As is the case with any CSH release, there are about 134 different genres and different styles wedged into any given album. Here, Will Toledo and Company continue that trend. The album lacks cohesiveness in my opinion, but broken down song by song it’s really great. Their last album, 2018’s Twin Fantasy, was largely a let down so it’s nice to see a rebound here. There’s a lot of electronica-esque stuff with enough guitar to satisfy. I can’t help but notice every time I listen to this how much he sounds like Beck.
My taste for the occasional shoegaze offering is common knowledge at this point and this is the latest installment. Some admittedly rough vocals are laid over some very good musical arrangements, sometimes synthy and sometimes guitar-driven but always catchy and warm. Some albums sound better with certain weather and this one pairs nicely with full sun.
A pure indie rock album if I ever did hear one, this thing runs uptempo-ish songs with borderline emo vocals and some catchy ass guitar at all the right times. Released during my work-related stress peak, I probably didn’t properly appreciate this and maybe still don’t, but it’s really great front to back.
One of my favorite all-time bands embarked on quite the endeavor: write, record, mix, produce, and release an album in just 30 days during the quarantine. The result is good, not great. This is easily the worst album they’ve released out of the last 6 but I still enjoyed it enough to include it here; a significant accomplishment considering the self-imposed challenge.
Afie is back with another great album. I really wish he’d lean more on his (excellent) guitar skills eventually but for now, I’ll have to settle for his songwriting. It’s all so introspective and personal, relying very much on his vocals with instrumentation taking a slight step to the background frequently. I really feel like I just took a long car ride and heard about his life, but not in a bad way.
I enjoy this album quite a bit but it’s easily my least favorite of his 4. Album #3, Currents, was my album of the year in 2015. It was a significant departure from the earlier guitar-driven psych-rock sound that I LOVED, mixing in a really trippy psych-pop/electronica element. The Slow Rush is even deeper in that vein but it comes off feeling watered down. Here’s to hoping there’s another level coming...
Wow, what an upset! After making some truly great stuff early in his career, as well as two excellent Raconteurs albums, he sort of fizzled out with his last few releases and then literally released nothing for 6 years. Maybe the Raconteurs' comeback energized him because he followed that up with his first solo album in 7 years and it is quite good! Not on the same level, in my opinion, as his early stuff but very, very close. Every year something unexpected comes along for me musically and this year, it's Dear Life.
This is more or less a sequel to 2018’s Hope Downs, which was also featured on my list. Uptempo guitar-driven rock with catchy vocals. Riffy as all hell with timely solos. A true head-nodder.
My favorite R&B/retro soul singer is back with his first album since 2016’s Man About Town. That one landed in my top 10 and now here we are again. He’s taken the falsetto soul thing and wannabe-Jimmy-Conway appearance to another level in recent years and I couldn’t be a bigger fan. Most striking to me is how far his voice has come. Way back when he couldn’t really sing and got by on swagger and uniqueness. He sounds legitimately great now. I’ve been enjoying these songs all year, as he released them all individually, but now as a collection and a formal album they can be properly ranked.
This is one of my favorite discoveries this year. A pure indie-pop group with a trippy female vocalist and probably an even 50/50 split on synthy pop songs and straight-up guitar-driven goodness. I’ve been describing them as Crumb if they didn’t smoke as much weed. This is a very special catchy ass album; highly recommended.
This album is supperrrrr, super good. Just some real trippy fuzzed-out rock meant to be played in a dark room high as hell on weed. If you aren’t nodding your head 30 seconds into the first song I’m worried for you. Guitar driven psychedelia is my personal honey hole and that is exactly where this lands. I imagine these guys play every live show at 3am with sunglasses on.
Oh shit, this one hit me really good too. I somehow missed that Jake suggested it, discovered it on my own, had that “holy shit the boys are gonna love this!” moment, and then my proudness was crushed into smithereens. No matter, the end result is that we have it! Just some sludgy ass rock-n-roll with the most unique voice leading the way (Joel Plunkett). I have particular respect for 3 piece bands because it means someone is really doing a lot of heavy lifting with the vocals plus whatever else they're responsible for. If Cafe Racer is the headlining band coming on at 3am, Country Westerns are the opener at 1:30 in the same dark small ass bar.
This top 5 is really crossing off all my personal musical boxes. Let's see...we hit pop psychedelia, sludgy garage rock, r&b/soul, hmmm what else?? Ahhhh yes, we didn't include a solo singer-songwriter yet. And here we are at my album of the year. A Murn recommendation, this thing is stellar as hell. Tempo changes, mood changes, style changes, lots of fitting-but-not-overbearing guitar work, and some catchy vocals make the perfect stew for my ears. I played this on repeat for quite a while and re-listening now to write this it hits just as hard.
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