Drumroll, please....
5. Yaquina Bay - Past Lives
Yaquina Bay - Past Lives
Self-Released
Released: September 12, 2015
Salem's own outdid themselves. From the opening blast to the concluding lock-groove (get the vinyl!), this is a superb album. I feel like I'm always a bit overcritical listening to Yaquina Bay, possibly because I consider it so close musically to my own music. I keep thinking things like "I'd've added guitar here," or "too much backing vocals here" or things like that. Really, I'm being overcritical because I like it so much. My only complaint is that it all sounds vaguely like Typhoon, but in its defense, the world could use more music like Typhoon. That's not a bad thing. Buy the vinyl record, CD, or download at Bandcamp.
4. Modest Mouse - Strangers to Ourselves
Modest Mouse - Strangers to Ourselves
Epic Records
Released: March 17, 2015
It's no coincidence that Isaac Brock's record label is named Glacial Pace. Modest Mouse's last album dropped in 2007, and this one has been in the works since then. I can relate.
Being a Modest Mouse hipster (saw 'em in a SLC basement in '97), I keep halfway expecting disappointment with each subsequent Modest Mouse release. They seem larger than life now-- I mean, they had Johnny Marr join their band for an album. Who does that?
Lucky for me, they are one of the few bands making music today that is consistently great. While this album doesn't seem to reach the rarefied heights of many of their previous albums, this is a good, solid rock album with some amazing songs, and certainly not in any way disappointing.
Keep 'em coming. I'm fully prepared to love the next Modest Mouse album whenever it comes out (2023?)
Being a Modest Mouse hipster (saw 'em in a SLC basement in '97), I keep halfway expecting disappointment with each subsequent Modest Mouse release. They seem larger than life now-- I mean, they had Johnny Marr join their band for an album. Who does that?
Lucky for me, they are one of the few bands making music today that is consistently great. While this album doesn't seem to reach the rarefied heights of many of their previous albums, this is a good, solid rock album with some amazing songs, and certainly not in any way disappointing.
Keep 'em coming. I'm fully prepared to love the next Modest Mouse album whenever it comes out (2023?)
3. Jen Wood - Wilderness
Jen Wood - Wilderness
New Granada Records
Released: October 14, 2014
Jen Wood hit her stride early, with a song on the Postmarked Stamps 7" series and a few nationally recognized albums before her 20th birthday. That's why it's super surprising that (ahem) several years later, Jen Wood just created the best album of her career.
This is her piano album-- she switched from guitar to piano for songwriting on this album, but the surprising thing about this album is the depth of songwriting and the lushness of the instrumentation.
Aw shucks, it's all great. That's why it was surprising to see her play in Portland to an unenthusiastic crowd and pack up her merch table early due to lack of interest.
Don't be that way. Listen to the songs here, and then buy the album here.
This is her piano album-- she switched from guitar to piano for songwriting on this album, but the surprising thing about this album is the depth of songwriting and the lushness of the instrumentation.
Aw shucks, it's all great. That's why it was surprising to see her play in Portland to an unenthusiastic crowd and pack up her merch table early due to lack of interest.
Don't be that way. Listen to the songs here, and then buy the album here.
2. The Lowest Pair - Sacred Heart Sessions / I Reckon...
The Lowest Pair - The Sacred Heart Sessions // I Reckon I'm Fixin' on Kickin' Round to Pick a Little
Team Love Records
Released: February 24, 2015 // July 24, 2015.
The banjo-heavy creators of my top new album last year came back with not one, but two albums in a 6 month span this year. The first, a proper sophomore album, was recorded in Low's favorite Duluth hangout, the Sacred Heart church. The second was a more hastily put-together affair of reimagined old Trad Arr songs, and a few originals that sound that way. Both are eminently listenable and great albums. Only Palmer T. Lee could make me view the state of Minnesota with any sort of nostalgia. Great songs. Only a notch below their fantastic debut.
1. Low - Ones and Sixes
Low - Ones and Sixes
Sub Pop Records
Released: September 11, 2015.
Low has been a lot of things over their 20+ year career, finding every possible permutation of "slow rock", from shimmery and beautiful to harsh and angry, and from long and proggish to short and minimalistic. I thought with their last album that they were settling down into a decidedly comfortable, dad-rock vein.
Boy, I thought wrong. This is an unsettled, disturbing album. Its beats are often distorted, rattly drum machine things, rather than the organic hi-hat and snare we're used to. The album has a pervasive paranoia that has only haunted a few Low albums in the past (maybe Great Destroyer or Long Division), with only a lone semi-poppy song (What Part of Me) sandwiched in the middle.
It's probably their best album in 10 years or so. Alan and Mimi, it appears, are not going gently into that good night. Here's to 20+ more years of groundbreaking music.
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