1. Javelin by Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens has been through a lot. The news that Sufjan was grappling with a diagnosis of an auto-immune disorder and the death of his partner broke very shortly before Javelin came out. Loss, desperation and insecurity plagues Stevens throughout his discography, but in Javelin the songs are brought closer to reality than ever before by the news about Stevens. In Javelin, Stevens peels open wounds and patches them up with song.
2. Zach Bryan by Zach Bryan
This would mark the third time I’ve mentioned Zach Bryan in a Lamar Life article this year. He can engrain his music in your mind long after you’ve listened to it. Zach Bryan, his self-titled fourth album is brimming with pain, but the vulnerability, warmth and musical reverie he brings to the toils of our world allow his audience to heal alongside him.
3. Desire I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Palochek
Even after co-heading a successful indie-pop duo, songwriting for Beyonce and being featured on the soundtrack of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Caroline Palochek hadn’t yet lived up to the potential of her stardom. In February, she released Desire I Want To Turn Into You, and finally laid claim to the fame she was always destined for. The album provides a blast of energy and inventiveness to the pop genre complete with songs just as likely to be radio hits as they are to be the favorite of the most pretentious person you know.
4. Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard by Lana Del Rey
How do you talk about Lana Del Rey? Her voice and songwriting ability have permeated culture to such a degree that everyone has heard her name. You know her sound, reputation and perspective, which feel unique to her and inseparable from her name. This album furthers her quest to chart an introspection as rooted in the imagery of America in her own life and defines an important American artists of the decade.
5. Burning Desire by MIKE
Although you may not have heard of MIKE, MIKE released the most creative hip-hop album of the year. The easiest way to sell the album would be to say that it features Earl Sweatshirt. If you have any interest in the 90’s sounds of east coast acts like the Beastie Boys or Nas reworked with more modern experiments, you may find something in Burning Desire.
