Unlike those words that I have heard from so many people over the years: "they don't make music like they used to," I find the opposite is true. Yes, technically music making has evolved over the years. Increased access to equipment, recording, and ways to find an audience has changed drastically. The spirit hasn't though. There is incredible music being made all around us all of the time. More than ever. It's difficult to keep up! My problem as an older person who has yet to fully adjust to the idea that music doesn't have to be physically possessed is that I get overwhelmed. I am fully aware that I have missed a lot of great music this year, because I get overwhelmed by it. There's too much! I do not make enough time available to hear more music. I cannot afford it. I can't keep up! These selections are ten of many releases I enjoyed this year. I share them only hoping to present my thoughts in a vague way to show appreciation to these great artists and inspire an individual to look into these artists further. There's always been good music and likely always will be. Happy New Year!!
Write ups can be accessed via the band/album names below
I’ve always loved indie
pop/rock. There’s something in its
simplicity that I’ve always clung to.
There’s an approachability and vulnerability to the best indie music, as
well as that DIY punk rock spirit. These
are songs written and performed by goofballs like me! Scratch that.
I have no skills, but I sure can appreciate those willing to go for it. My ears are always drawn to dissonance, when
paired with straightforward indie melodies.
At their base, Torrey is an
old school indie pop band with over busy drumming, imperfect scratchy/strumming
guitars and meandering grinding basslines, but here they’ve added loads of
noise – everything from washes of feedback, overloaded retro-sounding
keyboards, incredibly upfront and aggressive tambourines. I think of the cut and paste genius of the Swirlies, the angular bitterness of the
Archers of Loaf, or more currently:
the most recent Alvvays album and
their timeless melodic sensibilities.
There’s a certain ramshackle feeling in this collection that provides an
exciting depth and repeated discoveries with additional listens.
This self-titled second LP from
Oakland band Torrey is their first for Slumberland
Records and for me. I have not yet
investigated their prior work, but am extremely excited by this release! To be honest, even though the lyrics are
provided for this album, I can’t seem to make sense of them, yet so many of
these tracks are incredibly contagious. The
aptly titled “Pop Song,” has a repeated chorus of “A common blue” that has been
stuck in my head endlessly for the past several days. This is not a complaint. It only makes me want to hear it again, even
though I’m not so sure what it all means.
There’s no way that I’ve ever figured
out how to describe this, but sometimes certain artists sound more meaningful. This is
incredibly subjective, but I felt
these songs upon first listen, even if many of the lyrics have remained elusive
to me. Early favorite, “No Matter How,”
is an exception. I love the repeated
bridge refrain of “it will all be okay” landing just before the chorus of “no
matter how you wanna spin it.” I feel
like this message hits incredibly well in these days where we are all guilty of
spinning our own stories to justify our own means. I know I’m certainly guilty of this. I seem to be able to assuage my own bad
feelings by spinning my narrative to only positives. “No, I did nothing wrong!” It’s a powerful message for a catchy three or
so minute song. The afore-mentioned “Pop
Song” is also undeniably addictive, as well as the sweet sounding organ
drenched “Bounce” and “Happy You Exist.”
My favorite amongst these highlights though is the haunting “Moving,”
which has a similar vibrato vibe as “How Soon is Now?” and a sneaky earworm of
a chorus vocalized perfectly by singer Ryann
Gonalves that is absolutely breathtaking.
It’s discovering new music like this
that I find forever regenerative. If you’re
familiar with pretty much any musical act to ever grace the Slumberland Records
label, you will likely love this. If you’re
not familiar, this could be a perfect gateway into a magical world.
