Month: December 2019

Top 30 albums of 2019: #’s 15 – 11

We’ve reached the halfway point. Who’s in the list? Read on!

#15 – Sleater-Kinney – The Center Won’t Hold

Sleater-Kinney chose to mix their hard rock and punk chops with electro touches, and the result is a great record about loneliness, toxic masculinity, standing up when you get knocked down, and walking away from the past. The fact that drummer Janet Weiss left the band not long after The Center Won’t Hold was released adds a bittersweet edge to the album, too.

#14 – Jacques Greene – Dawn Chorus

This is a brilliant house music record that has a theme of getting ready for, going to, and then dealing with the after-effects of an all-night party. It’s full of great dance tracks and some chill stuff to give you a breather now and then. Jacques Greene spins like he was a DJ in the early 1990’s, even though he was just a toddler then.

#13 – Weeping Icon – self-titled

The image of the two skulls exploding with waves of…something is appropriate for the debut album from Weeping Icon because this album is a tidal wave of sound – guitar fuzz, psychedelic noise, and other things that are better heard than described all team up to make this one of the best debut albums of the year.

#12 – CHAI – Punk

CHAI just keep putting out great records. Punk is full of their wit, excellent musicianship, and pure joy. It’s a record about embracing who you are and not giving a damn what others think. Throw in J-Pop, post-punk, electro, and songs that practically force you to sing along with them and you have a winner.

#11 – Ash Walker – Aquamarine

Holy cow, this is a groovy record. All of the songs have some sort of theme related to oceans or water. Aquamarine blends soul, house, trip hop, dub, jazz, and lounge chill to produce something you might hear on Aquaman’s hi-fi.

The top 10 start tomorrow on New Year’s Day 2020!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 30 albums of 2019: #’s 20 – 16

We’re into the top 20 albums from the year that I heard and reviewed. Let’s do this.

#20 – Blackwater Holylight – Veils of Winter

Blending goth, psychedelia, and doom, Blackwater Holylight crafted one of the coolest and creepiest records of the year. Witches coven vocal harmonies and cosmic horror synths roll along like fog across a moor and draw you into what at first sounds like the end of your mortal coil but turns out to be a pretty neat party.

#19 – Khruangbin – Hasta El Cielo

Khruangbin’s Con Todo El Mundo was already amazing, but then they released this dub version of it, and it’s just as good. It’s richly layered and probably the best chill-out record of 2019.

#18 – Comacozer – Mydriasis

Be sure to check out these guys if you’re a fan of dwarf star matter-heavy stoner metal. Comacozer’s Mydriasis consists of only four tracks, but they add up to enough time for a full album. They take delight in exploring long jams, cosmic highways, and hanging out with ancient gods.

#17 – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats’ Nest

Speaking of heavy, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard decided to release two albums this year. The first was Fishing for Fishies (#26 on this list), and the second was this thrash metal album. Like “Fishies,” it’s also heavy on environmental themes and even heavier on shredding. They pretty much did it as a lark and it ended up being one of the best metal albums of the year.

#16 – Chromatics – Closer to Gray

Everyone was expecting the long-awaited (and long since destroyed) Dear Tommy, but we got Closer to Gray instead. It’s pretty much a giallo film soundtrack with plenty of sexy synthwave, Ruth Radelet’s haunting vocals, and a stunning cover of “The Sounds of Silence.”

The top 15 are coming up later today. Stick around!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 30 albums of 2019: #’s 25 – 21

Here we are at my top 25 albums that I heard from 2019.

#25 – Fat White Family – Serfs Up!

These hard-partying Brit weirdos make mind-warping rock that blends psychedelia with 1970’s funk. Serfs Up! is a cool blend of both genres and tackles themes of 1%’ers taking advantage of all of us.

#24 – Bayonne – Drastic Measures

Drastic Measures is another fine electro record from Bayonne. I love how he blends his vocals with bright synths, sometimes to the point where you can’t tell one from the other. The lyrics aren’t often discernible, but that’s okay. The album is meant to be experienced as a soundscape. Just sink into it and experience bliss.

#23 – The Schizophonics – People in the Sky

This album is loud, brash, cocky, and everything you need if you love garage rock, sweaty dive bars, the MC5, and power trios. It’s the antithesis of overproduced dreck that pollutes most of the FM airwaves, which means it’s great.

#22 – Skull Practitioners – Death Buy

This EP from Skull Practitioners has more guitar shredding than some double albums by more well-known rock acts. It’s a sonic assault that can catch you unprepared, so have the volume up and brace for impact when you play it.

#21 – Beehive – Depressed + Distressed

Beehive weren’t on my radar until their label sent me this fun record of grunge / shoegaze rock that captures millennial angst (and self-deprecation) in its title and lyrics. It pays homage to their rock idols and also trashes them (The song “90’s Trash” is particularly good.).

Come back tomorrow when we reach the top 20!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 30 albums of 2019: #’s 30 – 26

Here we are at the end of 2019. As always, there’s too much good music released every year for anyone to hear all of it, but here are my top 30 albums of 2019 (of 60 that I reviewed) this year.

#30 – Vapors of Morphine – Lyons, Colley, Dupree Live at the Lizard Lounge 5/25/2007

This is a recording of a 2007 show that was the beginnings of what would become Vapors of Morphine. It’s a great recording of jazz, low rock, delta blues, and a bit of psychedelia and was a welcome gift for this lover of Morphine.

#29 – Black Midi – Schlagenheim

This album is difficult to describe. Is it prog-rock? Post-punk? Both? Neither? I think it’s neither. I do know that it’s a wild mix of crazy guitar riffs, epic drumming, and bizarre, frantic lyrics. It’s unlike anything you’ll hear, and I fully expect (and the band has pretty much said) that the next Black Midi album will be completely different.

#28 – BODEGA – Shiny New Model

BODEGA can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes and ears, and Shiny New Model was another sharp, witty post-punk record from these New Yorkers. BODEGA capture existential ennui, technology paranoia, and the annoyance of the daily grind better than most.

#27 – Cosmonauts – Star 69

I knew as soon as I heard the single “Seven Sisters” for the first time that Star 69 would be in the top half of this list. Sure enough, the entire album is a shoegaze wallop with their heavy wall of distorted guitars and California sunshine (intentionally mixed with a bit of smog, let’s be honest). Sharp lyrics about being tired of parties and sick of hipsters are an added bonus.

#26 – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Fishing for Fishies

Never ones to fear experimenting with multiple genres, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard decided to make a blues record and mix it with synthwave. It works. They’re probably one of the few bands who could do it, let alone make it a concept record about environmental issues and the constant creep of more technology into our lives.

Who’s in the top 25? Come back tomorrow to find out!

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Top 20 singles of 2019: #’s 5 – 1

Let’s do this!

#5 – Priests – “Jesus’ Son”

This track about toxic masculinity let everyone know that Priests weren’t screwing around this year. It was the second cut from the brilliant album The Seduction of Kansas and it knocked you down if you didn’t respect it and them.

#4 – All Them Witches – “1 x 1”

Another single that knocked me flat this year was this new one from All Them Witches. It was a pleasant surprise and ended up being one of the heaviest tracks all year. ATW are brewing up dark stuff, and it’s all amazing.

#3 – Cass McCombs – “Absentee”

Cass McCombs wasn’t on my radar until I heard this single. I immediately thought, “Wow…I need to hear more of this guy.” This song, which my wife describes as “Comfortable,” is a haunting and lovely track that’s hard to describe (Alt-country jazz? Psychedelic lounge?) but why bother? Just enjoy it.

#2 – Cosmonauts – “Seven Sisters”

I’m not sure I rushed to buy an album so fast after hearing one track from it than when I heard this track from the new Cosmonauts record, Star 69. I blasted this thing in my wife’s car, possibly making her wonder if I was having an out-of-body experience based on my reaction to it. I think I was. I don’t quite remember because I think the wall of shoegaze sound that assaulted me knocked my brain into the back seat.

#1 – Kelly Lee Owens – “Let It Go”

This song will make you stop whatever you’re doing and dance. It was an instant club classic as soon as it was released. Kelly Lee Owens inspires me to make electronic music, and almost intimidates me to the point of not bothering – which is what a good teacher should do, inspire and challenge. She does both for all of us with this track.

There you have it. My list of top albums of the year is coming soon!

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Top 20 singles of 2019: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached the top ten! Let’s get to it.

#10 – Bleached – “Hard to Kill”

I knew this was going to be a great year for Bleached within the first couple bars of this track. It has a wicked disco flavor to it but they don’t lose their punk edge. Bleached has taken their song craft to another level with this one.

#9 – Sleater-Kinney – “Can I Go On”

“Everyone I know is tired, and everyone I know is wired. It’s obscene. I just scream ’til it don’t hurt no more.” I think these words from Sleater-Kinney might be the truest ones this year about the state of practically everyone in America.

#8 – L’Epee – “Une Lune Etrange”

I think my initial reaction to hearing this song from this psychedelic supergroup was “Holy crap…” I couldn’t say anything else. It’s was a gauntlet thrown down to everyone making psychedelic rock, or any other kind of music for that matter.

#7 – The Well – “This Is How the World Ends”

This song hits you like a sledge hammer and is from my favorite doom metal album of 2019. As heavy as this is, wait until you hear it live. I turned to my wife after hearing it at Levitation Austin this year and said, “And that’s why their album is in my top ten of the year.”

#6 – Thee Oh Sees – “Henchlock”

Some might call it unfair that I’m listing a song that last 21:03 as a “single,” but Thee Oh Sees released this video for it, so that makes it a single in my eyes (even if it is one entire side of a double album). It’s a wild psychedelic jazz jam that gets stuck in your head and is one of the best thing John Dwyer and his crew have ever done.

Come back soon for the top five!

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Top 20 singles of 2019: #’s 15 – 11

We’re almost to the halfway point. Who’s in the top 15?

#15 – Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor – “Godshe”

Detroit’s Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor released four singles this year, and this was my favorite. It’s bright, trippy, and moves along like a sports car set on cruise control.

#14 – Diagonal – “Negatives”

I’m calling it now. These Chicago shoe gazers are on track to be one of the Next Big Things. This cut blends psychedelia with shoe gaze and we’re all better for it.

#13 – Claude Fontaine – “Pretending He Was You”

Half of this album is dub, and the other half is bossa nova. All of it is good, and this was the first song I heard from it. I swooned.

#12 – Shopping – “Initiative”

Post-punkers Shopping slipped into the end of 2019 with one of the best singles of the year, poking fun at the rat race and The Man with a ripping bass line, typewriter-precise drumming, and that skittering guitar work only they can seem to play.

#11 – Public Practice – “Disposable”

Speaking of post-punk, Public Practice do it very, very well indeed. This single was a delightful treat in the latter half of 2019 and bodes well for hopefully a full album ahead.

We’re onto the top 10 tomorrow!

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Review: Ty Segall – First Taste

Ty Segall‘s Freedom’s Goblin was a wild, freewheeling record mixing all sorts of influences ranging from angry punk to disco funk. His newest record, First Taste, is tighter, but no less chaotic.

The album opens with a weird hiss on “Taste,” a song about how our choices are often bad ones (“Our salivating makes it all taste worse.”), as Segall and his bandmate, Charles Moothart, lay down double drumming amid heavy synths. The synths get all wiggly on “Whatever” – a song that’s about a D/s relationship on its surface but I suspect is actually about being willing to do anything to salvage a relationship.

Strange percussion that sounds like shaken strings of seashells starts “Ice Plant,” an odd cut about the sun warming up a cold day in California. More cool double drumming opens “The Fall,” a wild track that I’m sure gets the mosh pit jumping whenever Mr. Segall plays it live. Segall has written songs about his dog before, so “I Worship the Dog” is another good entry to this batch of his songs. It has a cool buzz to it that might be from a kazoo patched through a distortion pedal for all I know.

Segall plays a bouzouki (Yes, you read that right.) on “The Arms” – a cool track that blends psychedelia with Eastern sounds. More of that sweet Segall-Moothart double drumming comes back for the quick instrumental “When I Met My Parents (Part 1).”

Segall keeps rocking that bouzouki on “I Sing Them” – a song about how his music helps him through self-expression, thus bringing him freedom. His lyrics of “All I got is what I’d say. So I don’t speak or talk or pray. I sing them. I sing my song so I am free. I sing my song and sound like me.” pretty much sum up how every artist feels about their work. Then, just to baffle you, Segall gives us the mostly instrumental (The sole lyrics are “Close your eyes. Everything is just dreaming.”) synth-wave jam “When I Met My Parents (Part 3).” Where’s Part 2? I don’t know.

“Radio” is another trippy track about the dissolution of the body and the embrace of a new light, although Segall’s lyrics of “I just want to sit and watch the new radio, watching people die all night long on the radio.” make me think it’s a cautionary tale of becoming enslaved to our phones. “Self Esteem” starts funky, devolves into avant-garde jazz madness, and then goes back into percussion-heavy funk. The album ends with the mandolin-drive “Lone Cowboys.” It’s almost like a sprint (towards death?) at the end of a race with its fast beats and lyrics like “…when you reach it, make sure it’s whole. When you feel it, you’re all alone.”

First Taste would be a great name for a debut album, but Ty Segall is well beyond his debut record. He’s prolific, to say the least. This album could be a first taste of other musical experimentation to come from him, and that’s a good thing.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 20 singles of 2019: #’s 20 – 16

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!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 30 live shows of 2019: #’s 5 – 1

Here we go. Who were my top five live acts of 2019?

#5 – The Well – Levitation Austin – November 09th

The Well are at the top of their game right now, and this heavy-hitting set of blues-laced doom metal was one of the highlights of Levitation Austin for me. I knew within three songs that it was going to be one of the best sets I saw all weekend if not all year, and I was right.

#4 – A Place to Bury Strangers – Levitation Austin – November 10th

I was talking with a woman after the Levitation Austin set by A Place to Bury Strangers. We’d just been flattened by it. Walls of sound, blazing strobe lights, haunted house fog, and guest spots by members of Ringo Deathstarr, Numb.er, the KVB, Cryogeyeser, and Hoover iii were added treats to the raw force that APTBS unleashed. The woman said, “You wonder, ‘Were they really as good as I remember the last time I saw them?’ and as soon as they start you’re like, ‘Oh yeah. They are.'”

#3 – Thee Oh Sees – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL – October 11th

As I like to say, everything you’ve heard about a show by Thee Oh Sees is a hundred percent true. Crazy double drumming, wild guitar work, wall-shaking bass, psychedelic synths, and a crazy crowd mixed to produce a stunning night of music, highlighted by all twenty-one-plus minutes of “Henchlock” from their great new album, Face Stabber.

#2 – Jeff Lynne’s ELO – United Center – Chicago, IL – July 27th

In terms of sheer spectacle and sound quality, this show by Jeff Lynne’s ELO was going to be tough to beat. The light show was, go figure, amazing and was only outmatched by the sound quality. Mr. Lynne still sounds great and his backing band was top-notch. He played all of his hits and even a Traveling Wilburys song with Dhani Harrison singing and playing his father’s parts. This show by a legend could only be outmatched by another legend.

#1 – Paul McCartney – Memorial Coliseum – Ft. Wayne, IN – June 03rd

Seriously, how was anyone going to beat this show? It was practically in my back yard and was a fun show by a legend who has inspired more musicians than we’ll ever know. He played a great mix of Beatles, Wings, and solo tracks, told a lot of fun stories, and delivered a fun show that left you wanting another full set. The expensive tickets were worth every dollar.

There you have it. Another great year for live music. Get out there and see some.

Keep your mind open.

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