As always, there are a lot of good singles out there every year and picking just twenty to highlight is difficult, but here goes.
#20 – Andre Bratten – “HS”
Good heavens, the opening bass on this cut from Pax Americana is alone worth the purchase price. It’s one of the hottest house music singles I’ve heard in years.
#19 – BODEGA – “Shiny New Model”
“You will be replaced by a shiny new model” is the first lyric in this sharp single, and on the album of the same name, by these NYC post-punkers who remind us that not only are we replaceable, but we often encourage others to forget us and don’t even realize we’re doing it.
#18 – Durand Jones and the Indications – “Morning in America”
Speaking of songs that throw a heavy punch at modern times, this soul cut is beautiful and brutal. “It’s morning in America, but I can’t see the dawn” might be the hardest-hitting lyric of the year on the most soulful record of the year.
#17 – CHAI – “Fashionista”
It’s difficult to pick a favorite part of this post-punk jam from Japan. Is it the fun vocals? The fat bass? The sizzling high hat? The message to be yourself and not care what others think of you? It’s probably all of it.
#16 – L7 – “Stadium West”
This song was a triumphant return for L7, who blessed us all with their first new album in 20 years – Scatter the Rats. The track is a solid rocker that keeps their snark and shreds.
Who’s in the top 15? Come back later today to learn!
We’ve reached the top 10 concerts I saw this year. Read on!
#10 – Priests – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL – April 22nd
This was my first time seeing Priests in a small venue. The first time I saw them was at the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival. Priests had just released their great (and, sadly, final for now) album The Seduction of Kansas and all of the songs sounded great live, and downright threatening at some points.
#9 – New Bomb Turks – House of Blues – Chicago, IL – November 28th
I hadn’t seen New Bomb Turks in well over a decade, and they still sounded as raw and feisty as ever. They were a wild punk rock injection to the Reverend Horton Heat’s “Holiday Hayride” show. I was thrown back in time and in the small mosh pit for the entire set, even jumping on stage during “Let’s Dress Up the Naked Truth” and having my mouth violated by lead singer Eric Davidson’s microphone.
#8 – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL – August 24th
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard never disappoint, and I attended this show after going to a memorial service for a cousin who loved live music. I thought of her multiple times during this show, which featured a wild set that mixed psychedelia, thrash metal, electro, and blues and two mosh pits happening at the same time in different parts of the ballroom.
#7 – Bayonne – 191 Toole – Tucson, AZ – May 10th
For anyone who missed this show, let me express my condolences. It was the last show of Bayonne‘s spring tour. It was in a small Tucson venue and I think fewer than thirty people were there. He could’ve just phoned it in and did the bare minimum to get by and then motor home to Austin, Texas, but he didn’t. He slayed that stage. I knew halfway through his set that it was going to be among my top ten shows of the year.
#6 – The Black Keys – United Center – Chicago, IL – September 27th
Seeing the Black Keys live had been on my bucket list for years, so I jumped at the chance to see them in Chicago. I didn’t know how their raw blues rock would sound in such a big venue, but my apprehension was short-lived. They filled the United Center with powerful sound and clarity, mixing old tracks with new ones and thrilling the crowd.
We’re almost to number one. Who will take the crown? Tune in later today to find out!
#20 – Reverend Horton Heat – House of Blues – Chicago, IL – November 28th
I hadn’t seen Reverend Horton Heat in years. He had a new drummer and added a pianist since I’d last seen him. This was a fun “Holiday Hayride” show that included Christmas tunes as well as plenty of his hits and a guest set by Dave Alvin.
#19 – Chromatics – Park West – Chicago, IL – May 31th
I knew this show was going to be a sell-out as soon as it was announced, but I still managed to score tickets. Despite me almost having to drag a drunk jerk out of the crowd after he punched someone, this turned out to be well worth the trip and ticket price because Chromatics delivered a beautiful set of shoegaze and synth wave that had everyone fawning over them.
#18 – Dave Alvin – House of Blues – Chicago, IL – November 28th
A set within a set, Dave Alvin played a half-hour set with the Reverend Horton Heat as his backing band during the “Holiday Hayride” show. Mr. Alvin put on a clinic in outlaw country and country-punk, absolutely shredding multiple guitar solos that even had Jim Heath grinning in amazement.
#17 – Acid King – Levitation Austin – November 09th
Stoner rock veterans / icons Acid King closed the outdoor stage during the RidingEasy Records showcase at Levitation Austin this year. It was a great, heavy set that showed they hadn’t lost anything and could still wallop you like a force of nature.
#16 – Here Lies Man – Levitation Austin – November 09th
Playing that same showcase earlier in the day wasHere Lies Man, who brought a solid groove throughout the entire set that was as funky and heavy as I’d hoped it would be.
Who cracks the top 15? Come back later today to find out!
Here we are at the top 25 best live shows I saw this year. Let’s get to it.
#25 Bebel Gilberto – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA – June 22nd
This was a lovely acoustic, intimate set with Bebel Gilberto and her guitarist in a small venue. Her voice was delightful, as always, and there was a funny moment when she had a wardrobe malfunction and her guitarist had to fix her top onstage.
#24 ORB – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL – August 24th
I hadn’t seen ORB for a couple years, so it was good to catch up with them and see them as a four-piece for the first time. They hadn’t lost any of their heavy power and crushing riffs.
#23 Prettiest Eyes – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL – October 11th
The energy expelled during a Prettiest Eyes set could power a tank. They’re frantic and manic, but still a tight machine that can stop on a dime. We were eager to see them again after catching them last year at Levitation France, and we were bouncing during the whole set (in each venue).
#22 The KVB – Levitation Austin – November 10th
I was eager to see the KVB at Levitation Austin this year after not being able to catch a show they played in Chicago a month earlier. They put on a good set that was everything I wanted – synth wave, krautrock, and shoegaze. It was also their first time playing in Austin, so that made the show extra special for all involved.
#21 Minami Deutsch – Levitation Austin – November 07th
Speaking of Levitation Austin, another great set we saw there (on the coldest night of the festival, no less) was from Minami Deutsch – a Japanese krautrock band. It was a flow of rock grooves, precise beats, and hypnotic drone. I became an instant fan and later chatted with lead guitarist, Kyo, about chicken shawarma wraps.
Who made the top 20? Come back tomorrow to find out.
When Chromaticsannounced a new album was due this year or perhaps early next year, everyone assumed it would be the long-awaited and remade (after being famously destroyed by frontman Johnny Jewel) Dear Tommy. What came instead is the lovely, mysterious, giallo film-inspired Closer to Grey.
The album opens with a stunning rendition of Simon & Garfunkel‘s The Sound of Silence.” Ageless lead singer Ruth Radelet nearly whispers the lyrics and the sparse instrumentation along with her beautiful voice creates a haunting atmosphere that immediately changes the energy around you. Jewel’s keyboards and synth beats on “You’re No Good” bring in some house music touches to lovely effects as Radelet sings, “I know you’re no good, no, but I can’t stay away from you.” I’m sure this was remixed by thousands of DJ’s not long after the album was released.
The title track brings in electro shine and Nat Walker‘s bright guitar licks. The synths on “Twist the Knife” are sharp and stabbing, as benefits the title, and then the heavy synth bass kicks in as Radelet sings, “You can teach me to be cruel, like the way they tortured you. It’s all right.” “Light as a Feather” has a neat dusty, warped record sound to it as Radelet sings about hearing a voice that “sings whispers from the dead.”
“I can rest again, now that the sky is gray. It hasn’t rained here since May,” Radelet sings at the beginning of “Move a Mountain” – a song about loneliness, the kind of which Chromatics do so well. “Touch Red” is another haunting song about awakening the senses (“The world needs color.”). Walker’s guitar work on the instrumental “Through the Looking Glass” reminds me of Love and Rockets tracks.
“Whispers in the Hall” brings us back into giallo territory, with its slasher horror synths and lyrics centered around a woman in peril finding the will to fight (“Little girl the world just wants to trick you. Can’t you see the look in their eyes? Don’t you know the pain will make you stronger? You don’t have to buy into their lies.”). “On the Wall” is the longest song on the album, clocking in at about eight-and-a-half minutes. It has a cool rock vibe throughout it, bringing to mind 1960’s psychedelia and krautrock synth beats.
“Love Theme from Closer to Gray” is the theme to the giallo thriller Johnny Jewel has probably written and is on his way to producing by now. If not, I wish he would because the song drips with foggy atmosphere, hidden menace, and breathy, hot sex. The closer, “Wishing Well,” is not a cover of Terence Trent D’Arby‘s hit (although that would be amazing to hear from Chromatics), but rather a song about unfulfilled desires (“It’s a quiet night in a nowhere town, where the arcade still glows when no one’s around.”) and longing for something beyond our borders – physical and metaphysical. A ticking clock in the middle of it tells us that time is short. We’d better get to work fulfilling our dreams.
Closer to Gray is a welcome addition to not only Chromatics’ catalogue, but also to 2019. It wasn’t a massive surprise when they released it (They were on tour, after all.), but it was a much-needed jolt after a year of anger and self-isolation. It reminds us to embrace our dreams, and each other.
And by the way, Closer to Gray is available for download through the band’s label’s site (Italians Do It Better) for one dollar.
Jon Hopkins and Kelly Lee Owens present their new single and first collaborative recording, “Luminous Spaces,” available digitally now and on 12” on January 24, 2020. The track was originally destined to be a remix of Hopkins’ “Luminous Beings” by Owens, but after the pair worked closely together in the studio, it morphed into a standalone single. The two have built a working relationship over the past few years through sharing the same bill in live capacities and on DJ line-ups across the globe. Their work perfectly complements each other; Hopkins transcendent, dancefloor-focused electronics paired with Owens’ entrancing vocals and ethereal techno production creates a euphoric collaboration.
Hopkins on working with Owens: “This project started as something very different from what you’re hearing now – I wanted Kelly to do a straight remix of ‘Luminous Beings.’ I sent her the parts, but what she sent back just felt like something totally new, and had the potential to be so much more than a remix. She’d recorded these beautiful, uplifting vocal lines and had come up with joyous new riffs that recalled for me the best bits of the 90s trance/euphoria that I had grown up loving. I got a beautiful sense of nostalgia and a true heart-lifting joy the first time I heard it, and it was so painless to take it from there to a finished piece – related and born out of ‘Luminous Beings’ but very much its own thing.”
Owens on working with Hopkins: “‘Luminous Spaces’ initially began as a remix I did for Jon, which I also wrote vocals on top of. I sent the whole track to Jon for feedback and this lead to the start of a more collaborative effort, with him adding extra sound design/ production, and a new intro and outro, which I loved! The exchanging of ideas back and forth made it an extra special process for us and is why he decided to upgrade it to a full and proper collaboration. Our worlds truly colliding!”
Hopkins has forged a reputation for music that marries the dancefloor to the devotional, and for live performances that are visceral, generous, charged with a rapt, sensuous beauty. He’s regarded by The New Yorker as “one of the most celebrated electronic musicians of his generation” for his five solo albums – as well as collaborations with Brian Eno, David Lynch and King Creosote, and film scores for The Lovely Bones and Monsters. Last year, Hopkins’ Singularity received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Kelly Lee Owens bridges the gaps between cavernous techno, spectral pop, and krautrock’s mechanical pulse, and is known for her energetic, engaging live shows and DJ sets. She is also an in-demand remixer, working with Björk, Mount Kimbie, St Vincent and Jenny Hval. Her debut self-titled album was released via Smalltown Supersound in 2017.
Following the single, Hopkins will play shows in New Zealand and Australia, including the Sydney Opera House, early in the new year. He will then begin his Polarity Tour across the UK and Europe, combining his more meditative piano music, for which he will be joined on stage by a small group of consummate musician and long-time friends, with his harder more techno-focused material. A full list of dates for the Polarity Tour can found below.
Jon Hopkins Polarity Tour: Tue. March 3 – Edinburgh, UK @ Usher Hall Thu. March 5 – Gateshead, UK @ Sage Gateshead Fri. March 6 – Dublin, IE @ Bord Gais Energy Theatre – SOLD OUT Fri. March 13 – Manchester, UK @ Bridgewater Hall Sat. March 14 – Bath, UK @ The Forum Sun. March 15 – Brighton, UK @ Dome Wed. March 18 – London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall – SOLD OUT Fri. March 20 – Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel Wed. March 25 – Copenhagen, DK @ Koncerthuset – Koncertsalen Thu. March 26 – Stockholm, SE @ Gota Lejon Fri. March 27 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene Sun. March 29 – Helsinki, FI @ Helsinki Music Centre Tue. March 31 – Hamburg, DE @ Laeiszhalle Wed. April 1 – Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royal Thu. April 2 – Berlin, DE @ Philharmonie Sat. April 4 – The Hague, NL @ Rewire
Guitarist / vocalist Ed O’Brien of Radioheadrecently released the first single, “Brasil,” from his upcoming solo record. It’s a dreamy track that mixes synthwave, house, and psychedelia with O’Brien’s excellent vocals. He started writing “Brasil” back in 2013 and it’s now available to stream and pre-order as a 12″ single. You can also watch the cool video here.
Dawn Chorus, the excellent new house music album from Jacques Greene, is music for an afterparty or what comes after the afterparty. It’s the sound of what’s buzzing in your head as the lights in the club are turned on to move you onto the streets, the sounds of those streets, or the sounds coming from your car stereo or in your earbuds as you head home from a long night of raving.
The opener, “Serenity,” is warm and still danceable. You’ve achieved a fuzzy bliss from all the dancing and making out that’s been going on all night. The drums on the track have you dancing and the bright synths are almost like alarm clock klaxons reminding you it’s time to start thinking about what comes next. “Drop Location” thumps along with you as you cruise home in your car stuffed with friends or on the train with just a few bleary eyed party-goers and early morning workers.
“Do It Without You” is empowering house that builds to a slick beat and begs you to come back to the dance floor. “Night Service” is Greene’s testament to how nights at the club are like church for many. They’re a community gathering where love is expressed and a place where transcendence can be found among beats, lights, and sweaty bodies. “Sel” touches on some psychedelic elements that flow nicely into “Let Go” – a song that tells us, “Love isn’t lust, unless you say it.”
The words “Girls, ’cause I’m too hot for love” are looped throughout the instant hit floor-filler “For Love.” The tribal beats alone are worth the purchase price. “Sibling” and “Whenever” add synthwave elements to house beats for excellent effect. “Understand” starts off with a cool, warped sound that reminds me on sunlight bouncing off a skipping record.
The last two tracks, “Distance” and “Stars,” invoke images of dawn breaking as you shuffle into your place after the long night of fun, drop your keys in the bowl next to the front door, and put on some house music as you undress and then brush your teeth. You’re not quite ready to lose the beats running through your head just yet, but the moment you’re in calls for a wind-down, and you’re happy for it.
This is one of the best house music albums I’ve heard in a long while, and it should be high among lists of such. It will be on mine.
Los Angeles’ Prettiest Eyesmake music that’s been described as “post-industrial” by other folks, and I suppose that’s as good a description as any other, because I’m not sure I can come up with another. I mean this as a compliment. The trio of Paco Casanova (keyboards and vocals), Pachy Garcia (drums and vocals), and Marcos Rodriguez (bass and vocals) make a wild chaotic mix of new wave, no wave, post-punk, psychedelia, techno latino, and, yes, industrial. As you can imagine, playing this kind of controlled chaos requires a lot of energy, and that energy comes through in their live sets and on their new album, Volume 3.
The opening alarms and snappy beats of “Johnny Come Home” remind one of early Devo tracks. Casanova’s synths seamlessly meld the track into their fun cover of Crash Course in Science‘s “It Costs to Be Austere” – a pogo-inducing rocker that reminds us that being plain and stern in our beliefs does have a price. It sounds like all three of them had a blast recording it, and it’s a blast to hear live.
“I Don’t Know” is a solid psychedelic jam with great keyboard work from Casanova. “Mr. President” is a sharp techno track that dances along the edge of darkwave as Garcia sings about marginalised people seeking recognition (“Mr. President, say my name!”). Speaking of darkwave, the subject of matter of “Nekrodisco” falls into that category, but the instrumentation is straight-up industrial dance music. Rodriguez’s bass licks are relentless throughout it and carry the weight of the track with what appears to be ease but is actually damn hard work.
The squelching, wailing sounds of “The Shame” almost overpower you, and then “Another Earth” comes along – a dub track that throws you for a trippy loop. “Marihuana” is wonderfully bonkers with some of Rodriguqez’s grooviest bass work. “Summer in L.A.” has an underlying menace that you can’t escape. It might induce paranoia in those of weaker minds. “No More Summer” might be the most radio friendly cut, but I doubt they care about such things. “Strange Distance” gets back into psychedelic territory and the closer, “La Maldad,” ups the feedback and fuzz for the finale.
Prettiest Eyes are one of those bands that, after you hear them (and definitely after you see them live), you mention to anyone during any conversation about music. “I just heard this wild band from L.A. called Prettiest Eyes. They might be my new favorite thing,” will be a typical response.
“You get the sense that exploring unfamiliar equipment in new spaces has helped him find new possibilities in his own work—that by plunging himself into guitar pedals and classic French-house compression modules, he’s ushered in a new era for Jacques Greene without losing sight of his unique sentimentality.” — Pitchfork
“The dozen tracks on ‘Dawn Chorus’ capture the hazy, ambient feeling of joyful exhaustion. It’s an elegant soundtrack to a real moment in many ravers’ lives, and rather than create the music you might listen to then, he scores the scene as if it were a movie.” — Billboard
“‘Dawn Chorus’ hangs together as a cohesive work, even when Greene is pushing genre omnivorousness to giddy new extremes.” — Bandcamp
“Coagulating in the form of a sprawling 12-track collection of diversified cuts, the project maintains the producer’s idiosyncratic arsenal of club-heavy textures, albeit repurposed for listening outside of the normative dancefloor atmosphere.” — Hypebeast
Fresh off the release of his “intimate and immense” (Pitchfork) new album, DawnChorus, via LuckyMe, JacquesGreene is pleased to announce a slew of 2020 European and North American tour dates. Last week he debuted a sold out run of launch parties in Berlin, London, Manchester, New York, LA and Montreal. In early 2020 he returns to Europe and North America (Boston, Brooklyn, Detroit, Portland, Vancouver, and Oakland). A full list of dates is below.
In conjunction with this announcement, Greene also released the video for “Stars” – the second part of a narrative which started outside a warehouse party in his “Do It Without You” video. The track features spoken word from Canadian artist SandrineSomé – who reconciles memories from her childhood over understated kik drums and synths. An evocative closer to the album, Mathieu Fortin’s piece of impressionistic cinema seeks to express early AM euphoria as we settle back into reality after a night out. It’s an apt conclusion for an album which has been applauded for his cinematic atmosphere.
