Ok, so I'm taking a very short break from my CD listening project, since somehow I killed it this past month in terms of staying on pace.

What's good this year? All I've gotten is the new Built To Spill and some pop punk stuff. Bandcamp and youtube welcome, still haven't jumped on the Spotify bandwagon.

Dr. Cosmo's Tape Lab - Beyond the Silver Sea

Should appeal to the part of you who likes Of Montreal.

The Thons - Hot Fun

Psychedelic punk, like The Fall on an acid trip. With guitars by Tom Verlaine.

Joe Pisapia - Nightvision

The new one from a former member of Guster, and the most-recent leader of k.d. lang's band (the best band she's ever had.)

Thanks Todd!

Dr. Cosmo's is pretty cool. I found myself skipping the narration tracks though.

The Thons is right up my alley. I might have even heard them before, but I'm thinking I'm only thinking that because the art looks like the cover art of other bands I know.

Joe Pisapia - Pleasant enough. Was never a huge Guster fan. Went to see them once at SU only because Ben Lee opened. Jessie and I sat in these comfy balcony chairs and promptly fell asleep 3 songs into Guster.

I figured you'd like Dr. Cosmo's.

The Thons are a Chicago band that I've really taken a shine to. Heard them on a local bands radio show, here in town and they grabbed me right away. Then I walked into them playing an in-store and got to talk to the guys a bit. Nice fellas and we have a bunch of mutual friends.

Joe P. is somebody that Radcliffe turned me on to many moons ago. His previous album (from 2002) was one of my favorites of the 'aughts.

As I hear more that I think you'll like, I'll add to this.
Glad that I could help.

Algiers - s/t

comes out tomorrow, but there are leaks all over the place...

gospel-esque post punk....

will be in my top 5 of the year.

I was going to start a mid year thread but this will do. Even if the year ended now, 2015 would be a good one for me. I like all of the following to varying degrees:

Viet Cong
Alex Calder
Sleater-Kinney
Belle and Sebastian
Twerps
Title Fight
Father John Misty
Crushed Beaks
Echo Lake
H. Hawkline
Dick Diver
Courtney Barnett
Surf City
Chastity Belt
Ryley Walker
Swervedriver
Milky Wimpshake
Blur
The Sonics
Joanna Grusome
Kamasi Washington

Here's my Top 10 at the moment:

01. Viet Cong – Viet Cong
02. Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again
03. Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs
04. Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
05. Six Organs of Admittance – Hexadic
06. Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass
07. Cloakroom – Further Out
08. Zs – Xe
09. Ava Luna – Infinite House
10. Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee


There's a lot of stuff I haven't gotten around to yet but want to hear, like Lightning Bolt, Metz, and Prurient.

Here's a sort of key to that list:

01. post-punk derived indie rock, kind of heavy, superficially Interpol or Spencer Krug-like but far superior, rhythm section from the band Women
02. weirdo singer-songwriter, imagine a lot of familiar early '70s West Coast stuff oddly warped and damaged
03. first Jim O'Rourke pop album in like 14 years
04. maybe his best
05. very noisy guitar, channeling Keiji Haino and Sightings
06. great, clever baroque pop in the same general vein as Jim O'Rourke, Father John Misty, etc.
07. almost grunge, but just solid, heavy guitar band
08. weirdo noise rock, almost jazzy
09. very funky R&B/rock hybrid, little bit post-punk, but pretty unique, really
10. new jazz, this one is way more drone-y and noisy than her last two in this series

**clears throat**

Probably my top five at this point in no order

Macaco
Barna Howard
Ann McCue
Kamasi Washington
Robert Earl Keen

Also like to varying degrees:

Matt Keating
Spirit Family Reunion
Darrell Scott
New Orleans Jazz Vipers
Scott Hrabko & the Rabbits
Dean Owens
John Moreland
Andrew Combs
Gretchen Peters
Barnstar
Bill Fay

That's a lot of names of people.

Thanks!

That Kamasi Washington album is pretty cool.

Oh shit, Billy. That's right, it was you. Don't know why I was thinking that it was Rads.
Sorry. Brain surgery.

Here's my up-to-the-minute rankings of the Top 20 2015 releases I've heard so far...

1. Sink Tapes - Creases
2. Houndmouth - Little Neon Limelight
3. Diamond Rugs - Cosmetics
4. Saun & Starr - Look Closer
5. Love Axe - South Dakota
6. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
7. Young Buffalo - House
8. Oil Boom - Red Metal
9. Tuxedo - Tuxedo
10. Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
11. The London Souls - Here Come the Girls
12. Dirty Fences - Full Tramp
13. Tall Tales and The Silver Lining - Tightropes
14. Mac McCaughan - Non-Believers
15. The Helio Sequence - The Helio Sequence
16. MiniBoone - Bad Sports
17. The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
18. Hayden - Hey Love
19. The Sonics - This is The Sonics
20. Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers - Loved Wild Lost

Honorable Mention:
Ron Sexsmith - Carousel One
Dwight Yoakam - Second Hand Heart
The Kingbees - The Kingbees

Here's some stuff to look at/listen to.

Viet Cong:


Jessica Pratt:


Jim O'Rourke:


Panda Bear (cool video):


Six Organs of Admittance (sound isn't great, but best thing I could find of current stuff in a quick search):

Those were all pleasant, Drinky. Glad to see Panda Bear is still doing that stuff he does. Will have to check out the album.