#beyond the plane tree? GORGEOUS harmonizing

[couldbebetterforsure]

You know Jack Jeanne….you can joke about Suzu being a weak singer all you want….

Doesn’t really work when you have Yuma Uchida playing him as if he has the voice of an angel 😂

[aaronmaurer]

Music I Liked in 2018

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

Are alternative and indie rock viable formats anymore? What do those labels mean in the year 2018? (What did they ever mean, really?) My favorite sonic moments of the year appear to be more out of step with the general populace and critical circles than ever before, and yet, I still go to a lot of concerts and seeing many of these acts live this year in sold-out venues proves that there is still an audience out there for guitar-based music. If that’s your thing (and no worries if it isn’t), give some of these records a shot.

15. Ruins / Tender Offerings EP – First Aid Kit

Sweden’s harmonic folk sister act returned at the beginning of the year with the accomplished Ruins. It may not have hit the heights of their career-best Stay Gold, but it still provides moments of sweeping beauty. However, it’s the 4-song collection of outtakes from the same sessions that cements this album cycle on my list: Tender Offerings is even more immediate and quietly affecting than its parent record.

14. Arthur Buck – Arthur Buck

Personal favorite singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur teamed up with former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck this year for a collaboration that hews more towards Arthur’s influence than Buck’s. That’s not a bad thing and this is a recent highlight of Arthur’s prodigious output. If the collaboration continues to foster such energy and inspiration, I hope it extends well into the future.

13. Malibu Nights – LANY

I’m not quite sure how to classify LANY; in my analysis they have as much in common with emo as pop music, and their synth-heavy sound doesn’t readily slot into rock formats. Regardless, I find their music easily approachable and their lyrics to cut with a similar sincerity as the likes of Jimmy Eat World. Malibu Nights is concise and consistent, two things that cannot be said of 2017’s self-titled full-length, and it is all the stronger for it.

12. Black Panther the Album – Various Artists

Black Panther the Movie was one of the highlights of the year (see my film picks coming soon) and its companion soundtrack follows suit. A mixtape curated by and featuring Kendrick Lamar, this album of original material manages to form a cohesive unit as opposed to a collection of random tracks (i.e. last decade’s Spider-Man 3 soundtrack – which I actually liked, on the whole…). Wakanda forever!

11. Love Is Dead – CHVRCHES

The third LP from Scotland’s CHVRCHES was viewed as a letdown by much of the critical community, and as someone who ranked 2015’s Every Open Eye as that year’s favorite album, I would have to agree – to a point. Love Is Dead still has plenty of fantastic arena and festival-ready anthems to its credit and I don’t blame the trio for leaning into their pop side for this one. The album is incredibly front-loaded with “Graffiti,” “Get Out” and the Matt Berninger collab “My Enemy” coming in the first third, but there are strong moments all the way through and it’s definitely one of the most enjoyable listens of the year.

10. Wildness – Snow Patrol

After a 7-year hiatus, Snow Patrol returned with Wildness and I have to admit I was initially disappointed. However, I have found that with repeated listens this record has really grown on me. The emotional transparency of Gary Lightbody’s songwriting remains intact and you can feel his authenticity on songs like “Life On Earth,” “Heal Me” and “A Youth Written In Fire.” Definitely worth spending some time with.

9. [untitled] EP / [Untitled] – mewithoutYou

Philadelphia’s post-rock luminaries made a surprise return this year with some of their best work to date. An EP arrived in August and rather than a preview of October’s full-length release (only a single song is repeated, in a different version), it functions as a compelling work in its own right and finds the band embracing their more meditative and melodic tendencies. By contrast, the LP leans a bit more into the band’s harder edge – but not completely eschewing quieter moments – without sacrificing any of the lyrical depth or deft musicianship they are known for. It feels like a creative renaissance for a group soon to enter their third decade.

8. boygenius EP – boygenius

The only negative to this stellar collaboration between singer/songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus is that it’s only six songs long. The artists are each given space to shine and when the harmonies kick in, it’s transcendent. Here’s hoping it’s not the last we hear from them as a trio.

7. Be More Kind – Frank Turner

A blazingly earnest call-to-arms for hope in the face of the current political and social landscape, Be More Kind is filled with rousing sing-alongs about decency and making a difference. “Don’t Worry,” “Little Changes,” “Brave Face” and the title track are among the most positive and affirming songs I’ve heard in recent memory, but it’s the rousing and reclaiming anthem “Make American Great Again” that marks my favorite moment on this near-perfect record.

6. Come Tomorrow – Dave Matthews Band

Old habits die hard, and even though my enthusiasm has waned since my obsessive high school & college days, I’ll still go to bat for much of Dave Matthews Band’s music. Their first studio album in 6 years is somewhat a catch-all of songs they’ve been playing live for a while but hadn’t recorded, and as such, is a bit overlong and slightly disjointed. Even so, there is a melancholic wistfulness that pervades many of the record’s highlights including “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin),” “Virginia In the Rain” and “Come On Come On,” which rate with their best work.

5. Upside Down Flowers – Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Andrew McMahon’s latest effort is a very nostalgic look back at not just his early career in Something Corporate (“Teenage Rockstars”) but to his childhood as well (“Ohio,” “House In The Trees”). What could come across as navel-gazing or self-mythologizing instead becomes universal in its specificity and his most impactful work in years.

4. Art of Doubt – Metric

Every few years, Emily Haines and Co. grace us with an album of self-empowerment anthems, some of which make more of a personal impact than others. This year’s Art of Doubt was initially a sleeper that I find I keep returning to, discovering new layers of resonance each time. It now ranks alongside Fantasies and Synthetica in the band’s discography to me.

3. Mirror Master – Young the Giant

On their fourth record, Young the Giant deliver some of their most diverse and hooky tunes yet, including the Eastern-tinged “Superposition,” the introspectively moody “Glory” and the soaring anthem “Simplify.” While I’ve counted myself a fan of their previous work, this one coheres in a new way for me that is immensely rewarding.

2. Vide Noir – Lord Huron

Lord Huron have yet to make a misstep and their third full-length proves their most sonically wide-ranging yet. From the driving energy of “Ancient Names, Pt. I,” to the old-timey crooning of “Wait by the River” to the blown-out guitar of “The Balancer’s Eye,” a range of styles are employed. Even with these varied modes, everything hangs together to create an atmospheric quest into darkness for meaning beyond this plane.

1. Layers of Us – Mimicking Birds

There is a spacious ambience to the latest from Portland’s Mimicking Birds, on which acoustic guitars are traded for splashes of mood-setting synthesizers and lyrics pondering humanity’s place in the cosmos and impact on the planet. Despite the dread and existentialism that permeates some tracks, I find a lot of beauty and hope shimmering through the record. It is by far the album I listened to the most in 2018 and perfect for the winter months (during the Winter Olympics I found myself daydreaming alternate realities where the gorgeous and haunting “Belongings” could soundtrack a gold medal figure skating performance).

Here’s a sampling of songs from each of these records if you want an easily-digestible mix:

 Bonus! An additional mix of other singles, b-sides, covers and more from 2018 that I really like:

Double Bonus! 7 Best Live Performances I Saw in 2018: 

7. U2 – Experience + Innocence Tour at the United Center, May 22nd

The companion to 2015’s Innocence + Experience Tour shared a stage and some common songs, but for the most part was a unique experience that stood on its own. Still telling a loose story of the band’s history through the lens of their Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience albums, this arena tour centered around the newer material of the latter, which – being one of my favorite albums of 2017 – I was quite happy with. Closing the show with the same excellent two-song final sequence as that album, and a beautiful visual element that formed a bookend with the I+E Tour, was an inspired and moving choice.

6. Lord Huron – Pandora Presents The Stack at Concord Music Hall, September 20th

I was lucky to see Lord Huron twice this year during the Vide Noir tour cycle, and the second time was even better because A) it was a free event (put on by Pandora) that included free Sam Adams!, B) it was in a small venue and C) they reached all the way back to their first EP to end the night with “We Went Wild.” It took me right back to the night I was introduced to them at an intimate Lollapalooza pre-show at the Double Door in 2011, where this then-unknown band captivated me with their atmospheric percussion and guitar rhythms. They’ve yet to let go.

5. The National – Lollapalooza Aftershow at Metro, August 2nd

The National are at a point in their career where they headline festivals and play large theatres, so it’s rare to see them at a 1000-capacity venue like Chicago’s Metro anymore. Fortunately, the concert hall often hosts huge bands on Lollapalooza weekend for late night “aftershows” (which are always nearly impossible to get into) and I somehow scored tickets to the National’s performance there the night before they headlined the fest. It was great to see the band tear through a setlist spanning their whole career that was significantly different from what they did the following evening. The finale of an acoustic “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” – at around 2am – was a beautiful communal moment.

4. Beck – Riot Fest, September 15th

I’ve seen Beck a few times over the years and I think his current setlist might be his best ever, a great mix of all his musical permutations (though missing any songs from Mutations…). Latest record Colors was one of my favorites of 2017 and that material was fantastic live alongside classics like “New Pollution,” “Loser” and “Girl.” The stage and lighting design were a lot of fun as well and provided a visually engaging and exciting backdrop. While the festival setting meant a truncated show, I won’t hesitate to catch him again whenever he returns to town.

3. Mew – Frengers 15th Anniversary Tour at Brooklyn Steel, October 14th

Mew are a Danish indie/prog rock/dream pop band that have a number of great albums to their credit. One of my favorites is Frengers, which I didn’t actually discover until a few years after it was released in 2003. Imagine my good fortune to discover one of the few US dates on its anniversary tour happened to coincide with my trip to New York this fall. Hearing the record performed in its entirety, from the opening guitar+drum salvo of “Am I Wry? No” to the final soaring cacophony of “Comforting Sounds” was a moment out of time in the best possible way.

2. boygenius – Thalia Hall, November 13th

A truly transcendent night of music that began with each of the collaborators – Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker – playing her own masterful set, then all coming together for a finale of their entire EP. The vocal control evident in the contrast between the raw power unleashed on “Stay Down” and the restraint on the acoustic and un-miked closer “Ketchum, ID” proved these ladies really can do anything.

1. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight 10th Anniversary Tour at Thalia Hall, February 16th

This is incredibly bittersweet, in light of frontman Scott Hutchison’s death in May. Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit played two nights in Chicago during a brief album anniversary tour, hosting what turned into an audience sing-along of Midnight Organ Fight in its entirety along with a mix of other favorites including “Holy,” “The Woodpile” and “The Oil Slick.” Losing such an honest and powerful voice this year hurt a lot. I’m so thankful I had one last evening of catharsis with him.