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Cocco, Beatrice

Cocco’s first four albums loom pretty large over her discography, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing her subsequent works to that early corpus. That said, Beatrice harkens back to the storminess of Rapunzel and has some of the catchiest songs she’s written since Emerald.

John Zorn, Simulacrum

Leave it to John Zorn to devise a hardcore jazz ensemble consisting of organ, guitar and drums, with the organ part played by John Medeski or Medeski, Martin and Woods.

Tyler Childers, Rustlin’ in the Rain

I’ll admit the video for “In Your Love” drew my attention to Childers, but I also love the concept behind this album: pitching modern day songs to Elvis Presley.

Onitsuka Chihiro, UN AMNESIAC GIRL -First Code 2000-2003-

No era of Onitsuka Chihiro’s career has been as thoroughly mined as her first three albums. With each jump to a new label — from EMI to Universal to Victor — a new compilation comes out to remind listeners what Onitsuka produced in those early years. This latest boxed set compiles Insomnia, This Armor and Sugar High along with B-sides and non-album singles. I didn’t pick up This Armor when it was first released, so it’s nice to have a physical copy.

Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope

It seemed like the band wandered a bit after Janet Weiss’ departure before finding their footing again on Little Rope. It sucks that it came in the wake of tremendous loss for Carrie Brownstein.

Ms. Dynamite, A Little Deeper

I remember seeing this album all over the UK press back in 2002, and I understand now why that was so.

Tiffany Poon, Diaries: Schumann

Poon has such an enthusiasm for the works of Robert Schumann that it spurred me to take out the Album for the Young and learn a few of the pieces geared for adults. Beethoven’s shadow looms over Schumann, but his works have fleeting moments of spice that hint at the coming dissolution of harmony later in the 19th Century. But Poon is not concerned about that future past. She just wants listeners to love Schumann as much as she does.

Kim Gordon, The Collective

I love that Gordon wanted to make this album more “beat-oriented.” I wonder sometimes if this album is what clipping ought to sound like.

Descendants, Milo Goes to College

How much more punk can you get with a 15-track album that totals 22 minutes in length? None. None more punk.

Tags: cocco, descendents, john zorn, kim gordon, ms dynamite, onitsuka chihiro, picks, purchase log, sleater-kinney, tiffany poon, tyler childers