Well, I was supposed to be reporting to you every week, and I’ve blown it! A number of new albums released have catapulted up my list of favorite albums this year. The nominees are Harry Styles, Bartees Strange, Soccer Mommy, and Martin Courtney (singer/songwriter of one of my faves, Real Estate).

What I love about each of these artists is they sound nothing like each other:

Harry Styles is the heir-apparent to Justin Timberlake, but I think he’s a better songwriter and a much more palatable voice (sometimes JT’s falsetto gets a bit much)
Bartees Strange is unique. He’s a mashup. I hear TV on the Radio in his vocals, Jeff Buckley in his intimacy, Minus the Bear with some go his guitar riffs, and on and on. This guy’s got a lot of talent.
Soccer Mommy is 90s grunge redux.
Martin Courtney’s second solo album shows again why he’s the heart and soul of the uber-chill Real Estate.

Enjoy!

Albums make music permanent. Albums are the story to the chapters, the theme of so many thoughts. Albums are what make songs something more.

This year has provided so many albums - to the tune of 1,457 artists, 6,426 songs, and 100 thousand minutes of music that I’ve listened. And I listened to and loved nothing more than Tame Impala’s Currents.

As I wrote in my album review, Currents is a wonderfully freeing musical expression and acknowledgement of adaptation for the sake of Parker and no others. One of the coolest things I noted was that Currents is so different than its two top notch predecessors, yet it eclipses both.

"Yes, I'm changing," Kevin Parker sweetly serenades the critics, haters, and trolls, "Yes, I'm gone / Yes, I'm older / Yes, I'm moving on / And if you don't think it's a crime / you can come along with me / Life is moving / can't you see?"

My love for Natalie Prass is evident if you read this blog. It all started because of her debut album. I did not write a review, I just enjoyed the many, many instruments and Prass' vocals delicately absorbing the wind and strings to harmonize above it all.

It’s been the best year in rap in many many years. Six rappers made it onto my list, and three of them - Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar - in the top six! Each album was completely different.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 209

Top 25 Albums of 2015