Every year, there seems to be some sort of new theme for me - for a while, it was really enjoying new sub-genres that I really had struggled to get into, then it turned into discovering new albums that I absolutely ADORED deep into the year (and even after I started compiling my list). This year was no different, as it was perhaps finally cracking the code on really enjoying female vocalists. One third of my top 15 is female singers! Let's get to it:
Kevin Parker checks in with album #5, and the results are meh. Starting with 2015’s Currents, he began taking a more electronic approach to his music. Currents is an all-timer for me; a wonderful blend of new and old in hindsight. The Slow Rush was album #4, and that was even further into the dance/house/r&b realm, but I still enjoyed it enough. Deadbeat just feels like a guy playing in someone else’s sandbox. For the first time in 15 years, he just seems over his skis. It isn’t bad per se, it just feels amateurish. House music is clearly something he feels passionate about, but I just don’t think it’s his specialty. That said, there is enough on here that I like to sneak it onto my list.
The follow-up to my 2021 album of the year, this one sort of fell flat for me. I liked it enough to include it here, but it just felt a little bland. In all fairness, I’m not sure Hideaway was all that different than his other releases. Sometimes music just hits you at the right time and in the right mood.
Yeah, a bit of a head scratcher. I struggle to describe this, and I’m also a little embarrassed at how much I liked it. It’s definitely indie pop at its core, but a lot of the instrumentation is firmly in the 2000s-NY-revival-the-Strokes-ish vein. And that’s probably why I’m into it. The lead singer gets under my skin a little bit, especially after I watched some live clips, but it doesn’t deter me from really enjoying the album.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every year, there’s an album that everybody gushes over, and if you don’t have it on your year-end list, you’re just an idiot (eye roll). The weird thing is that a lot of the musicians and critics whose opinion I value are all over this one. As I was trying and trying and trying to get into it as much as everybody else, I decided to go back to their first two albums to maybe gain some perspective. And what happened was that despite listening to those first two several times when they came out and ultimately passing on them, I came to really, really love both. AND now here we are, and for me, Getting Killed is my least favorite of the 3. That said, I do enjoy enough of this that it makes my list; it’s just not for me as much as it is (allegedly) for everybody else.
This is another weird, all-over-the-place album that I really loved. There’s one straight-up shoegaze song, two songs that border on country (at least as far as the vocals and melody are concerned), and a smattering of others that are just indie rock guitar songs. It’s the exact opposite of the cohesiveness in an album that I go on and on about, but the strength of the individual songs shines through.
These indie pop rockers are here with their 3rd album, following 2020’s self-titled and 2022’s Pocket Fantasy. Both hit my list those years at #4 and #9 respectively, so I was pretty sure I was going to like this one, and I did. It’s the same basic formula - female vocals, upbeat, catchy as hell melodies with guitar and synth sprinkled in. I will admit this one comes in just a little less enjoyable than the previous 2 but it still got enough spins for me to give it a home here.
Ironfish got me onto these guys last year with Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot. It took me a few listens, but it eventually clicked and got into me good. It’s just some really riffy-ass wannabe punk rock music that I absolutely love. This one didn’t quite hit for me like last year’s offering, but I still really enjoyed it. They are quite literally the master of the under-2-minute song.
One half of Water From Your Eyes (see below), Nate Amos, apparently re-recorded some of his earlier, more straightforward indie pop songs and dropped them as his second proper album, and man, are they good! It differs quite a bit stylistically from Water From Your Eyes, but the results are still great. Just catchy and melodic guitar pop songs that all still seem like they belong together despite being all recorded sporadically - a very cohesive album IMO.
Proof that once a band provides me with something I absolutely love, no matter how much time goes by, they can do it again. After dropping two largely bland we’re-sailing-off-into-the-end albums with Let’s Rock and Dropout Boogie, they sucked me all the way back in out of nowhere last year with Ohio Players, and they’ve now kept the streak going with this one. It’s a far cry from their roots, but the results aren’t complaining. It’s just a catchy ass groovy rock album with plenty of great songwriting and musicianship.
I digested this album as well as their 2023 album Cartwheel in just a few weeks and enjoyed them enough to make this my annual go-to-north-carolina-to-see-a-
Turnstile is every online publication's favorite band right now. I think there’s very much a “monkey see monkey do” thing going on with all the top sites/critics, but this time they got it right. “Hardcore band softens edges, slides into more vanilla music fans' libraries” is exactly what the headline should be to describe this, and 2021’s Glow On. Truth be told, it’s riffy as all hell, loud and abrasive in all the right ways, and vocally aggressive justtttt enough. I absolutely love it, though admittedly it isn’t on par with Glow On.
This is a great, great album that has many different elements to it - power pop, dream pop, a touch of shoegaze, a little emo at times, but always just the right amount of guitar oomph and melody to keep it all tied together. The beginning line to the second song, “It didn’t cross my mind…” repeated in my head for weeks when I first got into the album, just because it was so catchy. I typically view lo-fi production as a detriment, but it really just works with the rest of the recipe here. Any fan of guitar pop will adore this one.
Man oh mannnnnnn Ty is back! Manipulator is an absolute masterpiece IMO, currently sitting at #41 on my top-100-since-1990 list. He’s legendary for his voluminous output, often disregarding quality along the way. SIX albums (PLUS collaborations and side projects) came out between Manipulator in 2014 and Three Bells last year that were all super lackluster. I have no idea why Three Bells veered back into the more digestible territory of Manipulator, but it hit really hard for me, and now Possession is even better. The song “Possession” is my song of the year, and the rest of the album lines up. I’m very super excited to see what’s next for my boy.
This is the major label debut from longtime under-the-radar singer-songwriter Alex Giannascoli. Melodies abound front to back on this one! He has a unique ability to create the most melodic vocal delivery. The way he accentuates certain words while singing both the chorus and verses is just exquisite. There are so many little instrumental flourishes that stand out due to the overall subdued nature of the music (the little 4-note flute part in the middle of the first verse of Real Thing?). This was my album of the year all the way until I discovered what came next:
Only having discovered this album roughly a month ago, it’s skyrocketed all the way to the top. I’ve listened to it probably 30 or 40 times in this span. An “experimental pop” duo from NYC, this is their second album (the first I literally haven’t even listened to yet). What this thing has is cohesiveness, flow, riffs, head nodding moments galore, and very cool little instrumental bits to both break it up and tie it together. "One Small Step" and "For Mankind" are identical one-minute intros and outros of instrumental music that I just can’t describe (in the best way possible). "Life Signs" rips off the RHCP "Around the World" formula. "Nights in Armor" has the head noddiest guitar riff I’ve heard in quite some time. "Born 2" has a relentless distortion-laden riff that would make the gnarliest shoegaze band proud. "You Don’t Believe in God" is a pretty little orchestral instrumental that takes you down after "Born 2". "Spaceship" is a clunky-ass bass and drum machine-driven track that just chinks along. 'Playing Classics" builds momentum and adds little additional instrumental elements until the one-minute mark, where it just soarrrrssss in with the catchiest cascading piano I’ve ever heard. "It’s a Beautiful Place" (the song) is a one-minute guitar solo that I would swear was recorded by John Frusciante in 1993 (bonus points - they are big RHCP fans, which is unheard of from well-respected young indie musicians these days). "Blood on the Dollar" is the last proper track and the only one that is not a 10/10. I realize the come down point at the end of an album, but it just falls flat a little bit IMO. This is not even close to enough to ruin what came before it. This is my album of the year.
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