Here's the playlist from my best albums of the year list! I put two songs from the best album of the year, Arcade Fire's Reflektor which might make up for the fact that three of my favorite albums are sadly unavailable on Rdio ( My Bloody Valentine's 'mbv,'Ty Segall's 'Sleeper,' and The Field's 'Cupid's Head'). Oh, well. You can find them yourselves. I've written a little bit explaining my first 15 picks below. Happy listening!
1. Arcade Fire 'Reflektor'
I really didn't expect to put this album first. Thing is, after getting through the daunting 10 mins that is the first track, these songs are great. Leave it to Arcade Fire to experiment with Sleater-Kinney style guitar licks one one track and then seemlessly move to flighty, rythmic beats on the next. This band just won't stop experimenting and so far it's working out pretty well.
2. Vampire Weekend 'Modern Vampire Of The City'
This band may have been coopted by a yuppie swath of the population--hell, they were founded while at Columbia, so what did people expect!--but this is an incredibly good pop-rock album from start to finish. The band has expanded their sounds enough to keep pushing forward but remain firmly like their older selves.
3. The National 'Trouble Will Find Me'
What did I just say about coopted by yuppies, oh right, WHO CARES. This is a great album. The National continues to surprise in their albums. This one seeming a bit more upbeat (only a bit because it is The National afterall) while still remaining typically moody.
(Note: I realize the top three albums here are relatively old hat bands, but they're bands I expect will stick around a while and seem to only be getting better with age.)
4. Veronica Falls 'Waiting For Something To Happen'
This band may not have quite the songwriting chops as the rest of the bands in my top 10, but if there was one album I listened to more than any other this year, it was this one. The album as a whole is incredibly well executed and just plain fun. A dream pop sound with sweet vocals, but rockin' guitar and drums. Go see 'em live, if you have the chance.
5. CHVRCHES 'The Bones Of What You Believe'
You know you have a great album when your favorite song changes every week. The mixing on this album is ridiculous and Lauren Mayberry's voice is both soft and yet strong enough to hold up to every beat swirling around it. After 'Waiting For Something To Happen,' this is the new album I listened to most this year. I can't wait to see how they kick the sophmore slump 'rule' on it's ass.
6. Waxahatchee 'Cerulean Salt'
This album is both earnest and catchy. Simple songs, great hooks, great drums, great writing, and a grungy female voice. A rock and roll album that has roots in Americana and grunge. While more and more bands add beats to sell albums, there's a long history, and likely an equally long future, for singer-songwriting albums. Sometimes simple is best.
7. Blood Orange 'Cupid Deluxe'
How about having some soul with your beats? Sweet, then this is the band for you. This album gets better with repeat listening. It's a quirky pop album that doesn't follow simply successful tricks to sell pop/dance albums. Insread it borrows from 70s R&B here, and rap there. It's fun and not boring, basically the best type of 'pop' album.
8. Superchunk 'I Hate Music'
After a long break Superchunk are back and they're bringing the 90s back with them! A bit of nostalgia for the guitar centric bands of the past, but not just that, these songs have some great hooks. It's hard not to love this album if you were young and impressionable in the 90s, but even if you weren't this is a solid rock album.
9. Haim 'Days Are Gone'
Who doesn't like the 80s? This album has an 80s vibe, but the sound's been updated by some very kickass chicks. Great harmony meets great compositions and results in pop-rock perfection. The album comes off tamer than watching Haim live, but these songs are bitchin' no matter where you listen to them, and catchy as fuck.
10. The Knife 'Shaking The Habitual'
Boy did we wait a long time for a new album by The Knife, but it was worth it. There's no radio single on this album and Jose Gonzale isn't likely to cover any of these tracks, but this album keeps your senses on edge in all the right ways. The Knife is not everyone's cuppa tea, but if experimental electronic songs entice you, this is the best of the best.
11. Deerhunter "Monomania'
This album is not probably for everyone, rock and roll, honky tonk with enough weirdness to keep your ear glued. Reverb and garage rock are all over the place on this album, but it's never overwhelming. It's an album that takes repeated listening to really appreciate the skill in the songs, but it's worth that little bit of effort.
12. Caroline Rose 'America Religious'
It was a good year for country singer-songwriters and this was the best of the bunch. From the first song this Americana album prooved to be one written by a natural and gifted songwriter, not to mention the guitar chops on this album are stellar. The album was written while on a road trip and it makes you wanna buy a pickup and head out on the highway yourself. Barring that, get in this on your computer or phone and crank it up.
13. Keaton Henson 'Birthdays'
I adore Keaton Henson. His songs are like open wounds. It makes you sad to listen to them, like you're enjoying listening to someone's saddest diary entries. But nothing out there this year was more 'real' than this album. Keaton, a chronically shy singer was taken in by Thom Yorke after his debut album 'Dear...' and while the production money is audible, but doesn't change the core of his raw appeal. Seeing Keaton Henson was also my most memorable gig experience of the year and one I doubt I'll ever forget.
14. The Julie Ruin 'Run Fast'
Which is your favorite Kathleen Hanna band? Bikini Kill? Julie Ruin? Le Tigre? Now you don't have to chose. This album has a bit of everything. Rock here, poppy dance and beats there: what's not to like, really? There was some criticism of the album not breaking new ground. Hasn't Hanna broken enough ground for one person? Even so, these are great new songs that stand on their own merit.
15. Volcano Choir 'Repave'
If you're like me, you both enjoy the new direction of Bon Iver but miss that feeling you had when you discovered 'For Emma, Forever Ago.' That album almost made you feel what it would be like going through heartbreak in a desolate Wisconsin cabin. Volcano Choir harkens back to that emotional intensity. It has a gorgeous expansive sound which would be a great soundtrack while you were snowed in at a cabin Wisconsin, but instead of heartbreak you're just enjoying the beautiful wilderness.
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