mrfuriousrecords.com – Aspect Deletion "Depletion" out now!

Category: MR|Review

  • The Best Music Howie Heard In 2020

    Albums of the year, in random order

    • Ebony Tusks, “Heal_Thyself” & “HDF”

      Our local noise-rap hype griots D-E-L-I-V-E-R on their debut LP following a decade of intense shows.
    • Prince, “1999 Super Deluxe Edition” (2019)

      I spent the year absorbing this incredible set. The deluxe edition mixes have all sounded good, but this is the first to top (!) the originals to my ears. The Prince estate’s quest to separate me from my money continues apace; look for “Sign o’ the Times” on next year’s list.
    • Dark Satellites, “May You Live In
      Interesting Times”

      At the start of the pandemic Drew disappeared into the garage, secretly banging out this bleak, Teutonic meditation on the titular curse.
    • Fiona Apple, “Fetch The Bolt Cutters”

      Harry Nilsson-, Joni Mitchell-, Carole King-, Randy Newman-level songwriting for 2020, performed with Apple’s unique panache. This album will be studied. “Kick me under the table all you want, I won’t shut up!”
    • Run The Jewels, “RTJ4”

      Mike and El’s unimpeachable streak continues and expands. What is there to say, really? They’re the best, with as strong a claim to “Artist of the Decade” as anyone else.

    More outstanding music, roughly power-ranked

    • Backxwash, “God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It”

      Backxwash’s beats and bars sting, swirl, and stab like no one else’s. They’re a one of one.
    • Secret Machines’ singles, b-sides, EPs,
      and bootlegs (2003 – 2019)

      The official releases of “Live At The Garage” and “Awake In The Brain Chamber” sent me on a rewarding deep dive past the band’s LPs to uncover treasures like the Allaire Sessions and the Lizard Lounge bootleg (2006-10-27), solidifying them as a top 10 all-time band for me.

    • Erik Hall, “Music For 18 Musicians”

      Hall’s solo studio take on Steve Reich’s modern classic radiates… love, I guess is the word, in all its complexity and bittersweetness. The cumulative effect of these simple lines, played with perfect rhythmic touch, quietly suggests the breadth of human experience from deep joy to raw, howling hurt.
    • r beny, “natural fiction” & full discography

      r beny’s gentle tape loops and synths accompanied me for many hours reading library books like “The Starless Sea” this year.
    • Elder, “Omens”

      The astral-journeying heavy psych-prog masters have become an institution, dropping their fourth straight best-in-class LP. If this is your jam, this is YOUR JAM.
    • Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, “Axiom”

      “What you’re experiencing tonight … is the re-evaluation … We’ve just crossed into the second century of creative improvised music … We’re re-evaluating what we’re playing and why. [Jazz] has nothing to do with where this music’s power rests. So what you’re going to hear tonight hearkens to that.””
    • Vladislav Delay, “Rakka”

      This unearthly noise, inspired by arctic wilderness, manages to sound both machine-like and alive as runaway steam locomotive drums race and stop on a dime over deep drones.
    • Jeff Tweedy, “Love Is The King”

      Continuing the run that started with 2018’s “WARM,” Tweedy takes the originally pejorative “dad rock” idea and turns it into hushed, transcendent, vulnerable, and world-wise ruminations on love and mortality. Y’know, like an awesome dad.
    • Two Minutes to Late Night’s YouTube channel

      One of the best Saturday afternoons of the deadly global pandemic was the one I fell down the rabbit hole after Gwarsenio and Company’s star-studded heavy metal covers of mostly-not-metal tunes.
    • Rival Consoles, “Articulation”

      Finding a wintry, skittering sweet spot between the club and experimental art spaces, Rival Consoles is this year’s Jon Hopkins (serious praise).
    • Hainbach, “Assertion” / “Light Splitting” / “Billions of Windows OST” / “Gaze Up at the Harvest Moon”

      The Mr. Rogers of ambient/experimental electronics had a prolific year (This is a high compliment; he is accessible and unconditionally positive on his fantastic YouTube channel)
    • War On Women, “Wonderful Hell”

      This crew’s feminist metal/hardcore/punk crossover is packed with almost enough hooks to obscure their politics, but you wouldn’t want to miss the lyrics. 5/5, would smash the patriarchy again.

    • Coriky, “Coriky”

      Ian MacKaye still goes pretty hard, over Amy and Joe’s monster rhythm section and gang vocals. The best possible version of “Fugazi, aging gracefully.”
    • Pallbearer, “Forgotten Days”

      The boys fully synthesize all the far-flung territory they’ve been staking out since “Sorrow and Extinction” eight long years ago, reaching someplace universally heavy and aching from their roots in doom.
    • HUM, “Inlet”

      A home run if you’re already a fan of HUM’s heavy ’90s guitars and clean vocals like me, maybe a take-it-or-leave-it if you’re not, and that’s OK. Bonus points for the immersive production.
    • Aesop Rock, “Spirit World Field Guide”

      Looser than his previous records and scattered as the title suggests, Aes still uniquely rips. Everyone knows he has bars for miles, but his beats remain underrated.

    • M Geddes Gengras, “The Blue Push” (2009) / “neoderealization” (2010) / “enduring doubt” (2010) / “THIS COULD BE THE LAST TIME” (2011) / “VDS I” (2011) / “PURITY” (2012) / “VDS II” (2013) / “ishi outtakes” (2014)

      After discovering “Ishi” a year or two ago, I went deep on M’s back catalog in 2020.

    • Maggi Payne, “Ahh-Ahh”

      Composed in the mid-’80s on Apple II and early samplers, “Ahh-Ahh” is art-dance music by way of David Behrman and Laurie Spiegel. Could soundtrack a Neil deGrasse Tyson show, in the good way.
    • Deftones, “Ohms”

      TFW your crowd-pleaser is also a fresh synthesis of your moody, thrashy late-career aesthetic peaks. Lotta Frank on this record, dig it. Abe’s grooves are sick, too.

    • Brass Against’s YouTube channel

      Huge props to this crew, especially bandleader Brad Hammonds and primary vocalist Sophia Urista, for burning an entire COVID afternoon with their brassed-up Rage covers. Sophia is
      F-O-R R-E-A-L (see the “Wake Up” screams!).
    • Selvedge, “Warm Enough” / “Hunger Stones” / “Small Guarantees” (w/ Til Willis)

      It’s not fair to Til to lump the collaborative “Small Guarantees” in with Selvedge’s 2020 output, but I like the breadth of this trio of LPs considered as a whole; soothing ambience, mecha-monstrous noise, and a half-nod to Neil Young.
    • Hyborian, “Volume II”

      Channeling Maiden more than Mastodon through their sludgy thrash this time out (or is it thrashy sludge?), KC’s own Hyborian annihilate the sophomore jinx.
    • Alessandro Cortini & Daniel Avery,
      “Illusion of Time”

      We have noise, we have pretty sequences, we have ambience, we have big reverbs; A & D took all the raw electronic materials I love and made a polished, cavern-sized version of them.
    • Jessie Ware, “What’s Your Pleasure?”

      I’ve been trying for years to convince Cory that Ware’s music, especially the gauzy disco of this year’s entry, is like CRJ for the bake-off set. Have I finally succeeded?

    • Bibio, “Phantom Brickworks” (2017)

      I’m guessing, but these seem like immaculately composed tape loops to me. Maybe they’re accidents. Either way, I’ve never heard anything quite like this set of gentle, some more- and some less-conventionally pretty dioramas.
    • Haim, “Women In Music Pt. III”

      Nobody makes pop-rock like these sisters, blending ’70s and ’80s influences with honest songwriting and bleeding-edge production. Doesn’t hurt that they’re never more than a half-second from straight-up shredding.
    • Shiner, “Schadenfreude”

      Like a bulldozer performing ballet, Shiner’s reunion LP lurches deftly through noise rock, post-punk, and proggy balladry. I suppose it doesn’t break any ground but damn if I didn’t listen to it thirty times and counting.

    • Hypermortal, “Mysteries of Time”

      My friendly neighborhood freak-prog practitioners indulged their every whim on this one, and it worked! A Frankenstein’s monster of riffs, spazz-outs, funk, and croons.
    • Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”

      It’s a bop, plus I love a song that bothered the squares so much.

    Honorable mention, alphabetical

    Battalion of Cloudships, “Especially The Lies”
    Big|Brave, “A Gaze Among Them” (2019)
    Cosmic Ground, “0110” / “Apocalypse 2020 (Soil 2)”
    Crimson, “Raid” and Origin Text, “Self Entitled”
    Criteria, “Years”
    False Brother, “Uncanny Valley”
    Greg Dulli, “Random Desire”
    The Interrupters, “Say It Out Loud” (2016) / “Fight The Good Fight” (2018)
    L.U.V. C.R.A.F., “Friendship Acid” / “Hauntological Phalluses: 1984”
    Skeleton, “Skeleton”

    Music I need to check out in 2021, alphabetical

    Bully, “Sugaregg”
    Fleet Foxes, “Shore”
    Fuzz, “III”
    Kid Dakota, “Age of Roaches”
    Moses Sumney, “Græ”
    My Morning Jacket, “The Waterfall II”
    Phantom Planet, “Devastator”

    h

  • The Best Music Cory Heard In 2020

    • Fiona Apple, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”

      I’m still figuring this one out. It’s a new record every time. It’s the first record in a long time that made me want to start working on new songs. It is masterful without being daunting. Epic without being inaccessible. Intricate without losing any of its charm or fun. Insightful without being preachy. Innovative and risky without being reckless. I’m glad you took yr time, Mizz Apple!
    • Neil Cicierega, “Mouth Dreams”

      This is newish, so I am still delving into the rich tapestry of remixes/mashups on Neil Cicierega’s newest opus. But after just a handful of dedicated listens, I’m already in love. I don’t know if it will ever match “Mouth Moods,” but it might; each new listen gives me even more to notice and love.
    • HAIM, “Women In Music Pt. III”

      I listened to it once when it first came out, then listened to it five times in a row at the end of last week. I liked it, then loved it, then put it up there close to “Days Are Gone.” They were able to get more complex with their production without losing any of the magic that made their sparser records so special. And the songs themselves, they are delicious!
    • “Hamilton” OST (2015)
      I’ve had these songs recommended to me from everyone for years, but I held out until I could actually see the show. When it released early on Disney+, I committed to watching all 3-plus hours of it one day while working… and immediately started it over again. And again. And again. It hits me even harder on repeat watches/listens, so I have to make sure I won’t be interrupted. When Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr.) sings “Wait For It,” it makes me feel a kind of desperate bittersweet hopefulness I haven’t felt for a very, very, very long time. 
    • Phantom Planet, “Devastator”
      My favorite band from high school goes on hiatus for a REALLY long time, then reforms and releases a new record. I am excited, I am worried. What if it’s boring? What if they haven’t progressed much past where they were when they paused? What if they mailed it in? I couldn’t have guessed they’d put out their best record ever. This record captures the thrilling melodies and pop craftsmanship as their first few records, the scuzzier weirder aspects of their later records, and blends them perfectly. Devastator is fudging incredible. 
    • Pinegrove, “Skylight” (2018)

      I dug into their discography after my friend Jesse sent me the song “Darkness,” figuring I’d like it. Well, I loved it, and it was my most played track of 2020, according to Spotify. Like Nada Surf’s “Proximity Effect,” this band found me at just the right time such that I related instantly. The songs are simple on top and rich below. Sort of like “Krang” from TMNT.
    • Run The Jewels, “RTJ4”

      What can I say? Each album becomes more nuanced, more impassioned, more urgent. I’ve never felt so hyped while at the same time thinking so seriously about wealth disparity.
    • Surfer Blood, “Carefree Theatre”

      This band could put out the most ho-hum record and I’d still love it based on their vibe alone. Thankfully, this is another batch of instantly hummable songs that offer a new and deeper joy on each subsequent spin. It’ll be a bit before I can properly place it among their other records, but it’s nowhere near my least favorite,
      and it’ll only climb.

    Honorable mention:

    Brock Berrigan, “Utah” – Music to drive through the desert too (while wearing a chicken mask)

    Fatlip, “The Loneliest Punk” (2005) – Didn’t put this in the “Best” list because I’ve already heard it plenty before, but I rediscovered it at the perfect time. I hope Fatlip is doing well

    Fleet Foxes, “Shore” – Same deal as “Crack-Up”; I don’t get it yet, but I listen and hear a lot of promising moments, and I am sure it’ll click one day

    Megan Thee Stallion, “Good News” – I don’t know if I am cool enough to love this record as much as I do. It’s absolutely ridiculous and obscene and I can’t get enough

    “Moana” OST, “Frozen” OST – Being a dad hath forced me to know and love these movies and soundtracks. I’m not crying, my eyes are bleeding clear blood!

    Tame Impala, “The Slow Rush” – Didn’t hit me in the jornk immediately, but bloomed like a flower growing from soil of powdered Vitamin C, LSD, and CRISPY FUNK BITS

    h

  • Howie and Cory Talk Best Records

    With our best records of the year and decade in the books, here’s a chat we had a few weeks ago during the writing process. Let us know if you’d like more of these! (They’d be shorter than this)

    h
    ,

  • The Best Albums We Heard 2010-2019

    • A Tribe Called Quest, “We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service” (2016) – I worried about this one being way too sentimental or self-aware; a group resting on their laurels of being the best (by FAR) socially conscious jazz-rap bunch of all time. I shouldn’t have worried; this album bangs whether you’ve just heard of ATCQ or waited 18 years to hear it. -C
    • Arcade Fire, “The Suburbs” (2010) – Still the template for festival-sized indie pop a decade on, and the record Arcade Fire’s career arc hinges on. And still a great listen. Shoo-in for lists like this. -h
    • Autolux, “Pussy’s Dead” (2016) – Next-level musicianship – I’m talking Radiohead, here – that transcends guitarist/bassist/drummer while keeping grounded and maintaining some kind of thread throughout. A follow-up would be incredible. -h
    • Bon Iver, “Bon Iver” (2011) – Justin Vernon took a zag into yacht rock and never really looked back to the cabin his debut was recorded in (though he continues to zig, in smaller doses). -h
    • Brittany Howard, “Jaime” (2019) – Howard stands on the shoulders of others, from Sly Stone and Prince to her sister in whose memory the album is named, and carries them forward into her own vision of soul, and truth, and living in 2019. Immediate classic, and I can’t wait to hear what she does next. -h
    • Carly Rae Jepsen, “E mo tion” (2015) – I’m always searching for pop perfection, and with this album, I found it. Synths, ’80s funk guitar, big beats, even bigger melodies. Look down at your person while listening and you will discover that you are dancing. -C
    • D’Angelo, “Black Messiah” (2014) – Have you listened to this album lately? It remains as deep, mysterious, and vital as ever. Arguably the best album of the decade. -h
    • Dark Satellites, “Be Still” (2016) – Even after accounting for my bias, Drew’s transformation this decade from Rent Money Big and Mars Lights riff-writer and noise-shredder to a dude who created songs like “Flyover” and “Noflakes” from bottom to top is a phenomenal artistic achievement. “Be Still” is his best to date (emphasis on “to date”). -h
    • Derek Jennings, “Bummertown EP” (2014) – I can’t believe this guy. This is the kind of folk record you listen to and feel affirmed, inspired, heartbroken, in love… the whole thing. All the while, you can’t believe these timelessly perfect songs haven’t been around for 50 years; it feels like they’ve always been with you, just waiting to be sung aloud. -C
    • Ex Hex, “Rips” (2014) – My favorite power pop record. Maybe ever. Absolutely unbeatable for any mood, any surroundings, and any company. “Rips” is the understatement of the 2010s. -h
    • Fleet Foxes, “Helplessness Blues” (2011) – If you thought their self-titled was a rich tapestry of profound wisdom, harmonies, and stories told in ancient sounds, “Helplessness Blues” will kindly put you into space. -C
    • HAIM, “Days are Gone” (2013) – Time to face facts: An exceptionally talented power-trio of Jewish sisters from LA gave us the ballsiest (and most fun) rock and roll record of the decade.They filled Laurel Canyon with gated reverb and made a glorious noise. -C
    • Julianna Barwick, “Nepenthe” (2013) – About the catchiest ambient music you’ll ever hear, nothing sounds quite like Julianna Barwick’s layers of looped vocals, strings, and reverb. If a dream was a friend who was an autumn afternoon turned into a sculpture, that might be this record. -h
    • Kanye West & Jay-Z, “Watch The Throne” (2011) – As a complete work, this record is more rewarding than the bulk of Kanye’s solo discography from the last decade. Kanye’s production is on point as always, but something about Jay-Z’s presence makes him a better (and much more likable) MC. Plus, it introduced the world to Frank Ocean and quoted Blades of Glory. -C
    • Kendrick Lamar, “To Pimp a Butterfly” (2015) – Innovative, challenging, poetic, abrasive, intoxicating, haunting, demanding. This is the funkiest weirdest rap album of the decade and it’ll be years before anyone else catches up. -C
    • Kurt Vile, “B’lieve I’m Goin’ Down…” (2015) – The spacey fever-dream of a down-home folk singer related through ghost-stories, waking dreams, and reverb. And so catchy! -C
    • Major Games, “Major Games” (2015) – Loud, weird, melodic, and like nothing else; Major Games hits every vulnerability I have at once. Prospects of more music from the band appear dim, but there will always be this flawless LP. -h
    • Mitski, “Be the Cowboy” (2018) – A pop record that effortlessly and fluidly encompasses disco, folk, torch-singing, and punk through songs you’ll have in your head for roughly 30 years. Even putting the brilliant production choices aside, the songwriting here is next-level; no one does it like Mitski. -C
    • Müscle Wörship, “Müscle Wörship LP” (2013) – Some kind of sideways post-punk with incredible Jazzmaster vibrato abuse, I played this a bazillion times over the past six years and it never got stale. -h
    • The National, “High Violet” (2010) – Equal to if not the band’s best ever, though it would have been heresy to say it at the time of its release following “Boxer” and “Alligator.” I’m a whole-album guy, but “Bloodbuzz Ohio” gets me going no matter what context I hear it in. -h
    • Nine Inch Nails, “Hesitation Marks” (2013) – I keep telling people NIN is an Upside Down version of a soul band, and I feel like no one’s listening. This, Reznor & Co.’s most purely enjoyable record, remains vastly underrated. -h
    • Pallbearer, “Sorrow and Extinction” (2012) – Pallbearer got me through a terrible year; these five eternal slabs of down-tuned existential despair let me feel like I wasn’t alone. Things are better, and “Sorrow and Extinction” remains just as great as always. -h
    • Phases, “For Life” (2015) – A super-group that’s actually super! Alexander Greenwald from Phantom Planet, Z Berg from The Like, Jason Boesel from Rilo Kiley, and Michael Runion from… Buena High School in Ventura. Big ’80s pitch-shifting synth-pop with songs about dumb ex-boyfriends, convertibles, and havin’ fuuuuuuuuun! -C
    • Quilt, “Plaza” (2016) – This is a classic bedroom-pop record that could have come from just about any decade. Like their name implies, their sound is warm and comforting, like your super smart friend from school who wears oversized sweaters and makes collages. Hearing it always makes me think, “Dang it, I need to start a band like this!” -C
    • Real Estate, “Days” (2011) – A bunch of introspective sensi-jams bundled together, dipped in a dreamy batter, and fried whole in reverb-coil oil. Delicious. If you need to gaze out an airplane window and wonder where you’re going to land, this is your soundtrack. -C
    • Robyn, “Body Talk” (2010) – Club banger after club banger, with twists of whip-smarts and a welcoming kind of gender and sexual openness; Robyn’s heart is on her sleeve, and she’s ready to grind you into the dirt with her heel at the same time, and you’re here for all of it. Undefeatable. -h
    • The Roots, “How I Got Over” (2010) – Does anyone else love this record? It seems to exist in a forgotten interlude between their late-aughts barn burners and the more recent experimental stuff. It’s grown-as-hell rap and I think it slays (maybe because I’m grown as hell). -h
    • Sheer Mag, “Compilation (I, II, & III)” (2017) – Sounding like a bunch of punks beating up Thin Lizzy in a dirty alley, Sheer Mag’s initial EPs captured lightning in a bottle of Schlitz and never let go. Beneath the scuzz, these are brilliant musicians doing brilliant work, but don’t tell them we noticed. -h
    • Susanne Sundfør, “Ten Love Songs” (2015) – If you’re feeling TOO wistful when you hear this, you will likely drive into the country twilight while sighing heavily with remembering. Her voice soars and makes your heart ache. Plus, there are harps and weird Scandinavian pronunciations. -C
    • TV On The Radio, “Nine Types Of Light” (2011) – I loved this record hard for several years, and while I don’t play it as often any more it still surprises me with its emotional warmth when I do. Who would have thought Brooklyn’s Radiohead had a song like “Killer Crane” in them, except I guess it makes all the sense in the world. -h
    • Vampire Weekend, “Contra” (2010) – From the opening “In December, drinking horchata…” to the final “I think ur a Contra…” this album is flawlessly what it means to be, down to every polo button and Rostam overdub. -h
    • Vhol, “Vhol” (2013) – What if some friends tossed of a prog-thrash record? Sounds terrible. But what if their day jobs were in Yob and Hammers of Misfortune?!? Sounds like one of the best metal records of the decade. The effortless beginner’s-mind, fuck-it-do-whatever vibe is key; yeah, it’s harsh at points, but it’s never not *fun*. -h
    • The War On Drugs, “Lost In The Dream” (2014) – On paper, revisiting the post-“Born In The U.S.A.” heartland-rock-plus-synths sound doesn’t seem like a formula for emotional weight and resonance, but Adam Granduciel and his band transcend anything specific I can say about this music and make a whole that’s much greater than the sum of its references. -h
    • Wavves, “Afraid of Heights” (2013) – Punk rock for the modern age. These songs are self-involved, self-loathing, self-explanatory, and they are SO BIG AND HOOKY! These power chords are monstrous and the lyrics are about weed! -C

    Honorable mention:
    Bully, “Feels Like” (2015)
    Bummer, “Holy Terror” (2018)
    Hiss Golden Mmessenger, “Hallelujah Anyhow” (2017)
    Sleigh Bells, “Treats” (2010).
    Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014)
    Weedpecker, “II” (2015)

    h

  • The Best Artists We Heard 2010-2019

    This list represents the best discographies or bodies of work we heard in the past decade. A best albums list will follow. We chose to put artists on one or the other list, so don’t freak out that some of the top artists of the decade aren’t here.

    Howie highlighted 19 artists with impeccable bodies of work; Cory went in-depth on his top three.

    When I (Howie) sat down to write a few sentences about these artists, I struggled. Many of their records have already been on my best-of-year lists. I thought instead about what it means to create a strong series of works.

    If you’re curious about any of these artists, go to your favorite streaming service (Spotify’s free tier is a decent option) and find their top tracks; it’s not like you can go wrong.

    If I could earn a spot on a list like this, or a best albums list, I’d choose this one. These are the albums I reach for more often than not. These are the artists I trust to get me through an entire day. Brilliance is undoubtedly brilliant, but when you combine it with craft, and evolution, and call-and-response, you get something more.

    These artists are doing what I aspire to do.

    • Aesop Rock, “Skelethon” (2012) / “The Impossible Kid” (2016)
    • Alessandro Cortini, “Forse 1” (2013) / “Forse 2” (2013) / “Sonno” (2014) / “Forse 3” (2015) / “Risveglio” (2015) / “SPIE” (2016) / “Avanti” (2017) / “Volume Massimo” (2019)
    • Baroness, “Yellow & Green” (2012) / “Purple” (2015) / “Gold & Grey” (2019)
    • Beyonce, “4” (2011) / “Beyonce” (2013) / “Lemonade” (2016)
    • Cosmic Ground, “II” (2015) / “III” (2016) / “The Watcher” (2016) / “Live” (2017) / “IV” (2018) / “Relics vol. 1” (2018) / “Relics vol. 2” (2018) / “Relics vol. 3” (2018)
    • Craig Finn, “Clear Heart Full Eyes” (2012) / “Faith In The Future” (2015) / “We All Want The Same Things” (2017) / “I Need A New War” (2019)
    • Dessa, “A Badly Broken Code” (2010) / “Castor The Twin” (2011) / “Parts of Speech” (2013) / “Chime” (2018)
    • Doomtree, “No Kings” (2011) / “All Hands” (2015)
    • Elder, “Dead Roots Stirring” (2011) / “Spires Burn / Release” (2012) / “Lore” (2015) / “Reflections of a Floating World” (2017)
    • High On Fire, “Snakes For The Divine” (2010) / “De Vermis Mysteriis” (2012) / “Luminiferous” (2015) / “Electric Messiah” (2018)
    • Janelle Monae, “The ArchAndroid” (2010) / “The Electric Lady” (2013) / “Dirty Computer” (2018)
    • Jessie Ware, “Devotion” (2013) / “Tough Love” (2014) / “Glasshouse” (2017)
    • Ka, “Grief Pedigree” (2012) / “The Night’s Gambit” (2013) / “Days With Dr. Yen Lo” (2015) / “Honor Killed The Samurai” (2016) / “Orpheus vs. the Sirens” (2018)
    • Radiohead, “The King Of Limbs” (2011) / “A Moon Shaped Pool” (2016) / “NOTOK” (2017)
    • St. Vincent, “Strange Mercy” (2011), “Love This Giant” (with David Byrne” (2012), “St. Vincent” (2014), “Masseduction” (2017)
    • Tame Impala, “Innerspeaker” (2010) / “Lonerism” (2012) / “Currents” (2015)
    • Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, “Volume 1” (2010) / “Blood Lust” (2012) / “Mind Control” (2013) / “The Night Creeper” (2015) / “Wasteland” (2018)
    • Wye Oak, “Civilian” (2011) / “Shriek” (2014) / “Tween” (2016) / “The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs” (2018)
    • Yob, “Atma” (2011) / “Clearing The Path To Ascend” (2014) / “Our Raw Heart” (2018)
    • Honorable mention:
      Aleph Null
      Big K.R.I.T.
      Goya
      In Solitude
      J Mascis
      LCD Soundsystem
      Mastodon
      The New Pornographers
      P.O.S.
      Spoon
      Torche

    Kacey Musgraves – With the advent of streaming, I rarely listen to the radio. It only happens when I’m stuck in a musical rut and need to shake things up.

    That’s what happened for me during a morning commute in 2013, when I randomly tuned the FM dial to the local country station just in time to hear the beginning of “Merry Go Round,” Kacey’s single from debut “Same Trailer, Different Park.”

    I remember being shocked that something this good was on the radio, and on the pop-country station to (cowboy) boot! With each passing lyric and transition, I kept getting nervous that the other boot would drop, and it would go into a shitty modern faux-nky-tonk bridge… but it never happened, and I was bowled over. I was also late to work, because I had to listen to the full song in my car first.

    Once I got to my desk, I Googled the lyrics to find the name of the song, and I listened again immediately. I loved it even more, and gave her whole album a shot, and my heavens, what an absolute gem of a pop-country record. And I don’t mean pop music dressed up like country; I mean actual country music possessing actual choruses a la Patsy Cline or Willie Nelson or whomever else you want to name to sound hip.

    Since that time, she’s just gotten better. She’s also been fully accepted and lauded by every type of music fan, a rare feat. “Golden Hour” turned her into Pitchfork’s Twangy Pet AND won her the Grammy for Album of the Year.

    This proves how much Pitchfork has changed, but more to the point, it illustrates just how universal Kacey’s music is. She’s managed to speak to every soul in the world! Except for Howie because he does not feel, and because he has a complicated history with chaps and lassos.

    Run The Jewels – Everything about this group is an anomaly, and everything about their success makes perfect sense.

    I’d heard them referenced plenty of times without paying much attention, as much of the new (even critically praised) hip-hop in 2013 didn’t do it for me. How many times did Pitchfork trick me into listening to Lil’ Wayne before they became The Boy Who Cried “Dope”?

    It was actually Howie that finally convinced me. He was visiting and said “Look up the video for ‘Run the Jewels’ (song) right now.” We did, and two things happened. One, I fell in love. Two, I realize that these weren’t new rappers at all. They were two middle-aged rappers with a lot of cred but nothing more than a cult following to that point. I would have said that individually, each had already peaked. But something about them trading verses over El-P’s production is lightening in a bottle.

    Seven years and three monstrously powerful albums later (with a fourth dropping any day now), RTJ has established themselves as perhaps the most important “new” hip-hop duo so far this century. It’s heartening to know that such previously underground mainstays still have something new and exciting to say, AND that people were able to get on-board, zero hesitations, with two middle-aged regular-looking MCs who bear zero resemblance to anyone else on the charts. It makes no sense and perfect sense at once.

    Surfer Blood – I love pop songwriting, an art that’s a lot more discerning than it gets credit for. You have to do something highly interesting in about three minutes, without overstaying your welcome, being TOO weird, or sounding trite. Really, it’s almost impossible to do with any regularity.

    That’s why Surfer Blood is, no-question, my band of the decade. Album after album, they put out grunge-surf rock that recalls weirder and less commercial influences while exhibiting the same level of pop melody and sensibility that made Foo Fighters and Weezer famous. There’s something about power-chords, reverb, vulnerable lyrics, and driving rhythm sections that gets me every time, and no other band has done it better.

    They’ve also defied some serious challenges, including original guitarist Thomas Fekete’s untimely death in 2016 from cancer. Few bands survive something like that; of the ones that soldier on, most of them sound watered-down, like they’re going through the motions. Surfer Blood went on to put out one of the more experimental and profound albums of their career with 2017’s “Snowdonia.”

    I have no idea what the future holds for Surfer Blood. What I do know is that JP Pitts’ songwriting hasn’t faltered yet, and I feel only joy when I hear their music. For my money, no other band has given us this many records at this level of quality this consistently in recent memory.

    h

  • The Best Music We Heard In 2019

    • Aesop Rock and Tobacco, “Malibu Ken” – AR drops more of his hyper-literate, yet easy-flowing narration of life’s mundanities over 100% analog synth beats. I love this album and have listened to it a thousand times, with no sign of tapering off. -h
    • Alvvays, “Alvvays” (2014) / “Antisocialities” (2017) – Got into this band in a huge way this year. They are most everything I want in a new-to-me band. Dreamy, catchy, short-song writers, uh… ’90s-sounding? This is what my crush would have put on my mixtape in ’97 if this band had been around back then. And if I had a crush who had made me mixtapes. One day! -CK
    • Aspect Deletion, “Isolation” (2008) / “Coercion” (2014) – Ambient-ish music that feels like it was made personally for me; that’s how close it comes to my tastes and interests. I don’t mean to appropriate its brilliance, it’s just that part of my love for it is my feeling of “get out of my head!!” when I hear it. -h
    • Baroness, “Gold & Grey” – The mighty Baroness, now with Gina Gleason on lead, casts a wide net that yields a varied and heavy catch. “Borderlines” is my song of the year. They’re one of the best live acts on the road, too. -h
    • Brittany Howard, “Jaime” – Howard stands on the shoulders of others, from Sly Stone and Prince to her sister in whose memory the album is named, and carries them forward into her own vision of soul, and truth, and living in 2019. Immediate classic, and I can’t wait to hear what she does next. -h
    • Carly Rae Jepsen, “Dedicated” – A slightly different strand of pop than E-MO-TION. More… innocent AND nasty somehow. Still incredibly catchy. The production is a little subtler, too. I mean, it’s still in-your-face, but it isn’t AS bombastic. Although it is very fantastic. (Lord forgive me for what I have done.) This record flirts with me for nearly an hour, and that’s all I want from CRJ. -CK
    • Chad & Jeremy, “Yesterday’s Gone” (1964) – I’ve heard “Summer Song,” I love “Summer Song,” everyone’s heard “Summer Song.” It’s extra-white cheese. I think it also may be one of the prettiest songs of all time. It’s 10 pounds of wistful in a three-minute bag. -CK
    • DJ Richard, “Grind” (2015) / “Dies Irae Xerox” (2018) – DJ Richard’s minimalist-ish synth music isn’t always dance-able. It’s more about choices and curation, like wandering a sculpture garden. I spent a lot of car time with these records this year; that’s where they seemed to make the most sense. -h
    • Everly Brothers, “Cathy’s Clown” (1960) – I’d heard the name of this song 1,000 times in Elliott Smith’s “Waltz 2” before actually hearing it. I finally decided to listen and discovered that I am a huge Everly Brothers fan. WTF. The part where they harmonize over “And I die each time I hear the sound.” Phew. Sign me up to smooch them BOTH. -CK
    • Ex Hex, “It’s Real” – Mary Timony and company move out of the garage and in to the ’80s, taking the hooks with them and answering the question “What if Helium and Def Leppard exhanged a few members?” -h
    • Hans Zimmer, “Inception: Music From The Motion Picture” (2010) – Spooky horns. Ominous. Perfect for driving at night. The WORST for driving at night, depending on whether you’re alone and whether you’re thinking about the fact that there might be someone on the floor of your backseat just waiting to slice open your Achilles’ BUTT. Also, the music is better than the movie. That movie still seems like all flash and no substance to me. Whatever! -CK
    • Heldon, “Electronique Guerilla (Heldon I)” (1974) – A standout from my still-in-progress buy list after reading Jason Heller’s “Strange Stars.” Sounds shockingly similar to Drew’s Night Mode records, as though he’d gone back in time, and I’m 99% sure he’s neither heard Heldon or time-traveled. -h
    • howie&scott, “V for Voice” – When I make my year-end list, I first look at my Spotify stats, and this almost eluded me; it was the CD from their release show that I played nonstop. This record is the culmination of everything h&s does well. The songwriting is diverse, the arrangements weird, the lyrics earnest yet not naive, the message both heavy and uplifting. This is near the top for me this year, and I STILL haven’t unearthed it completely. -CK
    • Jeff Tweedy, “Warm” (2018) / “Warmer” – After ambling – very productively! – since 2007’s “Sky Blue Sky,” Tweedy picks up the thread and carries it forward both here and on Wilco’s “Ode To Joy.” He’s happy, healthy, and has turned his eye directly and openly on the big questions: death, joy, and the tiny moments that add up to a life. “Warm” is the equal of anything else he’s done (i.e. some of the best records of the last 30 years). -h
    • Jon Hopkins, “Singularity” (2018) – Another Howie-told-me. Started listening early this year… well, actually right after reading Howie’s 2018 list last year, and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for. Eerie beautiful electronic soundscapes hinting at universal themes of danger, sex, laundry, NFL strikes, EVERYTHING. This one’s an icy twilight banger. -CK
    • Kacey Musgraves, “Golden Hour” (2018) – This record is bizarre. It came it at #1 in Pitchfork’s 2018 list, #1 on Rolling Stone’s 2018 list (I think), and won the Album of the Year Grammy for 2018. Well-deserved, as it’s an amazing record… and yet it’s still just the third-best proper Kacey record! This one’s a little less country and a little more lite rock n’ roll, but you can get past the gloss and relish in the songs like always. -CK
    • Laurie Spiegel, “The Expanding Universe” Unseen Worlds reissue (2012) – Beautiful, playful, experimental synth music that only becomes more interesting as I’ve learned about how it was made. Spiegel is a giant and a gem in multiple fields, and while she was an accomplished musician before these recordings were made, they’re what brought her into wider public consciousness. -h
    • Lizzo, “Cuz I Love You” – I am just getting to this now. Every time I hear it, I like it more. A week ago, I heard it for the first time without distraction, and I was like “Oh hey EFF who is this? Siri? Alexa? Shazam? KAZAAM? SHAQUILLE?” and once I found out it was Lizzo, I finally understood the hype. Not sure about “Juice” yet but that’s only because I need to hear it a few more times. -CK
    • Mitski, “Be the Cowboy” (2018) – On Howie’s list last year [It was not; ??? -Editor], so of course I got way into it this year. Second-to-none songwriting, superb arrangements, funny AND haunting lyrics like a clown cemetery. When the double-vocal comes in during “Why Didn’t You Stop Me?” I lose my MIND. And “Meet Me at Blue Diner,” well, if that doesn’t make you pine for even the exes you didn’t like that all that much, I am not sure what to say. -CK
    • Prince, “Originals” – Most artists (Hi!) would kill for records as good as Prince’s *demos,* as this collection demonstrates. This could be your first Prince record or your 100th, and it’s equally enjoyable either way. The estate is headed in the right direction for his legacy (and the wrong one for my wallet). -h
    • Pusha T, “Daytona” (2018) – Absurd. Sinister. Scary. Brutal. Caustic. Pusha T is a fucking monster and I would never, ever want to rap-battle with him. Or regular-battle. Maybe a Battle of the Sexes since we’d be on the same side, or a Battle of the Bands if the rules were that you had to play guitar. But that’s IT. If anyone wrote a diss-track about me like the one Push wrote for Drake with “Infrared,” I would change my name and sail away. -CK
    • Stephen Malkmus, “Groove Denied” – Malkmus’ post-Pavement output is criminally underrated, and he turns in a concise set of nuggets here. There are a few electronic experiments (which work quite well!) including the lead single, but this is mostly familiar-but-great territory; cantankerous, funny, and charming. -h
    • Superdrag, “In The Valley Of Dying Stars” (2000) – When Cory told me Superdrag’s career didn’t end with 1998’s “Head Trip In Every Key,” I was intrigued. When I tracked down ITVODS it blew me away, taking me straight back to the music of my college years with all of the gratification and none of the baggage. -h
    • Surfer Blood, “Covers” – I love this whole record, even though you couldn’t have convinced me that we needed another version of “Hey Ya!” floating around. We probably still don’t, but they really bring out the sadness that goes over our heads in the original. Most of all, I love this record because I got to hear songs I already love PLUS it FINALLY helped me get into Liz Phair. “Fuck & Run” is SO. GOOD. And man, is it sad. -CK
    • Talk Talk, “Spirit Of Eden” (1988) – On P4k’s rec, I bought this unheard. This recording defies description. It obeys, and defies, the logic of dreams. It is wild; it gives the sense of animals and elements and storms and growing plants. It whispers and screams. By some coincidence it became my soundtrack for driving Kansas Highway 36. -h
    • The Sluts, “Break Their Heart” – Lawrence, KS’s local punk-ish, alt-ish guitar-and-drums duo refine their sound with every release, reaching a new concentration of hooks, heaviness, and a kind of knowing, winking meatheadedness on this year’s EP. A must-have for ’90s kids. -h
    • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, “The Social Network (Soundtrack)” (2010) – Love this for many of the same reasons I love Jon Hopkins, except this one’s a little rowdier and more aggressive (because it’s NIN, even though Atticus didn’t officially join until later, I think). It’s great! Really captures the rage we feel when Mark Zuckerberg helps commit treason. -CK
    • Vampire Weekend, “Father of the Bride” – This is a near-perfect album, and by that I mean ~14 of the 18 tracks are transcendent… and the others are bizarre. They’re not even bad, but they disrupt the flow. Make the duets with D-Haim a stand-alone EP, and I’d love both the record and the EP more! And if you took out the pitched “Boy” from “2021,” and the autotune at the end of “Bambina,” even better. I only nit-pick because this is a truly stellar record. -CK

    Honorable mention:
    Alessandro Cortini, “Volume Massimo”
    Craig Finn, “I Need A New War”
    Fennesz, “Agora”
    J. Robbins, “Un-Becoming”
    remst8, “Droneuary” / “Chrysalism v2”
    Selvedge, “Don’t Sweat Infinity”
    Sunn O))), “Life Metal”
    Torche, “Admission”
    Varma Cross, “Varma Cross”
    Wilco, “Ode to Joy”
    Wild Eye, “Mandalas III – VIII” / “Step Into The Temple”
    William Basinski, “On Time Out Of Time”

    Contenders we still need to check out:
    Bon Iver, “i,i”
    Sunn O))), “Pyroclasts”
    Solange, “When I Get Home”
    Thom Yorke, “Anima”

    h

  • The Best Music We Heard In 2018

    Here is the best music we heard in the past year. Most, but not all, of Howie’s picks were released in 2018. Cory will explain his picks below.

    Top 14 (in random order)

    Honorable Mention:
    Condor – Unstoppable Power (2017)
    Hiss Golden Messenger – Hallelujah Anyhow (2017)
    Judas Priest – Painkiller (1990)
    Robyn – Honey
    Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Sparkle Hard

    Need to check out:
    Low – Double Negative (which almost certainly would have made the main list if I had spent more time with it)

    Below will be a sorta goofy list from your main man Cory, on account of we had a baby in late 2017 that was supposed to come out of my wife in February of 2018, so it was an “early surprise family baby.” (Howie was there when it all went down; ask him about the howls!)

    That meant I was AWOL for the year-end list in 2017, for the first time… so now I have to be extra WOL this year.

    Well anyway, this post is going well so far and it’s just the beginning. Here’s some stuff I got excited about this year (and maybe last year! ):

    h

  • The Best Music We Heard In 2017

    Here is the best music we heard in the past year. Most, but not all, was released in 2017.

    Top 14 (in random order)

    Honorable mention:
    The War On Drugs “A Deeper Understanding” (2017)
    Sufjan Stevens, “Planetarium” (2017)
    Spoon, “Hot Thoughts” (2017)
    Vokonis, “The Sunken Djinn” (2017)
    Pallbearer, “Heartless” (2017)
    The New Pornographers, “Whiteout Conditions” (2017)
    Hyborian, “Hyborian: Vol. 1” (2017)
    HAIM, “Something to Tell You” (2017)
    The Afghan Whigs, “In Spades” (2017)
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani, “FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy” (2016)

    h

  • The Best Music We Heard In 2016

    Here is the best music we heard in the past year. Most, but not all, was also released in 2016.

    Top 20 (in random order)

    Honorable Mention:
    Aesop Rock, “The Impossible Kid” (2016)
    Bon Iver, “22, A Million”, “” (2016)
    David Bowie, “Blackstar” (2016)
    Deftones, “Gore” (2016)
    Hammers of Misfortune, “Dead Revolution” (2016)
    Lincoln Marshall, “Water” (2016)
    Maxwell, “blackSUMMERS’night” (2016)
    Operators, “Blue Wave” (2016)
    The Powder Room, “Lucky” (2016)

    h

  • MR|Review – Sturgill Simpson, “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth”

    Sturgill Simpson’s appearance on Mark Maron’s WTF podcast this week (listen soon; it will go behind a paywall in a week or two I think) reminded me just how much there is to unpack from his new record A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.

    A Sailor's Guide To Earth

    It’s a wonderful left turn of a record, released when fans and critics would have welcomed a Metamodern Sounds pt. II.  Self-produced, it sounds clear, warm, and open, the Dap-Kings’ soulful horns swirling chocolate-and-peanut-butter-like with Simpson’s brand of slacker psychadelic outlaw country.

    Sturgill’s been open about A Sailor’s Guide… being a song cycle written for his family, especially his first child who was born just as his career took off.  What he hasn’t said – and there’s a tantalizing hint in the Maron interview about this – is just how deep the concept goes.  I think the album is sequenced chronologically beginning with a father singing a song to his newborn son and continuing as the son grows up, maybe having a child of his own.

    1. “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)” is sung to a newborn
    2. “Breakers Roar” comforts a young child
    3. “Keep it Between the Lines” offers advice to a teen
    4. “Sea Stories” finds a father and his young adult child developing a more mature relationship
    5. “In Bloom” (Nirvana cover)
    6. “Brace for Impact (Live a Little”) reminds a thirty-something child that life can be short, and it should be fun
    7. “All Around You” illustrates a deep connection, only able to be seen through long experience, with a child who is now old enough to have felt real pain
    8. “Oh Sarah” shifts the spotlight to the steady partner whose presence has been felt, but not addressed directly, throughout the record
    9. “Call To Arms” – The old man’s got nothing to lose and speaks his mind (not that he hasn’t always), turning from his family outward toward the world

    “In Bloom” is the outlier here, thematically and musically.  As it sits in the center of the sequence it strikes me as meaningful, though I’m not entirely sure what to make of it.  It’s, for me, the weak point on the record musically as Simpson drops half of the chord sequence from the verse, rendering the tension of the original toothless.

    Maybe changing Nirvana’s rager into a lullaby illustrates a father nostalgic for his younger child while simultaneously recognizing the adult he’s become.  Or maybe I’m reaching.  But the rest of the album makes so much sense – six songs of a child growing up, followed by two turning progressively outward to others – I need a way to understand the intent here.

    Simpson can obviously write incisive, vivid lyrics when he wants to.  That this record also features some fairly worn cliches struck me as odd at first, though they’re wearing alright with time.  Sometimes the language of love and family is what’s comfortable and familiar, said a thousand times and no less true for it.

    MR|Review directs readers’ limited attention among works via ratings, and within works via prose, focusing on works where our opinion diverges from critical or popular consensus, or we have significant insight that compliments or challenges readers’ aesthetic experience. MR|Review totals to date:
    Must-hear! 2
    Recommended 13
    Good 10
    Fans only 10
    Skip this 3
    Owww! My ears! 0
    h

  • The Best Music We Heard In 2015

    Here is the best music we heard in the past year. Most, but not all, was also released in 2015.

    Top 12 (in random order) (it would have been 13; Cory tried to list “1989” again!)

    Honorable mention
    Best Coast, “California Nights” (2015)

    Waves x Cloud Nothings, “No Life For Me” (2015)

    Selena Gomez, “Revival” (2015)

    Beach House, “Depression Cherry” (2015)

    A Is Jump, “Weird Nostalgia” (2015)

    Blackalicious, “Imani vol. 1” (2015)

    Brandon Flowers, “The Desired Effect” (2015)

    Carla Morrison, “Amor Supremo” (2015)

    Elder, “Lore” (2015)

    Failure, “The Heart Is A Monster” (2015)

    Halfwit, “II” and “III” (2015)

    High on Fire, “Luminiferous” (2015)

    Kowloon Walled City, “Grievances” (2015)

    Monolord, “Vænir” (2015)

    No Cave, “Eyes Brighter Than The Sun” (2015)

    Sheer Mag, “II 7″” (2015)

    Sleater-Kinney, “No Cities To Love” (2015)

    Tame Impala, “Currents” (2015)

    Torche, “Restarter” (2015)

    Viol, “Deeper Than Sky” (2015)

    Descendents, “Milo Goes To College” (1982), “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” (1985), “Enjoy!” (1986)

    Joy, “Under The Spell Of” (2014)

    Run-D.M.C., “Run-D.M.C.” (1984), “King of Rock” (1985), “Raising Hell” (1986), “Tougher Than Leather” (1988)

    Sturgill Simpson, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” (2014)

    Excited to check out:

    Leon Bridges

    Fuzz

    Joanna Newsom

    h

  • The Best Music We Heard in 2014

    Here is the best music we heard in the past year. Most, but not all, was also released in 2014. “I had a sparse year for new music” says Cory. “I wish I could say that I fell in love with more tunes this year. But, I have a deep, deep fondness for the records I did discover this year.”

    Top 8 (in random order)

    Next 13 (also in random order)

    h