Yes, yes, it's the end of another year and another chance for me to force my opinions on everyone. This was a really interesting year for music. For one, I can't remember a better year for live music. I was able to catch the Pixies, Prince, the Knife, the National (at the Greek no less), Lucius at Lagunitas brewery, Lyle Lovett, and the Violent Femmes as well as catching some really cool local shows while traveling in New Zealand and South Korea. So, the live music scene this year was great but I was really struggling to put together this list of albums released this year. Particularly when you compare it to last year where the top 3 albums (Lucius, Vampire Weekend, and San Fermin) were all stunningly good. I just didn't have any albums that came right out and got stuck in my head. But there were a lot of slow burners this year. Those albums that, after repeated listens, you suddenly find yourself thinking "Holy balls, this is fantastic." A couple new trends popped up this year:
Rookie Breakout - This is the first time in a long time that everyone on the list has been a first-timer. The Walkmen broke up, Lykke Li had an okay album, the New Pornographers put out an album that sounded reliably like the New Pornographers. But, it's probably a good sign that I had to branch out and actually find some new bands to like this year.
Here's to the ladies - A lot of good girl groups this year. 2 of my top 5 and a lot more that just missed the cut including Lykke Li, Flip Grater, Sharon van Etten, and Dum Dum Girls.
No Scandinavians - My love of Northern European indie pop is well documented. The Scandinavians have perfected pop as an art form just like they've perfected industrial design. Pascal Pinon made last year's list extending the Scandinavian record to 8 years in a row. Alas, no candidates other tha Lykke Li this year, which is probably more of a sign of where I traveled to this year than anything else.
So, anyways, on to the list. But, first, I have to make special note of one album:
The album I hated above all others - Sun Kil Moon - Benji
This album is showing up on all kinds of end of the year lists so somebody likes it. But it makes me viscerally angry. Like angry enough to break stuff. And I don't mean that in a good way. It's like the same song 11 times in a row and they're all Mark Kozelek singing about making himself some macaroni and then going to get his tires rotated and then seeing a funny cat video and then catching a concert. It is mindnumbing. It's going to be purgatory for me for sure. Anyways, lots of people really like it so you might too. But, GOD IT MAKES ME ANGRY!
10. Lee "Scratch" Perry - Back on the Controls
This album, like last year's #10, was funded largely off of Kickstarter. This album, though, is the first Kickstarter-funded album to be nominated for a Grammy. Not that anybody cares about the Grammys any more. Lee Perry is, of course, a reggae/dub legend. He built his own studio, Black Ark, in his backyard in Kingston and pioneered the use of effects in reggae music basically inventing dub. The idea behind this album was to use vintage analog equipment to try to reproduce the Black Ark sound. It's a bit of a throwback sound all the more poignant with Lee's 78 year old voice on vocals. Classic stuff. Check out Copy This/Copy That and Rastafari on Wall Street.
9. The Districts - The Districts EP
This is another first for the list in that this is actually only a 5 song EP. If they could have turned it into an LP or if I'd allow myself to combine it with the similarly awesome EP from Dreamers, it probably would have been the top album on this list. As it is, even with only 5 songs, I had to find a place for it. They were far and away the best band at Outside Lands and they very well might be replacing the Walkmen as a perennial on this list. A band of early 20's kids out of Philly, they've definitely grown up fans of the White Stripes. But they add a lot more instrumentation and depth onto that garage rock sound. And then they just blow it out. The last minute and a half of Funeral Beds or Lyla are great closers.
8. White Lung - Deep Fantasy
While the Districts might 'rock', they're pedestrian compared to White Lung. Frontwoman Mish Way chews you up and spits you out. She's got one of the best Riot Grrl howls I've heard in a long time. Every song throws you around for two and a half minutes as Way belts it out over a driving guitar line. It's total thrash music, but Way is the absolute star. Don't even put up a fight on Drown with the Monster and In Your Home.
7. Walter Martin - We're All Young Together
So, the Walkmen did sadly break up this year. They're one of my all time favorites and have almost always been an easy entrant on to this list (aside: as we get to the end of the year it's handy to remember the best New Year's song of all-time courtesy of the Walkmen). Fortunately, in the wake of their break up, we got a bumper crop of great albums from their individual members including Hamilton Leithauser and Pete Bauer. For my money, the best album of the Walkmen diaspora was from Walter Martin who was always kind of hidden on stage as the Walkmen's keyboard player. It's a little sappy, but I love the concept behind the album: he wanted to make a kid's album that was accessible to adults. The result is catchy melodies and super-singable lyrics. It sounds easy but, as the saying goes, if it was easy everybody would do it. He managed to get a lot of great collaborators on the album including Karen O, Matt Berninger, and Kat Edmonson and then finished it off by having children's book illustrator Marcellus Hall illustrate each song. There's a few charmingly ridiculous songs like The Beatles (When Ringo Shook His Mop) but, for my money, there's no better song this year than the impossibly sweet duet with Karen O on Sing 2 Me.
6. Run the Jewels - RTJ2
This album's already topped a couple more important end of year lists. Run the Jewels is a collaboration between El-P and (former Outkast collaborator) Killer Mike. Generally I find modern hip hop to be pretty disappointing. The delivery and the production is outstanding, but they lack the political awareness of Public Enemy or Grandmaster Flash or the social commentary of NWA. So here we are in the wake of Ferguson and similar incidents around the country and where is the hip hop commentary? It just seems to be largely absent. Enter Run the Jewels who have been openly vocal about what's happening. Alternately serious about an issue and stupid about partying, this album is equal parts showing off, cautionary tales about past mistakes, and social commentary.
5. FKA Twigs - LP1
So, apparently, singer Tahliah Barnett is dating Bob Pattinson who was in some sort of teen vampire movie or something. That really shouldn't be the reason she's famous, though. I heard the song Two Weeks on Sirius XMU and it was the exact same sort of feeling as hearing San Fermin's Sonsick last year. That sort of "Whoa. Who is this?" A breathy voice over a stripped down electronic backing, she's kind of a super-sexualized version of a mix between Cocteau Twins and the XX. You'll hear that stripped down electronic R&B mix on tracks like Two Weeks and Closer.
4. Joseph Arthur - Lou
I reckon this is probably more of an emotional choice than anything else. I've been a big fan of Akron's own Joseph Arthur for a number of years and I love that he felt compelled to do an entire album of Lou Reed covers in the wake of Lou passing away. I hadn't really listened to Lou Reed's stuff in a long time but this album helped me re-realize what a ridiculously talented songwriter he was. He always had a terrible voice but I'd sort of forgotten how truly gifted he was with lyrics and with crafting a song. I've always liked Joseph Arthur's voice and I think he's really well suited for Lou's songs. For the most part, he stays true to the song adding, keeping them pretty minimal. One of the nice things about the album is that it's curated. There are the songs we've heard a million times (Take a Walk on the Wild Side), but the real standouts are ones I hadn't heard in ages. Sword of Damocles with the brilliant line "To cure you they must kill you" and, man, how good is Pale Blue Eyes?
3. Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast
Has it really been 21 years since Gentlemen was released? Has it really been that long since I was in high school? Cripes. If I had actually been keeping a list in 1993, Gentlemen would have topped that list. That's the last time I really paid any attention to the Whigs even though they put out a few nondescript albums until they broke up in the early 2000s. Just like the My Bloody Valentine release last year, this album recaptured a lot of the sound of a band I really loved though you can definitely tell that it's an album made by a bunch of 40-somethings rather than a bunch of 20-somethings. There's the spaghetti western blues of Algiers, Greg Dulli's laconic delivery over insistent guitars on Matamoros, the more traditional post-punk of The Lottery. It's not really anything new for the Whigs, but it's really consistent with the sound I remember. And that's easily enough for me.
2. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
I held out a long time before getting this album. It had been reviewed well on Pitchfork and Stereogum and a few other places but it didn't get much radio play and, I don't know, 'Angel Olsen' just isn't a very rock and roll name. It's terribly unfortunate, but if your last name is Olsen I will just naturally assume that you must know Cousin Joey. But, yeah, what a great surprise. It's this indie-country-folk album about the classic themes of being lonely, finding someone, and then realizing that 'yeah, maybe being lonely wasn't so bad'. Classic stuff but, then, she's just...so...funny about it. Hi-Five starts off with a nod to Hank Williams 'I feel so lonesome I could cry', but then by the time she's into the chorus she sings 'Are you lonely too? Hi-Five. So am I." I love that visual. Except in my head, Puddy sings it. It's a slacker anthem for loneliness. Musically, the country influence is undeniable but it's also undeniably an indie rock album particularly on tracks like Forgiven/Forgotten. More than anything else, it really reminds me of Being There-era Wilco; an album with country roots that's undeniably indie. Just made by an Olsen girl.
1. Liam Finn - The Nihilist
Most years, I know pretty early what my number one album is going to be. I first thought of The Nihilist as my #1 album two days ago. I always picked it for being in the top 10, but only after a couple months away from it did I realize how consistently great it is. But, before we get to that, a little history. Two years ago, on a flight to New Zealand, I discovered Gin Wigmore who would become my #2 album that year. This year, on another trip to New Zealand, I discovered this album at the Auckland record store, Real Groovy. New Zealand is the new Scandinavia apparently. Liam's the son of Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House fame so his pedigree as a Kiwi rock standout is set. In particular, this album had a massive launch at that Auckland store but, here in the States, you can barely find a copy of it even though he's actually based in Brooklyn these days. And that's a real shame, because it's unpredictable, it dramatically changes direction yet it's consistently excellent. At his core, Liam's a guitar guy. Look no further than the riff he lays down on Burn Up the Road (bonus side note: in the video below, check out the awesome 'rock face' he pulls around the 4:05 mark). But the album is far more than some great guitar rock. Anti-celebrity opus Helena Bonham Carter is largely keyboard driven back-and-forth between Liam and the female backing vocals. 4 Track Stomper leads off with a unique drum riff that it carries through the entire song. Snug as F*ck is a dreamy, treacly pop song about the hopelessness of suburban life. End-to-end it's a fabulous effort and definitely #1 for me this year.
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