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Friday, January 18, 2013

Year in Music 2012 - 10 to 1



10. The BabiesOur House on the Hill (Woodsist). The 2nd collaboration between Cassie Ramone of the Vivian girls and Kevin Morby of Woods was much more enjoyable than the first with songs that sound at times like the Lemonheads, Pixies, Pavement, and Kurt Vile. With the recent success and higher quality releases as side projects in the Babies and La Sera, at this point you have to wonder what is the point of the Vivian Girls. But anyway, the highlights are hard to list because they are all so strong, but my favorites are “Alligator”, “Mess Me Around”, “Slow Walkin”, “Get Lost”, “Baby”, and “Moonlight Mile.”



 9. Of Monsters and MenMy Head is an Animal (Republic/Universal). Here’s an album that seems to contain every cliché I hate lately about music and the modern music biz, yet it stuck with me, perhaps because it also sounds so much different than virtually any other album that was released the last few years. Being from Iceland, the comparisons to Bjork/Sugarcubes will probably be too overdone. This band is actually a lot more like Arcade Fire, Stars, or the New Pornographers. Anyway, the highlights are: "Dirty Paws", "Little Talks", "King of the Lionheart", "Mountain Sound", and "Lakehouse."



8. The CribsIn the Belly of the Brazen Bull (Redeye Music/Wichita). A really good raw rock record from this trio of brothers, with a grungy throw-back sound similar to what fellow countrymen Male Bonding are doing. The highlights include "Glitters Like Gold", "Come On, Be a No-One", "Anna", "Uptight", "Chi-Town", "Arena Rock Encore With Full Cast", and "Better Than Me."













7. Guided by VoicesLet’s Go Eat the Factory, Class Clown Spots a UFO, and The Bears for Lunch (GBV Inc.). Yeah I know these are 3 LP’s, but I’m counting them all as one glorious 61-song album (I know I didn’t do that with Green Day or Ty Segall. My list, my rules). A few years ago Bob Pollard and the rest of the mid 90’s lineup reunited for a tour and these subsequent albums, just around the time I started getting into GBV. So many songs of note, but these are some of my favorites: "King Arthur the Red", "Hangover Child", "The Challenge is Much More", "Waving at Airplanes", "White Flag", "She Lives in an Airport", "Everywhere Is Miles From Everywhere", "Class Clown Spots a UFO", "Keep It in Motion", "Starfire", "All of This Will Go", "Doughnut for a Snowman", "The Unsinkable Fats Domino", and "Chocolate Boy." It's a tough call, but I liked their last release of the year, The Bears For Lunch, the best.







6. Sneeze I’m Going to Kill Myself (self-released on Band Camp). Here was yet another Band Camp discovery. This band is just pretty straight forward punky-grunge. It has a raw Bleach-era Nirvana sound to it along with early Mudhoney, but it also has sort of a Husker Du-esque “wall of sound” around the very straightforward songs. Most of the songs are brief and to the point. The highlights are “Canker”, “Bad Head”, “I’m Going to Kill Myself”, “Red Bullgirls”, "Park Her Road", and “Outro”.





5. Bruce SpringsteenWrecking Ball (Columbia). For a good part of the year, this was my my top album. It came out early in the year and stayed with me. Nevertheless, Bruce continues his string of good records, Magic, Working on a Dream, and now this. And Wrecking Ball may be my favorite of the last three. The highlights include "We Take Of Our Own", "Wrecking Ball", "Land of Hope of Dreams", "Easy Money", and "Shackled and Drawn."




4. Cloud NothingsAttack on Memory (ADA/Carpark). This was going to be the big growth record for the young Dylan Baldi and his band, with legendary Steve Albini producing. And that potential seems to have been fulfilled. it was a nice change of pace and brief with just 8 songs, albeit with one being nearly 9-minutes long. Last year's album topped my list so there was nowhere to go but down, but not too far. My favorites are "Fall In", "Stay Useless", "Our Plans", and "Cut You."





3. Bob MouldSilver Age (Merge).  Between the nostalgia with his autobiography and reissue of Sugar's Copper Blue, most would have been content to live off their past work for awhile. Or maybe because of revisiting the Sugar record, Mould returned with his most consistently good and rocking record since the 1990's. "Star Machine", "Silver Age", "The Descent", "Keep Believing", "First Time Joy", and "Briefest Moment" are my highlights. Also, Jon Wurster of Superchunk, et al, plays drums on this and kills it. One of the world's greatest living drummers and one of the greatest live drumming performances by anyone not named Dave Grohl that I've ever witnessed.





2. CrocodilesEndless Flowers (French Kiss). Their previous releases never really grabbed me as much as other similar releases in this genre did for whatever reason. But I really enjoyed this straight-through. Check out "Endless Flowers", "Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)", "No Black Clouds for Dee Dee", "Electric Death Song", and "Bubblegum Trash."





1. Archie Powell and the ExportsGreat Ideas in Action (God Land). I found this release like a breath of fresh air during the dog days of summer and it stuck with me all year. It's great power pop with a raw punk vibe that at times recalls the Clash. But mainly I think they compare favorably to Elvis Costello or Ted Leo. And the songs are great. Check out "Metronome", "Crazy Pills", "I Need Supervision", "All the Same", and "Sticky Buttons." But really go listen to all of it.








Honorable Mention



Gary Clark Jr. - Blak and Blu (Warner Bros.). With some R&B, blues, and hard rock background this comes off like Prince or Al Green fronting the White Stripes.









The Corin Tucker BandKill My Blues (Kill Rock Stars). The Sleater-Kinney magic isn't there any more, but this was a much better follow up to what I thought was a lackluster post-S-K debut a few years ago.








Craig ElkinsI Love You (MVD). The former Huffamoose frontman has continued releasing greatly underappreciated pop/rock albums. This is no different.









Ex-MagiciansCalifornia Grass (self-released on Band Camp). Another Band Camp discovery. Hard to really describe other than under the 90's alt/rock catch-all. Sometimes I hear Pavement, other times Gin Blossoms.








Heartless BastardsArrow (Partisan). I just discovered this band in 2012. Apparently, they've been through several lineup changes, they sort of reinvented themselves as a rocking "Americana" band in the mold of Son Volt or Band or Horses with influences that range from the Stones to Neil Young to 70's classic rock to Lucinda Williams.







HospitalityS/T (Merge). I preferred other similar sounding records better (Seapony, Now, Now, etc), but this was pretty good. "Betty Wang", "Friends of Friends", and "All Day Today" are really good.






 
 

Langhorne Slim and the LawThe Way We Move (Ramseur). Another solid folk-rock album from Langhorne, PA's resident songsmith. The title track, "Bad Luck", and "Two Crooked Hearts" are up there with his best songs.







  


John K. SamsonProvincial (ADA/Epitaph). 










Ty Segall & White FenceHair (Drag City).












Ty Segall BandSlaughterhouse (In the Red).








Matt Skiba & the SekretsBabylon (Superball). Similar formula for the Alkaline Trio frontman and his side project, with many tracks taken from his '10 Demos release. "Voices" and "Luciferian Blues" recall the best Alk3 songs off of From Here to Infirmary and Good Mourning.









The Soft PackStrapped (Mexican Summer). Every time I listen to this I enjoy it more. It just kind of got lost in the shuffle of new releases this year. Overall, a pretty solid follow up to their minor breakthrough from a few years ago.










Titus AndronicusLocal Business (XL). I'm enjoying this follow up to the '10 breakthrough, Monitor, more now than I was at first.  It seems like they tried to tackle more genres on this one to varying degrees of success.











Jack WhiteBlunderbuss (Columbia/Third Man).









Other Stuff I Checked Out in 2012

Amps For Christ/WoodsS/T (Shrimper), Fiona AppleThe Idler Wheel... (Clean Slate/Epic), Ariel Pink’s Haunted GraffitiMature Themes (4AD), Band of HorsesMirage Rock (Columbia), Certain People I KnowS/T (Count Your Lucky Stars), Delta SpiritS/T (Rounder), Craig FinnClear Heart Full Eyes (Full Time Hobby), The Fresh & OnlysLong Slow Dance (Mexican Summer), Ben GibbardFormer Lives (Barsuk), Grass Is GreenRonson (Exploding in Sound), Green DayDos! (Reprise), Green DayTre! (Reprise), Heavy BlanketS/T (Outer Battery), JEFF the BrotherhoodHypnotic Nights (Warner Bros), Mission of BurmaUnsound (Fire), New Multitudes (Farrar, Johnson, Parker, Yames)S/T (New Rounder), A.C. NewmanShut Down the Streets (Matador), Nu SensaeSundowning (Suicide Squeeze), Joey Ramone…Ya, Know? (BMG), Frankie RoseInterstellar (Slumberland), The ShinsPort of Morrow (Aural Apothecary/Columbia), Sic AlpsS/T (Drag City), SoundgardenKing Animal (Seven Four/Universal).


Previous: 20 to 11

Friday, January 4, 2013

Year in Music 2012 - 20 to 11





20. The Mighty Mighty BosstonesThe Magic of Youth (Big Rig). After slowly fading and going on indefinite hiatus in the early 00’s, the Bosstones have quietly returned with 2 very good albums – Pin Points and Gin Joints released in late 2008 and this current one released late in 2011, which are both on par with their best releases from their heyday in the early to mid 90’s. After nearly 25 years they are still pretty much the best around at what they do. The best tracks are “Like a Shotgun”, “Sunday Afternoons on Wisdom Ave”, “They Will Need Music”, “The Horseshoe and the Rabbit’s Foot”, “The Magic of Youth”, and “The Upper Hand.”


19. Dr. DogBe the Void (Anti). There may be fewer highs on this release than on previous ones, but this may overall be the strongest album overall from Philly’s Dr. Dog yet. “Lonesome”, “These Days”, “Do the Trick”, “Vampire”, “Over Here, Over There”, and “Warrior Man” are my favorites.




18. Screaming FemalesUgly (Don Giovanni). Her voice may be an acquired taste, but Marissa Paternoster plays guitar and writes songs that recall Dino Jr. or Sleater-Kinney with appropriate shredding throughout. Indie-rock god Steve Albini produced this and you can hear his influence with the rougher edges in these songs. The highlights include “It All Means Nothing”, “Rotten Apple”, “Expire”, “Crow’s Nest”, “Help Me”, and the seven-and-a-half-minute “Doom 84.”




17. Gaslight AnthemHandwritten (Mercury). The ’59 Sound and American Slang were going to be difficult albums to top and they weren’t able to do that with Handwritten. Nonetheless it’s still a good album. The highlights are “45”, “Handwritten”, “Mulholland Drive”, “Keepsake”, “Too Much Blood”, “Howl”, and “Blue Dahlia.”






16. Ty SegallTwins (Drag City). I was not as into Segall’s previous work or his many other releases in 2012, but I really enjoyed this one a lot. Think John Lennon with fuzzy guitars or Jay Reatard I guess. My highlights include “Thank God For Sinners”, “You’re the Doctor”, “Inside Your Heart”, “Would You Be My Love”, “Love Fuzz”, and “Handglams.”





15. Nada SurfThe Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy (Barsuk). The last three Nada Surf albums have all kind aged similarly with me. I sort of like them at first but put them on the back burner when more anticipated albums are released. But I’ll be darned if they don’t stick with me longer than most. Then at year end, I find them higher on the list than I had figured they’d be. This is one is no different, but a notch below their last 3 releases, but still very solid power/pop. The highlights include “Clear Eye Clouded Mind”, “Waiting For Something”, “Teenage Dreams”, “Looking Through”, and “No Snow on the Mountain.”





 14. Parquet CourtsLight Up Gold (What’s Your Rupture?). This band seems like an old school indie rock band, recalling the indie/pop/rock of Pavement (particularly Crooked Rain) or Nodzzz or even a little GBV on some songs, but more like Sonic Youth or even the Minutemen on some of their noisier songs. My favorites are “Master of My Craft”, “Borrowed Time”, “Light Up Gold II”, “Stoned and Starving”, and “Picture of Health.”




13. Golden Gurls Typo Magic (self-released on Band Camp). This MD-based band combine shoegaze in a Pains of Being Pure at Heart way with an indie punk sound reminiscent of Sebadoh or Dino Jr. I even hear some Afghan Whigs on some of their groovier songs. The highlights include “Kid Tested”, “I Can See the City”, “Tidal”, "Uphill Fight", and “Excited”. 






12. PileDripping (Exploding in Sound). This music is not just for any old “Gomers.” While Boston’s Pile is heavy and raw-sounding their songs have more melody and groove to them than many of their peers' output. On some of their songs they take a while building up to the crescendo, but after they get there it makes it worth the wait. Check out “Baby Boy”, “So Hard”, “Prom Song”, “Bump a Grape”, and “Bubblegum.”





11. Soul AsylumDelayed Reaction (429 Records). I’ve always had a soft spot for Soul Asylum and think they are one of the most underrated bands of the last 30 years. And after you hear this record you think “where have these guys been?” This is probably their best album since Let Your Dim Light Shine. Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy are still writing really solid guitar-based pop/rock songs. Michael Bland is the official semi-permanent drummer and Tommy Stinson is now the official semi-permanent bassist (at least in the studio), a role he’s served for the most part since original bassist Karl Mueller began his fatal battle with cancer in the early-aughts. The best tracks are “The Streets”, “Take Manhattan”, “Let’s All Kill Each Other”, and “Into the Light.”




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