Top 10 of 2015

Apologies for my hiatus — I needed to turn into an elf for Santa for a couple of weeks. That and my physical exhaustion after teaching for most of a semester (my annual facial tick is gradually dying) made writing…

Mandy Rowden — These Bad Habits

Since I’ve mentioned it a few times in previous posts, I’d like the record to show that nobody has stepped forward to claim that they, too, have written a country song about U-Hauling. Ergo, mine is the first, only, and…

Birdcloud — Tetnis

In my quest to prove that I had indeed written the world’s first country song about U-Hauling, my spirit animal @NashvilleRage (who hates the town as much as I do, but they live there and I was only there for…

Two Nice Girls — 2 Nice Girls

I wanted to take this brief opportunity to unearth some minutiae of queer and indie rock history. A few months ago, I proudly declared on Facebook that I had written the world’s first country song about U-Hauling. One of my…

Anna Wallis and Raymond Anderson

Adobe & Teardrops favorite Cotton has recently launched his own label, One Horse Records. The first two releases, ahead of his forthcoming album, were recorded in his living room. The first, Anna Wallis’ Pop Abuse, is a quirky little single…

Lana McMullen — Traveling Light

Traveling Light, Lana McMullen’s evocative debut, is a collection of quiet epics — six songs that are never shorter than four minutes. Each track is a thoughtfully crafted piece, devoted to complex characters. McMullen, whose operatic training adds a sense…

The Mekons and Robbie Fulks — Jura

If you’re reading this, you’re probably not checking out Record Store Day. It’d behoove you to do so, because then you can buy the Mekons and Robbie Fulks’ latest collaboration, Jura. For me, this is my introduction to both artists.…