First Quarter Best Of The Year So Far

American Football-LP3(Polyvinyl)

Genre: Midwest Emo, Post Rock, Dream Pop, Math Rock

Why It's Good: An extremely solid emo record which further goes for the case that Emo this year has been pretty damn good and for a band to make a comeback a few years ago this is a super solid release. Very mellow yet adventurous.

And The Kids-When This Life Is Over(Signature Sounds)

Genre: Indie Pop, Indie Rock

Why It's Good: Very consistent female led Indie Rock with album with a decent amount of pop leanings.

Angel Du$t-Pretty Buff(Roadrunner)

Genre: Pop Punk, Alternative Rock, Power Pop

Why It's Good: One of the best emulations of 90s Alternative radio rock I have heard in a long time. Hits all the nostalgic points in a great way.

The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South Of Reality(ATO/Prawn Song/Chimera Music)

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Funk Rock

Why It's Good: Awesome pairing of two people I would have never thought to even consider collaborating. This sounds like what The Beatles might have sounded like if they stuck together and stayed current with musical trends within rock. This also sounds like what would happen if Tame Impala didn't buy a bunch of synths and turn into crap.

The Coathangers-The Devil You Know(Suicide Squeeze)

Genre: Garage Punk, Indie Rock

Why It's Good: Fantastic distillation of all things female fronted Indie Rock. Extremely varied and very interesting throughout. This sounds like all your favorite 90s-early 2000s female led rock bands.

Dead Heat-Certain Death(Edgewood)

Genre: Hardcore Punk, Crossover Thrash

Why It's Good: Very consistent crossover thrash album that perfectly blends Punk's irreverent humor with Thrash Metal's absurd theatrics. Plus it kicks ass in a very metal hard rock hybrid kind of way.

Deli Girls-I Don't Know How To Be Happy(Self Released)

Genre: Synth Punk, Digital Hardcore, Experimental Hip Hop

Why It's Good: Some of the craziest most intense vocals I have ever heard in industrial music. Yet, for some reason they are oddly comforting in a really weird way. This sounds like if the whole entirety of the Digital Hardcore label and movement didn't have an underlying quality of shittiness to it. It's dark gritty industrial music done right.

Luther Dickinson And Sisters Of The Strawberry Moon-Solstice(New West)

Genre: Contemporary Folk, Americana

Why It's Good: Very solid and very pretty Americana album with a slew of female vocalists fronting Luther's excellent writing. Supposedly most of the instruments and vocals for these songs were first or second takes which makes the end result that much more impressive.

Drool-Drool II(Born Yesterday)

Genre: Post Punk, Noise Rock, No Wave

Why It's Good: Finally a band besides Interpol who gets the Joy Division sound right. They also mix it up with angular muscular 90s rock ala The Jesus Lizard and Shellac. Definitely contemporaries of Metz if I've ever heard one.

Eerie Wanda-Pet Town(Joyful Noise)

Genre: Indie Folk, Psychedelic Pop, Neo Psychedelia

Why It's Good: If Broadcast made a Tropicalia/Indie Pop influenced album this would be it. It's breezy and complicated at the same time. Wistful and intelligent without being overly Twee.

Billie Eilish-When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?(Darkroom/Interscope)

Genre: Alternative R&B, Electropop, Ambient Pop, Pop Soul

Why It's Good: A lot of people are saying she is an "industry plant" meaning basically a record label created her. It's probably true as she has a lot of weird creepy nepotistic industry connections the deeper you go....but.....when the music is this solid I tend to look the other way and not be too critical. This time a label got it right.

Robert Ellis-Texas Piano Man(New West)

Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Piano Rock

Why It's Good: A great Singer/Songwriter album in the vein of the 70s greats like Harry Nilsson and Billy Joel. Very funny, well written and very relatable.

Endon-Boy Meets Girl(Thrill Jockey)

Genre: Noise Rock, Powerviolence, Noise

Why It's Good: Absolutely crazy and hard to listen to yet kind of musically brilliant noise album. It's very interesting that a band and not a sampling musician or electronic musician is able to get this sound. Very impressive.

Sharon Van Etten-Remind Me Tomorrow(Jagjaguwar)

Genre: Indie Pop, Synthpop, Indietronica, Art Pop

Why It's Good: Probably my favorite work of her's so far. She brings in some sampling and little electronic flourishes to augment her already fully formed Indie Pop/Singer/Songwriter sound. I wasn't excited about her before and now I'm interested to see what she does next.

Fidlar-Almost Free(Mom + Pop)

Genre: Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Garage Punk, Indie Rock

Why It's Good: By embracing radio friendly hits of the 90s and teaming up with pop producer Ricky Reed Fidlar have come up with their most diverse and interesting album yet. This reminds me a little bit of Beck and Cage the Elephant and a whole slew of other 90s Alternative rock bands.

Steve Gunn-The Unseen In Between(Matador)

Genre: Folk Rock, Americana, Psychedelic Folk

Why It's Good: Great Americana influenced folk album. Very concise and the guitar playing is as usual incredible. I feel this time around he had an even stronger set of songs with more complex melodies as his albums of past.

Helado Negro-This Is How You Smile(Rvng Intl.)

Genre: Indietronica, Art Pop, Ambient Pop, Dream Pop, Bossa Nova, Psychedelic Folk

Why It's Good: If Devendra Banhart really embraced his Brazilian roots full on while also dipping into LO-FI electronics here and there this is what it would most likely sound like. This will be a great album to listen to in the summer.

Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind-CollectiV(Masonic)

Genre: Hard Rock, Garage Rock, Blues Punk

Why It's Good: Another kick ass turn from a band that blends The Stooges with Nick Cave and Tom Waits. Every song kicks you right in the teeth. Even the quiet moments are spilling over dread. Yet this is not a depressing listen, quite the opposite in fact.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba-Miri(Out Here/Indigo)

Genre: Mande Music

Why It's Good: Extremely well played African folk music with excellent male/female vocal interplay.

Lealani-Fantastic Planet(Dome Of Doom)

Genre: Art Pop, Minimal Synth, Singer/Songwriter

Why It's Good: If Joanna Newsom or Cocorosie went dark Pop this is what it would sound like. This is one of the best Pop albums of the year. Equal parts catchy, sparse and weird.

Jenny Lewis-On The Line(Warner Bros.)

Genre: Pop Rock, Soft Rock, Americana, Indie Pop

Why It's Good: Yet again she returns with an album that doesn't disappoint. This one has a little more of a footing in classic 70s Singer/Songwriter styles. I think this might be her strongest set of songs yet.

Little Simz-Grey Area(Age 101)

Genre: UK Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Hardcore Hip Hop, Neo Soul, Boom Bap

Why It's Good: Great in your face "I don't give a shit" raps about staying true to yourself with awesomingly diverse production. Each track is very different yet her rapping holds the whole thing together. This is what the best Hip Hop albums are made of.

Lucille Furs-Another Land(Requiem Pour Un Twister)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia

Why It's Good: By far the best 60s Baroque Pop aping album I have heard to date. It sounds extremely close to The Kinks, Beatles and Zombies while still having a completely individual voice. This isn't a rip off this is something else completely.

Matmos-Plastic Anniversary(Thrill Jockey)

Genre: IDM, Glitch, Electroacoustic, Musique Concrete, Microsound

Why It's Good: Their best album in a while. This one is very playful and goofy. In parts though, it is very dark and creepy. This is for fans of their earlier stuff as well as for fans of the best eras of Mouse On Mars. If you like inventive electronic music you must hear this.

Ohtis-Curve Of Earth(Full Time Hobby)

Genre: Contemporary Folk, Americana

Why It's Good: A strong contender for album of the year. The flow of this album feels like a well written novel you never want to put down. Each songs lyrics are insanely descriptive and tell a full and complete story. The instrumentation is both somber and fun in equal measure. This album tackles mostly addiction and spirituality and where your place is with it. Not light stuff but this album is a breeze.

Panda Bear-Buoys(Domino)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia, Folktronica, Psychedelic Pop

Why It's Good: A lot of people are hating on this. I think it's much better than Grim Reaper. The one main thing I like about Noah Lennox's music and what keeps me coming back is his voice. This album might be the best showcase for his voice. Even if it is soaked in autotune. He uses that feature well. The songs are simpler so you can focus on the words and the voice more. He went with an almost skeletal song structure on this one. Kind of Hip Hop and kind of Folky. He created something new, interesting and definitely one of this year's best.

Pensees Nocturnes-Grand Guignol Orchestra(Les Acteurs De L'Ombre Productions)

Genre: Avant Garde Metal, Black Metal, Dark Cabaret, Circus March, Progressive Metal

Why It's Good: The trippiest metal album of the year so far. It's circus music influenced metal. Not much more needs to be said other than it's extremely inventive and out of this world.

Pom Poko-Birthday(Bella Union)

Genre: Indie Rock, Dance Punk, Art Punk, Noise Pop, Math Rock

Why It's Good: They have a sound that's equal parts Deerhoof, Ponytail and The Cardigans. The vocalist goes all over the place and invokes all the singers of those aforementioned bands plus Joanna Newsom. The music is manic and no two songs are the same. For fans of many genres of rock.

Quelle Chris-Guns(Mello Music Group)

Genre: Abstract Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Conscious Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, Political Hip Hop

Why It's Good: Excellent political statement. Probably the best political statement in music so far this year. Yep you guessed it. It's about guns and gun violence and all the effects. He hits it out of the park once again(his last album with Jean Grae came out pretty high on the year end list last year). He just keeps getting better and better. For fans of stuff like Madvillain.

Tom Russell-October In The Railroad Earth(Proper)

Genre: American Folk Music, Americana, Country

Why It's Good: I had never heard of this guy before but he has been on the scene for a while. This is just an extremely solid roots country album that spits in the face of Bro Country.

Sleaford Mods-Eton Alive(Extreme Eating)

Genre: Post Punk, UK Hip Hop

Why It's Good: Their best album yet. Very poppy yet also very pissed off and full of biting social commentary. It's kind of like The Streets but with more of a Mark E Smith vibe to the whole thing.

Dexter Story-Bahir(Soundway)

Genre: East African Music, Afro Funk, Ethio-Jazz

Why It's Good: My favorite Jazz album of the year so far. Blends many different styles I find interesting with a heavy leaning on African styles of Jazz.

Thelma-The Only Thing(Self Released)

Genre: Art Pop, Chamber Pop

Why It's Good: Extremely odd Indie Pop album that seemingly came out of nowhere. Her voice is one of the most confounding and interesting female voices I have heard in a while. Well worth checking out for fans of off kilter Indie Pop and Folk.

The Wild Reeds-Cheers(Dualtone)

Genre: Indie Rock, Power Pop

Why It's Good: Honestly just a solid well written Power Pop influenced Indie Rock album. Every song sounds expertly constructed in an ear catching simplistic way.

Xiu Xiu-Girl With Basket Of Fruit(Polyvinyl)

Genre: Post Industrial, Experimental, Death Industrial, Ritual Ambient, Electroacoustic

Why It's Good: Their best album in a while, hell might actually be their best album. This thing is nuts. It's a piece of art for sure. So many twists and turns and extremes. For fans of very adventurous and experimental music. It's also pretty damn funny and deeply disturbing.