Whoa, I didn’t mean to stay away for that long. The only excuse I can make is that having two bands, a job, and looking into going back to school all at once have pushed my updates to the backseat. I thought I’d come back with some thoughts on whether we’ve had many albums come along that will really define this decade yet. Of course I don’t necessarily mean albums that will be remembered for shaping pop-culture as a whole, but if you’ve ever read anything of mine then you should know that already. I’m talking standout albums for the truly music-obsessed. I have a “half-decade” list now that we’re halfway through 2015 and I’m open to suggestions on what I might be missing. What do you think and what should I add? Of course this is just a list based on my tastes and what I look for/get out of music, so perhaps not all of these will go down as touchstone records in many of your books. In no particular order…..
Grails – Deep Politics Intronaut – Valley of Smoke and Habitual Levitations Death Grips – The Money Store
Swans – The Seer and To be Kind
Godspeed you! Black Emporer – Allelujah, Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Pink Floyd – the Endless River
Madlib/Freddie Gibbs – Pinata
Flying Lotus – You’re Dead
D’angelo and the Vanguard – Black Messiah
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die but you Will
Converge – All we Love we Leave Behind
Steve Reich – Radio Rewrite
Madlib – Medicine Show series (especially 2 and 8)
Sigur Ros – Valtari
Bibio – Silver Wilkinson
Storm Corrosion – ST
Mono – Last Dawn/Rays of Darkness
Astra – the Black Chord
Deafheaven – Sunbather
Mastodon – the Hunter
Temples – Sun Structure
Unknown Mortal Orchestra -1 and 2
Kilimanjaro Darkjazz – From the Stairwell and I Foresee the Dark if I Stay
Adebesi Shank – This is the Third Album by a Band Called Adebesi Shank
Fang Island – Daisy
The (slightly) Discerning Bassist 