2015: My Year in Music

My favorite way to start a Saturday morning is to hunker down on the couch and watch VH1’s The 20. Two hours of the week’s top 20 music videos. Don’t judge. Of course, I’ve been a little pissy about the weekly countdown since they ousted Jim Shearer as host a year ago, but I can suffer Shannon Coffey to get my weekly dose. This morning, to my dismay, an SNL documentary is in the place where The 20 should be. I’m more than a little thrown off. But the house is quiet and the electric fireplace* is on, so I’ll do my own best-of lists this morning. It’s a good time to reflect on the past year. I love music and I love documentation, so here we go. Best of 2015.

*My birthday gift! It’s bringing me so much joy.

My favorite songs of 2015:
“Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd. No secret, best song of the year. It just burrows in your brain.
“Shut Up and Dance” – Walk the Moon. Best feel-good song of the year. If this song was your introduction to WTM, go back and listen to their self-titled album from a few years ago. Anna Sun. Tightrope. They are so young and yet so 80s.
“Uptown Funk” – Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars. Honestly, I was kinda ‘over’ Bruno Mars. And this song brought me back.
“The Next Storm” – Frank Turner. I’m obsessed. When it gets to the “rejoice, rebuild, the storm has passed” line, my whole body soars a little.
“Love Me Like You Do” – Ellie Goulding. Her voice is so sweet and haunting. I like everything she does.
“Drag Me Down” – One Direction. Heaven help me, I don’t want to like One Direction. I don’t. But their songs are so damn catchy every time. I only know Harry’s name. If you find out that I’ve learned the others’ names, please stage an intervention.
“Stressed Out” – Twenty One Pilots. Trevor says it’s good I like Twenty One Pilots, says it keeps me in touch with the youth.

Albums, wonderful albums. My favorite and most-listened-to this year:
Nate Ruess – Grand Romantic
Hozier – Hozier
The Decemberists – What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
Frank Turner – Positive Songs for Negative People
James Biehn – James Biehn

I can listen to any of these on solid repeat. All day long.

Let’s talk about concerts. Live music done right is so heady and addictive. I was looking back at the concerts we attended this year. We saw 30 or so bands/artists, more than half of them for the first time. One of my very favorite things in life is when a band I’m not familiar with makes me fall in love with them instantly. This is what happened when I first saw Carbon Leaf open for the Goo Goo Dolls about ten years ago. So it’s fitting that I would fall in love with a band that opened at a Carbon Leaf show in Minneapolis this fall. The Accidentals from Traverse City, Michigan, are an indie-folk trio with beautiful voices and an arsenal of stringed instruments. Talented, clever and quirky. Irresistible.

Another concert that caught me by surprise was Cage the Elephant. High energy, super fun, great live band. I’d also never been to the Westfair Amphitheater outside of Council Bluffs, which turned out to be an excellent venue. Trevor and I were just gonna hang back and sit on the grassy hillside “bowl” of the amphitheater, but midway through “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” we were all, “ain’t no way we’re staying back here.” If you go to one of their shows, plan to move in closer.

I can’t decide what my favorite concert of the year was, but Nate Ruess is among the contenders. Frontman of the band Fun, he’s in his element as a solo artist as well. I don’t know that I’ve seen anyone else command the stage like he does, and nobody has a better sense of the downbeat. His whole body drives the beat, and I love that. Dude burns some calories.

Even though I said I can’t decide on my favorite, there was one show in which I might have proclaimed, “This is my favorite concert EVER!” about a hundred times. I can’t believe I finally, FINALLY, got to see Duran Duran. My junior-high crush band. At RED ROCKS. Maybe it was the altitude that contributed to my absolute delirium that night. Transcendant.

Other concerts that bubble up to the top as I think over 2015 include The Decemberists, who always bring perfection in sound and artistry and wit. There are perennial favorites Carbon Leaf and Matt Nathanson, who I have to see at least once a year just to stay alive. I missed seeing Ingrid Michaelson this year, who ranks right up there as well, and I think I might have actually died a little from that omission.

One thing I specifically wanted to do this year was catch more local bands. I’m especially glad I finally got to see Christopher the Conquered at the 80/35 Music Festival. What a great show he put on. Also at 80/35, I wouldn’t have missed seeing Boh Doran. OK, so she no longer lives in Central Iowa, but we still count her as one of our own. Her set still brought the local touch with Will Locker and Ben Mars joining on stage. We also caught James Biehn a couple times – he is an amazing musician and person, and does so much to develop our next generation of musicians. His album was one of my favorites of the year.

I feel a little sad in wrapping this up, because of what is left out. There were other great evenings spent with incredible music, terrific friends, venues both spectacular and seedy. But it’s all good. When we share a glass of Christmas cheer, we’ll talk more about it. And start outlining our concert calendar for 2016.