This feels like my last time here on earth.
My soul has been here for a while, but Iâm not coming back next time.
There are still so many things to do and feel.
I will miss this place.

seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from Ecuador
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Brazil

seen from United Kingdom

seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Netherlands

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from T1
seen from China
seen from Colombia

seen from Germany
This feels like my last time here on earth.
My soul has been here for a while, but Iâm not coming back next time.
There are still so many things to do and feel.
I will miss this place.

Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Don't give me time, don't give me space
Just give me something that I can taste
Like you right by my side
So Iâm cutting every corner To get back where I was To what I used to meanÂ
 (I couldnât make it through the song the last time I listened to it. I couldnât keep myself from crying. I feel okay now.)
Lie down in the light and wait with me
True story, this morning I was dashing through submissions in our inbox per usual while balancing my day job tasks. I dismissed countless songs before this one convinced me to stop, pop both my earbuds in (sometimes I only utilize one so I can hear whatâs going on at work), and just take it all in with a content sigh. Seattle songwriter Austin Crane, known as Valley Maker, released his French Kiss debut Rhododendron last year to much acclaim. And now heâs shared a bonus track in between tour legs. Supernatural showcases his lush folk sound and introspective lyricism, interspersed with soft, ruffled horns. Itâs all a bit Phosphorescent and Tweedy like, with a little bit more soul. Supernatural was started in Cardiff, Wales, with Ali Lacey of Novo Amor providing backup vocals and production work, and finished in Seattle with producer Trevor Spencer. The track comes today via a video directed by Joseph Kolean and Zach Gutierrez. Valley Maker's current North American tour includes dates with Tomberlin and Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party in July. Dates and tickets are can be found, here. Rhododendron can be streamed, here.

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My 18 Favorite Albums of 2018
Well...Here it is again! 2018 was a...YEAR. One of the toughest Iâve had so far. But full of hard work, growth, challenges, & little victories. Here are some of the albums that soundtracked it. 18 releases that I loved & supported. Songs that helped me make it through. For the seventh year in a row...My favorite albums. Listed here in no particular order (unless you know/enjoy the english alphabet). Top 5 are probably Monae, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Field Report, McEntire, & Liza Anne, in that order. Music marks time & space. These are the ones for this year. Enjoy!Â
AMERICAN TRAPPISTÂ Â /Â Â Tentanda Via
    We start our 2018 journey in a comfortingly familiar place with the second official full length album from Toms River, New Jerseyâs American Trappist. His self-titled debut made my 2016 favs list and his old band River City Extension (top 5 reunion tour wish list for sure!) were second to Fun. on my list way back in 2012. Safe to say Joe Michelini is one my favorite songwriters of the last 10 years. Lucky for us, 2018 found Michelini writing equal parts depressing & uplifting boardwalk rock & roll for/from the underdog/underground. Tentanda Via (Latin for âthe way must be triedâ) is a blast of an album; full of horns, drums (both jazzy & rock & roll-y!), inspired piano, & Michelini at the helm sounding altogether confident in his existential breakdowns. To me this reads like a coming-of-age album at heart (the way must be tried!), but a deeper, wiser sort of unraveling. A mid-30â˛s rock opus about learning to live with yourself. Learning how to make yourself better. These songs are inspiring and mix more than a little Springsteen ethos (maybe itâs the horns?!) with some late 90â˛s/early 2000â˛s emo/indie/alternative etc...
The straightforward rockers âDeath Wishâ & âNobodyâs Gonna Get My Soulâ bookend the nine track album with surprisingly nimble & crunchy electric riffs and off-the-charts energy! In between, the mid tempo drive of âGetting Evenâ & âDonât Get Inâ lets Micheliniâs emotional writing really shine. The words jump out of the songs, full of passion, desperation, & an urgency that makes me glad people are still making records like this. Thereâs also a unholy, weird interlude that you have to hear to believe called âUnfresh Dirtwolf.â American Trappist is a band that came from the ashes of another band. A band that seems reluctant to tour West of...Ohio. A band that stays under the radar. Michelini has been writing some of my favorite songs for awhile & it feels good growing older together. Hereâs hoping for a new one of these every other (or just every?!) year for me to belt along to with the windows down in my Subaru. Joe, if youâre listening out East, donât stop. This is why I love music.Â
    âDriving through my hometown I feel the peace of the Lord / Ride up behind me on a blind dream from my childhood / Looking back again, itâs hard to understand / Getting older, I guess I do / Waiting on some waking dream like it might find you...â
BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUTÂ Â /Â Â Mother of My Children
    I bought Black Belt Eagle Scoutâs debut album at Twist & Shout Records the day it came out. I think I loved the cover art and the idea of Katherine Paulâs solemnly solo rock album, recorded in the dead of Winter in rural Washington, sounding like just what I wanted in my headphones to face the Fall. Then (as so often happens) I got a text a month later from my partner at 12:27am that read simply...
âIâm okay. Going to bed meow. Listen to Black Belt Eagle Scout.âÂ
From there we took Mother of My Children on a snowy road trip to Durango, Colorado. Crisscrossing mountain passes through snowstorms, & visiting Mesa Verde National Park, we let Paulâs earnest, determined, & emotional songs, sweep us into the gray. All this to say that this album has already marked some pretty specific time & place for me. There is a starkness to these songs, a simplicity that makes the songwriting stand alone. Where lesser lyricists would be revealed as phonies (or simply bad) Katherine Paulâs stark, powerful words are illuminated by her minimalist production. With a rhythmically mournful 80â˛s/90â˛s emo touch (for more modern emo fans I might even hear a little Manchester Orchestra) Paul doesnât pull any punches. The guitar gets delightfully heavy on the outro to six minute epic opener âSoft Studâ and then twirls & spirals with the drums in the entrancingly sad âI Donât Have You in My Life.â This is an important album for Paul to have written and there is a great power in her words. Oh also... she plays every instrument on the album!?! Guitar, bass, drums, vibraphone, keyboard, organ, various percussion, & all vocals. Very Vagabon. Very Caroline Rose (spoiler alert!)! With our world on fire, and full of threats (from our own government) to native lands & native people, itâs increasingly important to listen to and hear/heed the words and writings of people like Paul; a radical, indigenous, queer, feminist from Oregon. Thanks for speaking out KP. Listen to Black Belt Eagle Scout.Â
    âDo you ever notice what surrounds you? When itâs all bright & tucked under / Do you ever notice whatâs around you? When itâs all right under our skin...â
CAMP COPEÂ Â /Â Â How To Socialise & Make Friends
    Camp Cope is a GREAT band name. Camp Cope is a REALLY GREAT band. Camp Cope has a wit & an attitude that is so punk rock, so genuine, & How To Socialise & Make Friends is a powerful album. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Camp Cope rides a practiced garage-y sound and lead singer & lyricist Georgia Macâs passionate howl and impressive writing. As someone who grew up on early 2000â˛s pop-punk, emo, & alternative (something I guess I probably regret more often than celebrate. Because toxic masculinity & white male fragility) there is something so bittersweetly nostalgic in these chord progressions, the earnest electric strums, the yell-sing vocals, that takes me back to high school. Georgia Mac has a way with words, sliding them in & out, over cascading, steady strums, & then sometimes building them up to a frantic yelling. These are songs that sound as if they had to come out, had to be sung this way, like no one else could write or sing them. With an equally muscular rhythm section, âThe Openerâ attacks music industry sexism head on (if you havenât seen Camp Cope live, it is chill inducing hearing a whole room belt along to every word) with a bass riff that could fly a jetliner. The three members interact so well together musically and everything from the driving âUFO Lighterâ to the lilting âSagan, Indianaâ sounds tightly rehearsed. Equally passionate in their social media presence and their willingness to engage and fight for social justice issues, Camp Cope represents the future. Bands like this are changing the game right now and itâs exciting to hear it in real time.Â
When I close my eyes for a second, as the title tracks rings out and the gorgeously, lightly sad âThe Face of Godâ ambles in, Iâm 17 again. Iâm driving for the first time, crying at the moon by myself or laughing with my friends. Iâm a freshman in college, skipping my Friday classes (and braving mountain passes!) headed west, headed home. Then I snap awake and Iâm 32, itâs Winter here and Georgia bellows âJust get it all out, put it in a song. Just get it all out, write another song!â Thanks Camp Cope. This album is special.Â
    âItâs another all-male tour preaching equality / Itâs another straight, cis man who knows more about this than me / Itâs another man telling us weâre missing a frequency / SHOW âEM KELLY / Itâs another man telling us we canât fill up the room / Itâs another man telling us to book a smaller venue / Nah, hey, cmon girls weâre only thinking about you / Well, see how far weâve come not listening to you / âYeah just get a female opener, thatâll fill the quotaâ...â
CAROLINE ROSEÂ Â /Â Â Loner
    It took Caroline Rose four years from her weirdly rootsy-riffy debut album to find her true self, but Loner sounds every bit like an artist comfortable in their own skin & confident in their craft. Dialing up the synths, fuzz, and brilliantly tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Rose touches on all the big topics: drugs, death, sex (ism), and money! with a casual, conversational songwriting maturity that belies her 28 year old sophomore-ness. Favorites include âJeannie Becomes a Momâ (check out that bouncy organ!), the steady build & twisty, head-turning songwriting of âGetting To Me,â & the electro warp & wend of âTo Die Today.â I was finally convinced into falling for this album when my partner played it three times (or was it six?) back-to-back-to-back on a rainy Summer Sunday afternoon drive from Granby, CO back into Denver. Something about the pacing; the complex, yet immediate song structures that leave you wanting more. These are songs of tested confidence. But shining through it all, Rose is a wild card. A red clad rockstar with a palpable spirit, not afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve & laugh a little along the way. Loner is full of dance jams for the cool kids & the loners. At its core it preaches acceptance, and teaches us to love ourselves & love each other for who we are. Go Caroline! See you in a month in LA!Â
    âWaitress sets the tables, two & four & six / Laying placemats, knife, fork, spoon, upon napkin / All the counter people, she knows us all by name / A counter people fission, everywhere we are the same... / & so you line âem up, a single cell, another one gone / Ostracon vase with your name on the line...â
FIELD REPORTÂ Â /Â Â Summertime Songs
    At some point during this year I begin to realize how important beloved songwriters releasing new works is always going to be to me, I was falling (& re-falling) for new works from long time favs Calexico, Gregory Alan Isakov, Florence & The Machine, & of course Phosphorescent. But somehow it was Field Reportâs third release Summertime Songs that stuck and became perhaps the most meaningful of all. I fell in love with Field Report in the midst of a hard, hard winter (2012 I think). Their sophomore album Marigolden has been a constant companion since 2014. I first heard this set of songs (the ones that comprise Summertime) in the June of 2017, sweating in the familiar Eau Claire, Wisconsin heat. Hearing a set of 100% new, unreleased material is exciting and also kind of a risk. After the set I wrote that the new tunes âSound like June. Like wet cement & flash floods. Like swollen rivers & mosquitos full of hard fought human blood. Like growing older & having kids. Intimate details stretched over skittery, percussive thunderclouds. Like grabbing an electric fence. Digging in &...replanting.â I was 100% in it. On a high in Wisconsin & falling deeper in love with music. Then Field Report went mostly silent & we had to wait till early 2018 to get the recorded versions. Adding even more drums (Shane Leonard deserves a shout-out here as a killer pocket player!) some electronic effects, and ramping up on the arm-out-the-rolled-down-window singalongs definitely serves Chris Porterfield (did you know the name Field Report is just an anagram of his last name?!) well. Whoever it was who asked him âwhy donât you try Summertime songsâ was on the right track. His songwriting is as electric as always on this set of heartbreakers & as usual he follows a lot the same threads. His lyrics here are visceral, wordy, & wise, & i can feel the songs growing up with me. Sometimes I lead, sometimes they lead me, but we always seem to find each other exactly when we need to.Â
    âTime is a bird with a mean, hooked beak / & heâs just waiting around to work on you & on me... / Shotgun wedding, black on blue / The riverâs swelling like a bruise...â
H.C. McENTIREÂ Â /Â Â Lionheart
    Heather McEntire has been carving out a name for herself in the North Carolina music scene for years fronting old-school punk band Bellefea & more recently, the much loved Mount Moriah. But way way back in January, Lionheart roared in under her own name; all ferocious & tender, confident & wild. A true southern record, Lionheart is vocal & lyric forward. From the Sunday morning hymn swell of opener âA Lamb, A Dove,â to the driving swing of âBabyâs Got the Blues,â & the late night, red wine country of âWhen You Come For Me.â McEntire enlists all her talented musical friends on this effort. There are co-writes with the legendary Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill (whom McEntire credits with helping her find her individual voice), bgvs from Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Angel Olsen, & Tift Merrit, & inspired guitar work from William Tyler & Durham favorite Phil Cook!
Through it all, McEntire stays true to the thread that made Mount Moriahâs âHow To Danceâ one of my 2016 favs. Lionheart exudes the smells & scenery of North Carolina and reads like a map at times, referencing points from Stoney Creek to the Green River Gorge. Some of my favorite songs written over the last five years (or ever) have a very strong (& often specific) idea of place. If country music is going to representative of the country that I want to live in, itâs going to be sung by people like Heather McEntire. A powerful queer southern woman; vulnerable & brave, a true Lionheart.Â
    âYouâll find me in the hollow, dosing anything that might / Make the map look any smaller, give me a dog in the fight / So call it off or call it God, call it anything you like / Do you see it in my eyes? / A levee on the rise, do you see it? / The tellinâ ainât told gently, so pay your tab & pay your dues / The dogwood & the chicory & a silent wood stove flue / Your babyâs got the blues just like you...â
iZCALLi  /  IV
    I was late to the party on Izcalli (a band from my own city!) and when I found them, it was magical, I think they were playing an opening set for Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas at Lost Lake and I probably stumbled in late from PS Lounge or Tommyâs Thai to shredding electric guitar & ska, latin funk, & pure Led Zepplin Rock & Roll. Frontman Miguel Avina was howling & stomping in Freddy Mercury-meets-Mariachi white pants, his long curly hair everywhere, all energy. I was immediately hooked. Calling them my favorite local band and finally getting to put them on this end of the year list. Izcalli joins some pretty good âlocal bandâ company here on linernotes&seasons. From Nina De Freitasâ EP last year; Yawpers, Covenhoven, & Rateliff in 2015, to Isakov & Covenhoven in 2013 & The Lumineers all the way back in 2012! Izcalli has been playing around Denver for 13 years and have slowly built up enough of a following to headline the Bluebird Theater last year. Their fourth album (aptly titled IV) comes out swinging and showcases plenty of heavy power chord riffs, violin, horn, & songs in both English & Spanish. Their heavier, more classic rock influenced songs (âLightning Redâ & âEso Velocidadâ) absolutely explode with fiery lead guitar and inspired drumming. When they dial it back and let their Mexican influences show through, like on the eerily crunchy, violin led âQuite de Masâ and the woozy saxophone breakdown of âSolo Se Morir,â they showcase depth and a real songwriting ability. There is an almost Muse-like thunder to the monstrous organ riff of âA New Lieâ and closer âSi Estoy Contigoâ sends everybody out dancing. With influences from all over (most notably their homeland Mexico City) & a live show thatâs not to be missed, Izcalli embodies everything I think of when I think of a true Denver band.Â
    âA frozen heart in me turned out to be my one way home / I swear Iâll leave, Iâll drive myself down to Mexico...â
JANELLE MONAEÂ Â /Â Â Dirty Computer
    Dirty Computer is my favorite album of 2018. Much like my favorite album last year (Lordeâs Melodrama) no one was as simultaneously honest & excavating in their personal songwriting; while still writing such absolutely shredding club bangers, as Janelle Monae. Dirty Computer acts as a coming out party of sorts for the 32 year Kansas City-ian, although, to be fair, her first two albums had already scored her Grammy nominations and the stamp of approval from Prince, Eryakah Badu, & Michelle Obama. Her debut The ArchAndroid and her followup The Electric Lady, found her creating elaborate alter egos, protest songs, and complex, critically acclaimed song cycles about life as a black woman in America. With Dirty Computer she is able to hold multiple titles at once. Schizophrenically on top of her game, tying all her alter egos together with stellar production, monster vocals, and some of the best, most interesting pop songs since...well...maybe since Prince. From the Brian Wilson assisted eerie sci-fi sweetness of stage setting opener âDirty Computer,â she lets loose on some of her most fun, live-a-little anthems âCrazy, Classic Life,â and âTake a Byte.â Deeply personal, political, & inspiring âDjango Janeâ is stunning, & sets the stage for mega back-to-back singles âPynkâ & âMake You Feel.â Songs of my (and everybody elseâs) Summer for sure. âI Got The Juice,â is light & bouncy, & personal favorite âI Like Thatâ is rebellious & rides an immediately memorable instrumental into one helluva vocal take from Monae. She makes a political statement in closing with the anthem âAmericans,â (anybody else think this one especially sounds like a lost Prince track?) but her strength is her ability to be both personal & political; a true diva with a purpose. These songs are Janelle creating and sounding exactly how she wants, pushing the limits of what a superstar can do, Her show at the Paramount in July was a highlight for me, and Dirty Computer is hands down my album of the year.Â
    âBox office numbers & they doinâ outstanding, running out of space in my damn bandwagon / Remember when they use to said I look too mannish? / Black girl magic yall canât stand it...â
LIZA ANNEÂ Â /Â Â Fine But Dying
    In a year where I seemed to gravitate to albums & songs about living in, and growing through, mental health issues; Liza Anneâs blistering (and epically titled!) Fine But Dying was definitely a top five album for me. A gifted songwriter, Dying finds Anne finally letting it out with a heavy band, a light touch, & a deep dive into the insecurities & struggles that seemed to be (gulp) some of the same ones I was going through this year. Songs about conversations, relationships (both romantic & platonic), and most importantly, about examining & improving yourself. No one on this list unpacks, observes, and mines their own heart & mind as well or as deeply as Anne does across these 11 tracks. When she really cuts loose, like in the ballistic breakdown of âKid Gloves,â the fuzzy crunch of âGet By,â or the spiraling, swirling (& also epically titled!) âI Love You, But I Need Another Yearâ she shines. Fine But Dying is wise beyond its years and a no-holds-barred, place-in-time look at mental health & how we should all be addressing our issues & working things out. Her show at Globe Hall here in Denver back in April was cathartic, thoughtful, & one of my favorite of this year for sure. Yay for fearless songwriters, Yay for rock & roll. Fuck yeah Liza Anne!
    âI ran once, took my flight across the ocean / I thought if I could make my way across the sea Iâd find a place / Now Iâm swallowed up by a city that doesnât give a fuck / To whether I am up on time / Or whether if I am, well...alive / & Iâm so good - getting too good at hiding / Too good at keeping to myself that Iâm spiraling...â
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLOÂ Â /Â Â Ventriloquism
    I think it was âAtomic Dog 2017âł that first caught my ear at some point last year. I didnât know Meshell Ndegeocello, but I knew that what I was hearing was classic. The off-kilter guitar strums slithering into that bass drop, finally settling into a steady groove, that melody appearing (seemingly out of nowhere) into a rolling, & instantly recognizable chorus. Next thing I know Iâm googling George Clinton and off into an 80â˛s funk youtube rabbit hole. A covers album to stand up to any other covers album, Ndegeocello has a masterpiece on her hands in both song selection & creativity. In a year where she turned 50, the sneakily titled Ventriloquism is her 12th studio album, Inspired by listening to oldies radio on car rides to her childhood home, influenced by Prince & Neil Young; Ventriloquism is a super smooth revamp of 80s & 90s R&B. What Ndegeocello does so seamlessly on Ventriloquism is take these songs and make them flow as a part of a whole. There is light in the darkness here. There are threads of continuation here. An appreciation for those who came before, those who paved the way. Ndegeocello is a true artist and these reinterpretations not only nod to classic songs & artists, but dig out their own little important niche in 2019.Â
    âSometimes it snows in April / Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad / Sometimes I wish life was never ending / & all the good things they say, never last / Springtime was always my favorite time of year / A time for lovers holding hands in the rain...â
MIYA FOLICKÂ Â /Â Â Premonitions
    Every year I wait till the last minute (and beyond!) to finish this list. I write it up in November & December, agonizing & filling out what I think are my favorite albums (18 this time!) of the year. I enjoy whittling the list down to a manageable number, but I also enjoy reading everyone elseâs lists; finding new finds & hearing what other people liked. Then, sometime in the middle of December, I am knocked out by something I missed over all the year of listening & reading. This year it is MIYA FOLICK! I was given a wintry new yearâs mix of goodbye 2018 (and F*** you!) tunes from my partner (which I will probably post & write about sometime as soon as I finish posting this because it is goooood), and track 9 of that spotify mix. Bouncy horns, a killer beat, & lyrics that cut right to me but leave me smiling. Rhyming âself homeâ with âcellphoneâ?! Singing about leaving the party?! Yesssss!. This is for me! On deeper listens, Premonitions is a goddamn masterpiece. Starting slowly & melodically, openers âThingamajigâ and the title track are captivating, then it unexpectedly explodes into 80â˛s dance bangers about half way through. Most of the album is deeply personal and self examining, finding Folick digging into to her own weaknesses & fears, without always settling on answers. She is vulnerable yet grand; part Lorde, part Florence, part Stevie NIcks, part Regina Spektor...All Miya. At its core, Premonitions celebrates life, celebrates the little victories. If you want to know/hear what that sounds like, maybe I should let you read from Miyaâs bandcamp page...
    âPremonitions begins with âThingamajigâ -- something you can't quite recall the name of, but you know exactly what it means and what it feels like. Like the pull of desire that comes with not quite remembering fully. The magnetism of something just on the tip of your tongue. I wanted the album to feel like that thing.
I think a lot about about memory-making as an act of creation, the words we use to describe a memory give shape to and sometimes mutate the memory itself. I believe that the way we choose to describe the events of our lives is not only a means of creative fulfillment, but an absolutely vital part of creating the world we want to live in. When we are dishonest in the present, we create a dishonest future. When we are honest in the present, we create a more honest future. I wanted this album to be the vehicle for a hopeful, truthful, generous, and loving world. I tried not to posture or pretend. I wrote about my life as I've seen it and how I'd like to see it, as both memory and premonition.
The producers, Justin Raisen and Yves Rothman, and I spent months collecting organic sounds to fill the world of this record. We threw away everything that felt false and tried to keep the soul of each song alive. I hope Premonitions gives you comfort and joy. I hope it feels like all the mysterious details of your lives, all your massive and mundane glories. I hope it reminds you that there is beauty in the details. Rainbows in your sprinklers. Drinking water from a hose. The way it felt to make a friend for the first time. Locking yourself in a bathroom to avoid everyone. Dancing until your shins burn. Leaving your phone in an Uber and making your best friend drive you an hour away to knock on a stranger's door after locating it on Find My Phone. Losing a friend. Losing yourself. Remembering...â
MT. JOY Â / Â Mt. Joy
I had almost finished making this list and nearly forgot about an album that marked a month-plus in the Spring when I listened to almost nothing else! Philly by way of LAâs Mt. Joy debut with an album that blends sunny California folk & smoothed out east coast pop-emo, into easy listening, easy singing indie rock. Named after a mountain in Valley Forge National Park (SE Pennsylvania); Mt. Joyâs songs similarly find geographic touch points across the US, making this a true road trip record. Multiple California references (San Fran, Mulholland, Hollywood, the ocean), make their way down to New Orleans, and end up on the east coast (âblood on the streets in Baltimoreâ & âthe beaches of Chincoteagueâ). Without breaking any new musical ground, Mt. Joy sounds comfortable & confident, and their songs play bigger & stickier than your average radio friendly pop-saturated-folk. When the title track hits its festival ready build (âyou canât stop us, feel like Ziggy Stardustâ) youâll have a hard time not rolling down your window and singing along. âWay up over Mt, Joy. Where everyoneâs free now. To move how they feel now.â
    âYour life will change straight out of the blue / The clouds in your mind just passing through / Image the horses when you set âem free / Go tear down the beaches of Chincoteague...â
NONAMEÂ Â /Â Â Room 25 (& Song 31)
    Room 25 kicks in innocently enough: smoothly humming wordless voices, steady drums, & jazzy piano flourishes. Like a lazy Sunday morning. Noname (Chicagoâs 27 year old Fatimah Warner) introduces herself with a laid back, matter-of-fact, stream of consciousness âmaybe this is the album you listen to in your car when youâre driving home late at night, really questioning every god, religion...â But then she says something that should make you pay attention.Â
âNah. Actually this is for me.âÂ
That creative confidence. That freedom, defines the rest of her album. No matter how much critical acclaim Room 25 racks up (I saw this album on a ton of end of the year lists!), no matter how downright fun & laugh out loud funny her breakneck rhymes are, this one is for Noname. I mean, you can still download (aka OWN...like for your ipod!) the whole album on bandcamp FOR FREE! Following in Chanceâs footsteps, itâs free mp3s for people like meeee! Raised in Chicagoâs slam poetry scene, she dabbles here in downtempo, smoothed out, futuristic jazz & soul. All the while she is unapologetically herself. Her words tripping over each other, too many thoughts, too much energy, too much passion to hold in. A clear blockbuster talent. One of my favorite new finds from last yearâs Eaux Claires festival, her late afternoon set up on the hill was radiant & joyful. The artwork I used here is from her early 2019 single âSong 31,â as she has pledged to change the official Room 25 cover art, due to assault charges leveled in October against the artist who did the original cover. âI do not and will not support abusers, and I will always stand up for victims & believe their stories.â Noname said, and she has been proven to be as vocal in her personal life as she is on tape. As she says in the uplifting âAce...âÂ
âGlobalization is scary, and fuckinâ is fantasticâ And yall still thought a bitch couldnât rap huh?...
    âWhen labels ask me to sign, say âmy name donât existâ / So many names donât exist / Moved into Inglewood & the trauma came with the rent / Only worldly possession I have is life / Only room that I died in was 25...Â
Medicineâs overtaxed, no name look like you / No name for private corporations to send emails to / Cuz when we walk into heaven, nobodyâs name gonnaâ exist / Just boundless movement for joy, nakedness, radiance...â
RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISEÂ Â /Â Â How To: Friend, Love, Freefall
    Rainbow Kitten Surprise made one of my five favorite albums this year (and probably the one that I sang along to in the car more than any other!) Imagine Modest Mouse growing up in North Carolina, in the 2010â˛s, writing smart, anti-lumineers-imagine dragons tunes, and going on to play arenas & rock clubs alike. This Boone, NC (pop. 17,000) five piece crank out catchy pop rock tunes; equal parts funky basslines, ooohs & ahhhs, and deceptively clever lyrics about religion, the south, and relationships both platonic & romantic. Huge single âFever Pitchâ rides rolling drums, background whoops, and finds charismatic frontman Sam Melo languidly recounting his religious upbringing and sing-rapping about getting to know you better. Other standouts include the acoustic blues (and Aha-Shake-era-Kings of Leon reminiscent!) âPainkillers,â the âMoon & Antarcticaâ rattletrap sing-song of âPossum Queen,â and the laugh-out-loud funny breakneck alternative pace of âMatchbox.â But it is song of the year contender âHideâ where Melo lays bare his feelings about growing up gay in a deeply religious south, when you get a peek at what Surprises these Rainbow Kittens are capable of. What starts as a bouncy love number takes a turn into some deep songwriting with âIâm running from a place where they donât make people like me, I keep the car running, I keep my bags packed. I donât wannaâ leave, just donât wannaâ leave last.â This is Fruit Batsâ âSoon-to-be Ghost Townâ written by someone whoâs lived it. RKS packages it all up as emotional anthems, dancey-catchy choruse that stick, & an album that-while serious, is so damn fun to sing along to. Theyâll be at Red Rocks next Summer so come hop on the bandwagon and get to know your new favorite band!
    âYouâre a master of passive-aggressive magic tricks like âthatâs not the card that I wouldâve picked, but itâs your life to live like how youâd like to live...ââ
SUN JUNEÂ Â /Â Â Years
    Sun Juneâs debut record Years is an album that I never expected to be on this list, but one that pushed its way into my heart, ears, and mind a lot over the early Summer. I kept comparing it to Leif Vollebekkâs gorgeously haunting 2017 release Twin Solitude that made it on last year's list in that it managed to be rhythmically funky & interesting while being mostly SO quiet. Even the more âupbeatâ numbers; from the gorgeously, golden swing of âYoung,â to the steady backbeat of âBaby Blueâ keep their composure meticulously. The writing is transfixing on Years and the band is so tight, with every member adding just the right amount of soft sound. I tried to explain it to somebody as music you have to âsquint to hear.â It sounds good in the background, all sweet & rolling. But better up close, turned up in headphones. All together & bright. This is an album I would listen to sleepily, on my way home from work, driving Colfax in the first light of dawn at 5 in the morning. Sun Juneâs lack of an internet presence is refreshing (is there ANYWHERE I can find the lyrics for this album??!!), I think theyâre from Texas, and I donât think theyâve even played a show in Colorado yet! Regardless, Years is tied together with a quietly tight rhythm section, and Laura Colwellâs wispy vocals, grabbing at the edges of my brain, calmy insisting âFour in the morning, I could get used to this...â
    âI was almost always leaving / Looking for the reason / Bedside hospital daylight / I go with the Southern mountains / Down the 405, Iâm coming tell me you donât deserve this / I was young...â
TIERRA WHACKÂ Â /Â Â Whack World
    I love me a good concept album, but even I wouldâve thought that the idea of 15 one minute songs(complete with video accompaniment) making up an entire album, would be a tough sell. Whack World makes good on an innovative concept, delivering something breezy, catchy, & lasting, and making Tierra Whack one of my favorite new finds of 2018! My little sister showed her to me on a âGet-your-ass-to-the-gymâ playlist and âFruit Saladâ was immediately stuck in my head for weeks. Mostly down-tempo, Whack is clearly a witty lyricist and creative mind, and at 23, a game changer in the music scene. Also an effortlessly cool, musical, badass. With almost no choruses, this is an album you can listen to over and over (and throw any tracks in mixes) without any clear singles. The bouncy gospel-tinged âPet Cemeteryâ has hand claps & dog barks, and is followed immediately by the laugh-out-loud vocals of âFuck Off.â Whack never takes herself too seriously (so many off the wall and laugh out loud funny vocals!) and the Philly native shows that one minute songs can turn a lot of heads and end up on a lot of end of the year best album lists! Whack World!
    âCrispy clean and crisp & clean / For the dough I go nuts like Krispy Kreme / Music is in my Billie genes / Canât no one ever come between yeah / Donât worry about me Iâm doing good, Iâm doing great, alright...â
TYPHOONÂ Â /Â Â Offerings
    It seemed like a lifetime since Typhoon released their sophomore knockout, masterpiece album White Lighter back in 2013. Iâve grown a lifetime since, experienced everything since. In the first few weeks of January 2018, out of the darkness, out of the silence: came something darker, weirder, but still magical and at its core, celebratory. Typhoon is one of my all-time favorite bands, one of my favorite live shows, and frontman Kyle Morton writes about memory & loss, life & death, better than anybody in the game. With Offerings they have dropped the peppy horns, slimmed down to (only!) seven members, and zeroed in on the heavy, spiraling folk-rock that hearkens back a little to Bright Eyes or The Decemberists, Broken Social Scene or Arcade Fire. As a loose concept album, Offerings explores in four movements (Floodplans, Flood, Reckoning, & Afterparty) what happens to a mind stripped of memory. Or (side quest/plot/twist) a world willfully forgetting its history. From the hushed chanting that explodes into huge string swells, drums, and shouts of opener âWakeâ to the rhythmic, glowing build of the 8 minute âEmpricist,â to the mystical picking and ruminating of âAlgernonâ the first movement could almost stand as an album of its own. The rest of the album unravels at equal parts slow reflection (âMansionâ & âBeachtowelâ) and sweeping indie rock (âRememberâ & âDarkerâ). Although a lengthy (and at times not easy) listen, I think Offerings will go down as one of the most ambitious rock records of the last few years.Â
    â& so the light fades / Itâs still your birthday / So blow out your past lives like theyâre candles on a cake...â
VALLEY MAKERÂ Â /Â Â Rhododendron
    There is a mysticism buried somewhere in the emotive vocals & break-in-the-clouds writing of North Carolina by way of Washington Stateâs Valley Maker. Austin Crane is the singular voice behind the Valley Maker project, painting time & space on a dark, slippery canvas, and hiding complex truths in the rhythmic tides of Rhododendron. This ground has been tread before; by countless folk singers & prophets, wailing of death, dark magic, & the myriad mysteries of time, but Valley Maker understand their place in the linear and bring a modern take to ancient stories. Part War on Drugs-highway-drone (check the double yellow rattle of âLight on the Groundâ), part Ben Howardâs-foggy-British-countryside (âBeautiful Birds Flyingâ), Crane writes songs that stick. They claw and seep their way into skin, into veins, and haunt in a way that echoes of the past. This is songwriting as a conduit. These stories are Craneâs, but they are older; tales told since religion begin. From the first lines of the roiling, dark sky opener (âtime is just a game I play / itâs written on the oceanâs waves / circling beyond my brain / something I could not contain.â) to the uncertain give & take of the earthy âSeven Signsâ (âIâm cutting in line but I havenât decided...â) the writing is equal to the musicianship Crane and his backing band clearly have in spades. With Chaz Bear (Toro Y Moi) providing stellar percussion and Amy FItchette (who I was lucky enough to see sing with VM at the Doug Fir in Portland) lending absolutely haunting, otherworldly harmonies, Crane has depth beyond his strange tunings and bleep & bloop electric forests. Through it all there is a steady rhythm to the darkness and like in âBaby, In Your Kingdomâ when he tops a wonderfully simple, acoustic walk-down with âBaby are you satisfied? Take a decade, take a lifetime, I know weâre always on a one way street...â there is a timeless beauty even in the mystery. Oh, and saxophone. Rhododendron has some great saxophone.Â
    âBaby in the next life / I can touch you, I can ride the light / Goddamn I wanât where I thought Iâd be / 29. Burn the world around me & I hide / Baby in your kingdom / Sink my roots in, Iâm a tall tree / I know, wind is gonna blow again / I know, when I am with you...I am known...â
because i wanted to start over i want to think of you as you think of me and are you everlasting? when life is death and death is in between
vision of the world as it's made new
remnants of a life i was born into
well there was a love that I know that I knew
all things change but nothingâs new