Let's give it up for the new year...
Well hello everybody! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio's 50 Most Played Albums Of The Last Year!
2016 is officially upon us, which means it's time for a little bit of instant nostalgia. Those of you who follow the blog know that each month I put together a post of my 25 most played albums of the last month. At the end of every year I put together a larger post chronicling the most played albums around Planet New Basset of the last year.
2015, a completely shitty year in most regards, was certainly an awesome year for music. As always there was a nice batch of new local acts, some artists who made good on early promise, some veterans returning to form, and a smattering of non-local albums that reminded me that it's healthy to get my head out of the local music scene and have a look around every now and then.
As always, I'll be adding a tweet-length comment on each album because nobody has an attention span any longer than 140 characters anymore. In fact, if you've made it to the end of this paragraph I'd like to offer you my sincerest thanks.
For those of you who would like to read even more of my opinions (and really, why wouldn't you?), I've linked any of the albums I wrote about this year to the album title's below. Imagine, just thousands and thousands more characters of my thoughts on these records. You probably didn't have anything worthwhile to do on a Saturday night anyway, right?
Take note that the number of plays listed reflects the number of songs on an album. If an album has 10 songs and I listen to it all the way through it counts as 10 plays.
Let's get to it:
01. The Cribs - For All My Sisters (154 plays): For my money The Cribs are the best band going right now. FAMS doesn't expand their sound much, but rather plays to their ragged strengths
02. Eric Mayson - Detail (133 plays): After a few Soundcloud singles Mayson made good on his potential with this soulful debut LP. Taken as a whole he covers a lot of bases well.
03. Blur - The Magic Whip (125 plays): After a few one-off tunes & solo excursions Blur returns! The boys sound as relevant as ever, cementing their legacy Brit-Pop's champs.
04. Human Kindness - Not Apathetic (123 plays): Everything great about the last 30 years of Twin Cities rock music rolled into one album. Simply put: The best band in town.
05. Freez & Mike Frey - Freez's Frozen French Freys (120 plays):The Illuminous 3 MC hooks up with Mike Frey for an album that's personal, political, humble & humorous. The best album yet from the WAG scene.
06. Johnny Marr - Playland (112 plays):Johnny Marr's latest isn't breaking the rules, but his guitar is still fire. His singing's improving as he steps out from some long shadows.
07. What Tyrants - No Luck (107 plays): Loud, loose guitars & shout-along vocals may seem out of place in January, but pop this baby back on in summer. A garage rock gem.
08. Buck 65 - Neverlove (105 plays): Everybody's favorite Canadian MC steps out from any facades and delivers his "divorce album. A genuine heartbreaker.
09. Clementine - Crooked Brain (101 plays): Half-Pixies, half-Coldplay. No Twin Cities album confused me this year quite like Crooked Brain. A grower for sure, but worth your time.
10. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (99 plays): I love Steely Dan. Each January I buy one of their albums and spend the year with it. I'm doing my best to savor the discovery.
11. Stnnng - Dignified Sissy (98 plays): Stnnng's debut album is still fucking bananas. God bless a music scene that continues to give them a home 10 years after this opening salvo.
12. Rupert Angeleyes - Young Sunset (93 plays): An album out of place, Young Sunset's indie-pop sounds like nothing else in the Twin Cities, which means it's fit for everybody's taste.
13. Sebadoh - Defend Yourself (91 plays): American treasure Lou Barlow's divorce album from 2014. Both scathing & vulnerable in a way that can't be faked, Sebadoh pads their legacy.
14. Wilco - Star Wars (89 plays): I checked out of the Wilco experience after (The Album), but this free release hooked me back in. Not transcendent, but a nice welcome back.
15. BNLX - Good Light (89 plays): Ed & Ashley Ackerson return with an album of punky, British jams built on a solid American chassis as BNLX continues to forge its own identity.
16. Straya - Healthy Steps (88 plays): Local indie-prog band makes good on the promise of their early EP's. Did you know indie-prog was a thing? Look into it.
17. Murder Shoes - Daydreaming (88 plays): Murder Shoes called themselves "surf-noir" on their debut EP. On this full-length they build on that sound into something all their own.
18. Nosunnofood - All The Moving Parts Of The Ultimately Median Man (88 plays): Bay Area beatmaker Edison's alter-ego. With Nosunnofood he let's the beats breath and creates an album rather than a tape.
19. The Libertines - Anthems For Doomed Youth (86 plays): The Libertines return! Like their forefathers Blur, Pete Doherty & Carl Barat return from solo life to prove they still have something to say.
20. Kill The Vultures - Carnellian (84 plays): The re-branding of Crescent Moon that began with Mixed Blood Majority comes full circle with this outstanding new KTV record. A new chapter.
21. Deleter - Oblique Seasons (84 plays): Local punk vets mix Mike Ness & math rock to deliver one of the best rock albums in town. No frills, no fills. All passion & heart.
22. Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On (82 plays): I went through a Sunny Day Real Estate phase last January. Can't totally explain it, but these guys albums don't seem to age at all.
23. Mike The Martyr - Marbury (82 plays): Mike The Martyr steps out from behind the boards to put his conversational flow on wax. Nostalgic rhymes & great beats front to back.
24. Tree Blood - I Am A Disgusting Pig (81 plays): Dirty, angry, loud, punk rock. IAADP is like a Jackson Pollock painting put to tape, Legend has it each side was recorded in one take.
25. The Flagrants - The Flagrants (81 plays): Heard The Flagrants guitar-pop on an Ecstattic Records comp, picked up the album & loved it. Can't find anything else about this band. Help!
26. Cruel Love - Cruel Love (81 plays): Mo Bluntz & Bonnie Stitches make good on the promise of their debut EP. Sensual vocals, slinky synths, sexy jams.
27. Museum Mouth - Alex I Am Nothing (80 plays): Southport, North Carolina's finest punk band. Museum Mouth's best record yet. Loud & lovelorn, MM hone their hooks to a fine point.
28. Rogue Valley - False Floors (79 plays): Rogue Valley's "winter album" may be the most poignant of their four releases. Chris Koza digs deep into the wonder of Minnesota's winters.
29. Panther Ray - Ripple (77 plays): St. Paul's Panther Ray take the GBV love of their EP's & blow it out widescreen for a full-length that's hard to pin down, which is the point.
30. I Self Devine & Muja Messiah - 9th House (77 plays): Two of the Twin Cities most well-regarded MC's team up with some new producers for an album that's much deeper than its "one-off" status.
31. Steel Tipped Dove - Centuries Long Sigh (76 plays): Brooklyn producer Steel Tipped Dove's beat tape. 50 minutes of beats for strolling through a cold winter.
32. Billy Joel - 52nd Street (73 plays): "Zanzibar" & "Rosalinda's Eyes" are still better than almost anything I heard this year.
33. Mike Mictlan - Hella Frreal (72 plays): Doomtree's most inventive rapper finds the sweet spot between Hand Over Fist & Snaxxx. Perhaps his clearest artistic statement yet.
34. Ego Death - Ego Death (70 plays): The perfect mix of pop, punk, gloom, & doom. Ego Death is chock full of hooks & inventive instrumentation.
35. Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late (69 plays): Four albums in and I still have no idea if I like Drake (though that's not for lack of trying).
36. Catsax - Catsax (65 plays): Look at this list. "Electro-jazz" doesn't turn up much. Big Cats & Nelson Devereaux team up for an album that open the door.
37. Plums - Jen (63 plays): I loved them when they were Warm Thrills, I love them now as Plums. If Vampire Weekend impregnated the Violent Femmes, you'd have Plums.
38. Fury Things - VHS (63 plays): The loudest band in Minneapolis (non-Blind Shake division) make good on the promise of their EP's with an LP of fuzzed out bliss.
39. Millencolin - For Monkeys (62 plays): I'm 33 now and for some reason albums that sounded great when I was 13 sound great again. Orebro's finest pop-punks stand the test of time.
40. Edger - Rudiments (62 plays): Twin Cities indie rockers build sturdy pop songs and then proceed to cover them in fuzz. Underneath, though, the songs are fantastic.
41. The Persian Leaps - High & Vibrate (62 plays): St. Paul's favorite power-poppers finish of their EP trilogy with a bang. Each one better than the last, now it's time for a full-length.
42. Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.A$$ (61 plays): Critics hate Joey Bada$$, but his imaginative take on boom-bap era NYC (an era he was too young to experience) gets me every time.
43. Hotelecaster - Farther Fewer (60 plays): Childhood friends from St. Paul make good in Minneapolis. Hotelecaster has more ideas than time. Looking forward to what comes next.
44. Loud Sun - (((Loud))) (60 plays): Technically Andrew Jensen/Loud Sun, (((Loud))) is power-pop castle built on sand, liable to turn or drift at any moment.
45. Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves (59 plays): 2015 was the 20th Anniversary of the greatest punk album of the 90's. I said so much about AOCTW this year that I'm out of words.
46. William Within - Lost In Writing (59 plays): Songwriter Alex Simpson's solo project-turned-sextet hits so many chamber pop sweet spots on this EP that an LP seems unnecessary.
47. Oaks - Animal Life (56 plays): Husband & wife Jim Kolles & Erica Krumm beef up their reverb-and-drum-machine sound while adding new subtle new hooks to the Oaks sound.
48. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams (55 plays): Ryan Adams makes a Ryan Adams record called Ryan Adams. I still eat this shit up.
49. Andrew Broder / Crescent Moon - Andrew Broder / Crescent Moon (55 plays): Both Crescent Moon & Andrew Broder are scene veterans who pushed themselves in 2015 while making work that fits their unique histories.
50. Homeless & Big Cats! - The Polar Bear Rug (54 plays): Rapper Homeless's last album was with backing from rockers The Van Gobots. It was great, but it's nice to hear him over some Big Cats beats.
There you have it. Thank you to everybody who checked in on the blog or listened to the podcast this year. For those of you interested in catching up on the show all of the Flatbasset Radio episodes can be found here. If, for some reason, you're inclined to keep up on what's getting spun here at Planet New Basset, feel free to check out my Last.fm page.
Like ever year, one of my resolutions for 2016 is to work harder at this blog & podcast. Please stay tuned. Tell a friend. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Good stuff coming up.
