{"id":1474,"date":"2015-12-29T15:52:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T20:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2015-12-29T15:52:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T20:52:29","slug":"favorite-music-of-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/2015\/12\/29\/favorite-music-of-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"favorite music of 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2015\/12\/shilpa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1475\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2015\/12\/shilpa.jpg\" alt=\"shilpa\" width=\"745\" height=\"745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2015\/12\/shilpa.jpg 745w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2015\/12\/shilpa-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2015\/12\/shilpa-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2015\/12\/shilpa-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Shilpa Ray \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Last Year\u2019s Savage<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>This year there was hardly a more fearless, unique voice in rock music \u2014 where my listening preferences once again tended toward \u2014 than Shilpa Ray. Her style is quintessentially rooted in a bygone era of born-to-lose rock (cf. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nP7_bNfUJ_c\">\u201cJohnny Thunders Fantasy Space Camp\u201d<\/a>), but <i>Last Year\u2019s Savage<\/i> finally featured the depth of material to best showcase her highly original perspective.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Shilpa Ray &quot;Burning Bride&quot; [official music video]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vCv4BojZB9o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>WAND \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Golem<\/i><\/b><b> and <\/b><b><i>1000 Days<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>My pick for the ones to watch. Dudes released <i>two<\/i> albums of essential psychedelic rock this year. I can\u2019t choose between the metal crunch of <i>Golem<\/i> or the technicolor flower-punk of <i>1000 Days<\/i>, cuz both knocked me out like few other records this year. The fact that this band has now released three albums with in the span of just two years while on seeming endless tour suggests this Los Angeles band is just getting started. Also, I love that WAND has no social media presence whatsoever.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wand &quot;Sleepy Dog&quot; (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9FNVBivw18U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Lower Dens \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Escape From Evil<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>You knew they could do it, but it was still breathtaking how this Baltimore nouveau post-punk unit scaled a new peak with their latest album. Few groups walk the line between urban chill and emotional connection as skillfully and resonantly as Lower Dens. Frontperson Jana Hunter also wrote some <a href=\"http:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/850-op-ed-white-privilege-and-black-lives-in-the-baltimore-music-scene\/\">important<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cosmopolitan.com\/entertainment\/music\/a38918\/jana-hunter-lower-dens-essay\/\">essays<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lower Dens -  &quot;Company&quot; &amp; &quot;Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Anonyme&quot; (Official Lyric Live Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BN2R7WuJ9Jo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Male Gaze &#8211; Gale Maze EP<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And before I knew it, I\u2019ve begun eagerly anticipating the garage rock released on Castle Face Records. Ty Segall took the spotlight in <a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/2014\/12\/29\/favorite-music-of-2014\/\">my list last year<\/a>, and now label honcho Matt Jones\u2019s turn. Commanding, nervy, charismatic garage-rock from San Francisco. I just\u2026 cannot\u2026 stop jumping around, air guitaring and air drumming when this record comes on!<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Male Gaze - Smog Dawn (Live on KEXP)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FEN1KfmhCcI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Ro\u00eds\u00edn Murphy \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Hairless Toys<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>There will always be a place in my heart and collection for music like this. The intelligent, seductive, kooky, soulful vocalist formerly of Moloko recorded eight highly polished gems of left-field electronica, one for each year since her last album. The wait was worth it.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"R\u00f3is\u00edn Murphy - Evil Eyes\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vvaWPm6WQPs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Julia Holter \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Have You In My Wilderness<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>She just releases one unassailable album of melodic art music after another. Don\u2019t let her indie milieu fool you: Julia Holter is one for the ages, whom we\u2019ll be discussing along the lines of Bjork, Robert Wyatt and Kate Bush in years to come.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Julia Holter - Sea Calls Me Home (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OERixQR-hxY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Etiquette \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Reminisce<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>2015 was the year I made contact with Toronto, <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/2014\/06\/18\/martha-and-the-muffins-a-book-project-in-musical-urbanism\/\">interviewing Martha and the Muffins<\/a>, hitting the streets, having my first taste of poutine (okay, technically that\u2019s Quebec food), and digging into the city\u2019s music scene. It astonishes me how Americans can be unaware of music as good as the debut album from Etiquette. This real-life couple sets second-person narratives of romantic dissolution sung with pitiless clarity to compelling rainy-day downtempo grooves. Toronto\u2019s Everything But The Girl \u2013 there, I said it.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Etiquette \/\/ Attention Seeker (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TkScY58ZAoE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Kurt Vile \u2013 <\/b><b><i>b&#8217;lieve i&#8217;m goin down&#8230;<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>I still can\u2019t figure out whether Kurt Vile is a simple-minded pothead noodler or a significant new figure in rock. That duality is part of what makes him fascinating, but at the end of the day we wouldn\u2019t be talking about Vile if he weren\u2019t continually upping his game as a songwriter, musician and recording artist.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kurt Vile - &quot;Life Like This&quot; Official Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J0p3AiVkWzU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Sufjan Stevens \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Carrie and Lowell<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Can an album this intimate, vulnerable, and specific \u2014 songs about Sufjan Stevens\u2019 mother, who abandoned his family for a dissolute spell and returned only to die of cancer \u2014 make for enjoyable listening? In any case, this was the return to form that so many have been anticipating, and the codebook revealing a hidden layer of meaning across his previous recordings.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sufjan Stevens, &quot;Blue Bucket Of Gold&quot; (Official Audio)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/erqpdc9W8F8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Tribulation \u2013 <\/b><b><i>The Children of the Night<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>This Swedish death metal band did the damndest thing: they made an airtight, accessible <i>hard rock<\/i> album. There remain plenty of occult references and Gollum-style vocals to satisfy the purists, but lush production, a prominent organ, and hooks galore reveal an expansive set of influences, from goth rock to Pink Floyd psychedelia. Also, I think this is important: Tribulation\u2019s shtick is a little fruity, as epitomized by the Bob Fosse dancer in the bat costume playing the role of \u201cDeath\u201d in this video.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TRIBULATION - Strange Gateways Beckon (OFFICIAL VIDEO)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TNZgqxAxaj4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>FFS \u2013 <\/b><b><i>FFS<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Easily the best Sparks record in a decade, maybe two, thanks to the chops of\u2026 some Scottish group named Franz Ferdinand? Rest assured they can pull off the herky-jerky new wave styles of 80s gems like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KOrWBPvEUfw\"><i>Angst In My Pants<\/i><\/a>, but the collaboration also gives needed form to the Maels\u2019 adventures in contemporary electro-pop. Preemptively, FFS also recorded a necessary mea culpa, \u201cCollaborations Don\u2019t Work.\u201d<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FFS - Johnny Delusional (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rCxLpte5loY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Ghostpoet \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Shedding Skin<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Not content to monopolizing the British rap quota in the UK\u2019s Mercury Records nominations, Ghostpoet went out on an artistic limb with this surprising mix of too many Brit-rock and trip-hop influences to count. Surprise, surprise \u2013 he wound up with another Mercury Records nom. A number of times I think this album shouldn\u2019t work, but Obaro Ejimiwe\u2019s distinct vision and droopy vocal flow invariably pull me back in.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ghostpoet - Sorry My Love, It&#039;s You Not Me\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BIR_Qs3tbFU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Thus Owls \u2013 Black Matters EP<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Six tracks of austere, Pinteresque music played for sinister effect, until the final track summons beautiful, emotional catharsis. (Those aren\u2019t tears; I\u2019m just cutting onions.) If anyone else has a jones for Dagmar Krause\u2019s work in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Oj8dXL6Xz20\">Slap Happy<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fPoTsVwvO4E\">Art Bears<\/a>, seek this out at once.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Thus Owls - Black Matter (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sXsuckN-bu0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>J Fernandez \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Many Levels of Laughter<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>It would seem this kind of studied, reverberant art rock is a self-conscious \u2018thing\u2019 in Chicago, as J Fernandez\u2019s debut album can be appreciated in a windy city tradition of the Sea and the Cake, Tortoise (via their percussionist John McEntire\u2019s production work for Stereolab), and the deeply-missed Manishevitz. I\u2019m looking forward to more from this guy.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"J Fernandez - &quot;Apophis&quot; (Album Audio Only)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rErotmicXVM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>La Luz \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Weirdo Shrine<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>A tasty juxtaposition of influences, historically appropriate yet seldom commingled, goes far here: twangy surf rock with Shangri-Las (via David Lynch) girl-group vocals.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"La Luz - &quot;You Disappear&quot; [OFFICIAL VIDEO]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_rJdRvDkVBg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>The Dears \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Times Infinity Volume One<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Had to sit with this album, the Dears\u2019 first in four years, for several listens before the old magic reappeared \u2014 the inspired balance of Gaulouses-smoking cool and Britpop histrionics, of to-the-bleachers passion and Montreal fatalism. They\u2019ve promised a Volume Two for 2016!<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Here&#039;s To The Death Of All The Romance\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/53KkVlj6jkg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Dirty Projectors AWOL<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Dirty Projectors are one of those group who make more sense to me the longer they\u2019ve been away. Since their absence makes the heart grow fonder, it was great to see their singers return in 2015. Alice Deradoorian recorded a dazzling album of world trance music, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=haDy-XqsqTI\"><i>The Expanding Flower Planet<\/i><\/a>, and we even saw <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Trotjp3yCPw\">Amber Coffman join John Cale<\/a> on his re-recording of \u201cClose Watch.\u201d Still, for a fresh version of the Dirty Projectors sound \u2014 two sirens atop an intelligent, skeletal indie-R&amp;B \u2014 I looked this year to the Australian group Alpine.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ALPINE : Foolish (Official)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z6I4MZUtCCo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Silent\u00f3 \u2013 \u201cWatch Me (Whip\/Nae Nae)\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>While all the older kids memed the shit out of Drake\u2019s \u201cHotline Bling\u201d this year, my household got a ton of pop music pleasure out of this YouTube hit this year. Parents, with just a little work, you can find dozens of ways to embarrass your pre-adolescent children into submission with this song!<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Silent\u00f3 - Watch Me (Whip\/Nae Nae) (Official)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vjW8wmF5VWc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Moon King \u2013 &#8220;Apocalypse: Roswell&#8221;<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Ah youth \u2013 embracing a motorik groove as if they were the first to discover how to repurpose krautrock. (For that matter: ah, krautrock \u2013 furnishing a motorik groove that gives purpose to the discoveries of youth.) <i>Secret Life<\/i>, the debut album by Toronto duo Moonking has some moments, but this performance video of its two stand-out tracks was one of my jams of the year.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Moon King - Apocalypse:Roswell (Official Live)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lFLZanjiuLk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Chrissie Hynde \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Reckless: My Life as a Pretender<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Elvis Costello \u2013 <\/b><b><i>Unfaithful Music &amp; Disappearing Ink<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In a year of top-notch music memoirs, the musical urbanism book prize is split between two books that illustrate how landscapes can shape a musical life. Hynde\u2019s autobiography generated a lot of controversy over how she takes responsibility for a brutal attack by Cleveland bikers (an event that\u2019s been hiding in plain sight in the Pretenders\u2019 classic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CF_kUB_mdmA\">\u201cTattooed Love Boys\u201d<\/a>), but her attraction to the city\u2019s seedy post-hippie milieu reflects the souring of Ohio\u2019s postwar promise: Akron\u2019s soulless suburbanization (cf. \u201cMy City Was Gone\u201d) and the Kent State shootings. Her compelling, cautionary coming-of-age story can be hard for readers to digest because the past still seems a live issue for Hynde \u2014 only Akron is rendered in clear, unambiguous judgment. Costello\u2019s memoir recalls a childhood shuttled between his mother\u2019s Liverpool neighborhood and his father\u2019s music career in London. The British flats, pubs, palladiums, boardwalks and other settings described here in astonishing detail seem like an alien world to this reader\u2019s American eyes. Perhaps their cultural unintelligibility is why listeners outside the British Isles so often misinterpreted the career moves of Costello\u2019s early, most significant years as just one long, monolithic chip on his shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cDon\u2019t Think I\u2019ve Forgotten\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s musical urbanism film prize goes to a documentary about the swinging pop music of Phnom Penh in the years between colonial independence and the Khmer Rouge. \u201cDon\u2019t Think I\u2019ve Forgotten\u201d is a bittersweet valentine to Cambodia\u2019s capital, recalling an era where pop musicians recorded and performed an eclectic array of Western styles to international clubgoers and streetside audiences alike, before the killing fields brought a horrific end to the country\u2019s popular culture. Needless to say, the film has one hell of a soundtrack album.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Don&#039;t Think I&#039;ve Forgotten: Cambodia&#039;s Lost Rock and Roll&quot; [Official Documentary Trailer]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ipq4FefX5Ps?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shilpa Ray \u2013 Last Year\u2019s Savage This year there was hardly a more fearless, unique voice in rock music \u2014 where my listening preferences once again tended toward \u2014 than Shilpa Ray. Her style is quintessentially rooted in a bygone era of born-to-lose rock (cf. \u201cJohnny Thunders Fantasy Space Camp\u201d), but Last Year\u2019s Savage finally featured the depth of material to best showcase her highly original perspective. &nbsp; WAND \u2013 Golem and 1000 Days My pick for the ones to watch. Dudes released two albums of essential psychedelic rock this year. I can\u2019t choose between the metal crunch of Golem or the technicolor flower-punk of 1000 Days, cuz both knocked me out like few other records this year. The fact that this band has now released three albums with in the span of just two years while on seeming endless tour suggests this Los Angeles band is just getting started. Also, I love that WAND has no social media presence whatsoever. &nbsp; Lower Dens \u2013 Escape From Evil You knew they could do it, but it was still breathtaking how this Baltimore nouveau post-punk unit scaled a new peak with their latest album. Few groups walk the line between urban [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":1475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43659],"class_list":["post-1474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-music-criticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1477,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions\/1477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}