My Year in Music

It has been a great year in music for me and below you’ll find the newest additions to my play list sourced from my “What I’m listening to” section on my varia and quick hits.

No huge upgrades to the stereo this year (yet), but two are on the way in the next week. My biggest change to my system this year is a subscription to TIDAL for full CD quality streaming which I use constantly (but hasn’t necessarily impacted my purchasing of albums). In my office, I stream to a little Audioquest Dragon fly DAC or to a Schiit Modi DAC into my vintage Marantz 2235B amplifier. On the road (or when I’m in the headphone zone) I use a pair of Audeze EL-8 closed-backed headphones and a now discontinued ALO RX MkIII B+ amp. On my main system, I got a AURALiC Ares Mini for Christmas to handle streaming TIDAL there.

All this gear supposed a new list of fun (and rediscovered) music over the last year. Hope you can find something in the list that’s new to you and enjoyable!

Check out my 2014 and 2013 years in music here and here. 

Duke Ellington, Afro BossaAtlas, Real EstateD’Angelo and the Vanguards, Black MessiahBill Evans Trio, Complete 1961 Village Vanguard SessionsWilliam Onyeabor, Who Is William Onyeabor?Sleater-Kinney, No Cities to LoveHalf Japanese, Volume 2: 1987-1989 (Music to Strip by, Charmed Life, The Band That Would Be King)Natalie Prass, Natalie PrassThe JB’s, We are the J.B.’sChick Corea, TrilogyViet Cong, Viet CongFather John Misty, I Love You, HoneybearPhosphorescent, Live at the Music HallThe Wave Pictures, If You Leave it AloneDonald Byrd, Chant—, At the Half Note CafeCourtney Barnett, A Sea of Split PeasMatthew E. White, Fresh BloodGlen Hansard, It Was Triumph We Once ProposedCourtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just SitBig Jon Atkinson, Boogie With You BabyMiles Davis, Original Mono RecordingsWaxahatchee, Ivy TrippMandalynne Panic, I Sense HarmAlabama Shakes, Sound and ColorThe Wave Pictures, Long Black Cars—,Great Big Flamingo Burning MoonNeil Young, Live at the Cellar DoorNeil Young, Live at Massey Hall 1971Tame Impala, CurrentsMac Demarco, Another OneDavid Cloud, Today is the Day that They Take Me AwayJason Isbell, Something More Than FreeNeil Young, Everybody Knows This is NowhereNeil Young, After the Gold RushFreddie Hubbard, Straight Life All Dogs, Kicking Every DayEmpress of, MeLou Barlow, Brace the WaveKeith Richards, Crosseyed HeartLow, Ones and SixesRyan Adams, 1989Teen Men, Teen MenThe Dead Weather, Dodge and BurnChristian Scott, Anthem Christian Scott, Stretch MusicAhmad Jamal, At the Pershing, but not for me Ahmad Jamal, Ahmad’s BluesYouth Lagoon, Savage Hills BallroomBeach House, Thank Your Lucky StarsBuilt to Spill, There’s Nothing Wrong with Love Antonio Carlos Jobim, Wave Deerhunter, Fading FrontierFloating Points, ElaeniaTapper Zukkie Man Ah WarriorVarious Artists, Ork Records: New York, New YorkAllen Toussaint, Southern Nights; Life—, Love and Faith—, Bright Mississippi. Paquito D’Rivera, Portraits of CubaGloria Ann Taylor, Love is a Hurtin’ ThingNeil Young, On the BeachFrank Sinatra, A Jolly Christmas from Frank SinatraNat King Cole, The Christmas AlbumBing Crosby, Merry ChristmasVarious Artists, A Christmas Gift to you from Phil Spector.