Albums of the Year 2012-2019

In case anyone is interested, here are my top five albums of each year since I took my nine year blogging hiatus. I keep my list in a notebook, which I revist from time to time. If I ever find music after I've made the list, I'll go back and make a note with a Post-it. I enjoy the reflecting aspect of going back and seeing what I was listening to at the time. My wife and I often recall a song or an album that soundtracked our lives. For instance, I discovered Pittsburgh musician Paul Luc on a snow day after reader that he was opening for Lucero at Mr. Smalls Theatre.

Also, it is not lost on me that most people don't buy entire albums anymore, and, even if they did dedicate tthe time to listen to an album, it's most likely going to be through a streaming service such as Spotify. I'd argue the merits of this, i.e. artist royalties vs. exposure, but that'll have to wait for another day.

2012
1. Langhorne Slim and Law "The Way We Move"
2. Heartless Bastards "Arrow"
3. River City Extension "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger"
4. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Here"
5. Sharon Van Etten "Tramps"


2013
1. Frightened Rabbit "Pedestrian Verse"
2. Josh Ritter "The Best in Its Tracks"
3. The Avett Brothers "Magie and the Dandelion"
4. Queens of the Stone Age "...Like Clockwork"
5. Cage the Elephant "Melophobia"


2014
1. Manchester Orchestra "Cope"
2. Jenny Lewis "The Voyager"
3. Spoon "They Want My Soul"
4. Ryan Adams "Ryan Adams"
5. The Apache Relay "The Apache Relay"


2015
1. Lord Huron "Strange Trails"
2. Modest Mouse "Strangers to Ourselves"
3. Mumford and Sons "Wilder Mind"
4. Shakey Graves "And the War Came"
5. The Decemberists "What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World"


2016
1. Frightened Rabbit "Painting of a Panic Attack"
2. Wilco "Schmilko"
3. The Lumineers "Cleopatra"
4. Steady Hands "Rude Boys of Bar Rock"
5. A Tribe Called Quest "We Got It from Here...Thank You 4 Your Service"


2017
1. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "The Nashville Sound"
2. Brand New "Science Fiction"
3. Queens of the Stone Age "Villains"
4. Flogging Molly "Life Is Good"
5. Margo Price "All American Made"


2018
1. Paul Luc "Bad Seed"
2. Brian Fallon "Sleepwalker"
3. Lord Huron "Vide Noir"
4. Gregory Alan Isakov "Evening Machine"
5. Jeff Tweedy "Warmer"


2019
1. Josh Ritter "Fever Breaks"
2. The Tallest Man on Earth "I Love You. It's a Fever Dream."
3. Shovels and Rope "By Blood"
4. Wilco "Ode to Joy"
5. Caamp "By and By"


2020's list is forthcoming...