1.
Cass McCombs - Mangy Love
“Dancing and music are sisters/Sisters are good listeners/Sisters are good kissers”I first heard a track, maybe a couple of years ago, by Cass McCombs from 2011's 'Wits End', a slow narcotic burner called County Line. An absolutely sublime meditation on lost love, I'm still convinced it's the single best song written in the last ten years. Since then I've been delving into his catalogue and enjoying it immensely, especially 'Big Wheel and others' a White Album style sprawl of varied ideas.
So Cass' 'Mangy Love' came with high expectations and I'm happy to report that it didn't disappoint. As last years single favourite musical moment was the mariachi horn break in Father John Misty's Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins), this years magic moment for me was the pinched harmonics that commence the instrumental section in 'Laughter is the best medicine' - just gorgeous, and the flute gliding by in the background. I love the song as well, just listing ingredients at the start 'Garlic, cayenne, turmeric and lime/Wood spoon to stir into slime' but by the end he just 'add whatever you want, for taste'. He's added all the right ingredients for me, Gregg.
Meticulous songwriting, great accompaniment (in particular the rhythm section, interesting but never less than supportive), strong vocals combine to make an enigmatic yet warm LP, only slightly let down by the anticlimactic closer, I'm a Shoe. One of the things I'm most excited about is the fact I still don't think he's made his masterpiece, though I love his past three albums unconditionally- there's more to come if it all goes right for him.
2.
Lambchop - FLOTUS
"Is there more to this breath that you are taking?"One of my favourite bands since the turn of the millennium, Lambchop trailered FLOTUS with an 18 minute single, The Hustle. I just loved them even more for this. And it was excellent, and really whetted my appetite for the full length, which didn't let me down. I was initially shocked by the autotune effects on the vocals, I remember putting it on to fall asleep to last thing at night and being confused back into consciousness - and then I had to hear the whole thing. To be honest, it's not that surprising that the 'Chop have taken a more electronic direction - the signs have been there since 2000's 'Is A Woman', which is my favourite record of theirs in fact - full of bubbling loops and twittering sounds but buried very low in the mix, all FLOTUS does is raise them to the forefront.
Wagner's lyrics are as ever both affecting and curiously cryptic, and really for me the stars of the show are the first and last sides - a twelve minute opener and an eighteen minute closer, I'm in. Both justify their length with evolving cycles that always intrigue me. I really like his cover artwork as well.
3.
Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like A Levee
"Monday morning/Getting the kids to school"MC Taylor is on what I would call a roll- after 2014's majestic 'Lateness of Dancers', he's made a record that at its heights might even surpass that excellent LP. It's not groundbreaking, but it feels very earthy. Just because the ground is already broken doesn't mean the soil can't be fertile. I heard those familiar old open guitar chords strummed and somehow they sound new - it's strange, but Taylor seems to conjure a lot of spirit from the old acoustic.
The opening three tracks particularly grab the attention - Biloxi is like a sped up version of the Rolling Stones' immortal Winter, the best track on Goats Head Soup - right down to the chord sequence and the slide guitar. Tell Her I'm Just Dancing manages to bring a reggae0influenced rhythm into the mix - if anyone knows of good country/reggae hybrids, suggestions please
There's gospel in here on As The Crow Flies, which when done well doesn't fail for me.
It's not quite flawless - I could probably do without Ace of Cups Hung Low Band, which reminds me far too much of a similar White Stripes piano riff but that aside, a very good album. It also came with a second 'companion' album called Vestapol which is also very very good. I like to stick it on heading into work, it sets me right for the day somehow, especially strolling on a cold, clear morning through the park.
4.
Daniel Lanois and Rocco DeLuca - Goodbye to Language
""This beguiling instrumental LP reminds me of the KLFs Chill Out, only focused entirely on the ambient pedal steel guitar. A meditative exercise evocative of oceans and icebergs. Makes an excellent alternative soundtrack to my videogame of the year, 'Abzu' on PS4 as well. Like being submerged. It's a beautiful piece that seems to basically collage together slide noises, long ringing notes and indistinct swells like sonic colours, it's a bit like an aural lava lamp. That may sound a bit shit but I love ambient music so it makes sense to me.
5.
Andy Shauf - The Party
"The magician bends the rules/As the crowd watches his every move"Put onto this by a mate a few weeks back. He kept going on about it so by the third time I thought I'd better check it out. Fuck me. Brilliant lyrics and arrangements, sublime. "Going to the party/over dressed and under prepared" surely I can relate to this, I'm fucking stupid at arriving on time. I drive myself insane with a fear of being late, White Rabbit style. Great production throughout, varied instrumentation alongside swirling strings, pianos and guitars. His voice is bewitching I find, he does have some funny pronunciation which I like, delving deep to decipher what he's on about.
6.
Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
"I sing 'Who is my creator/Not my mother/Nor my father/But before the universe burst wide open?'"This was an early contender for LP of the year, apologies Kev but I overplayed you earlier in the year la so you've dropped down. Just great songs, with a definite Dylan vibe, cribbed from the mid to late 60s but done without claustrophobic nostalgia, instead bringing to mind a Western sunset, wide open skies above canyons full of coyotes and characters. Decorated with lovely instrumentation, not least of all the gorgeous titular Singing Saw. Don't think I've heard one since Mercury Rev's 'Deserter's Songs'. Another gem from Dead Oceans.
7.
William Tyler - Modern Country
""Another instrumental album, with a wider, more colourful pallet than the Lanois LP but no less focused. Reminiscent of a long open road, in places it transplants German cosmic music to Nashville, switching Highway 40 for the autobahn on the LPs intermittently propulsive closer. With catchy melodies on the likes of Kingdom of Jones, Tyler shows his deft touch throughout, with fine fingerpicking and sensitive slide. It reminded me of my favourite bits of Led Zep in a way - the instrumental sections of III or Physical Graffiti's more pastoral moments.
8.
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
"And I wish there was a treaty we could sign/I do not care who takes this bloody hill/I’m angry and I’m tired all the time"Poor Laughing Len. The brighter, blacker star of David Bowie also burned out for the final time this year, and will doubtless win more plaudits but for me Cohen's final statement was even more affecting. Announcing the album with title track You Want It Darker, I was keen to delve into the secrets of that voice so deep it was barely there. As ever, brilliant lyrically, and with the music ploughing a similar dark smoky vibe of his last few albums (wasn't the theme tune by far the best bit about True Detective season 2?) I love this record.
9.
Vanishing Twin - Choose Your Own Adventure
"You lift your telescope and aim it at the sky/Finding mysteries outside at night"I always like to have a few wild cards, and this album fills a spot for me this year. Recommended by a kind soul on here I believe, I've forgotten who. Sorry
Reminds me of female fronted bands par excellence - Stereolab St Etienne or Broadcast, perhaps - this LP is a piece of wax drifting out of time, with a fresh sound harking back to library music, or primitive electronic music of the 60s. It's a bit more science fiction than sci-fi if you catch my drift. Stays exactly the right side of kitsch retro,
Telescope is one of the best songs I heard all year, sheer loveliness, oscillating gurgling bleeping through your speakers.
10.
Drugdealer - The End of Comedy
"I get so lazy/In this sea of nothing/Try to sleep but the thought of what you're missing"How has he nailed George Harrison's distinctive slide guitar sound so well? I've followed this guy through a number of hilarious stoner aliases - Salvia Plath, Run DMT, and I think this is one of his best efforts yet. On the label Weird World and you can see why he's an apt signing. Again very retro, 60s and early 70s, but filtered through the modern LA haze. Of all the efforts in any given annum that remind me of the Beatles, this is probably my favourite this year, one could even use the old 'Beatlesque' adjective. Though there's also early 70s Carole King style on the title track, and countless other sonic references.
11 would have been the Cavern of Anti Matter LP. It was brilliant but I just didn't get a chance to listen to it all the way through enough to honestly put it in. Sorry guys. You were in the top 5 live shows though.
Random Tracks That Stood Out That Weren't On Any Of These LPs:Aphex Twin - CIRKLON3 [Kolkhoznaya Mix]
Soft Hair - Lying Has To Stop
Twin Peaks - Heavenly Showers
Ryley Walker- A Sullen Mind (live at Sirius) - 42 minutes of greatness
Hope Sandoval feat. Kurt Vile - Let Me Get There
The Skiffle Players - A Star For You (sneaking more McCombs in there)
Youandewan - Be Good To Me, Poly
Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam - A 1000 Times
Thee Oh Sees - Plastic Plant
Bon Iver - the one that was the single, 22 Soon or something, I'm not typing out his daft titles, I'm spending more keystrokes moaning about it instead
Grouper - I'm Clean Now
Kanye West - Ultralight Beam
Laura J Martin - On The Never Never
Psychic Ills - Fade Me Out
Whitney - No Woman
Sturgill Simpson - Keep It Between The Lines
Steve Gunn - Heavy Sails
Beth Orton - Moon
Snarky Puppy - Gemini
Woods - The Other Side
Ben Watt - Fever Dream
Grumbling Fur - Acid Ali Kahn
Solange - Cranes In The Sky
Okkervil River - Days Floating In The Half-Between
Compilation of the Year:Day of The Dead. Superb. Highlights - Cass' Dark Star, HGM's Brown Eyed Women, War on Drugs doing Touch of Grey, there were loads of highlights.
