The best albums I’ve discovered in the past year or so all came out several years prior. They’re listed in alphabetical order by artist. If these records have anything in common, it’s varying degrees of rough-hewedness. Apparently what my ear has been drawn to lately has not been ProTools perfectionism.
Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition (2016)
Sort of the Bone Machine of hip-hop. I listened a few times and decided I didn’t like it — Danny’s nasal delivery and druggy lyrics put me off. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Each time I give it one last chance, I find more to like.
Feist – Metals (2011)
Melancholy, introspective songs with off-kilter, retro production. Dreary but somehow comforting. Perfect rainy day listening.
Low – The Curtain Hits the Cast (1996)
Spellbinding in its slowness and simplicity and scruffiness. It leaves alone a lot of the imperfections that get airbrushed out of most records. The result is intimacy and immediacy. That’s essential: songs this sparse would turn sterile with too much studio intervention.
Tripping Daisy – Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb (1998)
I thought of this band as a one-hit wonder, thanks to their 1995 song “Piranha,” which concludes with probably the lamest guitar solo ever recorded. But their overlooked followup album is mature and ambitious. (Hat tip to Talking Heads tribute band Start Making Sense, who turned me on to “Jesus Hits” this fall when they announced they would be covering it.)
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