Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Top 25 albums of 2021 – 2025: #’s 5 – 1

Here we are. The top five albums I reviewed in the last five years. I revised this list of all twenty-five records several times. It wasn’t easy to get here, but here we go.

#5: The Black Angels – Wilderness of Mirrors (2022)

This was a great return for my favorite band. The Black Angels came back in 2022 with anger about the past and hope for the future. It was a psychedelic, heavy reflection on the current times, what came before, and what was looming.

#4: Shame – Drunk Tank Pink (2021)

The album’s name refers to a color that’s often painted in jail cells to calm rowdy people. This post-punk album blends rowdy rage with punk riffs and cutting lyrics about how bonkers the world was back then…and still is.

#3: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper (2023)

Good heavens, this thing is massive. Pigsx7 unleashed an album that was designed to shake us out of our doldrums and also explore the weird world of dreams and how they merge with reality. It rocketed into my “best of” list for 2023 upon my first listen, and their tour for this was solid.

#2: A Place to Bury Strangers – Synthesizer (2024)

Speaking of albums that landed in my “best of” lists for a particular year and then never moved out of it, how could I not include an album by APTBS that, no joke, you can turn into an actual synthesizer. The album cover is a circuit board. You can create music with this thing. Plus, the whole album shreds. It’s a stunning work that I think only they could imagine and then execute so well.

#1: Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View (2023)

I almost didn’t hear this album or discover Halsall’s work. It got buried in a big stack of unread e-mails and press releases and I didn’t open the file until late fall of 2023, not long before I was about to make my “Best of 2023” list. Lo and behold, it was the most beautiful album I’d heard all year. “Ambient jazz” doesn’t describe it well enough. It’s an album that instantly changes the atmosphere around you for the better.

There you have it. Up next, my top twenty-five concerts of the last five years…which was more difficult to determine than this list.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 5 – 1

This is always a tough decision, although my number one album of each year tends to arrive early and not leave. This trend continued in 2025.

#5: Sextile – yes, please.

Thrilling electro, sexy bass, erotic lyrics, club bangers, provocative cover, you name it, this album has all of it. It shot up into my top ten of the year as soon as I heard it and was one of the hottest records of 2025.

#4: Lonnie Holley – Tonky

Beautiful, soulful, and powerful, Tonky has soul legend Lonnie Holley encouraging us to all come together in turbulent times, “protest with love,” and embrace our neighbors. This is an album that rings true in any year, but we needed it in 2025.

#3: No Joy – Bugland

I hadn’t heard anything from No Joy in a while, so it was great to hear from them again and with such a good record. It mixes shoegaze with psych and pays tribute to the healing properties of nature and presence. I didn’t realize how much I missed No Joy until hearing this.

#2: DITZ – Never Exhale

These fiery post-punk Brits seemed to come out of nowhere (to this Yank, at least) and unleashed one of the loudest, wildest records of the year. The album is about anxiety and panic, but it never goes completely off the rails. It keeps you on the edge of your seat or helps you burn off aggression, depending on which track you blast.

#1: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Death Hilarious

As soon as I saw that album cover, I knew Death Hilarious was going to be a monster of a record. My gut was right. This is another heavy stunner from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in a line of material that has yet to miss. The topics of loss (friends, creative energy, relationships) and satire are biting and empowering. You’ll growl, stomp, and roar along with this record. You’ll laugh at the absurdity of our times with it, and then dive into the mosh pit with glee.

There’s already a lot of good stuff lined up for 2026. Let me know what you’re looking forward to the most!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Death Hilarious

I was already onboard for Death Hilarious, the new album by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, when I heard the first single, “Detroit,” in November 2024. Then, they unveiled this wild album cover and I knew we were in for a(nother) treat from them.

The album begins with a song about a problem lead singer and lyricist Matthew Baty had going into the album – (Writer’s) “Blockage.” “I’m staring straight ahead, infinitely bored,” he sings to begin the track. He’s not sure what he has left to say. Thankfully for all of us, and his shredding / pounding bandmates, he realized a bit of Zen in that the emptiness of the universe (and his brain) contains everything.

The stomping anger of “Detroit” is like the sensation of watching a lit bomb fuse slowly burning toward its deadly payload and Baty tells us, “Everyone leaves. You’re all the same. I’m not the one to blame.” John-Michael Hedley‘s bass hits extra hard on “Collider,” while lead guitarist Adam Ian Sykes pays homage to his British heavy metal idols throughout it and Baty sings about existential dread.

“Stitches” has been compared to some Motörhead tracks, but it hits more like Blue Öyster Cult for me. It’s a ripper either way, with Sykes and producer / fellow guitarist Sam Grant trading killer riffs and Ewan Mackenzie nailing some of his biggest fills and cymbal crashes on it (His subtle ride cymbal hits will make you think, “Damn, dude, that’s not fair.”).

Just when you think you might have them figured out, they bring in El-P for a guest rap on “Glib Tongued” — quite possibly the darkest hip hop track you’ll hear this year. “The Wyrm” is one of the album’s longest track at just over seven minutes (which, compared to when the band was putting out songs three times that length, is a warmup for them) and crushes the entire time. It feels like a truck has hit you when it really kicks in around the 2:15 mark.

“Carousel” has Baty feeling like he’s spinning in circles and trying to get off the titular ride the world has become in the last few years. The guitars on “Coyote Call” rocket into cosmic rock riffs while the drums and bass are practically terraforming a new planet underneath you. As if that wasn’t heavy enough, the final track, “Toecurler,” is like an avalanche you first see at a distance and think is moving like a slow mudslide, but find out, too late, that it’s roaring down at you like a shattered ancient mountain…and the stoner-funk breakdown about seven-and-a-half minutes into it? Genius.

The whole album has this heavy FAFO sound to it. The band has said they wanted the album to be rougher and, no past-album-pun intended, visceral than their psych-doom album Land of Sleeper, and it certainly delivers. You can live, laugh, and love all you like, but the porcine septet are here to remind you that you’re gonna die, and it might be hilarious when you do.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 live shows of 2024: #’s 10 – 6

Here we are at the top ten live shows I saw last year. Each one gets more intense. Read on!

#10: Osees – Hotel Vegas, Levitation Austin, November 02, 2024

Osees have been doing a four-night residency at Hotel Vegas during Levitation Music Festival for a couple years now. We caught them on night three, and the crowd was wild, possibly fired up by the spiked humidity and all the booze. I lost count of the number of crowd surfers at this show.

#9: The Damned – Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL, June 02, 2024

I was not going to miss this tour. This was the lineup of The Damned I discovered in the early 1990s by seeing them on The Young Ones. For lack of a better expression, this is “my” version of The Damned. It was a great show in a packed venue that pretty much moshed non-stop for the last third of the set.

#8: Deap Vally – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL, February 10, 2024

Speaking of shows I wasn’t going to miss, I sure wasn’t going to miss Deap Vally’s final (?) tour. The VIP meet and greet before their powerful set was also a must. I’d seen them twice before and somehow managed to meet them each time, so going out on the same note for me was a no-brainer. The were only five of us there, and they were gracious and wonderful as always. Their set included playing Sistrionix in its entirety and then a wild run through of other tunes. They left nothing on the table by the end.

#7: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL, February 22, 2024

When I saw Pigsx7 on their first U.S. tour, I knew right away that they were a band I would see at any opportunity. So, I caught their second show ever in Chicago and was again floored by the massive sound they create. It’s difficult to describe the power that hits you at one of their shows, and the crowd was mostly people who hadn’t been at their first show, so it was fun to see a lot of people having their unprepared minds blown.

#6: The Black Angels – Stubb’s BBQ, Levitation Austin, October 31, 2024

I hadn’t seen The Black Angels in too long, and this was my girlfriend’s favorite time seeing them. She’d fallen in love with their sound, so we managed to get up close and listen to them play Phosphene Dream in its entirety and then another long set of stuff from across their catalogue. They never fail to impress me, and they’re the band I’ve seen the most live (over a dozen times now, for certain).

Who’s in the top 5? Two bands I saw twice, another one of my girlfriend’s favorites, a three-hour-plus show, and another band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Edging – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL – February 22, 2024

The last time I saw Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in Chicago, it was their first time there, let alone their first U.S. tour. It was at Chicago’s Sleeping Village, and there were maybe eighty people there. They flattened that place.

Now they were playing Chicago’s Lincoln Hall and the size of their audience had tripled. There were a small number of us who’d been at the Sleeping Village show, and it seemed only a couple dozen more who knew much about them. I envied their innocence. They had no idea what was about to unleashed on them.

First up, however, were Chicago’s own Edging – a wild post-punk band that my friend described as “They look like a bunch of people who all answered the same ‘looking for a roommate’ ad and then decided to start a band.” It’s accurate, and it somehow works. We only got to see the last three songs of their set, but it was wild and fun, and their saxophone player (around whom the band seems to rotate) plays a crazy horn.

The porcine quintet were next and they started out with a psychedelic version of “GNT” that grew into a menacing beast. They barely let up for a moment, with heavy-hitters like “Rubbernecker” and “Big Rig” flooring those people who didn’t know what to expect.

Some mosh pits started a couple times, but they were short-lived and not well attended. I think this is because people were too amazed at the sheer amount of weight they were dropping on the place to even think of moshing. I, too, noticed how much heavier they were from the first time I’d seen them. Songs like “Mr. Medicine” and “Terror’s Pillow” practically laid on you like a weighted blanket…thrown on you from a fourth-floor balcony.

“Sludgy” was a word I heard multiple times as my friend and I walked out of the venue. People who hadn’t experienced a live Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs show were marveling at the thick, almost viscous sound they’d been pummeled with for a little over an hour (and no encore, as the band said they decided at the start that “Encores are for bullshitters.”)

Don’t miss them. They’re touring the U.S. a lot through the spring. You need this fae-melting stuff in your life to sandblast you out of your doldrums.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 10 live shows of 2023: #’s 5 – 1

And here we are with my favorite concerts of 2023.

#5: Be Your Own Pet – Headliners, Louisville, KY, Otober 29^th

It’s so good to have them back, and it was so good to finally see them live. Their reputation as a wild live band is not lightly given. They tore up this stage, moving from one song to the next with no written set list, playing audience requests, and blowing the minds of the small crowd at Headliners. Shame on you if you were in Louisville and didn’t go to this show.

#4: Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – Kemba Live!, Columbus, OH – May 31^st

Another surprise reunion. I figured the days of Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade touring the nation were long gone and we would have to be content with the one live album released many years ago. Nope. He brought in Sean Lennon, who can tear up a lead guitar, and some other pals and put on a cool show – playing Pink Floyd‘s Animals in its entirety in the middle of the set.

#3: Viagra Boys – Salt Shed, Chicago, IL – February 24th

This show was either a sell-out or very close to it. The band claimed it was the biggest show they’d played in the U.S. so far, and I believe it. The Salt Shed was jammed, sweaty, and jumping. You easily forgot that snow and ice were coating the landscape outside. The whole crowd was buzzing throughout the set, and Viagra Boys further cemented their reputation of being one of the best bands out there right now.

#2: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Sleeping Village, Chicago, IL – March 28^th

I almost didn’t go to this show due to other plans I had that week, but I knew I had to be there when I learned it was not only Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs‘ first show in Chicago, it was also their first U.S. tour. It turned out to be another one of those “Shame on you if you missed it.” shows, because the porcine quintet pretty much flattened Sleeping Village and still had time to chat with anyone who wanted to chat after the gig. They’re now on my “I’ll see them any chance I get.” list of bands – and I already have a ticket to see them in Chicago again at Lincoln Hall in February.

#1: Love and Rockets – Riviera, Chicago, IL – June 06^th

I figured I was never going to see Love and Rockets live. I’d seen David J perform an acoustic set, and thought, “Well, that’s the closest I’ll get.” Lo and behold, they surprised everyone with a reunion tour and they sounded great. They were in full rock star mode and everyone in the crowd was jubilant to see and hear them. It was a dream-come-true show for me and gave everyone hope of a new record soon.

There you have it. Onto more gigs in 2024!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper

What lies in the Land of Sleeper, the new album by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs? One, heavy riffs. Two, the battle against existential dread and anger, judging by the lyrics. Lead singer Matt Baty has made no secret of how, on the band’s new album, he decided to give in to his urge to sing / scream about deep, dark subjects such as death, sloth, wrath, and how time can easily feel like it’s slipping away with each breath.

The opening guitar riff on “Ultimate Hammer” alone will knock you to the floor and shake you out of any doldrums. They seem intent on awakening us from slumber, both self-induced and imposed upon us by unseen forces. “Life passes by in the blink of an eye,” Baty sings while his bandmates charge at you with guitars and drums that sound like hundreds of band saws. The title of “Terror’s Pillow” alone gives you an idea of the dread Baty feels as he drifts off into sleep, and drummer Ewan Mackenzie‘s cymbal crashes roll over you like an avalanche.

“Big Rig” is the aftershock of that avalanche with John-Michael Hedley‘s bass leading the charge. In it, Baty sings of the grit and grime (both literal and metaphorical) that covers their hometown of Newcastle Upon Tyne, but how an old tree inspires him to keep on keepin’ on (“At times it withers, but come spring, it soldiers on.”). “The Weatherman” is downright spooky with its chant-like opening vocals and creepy guitar work by Adam Ian Sykes. “There’s a storm coming!” Baty yells. If this is the sound of an impending storm, then that storm is going to wipe towns off the map once it arrives.

“Mr. Medicine” is a song of love and hope amid the pressures of the modern world, believe it or not (“That song you sang to me made me feel strong and completely fearless.”), and “Pipe Down!” is a great example of how Sykes and producer / fellow guitarist Sam Grant often trade shredding duties back and forth in the same song.

“Atlas Stone” is a song about carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and the band amplifies this message with crushing, heavy riffs. The closer, “Ball Lightning,” takes them, and us, into psychedelic doom landscapes as dark wizards plot alliances with unholy things that live in deep trenches and a band of five warriors from Newcastle Upon Tyne decide to take up their axes, swords, crossbows, shields, and mystical scrolls to, again, do battle for the sake of all of us.

I urge you to follow them into, through, and out of the Land of Sleeper. You’ll come out of the journey with a newfound power.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and The Tomblands – Sleeping Village – Chicago, IL – March 28, 2023

I almost didn’t come to this show. The venue, Sleeping Village, was over two hours’ driving time from my house. It was on a Tuesday night, and it started late – 9pm Central time, which is 10pm in the Eastern time zone where I live. I worked an eight-hour shift that day and had to work another the following morning. I guessed I wouldn’t get home until 2:30am if I was lucky.

Then I learned that this would not only be the first time Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs would be in Chicago, but it was their first U.S. tour ever. That’s when I knew I had to be at this show, and they’d already announced tickets were running low. I snagged one of the few remaining tickets and got in a disco nap before making the drive.

This was also the first show I’d seen at Sleeping Village, which is a nice, small venue. The stage and viewing area are in a space smaller than some convenience stores. As soon as I walked in and saw the size of the space, and knew how powerful a Pigs x 7 show could be, I thought, “They’re going to destroy this place.”

First to start the demolition were local noise-psych rockers The Tomblands. They brought a wall of guitars, two drummers, and a ton of energy to the stage. They also encouraged all the locals to get out and vote in the upcoming Chicago mayoral election.

The lads from Newcastle Upon Tyne came out at 10pm (Central) sharp and kicked things off with the raucous “Mr. Medicine” off their new album, Land of Sleeper. The power they unleashed felt like someone threw open the door of a blast furnace.

(L-R: Adam Ian Sykes, John-Micheal Joseph Hedley, Matthew Baty, Sam Grant)

They tore through “Rubbernecker” and “Halloween Bolson,” with lead singer Baty bouncing, stomping, and prowling around the stage like a kabuki performer, bassist Hedley played like his guitar he was holding an electric eel, and Sykes and Grant kept trading shredding solos.

Some of us finally got a mosh pit started by the time they got to “Ultimate Hammer” and continued to floor the audience with their combination of metal, doom, and punk. “Big Rig” was especially wild, and “GNT” and closer “A66” were downright fierce.

I got to shake hands and chat a bit with the porcine quintet after the show and asked Baty how the tour had been so far, especially after it was so long coming after 2020 shut it down the first time.

“It’s been…fucking amazing,” Baty said. “We thought we’d be playing shows to, like, fifty people, and they’ve all been like this. It’s incredible.”

It was.

Keep your mind open.

Thanks to the nice young lady who let me snap this photo of the set list she scored.

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[Thanks to Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs for the show, autographs, and chats!]

Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached the top 10 (of nearly 80) albums I reviewed in 2020. Who made the cut? Read on…

#10: The Wants – Container

The only thing bad about this album is that The Wants didn’t get to extensively tour to promote it. Screw you, 2020. Container deserves to be heard by everyone, especially post-punk fans or anyone else who likes their rock with a slight goth edge. I was lucky enough to see them in February 2020 before the country and touring and venues shut down. I hope they’re able to get back to the road soon, because hearing this record live is even better.

#9: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals

This album is so heavy that it might break your turntable if you have it on vinyl. The Black Sabbath influences are evident, but Pigs X7 sound like they had fun while making an album to unleash their wrath upon Brexit, COVID-19, politicians across the pond, and jackasses in general.

#8: Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters…

I’d only heard a few tracks by Frankie and the Witch Fingers from earlier records before hearing their new album, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters… Holy crap. This record floored me. It’s double-album-full of prime psychedelia, shoegaze, and garage rock jams. Let this album consume you.

#7: BRANDY – The Gift of Repetition

I don’t remember where I first heard BRANDY’s music, but I’m glad I did because this is the most fun punk record I heard all year. The repetition mentioned in the album’s title is used to great effect throughout the record with killer beats, riffs, and choruses.

#6: Hum – Inlet

The biggest surprise release of the year also turned out to be one of the best albums of the year. No one expected or even considered a new, full-length album by 1990s shoegaze legends Hum, but along came Inlet to knock off our socks and remind us that these guys can mop the floor with just about any other band out there.

Only five more to go! Who takes the title of best album of 2020? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals

Any album by the Newcastle quintet Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs should come with a roll of duct tape to secure your face to your head due to the constant threat of band’s booming, fuzzed-out riffs blasting it to smithereens. Their newest record, Viscerals, is no exception.

Beginning with mosh-pit inducing drums by Christopher Morley, “Reducer” takes off like an experimental rocket car across desolate salt flats. It shifts momentarily into bass-heavy sludge from John-Michael Hedley and echoing vocals by Matt Baty telling us that “Ego kills everything.” He’s right, of course, and that statement is woefully apparent in the 2020 political climate. The swirling guitars of Ian Sykes and Sam Grant on “Rubbernecker” produce a pulsing effect that creeps up your spine and settles somewhere in your amygdala.

“I’m dancing with the devil with his two left feet,” Baty sings on the creepy, jarring “New Body,” which is over seven minutes of controlled chaos as Baty yells, “I don’t feel a thing!” to a red-tinged harvest moon while standing in a thaumaturgic circle. Or at least the ceiling in the recording studio while standing in comfy sneakers. I’m not sure. The short “Blood and Butter” is a haunting spoken word track that melts into the thrash metal-like “World Crust,” which sounds heavy enough to crack its namesake.

“Death is in bloom!” Baty shouts on the doom-psych killer cut “Crazy in Blood.” It’s a standout track on a standout record and the type of song that makes everyone stop and listen. “Halloween Bolson” is bubbles like a witch’s cauldron and then builds to a rapid boil of space rock guitars and enough fuzzy bass to awaken a hibernating grizzly. The song crunches for nine straight minutes and, just when it lets you catch your breath, it cracks you in the head again with another massive riff. The closer “Hell’s Teeth” is a great shout-and-response track (“Let’s rock! In peace!”) that is both radio friendly and potentially speaker-damaging.

Viscerals is true to its name, as every song is either savage or seething, often both. It’s a powerful record for bizarre times that brings things into focus through fuzz.

Keep your mind open.

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