Best of 2016 (Non 2016 Edition)
Before we disappear completely into year-end
retrospectives and top-ten season, I’ll take a chance to highlight my favorite
stuff that I found for the first time this year. In the interest of saving space I didn't bother embedding Youtube clips, but there's links to check everything out.
The Wonder Years- No
Closer to Heaven
Reasonably
big name in the modern pop-punk scene, I started listening when I bought a
ticket to see them (Moose Blood was opening). They were solid live, and this
album has a few of my most played tracks this year. Check "A Song for Patsy Cline" to start out.
The Deep Dark Woods- The Place I Left Behind (2014)
Enjoyable
folk/alt-country from Canada. Mix of softly-strummed acoustic guitar +
tambourine and some electric guitar flourishes, like on heartwrenching
set-piece “The Banks of the Leopold Canal”. Inoffensive enough to throw on at any low-key gathering, but with surprising depths that makes for a rewarding close listen.
Blut Aus Nord- Memoria
Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age (1996)
Huge
name in the black metal game, just took me a while to work my way through. I’ve
heard the What Once Was series but
they didn’t really take. This album is a little cleaner and more melodic (hard
to believe this is the same band that made The
Work Which Transforms God) with wicked guitar work and some nice chanty
vocals. Highly recommended.
Sleater Kinney- Dig
Me Out (1997)
Likely
don’t need much introduction on this band. They’re classic for a reason, I was
just too young at the time. Listen up. "One More Hour" was my top-played track from about August through October. The sound on the link below is pretty good for live from a record store in '98.
[Youtube]
Wuthering Heights- Far From the Madding Crowd (2004)
A
very solid power metal album, named for two books, though as far as I can tell,
lyrically it deals with neither. The album features some folk elements in the
form of occasional flutes and bagpipes, but not overwhelmingly so. Too much to
really call it “stripped down,” but the album definitely doesn’t suffer from
the overproduction that plagues so many power metal releases (more Helloween
than Rhapsody of Fire, if you get me). Yes, there is a song called “Bad Hobbits
Die Hard,” and it’s basically three minutes of guitar solos.
[Youtube]
Gods Reflex- Scenes
from a Motel Seduction (2000)
Unknown
emo band from the original heyday. You probably gotta really like emo to bother
with this one, but if you do and are looking for a fresh sound (that of course
sounds like everything else), take a look. Worth it for the album title alone.
Diocletian- Gesundrian
(2014)
Monster
of a death metal album from 2014. As the prevailing trend is for death metal to get more atmospheric, Diocletian go straight for the jugular. Derek Engemann from Cattle Decapitation grabs
this one in their “What’s in My Bag” video at Amoeba Records, so that’s a
pretty solid co-sign. Peep the dope album cover too.
[Bandcamp]
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