Record Roundup: Autumn Flood, Pt. 3

Like I said, it's been a busy fall so far. And with the "best of" lists right around the corner, this will have to be the last installment! Catch up with Part 1 and Part 2 and press play on the updated playlist here or below.

Matt Evans - Soft Science Percussionist, programmer, producer, and composer Evans continues to build on his remarkable discography with this third solo album. In fact, after the fizzy electronica of New Topographics and the complex and emotional soundscapes of Touchless, this may be the most well-rounded of the three. You get the full flavor of his polyrhythmic approach to the drum kit along with his marvelously distinctive and expressive curation of electronic sound, all woven together in a seamless and consistently compelling series of pieces. A perfect example is the opening cut, Saprotrophia, which incepts with a breathy synth before Evans unleashes a busy drum pattern that becomes like the verse of a wordless song and has me hanging on every note. A more abstract chorus (or is it the bridge?) provides respite before the drums kick back in, leaving me breathless. As he puts it, the albums is "mostly-not-chill" although some songs are more groove-oriented. And the finale, Alocasia, is fully chill, with droning synths and hand-percussion providing an underpinning for the gorgeous sax of David Lackner (check out YAI if you want more of him), leaving us in the perfect state to reflect on the marvels we just heard. 

Charlotte Dos Santos - Morfo While we were treated to a five-song EP in 2020, it's been a bit of wait since Dos Santos' delicious debut, Cleo, came out in 2017. If anything, her music has grown even more exquisite and expansive since then, morphing (hence the title?) ever closer to jazz, but never committing fully to any genre. Her voice remains a limber and delicate wonder that she employs with greater confidence than ever. Filha Do Sol is but one standout that shows off everything she can do, with a sinuous opening section that transits through a flute solo as it slow builds towards an abrupt shift into a Brazilian parade rhythm that has Dos Santos' declaiming in Portuguese with a sense of triumphant homecoming. Just one stunning musical vision out of the baker's dozen that make up this remarkable album.

Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork After several EPs and singles and a smashing debut, I suppose I should stop being surprised by Dry Cleaning's ability to find new avenues of invention while staying within the basic idea that Florence Shaw speak-sings evocative, fractured lyrics while guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton cook up colorful, post-punk informed surroundings for her musings. But here are 11 new songs that do just that, with Dowse and Maynard adding new colors to their palettes, like the chorused, arpeggiated guitar on Kwenchy Kups, or the funky, churning bass on Hot Penny Day. The instrumentation has also expanded, with keyboards and woodwinds making appearances. Shaw herself pushes into new territory, with an almost gentle (and charmingly off-key) croon on some songs, like Gary Ashby. Her lyrics also continue to confound and enchant in equal measure, as in the internal monologue/dialogue that forms the chorus of Kwenchy Kups: "Well, things are shit, but they're gonna be okay/And I'm gonna see the otters/There aren't any otters/There are/Well, we can check/And I'm gonna see the water caterpillar/There's no such thing, hmm?/Nice idea." And then there's Conservative Hell, which puts all their despair into the way Shaw phrases the chorus before ending with the bruised optimism of "I wanted to thank you for organizing the Edinburgh trip/Which apart from what happened to my Kindle, was amazing!/No one ever believed in me until your semi-circle eyes." It's details like that Kindle that elevate Shaw's work to that of literature. Gimme more.

Warhaus - Ha Ha Heartbreak With this third album, Maarten Devoldere's solo discography has now taken shape as a trilogy. The first, 2016's titanic We Fucked A Flame Into Being depicted a bad boy reveling in success and all its various infatuations. The self-titled sophomore album from 2017 was warmer, finding our man in love, if not in a completely uncomplicated way. Hopefully the five years since were happy ones. But we knew it couldn't last, hence this breakup song cycle that uses some of the sound world of Philly Soul and disco to limn Devoldere's sorrows. Amid the sweeping strings and funky percussion are the typically dramatic hallmarks of the Warhaus sound, horn blasts, scratchy guitars, and of course, Devoldere's husky burr, which imparts such wisdom as "'Cause someone should have left me like you did/Just someone, someone else instead/But it had to be you" with a casualness that's almost conversational. Even in a melancholy state, Devoldere can't help being darkly entertaining, as in Desire when he sings "There’s the god for your inner peace/The god of lust has him on a leash/The one who tripped and then fell from grace/And the one who’s renting out the place." Whatever the state of Devoldere's love life, he can rest assured that his place in the musical firmament of our time is ever more assured with this latest flash of brilliance.

Arctic Monkeys - The Car After the left turn of Tranquility Base Hotel And Casino in 2018, which saw Alex Turner and company leave the jagged post-punk and groovy hard rock of their previous albums for (as I wrote) "spacious arrangements of burbling bass, chamber-pop keyboards and witty drums," the sky really was the limit for the band. And while some question whether that album and this one are really Turner solo projects, the fact remains that when he needs to finalize his ideas, he turns to the same guys he's been working with all along. He also needs them to take it on the road, which they do quite successfully as the recent live film from Brooklyn's King's Theater made plain. But even there, Turner proved himself scarily talented and dominant, often driving the band with his guitar - tart, dense, funky, or soaring, as the songs require - and holding the spotlight with his charisma and conviction. If Tranquility Base presented the Arctics as essentially a new band, then they show no sign of sophomore slump on The Car. Adding elements of R&B and funk warm up the feel of the album and the songs are again cinematic, with a way of worming their way into your heart and mind over time. The album's themes can be summed up in I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am, which finds Turner (or his protagonist) feeling out of place amidst hollow displays of luxury and false camaraderie: "It's the intermission/Let's shake a few hands/Blank expressions invite me to suspect/I ain't quite where I think I am/Stackable party guests/To fill the awkward silencеs." That "stackable party guests" line is just one of many, many examples of how Turner's brilliant lyricism continues to be a hallmark of the band, as the driving beat, sharp wah wah guitar, and massed choral vocals show them pushing into new territory to match the mood. For any fans who deserted the Arctic Monkeys when Tranquility Base came out, it is truly their loss as they just keep getting better and better. And, to the new fans (like my wife!), I say welcome to the wonderful world of Alex Turner.

Dazy - OUTOFBODY Their early singles were exciting enough to get me to Indieplaza early to catch the New York debut of this Richmond, VA noise pop band. Their set was a delightful blast of tune-laden distortion and they've totally delivered on that promise with this 12-song, 25-minute debut. All the songs are catchy and some, like On My Way and Rollercoaster Ride, are EXTREMELYCATCHY. Get to this STAT so you, too, can say you were up on Dazy early. 

The Stargazer Lilies - Cosmic Tidal Wave On their self-produced fifth album, these psychedelic shoegazers seem to have internalized whatever they learned from working with Tobacco (of Black Moth Super Rainbow) on Occabot (read it backwards), further expanding their sound without losing the focus on melody. John Cep's guitar playing has grown even more adventurous, with soaring lines dramatically emerging from the haze. He's also upped his keyboard game, with ever-groovier synth/guitar interactions. Kim Field's vocals are still evocative, almost shamanic, as she sings into the storm of sound, driven on by the majestic drums of Carissa Giard. In short, this is one heckuva band and they deserve wider uptake among discerning listeners - and isn't that you?

Pale Dian - Feral Birth Six years on from their debut, Narrow Birth, this Austin-based "nightmare pop" band - mostly the project of Ruth Smith - has left behind most of what made that one sound a bit over-familiar, if still powerful. The addition of space, elegance, and a dynamic range that has some songs delivering hammer blows like an epic soundtrack, is evidence of newfound confidence as they cut loose from their influences. MeLt, for example, is an excursion into post-punk atmospherics with touches of glossy reggae - all very unexpected from them, but still seeming inevitable. A song like True Love even shows a pop sensibility that will find first-time listeners quickly converted into fans. If this is an "auditory emotional sample for futures to come," as Smith describes it, I say bring it on.

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Best Of 2017: The Top 25

I probably say a variation of this every year, but my Top 25 records are not the only “bests” of the year - you’ll find plenty more on the genre-specific lists that follow over the coming weeks - but these are the ones that got me THROUGH or enhanced my days, becoming the soundtrack of my life. If you’ve been following along, you’ll notice that I expanded my list to 25 from 20 this year (it used to be 10!). This is due both to the nearly overwhelming amount of great music that came out this year and to the need to more accurately reflect the breadth of my listening. Who knows what next year will bring?

1. The Clientele - Music For The Age Of Miracles In the absence of actual miracles, this surprising return to form made for a delightful substitute.

2. The Courtneys - II That there is profundity in extreme minimalism was never clearer than on this sleek sophomore album. There was also no better road-trip record, which I needed for year two of college tours. 

3. Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up In ancient times, poetry and music were deeply integrated disciplines. Robin Pecknold, the singer, songwriter, and heart of Fleet Foxes, is that kind of musician and poet and words and sounds are intertwined on this third album to an even further degree than on their first two. Considering that Crack-Up was made after an hiatus of several years, during which time Pecknold attended Columbia University, it’s not surprising that it is also their most literary album. The lyrics are deeply allusive (even the title is a nod to F. Scott Fitzgerald) but still manage to come from a very personal place. Third Of May/Odaigahara, the first single, is a perfect example, with Pecknold’s fear and sadness over strains in his friendship with bandmate Skyler Sjelset transmuted into something elevated and universal. 

“Can I be light and free?/If I lead you through the fury will you call to me?/And is all that I might owe you carved on ivory?” Pecknold sings over soaring stings and guitars, after a hushed moment of introspection that uses a different sound to represent an older perspective on the white-hot emotions surrounding a breach in the relationship. In his wonderful annotations of the lyrics on Genius he translates that last line as “Are our obligations to one another as outmoded and in-the-past as fuckin' scrimshaw bro,” which gives an idea of the alchemy of his writing.

The slash in the title of the song was also a hint of its suite-like structure, which is something they employ on several songs, stretching their compositional muscles towards realms of prog-folk or even art song, making for a richly involving listen that retains its mystery over time. It also makes the shorter, more direct songs like If You Need To, Keep Time On Me even more stunning, as they stand out from the thickets of changes in tempo and timbre. 

If I was going to find any nits to pick with Pecknold & co., it might be to question the choice of including a brief sample of a Mulatu Astatke track at the end of On Any Other Ocean (January- June) which just doesn’t fit and wrenches you out of the enveloping world of Crack-Up. On the double-vinyl version, it hangs off the end of side three quite awkwardly. I won’t belabor the point as it is such a short excerpt, but they should feel no need to establish hipster-cred by telling us they’re fans of Ethiopian jazz - that’s what Spotify playlists are for! I could also wonder why they muted some of their power, which can be explosive in concert, leading to a less dynamic experience than what might have been. I was lucky enough to see them twice this year (once in the tiny confines of Electric Lady Studios) and feel that massed blast in person. Aside from those minor quibbles, this was a glorious return. Long may they reign. 

4. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. No one in hip hop - or anywhere else, for that matter - limns our present moment the way he does. Shame about that album cover, though!

5. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy The good father and production partner Jonathan Wilson turn in their most ambitious epic yet on this deceptively futuristic masterpiece. 

6. Nordic Affect - Raindamage Perhaps Björk wouldn’t find herself in such a cul de sac if she went home and worked with these Icelandic geniuses of texture, precision and thorny wildness. But guess what? They’re doing more than fine on their own. 

7. Goldfrapp - Silver Eye Call it a back to basics album if you like, but there’s nothing basic about their addictive glam-electro beats and dubbed out ambient tone poems - and no one does it better. 

8. Sampha - Process  Long a secret weapon for many hip hop and R&B stars, this quadruple-threat (singer, songwriter, musician and producer) finally steps out on his own, delivering a stunningly versatile collection of songs that show off a uniquely muscular vulnerability. 

9. Jenny O. - Peace And Information A songwriter in the classic mode, Jenny’s sophomore album was as immediate as a status update and as solid as the vintage Detroit steel she likes to drive. Producer Jonathan Wilson helped her push into new territory, with an extra edge here or a Latin groove there, and her singing was better than ever. 

10. Noveller - A Pink Sunset For No One Sarah Lipstate does things with multiple layers of electric guitars that Les Paul never would’ve imagined. On her latest album she also buckled down on song structure, building tension and dynamics into every track. She’s been doing this for a long time and this is a perfect entry point into her magical world. 

11. Del Sol String Quartet - Terry Riley: Dark Queen Mantra The title piece, written by Riley for string quartet and his son Gyan’s guitar, is a new highlight in the already consequential career of a true American original. The accompanying works do nothing to break the spell. 

12. Nev Cottee - Broken Flowers Every note counts on this epic of badass enervation (trust me) led by Cottee’s sepulchral croon. It’s an enveloping record, like a warm but slightly scratchy blanket, and inspiring in Cottee’s commitment to his singular vision of starlit folk-rock. 

13. Boogarins - Desvio Onirico (Live 2016) and Lá Vem A Morte These boys from Brazil have been deepening their sound both on stage and in the studio and both sides are represented in their 2017 releases. The live album features four exploratory cuts, three from their first two albums and one improvised on the spot - it’s a trip and a half as they refuse to play it safe in front of ecstatic crowds. Lá Vem is a psychedelic tapestry, with songs blending into instrumental fragments and back again, a journey of quite a different nature than the live jams, but a journey nonetheless. 

14. Elsa Hewitt - Cameras From Mars This is really a stand-in for all three excellent albums Hewitt released this year, spanning electro-pop, ambient and collage-like sounds. While she’s new on the electronic scene, she has been honing her craft as a songwriter and producer for nearly a decade. Give it a try and if you like what you hear, support her Pledge campaign to get downloads, vinyl and cassettes of her handcrafted sonics. Maybe if we show her enough love from the States, she'll travel from England to play in New York!

15. Nadia Reid - Preservation This New Zealand singer-songwriter might as well have called her gorgeous sophomore effort “Self-Preservation,” as she navigates life after a breakup with a spine steeled by nothing but her gift for indelible melodies and lyrics full of poetic leaps. The production is well-nigh perfect, pushing her folky songs into the indie-rock mystic. But it’s her songs and remarkable voice which are the stars here, as she proved at the start of her NYC debut show at Park Church Co-Op earlier this month. The way she walked up on stage without a word and, accompanied only by her guitar, just poured out her voice flawlessly was jaw-dropping. A house of worship instantly became an entirely appropriate place for her to work her magic. Preservation is a treasure you need in your collection.

16. Spoon - Hot Thoughts America’s longest living rock band continues to find ways to add new twists while still sounding utterly like themselves. While Britt Daniel’s gritty voice and gnarled guitar are at the forefront, everybody pulls their weight, especially beat-master Jim Eno who always makes sure the rhythms are up to the minute and intensely satisfying. 

17. Nicole Atkins - Goodnight Rhonda Lee In which the tough dame from south Jersey masters all types of American classicism, from soul to country and even disco. 

18. Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble - Return Greatness ensued when homecoming kings Adam Cuthbert, Matthew Finch and Daniel Rhode composed pieces for the avant-garde experts at their alma mater then brought the recordings back to the lab for this immersive collection of post-ambient, post-minimalist chamber music. 

19. Novella - Change Of State According to Spotify, the genre I listened to the most in 2017 was “Chamber Psych” and this elegant ensemble may be mostly responsible for that. Like The Courtneys, Novella tightened up their songwriting, focused their arrangements, and came up with an end-to-end classic. 

20. Michael Chapman - 50 This Brit-folk legend celebrated a half-century in music (and his 75th birthday) by heading into the studio with a posse of young American folk-rock virtuosos led by Steve Gunn and laying down new songs and remakes, resulting in a woody tapestry of hard-luck ballads and tall tales that was consistently gripping. His voice may be a dry husk of its former self but, boy, does he know how to sing. 

21. Hiss Golden Messenger - Hallelujah Anyhow While this might be a lighter-weight entry in M.C. Taylor’s catalog, goddamn if his richly textured Americana didn’t just feel good. And no record released this year was more appropriate for a midnight drive through Pennsylvania’s Allegheny tunnels - just one of the ways he kept me steady at the wheel. Hallelujah!

22. This Is The Kit - Moonshine Freeze Nearly a decade in, Kate Stables (who is TITK, along with whoever else she brings in) finally connects songs, sounds and singing in a way that goes beyond the merely interesting and becomes essential. So many songs on the album have the incantatory power of ancient tunes that it wouldn’t surprise me if she had found them buried in the woods near King Arthur’s grave. But it’s really all her, as she comes into her own with newfound confidence and mastery. You can practically see it happen in her wonderful Tiny Desk Concert and I hope to see it in person when she hits Rough Trade NYC on May 23rd, 2018. 

23. Warhaus - Warhaus For his second album as Warhaus, burgeoning Belgian icon Maarten Devoldere smooths our his approach slightly but the choruses are as catchy as ever, the sound world is still a unique blend of cabaret sleaze, noir jazz and Dylanesque snarl and the tang of unfiltered Gauloises hangs in the air. In short, atmospheric.

24. Novelty Daughter - Inertia There’s nothing inert about Faith Harding’s dense beats and next-level electronics, especially when her glorious voice takes off over the top. While her musical approach is elevated and complex, her lyrics are full of plain truths and relatable issues. Making music helps her deal - listening to Novelty Daughter does the same for me. 

25. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Adiós Señor Pussycat The guitars jangle, the melodies are classic, and the sense of opportunity seized is palpable throughout this roaring comeback from one of England’s best kept secrets. No one saw this coming - even him, maybe - and it’s pure heartfelt sing-along joy. 

Listen to tracks from all of these albums in the playlist below, except for the live album by Boogarins (buy it on Bandcamp for $4.20 - get it?), and then follow through on the sounds that intrigue you. Let me know if I've helped you find something new!





Coming soon: The best of 2017's classical, hip hop, R&B, electronic, rock, folk, etc.!

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Autumn Albums, Part 2

This has been a bang-up fall for new music from my favorites. In Part 1, I looked at the latest from American veterans Hiss Golden Messenger, Beck, and Iron & Wine. This edition features two surprising returns to form and two strong albums from artists still early in their careers.

The Clientele - Music For The Age Of Miracles While there have been a few songs released since their last album, the infinitely autumnal Bonfires On The Heath from 2009, it seemed that circumstances were conspiring against us ever having a new full-length collection from The Clientele. I counted myself beyond lucky to have seen them twice in 2014, when they were celebrating the reissue of Suburban Light, their debut, but thought that might indeed be it. 

Then, a chance meeting between singer/songwriter/guitarist Alasdair MacLean and an old friend, Anthony Harmer, catalyzed the (yes) miraculous album now under discussion. Harmer plays the saz and the santur, a Middle Eastern lute and dulcimer respectively, and is also dab hand at pop arranging. He wound up producing the album, sprinkling his sparkling instruments here and there and helping to develop jewel-like settings for each song. There are are trumpets, strings, keyboards, and detailed vocal arrangements, all in service of some of MacLean’s best songs yet. Providing the perfect foundation, as always, are bassist James Hornsey and drummer Mark Keen, whose telepathic engagement with every contour of the songs is more remarkable than ever. 

Take Lunar Days, for example, where Keen’s drums tick along almost in a bossa nova style until the chorus, when subtle taps on the snare underscore each word and gently perturb the tempo, helping to emphasize the way the words “Holloways, lunar days,” seem to spill out of the preceding verse. Constellations Echo Lanes also goes through subtle changes that seem to arise organically from the flow of the words rather than just following verse/chorus/verse. There are many such detailed moments throughout Miracles and finding them is like following Ariadne’s golden thread to the heart of The Clientele’s genius. 

When I was first falling for The Clientele, around the time of their third album, I would often find myself ticking off their influences. But now I just hear The Clientele, as no one really sounds like them. That doesn’t mean they don’t push their own envelope a little, as on Everything You See Tonight Is Different From Itself, which features electronic beats programmed by Harmer, amidst Keen’s drums. Keen is also responsible for three charming instrumentals, which provide space for contemplation amidst the rainswept suburbia that is MacLean’s lyrical bailiwick. That’s not a dig, by the way, as a more literate and intelligent guide would be hard to imagine. For example, the Museum of Fog is a spoken word piece (like their classic Losing Haringey) that reads perfectly as a short story and for Falling Asleep he adapts verse from World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, making lines about hounds and herons sound positively contemporary. 

As elaborate as the settings are on Miracles, a recent concert at the Bell House proved, yet again, that MacLean, Hornsey, and Keen are the heart of the band. All they need to create a whole world out of thin air is electric guitar arpeggios, gently meandering bass, precisely pulsing drums - and the comforting burr of MacLean’s vocals. It’s a remarkable conjuring to witness, and having new songs to play this time only injected more wonder into the night. From the smile on MacLean’s face as they brought album standout Everyone You Meet to a close that Sunday night, he agreed completely. Their U.S. tour has ended, but keep track of their activities - you never know when you might get a chance to see them.

Historian - Expanse I don’t want to be a jerk, but often when people DM me their music, it’s just not very good. So, when Chris Karman, (who records as Historian) sent me his debut album Shelf Life in 2013, it was a more than pleasant surprise. While somewhat unformed, especially in the vocal department, there was a spark of originality and craft to his melancholy songs that kept me listening. Somehow I missed his second album, Currents, which showed steady improvements on the way towards the excellence we find on Expanse. 

Led by Karmen’s stately keyboards and windswept guitar, the core of the band is tight and the strings of Quartetto Fantastico (which includes the brilliant Miguel Atwood-Ferguson) has elevated Historian’s sound into the realm of exquisite chamber pop. Karman’s singing, which reminds me a little of Mike Doughty, is more confident and compelling by several orders of magnitude. Each song creates its own atmospheric cloud of mood, matching the lyrics, which probe themes of existential import in enough detail that I wonder if the project should have been called Philosopher. But it’s more heartfelt than that would imply, and quite affecting. 

Although I could highlight songs like Here And Then, which is very catchy and nearly breezy, or Stars, which seems to create more mystery with each finely incised guitar riff, Expanse is a very consistent album and one which firmly plants Karman’s flag on today’s indie landscape as a talent with which to reckon. P.S. Currents is very nearly as good so you might as well save on shipping and order them both at once!

Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Adios Señor Pussycat I’m not going to recount Head’s storied past with bands like Pale Fountains, Shack, and The Strands (this article does a good job of that), but suffice to say that one of his albums is called The Magical World Of The Strands and more than lives up to its title. There’s also plenty of that magic on this new release, which is perhaps the most rapturously received album in Britain this year if my Twitter feed is to be believed. 

And why not? All the Brit-folk-rock touchstones are here, as is the spirit of The Byrds - far more strongly than on that snoozefest Tom Petty produced for ex-Byrd Chris Hillman. The sound of the album, all 12-string shimmer, swaying rhythms, perfect touches of strings and sax, and Head’s warm tenor, is nothing more than the sonic expression of a person seizing a second (or maybe a third) chance at life, fully in command of their talents and grateful for the opportunity. That means songs that flow with perfect inevitability and dole out hard-won wisdom and joyous sing-alongs in equal measure. On What's The Difference we even get a dose of Love steeped in the grandeur of Ennio Morricone - grandiose, yes, but it's great to see Head still taking chances. 

If Michael Head is a completely unfamiliar name to you, there is a 30-year wealth of great songwriting to imbibe. Start with Adios Señor Pussycat and work backwards - and sign up here so you don't miss the next 30 years. 

Warhaus - Warhaus Maarten Devoldere's first brilliant album as Warhaus was called We Fucked A Flame Into Being, after a DH Lawrence quote, and I guess he knew he couldn’t top it, hence going for the self-titled option. Or maybe he was just seeking more name recognition after the first album, which I included on my Top 20 for 2016, failed to set the world on fire.

That was the world’s loss, however, and one which will now be doubled if this second slab of louche Euro-cabaret-rock escapes the notice it deserves. Devoldere has perfected his gravelly, insouciant slur of a voice while bringing more clarity to his musical conception, which is spacious and dimensional, with plenty of air around each well-chosen instrument. Tuned drums or a brushed snare define the rhythm with upright bass as a dance partner, strings may hover above, or his trademark barking trombones might intrude with apt rudeness, as piano and guitar sketch out melodies. The last point should be emphasized as Devoldere's most surprising trait may be his uncanny ability to come up with great tunes and sweeping choruses. 

Many of the songs have familiar titles - Mad World, Dangerous, Bang Bang, Fall In Love With Me - but sound brand new, which may be his sly acknowledgment of the vast territory he wishes to occupy in the zeitgeist, or (more likely) a reflection of his warmer, more direct approach this time around. But while the music may go down with less spikiness than the first album, there are still plenty of barbs to be found in the lyrics. "You have a god to forgive you it's a privilege you have/You have a book that starts with a Bret Easton Ellis autograph/Bottles to empty and prescriptions to fill/And if no god will forgive you, baby, you know I will," he sings in Mad World with a combination of contempt and compassion. And there's probably no one else alive who could get away with this line from Well Well: "And if you want to get laid/In a fashionable way/I'll try to look like I understand/What you want from a man." Thank god for unreconstructed Europeans - never change, Maarten!

With these two Warhaus albums, Devoldere is carving out a unique spot in rock, but one with enough broad appeal to be less niche than it appears. If you're looking for something with the unfiltered edge of a Gauloise and the sensibility of a true devotee to the craft of songwriting, do not hesitate. And you can bet that if he ever ventures outside of Europe for a concert, I'll be first in line. I hope you'll be ready to join me.

To find cuts from these albums and others in similar veins follow AnEarful: Of Note In 2017 (Rock, Folk, Etc.) on Spotify.

Next time I'll return to the Record Roundup format to report on some eclectic electronica that's come out over the course of the year.

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Best Of 2016: The Top 20

2016's Top Five Albums

For those of us who live for music, 2016 was quite a year. That neutral term embraces both the ecstatic highs created by the depth and breadth of incredible music we heard - and the pitch black lows induced by one loss after another, starting with David Bowie in January. There are very few people alive to whom I'm not related whose loss I would grieve as I have his. I have close friends who are the same way about Prince and I feel their pain, though I am not an acolyte. The footlights also went out for Merle Haggard, who sang the working man blues like no other country artist. We also lost Leonard Cohen just weeks ago, that grand and subtle nightwatchman of human behavior both carnal and complex. And that's just four of the artists taken from us this year!

These sorrows, alongside those of a more personal nature (I lost two old friends, an aunt, and an uncle this year, how about you?) only made music more of an imperative in my life. But when I needed it, music came through, not only the old favorites under which I huddled like a warm blanket on a frigid night, but also new sounds that delighted and astonished, and gave hope that we could go on. So I'm grateful to all the wickedly talented people - composers, songwriters, singers, players, producers - who populate this list and the genre-based ones to come. Seriously, thanks for the music. 

1. David Bowie - Blackstar The legend's commitment to adventure and artistic integrity made his final work the equal of his most canonized albums. Even as he told us "I can't give it all away," he gave us so, so much. 

2. Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like A Levee M.C. Taylor's last album, Lateness Of Dancers, was my number one for 2014 and is now deeply ingrained in my soul. This meant I had to work harder not to weight my expectations for this new record. So I relaxed into it, letting the music come to me. It did, in waves of passionate songs that expanded Taylor's sonic palette as he wrestled with the road to wider success and its impact on his life, art and family. What a wonder.

3. Frank Ocean - Blonde "I ain't on your schedule," Ocean declared at the end of his fascinating and deeply felt third album, dropped after four years of increasing internet hysteria. Fine with me. 

4. Novelty Daughter - Semigoddess This is the nomme de guerre of Faith Harding, who programs fantasmal electronic grooves and sings over them in a chanteuse's contralto. Sometimes two ideas overlap, as her music tries to catch up to her lively mind, but it's worth the effort to let them coalesce in your cortex. Debut album of the year. 

5. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool Lapidary is the word that comes to mind as the Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood & co. deliver 11 perfectly formed songs, including some of the most emotionally connected material of their career. Some complained about the lack of guitar heft - so 90's - but you can get that elsewhere. 

6. Benji Hughes - Songs In The Key Of Animals At first I dismissed Hughes' seemingly simplistic songcraft - then I hung on for dear life to his koan-like wit and wisdom. 

7. Michael Nicolas - Transitions The modern cello record to end all modern cello records. Nicolas also a warm and engaging live performer, upping the accessibility of some very knotty music. 

8. Warhaus - We Fucked A Flame Into Being Scabrous swagger and brilliant production made Maarten Delvoldere's new project the sneak attack my 2016 desperately needed. 

9. Mutual Benefit - Skip A Sinking Stone Simply - or maybe not so simply - the most gorgeous Americana of the year. The title is perfect: listening is like watching ripples on the water, and as peaceful. 

10. Talea Ensemble - Cheung: Dystemporal Stylish, assured and expansive, Cheung's compositions take you new places while feeling like they've always been there. This is no doubt helped by Talea's expert performance - they sound like they've been playing it all their lives. 

11. Carolina Eyck & the American Contemporary Music Ensemble - Fantasias for Theremin & String Quartet There's a real sense of drama to these works for theremin and strings, which I suspect would be felt even if you didn't know Eyck was improvising. Try to find a real stereo when you listen. 

12. Bon Iver - 22, A Million Like Frank Ocean, Justin Vernon likes to screw around with his voice, adding layers of autotune and distortion to what is a beautiful instrument. This is probably his most out-there album since Volcano Choir's Unmap. But unlike that indulgent exercise, the passion is all there on 22, A Million, which makes all the difference. I'll follow Vernon anywhere as long as the music has blood pumping in its veins. While the lyrics can be as radically cut up as the music, every so often he just nails you to the floor, like this plea from 715 - CR∑∑KS: "Turn around, now, you're my A-Team/God damn, turn around now." Vernon has really become a studio genius, too. Jon Hassell and Kanye West will be dueling at dawn for the drum sound on 10 d E A T h b R E A s T - and I hope they both win. 

13. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book The Chi-town indie-rap sensation managed to conquer the radio (and earn a Grammy nod) with No Problem while still maintaining a claim on our hearts with reflective gems like Summer Friends. No problem, indeed. 

14. Cian Nugent - Night Fiction There seem to be no shortage of great guitar instrumentalists around these days who want to broaden their horizons by adding vocals to their songs. At first, this might seem inadvisable for someone like Nugent whose voice can be a quirky thing. But it grows on you, his warm and relatable approach gathering steam throughout this album - and there's no arguing with his guitar. A touch of that epic quality the Velvet Underground had on 1969 Live further distinguishes Nugent's folk-rock, and when he takes his time, as on the draggy waltz Shadows, the sense of delicate suspension is sublime. 

15. Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial Will Toledo's car, where he recorded his early albums, is now almost as legendary an improvised recording space as Justin Vernon's Eau Claire cabin. But it took getting into a real studio for CSH to have their true breakthrough after a dozen self-released albums. This year has had a bumper crop of killer guitar records so what is it that distinguishes this from all the others? It's a combination of conviction, energy, and the way the songs and production are filled with little surprises (those horns on Vincent!) and switching between micro and macro modalities on a dime. In short, it rocks, and very dynamically, with Toledo's empathy and protean intelligence shining in every song. It feels fresh even as you recognize that they are the great guitar band of the moment in a long line of great guitar bands of the moment. Based on the smoking live set on Spotify, CSH is also something to see on stage. I hope to find out for myself soon - if I can ever get tickets!

16. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker Even before the great man died, this was turning into my favorite album of all new material from Cohen since Ten New Songs. Son Adam Cohen brought a tack-sharp sensibility to the production (with help from Patrick Leonard who began the project but had to bow out), never failing to find just the right sonic sensibility for each song. Like Bowie, Cohen knew he was at the end of his journey but was unafraid to try new things, such as the Synagogue choir that opens the album or the dubbed out verse of Traveling Light. His mastery of song form shows in the hat tips to Stephen Foster and references to 50's rhythm & blues. The voice became a brittle, papery thing but his phrasing was never better - heed the subtly inflected variations on "we kill the flame" in the title track. Now Cohen rules the tower of song from afar - but rule he does. 

17. Angel Olsen - My Woman When the first single for Olsen's third album came out, I was worried. My immediate impression was that Shut Up Kiss Me was a naked grab for Taylor Swiftian mind-share. But it was damned catchy, and with enough grit that I shook it off and waited for the album. In context, the song makes much more sense, surrounded as it is by expansive, elemental material like the nearly eight-minute Sister. But there's no doubt that Olsen has ambition and an eye on world domination. Unlike Burn Your Fire For No Witness, her last album, My Woman has a consistent sound throughout, mostly the Buddy Holly/Lou Reed formula of two guitars, bass, and drums with a little keyboard sweetening. This gives a more even canvas for her increasingly masterful singing, which moves from breathy passages to full-throated outbursts without apparent effort. The lyrics can be oblique but you always feel like Olsen is singing about real people and real situations - and her emotional engagement is plain as day. Listen to her sing "I'm not playing anymore" in album-closer Pops and you won't doubt it for a second. When those Taylor tweens grow up, Angel Olsen will be waiting. 

18. Ken Thomson - Restless No album in 2016 in any genre did more with less than Restless, featuring two huge-sounding chamber works composed by Thomson. Part of this was due to the recording, which puts you right in the room, and at ear level, with Ashley Bathgate's cello and Karl Larson's piano. This is the perfect aural perspective for this muscular and intense music.

19. Anderson .Paak - Malibu Drummer, singer, rapper, producer, .Paak might be the multi-threat of the year. Drawing on gospel, soul and R&B through the lens of a born hip hop kid, Malibu has no low points - imagine the confidence to bury Room In Here, an instant classic slow-jam, three quarters of the way through the album. He's wise enough to know that if you start with a song that's built to last, the rest is gravy. He's also a super-dynamic live performer based on the live set from SXSW on Spotify. Maybe think of him like Bruno Mars without the cheese. He's not perfect, though, as NxWorries, his collaboration with producer Knxwledge delivers on the beats but features seriously lazy lyrics. No hurry, Anderson, we know you're here for the long haul.

20. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo "I miss the old Kanye...the chop up some soul Kanye," West rapped, tongue in cheek, on an a cappella track on TLOP - or maybe not so tongue in cheek based on the rough end to his year. Whatever his travails, and while this is definitely his most scattered album, there's musical fascination to spare on Pablo, as even a cursory glance at the samples would attest. The collage-like approach worked very well in concert, the quick segues and left turns creating a sum greater than its parts. Also, as a calling card for his tour, which was a triumph until it sputtered out due to multiple issues, Pablo was perfect, promising an opportunity for collective transgression as 20,000 people sang along to every dirt-dishing line. Get well soon, Kanye.

Listen to a track from each album with this handy Spotify playlist and let me know what's in your Top 20. Coming soon: "best of the rest" lists featuring classical and composed, rock, hip hop and R&B, electronic and avant garde, and reissues.

From Warhaus To Your House

At this late, post-postmodern date, most hints of originality come from putting old things together in new ways. Another way to spin things anew is by drawing on aspects of influential figures that may seem secondary to most. For example, if I told you that Maarten Devoldere's new project Warhaus was indebted to Leonard Cohen, you might first think of poetic lyrics, then a certain bruised romanticism, and finally an unconventional voice unafraid of its own limitations. While those facets of the late, great Canadian are indeed part of what makes Warhaus's album, We Fucked A Flame Into Being, a masterpiece, the first thing that came to mind as it revealed itself to me was Cohen's louche, Euro swagger. This kind of confident, stylish magnetism is all too rare in rock these days, more often evident in hip hop and R&B. 

Devoldere's other avatars on WFAFIB are Coney Island Baby-era Lou Reed, the Iggy Pop who waxed Tonight and Turn Blue, Dylan's dry, snarling wordplay, and the Stones at their most outré. If Bowie's Dirty Boys made an album, it might sound a bit like Warhaus. These aren't necessarily the overused influences most people draw from these artists, which is refreshing. Even if these touchstones are familiar they feel new here, partly as a result of the sound of the record. There's an almost tactile quality given to the air between the instruments which, could be due to the fact that  - if this short and brilliant documentary is to be believed - much of the album was tracked on a slightly broken down river boat in Belgium. Groovy percussion (gotcher cowbell in spades), spidery guitar, propulsive rhythms, and heavily processed horns are all sonic signatures that make Warhaus distinctive.

There's also Devoldere's tight songwriting, which would make these songs memorable even if he bashed them out on a guitar with four strings and a couple of bullet holes. He's been honing his craft for a while as a member of Balthazar, a solid if somewhat unfocused indie band from Brussels. The attention they've attracted, mainly in Europe, is no doubt a credit to more than just being the most rocked up thing from Belgium since Plastique Bertrand. But Devoldere's time on the river has elevated his art into the highest echelons, launched on gloriously shocking lines like "I've got one hand on a Champagne-drinking cunt/I've got the other up the ass of the establishment/And I can't even distinguish which hand is which/God knows, I tried to be against the rich." 

The fact that he can spew such a bilious screed while still maintaining our sympathies is another indication of the razor's edge Devoldere rides throughout the album. At the end of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, from whence this album's title comes, Mellors writes to Connie: "We fucked a flame into being. Even the flowers are fucked into being between the sun and the earth. But it's a delicate thing, and takes patience and the long pause." So if you get a little burned or bloody while listening to Warhaus, be patient and let the blossoming beauties within heal you. Besides, you were warned that rock & roll is dangerous.