10. Haim
Days Are Gone
Days Are Gone is the sumptuous throwback debut that was unexpected in every way. These girls are talented beyond belief, and their 80s-fem-rock acumen is beyond compare. Their songwriting, lyrical structure, and musicianship are above reproach, and they have crafted an album that is part goodtimes fun, part regretful past, and all heartfelt arena rock.
09. Nine Inch Nails
Hesitation Marks
For his first album in five years, Trent Reznor employed an unheard of technique in the NIN catalog...letting other people help. Doing so has resulted in Reznor's finest effort since 1999's
The Fragile; eschewing the bombastic rock anthems that seem to make his previous efforts feel like tired nostalgia, and exchanging them to dance beats and minimalist glitch. The closest thing to a classic NIN song was the single "Came Back Haunted," which was nowhere near the best on the album. Reznor's lyrics, as always are introspective, but this time with a twist: how he sees his younger self during the
Downward Spiral years. And let me tell you, the view is not pretty, but goddamn is it mesmerizing.
08. Fuck Buttons
Slow Focus
If you don't think Fuck Buttons is the loudest dance act around, it's because they long ago shattered your eardrums, and you just didn't know it. The duo with the unspeakable (in polite company) name somehow found a way to improve on their sophomore effort,
Tarot Sport--make bigger beats. Essentially, FB was an experimental metal outfit that only used synths and programmers, but now that they found Crystal Castles' drum machine, nothing will stop them. Sure, you can talk about your Daft Punks, Basement Jaxxs (Jaxxi?), and Tiestos, but these guys will start a rave and then fight everyone inside of it.
07. Arcade Fire
Reflektor
Arcade Fire's senior effort is dense, complex, and long. You won't get it, and I'm not a hipster saying that self-importantly; I don't get it either. It's hard to listen to, but when you finish
Reflektor, you have completed a great work, like sculpting
David out of granite with a prison shank. You are tired from the effort, but fulfilled by the accomplishment. This album didn't win many awards: it's too confusing. It won't sell as many copies as
The Suburbs: it's too inaccessible. What it will do is--like
Funeral did so many years ago--transform how independent, low-budget bands write and record their music. Like so many art museums,
Reflektor isn't fun, but it is beautiful, and full of wonder.
06. David Bowie
The Next Day
Is there anything to write here that hasn't already been written about David Bowie? He isn't exactly releasing music for street cred anymore; nor is he doing it for the money (there is no tour to accompany
The Next Day). It's obvious that Bowie is just a straight-up musician who can't help but write some of the most intriguing, bizarre, catchy, rocking songs out there.
The Next Day is full of surprises, given Bowie's most recent previous efforts: the title track is straight out of his Berlin period, "Valentine's Day" is a post-industrial blues song commenting on the rise of mass shootings, and "Boss of Me" is oddest love song written since "Heart's Filthy Lesson."
05. Queens of the Stone Age
...Like Clockwork
After a six-year hiatus, Josh Homme and crew have returned to deliver one of the best hard rock albums in over a decade (probably since their own
Songs for the Deaf in 2002).
...Like Clockwork is tightly written and executed, despite a list of guest stars that reads like a fanboy's wet dream: Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Alex Turner, Jake Shears, and the self-described "actual queen from the stone age" Elton John. The songs here are dark, heavy, and better than anything the band has done since
Songs. I would say this is the best thing Queens has ever done, but only because it's a completely different sound from the one pioneered on
Rated R and
Songs so long ago. It's like two different bands competing through time: one has the best alt-rock album of the millennium, one has the best stoner rock album of the millennium.
04. Janelle Monae
The Electric Lady
It would seem that Janelle Monae can only improve. After releasing an essentially flawless album in 2010's
The ArchAndroid, Monae has kicked it up a notch with funkier, fresher beats and sucker-punch lyrics that will make you dance right out of your shoes. "Prime Time" is obviously the showstopper here, a melodramatic love song so heartbreakingly well delivered you could cry yourself to sleep, but singles "Q.U.E.E.N." and "Dance Apocalyptic" provide the guest-star power and popping rhythm for which Monae is rightly and justly famous.
03. Kanye West
Yeezus
While many critics and other reviewers describe West's lyrics as evidence of his persecution complex and seemingly anti-white political views, I read into them differently. While
Twisted Fantasy made many references to Kanye's own faults, the lyrics on
Yeezus see him move from self-deprecation to full-on misanthropy. West has an issue with humanity, it's failings and hard truths the subject of nearly every line. But if Kanye's lyrics are something to marvel at, then the music over which he rhymes is beyond comparison to anything else in Hip-Hop. Here he makes good on his statement from years before where he named Trent Reznor and Thom Yorke as inspirational figures. The instruments and samples are loud and angry, distorted by overblown fuzz and walls of static.The production is stellar, the effects are mind-blowing.
02. Parquet Courts
Light Up Gold
This Brooklyn outfit decided to break all the rules of punk (isn't that what it's about anyway?) and make it surfer-y, and trance-inducing. Great for rocking out or driving long distances,
Light Up Gold is full of political alt-rock that is both scathing and funny, as well as fun party songs and "let's kick their asses" anthems. Their over-the-top energy and speed make the perfect combination for a sound that's far better than any of Parquet Courts' contemporaries. Brainy, arty, hazy, and punchy, these songs will make you feel compelled to bounce out of your chair until they leave you wanting more. For a first album, you can't really ask for much more than that.
01. Deafheaven
Sunbather
A story: when I listen to albums to "review" them, I do so in the car on my way to and from work. My car speakers, though standard, are better than any set of headphones I've ever used, and I can't just sit and listen to music by itself, so the car is the perfect place. That said, on my way home one day in mid-June, I put on
Sunbather, Deafheaven's second album, and having not turned down the volume from my NIN playlist, "Dream House" opened with an ear-shattering loudness. I quickly adjusted the knob to a more manageable (and bystander friendly) setting, but as I drove up I-95 I began to realize something: it wasn't loud enough anymore. So I turned it up. A minute later, it wasn't loud enough again. This pattern continued until the volume in my car was above the original "ear-shattering" level, and it was just getting good. No, it wasn't road noise, or crappy production that made the music continually softer, it's just that
Sunbather begs to be played at the loudest possible setting--Spinal Tap's mythical "11". So, an hour later, with my car windows shattered and blood coming out of my ears, I came to a realization: with its wall of sonic noise and indiscernible screaming, this is what metal is
supposed to sound like.
