Best Of

It was a year in which I was reminded more than once that music is a healing force, or can be if we let it. It’s a time out from day to day concerns, an opportunity to visit a different part of our brain and let art take over. One thing about every single artist whose work I’m about to highlight—they didn’t hold back. They gave you a hundred percent of their truth, whether they chose to pair it with three chords or a 13-piece prog orchestra. As a listener, that’s all I can ask.  Ready For Prime Time Award…

I have to say, I was fairly underwhelmed with most new music being made in 2019. Not that there weren't great records released this year, of course, but I had to wade through so much mediocrity to find something truly exceptional. Here are the 10 best releases I tracked down, in no particular order: Bad Luck – Drug Phase A fairly obscure outfit who blend punk, indie-rock, alt-rock, and rock 'n' roll in ways that would have the 25 year old me dedicating my undying adoration for, the 43 year old me is still quite impressed. The Cranberries – In…

NOTE: While I had hoped to go into deeper detail about each record and song, working on my dissertation for my Master’s degree in English left me with very little time for overt detail. Hopefully, one can listen to these tunes and simply understand why I think they’ve been so amazing, or not.Top 10 Albums of the Year 1. Imperial Teen - Now We Are Timeless 2. Huffamoose - …And That’s When the Golf Ball Hit Me in the Head 3. Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind4. The Specials - Encore  5. Sebadoh - Act Surprised  6. PUP - Morbid…

In a year when both losses and gains felt too large to measure at times, I struggled to give my full appreciation to music. Interestingly, the artist whose body of work played the biggest individual role in my musical year didn’t even come out with a new album in 2018, though he and his band did star in my favorite live concert experience of the year (see below). It was a year of ups and downs, advances and retreats, looking forward and looking back. In the end, I found perhaps fewer musical events to celebrate, but a greater intensity of…

 10. Porcupine – What You've Heard Isn't Real (EP)Porcupine have been a great, though overlooked, band for awhile now, but they're even better now that Greg Norton (Husker Du) is on board. And not so surprisingly, they're seeing more visibility. This EP of smart alt-rock and dreamy post-punk is some of the best in recent history. 9. Tres Oui – Poised To FlourishJangly pop and post-punk vibes truly do flourish on this '80s-esque album that's made for fans of The Smiths, The Cure, or even Dinosaur Jr. 8. The Persian Leaps – Pop That Goes CrunchThe second outfit of Twin Cities…

Honourable Mentions Grateful Dead – Pacific Northwest '73-'74: Believe It If You Need ItThis is the Grateful Dead at the absolute peak of their powers. If you’re a Dead fan, you need this. If you’re a Dead skeptic, this could be the set that converts you. Sublime performances from start to finish. Albert Hammond Jr. – Francis TroubleA solid album of to-the-point, no-frills rock tunes. He’s best known as the guitar player for The Strokes, but if I’m honest, I think I’ve enjoyed this solo album significantly more than the last few Strokes records. Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – GlampingOne…

This year was interesting. Not only did I undergo many personal challenges, I found a lack of great and amazing music that really blew my mind. Maybe it’s the lack of anything new and exciting and because rock and roll is no longer what it used to be. Whatever the reason, what follows is an unranked list of the best of what’s around from this year. Mudhoney – Digital GarbageThis was the best album of the year regardless of what others say. The grunge stalwarts came back after five years off the racks and went political, and guess what? They…

10. Bill Scorzari - Through These WavesRugged, soulful Americana with distinct gravelly vocals that make you want to build a cabin in the mountains and learn how to play the banjo. 9. The Jerry Cans - Inuusiq/LifeFeaturing throat singing mixed with indie rock and country, this is one of the most unusual and interesting albums of the year from a band who live somewhere most people have never heard of (Nunavut).8. Baby In Vain - More Nothing Baby In Vain is a t trio of females from Denmark with a penchant for noisy alt-rock. On this album, they align themselves…

In. 10. Lorde – MelodramaI liked Lorde’s debut album a fair bit, but things could have gone either way with this follow-up. Either she could have repeated the same style with weaker songs and fizzled out, or she could have built on her strengths and grown into an even better pop artist than she already was. Thankfully, she picked the second option. The album is a bit inconsistent, but the best songs (especially the ballads) show Lorde developing into a legitimately great songwriter, and I look forward to continuing to follow her career. 9. Neil Cicierega – Mouth MoodsOur good…

Twenty seventeen was a lot better than 2016 in more ways than one. True, we lost Tom Petty, Chuck Mosley, and Chris Cornell, but personally, things finally began looking up. Along the way, there were some great soundtracks to back up everything that was going on. Let’s take a look back, shall we? 10. The Full Counts – First OutStarted by former members of ‘90s alt rockers Gumball, The Full Counts put out a record that record was quite different from what I’ve been listening to. But I felt drawn to it and have kept going back throughout the year.…