#10-6
10. Jack White - Blunderbuss - (Columbia / Third Man)
The first true solo album from the former White Stripes leader, this collection of songs expresses a variety of Jack White's moods, influences and skills. Lead single, "Sixteen Saltines" shows White in familiar territory, with a crushing wail of guitar and herky-jerky vocals. "Freedom at 21" shines with White seemingly choking new sounds out of his guitar, while "Love Interruption" lifts half of the intro to "Son of a Preacher Man" as he strangely pleads for "love to change his friends to enemies". A cover of the Rudy Toombs penned classic, "I'm Shakin'", swings in White's capable hands, and be on earworm alert for the hooks of "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy". Blunderbuss is a fine collection of White's tunes that'll find it's way into your CD player or onto your turntable more than you think. (You know, assuming you still buy the physical product).
9. Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory - (Carpark)
The very first listen to opener "No Future / No Past", its slow build starting with piano / guitar, the bass and drums coming in to percolate the boil while Dylan Baldi's vocals intensify, you'll know you're listening to a band on the verge of a huge breakthrough. The song finally explodes into the chorus after three and a half minutes before launching into the nearly nine minute second track "Wasted Days", a game changing, energetic wall of sound. Released early in the year, it's not an album that fades from memory, instead growing on you with each passing listen. "Fall In" represents as much of a single as you'll find here, starting with a chorus that would sound right at home on a Green Day record, with "Stay Useless" following a similar pattern. "Our Plans" finds a Sunny Day Real Estate-meets-Nirvana vibe, but not in the way it has been misused by so many before them. Attack On Memory is a quick and tight 33 minute jaunt, never losing focus and creating one of the best hard-rock albums of the year.
8. Beach House - Bloom - (Sub Pop / Bella Union)
There's a certain cool haze that takes over while listening to Beach House. Sometimes difficult to pinpoint, Bloom could easily be written off as background music for random web-surfing sessions, but to not listen closely would be a tragedy. Their signing with Sub Pop seems almost surreal when thinking about the bands who were building this label from the ground floor some 24-25 years ago. The vast layers of organ droning, winding guitars mixed with the gorgeous voice of Victoria Legrand infuse their way into your subconscious. Suddenly, where you thought you weren't listening, the ten songs contained here were working their way into your brain. "Myth" and "Lazuli" highlight the quirky nature of side one, while "Other People" and "The Hours" show a more straightforward, poppy aspect. "Troublemaker" starts the second half off on a strong note while "New Year" builds off of a rather Beach Boys harmonies intro. Album finale "Irene" begins awash a haze of white noise and slowly builds to a magnificent finish about six and a half minutes in, until a hidden track fades in after about six and a half minutes of silence, lilting back in and fading out once again, as though it were part of a dream hazily returning in the middle of a night's slumber. It may take a few listens for Bloom to reveal itself to you, but that only makes its title all the more appropriate.
7. Dinosaur Jr - I Bet On Sky - (Jagjaguwar)
Reunion album #3, I Bet On Sky, seems to reintroduce a bit of Mascis' Green Mind (1991) sound, but expands on it. Opening track, "Don't Pretend You Didn't Know" finds J Mascis soloing out of the song over piano/bass. Acoustic guitars wind their way into "Almost Fare" providing the background for J's muted distorted chugging. "Stick a Toe In" brings the energy down even further with J singing over lightly strummed chords. "Rode" finds Barlow revving the album back up to speed before giving way to the wah-pedal of "I Know It Oh So Well". Six and a half minute finale, "See It On Your Side", starts with Mascis soloing, but reveals different layers as it twists and turns with Mascis filling in the gaps between verses with fills that seemingly get better with each break, culminating in an even better solo before the final refrain -- the only way to end a Dinosaur Jr record.
6. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp - (Jagjaguwar)
One of the first albums that I truly fell in love with this year, Tramp shows off the street-worn voice and tales of Sharon Van Etten wrapped under the beautiful production of Aaron Dessner of The National. "Give Out" with its doubled vocal lines (You're the reason why I'll move to the city / Or why I'll need to leave) tugs at the heartstrings of anyone who's felt the ultimate highs and lows of a relationship. Van Etten manages to convey that she's going to be OK throughout the 46 minute running time of a devastatingly personal collection of songs. Everything here is marvelously played, layered and nearly trembling under a fragile shelf of emotions. "All I Can" with its closing stanza (I do all I can / We all make mistakes) shows that this is not an album of Fiona Apple-esque finger pointing, that there is always enough blame to go around. But Van Etten's loneliness sinks in and hits home on closer "Joke Or A Lie" (Let us escape for a night / Breathe the silence / I am alone / But I am alone in this room with you). Contrary to the lyrics I've chosen to quote here, this is not a simple heart-torn woman with an acoustic guitar record, it's a far greater accomplishment, perhaps career making for the Brooklyn by Tennessee by New Jersey artist.
