#Blogovision 40-31

40. Tennis // Young & Old

A rather good second album that contains some of the brightest and jolliest music you’ll have heard since the last time the world slid into the abyss. NME // Bigger, bolder but still retaining an engaging charm, it is a highly impressive melodic triumph. Music OMH

39. Beach House // Bloom
Beach House's decision to call this record Bloom is almost too perfect. Over the course of four albums that's exactly what this band has done. Pitchfork // If Teen Dream represented the ups and downs of a youthful dalliance then Bloom is the music you hear on the drive home. Beats Per Minute

38. The Tallest Man on Earth // There's No Leaving Now

A remarkable effort, an album that takes the best from his influences but contains an essence and honesty that is staggeringly unique. Tone Deaf // Makes use of much the same map work laid out by Matsson on 2010’s fantastic breakout The Wild Hunt. But if that record had Matsson’s guitar and vocal chords practically steaming from passionate strain after every chord change, Leaving sounds more cautious, more collected. Pop Matters

37. Islands // A Sleep and a Forgetting
Heartbreak albums can typically be either brilliantly heartrending or they can be wallowing and self-indulgent. For Islands, thankfully, A Sleep and A Forgetting is largely neither: it’s just very good. Pop Matters // It's something of a triumph for Thorburn, to match his most emotionally devastating material yet with music that's so close-sounding and unassumingly, unabashedly pretty. Pitchfork

 

36. First Aid Kit // The Lion's Roar

Throughout, the lyrics ring with honesty and charm, the phrasing gently off at times, emphasizing a missed moment, a passing fancy. Under the Radar // Condensed to a soundbite, ‘The Lion’s Roar’ is ‘Nashville Skyline’ by way of the Stockholm suburbs. But there’s no point geotagging this. These two would be spectacular wherever they came from. NME

35. The Big Pink // Future This
One of the most likeable crowd pleasing alt-rock records since, well, Oracular Spectacular. Don’t be surprised if it’s frikkin’ huge. Rave Magazine // It may not necessarily age well, but it will at least hold up as a nostalgic time capsule for populist post-millennial indie-rock. A.V. Club

34. Ty Segall Band // Slaughterhouse

It's one thing to be heavy, and it's another thing to be hooky, but Slaughterhouse is the rare garage-rock album to do both so well simultaneously. Pitchfork // Prolific fuzz-punk fattens up with a big dollop of Sabbath wallop, enters the void on a 10-minute freakout. Spin

33. Lee Ranaldo // Between the Times and Tides
Between the Times and the Tides cruises pretty straight, especially for those expecting an unbridled dose of experimentation from a string-slinger well known for his endless collaborations with free jazzers and noise conceptualists. BBC // This is Ranaldo’s show: a confirmation of his solo talents just as his day job’s future seems rocky. The Skinny 

32. Farmer Sea // A Safe Place

Assume darker shades with a more classic rock feel closer to bands like REM, Wilco, and Arcade Fire. The use of piano and acoustic guitar gives more depth to usual Farmer’s style, often destabilized by noisier sounds. press release

31. Kendrick Lamar // good kid, m.A.A.d. city
It is safe to say that good kid, m.A.A.d city is the most potent exploration yet of one of the most interesting minds in rap music. Pretty Much Amazing // Listening to it feels like walking directly into Lamar's childhood home and, for the next hour, growing up alongside him. Pitchfork // Proves his talent to be as prodigious as his online output. The Observer