After a bit of delay in the new year, Run Oregon Tunes is back for my 2015 January Spotify playlist. If you follow this feature, you may notice that I have moved over to Spotify (from Rdio). I have liked this changed and interface, though it is taking some getting used to. But here goes nothing.
The first month of the year always feels to follow the same pattern to me. The first week is really slow, with artists and listeners alike dealing with a holiday letdown. Artists don’t want to have their music get lost as people are wrapping up their parties and mentally preparing to go back to work for a long non-holiday stretch. The second week typically includes some lesser known artists trying to release on a day that won’t offer much in way of mainstream competition. I always find that week to be very solid, even if the artists are small. Starting with week three, some bigger artists start to come out of the woodworks and make their releases available to the masses. This January was no different.
The first Tuesday of January was almost a throwaway week with nothing really worthwhile being released. I did find a little diamond in the rough (though MetaCritic scores would state otherwise), in Catfish and the Bottlemen. Given the way the calendar shook up though, there was no other major substance being released until almost halfway through the month (1/13).
That week found my little gems of Coasts, Lapsley, and Panda Bear. Megan Trainer (All About That Bass…you know), actually released her debut album on the 13th as well. This seemed sort of odd because I feel like that song has been around FOREVER. Can’t. Stop. Singing. Ugh.
The third week found me relaxing to some alt-country by Ryan Bingham, radio pop by Fall Out Boy, and Indie-faithfuls Night Terrors of 1927 and Belle & Sebastian. The final week of the calendar brought on more alt-country by the Lone Bellow, and my favorite rapping group Doomtree. I also added an Angus and Julia Stone quasi-release – a 4 song Spotify Sessions musical masterpiece. I love this brother/sister combo and this cover of Sam Smith’s Grammy-winning song Stay With Me.
All things considered, Janarury 2015 has been a solid month of new music. I’m excited to see where the rest of the year leads.
