2011: My Year In Records

December 29, 2011 at 11:47 pm | Posted in Albums, Best of, Lists, Music | 9 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A year end albums list is kind of a strange thing, especially when it’s one person compiling it. Since this blog is a committe of one, it can become quite capricious. In all likelyhood I wrote about some records this past year that I was overtly enthusiastic about at the time. Now the end of the year rolls around and some of those records are not on the list. “What gives?” you might ask. It’s hard to remember which label flew me to Tahiti and which one comp’d my CMJ this year, so I may have forgotten to include a few records that I thought at the time were great.  These are the records that left an impression on me over the course of the last 12 months, paylola or not…


1. Destroyer – Kaputt (Merge)
Was this record flying in the face of fashion or swimming in it? These days I can never tell. Dan Bejar controls the vision of Destroyer and I have been following his erratic course for years, but nothing has ever grabbed hold of me like Kaputt did. Up until this point the minimalist keyboard focused Your Blues had been my favorite Destroyer album. That album from 2004 subtly evoked Prefab Sprout, Blue Nile, Microdisney, and Felt, but  Kaputt goes hook line and sinker for that sound and comes up with the huge treasure of the “big music”. Do not be afraid of the saxophone (the Waterboys weren’t)! This record evokes a time in music when highly stylized, heart on the sleeve pop was de rigor in some parts of the world. Even if you’re old enough to remember it, Destroyer do it in an entirely new and fresh way.
mp3: A Savage Night At the Opera


2. Total Control – Henge Beat (Iron Lung)
Total Control march to the beat of a different tune, one that will floor you. At least it did me. Eddy Current Suppression Ring’s Mikey Young and Daniel Stewart of UV Race combine to fabricate Tubeway Army, the Fall and Neu! If you dare listen to this record it will totally control your life.
mp3: See More Glass


3. Sweet Bulbs – Sweet Bulbs (Blackburn)
Sweet Bulbs can bend a guitar with the best of them. They sound like they’re torturing their guitars the way the Swirlies, the Lilies and of course My Bloody Valentine. Like all great bands, they broke up after making their first album. This is it, but don’t fret, they are now called Heaven’s Gate. So the magic is still happening, only under a different name.
mp3: Kissing Clouds


4. Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls (Slumberland)
Was a time when a record like this would have been on a major label. Pop songs that are so immediate and infectious that labels would have been falling over themselves to sign them. The world turned upside down a few years ago and bands like Veronica Falls sign to indies like Slumberland. If you dig the Bats and Wedding Present jangle of yesteryear, then I guarantee you will not be able to say no to this maelstrom of a record.
mp3: Bad Feeling


5. Wild Swans - The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years (Kitten Charmer)
Wild Swans in their initial incarnation released one seminal single and then disbanded. In their second incarnation they released two so-so albums. You might think that after one reformation that the next one might be worth sitting out, but they don’t say the third time is a charm for nothing. The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years is full of bitterness and pining for a better idealized past. A quest to return to those days is vividly chronicled here and makes a Wild Swans that far outshines anything from their past.
mp3: Chloroform


6. Sea Pinks – Dead Seas (CF)
This jangly record with simple songs that cut to the quick seemed to keep popping up on my turntable and on my headphones. Girls Names drummer Neil Brogan got his band-mates to back him up on Dead Seas, and in my opinion surpass their other band. That of course is a matter of opinion, Girls Names are no band to be sneezed at. Sea Pinks songs subtly evoke the Smiths while sounding nothing like them. A seemingly simple and understated album that peels like an onion.
mp3: Heir Apparent


7. Big Troubles – Romantic Comedy (Slumberland)
When I first heard that Mitch Easter was producing Big Troubles second album, the first thing that popped into my head was Moose. Moose started out as a shoegaze band, but hired Easter to produce their first album and their sound changed from My Bloody Valentine to Tim Buckly and Fred Neil. Big Troubles following a similar path went from their first album, a noisy affair to nuance of psychedelic sounds of the paisley underground.  I don’t give Easter all the credit for the metamorphosis, but I’m sure he definitely helped.
mp3: Misery


8. Useless Eaters – Daily Commute (Tic Tac Totally)
Yeah, Iceage got a lot of press for their album New Brigade, but Useless Eaters’ Daily Commute was my favorite art punk album of the year. Sure it sounds like it was recorded on a boombox in the kitchen, but you can’t keep a great songwriter down. Simply put, this record rips, and if it would have had better production you would be reading about it on sites much more popular than this one.
mp3: Daily Commute


9. A Classic Education – Call It Blazing (Lefse)
Bologna, Italy’s A Classic Education debut album is a melancholic charmer. Call It Blazing holds songs like sunken treasure in its depths. Luckily it doesn’t take a submarine to get to its yearning, oceanic pop that recalls the  genius of the Chills and the Shins.
mp3: Can You Feel The Backwash


10. Twerps – Twerps (UnderwaterPeoples)
I was somewhat intrigued by Twerps’s handful of singles, but not smitten. Smart kids that they are, they used the singles as building blocks, kind of feeling their way about until they got to a place that they were writing songs that they felt were worthy of a long player. This record is wise beyond it’s years. It echoes back so much of the amazing history of Australian pop like the Church, Paul Kelly, and the Go-Betweens. They’ve set quite a high bar for their follow-up.
mp3: Dreaming


11. Eleanor Friedberger – Last Summer (Merge)
Eleanor Friedberger is one half of the brother-sister duo the Fiery Furnaces. She’s not old enough to remember the late 60′s and 70′s, but she’s made a record that sounds like she is. It has this strange Jackson Browne or Jim Croce feel to it. It’s kind of a folk record, but it has a weird soulfullness to it that pulls it out of the folk genre. Nothing else sounded remotely similar to Last Summer. A unique record from a unique voice.
mp3: Roosevelt Island


12. Mind Spiders – Mind Spiders (Dirtnap)
Mind Spiders deftly jumps from Jay Retard, to T Rex to Love and Rockets and then back again. It’s like being lost in the funhouse. You can’t find your way out, but you kind of don’t want to get off either.
mp3: Go!


13. Crystal Stilts – In Love With Oblivion (Slumberland)
The Crystal Stilts are not a live band, but give them a studio and they will kick your ass. In Love With Oblivion dredges the ghosts of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Bo Diddly, and Felt  from unmarked graves and breathes new life into them.
mp3: Sycamore Tree


14. Ringo DeathStarr – Colour Trip (Club AC30)
I have to admit. I was hot and cold on this record. First I was hot because it’s infectious shoegaze is pretty hard not to like if you already lean in that direction. Then I saw them live and was convinced that they used Auto-Tune on the album, because they couldn’t carry a tune to save their lives. Then I said fuck it, the songs are great and the record is amazing, who cares if they really can’t sing, they know how to use a studio. It never stopped me from loving the Stone Roses.
mp3: So High


15. Indian Wars – Walk Around the Park (Bachelor)
Seems like in a year when Kurt Vile and the War on Drugs got their props, critics would have dug a little deeper to find something that hadn’t been polluted with the whiff of success. Vancouver, BC’s Indian Wars bust through saloon doors and shoot up the bar the way the Long Ryders and Gun Club did in the past. Bands like this worry me. Why? Because they’re so damn good and nobody knows it. Too good to last? Hope not.
mp3: Tuscaloosa Bar


16. German Measles - A German Joke is No Laughing Matter (Krazy Punx)
Funny how everyone bumming out over the fact that Art Brut are no longer funny missed this record. The German Measles did the prudent thing for any ‘funny band.’ They broke up after making their first album. It’s not belly laughs and punch lines, it’s just spot on observations about everyday life and raw spartan punk rock that sticks to your bones like oatmeal.
mp3: Totally Mild


17. Top Sound – Top Sound (Ça Ira)
Sweden’s Top Sound took their time getting their debut album together but it was well worth the wait. It grabs from the High Llamas, Stereolab, Style Council, and the Aluminum Group to create a bright sounding, highly stylized (erm) top sound.  This is toe-tapping and finger-snapping good. Those may not be the sweaty and bloody rock n’ roll terms you’re looking for in a rock album, but it ain’t all chicks and whiskey.
mp3: A Matter of Precision


18. Charles Bradley – No Time For Dreaming (Daptone)
In a time when there seems to be old soul compilations coming out every other week, 62 year old Charles Bradley burst on the scene with his brand new old soul. He was the singer in a James Brown cover band before being discovered by Daptone Records. Bradley has a gritty, working man’s soul voice that makes the songs feel current even though he’s firmly rooted in the past. This, amazingly is his debut album.
mp3: Lovin’ You, Baby


19. Cat’s Eyes – Cat’s Eyes (Downtown)
Soprano Rachel Zeffira teamed up with the Horrors singer Faris Badwan to make an moody record that stalks will stalk your stereo. The two apparently bonded over a mutual appreciation of 60′s girl groups. That affectation permeates the record, but it’s not like any Ronettes album you’ve heard. It’s dark and eerie and teams with both Zeffira’s high notes matched with Badwan’s low ones. An otherworldly record.
mp3: The Best Person I Know


20. People’s Temple- Sons of Stone (Hozac)
Play Sons of Stone for someone who hasn’t heard it and you could pass it off for a lost psych record from the 60′s that was left off of Nuggets. Hell, People’s Temple kept coming up on shuffle and I kept getting fooled myself. This Lansing, Michigan band are named after Jim Jones’ cult that committed mass suicide in the 1970′s. Instead of spending your hard earned cash on another Rolling Stones reissue, drink the juice and joion the People’s Temple.
mp3: Where You Gonna Go?


21. Cave – Neverendless (Drag City)
I love this album because it seems to conjure the lost art of  the motoric. Mostly instrumental jams that bring Neu! to mind, but by way of Chicago. Perhaps the windy city has given up on the artery clogging deep dish pizza and gone for the heart healthy Kraut!
mp3: W U J


22. Comet Gain – The Howl of the Lonely Crowd (What’s Your Rupture?)
One thing about being a music blogger, you can keep putting records by perennially ignored bands on your list. Comet Gain have been around forever putting out difficult and rewarding albums. This one is no different. They are in my imaginary R&R hall of fame along with the likes of the Fall, the Mekons and the Pastels.
mp3: An Arcade From The Warm Rain That Falls


23. Wax Idols – No Future (Hozac)
Former Punx Heather Fortune goes it alone and inserts sex, fear, goth and serial killers into her brand of punk rock. It’s not all sex and death, you get the rough with the smooch, as she’s got a soft side too and a voice that can go from sensitive to tough in an instant. No Future has got depth and Wax Idols have a future.
mp3: Hitman


24. Walls – Coracle (Kompact)
Walls’ second album oscillates wildly between kraut, shoegaze and electronica. This could be a gateway album from stepping from one of those genres into another or the perfect music for stepping into that nebula on the cover.
mp3: Heat Haze


25. The Dirtbombs – Party Store  (In the Red)
You wouldn’t believe how many albums have been shuffled in and out of slot number 25 this year. It was a brutal fight, but the Dirtbombs persevered with their double Detroit muscle. Double because this the Dirtbombs tribute to their hometown. Techno classics from techno ground zero are covered with aplomb in this garage meets techno groove fest that is weird, infectious and above all danceable.
mp3: Sharevari

Singles of the Year Countdown: 10-1

December 22, 2011 at 10:05 pm | Posted in 7 inch, Lists, Music, Singles, Vinyl | 9 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The 7-inch single has been around since 1949. That’s 62 years and counting! In my humble opinion the 7-inch single is still the essence, pinnacle and acme of pop perfection. Optimally, it’s one song, one side (Some try to squeeze on more). That’s no room for screwing up. You always hear that releasing a 7-inch is a money losing proposition, but that thankfully, doesn’t keep pop geeks from doing it. In honor of true blue pop geek vinyl junkies out there, here is the fourth and final installment of the annual Finest Kiss top 40 7-inch singles countdown.


1. Exlovers – Blowing Kisses (Young and Lost Club)

Exlovers have been around since 2007 and have a couple singles and an EP under their belt, but nothing that reaches the heights of this amazing single. Blowing Kisses breathes the rarefied air that Chapterhouse was imbibing around the time of Whirlpool. Flip it over and the B-side Moth-eaten Memories is just as good but shows that they can do more than just write a go-for- the-jugular pop song. They do epic well too.

mp3: ExLovers – Blowing Kisses

2. Boomgates – Layman’s Terms (SmartGuy)

Brendan Huntly gets his punk rock barbaric yawp kicks in his other band Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Boomgates showcase sensitive side. There’s a little Go-Betweens, a little Mekons and some Comet Gain in their songs. Layman’s Terms has this plaintive yearning sound with just enough muscle to carry it through.

mp3: Boomgates – Layman’s Terms

3. Nick Waterhouse – Is That Clear (Innovative Leisure)

Nick Waterhouse is maybe a kid genius, or just an old soul in a 24 year old’s body. He’s obsessed with old obscure 45 singles and hangs out with Ty Segall and isn’t afraid to use the Saxophone. Is That Clear is an intense, crisp and surprising single from someone his age. He adeptly uses horns, piano, and back up singers to killer effect. A cover of Them’s I Can Only Give You Everything is a good indicator of where he’s coming from. He’s got an album in the can due out in April.  Can’t wait.

mp3: Nick Waterhouse – Is That Clear

4. Radar Eyes – Miracle (Hozac)

The jangly guitar intro of Miracle makes me wonder if Chicago has some kind of Paisley Underground. Probably not, paisleys don’t grow in the frozen tundra, or maybe they do. They’re kind of like magic mushrooms, you just have to know where to look. Look no further than Miracle, it’s euphoria inducing.

mp3: Radar Eyes – Miracle

5. Golden Grrrls – New Pop (Nightschool)

Glasgow’s Golden Grrrls released two high quality singles this year. New Pop just edged out their first single Beaches in my book. Why? Because its hyper guitars and girl-boy vocals easily induced wild dancing and general craziness in my house whenever it was played, that’s why.

mp3: Golden Grrrls – New Pop

6. Evans the Death – Threads (Fortuna Pop!)

Blistering guitars and the cool killer voice Katherine Whitaker make for an undeniable combination. It’s hard to believe that this was Evans the Death’s first ever single. They sound like they must have known what they were doing at inception. This record pulls from so many great bands that have gone before to create something fresh sounding. I want to know what documentary it is that Whitaker sings about that she should not have watched. My guess is Faces of Death.

mp3: Evans the Death – Threads

7. Still Corners – Cuckoo (Sub Pop)

This is plucked from the Still Corners album, Creatures of an Hour which is good, but spotty. Cuckoo was rightly identified as single material. Its icy Broadcast-like groove gets me every time.

mp3: Still Corners – Cuckoo

8. Andy Human – Toy Man (Tic Tac Totally)

Andy Jordan displayed his dark side earlier in the countdown as Lenz. Andy Human showcases his lighter, playful side that hung out with the Duckman, loved pink and went to prom where OMD was playing.

mp3: Andy Human – Toy Man

9. The Limiñanas – (I’ve Got) Trouble In Mind (Trouble In Mind)

This was a tour only single which is a pity. It’s like preaching to the converted. Anyone showing up at a Limiñanas gig already knows this French band can cut a groove plus large que La Manche, and this record does exactly that. It also gives their label the perfect theme song. Bonus!

mp3: The Limiñanas – (I’ve Got) Trouble In Mind


10. Puberty – Invitations (Telephone Explosion)

The idea behind Puberty was for Intelligence duo Lars Finberg and Susanna Welbourne to shed their instruments and front a band of ringers.  Haskins, Ash and J weren’t available so they got Hernandez, James, Church and Jaworski (sounds like a law firm) for their band. Invitations sounds spacey and remote, and it slithers around just enough to be freaky. In a year where there were no releases from the Intelligence, this will more than do.

mp3: Puberty – Invitations

Singles of the Year Countdown: 20-11

December 20, 2011 at 10:44 pm | Posted in 7 inch, Lists, Music, Vinyl | 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The 7-inch single has been around since 1949. That’s 62 years and counting! In my humble opinion the 7-inch single is still the essence, pinnacle and acme of pop perfection. Optimally, it’s one song, one side (Some try to squeeze on more). That’s no room for screwing up. You always hear that releasing a 7-inch is a money losing proposition, but that thankfully, doesn’t keep pop geeks from doing it. In honor of true blue pop geek vinyl junkies out there, here is the third installment of the annual Finest Kiss top 40 7-inch singles countdown.

11. Wax Idols – All Too Human (Hozac)
All Too Human exudes attitude, which doesn’t mean shit if you don’t have a song to back it up. No problem in that category either.  Wax Idol’s debut single with it’s knifing guitars and big hooks immediately made me a fan. Yes I can get sucked in that easily.
mp3: Wax Idols – All Too Human


12. The Silver Factory – The Sun Shines Over You (Elefant)
Part classic Scottish pop like early Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub and the Pastels, part Stone Roses and all Byrds (and a little Monkees too), the Silver Factory’s debut single was four songs of near pop perfection.
mp3: The Silver Factory – The Sun Shines Over You


13. Terry Malts – I’m Neurotic (Slumberland)
Terry Malts are punks. They’re also pop geeks. This single came out of nowhere and cut to the quick. No filler. I’m Neurotic, Distracted and Where Is the Weekend? all kick sand in your face. I don’t remember sand in the face feeling this good.
mp3: Terry Malts – I’m Neurotic


14. Hausu – She’s a Babe (LebenStrasse)
I kind of think of Portland’s Hausu as contemporaries of Seattle bands like Craft Spells, Sea Pony and Stephanie. Kids inspired by obscure bands (Orange Juice is an obvious reference here) that happened long before they were born.  Who says kids don’t know any history these days?
mp3: Hausu – She’s a Babe


15. Grass Widow – Milo Minute (HLR)
Grass Widow demonstrate their uncanny ability to simultaneously sound laid back and tightly wound. Milo Minute is their own, but it fits perfectly with their covers of  two punk classics the well known (Wire’s Mannequin) and the not so well known but equally good Neo Boys’ Time Keeps Up.
mp3: Grass Widow – Milo Minute


16. Whirr – Junebouvier (Tee Pee)
This might be some kind of record for me. We’re at number 16 and there hasn’t been a shoegaze song in the countdown. There, that’s fixed.
mp3: Whirr – Junebouvier


17. Dizzy Eyes – Let’s Break Up the Band (Hardly Art)
I love a good mystery. Vancouver, BC’s Dizzy Eyes released a single single and then there were rumors of the singer being deported. Could it all have been an elaborate scheme?  Release a single live it out and then disappear, it’s been known to happen.
mp3: Dizzy Eyes – Let’s Break Up the Band


18. The British Public – Bears (Tip Top)
There were a ton of bands that were aping the 90′s in some form or other this year. At first it was like candy and then it was like too much candy. Not the case with the British Public. I still can’t get enough of Ba Ba Ba Ba Bears!
mp3: The British Public – Bears

19. Allah-Las – Catamaran (Pres)

On first listen you might file this one away as garage rock, but it’s just too damn hi-fi to be garage. Recorded by Nick Waterhouse (who we’ll be hearing from again on this list I suspect), no record sounded better than Catamaran blasting from my stereo this year.
mp3: Allah-Las – Catamaran


20. Ketamines – Line By Line (Hozac)
This song is like a drug, oh wait, I think it’s about drugs. Line By Line sounds like a twee version of the Intelligence (on drugs). I can’t really think of a better compliment than that.
mp3: Ketamines – Line By Line

Singles of the Year Countdown: 30-21

December 19, 2011 at 11:00 pm | Posted in 7 inch, Lists, Music, Singles, Vinyl | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The 7-inch single has been around since 1949. That’s 62 years and counting! In my humble opinion the 7-inch single is still the essence, pinnacle and acme of pop perfection. Optimally, it’s one song, one side (Some try to squeeze on more). That’s no room for screwing up. You always hear that releasing a 7-inch is a money losing proposition, but that thankfully, doesn’t keep pop geeks from doing it. In honor of true blue pop geek vinyl junkies out there, here is the second installment of the annual Finest Kiss top 40 7-inch singles countdown.


21. Basemint – No Retro (K)
A huge sounding garage stomp from the depths of a damp Tacoma, Washington basemint, I mean basement. I bet the Sonics probably use to practice in the same depths.
mp3: Basemint – No Retro


22. Electricity In Our Homes – Aching, Breaking, Shaking For You (OGenesis)
Fractured and angular pop that is stripped down to the bone. Aching rattles you with its off kilter and quivering chorus like the singer has been hit in the gut and kicked in the head.
mp3: Electricity In Our Homes – Aching, Breaking, Shaking For You

23. Art Museums – S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G (dulc-i-tone)
The Art Museums broke up this year but left us with two great singles to remember them by. The song S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G has been hanging around the internet for over a year, but things always sound better when they spin at 45 RPM. This song should be on repeat while you wait in the return line, “It’s too late to change your mind, so be happy with what you find.”  It would be at my store.
mp3: Art Museums – S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G

24. BOAT – (I’ll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong (Magic Marker)
BOAT write hooks as big as King Kong. ‘Nuff said! They also know that the single version of a song should be slightly different than the album version. Here, you get a slightly longer King Kong sample. It’s the little things. You know?
mp3: BOAT - (I’ll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong

25. Bleached – Searching Through the Past (Suicide Squeeze)
Bleached are sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin. Jennifer was in Mia Miko, but that doesn’t prepare you for the straight ahead pop that goes for jugular the way the Nerves did 40 years ago.  It is very, very difficult to not get this one stuck in your head.
mp3: Bleached – Searching Through the Past

26. Monnone Alone – Pink Earings (Lost & Lonesome)
It was kind of surprising that the first Lucksmith to release a record after their breakup was bassist Mark Mannone. I figured it would Marty or Tali, but when you’re sitting on song like Pink Earings then you gotta go first. Sublimely understated pop that will make you grin.
mp3: Monnone Alone – Pink Earings

27. Afternoon Naps – Summer Gang (HHBTM)
This record get’s best sleeve of the year (The water folds out in 3D). They don’t make them like this anymore and I don’t just mean the sleeve. The Afternoon Naps may be from dreary Cleveland, but they make sunny pop that some might call twee. I just call it good.
mp3:  Afternoon Naps – Summer Gang

28. The Mantles – Raspberry Thighs (SDZ)
The Mantles have yet surpassed their amazing song Lily Never Married, but Raspberry Thighs comes close. In fact it probably could be considered Lily’s kid sister of a song, and that is no slight.
mp3: The Mantles – Raspberry Thighs


29. Dunes – Tied Together (Teenage Teardrops)
Another Mika Miko related band, Dunes mine the gothic and ethereal vein of pop that Siouxsie and the Banshees are well known for. Tied Together paints wide swaths and is much, much bigger than the tiny 7-inch that it comes on.
mp3: Dunes – Tied Together


30. Trailer Trash Tracys – You Wish You Were Red (Domino)
This one is kind of a repeat as You Wish You Were Red was the B-side to the Trailer Trash Tracys’ first single Candy Girl which was #40 in the 2009 countdown. No matter, as this is an entirely re-recorded version of that song that keeps the eerie David Lynch parts but smooths out the edges to make it just right.
mp3: Trailer Trash Tracys – You Wish You Were Red

Singles of the Year Countdown: 40-31

December 18, 2011 at 11:24 pm | Posted in 7 inch, Lists, Music, Singles, Vinyl | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The 7-inch single has been around since 1949. That’s 62 years and counting! In my humble opinion the 7-inch single is still the essence, pinnacle and acme of pop perfection. Optimally, it’s one song, one side (Some try to squeeze on more). That’s no room for screwing up. You always hear that releasing a 7-inch is a money losing proposition, but that thankfully, doesn’t keep pop geeks from doing it. In honor of true blue pop geek vinyl junkies out there, here is the first installment of the annual Finest Kiss top 40 7-inch singles countdown.


31. Games – Don’t Look For Her (Robs House)
At first I thought this sounded like the Super Fury Animals, but then I got to thinking that they both just have a thing for the acid tinged side of the Kinks and a Rasperries fetish.
mp3: Games - Don’t Look For Her


32. Tunabunny – (Song For My) Solar Sister (HHBTM)
Lo-fi to the core, but writing songs that transcend any recording fidelity. Half of me thinks they should get Steve Albini to record their next record, but the other half thinks they don’t need Albini. Albini needs them.
mp3: Tunnabunny - (Song For My) Solar Sister


33. Lenz – Leaving (The 21st Century) (SS Records)
The Bay area’s Lenz is just one of Andy Jordan’s bands that looks to the 80′s for inspiration. Leaving sounds like it could have been on The Sound’s From the Lion’s Mouth. It’s that good.
mp3: Lenz – Leaving (the 21st Century)


34. Fidlar – Wake Bake Skate (White Iris)
Whenever I have a day off this song is the soundtrack to my day. You can find me at one of a number Seattle’s skate parks with this on a cassette blasting out of my boombox. Is it 1985 again? Damn!
mp3: Fidlar – Wake Bake Skate


35. Fear of Men – Ritual Confession (Italian Beach Babes)
Fear of Men first caught my attention with their cover of the Chills’ Pink Frost, but this, their debut single kept it. Their dreampop reminds me of Lovelife era Lush after they had shed their shoegaze origins.
mp3: Fear of Men Ritural Confession


36. Seacats – We Don’t Sleep (Fin)
There’s a bridge in Longview, Washington called the Nutty Narrows Squirrel Bridge. Apparently it’s there to help squirrels cross a busy downtown street.  Kelso is just across the Cowitz River from Longview which is where the  Seacats are from. No songs about quirky squirrel bridges here, just saccharine power pop. The band pluck two of the finest tracks from their internet album Metal Music and quickly join the ranks of Northwest’s top tier power pop bands.
mp3: Seacats – We Don’t Sleep


37. McDonalds – Name Names (State Capital)
Does Brooklyn have drive-thru’s? You know, to get your e’s. If they do McDonalds can probably give you directions. This one’s for all the 24 Hour Party People that were born 20 years too late.
mp3: McDonalds – Name Names


38. Ice Choir – Two Rings ( Shelflife)
Pains of Being Pure at Heart drummer Kurt Feldman’s latest band are one big ode to the 80′s. Scritti Politti and Prefab Sprout to be exact. Destoyer should get them for their opening band.
mp3: Ice Choir – Two Rings


39. Caucus – Wandering Ones (Cloudberry)
This kind of sounds like the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but Japan’s Caucus aren’t aping them, they just have the same set of influences as that more well known band and implement them in slightly different way (The B-side is a cover of Rocketship’s I Love You Like the Way That I Used To Do).
mp3: Caucus – Wandering Ones


40. UV Race – Acid Trip / Speed Freak (Sweet Rot)
Australia’s UV Race sound like Brix era Fall on this druggy single. Both Acid Trip and Speed Freak sound exactly as you would expect, that is trippy and freaky. Wonderful and frightening.
mp3: UV Race – Speed Freak

Best Reissues of 2011

December 13, 2011 at 10:57 pm | Posted in Best of, Lists, Music, Reissues | 10 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why is it that the older you get the more old music you buy? Probably because as you get older you start to realize how little you know about music. Here’s to all the labels that do the crate digging for you, because there is no way in hell you could have found all of this stuff on your own. Here are the top 15 reissues that I crossed paths with this year.

1. El Rego – El Rego (Daptone)

I was vaguely familiar with El Rego and his infectious African soul from a couple of his songs being on the Analog Africa compilations African Scream Contest and Legends of Benin, but really I bought this record based soley on it’s eye-catching cover and it didn’t disappoint. You might think that tiny Benin is to small to have its own godfather of soul. Wrong, and after hearing this, I’mu hoping that this only volume I. The vinyl version comes with a bonus 7-inch to further entice you.
mp3: El Rego – Hessa

2. Groove Club Vol. 1: Le Confiserie Magique (Lion)


There’s a ton of great French psychedelic pop spread across 22 tracks on this compilation. When you talk French pop, the first thing you probably think of is the ye-ye girls, but this compilation argues that you should open your mind.
mp3: Bernard Chabert – Il Part En Californie

3. Martin Newell – Songs for…A Fallow Land (Fixed Identity)


Martin Newell is a prolific fellow. His band the Cleaners from Venus released treasure troves of albums to virtually no acclaim. Songs for…A Fallow Land was released as a cassette in 1985 while the Cleaners were still going. This record is further proof that Newell’s songwriting talents are as deep as he and his band the Cleaners from Venus are obscure.
mp3: Martin Newell – Gamma Ray Blue

4. Pakistan Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966-1976 (Sublime Frequencies)


It’s kind of amazing how many of these instrumentals sound surf inspired.  Dick Dale and the Ventures have got nothing on bands like the Panthers, the Aay Jays and the Blue Birds. They effortlessly mix the east with the west making for a wild ride.

mp3: The Panthers – Malkaus

5. The Sound of Starke Adolf vol. 1 (Plastilina)


This is the sound of Goteburg, Sweden circa 2001 and the club Starke Adolf that a few bored indiepop geeks decided to start. The Sound of Starke Adolf is a mouthwatering sample of jangly twee/indiepop songs they played at the club. Nineteen obscure pop gems that are just waiting for someone to rediscover in their little corner of the world.

mp3: The Danny Says - The Boy Formerly Known as Me vs. The Girl Formerly Known as You

6. Bay Area Retrograde Vol. 1 (Dark Entries)


This compilation unearths some excellent archealogical finds from the obscure and little known Bay Area synth, new wave and dark wave scene of the 80′s. There’s is the aggressive post punk sounds of Nominal State and Batang Frisco, the silly sounds of Necropolis of Love, the new wave of Los Microwaves and the gay sounds of Danny Boy and the Serious Party Gods. A lot to discover and little something for everyone.
mp3: Nominal State – Middle Class

7. Index – Black Album + Red Album + Yesterday & Today (Lion)


This came out at the very end of last year, but too good to leave off of this year’s list. Index formed in Detroit in 1967 and recorded two records that went unnoticed until 80′s. By then their records were impossible to find. This two disc compilation gathers both albums and an additional 17 songs. It’s dark, bleak and droning garage psych and they reinvented the Byrds’ Eight Miles High long before Husker Du ever set hands on it.  Fans of the Sonics, Spacemen Three, 13th Floor Elevators and the like will not be disappointed.
mp3: Index – Israeli Blues

8. Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love: Motown’s Mowest Story (Light In the Attic)


Compared to Motown, Mowest (Motown’s effort to set up a west coast operation) was a giant failure, but as a compilation Mowest is a complete success. The best stuff here is from Frankie Valley and Four Seasons and Odyssey. There are echos of the classic sounds of Motown, but it’s filtered through Ray-Bans. There is also some great psychedelic folk on here courtesy of Odyssey, who’s song Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love loans itself as the title of this album.
mp3: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons – The Night

9. Bambara Mystic Soul (Analog Africa)


Analog Africa only put out a couple records a year using the quality not quantity rule.  Every release is extensively researched, comes with a thick booklet of interviews with the musicians and labels that originally released the records in Africa. This compilation focuses on Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta. It makes a great companion to the Ouaga Affair compilation that was released on Savannahphone in 2009. This record will shake the dust off of any preconceived notions you may or may not have had about sub-Saharan Africa and will get any party jumpin’.
mp3: Issouf Compaore - Dambakale

10. Chicas – Spanish Female Singers 1962-1974 (VampiSoul)


Chicas is one quirky and enlightening compilation that documents the feminine side of Spanish pop in the 60′s and 70′s. Like any good history lesson there is good and bad, but the good here outshines the few head scratchers. There’s a little bit of everything here: soul, garage, folk, pop and some choice covers like Lia Uya’s version of Three Dog Night’s Liar which totally reinvents the song. London and Paris weren’t the only cities swinging in the 60′s.
mp3: Lia Uya – Mientes

11. The June Brides – London, England 1984-1986 (Social)


Walking into a record shop and seeing this in the bins gives one the feeling of comfort similar to still being able to buy a newspaper at a coffee shop. This vinyl only retrospective is beautifully packaged, contains liner notes courtesy of Phil Wilson and Simon Beesley and is chock full of jangly horn laden pop gems for fans of the Go-Betweens and Orange Juice who want to dig a little deeper.
mp3: June Brides – In the Rain

12 Dalek I – Compass Kum’pas (Medical)


Seattle’s Medical Records seems to keep diving down into the depths and resurfacing with sunken treasures on a very consistent basis. Dalek I was the collaboration of liverpudlians Alan Gill and Dave Hughes.  This minimalist synthpop classic came out 1980 but you can hear it’s influence in countless records in the DFA catalog of today.
mp3: Dalek I – Destiny (Dalek I Love You)

13. Left Banke – Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina & The Left Banke Too (Sundazed)


Where did baroque pop originate? Who knows, but a good place to start your search would be with the Left Banke. If you’re short on cash, go for the debut Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina for those obvious two reasons, but the follow up has it’s charms that you don’t want to deny yourself. I can pretty much guarantee that whichever one you choose, you’ll be back for the other one pretty soon.
mp3: Left Banke – Pretty Ballerina

14. Pale Saints – The Comforts of Madness (ORG)


1990 was a long time ago in indie years, but when you place the needle on this record it sounds as fresh and exciting as it did to a know-nothing college kid way back then. You could call it shoegaze, but it’s too strange and off kilter with it crazy rhythms and raw production to be so easily pigeonholed. It kind of defies categorization as all the best records do. Featuring Ian Master’s delicate voice, Graeme Naysmith’s slashing guitars and Chris Cooper’s amazing drumming, the Pale Saints debut album is a record of which I never tire.
mp3: Pale Saints – Sight of You

15. The Resonars – Bright and Dark (Burger)


Burger is mostly known for releasing cassettes, but give them a record they really like and they’ll give it the vinyl treatment. The Resonars second album Bright and Dark came out in the middle of CD golden age, 1999 to be exact, on the Get Hip Label.  I missed it in 1999 and probably so did many others. Not happening this time. This psych gem plucks from the Hollies, Byrds, Beatles, Long Ryders and the Rain Parade to make a stone cold classic that virtually nobody heard the first time around.

mp3: The Resonars – The Golden Age

A Few More if that wasn’t enough:
Ishilan n-Tenere – Guitar Music from the Western Sahel (Mississippi/Sahelsounds) | The Psychedelic Aliens – Psycho African Beat (Academy Records) | Lou Champagne System – No Visible Means (Medical) | Jeff & Jane Hudson – Flesh (Captured Tracks) | The Servants – Youth Club Disco (Captured Tracks) | Chalk Circle – Reflection (Mississippit/PPM) | Radio Dept. – Passive Aggressive (Labrador) | Nick Lowe – Labour of Lust (Yep Rock) | Fac. Dance (Strut)

The Sea Lions and the Abstract Truth

December 6, 2011 at 10:51 pm | Posted in Albums, California, Music | Leave a comment
Tags: , , ,

I always miss California this time of the year. The gray has settled in for the winter up here in Seattle and sun, sand and sea are distant memories you store in the back of your mind like Frederick the mouse to brighten those cold, grey days. The Sea Lions who come from Oxnard, California know a thing or two about the sun, sand and sea geographically speaking at least and their new album is a kaleidoscope of color to sustain you through the winter. The Sea Lions were one of the core bands along with Catwalk and Maria of the nascent Oxnard scene of a few years ago that was nicely documented by the now defunct Yay! label.   The Sea Lions put out a 7-inch and a split 12-inch on Yay! and then mysteriously the label closed shop. The Sea Lions drifted a while, releasing a couple cassettes, one on Japan’s Violet and Claire and another on Ventura, California’s Obeast label until finally they were snatched up by Slumberland Records who have just released the band’s first album.

If you haven’t been following the band’s erratic and somewhat difficult to procure releases, then Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask is the perfect introduction to them. The album cover photo of the band gives the feeling that they cobbled themselves together for  a high school talent show and that kind of aesthetic isn’t too far off base. The songs are simple little ditties that  are like DIY versions of a Wes Anderson soundtrack. It’s heartfelt, but raw which makes it all the more endearing. Singer and main Sea Lion Adrian Pillado has a dry deadpan that evokes Calvin Johnson, though his baritone isn’t as deep and he has an earnestness about him that reminds me of Kevin Seconds or Mike Palm of Agent Orange.  The Sea Lions are at their best when they slough off their ramshackle tendencies and actually go for it.  The best example is the song  As Times Change which mixes that punk urgency and indiepop longing in just the right amounts.

The 15 songs on Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask include surfy instrumentals and odes to love and laziness and wiz by almost too fast. The longest one doesn’t even break the three minute mark, so your attention deficit disorder never has a chance to kick in. It’s a record born from a quick punk rock and indiepop frolic and answers the question (if there was one), what if the Pastels or Beat Happening existed ten or twenty degrees longitude closer to the equator, or if Agent Orange subsisted on books and espresso through very long wet and gray winters a few degrees more to the north? All of that is just conjecture, your particular geographical location should have no affect on being able to dig this record.

mp3: Sea Lions – As Times Change (from Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask available from Slumberland)

Proper!

December 2, 2011 at 11:07 pm | Posted in Psychedlia | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , ,

I had no idea the Proper Ornaments had a new five song EP out until reading about it over at the Austin Town Hall blog. Their 7″ from last year was good, but this new EP is pretty near brilliant. The band who take their name from a Free Design song share a member in James Hoare with Veronica Falls. Veronica Falls have an affection for the jangly side of the seminal Flying Nun label from New Zealand Flying Nun label. Proper Ornaments do too, but tend toward the more psychedelic side of things. The Bats come to mind, as does the moodier side of the Chills and even some non-New Zealand blood in the stylish pop of the Eric Mathews/Richard Davies collaboration Cardinal. The songs have an elegant translucent quality that floats them into your conscious quickly but they have long-acting mechanisms that keep them in your system. Since hearing this EP, I seem to go into withdrawal if I don’t play it every half hour. I think I may be addicted.

The record is available from No Pain In Pop.

stream: The Proper Ornaments – Who Thought

 

Blog at WordPress.com | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 35 other followers