Listening Habits 2015 08-09

As September comes to an end, we are taking another look at the ten albums we've listened to the most as the summer ends and autumn begins:

"Currents", the third full-length by Kevin Parker's Tame Impala, was the album that you had to hear this summer and continued to be the most played LP in C.M.C. headquarters during September, as its intoxicating mix of psychedelic melodies and dance-influenced rhythms kept working its magic. A sonic sculpture that takes Tame Impala to the next level.

Talking about magic, we think it's a must to do yourself a favor and spend sometime in the company of "The Expanding Flower Planet", the debut solo album by Angel Deradoorian. We already knew that the former Dirty Projectors bassist possessed a wonderful singing voice and now we are finding out that she is also a great songwriter, capable of creating an extraordinary universe of enchanting, mystic melodies. All ten songs on the album offer unique sonic experiences, but I have to single out "A Beautiful Woman" as one of the best tracks I had the pleasure of listening to this year.

In the top-three we also have the much anticipated return of Dan Bejar's Destroyer with album number ten, the excellent "Poison Season". The successor to "Kaputt" continues to mine the same rich vein of '70s and '80s soft rock and pop nuggets, crafting another nostalgic sounding collection of songs that exist in a time and place of their own creation. You walk in thinking you are traveling back to a familiar sound from the past, but unexpected twists and turns in your every step will lead you to somewhere new, familiar yet so different from what you remembered.

Our Top 10 also includes Sleaford Mods' latest punk-hop assault, the gospel - soul - hip hop influenced rock sound of Algiers, Eleventh Dream Day's return to action, Foals' epic-sounding fourth album, the buzzing garage-punk of Australia's Royal Headache, Telepathe's long overdue sophomore work and last, but not least, the triple compilation "Volume" by Leeds post-punk cult heroes The Three Johns, including all their singles and the two excellent LPs ("Atom Drum Bop" and "The World by Storm") they released between 1982 and 1987 - the very definition of a blast from the past!

Top 10 Albums

1.  Currents - TAME IMPALA
2.  The Expanding Flower Planet - DERADOORIAN
3.  Poison Season - DESTROYER
4.  Key Markets - SLEAFORD MODS
5.  Algiers - ALGIERS
6.  Works For Tomorrow - ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
7.  What Went Down - FOALS
8.  High - ROYAL HEADACHE
9.  Destroyer - TELEPATHE
10. Volume - THE THREE JOHNS

Top 10 Tracks

1.  A Beautiful Woman - DERADOORIAN
2.  Let It Happen - TAME IMPALA
3.  Times Square - DESTROYER
4.  It's Time For Fun - GOAT
5.  Irony.Utility.Pretext. - ALGIERS
6.  Throw Away This - TELEPATHE
7.  Arabia - SLEAFORD MODS
8.  What Went Down - FOALS
9.  Works For Tomorrow - ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
10. Another World - ROYAL HEADACHE

Destroyer - Times Square