Top 14 Albums since 8/14

I probably will get back around to talking about last year's other best picture nominations, but today I want to talk about music. This year starting in May I upgraded to Spotify premium and it's totally changed my music life forever. So between a 10 road trip, time driving around town and now a job at which I can listen to music for 5 hours a day, I've listened to a lot more music than usual so far this year. Some of it has been bad, but most has been really good. I might update this in the fall because I strongly suspect Honeymoon (Lana Del Ray) and Uncomfortable (Andy Mineo) will make the list. Here are a few of my top picks for best album of 2015 so far (this is a ranking, but to even make the ranking, you've got to be pretty good).

* So that was the plan until I realized a half dozen of the albums I wanted to include actually came out in 2014. So the list will be amended to be My Top 14 Albums since August 2014.

Top 14 Albums since 8/14

14-11--Rookies and Veterans

14. Bulletproof Picasso-Train. This album doesn't capture the greatness of some of the other train albums, namely Save Me, San Francisco, but it still delivers some good songs. I'm especially partial to the title track and Angel in Blue Jeans

13. American Beauty/American Psycho-Fall Out Boy. Fall Out Boy is a weird band to talk about because they set their ceiling impossibly high with From Under the Cork Tree back in 2005 and had no chance of replicating that greatness again in their lives. That said, this record is solid and good step forward to the pop-rock genre after Save Rock and Roll.

12. Bombs Away-Sheppard. This band is a newcomer known currently for the song Geronimo. I don't like that song very much, but the rest of the album is really solid. They remind me of another band that will make the top 5. I wouldn't be surprised if they keep rising.

11. The Desired Effect-Brandon Flowers. This record is the first solo project from The Killers frontman, Brandon Flowers. Though something different from The Killers, the sound is still familiar and refreshing. This could be higher on the list, but I haven't listened through it as many times as some of the others.

10. Talking is Hard-Walk the Moon. This band exploded with the song Shut Up and Dance but the rest of the album is really good, too. It's fun, dancy, poppy with interesting melodies and lyrics. A lot of similar bands sound stale quickly, but Walk the Moon keeps sounding fresh every time.

9. Pageant Material- Kacey Musgraves. I was a big fan of Kacey Musgraves's first album Same Trailer Different Park and the song Merry Go Round. Her sophomore release follows in the steps of the first album with more deft plays on words and complicated lyrics. Her sound is still very much reminiscent of vintage Taylor and The Band Perry. Fans of Taylor's country days should definitely check her out.

8. Moonshine in the Trunk- Brad Paisley. This album captures all that Brad Paisley does best: catchy earworms with clever and hilarious lyrics. Limes, High Life, Gone Green and Country Nation all should rank among his best songs (or at least be well regarded). This album is hilarious, up tempo and really, really fun: perfect summer music.

7. Anomaly- Lecrae. Most of my friends really love this album. I think it's pretty great, but not outstandingly great. It's a solid effort, but it's not as great as Church Clothes in my opinion. However, I'm still really happy that it did really well because it brought great prominence to Christian Rap on the mainstream. The genre is on the way up for sure.

6. Queen of the Clouds- Tove Lo. After 1989 (obviously still coming on the list), I searched for months and months to find something that could sort of replace the Taylor shaped whole in my music life. I finally found it in the album. Tove Lo is a little bit edgier than Taylor but the sound is the same. The album as a whole is well laid out to communicate a greater story than isolated tracks. Few if any of the songs fail to be enjoyable and good music. Talking Body and Timebomb are probaly my favorites songs off the album.

5. Mansion- NF. Mansion by newcomer NF is quite likely the best Christian rap album I've ever heard and certainly the best debut album. I describe him a cross between Eminem and Macklemore with that same anger and edge communicated with great skill through rap music. I'm now a fan for life and eagerly await any upcoming albums. I can't pick favorite songs because they're all amazing.

4. Kids in Love- The Mowgli's.  Though not as outstanding as Waiting for the Dawn, the sophomore release by the Mowgli's has still been played over and over on my iPod. Their sound is as strong as ever, reminiscent of Echosmith and Sheppard. They're coming to Portland soon and I'm excited. Kids in Love advances the skill of the Mowgli's in that this album is more thoughtfully composed together, tied together with a theme of childlike innocence and love. It's fantastic in every way.

3. Pain Killer- Little Big Town. I love this album a lot. I have a huge crush on the song Girl Crush, but the rest of the album is also amazing. It is an artful blend of slow and fast songs with both rock and country dynamics at play. Pain Killer delivers variety for all country fans, whether you want more of that Boondocks sound or something more akin to a slower ballads, Pain Killer delivers.

2. Grand Romantic- Nate Ruess. Like Brandon Flowers, Nate recently branched off from his long time band to try it solo... and it worked exceptionally well. This album delivers everything I loved about the Some Nights album (Fun.) while still advancing Nate's identity as a solo artist forward. Pretty much the whole album is gold and great for capturing the grand romantic in all of us. Harsh Light is my favorite song off it, but, like I said, the whole thing is amazing.

1. 1989- Taylor Swift. I recently ranked all 70+ songs off Taylor's five albums: 1989 has five songs in top 10 and 10 songs in the top 20. I didn't expect anything could be as good as Speak Now and Fearless, but Taylor proved me wrong with 1989. Wildest Dreams rapidly became one of my favorite songs ever. I very rarely skip any song off 1989 when it comes on my iPod or radio. With this album Taylor Swift further cemented her place in the upper echelon of entertainment and secured total pop dominance. Her country days are way behind her, and I'm okay with that.


I hope this list gave you something to check out next time you need new music. All albums on Spotify except for 1989 (but you need to own that one anyway). I would especially recommend The Mowgli's, Sheppard, Little Big Town and the Moonshine in the Trunk album as a perfect summer playlist. Thanks for reading and please comment albums that I overlooked.

Emmy Preview: Nominations

Today is a very exciting day on a TV fanatic's calendar much the same way a person gets excited about season premieres and finales and such. Because today is when they released the nominations for the 2015 Emmy awards! I don't respect the people behind the Emmy's anywhere near as much as I respect the Academy, but I still enjoy the Emmys and they still matter a lot in terms of ongoing success for some shows.

As a first note I will say that I'm way behind on the following contenders: OITNB (I'm in Season 1), House of Cards, Mad Men (again, Season 1), Silicon Valley (midway through Season 2), Veep (back in Season 1), Modern Family (Season 2) among others. I will endeavor to get caught up on some of those in the two months before the Emmys air, but no guarantees. However, as that list will show, while I may not be completely current, I'm relatively familiar with the show and watch other internet chatter about who will (and should) win. So even though I'm a little behind on some cases, my critical opinion is still at least somewhat valid.

As a second note, the nominations this year are dominated by what's not there: True Detective, Fargo and Daredevil. In the case of TD and Fargo, the sophomore seasons didn't air in time to be considered for awards. In terms of Daredevil, THEY JUST TOTALLY BLEW IT!!! I wasn't expecting a Best Drama nod or anything, but Vincent D'Onofrio deserved a Best Supporting Actor nod for his absolutely brilliant Heath Ledger-esque portrayal of the villainous Fisk. There is no excuse here. They just got it wrong.

With that in mind, let's get down to a breakdown of my thoughts by category. On some I won't have much to say, and on some I'll say a lot. I recommend you have the nominations open on a separate tab because I will not list them out for reference. 

Best Drama:  (I refuse to overuse "Outstanding" on every category)These Best Drama titles are pretty true to form. I'm very pleased to see Better Call Saul get a freshman nom it really deserves. I'm not so sure about Homeland. I feel like they've been nominated a lot and no one really ever talks about how good they are. I would have rather seen Bloodline or The Americans get some love here, but it's okay. 

Best Drama Actor/Actress: Did you think last year was tight for Best Actor with Harrelson, Mcconaughey, Stacey and Cranston all going for the top prize? This year will be even crazier! Allow me to explain. This year the nominees are: 

Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul"

Kyle Chandler, "Bloodline" 
Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"
Liev Schriber, "Ray Donovan"

I know nothing about Ray Donovan so I won't talk about it, but I watch all the others to some extent and they're all worthy of the prize. Odenkirk is amazing (as he always is) in Better Call Saul creating a really great character that's still fresh even from the Saul we knew in Breaking Bad. Kyle Chandler does an equally awesome job leading the tense Bloodline through its maze of plots and characters. Kevin Spacey is Kevin Spacey (more doesn’t need to be said). In the case of Jon Hamm and Jeff Daniels, this is there last time to win for the top prize for either Mad Men or The Newsroom respectively. I doubt I’ve ever seen a tighter race for Best Actor regardless of the media. In terms of Best Actress, the only one I've really seen in Robin Wright for House of Cards, but I'm really happy Tatiana Malslany got a nomination after being snubbed last year.

I'm not even going to talk about the miniseries category. It makes me really sad to see the list of names after the greatness that was Fargo and TD (Yes, I know they submitted as Drama last year but this year would have been Miniseries). This year the names are for a bunch of movies and such few people talked about and a ridiculous number of AHS nominations. David Oyelowo will win, and that's all I have to say about that.

Best Comedy: Unnnnnnbreakable! I'm very happy that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (the best comedy in at least 5 years) got rewarded with so much Emmy love! Will it win lots of awards? I don't know. Best Comedy series is a tough race. Silicon Valley got a lot better this season as did Veep (or so I heard). Modern Family was probably really good (because it always is), Parks and Rec is in it's last year, and Transparent has won all the similar awards at other award shows up to this point. I really hope Unbreakable gets this one, because it would validate Netflix as the comedy empire it should be considered (since OITNB is only sort of a comedy anyway). It's a tough and interesting race for sure.

The Best Actress race is interesting too since it pits Amy Shumer (who's exploding like a supernova right now) against long time winner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and hold over, Amy Poehler. Tituss Burgess had better win Best Supporting Actor.

Reality: I don't care in the slightest, but when the Awards roll around, I'll still make a prediction.

Variety Series: Toss up between Colbert and Daily Show since both are ending. You might even see Fallon come in and steal it, but that's unlikely. 

Directing: HOW DID HARDHOME NOT GET NOMINATED FOR BEST DIRECTING WHEN MOTHER'S MERCY AND UNBOWED, UNBENT, UNBROKEN DID!?!?!?!?!?! This is baffling to me and a complete disgrace.

Animation: South Park or Archer deserves to win this year. I've never heard of "Over the Garden Wall" and will investigate.

There are way too many Emmys when you look at all of them, but I'm still excited. If you haven't already you should absolutely watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Better Call Saul. It's a great time for TV. The nominees don't capture all that greatness, so get yourself on Netflix and get watching! 

The Best Pictures of 2014 and Who Needs to See Them

Having finally watched Whiplash, I have seen all the Best Picture nominees from 2014 except Theory of Everything. I promise that I still intend to see this movie, but for today's purposes I will leave it out of the discussion. As an extension of that I will also avoid talking much about acting performances because that was the greatest success in critic minds of Theory of Everything. However, this still leaves us 7 movies to talk about: Birdman, Boyhood, American Sniper, Selma, Whiplash, Imitation Game and Grand Budapest Hotel (did I just rank them for you...? Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't...). This post is part ranking/ part rant and part review. For each movie I will talk about why it was great and deserving of Best Picture Nominee status, and why it fell short of Birdman for the actual award. I'll also slip in comments about how it was snubbed or other things I find noteworthy. Finally for each movie I will state who HAS to see this movie and who SHOULD see this movie. I think I'll talk about them in the order I saw them, just to shake things up*. Also this is part one of a two-part post. I'll cover Boyhood, GBH and Selma today and American Sniper, Whiplash, Imitation Game and Birdman next time.

*Just kidding. I saved Birdman till the end, but other than that, it's in order.

Boyhood

Who Has to See This Movie: People currently between the ages of 18-23.

Who Should See This Movie: Everyone who participated in the 2000s decade and all people who admire accomplishments in filmmaking. 

Boyhood tells the story of a young boy as he grows up from age 5 to age 18. What makes the film remarkable is that it was filmed over that same period of time over something crazy like only 33 days (don't ask me how that's even possible). In this single movie we get to watch this kid and his family and the actors grow up and mature before our very eyes, and that's a rare sight. Despite its amazing achievement, there are times when the acting falls flat and the story isn't much of a story. The movie is about boyhood and the act of growing up. That's a story that needs to be told, but that doesn't mean it's the best story. Either way, I loved this movie. I cried; it inspired me; it captured my childhood (almost like I was watching Pixar or something...). 9/10

Grand Budapest Hotel

Who Has to See This Movie: BIG Wes Anderson fans.

Who Should See This Movie: All Wes Anderson fans.

I'm not a big Wes Anderson fan. I really liked Moonrise Kingdom and really like his movies as a whole, but he's not "one of the best directors" out there today like so many friends and critics say. He's just not. Maybe that's a rank for another day. Here's the rant for today: GBH wasn't that great of a movie but the Academy realized that they stilted Moonrise Kingdom out of accolades and nominations it should have gotten so they compensated and went OVERBOARD with GBH. Yes, the set design should have won. Yes, the costumes should have won, but it had NO business getting a Best Pic nom and Anderson had no business beating out Nolan for a Best Director nom. Thankfully, it lost both (to the deserving Birdman); I would have rioted if GBH had won Best Pic. It's a good movie, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing all that special and definitely not better than Moonrise Kingdom. 7/10

Selma

Who Has to See This Movie: Every American who wasn't alive in the 1960s.

Who Should See This Movie: Every American citizen.

I'm not usually a big fan of biopics because they tend to over-emphasize one person and leave the others as supporting cast at best (I'm looking at you, Lincoln). Selma didn't have that problem. While it is the Martin Luther King Junior movie, it's called SELMA and not MLKJ or something like that. Because this movie is about Selma. It's about the whole of America that rose up to protest injustice in Selma and it couldn't have come at a better time in our country. This is a movie about the dream of MLKJ as acted out by those around around him and parts of America as a whole. It shows us at our best and our worst, but either way it is timely, timeless and inspiring. I will not beat a dead horse, but OBVIOUSLY David Oyelowo deserved a nomination for portraying Martin and Ave Duvernay should have gotten a Director nom (this one I'm less upset about for a lot of reasons, but she was more deserving than Anderson*). 9/10

*It's important to remember that the Best Pic winner almost always has a Best Director nod (this is why everyone was outraged over Affleck's snub for Argo). By not giving Duverney a directorial nod it put Selma lower in the Academy's mind than it should have been. Everyone was actually talking like GBH might WIN and that was because of the director nom. It matters a lot.

I think that's enough to digest for one post but be on the look out for thoughts on the other 4 coming up really soon.