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Alex writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2015: Alex
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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2015. Our next list is from DJ Alex. Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to listen to every album released this year. No doubt I'll be enjoying all that 2016 has to offer when, out of nowhere, I discover a record released in 2015 that I've fallen in love with. Alas, I didn't hear it in time and wasn't able to include it on this list. This happened in 2015 with Sturgill Simpson's Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. What I'm trying to say is, of all the records I listened to from this year, these are my favorite. I hope you enjoy! |
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#1 Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty) |
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#2 In Colour by Jamie xx (Young Turks) |
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#3 Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett (Milk!, Marathon, House Anxiety, Mom + Pop) |
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#4 Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper by Panda Bear (Domino) |
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#5 To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar (Interscope, Aftermath, Top Dawg) |
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#8 Dark Bird Is Home by The Tallest Man on Earth (Dead Oceans) |
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#10 Knockin' Boots by Julio Bashmore (Broadwalk) |
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Honorable Mentions: Director by Yanotan Gat Live in San Francisco by Ty Segall Band Don't Lose This by Pops Staples Perfect Abandon by Tom Brosseau Days Gone By by Bob Moses Parallelogram by Various Artists Fading Frontier by Deerhunter |
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A painfully honest retrospective on a confusing family dynamic. The sorrowful sentiments expressed throughout this record will just about bring you to tears. But just as powerful are the moments that remind witnesses that growth begets rebirth begets beauty. Part of what makes love such a powerful force is our inability to fully understand or explain it, but with Carrie & Lowell, Mr. Stevens does as good a job as anyone I've ever heard, not shying away from times when love defies all methods of reason.
It's always a little weird to me watching artists like Jamie xx live: a person, in front of a large crowd, twiddling knobs and pushing buttons on a NORAD-caliber computer rig exploding with cables, bobbing his/her head in affirmation that this intricately designed network of copper wiring is behaving as it should. Completely fascinating, but weird in the sense that I feel even more like I'm seeking entertainment by watching someone hard at work. Such was the scene at Jamie xx's set at the Pitchfork Music festival. Weird or not, Jamie Smith is masterful at using samples, effects and other audio artifacts to layer together some of the most beautiful movements in electronic music you’re likely to hear, and it’s absolutely captivating to watch (and dance to!). He’s captured some of those movements on In Colour, my second favorite record of the year.
There are moments on Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit that recall grungier days and others that lend themselves more to the folk-minded. Whatever the persuasion, what makes Ms. Barnett stand out is her knack for cleverly stitching together a scene using the details you didn’t realize were so vital to understanding the narrative. As a listener, you’re convinced that there is wisdom to glean somewhere in this emerging image but just as the scene comes into focus, she’s already moved on. She is a poet, spinning a minstrel of what life might be. You get the sense that Ms. Barnett is watching the world drift by, leaning against the wall of a boxcar, the rolling landscape representing the timeline of her experience, manifested as some kind of never-ending ad hoc play where she is sometimes the principle, sometimes a critic, many times a member of the audience with a mind for appreciating the often missed nuances that make being awake so interesting.
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