Let’s get right down to it, AA’s
favorite albums of the year.
#10 Zulu Winter - Language
Zulu Winter may have been
pre-emptively panned by other reviewers for their prognosticated eventual turn
towards more radio-friendly mainstream waters, but I don’t have a crystal ball
and I don’t see anything wrong with their brand of gloomy New Wave.
Cold, distant, and minimal with its
maudlin vocals, driving beats, and catchy hooks, Language unassumingly wiggles its way into your ear balls and
stubbornly refuses to leave.
Perhaps NME’s Noel Gardner snarkily put it best: “You can imagine a future where debut album ‘Language’, with its nods to Echo And The Bunnymen gloom, gauzy electro-indie keyboard swirls and booming ’80s drums, went down as Zulu Winter’s mildly quirky preamble before they pulled out their Coldplay-ish big guns. And where defensive fans quacked on about “preferring the earlier stuff.”
Perhaps NME’s Noel Gardner snarkily put it best: “You can imagine a future where debut album ‘Language’, with its nods to Echo And The Bunnymen gloom, gauzy electro-indie keyboard swirls and booming ’80s drums, went down as Zulu Winter’s mildly quirky preamble before they pulled out their Coldplay-ish big guns. And where defensive fans quacked on about “preferring the earlier stuff.”
That said, soak up their first album now and
enjoy it in all its greatness before they join the ever growing ranks of the
Merchants of Swill (of course, keep your fingers crossed that they don’t stoop
to such depths).
#9 San Cisco – San Cisco
Adorably sunny Indie pop brought to you
by the equally adorable and sunny quartet of Australians that make up San Cisco. Don’t
expect to explore anything earth-shatteringly deep here, instead just let the
good times roll. Like a rollicking day spent at the beach with your friends or
the soundtrack to that quirky indie movie about the eccentric misadventures of
a whimsical and social awkward teenager, San Cisco is the feel-good band of the
year.
#8 Frankie Rose - Interstellar
After bouncing around Brooklyn ’s
Indie pop scene as a member of the Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Crystal
Stilts, Frankie Rose
has finally emerged as her own sonic entity on her second album.
Less jangle and more sparkly 80s
inspired New Wave bangers a la The Cure, Rose opts for a pallet that combines
the cold distance of space and the murky depths and freakish calm of the deep
sea. Immerse yourself in the dreamy
soundscapes of Rose’s lush world filled with haunting echoes, catchy double
claps, and 20-somethings wanderlust.
#7 Exitmusic – Passage
Following the heels of their insanely
good EP From Silence comes Exitmusic’s highly
anticipated debut album Passage.
Not so much dream pop as nightmare pop,
Passage is filled with haunting
melodies, icy soundscapes, and a lingering melancholy that will stalk your
dreams. Masterfully juxtaposing the minimalism of solitary pianos or guitars
and Aleksa Palladino’s quivering contralto with an all-out Specter-like wall of
sound that blitzes your ears, Exitmusic sucks you into the whirlpool of their
roiling emotional forays.
#6 Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the
Screw…
It’s good to see that time hasn’t
tempered Fiona Apple’s raw nerve-riddled
sound. On her fourth studio album, she is every bit as emotional, beautiful,
thoughtful, and poetic as she ever was. Always fiercely personal, The Idler Wheel plays like the volatile
ups and downs of a tumultuous relationship. From the hopeful and determined
courtship on the Peggy Lee “Fever”-esque “Hot Knife” to the adorably enamored
“Anything We Want,” and ultimately the painful disintegration of “Regret.”
Underlying it all is a restless
anxiety, in which you feel like every note is being wrenched from her body,
taking with it chunks of flesh. It’s almost as if there are so many emotions,
thoughts, dreams, and sentiments that she wishes to express all at once, but
there’s a bottleneck and she can’t get it out fast enough.
Musically, you can hear her wriggling
and writhing through theatrical soundscapes which incorporate a Broadway musical’s rhythmic gyrations to underscore gestures, words, and
ideas as she paints her story with hypnotic melodies and vocal acrobatics. Bottom
line, Fiona Apple is that rare musician who can make music bend around her
life in a hyper-personalized manner and we’re just lucky she shares it with us.
#5 Wild Nothing - Nocturne
Moving beyond his bedroom, Jack Tatum
aka Wild Nothing,
has continued to refine and polish his sound, taking his brand of dreamy indie
pop to the next level. Peacefully ebbing and flowing, Nocturne gorgeously captures the sepia-tinted dreamy nostalgia of youth,
juvenile love, and reckless impetuosity in all its dizzying hopefulness.
In total, every track is carefully cut
from the same shimmering fabric and the album plays like a tight cohesive
whole with each song gently folding into the next, making it rather difficult
to identify any particular standouts. That said, the addition of strings and hypnotically
minimal guitar melodies on “Shadow,” “Nocturne,” and “Midnight Song,” add a bit
of extra kick to the album’s introspectiveness.
#4 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
While Swing Lo Magellan is far more
accessible than their previous work, the album is still proof that David Longstreth
and the trio of ghostly harmonizing beauties of Dirty Projectors are still
some of the funkiest and most creative musicians around.
Bending and curving around asymmetrical
beats and rhythms, Dirty Projectors continue to stretch the boundaries of our
aural pursuits in novel directions, but this time around they've infused the album with more
straight forward tracks like “Gun Has No Trigger” and “Swing
Lo Magellan.” Pulsating with life and a previously unfound immediacy, owing
largely to the fact that much of Longstreth’s vocals were actually the first
time he ever sang the song.
Bottom line: The band’s seventh studio
album is a real gem.
#3 Drunk Mums – Drunk Mums
Artistically masterful albums are great
and all, but when you’re in the mood to crank up the speakers, throw on your
leather jacket, and hit the streets in search a knock down humdinger of a
drunken night, there’s nothing better than Drunk Mums.
#2 Delta Riggs – Talupo
Mountain Music Vol. II
I know it’s an EP, but you know what,
it’s my list and my blog, so I make the rules. Anyhow, in this case, I have to
make an exception for The Delta Riggs
seeing as they know how to get you properly riled up for a night of pure
anarchy – the bottle throwing, glass smashing, riot inciting kind.
Loud, brash, and insane, Delta Riggs are rock and roll at its best. Bluesy as all hell with scorching vocals, punishing guitar lines, and a jackhammer for a drummer, Talupo Mountain Music Vol. II is doctor recommended and physician approved to put some hair on your chest. Now get out there and light some shit on fire.
#1 Devin – Romancing
With a brylcreamed coif that matches his
50s sound, Brooklyn ’s own Devin doesn’t just look the
part, he’s the genuine article. Drawing on a bevy of influences Devin combines
the sugary sweet rock of the 50s (think Frankie Valli’s “Beggin”) with the raw
diesel of the Ramones and the glam guitars of The Strokes.
His debut album, Romancing, is a gleeful romp through a rapid fire succession of
flamboyant barn burners. Like a real-life Johnny Suede, Devin’s got
the loverboy blues not to mention a serious sneer and the frantic energy of a
man on fire. With his aching heart and gritty guitar fuzz, Devin hits on all
the classic themes of rock – girls, heartbreak, girls, longing, girls, and
girls. Did I mention girls?
While some might say his sound is
derivative, blatantly calling back on the gods of rock pre-Bowie and pre-Velvet
Underground, he is entirely unpretentious in that he’s just a dude out to have
a good time, thrash around on his guitar, sing about girls, and get you on the
dance floor -- ain’t no harm in that.
Honorable Mentions
Chromatics - Kill For love
Chromatics - Kill For love
Raveonettes - Observator
Tame Impala – Lonerism
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