Top 25 Albums of 2015

December 24, 2015 by David in Music

Albums make music permanent. Albums are the story to the chapters, the theme of so many thoughts. Albums are what make songs something more.

This year has provided so many albums - to the tune of 1,457 artists, 6,426 songs, and 100 thousand minutes of music that I’ve listened. And I listened to and loved nothing more than Tame Impala’s Currents.

As I wrote in my album review, Currents is a wonderfully freeing musical expression and acknowledgement of adaptation for the sake of Parker and no others. One of the coolest things I noted was that Currents is so different than its two top notch predecessors, yet it eclipses both.

"Yes, I'm changing," Kevin Parker sweetly serenades the critics, haters, and trolls, "Yes, I'm gone / Yes, I'm older / Yes, I'm moving on / And if you don't think it's a crime / you can come along with me / Life is moving / can't you see?"

My love for Natalie Prass is evident if you read this blog. It all started because of her debut album. I did not write a review, I just enjoyed the many, many instruments and Prass' vocals delicately absorbing the wind and strings to harmonize above it all.

It’s been the best year in rap in many many years. Six rappers made it onto my list, and three of them - Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar - in the top six! Each album was completely different.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 31

December 07, 2015 by David in Music

The year is closing out, and that means I've been hard at work narrowing down all the albums I listened to this year to my favorite 25 as well as my favorite 100 songs!

It's been quite the process since there were over 200 albums to begin with as well as thousands of songs to hear to make to the songs playlist.

Anyways, those two playlists will be coming shortly, but in the meantime, here are some tunes I've been jamming to lately.

I found The New Basement Tapes randomly, but it's a supergroup of artists (Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Marcus Mumford, Elvis Costello, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and an unknown to me, Rhiannon Giddens) who were all assembled to take Bob Dylan lyrics from 1967 to record. It's a very cool album which begins with this track, "Down On The Bottom," which Jim James just crushes.

G-Eazy is an Oakland rapper who has slowly but surely gained quite a following. He had a huge slot at Outside Lands here in SF, and "Random" shows his abilities. Check him out.

Bully is a raw rock band with screeching vocals and a taste for distortion. Their sound is for those who like music without perfect edges.

I wrote about C. Duncan last week, but this album is sticking with me for its dreamy sound. “Say” is the opening track of Architect and sets the stage for the rest of the album. I’m still debating whether it makes it into the Top 25, but it’s close!

Half Moon Run’s debut album last year made it into my Top 25 as they were one of the few rock bands that I heard with a bit of Radiohead in them. Their new album this year isn’t at the level of their debut, but “Turn Your Love” showcases their mix of electronics and more standard rock with barr chords and loud choruses.

Prhyme is a collaboration of rapper Royce da 5’9 and legendary producer DJ Premier (outside of Q-Tip, no one exemplifies 90s rap beats more than Premier). I just started listening to this album from 2014, and I’m amazed I hadn’t heard about ti earlier. The album features Jay Electronica, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, Mac Miller, and more and is a great listen.

Finally, I wrote a short piece about Scott Weiland’s passing a few days ago (along with a Best of Stone Temple Pilots playlist!), and I thought it would only be fitting to end with an acoustic version of their most famous song. RIP.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 29

November 23, 2015 by David in Music

Welp. I just wrote a ton and it got deleted because the page tried to reload. That sucks. Let's try this again.

A number of solid albums have been released in the past few weeks that have reached into my Top 25 Albums of 2015.

Borns has released one of the best Electro-Pop albums this year. He (yes, that's a dude singing!) tackles somberness like Beach House (as the guitar shows in "The Emotion") yet provides upbeat and lighthearted jams throughout (as his falsetto indicates on "Dopamine") that remind me a bit of Passion Pit and MGMT's first album.

I first heard C. Duncan because he was nominated for the Mercury Prize - the award given to the best album of the year from the UK or Ireland. The prize ultimately went to Benjamin Clementine, a man with a mountain of a voice and a piano at his palms. But C. Duncan's album has intrigued me. I feel lost in a forest of folk, whistling tunes like he does in "For." The only guy I could think to compare him to is Bibio.

I don't know how I found Sea Ghost, but they're unadorned rock by a singer with a voice no one would write home about, yet that sincerity is exactly why it works. The xylophone doesn't hurt either on "Cowboy Hat."

Julia Holter vibrates in strings of instruments with an ethereal aura about her. She reminds me of Andrew Bird. Very cool album worth a listen!

I wasn't overly impressed with Metric's album, but I thought this was a pretty powerful electro song.

The first half of Pure Bathing Culture's new album is really good but then it drops off a bit. If you like this track, check em out!