MUSIC: New Radiohead & LCD Soundsystem

Merry Christmas everyone! My gift to you is two long-awaited returns from some of indie's best bands, LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead. LCD Soundsystem released a depressing Christmas song entitled "Christmas Will Break Your Heart" and Radiohead dropped their rejected theme for the new James Bond movie, called "Spectre" like the movie. Both are fantastic and embedded below.

OPINION: Best Albums of 2015

We've reached that time of the year again, year-end list season is upon us. Here are my top ten albums of 2015!

1.   Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

 Kendrick Lamar has released a perfect masterpiece that has changed the face of rap forever with To Pimp A Butterfly. The lyrical and instrumental depth of the album is astounding, putting even the best hip-hop of recent years to shame. To Pimp A Butterfly is an incredibly personal albums that gives the listener a ticket on the emotion roller-coaster that Kendrick has experienced over a lifetime. It is impossible to fully understand To Pimp A Butterfly, but you have to admire it and respect it for everything it manages to do.

2.   Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer

Speedy Ortiz's debut was a fantastic album that showed a lot of promise and this album fulfills that promise. Everything that was great about Major Arcana is still present on this sophomore album, yet done better and with more variety. The funk of  "Puffer", the insanity of "Homonovus", and the pop-punk of "Swell Content" proves that Speedy Ortiz isn't just a nineties sound-a-like band like many claimed them to be. Foil Deer is a powerful statement of a record that won't be soon forgotten. 

3.   The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Harmlessness

 The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die is the best band of this so-called "emo revival" and this is because they are barely emo. On this new record, TWIABP&IANLATD show that they are just a fantastic band, not a fantastic emo band. Everything that was great about their debut album is still here, just in a more cohesive format. "January 10th, 2014" might be the best song the band has put out and sets a new standard for all the copycat emo bands out there.

4.   Mike Krol - Turkey

In eighteen minutes, Mike Krol proves to be one of the best garage rockers around, if not the best. Mike's "I Hate Jazz" and "Trust Fund" EPs proved what he was capable of and his debut album for Merge shows that he is ready to be the next big thing. Mike's unique vocals that carry relatable lyrics mixed with the fantastic guitar fuzz works so well. Mike isn't doing anything that new, but he's doing it as good, if not better, as anyone else playing right now.

5.   Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit 

On her newest album, Courtney Barnett became a rocker. "Pedestrian at Best" features one of the year's best guitar riffs and  "Aqua Profonda!" packs so much into it's two minutes, it's incredible. She doesn't leave fans of "The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas" hanging either, this new albums features some great slower songs such as "Depreston" and "Kim's Caravan". Barnett is one of the most versatile singer-songwriters around and this albums proves that.   

6.   Colleen Green - I Want To Grow Up

Colleen Green realizes that music doesn't have to be complex to be great. Her newest album features some of the most blunt, therefore some of the most relatable, lyrics in recent memory. The crunchy guitars sound incredibly satisfying and the occasional synth-pop tunes works way better than they should on a rock album.

7.   Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love

Sleater-Kinney were smart enough to realize that they shouldn't change anything major for their comeback album, they had already perfected their sound by the time they broke up for the first time. No Cities To Love is another great album in an amazingly consistent discography. The vocals still pack as much of a punch as they always have and the instrumental work is as good and knotty as always. 

8.   Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss 

Abyss feels like the album Chelsea Wolfe has been trying to make since she has been releasing music. Her previous albums have been very good, but in working with producer John Congleton, she seems to have found the perfect sound for trying to express the darkness she feels. Abyss blends electronics, folk, and stoner rock like no other album I've ever heard and it works fantastically.

9.   Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect 

Protomartyr are not the most innovative band, but they are really good at what they do, which is making post-punk. Their sophmore album, Under Color Of Official Right, was my eighth favorite album of 2014 and this album continues their trend of very solid, if not incredible, music. After three very good albums under their belt, I wouldn't be surprised if Protomartyr release something truly amazing in the near future.  

10.  Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy 

If nothing else, Titus Andronicus released one of the most ambitious rock albums of 2015. It's hard to not at least respect the album for trying to keep a captive audience through an hour and a half, and it actually succeeds for the most part. TMLT won't be remembered as Titus's best album, but it will be remembered for how close it got.

NEWS: David Bowie To Release New Album

Everybody's favorite musical chameleon, David Bowie, is supposedly releasing a new album on January 8th. The album is called Blackstar and only has seven songs that will last 45 minutes. It was recorded at New York's Magic shop with local jazz musicians. I really enjoyed Bowie' last album, but I'm hoping that the interesting song structure and inclusion of jazz musicians might lead to a new and different style that we've never heard from the ever-changing musician.

NEWS/MUSIC: Download Meow The Jewels Right Now

This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. Run The Jewels have performed a surprise release of the highly anticipated cat version of their beloved 2014 album, RTJ2. RTJ2 was my favorite album of last year, so I'm incredibly excited for this meow-ified version of the album. Treat yourself and download it here.

NEWS/MUSIC: Alex G Announces New Album, Releases Single

One of the finest bedroom pop artists around, Alex G, has announced a new album. The album is called Beach Music and will be release on Domino October 9th. The first single, "Bug", is fantastic and available to play above!

REVIEW: The Most Lamentable Tragedy by Titus Andronicus

   

    When Titus Andronicus announced The Most Lamentable Tragedy, the question wasn't whether it would be good, it was how good. The band has proved itself to be incredibly consistent over the past three albums, minus some minor ups and downs. The Airing of Grievances was great, The Monitor was incredible, and Local Business was good. TMLT features some of the band's best and most interesting material, but its spread so thin. The album is fantastic at points but tiresome at others, which makes for an inconsistent, but great listen.

    The first thing that makes itself apparent about the album is its length. TMLT is 93 minutes, compared to The Monitor's 65 minutes. To give an idea of how long this is compared to other rock operas, the Who's Quadrophenia and Pink Floyd's The Wall are both 81 minutes. TMLT is 12 minutes longer than these already long albums. To pay attention to an album for 93 minutes is an incredible feat, even if the music is fantastic. While most of the material on this album is fantastic and keeps the listener's attention, not all of it does. The experimental drone tracks are interesting, but don't work too well in the album. The tracks "Sun Salutation" and "Auld Lang Syne" are interesting in theory, but break up the flow of the album. The silent "Intermission" track works better than expected, even if it's unbelievably pretentious. 

     Besides these weak tracks that are mentioned above, almost every song is fantastic. "No Future Part IV: No Future Triumphant" features incredibly knotty instrumental break-downs that are relatively new sounding for the band. The Eastern-influenced "More Perfect Union" is an epic exploration of family. "(S)HE SAID/(S)HE SAID" is one of the best songs on the album, even if it's four minutes too long. "I'm Going Insane" is one of Titus's best songs, despite its repetitive lyrics. "Into The Void (Filler)" is anything but filler and it features some of the best guitar and bass riff's in the band's discography. 

    Titus Andronicus seems to be trying a lot of different things of this album, some which succeeds and some of it fails. The idea of doing a very personal rock opera was an interesting one, but between bad mixing and growled vocals, it's hard to keep up with the story. It's possible to grasp moments of the story after repeated listens, but repeated listens are hard when the album is this long. Some of the tracks on the album don't work, but for the most part the band has created some incredible tracks that sound like classic Titus songs, but still fresh and new. This album comes close to the masterpiece it might have been, but its flaws are just too glaring to ignore. I'm going to give this album 8/10 stars for being mostly fantastic, but seriously flawed at other points.

BEST TRACKS: "No Future Part IV: No Future Triumphant", "I'm Going Insane", "Into The Void (Filler)"

★★★★★★★★☆☆

MUSIC: Eagles Of Death Metal Release New Single

The Eagles of Death Metal have release their first new song since 2008, entitled "Complexity". The single will appear on the band's upcoming album, Zipper Down. The single is a fun, catchy number that the band does so well. Listen to it here!