Beyond the first 3, it gets complicated. It gets into albums that are great, but not perfect. These first 3, are perfect. If you want to know more about them, follow my tags, I’ve posted plenty from each of them this year.
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Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
Going labelless allowed them to stretch out their progressive tendencies again. Simultaneously, this is their most accessible and pop-hook-driven album. -
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
There’s a cacophony of internet bloggers who’ve probably already told you plenty about Natasha Khan’s wonderful music. -
Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
French shoegazey post-punk black metal. I’m surprised it exists, too. Blending those influences was clearly such a feat that it tore the band apart just as they finished their first and only full-length. Not to worry, the many echoes of this project will continue in the members’ other projects (Alcest, Les Discrets, Peste Noire, Lantlos), but this melting pot is perfect, possibly moreso for not being muddled by followup albums. - Isis - Wavering Radiant
While they’ll never reclaim the beautiful intensity of Oceanic, this album deserves to be considered as its own textural and ethereal entity. As such, it is beautiful in its own right. - Solstafir - Kold
Some people seem intent to class this album as black metal, which it isn’t. It’s rather charming how much metal’s taxonomy depends more on pedigree than actual aesthetic. Anyway, this is a brilliant group of rock songs, tied together with some expansive post-rock pieces. Love is the Devil (And I Am in Love) perfectly typifies the straddling of nostalgic rock tropes with heavy metal posturing. - Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist
Introduced to me by faerienchanting, this is a kitchen sink approach to songwriting, that comes off perfectly executed. The swells from quiet passages featuring horns and strings to towering sludge metal are both grand and authentic. The aesthetic and content is uniquely american, which led hotelechozulu and I to call it American Folk Metal, although faerienchanting disagrees. - Kittens Ablaze - The Monstrous Vanguard
Whatever you think of the idea of folk punk, these are great songs, every one of them. - Metric - Fantasies
Emily Haines has honed her perfect pop songs, and has moved from bratty pop anthems to emotionally nuanced songs that stand up to repeated listens. - The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
I can’t not love this album, It’s a bluesy prog-rock concept album. That Colin Meloy continues to defy the normative pressures of a major label and produce things this organic and indulgent, validates his ability to keep his “indie folk” status, despite his popularity. - Baroness - Blue Record
This is not just because I’m obsessed with Mr. Baizley’s artwork. While the first 3 Baroness EP’s were largely betrayed by Red Album. Blue Record goes beyond the softening of Red Album, and pushes it into something pastoral and wonderful in its own right.
