If It's Too Loud...

It appears Jeff and I finally agree on a release, and it makes sense. He was the one who introduced me to Laura Stevenson and her song "Masters of Art." "Masters of Art is quite possibly one of the most perfect indie pop songs ever recorded. While nothing on Wheel  quite captures that level, it's by far her most solid album yet. Even though she used to be in Bomb the Music Industry, there is virtually no sign of her pop punk/ska past in this collection of songs. They exist somewhere between folk and indie pop, with some leaning a bit more heavily towards one of the sides than another. She has always reminded me of Tanya Donelly's earlier solo work. On Wheel , "Runner" is the obvious single and by far the most poppy and catchiest song on the album. "Bells & Whistles" and "Eleanora" are my own personal favorites. Be warned, though. I went to see Laura Stevenson earlier this year, and as great as the show was, I was the oldest p...

Since Sonic Youth is my favorite all time band, I couldn't wait to hear what the various members are getting up to now that Sonic Youth is seemingly done. Even when I first heard The Eternal , something about it seemed final and I fully expected it to be their last. Of course, the way the band ended was the one way I couldn't accept, and it makes me want to hate Thurston Moore's new project, Chelsea Light Moving. Fortunately (Unfortunately?), I still love this album.  It sounds more like a more polished  Evol era Sonic Youth, but Thurston is allowed to explore his more punk and metal influences more than he ever did in Sonic Youth. "Sleeping Where I Fall" starts off like a typical Sonic Youth song, but devolves into European death metal sludge. The psychedelia of the last few Sonic Youth albums is almost completely gone (despite "Groovy & Linda" being a song title) and has been replaced with much more aggression and controlled chaos. The album i...

No idea how long this Google Music sale is going for , but two albums you should note as being free: Kanye West's Yeezus and CHVRCHES The Bones of What You Believe . Plenty of other great stuff, but those two freebies are worth your time to click.

If you miss 90s alternative (the fuzzed out guitars, the loud/quiet/loud verses, the noise of it all), then you need to check out Speedy Ortiz. There's a huge 90s revival going on right now musically, and Speedy Ortiz are hitting it much better than anyone else. Earlier this year I compared their sound to " Liz Phair [forming] a supergroup with members of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr," and I stand by that completely. It has all the noise and crunch of 80s Dino Jr with the quirk and fun of Pavement. Plus, it's fun. "Tiger Tank" was the single that pulled me in, but as time goes on I keep getting sucked more and more into the poppier tracks like "Hitch." "Hitch" drops a little of Dino Jr's noise, keeps the Pavement, but adds the more melodic elements of Belly. In a lesser year musically, this could have been #1. I might just be holding back a bit in case they have a horrific sophomore slump. We'll know how their second album turns ...

The most overhyped album of the year is also the most overlooked. Thirteen years after Deltron 3030 came out, Deltron 3030 released their long awaited follow up, Event II , this year. Deltron 3030  was set more than 1000 years in the future, and in 2000 it truly sounded like the future of hip hop. Once Del the Funky Homosapien, Kid Koala, and Dan the Automator were finally able to release a follow up, there was no way it could live up to thirteen years of anticipation.  Is Event II  as good as Deltron 3030 ? No. But that doesn't mean it's a bad album. As time goes on, Event II  will be considered much better than people are currently giving it credit for. Let's not forget In Utero  was once considered a disappointing follow up to Nevermind. If you dismissed it earlier this year, I urge you to listen again. Sure, the skits featuring David Cross and The Lonely Island could have been skipped, but they got Zack de la Rocha back in a recording studio. That alone ...

As we look back at the end of this calendar year, it's important to note a lot of the other things that came out musically that don't make the standard top 10. Among the albums I really loved this year that didn't quite make the top ten, in no particular order: * Valerie June - Pushing Against a Stone * Fitz and the Tantrums - More Than Just a Dream * !!! - Thr!!!er * CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe * St. Lucia - When the Night * Deltron 3030 - Event II * Matt Pond - The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand * Sarah Jarosz - Build Me Up From Bones * The Dismemberment Plan - Uncanney Valley * Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady * Ra Ra Riot - Beta Love * Pillowfight - Pillowfight * Volcano Choir - Repave * Tristen - Caves * Deap Vally - Sistronix * Jay-Z - Magna Carta... Holy Grail * How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion * Icona Pop - This Is... Icona Pop * Kanye West - Yeezus * Rhye - Woman * Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In * MS MR - Secondhand R...

Christmas music is pretty terrible. It tends to either be overly heartfelt songs by Mariah Carey or Josh Groban, or punked up novelty versions of Christmas standards. This year even saw Bad Religion release a Christmas album , which was... yeah. Anyway, out of Northampton, MA comes my favorite Christmas song of the year from Bunny's A Swine. "All I Want for Christmas is Lowered Expectations" features Bunny's A Swine adopting a slightly more folky sound while singing about how much better Christmas would be if their loved ones would be happy with burnt CDs, dollar bin DVDs, and text message greetings. Between verses the band members have an ongoing conversation about the song, with drummer Dustin not quite getting the idea, a la Joey in Anthrax's "I'm the Man."   "All I Want for Christmas is Lowered Expectations" is available for free on Bunny's A Swine's Bandcamp page . You can also head over to their website for even more info...

I'll admit it: I didn't really like Tristen's Caves  when it was first released. I discovered Tristen opening up for Justin Townes Earle last year and was completely blown away. I even wrote about her in a hysterical, blubbering way for my previous blog . Her previous album, Charlatans At the Garden Gate  was more of alt-pop country. It had all the hooks and catchy songs of pop country, but you'd never confuse her with Taylor Swift. Then Caves came out. Tristen dropped almost all of the twang and replaced it with synthesizers. Upbeat, synth laden pop just isn't my thing and I was quick to dismiss the entire album. A couple days later I went back just to listen to "No One's Gonna Know," the album's lead track. I kept surprising myself with how much I liked, and then loved that one song. And then I kept going back, listening to more and more of the album. I started to realize that the songs I dismissed as kiddie stuff on first listen were actuall...

If an artist releases two albums, and they're both your favorite albums of their respective release years, there's a chance that they might be your favorite recording artist, right? I don't know how I tripped up on Lissie back in 2010 when Catching a Tiger came out, but I know that my wife was really, really tired of hearing a number of the songs over and over again. She put out a covers EP a couple years ago, but it seemingly took forever for the newest album to come out, and it was worth the wait. The album leads off stronger than her first album and doesn't really stop. "Shameless" is a mid-tempo rocker about fame, "Mountaintop Removal" a solid-but-misguided protest song, "Further Away (Romance Police)" feels like a time warp into the 1980s. So many interesting sounds from start to finish create a really strong, cohesive album from start to finish. Long and short? Lissie really shouldn't be this good. Her cover versions a...

I've been a fan of Jason Isbell ever since he days with the Drive-By Truckers . As much as I enjoyed his solo work, there was always a little something missing from each album. I had assumed it was having the more rocking songs by Mike Cooley or Patterson Hood to break up the more laid back down tempo songs Isbell tends to write. Southeastern  proved me wrong. I wish I could put my finger on exactly what it was, but it doesn't really matter since Isbell found it himself. Southeastern had the potential to be a complete nightmare. It's his first album newly sober and the first after his marriage to Amanda Shires (who also performs on the album). It's kind of a running joke that artists lose their edge after sobriety, and it also tends to be true. Plus, being happy doesn't tend to lead to great art, either. Southeastern  breaks both those rules by being Isbell's greatest work ever. Not just as a solo artist: Ever. He's found inspiration in both sobriety (...

My #2 album of the year is Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside's Untamed Beast . Ken saw them live earlier this fall , and he's pretty much the reason why I'm a fan. With that said, a confession: the debut album, Dirty Radio ? Really uneven for me. "Danger" was off the charts awesome, but it didn't hold up so well for me. Part of it is because the whole jazzy/blues thing is not always my cup of tea, so my expectations for her new album were not terribly high. The album works really well for me in part because a lot of the blues parts are put in the backseat in favor of a more rockin' point of view. It results in a moodier album with a lot of attitude, and, frankly, a lot of sexuality oozing out of every pore. It means more mid-tempo songs like "She Told Me" have a significant purpose while sexy rockers like "Lip Boy" or "Do Me Right" are equal parts fun and frolicky. It's really well-crafted, and doesn't suffe...

Only one release of note: Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside - Summer EP : Man, Sallie Ford loves singing about sex. I'm not sure if these are new songs or outtakes from the excellent Untamed Beast , but this EP has three excellent songs sandwiched between a fun instrumental and another decent effort, something that is rare for an indie EP period. "Lips N Hips" in particular has been stuck in my head for two days running now.

I probably would have ranked this higher on the list, but it's supposed to be albums and this is a three song single, so #10 it is! Instead of following up 2011's unbelievably great The King in Yellow  with another album, the Dead Milkmen opted to release four 7" singles throughout 2012 and 2013. The most recent, "Welcome to Undertown," is my favorite of the batch. The beauty of the Dead Milkmen's return to recording is how well the songs hold up when compared to their previous work. A lot of punk/alternative bands' new material sticks out completely during a live show. Back in April when I saw the Dead Milkmen, I completely forgot that "William Bloat" wasn't on one of their classic albums. Their new material is just that good. The single "Welcome to Undertown" is written from the perspective of an angry gun owner and fits right in with their classic gun themed anthems ("Right Wing Pigeons," "If I Had a Gun,...

Allison Weiss's Say What You Mean is not the best album of 2013 in my view, but it's absolutely my favorite. This was another Spotify discovery recommendation, as I was fully engrossed in Jenny Owen Youngs at the time and the app recommended I try this album. I'm so glad I did. The album is wall-to-wall indie power pop, alt-rock chick at its finest. Much like the Lisa Loeb album discussed earlier, the album is just pitch-perfect from the start, with both slower songs and more upbeat tunes landing in the right spot. Spotify has been great for this album, as there's an entire alternate take of the album available as well as some EPs with early versions of the songs. If you want a good hint as to what you're getting into, "I Was An Island," "Making It Up," and "One Way Love" are all solid choices, but this album should really just be in your standard rotation regardless. You can stream the whole thing below:

There's not a lot I can say about my #4 album of the year, Boards of Canada's Tomorrow's Harvest , that I didn't already say a few weeks ago . It's not as if the type of music they do is conducive to individual songs, and the album (along with their sound in general) almost defies description. So I'm not even really going to try. This is the best electronic album I've heard in years, rivals some of the best music they've put out period, and although I know that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, it's quite the surprise that it's exactly the album I've been seeking out for quite some time. Oddly enough, this is the only album in my top 10 that isn't either a female singer-songwriter or a group with female lead singers. It's one of those years, I guess, and it's made my ears very happy, but it's an odd little statistic. As for Boards of Canada, you can stream Tomorrow's Harvest below: