The saving grace of the music business may be its circularity. An art form based on sound, style and medium is sure to have some resurging moments, whether it’s via a resurgence in vinyl sales or the return of a decades-old sound. Music like 1970s-era, hard rock or even-older soul music may decline in popularity, but it surely will have its comeback. The same goes for our listening methods – what once was cool will be cool again.
Six months into 2015 and the world is neck-deep in great releases. While I haven’t outgrown my teenage love of hard rock, I’ve grown to champion the independent, the outsiders and the musicians who will continue to make music that can’t be properly categorized or properly marketed and aren’t concerned with the size of their paycheck.
There’s loads of great, new music out there, and these are my favorites:
10. Leon Bridges | “Coming Home”
He’s been called a modern-day Sam Cooke, and Bridges will unashamedly claim that title. His voice is as smooth as silk through 10 tracks of doo-wop and R&B.
9. Built to Spill | “Untethered Moon”
Doug Martsch has always been adept at crafting a melody amidst walls of guitar and feedback. With arguably their strongest release in years, Built to Spill continues to take a sonic, Crazy Horse and almost-jam approach.
8. Whitey Morgan and the 78’s | “Sonic Ranch”
This honky-tonker from Flint, Michigan, isn’t reinventing the wheel, he’s leading a crack band that ignores Nashville tripe while burning a flame for American country.
7. State Champion | “Fantasy Error”
There’s a loveable laziness here, via a slight fiddle backing the vocal melody within a rock lineup. There’s also a youthful angst within its lyrics that take on the obvious observations sung by your best friend while he’s drinking your last beer.
6. Jessica Lee Wilkes | “Lone Wolf”
Wilkes is no stranger to Americana as a member of country-goth band Dirt Daubers. Her debut in its brevity is ripe for a sock hop, a raw rock record thankfully unpolished and put over the top by the guitar work of Eddie Angel of Los Straitjackets.
5. Calexico | “Edge of the Sun”
At this point, Calexico wears the crown as purveyors of Southwest Noir. Where some bands and more fans need constant identification, Calexico’s folk, rock and Tex-Mex continues to remain undefined. In typical fashion, it’s an album of lush arrangements, quiet vocals and just the right amount of slight surf guitar on an album of no dominant instrumentation.
4. Kinski | “7 (or 8)”
Fans of all-things-rock need to acknowledge the sludge, stoner and heavy of Seattle’s Kinski. There’s chaotic melody among the avant-garde and an ever-present riff.
3. JD McPherson | “Let The Good Times Roll”
A modern independent roots record pays homage to early rock ’n’ roll, yet it’s far from throwback. It’s rhythmically fantastic, while McPherson as both frontman and guitar player rolls through all eras of roots rock.
2. Courtney Barnett | “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit”
Instant gratification is deserved when you put out a memorable rock record loaded with hooks. It’s at times upbeat rock partnered with some straight-ahead and deliberate lyrics. Barnett is no John Prine, but she’s right there with lyrical humor and straight-forwardness in ballads and the up-tempo. The sheer catchiness of this record makes it impossible to ignore.
1. The Ants | “Control Your Thoughts”
Wise and biting lyrical play paired with playful guitar have always worked for The Ants. While guitar-driven jams hint at psychedelic rock, there’s a sound harkening to days of the early indie canon, hinting at Yo La Tengo and the slacker sound of Pavement in the midst of Midwest-driven alternative country. Folk to rock is stacked within an albeit short album, chock-full of humor with few wasted minutes.
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
Bryant’s best
Friday: Rock with Power Tribe, 8:30 p.m. No cover. Billy Goat Saloon, 39848 Highway 160, Bayfield, 884-9155.
Saturday: Rock music with the Crags, 7:30 p.m. No cover. The Steaming Bean, 915 Main Ave., 385-7901.
