1. Sleater-Kinney, No Cities To Love [Tiny Telescope]
Make no mistake — famous musicians who make a point to demonstrate how many other famous people they’re friends with are the goddamn antichrist, and Sleater-Kinney’s clip for the No Cities To Love title track is Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” minus about ten million dollars. But, eh, Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein, and Janet Weiss have earned the leverage to be the goddamn antichrist every now and again, if it suits them. No Cities To Love precreates a best case scenario for the new X-Files episodes. Mulder, Scully, and Sleater-Kinney all emerged in the mid-‘90s. Both had ceased operations by 2006, while remaining incidentally visible during ensuing years — in Seater’s case via The Corin Tucker Band, Wild Flag, and Portlandia, and in the X-Files’ case, via Netflix. Charged with recapturing the magic, the Olympian power trio granted us smudged vibrancy and sinewy guitar jolts more than worthy of their brand name. Here’s hoping Chris Carter and the rest of the old gang come through with something a little like No Cities to Love, and a lot less like Indie Cindy.