10. Fear of Men - Loom
Fear of Men plays dreamy indie pop-rock. Echoey female vocals remind me a bit of the more pop-oriented songs of The Cranberries. The guitars are mainly clean and have quite a lot of echo. The biggest problem on the album is that most of the songs sound really the same. There are only some exceptions from this. Songs like Tephra or Waterfall have a darker tone and therefore I really like them over some lighter songs. Generally the sounds are very carefully produced, but there are some lo-fi moments as well, where the lead vocals can be heard as they would be without any mixing. Fear of Men have only released one EP before this debut album of theirs so there are quite high hopes that their sound grows and improves and next time they will give us something truly spectacular. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The lead singer of Dinosaur Junior has recently made a couple of solo albums. this latter of them especially differs from Dinosaur Jr. albums quite substantially. In the place of loud guitar walls and overdrive, there is beautiful picking on an acoustic guitar. Mascis' beautiful cracking voice gets much more room in these folky songs. For the friends of Mascis' trademark guitar solos, there are still some of excellent overdriven electric guitar solos that sore above the folkier scenery. The album is really beautiful, but at the same time there is some cool down to earth feel to it. The album cover is absolutely fantastic. The tiny and cute monsters are painted beautifully making the album much more interesting than many other covers in a long time. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This French post rock band has restored my faith in French making music that is interesting, beautiful and even original. Alcest's Shelter is like a dream journey into a world of echo and blinking electric guitars. Most of the 2000's post rock albums sound the same, but here there is originality that separates it from other bands. The French vocals also fit beautifully in this arty masterpiece. I think what makes the sound very unique are the bell-like sounds that intertwine with overdriven beautiful guitars. They use their fair share of effects, but still the sound does not sound too alien or too fake. This album could be even more interesting if there were more difference between songs. Now the songs sound pretty much the same throughout the album. It's still a beautiful plunge into light. Listen to the album on Spotify.
For the last few years I have really been into folk music with catchy melodies and authentic acoustic sounds. This Irish band represents all of that. They have some beautiful melodies, even more beautiful vocal harmonies and excellent fiddle work over the folky songs. Acoustic guitars, piano, drums, bass and violin paint excellent melodic paintings with the baritone vocals singing the lead and high-pitched harmonies soaring in the background. This truly is one of the most interesting artists that have ever appeared from Ireland. The Little Battle is only their debut album so I'm very hopeful that we will hear some great stuff from them later on. Hopefully they don't fall into trap of the fame and start making faceless radio pop. I, for one, have confidence. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This Finnish indie pop-rock band has reached their third album and it is probably the best one they have released. The melodies are catchy and beautiful and the production is at the same time interesting and very polished. I think the album still gets a bit dull towards the end, but this time almost the whole album sounds great. The pronunciation of English is very good here which is not always a given in Finnish pop music. The opening two songs Between a Pillow and a Soft Place and The Lovers That you've Never Had are the best songs on the album. If even for these two songs, this album deserves to be on the list and I'm happy to say that this is the best Finnish album of the year. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Woods have interested me for many years now. They are absolutely brilliant live, but their albums have usually lacked that something. Now, however, they have hit the jackpot. The songs have beautiful melodic structures, but there is still room for Woods-style psychedelia with weird guitar solos. Lead vocals are as high-pitched as ever, but they have managed to get away from out-of-tune effect. Some more psychedelic parts make the folk band transform into acidy organ and guitar battles. With Light and With Love is a timeless masterpiece that sounds like it could've been made in the 70's or just as well last week. Some of these songs require more listening to get into, but it's definitely worth it. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This album is probably the most surprising album on this list. I had never heard from this band before, but when I first heard this album, I was blown away. This German band draws the best in German music and blends those sounds into one of the best things that have ever been released there. Catchy electronica of Kraftwerk meets psychedelic jams of Faust or Can. This space age album sounds both really modern and really rooted in 70's psychedelia. There are both dark and light melody structures on the album making each song interesting in its own right. This album is particularly for all of you out there, who fancy some weird instruments and space sounds in your music. The whole album is instrumental and that's a good thing, because lyrics would just mess up the atmosphere. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This album must be on every single list of the best albums of the year out there. And for a good reason too. I wasn't particularly keen on this band before. Their music raised some interest in me with their sounds, but the previous albums had kind of boring songs on them with very little happening. Lost In a Dream is a breath of fresh air at the same time sounding awfully familiar. Sounds bear strong resemblance to some of the 80's bands such as Dire Straits or even some Bruce Springsteen albums, but still it somehow feels much more modern and classy. There are long songs with beautiful airy jams with clean electric guitars wailing above sharp drum and bass lines. This album has lifted The War On Drugs to a category of semi large bands. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Avi Buffalo has restored my faith in the future of indie rock. Most of the recent guitar indie albums have just followed the same patterns of the greatest albums of the 00's. Avi Buffalo combines these guitar indie sounds with psychedelic melody patterns and beautiful space sounds. His high-pitched vocals are are at the same time impressive and endearing in their fragility. Weirdly enough, I think Avi Buffalo has set the most indifferent song on the album as the first track. Therefore I urge you to listen further than this first song, because it all just goes better from there. There are some fantastic organ patterns and spacey electric guitar solos on the album showing that buffalo really has talent being a guitar hero and a multi-instrumentalist par excellence. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Temples really showed me where the future of music is. Traditionally music has been expected to always find new sounds and bring something groundbreakingly new to the world. Temples are all retro, but they do it so well that no-one really cares. Their album combines 60's psychedelia, 70's glam rock sounds, 00's indie rock and modern studio technology to bring a jewel of excellent pop-rock with hypnotic and psychedelic spices. All the four members of this Nottingham based band really know what they're doing and the result is a fantastic masterpiece of retro music that feels timeless and at the same time somehow better than most of the stuff that has been done over the years. This album secured its place as my favourite album of the year already about six months ago, when I saw them live at Field Day in the sunshine. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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