They Not Like Us

Country and Rap

Not Like Us

Trailer's 23 Favorite Albums of the Decade

23 Favorite Albums of the Decade (2010-2019)

I meant to post this at the end of last year with blurbs and whatnot, but it did not happen. 

1. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

2. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle

3. Tyler Childers - Purgatory

4. The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch

5. Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear

6. John Moreland - In the Throes

7. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

8. Turnpike Troubadours - Diamonds & Gasoline

9. Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song

10. Brandy Clark - 12 Stories

11. Run the Jewels - RTJ

12. James McMurtry - Complicated Game

13. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

14. Kendrick Lamar - good Kid, M.A.A.D. City

15. Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street

16. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

17. Jamie Lin Wilson - Jumping Over Rocks

18. Run the Jewels - RTJ2

19. Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else

20. Chris Stapleton - Traveler

21. Cody Jinks - Adobe Sessions

22. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere

23. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden

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Honorable Mentions: Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain, Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park, Cody Jinks - I’m Not the Devil, Turnpike Troubadours - A Long Way From Your Heart, Kellie Pickler - 100 Proof, Mike & The Moonpies - Cheap Silver, Turnpike Troubadours -s/t, Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings, Ruston Kelly - Dying Star, Brandi Carlile - By the Way I Forgive You, Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - There is a Bomb in Gilead, Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day, Lucero - Among the Ghosts, Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial, Gojira - Magma, Colter Wall -s/t. 

Music Snob Decides Music is Just Too Mainstream

Local music snob Edward Nickels has come to the realization that music is just too mainstream for him. After years of increasingly obscure taste in tunes, he finds that nothing rises to his preferred level of weird and unlistenable anymore.

"I just find it so passé." Edward told us, "The combining of sounds to produce harmony and form? I mean, other people find enjoyment in that sort of thing." Nickels explained his progression from enjoying pop music as a child, to indie rock as a teen, alt-country and drone metal in college, and on to even more unconventional genres in later life.

"I discovered the indie-post-metal-spoon-jazz scene in Austin and that was great for a while." explained Nickels, "All eight of us were really into it, but once Jerry brought two more friends to a show, I was over it." He says he then moved on to "glump," a genre where the artists engage in rhythmic pillow fights: "That was cool until somebody started a blog about it."

Edward bemoaned the lack of experimentation and uniqueness in modern-day music. "Everything is just so boring." he carped, "Chord progressions and melodies are so quotidian. Aural indulgence has become so plebeian." 

"Guys my age are all into stuff like Jason Isbell or Kendrick Lamar - I mean can you imagine?" laughed Nickels. "It's just embarrassing to react on an emotional level to sounds and words put together in 'pleasing' arrangements." 

At press time, Edward said he was exploring the "clatter" genre - people just throwing pans and hammers and stuff against walls - to see if there was still any feeling of desire left in him for auditory sensation. 

DAMN.

Yesterday, the album cover for Kendrick Lamar's new album Damn. was released and it quickly became a meme. Of course we had to get in on that.

Kendrick's album cover

Every Major Music Festival This Year

or "Just Another Excuse to Make Fun of Indie Band Names"

FTM's Top 20 Songs of 2015

20. Jonathan Tyler (with Nikki Lane) - To Love is to Fly

19. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - S.O.B.

18. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

17. Jamie Lin Wilson - Seven Year Drought

16. Allison Moorer - If I Were Stronger

15. John Moreland - White Flag

14. Darrell Scott - Thanksgiving 1985

13. Benton Leachman - Lonely

12. Ray Wylie Hubbard - Stone Blind Horses

11. Anderson East - What a Woman Wants to Hear

10. Chris Stapleton - Fire Away

9. Father John Misty - The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.

8. Ashley Monroe - Bombshell

7. Whitey Morgan - Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue

6. Wrinkle Neck Mules - Beehive

5. Hailey Whitters - Low All Afternoon

4. Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen - El Dorado

3. The Honeycutters - Me Oh My

2. Baroness - Chlorine & Wine

1. Turnpike Troubadours - The Bird Hunters

FTM's 10 Favorite Songs of 2015 So Far

In no particular order.

John Moreland - White Flag

Wrinkle Neck Mules - Beehive

Whitey Morgan - Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue

Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

The Honeycutters - Me Oh My

Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen - El Dorado

Benton Leachman - Lonely

Darrell Scott - Thanksgiving 1985

Father John Misty - The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.

Chris Stapleton - Fire Away

These and many other good songs from 2015 are included on this Spotify playlist:

Saturday Night Music: Kendrick Lamar

Here's the very 90's-esque video for "King Kunta," from Kendrick's critically acclaimed new album To Pimp a Butterfly.

(NSFW)

Best Albums of 2015 So Far: 1st Quarter Report

My actual "Best of 2015" list includes four albums not yet released, but since this is labeled as the "1st Quarter Report," I decided to stay true to the title and not include those four. However, you should know that my favorite album I've heard this year is actually Whitey Morgan's Sonic Ranch ...and by a long shot. It comes out in May. But here's the list of my favorite albums released thus far in 2015.

 1. Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear

2. J.D. McPherson - Let the Good Times Roll

 3. Blackberry Smoke - Holding All the Roses

 4. American Aquarium - Wolves

5. James McMurtry - Complicated Game

6. Wrinkle Neck Mules - I Never Thought It Would Go This Far

 7. Allison Moorer - Down to Believing

 8. JEFF the Brotherhood - Wasted on the Dream

 9. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

10. Butch Walker - Afraid of Ghosts

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11. Benton Leachman - Bury the Hatchet

12. Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside

13. Houndmouth - Little Neon Limelight

14. The Delta Routine - You and Your Lion

15. The Lone Bellow - Then Came the Morning

16. The Mavericks - Mono

17. Aaron Watson - The Underdog

18. Ryan Bingham - Fear and Saturday Night

19. Striking Matches - Nothing But the Silence

20. Gurf Morlix - Eatin' at Me

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Yet to hear or need to hear more of: Gretchen Peters - Blackbirds, Jackson Taylor - Cantina del Diablo, Haley Cole - Illusions, Great Lake Swimmers - A Forest of Arms, Joe Pug - Windfall, Willie & the Giant - s/t, JJ Grey & Mofro - Ol' Glory, Brandi Carlile - The Firewatcher's Daughter, No Dry County - The Night Before, Cody Jinks - Adobe Sessions.