Favorite Albums of 2021

Honorable Mention:

Wednesday - Twin Plagues

Full of hard-hitting, guitar-powered tracks and released on Chicago-based Orindal Records (home of Julie Byrne, Advance Base, Gia Margaret, and Dear Nora among others), Twin Plagues — the new album from Asheville quintet Wednesday — qualifies objectively as independent rock music. But Karly Hartzman’s band also taps into a certain ideal of the genre as established in the late ’80s and early ’90s: shrouded in fuzz yet melodic and approachable, sometimes lackadaisical but occasionally explosive. Think Pavement. Think Sonic Youth. Think Cat Power. Think of that iconic Dinosaur Jr./My Bloody Valentine tour that deafened Gen X hipsters across America, of Yo La Tengo and Liz Phair and the Breeders. You know: indie rock. (Stereogum)

Video: Handsome Man

Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

With this bleak painted picture of the north-east in mind, it’s clear that all 11 tracks on Seventeen Going Under are deeply personal for Fender. Alongside looking back at his bleak hometown, he looks back at the regrets of his life and ponders the possibility of being a better or worse man if things were different. This is demonstrated with masterful and real lyricism, take the simple yet powerfully realistic lyrics on the title track where he states: “I was far too scared to hit him / but I’d hit him in a heartbeat now.” (The Line of Best Fit)

Video: Seventeen Going Under

Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki

Lyrically, Dawson is on fine form. Just like his 2017 album Peasant before it, where all of the stories were set tbetween 400-600CE, so too does Henki riff on a theme: flora and fauna. There’s a tune delivered from the point of view of an 32,000 year old seed frozen in the permafrost, and others from lesser known explorers and herbologists. If that sounds dry, then it isn’t. Dawson seems to have no concern for the thematic tropes of 90% of songs, meaning lyrics about vascular plant researcher Isobel Cookson on opener "Cooksonia" are delivered with the same energy that Ariana Grande sings about an ex. “I managed to study at the University of Melbourne!” Dawson hollers at the end of one of the songs verses. (The Line of Best Fit)

Video: Ivy

Pillow Queens - In Waiting

Where grunge meets alternative music at its finest. Where swooping melodies meet post-rock blowouts. ‘In Waiting’ sits perfectly within it all, constantly switching up and shifting gears whilst being underpinned by earnest songwriting and a rough around the edges charm...  ‘In Waiting’ is an album ripped from the memories and sketchbooks that Pillow Queens have been building up for years. Its place as one of this year’s defining debuts is the rightful icing on the cake. (Dork)

Video: Donaghmede

10) Aeon Station - Observatory

Let’s step back a second, though. As hard as it may seem to divorce ‘Observatory’ from its context, it’s very much a record that stands on its own two feet. These are excellent songs. Not only that, but given the isolation and anxieties of life in 2021, it’s easy to find commonality in these tales of hope and strength amid troubling uncertainty. (Clash)

Video: Fade

9) Orla Gartland - Woman on the Internet

Much like Orla herself, this album sneaks up on you. It swiftly moves from easy-listening to music to obsess over. If you listen to it through cheap earphones on a crowded train, the intricacy of the production behind this album could be missed. It’s only when you invest attention, time (and good speakers) that you truly begin to revel in its wonders. To be able to relate with the messiness of Gartland’s emotional journey is to feel at one with a talented artist. (The Quietus)

Video: Zombie!

8) Man on Man - Man on Man

“It’s so fun to be gay,” declare MAN ON MAN three tracks into their self-titled debut, setting the tone for the record’s unrestrained celebration of love. Born in isolation, the collaborative project sees Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum and boyfriend Joey Holman explore their relationship through an escapist blend of lo-fi indie punk, harnessing the beauty of their companionship in the sun-kissed soundscapes." (DIY Mag)

Video: Stohner

7) Third Eye Blind - Our Bande Apart

With his eye for sticky imagery and nose for narrative climaxes, Jenkins strikes gold at a reliable rate. When the rapturous chorus finally arrives on “Box of Bones,” you want to pump your fist in triumph. It’s the sort of gracefully delivered moment that helped 3EB transcend the frat-rock scene, and it’s remarkable that these visions of reckless infatuation continue to rattle around his head. And yet, it’s also his most understated single to date: no falsetto, no rapping, barely any percussion. The final chorus all but announces a soaring instrumental breakdown; instead, the song just ends. (Pitchfork)

Video: Funeral Singers

6) TFS - Deep States

Tropical Fuck Storm's latest record simply reproves their enigmatic worth, and then doubles down on it in a way that no other artist comes close to emulating. The finished product marries so many disparate elements — Australian culture and slang, American conspiracy, COVID lockdowns, biblical events as witnessed by Equidae, sci-fi fan-fiction — in a way so thoroughly contemporary, cogent, and relevant that it makes Bo Burnham's latest phenomenon seem like an undergraduate’s last-ditch effort at scraping a C after an all-nighter. Deep States avoids stuffy intellectualism or political buzz words in its approximation of modern woe, and becomes an engrossing distillation of just how fucking bizarre the world is as a result. The mirror that Tropical Fuck Storm hold up here could only be held by them — well, it's hard to imagine a band with a more sensible name pulling this sort of shit off anyhow. (Sputnik)

Video: G.A.F.F.

5) Fiddlehead - Between the Richness

Although it could benefit from being longer, Between the Richness is precise and vigorous. Fiddlehead wields a sound developed by 1990s and early aughts post-grunge, emo, and post-hardcore bands and projects it in ways that feel sincere. (Popmatters)

Video: Heart to Heart

4) King Woman - Celestial Blues

Kris Esfandiari and her team have created something truly special with this album, a musical piece where the divine is given voice and flesh to envision what is Kris' most honest and enrapturing work of her prolific career, and be sure it won't be the last one. (Sputnik Music)

Video: Entwined

3) Idles - Crawler

The dark, introspective nature of Idles’ latest release may well disappoint those who love the band for their rabble-rousing, tongue-in-cheek headbangers. But for those who’ve been waiting some time for the beloved Bristolians to take a left turn with their sound, Crawler is an absolute thrill. (Music OMH)

Video: Beachland Ballroom

2) Black Country, New Road - For the first time

If the interplay between the band’s instruments makes gleeful mincemeat of genre, singing guitarist Isaac Wood’s equally remarkable lyrics regularly float to the top of the mix. Half-spoken, half-sung, they riff on granular scene references (“I told you I loved you in front of Black Midi”) and Gen-Z witticisms, but pack in plenty of timeless tenderness and anomie. (The Guardian)

Video: Sunglasses

1) Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz

The sound on Welfare Jazz may be more of the same glam-phetamine trash disko bomp that made the first record so distinctive – a ramshackle wad of low-end guitars that spit and burn like chip pan fires and boisterous oft intoxicated vocals with a surplus of undulating sax – but there’s something else that’s been added to their arsenal, something that was hiding in plain sight all along. The protagonist of these songs may not be all that apologetic as he pontificates of his transgressions, but he is at least man enough to put his grubby hands up and forewarn friends and lovers that he’s a little damaged. It’s a good start. (Music OMH)

Video: Girls & Boys

Favorite Albums of 2020

Honorable Mention:

Wolf Parade - Thin Mind

The contrasting approaches clash, but even Thin Mind’s strongest offerings feel recycled. Think of the record as comfort food for Wolf Parade fans, or as an introduction to the band for the uninitiated (Paste Magazine)

Video: "Julia Take Your Man Home"

The Cool Greenhouse - The Cool Greenhouse

Exemplary of the album at large, centrepiece "Dirty Glasses" invites you to view the world from the band’s own, uniquely specific, perspective. Through a strange tale of dinner with Margaret Thatcher and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek, Greenhouse admits, with a long, drawn out pause, that “the purpose of this band is to offer a glasses cleaning service, at a very reasonable price” (The Line of Best Fit).

Video: "Dirty Glasses"

Allegra Kreiger - the Joys of Forgetting

The Joys Of Forgetting is a remarkable album. It feels cohesive and coherent despite a huge variety in musical texture and style. It is full of strings that never overwhelm Krieger’s guitar, and the up close fingerpicking frames the songs in polyrhythmic melody. The production is impeccable, and Allegra Krieger is an expressive performer. (Everything is Noise)

Video: "Come in"

Kiwi Jr. - Football Money

The band brings a vigorous energy to their quirky sentiments as they walk through their surroundings, instilling a comical bent at any opportunity. Even if they know that the farther they go, the better it is to stop for a second and just be in the moment. (No Ripcord)

Video: "Gimme More"

Black Dresses- Peaceful as Hell

This album doesn’t slow down; Black Dresses’ incredible combination of twee indie pop and noise music really succeeds here. (Still Listening)

Video: Beautiful Friendship

(1/12/21 - Addition)

BackxWash - God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It

God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It feels like that rare art: devastatingly honest, creatively crafted, and hauntingly beautiful, it’s the type of thing that could save a life on the intersection of identity, and save the minds of those who’ve closed theirs to the plight of others before. (Counterzine)

Samia - The Baby

This is a release of artfully constructed, seamlessly great indie-rock that could get easily passed by. Samia has the presence of someone effortlessly classy and commanding, which makes this project all the more appealing. (No Ripcord)

-------------------------------------------------------TOP TEN--------------------------------------------------------

10) Sports Team - Deep Down Happy

Combining the spirit of Britpop with the attitude of modern day post punk, tracks like “Going Soft” , “Here It Comes Again” and the familiar cries of “Camel Crew” and “Kutcher”, swell, expand and know just when to pull the pin into an eruption of chaos. (The Line of Best Fit)

Video: "Feels Like Fun"

9) Sweeping Promise -- Hunger for a Way Out 

Hunger for a Way Out, the debut album by Boston post-punk duo Sweeping Promises, is idiosyncratic in the (brilliant) extreme; recorded, as the Bandcamp description notes, in an unused concrete laboratory using a proprietary “single-mic technique,” it’s set in a sonic world all its own. All it takes to get you there is that first cymbal crash and a half-strangled guitar lick, but it spends ten solid tracks drawing you further in, as they boil new-wave neuroticism down to a science--and they make it so much fun. (Post-Trash)

Video: "Cross Me Out"

8) Andy Schauf -- The Neon Skyline

Throughout the record, Shauf’s warm melodies and dry humour make the atmosphere inside The Neon Skyline feel tangible. The brilliance of unrushed pub talk is captured on ‘Dust Kids’ (“Have I ever talked to you about reincarnation?”, a friend asks); and when the narrator’s old love finally arrives at the bar, the pair’s conversational missteps are delicately observed.(Loud and Quiet)

Video: "Neon Skyline"

7) Crack Cloud - Pain Olympics

Across these infectious eight tracks clocking in at thirty-two minutes, Choy and his cohort throw everything at the canvas. As well as their familiar late 1970s-era post-punk leanings, we’re treated to well-executed experiments in funk, grunge, rock orchestration, and hip-hop. (The Quietus)

Video: "Post Truth (Birth of a Nation)"

6) Special Interest - The Passion Of

Special Interest are a force of nature. Watch any live videos of the New Orleans synth-punk band (which will have to do since they, like all bands, won’t be playing in your town anytime soon) and witness the energy and ferocity of a band whose blood runs with the angst and agitation of hardcore punk at its most primal and, perhaps more surprisingly, the pulse of techno and industrial. (TrebleZine)

Video: "Street Pulse Beat"

5) Touche Amore - Lament

Lament continues to prove that Touché Amoré is a force to be reckoned with. Their songwriting abilities and haunting lyrics that touch on intense subjects and themes are deepened on this record. They certainly have become masters of their craft and required listening in the post-hardcore genre. (Get Alternative)

Video: "Savoring"

4) Stay Inside - Viewing

Stay Inside’s sound is a grand, clangorous, romantic take on the emo and post-hardcore of the late-’90s. They write big melodies and howl them out over heavy guitars and oblique rhythm-section churns. There are moments of great serenity on Viewing, and there are also big buildups of serrated catharsis. Sometimes, those moments are the same. (Stereogum)

Video: "Silt"

3) Blake Scott -- Niscitam

If the work of The Peep Tempel was a sledgehammer, Niscitam is a spell. (Junkee)

Video: "A Fever"

2) Winterreise - Jerskin Fendrix

The strangest, creepiest, and best pop album of the year. After many, many listens, we’re still not quite sure what’s happening on Winterreise; all we know is that it sounds fucking amazing. (Loud and Quiet)

Video: "Oh God"

1) Idles - Ultra Mono

No gripes here as IDLES deliver their most consistent album to date with a handful of their most rough-cut diamonds sparkling through. (No Ripcord)

Video: "A Hymn"

Booyah!!!

Favorite Albums of 2019

Honorable Mentions:

Third Eye Blind - Screamers
"Overall, Screamer is better than a sixth Third Eye Blind album ever needed to be." (Pitchfork)

Boy Harsher - Careful
"Overall, though, this record leaves quite the impression; if uneasy listening is your thing, Boy Harsher’s murky interpretation of dead disco will envelop you in its dark delights." (The Line of Best Fit)

Operators - Radiant Dawn
"It’s music for a nightclub in a moon colony. It’s music for a retro-futuristic recreation of an Eastern Europe metropolis that never quite existed. It’s music for an encroaching dystopia." (Stereogum)

10) Fontaines D.C. - Dogrel
"The are several ways in which, amid a swarm of industry buzz, Ireland's Fontaines DC have been described. Depending on the article, they're a bunch of misty-eyed poets, extolling the virtues of Keats and Joyce like a bunch of rag-tag Morrisseys with dirtier shoes. Or they're the next in line to tour mates IDLES' throne - a biting, visceral live force who've already taken over SXSW in a barrage of amp-scaling and high-intensity mosh pits. Or, they're some true Irish lads, cut from the innate emerald cloth of the homeland: prick them and they bleed Guinness.

The real Beauty of Fontaines DC, however, is that they're all of these things and more." (DIY mag)

Video: "Liberty Belle"

9) Grand Salvo - Sea Glass
"This richly allegorical album explores how a single, vivid memory can shape who we are; resurfacing and altering our thoughts and recollections as the years go by. The album’s very structure is an approximation of how such a memory is forged; each song radiates out from a seed memory which unfolds like a lotus jewel in Field of Flowers, the second-last song and the only “straight” narrative song of this remarkable album. The album then closes with Standing On The Sea, a dreamlike journey on the beach that uncovers “a shard of sand smoothed emerald glass / and a change in the light”, layering the dreams of childhood and the memories of adulthood into a woozy contemplation of eternity and the cyclic, ever evolving nature of memory."

Video: "The boy's story of his faithful family dog"

8) Richard Dawson - 2020

"He’s not that easy to pin down, and it’s sometimes hard to think of his output as entertaining, but rather access to an inner monologue that we probably shouldn’t have. Sometimes I feel like he’s a sort of ultra-violent Les Dawson. He’s hugely witty, but dark as fuck. His lyricism is, frankly, wonderful. He deals explicitly in the rich vein of pathos that comes lurking always in the everyday." (The Quietus)

Video: "Jogging"

7) Alex Cameron - Miami Memory

"Australian singer/songwriter Alex Cameron developed a persona of the same name over the course of several albums of dark, depraved narratives set to '80s-modeled synth pop. Listening closely to the raw tales Cameron spun in his songs was a wild ride. At times you could almost smell the cheap cologne as he sang about sleazy after-hours scenes, Internet romance, and the general bleakness and failures of his self-named character. With third album Miami Memory, Cameron doesn't dial back the depraved nature of his lyrics, but he pushes them to new places as they evolve to explore divorce, sex workers, parenthood, and other surprisingly mature theme." (Allmusic)

Video: "Too Far"

6) Brutus - Nest
"Most bands would be lucky to have either a drummer or a singer as viscerally talented as Stefanie Mannaerts. Brutus has both within a single human body. Limbs, lungs, and all, Mannaerts is the elemental force that powers Nest’s 11 tracks. No slouches themselves, her bandmates build out Mannaerts’ bashing and howling into world-swallowing rock songs so pulverizing they couldn’t possibly be pop and so catchy that it doesn’t feel quite right to call them heavy metal. However you categorize it, it’s one of the most exhilarating rock records in a long time. " (Stereogum)

Video: "Space"

5) Julia Jacklin - Crushing
"Ah. Shucks. Grunge-rinsed, feminist-flipped, upcycled Fifties guitar an’ all: Crushing is a triumph." (The Independent)

Video: "Head Alone"

4) Mannequin Pu$$y - Patience
"Even when Mannequin Pussy venture to truly dark places, Patience is such a pure joy to listen to. In its biggest moments, Dabice’s raw edge is matched by equally colossal riffs, explosive energy, and surging momentum. Patience, is without a doubt, one of the year’s strongest punk rock records." (Pitchfork)

Video: "Drunk II"

3) Black Midi - Shlagenheim 

"I’ll admit this at the beginning—I have no idea what black midi sounds like. After seeing them at South By Southwest this year, I tried, and failed, to nail it down: “They’re simultaneously an art rock act, a post-punk group, a noise band, a free-jazz ensemble, and an improvisational outfit that’s somehow both tight and loose at the same time.” I later described them as “Parquet Courts-meets-a-free-jazz-combo-with-Donny-from-The Wild Thornberries-as-a-lead-singer” and meant it as a compliment. A friend who disliked their KEXP session from Iceland Airwaves 2018 (one of the only videos of the band available online until recently) said it sounded like two layered Korn songs mixed by a pretentious art school kid." (Paste)

Video: "bmbmbm"

2) TFS - Braindrops

“I've invented fake news as a genre of music,” Gareth Liddiard observes with a laugh. He’s talking about “Maria 63”, the closing track on Tropical Fuck Storm’s sophomore LP Braindrops. The song takes aim at the once-marginalized alt-right conspiracy theories that now seem to be a driving force behind the rise of fascism in global politics. “It’s about a Mossad agent traveling to Buenos Aires to assassinate Maria Orsic, a Nazi witch who telepathically got the blueprints for warp drive engines from aliens,” Liddiard shares.

“It may be the most stupid song ever written,” Liddiard jokes. He’s wrong, “Maria 63” is emblematic of Tropical Fuck Storm’s keen ability to mine the extreme edge of pop culture’s periphery for potent musical and conceptual spice. Braindrops overflows with compelling sounds and visions that reflect the often dark and fractured reality of life on planet Earth as we hurtle toward environmental and social decay at a frighteningly rapid clip.

Video: "Braindrops"

1) Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

"David's brilliant work, his songs, poems and cartoons, were disguised as entertainments. In fact, wherever those works were transmitted they engendered great responses of joy and comfort and a recognition of seismic empathy beyond words. In the long run this will perhaps be the most important part of what we all agreed so long ago that we were doing together.

It feels like there’s little more to say about David’s place in the world right now that he hasn’t already said himself. Some of his incredible turns of phrase seem to have been written for this awful moment. But know that they weren't. They were written in lieu of this moment, to replace this moment, showing the world (and himself) that maybe he didn't truly know what was going to happen next."
(Drag City)

Video: "All my happiness is gone"

Favorite Albums of 2016

Another year, another list, another diminishment in quality (in terms of my writing quality -- musically speaking, it was really good).

I'm certain this is right.

20) Mitski -- Puberty 2: interesting album title. features one of the best songs of the year.

19) Left and Right -- The Yips: A touch of Malkmus. "“Margaret Thatcher bought a Stratocaster/ played it/ made it/ rose to greatness.”

18) Veils -- Total Depravity: produced by one-half of the best tag ever (El-P from RTJ), and one of my favorite bands, this album didn't measure up for some reason. Tried to reach the same deranged, cathartic heights of their 2006 classic Nux Vomica, this one captured the production qualities but missed out on all the heart.

17) Preoccupations -- Preoccupations:  Music for paranoid joy division fans.

16) Space Mountain -- Big Sky: a touch of David Berman here, but only a touch.

15) The Peep Tempel -- Joy

Couldn't snag the album cover for some reason. The return of the band that put out 2014's second best album. A good listen all the way through, just maybe not as cheeky/gritty/idiosyncratic as the last one.

"Joy reignites the band’s distinct drawl, growling and fist-waved plainspoken complaint spun through colloquial larrikinism and picture-book pub-punk storytelling. Yet, with longer studio sessions booked, the band also enjoyed what they describe as a “definite indulgence”, leading to left-field experiments ranging from organs to car engines.

Thematically, it’s equally varied. Snapshots of everyday life butt heads with more straight-shot, politically-ignited rhetoric, as with fiery first single “Rayguns”. At the other end of Joy’s wide-spread spectrum, minimalism lounge-bar ballad “Go Slow” compliments the sparse backdrop with throaty, targeted taunts, taking a far more personal slant to the band’s usual tact." (Rolling Stone AU)

Slay Tracks: Totality, Rayguns, Constable

14) Alex Cameron - Jumping the Shark

This album is sweet. Alex Cameron, the lead singer, takes on the perspective of a variety of down-and-out sad sacks. He's all in on it though -- going so far as the dress up as the miserable cast of characters he creates (like the one on the cover, who I just noticed has a hearing aid). In a way, he's kind of mining the same vein as Krispy Kreme in the "is this real or an act kind of thing?" Here, we know it is a trick, but it is really well performed. Anyone that says music is dead isn't looking hard enough for gems like this. This video of one of his "characters" is incredible.

"I ain't every man I wanted to be," Alex Cameron sings on Jumping the Shark, but over the course of the album, he's more than a few. Cameron's solo debut album introduces him as a meta-singer/songwriter: though he's best known as a member of the electronic pop trio Seekae, in Jumping the Shark's world, he's a down-on-his-luck performer with a saxophone player and "business partner" named Roy Molloy. Cameron uses this theatricality to sell Shark's portraits of failure, capturing them with a complex mix of humor, beauty, and poignancy. Cameron commits to his characters and moods completely, sketching them with stark, warts-and-all sounds and lyrics. Jumping the Shark's tinny keyboards and beats could be ancient presets, but also sound oddly timeless as they move from shabby to almost noble at a moment's notice: on songs like the bittersweet anthem "Take Care of Business," Cameron uses little more than some well-placed synth washes to turn the titular chorus from innuendo to a plea. Meanwhile, his storytelling is remarkably sophisticated, filled with the depth and empathy of a much more seasoned singer/songwriter. At times, his songs recall those of Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel -- if they happened to be backed by Suicide. " (All Music)

Slay Tracks: Real Bad Lookin, The Internet, Take Care of Business, etc.

13) Teleman - Brilliant Sanity

If you don't know Pete and the Pirates, I'd check them out. They released two really great albums before breaking up and creating this group, whose goal, from what I can tell, is to make insanely catchy pop songs.

"Listing “the dogged pursuit of the perfect hook” as a driving force behind their music, everything Teleman do is crafted to worm its way under your skin. The follow-up to 2014 debut ‘Breakfast’, ‘Brilliant Sanity’ is an embellished venture through the unmistakable sound the four-piece have forged for themselves.

Having established an aesthetic that’s so very distinctly them, Teleman show no fear when it comes to pushing boundaries. Propulsive drumbeats reverberate and repeat, burrowing further through consciousness with every reiteration. It’s a mechanical sound that the quartet create, but with album number two they’ve given these mechanisms flesh.

Thomas Sanders’ vocals are as prolific as ever. Taking the lead over buoyant guitars, bubbling synth, and breezy rhythms, it’s all too easy to become lost amidst the high flying lyrics, which is exactly where the group want their listeners to be. It’s a vivid canvas that Teleman paint upon, using electric nuances and eerie echoes to give their dynamic melodies a possessive life of their own." (DIY)

Slay Tracks: Dusseldorf, Fall in Time, Glory Hallelujah, Drop Out

12) Christine and the Queens -- s/t

"“It’s rare to see a female pop artist so resistant to adoration, asking to be allowed to adore instead,” Pitchfork wrote about Christine (née Héloïse Letissier) earlier this year. That least Stone Roses-y of attitudes is clear throughout Christine’s first proper LP, which bounds along like a collection of curious observations, never explicitly demanding attention but always captivating it nonetheless. Hooks poke out of the mix and then slink back underneath. Phrasings from Christine’s lyrical mix of English and French — a near-identical version of the album was released entirely in French under the name Chaleur humaine in 2014 — draw you in for a line at a time. Arrangements swell but never go for the knockout punch. It’s brilliant in its quiet confidence, its willingness to intrigue rather than stun." (SPIN)

Slay Tracks: iT, Tilted, Paradis Perdus, Safe and Holy

11) Andy Shauf - The Party

"The Party plays out like Shauf is telling someone these the stories hours after or the next morning following the blowout. While the arrangements are lush, they don’t get too overbearing or massive to take away from the lyrics. Fans of artists like Elliott Smith and Grizzly Bear will likely enjoy Shauf’s music, but overall Shauf really comes into his own on The Party." (Paste)

Slay Tracks: Early to the Party, Quite Like You, The Worst In You, Alexander All Alone

10) Frightened Rabbit -- Painting of a Panic Attack

This one sounded like it was going to be incredible. Frightened Rabbit, who held down the #1 spot in 2010 and the #2 spot in 2013,  teaming with the Dessner Brothers (The National -- who have also showed up a lot in these gd lists). Unfortunately, it seems like the Dessner's kinda National-ized away some of Frightened Rabbits rougher edges. It's incredibly well produced and sounds great, but the album is a bit quieter and less eventful than I would have liked. Still a really solid album, but not quite reaching the heights of some of their earlier classics.

"Having said that, though, Painting of a Panic Attack is still an album to be cherished. A combination of new life experiences, that allow Hutchison to weave more vivid tales of mourning, nostalgia and, ultimately, triumph, and the shot in the arm that is Aaron Dessner giving the band that little bit more has helped to create an album that could rival Midnight Organ Fight. Just as Frightened Rabbit felt like they were starting to fall into a bit of a rut, Painting of a Panic Attack arrives to remind why they are such a special band. They’re not giving in just yet and thank goodness for that." (The Line of Best Fit).

Slay Tracks: Death Dream, Woke Up Hurting, Blood Under the Bridge, Wait 'Til Morning.


9) Touche Amore - Stage Four

Didn't expect a "post-hardcore" album to make the list. Especially one about a lead singer dealing with the loss of his mom to cancer. But life is full of surprises. Without a doubt, this album is pretty brutal and not for everyone.  But it packs a huge emotional wallop and it is beautifully wrought. A bit hard to listen to all the way through on  account of all the screaming though, ha.

"The heartsick sentiment of this album will leave most listeners with a pang in their chest. Bolm’s pain is so beautifully expressed that it can be hard not to buy in entirely. The “hardcore Carrie & Lowell” description is becoming fairly standard for Stage Four, but it still serves to highlight just how moving this record is. It will make you want to mosh, it will make you want to cry. I can’t think of a better sell for Stage Four." (The 405)

Slay Tracks: Flowers and You, Rapture, Benediction, Water Damage

8)  Modern Baseball -- Holy Ghost

Scratches a lot of the same itches as 2014-best "Home Like Noplace There Is" by the Hotelier.

"So, no, Holy Ghost isn’t as lighthearted as the band’s previous records. And it’s true that it lacks the sense of humor that propelled songs like “Going To Bed Now” and “Rock Bottom.” But this batch of songs serves a higher purpose: In addition to being a powerful examination of self-worth and how it tends to wither beneath the responsibilities of adulthood, the record is also a testament to the band’s growth musically and thematically. Ewald even seems to sneer at the carefree philosophies of youth when he sings about how “you ate the words you always used to say.” “Whatever, forever” just no longer applies. The Holy Ghost, that intangible something that represents forgiveness and spiritually fulfillment, remains out of reach. This record is the space in between." (The AV Club)

Slay Tracks: Mass, Everyday, Coding These To Lukens, Breathing in Stereo, Just Another Face

7) Operators - Blue Wave

Dan, the man, no stranger to this blog. Handsome Furs, his old group, got #1 on the 2011 list; and his even older group, Wolf Parade got #6 on the 2010 list. Oh yea, and his side-project super-group got #7 in 2012. He's an incredibly solid songwriter, who just seems to get better and better as he goes, and this offers a somewhat, if not completely new, take on his style and themes.

"It's ironic that Dan Boeckner sings so specifically about dreaming on four of the 10 songs that make up Operators' full-length debut. While Blue Wave showcases enough synth-centric production to meet all of the requirements to recreate a genre once widely referred to as dream pop, the songs on this album teem with such agitation that it could be the photo negative of that style: nightmare pop." (Pitchfork)

Slay Tracks: Rome, Cold Light, Blue Wave, Bring Me The Head, Nobody

6) Christian Fitness - This Taco Is Not Correct

Andy Falkous is no stranger to this blog. Another one of his projects got the 10 spot in 2009, and the number 3 spot in 2013. I seem to really like about half of his work, and this falls into the category. A lot of the songs are completely mental -- both lyrically and sonically, but the melodies are always super strong to keep it together.

"Amps are overloaded, ala ‘68 on the noise-wreckage of the superb Bad Boys Die In The Bath (you can almost feel the heat as it starts popping and hissing from the roaring strangulation that’s created) whilst the swaggering nonchalant of the hilarious and cutting bite of Reggie Has Asbestos Training is summed up by the immortal line: “the proof is in the pudding well, the pudding was made in a shit oven by a donkey cock fuckwit with half the world in its petty-hate petting zoo and if that sounds like you, it’s not.” A mostly spoken word piece, with Falco reciting the song’s title over Jack’s upbeat percussion, whilst some smooth synth-flows, buzzes and hums in the background, like some weird 70s-style novelty theme song from a show based on the life of the titular Reggie. What is going on here?" (Keep it Fast)

Slay Tracks: Your Favourite Band Wants you Dead, Bad Boys Die in the Bath, More Skin for the Skin-Eaters

5) Run the Jewels - RTJ3

Same Spot as 2014's RTJ2 -- which has aged extremely well, and which I prefer a bit more.

"Maybe it’s that dichotomy that makes Run the Jewels the most exciting prospect hip hop currently has, even in an age when Kendrick is revolutionizing the genre, when Kanye is redefining the word megalomania and when Chance the Rapper is leading a vanguard of new talent for whom classic LPs look like a foregone conclusion. What none of those can offer, though, is the increasingly unshakeable feeling that the two decades’ worth of hard yards that Mike and El put in is what makes RTJ so special. Nobody fresh out of the blocks could ever make a record this vital sound quite so effortless. That’s the only issue with RTJ3; the sense of triumph occasionally spills into self-satisfaction, and the next stop would be complacency. This is an album that could easily be subtitled Mission Accomplished, but for once, it feels like bowing out on top would be ill-advised. That, in itself, is quite the compliment." (Drowned in Sound)

Slay Tracks: Down, Legend Has It, 2100, Panther Like a Panther

4) PJ Harvey -- The Hope Six Demolition Project

PJ Harvey does albums like they were intended. This is not quite as good or coherent as 2011's number 3 ranked Let England Shake, but still very good.

"The Hope Six Demolition Project is an album with quite a story attached. Preparations for the follow-up to 2011’s Mercury prize-winning Let England Shake involved Polly Harvey travelling to Afghanistan, Kosovo and the grimmer parts of Washington DC in the company of film-maker and photographer Seamus Murphy, the better to record the effects of war and poverty. The field trips have thus far spawned a book of poetry and photographs called The Hollow of the Hand, and an open recording session-cum-art installation, during which the public were invited to stand behind a one-way glass and watch Harvey and her band making the album in a specially constructed studio in London’s Somerset House. There is a documentary film to follow" (The Guardian).

Slay Tracks: The Community of Hope, A Line in the Sand, The Orange Monkey

3) Car Seat Headrest -- Teens of Denial

This 23-year old is prolific (his 12th album?) and in complete control of his music. Really solid stuff. Check out Teens of Style as well -- my second favorite album of last year.

"Teens of Denial showcases most of the weapons in Toledo’s arsenal: deft wordplay, a vocal style that might be the very definition of ennui, and tight guitar-driven indie rock arrangements that recall Weezer, Beck, and Jonathan Richman. " (Flood Magazine)

Slay Tracks: Fill in the Blank, Destroyed by Hippy Powers, Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)

2) The Hotelier -- Goodness

They made some interesting artistic choices (album cover for one, drum placement in the mix for two), and not quite as good as 2014's "Home, Like Noplace There Is," but a damn good record. 

"Goodness is a spiritually rich listen, but none of it would matter much if it weren’t such a goddamn great rock album. For something that, on paper, reads as terribly intimate, its anthemic appeal transforms Goodness into a surprisingly liberating event. Especially on the spring rush of single “Piano Player” and the openhearted ache of “Two Deliverances,” these private experiences become electrifyingly communal. Yet wedged in-between are moments of cautious reverie in the form of campfire songs and ruminative ballads, affording more credit to how well-balanced — and life-affirming — a record this ambitious can be." (SPIN)

Slay Tracks: Two Deliverances, Settle the Scar, Soft Animal, Sun, End of Reel

1) Drones -- Feelin Kinda Free

From the first moment of track one, I knew this would be my top album of the year. Maybe not a classic like their last few, but the first six songs on this album may be the the finest six track sequence on any of their albums. An intensely political and timely album.

"It’s fair to say then that The Drones’ music is loaded with a capital L – pumped up with fury at our historical flaws, contemptuous of seemingly institutional wastefulness and pride. Lyrically, Liddiard cuts an entrancing figure – somewhere between a political revolutionary and an apocalyptic conspiracy theorist, uncompromisingly skeptical but never without reason. On 2013’s I See Seaweed he readily obsessed over humanity’s most callous elements – the warmongers, the capitalists, the faceless elite – without flinching once, his words often spat out snidely like a crazed Nick Cave. Throw his dogged lyricism over manic, maddened guitar work and you have yourself a dark horse for one of the best albums of the past five years.

You’d think things couldn’t possibly get any more ominous but you’d be wrong. The first chorus on Seaweed’s follow up sees Liddiard flippantly remark: “now I’m feelin kinda free // I’m going straight to DVD” as if liberated by the acceptance that humanity is too far gone. Later he sneers, “I want a private execution…for free_” over one of the most guttural bass lines I think I’ve ever heard. After the sharp, juddering ‘Taman Shud’, ‘Then They Came For Me’ references the always crushingly relevant Martin Niemoller poem as well as psychological tactics used by the German air force in World War II. The stakes are somehow even higher, the outlook somehow even bleaker." (Drowned in Sound)

Slay Tracks: 1-6