50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
40. Ashley Monroe – Sparrow
Sparrow recalls traditional country more than the Kacey Musgraves album that overshadowed it, and yet the first thing that its lush, soulful string arrangements bring to mind are Al Green and Memphis-era Dusty Springfield. Meanwhile, the lyrics encapsulate a level of fear, frustration, and desire—sometimes sexual, other times not—that allows Monroe’s voice to excel in ways it hasn’t before. – Matt Rice
39. Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed
This album of Bob Dylan covers comes, amazingly, from a woman who doesn’t even particularly like the man’s music: “I’ve never just sat and listened to Dylan. This is strictly the idea of the executive producer,” she told Rolling Stone, “I have not heretofore been a Dylan fan, per se.” Yet that lack of reverence is exactly what makes this collection so electric; worshipping at the altar of an artist saps the life out of all too many tribute albums. 72-year-old soul singer Bettye LaVette has the guts to mess with the Nobel Laureate’s work, adding a ‘fucked up’ or a ‘bullshit’ here, a reference to Bruno Mars there, and swapping the gender pronouns on several tracks. What’s more, she deletes several verses of “Ain’t Talkin’”, adds her own lines to some songs, and perhaps most impishly of all chooses to cover tracks mostly from his ’80s to early ’90s “lost” period, which is by far his most critically maligned. This idiosyncrasy suits the restlessly rebellious nature of Dylan. “Mama, You Been On My Mind” soulfully tips the hat to LaVette’s mother where the original seemed to kiss (or piss) off a lover. And “Do Right to Me Baby” actually generates some heat, a fast plane zooming rather than a Slow Train Coming. – Oliver Hollander
38. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born soundtrack
The affecting and emotional soundtrack to the fourth iteration of A Star Is Born is a great part of what makes the drama stand out. With Lady Gaga’s powerful vocals and Bradley Cooper’s not-so-bad rock-country twang, the album is bursting with romance, angst, and all the theatricality you would expect from both stars. The soundtrack’s lead single, “The Shallow,” which serves as Ally’s (Lady Gaga) breakthrough moment in the film, is the kind of contagious ballad that is sure to live on in film and music history. But it’s the smaller tracks that make this album an invigorating listen. This is where it’s easy to lost the film’s rockist narrative (if you skip the dialogue tracks) and truly enjoy Ally embracing her pop career with songs, “Hair Body Face” and “Look What I Found.” But even then, it’s the big emotive ballads and duets where the soundtrack really soars. The rousing “Always Remember Us This Way” and the huge closer “I’ll Never Love Again” join the lead single in making this soundtrack one of the most enjoyable musical experiences of the year. – Gabrielle Bondi
37. Christine and the Queens – Chris
Héloïse Letissier, the performer at the front of Christine & The Queens, has rocketed past the dreaded sophomore slump with Chris. While the Queens’ first album had a few breakout hits, it was largely a nocturnal, introspective affair. Chris feels like the flip-side of the first album, announcing itself right off in bold colors and looks with its album photo and launching you into a series of dance-ready pop hits as soon as the album starts. The pop songs are undeniably catchy and immediately accessible, but they aren’t empty-headed. Letissier explores deeper her usual themes of gender and sexual identity and relationships, with the added undercurrent here of the relationship between the musician and her audience. The album was again accompanied by fun, visually striking music videos where Letissier works out and dresses in a three-piece suit (“5 dollars”), throws herself around a parking lot (“Doesn’t Matter”), and dances on top of a skyscraper (“Girlfriend”). The videos are an essential component to the album because the indelible beats Letissier creates with each pop gem demands you to feel her music in your body, not just your heart. – Beth Winchester
36. Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
As with her debut, Courtney Barnett shines on Tell Me How You Really Feel with her thoughtful, and often very funny, lyrics and striking guitar playing. On many on the album songs, such as “Nameless, Faceless”, the brilliant polemic against internet trolls that acts as the album’s centerpiece and first single, Barnett perfectly blends her wordplay together with punk energy and catchy melodies. Tell Me How You Really Feel is one of the best songwriter albums in a year full of good ones. – Ryan Gibbs
35. Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs
When Earl Sweatshirt released “Nowhere2go”, the first taste of Some Rap Songs, after three years of silence, a cursory glance may have left some fans wanting—coming in at just under two minutes and with an instrumental composed of warping loops and lo-fi percussion, it seemed at once both too brief and too oblique to explain the many months of silence from Sweatshirt. But with his third album’s full release, featuring many songs with a similar formula, the Odd Future expatriate proved the power in brevity. 15 songs float by in 25 minutes, providing a series of miniature musical canvasses over which Earl can paint vivid portraits of depression, grief, and isolation. Don’t be fooled by its short length, lack of big-name stars (other former members of Odd Future, such as Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean, are absent), or the understated beats; Some Rap Songs is an incredibly potent portrait of loss and its aftermath, and it was well worth the wait. – Drew Norman
34. Superorganism – Superorganism
The most original indie debut of the year, courtesy of a New Zealand group led by a Japanese teenager. Wowee Zowee weirdness for another universe in which dance-punk and psychedelic are indistinguishable. – Matt Rice
33. J. Cole – KOD
As far as themes presented in music go, J. Cole’s KOD might very well be my personal favorite of them all – and that’s coming from someone who spends way more time perusing the folk and Americana sections than hip-hop. Cole wears his heart on his sleeve her, perhaps as always, but does so in such a raw way that it hurts as he spits truth after truth regarding the dangers of drug abuse and addiction. It might not be the “coolest” perceived thing in music, but it’s the most real, and Cole sears as much as he soars with this cautionary material. – Jonathan Frahm
Advertisement
32. Haley Heynderickx – I Need to Start a Garden
On I Need To Start A Garden, listeners can witness the birth of a mighty, dexterous singer-songwriter in real time. Haley Heynderickx’s versatile voice often trembles as she stretches it to its tonal extremes, but it’s never out of self-doubt or anxiety. Through verbal gymnastics that range from indiscriminate compassion to biting wit, Heynderickx repeated proves that she knows precisely what she’s doing. To simply call her a folk singer distracts from the larger picture – because her impassioned vignettes bring in such a textured tapestry of sonic influences – but she certainly carries both the emotional fortitude and lyrical prowess of a Tin Pan Alley performer. First and foremost, Heynderickx is essentially a short story writer, and she crafts vivid, recognizable worlds for her stable of characters to explore. With this impressively robust debut, general audiences are learning what Portland locals have known to be true for years now: Haley Heynderickx a force to be reckoned with. – Brian Thompson
31. Liza Anne – Fine, But Dying
As the topic of mental health becomes more accessible to the general public, it’s important to reflect on the art that depicts what people experience every day. In Fine, But Dying, Liza Anne poignantly chronicles her experience with panic disorder— the track “Panic Attack,” literally describes the symptoms of her panic attacks in a way that makes you feel like you’re suffering right alongside her. Beyond the way anxiety and panic disorder can have a debilitating impact on your relationship with yourself, she also touches on the way such a personal battle can influence your relationships with the most important people in your life. Mental illness can understandably make you feel like you are going crazy but when artists like Liza Anne put their experiences into the world, they help the rest of us feel a little more understood. – Oleva Berard
Up next: 30-21
50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
Advertisement
Advertisement
