The end of another year means it’s time for the annual Top 10 Favorite Albums list.
- Ty Segall - Manipulator While not the leader in sheer track plays via my Google Play Music account, this album is perfect all the way through. It certainly spent a lot of time on my turntable as well.
- Nothing - Guilty of Everything A wonderful example of the specific brand of rock music I love. Heavily MBV influenced wall of sound guitars. They were almost deafeningly loud when I saw them at Fitzgerald’s over the summer.
- Whirr - Sway One of the members of Nothing also founded Whirr. As you might expect, they have a similar sound. Similarly awesome.
- Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music Like a modern day Waylon Jennings. While I’m not a big country fan, I can appreciate honest, heartfelt songs. These are.
- Spoon - They Want My Soul Such a consistent band. Their sound evolves slightly with each album, yet they always sound like Spoon.
- Meatbodies - Meatbodies Ty Segall’s Fuzz band mate Chad Ubovich also helms Meatbodies. Psych rock, fuzz, reverb, etc. Thee Oh Sees/Ty Segall type rock n’ roll.
- Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal Their slacker rock sound reminds me a bit of Pavement. Simple yet catchy songs.
- Cheatahs - Cheatahs On par with the Nothing and Whirr albums on the list, more fuzzy droning shoegaze-y goodness.
- Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron I continued exploring hip-hop this year and this album led the pack. “Los Awesome” is like a modern day “California Love”. “Collard Greens” features Kendrick Lamar and name checks Houston. And more. What else do you need?
- Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait Vince Staples has collaborated with Earl Sweatshirt (whose “Doris” album was on my list last year) and toured this year with Schoolboy Q. Apparently my ear is also finely tuned for a specific style of hip-hop. Whatever the case, this album will get your head nodding if you’re into that sort of thing.
I made a YouTube playlist with one of my favorite songs from each album. Enjoy!