Revisiting 2015: Full “Best of Playlist” on Spotify and Some Updates

Ah, 2015, marking the mighty and flawless return of Swervedriver, the emergence of young Courtney Barnett, and, most fundamentally, fatherhood.

As mentioned in previous ramblings, I am slowly but assuredly building “best of the year” playlists for online sharing and posterity.  As usual, these follow ups help identify gems I missed at the time of my initial yearly review and provide an opportunity to pass them along.

For the 2015 Spotify playlist of my favorite songs, go here!

For the original 2015 best album round up, go here!

 

Great Albums I Missed

Here a few albums that would have wrestled a few others out of my Top 20 and therefore come highly recommended.

Iron and Wine – Archive Series Volume 1

Oh, this is a treasure trove.  Iron & Wine became an instant success with Sub Pop release of the band’s debut The Creek Drank The Cradle.  In 2002, we all revelled in the beautiful authenticity of Sam and Sarah Beam’s hushed folk harmonies.  After instant classic Our Endless Numbered Days (2004) it wasn’t long before Beam changed course to bigger and more complex arrangements, sounding wonderful but quite different from the early folk recordings.  I missed the stripped down intimacy.  As if in answer, we received Archive Series Volume 1, a collection of unreleased recordings culled from late-90’s and early-00’s demos.  Fingers crossed for a Volume 2.  Choice track:  “Judgement”

Eternal Summers – Gold and Stone

Missed this somehow upon release and it is as essential as the rest of their discography – chimy guitar driven dreampop with punkish flourishes, recallingThe Primitives, Lush, and Cocteau Twins, and keeping pace with gold-standard contemporaries Alvvays, Wolf Alice, and Soft Science.  Choice Track: “Together Or Alone”.

Surf City – Jekyll Island

I picked this up (somehow, somewhere) in 2018 and promptly forgot about it.  In my final playlisting run I gave a relisten and, holy shit, this is great.  Taking foundational cues from The Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain, Surf City play that category of mid-fi garage psych-pop promoted by Woods, Quilt, Black Angels, Crystal Stilts, Crocodiles, Warlocks…ahhhh….I could go on, but they just exactly hit that super-catchy, fuzz-loving, reverberating goodness that gets my toes tapping. Choice track: “One Too Many Things”.

Day Ravies – Liminal Zones

Australia’s Day Ravies give us buzzing, off kilter garage punk and experimentation on Liminal Zones. I like Tussle (from 2013), but this is a truly banging record, if a little lo-fi and ramshackle-y at times.  Choice track: “Hickford Whiz”.

Crocodiles – Boys

(“Hi Surf City, we’re Crocodiles, and we’re very similar to you.  Can we use your review?  Why thank you!”).  Okay, so this seems lazy, but the woefully Crocodiles truly are cut from same cloth as Surf City above – buzzed out, fuzzed out,  lo-fi garage goodness.  Choice track: “Hard”.

Drug Cabin – Wiggle Room

I always wondered what happened to Ambulance Ltd., the short-lived brit-pop/shoegaze outfit (from the States) that could have been BIG (in my estimation) circa 2004.  Well, some web-browsing indicated a number of later project and side thangs, one of which was Drug Cabin, headed by Marcus Congleton (and joined by Nathan Thelen of Pretty Girls Make Graves).  It is a quirky, beatle-esque, countrified thing that is really hard to pin-point.  A little Kinks, when the Kinks were weird, some Beach Boys and Byrds, some Teenage Fanclub, and some Wilco.  In short, super great.  Unfortunately, this album was super limited (can’t find a physical copy anywhere) and the band seems inactive.  Choice track: “Ruby”.