At some point during the year I heard some music that just couldn’t be ignored. I had to listen to it regardless of the genre. I would like to know what your top 5 would be as well!

Swaggordon:

1. Kanye West – Yeezus
Since all of my hip hop buddies who are fans of Kanye didn’t like this album and totally trashed it I left this for this list. I like to think that I understand this project, I may or may not. What I do know for sure is that it is full of energy and I play it all the way through when I’m working out. Some songs just make me want to slam my foot to floor while I’m driving and top out my hoopty. The amount of emotion and the extremity of the emotion was unmatched. I felt like Bound 2 was probably the only jewel for hip hop lovers. I would describe this album at art deco meets expressionism who then turned around f#cked over the hipsters.

2. Made in Japan – Tame All Those Thoughts
Consistency, this album reaks of it. This album was one of those albums you could just have playing while you’re doing a variety of things. I commend Made in Japan for how good this album was put together. Nothing was overly done and they some how managed to stay in a zone throughout the whole album. ‘I’ll Try’ was probably my favorite song because the way they layered the chorus sounded so smooth. ‘Follow the Fool’ was a song made for riding, whether it’s a bike, motorcycle, or car. Every song was just as strong as the next. It’s EXTREMELY hard to find that in indie music trust me I know this too well.

3. Snakadaktal – Sleep In The Water
I know idea what the name of the band means but I can tell you that they know how to make some good music. It’s not a high energy album. What they manage to do is bring a lot of different elements of music together and exploit them extremely well. This is an album that you could play while in the office. I image once the rest of the world catchs up you will hear this album being played in somewhere like Urban Outfitters or an indie coffee shop. ‘Ghost’ was my jam, certain elements of that song, such as the bass guitar melody, reminded me of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’. What made them stand out in my catalog was that they had several vocalists and they blended together perfectly.

4. Post War Years – Galapagos
Full of endless streaming energy. This album is just as exotic as its title. I can’t quite remember but I think this was one of the harder albums to acquire in the states. The final product was just that good that I bit the bullet and went through the process of getting this album. What made this album good was that it had a slight electronic feel to it but it maintained its’ indie spirit. This is another album that the rest of the world will have to catch up to and appreciate. If they remade Top Gun today they would have to integrate a bunch of songs from this album into the soundtrack. It’s such an authentic project, untainted by the lollipop music out nowadays.

5. Panama – Always EP
This is a short album but it has just enough to make the list. Each song is unique and each song will provoke a different type of emotion. But all of the songs are easy to listen to. ‘Always’ was the song that got me attached to this project because it had kind of bounce to it. It was joyful and you could tell that the artists were enjoying themselves as well. ‘How We Feel’ is one of those songs that you can play while chillin with your girl. I just like how they didn’t try to push this to become an LP when the few songs they had were sufficient enough. Lessons should be learned.