The Review - Top Ten Records of 2015 Countdown - #10 Goon
2015. Another year filled with music that filled my workdays, commutes, training runs, half marathon races, dinners, soundtracks to muted sporting events and everything in between. There were albums from familiar artists who had been gone awhile (Faith No More, Blur, Dr. Dre & Refusesd). Then there were the albums from relatively new bands (Foals, The Sheepdogs & Sun Kil Moon). Finally we heard brilliant stuff from a couple brand new acts (Tobias Jesso Jr. & Leon Bridges). All leaving me excited for the possibilities of music in 2016.
2015 gave me the chance to start writing about music and I want to thank DP & Meg for the platform, West Coast Live to share my listening experiences. I encourage you to check out my top 10 and pass along any you think I missed. In 2016 seek out music. Do it anyway you want but seek it out. Simply choose a radio preset to turn up, or hit play; maybe drop the needle, on ANYTHING. There are no wrong choices. If it sounds good to you, that’s what counts.
2016 you have more choice then EVER to hear music…embrace it.
Number 10
Tobias Jesso Jr. ‘GOON’
By covering the subjects of a painful break-up and mother’s cancer diagnosis you wouldn’t necessarily think it would result in a beautiful sounding album. But that’s exactly what ‘Goon’ delivers. No album surprised me more than this record this year. With absolutely no knowledge of Jesso except seeing him gain momentum across music news sites, I gave 'Goon' a listen and was immediately struck at the intimate and mature sound of the record. To later find out he is a local North Vancouver guy who only recently started with the piano (after leaving his guitars behind when moving back to Vancouver from Los Angeles) makes this album all that much more of a 2015 highlight.
Tobias Jesso Jr. - How Could You Babe