King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Sketches of Brunswick East ALBUM REVIEW

Photo credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/KGATLW/comments/
6o03x2/artwork_for_sketches_of_brunswick_east/

It's been one year since my last music review of any kind, the last album review being of Australian garage rock septet King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's triumphant, lo-fi opus Nonagon Infinity, which I absolutely loved. And in these twelve short intervening months, King Gizzard have given us three more albums, with allegedly two more to come by the end of the year. So, to say Stu Mackenzie and his cadre of musical miscreants have had a busy year would definitely be an understatement.

Not to mention they found time to make their American television debut on Conan in April!
Photo credit:https://livemusicblog.com/2017/04/18/watch-king-gizzard-the-lizard-wizard-the-lord-of-lightning-live-on-conan-4-17-17/

In February, we got the first of this year's releases, Flying Microtonal Banana, an album billed as an experiment in microtonal compositions. The songs were enjoyable enough, especially "Open Water" and lead single "Rattlesnake," but the microtonal aspect of the music really served as a melodic flavor served over King Gizzard's standard minor pentatonic blues fare rather than a compositionally defining characteristic of the music harmonically. It was a good album, but just not the most memorable or musically diverse project in their discography.

Next, in June, came the much hyped and quite polarizing Murder of the Universe. It served as both a narrative and musical sequel to Nonagon Infinity, sharing a large amount of the lyrical ideas, defining melodies, and rhythmic motifs of its 2016 sister. The main turn off for many people was the heavy, heavy use of spoken word throughout each song of the album. Myself, I felt like it was at times definitely too much, but at other points, particularly on the last third of the album, I felt the spoken word really added a lot, giving the music a unique and memorable angle. Either way, it certainly helped King Gizzard tell (and I think finish?) the story told on Nonagon Infinity and started on 2014's I'm In Your Mind Fuzz. 

Now onto Sketches of Brunswick East. Given how incredibly dense Murder of the Universe was, I think all of us King Gizzard listeners--both those who loved that album and those who didn't--needed a cleansing of our palates and a change of pace. This year's third album for King Gizzard (and their 11th overall), Sketches of Brunswick East, provides just that. Far removed from the megaton-heavy, blistering, psych rock marathons that were Nonagon and Murder, Sketches of Brunswick East is a breezy, lazy, jazzy stroll through a cartoon version of the 60's. The white-hot distortion of the guitars is traded in for a clean, bright tone. The arena-sized, doomsaying organs are swapped with sunny, meandering jazz keys. And even frontman Stu trades his woops and hollers and ominous lyrics for a more breathy, sing-songy approach. In fact, it's such a 180 from those previous albums that I think a lot of new listeners unversed in King Gizzard's past genre-switching acrobatics might not ever guess they're the same band.

And to be fair, they're kinda not the same band this time around, since Sketches is a collaborative project with fellow Aussie musician Alexander Brettin, the sole member of Mild High Club (I guess no one else wanted to join). According to the band, Sketches was born when Alex once crashed at Stu Mackenzie's place for a few weeks late last year and started hashing out some song ideas. They picked it back up later by sending each other more snippets or sketches of songs (get it??) via iPhone and which were later fleshed out into this album.

This organic, loose creative process definitely shows on Sketches of Brunswick East, in that the whole record flows together like one big jam session (slash) dream sequence, which often works very well, but at times doesn't. For instance, the opening track "Sketches of Brunswick East I" is a jammy little theme song for the record. It's enjoyable enough the first time, but then it's more or less copy and pasted to make the later tracks, "Sketches of Brunswick East II" and "III." And generally speaking, the instrumental tracks--the places where the album feels very improvised--are weaker than the tracks with vocals, with the main exception being "Cranes, Planes, and Migraines" which features this really tight, funky rhythm section that makes the song very memorable.

But really, that's my only big gripe: the instrumentals can be a little meandering and in one ear and out the other. Besides that, I think the rest of the album sounds fantastic! Opener "Countdown" shows the band jelling together on a difficult 9/4 in duple meter beat, and features a very tasty, certified-jazz E-piano solo on the bridge, which I'm pretty sure is performed by Mild High Club? (If anyone happens to know if it isn't him, leave a comment! I want to know for sure, because that solo is impressive!) 

Many of the tracks on Sketches give some limelight to other members of the band besides normal frontman Stu, which gives the album a unique freshness: "Tezeta" is a fun, catchy, exotica shuffle, with lead vocals from Gizzard guitarist Joey Walker. "The Spider and Me" features Gizzard multi-instrumentalist (and my homie) Ambrose Kenny-Smith on vocals, who spins gold with his delicate, boyish performance. 

Da band: From L to R: Joey Walker, Stu Mackenzie, Eric Moore, Ambrose Kenny-Smith!, Lucas Skinner, Cook Craig, and Michael Cavanagh
Photo credit: https://www.relix.com/blogs/detail/king_gizzard_and_the_
lizard_wizard_play_whats_in_my_bag_at_amoeba_records

And then there's my personal favorite track, "The Book," a standout on the album not only because of how immediate and well-written it is, but because of how, just, dark it is compared to anything else on the record. In his best, deep-voiced Mike Patton impression, guitarist Cook Craig tells the tale of a schizophrenic man who thinks God is telling him to kill all the sinners in the world, and eventually himself. Tthe man regards these messages as his own kind of pageless Bible, or "The Book".... Yeah, dark stuff no matter what album it's on, but especially on this otherwise lackadaisical, dreamy project. But it's a really good different that makes the song stick with you. And again, it has a really strong, Disco Volante- or California-era Mr. Bungle vibe that I really dig.

All in all, to wrap up this rather long review, I am really loving Sketches of East Brunswick. It definitely has its flaws, and at rare points, the kind of meandering, piecemeal creative process that birthed it shows awkwardly. But, outweighing this are the great musical ideas that King Gizzard and Mild High Club cooked up and served together. If you haven't been huge on King Gizzard's past lo-fi, dense rock 'n roll, and especially if you weren't keen on the last album, Murder of the Universe, definitely give this a shot. I know personally I'll be spinning this album a lot, alongside the other great albums of 2017 and in King Gizzard's discog. I'm excited to see what they put out next!

OVERALL SCORE: 7.9
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Sketches of Brunswick East
1. Sketches of Brunswick East I 2. Countdown 3. D-Day 4. Tezeta 5. Cranes, Planes, and Migraines 6. Sketches of Brunswick East II 7. Dust to Dawn on Lygon Street 8. The Book 9. A Journey to (S)hell 10. Rolling Stoned 11. You Can Be Your Silhouette 12. Sketches of Brunswick East III	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Life Update 8/21/2017

Hello, hello! I am not dead and, more importantly, am back into blogging! I would say it's been a crazy, busy year and a half since last I wrote, and while it definitely has been, crazy and busy just seem like the new norm--dealing off and on with my mental health, changing jobs within my company, getting back into school, and especially since now my wife and I are expecting! 

Yep, little Baby Spendlove is due in March 2018, and we are just ecstatic. I mean, just look at the little guy! (I'm convinced it's a boy. My apologies, baby, if you are a girl and I'm calling you the wrong thing.) We have been waiting a long time to be able to have a baby, and this little cutie just fell in our laps out of nowhere, virtually on the eve of Rachel having surgery to be able to get pregnant! Hashtag surgery averted. 

Our little tyke!!

I suppose us having a baby and preparing for his/her arrival is helping me straighten up my schedule and prioritize my time, so that I make sure I'm getting the important things done each day. And in that straightening up of my schedule, I'm finding myself with free time and the desire to write again. I've been writing in a physical journal for the past week or so, and that's been helping get all the thoughts in my head out as well as, I think, helping me get bit by the writing bug again. So, a week ago or so, I went back and read all my posts on this blog and I realized just how fun it was and how much I missed it. And I wasn't as scatter-brained a writer as I remember being, honestly!

So, here we are! I'm starting up album reviews again with the new King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard album that dropped just last week--Sketches of Brunswick East--which I find rather fitting because my last album review before my sabbatical was for their 2016 release Nonagon Infinity, and that album was my gateway drug into the rest of their prodigious discog. Anyway, expect that review to be coming soon, and for many more to follow!

Thanks, those of you who are still here and still interested, for taking the time to read and to share your passion for music with mine. Music is one of the things that makes my blood pump in my veins, that gets me out of bed in the morning, and that simply makes me happy. I'm excited to start writing and discussing it again and to contribute in some way, hopefully, to turning you guys on to good, new releases as they come out. Stay tuned!

Skott - "Wolf": TRACK REVIEW

Photo credit: http://genius.com/Skott-wolf-lyrics

Recently, as I was spelunking the new releases on Spotify, I stumbled on a little British gem. Her name is Skott, and besides the fact that she's British and that, according to her record label, she grew up in a commune of social outcast musicians in the woods, that's all that anyone seems to know about Skott at this point. 

But this sense of mystique generated by her anonymity is part of the appeal of her debut double A-side single, "Porcelain / Wolf." Like a wisp in the woods, I don't know where she came from, what she is, or where she's going, but what she's doing is beautiful. 

Of the two singles, "Wolf" in my opinion is the stand out track. We're greeted by a delicate piano chords and an undulating, subtle rhythm which are brought to life by Skott's stunning vocals. She smoothly glides up and down pentatonic scales as she sings in the chorus, "I'm a wolf, howling in the moonlight, calling out like a fool," exhibiting her delicate head voice.  On the verses, we're treated by her rich and arresting lower register as she bemoans the changes and uncertainty wrought by a love gone awry. She wonders aloud, "What is eternal about love? Is there a way to turn it off?"

The woman, the myth, the Jedi: Skott
Photo credit: http://pigeonsandplanes.com/music/2016/06/skott-porcelain-premiere

She certainly wears her influences on her sleeve--electro-pop indie heroines like Bjork, St. Vincent, and the Knife/Fever Ray instantly come to mine. At points, Skott teeters on the edge of imitation, like the melody she sings on the verse that sounds straight out of Annie Clark's playbook. But the songwriting, her stellar voice, and the sonic choices she makes--dance beat + strings + electronic mysticism--give the track a unique enough sound to feel like a fresh and welcome contribution to the oft-times stagnant and overcrowded genre of indie synth pop. 

Give the track a spin, tell me what you think, and tell me your favorite track that you've stumbled upon recently!

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity: ALBUM REVIEW

Listen here.

The only thing more fun than saying "King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard" is playing Nonagon Infinity on repeat. The album title for King Gizzard's eighth studio album is quite literal: Nonagon Infinity is a 9-track album that flows seamlessly from one track into the other, and loops perfectly from the final track back to the opening track.  

I feel like a lot of bands have thought about making an infinitely looping album like Nonagon Infinity--not the least of which is Pink Floyd with the mind-melting transitions on Dark Side of the Moon--but apparently Australia's King Gizzard is the first band to have balls to go through with it. And, man, do they do it well.  

The album kicks off with the barn-burner "Robot Stop," beginning with an ominous invocation/prelude, "Wait for the answers to open the door/Nonagon infinity opens the door," before all 7 members of the band jump on their instruments, slamming out riffs, cutting off eighth notes from their bars, and wooping and wailing like Indian braves playing garage punk.  

For the next 40 minutes the band mines every nook and cranny of this sound.  Like the album cover shows, not only does track 1 connect to track 2, etc., but track 1 connects to tracks 8, 9, 3... The most obvious connection is the "nonagon infinity" chant, which pops up as the album's running mantra on "Robot Stop," "Big Fig Wasp," "Evil Death Roll," and closer "Road Train."  Similarly, lyrics from track 7, "Invisible Face," first pop up on the prior track, "Evil Death Roll." And "Big Fig Wasp" is built on a riff that grows out of the middle of "Robot Stop." All in all, this makes the album feel like one hulking, twisting, connected, breathing organic life form. ...in the best way possible.  Sometimes, yes, this mining of the same sound for 9 straight tracks drags, like on "Wah Wah" and "Gamma Knife," which I don't feel bring anything new to the table. But these moments are more than redeemed by other genius moments of songwriting like the entirety of "Mr. Beat."

Photo credit: http://www.relix.com/articles/detail/spotlight_king_gizzard_the_lizard_wizard

A little note on the album's production: The first time you put on the album, if you're like me, you'll be checking the EQ on your stereo, making sure the treble and mid didn't somehow get turned down to levels of murky muddiness.  It's not your stereo.  It's the lower-than-lo-fi production, making the album feel 40 years older than it is.  In fact, legend has it that vocalist Stu Mackenzie actually uses a microphone that is literally from the 70s.  I wouldn't doubt that for a second.  Once your 21st century ears get adjusted to the incredible fuzz and murk, you'll find that Nonagon Infinity's quirky sound often achieves a level of visceral energy that other modern band's slick and sexy production misses.

Through the band's short but ridiculously prolific career so far, with only 6 years and a whopping 8 albums under their belt, have shown that they certainly aren't afraid to try out what others won't.  I mean, again.  They're called King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. 

They've made love songs to their homeland's beloved Vegemite, traded their fuzzed out garage rock for something closer to indie folk, and now they've made literally the album version of a geometric figure. I'm just excited to see what these guys try next.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.6
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity
1. Robot Stop 2. Big Fig Wasp 3. Gamma Knife 4. People-Vultures 5. Mr. Beat 6. Evil Death Roll 7. Invisible Face 8. Wah Wah 9. Road Train	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

10 Years Later: Revisiting System of a Down

This will be the first in a new segment I want to start. Essentially, I will be revisiting artists that I began listening to ten years ago, both as sort of a commemoration of that anniversary and to review their music as a whole, with a pair of fresh, ten-years-older, and perhaps a bit more seasoned ears.  Basically, I'm asking: "Are these artists still as good as I thought they were in middle school or high school?"

And, as you guessed from the title, the first band I will be tackling is.... (drum roll).... (blast beat)... System of a Down!

From L to R: John Dolmayan (drums), Daron Malakian (guitar), Serj Tankian (vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass)
...and I did that off the top of my head, after ten years...

10 Years Ago

Oh man.  Have you ever known a teenager who was fanatically obsessed with a band to the point of annoying everyone they know to death by constantly talking about them? Like, your standard One Direction fangirl or Twenty One Pilots fanboy today? I was ten times worse when it came to System. 

As a 13-14 year old kid, just budding in my exploration of popular music, I was eager to find a band with more substance than, say, the usual Linkin Park or (shudder) Crossfade that filled my portable CD player on the school bus.  I was also entering a bit of a rebellious stage of my adolescence, too, so if the songs swore or had more mature content, the cooler it would appear to me. 

Enter the perfect drug, System of a Down, everyone's favorite Armenian-American, Los Angeles-based, alt-metal superstars.  From the stereo in my oldest brother's car and on my friend's iPod on the way to school, I got my first fixes. They were unlike anything my young ears had ever heard. (And I had heard maybe a total of... 10 albums in full?) 

Loud, fast, HEAVY, weird, edgy and, most of all, addicting. It was impossible for me to get their sound out of my head.  Bite-sized hooks like "They're trying to build a prison!" on Toxicity's  "Prison Song" or "Everyone's going to the party, have a real good time" on Mezmerize's "B.Y.O.B."

I was helpless. For the next two or three years, this band absolutely dominated my music tastes as my number one favorite band (much to my parents' chagrin).  I gobbled up first Toxicity, then Mezmerize and Hypnotize, then the self-titled debut, and finally the B-sides album Steal This Album!  Unfortunately for me, I began getting into them right after they announced a hiatus which, as far as recording anyway, they are on to this day.  Because of that, over the course of my fandom I never had any concerts to attend or new albums to get hyped about, and the band's small, 5-album discography wore out quickly.  Until I started listening again for the sake of this post, it had been about 7 years since I had listened to any System of a Down.

Listening Now

So how does System of a Down sound 10 years after the fact, my ears loaded with hundreds of other albums in the meantime, metal and otherwise?  I've certainly gotten into music a lot heavier, a lot weirder, a lot more political, a lot more Middle Eastern, even.  Of course, though, good music isn't defined by superlatives or extremities, so that fact alone doesn't diminish the value of System's music. It just, perhaps, diminishes their novelty in those areas.  But how do they stack up now?

My general feeling? I'm conflicted. Let's look at the music in the order I first heard it. 

Toxicity

Experiencing this album with fresh ears was, more than the rest I re-listened to, very disappointing.  If SOAD will be remembered by music fans generally for any one album 30 years from now, it will be Toxicity. It put them on the map and contains arguably their biggest hits: "Chop Suey!", "Toxicity," and "Aerials." 

Indeed, throughout my personal SOAD fandom, Toxicity always seemed like the staple, the masterpiece, the true defining moment for the band. 

Now? It sounds extremely simplistic and obnoxious. The songwriting of the album relies on pure, visceral heaviness to affect the listener. Chugging riff after chugging riff, often with no break, as heard in the succession of songs from "Needles" to "Deer Dance" to "Jet Pilot." I'm just beat over the head with one repetitive, mosh-inducing riff after the other. 

The more melodic parts of each song are fantastic, like the absolutely celestial harmonies on the outro of "Chop Suey!", the Middle Eastern breakdown on "Science".... there's at least one moment on each song. But they sound secondary, like mechanisms designed solely to keep the listener from getting bored as the band transitions from one riff to the next.

As a teen, I hadn't heard enough music to realize just how simple the guitar work, and often the drumming, are on these songs. So Daron Malakian's songwriting technique was effective on me, since I just wanted what was heavy and head-bang-able. But now, they honestly sound like no theory or composition went into their composition.  All signs point to the band's primary form of songwriting being jamming to figure out what will make the guitar make sounds that will get huge arenas of sweaty, drunken dudes to beat the crap out of each other.

So, Toxicity? Flecks of brilliance, but overall very disappointing. But then I continued to their next two albums...

Mezmerize/Hypnotize

System's final two albums, released virtually simultaneously as one double album, were the next ones I listened to in my youth. And 10 years later, these sound fantastic.

The band eased back on the visceral, brawns-over-brain songwriting and focused way more on musicality.  We get songs like the polka/Mr. Bungle-inspired "Radio/Video," the 80's synth-driven "Old School Hollywood," the mock 50's rock 'n roll in "Stealing Society," and the straight-up ballad "Lonely Day."  Heck, even the lead singles "B.Y.O.B." and "Hypnotize" were centered around their incredibly strong melodies in the choruses.

On top of that, Daron Malakian essentially made his vocal debut on these albums, singing lead vocals for the first time on several tracks. Many critics hated this change, but his contrast to Serj's didactic, nasal, vibrato-laden voice is welcome for me. The two's vocal synergy was apparent to everyone after Toxicity (again, see: "Chop Suey!"), but on these two albums it's the main attraction. Listen to the intertwining lines on the bridge of "Stealing Society," the chorus of "Hypnotize," and the absolutely show-stopping climax to "Question!", maybe their best song, period.

That's not to say these albums aren't riddled with problems themselves: sometimes Daron is a little much, like on "She's Like Heroin," and Serj is still intent on beating half-baked intellectualisms into my skull.  But Mezmerize and Hypnotize now stand in my mind as the zenith of the band's career.

Let's look briefly at the last two.

System of a Down

This album is heavy, and that's its main appeal. The production is satisfyingly muddy, heavy, and lo-fi; it sounds like an independent metal production. It's easily their darkest, most disturbed album, with lyrics focusing more on death, nihilism, and anger than politics or banana banana banana terracotta. The songwriting is even more simple than Toxicity and the moments of musicality are fewer and farther between, so that aspect of SOAD's appeal is lost. It does, though, stand up fairly well as a piece of pure nu-metal and everything that awkward, short-lived, red-headed stepchild of a genre stood for.

Steal This Album!

This album is what I wish Toxicity was.  This B-sides album was obviously written at the same time as that album; the production and guitar tone even sound identical.  This album, though, is just so much weirder, wittier, and more fun.  Like Mezmerize and Hypnotize, it focuses on these moments of fun and creativity rather than on heaviness and darkness, like it's two predecessors. It sounds like the band is having a blast screaming about pizza on "Chic 'n Stu" and making up their own tongue twisters on "I-E-A-I-A-I-O."
Unfortunately, these tracks, while fun, are not nearly matured to be very much more substantial than Toxicity.  They're just more entertaining.

Now, you may say this preference for their musical, quirky side is an entirely subjective gripe.  But again, the chugging heaviness is simply not substantial enough, by any songwriting standards, to be worth anything besides organizing mosh pits as quickly and as easily as possible.  There's no technicality to it, no complexity, just speed and energy.  Indeed, in this genre that is important, but it isn't enough. Thus, I rely on their weirdness and knack for good melodies to get interested in a song.

The Verdict

I tried to keep this concise, but an analysis of a band's entire career is no small task, especially when this band formed a huge part of my beginnings as a lover of music and I have so much history with them.  

All in all, the fact that I found so much to love in the band still was really surprising. I hypothesized that I would be completely over the band at this point, that all of the music would sound as obnoxious and simplistic as I accuse some of it as being.  The fact of the matter is they had a really one-of-a-kind winning combination of charisma, killer hook writing, and fantastic chemistry, especially vocally.  They're a rare gem in the history of metal--flawed and ugly in a lot of places, yes--but rare all the same.  How could any teenager not get addicted to them, I wonder?  

OVERALL SCORE: 7.2
System of a Down – Revisited
1. System of a Down 2. Toxicity 3. Steal This Album! 4. Mezmerize 5. Hypnotize	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 A classic album, one of the best of all time. 7-8 I love this album. I'm so glad these musicians were born and made this lovely piece of music for me to enjoy. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. It has great moments, but overall underwhelmingly average. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this album exist? One of the worst collection of sounds that will enter your ears.

Weezer - Weezer (The White Album): ALBUM REVIEW!

Man, I've missed this blog!  I've missed you guys!  I miss writing and talking and analyzing and thinking about music!  It's been a crazy year so far, my mental health dragging me down quite a bit these past few months.  In fact, I've essentially withdrawn from school for the semester, which has a very useful upside: more time to listen to music and write.  So, let's dig into a new album, shall we?

Ah, Weezer.  I hope these guys don't need much introduction.  I mean, for a decade or so (perhaps up until recently), these dweeby SoCal pop rockers were a household name, following the commercial and/or critical successes of their 1994 debut The Blue Album, 1996's Pinkerton, 2001's The Green Album, and the annoying Top 40 hit "Beverly Hills."  They appeared on the game Rock Band, they did a music video with the Muppets, they were on college and Top 40 radio alike.  In short, they were radio rock kingpins.

Since Pinkerton, however, frontman Rivers Cuomo and his cadre of 90's revivalist Beach Boys have struggled to maintain the respect of music critics and "serious" music listeners.  And since "Beverly Hills," Weezer has struggled keeping themselves even on the radio or on the iPod Mini's of America's tweens and teens.  For the past 10 years, to be blunt, Weezer has been struggling.  A generation is growing up for whom the band that brought us "Buddy Holly," "El Scorcho," and even "Island In the Sun," defining songs of millenials' adolescences, is now becoming irrelevant.

If she doesn't know the chorus of "Buddy Holly," she's too young for you, bruh.

Through 10 years of lackluster, disheartening Weezer albums--Make Believe, The Red Album, Raditude, Hurley--fans have always quietly nurtured a hope that somehow the band would return in a glorious rebirth of colorful, quirky pop, winning our hearts over once more.  In 2014, we were given a taste of this, with Everything Will Be Alright In the End.  But we were cautious: this is... pretty good. But has the time come where I can let myself fall in love with Weezer again?

My friends, that time has come.  Behold, the redemption of Weezer.

With The White Album, Rivers serves up a tight, cohesive, substantial, and, most importantly, FUN album of built from everything that made Weezer so gosh darn lovable in the first place.  The songwriting strikes the coveted balance between simplicity and asininity.  Meanwhile, Rivers' lyrics strike the balance between quirky and plain awkward.  And there are hooks.  Everywhere.  You can hardly get through listening to "L.A. Girlz" the first time without sing along... to the bridge, no less.

I had heard friends and critics' whose opinions I respect praise this album, much to my delight and joyful crying.  So, when I popped the album in, I expected to be blown away by a total upheaval of Weezer's style, a revolution of their sound heavy enough to accomplish the redemption they needed.  

This isn't what I got.  The redeeming quality of the album is that it is not revolutionary.  It's not breaking any new ground, for rock music or for the band, really.  The White Album succeeds because it proves, in 2016, of all times, that good ol' alternative rock 'n' roll, like that which Father Cobain and Father Armstrong did give unto us, without any bells and whistles, is exciting and enlivening.  It's a (much needed) testament to the merits of the genre as much as it is to the merits of its songwriter. 

Music video for "King of the World"

Now, for the record, I need to get my gripes out.  I always skip track 3, "Thank God for Girls."  Lyrically, Rivers falls off the quirkiness/awkwardness tightrope and very whitely raps about cannolis and Adam and Eve.  Maybe I'm just letting the banality of neo-pop rockers like Twenty-one Pilots retroactively bite in the butt the band who sort of invented dorky rock rapping.  But Weezer certainly doesn't wear the genre well themselves on this track.  Aside from this, all there is to complain about is that at points and when I'm in certain moods, the songwriting is a little too predictable, the lyrics a little too bubblegum-ism.  But then there's the grimy honesty of "Do You Wanna Get High?" and the genius pacing of "L.A. Girlz," and I just tell myself, "Get the stick out of your butt and have fun, brah."

Basically, I love this album.  I love the Pet Sounds nods all over the place, like the jingle of sleigh bells on "(Girl We Got a) Good Thing."  I love the addicting choruses, like on "King of the World" or "Wind In Our Sails." I love the slick production, which makes each snare crack and guitar chug sound gorgeous and new.  If I had to describe the album in one way, it's this:  This is the Weezer album we all needed back in 2005.

Photo credit: Consequence of Sound http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/01/weezer-tease-the-white-album/

Really, all there is to do is just to give it a listen.  Play it in your car with the windows down on these new, warmer, sunny days.  Think back to when you first fell in love with the band; to when you first fell in love; to your first summer as a teenager; to the best ever time you went to the beach; to the last time you drank cherry vanilla Coke.  This is the soundtrack to good times past and good times to come. 

OVERALL SCORE: 8.8
Weezer – Weezer (The White Album)
1. California Kids 2. Wind In Our Sails 3. Thank God for Girls 4. (Girl We Got a) Good Thing 5. Do You Wanna Get High? 6. King of the World 7. Summer Elaine and Drunk Dory 8. L.A. Girlz 9. Jacked Up 10. Endless Bummer	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

O!HTT's Top 37 CLEAN Songs of 2015

2015 is drawing to a close, but it's been such a stellar year for music I hate to see it go! There have been absolutely killer albums filled with some amazing songs. Now, a lot of these amazing albums are full of vulgarity, and I've decided that I don't want to listen to those in full (To Pimp A Butterfly, I Love You Honeybear, We Cool? to name a few). Thankfully, though, a lot of my favorite songs on these albums aren't vulgar. So, while they won't appear on my list of clean albums, you'll see them here!

Anyway, to remove any spoilers, I'm putting the playlist for the songs on this list at the bottom. So, check it out! Give some of these a listen, especially the top 10, and let me know what your favorite songs of this year were!

37. Beach House - "Sparks"

Yes, this is one of my favorite songs of the year, but don't misunderstand: I was incredibly frustrated with Beach House's Depression Cherry. It's literally the same album they've written for the past 5 years; it even has the same keyboard voices and drum samples. 

But "Sparks" is something else. It was Depression Cherry's lead single and we all thought the band had evolved into something new. It's a distorted, hazy, beautiful mess of a song, more like shoegaze than dream pop. I see Victoria LeGrande and Alex Scally performing this on the surface of the sun. It's a brilliant moment of electro-pop songwriting, "and then," for the rest of the album, "it's dark again, just like a spark." 

36. Maserati - "End Of Man"


Each Maserati album, like its sister band Zombi, is the soundtrack to a futuristic, 80's throwback B-movie that doesn't exist. "End of Man" must be the track playing during climactic final showdown between the hero on his neon motorcycle and the 80-foot robot trying to destroy humanity. Or, since the robot voice on the track is chanting, "Institutional, institutional, let's get out, let's get out, are you with me, are you with me," maybe it's the other way around? But that's kind of beside the point. Really, Maserati have created, yet again, an exciting and cinematic post-rock track that I couldn't help but play in my decidedly non-futuristic car at high velocities.

35. City and Colour - "Killing Time"

Metalcore fans, when their moms stumble upon the harsh heaviness of their Alexisonfire or Underoath CDs, defend their beloved genre with the classic line, "You don't understand! Some of it is really beautiful and melodic!" Well, none of those bands, Alexisonfire included, never came close to touching the beauty of "Killing Time." Dallas Green aka City and Colour, ex-singer of Alexis, crafts a stellar piece of alt-rock, rich with country and classic rock influence, but still more modern and colorful than any of it roots. There's something really haunting and universal about the lyrics, too: "I'm running from the shadow of my former shadow's life." 

34. Blackalicious - "The Sun"


Blackalicious was one of my first hip hop loves, along with Jurassic 5 and Tribe, all of these artists being arguably some of the cleanest and most positivity-focused artists in the genre. Blackalicious' new album Imani, Vol. 1, while not completely devoid of vulgarity, lived up to that reputation. "The Sun" is my favorite of the clean songs on this record, featuring lush, golden-age-inspired production from Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab's warm, speedy flow. It's a classic message from this crew about leaving behind darkness and stepping out into the light, a message much needed in such a dark year for the black community.

33. Kamasi Washington - "The Rhythm Changes"



I'm going to start by saying this: I strongly feel that I, and even a lot of other music critics who named this album as one of their favorites this year, only cared about this album because Kamasi Washington played sax on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly. I mean, were there any other jazz records on those lists? There weren't. So were there no other jazz records worth noting that were written this year. There were. This leads me to the conclusion that we have no business pretending to be jazz critics when we aren't.

Now, don't get me wrong: The Epic was a fantastic, if colossal, album, and "The Rhythm Changes" may be the most memorable track. It's certainly the most easily digestible and poppiest, being one of the few tracks with singing (fantastically done by Ms. Patrice Quinn) and a verse-chorus-verse structure. Even still, Kamasi doesn't spare any of the fantastic jazz orchestration and soloing that defines his sound. Definitely one of the best songs this year, no matter if you're a jazz aficionado or a casual pop listener.

32. Jamie xx - "Gosh"


There was a lot to unpack on Jamie xx's critical smash In Colour, a lot of densely experimental tracks, a lot of features on straight hip hop tracks. It's what propelled the album to the top ten of so many end of the year lists. But the track that stole my heart the most was the subtle, dynamic, and lighthearted "Gosh." The downtuned sample of "Oh my gosh!" from a voice that sounds like it should be saying something with more hip hop swagger on top of the breathless beat that builds layer by layer into a colorful climax made it a really unforgettable track.

31. Adele - "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)"

Hey all, Rachel here, I'm Andy's wife and guest writing (is that the term?) on this top 40 songs list. So, I didn't make this master list, however how could Adele not be on here? I mean really. Adele stole all of our hearts, had us crying and eating Ben 'n Jerry's by the pint full once again this November when she released her third studio album. "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" stood out to both Andy and I immediately. Produced by a middle age Scandinavian who has a penchant for writing pop songs for white girls, this song is the perfect soundtrack for any dramatic walk you might have this next year. Hot dog, the woman can write a breakup song. Adele's vocals are, of course, spot on with a melody that'll have you singing it and annoying random patrons at the grocery store for sure. But in all honesty Adele has a talent, a true talent, for taking pain and turning it to pleasure. 

30. Faith No More - "Superhero"

Faith No More came back this year, for this first time in this millennium with new music, but it feels like they were never gone. For one, even after being canonized as The Pioneers of Rap Metal, Alternative Rock, and Maybe Even Funk Metal, they still don't quite fit in in today's popular music climate. They're still outsiders at best, ostracized at worst. 

For two, "Superhero" sounds like 20-something year old young men playing their first radio rock single. It has all the classic FNM tropes: the Middle Eastern keyboard lead a la "Smaller and Smaller," the piano outro like "Epic," the million-dollar voice of Mike Patton sounding impressive but never quite intimidating. And like the best songs on The Real Thing or Angel Dust, this track will likely be a timebomb: it make look like a dud now, but it's just waiting to explode 10 years from now.

29. Tobias Jesso, Jr. - "Without You"


If you don't think Tobias Jesso Jr.'s favorite band evar is the Beatles, you're wrong. When his debut album Goon shined, it was because he was channeling the spirit of McCartney and Lennon into his own compositions and emotional experiences. A lot of the time, I wondered if he knows how to play the piano (he has only been playing for three years). Other times, it sounded like his lyrics were recycled plastic or just awkward. But on "Without You," the star aligned. The emotion with which he sings is perfect--tender and subtle--and it especially connects well with the subdued instrumentation. One of the best ballads I heard this year.

28. Deerhunter - "Breaker"


I'm still trying to figure Deerhunter out. More specifically, I'm trying to figure out what makes their music so magnetic. Take "Breaker." Really, it's an unassuming little track in the middle of an album filled with muscular singles. It's really just a rock song, just guitars and drums and a voice. But Deerhunter are magicians. They wow not with impressive technicality or inventions of new genres. They wow with their mastery of subtle songwriting: a little, earworm guitar flourish at the place in the mix; a sunny chorus that draws off just enough of the 70's; a celestial choir of voices instead of a guitar solo or key change. It's infuriatingly brilliant. 

27. Deradoorian - "A Beautiful Woman"


"A Beautiful Woman" was one of those lead singles that is so good it makes you cautious. It drops as the first taste of a new project, and it blows you away, but simultaneously makes you question, "Can she sustain this for the rest of the record? Or is this as good as it gets?" Angel Deradoorian proved on the rest of The Expanding Flower Planet that she is indeed full of an album's worth of truly unique and exciting ideas, not the least of which being "A Beautiful Woman." Its smoky, purplish, Middle Eastern-flavored, gorgeous. The technically complex vocals prove that she wasn't just a pretty voice in the musical crowd of Dave Longstreth's Dirty Projectors. She is a mature, focused, and capable songwriter herself, and "A Beautiful Woman" is one of the biggest victories in indie rock this year.

26. Wilco - "Random Name Generator"

If Star Wars was a full-length jam session (and it definitely felt like that), "Random Name Generator" was the reason they convened the session. It's as fuzzy and quirky as any other track on the album, or indeed as Mr. Kitty up there, but more than any other song on the album, it's got staying power. The opening riff is instantly memorable, from the first time you listened to it. I expect to hear this ditty and its fuzzed out riff at Wilco shows until the day Jeff Tweedy and co. die.

25. The Mountain Goats - "Foreign Object"


Funniest song by a non-comedy artist. I crack up every time I hear "I will literally stab you in the eye with a foreign object." It's as entertaining and cartoonish as the pro wrestlers to whom John Darnielle is paying homage throughout this quirky WWE/luchador tribute album. It's moments like these, short and memorable, that made Beat the Champ such a fun listen. Don't think about it too hard: just sing along and enjoy.

24. Blur - "I Broadcast"


Damon Albarn and co. take the Clash's "Lost in the Supermarket" and his Gorillaz tune "M1A1" and smashes it into an instant britrock classic that Keane or 2000s Coldplay would envy. Definitely the highlight of their comeback record, The Magic Whip, for sure.

23. Panda Bear - "Boys Latin"


I did not dig Panda Bear's January record Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper. At all. But "Boys Latin" was something else. Where the rest of the album was hypnotic in the way that your American History professor's monotone was, "Boys Latin" was hypnotic in the way that watching rain fall on a lake is, with the echos of children playing and painful memories fading into the "dark clouds descending again.

22. Björk - "Stonemilker"


It's pretty intimidating for a newcomer to the world of Björk's singular universe of sound. There's literally decades of music to study up on and even more when you try mapping her web of influences. My whining aside, it's a pleasure to bask in Björk's vision on Vulnicura, of which "Stonemilker" is the overture, setting the tone for her statement on healing and loves lost. "Moments of clarity are so rarity, I better document this," she sighs, and the angelic string compositions are so enlightening, they transform this line from a good lyrical gesture into a multi-dimensionally poetic experience. Björk has always been ahead of the curve, and on "Stonemilker," she showed us right off that bat that she's still a step ahead of the rest.

21. Joywave - "Nice House"

How have Joywave not blown up into indie stardom yet? They have everything perfectly in place here on "Nice House": an impeccable song structure with deliberately timed dynamics, a killer sing-along chorus with quirky lyrics, acoustic instruments electrified by generous production. If anything, they're like that band at your local Battle of the Bands that is a little too good, like... maybe they're robots? Definitely likely. 

20. Young Fathers - "Rain Or Shine"


I hailed this song earlier as the song that got me interested in new music again. It deserves that recognition. It's indeed captivating, since I'm still not quite sure who Young Fathers are and whether "Rain or Shine" is hip hop or lo-fi indie rock. Do I dance to it or sit with my headphones and ponder it? Is it a statement on religious disorientation or a drug trip? It's got me guessing and coming back again and again to try and figure it out.

19. Baroness - "Chlorine & Wine"


"Chlorine & Wine" was a new beginning for Baroness. Untangling themselves from Yellow & Green's attempt to get a Baroness song played on rock radio, the Georgia "sludge metal" powerhouses delivered a stunningly emotional piece that progressed from one beautiful motif to the visceral next, kinda like gazing at a painting of four nude women surrounded elegantly by geese and purple flowers. Oh wait.... Vocalist John Baizley has never sounded better, more honed and emotive, even though that means he's never sounded more like James Hetfield. The song also characterize's Purple's knack for mathy subdivisions of time and killer hooks.

 And let's be clear about something: Baroness have always been too gorgeous, too celestial to deserve the label "sludge metal." Can we invent something new for them?

18. Battles - "Dot Com"

One of the secrets to listening to Battles is that your imagination is required. You have to treat their songs like they're the score to something really wacky and cybernetic. You're hearing the one-minute intro of "Dot Com," developing at a snail's pace, and you have to envision the first anticipatory moments of a neon-colored podrace. You hear the bouncy keyboard riff and it must be a robot's birthday party. You hear the glitched out ending, like they accidentally left the keyboard running, and you have to imagine circuit boards and glitter showering from the sky in slow motion. There's no other explanation.

17. St. Vincent - "Teenage Talk"


Following the recent trend of artists releasing songs immediately following incredibly successful albums and in the wake of Album of the Year accolades for 2014's self-titled album., St. Vincent rather randomly dropped "Teenage Talk." The song was made for the new season of HBO's "Girls," but really is one of St. Vincent's most straightforwardly accessible singles yet. In the lyrics as on the single artwork, we get a rare glimpse into Annie Clark's adolescence: crashing the family Chrysler, puking in azalea bushes, getting tattoos. It proved that the mysterious Queen of Indie Rock is not a sorceress from the future but a normal girl.

16. Destroyer - "Times Square"

"Times Square" is the centerpiece of Dan Bejar aka Destroyer's sweeping, dramatic Poison Season. It marks a turning point in the album, from sleepy, melodramatic ballads to intricate and upbeat indie-adult-contemporary. Featuring a Latin jazz-inspired recontextualization of the lyrics of "Poison Season I" and "Poison Season II," it's almost a magical metamorphosis that unfolds over the course of a few minutes.

15. Animal Collective - "FloriDada"


I'm going to be completely honest with you. I was beginning to lose faith in Animal Collective. After the very spotty and underbaked Centipede Hz and some very underwhelming solo albums by lead members Panda Bear and Avery Tare, I've been wondering if Animal Collective had used up all of their freak pop/electronica/folk magic n 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion. Then came "FloriDada" earlier this month, the first single in anticipation of their new album, Painting With, coming out in February. Once that chorus hit, arguably their most catchy yet, I knew they still had it in them. Needless to say, I'm very pumped.

14. more eaze - "sure"

Who knew that avant-garde folk could be this accessible and enjoyable? Texan composer Marcus Maurice (more eaze) is still working to rise to national acclaim out of the teeming pool of musicians that is the local scene in Austin. "sure" shows that he deserves just such recognition. A banjo plucked I-V-I is his playground, a folk backing band his classmates, and he takes other avant-garde artists to school.

13. Grimes - "Kill V. Maim"

All of Grimes' adoring fans waited with baited breath to see if Art Angels would live up to it's hype as the follow-up to 2012's Visions. "Kill V. Maim" answers with a resounding, "Oh yeah. It does." She hops vocal techniques like a dance pop Mike Patton, from girly croons to guttural screams to demented cheerleader chants. It's awesome. And backing her vocals are her gorgeous, self-produced dance beats. This song, to me, single-handedly solidifies Claire Boucher as one of the most consistent and talented songwriters in pop today. 

12. Courtney Barnett - "No One Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party"

Courtney Barnett is being hailed as one of the freshest voices in indie rock right now. This may be true, but I think what's making us fall in love with her slacker rock is how it reminds us of some of our favorite bands from adolescence, like Nirvana or even Pavement. She took bits and pieces from our millennial nostalgia and, in her Australian monotone, made them fresh and exciting again. One thing's for sure: the girl can write stellar choruses, and "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party" may be her best. And that guitar is something Kurt himself (Cobain, not Vile) would be proud of. 

11. Kurt Vile - "Pretty Pimpin"


Who knew that someone as aloof and unassuming as Kurt Vile could write a song so good that Keith Urban Himself would say he wished he had written it? But I must say, I agree with Mr. Urban. Kurt stumbled upon or maybe invented (it's so hard to tell with him) an incredible formula, combining stream-of-consciousness lyrics, an earworm guitar riff, and country swagger. It's one of those rare songs that seems to, in 4 minutes' time, capture the essence, the soul of a songwriter. And that's gotta be why it's Kurt's biggest song to date.

And now presenting...
The Top 10

10. Alabama Shakes - "Gimme All Your Love"

I think all I need to say is that the funk organ explosion is the embodiment of soul and gives me goosebumps each time I hear it. Brittany Howard is an incredible frontwoman who has the pipes and the heart to earn her the title of "Most Soulful Singer in Rock Today."

9. Ought - "Beautiful Blue Sky"

David Byrne and Mark E. Smith, we've found your heir. Tim Darcy and his troupe of post-punk revivalists captured my heart with Sun Coming Down and the indisputable album highlight was "Beautiful Blue Sky." It has all the ingredients for an unforgettable post-punk song: simplistic music motifs that have incredible appeal, a ridiculously charismatic and dry frontman, and lyrics about boring, everyday aspects of suburban life.

What makes the watercooler talk "How's your family? How's your family? How's your family? How's your family?" so catchy and meaningful is the same thing that made us love "fuh-fuh-fuh-fa fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh-fa-fa better."

8. Lupe Fiasco - "Mural"


There was a very brief moment in 2015 that Lupe Fiasco was dominating the ever-present need for conscious hip hop. The moment was basically the month of February, which was the month before Kendrick Lamar blew him and every other rapper out of the intellectual water. 

Even still, while that masterpiece made the rest of Tetsuo & Youth sound like Lupe was really trying too hard, "Mural" succeeds brilliantly in conjouring a universe all its own. For some reason, the lyric that really captivates me for the whole 9 minutes is "I like my pancakes cut in swirls." Lupe isn't making any real statement here. He's just spinning a swirl in his pancake, "forging poetry like a young ornery Morissey," painting a self-image out of fractured images like street art on a wall. 

7. Modest Mouse - "Lampshades On Fire"

Modest Mouse's first album in seven years Strangers to Ourselves turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me. Among all of the disappoints, there was a peculiar quality to it, unique among other Modest Mouse projects: the singles, not the deep cuts, were the album highlights.

Drawing off of this weird phenomenon, "Lampshades On Fire" snuck its way into being one of the most essential songs of 2015. It could be the urgency behind the fact that someone as esoteric as Isaac Brock felt the need to speak so directly on what we're doing to our planet. It could be how the psuedo-disco indie rock romp, so stale now in Mouse's discography, still felt so fresh in today's indie rock landscape, with thousands of Lumineers or Mumford & Sons wannabes oversaturating the market.

6. Shamir - "Make A Scene"


Shamir is nothing if not charismatic. Though I'm not one to party (see number 12 on this list), if anyone was going to convince me to go crazy for just a night of fun, it would probably be Shamir on "Make A Scene." The beat is funky. The bass is popping. Shamir's effeminate voice is carefree and enthralling. It's Saturday. I'm bored. Then comes the rave-ready synth break that is the chorus and... yeah, I'm mean... why not go out and make a scene??

5. Titus Andronicus - "Dimed Out"

Titus Andronicus' 5-act, 29-track rock opera was deliberately characterized by moments of crushing lethargy and then other moments of manic ecstasy, musically representing frontman Patrick Stickle's struggle with manic-depressive disorder. 

Listen to 5 seconds of "Dimed Out" and you know which side of that emotional swing we're listening to. In fact, in the context of the other 28 tracks, this song is unequivocally the triumphant climax of the whole ordeal. Just listen to that key-changed bridge, an anthemic guitar solo backed by epic strings. Then, Stickles shreds his throat apart screaming, "I took it up to four, I couldn't feel it. I turned it up to five it wasn't real yet ... But I only really liked it when it dimed out." Such an infectious and totally balls-to-the-wall protest song against mental illness is something that I definitely connected with this year.

4. Father John Misty - "True Affection"


Ah, Father John Misty. Without question what made I Love You Honeybear so dadgum enjoyable was the Father's cynical and brutally witty way with words. Tearing apart ex-lovers for their flaws, tearing apart himself for his propensity for sin and degradation, tearing apart America for its backwards system of greed-based morality... Father John Misty spared no one in his lyrical holocaust. Though it made the album a fun roller coaster ride, never knowing what was going to come out of his mouth next, it did make it something a downer, too. 

But then there was "True Affection." Not only did it undermine anybody's ability to write off the Father as merely a folky traditionalist, but it also proved that he can get really beautiful and tender if he wants to, too. His gorgeous pipes coo a plea to his honeybear for real, human-to-human interaction, "instead of using all these strange devices," ironically and not accidentally over an entirely electronic soundscape. This song, to me, shows the best of Father John Misty, his musicianship and smarts, while leaving the negativity, vulgarity, and hedonism at the door.

3. Jeff Rosenstock - "Get Old Forever"

The first track on Jeff Rosenstock's criminally overlooked We Cool?, "Get Old Forever" to me perfectly represents what made this album of third-wave punk revival bliss so blissful: subversion of expectations. The guitar strumming beginning sounds more like The Mountain Goats or Ben Folds-gone-guitar than Bomb the Music Industry, Jeff's motherband. Then an electronic drum beat kicks in, shattering that impression, only to have it all ripped apart by purely punk power chords and 8-bit key lead, with Jeff wailing, "Stale regrets are a waste of time. Only one thing remains for sure: that we all get old forever."

This theme of time slipping through one's fingers was a major part of what made this album so engaging and personally relevant to me. This was a year of transition for me, of changes from boyhood to manhood in a lot of ways, and I needed someone like Jeff, with the humor, immaturity, and charisma of an old high school friend to remind me: getting old happens to the youngest of us.

2. Kendrick Lamar - "How Much A Dollar Cost"

I'll always remember where I was and what I was doing when To Pimp A Butterfly really hit me. I was on a concrete schoolyard in late March, listening to the album on headphones. I was walking home from school. For the fifth time, Kendrick Lamar was reciting an iteration of his conceptual poem, adding the lines "But while my loved ones was fighting a continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new. Then, with the opening piano chords courtesy of Robert Glasper, "How Much A Dollar Cost" unfolded before me.

What drew me in to the song at first, which is what drew me into Kendrick's masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly at first, was the gorgeously produced, classic sound of the instrumentation. It sounded like the classiest Jurassic 5 or Tribe beat I had ever heard, brought forward in time to the year 2015. Over it all, Kendrick spins a fable-turned-parable of a fateful meeting with God in the guise of a homeless South African. He displays his mastery of rhyme and metric flow over the song's three verses, as well as a mastery of narrative. Each line builds the tension of the experience and the mystery of the stranger, and exposes Kendrick's human nature as he struggles between choosing between his head and his heart, between what he's been taught all his life and what he knew all along. 

This sort of raw display of humanity is what has driven a lot of the fans that Kendrick acquired through the radio away, and it's also what makes this album so instantly timeless. In Kendrick's raw, rasp-voiced self portrait, we can see clearly Kendrick the mortal man; America the institution; and ourselves, the human family, trying to make something beautiful together in spite of our humanity. 

1. Sufjan Stevens - "Fourth of July"

But we can't really talk about emotional rawness without talking about Sufjan Steven's new album. Sufjan surprised the entire indie community with Carrie & Lowell's stripped-back, return to folk form, and we marveled that he did so without sparing any musical intricacy or harmonic depth. Perhaps more so, Sufjan's new album surprised us by being incredibly personal and emotionally naked, and not about schizophrenic, prophetic dreams of cyber-Apocalypse or the detailed history of Midwestern States. 

While there are plenty of beautiful pieces to choose from on this album, "Fourth of July" stands out as being characteristic of these monumental and courageous changes Sufjan made to his music. It is the most personal song he's ever written, being about his emotions and thoughts at the precise time and place that his mother died. "The hospital asked should the body be cast before I say goodbye, my star in the sky. Such a funny thought to wrap you up in cloth. Do you find it alright, my dragonfly?" I get chills just reading those tender, delicate words.

In a year full of violence, chaos and confusion, such a sweet ballad of pure familial love comes as a welcome respite, an opportunity to appreciate the people we love.