John Prine has been around a long time and influenced countless artists. The 71 year old has been producing albums since 1971. This was a welcome addition to his vast catalogue. Several helpers on the album, including Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlisle, help round out his masterful down home sound. Check out the video below for an album teaser.
Andrew 'Roo' Panes released his third album this year. I discovered Roo through a super fan after he released his last album and couldn't stop listening. Think Bon Iver or The National with a baritone changing to falsetto over majestic orchestration. On several tracks he brings a female vocalist to counter his darkness.
Neko Case can pretty much do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. There is something about her voice and music that immediately draws me in. Every time. I'm sad I couldn't see her live show at Cain's earlier this year. She's not breaking new ground on this record, but the same beautiful, wanting lyrics and ghostly orchestration. k.d. Lang, Laura Viers, Mark Lanegan and Bjorn Yttling all make guest appearances as do many others.
This is the third album from the London based post punk trio, Shopping. The band consists of Rachel Aggs (guitar and vocals), Billy Easter (bass guitar and vocals), and Andrew Milk (drums and vocals). Racing bass riffs with punchy guitars split with Rachel and Billy sharing vocals. My first time with this band and it was a bright spot for the year.
This is the debut album from UK band ISLAND. The band is comprised of Rollo Doherty on lead vocals, Jack Raeder on guitars, James Wolfe on bass, and Toby Richards on drums. This band reminds me of Future Islands, dark, morose, anthemic rock that makes it easy to put on repeat.
French electro-pop duo from Paris, this is their debut album. Agar agar is a jelly like substance that synth man, Armand Bultheel fed his pet ants as a child. Clara Cappagli, frontwoman of Agar Agar prefers singing in English over French because she was raised in the US. A refreshing addition to the electro pop genre.
Remember Rilo Kiley in the early days? That's what the stripped down voice of Greta Kline of Frankie Cosmos sounds like. This 24 year old New Yorker has just put out her third album here and there's plenty to unpack. Since I missed the boat until now, I found discovering this artist this year quite enjoyable.
Lucy Dacus hit #30 on the blog back in 2016. She is from Richmond, Virginia and you will see her name come up later in this blog. Lucy Dacus has a voice that is deep and introspective, so, it's no wonder her music is so, but her songwriting is layered and entwined in a tapestry of heartbreak and loss. You can see her live at Opolis on February 11th, tickets are on sale now.
Sarah Vos is the impetus behind Dead Horses. Raised in a religious family, she had her foundation shaken when her church fired her father who was the pastor because her older brother had schizophrenia and her twin had mental problems as well. They ended up being homeless and it took them three years to get back on their feet. By that time, she was able to go to college but eventually dropped out. Helped by her friend and bassist, Daniel Wolff, they write haunting folk songs with a clarity that someone that young shouldn't have.
36. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Hotel Base And Casino
This band has evolved so much since their punk inception. This current release from Alex Turner and group from their studio in Sheffield is my favorite by far. It's a futuristic tale of a moon colony written on Turner's piano at his house. The band utilized older vintage instruments and the sound is both compelling and familiar, while maintaining an experimental vibe.
This is Hop Along's third album, and perhaps their finest. Frances Quinlan is the lead vocalist and she provides a raucous environment on this new outing. While 2015's Painted Shut was truly exceptional, the Philly based band really outdid themselves this time. If you ever get a chance to see this group live, do it, you will not be disappointed.
I have loved Typhoon's previous albums. They have been the sort of melancholy, love lost indie pop that I really dig, with big brass sections and the like. However, with their fourth album, the band has taken a new turn and put out a darker, more thought-provoking record. Kyle Morton is lead vocals and guitar of Typhoon. The album is described as being in four parts: Floodplains, Flood, Reckoning, and Afterparty. He is quoted as saying, "It's a record from the perspective of a mind losing its memory at precisely the same time the world is willfully forgetting its history." It's existential dread amped up to 11. It's beautiful, haunting and brilliant.
You may remember Ezra Furman from such bands as Ezra Furman and the Harpoons or Ezra Furman and the Boy-friends or Ezra Furman and the Visions. However, he is solo on his most recent effort. This particular album is very experimental and a fantastic listen. He's a musician based in Chicago, which has become my second home.
Ought is a (new) New Wave band out of Montreal. They consist of Tim Darcy (vocals, guitar), Ben Stidworthy (bass), Matt May (keyboards) and Tim Keen (drums). This is their third album and their first one on the Merge label. Tim Darcy's deep baritone does not disappoint on this record. I continued to see this band listed as post-punk, but have yet to discern that in their sound, which either means the critics are wrong, or I am grossly misinformed.
41. tUnE-yArDs - I can feel you creep into my private life
In times of political strife, art seems to pour forward. Artists often seek their craft to speak to the current world and rage against it. Merril Garbus, who is an artist through and through, engages in our political dialogue by asking what it means to be white in a world of privilege and injustice. It's a difficult, but necessary listen and stays true to her unique style. You can see them in other Top 50 recounts both here and here.
On the fourth release from Parquet Courts, they have enlisted the aid of Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse produced albums typically find their way into this blog because the man is a musical genius. Parquet Courts consist of A. Savage (vocals, guitar), Austin Brown (vocals, guitar), Sean Yeaton (bass) and Max Savage (drums). They are decidely punk and unforgiving about it. This new album takes them on journeys that they have otherwise precluded much to the joy of myself. This is a band worth seeing live.
43. The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life
This is the fourth release from Liverpool rockers, The Wombats. The band consists of Dan Haggis, drummer; Tord Øverland Knudsen, bassist and
Matthew Murphy, lead vocals and guitar. This band has only gotten bigger and while this new album isn't breaking any new ground, it's got a great groove all the way through. Look for them at arena shows soon.
Now, Now is a band formed in Minnesota and based in Minneapolis. The band is composed of two high school marching band friends, Cacie Dalager and
Bradley Hale. After almost splitting up, they have radically changed their sound from brooding guitar ballads to jangly pop. Talent is talent and Cacie's vocal abilities and their combined musical prowess make this a must listen.
I mean, really, how could Kurt Vile's new badass album not make it into the Top 50. If you were lucky, you got to see him on tour this last week right here in OKC. You may remember his last album hitting the Top 50 back in 2015 in roughly the same place here. Not to sleight him, his music is definitely his own and this album remained on repeat more often than not. In particular, you will find two roughly 10 minute songs that make this album with 'Bassackwards' and the title track.
46. Eddie Berman - Surrounded By The Sound: Ten Covers By Eddie Berman
Eddie Berman is a brilliant guitar and piano player from South Los Angeles. I discovered him as a result of him and Laura Marling working together. This particular album sees him covering the likes of Radiohead, Paul Simon, Kurt Vile, Manu Chao, The Kinks and more. Normally I wouldn't include a covers record in this particular lineup, but his versions of these songs is so perfectly done, that you simply must listen. If you haven't listened to Eddie Berman before now, check out the album he came out with last year, Before The Bridge.
Lindsey Gordon literally just graduated high school in Baltimore earlier this year. She is the singer/songwriter/creator of Snail Mail. Her debut album got picked up by Matador and her introspective pop leaves you wondering how someone so young can have such depth and insight into the human condition. Look for big things in the future from this girl.
Wanderer is Chan Marshall's tenth album and her first one in six years. If you will recall, her previous album, Sun, garnered her a #6 spot in 2012, here. (Wow, I've been doing this awhile). This probably would've got a higher ranking, but it came out in October and I haven't got to spend as much time with it. However, what I have heard is her usual melancholy, yet powerful girl and a guitar sound that sends you right to your core.
Fantastic Negrito aka Xavier Dphrepaulezz, if you remember, won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest in 2015. He had played in various bands he led throughout the years, but also spent a large portion of his life as a club owner, gun runner, coke dealer and petty thief. A car accident left him badly mangled and he had given up music forever, until his son was born. He submitted his contest video at the behest of friends, tapping into a core Blues tradition from his youth.
We kick this cavalcade of music off with Los Angeles based band, Sure Sure. They are singer Chris Beachy, guitarist and singer Charlie Glick, drummer and percussionist Kevin Farzad, and producer and bassist Michael Coleman. Apparently, they have acquired much of their recent fame to the internet, which is fantastic for our current music climate. This band is all sunshiny, pop-driven beats being produced from their home turned studio.
It's that time of year again. Time to drop the Top 50 Albums of 2018. My music listening habits have definitely changed, as well as the way that I find new music. I think there was a lot of music dropped this year and bands that normally hit the Top 50 were left behind by a lot of the new things I found along the way. Hope you enjoy and here's to another year of killer tunes.
Here's the linkable list in case you missed any w/ a playlist for your perusal at the end. Follow the playlist over at Spotify. Follow the blog. Hope you enjoyed, glad to be back. Leave me a message in the comments and let me know your favorites of the year. More to follow.
I've been going to SXSW for a few years now. It has literally changed the way that I listen to music and go to shows. In the process of doing that, I started taking my children, because they have grown to love live music. Right before sending my daughter to college, I took just her this last year and we saw some really great bands, including this one. After moving to college, I saw that they were playing one of the nights in Chicago and got tickets for us. However, because I have seen so many bands, I forgot that we had seen them in Austin and I told her to listen to them so she could see how amazing they were. She quickly corrected her dad by telling him that she had been listening to them non-stop since we saw them in Austin, pinning down the exact place of the show. It was at that point that I knew I was getting old. Big Thief came out with their debut album just a little over a year ago and then quickly produced Capacity this year. It can be so insanely intimate one moment and then go into this an incredible guitar feedback riff or driving bass line. Adrianne Lenker takes words and turns them into a magical waterfall of complexity and suffering. The timing, guitar-work, vocals, all of it are just perfect. Seeing them in Chicago in the round made me love them even more, I don't think I've ever seen a more intimate, raw show.
I grew up listening to the sounds of the '70s. Fleetwood Mac, Heart, The Carpenters, Paul Simon and the like heavily influenced my early music listening. In my 20's, I 'rediscovered' many of these bands, diving in with an almost cultish obsession. It's no wonder that I love the music of Tennis, headed by the duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore. They have conceived this album aboard their sailboat, Swift Ranger in the ocean between San Diego and the Sea of Cortez. This album screams of sunshine and lazy, open waters and washes over you with the waves of love and heartache.
The next three albums in this lineup all contended for Number One. I listened to each of them an obscene amount. This new album from dance god, James Murphy, after a self-imposed sequester from the music world has been the answer to all those who missed LCD. I think it was just putting the headphones on a long trans-Atlantic flight and listening to the album over and over. There is something cathartic about his music and this album soothes all those wounds from his absence. There is a lot of 80's New Wave vibe to this album and while that may be the case with much of their music, this shrine to David Byrne and David Bowie seems worth noting.
It's been five years since Shields and Ed Droste, Dan Rossen and the boys are back with their fifth album. I have always been enthralled with the unique compositions of Grizzly Bear. The wandering time signatures, the twisting melodies, the dark foreboding all create a musical landscape that pulls me in time and time again. Ed Droste said you had to listen to the album at least five times to get into it and I concur. Dive in and don't look back.
Josh Tillman's altar ego, Father John Misty, former drummer of Fleet Foxes, has produced yet another great album. Self-immolating and at the same time barbed towards our current political climate. A diatribe on the human condition and his religious upbringing, Pure Comedy reaches down deep and creates a conversation with Tillman's relationship to all of us. He created a short film to accompany the album below.
Speaking of returns, it's great to have a new album from this young woman. Six years since Metals, her fifth album finds Feist with a rock and roll sensibility. Guitars ring out and leave behind the quiet, soft Leslie Feist in days past. Starting out with the heaviness of the title track, this album weaves through a much more thought out album with punchy melodics and a much, more raw vocal style. Her Broken Social Scene buds step in on Any Party to help out, of course.
I never thought I would see this happen. It has been a decade since their last album. The main reason is that Jason Lytle got tired of their almost success, not quite hitting the charts like Death Cab or Arcade Fire. They have been my favorite band since The Sophtware Slump and about the time in my life I could afford to go see them live, they up and quit being a band. Jason Lytle has still done a couple solo efforts and even tried forming a new band called Admiral Radley, but finally, he brought the gang back together. I was fortunate enough to see them this year at SXSW. Sadly, Kevin Garcia died later this year at 41 shortly after their reunion putting future plans on hold. Grandaddy is a sound that incorporates electronic music over acoustic sounds, basically, an artificial sound infused with a natural one. A comment on living in a natural world and often forced to work in an artificial one.
This is the duo of Amelia Meath from Mountain Man and Nick Sanborn from Megafaun out of Durham, North Carolina. This is their Sophomore album and they have had tons of critical acclaim heaped upon them culminating in a Grammy just a few short weeks ago. An electro pop album from two former folk musicians that lends a realness to the otherwise mechanical sound.
I love when a young artist like this throws something out into the world, not realizing their talent and it is just scooped up by the hungry masses. Such is the story for 22 year old San Francisco resident, Melina Duterte. This is her debut, recorded entirely in her bedroom, uploaded to Bandcamp and picked up by Polyvinyl. Straight-forward, genius guitar work, captivating lyrics and DIY style that makes me love music. This album was on constant repeat throughout the year.
Everything Now is Arcade Fire's fifth album to date. It's hard to believe these iconic rockers have put out so little music over the last 14 years. While this album did not fall well on the critics' ears, I found it quite enjoyable. Not at first, mind you, but over many listens, this album grew to become one of my favorites of the year, just missing out on the coveted Top Ten. Perhaps this album did exactly what Arcade Fire meant it to do. When your critics expect you to be over-imaginative, maybe this album delivers exactly what was intended.
Boy, was I worried when I saw this album hit. Cat Stevens, born Steven Demetre Georgiou, left his rock star life long ago after converting to Islam. He even legally changed his name to Yusuf Islam and vowed to stay away from music, but music finds a way and before long, put out three albums as Yusuf. However, those releases have been lackluster and this is the first time he has acknowledged his old life. The reason for the worry? Often times, retired musicians have a difficulty coming back decades later. Sometimes that original luster is lost and it is just a pale reminder of the good times we had with them. Not so with The Laughing Apple. His songs are as poignant and lyrical as they ever were. The balance between the acoustics and his voice is still on point.
Day Wave is Jackson Phillips out of San Francisco. This is his debut album, although, he made a big splash last year with his EP. Day Wave is wandering dream pop interlaced with subtle, somber lyrics. The driving bass lines and wispy vocals make this an album to keep on constant repeat.
Laura Marling has received more attention in this blog than any other. It's no secret she's a favorite of mine. She is one of the most prolific artists on this list and watching her music mature and grow has been a delight. Her lyrics are deep and intense and invoke Joni Mitchell's spirit more than any of her previous albums.
15. Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds From Another Planet
Japanese Breakfast is Michelle Zauner from Brooklyn. Her debut album, Psychopomp came out last year and made #16 on the Top 50. On Psychopomp, her sound was very experimental, jumping genres and dealing with her mother's recent death. In Soft Sounds we find a more ethereal sound unified behind a veil of shoegaze.
This is the fourth installment from Adam Granduciel and The War on Drugs. They made the Top 50 with their last album, here. This is his first album on a major label and that extra polish and power shine through. Money is a magical thing. A lot of the songwriting prowess from the previous album is found here with the extra energy that powers this music. If you've ever seen this band live, you understand how that power works.
Thanks for stopping by. I listen to entirely too much music and love sharing music almost as much as I love listening to it. The purpose of this blog is to do just that and bring you along the journey with me.
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