BACK IN THE SADDLE/WORLD SERIES OF ROCK/TOP TEN OF 2015
2015 wasn't a bad year for The Royal Basement, by any means. I've had some inspiring chats with some incredible folks. I've taken a "news" hiatus over the last few months due to busy times with various holidays, other projects (working on an album, playing drums with Ghost Pains) and a pretty intense trip to Kansas City for most of the month of October to catch a Boys Life reunion and ending with a Kansas City Royals World Series victory. I was lucky enough to watch all of the ALCS and World Series back in my hometown of Kansas City, surrounded by the absolutely insane and exhausting energy of playoff baseball and mounds of fantastic Kansas City barbecue. (I was in KC for 18 days, and I believe I had various forms of BBQ for 15 meals over the course of those 18 days, cholesterol be damned.) Basically, normal life stopped for a good portion of the month of October, and baseball took over. Tears were shed, and my beloved Royals won the World Series. Writing that still doesn't even feel real.
2015 was a pretty grand year for musical output, as well. While I can't say that any records I've heard this year were life-defining records (those come fewer and farther between after your 20's), I'm thrilled with the wide range of things that fell into my ears this year. I found myself with a list of about 40 things that I had spent varying degrees of significant time with, trying to whittle them down to a nice round "top ten". Here's what I came up with.
THE ROYAL BASEMENT'S TOP TEN RECORDS OF 2015
(in no particular order)
10. The Velvet Teen - All Is Illusory (Topshelf)
9. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style (Matador)
8. Here We Go Magic - Be Small (Secretly Canadian)
7. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love (Jagjaguwar)
6. Major Games - Major Games (self-released)
5. Swervedriver - I Wasn't Born To Lose You (Cobraside)
4. Swami John Reis & The Blind Shake - Modern Surf Classics (Swami)
3. Sam Cohen - Cool It (Easy Sound)
2. The Dodos - Individ (Polyvinyl)
1. Dungen - Allas Sak (Mexican Summer)