Number Eight Album of The Year

I will post a full top 10 list at the end. In the meantime, I am going to explore each record in my top 10 and why I selected them. Again, this is not a "Best of". It is the albums that I've heard and resonated with me personally. There is some really good stuff out there that doesn't make my list because, well, it's my list. There's a lot of stuff I haven't even heard. Maybe you'll like some of it.

It's kind of fitting that number eight on my list is Chaser Eight. See the what happened there?

Chaser Eight's self-titled debut album Chaser Eight is musical gold. (Yes, I know, it's not their first release, just their first full length record). Released in February of this year, it took me six months to find it, but that's the landscape of independently made records, it may take a while, but if you keep looking you will find the good stuff.

Here's the thing, there is not a bad song on the record. That's hard to do. There are very few albums I can put on and listen to from start to finish without skipping songs. And if you care about music, albums still matter. Songs are great, but to get the full effect of what the artist is about, albums.

To me, the best way to really know how good or bad a record is, is to listen to it by yourself driving in your car. This one passes that test with flying colors.

Full disclosure, lead vocalist, *AUDRA* agreed to a Q&A with me, which you can read here, so I may be biased. But who isn't, right. 

Seriously, I play this record at least once a week. It's that good.

Number Nine Album of the Year

I will post a full top 10 list at the end. In the meantime, I am going to explore each record in my top 10 and why I selected them. Again, this is not a "Best of". It is the albums that I've heard and resonated with me personally. There is some really good stuff out there that doesn't make my list because, well, it's my list. There's a lot of stuff I haven't even heard. Maybe you'll like some of it.

One way I can describe Delta Rae is Fleetwood Mac, 2015 version.

The very distinctive and different vocals of Brittany Hollges and Elizabeth Hopkins evokes the difference you could hear in Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks. Then you have the male vocals of either Ian or Eric Hollges to fill the Lindsey Buckingham role.

But that does not do justice to what Delta Rae is all about. They are not Fleetwood Mac wannabes. In fact my best description is to throw Fleetwood Mac and Little Big Town in a blender and throw in a bit of Jim Steinman and see what comes. That would be Delta Rae.

We all want to categorize things into neat little boxes. That's human nature. This goes here. That goes there. It makes things easy. Delta Rae does not allow you to do that.

Are they rock? Yes, sometimes.
Are they pop? Maybe, in some songs.
Are they Americana? I can make that argument.
Are they country? Who knows what country is anymore with Sam Hunt being touted as country, so, yeah, sure.

What is Delta Rae? A great American band making kickass music. And really, the last part is all that matters.

My qualifications for a good album is one that I can push play and not want to skip any songs. After It All stands up to that test.

Number 10 Album of the Year

I will post a full top 10 list at the end. In the meantime, I am going to fully explore each record in my top 10 and why I selected them. Again, this is not a "Best of". It is the albums that I've heard and resonated with me personally. There is some really good stuff out there that doesn't make my list because, well, it's my list. There's a lot of stuff I haven't even heard. Maybe you'll like some of it.

Brandy Zdan's self-titled "debut album" comes in at number ten. Debut album is in parentheses for a reason. It's her first full-length solo output. Zdan has put out some EP's and albums as part of other projects. So, this debut is not from a newcomer.

The best description of this album came from a tweet from my friend at Farce the Music, and I'm paraphrasing here: Brandy Zdan's new album come along and filled that space of smokey, rockin', good music.

That is exactly what it does.

As musically diverse as the album is, the one common thread is Brandy's smokey, sultry voice. It's like Grace Potter and the Nocturnals meets early Sheryl Crow with doom metal and goth undertones while sprinkling in some Americana combined with pop, country and dance with killer, yet sparse guitar work. As strange as that may sound, it all works.

The album itself also has an odd dynamic. And I'm not saying odd is not a good thing.

The first few songs are more of the rockers on the record. Then it slowly turns more melancholy, followed by the Americana/pop. Kinda. It's really not that linear.

But really, what makes a good album for me is that you can put it on and listen from start to finish without wanting to skip songs. Brandy Zdan accomplishes that in spades.

Albums of the Year: Honorable Mention Edition

First of all, let me make it clear that these are not necessarily the best or most popular or most significant albums of 2015. These are my favorite albums that I have listened to more than once or twice. It's my list.

I'll link to the album spotlights and interviews from this blog. There won't be any commentary in this post.

The list would be shorter if I were genre specific or only listened to mainstream stuff. This is about good music that I like. And I don't listen to much of anything mainstream. I listed my favorite albums of 2015 and came up with 24. This honorable mention list will include the 14 that didn't make the top ten.

The artist's name will link to my posts, the album name will link to the artist's web site.

In no particular order:

Plastic Rhino - Recondition

Jonathan Tyler - Holy Smokes

Lindi Ortega - Faded Gloryville

Frankie Bourne - Californicana

Samantha Fish - Wild Heart

Koritni - Night Goes On For Days

Europe - War of Kings

Striking Matches - Nothing But The Silence

Allison Moorer - Down To Believing

Gretchen Peters - Blackbirds

Butch Walker - Afraid of Ghosts

Brandi Carlile - The Firewatcher's Daughter

honeyhoney - 3

Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Ruffian's Misfortune

Look for my top 10 coming out later this month.

Year End Lists

This time of year, everyone is inundated with "Best of" and "Favorite" lists for whatever: music, movies, commercials, books, fails, balls of twine, whatever. I know that you are all waiting on pins and needles to see if I will do one.

Here's the good/bad news: I will.

Of course, it will be about music, specifically albums. I'll make this caveat right now, it will only include albums I've listened to and listened to several times. And it's mostly artists that don't exist on radio. So, yeah, no Adele. These will be albums I can put on and listen to start to finish. Will there be some songs on the records that I really don't like? Sure. But not skip-worthy when in your car on a road trip.

Why do a list when I've featured most of these albums during the past year right here? Because it's important to go back and listen again to what I thought was good at the time. One of the drawbacks of always digging for new music is that you sometimes forget to listen to what you like. This is a good time to do that.

So far I've narrowed it down to 23 albums. Yeah, that's a lot, but there was a lot of good music to come out in 2015. And that's just the one's I've heard and listened to multiple times. There is much more that I never heard or only heard once.

I'm going to narrow it down to a top 10. But I plan on making two posts. One featuring the thirteen on the outside, I guess an honorable mention of sorts. And then the top ten. Right now I have nine of the ten. That last spot is hard.

It would be a lot easier if I had a focus on one genre, but I don't. The only genre I care about is called "music I like". And that entails rock, hard rock, country, Americana, blues, and some other stuff.

So for those of you that read my stuff, thank you. And yes, the overdone, obligatory lists will be coming.

Retro Album Spotlights: Billy Squier

Yes, the plural in "spotlights" is intentional. I initially was going to do only Billy Squier's breakout album Don't Say No. But then I started listening to Emotions In Motion again.

Keep this is mind, at one point Def Leppard opened for Billy Squier. For context, that was Leppard's Pyromania tour.

Billy Squier himself has said that Don't Say No is the best album he's ever made. I prefer Emotions In Motion.

Don't Say No has the four monster songs: "In The Dark", "The Stroke", "My Kinda Lover", (those three open the album) and "Lonely Is The Night". Emotions In Motion had the never-forgettable "Everybody Wants You" and the lesser known "She's A Runner."

I'm not here to tell Mr. Squier that he's wrong, just giving my personal preference.

Listen to the first three songs of Don't Say No and you're hooked. "In The Dark" is a rock masterpiece. This is where Squier excels. As a songwriter of good songs. The we get "The Stroke", which incidentally is the first Billy Squier song I ever heard. And now one of the most sampled songs ever. Then it bleeds into "My Kinda Lover". Another rock classic.

"You Know What I Like" is a good rocker, but nothing special.

"Too Daze Gone" is the most underrated song on the record. It's bluesy, it's Stonesey. It's groovy.

"Lonely Is The Night" is the other big song.

"Whadda You Want From Me" is very Zeppleninesque with some Van Halen thrown in.

"Nobody Knows" is the clunker on Don't Say No. The falsetto is not appealing. The song itself is not good..

"I Need You" is bubblegum rock with big guitars. While not a bad song, it's nothing special.

The song 'Don't Say No" is not bad. The choice to fade into the first verse, however, was bad. The whole song seems disjointed.

Emotions In Motion starts out where Don't Say No left of with the iconic "Everybody Wants You".

Then things go off the rails a bit with the Rod Stewart inspired "Emotions In Motion" . I like things off the
rails. One of my favorite tracks on the record.

"Learn How to Live" is vintage Billy Squier in the verses and bridge, but the chorus is pedestrian.

"In Your Eyes" is a good ballad.

"Keep Me Satisfied" evokes boogie-woogie, blues inspired Aerosmith.

"It Keeps You Rockin'" is a straight up Billy Squier rocker. Nothing special, but not skip-worthy.

"One Good Woman" is one of those groovy rock songs that we all love (ok, maybe not all, but I do). Reminiscent of vintage Styx.

"She's A Runner" is what the quintessential 80's hard rock ballad aspired to be. Billy Squier wrote the book that 80's pop metal followed.

"Catch 22" is another song that you could hear Rod Stewart and/or the Faces recording. It's bluesy sultry rock at its best, replete with horns.

The album closes with "Listen to the Heartbeat", which is not a bad song, but it's time to restart the album at track one.

Album Spotlight: Brandy Zdan: Brandy Zdan

I really don't know what to make of Brandy Zdan's self-titled debut solo album. And that's not a bad thing.

I hear so many things going on throughout the record that I can't really pinpoint what it is. And again, that's not a bad thing.

The Canadian born, Nashville residing Zdan is no newcomer to the scene. She was a part of the gothic-folk duo Twilight Hotel before spending time in the Texas-based Americana band The Trishas.

Brandy Zdan the record is an amalgam of many things, including Americana, folk, rock, country, pop and more. Which I'm guessing is all Brandy Zdan the artist.

Zdan's smokey, sultry vocals are the common thread among the diverse musical ventures on this album.

All this just to say, it's good.

Here is "More of a Man". Enjoy.

Q and A with Plastic Rhino

The Los Angeles-based duo Plastic Rhino recently released their third album Recondition. You can read on their website what they think. Here's my take: very good hard rock album. Sure, you can try to break it down and do all the sub-genre stuff, but what it all boils down to is that it's hard rock done well.

For all the doomsayers saying "rock is dead", artists like Plastic Rhino are proving that it is not. You can read my Album Spotlight here.

Vocalist Atara Gottschalk and guitarist Jack Glazer were kind enough to to grant me a Q and A. The results follow.

Q and A With California Singer/Songwriter Frankie Bourne

I'm a few months behind on finding Frankie Bourne's debut album Californicana. That means I'm a few months behind in getting to listen to it. Better late than never.

I had the opportunity to conduct a Q and A with Frankie recently. His answers to my questions were so thoughtful and thorough, I don't know how much I can add. But I'll try.

Frankie is California through and through, so you'll find out below, but it's not the glamour and glitz Hollywood and L.A. California. It's the 70's laid back California rock. It's the Bakersfield sound influences. It's the 60's and 70's Bay Area scene. But then there is so much more.

There is a strong blues influence. And not that it's an influence, but the music of Frankie Bourne would be appreciated by anyone who is a fan of Texas/Red Dirt music. I guess that's where I felt most connected. It's real music, played by a real singer/songwriter with real instruments for real people.

We delved into genres a bit in the interview. Regular readers know how I feel about that. There are so many different influences represented in the songs, Frankie Bourne cannot be contained by one genre. And that, to me, is a good thing.

I've already written too much. Frankie says it much better than I can. He's lived it.

Here are the results of the Q and A:

Album Spotlight: Plastic Rhino: Recondition

I was provided the opportunity to get a pre-realease listen to Plastic Rhino's upcoming record Recondition. The album reinforces my notion that rock is definitely not dead.

The duo of lead vocalist Atara Gottschalk and guitarist Jack Glazer bring their own brand of multi-decade influenced rock to life on Recondition.

Great riffs, strong vocals, heavy with a sense of melody. What's not to like? Oh, and I didn't even mention the pop sensibilities and punk tendencies.

The lead single,  "Big Man Baby", is a straight up rocker. If this is the first time you've heard Atara's raspy, passionate vocal stylings, you're in for a treat. From there. no drop off in quality. Tasty guitar, kick ass vocals, great songs.

The album closer, "The Ballad Of The Rhino" shows a softer side of Plastic Rhino, up until 3:50 mark when it turns into a full blown rocker. That kind of diversity is much appreciated. To me, the record compares very favorably to Halestorm and Chaser Eight. That's not bad company.

The record drops October 13. It's good. Check it out.

In the meantime here's the lyric video for the lead track on Recondition , "Big Man Baby":