Calexico, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Reptar, Surfer Blood, Jesse Malin, Panda Bear, Twin Shadows, Lightning Bolt, Jasmine Sullivan (really good album though), Smallpools, Ryley Walker (good if you like instrumental), Screaming Females, Songhoy Blues, Pond, Airborne Toxic Event (came out with two albums and I'll give the second a try), THEEsatifaction, Simon Joyner (super influential artist that I kick myself for not being able to get into), Wale, Little Comets, Imagine Dragons, The Decemberists, Tyler the Creator (might go back eventually), The Milk Carton Kids, Faith No More, Holly Herndon, Mew, Ceremony, Brandon Flowers, Oddisee
Here's the list:
63. Modest Mouse- Strangers to Ourselves
Really disappointed by Modest Mouse here. There was no progression from their last two albums at all. Listening to this album, I just felt like it would've been a hit 8-10 years ago, but today, is just a handful of really catchy songs with missteps in between them. It's definitely worth a listen to extract the good songs, however, it ends up being an album lost in time. I almost feel like they should go back into their early influences and relearn from their first few, timeless, records. It sounds like I'm being one of those "their early stuff is better" fans, but, all I'm saying is that it must have been such a crown of thorns placed on their heads when they became super popular from "Good News" and had to follow that up by producing more and more really catchy songs. When you listen to "Long Drive" or "The Lonesome Crowded West" you hear heart and passion (Bankrupt on Selling continues to be one of the most heartbreaking songs to me) and I just didn't feel that from Strangers to Ourselves. Maybe that title is frighteningly appropriate.
62. Twerps- Range Anxiety
Twerps is that friend that comes to your house after a breakup and talks about the relationship in uncertain terms, but he really isn’t overly mad about it, he just lights up and eats Cheetos on your couch while he laments chilled out non-sequiturs. Twerps spends a lot of the album talking about a break up, but instead of being angry, they’re depressed. This approach can either be grating or relaxing. With everything so drowsy, it could make the listener fall asleep. The highlights are when the songs become hummable, like Adrenaline, or simple and punchy, like Back to You. Simple and straight forward is what Twerps does best. They aren’t pretentious or try to get too flashy. They feel feelings and want to express them as up front as possible. Join them on the couch, it’ll be a simple joy.
61. The King Khan & the BBQ Show- Bad News Boys
King Khan and the BBQ Show are a fun band. They’re a garage rock band but they worship the 50’s. This results in a nostalgic kind of blur, like you’re listening to stuffy group of young men trying to be rebellious under the stiff regiment of the period. While they use this aesthetic, their punk credentials are still present through their songs titles. Buy Bye Bhai, is a silly pointing out of same sounding words, We Are the Champion is a Queen reference, and Snackin’ After Midnight is a joke off Judas Priests’ Living after Midnight. Their sound is as much a joke as it’s serious. A lot of the songs just sound like they’re having a fun time recording. There’s a care-free feeling when listening to them, similar to 50’s pop songs. While these guys are a lot of fun, sometimes their songs come off sounding unremarkable and similar sounding.
60. Eric Caboor, David Kaufman- Songs from Suicide Bridge
Drag City is a label known for resurrecting old albums that were unappreciated at the time of it's release. The best known example would be Death's album, ...For The World To See. This is their newest archival release. While it has nowhere near the historical significance as Death, Songs from Suicide Bridge is a pretty nifty album. An all acoustic album, it deals with themes the title conjures: depression. Pretty much, it's an album for someone walking along and bridge and thinking "man, life really sucks." A very downbeat album, whose level of enjoyment depends on who's listening to it. The sound is that Texas, almost country, folk style. At times, during the longer notes, I almost pick up that locus vocal I identify with 90's grunge (that could just be me though).
59. Waters- What’s Real
I was a huge fan of their first album. It was an album that had such a low budget sound that it felt like it wouldn’t be able to contain the massive sound the band was making. Waters specializes in making anthemic songs with baller ass choruses. What’s Real sounds a bit too Grouplove on this album, which means it’ll probably appeal to more people, just me a little less. Listening to this new album, it’s like I’m listening to a different band. I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad. On one hand, this isn’t a terrible album. There are a lot of radio ready songs. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of that kind of sound. It looks like they found a big enough budget to fit in their sound, although, it could fit a little too snug.
58. The Vaccines
When I saw The Vaccines, the concert was over in 30 min and they played like 15 songs. They were obviously going for a Ramones feel, especially if you listen to their first album. I left the concert very unimpressed because they wanted the punk rock aesthetic, but they simply came off like posers. They were simply songs guys who wanted to use the genre without actually being indebted to it. They were too slick and put together. There was no chaos. And there still isn’t. However, they decided to change up their sound on this new album, and it feels more like them. It almost sounds Beach Boy-ish, especially on like Denial and Maybe I Could Hold You. They went from wanting to be a underground club act to big stadium. Honestly, that’s probably who they are. The slower songs aren’t great and they never top the first song, Handsome. While I shit on how they used to sound, the only songs I overly enjoyed were when they looked back to their first album, songs like, Handsome and Radio Bikini. I don’t know, maybe I’m the big phoney.
57. Lord Huron- Strange Trails
Surprisingly not bad. I’ve always made no bones about it that I’m a pretentious music listener. I’m the guy who won’t know the popular songs on the radio (seriously, 103.7 feels like an undiscovered foreign land where big booties and faux sentiment are currency) or watch the VMAs and ask who everyone is (I asked who Ariana Grande was like 5 times in the same performance, not because I liked what she was doing, but because Creepy Carl liked her legs). When I heard Lord Huron had to be moved up to the Riverside from the Pabst, I was flabbergasted. To me, they were just a band that was moderately liked because their first album had decent, catchy songs on it. Venue changes are meant for the big bands (like Sleater Kinney- Turner to Riverside) or for bad turnouts (Cat Power- Pabst to Turner). It caught my attention so I listened. The album is full of songs that are exciting and emotional, straight up. I wouldn’t call it innovative or even “critically” good, but its real fun. It’s radio folk pretty much. Big produced sound and some neat narrative. Going to their concert, I saw a band that don’t really know who they are yet. It all reeked of inauthenticity. They were trying to pull off the “aw shucks” folk band persona, but the show didn’t represent that. The show was oddly reminiscent to seeing Vampire Weekend during the summer, with the dancing and the light show, however, Vampire Weekend were able to pull that off because that’s who they are. They’re the young wealthy New York born and raised privileged kids, so having such an extravagant show matched them better. Lord Huron felt like small town kids trying to be the “arena rock stars.” Definitely worth checking out, even if cutting out 3 or 4 songs would’ve been ideal as to not get exhausted.
56. Matt and Kim- New Glow
Matt and Kim aren’t a band that is ever going to be mistaken for people that make music that is going to change your life or end up in the top ten of year end lists. They are simply a band put together to create good time music. That’s it. On that front, I’d say their newest album accomplished that. I was overly harsh with my expectations going into my several listens. It wasn’t until I received a physical copy of the album and played it in my car did I see that, hey, this is an alright album. The new electronic/dubstep influences they use was the logical next step for their sound.
55. Jake Xerxes Fussel- Jake Xerxes Fussell
If you were a fan of Inside Llewyn Davis, this guy is pretty much Llewyn Davis. Traditional folk to the max. While Danny Kroha’s album sounded like a passion project, this for real sounds like who Fussel is. He’s a fantastic acoustic guitar player and a strong singer. This is looking at the Rocky Mountains music. I came upon him on accident one day, saw he was getting great reviews, and decided to give him a chance. Artists like him have me slowly starting to get into the beginnings of folk/blues/gospel. You’ll never him on a big radio station or getting a tremendous amount of name drops and that’s a shame because this is a very solid album. The only setback would probably be that, after a while, the songs start sounding the same if you aren’t a listener of this kind of music.
54. Joey Badass- B4.Da.$$
Too many songs! There are 17 songs on the album and they don't differ much from each other. He's obviously a student of the game. Joey knows his stuff. This album is a shout out to the rap style of a Nas, MF Doom, and Little Brother. The difference between this album and those artists, is that Joey sounds like he's trying to hard to emulate rather than innovate the style. I first heard him in 2012 and he was being declared the savior of rap. It was exciting. Here's this 17 year old kid writing songs that were the complete opposite of his generations definition of rap. He was bringing back the style of the golden age of rap. I agreed with this. 1999 was fantastic, Survivor Tactics in particular sounded like a song that was warning the rap scene that an exciting new upstart was here. Hype was building. I felt a connection with Joey. I watched a video of him walking through his high school and highfiving his teachers. He was a normal kid, yet, at the same time, you could see he had promise. By no means is this a bad album. Honestly, this is a pretty good album. However, I was expecting more. I was expecting a change of the landscape. I was expecting more ambition. Not an album okay with just being solid.
53. Chastity Belt- Time To Go Home
Chastity Belt is a strong feminist force. Some bands will bring up the issues of women in an in-your-face fashion or in a way where it’s the absolute focal point. Chasity Belt is feminist in that they aren’t trying to sway people into thinking in a progressive way, they simply make songs that come off like their views are the way it is and no discussion is needed. They are so confident in their beliefs that nothing they say is progressive, it simply is. The vocals are deadpan, which furthers their no nonsense message. I can see the vocals sounding a bit indifferent or like they don’t care, however, I would say they sound casual. No sense of alarm, this is their world.
The biggest issue with the album is that it isn’t an album that is going to make people excited to listen to them based off their sound alone. Either their MO has to be known before listening or the listener has to be patient enough to squeeze out the differences in the songs, because some do start to mesh together too well given that the production is very downplayed.
52. Death Cab for Cutie- Kintsugi
It’s sad to say, but I think Death Cab is hitting that stage in their career where they are the elder statesmen of alternative music. Where every new album is not going to be noteworthy or exciting, but it also won’t hurt their legacy or not attract old and new listeners. Their name is too big to be corrupted at this point. At the same time, all their innovative work could be behind them. I really gave the album a try (how could I not? They played Milwaukee on my birthday with an orchestra and made a, probably, gay guy hysterically cry into his sweater). I think all I can say is that it’s alright. Maybe I’m hitting a point where I’m blown out from Death Cab. I’ve been listening to them for 10 years! I just want to point out, I’m not saying the album isn’t worth listening to. Every album is worth listening to, if anything, to just gain insight or for a handful of takeaway songs. As always, Ben Gibbard’s lyrics and voice are top notch. He’s really the intangible to this band…or maybe it was Chris Walla, I mean, he left and Death Cab sounds flat? Suspicious. I’d say that the high points are when everything slows down (for example, Hold No Guns). Death Cab is always best when they are emotional or spunky. Having “rockers” only leads to a song one can simply vibe to, not react.
51. Mount Eerie- Sauna
I feel like Mount Eerie should be bigger, as should the singer Phil Elverum, the singer for The Microphones. Obviously, The Microphones are known for their album, The Glow Pt.2, which is often considered to be one of the greatest indie releases of all time. After listening to the album, I can see both sides of his lack of notability. Very beautifully composed music here. His vocals have always been kinda iffy, not as strong as one would imagine. With that said, depending on your music sensibilities, this could be a minor masterpiece. Sometimes it's an elegantly crafted mixture of soft vocals and peaceful music, and sometimes it divulges into dissonant noise (as seen in the song "Boat"). An album based in mood.
50. Holly Miranda- Holly Miranda
A sweet album, Holly Miranda has made an album of sweet love songs that go well with her voice that sounds lofty like a pillow. Some of the highlights include: the vocal inflection on Until Now, Pelican Rapids-a song penned for the “It Gets Better” campaign, the swoony Everlasting, and the must hear song, All I Want Is to Be Your Girl. There isn’t much that differentiates her from other female singers, but still a strong album, nonetheless.
49. The Brian Jonestown Massacre- Musique de film imagine
This is a score to an imaginary French film. Given the premise, it turns out pretty well. I found myself trying to put together where the songs would go in a movie. It’s a little sad that the only BJM album I could get into is an album where they aren’t really them. It’s all instrumental, aside from female French vocals on a few songs. BJM, famous for being a trainwreck, have put together a really neat project.
48. Soko- My Dreams Dictate My Reality
I was super surprised by this album. Not that it was overwhelmingly good, or I thought it was going to be bad, it's just so different from her last album. I thought I was an Alien absolutely broke my heart. It was this album that sounded like some woman reading her diary entries from a tough year. This release is an ode to 80's pop music. She has Ariel Pink guest star on the album, and the influence is felt greatly. The songs come off retro, not old sounding, but fashionable. Very solid release, although I felt more further away from her than I used to.
47. Shamir
While listening to Shamir’s debut album, Rachet, it hit me just how distant I am from this artist. I was listening while driving, and it was so weird once I stopped and looked around. There was a worn out mother pushing her two kids in a stroller, an old clueless looking man walking down a long road, and a dirty strip mall whose most popular seemed to be the run-down looking alcohol depot. This album is upbeat and talks about subjects like being not being able to handle Shamir’s regular or how guys like big butts. It just reeked of an artist who is outside the struggles of the average person. With that said, Rachet is a great album if you’re driving to a party. There’s elements of disco, RnB, and techno. If I wasn’t such a grouchy old man, I’d be overly positive about the album. Shamir has an insane amount of personality and he really soaks in the spotlight. A really fun, yet maybe, disconnected album.
46. Colleen Green- I Want to Grow Up
I have a weird connection to Colleen Green. One time, I received a free copy of some music magazine from The Exclusive with purchase, and the first story that I flipped to was an interview with her. She was so aloof and didn’t seem to give a fuck at all. The interviewer asked her why she uses a drum machine instead of real drums and she responded with, “Because I can’t play drums.” Super cool answer. Few months later, she posted on Facebook asking if anyone could drive her around town before her show. To this day, I regret not responding. I could’ve driven Colleen Green around town!
While her other albums have been kept light, this album is her having to face adulthood, face a future that is only guaranteed to end. Heartbreaking lyrics include: And I’m wondering if I’m even the marrying kind. How can I give you my life when I know you’re just gonna die?" The album still utilizes her trademark Ramones-inspired pop and light vocals. However, it now sounds like she has direction.
45. Say lou lou- Lucid Dreaming
Say Lou Lou is pretty much a turned down Icona Pop. They don't have nearly as many vocal hooks, but the music is enough to get some shoulders moving. A very solid debut from these two. Dream pop usually doesn't do much for me, however, I found myself enjoying a large portion of this album.
44. Hello Death
This is music for a death march. The male singer’s voice is low, almost cartoonishly so for our contemporary times. The female singer’s mist-like voice flows and drifts between his rocky ridges when they sing together. The tandem sounds like they’d be at home in the 1920’s folk scene. There aren’t any “highs” and they don’t burst into some crazy fiddle laden indie bumrush. This is an album of texture and mood. For someone who routinely feels like death, this album is perfect for serenading eternity.
43. Shana Falana- Set Your Lightning Fire Free
The album art for this album is my favorite of the year. Very rich symbolically. Falana has a flat sounding voice that is so metallic that brings out this goth tinge to this wonderful dream pop record. It sounds like a hallway in a cathedral. I imagine sitting in a room and watching a big screen with her face singing the songs like some kind of pop propaganda film.
42. Breakfast in Fur- Flyaway Garden
This sounds like a soundtrack to a Wes Anderson's version of a David Lynch movie. At times it's twinkling, and other times, it's atmospheric. I'm usually a very lyric driven music listener, but, I found myself wanting less vocals (although some of the light airy vocals add to the atmosphere) just so I could languish in the mood of the instrumentation.
41. Migo- Napkin Back
Really promising album by a local Milwaukee band. There is such an impressive palette of influences on display. I particular love the fast-talking parts. Fantastic lyricism from a writer that has been plugging away for years and gets better all the time. Seeing them live, the passion is palpable and the movements frenetic. Certainly a band to get excited for and will, hopefully, continue to release more albums. My favorite local release thus far this year. Check them out, I guarantee you won't hear anything like them this year. The album is name your price on their bandcamp (which translates to free), but I recommend throwing some money at them out of good faith.
40. San Fermin- Jackrabbit
Jackrabbit sounds like a imitation of San Fermin's self-titled first album. It's all setup roughly the same. A little more upbeat, contemporary sounding than the first album, maybe more ambitious. It falls short. I think the biggest issue is the singer replacing the Lucius sisters. The vocals are split between a male singer and a female singer. The male singer is bringing it this album, highly enjoyable this time around in comparison to the first one, where he was just an asset. On Jackrabbit, he's holding up the album. The female singer just isn't as powerful as Lucius. I kept thinking, "Lucius could really bring this song to another level," the whole album. She's not a terrible singer by any stretch of the imagination. She's technically very good, just not special sounding. With all this said, the album is actually pretty good. There are a ton of solid songs on here with good hooks. I think the problem is that I was expecting so much more and can actually hear how it could've been.
39. Belle and Sebastian- Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance
I'll preface by saying this, Belle and Sebastian is a very influential band in the genre of indie rock. They're legacy has been devalued a little from being licensed to many quirky indie films, alright new releases, and, at the risk of sounding snobby, the disrespect of contemporary hipsters that have a "what have they done lately" attitude and only appreciate either the obvious "legends" or the "new bands on the block." Belle and Sebastian are a culturally significant band that put out very respectable albums. Very smart and charming gems that will wow when given the chance.
With that said, this album feels like watching your well-read father leave the house in his 1970's disco getup. They obviously needed a makeover. Every band should try new things after a while. However, while there are some fun catchy songs on the album, it just doesn't feel like them. By any stretch, this album isn't an embarrassment. I just miss the sincerity of Piazza New York Catcher. I miss walking home in the dark and feeling like the only person in the world, listening to Dress Up in You. I miss the organic groove of If She Wants Me. I'd take a speech from my boring old dad any day, than a dad asking me to boogie down with him.
38. Will Butler- Policy
This is a nice tight album. I wasn’t expecting an outrageously good album. I feel like there’s this attitude in listener culture that demands that every album has to be absolutely amazing to be listenable or notable. No way! Some albums exist to get you to the next. This isn’t album I’m going to think about often or anything, but it’s still a pretty good collection of songs. A playful collection of songs that remind me of stuff like Adam Ant or Soft Cell or something 80’s-ish. This is worth a listen. There are a few songs to take away. I still get Take My Side stuck in my head.
37. Speedy Ortiz- Foil Deer
Very 90’s sound, there’s the messy guitars and casual female singer (reminded me a lot of Liz Phair). The singer/writer, I guess, is a pretty accomplished poet, being a candidate for an MFA. It’s very apparent that she knows what she’s doing lyric-wise. The album is hard to describe, it’s an aggressive album without feeling too agro, smart without sounding too clever. There’s a complexity to it that I don’t think will really jive with a lot of people. I go in and out about how much I like Foil Deer. Sometimes it’s really cool and refreshing, and other times, hard to get into when it’s playing in the background.
36. The Tallest Man on Earth- Dark Bird is Home
I have brand loyalty to Tallest Man on Earth. I discovered him through Last.FM in high school and I've been in love ever since. His style of folk was so passionate and old fashion and steeped in woodsy, working class imagery, he grabbed me from the very first guitar strum. After every album, his sound becomes more refined and tame, which is good and bad. He's starting to sound a little more modern, but, at the same time, he's starting to stick out less. When I first heard his new single, Sagres, I heard War on Drugs. That didn't impress me. However, I heard Dark Bird is Home, and heard the new orchestral sound. An artist evolving is always going to bring good and bad. In this case, it left me feeling neutral about the release. My favorite parts were when it was just him and the guitar, like on Singers. I applaud him for trying something new, for using the studio more to get a bigger sound to appeal to more people. It just wasn't what made me fall in love with him. I fell for the artist who stood by himself on the Pabst Theater stage with just a guitar and piano and sang from his heart songs that didn't need to be dressed up. On that night, he captivated an entire theater. This album could hardly captivate me.
35. Viet Cong- S/T
This is a vinyl record. The songs go together so well that it would be blasphemous to split them up. They are obviously a post-punk band, as represented by the deadpan vocals and tense atmosphere. Interpol should take notes (aside from Turn on the Bright Lights). Incredibly constructed and immersive, I want them to create a score to a dark new-age Western where all the cowboys are robots. Listen to the song Continental Shelf for an immediate reference point, then listen to the whole album.
34. The Cribs- For All My Sisters
How many bands can brag that the legendary Johnny Marr was a part of their band at one point? This band can. If you like really catchy punk rock, check this album out. It’s supersonic and always ready to keep moving. Heavy guitar and urgent vocals. I really liked the song Pink Snow.
33. Danny Kroha- Angel Watching Over Me
I can’t complain too much about this release. This is the first solo effort for the ex-Gories (fantastic blues punk band from the 80s) singer and comes across as a guy, who very simply, just wants to play some tunes that he loves. All the songs are folk and gospel covers, which were recorded at Third Man Records so you know Jack White was super onboard with this. Kroha uses a lot of classic instruments like, as written on the Third Man website, “banjo, dulcimer, diddley bow, washtub bass, jug, and mouth organ.” At the end of the day, this is a passion product. A product written to throw some spotlight on genres that are slowly becoming obscured or dulled by the shiny new music scene of the 2010’s. Not an album that’ll blow the mind of a lot of people, but if you’re a fan of masterful musicianship and history, maybe you’ll get something from this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s like the perfect album to put on when you’re driving out to WherethefuckamI Lake to go fishing
32. Mikal Cronin- MClll
Mikal Cronin, known for being Ty Segall’s Paul McCartney, has made a really solid orchestra blessed surf pop record. Very textured and layered with sound. It’s been getting a lot of flak for sounding like his last album too much, but I enjoyed his last album so I don’t mind too much. I think my biggest issue with the album is that half of the songs go together as a group (being numbered i, ii, iii…) and they sound great put together, however that leaves 5 songs out of the 11 that are kinda just there, leaving a strange division. The album really picks up into a cohesive piece once hitting song 6.
31. San Cisco- Gracetown
I came into this album absolutely loving their debut album, so my expectations were pretty high. They aren’t a band that are going to produce life changing music or be critically acclaimed, but they are so darn fun. The subject matter never goes beyond that of boy/girl problems, making it feel like they’re a band making music for the sake of having fun or haven’t had a serious problem in their lives. The lyrics rely heavily on obvious rhymes. They’re a pop band that does their job great, making fun catchy music. These guys are meant for radio and feel very 2015.
30. Patrick Watson- Love Songs for Robots
I think Patrick Watson would be amazing if they were signed to a bigger label and had a bigger budget. The sound has so many things going on, yet the way it’s put together kinda makes everything blur, especially since Patrick Watson’s (I know the band is also called Patrick Watson) works as a blanket. His voice is so airy that it becomes a haze. I’m a big Patrick Watson fan. To this day, seeing him in Milwaukee is still one of my favorite concerts. I wasn’t a fan at first, it takes concentration to get into the music. It takes investment in the sheer quality of his voice, the mood the songs convey, and the little moving parts that can be heard once it’s dissected.
29. Tom Rosenthal- Bolu
His voice is so UK, it’s ridiculous. Tom Rosenthal specializes in piano based ballads, but, has an amazing amount of wit and humor (which is put on display on his B-sides). I first discovered him from an episode of the UK television series, Skins. His first album, Keep A Private Room Behind The Shop, quickly became one of my favorite albums. It was, at times, silly and, other times, heartbreaking. Two albums later, he is still able to walk that line so well. Bolu is fantastic. He expands his sound to incorporate more instruments and eccentric vocal nuances. All the songs are relatively short, making the songs blur together, creating a whole listen. Definitely recommend a listen. He’s hard to find in the US!
28. Laura Marling- Short Movie
I’m always so torn with Laura Marling. I like her because she’s like the figurehead of folk music in popular culture right now. She’s important to folk music/ She’s keeping it alive and visible and is producing objectively good albums. Her first, her least strong when it comes to persona, has her catchiest and most automatically graspable songs (Ghosts and My Manic and I). Her second album, I Speak Because I can, really started to guide the listener to where she was going to go. She was this fierce strong female voice that wrote songs inspired by great works of literature and was very mature for a 20 year old. A Creature I Don’t Know took a step back because it wasn’t anything entirely new, but was still a solid release. Next was the expansive Once I was an Eagle, which I thought was her best album She finally produced that song, Master Hunter, that was the song to play during her walk to accept an award. It was a full album that’s dark and seductive and really felt like what a contemporary folk album should sound like (not whatever Mumford and Sons were making). At last comes her fifth album, Short Movie, and I was super excited because the self titled single really floored me (still could be my favorite song of the year), then it came out and it was good but not fantastic. My first listen through, I was just okay with it. Then I listened to it a few more times (probably around 4 or 5 times) and it started to click for me. Fantastic finger picking and her voice is interesting. There’s extreme tenderness to her vocals at times, and a lot of strength at other times. Although I wouldn’t say it’s a step up from her last album, I’d say it was a nice listen. I can see how it wouldn’t appeal to listeners because contemporary listeners need a big moment or a big vocal or big fun to catch their attention again, but I would say it’s an album that if you can sit back and just chill out to it, it’s going to be a cool listen. If you listen to it always waiting for “something” to happen, you’re just going to get impatient. Not all albums need hill and valleys, sometimes the clear open road can be just as exciting and rewarding.
27. Passion Pit- Kindred
Passion Pit has always been cool because they sound like a ball of light but the lyrics are full of dark matter. Very illustrative of real people. Most of the songs are danceable and perfect for a rainy day at the same time. I came in very cynical about Kindred because Manners was a brilliant album, Gossamer lost some of it’s sheen but continues to be a fun listen, and when I heard Lifted Up as a single, I was a little put off. Listening to the whole album, I’d say it’s on par with Gossamer, or at least, a little below. There’s so much energy and vibrancy to each song, that I don’t mind how clean it sounds. In a way, I see Passion Pit influential to a lot of modern radio bands, like Moglis, Small Pools, and Youngblood Hawke. Passion Pit just does that brand of Indie pop a lot better than most bands.
26. Dan Deacon- Gliss Riffer
He’s a maximalist to the truest degree. This is album starts with one of my favorite songs of the year, Feel the Lightning, and only continues to get weirder and more claustrophobic. The music is a sugar rush, threatening to never end even when you’re ready to come down. His vocals are cold metallic that start to rile up as the album goes on. It finally ends in an eruption of electronic mash that is both beautiful and tiring. That’s how I would describe this album, exhausting beauty.
25. Torres- Sprinter
I’ve listened to this album multiple times trying to think of what to say about it. I haven’t been able to put my finger on exactly how to describe it. It’s an album of seething, like it’ll break into mania any second, but she holds it together. The overall mood stays intense the entire time. It makes me think of what would’ve happened if St. Vincent would’ve stayed in the direction she was heading when she released the song Grot, muggy with aching. She’s been getting a lot of praise for this album. I don’t think it’ll appeal to a lot of people, but it’s very classically good.
24. Mountain Goats- Beat the Champ
Mountain Goats has become the elder statesmen of lyrical indie music. John Darnelle, fresh off the release of his book, Wolf in White Van, he releases Mountain Goats’ 15th album and never for a second sounds like he’s phoning it in. The Mountain Goats have made classic albums (All Hail West Texas, Tallahassee, The Sunset Tree), yet continue to try and do something different, be it a full band sound or an odd new theme. This album takes the leap and uses professional wrestling as his new vehicle of self-expression. The album works surprisingly well and doesn’t require pro-wrestling knowledge to enjoy. The reason it works so well is because it has universal themes that can be extrapolated from wrestling, such as the idea of pride and when a good guy realizes that in order to survive they must turn into the bad guy. While one could assume that this is a very impersonal album given the subject matter, it is in fact very personal. My biggest gripe with the album is that it doesn’t feel like a big album. Having had so many albums penned, John Darnelle may have lost his immediacy. His slow songs are definitely the best ones. Nothing really cut me deep, instead, it was more akin to a pro-wrestling blade job. It creates an effect, but, it doesn’t feel like the real thing.
23. Hop Along
I have never heard someone blow out their voice so many times in a single album. She straight up goes for it. After track 3, the album really picks up and turns into an album that’ll pummel you into the ground. Frances, the singer, is really the intangible and her powerful, yet imperfect, voice drives the whole album.
22. My Morning Jacket- The Waterfall
My Morning Jacket is always going to be one of those bands that are always going to be considered a big band. There are in the ranks of TV on the Radio, Wilco, and The National, bands that consistently release quality work but won’t ever be considered “the band.” They’re the workmen bands, bands with a big reputation, but are looked over for the new exciting bands. If a sitcoms needs to bring up a stereotypical hipster band, they’ll name one of these bands. With that said, this release from My Morning Jacket is their strongest release lately. Evil Urges (2008) got too experimental and Circuital saved them some face. The Waterfall does what a waterfall does, it replenishes them.
The album utilizes what made My Morning Jacket a household name, Jim James’ gigantic vocals and amazing guitar work. His voice is just layered on layered and the band gives him so much support, matching his dynamism. They made a career out of their amazing live performances and these songs sound like that’s where they’ll flourish. These songs make you want to hear them live because it feels like there’s reserved energy still in the wings. At the end of the day, that’s what you want an album to do. I came in not a huge MMJ fan, but I think they may have brought me to their side a little with this album. In a way, these guys are saving yesteryears idea of rock’n’roll. Jim James is a traditionalist. He did Monsters of Folk with Conor Oberst and M.Ward to celebrate folk music and did the same thing with New Multitudes, a project that fleshed out blueprints to Woody Guthrie songs. His solo album paid tribute to mid-tempo blue-eyed soul. My Morning Jacket, they bring us back to the days of guitar solos and artistry.
21. Stornoway-Bonxie
It’s really stupid hard to find this album! I listened to it twice on Youtube and now it’s gone! However, I do remember that I liked it quite a bit and would regard it as a return to form. They were being hyped a whole bunch in 2010 with their album, Beachcomber’s Windowsill, then dropped off with two just alright albums. These guys were also my second indie concert I ever went to (the first being The Morning Benders). I’ll never forget being an 18 year old kid looking doe-eyed as the singer launched into an off-mic rendition of one of their songs, filling Turner Hall with his strong voice. Bonxie has an appropriate album cover, because it’s similar to how I saw him that night, a soaring bird.
20. Palma Violets- Danger in the Club
Really fun album. If I had to pick a band to trash my house during a house party, this would be the band. The album just exudes this image of a bunch of good timing guys fucking around and creating magic. Even their slower songs sound more like pub sing-a-longs than ballads. Their use of gang vocal really gives the songs a big boost. All the songs sound big and energetic. They just come off as the cool band. My biggest issue is that it's very similar to their first album. While that isn't necessarily a complaint, I highly enjoyed their debut, I just wish there was more signs of change. When listening to Peter & the Gun, I instantly thought of Tom the Drum. I will continue to champion these guys though, we need more "cool bands" in order to not get bogged down in "indie sadness."
19. The Districts- A Flourish and a Spoil
I like this album more than I feel like I should. It was unjustly written off as a Strokes rip-off. The Districts have produced a really catchy and exhilarating album that is grounded by the right amount of emotionalism. I feel like every time I listen, I start liking them even more. Obviously, these guys aren’t wholly unique, but every single song delivers on some level. 6 AM is one of my favorite songs of the year (could be my favorite). Suburban Smell gives me chills. 4th and Roebling gets me ramped up. I’d say if you aren’t into the pretentious bullshit I’m into, this is the album that’s worth a listen because it fits right in the middle of casual and critical perspectives.
18. Eels*- Live from Royal Albert Hall
I don’t know why I love the Eels so much. If I had to name my top 10 bands, somehow they’d make it in even though I can’t put my finger on why. It could be because Hombre Lobo was the first steps I took away of radio rock. It could be because of all the personal turmoil the singer E went through in his life, from the suicide of his sister, the cancer-related death of his mother, his cousin dying on 9/11, his divorce, and the death of his famous physicist father, Hugh Everett III, who came up with the Many Worlds Theory, which is basically the idea of there being multiple realities. Or it could just be that Eels are plainly amazing. E has such a gruff emotional voice that can convey grizzled sadness or barking rock’n’roll. I don’t know how else to describe this live album but to say that this is a masterclass in live performance. There are cool covers, heartbreaking moments of articulation, and songs that come to life (notably, I Like Birds which gets a makeover into a rockabilly song). There are a few moments on the album that really got to me. It could have been nostalgia, I’ve been a fan for a long time and this feels like it could be an appropriate goodbye if they were to end it here. It also could be that after 20 years of being a band, Eels are the masters of what they do.
17. Radical Dads- Universal Coolers
This is probably my pick for personal fun album, thus far. It's all just so loud and the vocals are just so classic riot grrlll, borderline tuneless, shrill, and exciting. I absolutely love this record. It's an album that is ever going to reach album of the year stratosphere, but it's an album that will warrant many future listens from me. You cannot listen to "In the Water" without imagining yourself at a concert putting your hands in the air and pogoing to the chorus, singing to the words. This is my version of what people get from a band like Imagine Dragons. In terms of quality and fun, it's a perfect balance. I can't say everyone will like it, as it is an acquired taste, reserved for those who like big guitars and loud voices.
16. Waxachatchee- Ivy Tripp
Waxahatchee is the patron saint of the DIY movement. Her influence is small but is vital for the progression of the indie music scene and how music listeners listen to albums. The lines are starting to become blurred when indie music is brought up. As a community of music listeners, we are losing the definition of independent music. It isn’t something like Mumford and Sons or Imagine Dragons or some other band that has that happy-go-luck, synthetic emotional feel to them. Its artists like Waxahatchee and Courtney Barnett and Mitski, artists that are making art, rather than 4 minute ads. Artists that don’t have a thousand producers and money backing the project, but are releasing ingenious music nonetheless.
Listening to Waxahatchee’s first album, American Weekend, it sounds like it was recorded on a karaoke machine, but it was heartbreakingly beautiful and honest. She followed that up with the critically acclaimed Cerulean Salt, which smoothed out some of the edges and continued her soul baring style of music, which then got her signed to the massively popular Merge Records (a label that has housed such giants like Mountain Goats, Arcade Fire, and Neutral Milk Hotel). Now she’s on her third record and her sound has evolved once again.
The album is carried by her vocals. She has an understated voice that sounds small and aches like a lover. Her voice is so pronounced that she even harmonizes with herself on some songs! Her lyrics are personal and tackle the issue of how scary the future is considering that it’s amorphous. It’s always changing, especially at such a young age where nothing has solidified yet. The best way I can describe the album is that it’s real and doesn’t sugarcoat the feeling of being empty.
15. Mac Mccaughan- Non-believers
Probably this year’s biggest surprise for me (so far). I know Mccaughan is a legendary name, he’s the singer for one of indie’s most influential bands, Superchunk, and he started Merge Records, but I thought this would be another phoned in solo endeavor from another older musician. Man, was I wrong. This was a great album of power pop! There’s an 80’s vibe, but, in like the good kind of 80’s, like when punk was finally starting to evolve. This could be one of this year’s most underrated albums.
14. Drake- If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
I'm not a very knowledgeable Drake fan, but I bumped big time for this album. It just makes you want to do stuff with your shoulders (?). He just sounds cool and has this swagger to his voice. I was thoroughly satisfied by a majority of the songs, which is surprising considering how long the album is. Rap really isn't my thing, so there isn't much I can say about this album that would be insightful, but Drake is such a big name that I don't think I need to say much for people to check him out. It's fucking Drake, right?
13. Death Grips- The Powers That B
Listening to this album is like fucking under the red skies of the rapture. It’s just so loud and aggressive and fulfills those primitive urges of uncontrollable anger, sadness, and violence. The first half, Niggas on the Moon, is alright, not the best. The second half, Jenny Death, destroys everything in its path with reckless abandon. It’s as though Death Grips wants to take everything we’ve come to know as commercial music, squish it in their palms, and create a beautiful mess. From the upfront violence of I Break Mirrors With My Face In The United States, complete anarchy of The Powers That B, and almost anthem like On GP, Death Grips have stumbled onto the secret of releasing the animal instincts of its listeners. For that same reason, is why I can’t be in love with the album. More on this when I talk about Kendrick.
12. Tobias Jesso Jr*- Goon
This son of a bitch kills me. From the very first time I heard Hollywood last year, I was smitten. It came out at the tail-end of 2014 and instantly become my favorite song of the year. The combination of slow piano, tender vocals, and the dissonance of the purposely bad sounding trumpets at the end, blew me away. Goon quickly became my most anticipated release of 2015. All things considered, it delivered. Great music to walk along a lake to. He’s a songwriter in the vein of Paul McCartney and Randy Newman. It’s like you’re twisting and swirling in the most beautiful kind of hurricane that takes place in the dreams of a broken lover. This album was brought on by him going to Hollywood to try and make it as a musician. In the end, he failed with that endeavor and went back home. What the fuck is wrong with the world?! He’s money and I’m very happy he is receiving so many endorsements (including, strangely, from Taylor Swift).
11. Alabama Shakes- Sound and Color
They absolutely fucking kill it on this album. I love their debut, however, this album capitalizes on their potential. Listen to Miss You and you’ll get the hype. Brittney’s voice is such a powerhouse! It’s straight up rock’n’roll, the original blues influence included. A thoroughly enjoyable listen that needs to be listened all the way through first and foremost. I wasn’t a big fan when casually checking it out one day, but, I gave it attention and now I love it. Postmodern at its best. Blues, punk (the greatest), rock, and RnB (Over My Head) all smashed into one cohesive product.
10. The Sonics- This is the Sonics
Never have I been more surprised than listening to this album. I honestly gave this album a try out of courtesy. This is a band that has been around for 50 years and are sometimes cited as being the originators of punk rock. Me, being a diehard believer in punk, not in terms of the stereotyped fast and furious sound, but in the absolute essence of what punk rock meant and means, wanted to be respectful. These guys fucking killed it. There are very few bands that still play as aggressive as these guys. They sound like 20 year old kids here. All the songs are short and never give you time to breath. After listening to this album, I’ve come to the conclusion that these guys are either warlocks or one of the best ever. The list of bands that they’ve influenced is bananas, Japandroids, Nirvana, L7, LCD Soundsystem, Flaming Lips, and the White Stripes (Jack White cites them as what influenced the White Stripes the most).
9. Lady Lamb- After
If she doesn’t blow up at some point, than I think it’s time to start questioning everything I know about music. So instantly listenable for the casual listener and enough artistry for a cold-hearted critic to be melted. On top of that, she’s a very pretty girl! Every song packs a punch and are so cleanly produced. This is a breakout album if I’ve ever heard one. There is so much she can do with her voice and she knows how to put together pop songs that are wonderfully crafted. With her being so young, it’s promising that she’ll only get better, which is scary given how good this one is.
8. Jessica Pratt- On Your Own Love Again*
The story of her first album goes that they were recorded in 2007 and finally released in 2012. That’s a span of five years, yet Jessica Pratt feels even more out of contemporary times than that. Her music is very serene. She isn’t a powerhouse in the vocal department like other current indie artists like Regina Spektor or St. Vincent, but there’s an innocence in her voice, or maybe frail wisdom. She doesn’t belt out notes, instead, opting to play with them nimbly between her fingers. Her voice is accompanied by her similar fingerpicking guitar style. Freak folk is the label that’s been ascribed to her, although she would say otherwise, hoping rather to stay undefined, and that’s fair.
On Your Own Love Again is a warm album that should be sold with an Irish hot chocolate and a window to stare out of to watch the just fallen snow lay delicately on everything. Not an album that is going to gel with everyone on the first listen, or depending on the situation, at all. This is an album that works best when it’s being paid attention to. Every word she sings is full of emotion, not in the big cinematic kind of way, but in the relatable sense, making it infinity more real. A great album to listen to all the way through.
7. Courtney Barnett- Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit
Courtney Barnett is the quintessential modern day rocker. She comes off as a true troubadour of music, someone that off-handedly makes music but doesn’t have this over-the-top celebrity stature. Her image and music are so approachable, bereft of pretention or majesty. When listening to her music, it comes off that she isn’t the kind of musicianship that is trying to craft the next big hit or trying to force some big message. It feels like she is simply doing what is natural.
In all honesty, this is where we are in music right now. Over-the-top emotionalism is out of fashion, her lyrics come off casual and flung out. There is a quote from Christopher Nolan when asked about the overt 9/11 influence in the Dark Knight, he essentially says that he didn’t go out of his way to make associations, they simply came about because it was in his consciousness naturally. It came about because it is part of his thoughts now. I get the same feeling from Courtney Barnett. It doesn’t feel like she sat in a room by herself and strained to come up with songs. It sounds like they were always a part of her, just waiting to flow out. In just letting it all come out, we get an inside look to her psyche and her personality. Her style of lyricism is steeped in turns of phrases and an offbeat, interesting perspective. Nobody writes like she does right now. You would have to go back to the 90’s and listen to Stephen Malkmus and his band, Pavement.
She borrows a lot from other genres. She’s a post-modern artist. Hell, it makes sense, we’re in a postmodern world! If an artist isn’t reaching their hand in the grab bag of history, then they aren’t doing what they need to do. She has the rhythm of pop music, the musicianship of grunge and general 90’s indie rock, and the laidback attitude of classic punk.
The biggest knock about her is that her voice is deadpan, which is hard for the contemporary listener to get used to because in the standard milieu, women have to sound like women, emotional. However, it just makes her music a little more interesting and fresh. Her words get a different meaning based off her voice, sincere becomes ironic and problems turn into annoyances. This album is truly one of the top albums of the year.
6. Bill Fay- Who is the Sender?
He sounds like a translucent man hovering above the Earth, trying to comprehend societies troubles. The entire album he preaches change, that today’s modern world needs to look at itself. While he doesn’t provide answers, does he need to? He’s an old man. He can just complain if he wants to. Bill Fay is an artist who has been around since 1970, his early folk sound transforming into more of an earthy, low tone. The music is slow moving and beautiful.
5. Olivia Chaney- The Longest River
Absolutely stunning. There are a lot of different kinds of beauty. There's the kind like Sufjan Steven's album that touches you on an empathetic level. There's the kind like Tobias Jesso Jr. that swoons. Olivia Chaney's The Longest River is the kind that takes you back to your childhood. Takes you back to a time where you were a child looking up at the infinite blue sky and letting your mind drift to familiar places and places where you have yet to travel to. It makes you feel innocent again. Endlessly enchanting.
4. Sleater Kinney- No Cities To Love
I feel like all the love Sleater Kinney is getting from music listeners is a little fake. I think if Carrie Brownstein hadn't been on Portlandia, Sleater Kinney would have only been embraced by the music purists and people who grew up with them, which is pretty bold of me to say. Before they went on hiatus, the last time they were in Milwaukee was in 2005 and they weren't selling out the 2000 seat Riverside Theater. They were playing a tiny little bar called The Globe and I'm sure it wasn't sold out. Hell, Corin Tucker (the other lead singer) was here like a year ago playing the Cactus Club, and no one was talking about that gig. And it wasn't like they were producing bad albums towards the end, if anything, they were making the most commercially viable material of their career. Every single one of their albums have been top ten of their respective years. Their influence in the riot grrrl genre was tremendous. They weren't in-your-face feminist, like Bikini Kill, but they just oozed the image of strong, powerful women that were unafraid of a man's world. Yet, they weren't overly loved by the casual music listener. Now they are.
With that said, No Cities to Love is an album that establishes how great they are and makes the case that we should've missed them every single day of their 10 year break. This is how you make a rock'n'roll album! No knocking on the door to let them back in popular consciousness, they broke the door down and yelled, "we're back!" It doesn't even sound like it's been 10 years, or that it's a comeback album, it's simply the queens coming back to remind everyone that they're still in charge.
3. Father John Misty- I Love You, Honeybear
Oh god, what can I say about Father John Misty. This was one of the few albums that made me stop what I was doing and physically say, “oh shit.” I was blown away from the first song. FJM has the best vocals of any album this year. His songwriting is nuanced and equal parts emotional and so sarcastic you just have to assume he’s kind’ve a dick (although I know it’s a gimmick). In an age of bland “rockstars,” FJM is this glowing beacon of charisma. Seeing him in concert was the most sex thing I’ve ever experienced (that’s not a typo or mistake). From the first time I listened to this album, I was like “this is album of the year.” Every song brings something uniquely amazing and memorable, whether it be a subtle joke, emotional anecdote, or the fading claps of an invisible audience.
2. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie & Lowell
Even just hearing a few seconds of this album, gives me chills. When I heard that Sufjan was going back to his folk roots, I didn't think it'd produce anything quite so evocative. It's so spare, in comparison to a lot of other releases, but it fills me up with more emotion than I thought an album could. I just listened to a one minute sample of The Only Thing to refresh my memory of the individual songs and I could feel my eyes start to well up. Sufjan's hollow, frail vocals are angelic. I don't think I can say enough about this album or explain why you, the person reading, should give the album a chance, other than saying that life is more fragile than we want to admit. Life is this delicate balance of foreboding destruction and absolute beauty, and this album captures that relationship in the most haunting of ways.
1. Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp a Butterfly
My friend asked me which album I thought was better, The Powers That B by Death Grips and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick. I picked Kendrick. At the time, it made complete sense but I didn't know why. Now I know why. I chose to live in a world of meaning. A world where movies are films, not blockbusters. A world where music is art, not ads. A world where sex is making love, not fucking. The problem with this world is that it brings along troubles that we can't sweep under the rug or excuse as just being how things work. Young people are being shot on the streets. Children grow up in broken homes and lives. People of color are mistreated by the public and themselves. The system that we have erected is flawed. People who chose to live in a world of meaning recognize this and it tortures them every single day because it can't be changed when everyone else just wants catharsis, to have simple releases from a harsh reality. To Pimp a Butterfly isn't afraid to explore and talk about the issues of, not only the world we live in, but the ones that we cause ourselves. Looking at the cover, it's obvious that this is a black album. Listening to the music, all the influences that it encompasses, it's obvious that this is a black album. The most impressive part is that it's an unrelenting and unanbashingly black album. This isn't a roll down the windows and blast as loud as you can album, this album is important. It has meaning. Of all the albums on this list, this album has the best chance of being timeless. It is a modern masterpiece.
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