Our Top 10 Lists have been named in honor of late Blog Director and DJ Clarence Ewing, who pioneered and published this annual feature for nearly a decade.
Our next list is from Tyler Clark.
Hey. Did you know having two kids under 4 is harder than having one kid under 4? I didn't. Hence the brief intro. I listened to more new records this year (373) than any other year of my life. Here's how that shook out.
10. HAGEN by Titanic (Unheard of Hope)
A humdinger from Mexico City; cello never sounded so beguiling (or, on some songs, so menacing).
Listen: Bandcamp
9. Thee Black Boltz by Tunde Adebimpe (Sub Pop)
The king is back. Didn't know how much I'd missed those TV on the Radio vibes until I hit play on this one.
Listen: Bandcamp
8. Love & Ponystep by Vylet Pony (Horse Friends / 32.7 The Creek)
Can I interest you in a hyperpop concept album/sonic quest about breakups and mental health starring two of the artists' My Little Pony OCs named Top Five Videos and Dubstep Growl? No? Hey, where are you going? Come back! Really, it's great!
Listen: Bandcamp
7. Who Waters the Wilting Giving Tree Once the Leaves Dry Up and Fruits No Longer Bear by $ilkmoney (DB$B/Lex)
The best samples on any hip-hop record I heard this year. Also, it's a concept record about The Giving Tree. What more could you want?
Listen: Bandcamp
6. 45 Pounds by YHWH Nailgun (AD 93)
I've never quite heard anything quite like this album, this year or any other. I respect music that makes you sit up and take notice.
Listen: Bandcamp
5. Welcome to My Blue Sky by Momma (Polyvinyl)
Complicated? No. Groundbreaking? No. Every song hits like the best summer single you never heard? Big time.
Listen: Bandcamp
4. Traces of You by Ivy (Bar/None)
I never thought we'd hear more music from the late Adam Schlesinger; if we did, I figured it'd come from Fountains of Wayne. They fact that it came from Ivy (his secretly more consistent side project), and that it sounds like it was teleported here straight from 1998, is a true gift.
Listen: Bandcamp
3. Radio DDR/Balloon Balloon Balloon by Sharp Pins (K/Perennial)
Kai Slater is officially the boy king of Chicago janglepop. Long may he reign.
Listen: Bandcamp
2. Paradise by The Westerlies (The Westerlies Music, Inc.)
Two trumpets. Two trombones. Songs inspired by Sacred Harp music and small New York towns. Add it all up, and it's a record that sounds distinctly American, distinctly patriotic in a way that doesn't turn my stomach.
Listen: Bandcamp
1. Die In Love by Greet Death (Deathwish, Inc.)
If you had the blues this summer and didn't listen to this record, you did your sadness a disservice. After many seasons of loss, both personal and public, this is the kind of music we need to make sense of it all.
Listen: Bandcamp