New Music (11.12.2015)

Grimes
Art Angels

As the year begins to wind down, Grimes has decided to release an insane monster upon us all; a monster so powerful, and massive that anything other than sheer awe would be an act of stoic apathy.

Three years ago, Grimes released what may have been (and still might be) the most beautiful experimental electronic album ever. Brilliantly produced, Visions put Grimes in the public eye with a combination of inventiveness and curious fascination.

Art Angels, however, is NOT Visions. Apart from the three years of experimentation, heavy touring, and poor reaction the (non-album) single "Go" all clearly having influenced the sound, this is an entirely new direction for Grimes. Art Angels is pop at it's very best, and electronic at it's most creative.

The songs here are not ethereal wanderings or strange sonic experiments like Visions, or even more so her first two albums; though there is plenty for the high-brow listener to pick up on, the base of  what is found on Angels is more immediate, and based in beat rather than setting.

Grimes' massive library of influences is more patently evident as well. "Kill V. Maim," the album's highlight and one of the best songs of the year,  is straight off Bowie's Outside, and "Venus Fly," maybe the best hardcore dance song of this or any year, pulls straight from Health's brilliant Death Magic--and of course, Janelle Monae's contribution, while subtle, is absolutely perfect.

What's most obvious here is that Grimes has set herself up for a better live experience. Many of the songs are road-ready, like the female-empowerment of "California," the arena-rock blast of "Flesh withouth Blood," or the club beat of "Realiti." Everything here is geared towards making her live shows more inclusive and dance-able.

All things considered, going mainstream is never a bad idea if you can still maintain your identity, and Grimes has done exactly that. Art Angels is devious--a vaporwave album in dance-pop clothing--and just when you're convinced Grimes lost her way, the caustic beat will show you she's just on the road less traveled.

New Music (10.22.2015)

Another double feature this week. Musical acts have been packing it in here in October. I would say it's the award season rush, but these aren't movies, and the Grammy's are pointless and generally inaccurate anyway. Needless to say, two heavy-hitters came out with albums this past week that weren't available for streaming ahead of time so here they are now...

Beach House
Thank Your Lucky Stars

Since their debut in 2006, Beach House has been the model of consistency, releasing an album every two years like clockwork. And not just any albums; 2010's Teen Dream, and 2012's Bloom were so gorgeous a million copycats sprung up in their wake. That's what makes Thank Your Lucky Stars so surprising: two in the same year? Inconceivable!

The only problem with a virtuoso act releasing two albums so close together is that we barely had any time to unpack Depression Cherry. Beach House albums are filled to the brim with sound, as if the duo is grabbing everything it can before there's no sounds left in the store. Such immense layering requires multiple listens, often with plenty of thinking and alone time in between. Two gut punches to the feels just a few months apart may end up hurting more than expected.

But it's not like Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand just rushed through an extra record for the sales, shock value, or just to say they did. Thank Your Lucky Stars is still as well-formed and jaw-droppingly well written as ever. It's frustratingly evident that their talent knows no bounds, and that the spring of their signature sound will never run dry.

One of the hidden, extraordinary talents of Beach House has always been Alex Scally's painfully expressive guitar work. Each plucked string sounds like a new widow screaming into an endless and unforgiving sky. Each note is one teardrop away from overflowing the glass of emotion built by the incredible craftsmanship. Each solo is Scally laying bare his final offering before the Wailing Wall, broken and unable to go on even a moment longer without this last supplication being answered.

And once again, of course, the album ends beautifully. How could it not? This is Beach House after all, a band so amazingly consistent in their ability to exit on the crest of the wave it's almost sickening. On "Somewhere Tonight," Victoria Legrand's vocals soar to new heights, strong enough to fill even the furthest space in a cathedral, yet gentle enough to make it feel like your living room.

Certainly, the case for these nine songs being separate from Depression Cherry is well made; it's more immediate, and lacking the gauzy reverb we've become so accustomed to, but don't assume Beach House have changed their overall aesthetic. They're just as woozy and dream-like as ever, it's just that the dreams are getting a little...darker.

---

Deerhunter
Fading Frontier

Deerhunter is something of a conundrum these days. To say anything they do can reach the lofty heights of Halcyon Digest--a perfect album--is an outright lie. But fear not, Bradford Cox still has the songwriting chops to drag his band along with him to the gates of Valhalla.

And that is also the main problem with Deerhunter now. Since Cox has taken over the main duties, everything they do is just a slightly better produced Atlas Sound album. The songs, while still good on their own, don't have the ethereal quality of those on Microcastle and Weird Era Cont., or the impact of literally every note on Digest. Monomania was just a metal version of his solo work.

Yes, Lockett Pundt does some writing, and his only credit here, the psych-synth ballad "Ad Astra," is a major highlight of the album; but it is Cox who truly carries the weight of most song creation, and the change in sound is so jarringly obvious, it makes the album have an emotionally distant feel. If Beach House up there is always trying to make you cry, the first six songs of Fading Frontier is trying to flatline as much as possible.

But then there's the last three songs. "Snakeskin" may very well be the best song of 2015, and it brings all the classic amazement that we've come to expect of Deerhunter: spacey Bradford Cox lyrics delivered in speech-singing, intensely layered guitars, mind-blowing bass, and percussion parts so intricate and obscure music theorists wet themselves.

The previously mentioned "Ad Astra" is as hauntingly beautiful as it is sonically diverse and fulfilling, with the first recorded used of a drum machine by the band and a gently heartwarming vocal delivery from Pundt. And the closer, "Carrion," which Cox consistently pronounces as "carry on" (a play on words, or just strange delivery, with Deerhunter you can never tell), matches Digest closer, "He Would Have Laughed" for its weight and urgency.

Overall, Fading Frontier is a technically proficient album that is enjoyable in the sense that reading a master chef's recipe is delicious. For much of it's length, Deerhunter (particularly Cox) seem to go out of their way to prove something they don't have to--mainly, that they can write songs at an advanced level. When the Tin Man finally gets his heart, however, the remaining songs are so fantastic, the slog to get there feels rewarding. An accidental marathon.

New Music (10.15.2015)

Neon Indian
VEGA INTL. Night School

In the four long years since Alan Palomo released Era Extraña, he was apparently trapped in a Caribbean resort hotel bar...and not an expensive one--constantly being made to listen to worst that post-disco 80's tropicalia had to offer.

The influences of the "punk is dead" movement headlined by Prince, Blondie, and the Police, are so overtly present that Palomo might as well be beating you in the face with a neon strobe light--a fact only made more patently obvious by the Refn-esque cover photo, complete with faux-Japanese-import sidelight.

But don't worry, the overabundance of quasi-reggae influence by no means clouds the fact that this is most definitely a Neon Indian production. Night School is full of that signature gauzy, lo-fi sound Palomo pioneered on Psychic Chasms all those years ago (six...it was six years ago), as well as plenty of delicious bass grooves to keep your Debbie Harry-themed nightclub idea stocked for several spins.

As has become a niche for Palomo, it is the little semi-songs between larger moments that are used to great effect here. Intro "Hit Parade" expertly samples New Order and really sets the tone for the next 50 minutes, while "Slumlord Re-lease" almost tops its parent, and the fantastic "Bozo" is a schizophrenic mess with a beat to die for.

And while Palomo has been shelling out "Annie" to any late night show that will listen (it is the best example of the new sound), the real masterpiece here is the single "Slumlord," with its Vangelis-via-John Carpenter intro that slowly, but delightfully, builds into a chiptune fresco painted by a chillwave Rembrandt. The song is so good, it's chorus of "it goes on and / on and..." is practically begging you to make it do the same.

So, if you've been looking for a party album that makes all the attendees think they have cotton in their ears, Neon Indian has got something for you--an italo-disco soundtrack for that one great 80's detective movie. You know the one I mean.

New Music (10.08.2015)

Protomartyr
The Agent Intellect

There is a story of a man who once saw something no one else could. Whether it was because they didn't or couldn't or wouldn't, no one saw what he saw, and it was a thing so beautiful that he fell to his knees and cried. Such is The Agent Intellect.

In songs like "Pontiac '87" and "Clandestine Time," Protomartyr describe, through nihilistic scenes of both past and future, the hopelessness of the post-recession rust belt, as well as the tragedy of living. But instead of treating hope as forbidden, it becomes the contraband chisel you will use to tunnel out of your self-made prison. This mood pervades The Agent Intellect, Protomartyr's third album, which only serves to further expand the group's palette of sound and create even greater sonic pleasures than their already storied sophomore effort, Under Color of Official Right.

Part Joy Division and part Radio Dept., Agent Intellect is both the album we need AND the one we deserve. The songwriting is complex and brilliant, debuting the band's first suite-like song, the lead single "Why Does It Shake?," which serves as a demonstration of both their significant braintrust and their ineluctable brawn.

There are insanely fantastic moments on the album: the transition from "Cowards Starve" to "I Forgive You" sounds like so much fun, you'll forget singer Joe Casey is trying to teach you a lesson; the extreme punk of "The Hermit" is so overwhelmingly jumpy that a mosh-pit forms in your brain; the gorgeous production of shoegaze ballad "Ellen" is so mesmerizingly resplendent you will lose yourself in time.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to the talent on display here. Protomartyr on Agent Intellect are so above an beyond any of their peers it almost leads to jealousy. "False Happiness is on the rise / See the victims piled high," Casey sings, almost as an accusation pointed at the modern world. It is a theme that runs through the entire work, but it is one we must accept if we ever hope for catharsis. The Agent Intellect is so beautifully heartrending, the sadness transforms into transcendence--the apotheosis of a child's ghost.

Detroit may be the great American tragedy--a once proud, gleaming city on a hill now disheveled and mostly abandoned, made the object of condescending documentaries--but long held suffering leads to the best art. As the empty coal towns of Ohio and western Pennsylvania spawned Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, and birthed the industrial scene, so shall the desolate car factories and steel mills of Flint and Pontiac birth a new renaissance...with Protomartyr their Da Vinci.

New Music (10.06.2015)

Deafheaven
New Bermuda

Departing from a schedule is pretty hard for yours truly to do, but when something as intensely epic as a new Deafheaven album appears, it's just that easy.

Deafheaven are clearly the best metal act currently racking up critical acclaim points, and with good reason. New Bermuda is an artistic masterpiece on par with their previous release, Sunbather, except here the beats hit faster, the guitars crash louder, and the weighty lyrics are as psychologically damaging as ever.

With great success comes great responsibility, a burden so frequently shouldered poorly by "groundbreaking" acts of past years: Sleigh Bells, Purity Ring, and Twin Shadow all come to mind; those bands and performers who implode under the pressure of staying on top. It's like Harvey Dent says, "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Such is the tragedy of the industry.

This is where Deafheaven consistently triumphs however, in the face of ever-mounting demands, their foundation of art and music first, and eschewing the checking of boxes for innocuous, inconsequential genre labels, has built them a sound they can easily reinforce and a market they easily corner: black metal even your mom can listen to.

By no means does that make Deafheaven, or New Bermuda "soft." Quite the opposite in fact. Where the lush guitar arrangements might have you thinking shoegaze-dream-pop, the constant, unyeilding drums and intense production are screaming doom metal. While frontman George Clarke's lyrics might have you thinking Camus-esque existentialism, the obviously harsh delivery will drive home the crushing despair that is a world without hope.

It is a rare thing to find a metal album, speed-, black-, sludge-, doom-, or otherwise, that one would describe as "gorgeous," but Deafheaven creates such an environment consistently and with the utmost care and precision. It's hard to stay on the top of the mountain, especially with as fickle a fan base as heavy metal brings to bear, but New Bermuda is the kind of disparate-audience-spanning, new-genre-defining frontispiece that even the most pugnacious of metalheads cannot deny.

New Music (10.01.2015)

Eagles of Death Metal
Zipper Down

After seven years of near-silence, the silliest duo in rock are back with what might be their best work. Despite the ridiculous innuendo, simplistic songwriting, and...just...they're just ridiculous, Zipper Down proves that Eagles of Death Metal can still rock, hard.

The album kicks off with the best single EoDM has released since "I Only Want You." "Complexity," apart from being brilliantly written and perfectly produced (something the duo has had issues with in the past), it also serves as a manifesto for the pair's music and lifestyle. As co-founder Jesse Hughes said in a recent interview, Eagles of Death Metal are just fans of rock & roll, and are really just joining a party.

But no matter how much they downplay their talent and play-up their seat-of-the-pants vibe, Zipper Down proves Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme are world-class songsmiths, and clearly the life of the party. No rock album this year--and probably several years in either direction--is this much fun. From the silliness of anti-hipster anthem "Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M)," to the brilliantly produced sultriness of "Oh Girl," to the greatest cover the duo has attempted, this album is dance-the-night-away material.

Speaking of that cover, one of Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer," it is not only an odd choice compared to the ZZTop and Stealers Wheel that would seem normal, but it is absolutely fantastic. In what is by a wide margin the album high point, EoDM's version of "Save a Prayer" highlights all the band's best strengths: Jesse Hughes crooning and swoon-worthy guitar, and Josh Homme's unbelievably great production talent, which has to this point been almost unheard anywhere outside of his own projects. This song cannot be recommended enough; it outdoes the original 100-fold and showcases Eagles of Death Metal at their very best--hopelessly romantic.

We can only hope this is the first in a new resurgence of Homme quality output. The seemingly infinite break between Queens of the Stone Age albums and even longer one between Eagles of Death Metal albums was nigh-unbearable. And if Zipper Down is any indication, the resurrection will be the most awesome party in human history.

New Music (9.24.2015)

Ryan Adams
1989

I don't really care for Taylor Swift's music. She seems like a wonderful person and--as proven time and again--a great performer, just not really my taste musically.

That said, neither is Ryan Adams. Soft rock singer-songwriters are legion and though I do agree that Adams' skill is above and beyond the average bar-playing mope with a dime store guitar, the overall sound coming from that sub-genre is underwhelming at best.

And that is what makes 1989 so fantastic, because I've never heard anything like it before. I mean, apart from the original T-Swift versions.

Yes, this is a track-by-track cover of Swift's album of the same name, but where Adams succeeds is at taking the bubblegum sweetness of the originals and turning them into heartbreaking ballads about loss, loneliness, and breaking up.

The instrumentation is perfect and the changes in speed and key make every song seem like an entirely new creation. The standout here is "Bad Blood"--a song that had the even the most forgiving Swift fence-riders bristling at the overly-pop sensibilities--which Adams turns into an immaculate tale of the growing distance between partners who were not meant to be.

Ryan Adams recalls early (read: good) Springsteen and Bryan Adams (seriously confusing everyone) in his excellent deliveries that, in many cases, even rival Swift's. The emotion captured in something like a slow, acoustic take on "Shake It Off," the strain felt in every note of a classic rock retooled "Style," or the alt-country jolt of a hand-strummed "Wildest Dreams" is beyond compare.

1989 is pop like I never understood it could be. Usually covers don't get any mention by me, but Adams' are so perfect, taking each song and raising it to the status of instant classic, that I wish he would cover literally everything in the Top 40 right now. This is mandatory listening, and for me, on repeat. I have never heard an album so inexplicably good.

(P.S. Unlike someone, Adams puts his stuff on Spotify).

New Music (9.03.2015)

The Weeknd
Beauty Behind the Madness

Before we start, a question. Have you heard "The Hills?" If you haven't, you owe it to yourself, your family, and your country dammit, to stop and listen to it right now. Did...did you do it? Good.

The Weeknd has, since his mysterious, seemingly magical appearance in 2011 with House of Balloons, consistently refined and honed his sound to get maximum pop effectiveness without compromising his signature: R&B that's creepy as f***.  Of course, "The Hills" is a supreme example, with it's horror movie scream sample and lyrics referencing The Hills Have Eyes. But it's more than just creepy and artsy, it's a confession on par with the best Twin Shadow record and as apologetic as Miguel.

The entire message of Beauty Behind the Madness is not the usual hip-hop bravado--the "I don't want to change so deal with it" vibe--but is more like a warning--"I can't change so get away." Even blow-up song of the summer "Can't Feel My Face" is a foreboding message of obsession and lack of self-control. The detached ennui expressed by Abel Tesfaye on the cover art says it all.

As for the music itself, apart for the Weeknd's own back catalogue, I haven't heard anything like this since The-Dream's revelatory Love King in terms of nuance, invention, and extreme catchiness. Both albums strive to redefine R&B (or the blasphemous pejorative "PBR&B") as intellectual pursuits as well as odes to love-not-yet-caught.

While there has been much complaining and gnashing of teeth over the Weeknd's foray into the pop realm, Beauty Behind the Madness shows that such a journey can be just as fulfilling and profound as anything far more experimental. If anything, Tesfaye's transition from unknown to superstar only proves that "going mainstream"--and the access to better studio equipment that brings--only allows you to make your near-constant moralizing over choice and consequence richer and smarter than ever.

New Music (8.27.2015)

Beach House
Depression Cherry

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to anoint one musical act with the title "Consistently Killing It," one must apparently turn to the often Huxley-esque dystopia that is the city of Baltimore for nominees. Beach House has a defined, limited sound, that can easily pigeonhole or utterly destroy a band's reputation, but which they have used to create vast soundscapes of hazy, keyboard-fueled glory.

When the single "Sparks" was first debuted, I was more than a little concerned that my hometown indie-heroes had gone rogue, a loud, reptetitive guitar sample invades an otherwise standard, foggy Beach House performance. It seemed out of place and more like they were trying to force themselves into a more pop-oriented sound. The truth is, no one song on Depression Cherry can be heard without the context of its surroundings. "Sparks" makes perfect sense, and is obviously brilliant, when preceded by "Levitation" and followed by "Space Song."

While much of Depression Cherry is more aggressive and louder than any previous Beach House release, it's not entirely unrecognizable; the previously mentioned "Space Song" could very easily have been a Bloom single. But the the real revelation here is "PPP" (not to be confused with How to Destroy Angels' VERY different "BBB"), which is dominated by Victoria Legrand's sprechstimme and massive amounts of fuzz, which combine for a truly Phil-Spector-esque wall of sound. It's closeness to Bat For Lashes' "Good Love" and Deerhunter's "Vox Humana" (which itself pulls the drum from the Spector-helmed "Be My Baby") is not a detraction as much as it is proof of the duo's versatility and ability to make any songwriting style their own.

So yes, the award for "Consistently Killing It" goes to Beach House. Each album they create is one of extreme beauty marred by sad life experiences. Depression Cherry is as grand, gorgeous, and sweeping as anything they have pulled from the ether, and is, to quote Colin Joyce, "an album-length sigh as eloquent as a manifesto."

New Music (8.06.2015)

HEALTH
Death Magic

It has been a long time--so long already--since HEALTH released a proper album that most people forgot the California noise-rock band even existed. They shouldn't have though, because if nothing else, Death Magic will remind you with a blast so loud your eardrums will defect. But don't worry, this isn't some ambient wall of static; with their third actual album, HEALTH have created the perfect blend of noise and pop.

Like Nine Inch Nails, and even more so My Bloody Valentine, before them, the structure-less landscape of the noise genre was spread out before HEALTH for them to conquer, like Lawrence of Arabia crossing the Sun's Anvil. Asked the eternal question "how does one take a niche, near-unlistenable genre and create fans," the answer (in all three cases) is "add pop."

Before Nine Inch Nails, industrial was a formless mass of dark-sounding samples and unintelligible, offensive lyrics. Trent Reznor created a following simply by asking "what would happen if there was a 4/4 drum machine here instead of, well, nothing?" Similarly, shoegaze was built out of loud, overly-progressive rock that no one could understand, that is until Kevin Shields asked "what if we played love songs like this?" So now HEATLH is asking, "what if Rhianna wanted to permanently damage everyone's hearing?" And the answer is ridiculously awe-inspiring.

Death Magic is a monolithic pillar of the loudest, coolest, craziest beats ever recorded covered by the most inventive soundscapes and fascinating lyrical structure released since the last Tool album (seriously, still waiting on that one). At the same time, HEALTH made good on their promise of Depeche Mode and...Katy Perry inspiration and made all that bombast as easily digestible as anything in the Hot 100 right now.

But even though HEALTH may have found their bubble-gum side, that doesn't keep the tone from still being disturbingly creepy; with song titles like "Flesh World," "Hurt Yourself," and "Drugs Exist," which have lyrics to match, that sense of dread that accompanied their breakouts "Crimewave" and "Die Slow" is still very much present.

With Death Magic, HEALTH look to expand beyond their small-market, big-noise origins, and begin what will almost surely be the sonic apocalypse: the fateful day when we all give in to our basest of musical impulses, create ceaseless noise, express perpetual nihilism, and cause deafness.

New Music (7.28.2015)

The Chemical Brothers
Born in the Echoes


It has been five long years since the Chemical Brothers last released an album, but has been 18 since they released one nearly this good. Sure, the duo has been putting out hit singles seemingly every year since is was in elementary school, but this is the first time in well over a decade since they sounded like they were actually trying.

While 2010's Further did push their creative envelope, using longer tracks, more dissonance, less coherent loops, and more complex beats, it still ended up being a sub-par, upbeat version of F**k Buttons. We won't discuss the pan-dimensional travesty that is We Are The Night, because even the singles were terrible (seriously..."The Salmon Dance"? What is this, a Weird Al record?). And despite the insanely popular track, "Galvanize," which reminded everyone that both the Brothers and Q-Tip were still a thing, Push the Button was pretty awful too.

But enough nagging. Born in the Echoes is as fantastic a piece of electronic music this side of Trans-Europe Express you will ever hear. The guest vocalists hit every mark, and the Brothers produce a trademark best using their performances to the maximum possible effectiveness. The beats and samples are intricate and varied, and the skill that made Dig Your Own Hole a dance landmark. Even Q-Tips mandatory appearance is amazingly inventive, allowing him more room to rap than just provide soundbites.

Despite the genius performances by Tip, St. Vincent's Annie Clark ("Under Neon Lights"), and Beck (gorgeous album closer "Wide Open"), the best song by a wide margin has to be the Ali Love collaboration "EML Ritual." Not only is the music fantastically weird--like a Trent Reznor remix of a Coil track--but the recurring sample is equal parts party-anthem and depressing, making for the oddest mix of emotions to be expressed by a drum-and-bass act.

Even if dance isn't really your thing, Born in the Echoes is an album that any music lover can enjoy. It's intelligent, brooding, brilliantly produced, and not just the Chemical Brothers best album in 15 years, but their best album ever.

New Music (7.16.2015)

Tame Impala
Currents

An aside: this new move in the music industry to align album releases with movie releases is as brilliant as it is stupid. Fortunately, the one great thing it does is allow me to actually get a review of an album (that has been streaming ahead of time) out before the album itself. This means you, the reader, get to either take my review into consideration, or more likely ignore it, before actually "purchasing" it (I don't kid myself, y'all ain't buying anything). That said, the first to benefit from the super advance is this week's addition to the New Music catalog...

It's been three years since Tame Impala's absolutely brilliant Lonerism was released. What was essentially and concept album on the feeling of loneliness and abandonment written to the tune of the 70's best psychedelia was also one of the best albums of this decade. Currents, while still running with the lo-fi and psychedelic recording techniques, is not the same musically. Kevin Parker's third album is more tightly produced--each song has a consistent musical theme as the last. It also includes a lot...A LOT more synthesizers and drum machines, aligning itself more with Psychic Chasms than Saucerful of Secrets.

But that's not to say Tame Impala abandons the old way completely; all the TI hallmarks are still plainly evident: hyper-layered vocals, shoegaze-style guitar, lyrics that stir thought more than knee-jerk emotion. Even at his most incomprehensible, Parker delivers his words with that pleasant-yet-eerie calmness that has long become his signature (and a psych-rock signature since the 60's).

All that said, I'm still finding it impossible to pick a favorite song from this set. Even the minute-long interludes are surprisingly catchy and ear-worming, and Tame Impala releasing basically every song as a single beforehand doesn't help. If you take away nothing else from this, just know that Kevin Parker is a genius, Tame Impala's music is mindbogglingly good even when they change styles, and Currents is one of the best albums of the year.

TL;DR: Currents is fantastic. Listen immediately.

The Top 10 Albums of 2015...So Far

The year is half over, and thank the music gods, it has been an amazingly good one so far. Several acts broke long hiatus..es? Hiatusi? Plus, plenty of new talent showed up to make the first half of 2015 one the best first halves on record.

Shall we begin?

10. Young Fathers
White Men Are Black Men Too

Young Fathers are a hip-hop group out of Edinburgh, Scotland, and if that wasn't strange enough, get a load of the "hip-hop" they make. Okay, let's all just agree to not be genre-snobs here and say that White Men Are Black Men Too is not only a triumphant entry in the group's catalog, but also an upbeat, poignant, and well-timed (given the year's current events) album that showcases the Mercury-Prize-winning act's talent. The parallels with TV On The Radio go beyond coincidence, but that by no means lessens the work's creativity. A lo-fi journey through the UK's most innovative pop-hop, this album is too good to skip.
"Shame"

9. Holly Herndon
Platform

Holly Herndon is no stranger to the weird and esoteric. Her debut full-length, Movement, was an insane trip through some the the oddest sounds man has ever recorded. But somehow, through everything, it was grossly immersive, a body of work to completely give yourself to. Platform is no different in the total control it takes of your aural faculties, but is much less random (seemingly) than its predecessor, and includes some...interesting ASMR entries (if you don't know, just google it and get ready for some of the weirdest YouTube videos ever). Platform plays like a 10-song extended version of Bowie's "Warszawa," full of unintelligible lyrics that might be super-deep, bro, but could just as easily be nonsensical wailing. Their combination with disorienting drum patterns and masterful synth chords make this easily the most interesting and thought-provoking album you'll hear this year...maybe ever.
"Chorus"

8. Lightning Bolt
Fantasy Empire

If you didn't know about Lightning Bolt until now, welcome to the club! You'll be happy to find out that Fantasy Empire is their eighth album, and the duo has been active since 1994! Metacritic named them the #8 most important artist of the decade (2000-2009). So yeah, we're lame for not knowing who they are, or even that they existed. But our repentance begins now. Fantasy Empire is a harsh, loud, fast record packed with so much noise you'll give yourself a migraine. Never before has something so intense been recorded by just two people, but damn if it isn't worth every ear-splitting second. What makes it is Brian Chippendale's fuzzed-out, mumble-screaming that lends the whole thing an ominous pallor. And the drumming...God, the drumming. Let's just assume cybernetic arms and hope he doesn't decide to use them for evil.
"Horsepower"

7. Thee Oh Sees
Mutilator Defeated At Last

For John Dwyer, a Thee Oh Sees hiatus is 18 months long. Either he doesn't understand the definition (and the accepted average length) of "hiatus," or the man is just so ridiculously filled with music bursting out of his brain that any length of time outside a studio would look like a Scanner was nearby (you know the picture...don't make me get it...fine). Luckily for us, the catnap didn't result in a rushed return-to-form. Instead, we got Mutilator Defeated At Last, a bad-ass, bombed out homage to everything awesome and psychedelic that could possibly come out of a San Francisco garage. Mimicking the best of Sir Lord Baltimore, and with a production level to match, Thee Oh Sees have created an intense, grooving experience unlike anything else this year. Just watch out for that...weird...strawberry monster, or whatever, on the cover.
"Web"

6. Jamie xx
In Colour

Though he might not be using the most creative stage name, considering his other musical career, Jamie xx is turning popular electronic music on its head. Here, there are no bombastic drops, or even truly memorable hooks, just gorgeously composed synths and ear-worming samples. In Colour presents a sonic world wherein drum patterns can just be interesting and drive the song, without having to over shadow subtle musicianship or expertly created loops. A world where the most fascinating sounds are an interplay between a lap guitar and steel drum. A world where your guest vocalists surprise with increased range and a willingness to take risks. Even the seemingly out-of-place "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" makes the best of a strange pairing by turning what could have been an ill-advised rap platform into a carefree, island-themed song of the summer.
"Obvs"

5. Shamir
Ratchet

If you're looking for upbeat party music, you've come to the right place. Shamir has burst onto the scene with the hoppingest, bounciest, most fun album in...well, maybe ever. Ratchet takes musical cues from equal parts LCD Soundsystem, Hercules & Love Affair, and Lipps Inc., and combine it all with lyrics that turn hip-hop on it's head. Ratchet is a geek gangster rap. Shamir could easily have been the main character in Dope. Bright colors and simple, understated beats make the perfect back-drop for a beautiful countertenor voice that only increases the party attitude and amplifies the greatness of the "born this way" movement. Both political and off-the-cuff, Ratchet is the soundtrack to the Present Age, where freedom and true equality are closer than ever, no matter what the news might tell you. So pick up your cowbell and get in that conga line, because Vegas is a state of mind.
"On The Regular"

4. Sleater-Kinney
No Cities To Love

After 10 long, punk-free years, the Ladies of Riot-Upon-Grrrlshire have returned with a fierce, rambunctious album with No Cities To Love. If Shamir's Ratchet is a party celebrating being yourself, Sleater-Kinney are having a party too--to blow off the steam built up by a crappy world where the crappy Man gives you crap all the time. But while No Cities To Love has an overwhelming angry tone, that doesn't mean each song isn't carefully constructed and produced to achieve maximum effect. This is not their first rodeo, and Sleater-Kinney prove again and again (as if they needed to prove anything anymore) that they have an amazing ear for the sounds of angst and crushing complacency--the powder keg of tumult and the match to light the fuse. In the immortal words of Scott Pilgrim: WE NEED TO PLAY NOW AND LOUD!
"Bury Our Friends"

3. Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell

Long having made his name well-known in the indie circuit for bombastic orchestral arrangements and flourishing horns, Sufjan Stevens still continues to create, even though it might not be anything you can actually get copies of. But what his die-hard fans know that many passing listeners don't is that Sufjan is more than a one-Music-Man-trick pony; he is also brilliant at transferring his most deeply personal feelings and experiences to you through sounds so intimate, you'll feel like they were yours all along. Such is the case with Carrie & Lowell, Stevens' ode to his late mother and step-father. Much of the album is simply memories from summers he spent with them, and how those times felt grandiose and important, if only because of the innocence of youth. Looking back, through the harsh lens of adult objectivity, those long trips were...troublesome at best. Most outsiders would have reported them, but that's the magic of being a child, and Sufjan's gift of musical storytelling. It's not a dilapidated shack, it's a lost cabin on the frontier. She's not a disheveled, unbalanced manic-depressive, she's Mom. The trouble with growing up is how you view the past...and how you imagine the future.
"Fourth of July"

2. Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp A Butterfly

One of the great mistakes of my critical career was not discovering Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city until it was too late to include on any lists. I swore such an egregious error would never happen again, and have been monitoring the ingenious rapper's progress ever since. To Pimp a Butterfly is the epically creative concept album Lamar has chosen as his follow-up, and while it's far less traditional in its structure and songwriting, it's infinitely more awe-inspiring. Where as GKMC was an ode to Lamar's childhood and hometown, Butterfly is an entire stage play dedicated to the Black-American experience. As likely to drop your jaw as it is to make you strut, Lamar's third record is full of double-take moments and inventive breakdowns. Lamar's skill on the mic is not, and never has been, in question, but it is only expanded when backed by some of the most original backing samples and recurring theses that have come from this, or any genre. To say it's release is well-timed given current affairs would be the understatement of the century, but to deny it's prescience would be to deny a movement it's very necessary theme.
"King Kunta"

1. Drenge
Undertow

To get the cliches out of the way early, there are no words to describe my first encounter with Undertow, Drenge's second full-length album and colossal masterpiece. I have long awaited the arrival of the chosen ones, those that would take up the mantle of grunge only to dash it on the rocks of the ever-expanding shore of sonic discovery. What Drenge does with traditional alternative rock goes beyond a simple studio trick or additional guitar pedal--it eviscerates standard protocol and writes it anew in a monolithic, god-like image. Undertow is what would happen if Nirvana, The Clash, and Duran Duran had a baby. Throw in a little White Stripes and a dash of The Killers and the resulting concoction puts Drenge so many leagues beyond their contemporaries they might as well have traversed a wormhole. Undertow is the pearl inside the oyster that is rock-and-roll; listening to it is truly an experience. If you even deign to hear this album, it will soon become the only thing you ever want to hear again. In terms of a lifetime spent discovering rock music, Drenge's Undertow is like being reborn.
"Running Wild"
"We Can Do What We Want"
"Side By Side"

The Top 20 Songs of the Year...So Far

"Don't try me, I'm not a free sample"

                                                       --Shamir

The year is half over, and thank the music gods, it has been an amazingly good one so far. Several acts broke long hiatus..es? Hiatusi? Plus, plenty of new talent showed up to make the first half of 2015 one the best first halves on record.

Shall we begin?

20. Moon Duo

"Thieves"

Moon Duo have been around long enough to be an established name, but it wasn't until they added a third member (making the whole "Duo" thing a little obsolete) that they really came into an amazing sound. "Thieves" is one of many highlights on and album filled with deep grooves, and the eerily produced vocals make it that much better.
Listen

19. Kendrick Lamar
"The Blacker the Berry"

"The Blacker the Berry" was the lesser known pre-album release when compared with the frustratingly lower-case "i." It is, however, infinitely its superior. With it's lyrical phrasing and brilliant use of sampling, Kendrick Lamar showcases just how ingenious he is, and how diverse the genre itself can be.
Listen

18. Shamir
"Make a Scene"

Shamir burst onto the scene in such a spectacularly fun way, it's almost unbelievable that that many party songs could fit in one mind. But the simplicity of each beat, and strut-ready lyrics make everything just...just perfect. You can't listen to this without smiling.
Listen

17. Sufjan Stevens
"All of Me Wants All of You"

Sure, Sufjan can dazzle with big horn and string arrangements; those bombastic musical-theatre-type productions were not only what made him famous, but also what proved he was a true genius. But he doesn't need to prove his cerebral capacity anymore than Mozart or Hawking, and in the end, his most moving work has always been the quiet closeness of him and a guitar. "All of Me Wants All of You" brings not only that, but incredibly touching lyrics as well. A patented Sufjan hit to be sure.
Listen

16. A Place to Bury Strangers
"We've Come So Far"

While APTBS has gone on an insane garden path of musical style, now approaching Lynchian levels of random, their trademark has always been driving bass lines, marked with industrial drums and ear-shattering noise guitar. "We've Come So Far" has those in spades, and is one of the few songs to live up to the group's promise made on Onwards to the Wall and Exploding Head. If only their newest record had been filled with more like this.
Listen

15. Moon Duo
"Night Beat"

The second entry from Moon Duo (Trio), "Night Beat" is like Electric Zoo being held in a funeral parlor. Hyper-repetitive but with such a smooth groove it becomes impossible to turn off. "Night Beat" is hypnotic and trance-inducing in a most appealing way.
Listen

14. Sleater-Kinney
"Bury Our Friends"

Sleater-Kinney's new album, after a decade out of the scene, compares with their very best work, and while every song is good, "Bury Our Friends" is truly exceptional. The off-time chorus, the abrasive guitar mix, the seemingly random drums, all combine to prove these punk rockers haven't lost a step.
Listen

13. Thee Oh Sees
"Web"

Thee Oh Sees Mutilator Defeated At Last was one of the very best surprises of 2015 so far. "Web" is both the album opener and the first single from that album, and what a hook to sink in. Amazingly well produced, the lightning guitars and eerie, psychedelic vocals mix for a near-out-of-body experience. Repeat listening is almost required.
Listen

12. Viet Cong
"Continental Shelf"

"Continental Shelf" was the first single offered by Viet Cong, an insanely good nose-rock band made from the remnants of experimental group Women. The strange lyrical delivery almost hides the darkness contained in the droning organs and white-noise guitars. Like many of their other songs, the bass is driving and varied, and the chorus, both complex and non-recurring, is a trap that will ensnare even the most casual listener.
Listen

11. METZ
"Acetate"

METZ is the sonic equivalent of a carpet bombing. They're not subtle, they don't follow the Geneva Convention, you can hear it for hundreds of miles, and their remnants can be found for decades after they've stopped. "Acetate" is no exception, with METZ' trademark ear-shattering guitar and cymbal combination, as well as barely intelligible screams making the heaviest and most hardcore song of the year so far.
Listen

10. Lower Dens
"Non Grata"

Obviously, I can't make a list without at least one entry from a Baltimore band. Lower Dens, looking to one-up their hometown counterparts, Future Islands and Beach House, created an album with Escape From Evil that rivals the best the Mobtown scene has to offer. "Non Grata," though not a single, is so amazingly well constructed, with a bouncing bass line and catchy chorus, you almost don't notice the orchestral synths and peerless vocal delivery.
Listen

9. Yowler
"7 Towers"

Yowler is not an act you'll find...anywhere, really. Neither her debut album, The Offer, nor the name itself has a Wikipedia page. There wasn't really a tour. And with only 8 guitar-and-vocal songs about water, who could really blame "them." But that's not to say listening to "7 Towers" isn't an overwhelmingly moving experience. With each syllable, you feel the power Yowler is describing in such detail. The sparseness of Death Valley and the verbosity of Tolstoy contained in a single sound.
Listen

8. Lightning Bolt
"Horsepower"

Before my discovery of Lightning Bolt (I'm a little late to the party, I'll admit), I had never heard such an immense sound created by only two people. "Horsepower" starts off fast and only gets faster, each bass note pounding like a thousand armies marching, and drums so intensely performed it's no small wonder Brian Chippendale's arms don't fall off, his indiscernible cries only highlighting the sheer intensity of the effort. The song builds and builds until it explodes in a crushing wave.
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7. Jamie xx
"Obvs"

Jamie xx' debut solo effort is brilliant. That's not news, it's just plain fact. But it's brilliance isn't in the club-ish sampling of songs like "Gosh," or guest-filled rap-overs like "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)." It's in songs like the subdued and gorgeously produced "Obvs," which hosts an airy and uplifting call-and-response between a guitar and steel drum. Who does that? It's ingenious, and addictive, and a truly beautiful sound.
Listen

6. Young Fathers
"Shame"

Since TV On The Radio won't be putting out an album this year--and probably not coming to a city near you--Young Fathers' "Shame" will more than substitute. The minimal, highly repetitive lyrics and "do-doo-doo" backing are so damn catchy and bouncy you won't even notice how depressing the subject matter is. It's made by the choir-esque breakdown that then slams back into song's chorus--a moment so amazing it alone deserves a spot on this list.
Listen

5. Drenge
"We Can Do What We Want"

Drenge is, by a wide margin, the best act of the year so far. Their newest album, Undertow, is also the best so far. It is highlighted by damn-near every song, but single "We Can Do What We Want" is unforgettable. What starts as a simple beach-rock guitar phrase, becomes a grunge breakdown, becomes a brit-punk groove as heavy as a million suns. Eoin Loveless' vocal delivery is brilliant, and his brother Rory's drumming is Bonham-esque, making this song one that is on repeat often.
Listen

4. Hot Chip
"Huarache Lights"

Hot Chip is a band that has been, and always will be, capable of the most awesome summer beats in the dance industry. Part Bee Gees, part LCD Soundsystem, with a little En Vogue mixed in for good measure, "Huarache Lights" is the hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don't-care song of 2015. It's robotic breakdown and sparse bridge make the finale pay-off that much sweeter. If you're looking for hooks to last the ages, you can never go wrong with a little Hot Chip.
Listen

3. Kendrick Lamar
"King Kunta"

It's no surprise that Kendrick Lamar could write a song as instantly gratifying as "King Kunta," but the fact that such a song exists means there might yet be hope for the barren wasteland that is the popular music industry. There has never before been a bass so bodacious, or a hook so insanely satisfying as Lamar provides in "King Kunta." If you didn't believe in his ability to change the face of rap before, you certainly will after this. We Want The Funk!
Listen

2. St. Vincent
"Teenage Talk"

In a year when St. Vincent has no plans to release an album, this Record Store Day single is so immensely beautiful, the stark contrast it makes with her most recent, self-titled album is overpowering. I will admit, it's nostalgic lyrical content does come at exactly the right time for my 10 year reunion, only compounding its effect on me, but it's guaranteed to do the same to you. It's simple, poignant lesson: the past is great, but living there isn't worth giving up the future; is so fantastically delivered with simplistic synth patterns and soft vocals that it will make you break down. "Teenage Talk" does nothing but prove that Annie Clark is a musical genius of the highest caliber.
Listen

1. Shamir
"On The Regular"

It's always so nice to have an album so delightfully absurd and fun top the list. "On the Regular" is Shamir's calling out of all those "gangstas" that made fun of him for his counter-tenor voice and personality, and it is amazing. If you don't find yourself giggling at lines like "step to me and you will be handled," as delivered in a jaw-dropping bridge, there's something quite seriously wrong with you. Highlights include "really really? Really really?" and the aforementioned bridge, which is so beautifully presented, and placed so appropriately within the song that you are blown away by such writing talent. Where has Shamir been? His album, and "On The Regular," in particular, have arrived like they were summoned by a Bat-signal made of hater blockers.
Listen! Dance!!

Coming Soon (Mid-Year Edition)...

The Conquest of Gaul is taking off this week in order to prepare some awesome mid-year lists for y'all.

Tuesday, 23 June  OUT NOW!!!
THE TOP 20 SONGS OF 2015...SO FAR

Tuesday, 30 June OUT NOW!!!

THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2015...SO FAR