drewtaylormusic

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Brian Eno is probably the most important figure in modern music. He is the innovator of electronic instruments in pop music settings. For that reason if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have the pop music we have today, and take that as you may. He also coined the term “ambient music” and invented sampling. Starting out in seminal art rock band Roxy Music, he was already pushing boundaries, taking pop music where it wasn’t supposed to go, to the ether. He went solo and created some of the most galvanizing art pop music of the 70’s with Here Come The Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. He was also working with the likes of David Bowie and ambient pioneer Harold Budd. These two artists are what influenced his greatest work, Another Green World. Eno has more than 20 albums credited to his own name, over 50 production credits for such artists as Talking Heads, U2, Coldplay, David Bowie, John Cale, etc., and over 30 collaborative records, so it is no small task picking one that is “the best.”  

Another Green World however features many of Eno’s “bests.” He is at his best melodically, lyrically, and especially structurally. It has his best ambient tracks “Becalmed” and  "Zawinul/Lava", his best love song “I’ll Come Running”, his best rhythmic track “Sombre Reptiles”, and perhaps his best track ever “The Big Ship”. It also features many one offs by Eno, like an acoustic ballad “Everything Merges With The Night”, a german oompah track “Golden Hours”, and a track completely composed of rhythmic ideas “Over Fire Island.” The album seems a little scatterbrained and messy when you first hear it, which is why it completely failed on its 1975 release, but after many listens you discover it is like a sketchbook of a brilliant artist at the height of his powers. This record is also a great place to start with Eno for this reason, and since he has a huge discography and is one of the most influential musicians of our time he is definitely worth your time.

(100/10)

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David Bowie has always been relevant in one art form or another since his career started in the late 60’s. Whether it be for his acting in films like Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth or Scorsese's’ The Last Temptation of Christ, his ever changing personas (Ziggy Stardust, Thin White Duke, etc.), or his trailblazing of musical styles and genres like electronic, ambient, avant garde, punk, glam, etc., he has always had a pulse on pop culture and it trends. His 2013 album The Next Day had Bowie returning to pop music structure not seen by Bowie since his late 70’s work in Berlin. Now we get this: a one-two punch of an album release and his death, within 2 days of each other. Blackstar 2 days ago meant something totally different than what it means today. Two days ago it was a return to form for Bowie, a late life masterpiece, an album of jazz influences and darkness. Today it stands as a singular artists last great work, an album about his own rebirth and death, a brilliantly self aware album about his own mortality, and the his most brilliant endeavour as an artist.

Musically Blackstar is Bowie’s most brilliant in 40 years, but lyrically is where this album stands out for me. The ten minute opening title track, is a constantly evolving jazz dirge for an artists rebirth. It’s also one of Bowie's darkest tracks, with its lyrics of a candle standing at the pillar of all men, and it’s detuned saxophone interludes, it conjures up images of Bowie as a ritualistic leader. It’s impossible to listen to “Lazarus” without thinking of Bowie as the biblical figure, dying and being rebirthed over and over again until he decides he has had enough of both worlds. The final two tracks are both melancholy ballads that play as Bowie’s swansong to his family and loved ones (“Dollar Days”) and all the artists he has influenced (“I Can’t Give Everything Away.”)

Bowie may have made his musical masterpieces in the 70’s but it took a lifetime's worth of experience and the knowledge of his own death and mortality to make Blackstar. (10/10)

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Panda Bear- Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper 

Panda Bear, or Noah Lennox, has had a long career for only being 36. Starting in 1999 when he recorded songs on a tape recorder under the name Panda Bear. In 2000 he worked with Avey Tare on the album under the name Animal Collective, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. Thus started the highly influential run of albums Animal Collective would put out throughout the 2000′s like Sung Tongs, Feels, Strawberry Jam, and of course Merriweather Post Pavilion. During this time Panda Bear was putting out albums. 2004′s Young Prayer was a tribute to his father who passed away from cancer. A very strangely beautiful vocal and guitar album with no comprehensible words. 2007′s Person Pitch got the Panda Bear name off from the underground and made him compete creatively with Animal Collective. He, throughout his career, has added his creative flourishes and one of a kind vocal melodies to his work and with 2011′s Tomboy I felt like he lost some of that. This new album, however, brings it back... for the most part. The opener “Sequential Circuits” is one of the only boring tracks on here. It’s instrumental is really boring in comparison to the type of instrumentals I have come to expect from him, and the vocal melody feels very familiar and inoffensive. However the next track, “Mr. Noah” is where the album picks up speed. It’s frantic samples of guitar riffs and dog barks mix and meld together and create a tornado of sound along with Lennox’s vocals ascending and descending at the end of every verse.This speed the album picks up here is shattered by a totally unnecessary 30 second interlude with “Davy Jones’ Locker.” The track “Boy’s Latin” is a standout for me because it is one of the most eccentric songs I've heard from him. It’s vocals are incomprehensible samples of his own voice that have been looped and manipulated to create a very catchy and “Brian Wilsonesque” melody. “Tropic of Cancer” is a strange one in Panda Bears cannon as well as it is a straight up ballad complete with harps and horns and the most beautiful vocal delivery I've heard from him. Overall this album isn't bad, but some of the instrumentals on the tracks are very sub par for what Panda Bear usually does, as well as the interlude so early on in the album, keep me from loving it as a whole. 

8/10

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Sufjan Stevens- Carrie and Lowell

When Bob Dylan released Blood on the Tracks in 1975 he started a tradition among contemporary folk musicians, the grief album. In Dylan’s case it was his divorce and many artists have done the same, whether it be grieving over a lost relationship or the death of a loved one. Sufjan Stevens’ most recent album is of the latter and it is a fantastic testament to this style of music. Where Dylan made the end-all-be-all of break-up albums with Blood on the Tracks, Stevens has made the end-all-be-all of grieving albums with Carrie and Lowell,(his mother and stepfathers names.) The tracks on here are much different from anything Stevens has done as of late. Where his releases have grown in musical accompaniment ever since 2003′s Michigan, this album is stripped back guitar and vocals for the most part, but never does it feel like a regression to 2004′s Seven Swans, but rather a more forward thinking vision of the American folk ethos. The opening track “Death with Dignity” features a very beautifully plucked guitar melody and similarly beautiful vocal melody. The lyrics of which are about Stevens’ mother appearing to him as an apparition and when she appears, as he states, “he doesn't know where to begin.”  It is as if the rest of the album is him trying to find that place to begin. The next track, “Should Have Known Better”, is him showing regret from not seeing his mother as much as he should have and how he splits that responsibility between them both. “Drawn to the Blood” is another fantastic track illustrating how Stevens is drawn to bad or disturbing things, like “the flight of a one winged dove.”, it also goes on to say that it may not be him who is drawn to them but maybe some how they are drawn to him, with a repeating chorus of “What did I do to deserve this.” Given the subject matter of the album and Stevens’ state of mind at the time of writing this music, most would assume that the album would be a brooding piece of work. But Stevens manages to keep the music and melodies uplifting for the most part, but always with a melancholy or brooding edge. The only problems I have with this album is that some of the tracks seem out of place like “All of Me Wants All of You” and “Blue Bucket of Gold” are basically straight up love songs about a significant other. But the highlight of this album is “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross.” This track is a perfect mix of the things that Stevens’ music has become to be known for.  The music is quiet guitar picking and reverbed and double tracked vocals , and the lyrics are Stevens’ comparing the loss of his mother to the loss of a relationship of his “only lover”, with many allusions drawn to Christianity with no shade in the shadow of the cross meaning that not even faith can help him with his loss. Overall this is Stevens’ best album lyrically and melodically and has very few flaws. This album is an album of hope and resilience in the face of loss and an examination of how people deal with grief and how we still, despite not wanting to, live on.

9.8/10

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32. Perfect Pussy- Say Yes To Love 

This Syracuse punk outfit came out with one of the most compelling and noisey punk albums of the year. It's raoucaous mix of Bikini Kill feminism and Black Flag-hardcore delivery have not been seen since Sleater-Kinney's last LP. Fast and loud guitars mix with the equally loud and energetic delivery of frontwoman Meredith Graves and along with feedback from the guitars and microphone give it a lo-fi quality that is usually associated with garage rock. "Driver" starts off the album and contains all of the before mentioned things. "VII" is at the end of this album and is a piece of noise created by what I believe are synthesizers and has Meredith's voice digitally delayed, it is like the static inbetween two different radio stations, one playing Tim Hecker and the other a speech by a totalitarian ruler. The bookends of the is album are the twin heads of Perfuct Pussy's music and it makes me wonder which direction they will take on their next outing.

Highlight: "Interference Fits" is a mix of slowcore and punk that is yet another side to this multifaceted beast.  

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33. Clark- Clark 

Chris Clark comes to this self titled album with a large body of work under his belt. He has made IDM and techno music on Warp records for the better portion of the decade and has not been a standout on the label even though he got some critical acclaim. It hasn't been until recently that his style of electronic music has seen a resurgence in popularity, that style is classic sounding house influenced dance and beat music, with releases by Daft Punk and Todd Terje adding to the popularity. Clark makes some great tracks on here that are hard to listen to without at least bobbing the head. "Winter Linn" starts off the album with a driving beat that progresses very nicely, and "The Grit In The Pearl" sounds like something that would be raging in a 90's rave, in the best way possible. The best thing about this album is it is a nostalgic trip trough IDM that has enough modern elements that nothing sounds aged, but it rather sounds novel.

Highlight: "Unfurla" has the most distinct rhythm on here and makes it the biggest standout among all the fantastic tracks.   

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34. Arca- Xen 

Venezuelan born producer Arca has made 3 Ep's under that name, but it wasn't those that got his name known. He was a gueat producer on several tracks on Kanye West's last album Yeezus and he produced EP2 by FKA Twigs and was a producer on Twigs' fantastic debut album LP1. These prestigous guest spots have made his name hyped and his debut album is worth it. It is filled with abstact and glitchy beats, calm abient like tracks, and 90's IDM. The title track has all of those styles and a hint of noise in it as well. "Failed" is a quaint and beautiful ambient track that is a nice interlude right in the middle of the album.  Arca may have been known as a hip-hop producer prior to this album, and some who liked that side of him may not like this album, but with Xen he proves that he is as  introspective and talented as an electronic music producer can be. 

Highlight: "Thievery" is a great piece of modern IDM that rivals some of the best producers out there today. 

[drewtaylormusic]

35. Ben Frost- A U R O R A

Ben Frost has been making dense experimental music for the past decade and this album is no exception.  This album is comprised of harsh noise and soft ambience, but he made a number of soundtracks since his last studio release in 2009 and the cinematic feel is ever present here, especially on "Secant." Many tracks here also have a industrial tinge to them like "A Single Point of Blinding Light."   This is ambient music, but ambient in the sense of pure ambiance, noise that is ever present in modern life, disgusting but beautiful noise.   

Highlight: "Nolan" is a gritty noisescape that ends up in a completely different place than it started.  

[drewtaylormusic]

36. How to Dress Well- "What Is This Heart?"

Tom Krell has garnered a lot of acclaim for his project How to Dress Well from Pichfork, Spin,and Rolling Stone for his previous two albums. Both of which sounded like Tim Hecker producing an album with The Weeknd. For the first moments of "What Is This Heart?" you can tell there is a shift in sound quality and writing. "2 Years On (Shame Dream)" starts with an out of tune piano key being hit and then descends into a guitar picked ballad of his parents love and hate for each other. And the Velvet Underground sampled "See You Fall" is a stark plea for physical love. This album finds Krell going into starker and more singer-songwriter like territory and along with more confessional songwriting and more polished production make this his best album to date. 

Highlight: "Repeat Pleasure" is probably the most pop this album gets but Krell still weaves a tale of unrequited love into it. 

[drewtaylormusic]

37.Marianne Faithfull- Give My Love To London

Marianne Faithfull, the fabled 60's songstress and Mick Jagger's and Keith Richards' sometime lover, has had a very diverse career. She started in the 60's as an Andrew Loog Oldham signee who covered the Jagger/Richards penned "As Tears Go By." Then looking and sounding like an innocent wide-eyed teenager Faithfull soon succumbed to the vices that so many of her generation did, heroin and alcohol, as she slowly faded into irrelevance. She returned than in the late 70's with the classic Broken English, and has had a steady output since then. This album is probably her best since Broken English, and is filled with songs co-written by the likes of Patrick Leonard, Steve Earle, and Roger Waters, and also features many covers. The title track, co-written by Steve Earle, is a romp of London and its beauty and ugliness, and her sublime cover of Leonard Cohen's "Going Home" is a stark piano ballad about her death and it's approach. This album is riddled with tales of death, ugliness, and drug addiction all told by Marianne in her raspy aged voice, but the album finds solace in this sadness by coming to terms with their inevitability.

Highlight: Her cover of Nick Cave's "Late Victorian Holocaust" is a portrait of heroin addiction that has a particular prominence when she sings it. 

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Honorable Mention 8: Alvvays- Alvvays

Alvvays is a Canadian Indie Pop band who managed to stand out among all the other indie pop bands out there like Real Estate, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Best Coast. The songs are all California-esque catchy gems that ring back to the heyday of Indie pop in the 80's and 90's. "Archie Marry Me" is a lo-fi, reverbed ballad that sounds like Black Tambourine and Belle and Sebastian.

Highlight: "Adult Diversion" is a great pop gem that makes summer seem eternal.   

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Honorable Mention 7: The Bug- Angels and Devils 

The Bug followed up London Zoo with this, a album filled with guest vocalists ranging from Liz Harris of Grouper to Death Grips. The Bug keeps the beats and ambiance steady through the whole album and gives many like Gonjasufi and Flowdan a touch that you wouldn't normally here from them. 

Highlight: "Void" featuring Liz Harris of Grouper is just the right amount of Grouper and of The Bugs electronics to make it a most interesting collaborative effort.  

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Honorable Mention 6: Thom Yorke- Tomorrow's Modern Boxes 

Dropping basically out of nowhere Tomorrows Modern Boxes is more proof that the Radiohead leader is diving deeper into electronic music and we are happy to follow him. "A Brain in a Bottle" has a signature melancholia that is pure Yorke, such does the entire album.

Highlight:  "Guess Again!"  would be a boom bap rap beat in the hands of anyone other than Yorke and his piano chords dousing the track in dread.  

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Honorable Mention 5: Dirty Beaches- Stateless

Ditching his Elvis meets Suicide persona, Alex Zhang Hungtai, made 4 long ambient drones that transcend your speakers and make there way to your brain. 

Highlights: "Stateless" is a horn and string warped drone that burrows like an earwig. 

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Honorable Mention 4: King Creosote- From Scotland With Love

The Scottish folk singer was commissioned to soundtrack the documentary film of the same name and in doing so he made one of his most pleasurable albums to date.

Highlight: "Something to Believe In" is a beautiful letter to his grandparents generation.   

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Honorable Mention 3: Sturgill Simpson- Metamodern Sounds in Country Music 

Sturgill Simpson released High Top Mountain last year independently, which was just another run of the mill country twanger. Metamodern adds much more finesse and reverb to Simpson's style and finds the grey area between 60's pysch and Nashville country. "Turtles All the Way Down" is delicate Americana beauty that has a sly reference to LSD and "Living the Dream" sounds like Waylon Jennings with a psych band backing him. 

Highlights: Simpson finds the exquisite beauty in "The Promise", When In Romes schmaltzy 80's hit, and makes it a guitar plucked hymn to all consuming love.  

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Honorable Mention 2: Vashti Bunyan- Heartleap

This classic English folk artist released one album in 1969 (the classic Just Another Diamond Day) and then fell out of the public eye until Animal Collective made a collaborative Ep with her in 2004. She has become one of the most influential folk artists of the 60's even though she only made one album then. Heartleap, which she claims to be her last studio effort, is filled with beautiful songs like "Across the Water" and "Shell,"  and Vashti's voice has yet to be aged at all as it laments over softly plucked guitars and softly played piano melodies. 

Highlights: "Heartleap" is the most haunting song on here, starting with just the softest guitar melody and slowing incorporating more instruments that seem to careen and blend with Vashti's delicate voice into an ambient like oblivion.