Top Album of 2015: You’re Better Than This by Pile
Artwork by Adric Giles and Ethan Long
January 4, 2016
My Top Album of 2015
Honorable Mentions: Blistered by Woozy, Summertime 06 by Vince Staples, Foil Deer by Speedy Ortiz, Surf by Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, Feels Like by Bully, Ugly Cherries by PWR BTTM, Guilty by Dirty Dishes, To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, The Most Lamentable Tragedy by Titus Andronicus, A Distant Fist Unclenching by Krill, Is Stupider by Stove
You’re Better Than This by Pile
The first week this album came out, I listened to it two times a day. Within three months of its release I had already listened to it 109 times, and I have listened to it even more since then. Needless to say, I really love this album. As a whole, I really love the band Pile. Their album Dripping was a revelation to me; its bizarre chords, grizzled guitar tones and deviation from typical song structures blew my mind and changed the way I write and listen to music. They were the first band in years that I truly loved.
After discovering Dripping in November of 2014, I awaited their new album with bated breath. I had seen hints and glimmers of information before finally seeing the official announcement: their next album would be released on March 2, 2015. I was hyped. In the hopes that I might be able to listen to it before I went to sleep, I stayed up late the night before, wishing that it would be added to Spotify closely after midnight; sadly, it was not. However, the stars aligned the next morning. My French teacher had forgotten the work we were supposed to do that day in class, and I had downloaded the album that morning before I went to school. I pressed play on the first track, and was immediately thrown into what would consume my next few weeks.
Describing this album, or even Pile in general, can be a difficult task. While yes, it’s easy to explain them in terms of tone or general structure, it’s hard to describe the specific feeling they give you. The best Pile songs do not feel like someone putting on a performance or just singing around you; instead, it feels like a friend comforting you when you need it. However, whereas Dripping still had some semblances of traditional rock and roll songs (4/4 time signature, guitar solos, etc.), You’re Better Than This seems to throw those away. In the grand tradition of In Utero, Pinkerton, and (to a lesser extent) To Pimp a Butterfly, it is the sound of someone reacting to their fame by running away from it, digging a dark hole to put themselves in.
As a reflection of this, You’re Better Than This is full of sharp ends and quick turns; the songs here are like an untrained horse, constantly throwing you off just when you think you have found the groove. The lyrics are often unintelligible (frontman Rick Maguire tends to bury his vocals in the mix), but the few audible words speak of pain and of growth, of love and of loss.
To me, the centerpiece of the album is towards the end on the penultimate track “Yellow Room.” The song immediately has an air of melancholy to it, with gentle guitar strumming happening before the song really kicks in. The drums are not gentle persay, but they are certainly less bombastic than on the other tracks, and while the guitar still skronks a few off notes, it somehow feels more sedated and serene. The song does shift dynamically; it builds and gets louder and employs Maguire’s hoarse shout, but it never feels angry. If anything, it feels more like crying. The follow up “Appendicitis” is a bit more of an upper, but it’s more of a peace you find after you have been through the worst, the calm after the storm.
And then there is the hidden track. “Rock and Roll Forever with the Customer in Mind” is everything that people were sure to miss from Dripping; it is, quite literally, about two minutes of guitar solos followed by some mumbled lyrics and a rushed ending. It is a joke at the end of a sad speech, it is a wry smile following a confessional. It was the only way the album could have ended.
While there were many other great albums this year, along with some ones I am sure people would have rather me put as my number one, nothing has been able to displace this. It’s a weird emotional outburst of a record, and there is absolutely nothing else like it. If there truly is something better than this in store for Pile, I cannot wait to hear it.
