1000x/minute

Turnstile | TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION

Fontaines D.C. | Skinty Fia

From the album of the same name, Skinty Fia is the latest single from the Irish indie rockers who may be my favorite band going right now. Dogrel burst immediately and directly into my headspace in a heartbeat and A Hero’s Death was the followup that solidified them as a group to watch out for.

Joshua Burnside |  Whiskey Whiskey

Yard Act | Rich

Cloud Nothings | Only Light

I have to respect this band. My finger hovered over the “delete from library” button on this album several times – not because I thought it was bad or anything, just that I preserve spots in my library for the music that most compels me to keep it. This was good music, but “borderline”.

So I thought – but somehow I couldn’t get rid of it with a good conscience. I needed more listens to convince myself it wasn’t my thing. And each successive listen was inconclusive, needed more data. By the time I’d listened through for the 5th time, I couldn’t deny there was something substantial here.

Re-listening this year has revealed to me how much is really going on with this record. Catchy, impassioned choruses, surprise riffs that pop up throughout, background harmonies at the height of the song... this album has an undeniable spirit, fighting for every inch of its existence. Only Light sticks out to me as a perfect picture of the record. It may come out of the gates scrapping for its life, but holy crap does it cross that finish line.

Ben Howard | You Have Your Way (feat. Kate Stables)

Continuing with another of my favorite albums/songs from last year, Ben Howard was an unexpected-but-welcome newcomer to my top 10. ‘Collections From the Whiteout’, with its meditative rhythms and repeated poetic incantations throughout, was a faithful companion on many of my walks along the Irish seaside.

For Those I Love | Birthday / The Pain

(continuing my “best of 2021″ posts)

Irish artist For Those I Love recounts a heavy set of experiences on his self-titled album from this past year: the death of his friend, witnessing a murder as a child, undergoing severe moments of psychological distress and depression... the list goes on. This record swirls in the themes of absence and loss delivered in spoken word with thick Irish brogue, yet always holds on to a hard-earned concept of love. The love of his mates, mainly, but also of family, of life, of his friend now-gone. As a result, the whole album feels extremely celebratory of the life we’ve been given.

Hovvdy | Junior Day League

Music soundtracks life. Over the past 15 or so years, I’ve been more aware of this feeling than ever before. Putting on/taking off headphones or hearing music in a bar or coffee shop always leaves me with the sense that the soundtrack is always playing and we just need to tap into it.

This place is a spot for me to make sense out of the cacophony of all these different sounds and streams and to bring attention (even if just my own) to the ones that move me the most. If anything, it’s been fun to look back on what I enjoyed at certain times in my life, revisiting, and re-adding to the shuffle.

Matt Berninger | Holes (Mercury Rev Cover)

2017 was jam-packed with amazing music, with some stellar, canonic releases from a lot of indie stalwarts (and a few less-than-stellar releases, also from the stalwart). Inevitably, my list always takes a few different turns than most year-end lists, which is fine with me - the heart has reason, etc., etc. 

Frightened Rabbit, Recorded Songs EP

Coming off a full-length last year that hit my #1 spot, this 3-track EP features a song with singer-songwriter Julien Baker. Would have been higher on the list if it was longer, but these are solid FR tunes.

Iron & Wine, Beast Epic

I hate to say “back to form”, but this is the I&W that got me through the first decade of the 21st century.

Deerhoof, Mountain Moves

A solid set of high-octane, palate-cleansing rock jams here. Has attitude and a lot of ingenuity.

Waxahatchee, Out In The Storm

These are songs of liberation and just a great listen from front to back. Took me a few LPs to get into Waxahatchee, but this is where it’s at.

Chris Bathgate, Dizzy Seas

The Michigan native also returned after a hiatus (and what I remember being called the end of the Chris Bathgate project) for a woodsy, pastoral, midwestern gem. Heavy on the fiddle, no one does it like Chris.

Kim Janssen, Cousins

Dutch singer-songwriter Kim Janssen has had his hands in The Black Atlantic’s great work over the years, and I’m glad to have discovered he’s gone solo. The music is different up there – majestic, soaring, intricate. There’s no sardonic quality to these beautiful songs, which is a welcome change of pace.

Spoon, Hot Thoughts

Cutting, yelping, calculated. Spoon rocked it with this one. The title track is one of the year’s best songs.

LCD Soundsystem, American Dream

Yet another return from retirement (that’s 3 on this list). This isn’t a perfect record, but there is something oddly comforting about hearing James Murphy’s voice again. Weeks later, and I’m still exploring this expansive, moody, dance-worthy album.

Toro Y Moi, Boo Boo

This was difficult – Boo Boo didn’t get much critical acclaim this year, not because it was bad, but because there was a ton of other stuff going on. Yet it was almost my #1. Undoubtedly it is his best, in my opinion. Phrases like “need a new attitude”, or “caught me staring out my window” are thrown around our house in jest all the time, as they’ve lodged themselves deep into our heads after countless listen-throughs.

The National, Sleep Well Beast

Tracklist: November 2017

Great new stuff from the month of November. Worth it alone for the memeworthy Kirin Callinan track Big Enough. Also worth noting a few albums from this month:

Werewolf Diskdrive has some evil-carnival-style beats here. Not for everyone, but I find it a lot of fun.