More and more of time that I’d usually spend listening to music is spent listening to podcasts and audiobooks. ESPN’s Baseball Tonight podcast has been essential to me for years, however I have recently discovered Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, a series that blurs the line between audiobook and graduate level lectures in history.That said, I sincerely doubt that there are many professors, or authors of historical non-fiction, that are as interesting as Carlin is. I’ve downloaded as many free episodes as possible, and now am purchasing the remainder from his site. I’ve also subscribed to Common Sense another podcast hosted by Carlin, but focused on current events and politics. And with the presidential race being the train wreck that it is, I listen to the audio of ABC’s and NBC’s Sunday morning shows to further satisfy my morbid curiosity with American politics.
Audiobooks have also becoming more of a habit for me this year, as I’ve had good luck finding recent bestsellers to borrow from the Philadelphia Free library. I’m listening to less music, and what I am listening to was more likely than not released prior to 2015, because yes, today’s music sucks. I don’t care if that makes me sound old, it’s mostly true. So without further ado, my highly subjective top 10 albums of 2015.
Buffy Sainte-Marie : Power In the Blood I don’t care if this makes me sound old either, but I’ve also been finding an increasing amount of new music from listening to NPR. Sainte-Marie was on with Terry Gross and I was immediately blown away by “Not the Lovin Kind”, which in the hands of less talented singer would sound like a fairly run-of-the mill blues number. Instead Sainte-Marie sounds like what I’d imagine Bjork would, if she was fronting a Led Zepplin cover band. Throughout the course of the album, I found myself becoming addicted to way Sainte-Marie enunciates certain words and phrases. Listen to “Farm in the Middle of Nowhere” and you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Courtney Barnett : Sometimes I Sit and Think.. I heard a lot of praise for album, especially from the Philly media surrounding Barnett’s appearance at WXPN’s summer festival. What I didn’t hear from critics was any indication of how much this album would remind me of Pavement. Barnett’s lyrics paint a picture and more of a story than Malkmus’ stoner-grad conflations do, but tracks like “An Illustration of Loneliness” or “Small Poppies” sound straight off of Brighten the Corners. It’s indie-rock comfort food, glaced with an Australian accent.
Built to Spill : Untethered Moon Marstch and company made another great Built to Spill record and I hope they never stop doing so.
Sleater Kinney : No Cities to Love After watching Brownstein parody so much music over the past few years on Portlandia, it felt legitimately strange / awesome watching her slay "A New Wave" on Letterman. As that lead single indicates, the album is the band’s most polished and accessible record to date, without compromising any of the unique sound that has defined the band since their inception.
Kendrick Lamar : To Pimp a Butterfly Not only the best album of this year, To Pimp a Butterfly will receive strong consideration for the number one position when critics are compiling their best of the decade lists. Like any truly great album, its sum is greater than its parts. But also like any other great album, the opening track sets the tone for the rest.
There’s a reason that this album launched a million think pieces, Lamar is a genius lyricist and no other artist better explores modern blackness is America. In an era when so much new music sounds like it could’ve been released years ago, To Pimp a Butterfly is definitively 2015, and that is its greatest strength.
Bjork : Vulnicura This album basically takes me to another planet, a strange and beautiful planet that I don’t want to leave.
The Beatles : Streaming Putting these guys on the list for the same reason I put the Simpsons on my TV list last year. This move is seriously overdue, the band missed out on a projected $15 million in 2015 by withholding their music from services until Christmas Eve. Taylor Swift and Adele made the right move by keeping their albums off Spotify this year. But it seems certain that at some point, those albums will be losing out on money but staying off services. It just takes an immensely talented behavioural economist to determine exactly where that point is.
Wilco : Star Wars I was disappointed in the band’s last two records, so I was pleasantly surprised by Star Wars, a real return to form for the band. At same time, it’s not an album that you’ll soon confuse with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or Summerteeth.
Yo La Tengo : Stuff Like That There Like Built to Spill, there isn’t much to report here other than guys know how to make really good records, and this is another one of them.
Ton-Taun : You’re Not Doing It Right Throughout its 72 minutes, it’s clear that the band did not skimp on any time spent in the studio. The lead singer won a 50 / 50 at a Flyers’ game, and put his winnings toward producing this album. The result is a masterfully produced rock album, with many great singles that nod towards Wilco’s and the Replacements’ best work.
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