Justin's Favorite Albums and Songs of 2015

As with any year in music, honesty is what makes an album stick. Sometimes that honesty is brutal. Torres' Sprinter, my favorite record of the year, tears her religious upbringing to shreds as she builds her new identify. Here her raw screams live hammered home the point. Björk chronicled her breakup with long-time partner Matthew Barney in ways that made me cringe and cry.

Other times honesty is joyful. Daddy Issues took not giving a fuck to another level and spoke their own truth without a care of who was listening. John Darnielle reveled in his love of professional wrestling with an entire album about it. It's not a passion I share, but his enthusiasm had me wanting to jump off the top rope.

Chuck Johnson & Daniel Bachman share two sides of solo guitar at The Pinhook

All photos by Justin Weber

If you’re a fan of American primitive guitar music, there might not be a better place to be than Durham, NC at the moment. With The Pinhook regularly booking solo guitar acts and NC labels like Three Lobed, Bathetic Records and even Merge putting out solo guitar albums, fans from outside the area must be looking at the Bull City thinking we’re spoiled.

Chuck Johnson and Daniel Bachman certainly did nothing to change that assessment. Both played short sets — the show started around 9:20 and was over by 11 p.m. — but showed the breadth of the genre.