of my “Almost Best of…” albums might have ended up as top picks by others, many of the albums I saw regularly picked by other critics were ones I thought just okay, marginal or even worse.  Prime examples being Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, Miguel’s Kaleidoscope Dream and Tame Impala’s Lonerism.  So why the discrepancies?  Am I getting old and soft in my music choices?  Well I’m certainly getting old.  Am I out of touch with what’s hip?  Possibly.  Are all the professional critics out there full of shit?  I sometimes wonder.  But in the end I had to just shrug my shoulders and go back to what I like because that’s ultimately what it’s all about.

So, with that preamble done, here’s the first part of my 2012 year in music review.

Continue reading “Best Music of 2012 – Part 1”

With my picks for best albums of 2011 posted last week, what I’d like to do now is share a playlist of my favorite songs for the year. This isn’t a strict ranking of the best songs – it’s just to hard to quantify individual songs – but rather a collection of great tracks from 2011 releases I haven’t talked about already. I also went with a playlist this year, rather then a top ten list, so that I could share a wider slice of the music that captured my attention.

Colby’s Top Songs Playlist for 2011:

“My Mistakes” -Eleanor Friedberger, Last Summer.  St Vincent’s album received a lot more critical attention then Friedberger’s but I don’t think Annie Clark put out anything as good as this deceptively catchy song.

“Little Talks” – Of Monsters and Men, Into the Woods EP.  We’ll have to wait and see what this group does with their first full-length release coming out next year but the first track of their EP is super catchy folk-pop.

“By Your Hand” – Los Compesinos!, Hello Sadness.  As you might guess from the album title, these guys have adopted a darker tone (lyrically, anyway) but I like it – I think it gives their music better staying power and this album was close to making my “Best of” list.

“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People, Torches.  Definitely the most mainstream song in my playlist but Sarah loves this track and I have to admit I can’t help but whistle along.

“Kids” – The Features, Wilderness.  Kind of similar to “Pumped Up Kicks,” but I like that this song’s got more noise, less pop.

“Let’s All Go to the Bar” – Deer Tick, Divine Providence.  You might recognize John J. McCauley’s voice from the Middle Brother album I talked about but with his main band Deer Tick, they put out another strong alt country album dripping in booze.

“Codeine” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Here We Rest.  “If there’s two things that I hate, it’s having to cook and trying to date.” This song makes me realize country music may be at it’s best when it speaks from the jaded old man inside us all.

“Hard Times” – Gillian Welch, The Harrow & the Harvest.  The sound for this album wasn’t anything different for Welch, just a continual maturing and refining of the song writing craft and this song will be added to her list of classics (which is already pretty long).

“Tenere (The Desert, My Home)” – Bombino, Agadez.  For me, 2011 was the year of discovering incredible guitarists from the world music scene. With Tinariwen’s album Tassili and this release by Bombino, I may have no idea what they’re singing about, but the amazing guitar work is universal.

“Art of Almost” – Wilco, The Whole Love.  Somewhere down the road they will make a “Best of Wilco” album and narrowing down the catalog to an album’s workth of songs will be insanely difficult. I guarantee this song will be on there. However, I have to agree with my friend Scott who said that this first track on Wilco’s new album is “too rad… It makes me disappointed in the rest of the album.”

“Hold On” – Alabama Shakes, Alabama Shakes EP.  This band shares some things (unique female voice, indie-rock sound rooted in traditional blues/soul, a reputation for great live shows) with one of my favorite bands of the last five years – The Heartless Bastards – and I’m excited to see how they follow up this incredible first single.

“Bright Lights” – Gary Clark Jr., The Bright Lights EP.  Yes, very similar to The Black Keys sound but with a little less blues and a little more R&B – plus a guitar style that I think Jimi would appreciate.

“Sunrise” – Childish Gambino, Camp.  I like quite a bit of this album and Glover shows it takes a special rapper to drop references to NPR and pull it off.