10. A Portrait of Dissonance as a Young Man – Rye Pines*

The listener doesn’t get much of a breather in Rye Pines’ A Portrait of Dissonance as a Young Man. Every quiet moment on the record is just prelude to a blistering chorus. The lyrics are no less blistering, yet singer Edward Maguire’s wounds are self-inflected. Take the opening line of “Good Health”: “Yea, It’s hard work knowing your worth / Well I got mine, it’s the price of the dirt.”

The rueful nature and the vocal inclinations remind at times of Modest Mouse and meWithoutYou, but the Boston duo carved out a unique space for themselves. They are at times heavier, and more full of rage than those two bands.

The full length debut is a sign of great things to come — and fortunately we won’t have to wait for long, as an EP is due out early next year.
– Jeremy Stanley

9. Rips – Ex Hex

It’s a shame this album didn’t birth itself before I ditched my hairbrush for a 13-year-old boy haircut because Rips is the true embodiment of bedroom daydreamed “’Rockstar’ is my ‘Plan B,’” behavior. Hopefully the number of rambling words in that sentence just serves as further indication.

All twelve tracks present chord progressions so infectious the idea of a “favorite track” can go out the window upon first listen. But don’t worry. That lawn-curated pile of your ex-boyfriend’s stuff will cushion the fall.

Rips. It’s powerhouse, estrogen-y, fun, and well worth that Oxford Comma six words back.
– Becca Degregorio

8. LP1 – FKA Twigs

R&B curio FKA twigs, aka Tahliah Barnett, was one of the most pleasant success stories of this year, bringing an unexpected and incredibly intelligent sound into the mainstream consciousness. Her debut album, LP1, sees the singer’s ethereal voice paired with a host of stoned-out post-dubstep beats to marvelous effect. Barnett’s vocals offer a charming and intriguing mix of assuredness and vulnerability that meshes well with the stripped down, introspective sonics, recalling the early work of both The Weeknd and James Blake. The album feels constantly fresh, though, taking listeners on a wonky, often unsettling trip through an illustratively off-kilter headspace. With this album, Barnett has carved out a definitive space in the synth-R&B movement that’s so popular at the moment- there’s simply no one quite like her.
– George Greenstreet

7. Bury Me at Makeout Creek – Mitski

Like its title acting as an homage to a Simpsons quotation, Mitksi’s Bury Me At Makeout Creek is imbued with nostalgia. Take “Townie,” for example, which recalls a high school party and the conjured image of a “love that falls as fast as a body from a balcony.”

There is beauty in the album’s nuances: the swelling chorus on “Carry Me Out,” for instance, and the close of the searing “Drunk Walk Home,” which features a crash of noise that reveals itself to be, among a haze of distortion, Mitski yelling upon repeat listens.

The heart of the album is Mitski’s songwriting, though, which is deeply personal and genuine. When you strip the production and the instrumentation away, as Mitski did when she played a house show in Oak Square recently, the songs stand on their own just as well. And that’s the hallmark of a truly great album.
– Jeremy Stanley

 6. N.A.P. – Juan Wauters

When Juan Wauters broke apart from garage-folk act The Beets, it was unclear where his solo route would lead him. Fortunately, his debut album, N.A.P. North American Poetry, showed him walking forward with a full heart and doe-eyed wonder. His acoustic numbers are strongest when bare, as if Wauters is sitting on his back porch, mumbling words from memory that slip through the floor’s cracks to let passerbys join him in contemplation. There’s an innocence at the album’s core that will draw you in the moment you lower your walls. How could you not when Wauters is there, ready to give you a hug?
– Nina Corcoran