The triple-threat right at the beginning of “Take a Walk,” “I’ll Be Alright,” and “Carried Away” are absolutely irresistible, with other great tracks including “Mirrored Sea,” “Hideaway,” among others. It’s better, it’s slicker, and more experimental: it is Passion Pit working it at their very best. “Manners” was great, but it didn’t move smoothly from track to track, and although it had a few very good songs (“Little Secrets,” “Sleepyhead,” etc.), it didn’t fully grab me. “Gossamer” is the album I dreamed Passion Pit was capable of when I first heard “Manners” a few years ago. Superlative: Stuck in my head the most album… ahem, often So go ahead: shut your eyes, don’t bend, and ascend. The most remarkable thing about all this is that this album has been concocted 10 years after their previous studio effort, and thank goodness they’ve still got it. Dynamism is was Godspeed does best, and “’Allelujah!” is awash with it, with a absolute plethora of instruments feeding off of one another, ascending, surging, soaring, ( insert awe-inspiring gerund here), etc. This is truly the best that long-form post-rock has to offer, with moody, subtle builds and fiery pinnacles. “With his arms outstretched, with his arms outstretched…ok? Can you see him? Can you get him?” Thus you enter into “Mladic,” the first of two 20-odd minute pieces of Godspeed’s new album, which are interspersed with two shorter droning, ambient tracks. It’s reflecting on the past and the sheer joy of being alive that permeate the album, and you can’t help but feeling that you too should be throwing your fist up and cheering. And at merely 35 minutes, it’s over quickly enough so that you aren’t worn down by the relentless intensity and energy they pour into it. Maybe stripped down, raw, and bare is what rock really needs to be: take the first track, “The Night of Wine of Roses,” which sounds off with exploding fireworks and rising drums, which are swiftly followed by a full-fisted punch of gritty guitar that keeps the pressure on through “Fire’s Highway” and into the rest of the tracks. With fireworks bracketing eight airtight tracks, you begin to realize that maybe you don’t need all that fancy production to make great rock music. Japandroids are fast, loud, and brash, and “Celebration Rock” isolates what worked best from their debut album and knocks it out of the park. Superlative: Most likely to save rock’n’roll Genre(s): alternative rock, psychedelic rock, etc.
THE HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order!) And there’s a senior-superlative-style flair to the Top Ten, which is more fun than useful. I’m ready.Īlso, you may notice that my music taste is somewhat far ranging which will make this list not terribly cohesive for any one particular genre. Now, however, I have listened to a great deal more albums within the year of their release than I ever have before, and so I feel far more confident that this list is a an arguably “good” list… or at least something that I can back-up when someone starts heckling.
I wouldn’t describe myself as a music afficianado in any capacity: I have my weak points (full disclosure: I kinda like Coldplay). The video follows Ocean riding a motorcycle into a desert, shooting up a bar, visiting a strip club, and then finally encountering guitar musician John Mayer.Whenever I take a break from listening to Massive Attack (so… much… trip-hop…), I find myself wanting to listen to new music, and hey, look at this: albums are coming out this year! Like every year! But this year had something that past years didn’t for me: I actually used Spotify regularly, rather than just on occasion. The song also features a uncredited guitar solo from John Mayer.
The single was released on Jafter Ocean shared a snippet of the song on his Tumblr account and later released the song onto his official SoundCloud account. Pyramids is the second single released from the debut studio album Channel ORANGE of American singer-songwriter Frank Ocean.