Top 5 New Albums 2015

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?)

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.

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.

Top 5 New Discoveries 2015

...The best 5 albums that I've heard this year that aren't new:

5. The B-52s - Party Mix! (1981)

The B-52s - Party Mix

Released: 1981

I've been aware that the B-52s exist all my life. I can sing along to Rock Lobster and Love Shack, but I haven't really listened to them or thought of them as anything other than ironic auditory wallpaper. I picked this one up in the dollar bin at my local record store (in a 2-fer CD with "Mesopotamia", their ill-fated EP recorded with David Byrne, which is much less fun than it could have been) .

This 1981 remix EP takes 3 tracks from their 2nd album and 3 tracks from their first album and mixes them into two continuous songs.  This cd kept returning to my player, and I got to appreciate less well known songs like "Party Out of Bounds", "Lava", "Give Me Back My Man"... 

Totally danceable and totally fun. I didn't know it, but I needed more B-52s in my life. If you need more in your life, you can pick it up on the cheap from Amazon.

4. Farewell Bend - In Passing (1998)

The Farewell Bend - In Passing
Slowdime Records

Released: 1998

My recent Boys Life kick sent me to track down Farewell Bend, which was the band 3 members of Boys Life formed after that band broke up. This album is every bit as good as Boys Life's two albums if not better. Solid 90s rock all round. I got it cheap on amazon, but it's doing the amazon thing and selling it for 25 bucks now. Looks like Dischord Records is selling the LP cheap. Maybe I'll pick it up on vinyl too.

3. Hoover - The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 (1994)

Hoover - The Lurid Traversal of Route 7
Dischord Records

Released: 1994

More super classic 90s indie. I've known about Hoover for years and years (and had some great MP3s), but I've always meant to check out their full length, and there's always been some reason or other I passed on their albums. This one is right up my alley - Fred Erskine was later in June of 44 (one of my faves) and Hoover members have gone onto the Crownhate Ruin, Codeine, Radio Flyer and many other great bands.

Every time I hear this album it almost seems too perfect. I think I'm going to listen to it again. You can buy this on Dischord Records.

2. Roxette - Roxbox 86-06  (2006) / Charm School (2011)  / Travelling (2012)

Roxette - The Roxbox 86-06 // Charm School // Travelling

Released: 2006 // 2011 // 2012

I got a lovely christmas present of all three recent-ish Roxette releases that I was too embarrassed to buy for myself. I can't get enough of saying "Roxette Box Set" ... say it out loud. It's pleasant. 

Anyway, I binged on Roxette. Roxette (for the uninitiated) is pure Swedish pop in the vein of Abba. Their big hits came at the tail end of the 80s, and they are my favorite guilty pleasure. Per Gessle is a remarkably talented guitar player and songwriter, and their songs aren't quite as synthy and manufactured as their reputation may suggest.

The Box Set is a little excessive for someone who owns their albums, because there are lots and lots of album tracks on there. Nevertheless, the B-sides are sweet and tasty. There are probably 1 1/2 discs worth of goodness on this 4-disc set. The best tracks are the earliest ones (as you would expect), but the later songs are quite good, too.The reading material in the box set is quite interesting, too. It's an interesting case study about how giving away half their album for free in a McDonalds happy meal (it was 1995, things were weird.) killed their careers in America. Interesting stuff.

Charm School, coming on the heels of a retirement and reunion, and their first real album since 2004, is a solid chunk of pop. Roxette is in good form, and this is as good as any of their post-Joyride albums.

Travelling is a little inconsistent, and it apes their 1993 album Tourism by throwing in a couple of token live hits, but there are also some real solid pop songs on there, too. All worthwhile, at least if you've got the musical sweet tooth that I have. I guess you can buy these on Amazon here, here, and here.

1. Thermals - The Body, the Blood, the Machine (2006) // Desperate Ground (2013)

The Thermals - The Body, the Blood, the Machine // Desperate Ground
Sub Pop Records // Saddle Creek Records

Released: 2006 // 2013

The Thermals played two shows in pretty quick succession at Level B in Salem Oregon about a year ago, which prompted me to finally buy their catalog (some 12 years or so after first seeing them)

The Body... is their 2006 third album, and in my opinion, their best. It's a concept album about Christian Fundamentalists, but you don't need to know that to rock out to it. 2013's Desperate Ground is a close follow-up to TBTBTM, if not quite as good. This time, the subject is war and soldiering.

I need to talk less about these albums and let the music speak for itself, because it does. Buy these records from the band here.

Top 5 Miscellaneous Songs 2015

"Miscellaneous Songs" -- songs that aren't on albums in one of the other top 5 lists. "2015" - encountered by me in 2015, regardless of release year.

5. Seven Storey Mountain - Shiny Reward (2015)

Seven Storey Mountain - Shiny Reward

A La Mierda

self-released

Released May 5, 2015

Seven Storey Mountain have been making rock since 1994. By now, it is just a solo project from frontman Lance Lammers, but unlike all those other solo projects out there, this sacrifices 0% of the rock. All seven of the songs on Seven Storey Mountain's new Bandcamp EP A La Mierda sound fresh and could have easily been on their 1997 magnum opus Leper Ethics. Good emotional Rock and Roll. 90s Style. The best. 



note: oops. Looks like "Shiny Reward" isn't available unless you buy the album. Oh well, here's an embed of the album: 







4. The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette - Justified and Ancient (Stand by the JAMs) (1991)

 The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette -Justified and Ancient (Stand by the JAMs)

single

EMI UK

Released November, 1991

Wow. Two english jokesters play a prank on the music industry. Along the way, they invent or revolutionize sampling, Trance music, Chillout/Ambient techno, make a UK #1 hit ripping off Garry Glitter and Doctor Who, make a hit pop album a la C+C Music Factory, complete with top MTV hit, and then remix a song with Tammy Wynette, then dabble in Grindcore, implode publicly at a music awards, literally burn 1 million pounds of profit, and disappear. Truth is stranger than fiction, and this song is stranger than most. This is kitchen-sink pop. Hendrix riffs, rap, country, steel guitar, beats. It's pretty catchy. "Bring the beat back!"

3. Sia - Chandelier [Plastic Plates Remix] (2014)

 Sia - Chandelier [Plastic Plates Remix]

Chandelier Single / original on "1000 Forms of Fear"

EMI UK

Released March 2014

Thanks to Australian pop singer Sia for writing a new theme song for The Chandelier Swing. This hysterical opera-pop song is actually quite catchy. My preferred version is the Plastic Plates remix, although the original is cool, too. The music video is weird, but Jim Carrey lampooned it in classic fashion on SNL.

2. One Last Wish - Burning in the Undertow (1986 / 1996)

One Last Wish - Burning in the Undertow

"1986"

Dischord Records

Recorded 1986 / Released 1996

Here is where I flunk rock history. I LOVE Rites of Spring, which features Guy Picciotto on vocals and guitar. After Rites of Spring, I LOVE Fugazi, which has Guy as well as Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Embrace. I'm aware of (and need to hear more of) Happy Go Licky, which Guy was in as well. I didn't know that between Happy Go Licky and Fugazi, Guy fronted a short-lived band called One Last Wish. I've only heard one song, and I LOVE it. I'm sure that by this time next year, their album will be on my "best finds" list. Right now, as I've only heard the one song, it's here.

Buy the album here. I'm going to.

1. Seahorse - Nightingale (2015)

Seahorse - Nightingale

The Fire's Heart

Raven's Flight Records

Released February, 2015

As you can tell, local Salem songwriter Rich Swanger has hit a nerve. A haunting and dark story-song that sounds like it has existed forever. This is one of the greats. Thanks, Rich.

Here's where you can buy the CD.