Vivacranewife’s Favorite Albums from 2015

Twin Shadow - Eclipe

I started running this summer. It's kind of huge; when I texted my husband that I went on my first run he responded "WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" But it's also amazing and I love this new part of my life. For the first couple of months, I only ran to this album: instead of an app that informed me of progress, I gauged my improvement by where I was vs. what song was playing. I'm a slow runner, but I'm steadily improving. Pitchfork hates this album.

Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear

This album is like good satire: you can not really listen and just enjoy it, and then you can really listen and be like "HOLY SHIT" and the see the entire world differently. Incidentally, he does a mind blowing cover of Taylor Swift's "Blank Space."

Lord Huron - Strange Trails

My children listened to Strange Trails every night for probably three months and I still didn't get tired of it.

The Decemberists-What a Beautiful World, What a Terrible World

Colin Meloy has handled aging and adulthood beautifully. He's stayed weird and awesome and moving.

Ryan Adams-1989

I'm not kidding, I cried when I listened to his cover of Out of the Woods.

Adele-25

I haven't actually listened to it but COME ON. Have you listened to "Hello"? Of course you have. Did your heart explode? It did.

The Cranewife's Ipod Autumn Shuffle Surprise

Badly Drawn Boy- A Minor Incident
Anything from the About A Boy soundtrack reminds of the day I graduated from college. Insanely hungover and just generally over it, ancientindianwizard and I got Tacos Moreno and watched this movie. It was the best part of the day hands down.

The Murder City Devils- Idle Hands
"Sat down to write her a letter/but I wrote this song instead." I wish I did things like that.

New Order- Blue Monday
While not my favorite New Order song, this track provides 7 and a half minutes of dance/walkable poppy rhythm.

Turbonegro-Boys From Nowhere
Who besides Turbonegro could create a song about how they're going to continue to rock superhard, even after the world's over? "Scarier than fear/but that's alright."

Old Canes- Face It
From "Early Morning Hymns," an album destined for my end of the year list. This song is, as far as I can tell, about someone who drinks too much and who is possibly being cheated on. But with a real upbeat tempo.

Afterthoughts:
Everything on my ipod is music I either walk or fall asleep to, so it doesn't really represent the wide variety of music to which I listen. This list, however, provides a pretty honest look into what is being pumped into my ears when I boogie on down to the bus stop every day.

Gin Blossoms @ Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

First, a word to all of you Outsidelands ticket holders who comprised the huddled masses of churning humanity paying gobs of money and straining to hear Radiohead last night: suckas.

Paying only for our tall boys from Days Market, Awmercy (to whom I apologize for the length of this review), Brasilliant, Ancientindianwizard, and I were joined at the Boardwalk by our friends Lacy and Greg (and many other amazing folks) to get rocked by Tempe, Arizona's own Gin Blossoms. In case you lived in an Eastern Bloc country during the early 1990's, and somehow missed out on this band, do yourself a huge favor and download their hits "Hey Jealousy," "Found Out About You," "Til I Hear It From You," and "Follow You Down." You will probably listen to these songs and say "Wow, despite living in the former Yugoslavia in 1993, I totally remember Hey Jealousy!" And it is this infectious pop sensibility that made last night so amazing.

The (disturbingly long) Wikipedia entry on the band reports that "Frontman Robin Wilson is best known for his interaction with the crowd. He often hands off a tamborine to a lucky fan in the front row to strike in sync with the drum beat." And last night was no exception. The band came on around 8:30, and proceeded to spend a boring half hour playing songs no one knew, while Wilson handed out a tamborine, encouraged the rest of the crowd to clap rhythmically, and repeatedly thrust his tamborine-free hand skyward in the shape of rock horns. Then things got interesting.

Wilson disappeared from the stage, leaving his band to engage in an extended jam sesh. It was incredibly boring, but my heart was pounding: where had Wilson gone? Was he having a breakdown? Would I get to hear Hey Jealousy? Whatever it is that Wilson does when he disappears backstage (seems like it might be a regular occurance, as the band barely seemed to notice), it is totally worth it. When he remerged on stage, the Gin Blossoms proceeded to blow us away with hit after hit, touching the adolescent rocker in all of us.

Then their allotted hour was up and the 'Blossoms left the stage. Thoroughly satisfied, the ladies headed to the bathroom before taking off. But they weren't done!! As I emerged from the filthy Boardwalk bathrooms, my ears were seduced by the sound of.... Rocket Man. Yes, the Gin Blossoms were covering one of my favorite songs, apparently for a bride-to-be who was spending her bachelorette party at the Boardwalk (awesome). They finished off with "Follow You Down" a song whose existence I had forgotten. This encore left me deeply rocked, and a two time loser (I bet the Wizard that I would only recognize 3 songs, and that they wouldn't perform any covers. Who knew?). But really, there were no losers last night at the Boardwalk, only people who walked away totally awed by the majesty that is the Gin Blossoms.

Cranewife's Top 5 Summer Spectacular

1. Jens Lekman- Night Falls Over Kortedala (2007). Doo-wop-y, sweet, self conscious music. Bonus internet fun: "A Postcard to Nina" live video featuring Jens and a ukelele.





2. The Lost Patrol/ The Lost Patrol Band/ Invasionen. Lead singer of Refused and The (International) Noise Conspiracy sings poppy break-up songs. Apparently they keep getting sued, thus the name changes.



3. Cover songs. Done right they can be mind blowing. See: Mark Kozelek's "What's Next to the Moon" (2001) (yes, AC/DC) or Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey (2005).





4. The great nation of Sweden. Currently providing me with almost all of the music I listen to.







5. Falling asleep to music. A classic now and forever. Current favorites: Joy Division-Unknown Pleasures (1979), Shout Out Louds-Our Ill Wills (2007), any Sigur Ros.

Portishead - Third (2008)

Part of the reason this review took me so long to write is that after purchasing Third, people kept commenting that it was a "departure" from Portishead's earlier work. So, of course, I had to revisit the excellent 1994 album Dummy to see for myself. Upon listening to both (I'm not a huge fan of the self titled 1997 album, now that's a departure), I've come to the conclusion that the hypnotic vocal power of Beth Gibbons and trippy electronic twanging make Portishead Portishead, and although Third is perhaps more spare and slightly more raw? aggressive? than their previous work, it's still very much Portishead: moody, slightly spooky, driven by a vague sense of longing, and pretty sexy.

The best example of this is "Nylon Smile," Gibbons moaning "I don't know what I've done to deserve you" over an ambient, insistent rhythm. Two other hot tracks are "Silence" and "Machine Gun."

On the other hand, there's also the 1 minute and 33 second "Deep Water," Gibbons singing accompanied by what sounds sort of like a ukulele. I'm not feeling it, and I'm glad the rest of the album stays away from this.

This first time I listened to Third, it was Sunday morning, and I was making pancakes. It gave the whole endeavor a sort of dark, seamy feel. Music that turns Sunday breakfast into something vaguely naughty is always fine by me.