{"id":9817,"date":"2015-12-28T05:30:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T05:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=9817"},"modified":"2015-12-29T14:24:38","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T14:24:38","slug":"best-of-2015-new-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/28\/best-of-2015-new-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2015: New Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

2015 has been another year of wonderful musical discoveries for me. Putting the lie to the tired argument that \u201cthere’s no good music any more\u201d (oh, shut up<\/i>), my Top 5 list of new albums includes music by acts that are either (a) relatively new and\/or (b) new to me, at least. There are couple of sentimental favorites here, to be sure, but I wouldn’t have included them if the albums didn’t move me in a significant way.<\/p>\n

\"jd_mcpherson\"<\/p>\n

JD McPherson — Let the Good Times Roll<\/em><\/strong>
\nI was absolutely knocked out when I first heard Reform School Girl<\/i><\/a> by Nick Curran<\/b>, and his tragic death not long thereafter robbed us of a supreme talent. So when I heard JD McPherson<\/b>‘s Let the Good Times Roll<\/i><\/a>, I felt that I had discovered someone with a similar sensibility. Come to find out McPherson dedciates the album to the late Curran. Can’t beat that, but Let the Good Times Roll<\/i> succeeds wholly on its own terms. This is truly what rock’n’roll (of any era) is about. Superb and essential.<\/p>\n

\"mavericks_mono\"<\/p>\n

The Mavericks — Mono<\/em><\/strong>
\nI first saw The Mavericks<\/b> at the Americana Music Awards and Conference in 2012. I remember thinking to myself \u201cif this is Americana, count me in.\u201d I saw them again at AMA this year, and they were even better. Rallying in the face of losing a key member, The Mavericks went on to create what very well may be their best album, a knowing synthesis of many American musical forms. Any given kind of music is rarely all things to all people, but Mono<\/i><\/a> comes tantalizingly close.<\/p>\n

\"runddans\"<\/p>\n

Todd Rundgren et. al. — Runddans<\/em><\/strong>
\nI’m on record as a rabid fan of Todd Rundgren<\/b><\/a>. But at times, it’s easier to admire than actually enjoy his endless experimentation. The man defines eclecticism, and as a result, everything he does won’t resonate with all listeners. I, for one, most appreciate his progressive-leaning work from the mid 1970s. And on his latest \u2013 released almost concurrently with another album of his, Rundgren works with a pair of young musicians from Scandinavia. The result \u2013 the ambient Runddans<\/i><\/a> \u2013 is, for me, the best thing he’s done in years. And that’s saying something.<\/p>\n

\"zombies_hunger\"
\nThe Zombies — Still Got That Hunger<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe Zombies<\/b><\/a> were one of the most unjustly-overlooked acts of the 1960s, right up there with Moby Grape<\/b><\/a> and Love<\/b><\/a> (to name but two). The belated recognition of Odessey and Oracle<\/i>‘s greatness came too late for the by-then-defunct band to enjoy it. They reunited several years ago, touring to wide acclaim. They phrase \u201cthey still got it\u201d applies perfectly to them. And with Still Got That Hunger<\/i><\/a>, they’re produced a worthy followup to their Summer of Love classic. The only thing more to say is that as good as Still Got That Hunger<\/i> is, the Zombies live onstage are even better.<\/p>\n

\"donovans_brain_heirloom\"<\/p>\n

Donovan’s Brain — Heirloom Varieties<\/em><\/strong>
\nMaybe you’ve never heard of Donovan’s Brain<\/b>. But if you dig sixties rock and the \u201cpaisley underground\u201d scene of the 1980s, you’ll delight in this album of music by veterans of the latter. Heirloom Varieties<\/i><\/a> is timeless.<\/p>\n

…And Still More…<\/strong>
\nIt was tough picking only five this year; two others that \u2013 if my mood had been only slightly different when I did the choosing \u2013 would have made the list are Dengue Fever<\/b>‘s The Deepest Lake<\/i><\/a> and I Don’t Prefer No Blues<\/i><\/a> by American treasure Leo \u201cBud\u201d Welch<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"jr_league_also_rans\"<\/p>\n

And there’s another<\/em> title that really belongs in the Top 5 list — I’m not sure which of the above it would bump to take the spot — but I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it just yet. The Junior League<\/strong>‘s “Also Rans”<\/em> is a truly special album that’s informed by sixties country-flavored rock (Byrds<\/strong>, Buffalo Springfield<\/strong>), 80s paisley underground scene, and much more. Look for a full review of “Also Rans”<\/em> in 2016, but don’t wait: go buy it now<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2015 has been another year of wonderful musical discoveries for me. Putting the lie to the tired argument that \u201cthere’s no good music any more\u201d (oh, shut up), my Top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[704,1115,1435,2228,2430],"class_list":["post-9817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-of-list","tag-donovans-brain","tag-jd-mcpherson","tag-mavericks","tag-todd-rundgren","tag-zombies","cat-8-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9817"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10050,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9817\/revisions\/10050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}