Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “favorite albums of the year”
I haven’t been myself lately. So a lot of albums released this year by perennial favorites (Neko Case, Courtney Barnett, Hop Along, Mitski, Brandi Carlile, Tune Yards, Father John Misty) just didn’t connect. I found myself much less drawn to fist-pumping or religio-political commentary and far more likely to play ambient drone. (Low’s record is hitting the spot right now). …
While last year my soundtrack was sadness, as I reflect on the music that stood out to me in 2017, it appears the theme has been conflict of faith. In a world where religion seems increasingly absurd, the voices calling it out publicly naked into the light to be examined, exposing the leprosy beneath… they are the ones that ring …
What really marks my favorite music this year is sadness.
I’m always totally impressed anyone can narrow down a list of annual favorite albums to just ten. I have done it myself, but most years I just list a bunch of favorites without much regard for how many actually are included (seventeen last year, twenty-one favs in 2013). So this year I challenged myself to refine the list to ten.
My favorite albums this year are mostly predictable, but nestled in there among my safe bets of the 2010’s (tUnE-yArDs, First Aid Kit, alt-j, etc) and long-term commitments to 1990’s heroes (Weezer, Beck, J Mascis) are a handful of really fun new discoveries from 2014.
With new albums in 2013 from favorites Arcade Fire, Neko Case, Avett Brothers, Vampire Weekend, and (after a 17-year wait) Mazzy Star, my list is relatively predictable, but hopefully there are at least a couple surprises in there too. I’d imagined a new Churchill album on the list this year, but sadly it seems to have landed in musical purgatory …
