I'm about to spend the next week telling you all about how you're incredibly wrong, I'm incredibly right, the music you listen to is terrible, and that my music is infinitely better... but know that I feel terrible about it. I feel this way, because while I inherently know that I'm right in my stance, I've done a terrible job this year of keeping the world informed of my superior ears and opinion and as such, this week and these posts will truly come as a shock to you.
But bear with with me... Evil Shananigans is not dead... just bloodied in a gutter somewhere.
Still, that's never stopped me from dusting off the 'ol keyboard and proclaiming my auditory superiority over all of you. In short, happy holidays, and enjoy the tunes.
As is tradition, the first Shanie of 2015 goes to our Rookie of the year. While there were a ton of great albums that came out this year, the rookie was a no-brainer. Normally, while I love to give this award to some up and coming band to highlight them, 2015 will be the year of the juggernaut.
Dan Auerbach's latest side project The Arcs put forth the kind of album that I've been missing from the Keys since Brothers, but also went in a very different direction. While The Black Keys are typically a riff on the blues, Yours, Dreamily was essentially a soul album. It had some unquestionably trademark Auerbach feels to it, however, showed the kind of songwriting and recording progression of a seasoned vet. You could just as easily take Dan's signature, sweet vocals off this record and give these backs to the likes of Leon Bridges or Aloe Blacc and it would fit like a glove.
A few of the tracks definitely pull out more of the rocker feel that we know and love the Keys for, however, others like Put a Flower in Your Pocket or the album's first single Stay in my Corner are beautiful, slow burns that feature weighty bass lines that pull your ears in and snuggle you close. It's an album that got saw a ridiculous amount of play this fall and that was fitting for countless different moods and moments.
-Try to keep my lies of the whitest white, rolling words I write off this surrenderer's tongue
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