Best of 2015
Alex Meylink's picks (2015)
Alex
Hey, everybody! I’m Alex, a teacher and glutton from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the beginning of the year, I started writing reviews for Punknews, and just recently began doing some contributing editing for the site. I’ve had a good time writing more about music and discovering new tunes, and I’ve no doubt enjoyed a deeper and wider look at music through writing for the site. My end-of-the-year list has even seen some spots taken by non-orgcore artists, which might be a first. We all gotta evolve, man. I pretty much live for friendly pop culture discussion and debate, so feel free to poke some holes in my list.
Honorable Mention:
Honorable Mention: The Sidekicks:
Runners in the Nerved World
2012's Awkward Breeds set impossibly high standards for the Sidekicks. The band does right by evolving and growing, but I'm not entirely sold on the falsetto-heavy slowness that makes up much of Runners in the Nerved World. The album's extremely top heavy, with the first four tracks being among the best they've ever written. The latter half of the album gets sleepy, but it's undeniable that Ciolek and company can craft a beautiful fucking song. Though I tend to skip multiple tracks on Nerved World, I find myself continually coming back to pop splendor of songs like "The Kid Who Broke His Wrist" and "Summer Brings You Closer to Satan."
Honorable Mention: Sleater-Kinney:
No Cities to Love
I'm the sort of pop culture dunce that knows Carrie Brownstein as "the girl from Portlandia." After season five of the show was added to Netflix, I was subtly reminded that Brownstein's apparently also been in a pretty great band I've never given a chance. No Cities to Love might not be the best entry point to the storied group, but it was mine, and it's a righteous, rocking record that has some of the most unique and engaging riffage of the year.
Honorable Mention: Coliseum:
Anxiety's Kiss
Black magic punks Coliseum often get dangerously close to Matt Skiba territory with dark, gothic, over-the-top imagery. But for some reason, it doesn't strike me as tacky as Alkaline Trio's last decade of output. Maybe the straight- forward rock-n-roll of this album is the right vehicle for the message. Opening with "We Are The Waterâ," one of my favorite songs of the year, Anxiety's Kiss is a shadowy, angry, hyper-sexual B-movie of an album that makes every day feel like Halloween.
Top 10:
10. Pet Symmetry:
Pets Hounds
I've got respect for the work of Evan Weiss, but rarely has it had a lasting stay on my playlists. Into It. Over It. veer a little too much in the singer- songwriter emo schmaltz camp for me, and his recent stellar vocal work with Their / They're / There seems to take a back seat to the frenetic guitar playing of Matthew Frank. With Pet Symmetry, Evan's witty lyrics and knack for a killer melody finally meet the simple and energetic pop-rock orchestrations they've always needed. The chaotic drumming of Marcus Nuccio adds energy to the album's sleepier tracks. Plus, I'm not sure there's ever been better album art than that photograph of punk celebrity Chris Farren.
9. Title Fight:
Hyperview
With Hyperview branded as "when Title Fight went shoegaze," it's easy to forget just how much this album rocks -- literally. "Chlorine" and "Rose of Sharon" rival anything off Floral Green, and the softer moments carry a dark, heavy weight. The band declared this a "guitar player's record," and that's entirely accurate; instead of virtuosity and speed, the band employs masterful pedal use and interesting chord choices to create an intensely stylized sound. Plus, they finally got the memo that their lyrics are their biggest weakness, so the subdued, barely audible vocals are actually a plus.
8. Kendrick Lamar:
To Pimp a Butterfly
Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope
I'm the sort of casual fan of hip-hop that got really into RTJ2 last year, but failed to pick up good kid, M.A.A.D. city. I'm glad I didn't miss out on Butterfly. Lamar stitches so much jazz, funk, narrative storytelling and social consciousness that it often feels more like a gritty musical than a rap record. It's a tough listen; at turns, the album makes me feel angry, guilty, hopeless, and resentful, but it's thought-provoking and attention-consuming. It's dense and lengthy, but worth the hour-plus it takes to make the plunge.
7. All Dogs:
Kicking Every Day
Salinas Records
I made the mistake of mentally categorizing all sogs as "sleepy" music, and was quickly proved wrong with the release of their debut full length. This record is surprisingly energetic, and the grungy, sweetly poppy songwriting of Maryn Jones has an unearthly knack for getting stuck in my head. It's an intimate, emotional record, without every feeling overly sentimental. It's everything I loved about their debut 7-INCH and more, exploring new areas of the intersections of indie, punk, garage rock and pop.
6. Father John Misty:
I Love You, Honeybear
Many of my Pitchfork-worshipping friends like to let me know how much I missed the boat on Misty a few years ago, but I think that Honeybear is twice the record his debut, Fear Fun, was. Josh Tillman really bared his soul on this, and all his womanizing, drinking, drug use, and shit-talking only serve to create the mood of a funny confessional for the album. His perfectly crafted orchestral pop style fits like a glove with his otherworldly voice. I Love You, Honeybear fires on all fronts, lyrically and musically, and is one of those albums that's so well done, it makes me painfully aware of my inability to ever write anything close.
This might be an unpopular pick, but Spraynard are always just what I need to hear. With Mable, they've really cornered the market on heartfelt pop punk, and their message is stronger than it ever has been. While many saw the softer, drawn out ending of the record as a negative, I think it made Mable a better, more complex album than if it were ten fast basement show anthems. Maybe the lackluster audience response created some unnecessary underdog imagery for me, but this is an album I'll always root for. It doesn"t hurt that "Applebee's Bar" is probably the best pop punk song ever made.
I practically grew up on Less Than Jake, a sort of theme music to my adolescence and my growing obsession with the punk genre. As I got older, the sour, pessimistic grimness of Vinnie Fiorello's lyrics grew too painfully realistic, and though I will forever have a spot in my heart for them, it's harder to sing along to "Malt Liquor Tastes Better When You Have Problems" when you're heavily drinking malt liquor. Success picks up the Less Than Jake baton in style alone, replacing suburban heartbreak and alcoholic defeat with a younger, more youthful optimism. Radio Recovery makes it easier to bear the relentless 9 to 5, knowing that possibilities are endless if we keep working towards our goals and not let existence get the better of us. It gives equal doses of nostalgic fuzziness and optimistic hopefulness, and sometimes that's all I really need from music.
Do I really need to explain this one? Itâ's Jeff, man.
Thunder Zone
Listen with an open mind. The rap-rock styling of Milwaukee's own Juiceboxxx is absolutely puzzling at first. It might even seem like some strange, late- night Adult Swim joke. But there's beauty, punk energy and undying dreams aplenty in this bizarre, dorky rap record. Utilizing Beastie Boys and electro-dance inspired beats as a backdrop for his frantic message of hitting the road to chase aspiration, Juiceboxxx has created a rap sound for basement show punks. He's got this undying spirit that's undeniably infectious; it's like he can't help but keep putting out this music and spending his life on the road. Every time I hear a track like the closer, "Follow Your Fucked Up Dreams," I'm imbued with that same energy.
No gimmicks, no concept-album tomfoolery. Just ten precisely well-written songs that have a death grip on my stereo. Flavoring the orgcore energy of Bearable with some Lucero-inspired rock and roll riffage and pop-rock leanings, Timeshares have built on their sound for something truly distinctive, while entirely engaging and endlessly re-playable. I can't sell this album enough. Of all the music I share with my friends from different scenes, Already Dead has had the most universally positive response, which is why I find it so puzzling this band has never blown up. When I reviewed it, I gave it four stars, and that's one rating I'd take back. This has become a five star classic, if only on my own iPod.