Two of the best albums this year have come from side projects featuring brothers.
Postdata began as a gift from Paul Murphy (the Wintersleep frontman) and his brother Michael in 2008. “We wanted to make a present for Mom, she’d had a tough year.” Both of Murphy’s grandparents passed away that year and they decided to make an album based around them. The results are breathtaking. You can listen (and download 3 of the tracks) here but if you are like me you’ll end up buying the album.
Hoquiam are the second band from Washington that I’ve mentioned in as many days. The masterful Damien Jurado teamed up with his brother Drake to make dark, eerie music about their childhood. It had a limited release (only around 500 copies were made) but it can be bought here. It’s also on Spotify if you’d prefer.