Songs for Cineastes: 2025 Edition

Click here for the 2024 edition. 

Other than the review of a Kim Deal concert, I didn't do any music writing this year for the first time in a good long while, so it was harder than usual to keep up with new releases, even though I'm still on several mailing lists--and I didn't keep up with any reissues or collections at all. 

To that end, respect to RVNG Intl. and 12XU for releasing some of my favorite albums this year, and a fond adieu to Trouble in Mind. Every year, I used to look forward to their new releases. It's a Herculean task to keep an independent act or label going in the post-millennial era, especially once the pandemic hit, so here's to all those who have.

Respect also to John Whitson, the founder of Holy Mountain Records, and a social media associate with whom I shared many friends. I regret that I never got to meet him in person. This year we also lost music writers Kaleb Horton and Charles Cross, completely unexpected passings of gentlemen with a lot left to say--in Cross's case, he was just getting started on a memoir. We'll not see the likes of any of these three again; each their own, unmistakable, much-missed individual.  

Top 10 

1. Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger to Ourselves (RVNG Intl.)

2. Nightmares On Wax - Echo45 Sound System (Warp) 

3. Go Kurosawa - soft shakes (Guruguru Brain) 

4. Marie Davidson - City of Clowns (DEEWEE/Because Music)  

5. Little Simz - Lotus (AWAL Recordings) 

6. Anika - Abyss (Sacred Bones) 

7. Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying (Mexican Summer) 

8. Ty Segall - Possession (Drag City)

9. Melody's Echo Chamber - Unclouded (Domino) 

10. Decius - Decius Vol. II (Splendour & Obedience) (The Leaf Label) 

Runners-up 

11. The Hard Quartet - The Hard Quartet (Matador)  

12. Wet Leg - Moisturizer (Domino) 

13. Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film 

       (Duophonic UHF Disks/Warp) 

14. Lily Allen - West End Girl (BMG) 

15. Horse Lords & Arnold Dreyblatt FRKWYS Vol. 18: 

       Extended Field (RVNG Intl.) 

16. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On (Matador)  

17. Taba - Satomimagae (RVNG Intl.)  

18. L'eclair - Cloud Drifter (Innovative Leisure) 

19. Clipse - Let God Sort Them Out (ROC Nation Distribution) 

20. The Cords - The Cords (Slumberland) 

Note: Call me crazy, but I'd rather watch Austin Butler run through the streets of New York City than Timothée Chalamet. To each their own, I guess, but Caught Stealing is also a great cat movie with a truly great cat in veteran performer Tonic, who plays Butler's "Bud."  

21. John Glacier - Like a Ribbon (Young)  

22. Sault - 10 (Forever Living Originals) 

23. Pulp - More (Rough Trade) 

24. Water Damage - Instruments (12XU) 

25. Natural Information Society - Meditation (New Soil Limited) 

26. Natural Information Society - Manifestation (New Soil Limited) 

27. Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures (Psychic Hotline) 

28. Alice Cohen - Archaelogy (Crinoline)  

29. De La Soul - Cabin in the Sky (Mass Appeal)  

30. Ed Kuepper & Jim White - After the Flood (12XU)  

31. Elijah Jamal Asani - ,,, as long as i long to memorise your sky ,,, (AKP Recordings)

32. France - Destino Scifosi (Standard in-Fi / a1000p)

33. Eiko Ishibashi - Antigone (Drag City) 

34. Makaya McCraven - In These Times (International Anthem) 

35. Natural Information Society - Momentum (New Soil Limited) 

36. The Squanderers - If a Body Meet a Body (Shimmy-Disc) 

37. Richard Dawson - End of the Middle (Domino)

38. Erika de Casier - Lifetime (Independent Jeep Music) 

39. Sudan Archives - The BPM (Stones Throw Records)

40. Tyler, the Creator - Don't Tap the Glass (Columbia) 

Top songs 

1. Kate Nash - "Germ" (Kill Rock Stars)

2. Christine & the Queens ft. Cerrone - "Catching Feelings" 

     (Malligator Préférence / Because Music) 

3. Danger Mouse, Black Thought and Rag'n'Bone Man - "Up" (BMG) 

4. Jamie xx ft. Erykah Badu - "F.U." (Young) 

5. L'eclair ft. Gelli Haha - "Run" (Innovative Leisure) 

6. supermodel - "I Used to Live in England" (f***ing whatever) 

7. Go Kurosawa - "Autowalk" (Guruguru Brain) 

8. Lord Huron ft. Kristin Stewart - "Who Laughs Last" (Mercury) 

9. Sampa the Great ft. Mwanjé - "Can't Hold Us" (Loma Vista) 

10. Little Simz - "Free" and "Young" (AWAL Recordings)

Note: I couldn't choose between "Free" and "Young," so I decided to list them both.

Top Scores

1. Idles - Caught Stealing (OST) (Partisan/Columbia)

2. Young Fathers - 28 Years Later (OST) (Milan) 

3. Kangding Ray - Sirât (OST) (Invada) 

4. Hildur Guðnadóttir - Hedda (OST) (MGM) 

5. Mateus Alves and Tomaz Alves Souza - The Secret Agent (Lakeshore)

6. Johan Lenox - The Plague (OST) (Waxwork)

7. Anika and Jim Jarmusch - Father Mother Sister Brother (Sacred Bones) 

8. Ludwig Göransson - Sinners (OST) (Sony Masterworks)

9. Jonny Greenwood - One Battle After Another (OST) (Nonesuch)

Notable concerts (unranked): Ty Segall (solo acoustic) with King Tuff at the Neptune, Kim Deal with Morgan Nagler at the Neptune, Branford Marsalis live score for silent Armstrong biopic Louis at the Paramount, and Wet Leg with Mary in the Junkyard at the Paramount.

Images from Christoph Winkler (Lucrecia Dalt) and Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music (Charles R. Cross).  

Songs for Cineastes: 2024 Edition

Click here 

for the 

2023 edition. 

A shorter list than usual. I heard a lot of good stuff this year, but I watched so many movies, it didn't leave a lot of time for music. It probably doesn't help that I'm still listening to podcasts in the mornings before work rather than new music, which was my method for years (blame the pandemic, which upended the ways I do some things). Also, I didn't compile a list of reissues, because I didn't listen to enough to make it worthwhile, though I included two, Broadcast and Margo Guryan, in my top 10. And much like last year, I only went to one concert: Air performing Moon Safari. Totally worth the exorbitant price, especially since they played other material during the three encores. That said, I'm sorry I missed Meshell Ndegeocello at Jazz Alley. No guarantees, but I'll try to do better next time.

All links lead to Bandcamp pages.  

Top 10 

1. La Luz - News of the Universe (Sub Pop) 

2. somesurprises - Perseids (self-titled) 

3. Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More (4AD) 

4. Meshell Ndegeocello - No More Water: 

    The Gospel Of James Baldwin (Blue Note) 

5. Margo Guryan - Words And Music (Numero Group) 

6. Broadcast - Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009 (Warp) 

7. Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios) 

8. Tierra Whack - World Wide Whack (Universal) 

9. Kim Gordon - The Collective (Matador) 

10. Mary Timony - Untame the Tiger (Merge) 

This is the same top 10 I submitted to the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Rip-Off Poll and Uproxx polls, plus five songs (see below), two album covers: Broadcast and Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom, and three videos: Sade's "Young Lion" (Sophie Muller), Tierra Whack's "Shower Song" (Alex Da Corte), and Floating Points' "Key103" (Akiko Nakayama).

Runners-up 

11. Various Artists - TRAИƧA (Red Hot) 

12. Can - Live in Paris 1973 (Spoon-Mute) 

13. Can - Live in Aston 1977 (Spoon-Mute) 

14. The Mountain Movers - Walking After Dark (Trouble in Mind) 

15. Hinds - Viva Hinds (Lucky Number) 

16. Ty Segall - Three Bells (Drag City) 

17. Redd Kross - Redd Kross (In the Red) 

18. Sault - Acts of Faith (Forever Living Originals) 

19. Kamasi Washington - Fearless Movement (Young) 

20. BadBadNotGood - Mid-Spiral (XL Recordings) 

I still have to check out Can's Live in Keele 1977, which also saw release this year. I'm likely to enjoy it as much as their other live releases. 

21. Kendrick Lamar - GNX (Interscope) 

22. James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg - All Gist 

      (Paradise Of Bachelors) 

23. SZA - SOS Deluxe: Lana (Top Dawg-RCA) 

24. LL Cool J - The Force (LL Cool J, Inc) 

25. Jim White and Marisa Anderson - Swallowtail (Thrill Jockey) 

26. Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn - 

      Quiet in a World Full of Noise (Merge) 

27. Linda Sikhakhane - ILadi (Blue Note) 

28. Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom - A Peace of Us (Carpark) 

29. Jlin - Akoma (Planet Mu) 

30. English Teacher - This Could Be Texas (Island) 

31. BEAK> - >>>> (Invada) 

32. The Smile - Wall of Eyes (Self Help Tapes-XL) 

33. The Messthetics - The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!) 

34. Jack White - No Name (Third Man) 

35. Miranda Lambert - Postcards from Texas (Vanner-Republic) 

36. Wussy - Cincinnati Ohio (Shake It) 

37. MIZU - Forest Scenes (NNA Tapes) 

38. Jane Weaver - Love In Constant Spectacle (Invada) 

39. St. Vincent - All Born Screaming (Virgin) 

40. Amy Rigby - Hang In There With Me (Tapete) 

Top Songs 

1. Mavis Staples - "Worthy" 

2. Kim Deal - "Crystal Breath" 

3. Tierra Whack - "Shower Song"

4. Goat - "Ouroboros"

5. Nilüfer Yanya - "Like I Say (I Runaway)" 

6. Nia Archives - "So Tell Me" 

7. LL Cool J - "Black Code Suite" feat. Sona Jobarteh 

8. Shabazz Palaces feat. Lavarr the Starr - "Take Me To Your Leader" 

9. English Teacher - "The World's Biggest Paving Slab" 

10. Suki Waterhouse - "Supersad"

Top Score

Eiko Ishibash - Evil Does Not Exist (Drag City)

Images from Sub Pop Records (La Luz) and Bandcamp (Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom - A Peace of Us album cover by Marco Papiro).

Songs for Cineastes: 2022 Edition

Click here for
the 2021 edition.

Top 10 

1. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer (DEEWEE)

2. Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador)

3. Wet Leg - Wet Leg (Domino)

4. Sault - Untitled (God) (Forever Living Originals)

5. Earthless - Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Nuclear Blast)

6. The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention (XL)

7. Sault - 11 (Forever Living Originals)

8. Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful (Bella Union)

9. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii (Mexican Summer)

10. Attia Taylor - Space Ghost (Lame-O)

Runners-up

11. Aldous Harding - Warm Chris (4AD)

12. Gwenno - Tresor (Heavenly Recordings)

13. Soft Pink Truth - Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This? 

     (Thrill Jockey)

14. Lucrecia Dault - ¡Ay! (RVNG Intl.)

16. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen (Stones Throw)

15. Sonic Youth - In/Out/In (Three Lobed Recordings)

17. Miranda Lambert - Palomino (Vanner-Sony Music)

18. Sault - Today and Tomorrow (Forever Living Originals)

19. Little Simz - No Thank You (Forever Living Originals)

20. Black Thought - Cheat Codes (BMG)

21. Ibibio Sound Machine - Electricity (Merge)

22. Robin Holcomb - One Way or the Other (Westerlies)

23. Horse Lords - Comradely Objects (RVNG Intl.)

24. Andrea Parkins - Two Rooms from the Memory Palace 

      (Infrequent Seams)

25. Seratones - Love & Algorhythms (New West)

26. Osees - A Foul Form (Castle Face)

27. SZA - SOS (Top Dawg-RCA)

28. Nina Nastasia - Riderless Horse (Temporary Residence)

29. Sault - Earth (Forever Living Originals)

30. Bill Frisell - Four (Blue Note)

31. Sault - Air (Forever Living Originals)

32. Horsegirl - Versions of Modern Performance (Matador)

33. Lizzo - Special (Nice Life Recording-Atlantic)

34. Anika - Change: The Remixes (Sacred Bones)

35. Nightshift - Zöe (Trouble in Mind)

36. Ben Shemie - Desiderata 

      (Joyful Noise Recordings/Backwards Music)

37. Brown Calvin - d i m e n s i o n // p e r s p e c t i v e (AKP)

38. Bailey Miller - Still Water (Whited Sepulchre)

39. Miles Hewitt - Heartfell (self-released)

40. Ernest Hood - Back to the Woodlands (RVNG Intl.)

Songs 

1. Sault - "Glory" (Forever Living Originals)

2. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - "Ceci n'est pas un cliché" 

    (Soulwax)

3. Lizzo - "About Damn Time" (Nice Life/Atlantic)

4. Hot Chip - "Down" (Domino Recording Co.)

5. Jessie Ware - "Free Yourself" (PMR-Virgin EMI)

6. Beyoncé - "Break My Soul" (Parkwood/Columbia)

7. LCD Soundsystem - "New Body Rhumba" (DFA)

8. Sault - "Life We Rent But Love Is Rent Free" 

    (Forever Living Originals)

9. Black Thought - "Because" (BMG)

10. Aidan Noell & Nancy Whang - "Sharevari" (Nation of Language)

Reissues & Collections 

1. The Beatles - Revolver (Super Deluxe) 

   (Calderstone Productions Ltd-UMG)

2. Donald Byrd - Cookin’ with Blue Note at Montreux (Blue Note)

3. Wire - Not about To Die (pinkflag)

4. Roxy Music - Flesh + Blood (Virgin/Ume)

5. Roxy Music - Avalon (Virgin/Ume)

6. Roxy Music - Greatest Hits (Virgin/Ume)

7. Redd Kross - Neurotica (Big Time-Merge)

8. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee

    (Reprise-Light in the Attic)

9. Lee Hazlewood - The Sweet Ride: Lost Recordings 1965-68 

    (Light in the Attic)

10. Charles Stepney - Step by Step (International Anthem)

Also worthy of note: Bitchin Bajas - Bajascillators (Drag City), Laure Briard - Eu Voo (Midnight Special), Decius - Decius Vol. 1 (The Leaf Label), Dezron Douglas - More Coffee Please (International Anthem), Chad Fowler, Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Steve Hirsh - Alien Skin (Mahakala Music), Makaya McCraven - In These Times (International Anthem-Nonesuch), Tommaso Moretti - Inside Out (BASE), and Angel Olsen - Big Time (Jagjaguwar). 

Endnote: I only saw three shows this year, largely due to the 2021 passing of Bill Kennedy, my favorite show-going companion: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul at Barboza in Seattle, Roxy Music and St. Vincent at the United Center in Chicago, and Grace Jones at the Moore in Seattle (click here for my profile of Jones). I wore a mask each time. Images: Adigéry and Pupul at Barboza (Kathy Fennessy), Aldous Harding's Warm Chris album cover (4AD / Discogs), and Donald Byrd (Blue Note Records).  

Songs for Cineastes: 2019 Edition

Cate Le Bon at KEXP in July. I was there! / Kathy Fennessy

Click here for the 2018 edition. Links lead to my concert previews for The Stranger.

Though I remain an avid, if not obsessive, radio listener, I heard considerably less new music in 2019 than usual, since I did considerably less writing about music than usual. I couldn't say whether that will continue, but I spent more time writing about film, and the writing and speaking projects I've lined up for 2020 also revolve around film, so it remains to be seen how things shake out in the months to come. At the very least, I know that I'll be writing about Harry Nilsson, Betty Davis, and Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette soundtrack. Maybe Charlotte and Serge Gainsbourg, too. Stay tuned for more details if any of that sounds appealing.

Top 10
1. Cate Le Bon - Reward (Kemado-Mexican Summer)
2. Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy! (Closed Sessions-Jagjaguwar)
3. Tanya Tucker - While I'm Livin' (Fantasy)
4. Kim Gordon - No Home Record (Matador)
5. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains (Drag City)
6. Anderson .Paak - Ventura (12 Tone-Aftermath)
7. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You (Nice Life-Atlantic)
8. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I Made a Place (Drag City)
9. The Specials - Encore (Deluxe) (Universal)
10. Snapped Ankles - Stunning Luxury (The Leaf Label)

Note: I listed Lorelle Meets the Obsolete's De Facto (Registros El Derrumbe) as part of my 2018 top 10. I didn't realize it was a 2019 release. Otherwise, it would be here. 


Runners-up
11. Sault - 5 and 7 (Forever Living Originals)
12. Altun Gün - Gece (ATO)
13. Sturgill Simpson - SOUND AND FURY (Elektra)
14. 75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real (Thin Wrist)
15. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (Jagjaguwar)
16. Cross Record - Cross Record (Ba Da Bing)
17. Jenny Lewis - On the Line (Warner Bros)
18. Oh Sees - Face Stabber (Castle Face)
19. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising (Sub Pop)
20. Aldous Harding - Designer (4AD)
21. Solange - When I Get Home (Columbia)
22. Adia Victoria - Silences (Atlantic)
23. Mega Bog - Dolphine (Paradise of Bachelors)
24. Moon Duo - Stars Are the Light (Sacred Bones)
25. Miranda Lambert - Wildcard (Vanner-Sony)
26. Medicine - Scarred for Life (Drawing Room)
27. Warmduscher - Tainted Lunch (The Leaf Label)
28. somesurprises - somesurprises (Drawing Room)
29. Ibibio Sound Machine - Doko Mien (Merge)
30. Red Kross - Beyond the Door (Merge)
31. Brittany Howard - Jaime (ATO)
32. Steve Gunn - The Unseen In Between (Matador)
33. Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars (Bruce Springsteen)
34. Föllakzoid - I (Sacred Bones)
35. Omar Souleyman - Shlon (Mad Decent)
36. Ex Hex - It's Real (Merge)
37. That Dog - Old LP (Universal)
38. The Highwomen - The Highwomen (Highwomen LLC-Elektra)
39. Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee (Columbia)
40. Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (4AD)

Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy! (Jagjaguwar)

Also worthy of note: Bananagun - "Do Yeah" (Full Time Hobby), Bill Callahan - Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest (Drag City), Karen O and Danger Mouse - Lux Prima (BMG), Mdou Moctar - Ilana (The Creator) (Sahal Sounds), Laurence Pike - Holy Spring (The Leaf Label), Matana Roberts - Coin Coin: Chapter Four Memphis (Constellation), Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow (Jagjaguwar), Sudan Archives - Athena (Stones Throw), Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride (Spring Snow-Columbia), and Michael Winograd - Kosher Style (Michael Winograd).

Top Songs and Singles
1. Prince - "I Feel for You" acoustic demo (NPG-Warner Bros)
2. Anderson .Paak ft. Andre 3000 - "Come Home" (12 Tone-Aftermath)
3. Rapsody ft. D'Angelo and GZA - "Ibtihaj" (Jamla-Roc Nation)
4. Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus "Old Town Road" (Remix) (Columbia)
5. Sault - "Don't Waste My Time" (Forever Living Originals)
6. Caribou - "Home" (Merge)*
7. GRID ft. Lydia Lunch - "Stranglehold: The World According to Herbert Huncke" (NNA Tapes)
8. Purple Mountains - "Maybe I'm the Only One for Me" (Drag City)
9. Kindness ft. Seinabo Sey - "Lost Without" (Female Energy)
10. Karen O and Danger Mouse - "Redeemer" (BMG)

*Features a sample of Gloria Barnes' Bobby Dixon-penned "Home." 



Songs/Singles Runners-up (Mostly Covers)
11. Nandi Bushell (nine-year-old American drummer) - "In Bloom" (Nirvana)
12. Yoyoka (10-year-old Japanese drummer) - "Bulls on Parade" (Rage Against the Machine)
13. Jon Hopkins and Kelly Lee Owens - "Luminous Spaces" (Domino Record Co.)
14. Nana Adjoa - "Love and Death" (Ebo Taylor) (Bloomer)
15. Empress Of/Lorely Rodriguez - "When I'm With Him" (Perfume Genius) (Terrible)
16. The Bird and the Bee ft. Beck - "Hot for Teacher" (Van Halen) (No Expectations-Release Me)
17. Bernard Fowler - "Sympathy for the Devil" (Rolling Stones) (Rhyme & Reason)
18. Warmduscher ft. Kool Keith - "Burner" (The Leaf Label)
19. Vampire Weekend - "Harmony Hall" (Spring Snow-Columbia)
20. Carly Rae Jepsen - "Everything He Needs" (Schoolboy-Interscope)*

*Features a sample of Shelley Duvall's Nilsson-penned "He Needs Me."

Top Reissues
1. The Beatles - Abbey Road: Super Deluxe Edition (Apple Corps-Calderstone Productions Ltd)
2. The House Guests - My Mind Set Me Free (Shake It)
3. Patrick Cowley - Mechanical Fantasy Box (Dark Entries)
4. Peter Ivers - Becoming Peter Ivers (RVNG Intl)
5. Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream (Audika Recordings)

Best needle drop: "Here Comes the Girls" in Synonyms.



Endnote: I saw very few shows this year, due primarily to a lack of money--fewer freelance gigs means fewer coins in my pockets--so I'm grateful that the Specials and Massive Attack were worth the wait and/or the trip. I'd never seen the former before--I've been a fan for almost 40 years--and I traveled all the way to Detroit to see the latter. Sorry I missed Stereolab and Jamila Woods. Both acts sold out their Seattle shows in a flash. I was tempted to travel to London to catch Woods in November, but after my trips to Detroit and Toronto, I was all tapped out. I also regret that I missed Jenny Lewis, but I bought a t-shirt, so I can't say I didn't do my bit for her merchandise sales.

Songs for Cineastes: 2018 Edition

Cardiff-based Gwenno Saunders

Click here for the 2017 edition. Links lead to my concert previews for The Stranger.

Top 10

1. Gwenno - Le Kov (Heavenly-PIAS)

Le Kov marks two stunning solo albums in a row from ex-Pipette Gwenno Saunders. If 2014's Y Dydd Olaf, inspired by Owain Owain's  dystopian novel from the 1970s, was the more ambitious release, the follow-up marks an artist firmly in control of her powers. The Welsh Cornish language has rarely sounded lovelier.

2. Meshell Ndegeocello - Ventriloquism (Naïve-Believe)

Ndegeocello's 2014 paranoid-funk cover of Whodini's "Friends" merely hinted at this brilliant reinvention of 11 pre-millennial R&B and funk classics. The singer and bass player at her sensual, soul-stirring best.

3. Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - De Facto (Registros El Derrumbe)

There'll never be another Broadcast, but on their fifth full-length, this Ensenada-by-way-of-Guadalajara duo (Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto Gonzalez) conjures up a similar sense of magic and mystery. Mixed by Cooper Crain (Bitchin Bajas) and mastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control): México goes motorik.  

Meshell Ndegeocello

4. Kacey 

Musgraves 

- Golden Hour (MCA Nashville)

From the electro pop of "High Horse" to the rustic psychedelia of "Slow Burn" to the stadium tour with Harry Styles, Musgraves' creative risks rankled purists, but the CMA Award for album of the year confirms that her resemblance to Bobbie Gentry is more than just skin deep.  

5. DRINKS - Hippo Lite (Drag City)

It was a good year to be Cate Le Bon--or a fan of the Welsh polymath--as she co-produced Deerhunter and hit her stride with White Fence's Tim Presley on their second, even-better-than-the-first record.  

6. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer (Bad Boy)

After establishing her acting bonafides in 2016 (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), Monáe emerged in 2018 as a "free-ass motherfucker," an orientation reflected in the Prince-inspired "Make Me Feel" and the Georgia O'Keefe-on-ecstasy "Pink" video with pal Tessa Thompson.  

7. Exploded View - Obey (Sacred Bones)

Berlin-based Anika launched her career as a solo artist, so it came as a surprise when she joined forces with two Mexico City musicians to form this transcontinental trio. Their discography to date isn't a repudiation of the stark sound she established with BEAK's Geoff Barrow, but a more textural version marked by unnerving shows in which the cool blonde segues from quasi-catatonic to confrontational.  

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete

8. Kelly Lee Owens - Kelly Lee Owens (Smalltown Supersound)

On her enchanting debut, the Welsh producer whispers sweetly over diaphanous clouds of synths and gently pulsating beats. It's Charlotte Gainsbourg by way of Juana Molina through a Giorgio Moroder haze. 

9. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited (4AD)

Meg Remy, the American-born sonic architect behind this Toronto noise-pop project, takes recognizable elements, including girl-group harmonies and soul samples, and scrambles them into something new and unfamiliar, like Ronnie Spector fronting the Residents. On her riveting new album, she references male-generated works about men, like Hamlet, to interrogate male power and female agency.

10. The Nels Cline 4 - Currents, Constellations (Blue Note)

Cline, a guitarist and composer with free jazz (Charlie Haden, Julius Hemphill) and alt-rock roots (Wilco, Mike Watt, Thurston Moore), brings playful prog-punk energy to his second Blue Note outing.  

Note: All comments from my 2018 Pazz & Jop ballot.

Runners-up

11. Amen Dunes - Freedom (Sacred Bones)

12. The Breeders - All Nerve (4AD)

13. Wussy - What Heaven Is Like (Damnably)

14. Cat Power - The Wanderer (Domino)

15. Brownout - Fear of a Brown Planet (Fat Beats)

16. Yo La Tengo - There's a Riot Going On (Matador)

17. Pistol Annies - Interstate Gospel (Sony Music Entertainment)

18. Ambrose Akinmusire - Origami Harvest (Blue Note)

19. Ashley Monroe - Sparrow (Warner Bros Nashville)

20. The Necks - Body (Northern Spy)

21. Khruangbin - Con Todo el Mundo (Dead Oceans-Night Time Stories)

22. Blood Orange - Negro Swan (Domino)

23. Ty Segall - Freedom’s Goblin (Drag City)

24. Tune-Yards - I Can Feel You Creep into My Private Life (4AD)

25. Wooden Shjips - V. (Thrill Jockey)
26. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar (Ninja Tune)

27. Oh Sees - Smote Reverser (Castle Face)

28. Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog (Saddle Creek)

29. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Sparkle Hard (Matador)

30. Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth
(Shoto Mas Inc.-Young Turks)

Kim Deal of the Breeders at Showbox Sodo

31. Becky Warren - Undesirable (Becky Warren)

32. Ty Segall and White Fence - Joy (Drag City)

33. Escape-ism - The Lost Record (Merge)

34. Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs (Merge)

35. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake (Rough Trade)

36. Serpentwithfeet - soil (Secretly Canadian)

37. Wayne Shorter - Emanon (Blue Note)

38. Cameron Knowler - New & Old (Blue Hole Recordings)

39. Soccer Mommy - Clean (Fat Possum)

40. Black Belt Eagle Scout - Mother of My Children (Saddle Creek)

41. Low - Double Negative (Sub Pop)

42. Sarathy Korwar - My East Is Your West (Gearbox)

43. Joan Shelley - Joan Shelley (No Quarter)

44. Warm Drag - Warm Drag (In the Red)

45. Julia Holter - Aviary (Domino)

46. Anne Malin (FKA Fawn) - Fog Area (Anne Malin)

47. Robyn - Honey (Konichiwa-Interscope)

48. Charles Bradley - Black Velvet (Dunham-Daptone)

49. Cale Brandley with Triptych Myth - Finding Fire (Birdwatcher)
50. Marie Davidson - Working Class Woman (Ninja Tune)

Top Reissues & Compilations

1. Bobbie Gentry - The Girl from Chickasaw: The Complete Capitol Masters (Capitol Records Nashville)

2. Prince - Piano and a Microphone 1983 (NPG Records)

3. Marvin Pontiac - Greatest Hits (Northern Spy)

4. Martin Newell - The Greatest Living Englishman (Captured Tracks )

5. Mike Simonetti - Solipsism (2MR)

6. Haruomi Hosono - Cochin Moon (Light in the Attic)

7. Redd Kross - Teen Babes from Monsanto (Merge)

8. Princess Nokia - Metallic Butterfly (Remastered & Expanded) (Rough Trade)

9. Destroyer - Thief (Merge)

Top EPs

1. Jenny Hval - The Long Sleep (Sacred Bones)

2. Mazzy Star - Still (Rhymes of an Hour)

3. Munya - Delmano (Luminelle Recordings)

4. PI Power Trio - The Walk (Birdwatcher)

5. Little Dragon - Lover Chanting (Ninja Tune)

Top Singles

1. Kacey Musgraves - "Slow Burn" (MCA Nashville)

What it says on the label.

2.  Kendrick Lamar, SZA - "All the Stars" (Top Dawg-Interscope)

Wakanda forever.  

3. Janelle Monáe - "Make Me Feel" (Bad Boy)

It's hard to imagine that "Make Me Feel" would exist without Prince's "Kiss," but Monáe ups the ante with Hereditary-like tongue-clicks as a rhythm track--and words never heard in a Jehovah Witness's Bible.

4. Childish Gambino - "This Is America" (mcDJ Recording-RCA)

Donald Glover's incantatory recitation would work without visuals, but Hiro Murai's video represents America in 2018 as acutely as the newsreel footage in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. Utterly unnerving.

5. Brownout - "Fear of a Black Planet" (Fat Beats)

Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad, spun hiphop gold from funk filaments, so it's only right and natural that these Austin instrumentalists would strip the PE track down to its funky essence.

6. Khruangbin - "Maria También" (Dead Oceans-Night Time Stories)

The very definition of sinuous.

7. Ashley Monroe - "Hands on You" (Warner Bros Nashville)

The year's sexiest song...and even better than anything on Pistol Annies' not-at-all-bad Interstate Gospel. "I wish I'd a pushed you against the wall, locked the door in a bathroom stall..."

8. Angelique Kidjo - "Born Under Punches" (Kravenworks) 

"Look at these hands," Kidjo asks commandingly, turning the words of David Byrne's (presumably white) government man inside out. "All I want is to breathe," sighs the Beninese-born singer.

9. The Internet - "La Di Da" (Columbia-Sony Music Entertainment) 

The spirit of early-'70s Stevie Wonder infuses this breezy track.

10. Little Dragon - "Lover Chanting" (Ninja Tune)

A summery wisp of a thing. "Do you wanna be my girl, I wanna-wanna-wanna be your ma-a-an." That's about the gist of it.  

Also worthy of note: Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel (Mom+Pop), Cruel Diagonals - Disambiguation (Drawing Room), Jacco Gardner - Somnium (Polyvinyl Recording Co), Ross Goldstein - Eighth House (Birdwatcher), Hinds - I Don’t Run (Mom + Pop), In-
solito Universo - Folk Experimental de Venezuela (Olindo), The In-
ternet - Hive Mind (Columbia), Jo Passed - Their Prime (Sub Pop), Angelique Kidjo - Remain in Light (Kravenworks), The Limiñanas - Shadow People (Because Music), Samara Lubelski - Flickers at the Station (Drawing Room), Dave McMurray - Music Is Life (Blue Note), Melody’s Echo Chamber - Bon Voyage (Far Possum), MGMT - Little Dark Age (Columbia-Sony Music Entertainment), Papa M - A Broke Moon Rises (Drag City), Pusha T  - Daytona (GOOD-Def Jam), Shamir - Revelations (Father/Daughter), The Shifters - Have a Cunning Plan (Trouble in Mind), Colin Stetson - Hereditary (Original Motion Pic-
ture Soundtrack) (Milan), Sudan Archives - Sink (Stones Throw), Szun Waves - New Hymn to Freedom (Leaf Label), Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre - Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre (Double Feature), and Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Sex & Food (Jagjaguwar).

Endnote: More images and videos to come.  

Songs for Cineastes: 2016 Edition

And then there were two. [Chad Batka/Redux]

Click here 
for the 
2015 
edition.

Links lead
to my re-
views and previews for The Stranger.

The Tops 
1. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service (Epic)
2. Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf (Heavenly Recordings) [2015]
3. Cate Le Bon - Crab Day (Drag City)
4. Kikagaku Moyo - House in the Long Grass (Guruguru Brain)
5. Steve Gunn - Eyes on the Lines ( Matador)
6. Anohni - Hopelessness (Secretly Canadian)
7. Exploded View - Exploded View (Sacred Bones)
8. Heron Oblivion - Heron Oblivion (Sub Pop)
9. Thee Oh Sees - A Weird Exits (Castle Face)
10. Essaie Pas - Demain Est Une Autre Nuit (DFA)

Note: For most of the year, Gwenno's Welsh-language record was my #1, but I felt uncomfortable about the choice, because it's actually from 2015, except I first heard about it (by way of the late Other Music update list) in 2016. Then I heard A Tribe Called Quest's first full-length in 18 years, and that was the end of that. Simply put, it's the record I've listened to the most--and that's not counting the hundreds of times I've heard tracks on KEXP. It's rare that a major label release tops my list, but it's just that good. And I'm no super-fan. I own their first two records, but checked out after that. No doubt Epic is hoping that the success of We Got It From Here leads to more music from the surviving duo, but without Phife Dawg, who passed away in March, it wouldn't be the same, so I hope they keep their word, i.e. that this is their swan song. There's nothing wrong with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad continuing to work together; just not as A Tribe Called Quest. Also, I won't deny that I prefer Anohni's protest record more in theory than practice, but I endorse every damn word.  



Runners-up
11. Dr. Lonnie Smith - Evolution (Blue Note)
12. Angel Olsen - My Woman (Jagjaguwar)
13. Deerhoof - The Magic (Polyvinyl)
14. Wussy - Forever Sounds (Shake It!) 
15. Myrkur - Mausoleum (Relapse)
16. Yoko Ono - Yes, I’m a Witch, Too (Manimal Group)
17. The Julie Ruin - Hit Reset (Hardly Art)
18. Rangda - The Heretic's Bargain (Drag City)
19. Psychic Ills - Inner Journey Out (Sacred Bones)
20. Jessy Lanza - Oh No (Hyperdub) 

Note: Why aren't more people talking about the Yoko Ono record? Sure, it's a collection of remixes, but it brings her dance-oriented material up to date without cheapening it in any way. The lady turned 83 in 2016, and she can still wipe the floor with all of us. 

The eternal cool of Dr. Lonnie Smith. [Blue Note]

Second Runners-up
21. Marissa Nadler - Strangers (Sacred Bones)
22. Woods - City Sun Eater in the River of Light (Woodsist)
23. Jah Wobble - Everything Is No Thing (Jah Wobble)
24. The Flat Five - It's a World of Love and Hope (Bloodshot)
25. Charles Bradley - Changes (Dunham / Daptone)
26. Claire Cronin & John Dieterich - Came Down a Storm (Ba Da Bing)
27. Coathangers - Nosebleed Weekend (Suicide Squeeze)
28. Clipping - Splendor and Misery (Sub Pop)
29. Tortoise - The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey)
30. Wire - Nocturnal Koreans (Pinkflag)



Top Reissues & Collections
1. Colin Newman - A-Z, Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fish, and Not To (Sentient Sonics)
2. Pram - The Stars Are So Big... and Helium (Medical Records)
3. The Chills - Kaleidoscope World (Flying Nun) [deluxe reissue]
4. Terry Allen - Lubbock (On Everything) (Paradise of Bachelors)
5. Benny Hester - Benny... (Moraine Music Group)
6. John Cale - Fragments of a Rainy Season (Double Six / Domino)
7. The Clean - Getaway (Merge)
8. Pylon - Live (Chunklet)
9. Blonde Redhead - Masculin Feminin (Numero Group) [box set]
10. Ministry - Trax! Rarities (Cleopatra)

Also: Anna Homler and Steve Moshier - Breadwoman & Other Tales (RVNG Intl.), Kleenex / LiliPUT - First Songs (Mississippi), Poster Children - Daisychain Reaction (Lotuspool), Sparks - S/T (Bearsville), and Mor Thiam - Dini Safarrar / Drums of Fire (private press).

Note: Not gonna play favorites with the Newman reissues, because I was only able to listen to each one once prior to a browser malfunction. After that, the downloads wouldn't play. 

Anderson .Paak (Brandon Paak Anderson). [Stones Throw]

Top Singles and Tracks
1. Anderson .Paak - "Celebrate" (Steel Wool / OBE)
2. Solange - "Cranes in the Sky" (Saint / Columbia)
3. Six Organs of Admittance - "Taken by Ascent" (Drag City)
4. Junior Boys - "Big Black Coat" (City Slang) [2015]
5. Ty Segall - "Orange Color Queen" (Drag City)
6. Mr. Elevator - "Sunshine Daydream" (Rad Cat)
7. Justice - "Safe and Sound" (Ed Banger)
8. Moon Duo - "Creepin' " (Sacred Bones)
9. Paul Simon - "Wristband" (Concord)



Also worthy of note: Bayonne - Primitives (Mom+Pop), Willis Earl Beal - Through the Dark EP (Tender Loving Empire), Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop - Love Letter for Fire (Sub Pop), Bitchin Bajas and Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties (Drag City), Black Mountain - IV (Jagjaguwar), Erik Blood - Lost in Slow Motion (HomeSkillet), Blood Orange - Freetown Sound (Domino), Boris with Merzbow - Gensho (Relapse), Breanna Barbara - Mirage Dreams (No Roads), Clipping - Wriggle EP (Sub Pop), Cradle - Temperate Lands (CDT), Morgan Delt - Phase Zero (Sub Pop), Devil Makes Three - Redemption and Ruin (New West), Globelamp - The Orange Glow (Wichita Recordings), Cory Hanson - The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo (Drag City), Aldous Harding - Aldous Harding (Flying Nun), The Heliotropes - Over There That Way (The End), Holy Fuck - Congrats (Innovative Leisure), Holy Wave - Freaks of Nurture (Re-
verberation Appreciation Society), Jacuzzi Boys - Ping Pong (Mag Mag), Chuck Johnson - Velvet Arc (Trouble in Mind), Damien Jurado - Visions of Us on the Land (Secretly Canadian), Klaus Johann Grobe - Spagat der Liebe (Trouble In Mind), Lavender Flu - Heavy Air (Meds), Dan Lissvik - Midnight (Smalltown Supersound), Kedr Livanskiy - January Sun (2MR), Matmos - Ultimate Care II (Thrill Jockey), MV & EE - root/void (Woodsist), Nervous Curtains - Low Defender EP (Med-
ical Records), Parquet Courts - Human Performance (Rough Trade), Britta Phillips - Luck or Magic (Double Feature), Purling Hiss - High Bias (Drag City), Quilt - Plaza (Mexican Summer), Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 3 (Mass Appeal / RED), Mikael Seifu - Zelalem (RVNG Intl.), Mark Sultan - BBQ (In the Red), Sun Angle - Skullflower (XRay), Suuns - Hold / Still (Secretly Canadian), Carter Tanton - Jettison the Valley (Western Vinyl), Terry - Terry HQ (Upset the Rhythm), Terry Malts - Lost At The Party (Slumberland), Doug Tuttle - It Calls on Me (Trouble in Mind), the Veldt - The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation EP (Leonard Skully), Adia Victoria - Beyond the Bloodhounds (Canvasback), Various Artists - Day of the Dead (4AD), Ryley Walker - Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (Dead Oceans), and Andre Williams - I Wanna Go Back to Detroit City (Bloodshot).

Moscow musician-producer Kedr Livanskiy. [2MR]

  








Need to hear more: Anderson .Paak - Malibu (Steel Wool-OBE), Beyoncé - Lemonade (Parkwood-Columbia), David Bowie - Blackstar (ISO-Columbia), Nick Cave - Skeleton Tree (Bad Seeds Ltd.), Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker (Columbia), Cross - Wabi-Sabi (Ba Da Bing), Justice - Woman (Ed Banger), Frank Ocean - Blonde (Boys Don't Cry), Radiohead - A Moon-Shaped Pool (XL), Silence - Nine Suns, One Morning (Drag City), Solange - A Seat at the Table (Saint / Columbia), and Kanye West - The Life of Pablo (Def Jam).
 
 
Endnote: Not only haven't I heard the entirety of Lemonade, but I haven't seen the visual album either, which made it onto a lot of film critics' end-of-the-year lists. An agenda item for 2017's to-do list.  

Songs for Cineastes: 2015 Edition

Lamont Thomas of Obnox. 

Click here 
for the 2014 
edition.

I probably spent more time listening to new music in 2015 than any other year, and that includes my days as a music director (when staffers helped me to plow through the deluge of records and CDs we received each week).

On average, that means several hours a day every day listening to new singles, EPs, and full-lengths. Although I don't rank them, I also watch-
ed a lot of videos and listened to a lot of mixes. I receive most of this material from labels and publicists, but I'm a freelance writer, and I di-
vide my time between music and film, so I don't get everything, and I don't have the time or money to hear it all, so you're sure to notice notable omissions. To that end, I've included a list of records at the end of this post that might have made my list if I had heard them in their entirety. In those cases, I heard a song or an excerpt, but didn't have access to the full-length in time. Some of these titles, like the Har-
monia collection are now sold out (at least according to Other Music).

As ever, ranking is somewhat arbitrary, except for #1. I love to rank things, but I kind of hate it, too. Plus, my feelings change with time; not radically so, but enough that these titles would probably remain the same, but the order in which they appear would look different. I can never really predict what will stand the test of time. I mean, sometimes I can, but not always. If something--anything--gets overplayed, it tends to grate on my nerves after awhile, and I notice flaws that weren't ap-
parent before. Or if they were always apparent, I focus on them more than I would otherwise. You could call it a flaw in my construction, and I wouldn't beg to differ, but it's part of the reason why independent releases will always give me more joy than major-label productions.

Note: Links lead to my previews for The Stranger (the paper's staff
published their lists here). Unnumbered lists are in alphabetical order.  



Top 10
1. Obnox - Boogalou Reed (12XU)

A new discovery for me. I'm not familiar with Lamont "Bim" Thomas's previous work, and nor did I hear the other two albums, Wiglet and Know America, that he released this year. I only know that Boogalou Reed--ridiculous title and all--rocked harder than anything else I heard (including that incendiary Wolf Eyes record), and I look forward to hearing more from Thomas in the years to come. As with Kamasi Washington's The Epic, this is a record and an artist that received very little love from Seattle in 2015. We can and should do better to support such talented, uninhibited artists. The fact that they're musicians of color makes their absence from local publications and airwaves seem even more unfortunate.  

2. Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated at Last (Castle Face)
3. Shamir - Ratchet (XL Recordings)
4. Twerps - Range Anxiety (Merge)
5. Kamasi Washington - The Epic (Brainfeeder)
6. Jane Weaver - Silver Globe (Finders Keepers)
7. The Cairo Gang - Goes Missing (God?-Drag City)
8. Bitchin Bajas & Natural Information Society -  
    Automaginary (Drag City)
9. Föllakzoid - III (Sacred Bones)
10. Wolf Eyes - I Am A Problem: Mind in Pieces (Third Man)

Runners-up
11. Joanna Newsom - Divers (Drag City)
12. Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs (Drag City)
13. Deerhunter - Fading Frontier (4AD)
14. Shopping - Why Wait and Consumer Complaints (FatCat)
15. Hieroglyphic Being & J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl -
      We Are Not the First (RVNG Intl.)
16. Destroyer - Poison Season (Merge)
17. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love (Sub Pop)
18. Boogarins - Manual (Other Music Recording Co.)
19. Six Organs of Admittance - Hexadic II (Drag City)
20. Royal Headache - High (What’s Your Rupture?)



Second Runners-up
21. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, 
       and Sometimes I Just Sit (Mom + Pop)
22. Moon Duo - Shadow of the Sun (Sacred Bones)
23. Meg Baird - Don’t Weigh Down the Light (Drag City)
24. Slim Twig - Thank You for Stickin’ with Twig (DFA)
25. Ultimate Painting - Green Lanes (Trouble in Mind)
26. Jacco Gardner - Hypnophobia (Polyvinyl)
27. Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart - Suuns and 
      Jerusalem in My Heart (Secretly Canadian)
28. Metz - II (Sub Pop)
29. Micachu & the Shapes - Good Sad Happy Bad (Rough Trade)
30. Circuit des Yeux - In Plain Speech (Thrill Jockey)

Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux. 

Local Superstars
1. La Luz - Weirdo Shrine (Hardly Art)
2. The Sonics - This Is the Sonics (Revox)
3. Pony Time - Rumours 2: The Rumours Are True (self-released)
4. Wimps - Suitcase (Kill Rock Stars)
5. Childbirth - Women’s Rights (Suicide Squeeze)
6. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial (Matador) 
7. Shana Cleveland & the Sandcastles - Holy Rollers (Suicide Squeeze)
8. Chastity Belt - Time to Go Home (Hardly Art)

Top Reissues
1. Various Artists - Ork Records: New York, 
     New York (Numero Group)
2. Karin Krog - Don't Just Sing | An Anthology 
    1963-1999 (Light in the Attic)
3. Zeus B. Held - Vinyl Collection (Medical Records)
4. Various Artists - Don't Think I've Forgotten: 
    Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll (Dust-to-Digital)
5. Frederick Michael St. Jude - Gang War (Drag City)
6. Elyse Weinberg - Greasepaint Smile (Numerophon)
7. John Carpenter - Lost Themes (Sacred Bones)
8. Six Organs of Admittance - Dust and Chimes (Holy Mountain)
9. Beat Happening - Look Around (Domino)
10. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy: 
     10th Anniversary Edition (Jagjaguwar)

Note: I forgot to add Laddio Bolocko's Live and Unreleased: 1997-2000 (Quarter Records), so just think of it as #11.  



Top EPS
1. White Magic - I'm Hiding My Nightingale (Leaving)
2. Ty Segall - Mr. Face (Famous Class)
3. Susanna - Songs Revisited (SusannaSonata)
4. Parquet Courts - Monastic Living (Rough Trade)
5. Amen Dunes - Cowboy Worship (Sacred Bones)

Top single
David Bowie - "Blackstar" (Sony)



Also worthy of note: Benjamin Clementine - At Least for Now (Capitol Records), Cold Beat - Into the Air (Crime on the Moon), Deradoorian - The Expanding Flower Planet (Anticon), Django Django - Born Under Saturn (Ribbon Music), Drinks - Hermits on Holiday (Heavenly Recordings), Bill Fay - Who Is the Sender? (Dead Oceans), Flying Saucer Attack - Instrumentals 2015 (Drag City), Gardens & Villa - Music for Dogs (Secretly Canadian), Don Howland - Life Is a Nightmare (12XU), Stone Jack Jones - Love and Torture (Western Vinyl), Jessie Jones - Jessie Jones (Burger), Idjut Boys - Versions (Smalltown Supersound), Mike Krol - Turkey (Merge), Lady Lamb - After (Mom+Pop), Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts - Manhattan (Rough Trade), Mantles - All Odds End (Slumberland), Rhett Miller - The Traveler (ATO Records), Peacers - Peacers (Drag City), A Place to Bury Strangers - Transfixiation (Dead Oceans), Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for Space (Test Card Recordings), Michael Rault - Living Daylight (Burger), Shannon & the Clams - Gone by the Dawn (Hardly Art), Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer (Carpark), Summer Twins - Limbo (Burger Records), Richard Thompson - Still (Fantasy Records), Thundercat - The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam (Brainfeeder), Turn to Crime - Actions (Mugg and Bop), Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love (Jagjaguwar), Ryley Walker - Primrose Green (Dead Oceans), Wand - 1,000 Days (God?-Drag City) and Golem (In the Red), Jamie Woon - Making Time (Blue Note), WX - WX (Castle Face), and Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That There (Matador).

James McNew, Georgia Hubley, and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo at the Neptune.

Need to hear more: Dick Diver - Melbourne, Florida (Trouble in Mind), Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - The Connie Plank Session (Grönland), Fuzz - II (In the Red), Girl Band - Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade), Harmonia - Complete Works (Grönland), King Midas Sound/Fennesz - Edition 1 (Ninja Tune), Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (Aftermath-Interscope), Cass McCombs - A Folk Set Apart: Rarities, B-Sides & Space Junk, Etc. (Domino), Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa (World Circuit), Mueller_Roedelius - Imagori (Grönland), Peach Kelli Pop - III (Burger), and Smokey - How Far 
Will You Go?: The S&M Recordings, 1973-81 (Chapter Music).



Obnox image from Público (no photographer noted).