Happy 10th Anniversary to Bop English - Constant Bop

Today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bop English's, Constant Bop. 

The only record (that RtBE knows of) released by White Denim frontman James Petralli under this alter ego and now that White Denim is basically a solo project, it is doubtful anymore Bop English albums show up!  RtBE loves this album, rating it as our favorite of 2015 and it made our list of the favorites of the past decade. 

2015 Recap: Favorite Albums, Shows, Etc

With all the hectic happenings at the end of the year, things can be missed. This is just a catch up post to point out a few of our favorite things from 2015 that shouldn't go unnoticed. There were many strong releases, great live shows, amazing musical moments....2016 has a lot to live up to.

 In case you missed it here are our Best of 2015 series of posts...

Our picks for best album art of 2015, where we check out some creative album art from the last year.

Our picks for best live show of 2015, what an amazing year for live tunes...all of these were jaw dropping nights in their own ways.

Finally our one, two, three, part picks for best albums of 2015.  Again all of these are fantastic and worth your time and attention.

Feel free to let us know your choices in the comments and thanks as always for reading and exploring...as the patron saint of this blog stated:

What are those of the known, but to ascend and enter the Unknown? 

Year In Review 2015- Top Ten Albums Part 3

Another great year is finishing up for @RockBodElec and we wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE Presents the Best of 2015 Top Ten Albums numbers 5-1:

Gameday Indeed!

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album either on the site or somewhere else we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, just click on the name and title and you can read it.  RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20 so expect some overlap. 

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but full releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle or singles for us. Personally we released an acoustic based EP this year, but we will graciously remove ourselves from the rankings however, you can gave it a listen or download it for free.

Today we finish our top ten, in retrospect it was a year with a lot of good albums but few great ones, sorta like 2011 which overall was the weakest year of releases since we started this site. Last year we had a dog fight at the top and honestly any in the 2014 top five would have been in the peak slot this go around. (If you missed them, Part 1 and Part 2)

Our top ten for 2015 is filled with pop, acoustic, cover songs, noise, punk and a very healthy sprinkling of female artists so click the Read More to dive into things

Year in Review 2015- Top 10 Albums Part 2

Another great year is finishing up for @RockBodElec and we wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE Presents the Best of 2015 Top Ten Albums numbers 10-6:

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album either on the site or somewhere else we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, just click on the name and title and you can read it.  RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on the their Top 20 so expect some overlap. 

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but full releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle or singles for us. Personally we released an acoustic based EP this year, but we will graciously remove ourselves from the rankings however, you can gave it a listen or download it for free.

Last year we had a dog fight at the top and honestly any in the 2014 top five would have been in the peak slot this go around.

Our top ten for 2015 is filled with pop, acoustic, cover songs, noise, punk and a very healthy sprinkling of female artists so click the Read More to dive into things

Year In Review 2015- Favorite Live Show

The live show is a slippery thing. There are lots of variables at play, most having little to do with the performance itself.  Does the venue have enough bathrooms?  Is it going to rain?  What day of the week is it on?  Did I have a shitty day at work before hand?  Did tickets cost waaay too much? All of this effects one's opinion of a live show before the band even tunes up and with reason, but when the stars align, there is no place RtBE would rather be then in the moment of magic occurring spontaneously from the stage.

Live Music Has No Equal.   

While we can't see every show that is out there, we try our hardest to see as many as we can (and more then most) here at RtBE.  Sure there are a few left in the calendar year, (we are even playing one Friday) but for now, here is a listing of of the best concerts we were fortunate enough to have seen in 2015. Also because who doesn't love arbitrary rankings, one show at the bottom  took the top prize as RtBE's 2015 Show of the Year. To continue our Best of 2015 just click that Read More button and get started

Year in Review 2015- Top 10 Albums Part 1 (The Just Misses & Let Downs)

Another great year is finishing up for @RockBodElec and we wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE Presents the Best of 2015 Top Ten Albums: The Just Misses & Let Downs:

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album either on the site or somewhere else we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, just click on the name and title and you can read it.  RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on the their Top 20 so expect some overlap. 

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but full releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle or singles for us. Personally we released an acoustic based EP this year, but we will graciously remove ourselves from the rankings however, you can gave it a listen or download it for free.

Today we are going to focus on the "Just Misses" of our top 10 and unfortunately the "Let Downs" released this year. Obviously these are just our personal preferences, feel free to voice your opinion in the comments.  Expect installment 2 (#10-6) soon, but for now click on the jump:

Year In Review 2015- Best Album Art

We kick off our Year in Review section of 2015 with a favorite feature in the Best of... area, Album Art.  Like in years past we will be choosing our Best Albums of the Year, a few we were underwhelmed with and our favorite show. Today we are starting out by judging books (records) by their covers (vinyl sleeves, jackets, digital pics, etc). We are going to support the creative minds behind the Best Album Art Work of 2015

The biggest gripe RtBE has with digital music is not the quality (that has been massively improved the last few years) nor the disposal nature of it (still a problem, but whatever), it is the lack of amazing album covers and art work.

Sure there may be great artists out there but seeing it on a screen, in iTunes or elsewhere is nothing compared to holding an LP cover or even a CD booklet with pages of lyrics, pictures etc. Thankfully the rise of vinyl is helping this dilemma but it is still not enough. The hours we spent staring at covers while listening to music can not be adequately recorded, it added new dimensions to the sounds...Anyways...