Honorable Mentions: Return to the Moon by EL VY, b'lieve i'm going down... by Kurt Vile, Too by FIDLAR, Simple Songs by Jim O'Rourke, Art Angels by Grimes
Top 10 Albums of 2015
This Philly native takes what is essentially music recorded in her bedroom, and gives it the emotional wallop to make it sound a lot bigger. Not that every song kicks the doors the down—there are some soft and some pretty and some spare tunes on here—but every song sounds like it wants to MEAN something, and very often does.
Antarctigo Vespucci features musician Jeff Rosenstock from Bomb the Music Industry!, and apes a lot of what made that band special too. It's tough growing into being a young adult and middle aged, and this album (like BtMI!) really nails those feelings of despair and desperation, all while being fun as fuck. The music is all upbeat and catchy and the lyrics are the opposite. It's an awesome dichotomy.
I saw Brandon Flowers in concert this year, and was not really surprised by what I saw after hearing his solo album. He was tame on stage, and he didn't really seem too comfortable up there. He seemed happy and like he was having a good time, but he lacked edge and a looseness that defines a great performer. The whole ordeal matched up pretty well with the album. This is pure '80s schlock, all synths and dancing and pop hooks. In other words, it's lame as shit! And goddamn, is it fun.
Out of all the albums on this list, I listened to Father John Misty's the most the year, only because it was Pam's favorite album, and whenever it was her time to pick music in the car, it inevitable came down to I Love You, Honeybear. Seriously, she was crushing hard on Josh Tillman throughout the whole year. It got to the point that she now wants to listen to the Velvet Underground because Misty did a cover of a Swift song in the style of Lou Reed.
Rightly so, though, because this album is awesome. The eleven songs basically take us on a tour of Misty's feelings about love. On some songs, he's waxing poetic about how much he loves his wife; on others, he's berating some drunk hippie whom he went home with. Whether he's being romantic or acerbic, the music is consistently fresh and interesting. It's moving and funny. A thousand spins in Pam's car didn't change that one bit.
"Another girl punk band?" Pam asked as I spun SPORTS countless times. She's right. Woman artists and bands with girl lead singers kicked ass this year. All of Something is a simple album, and flies by quickly, but it's such a rush. Lead singer Carmen Perry kills it on every song, her precious voice somehow sounding so fierce and so tough. It's a fucking bummer this band broke up already, but I'm hoping we hear more from its individual members sometime in the future.
Sometimes I don't really have anything to say about an album other than, hey, go listen to it. White Reaper plays straight pop-punk. There's not a slow song on the album. It's all guitar-and-drums variety Rock 'N' Roll with capital Rs. It's fun as shit. I don't really know what else to say, because I suck at this.
John Darnielle is so damn good about taking a broad subject and making it deeply personal. On Beat the Champ, he does it again, somehow, by singing about professional wrestling, of all goddamn things. The "sport" is inherently ridiculous to anyone over twelve years old. And yet, somehow, Darnielle turns this into one of the most personal, riveting, moving albums of the year. For example, the song "Heel Turn 2" is about fan favorite on the ring that turns into a "bad guy," shocking the audience. Lame, right? But the ballad, in nearly six minutes, tugs at the heartstrings tightly; the line that always gets me is "the president of the fan club up there, choking on his tears." To you and me, wrestling is insanely stupid. To young childhood John Darnielle, wrestling was deeply profound, and he somehow finds a way to convey these emotions to the listener. It's stunning work.
Titus is one of my top three favorite bands of all time, and unless Patrick Stickles goes completely off the rails, he will continue to release music that is equal parts exciting and touching. Every album they ever release will probably end up on my top ten of any particular year. Why is this album in particular at #3? Because it's chock full of killer hits. Full stop. I count at least twelve songs on this sprawling epic that could go head-to-head with any other of the best songs of the year. It's fucking insane how much quality is stuffed into this sucker.
Okay, so why is it only number 3? Well, there's a lot of filler, to be honest. To give you the most unforgivable example, there's a song that consists solely of a minute and a half of silence. In the most frustrating of rock opera traditions, there are "songs" on here that are stupid, annoying, and often not even songs at all.
So does the story of this rock opera really succeed from a listener's standpoint? Probably not. But when The Most Lamentable Tragedy is good, it's the fucking best there is, and that happens so often. A rising tide raises all boats, and goddamn, those songs that work are a strong tide, and carry this album to insane heights. For all its flaws, this is a piece of art that I will listen to for the rest of my life.
Natalie Prass's self-titled debut is deceptive. Maybe it's her twee voice, or the subject matter (spoilers, it's the trials and tribulations of love). But start adding up all the pieces—her charm, the catchy choruses, the strings piled on horns piled on even more strings—and it starts to become something special.
I just can't get over Frances Quinlan. Listen, I know Hop Along is a band, and the dudes playing the instruments are tight as fuck and make great music. But lead singer Frances Quinlan is out of this fucking world, and they make this album the best of the year. Their voice... how can I possibly adequately describe that fucking thing? Here's the best I can do: Their voice, at every cathartic moment, sounds like it's going to completely fucking implode, but it never does. There's this previously unknown sound coming out of their mouth, and it's fucking unique and such a fucking powerhouse of a thing.
I guess I should reiterate again that this album is great top to bottom; the vocals just send it to the stratosphere. Everything next to the vocals, though, is catchy, every guitar solo is nuts and every drum part is full of energy and creativity. Music like this makes you feel like you can lift a thousand pounds. I'm trying not to get too hyperbolic right now, but I don't even know if that's possible. It's that damn good. I'll stop now.
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