Listening Habits 03-04.2016

The five years we had to wait from 2011's masterpiece "Let England Shake" to this year's "The Hope Six Demolition Project" is the longest between-albums period in PJ Harvey's astounding  24-year trajectory. It was certainly worth the wait as the new album may not achieve the impossible, which would be to surpass a record that stands among the best of this decade and is certainly one of Harvey's finest hours, but it does accomplish the next best thing; to be its worthy successor and another fascinating chapter in Harvey's ever-changing, constantly evolving musical career.

As on her previous album, PJ Harvey once again structures her songs as musical documentaries. The focus this time has shifted from the devastation of war and the tragedies it has caused in the last hundred or so years of English history and turns to the harsh social and political realities of today's world. Travels to far and wide places, from Washington, to Kosovo, to Afghanistan, provide the themes for her rock reportage, while the lyrics try to describe the hard facts adopting a journalistic approach. With a body of songs with such a difficult subject matter, the challenging task of the music is not only to convey the sentiments of its creator about the societal ills described in the lyrics, but also to give the artistic strength to the songs to become powerful, moving experiences. PJ Harvey and her stellar cast of musical accomplices have once again succeeded in taking on this challenge and as a result you'll probably find yourself humming along to lyrics like "Here's the highway to death and destruction, South Capitol is its name" or "They're gonna put a Walmart here" like it's the most natural thing in the world.

Our list of favorite albums for Spring 2016 also includes the mighty fourth full-length by psychedelic heavy rockers Black Mountain (another welcome return after a six year period), the third and best effort so far by Boston psych-rockers Quilt, the experimental electro-folk concocted by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down with the help of Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus who produced their fourth LP, Poliça's politically charged "United Crushers", the third LP by the Minneapolis synthpop group led by Ryan Olson and Channy Leaneagh, the return of Animal Collective and The Last Shadow Puppets, as well as the fine debuts by New York-based indie-rockers Sunflower Bean and Mass Gothic (the new group led by Noel Heroux, formerly of Hooray For Earth). Here's the complete list of our favorite albums and songs for March - April 2016:

Top 12 Albums

1.  The Hope Six Demolition Project - PJ HARVEY
2.  IV - BLACK MOUNTAIN
3.  Plaza - QUILT
4.  A Man Alive - THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN
5.  United Crushers - POLIÇA

6.  Painting With - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
7.  Mass Gothic - MASS GOTHIC
8.  Human Ceremony - SUNFLOWER BEAN
9.  Everything You've Come To Expect - THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
10. Life Of Pause - WILD NOTHING
11. SVIIB - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
12. Pool - PORCHES

Top 15 Tracks

1.  Florian Saucer Attack - BLACK MOUNTAIN
2.  Roller - QUILT
3.  Wedding - POLIÇA
4.  The Community Of Hope - PJ HARVEY
5.  Nobody Dies - THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN
6.  Every Night You’ve Got To Save Me - MASS GOTHIC
7.  Wall Watcher - SUNFLOWER BEAN
8.  Aviation - THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
9.  TV Queen - WILD NOTHING
10. Be Apart - PORCHES
11. Confusion - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
12. Vertical - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
13. I Serve The Base - FUTURE
14. Psykick Espionage - JOANNA GRUESOME
15. Late 20s - BEST COAST

Listen to our Spring '16 playlist on Spotify:

Black Mountain - Florian Saucer Attack

Nothing compares to Prince, though, so here's a little something from his untouchable '80s period - R.I.P:

Prince And The Revolution - Let's Go Crazy