Best of 2017: Albums, Music

2017: A Year in Music

2017: the year that felt like a decade. That felt true in life as it did in music. For the stories that we shared, most specifically, that of our current president and the myriad things that he has done which have changed the complexion of the modern world and made time seem to dilate, there is little that I can say that would add to the conversation. It was there. We have had to live through it. But it is decidedly relevant in terms of music that was made, and how we perceived it, and how it shaped us.

For me, personally, there was life: a seemingly endless winter, heartbreak, an ethereal, lovely spring, a dry, desperate summer and the smoke of the world seeming to burn around us, recovery, rehabilitation, a new house, a new car, a new job, a new life. These all changed me, how I listened, how I experienced.

It is also worth noting how and why I consumed music this year - whereas in 2014/2015 I spent a lot of time and effort trying to leave how to DJ and curating playlists for NYC, this year I spent much of my resources seeking out world music to flesh out the sounds of a little bar in Seattle. That aesthetic direction has some influence over how this list ended up and what I actually made it to this year.

2017 feels like the year where the word got too big, moved too quick. Consensus is gone. The world is fragmented, isolated. There is more and more and more. Generally, it is great. But it is hard to not feel, at least at times, overwhelmed. And this is life now.

So this is my list of stuff that made it through all the noise, that made an impact on me this year.

Rock & Roll can change the world. If you are nice to people.

Algiers – The Underside of Power

I first heard Algiers after a Friday night shift, lying in bed with headphones on, scrolling through new releases. It was a rare moment with music, where I was immediately rapt; it felt like a revelation. Six months later, it still feels new, relevant, important. In a year where political discourse is inescapable, where the world is increasingly global, where influences smash together to point to the future, there is this record. When I hear Walk Like a Panther, the screaming, distorted vocals give me goosebumps. When I hear this album, I feel like it should be at the center of the conversation. And so it is at the top of my list.

Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory

It is my opinion that Vince Staples is the future of hip hop if not the future of music. He is pushing himself as an artist and he is a singular and relevant voice. His second full-length is an essential listen, a step forward, a raging ball of energy.

Kendrick Lamar – Damn. (Collector’s Edition)

Damn. Is obviously the best record of the year – it is the only remaining consensus pick in a year utterly devoid of consensus. Similarly, Kendrick has long been one of, if not the single greatest talents, in all of music, this being his follow-up to his last consensus album of the year. Throughout, I have admired him, but rarely connected with his work. For me, Damn. Is Kendrick at his most accessible – and at his best. It is best listened to in the recently released ‘collector’s edition’.

Gorillaz – Humanz

Humanz is, in a way, The Last Jedi of albums. It is the sound of an established artist pushing the boundaries and polarizing the fan base. Humanz was conceived as a party record for the end of the world. It is, perhaps, messy, unrefined, but quite like other maximilists whose work I love and admire – see also: Kanye West – Humanz is overflowing with ideas and generosity. The production from Twilite Tone is some of the best of the year. It is fun and serious, contemplative and forward-looking. An underappreciated gem.

The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding

A Deeper Understanding is the best album yet from the War on Drugs. It is Adam Granduciel grappling with his humanity, with purpose and existence, but wrapped up in a warm hug of Springsteenian reverb & throaty mumble-singing and epic, swooning guitar solos. It is the bedroom anthem rock we needed in 2017.

The National – Sleep Well Beast

The Dessner’s did their best to make a The National make a Radiohead record record  and Matt Berninger slapped his everyday humanity and contemporary acumen all over the top of it to make a haunting, beautiful record that stands out even amongst their already prolific body of similar work.

St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION

(Mass/seduction) One of the world’s greatest living guitarist suppressing her strengths to find something new. My favorite St. Vincent is Strange Mercy/John Congleton St. Vincent. Some of her over-the-top meta-performance art antics have lost me in recent years. Here, her vulnerability has pushed her to new and different heights. She strips bare her own towering aesthetic and finds something new through it all, disguising her most recent masterwork with a thin veneer of bubblegum pop.

Valerie June – The Order of Time

The greatest hits of Americana, the rollicking south, soul and blues all smashed together through the eyes of one of America’s most distinct voices. It feels epic and timeless from the first track.

Feist – Pleasure

Feist has been one of music’s most casual geniuses over the last decade and a half, cranking out great albums every few years with little bombast, establishing herself more as an institution than an event. Pleasure is no different. Quite like St. Vincent on this list, Pleasure sees Feist at a moment of vulnerability, which she embraces and stares right back into the face of. Pleasure is a raw, rough record full of pain and emotion. Feist stares into the abyss, and demands that it smile back.

Perfume Genius – No Shape

Slip Away, one of the year’s great tracks, has a drama, theatricality, and weight to it that reverberates throughout the record. It is an album that uses texture and dynamics to perfectly support its weighty material considering love and identity in a changing world. A perfect marriage of content and production work.

Walter Martin – My Kinda Music

I will sneak My Kinda Music in as the eleventh pick so as to avoid being guilty of anointing every Walter Martin album as a top ten album, but it deserves to be called out as one of the greatest and most exuberant albums of the year. Walter Martin is a true delight and his music makes my days brighter and the world a better place. My Kinda Music, his third solo release, continues his tradition of joyous, funny, fun songs with levity and kindness.

More things:

Jlin – Black Origami

Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors

The XX – I See You

Father John Misty – Pure Comedy

LCD Soundsystem – American Dream

Spoon – Hot Thoughts

Rostam – Half-Light

Sylvan Esso – What Now

Josh Ritter – Gathering

Margo Price – All American Made

Lee Ann Womack – The Lonely, The Lonesome, & the Gone

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism

Lorde – Melodrama
SZA - Control

Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me

Iron & Wine – Beast Epic

Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now

Hurray for the Riff Raff – The Navigator

Harry Styles – Harry Styles

Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder

Amber Coffman – City of No Reply

Manchester Orchestra – A Black Mile to the Surface

Vagabon – Infinite Worlds

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound

This is the Kit – Moonshine Freeze

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice

Oumou Sangaré – Mogoya

Sharon Jones – The Soul of A Woman

Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights

Juana Molina – Halo

From the Archives:

There were three standout re-recordings/anniversary editions that I would like to highlight from '17

Radiohead - OKNOTOK 20TH anniversary edition of OK Computer
A remastered edition of one of the great records of all time plus a small handful of never released songs from the OK Computer sessions plus some excellent B-sides make this the definitive edition of Radiohead's magnum opus.

R.E.M. - Automatic for the People 25th Anniversary

There is too much great music on Earth to really feel compelled by bonus live releases and demos except when it comes to an album where one of our great bands rediscovered themselves and found a different gear. Bonus: listen to the song exploder episode about try not to breathe

The Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th anniversary remix

The care put in to this remaster by Giles Martin adds depth and clarity to the album that defines what it means to be an album.

Soundtracks have gotten really good recently and Baby Driver was the year's standout winner.

Many of the artists on this list were featured on kexp or tiny desk concerts or song exploder. I would highly recommend them all.

My mixtape for the year:

 https://open.spotify.com/user/1212103938/playlist/6H1xYsB1y8Im3pUP1rDujk

ToJo’s Take: 2015 – The Year in Music

 On the subject of best-of lists, NPR's Bob Boilen, concluded his: “There is no ‘best’ in music, just ones we love. There is no right or wrong, just ones that fuel our soul. That's what my list is filled with.” That is the attitude that I approach my annual lists with, for I am but one man, and not a professional. I listen to music because it moves me. I try and participate in the dialogue of contemporary music. I do my best to listen and to be moved and to respond honestly and without pretension. That said, I welcome disagreement. Please point me to things that moved you, to things that I may have missed.

I am fascinated by the current state of music. The market has changed so dramatically and so rapidly, the bar of entry has been lowered in such a way that it can be scarcely kept up with. Never before has music been both so pervasive and evanescent, and so fundamental in its breadth to our daily lives. And I believe that we are better for it. The marketplace of musical ideas is more robust than ever. There is no shortage of great work out there to engage with. Ultimately, that is the point of this exercise. There is a lot out there, and this is our effort to sort through it; to separate wheat and chaff.

A few general impressions of the year of 2015 in very broad strokes:

It was a huge year for hip-hop. Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, though I didn’t personally connect with it, is a massive and ambitious work whose greatness I acknowledge, and it certainly feels like the appropriate choice for the year that was 2015, as it has been anointed almost unanimously by the critics. Hip-Hop is not my proverbial bread and butter, but as a casual fan, I cannot recall a year where there were more records that I thought were top-to-bottom excellent. Though only two cracked my personal top ten, just on the periphery were Vince Staples, Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, A$AP Rocky, STS, as well as a couple of very interesting records from the Ghostface Killah, Big Sean, Freddie Gibbs, Earl Sweatshirt, and a surprise late-December release from Pusha T—all of which I would recommend highly. All that was missing was a full-fledged release from Kanye West (though his 2015 one-offs were universally excellent).

It was also a particularly good year for American roots music, country, and Americana with more great work from, Jason Isbell, Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves, Justin Townes Earle, and newcomer Chris Stapleton to name just a few.

Similarly, it was a big year for the revival of old sounds lead by Leon Bridges, with nods across the board to Pokey LaFarge, and Constant Bop (again, to name a few).

Contemporary Pop music is really quite good, and I think that contemporary music culture has all but erased the notion of “guilty-pleasures”. It feels like it’s nothing if not cool to listen to Taylor Swift, adult male or otherwise – with Ryan Adams’ full-on cover of 1989 providing the perfect punctuation mark to this case. It’s safe to unironically jam out to the new Justin Bieber track (hat tip to Diplo & Skrillex, who both had massive years). That said, I do not believe that artists like Adele holding streaming services hostage to eventually cash in with something like 80% of the year’s actual music sales is at all healthy or the right answer to the music industry’s problems.

I struggle to articulate exactly why, but Lean On by Major Lazer was hands-down my favorite song of the year. A departure from my usual melancholy pick.

If you are a Spotify subscriber and have not yet spent time with their Discover Weekly feature, you would do well to spend some time with it one of these weeks. It has proven to be an indispensable and fascinating resource in my musical life.

Also, it sure is great to have a new song from Missy Elliott.

And now, a list:

10 Surf by Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment

Is the new sound of indie hip-hop: lively, optimistic, musically rich, smart, uniquely 21^st century. Watch this video and it will all become clear.

9 Constant Bop by Bop English

Is a classic throwback, a record that believes in the unadulterated joy of the best that 70’s rock & roll had to offer, updated for the modern era.

8 Art Angels by Grimes

Is the sound of a prodigious talent hitting her stride: it is challenging and rewarding, all framed underneath a shimmering pop sheen.

7 Vestiges & Claws by Jose Gonzalez

Is a beautifully rendered and realized, probing record, a spiritual successor to the work of Nick Drake, that feels nonetheless crucial in the modern age.

6 I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty

Is a caustic love record from the indie scene’s asshole-poet laureate whose fundamental unpleasantness can’t overshadow his stupendous song-craft and witty lyricism, especially with his renewed faith in the meaning of life with love in it.

5 Compton by Dr. Dre

Is the most consistently listenable hip-hop album of the year. A return to form for a legend of hip-hop, fleshed out with a deep cast of talented lyricists who fully realize the good Dr.'s grand ambitions. It is the first record since Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that has succeeded at both mammoth artistic and populist ambitions.

4 Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett

Is whip-smart and just an incredibly done wordy rock record from 2015’s unanimous rookie of the year; a work of musical literature that perfectly encapsulates the life of a 21st-century 20-something (or 30-something).

3 Love Songs for Robots by Patrick Watson

Is a beautiful meditation on life in the modern age – it is immaculately crafted, symphonic and Beatles-esque, it is the sound of a group of touring musicians firing on all cylinders, concerned with the world they occupy: apocalyptic, wistful, hopeful.

2 Divers by Joanna Newsom

Is massively, frighteningly, frustratingly ambitious, an exploration of life and time, a work buried deep in literature and philosophy, across eleven unique arrangers who each treat Newsom’s compositions with great care, for better or worse. The album is incredibly dense, and demands and deserves attention. It is the sound of a singular artist operating at the height of her ambitions, if less obviously emotional, and more obtuse for it.

1 In Colour by Jamie XX

Is a gorgeous and textured musical voyage. It is simultaneously an exploration of the history of electronic music, and a bold step forward, paying homage as it points forward. It is eminently listenable, beautiful, and engrossing. It is the album that I turned to more than any other this year. It is the sound of an old friend. It is a warm blanket. It is excellent.

Click here for a youtube playlist of some of my favorite songs of the year.

Click here for a Spotify playlist of some of my favorite s

ongs of the year.

Honorable Mention:

No Cities to Love by Sleater-Kinney

Summertime ’06 by Vince Staples

1989 by Ryan Adams

Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens

Star Wars by Wilco

From Kinshasa by Mbongwana Star

Multi-Love by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Currents by Tame Impala

Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes

Traveller by Chris Stapleton

Everybody’s A Good Dog by Diane Coffee

Second Sight by Hey Rosetta!

Coming Home by Leon Bridges

Something More Than Free by Jason Isbell

The Blade by Ashley Monroe

After by Lady Lamb

The Best Albums of 2011

A few notes: This list represents my favorite records of the year roughly in order of my preference for them. My top five are all really kind of tied for first. It would be hard for me to definitively say that I prefer any of these above the other. They are all very different records and I love them all a great deal.

As always, this list is by no means exhaustive. There are a lot of things that I didn't get to as thoroughly as I would have liked to, among them: Middle Brother, Deer Tick, Telekenisis, the new Black Keys, the M83 record (which I do like), Civilian by Wye Oak, etc.

And one last thought: Lady musicians absolutely owned 2011

Let England Shake by PJ Harvey

Is: More than the sum of its parts.

Is: a master-class in record-making; combining poetry, history, and straight songwriting-ballsiness into one hell of an album.

Is: the very definition of contemporary musical cohesiveness

W H O K I L L by tUnEyArDs

Is: Plain and simple, a badass record: a meditation on violence and contemporary womanhood, and a display of raw, extraordinary talent; Merrill Garbus does things with her voice, some floor toms and a ukulele, that astonish and amaze me.

Is: goddam refreshing, dammit; like nothing else you’ve ever heard this year, while still remaining not only palatable by pleasurable.

Strange Mercy by St. Vincent

Is: in a way, a sexier, more listenable W H O K I L L

Is: either the most fun challenging record of the year, or the most challenging fun record of the year

Is: The work of an extraordinary talent (and quite possibly the love of my life) coming into her own; the textures, density, crunch, and imagery are all there, and Annie Clark can straight slay a guitar

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes

Is: A record that could not have been made in New York City

Is: (Ironically) The anti-Williamsburg record

Is: Hands-down, the best “traditional” guitar-based record of the year

Is: A great album made by a band that, at their best, can hit highs that maybe all but ten other bands on the planet right now could only dream to hit

4 by Beyoncé

Is: The most fun I had listening to music all year

Is: The top-to-bottom best pop record of the year

Is: A compelling collection of compulsively-listenable songs

The King of Limbs by Radiohead

Is: A difficult, alienating record that, in true Radiohead-fashion, is still absolutely worth-it

Is: to In Rainbows, what Kid A was to OK Computer

Undun by the Roots

Is: Hands-down the best Hip-Hop Record of the year, and quite possibly the best Roots record ever made.

Is: Probably a fucking masterpiece

Is: Proof that Black Thought is criminally underrated, and proof that the Roots deserve their status as legends.

Bon Iver by Bon Iver

Is: Despite being a great record, still a lot of fun to poke-fun at.

Is: Nevertheless, still a really good record

Is: In the words of Alex Garnett, almost perfectly: Bon Iver now sounds like Lionel Ritchie on Saddle Creek. Not bad, but also not nearly as earnest as you thought.

Is: Still, again, a great record.

Metals by Feist

Is: Less pop-forward than Feist’s own excellent “The Reminder” and yet somehow even better for it

Is: Very nearly a masterwork of breathy understatement within the world of pop-music

Cosmic Ocean Ship by Mia Doi Todd

Is: a great little neo-Joan Baez record, instantly spanning decades with ease and comfort, and while remaining confident, delicate, and soothing

Is: Kind of what I imagine it feels like to be wrapped in a warm, delicious blanket by a sexy lady after a long, exhausting day, with her kissing you, cutely, right on the forehead before you fall asleep

Is: Unfortunately, an almost universally-overlooked little record

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Take Care by Drake

Is: Post-Hip-Hop; a uniquely 21st century record, that sees it’s star grappling with a lot of what it’s like to be alive and young (and, nevertheless, struggling with the very thought of what it means to be alive) in the current day and age.

Is: Nevertheless, not as slickly or smartly done as Kanye West’s MBDTF which, for better or worse going to be the standard-bearer for post-hip-hop until something de-thrones it

Watch the Throne by Jay-Z & Kanye West

Is: Not as good as I wanted it to be based on Kanye’s last two outings, but is, nevertheless, a damn fine pop/hip-hop record with some deliciously silky-sex production and lotioned-ass-smooth (if occasionally absurd (and predictably navel-gazing)) rapping.

The Greatest Story Never Told by Saigon

Is: The Second-best hip-hop concept record of the year behind only The Roots’ Undun

Is: A great and compelling concept album with some awesome rapping, but an album whose bombast is also its biggest fault; it would almost certainly be more listenable if it was twenty minutes shorter.

Wounded Rhymes by Lykke Li

Is: A drum-bangingly good record; an ostensibly innocent battle-cry from a Scandinavian siren that will nevertheless steer you towards shipwreck

Tomboy by Panda Bear

Is: A delicious reverb-sandwich

Diamond Mine by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Is: Sweet and soothing; a rainy Sunday morning record; “transporting”

Is: Just compelling enough

Build a Rocket Boys by Elbow

Is: Another good record from one of the most consistently good (and underrated) bands of the decade

Is: A glorious meditation on small-town nostalgia; a love letter from your old best friend

HM:

Nostalgia, ULTRA by Frank Ocean

Is: Fun, if inconsistent; a preview of good things to come

The Return of 4 Eva by Big K.R.I.T.

Is: A solid mixtape from a tight, smooth M.C.

Stone Rollin’ by Raphael Saadiq

Is: An exhilarating tour through the greatest-hits of the last 60 years of African-Americana.

Burst Apart by the Antlers

Is: A solid sophomore follow-up to a promising debut; an often-challenging task performed here admirably

Wild Flag by Wild Flag

Is: A blistering power-pop debut from a female super-group; and it’s a hell of a lot of fun

21 by Adele

Is: The most recent work of 2011’s most (and well-deservedly) hailed artists; the work of a phenomenal talent, and home to several of the best songs of the year.

So Beautiful or So What by Paul Simon

Is: Extraordinary in countless ways, least of all being that Paul Simon is 70 years old and he made this record which is really rather good, nostalgia and past-accomplishments aside

Is: The home of several of my favorite guitar noises and textures of the year.

Megafaun by Megafaun

Is: The best album of 2011 by a band that Justin Vernon used to be in, but is not now in (though he does make a cameo)

The Head and the Heart by the Head and the Heart

Is: Such a good indie debut record that Pitchfork HATED the ever loving hell out of it.

The Dreamer/the Believer by Common

Is: A record that sees Common comfortably toeing the line between “radio-friendly MC” and “best MC of all time”

Black Up by Shabazz Palaces

Is: Supposed to be the most-important Hip-Hop Record of the year (Hooray, subpop!)

Is: Not the most important Hip-Hop Record of the year

The Whole Love by Wilco

Is: Probably a “return to form” (whatever that means)

Is: Absolutely better than “Wilco, the album”

Is: A really good album that I can’t get into as much as I would like to, but holy hell if “The Art of Almost” isn’t an absolute doozy and itself worth the price of admission.

Bonus Reissue:The SMiLE Sessions by the Beach Boys

Is: Kind of a miracle

Bonus: Records without words:

The Magic Place by Julianna Barwick

Is: Fascinating if occasionally boring

Looping State of Mind by the Field

Is: My favorite Phillip Glass record that came out this year (that wasn’t made by Phillip Glass)

Is: Could just as aptly be named either: “The Art of Understatement” or “The Art of Minimalism”

2011 - Albums of the Year (so far)

As I have taken to doing recently, I have compiled a list of music that has caught my ear this year. It is organized roughly in order of my preference for each record, keeping in mind of course, that this is all a fluid enterprise. Some days I like one record more than another. Another day, or another week, the complexion of things might well change. I have also organized the albums roughly into "tiers". Feedback, as always, is welcome.

Albums That I Love:
I Would Distinguish the Following Five Albums as “Must Listen”:

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

Let England Shake is (to me) a fascinating record. A meditation on Harvey’s mother nation through its history of conflict, LES is rife with sonic and historical allusions, and haunting imagery. On this album, the execution matches the concept. To my mind, a record like Let England Shake exemplifies the concept of an album being “more than the sum of its parts”.
Radiohead: The King of Limbs

The King of Limbs is a story for any number of reasons. It was long known that Radiohead was to release
a record at some point in 2011, but nobody imagined that they would casually tweet the news of the new album’s release not 24 hours before it hit the internet for download. I found tKoL to be a difficult record to unpack. But for me, the record’s difficulty is a strength. Clocking in at just eight songs and a hair over 37 minutes, and split in half, no less, with “feral”, an “instrumental” track with jerky rhythms and animalesque vocal noises (bringing to mind a similarly jarring mid-album track – “Fitter, Happier” from Radiohead’s own OK Computer), tKoL strikes one as being immediately up to something strange. It sounds jarringly inorganic compared to their last record (In Rainbows) – with the drumming and beats in particular taking a turn for the weird. Take the time to unwrap the record, however, and you will be rewarded with a true gem, a taut, polished, fascinating 37 minutes. If In Rainbows was Radiohead’s return to O.K. Computer, The King of Limbs is their return to Kid A.


tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l

I almost felt compelled to avoid Merrill Garbus’ most recent effort due entirely to her band’s heinously stupid typography. Alas, the din around w h o k i l l reached a feverish enough pitch that I couldn’t, in good conscience continue to ignore it. I’m quite glad I ultimately got over judging this particular book by its cover, because w h o k i l l is the single most original record that I have heard all year. Garbus’ protean vocals and her equally broad imagination are the backbone of the record. Garbus bounces through genres and influences on this record, using a stable of unique instruments (she does more with a ukulele than I ever could have personally imagined) and production techniques (magical vocal and drum loops) to astonishing effect. I suspect that this might be a bit sonically extreme for many listeners. For me, personally, this record strikes the perfect balance between the jarring and the melodic.

Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues

Robin Pecknold & co. return with their sophomore effort and it is every bit as good as their eponymous debut. Fleet Foxes write beautiful songs and they execute them to near perfection. They haven’t expanded upon their sound much beyond that of their debut record, and they continue to sound like they could be comfortable in a bygone era, but with execution this immaculate, there is little need for sonic expansion. They do what they do extraordinarily well, and to my mind, there is plenty of room in the current musical scene for them to keep doing it.
Bon Iver: Bon Iver

Bon Iver – often accredited as singer/songwriter Justin Vernon – is back with his second full-length since his 2008 debut (as Bon Iver): For Emma, Forever Ago. This time around, Vernon has teamed with a veritable stable of musicians, and has expanded his sound considerably. When I initially listened to for Emma… I didn’t get it. So I was not amongst the fans who had been long awaiting Vernon’s sophomore effort. I actually fell in love with for Emma… after hearing – and loving – this new record. Vernon proves on Bon Iver that his music can stand on its own, needing no romantic backstory of spending a month recording in a cabin. His falsetto is immediately striking. When I first heard it in ’08 it struck me as off-putting; as pretentious and kitschy. Listening to it with new ears, on this record, I can see why others have found it so compelling: it is beautiful. In the intervening years, Vernon has found his way into soundscapes to match. Here he has engineered a beautiful and compelling record that feels to me like basking in an ocean of warm, melancholic nostalgia.

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Albums That I Like:

Raphael Saadiq: Stone Rollin'
Stone Rollin’ is a great record. R&B and Neo-Soul are not generally my bread and butter, but Saadiq here channels the last half-century of African-Americana, and he does it with extraordinary panache and conviction.

Panda Bear: Tomboy
Tomboy is a record that I find boring at times. But it is never the kind of boring I find myself compelled to shy away from. Panda Bear engineers little bathtubs full of noises that I am more than pleased to bathe in. He continues to live up to the mantle of 21st century Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys, not of the SF Giants). Even when I am bored, I am pleased.

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes
Wounded Rhymes is a record that beats hard. That, primarily, is what attracts me to it. First and foremost, this is a fun listen. I love drums, and this album does drums brilliantly. I have seen the criticism leveled that Li does not have a particularly great voice. Compared to the major female releases of the year – Beyoncé, Adele, Lady Gaga – that would be hard to argue, but that is some stiff competition, and where Li perhaps lacks the raw chops, she makes up for by being plenty otherwise compelling. Wounded Rhymes is not a great record. It is not a masterpiece. But it is plenty worth listening to. I find that it has stuck with me.

Cults: Cults
I found myself wanting to dislike this record on principle. It feels to me too self-consciously hip. It comes out with its weird reverb-y production and feels to me like it’s trying to conjure this weird Phil-Specter-y kind of retro vibe. Put those feelings aside, however, and it is plain to see that Cults have put together a compelling debut. It’s solid start to finish, with a great pop sensibility glossing over some creepy undertones (i.e. “I knew right then that I’d been abducted” sung over what feels to me like some nice, happy, sunny-day music.) There is a unique pleasure in this tension.

Beyoncé: 4
Beyoncé might not be “Sasha Fierce” but I’ll be goddamned if she isn’t fierce. The girl can flat sing. I have only made it thru a few spins of this disc, but I’m a huge fan. Perhaps it’s inconsistent and the composition of the disc from start to finish is non-traditional. But Beyoncé slays, and the production is plenty good enough to keep me personally compelled. You can listen to it here for free (at least for the moment).

Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What
Paul Simon is 70 years old and the dude still kills it. One of the greatest pop-song writers of all time (imo) continues to prove that he deserves his place amongst the greatest of them. I love the textures on this album and on the guitars in particular.

Elbow: Build a Rocket Boys!
I am a huge Elbow fan. This is not my favorite Elbow record. It feels to me a little bloated and inconsistent, particularly in the middle. Nevertheless, it is another solid outing and well worth listening to. It is not without missteps, but its highs are plenty high to warrant a listen. To paraphrase one of my favorite album reviews of the year: “Elbow continue to write songs that feel like they care, very personally.”

Adele: 21
Adele is a powerhouse. 21 is a pop album that doesn’t even need to be a “guilty pleasure”. It’s a pop-album that’s plenty good enough to be appreciated by music fans of all ilk. She backs up her two excellent singles (and two of my very favorite songs of the year) with some other “contemporary standards”. This feels to me like the year of the Pop Diva.
Big K.R.I.T. : The Return of 4eva
Probably my favorite rap record of the year. K.R.I.T. rips it with a conscience and with the production chops to keep things compelling. Oh, and by the way, it alleges to be a “mix-tape”. You can get it free and legal here.

CLDSCP: Niños azules
I feel like my Spanish isn’t good enough to justify me having this record so high on my list. I heard their track “Encanto” on NPR’s Alt-Latino show, and was quite taken. I youtube’d the band and saw that many of their songs had fewer than a hundred plays. I felt like I had stumbled upon a sincerely best kept secret. These two manage to pull off an indie sound that still feels cute and personal and really tickles my own personal fancy. You can download both of their albums free and legal at their site: here.
The Antlers: Burst Apart
The Antlers made a lot of noise with their last record Hospice, with which, if you’re unfamiliar, I’ll let you google the backstory of. Suffice to say it was emotionally and conceptually pretty weighty stuff. I saw them open for the National last year and I was quite impressed. I listened to Hospice, and kind of loved the idea, and hated the production. The production on this record plays much more to my own personal taste. Burst Apart still has a lot of emotional weight, without collapsing under the pressures built up from their last record. Despite my distaste for their drummer, it also has some pretty great noises. A nice little record.

TV on the Radio: Nine Types of Light
Nine Types of Light is TV on the Radio’s most accessible and pop-friendly record to date. To my taste, this isn’t a great thing. If given the choice, I’d take Dear Science, any day of the week. Nevertheless, NToL is a solid outing. One can forgive a band with such a daring sound for pulling closer to the musical center. They still have plenty of good ideas, and hooks to boot.

Saigon: The Greatest Story Never Told

I first encountered this album after I had already written this whole thing about my favorite albums of the year (so far). Fortuitously enough, I hadn’t yet posted the thing, and am now able to sneak this disc onto the list. I haven’t been able to listen to this record a huge amount yet, but I few spins in, I’m really into it. This is right up there with Big K.R.I.T.’s Return of 4eva as my favorite rap/hip-hop album of the year. Big production, and tight flows. It feels conspicuously mainstream, but it’s damn good mainstream rap.

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Albums that I Like (with reservations):

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: Diamond Mine
Not my own personal favorite record of the year, but more than beautiful enough to warrant mention on this list. It’s short, and it’s damn beautiful. Pastoral and idyllic. This is Bob Boilen (of NPR music)’s favorite record of the year (so far), and I agree with him that it’s a great Sunday morning spin.

Julianna Barwick: The Magic Place
Again (as above), this is not my favorite record of the year from any pure aesthetic perspective. But it is more than interesting enough to merit mention. Barwick evidently does much of her recording with little more than her voice and a recorder which she uses to loop it [her voice]. The result is harrowing and beautiful and fascinating (if sometimes frustrating and genuinely boring (not good- boring i.e.Panda Bear’s Tomboy (though it is often that-boring as well))). The latter half of the record picks up a bit production-wise, and plays more to my own aesthetic preferences (check out track 8: “Prizewinning”). An interesting listen either way.

Lady Gaga: Born This Way
I’m on the fence about Lady Gaga’s latest record. I was genuinely enamored of much of the Fame and the Fame Monster. Here, I can’t help but feel like she’s taking some sort of aesthetic step back. As noted in this excellent article from the New Yorker re: the “three women who run the pop world right now” [Gaga, Beyoncé, Adele], ““Born This Way” is a brick. Examine the sound-wave form of the album on a computer screen, and you will see a solid bar, free of any dynamic spikes or divots. Loud loud loud.” This is what, to me, is the hardest part of the record to stomach. It’s a long, loud album, one that I find personally tiresome to listen to straight through. When it’s good, it’s great. Gaga remains a more-than-capable and interesting musician and figure. I just can’t help but feel like she could have put together a more artfully crafted album.

The Weeknd: House of Balloons
House of Balloons is metacritic’s surprise top-rated album of the year so far. It’s good, but to my mind, it’s not that good. The Weeknd is a talent to keep an eye on. This album certainly evokes the sound of countryman Drake. It’s emotionally compelling. It’s a bit down-tempo and one-note for my own taste. Also technically a mixtape. Free and legal here.

Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, ULTRA
Frank Ocean of the absurdly/stupidly and pretentiously named OFWG KTA who I had yet to encounter (until hearing Ocean himself) has evidently already made a name for himself as a song-writer at the tender age of 23 (this is the kind of thing that makes me deeply jealous, mind you) for Bieber, Beyoncé, Brandy, and John Legend. His chops are on full display here on his debut mixtape. He does his own renditions (with words all his own) of Coldplay’s Strawberry Swing and The Eagles’ Hotel California. Free and legal here.

And So I Watch You from Afar: Gangs
I’m generally not into the guitar-heavy instrumental stuff. I’ll occasionally flirt with electronica or orchestral stuff, but rarely with anything of this nature. Thus, I have little room to offer judgment. I like it enough for what it is.

Diego Garcia: Laura
Haven’t listened to it enough. Sounds a lot to me like the Shins. I feel like there’s a lot of emotional depth on this record, I just haven’t been fully exposed enough yet.

Gang Gang Dance: Eye Contact
This album is weird and cool, but I doubt I’ll ever have the patience to listen to it enough to speak more intelligently to it.

Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
I have listened to this a few times, and I’m not sure I get it. I might never get it. It feels to me like a logical extension of Madvillain’s staple Madvillainy, but caliber-wise, it comes nowhere close. It’s certainly one of the more interesting hip-hop ideas to have come out since Madvillain. Execution-wise, however, I’m still not sold. I’d still recommend you give it a listen if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s certainly garnered a lot of buzz so far. See for yourself if that buzz is warranted.

Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean
Death Cab For Cutie: Codes and Keys
My Morning Jacket: Circuital
Eisley: The Valley
Bright Eyes: The People's Key

All of the above records are from bands that I have previously had some sort of love affair with. Thus, my context is pretty heavily tainted. I’m not sure if it’s me or if it’s them. Most of these albums are compelling enough. Each has at least a few songs that I like quite a bit. But I can’t point to any of these albums in particular as one that has really caught my ear yet at this point in the year (the same kind of holds for the new Decemberists record which I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to, but can’t even honestly remember – to offer how much it might have penetrated my consciousness).








Rather than creating another, separate note (at least for the moment), I have also created a youtube channel for my favorite songs of the year. You may reach that here: goo.gl/tvsQr