Honestly just the amount of great music that's been released this year has been overwhelming. I tried to spend part of my spring break catching up on some songs and here's a collection of my favorites. I'm already stressing out about my end of the year lists and March isn't even over yet.
Hands down, the most exciting release this year for me was Death Cab for Cutie's Kintsugi. Death Cab was one of the first bands I discovered on my own, fell in love with, and haven't stopped listening to since. Since 2011's Codes and Keys, I've been ravenous for some new music from my favorite band from Washington state and when I saw that the album was streaming on NPR, I jumped on that link. This album is great. I can't wait to review it, but mostly I'm happy because "You've Haunted Me All My Life" is perfectly depressing in a way that only Death Cab can pull off. Listen to it here
Remember when Macklemore won best rap album over Kendrick? I really don't know how to talk about this album, but that it pushes every boundary of what rap is in 2015 by going back to the genre's very roots and rewriting what it could have been. Music is art, but sometimes it's hard to hear that. It's not hard to hear that in this track, or the entire album.
Strangers to Ourselves is Modest Mouse's first album in eight years and was another highly-anticipated record. It's definitely a hit or miss, there's some songs that are just noise, other's are truly enjoyable tracks. "Of Course We Know," the album closer, it one of my favorites.
Do your ears a favor and listen to Houndmouth's latest album, Little Neon Limelight. This band makes good music, the kind of music you would want to listen to on your porch grilling burgers, enjoying the nice weather. It's almost April. Start grilling burgers and listen to this album.
Tame Impala dropped this nearly eight-minute song right before break and it was hard to listen to anything else. "Let It Happen" is the lead single off the band's still untitled album that's due out sometime this year, and if this track is any indicator, the album is going to be awesome. Pitchfork's review of the single really nails it, saying that lead singer Kevin Parker has "a classic rock voice with an electronic producer's mind;" the song progresses like a classic rock song, but instead of guitars leading the way, it's a series of blips and loopers. Sometimes long songs are long just for the sake of it, this isn't one of those songs.
