Whitney: Light Upon The Lake. Album Sketch

year: 2016

tones of: local natives, iron & wine, modest mouse, the black keys (softer side of), the shins

genre samples: indie folk, country blues, indie rock, california rock

music: crooning, calming, weightless, beautiful, nostalgic, warm, soothing, shimmering

lyrics: longing, lost, confused, cathartic, contemplative, hopeful, reflective, mature

favs: no woman, light upon the lake, golden days, dave's song, red moon

notes: similar to Cardinal from Pinegrove this album only takes 30min to do what is does so well

bonus: lead singer is a former member of unknown mortal orchestra (a 2015 favorite, with a way overdue review)

score: 8/10

Top Albums/Tracks of 2013

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A L B U M S*

1. Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of The City
2. DJ Koze: Amygdala
3. Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap**
4. Autre Ne Veut [Oh-truh Neh Vuh]: Anxiety
5. Disclosure: Settle
6. The National: Trouble Will Find Me 
7. Kanye West: Yeezus
8. Arctic Monkeys: AM
9. Daft Punk: Random Access Memories
10. Drake: Nothing Was The Same

HM. Pusha T: My Name is My Name

T R A C K S***
1. James Blake: "Retrograde"

2. Lorde: "Royals"

3. Drake: "Hold On, We're Going Home"

4. FKA Twigs: "Water Me"

5. Daft Punk: "Lose Yourself To Dance"

6. Chance The Rapper: "Juice"

 7. Disclosure: "White Noise"

8. Autre Ne Veut: "Counting"

9. Pusha T: "Numbers On The Boards"

10. Local Natives: "Heavy Feet"


HM. Vampire Weekend: "Don't Lie"

* HM = Honorable Mention does actually rank at #11 this year
** Technically this is a mixtape, but the quality is the difference
*** Excludes repeated artists (#s 1, 6, 7, HM) for breadth

Local Natives: Hummingbird. Review Sketch

year: 2013

tones of: grizzly bears, radiohead, the shins, coldplay (some vocals), black keys

genre samples: indie pop, indie rock

music: somber, driving, melodic, fast paced, tumbling, harmonic, sweet, sad

lyrics: searching, love forlorn, longing, reflective, earnest, yearning

favs: heavy feet, wooly mammoth, colombia

cover: the cover is apparently a photo of the band climbing up onto the roof of their practice space mashed up with the desktop background of one of the members. interesting.

score: 7.5/10