Top Ten Albums of 2015 - 5 through 1

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit - This album caught my attention early in the year.  It has the drive of a good punk album, but, enough melody and beat to keep my attention.  My children actually know this album by some of the lyrics which they find amusing.  I just like the way it sounds.

Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment - Surf - The Social Experiment is Chance the Rapper's band, and, even though he isn't credited, he is all over this album.  There is a song on the playlist from him, that I really enjoyed this year and he did one of the songs off of this album on Saturday Night Live.  This is not a rap album. This a jazz, funk, soul album featuring the trumpet.  It covers a broad range of styles and it surprised me how much I enjoyed it.  The best part?  It was free on iTunes.

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - The early reviews called this album Springsteenesque.  It's east coast R&B, but, it's more in the vein of Southside Johnny and Mink DeVille.  This is a bar band playing bar band music.  It is rough and tumble music for a night out when you might have one or two too many.

James McMurtry - Complicated Game - As I've said many times, I don't listen to the words very closely, but, there was something about this album that caught my ear. The first song has him talking to his wife about when he's going to clean the blood off of his truck from deer hunting. From that point, he has your attention.  It is alt-country in the vein of Sturgill Simpson, and it has a bit of an Americana flavor.  It's a part of the world that we don't experience in the city, but, it's real and valid.  He does an amazing job portraying it.

Adele - 25 - I know, super predictable.  But, it was the best thing I heard all year.  I think the reason it hasn't been on more end of year lists was the late release. It has a similar tenor to her earlier albums, but, that is because it is still her voice among stripped down arrangements.  Her topics are more adult, which you would expect from someone who has happily become a parent.  Since her vocal cord surgery a few years ago, her voice is slightly lower, but, she uses it better and is able to convey more power than before.  Finally, it's one of the few albums the entire car can agree on during long car trips.

Top Ten Albums of 2015 - 10 through 6

Leon Bridges - Coming Home - This is a classic Memphis soul album with a hint of Texas in it.  Usually, when there is this much hype about a new soul artist, it doesn't bear out. This is a solid, traditional, soul album with the energy of a new artist.

Ashley Monroe - The Blade - This is a traditional country album with a bit of a twist. The main line from the title track ("You caught it by the handle/And I caught it by the blade") is wrapped within a standard love lost ballad such that it's imagery catches you off guard.  The rest of the standard country genres are here, but her take on them is different and fresh.

Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space - Their first album took sound clips from the 40's and 50's and made ironic music out of them.  This is more of a concept album telling the story of the space race.  I though the first album was a one off, and the next album would fall flat.  The exact opposite happened.  They have captured the history and drama of the time and made it compelling. The song I put on the playlist, Go!, reminded me of watching early space flights on television and listening to the explanation of what happens if you fire the rockets at the wrong time (the astronauts miss the earth, it's bad).



Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass - It seems like every year, I have a light voiced female artist that makes the list (in the past it was Camera Obscura).  This album has more of a fold feel to it than those, but it has the solid melodies and the lyrics are interesting if you pay attention to them (which I don't always do). This is a pleasant listen.






Dawes - All Your Favorite Bands - Every time I listen to this album I hate myself.  They are overtly influenced by the Eagles and the whole Laurel Canyon scene.  There music hearkens back to 1978. The best song on the album, May All Your Favorite Bands Stay Together, deals with an idea from the same time period (really, who drives an El Camino anymore). But, I can't help myself.  It is everything that I love about pop music and it is not nearly as cheesy as their earlier albums.  A good album for a warm day on the patio with a cold beverage.

Prelude to 2015 Music Lists

For the past few years, I wake up around 4 AM almost every morning. Sometimes I go back to sleep, sometimes I don't.  Rather than lay there and let my mind race, I put some earbuds in and listen to BBC 6.  It's the lunchtime and afternoon radio shows and I get to hear music I don't hear on the radio here.

Monday morning, I woke up and they were playing the end of David Bowie song, which was not unusual. The next song was a David Bowie song, and within a minute of putting my headphones on, I knew he was gone.

His passing was not a shock.  He was 69 years old and it turns out he had cancer, something that happens to people when they get older. However, this caused a reflection on his career over the next few days.

During the day, I was listening to Beats 1 radio and some guy came on and called him the most influential music artist of our times.  The hyperbole from that was enough to set me off on a rant that my friends, with which  I discuss music, had to listen to.  The general consensus, he was not the most influential, but, he was in the conversation.  He was definitely in the top 5.  Maybe, another time, we'll discuss the problem of narcissism in the media which causes broadcasters to take a tragedy and make it about themselves.

So, why does the title not match the post?

My annual music lists were done last weekend.  I was just waiting a couple of days to start posting them.  Then, this happened, and I thought I should wait.  The lists will show up shortly.

Here's a video of one of my favorite songs. I got to see this tour at the Tacoma Dome.

Introduction To This Year's Top 10 Albums

The process of creating the album list causes me to go through the previous years posts.  It turns out that I seem to have settled on buying about 25 albums every year.  As I mentioned in my playlist post, I have switched my streaming from Rdio to Apple Music.  Furthermore, I became very frustrated with the changes at EMusic and I ended my subscription there.

It was difficult to create the top ten list this year.  I found myself liking a number of albums that I could have put in the list at 7 through ten. These albums ended up in two groups.

Group One - Artists that I follow, whose albums were very good, but, not as good as previous albums.  Essentially, if I hadn't heard of these artists before, I probably would have put them on the list, but, based on previous work, I have much higher expectations for them.

Artist - Album
Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Guy Garvey - Courting The Squall
Frank Turner - Positive Songs For Negative People
Laura Marling - Short Movie
Steve Martin/Edie Brickell - So Familiar
The Unthanks - Mount the Air
The Vaccines - English Air
Lucero - All A Man Should Do

Group Two - These are artists that would fall under interesting, but not interesting enough.

Artist - Album
Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear
Houndsmouth - Little Neon Light
James Bay - Chaos & The Calm
Laura Welsh - Soft Control
Mark Ronson - Uptown Special
Pops Staples - Don't Lose This

Finally, I wanted to recognize two albums that I think are very good but didn't resonate with me for some reason.

Joanna Newsom - Divers - This is a dense, complicated, unique work. I picked it up in late November and I found it really interesting.  I also thought I would need to listen to it  eight or ten times to appreciate it and understand it.  I don't have that kind of time right now.  I will know more in six months.

Sleater Kinney - No Cities To Love - I had a lot of time to sit around in January, so I gave this a listen late one night.  It's really well made and super unique.  It is also true to their previous work, but, still new.  Finally, it is not nearly as shrill as their earlier work, which has always been a problem for me.  But, at the end of the day, it just doesn't resonate with me.  I'm sure it's me not them.

2015 Playlist

It was a year of a lot of changes.  I have been a paid Rdio user for a few years, but, it became apparent mid-year that they were out of money (their phone app was buggy, which meant they weren't keeping it up to date) so I made the move to Apple Music.  I love the curated content and radio stations.  I hate the way they manage my music on my devices.

I am still old school and I buy the music that I like.  I go to enough places where I don't have a cell connection that I don't want to rely on streaming.  I don't like the way you have to manage your music when you download it from a service.  And at the end of it all, I feel the artist should make a little more money for the things I really like.

I looked for themes in my playlist, but I don't see many.  There seems to be a small increase in the amount of country music/Americana, but, when you dig a bit deeper, it is really an increase in the number of bands that are influenced by the Eagles. As you know, this is not a surprise due to my long time affinity for southern California rock.

Here are the links to my Apple Music and Spotify playlists. As always, the songs are in the order that I want to hear them. They are not ranked.

Listen to "2015 - Best Of" by on Apple Music.
Spotify


Name - Artist - Album

Go! - Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space
Break The Fall - Laura Welsh - Soft Control
Gurdjieff's Daughter - Laura Marling - Short Movie
Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) - Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
Flutter - The Unthanks - Mount the Air
Water Under the Bridge - Adele - 25
Baby Blue (feat. Chance the Rapper) - Action Bronson - Baby Blue (feat. Chance the Rapper)
Flowers - Leon Bridges - Coming Home [LP]
Feel Right - Mark Ronson feat. Mystikal - Uptown Special
Different Angle - The Cribs - For All My Sisters
What Kind Of Man - Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Clearest Blue - CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
Courting The Squall - Guy Garvey - Courting The Squall
Bird of Prey - Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
Sedona - Houndmouth - Little Neon Limelight
All Your Favorite Bands - Dawes - All Your Favorite Bands
Elevator Operator - Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Dancing In The Dark - Downtown Boys - Full Communism
Where's Your Car Debbie? - Slaves - Where's Your Car Debbie?
Shut 'Em Up - The Prodigy vs. Public Enemy vs. Manfred Mann - The Day Is My Enemy 
Copper Canteen - James McMurtry - Complicated Game
Fine - Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material
Feeling Fine California - Kristian Bush - Southern Gravity
On To Something Good - Ashley Monroe - The Blade
Born On Fire - Ike Reilly - Born On Fire
Josephine - Frank Turner - Positive Songs For Negative People
S.O.B. - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats