Scout Tafoya
Floor - Oblation
Hands - The Soul Is Quick
D'Angelo & The Vanguard - Black Messiah
Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World
Wye Oak - Shriek
Temples - Sun Structure
Dirty Beaches - Stateless
Cheatahs - Cheatahs
Eagulls - Eagulls
Wu-Tang Clan - A Better Tomorrow
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - West of Memphis
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lose
Owen Pallett - In Conflict
Ty Segall - Manipulator
Ghostface - 36 Seasons
Interpol - El Pintor
Electric Youth - Innerworld
The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
Golden Retriever - Seer
Chad Vangaalen - Shrink Dust
Eli Ianacone
1. Menzingers - Rented World
2. Crosses - Crosses
3. Electric Wizard - Time to Die
4. Floor - Oblation
5. Death From Above 1979 - Physical World
6. Single Mothers - Negative Quality
7. Sam Smith - In The Lonely Hour
8. Budos Band - Burnt Offering
9. In Utero - Tribute Album
10. “Weird Al” Yankovic - Mandatory Fun
Kyle McDonald
Clap! Clap! - Tayi Bebba
Fatima - Yellow Memories
Photay - Photay
Teleman - Breakfast
CEO - Wonderland
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
Ricky Eat Acid - Three Love Songs
Kyle Bobby Dunn - Kyle Bobby Dunn & The Infinite Sadness
Beaty Heart - Mixed Blessings
Bradford Cox - Teenage (Original Soundtrack)
D'Angelo & The Vanguard - Black Messiah
Mica Levi - Under the Skin (Original Soundtrack)
Nick Hakim - Where Will We Go (Parts I & II)
Lullatone - While Winter Whispers
Cooper McKim
Taylor McFerrin - Early Riser
Hiatus Kaiyote - By Fire
Mac Demarco - Salad Days Demos
Matthew Sheens - Untranslatable
Roger Seller - Primitives
Posse - Soft Opening
Wye Oak - Shriek
Statik Selektah - What Goes Around
Gramatik - Beatz & Pieces Vol. 1
Bad and Blue - Bad and Blue
Chloe Stewart
Empty Hearts - Empty Hearts
Robyn Hitchock - Love From London
Vibrators - Punk Mania: Back to the Roots
Real Kids - Shake…Outta Controls
Buzzcocks - The Way
Paul Duane
Fat White Family - Champagne Holocaust
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
Sunn O))) & Scott Walker - Soused
Brettney Young
Alt-J - This Is All Yours
Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End
Beck - Morning Phase
Kendrick Lamar - "I"
Owen Pallett - In Conflict
Tune-Yards - Nikki Nack
And the so-insane-it'- good award goes to What if there was an imp who knew your insecurities by Clean Sadness
Marissa D'Elia
Soul Glo - ""
Radiator Hospital - Torch Song
Clique - Clique
The Hotelier - Home Like Noplace Is There
Hightide Hotel - Naturally
Drake - Singles
Mitski - Bury Me at Makeout Creek
Tim Earle
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
The Belle Brigade - Just Because
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
Tune-Yards - Nikki Nack
Porter Robinson - Worlds
Masked Intruder - MI
The Both - The Both
Tokyo Police Club - Forcefield
Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See you Tomorrow
FKA Twigs - LP1
Tucker Johnson
Jungle – Jungle
Future Islands – Singles
Yob – Clearing the Path to Ascend
Gary Clark Jr. - Live
Interpol – El Pintor
Jack White – Lazaretto
Tom Petty – Hypnotic Eye
Weezer – Eveyrthing Will Be Alright in the End
Beck – Morning Phase
New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers
Pink Floyd – The Endless River
Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World
Ashley Tryba
1. Grouper - Ruins
2. Angel Olsen- Burn Your Fire For No Witness
3. Avi Buffalo - At Best Cuckold
4. Swans - To Be Kind
5. Ty Segall – Manipulator
6. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
7. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
8. Spirit of the Beehive – Spirit of the Beehive
9. Alvvays- Alvvays
10. Goat – Commune
Daniel Khan
1. Aphex Twin - Syro
2. Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World
3. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
4. Sam Roberts Band - Lo-Fantasy
5. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
6. Caribou - Our Love
7. Ty Segall - Manipulator
8. Real Estate - Atlas
9. Swans - To Be Kind
10. Flying Lotus - You’re Dead
11. The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream
12. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
13. The Men - Tomorrow’s Hits
14. Beck - Morning Phase
15. Liars - Mess
16. TV On the Radio - Seeds
17. Sondre Lerche - Please
18. Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
19. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
20. Owen Pallett - In Conflict
21. Goat - Commune
22. Jack White - Lazaretto
23. Echo & The Bunnymen - Meteorites
24. D'Angelo & The Vanguard - Black Messiah
The following is promoter Marissa D'Elia's list of her favourite albums of the year. Her list doubles as an account of a year spent inside a music scene -Scout
It’s true that I rarely seek new music to listen to. This year it was so pathetic that less than a month ago I went to my Facebook, begging friends to tell me what they thought were the best records released this year. Some ninety comments later I was deep into a music vortex that pulled in me in all directions from hardcore to twinkly shit to pop punk and places I had never been before. Below you’ll find the few records I did find on my own and others that my friends suggested (so s/o if you were helped with that). The list ends with my favorite record of the year. Enjoy!
Soul Glo- “ “
favorite track: "closer to god"
A little while ago I was standing next to Blair Elliott, who owns Siren Records in Doylestown, talking about the current state of hardcore. The conversation turned to the subject controversy. Blair saw the rise of bands coming out of the early 80s, specifically ones that took strong political and social stances, as the heydey of the scene. Those bands had something to say. They were angry. I’ve never personally been big on the music from that era but spent nearly 6 months working on a project that asked how punk/hardcore worked as a revolution. Blair posed the question “Where are all the bands that give a shit about something? Where are the bands that actually say something?” The best answer to that question today is Soul Glo. Their record might make you uncomfortable and it should as it cross-examines race, class, gender and all of the ways violence and oppression flirt with those pillars of society.
Radiator Hospital - Torch Song
favorite track: "Fireworks reprise"
When I sat down to listen to this record it was my first time listening to RH (again, I’m very lazy). But oh I’m so happy I did. As I was listening I jotted down real time reactions like “I’m literally crying” because there were so many times where the lyrics met the music in the most beautiful way. I felt like with every song I was further on a journey that examined a relationship so honestly and whole from being in love to the moment you realize that it’s over to the moment you have finally started to move on. It is bittersweet, melancholy, and optimistic all at once.
Clique - Clique
favorite track: "Sucker" + "Get By"
Bands in Philly are a dime a dozen... Truly. I believe that many of those bands subconsciously write music that they think will mean something to someone else that has no personal meaning to the musicians. There are a lot of Snowing and American Football covers for that reason. And that’s okay, it’s just boring. Then there’s Clique. Their self-titled EP is lyrically debilitating with no better way to describe than to say it makes me feel “some type of way.” I feel like I’m in a deep reflectively trance from start to finish. They really hit it out of the park on their first try and that’s more of an accomplishment than some band’s entire discography.
The Hotelier - Home Like Noplace Is There
favorite track: "Dendron + The Scope of All This Rebuilding"
I don’t even remember when I first heard this record. That may be because I have nearly played it to death and back hundreds of thousands of times. A phenomenal record for me is determined by its listenability. This means sitting down and listening to a record start to finish without getting bored or confused when it takes an irreverent turn. Home Like Noplace is There listens like a diary left open. Every time it’s picked up it tells a story, whether it be about personal identity, abandonment, or mental illness. It is impossible to put down once you’ve begun as you are bound to find a song that hits you in a place that nothing else has. I got to see the record performed in its entirety at FEST 13 and I can say it nearly changed me. They are not empty feelings or realities and you can see that in the way people respond and how the songs themselves are presented. I have never felt so connected to a record - at least I haven’t for a really long time...
Hightide Hotel - Naturally
favorite track: A Soft, Subtle Sound
It’s not a secret that as all patiently waited for the final HH record to be released after being completely finished last fall/winter there were several of us that got our hands on it a little earlier. I would say nearly all of Philadelphia, in fact. We had housed the best kept secret and I think when people heard it for the first time this September they would agree that it was worth the wait. I had always heard about this band from my Lehigh Valley friends who would probably tell you that listening to this band’s discography is like going to church. It took me a minute but I finally found myself agreeing. Naturally this is best listened to while coming out of a rut as the music itself feels terribly optimistic juxtaposed with lyrics describing the motions of acceptance and moving on which compliments their Nothing Was Missing, Except Me record. That was more acceptance, reflection, and depression more than anything else. I felt like Naturally was the most perfect end to that story but also an incredible record to leave us with as we personally mourn the end of Hightide Hotel.
Drake - Singles
"How Bout Now" is my favorite Drake song we are so blessed
Mitski - Bury Me at Makeout Creek
favorite song: "first love/ late spring, i don’t smoke, i will"
I worship this record. Worship. It feels like waking up from a winter hibernation. It feels like floating while being hypnotized by a choir or meditating to drawn out fuzzy guitar. It is mesmerizing. It can be haunting. It feels like being up at 2 am with a buzz staring at your ceiling and wallowing. Lyrically, this record is worthy of a pulitzer. Musically, this record is intoxicating and goes on a new journey with each track. I don’t think there are enough ways for me to describe how important this record is to me and how it is probably more than the top of my end of the year list but also one of my favorites of all time.
