The Top Ten of the 9 best of 2023

wherein all my strength to not edit or delete another year of near sighted dips into half-baked opinions for 2023:

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9. Winner of the best record in the category of record-I-heard-this-year-but-that-came-out-last-year is definitely Surprise Chef‘s “education and recreation”, mostly because they avoid the tiresome trap set out by the success of hiphop informed instrumental rock band genre of the budos band and heliocentrics, but instead head into tightened updated Lyman/Denny exotica territory.

8. Kylie Minogue‘s Tension contains my top 3 best singles of the year, albeit interspersed with some dull duds. I am pretty sure that in a few years it will be revealed that she has started wearing a portable holographic projector/voice modifier all dialed into the age 16 filter setting. Have I detoured from Dadrock into “Dadpop”, a new lame preference bypassing the prevailing tragicpop wherein the prescribed young Polachek’s lame wails and Humberstone’s drab croon made me both yawn and burp unpleasantly at the same time.

7. Reissues of the year could fill a top ten with niche genre labels like Blue Note or the Beverly Hills Cop OSTs volumes 1-3, Lee Hazelwood (again?), De la or especially the unpossibly good Guided By Voices – Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia – a glimpse into better time in contrast to the sad formulaic grey trilogies now pumped out every year – but no: I always seem to pick a GBV record to go on and on about so instead I will pick Pale Saints‘ in ribbons, which for a 30 year anniversary was stunningly ok.

6. BTW, I prefered Billy Woods & Kenny Segel – Maps to Armand Hammer‘s – overly bleak we buy diabetic test strips ,or any other records this year except for :

5. Ylia – Ame Agaru (balmat) because it tried to be something it is not and won, or

4. Califone – Villagers, again making some of the best sounds in the most boring songs, on forgettable records i still miraculously buy, or

3. Bardo Pond – Peel Sessions, a worthwhile drop in the bucket showing an imposed sparser sound than their usual overblown formula in an impossible recordography, and

2. JPGMafia/Danny Brown – Scaring the Hoes, (self professed alcoholic Danny makes a fun lo fi mess with JPG sorting it out, asking that question along with the RealBadMan: when will hiphop collaborations be recognized as the superior form of the genre), but especially

1. When my favorite album this year is Carley Rae Jepsen‘s Loveliest Time, the question is not what the hell is happening to my taste in music, but rather where the hell was my taste in music been all these years? 

2022 – worsts to bests

#10 Starting from worst to best – the Biggest disappointment of the year award goes to: the Redd Kross 35^th Anniversary edition of the scrappy hair metal classic Neurotica (merge, reissue 2022): be warned this pressing sounds so dull in comparison with my over-enjoyed, worn out original – I didn’t hardly bother listening to the bonus LP of demos out of pure frustration. Did anyone even listen to the test pressings?  Does Merge records ruin everything it touches?  The Clean?  Robert Pollard?  Destroyer?  

#9 Single of the year might have gone to Soccer Mommy for “Shotgun” from the otherwise appallingly mundane Sometimes, forever LP (loma vista, 2022… maybe I just expected something more interesting from producer Dan Lopatin – this record comes across as a lame survey of 90 alt rock, where one track sounds like Veruca Salt, another like Amanda Marshall , another as Portishead – no thanks for reheating any of these awkward memories) but instead I will choose Carly Rae Jepsen’s breezy Western Wind from the Loneliest time (604 records, 2022) – I wish all the tracks on the record were like this.  Alas Jepsen continues her so nice tradition of catchy inconsistent singles from inconsistent pop albums.

#8 Movietone Peel Sessions (Textile, 2022) – speaking of the ’90s, it is a nice reminder that good music did exist back then, even on the radio.   I have soft spot for the indie/electronic UK underground acts that was going on in places like Bristol (Crescent, AMP).   Add to the list the various Broadcast reissues from this year also, in particular the Microtronics LP, in where they sound less like they stop trying to be stereolab … and this is for the best.  Here’s a call out to Drag City to please reissue those impossible-to-find Movietone full lengths.

#7 Nick Hakim wins “best artist I have never heard of”  for a surprising COMETA LP (ATA, VMP 2022).  Purchased on a whim when I had too much store credit from VMP, when it arrived I found I couldn’t take it off the turntable for days. Weird homemade ramshackle sounding love songs – kinda like Red Red Meat/Califone over the music of dirty mind-era Prince – and not at all in a ween sort of way. 

#6 My local record store does a great job stocking Jazz records, so when I have trade-in credit – I always seem to come home with at least one great jazz LP.  Of note: Ronnie Foster, two Headed Freep (blue note reissue) – great synth/electric piano pre-fusion workouts, kind of what I wish Herbie Hancock’s 70s records would have been more like, Bobby Hutcherson‘s Stick up (BN Tone Poet) and Melvin Sparks’ Spark Plug (VMP/Jazz dispensary reissue) – a showcase for the unbeatable “house band” of those early 70’s Prestige records that consisted of Idris Muhammed, Leon Spencer, and Melvin Sparks.  Soul strutting heaven.    As far as new “jazz” records, Gerald Clayton’s Bells on Sand (blue note 2022) is pretty great, but aside from the blue note label I would not have put this in the jazz category.  Had it not been for Dave at the record shop I would not have picked this up due to the warning bells emitted from the hideous Robin Trower-esque artwork.  It reminds me more of some of the gentler freak folk of 20 years ago like Islaja or Espers.  A nice surprise.  

#5 Broken Bells, into the blue (AWAL 2022):  yet more bells, the previous two BB records were phenomenal, and although this gets stuck in midtempo and hookless muck, it is a non-problematic addition to their still flawless catalogue.  It literally sounds like a contractual obligation gone somewhat right, a perfect mediochre choice for number 5 on a top ten list.   Admittedly I have never listened to the Shins, fearful it will taint my favorable opinion of this so called side project.   The claustrophobic-ly orate Dangermouse production reminds me of those two Dave Fridmann produced Delgados records (Great Eastern & Hate) that I loved so much at the turn of the century.   Here is Leo Sawyer on the dark side of the pink moon – Harvest gold wallpaper music for when I want to hear overproduced indie rock but not actually listen to it.

#4 XYR’s aquarealm (not not fun, 2022): I like to assume this was a CASIO re-imagining of the Waterworld OST, but now with menthol cigarettes.   Despite Climate change, 2022 was a pretty good year for atmosphere. I almost chose runner up Romeo Poirier’s, Living Room (Faitichi, 2022), since his superior Hotel Nota LP last year made me intrigued to hear more new ambient works. Unlike a lot of other ambient electronic records, this one works due to a warmth that I haven’t heard in electronic music since laptops became so affordable 25 years ago.   My main problem with most ambient records (and this record occasionally falls into that same trap), is each track sets up a pattern and overplays through until the end – once you hear the first ten seconds you have heard it all.   Other notable mentions in the ambient LP onslaught of 2022 was: Omni Gardens – Moss King (the winner of the best 2021 release I only heard on 2022).

#3 finally one of my favorite soundtracks: Roy Budd’s the Stone Killer (Beatball, 2021) has emerged, fully documenting this sprawling 1970’s crime funk epic a la Lalo Schifrin.  When I heard this lost soundtrack was finally coming to vinyl years ago I waited excitedly, and then I waited more and then waited, and then it took an extra year to get it out of Korea to Canada, but thankfully it is undeniably beautiful, I will just call this a best of 2022 release anyways.   Strangely having Charles Bronson with a gun on the LP cover seems to be the constant with all other favorite 1970s soundtracks whether it is Death Wish or Citta Violenta.

 #2  Guilty guilty pleasure feelings prevent me from listing this next record as the number one on the list, but I am really enjoying The Car by Arctic Monkeys (domino, 2022).  I was reluctant about this band in previous years for their corporate-rock-slumming-as-indie-rock recordings (something UK bands seemed so adept at), and so I arrived very late to the party for Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino (2018)- but when I did, I fell hard for the loungy “Lambchop meets Bowie in his golden years” direction.   The music is darker this time around, more cinematic and thankfully less reliant on the concept , thus freeing up the sound to stretch out. Their prototype post-modern lyrics are sprinkled with knowingly jaded life views, pathetic romantic preaching, and references to a broken technology near future – they are really on to something special (…albeit reality). Sometimes though I wish the singer would shut up for a few bars and let the music play out.

#1 The Kyoto Connection ‎– The Flower, The Bird, And The Mountain (Isle Of Jura Records, 2022):  New age cynicism in the spirit of Plantasia, or Bo Hansen’s Lord of the Rings, or later Bugskull – here is an electro-ambient journey done right.   Kyoto Connection is a South American trio, pretending to be Japanese on an Australia record label – a seemingly perfect cocktail recipe for insincere kitsch a la Senor Coconut (whose Kraftwerk covers LP was, a nice second hand find this year) – but it succeeds despite.   Playful analogue synth trekking through the mountains, I love this sort of thing; and while not perfect – some tracks drag on a little long – it is beautiful and insightful throughout.  Highest possible accolades.

best and worst of 2021:

…or not really the best or the worst of the year, but rather things I enjoyed or didn’t throughout another strangely great year for record collecting despite being a cranky old man who doesn’t like much new music at all.

10.

Best: Sons of Kemet, Black the Future (2021, Impulse): Answers “maybe” to that age old question: Can’t anyone make a decent jazz record anymore?   Apparently only good jazz records come from the UK (or occasionally from International Anthem records).  The spoken word/poetry is tedious at times, and often times I thought I was hearing a Fela record with someone watching Criminal Minds in the next room, oh wait, never mind, that is what I am hearing.  The Impulse! label now seemingly exists as label just for Shabaka’s various projects: Ancestors, or Comet is coming, or these Kemetsons.   There are great funeral march loops, grooves and vocals that at best sound like early Tricky records.   Which begs the question when are we going to get re-issues of Tricky’s good records like Pre-millenium Tension and/or Angels with Dirty faces?  No one was asking for yet another maxinquayn, or the subpar Blowback or his “Juxtapose” collab with DJ Muggs/Grease to be re-issued, speaking of which…

Worst:  DJ muggs, Dies Occidendum (sacred bones 2021): Trap music is such a dead end, showing nothing was learned from those wasted years of drum and bass electronica: what is the point of these unredeemable obsessions of one-dimensional, sonically overpowering beats and rehashed wind up toy sounds that Aphex Twin had already fully popularized in the 90s?  

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9.

Best: Devenda Banhart and Noah Georgeson, Refuge (dead oceans 2021): Defying my assumptions of being yet another singer songwriter record I need not hear, instaed Refuge surprises as a sort of parallel universe Daniel Lanois/Rocco DeLuca album.  Ambient electronics paired with organics piano and guitars – shame about the noisy pressing though. 

Worst:  Young Thug, So much fun (VMP 2021): is so not fun.  Remember how the Smurfs substituted their verbs and adjectives like “let’s Smurf Gargamel in his Smurfy Smurf”?  If those cartoon writers ever got stuck for a phrase everything was just Smurf, but in Young Thug’s world if he needs a rhyme he just replaces it with shit (“let’s shit Gargamel in his shitty shit”).  But Young Tugger proves there is more to his craft than the word shit, there is also boring trap beats, and clichéd skree skree vocals.  Flip the record over and he has learned to rhyme “bitch” now, added one dimensional short loops, and ends phrases with whoo whoo repeatedly.  This “Tic tic, handclap, tic tic, boom booom” trap formula is the empty disco hell of our times. 

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8.

Best: Edan: Primitive Plus (Lewis records reissue 2020) the reissue of a 90s white guy hip hop record is basically a pixie stick and helium filled Rakim.  Home recorded, DIY lofi and actually so much fun – it hits a sweet spot but is truly a product of the time: sure the Tom Green humor and midget references are dated, but when I can look past it, I am amazed; it suspends my disbelief with some great beets, rhymes, and life.  

Worst: Emma Jean Thackray – Yellow (movement 2021)  This record scores big points for its musical ambitions: a solid combination of spiritual jazz combined with CTI jazz funk, if it were a blackplotation film it might be called Journey to Snatchidanda, but the vocals kill this record.  Not for a lack of good intention, but rather it all just comes across like a high school musical. 

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7.

Best:  Curtis Amy, Karunga! (Tone Poet Reissues: Blue note 2021)… this was a surprise.  While the Tone poet series is hit and miss in their selections, often focusing on late 50’s to early 60’s jazz (I can only hope that some early 70’s selections will be coming out down the line), you can’t go wrong with their heavy glossy gatefold covers reminiscent of 60’s impulse! records, thick vinyl and remastering using AAA old school methods. These details make the series feel like an event.  Herbie Hancock’s my point of view being another favorite. 

Worst: Various, Virgin Suicides soundtrack (Rhino, 2020), reminds me how I cannot believe so many people bought that Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, especially since no one cared about the comic back in the 80s… so here is another loathsome classic rock compilation masquerading as an original soundtrack, but stranger things have happened and this 2020 record store day release buries anything interesting about the AIR original score with Heartless FM radio hits.  When are they remaking Rocket Robinhood into a cyberpunk trilogy?

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6.

Best: Quasimoto Further Adventures of Lord Quas (VMP reissue 2021).  speaking of movies… 2021’s Dune proved, if anything, that the film industry can still pour all its finest into a project but deliver a lifeless waste of time.  This summer in anticipation I re-read the novel, realizing along the way that David Lynch’s version was actually very true to the book, or at least half of it, because yes while Lynch’s version loses momentum half way through, so does the book, so … perfection.  The visuals were far more inspiring than the grey 2021’s version, and Kyle McLaughlin will always be Paul Atredes in my mind, I mean he is the real deal who survived a scary lapdance from Elizabeth Berkley, meanwhile this new Paul is just another annoying Wesley Crusher lookalike; every time he was onscreen I kept hoping Boba Fett would show up and shoot him in the back of his head with his lightsabers.  And just to prove we can remake some things better, there was this great reissue of Madlib’s second Quas record, and while I wasn’t a fan of this year’s Sound Ancestors – this was a welcome substitute. Yes, it does sound slightly better than the original stone’s throw version, and like a good reissue it contains more tracks, but it was such a messy pile of samples and sticky green loops that it was hard to inhale it all in anyways, so whatever, pair this with the surprisingly great JJ Doom reissue there is lots of cartoony HH to enjoy now.  

Worst: Cochemea: Vol.2 Baca Sewa (Daptone 2021).  Is the title of this saxophonist meets tribal percussion record supposed to sound like “backed up sewer”?  Like label mates the Budos Band, this record is flawed by an overwrought attempt to sound authentic.  Sure, it’s expertly recorded and attention has been paid to the compositions and instrumentation, but it all sounds too studied and forced to ever be engaging.  And strangely like the Budos, the record is marketed to the psych crowd: Cochemea is hyped as a “space warrior”, on a “transcendental journey” with cover art pretending to be psychedelic in nature, but I hear nothing transplendid about it.  It is just an updated version of Gato Barbarieri fantastic firey 1973 LP “Chapter one: Latin America” or Archie shepp’s Magic of Juju – free jazz sax jams over tribal percussion – better to go straight to the source.

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5.

Best: Dorothy Ashby : “The Rubaiyat of…” (VMP reissue 2021): Her previous Afro Harping LP sounded more like a novelty exotica record to me, frustratingly disjointed, but I can see why it’s a beat diggers paradise.   Now this release (originally the Cadet label in 1970) fully realizes it’s potential, moving the same directions of Alice Coltrane to legitimize the classical tones of the harp in the contemporary jazz setting – laced with soul grooves, vocals and informed by worldly and otherworldly perspectives. Stellar.

Worst: St Vincent ,Daddy’s home (Loma Vista, 2021), is it good? is it bad? I just can’t tell.  Ironically it’s just how I feel about her admitted influence here, Steely Dan’s Aja – a record just so popular and AOR sweet I should hate it (but I don’t); lyrically bitter and compositionally interesting, I should love it (but I don’t).  Stuck in the middle, she nailed the 70’s post cocaine Rumors vibe and it indulges in lust, disappointment and loathing, confusion and at the same time donning a blonde wig to look less like 1985’s Annie Lennox but instead 1995’s Dustin Rhodes as Goldust.    Can one song ruin an entire album?   Yes.  If you’re going to steal melodies and lyrics, Sheena Easton’s “my baby takes the morning train” is just plain lazy, perhaps next time dig deeper into obscurity and rip off Jingle Bells?  Thankfully I hear some There’s a Riot Going on, unthankfully some Abbey Road, but more dreadful than any of those, Morcheeba. 

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4.

Best:  Floating Points /Pharoah Saunders, and the london-something or other orchestra (lauka Bop 2021):  this hits all the right notes, free jazz, electronic ambient and contemporary composition, showing music can be lovely and intellectual again.    Pair this with Bill Evan’s transcendental Symbiosis (MPS 1974, reissue 2021) for a vast musical lost evening with lots of chin stroking.

Worst: Bill Evans Live at Ronnie Scott’s (2020) – Piano trios may be the highest of form of artistic achievement in Jazz, but getting it right is an incredible challenge.  Mostly these trios are just a backdrop for a flashy pianist: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Andrew Hill, even Sun Ra… none of these match the great trio recordings of Bill Evans.  His work transcends: He plays lead, and weave textures, at time classical in nature, other times hinting at the blues, and all the while fully collaborates with his trio into a cohesive whole.  Bill has some great records, but this 2020 Record Store Day exclusive is not one of them.  Like that recently discovered Thelonious Monk LP Paulo alto, recorded by a school janitor, this is just a bad recording, mastered with the bass way too high, and perhaps completely ruined by a too noisy audience.  It just never works.   

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3.

Worst: Cleveland Eaton, Plenty Good Eaton (Black Jazz/Real Gone reissue 2020): a 1975 record from this Jazz bassist initially sounds promising, but is ultimately killed by it’s own funky hand.   Opening riffs are excellent, but after a couple minutes become stuck into lame proto-fusion hell.   Its fate sealed by the dire Mission Impossible riff that goes on and on for an eternal 8 minutes, interspersed with the worst kind of game show music horns stabs.  Too much speed and not enough dank groove.  1974 seems to be the cut off point for that very specific strutting soul jazz funk that I love… 

For every lame Black Jazz reissue, there is a couple amazing gems, in this case Henry Franklin, for both the Skipper (1973) and the Skipper at home (1974) (reissues Black Jazz/Real Gone 2021).  Like most bassist lead jazz recordings they tend to detrimentally mix the bassist too high in the mix, but unlike most where the players step back and give 10%, this is not the case here, whether in a small combo of the first LP or the large ensemble of the second, the music floats seamlessly through diverse solos and so many ideas at times I am left wondering “where am I?”, and demonstrate melodies, grooves and freakouts can coexist.  see also Walter Bishop JR. 4th cycle – Keeper of my soul.

Best: Public Enemy,Fear of Black Planet (reissue VMP 2021):   After the aural assault that defined PE’s first couple records, I dismissed them as a one trick pony of the apocalypse, so I slept for ~30 years and had no idea this PE record was so diverse… and great.  Beyond mere bombast and battle cries there is a complex tapestry of samples woven into (gasp!) melodies and grooves, this is their Paul’s Boutique.   The VMP packaging and pressings are this time fantastic and elevates the whole experience – the irony of giving PE a fetish object deluxe re-issue is not lost on me, but how else to justify buying records form this overpriced reissue label.

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2.

Worst: Spiritualized, Laser guided Melodies (Fat Possom reissue 2021).  How am I supposed to get lifted and chill if I gotta keep getting up from my favorite chair every twelve minutes to flip over this 45 rpms double LP hell?  I love this record but it is a disaster and, if it wasn’t for the much better reissue of Let it come down I would be bad mouthing fat possum for not even trying their best. 

Best (x3): Cub Scout Bowling Pins, Clang Clang Ho (GBV inc, 2021):    just when you think you are out, he pulls you back in: Robert Pollard got to me on three brief occasions this year:  a) Cub Scout Bowling Pins is his Lemon Pipers/1910 Fruitgum Co record containing the second best single of the year with “123 Copyright”, the bubblegum undertones are promising and except for a few duds like the opening track it is ultimately flawed, meanwhile b)Guided by Voices’ Earth Man Blues was another cheapo Tommy school of rock opera, intriguing from the outset – the first track’s Who guitars morph into strings in less than one minute… are we back to fine form?  Rolling Stone took the bait and reviewed it (have you seen how few records they review in their magazine now?) and called it their best since Alien Lanes?   maybe, no…nope… and just when I thought I could never enjoy another GBV record, and to a lesser extent c) GBV, It’s not them, it can’t be them, it is them is their Forever since Changes breakfast inspired LP.  Sure there is pointless filler but there is also a cohesiveness to the production, an almost inspired unity I haven’t heard in the long time (months in GBV time is like years in any other reality). Again the first and third track are terrible but mostly everything else is great (especially razor bug getting goofy from the shots).  I can almost listen all the way through a GBV record without cringing.   Maybe i am too forgiving, blinded by fandom, but between the various highlights of these 3 LPs is one perfect LP, and “High in the Rain” is the single of the year.

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1.

Both Best and Worst: Sia, Music (2021).  All my credibility is now lost in my love for this weirdo pop record.  Inspired by a dodgy film I will probably never see, Sia fell into an ableist black hole of shame, meanwhile this is the best pure pop record I have heard in a long time.  I was underwhelmed at first, Sia is easy to dismiss as a medioche Lady Gaga, but these plastic pop songs are deceptive: beautiful, earnest, and just shouldn’t affect me the way they do.  There is a wise innocence that resonates in simple lines dreaming of holding hands and finding another, it captures the emotion of my fears and hopes for love and connection that fall away from my lonely gentle grasp each day.   

Best of, 2020 in hindsight.

Top 10 of 2020 : this has been perhaps my favorite year of record collecting in a long time, even though I spent very little time in actual record stores for fear of dying. I even bought a bunch of CDs this year to listen to with headphones in the backyard, if only to drown out the sounds of constant expansion, also known as construction for the new firehall at the end of the block.

• 10. Heliocentrics – Infinity of Now (2020)
  Obvious nods to Sun Ra dominated past albums, now they are more like a Geoff Barrow tribute band; landing somewhere between the hifi loose jams of Beak and the tired trip-pop conventions of Portishead. Their ambition gets the better of them occasionally; the ideas are good, but the results vary. Perhaps a bit rushed at times, like they tried to pack a double LP of ideas into the space of one, the tunes beg for a chance to spread out and relax. Just like Tortoise, when they try to be a jazz band it falls flat, but thankfully they go other places. A second 2020 release came out later on, but how many records can you listen to at once? – I only got this one.

• 9. Guided by Voices – Vampire on Titus (1993, reissue 2020)
  In a year of amazing reissues this gem from 1993 is perhaps my favorite. It was impossible to get on vinyl for a long time, perhaps over-inflating my opinion, but this is a “great sounding record” despite being one of those “purposefully low fi it and not supposed to be a great sounding” record. Honorable reissue mentions go also to GBV’s Alien Lanes‘ no-frills 25 Anniversary reissue ( released in 1994, so actually 26 years old. I hope Bob weren’t no math teacher…) and Robert Pollard’s Kid Marine (1999), easily his second or third best solo record, but absolutely the winner of his worst cover art (an air cadet wedding album?). I recently had a renewed appreciation for Kid Marine after learning that Wire’s 154 was one of Pollard’s influences – lovely echoes of Wire are here in these pre-Todd Tobias golden years.

• 8. Gong Gong Gong – Phantom Rhythm (2019)
  Appropriately, I like the psych prog band Gong only about one third as much as I love this band, which is a lot. Early Billy Bragg guitar tones, filtered through Gang of Four hammered syncopation, and Deja Voodoo primitivism – this record has everything to make wrong right. Winner of the “Best record from last year I didn’t hear until this year” award.

• 7. Donald Byrd – Ethiopian Knights (1972, reissue 2019)
  And if there was a “Best reissue from last year that I never heard until this year…” award it would be this. A highlight among the enormous onslaught of remastered jazz snob reissues from Blue note 80, Tone Poet and Black jazz, so good it transcends time. There was definitely some semi stiff competition this year in this category : Alice Coltrane’s live bootleg, Gabor Szabo’s Dreams, and McCoy Tyner’s Sahara (proving that blurry digitally scanned artwork is still an international problem). Recently there was a groovy reissue of Byrd’s Fancy Free, all strangely making me uncomfortable in my enjoyment of this early jazz fusion crap, I clearly am having yet another mid life crisis. For a brief period of time I was trying to coin the genre “pimp jazz” that centered around the proto-disco jazz of Donald Byrd’s 1973 album Streetwalker, which in hindsight was a futile endeavor for the intolerable jazz flute, but on Ethiopian Knight everything was just so perfect.

• 6. Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are sent here by history (2020)
  This LP finally answers that old question from the 1970s: “can’t anyone ever make a good jazz record again?” The answer is yes (and on the resurrected Impulse! label no less…), evoking free, bop, psych, yadda jams, with that magical vibe of the best of 70s African Jazz. I melt under those same sad sax tones that Fela honked, sweet drumming, mantra informed chant singing, like a perfect remake of Karma or Thembi without Pharoah’s trademark shrill sax to spoil the mood. I wish someone would reissue that Phillip Cohran “on the beach” LP again, then all would be fine.

• 5. Prince Paul – Prince among Thieves (1998, 2020 reissue)
  My “Vinyl Me, please” Rap n’ Hiphop record club subscription was a highly fascinating look into the disturbed reddit minds of angry entitled record collectors, and in August it climaxed with chronically delayed shipments and a surprise 47% price increase fiasco. VMP do a great job of elevating slightly above-average records to masterpiece foil stamped fetish objects. I initially joined the subscription series last year to get the Handsome Boy Modelling school reissue, and this other Prince Paul LP was a great way to end my subscription. Hardly a “masterpiece” (I wish there was a non-skit version) but it is still probably the greatest “rap opera” record in the genre of uh, one(?), or at least the prototype for Jay Z’s rather excellent American Gangster (2007). Anyways, I loved briefly being part of the curated Rap and Hiphop subscription series to learn more about a genre I previously only casually ignored.

• 4. Norman Feels – s/t and Where or When (reissues 2020)
  The mysterious Norm appeared as a kind of rough around the edges Al Green on these reissues of his only two records. While unable to sing the Curtis Mayfield heights he aims for, and occasionally lacking a concise lyrical vision, these records are still awesome. Musically they are quite perfect, a soulful psychedelic trip with strings attached. The second record is the better one, and is perhaps my favorite reissue of the year as of now, the first self titled LP kinda feels (pardon the pun) like demos.

• 3. EOB- EARTH (2020)
  A long time ago Radiohead’s Kid A really impressed me, but everything else RH did seemed… lesser. If this LP is part of their recording lineage it would also be lesser, but perhaps it is something else entirely. I don’t know if it is a solo project, but unlike Thom Yorke‘s recent records, it is kinda good. And this seems like an appropriate place to mention my pick for “biggest disappointment of the year” award: Lambchop’s Trip (2020) – for tricking me into thinking covers of Wilco or Aretha Franklin were going to be a trippy, except in the sense of instead a complete misstep. Way to be consistently boring Merge!

• 2. Espers – Weed tree (2005, 2020 reissue)
  Ok, I take I back – this is my favorite reissue of the year. Not cuz it is as awesome as the golden splatter of Vampire on Titus, but back in 2005 this folk psych record changed the course of my life. I had two original copies and sold each for $80+ on ebay, back when I really needed money to buy food. Now I am older and fatter and I can spend money on records and still eat. It’s good to revisit the pain and joy, and remember what it was like to feel anything. Next year I should try to list more non-reissues, but all I enjoyed otherwise was a bunch of the Fall live records that Let them eat Vinyl released like Live in Astoria 1998, but some might consider these less as records and more as aural scrap books.

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• Before we get to the #1 record of 2020, the winner of the #1 song of 2020 goes to: the Microphones – on microphones in 2020 (2020), which is actually a double record. Phil Elvrum has always subverted my expectations while delivering the same old thing, so as usual, I was shocked here to listen to one long song over three sides of this heavy double LP, as his strange “life flashing before your eyes” monologue unfolds, evoking days of thrift stores, 4 tracks, shitty coffee and fallen leaves; all a sad reminder of all that brought us to this pathetic middle age. Essentially a slacker version of that soliloquy from Macbeth or Hamlet or whatever, probably not as great, but certainly indulgent and hits the right nostalgic notes.

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1. After last year’s frustrations of being unable to pick a #1 record of the year, 2020’s winner of my favorite record of the year is a tie for first place between:

the Professionals – st, and Freddie Gibbs/Alchemist Alfredo (2020):
I was surprised that such an abstract record like Madlib and Freddie’s LP Bandana blew up as big as it did in 2019, and it makes sense that in 2020 the duo went their own ways as : a) the Professionals: Madlib hanging out with his brother Oh No, being uh, unprofessional, and as b) Alfredo the next logical step for Freddie, making a creamy, slightly slicker, big bowl of a song based record. But only slightly. Both LPs are wacky, messy and a lot of fun, a reminder of what makes hip hop great – a collage of cheesy jokes, rhymes, beats and vaguely familiar samples. Despite going separate ways, they kinda ended up in the same place, there could be some allegory there, but the last thing the world needs is another lesson about the obvious.

Kool Keith primer

Getting to know you:
A decent Kool Keith primer should probably begin by extolling the virtues of the Ultramgnetic MCs’ three albums, which are all great in different ways, so much so that they warrant their own write ups.  But the real Kool Keith story begins afterwards with the dual success of the ground breaking and individualistic Sex Style (1997) and the masterpiece collaboration that was Dr. Octogon (1996).   It was these “first” two records defined the two headed monster that is Kool Keith’s ongoing career : Head 1 is were he redefines music when defiantly independent and isolated from the “scene”, and Head 2 is where Keith Thornton collaborates within the scene to transcends genre with the next, next, next.    these two undeniable, crazed hip hop classics, lead to dozens of records of wildly varying quality and importance; let’s navigate what happened next…

Dr Dooom: First come, first served (1998) – The doctor is back? In some kind of late nineties synergy, the hip hop Dooms appeared, MF or Doctor, who came first? One petered out, the other burnt up in a cosmic ray storm, so who cares? The lame opening skit kills Dr Octagon, but all is forgiven when Keith delivers hip hop’s best dis track ever “No chorus”, and things could only go downhill as the record delves into topics not cosmically, but into poverty.  Thankfully the decline is slow and never quite drops off completely. Fun, horrible, and epitome of boom meets bap. Almost essential at *******Seven out of eleven stars.

Black Elvis, Lost in Space (1999), seemingly a big money Sony deal to make a children’s record.  Keith bought some rubber wigs, spreads himself thin with a double concept album, and by “conspicuously not cussing” enters the magical world of dissing knees, cuz he’s Disney’s version of a space rapper, he looks shiny, he sounds great, but there’s no plot. Perfectly major label bland.  Zero atmospheres out of four.

 
Matthew (2000) Another concept record, this time the concept is his name is Matthew, and he thinks he is the best rapper, the end. Delighting in sabotaging any chance for success. Big, bitter, uneven, no thank you sir. *One star too far.

 
Spankmaster (2001), a big booty bounce back… somewhat. You might think from the cover this was Sex Style part 2, but he is a little less horny and little more ornery.  With song titles like “Girls in Jail” and the return of Jacky Jasper it is more of a sequel to First come, first served… at best a fun survey of the many directions Keith had already been and couple where he would be going to.   “Intro” harks back to the track Lex Lugor(sic) from his Cenobites project (1997), while other highlights come not from the many songs about strippers, but from darker, weirder tracks like “Drugs” and, along with other references to driving and hauling, “Mack Trucks” this foreshadow the much anticipated Diesel Truckers project . ******Six teases of nine.
Analog Brothers, Pimp to Eat (2000). Who would have thought the super sized “Ice T” would collaborate with Keith to deliver a ****Four out of four, super fun record?   It begs the question: If Robbie Analog fought Bobby Digital who would win? Us.
Diesel Truckers (2004) Advertised on the back package of First Come, First Served is the mysterious bearded group: coming soon… the Diesel Truckers! Who could they possibly be? Six years later you get to figure it out, Kool Keith surprises again with an almost essential release: Truckers! Truckers! you ARE the best!  That which makes a Mac Truck Go, Kutmasta Kurt and Keith are finally having fun as they drink and drive their way into our hearts. Perhaps his greatest concept for a concept album, rapping truck drivers, so simple & direct to videotape, decent descent from beginning to end. Sadly, they did not keep on truckin, no more releases by this essential services persona(s), at least not yet.  Bonus points as the No limit parody art continues long past any relevancy.  **************** sixteen wheelers out of twenty.

Dr Dooom: 2 (2008) – If you hate TV singing contests chances this will be your favorite Doctor.  Keith opens Dr doom 2 with another monumental dis track, this time tearing down real Idols (not Billy, but also not really American) Simon “I own a lot white t-shirts” Cowell. F alling flat on your face means its time to sequence the best song of your medical practice: “the Countdown”. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6… You’ll say yeah, when you hear “the God of Rap” and “Run For Life” thinking this is where the Gravediggaz shoulda, so your Dr dooom woulda, but then he is “Creeping” mediocre towards not next level sexed dreadful “Girl is a Monster”. Unevenly a five out ten rats. *****

 

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After spending 20 years telling us how Dr Octagon is dead, he kept teasing a return.  Keith must have been in some legal hell, or why else would he license such lame raps for the Return of Dr Octagon (2003), a record rumored to be cobbled together after a producers paid cash for some of acapella demos.  People balked, credibility tanked, so then there was a straight to CD release: Dr Octagon 2 (2004) and the uh… cunningly titled Mr. Nogatco (2006), get it? … nope…

Things got unKool for Keith fans for the next 11 years, until… miraculously things got mediocre again! Hooray?  How about a Sex style sequel ? Or a bunch of bogus Lost Masters releases, repeat these failures until 2018 when Keith, Dan the Automator and Qbert made up nicey nice, and brought the Doctor back for the seemingly Nickleback inspired “official sequel” to Dr. Octagon ; it is a sad dad-rap version entitled after a flat joke on the first record, Moosebumps (*1 star out of thirty). Not worth the weight.
It is a fine line to use humor as a musician, and Keith has gone from being a joker to being the joke.  Thankfully he came out the other side side, around that time of Moosebumps, there were genuinely good collaborations like with L’Orange on Time, Astonishing! (2015), you can’t go wrong with French time travel.  But it was kind of hard to get emotionally invested again so…. six or seven stars *******

And there were terrible releases like the one dimensional sound of Tashan Dorset – the preacher (2016 two stars**) . Awarded two stars mostly for the concept: songs with rhymes on one side, and the instrumentals on the flip side.
You would be forgiven to assume this bleak cover was an Emerson, Lake and Powell side project, but instead its a cookie cutter self titled record produced old school by Psycho Les of the Beatnuts.  KEITH (2019) sounds ok, but something has changed.  It began a long time ago, but here is where Keith fully and unintentionally transitioned into Wesley Willis type songs, complete with forced choruses that don’t groove but nag their way into your brain: “Rock and roll McDonalds” became “Foot Locka” and “Graceland”.   And the  Cypress Hill-esque “Zero Fux”, scores about that much interest.  But not only that, Keith’s voice suddenly got older, his delivery slower, but instead of working with it, it was as if he pretended nothing changed.  The result is a sad reminder of past glory.   five out of many, many  stars*****

2020 sees a couple new records, but I dunno if I can do it.   Sometimes you just have to forget the specials and order your favorite same old thing off the menu into infinity.

Destroyer – Have We Met (2020)

While Dan Bejar’s insightful, soft voice might have made his moniker Destroyer seem ironic, moreso within that name is a tendency to sabotage all creations.  Throughout his career he has worked diligently to build and ruin the pop song from within, whether to oversaturate a lyric or make awkward a simple rhyme.  Career wise he has taken the same approach, often creating-then-alienating his fan base musically, however on this latest record Have We Me, he has successfully shifted in a new direction, to turn off lyrically.

How did we get here?   I remember often seeing him shop at Zulu records around the setting of this Y2K themed record, as if doing research for the indie glam rock brilliance that lead to his best record Streethawk: a seduction (2001), prototyped on homemade City of Daughters (1998) then further developed on Thief (2000); those 3 records captured a special phase of promise;  insightful nods to Hunky Dory and the wordy Cabaret pop of Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker, and there was a sophistication of phrase and melody that compelled the listener to think bigger than those immediate references championed the so called 90 lo-fi movement.    The glamorous Canadian counter point to the just-wanna-rock of Robert Pollard‘s Who obsessions, or just-wanna-trip out a la la Beatles meets Beach boys obsessions of the Elephant 6 crews; more subtle, but no less catchy.

In that great indie tradition of voices you have get used to (from Will Oldham to Joanna Newsom) the shrill Destroyer soon got American representation via Merge records, but it seemed that breathing the same stale air as mediocre-rockers Superchunk caused him to slow down, recycle and dumb down imagery, albeit successfully unto larger audiences with records like Your Blues (2004) and Rubies (2006).

Out of nowhere came his brilliant 2009 EP Bay of Pigs, an ahead of the curve nose dive into 80’s new romantic textures, but when it was included as the finale on the flaccid, soft-rock turn off that was Kaputt (2011), the saboteur had re-emerged.   His sarcastic contributions to the abysmal New Pornographers super group poop were championed around this time, and somehow he lame adult contemporary music was ironic enough to not destroy his career, then ahead of the curve yet again while hipster began to nihilistically embrace Steely Dan and Toto – these Merge Destroyer records hit a sweet sell-able spot, perhaps a testament to his ability to write very clever hooks – and so he travelled that dire road for a few more records.  

Which leads us to 2020’s Have We Met.  Gone are the stupid-for-stupid-sake sax solos and instead channelling Pulp, Lucio Battisti and Empires and Dance era Simple Minds.   I listened to Side A for about a week, excited to drop the needle for the opener “Crimson Tide” as if to hang out with an old friend again. The influences and tones were great, the music didn’t disappoint, even the put on lyrical awkwardness recaptured that comforting charm.  Then after a while, I got familiar enough to flip over to Side B, and oh how the poop ship Destroyer sank: “Cue Synthesizer” might be the purposely worst song Don Henley never recorded, like some sort of depraved Chemical Brothers remix of Sade meets Huey Lewis, but self aware of it’s horribleness to let us all in on the joke.  Sigh. The remainder of the side peters out and then dies on university hill, un-remarkably but more importantly without anything to redeem itself.   Can one song kill an entire record?   Dan, if you can’t just not include these sorts on your LPs then we have no future together.   But wait, no future together – isn’t that you’ve been singing about all along?  …

 

 

Top ten records of 2019

2019 was a year of indifference, partially brought upon by my decent into anti-anxiety medication, and partially to the state of it.    It, as in that incomprehensible, confusing mess, not just a ball of confusion, but a form undefined, and not a movie nor the book, just … it.   And so on with it, the best and worst recordings I listened to this year, are:

#10.   First up this year is Diiv’s Deciever.   Some reviewer compared this record to the Smashing Pumpkins and in that moment it clicked for me: yes, this does suck, and so it is the winner for Most Disappointing Record of the Year.  An aptly named LP of “let’s go through the motions to get some advance money for hard drugs”, then spent the past few years denying using, and are obviously still using, but acknowledged publicly as a sad distraction for all the racist stuff their drummer was spewing.   Ironically Billy Corgan is doing the best work of his career right now by not making music, and instead reviving the NWA (no, not Easy-E and crew but by bankrolling an 80’s homage wrestling show (which has it’s own racist drummer in the form of the greatest old man in the world of showbiz Jim Cornette)).

#9   A tiny thumbs up to Vinyl Me Please’s Rap and Hip hop subscription series, which seduced me with a reissue of Handsome Boy Modelling School‘s incredible How’s your girl.   Remembering that Dan the Automator produces such amazing material that incites so much anger in hip hop heads, if only for his so-called trip-hop leanings (if that even still is a genre), whilst tricking DJ Shadow to drum for him, and with a legacy that includes gems like Dr Octagon, Loveage, Bombay the Hard way, and with the more ironically profitable cultural trash of Gorillaz.

#8  The Can-con award goes to Walrus, Cool to Who (the Alla-las soundalike followup to their more grammar conscious LP, Cool to Whom).    Unless you live in Canada or are familiar with CRTC culture laws, you may not realise how important it is to have a non-Randy Bauchman record on this list, or any list for that matter.   I am sure that Randy will go on and on during his tax dollar siphon of a radio show about how while he was teaching Prince to play guitar he dreamed up a great idea to update his original Monkees concept with multiple versions of himself, but decided he was too busy helping Neil Young to get his career back on track, and instead auditioned these these four 30 year old hipsters to form the Walrusees, but couldn’t get any decent studio musicians to help out so recorded almost all the parts himself except for the drums because he had just accidentally sewed the arm back onto that Def Leppard drummer.   The record is inoffensive indie rock, to contrast the offensive Indigenous/Ted Harrison Graffitti ripoff album art, which is less problematic for its cultural misappropriation, but more for it’s shitty Photoshop fades.

#7  Best artwork of the year goes to Tyler the Creator’s, Igor.   Essentially he is re-working Prince’s LoveSexy LP into a Kool Keith record here complete with nasty wigs.  At times it is tedious, off-putting and derivative of Outkast, but when it comes together it is awesome.    Both he and Danny Brown (whose uknowhatimsayin? LP is this year’s band on the run-ner up) might be the only guys in music having any fun.  Honorable mention goes to kool Keith for Keith, the best looking vinyl design, not the cover but the coloured wax, i have ever seen.

#6  Jay Z.  Yes, a shocking and ridiculous inclusion, but I spent most of 2019 listening to Jay Hova on any Vinyl LP of his I could find.   He is at the same time both the best and worst hip hop artist ever.   I will write a separate blog post about this strange new obsession of mine, but needless to say, I find the critics are all wrong about him… his worst records are his best, and his best records are his worst.  His pop records are better than his rap records.   Now go forth and process.

#5 Winner of the best record from 2018 that I listened to in 2019 is Nonane’s Telefone.  Maybe this came out in 2017, but irregardless it new to me and it is the best daisy age hip hop record that was created 25 years too late, but is all the better for it.

#4 For a non-hip hop record, and best reissue, I might point to all those Alice Coltrane re-issues that came out, but really only my personal favourite of the bunch: Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana.   Back in the 2001 it was the first Alice Coltrane record I bought, and it is still great despite the cover art, and remains my second favourite, only after Journey to Satchidinanda.  Pure loving tones from the morning music of another dimension.

#3  Sadly in 2019 my girlfriend’s Uncle Jeff died, in in that process I acquired his sole 1976 LP:  The Canadian folk-psych-prog cult-classic Jeff White‘s Grey Lord.  Generally I find it difficult to objectively listen to music from friends and family, but like Alice Coltrane, the spirituality captured in this music here is amazing, and there is a intense earnestness that seeps through the grooves revealing his Baha’i faith, while musically informing those same folk guitar and analog synth voyages that Espers and Feathers took me on a decade or so ago.    Along that same path of outsider psych-folk but more in the direction of indie rock is Bobb Trimble‘s 1982 record Harvest of Dreams, reissued by Secretly Canadian in 2007.  I bought this in January and have been obsessed with it ever since, if only for how much it reminds me of a reverb drenched version of Olivia Tremor Control‘s first LP.

#2 Aldous Harding‘s Designer might have been the best record of the year, but being in love with her image makes me suspicious of my critical tastes, and so as a defensive move, it remains at number 2.  In the spirit of the Kinks Village Green, there are charming songs of photographs and half forgotten memories mixed with her sweet, dark undertones.   The second half ‘s piano based tunes are absolutely amazing and moves at codeine speed past the fading singer songwriter mode of side one, and deep into an alternate universe where Nico can sing in tune.

#1 TBA

 

Psychedelic Furs -self titled (1980)

Hard to believe it has been eight months since last I wrote something here, but during that time I found myself busy with putting up walls literally and metaphorically, as I do some home renovations.   Not having walls or floors is great way to re-assess my record collection, and somehow in those now empty storage spaces, bits of lumber and hardware have filled the voids.   While I work, I have been getting into a lot of classic hip-hop, and had reading a few recent books like the hip hop family series of graphic novels and 2018’s the super fun Beastie Boys book by surviving members Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz, in which there are at least two apologetic mentions of the Boys listening to Psychedelic Furs cassettes on their walkmen (or is it walkmans?) – suggesting these NY punk rock rap boys were at their hearts pop music enthusiasts.   Admittedly I am a bit of a hip hop novice – so while my mind is in that realm, I also feel less than qualified to write about it (and therein lies another excuse for neglecting this blog).

Coincidentally, I had just whittled down my collection of Psychedelic Furs records to my two favorite titles.   While neither Psychedelic nor warmly Furry, this band does hit a sweet nostalgic spot of accessible post punk pop.  During which I did the following career assessment:

Psychedelic Furs – self titled (1980)  Their  debut record was a hard one to get rid of based on the opening track of India, a slow building drone that leads into one of their most post- punk rock moments.   Great guitar here, although the production is occasionally flattening.   Richard Butler’s voice immediately recalls Johnny Rotten‘s bitter jabs, but shifts quickly under the weight of a thousand packs of cigarettes.  His voice is raspier that it really needs to be, it often feels like Butler is trying too far hard not to sound middle class – this is charming at times but like Tom Waits it is irritating in excess.  The songs are good, until we get to We Love You, not the fab Rolling Stones pop psych song, but a long drawn out and surprisingly minor hit of sarcastic nursery rhyme level namedropping.   This is the cigarette that broke Joe Camel’s back – I loathe this song  to the point where I can’t enjoy any of the record knowing this is about to show up at the end of side A. Two stars **

Their next record “Talk Talk Talk” (1981) perfected their sound from the first and previewed what would become their biggest hit: Pretty in Pink.   But not yet… here is the slow and low on sax version hardly anyone beyond the Beasties ever liked, we would have to wait a few years for Duckie and Andi to light up the silver screen with their terrible outfits.   The production on this record really elevates them to be the edgier cousin to Duran Duran, flirting between pop and punk.  The lyrics are even more sarcastic, but somehow much more subtle.  Great record, a keeper despite Andrew McCarthy’s wig.  Eight stars ********

Their third record “Forever Now” (1892) takes the perfection of the previous record but puts it into the hands of producer Todd Rundgren.  Guitars get turned down and things get a little more Thompson Twins than Duran Duran here.  Some great tracks and recurring themes, including a couple mentions of Ronald Reagan as President Gas.   I thought only real punk bands were allowed to complain about Ronnie in song?   Sadly things feel pasteurized here.   Two and a half stars **1/2

“Mirror Moves” (1984) gives them a triumphant makeover.  Visually they started dressing in ill-fitting and rainsoaked Miami Vice clothes – again looking like Johnny Lydon’s slightly more “put together” cousins.   But here their inner Bowie begins to shine.   Following that same path Ultravox took a few years earlier to Vienna, we got some hints of this throughout their career, but it is here where their dukes really got thin.  The guitars and synths shine and propel the music inside a baggie of pure, white sophisto-pop.  Even the big hit Heaven is still heavenly.   Seven and three quarter stars *******3/4

On “Midnight to Midnight” (1987) the band took all the reject clothing from the Cult “Electric” photoshoot and then musically tried to double fry Glen Frey.   Somewhere in between albums, the Pretty in Pink Soundtrack came out, so the whole world was watching.  In response, you get some great sounding beats and synths that are a perfect soundtrack for crashing your lamborghini into a Sam the record Man store while eating a McRib sandwich.   Absolute disappointing vapid crap, and I never want to listen to this band again.  Ten black holes.  :::::

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Ten Picks for 2018

 

Year end lists are a great way to prompt me to clean up and organize those random piles of records propped up and around my record player.  Not only to encourage me to organize my record collection and vacuum in the corner, but to pull out those records I bought and filed away this year and make sure I actually listen to them.   And so here is yet another: Top ten records of 2018 (sort of).

10.  Spacemen 3 – Dreamweapon (1990, 2018 reissue), and almost all the other excellent Spacemen 3 reissues that came out this year on Space Age recordings and/or Superior Viaduct.  Dreamweapon is perhaps the most simple but most difficult of all the Spacemen 3 recordings, (not counting  the raver Madchester leanings on 1990’s Reccuring which, like those 90’s Fall records, are just extreme bogus-ness).  The best part this Spacemen reissue campaign is that since I had stupidly sold my taking drugs to make music to take drugs to LP to pay bills (aka buy drugs) a few years ago, I am more than thrilled to have a copy to listen to again.  Plus in 2018 I got to interview Byron Coley on the radio and reference/praise his rad liner notes.

9.  Spectrum – Highs, lows and heavenly blows (1994, 2018 reissue), ditto to any of the praise from the above.  After Spacemen 3 broke up Pete “Sonic Boom ” Kember really developed a unique sound as Spectrum , at times it is both perfect hypnotic pop and experimental noise, his albums are so underappreciated.   I used to think they were boring, but my mind is changed forever.  I can see why MGMT at their peak plucked him from obscurity and hired him to produce Congratulations.   On that note : Spiritualized’s And Nothing Hurt (2018) was almost a great record, it was nice to hear J Spaceman essentially remake a bunch of his old self-loathing space rock stunes into new forms of gratitude, but sadly there a few duds on the record that killed its own momentum.

8.  Silver Apples – Contact (1969, 2017 reissue).   So being obsessive to my detriment, I started to hunt down more Spacemen 3/Spectrum records, which lead me to the sole Sonic Boom record called Spectrum (1989), a strange rockabilly ambient record.  Strange in that somehow it works (and strangely not reissued).    And then an interesting but mediocre “Spectrum meets the Silver Apples” LP from 1999.  But fortunately this reminded me of how great the Silver Apples’ homemade synth, garage rock was, and so it made sense to finally pick up the 2017 reissue of Contact on Portland’s Jackpot records.   It is a shame that the plane crash incident killed their promising career; I wonder perhaps if they would have rewritten electronic music history pre-Kraftwerk?  Anyways, aside from this LP, if I was going to include something from my traditional “best record of 2017 that I didn’t hear until 2018” category: Six Organs of Admittance finally delivered one of his best records ever with Burning the Threshold (2017).

7.  Lambchop – What another Man spills (1998, 2018 reissue).  see # 6.

6. The Kinks – the Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968, 2018 reissue) see also #5.

5.  The Fall – I am Kurious Oranj (1988, 2018 reissue) : Three more reissues on a list for 2018?  It begs the questions: What is even the point to any new music when there is so much superior stuff from the past is waiting to be re-discovered?  Or am I really stupid enough to keep buying my favorite records from the past over and over again in new and different formats?  Answer: Yes and yes.   Couldn’t you have just settled down and enjoyed something new from 2018 like Low‘s glitchy double negative?    Other honourable mentions in the categories of reissues:   Joe Henderson featuring Alice Coltrane ‎– The Elements, and the dark confusing mess that is Wire‘s 154.

4. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – IC-01 Hanoi (2018), if it is less than half an hour and plays at 33rpm is it an LP or still an EP?  Either way I was not expecting an instrumental record from this band, let alone a fun one, especially given how much I disliked their “real” 2018 release Sex and Food.   

3.  Prince – Piano and a Microphone (2018).  Only Prince can sit in front of a piano in 1983, press record, and make a better record than almost anyone else in 2018.  It’s like time travel.   Unstoppable.  Expect a ridiculous 2pac collaboration from the afterlife.   Does this even count as a 2018 release?  Yes and barely.   And speaking of time travel : worst/most disappointing record of year award goes to Dr. Octagon for Moosebumps, who for some reason returned from the future to give us this stupid overcooked metal inspired hip hop record.

2. Freak Heat Waves – Beyond XXXL (2018)  Canada’s fourth greatest band delivers the most unsettling Talking Heads meets cough syrup versus a “still depressed, fat, middle aged Joy Division” record than you could have ever possibly imagined.  The sound is muddy and brown and the melodies are so forgettable – which is refreshing in a world where everyone is focussing on making crystal clear earworms.   This sounds more like Bauhaus than anyone will be comfortable enough to admit.   Speaking of unmemorable: Beck‘s Colors (2017)might be the best slice of bland I have never tasted, I am secretly enjoying it for it’s complete lack of any flavor, I mean plain, not even vanilla.  Background music is the new interesting.

1.  TBA.

 

 

Low – Double Negative (2018)

Does a double negative mean something is twice as bad, or is it more like Run DMC once said : ”…not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good”?  The appearance of this record on many critic’s year-end top-ten “best New Music” lists would point to the later, but I would have to say the opposite, or I mean the former, er what I am really trying to say is that I don’t never not hate this record completely.  Totally.

And everytime I listen to this record I feel like I am teleported to a bizarre dimension where up is down, and – apologies…. high is low, and only this double negative zone could possibly explain the accolades showered over this.  And while I applaud the challenging “new” direction, ultimately this sounds like yet another one of those dodgy remix records from the late 1990s; wherein art rock bands got an overhaul from electronica DJ types, for instance that Flying saucer attack vs third eye foundation LP, or that remix record from Kranky label mates Bowery Electric (Vertigo, 1997), or even that 1998 remix record called owL, by …uh, Low?  (https://www.discogs.com/Low-owL-Remix/master/39750)

Sonically it covers the same bold new territory already covered by  Otomo Yoshihide, Pan Sonic or David Kristian:  loops of ambient slow melodies are made glitchy and then horrible sounding where ironically the low frequencies are too low, and the high frequencies are too high.  The only difference between Double Negative and 1998’s OWL, is that this time it is is without the “funky drummer” beats.    I have no problem with the electronic elements of the record I mostly object to the dynamics: the louds are too loud and quiets too quiet.   I don’t want to be bombarded by digital distortion, just to find the vague melodies buried underneath.

Low had a reputation of making great underappreciated records for many years, often lacking a kind of quality control that left a couple dud songs on an otherwise perfect albums (Secret Name and Things we Lost in the Fire).    They are kind of the bizarro world Yo la Tengo,  a less popular version of  the “married couple”, post-Sonic youth, adult oriented indie band.  And although they captured the respect of many maturing music nerds of my generation, they did so without building a fanatical fan base.   Dedicated listeners yes, but crazy fans, I would argue no.

Yo La Tengo had the same concept for a record this year, an ambient diversion from their perfected melodic indie rock formulas.   But while YLT’s 1998 release There’s a riot going on attempted to be a pleasurable gentrified experience for wine and cheese parties, Low’s abrasive record clearly is not.   These two records are at polar opposites but going for the same prize, YTL’s record was great sounding but so boring, and Low record is not great sounding but so exciting.   It is laughable and probably should go without saying, neither record is as some critics would have you believe, their KidA.

The mistake both records make is that they are neither a good indie rock records nor  good electronic records, and regretfully they hang out in a no-man’s land in between.

Songs are modularly messed up in post production, far too simplistic to be interesting, as if to disguise half finished songs that were lacking in the first place.   I don’t hear a band taking chances, I heard a band going through crisis – saying fuck it, and lighting fire to their past.   Often it’s more like metal machine music: an unlistenable record that is at the same time praised, remains largely unheard.  Equally misguided and desperate for appreciation – I predict next year #1 collaborative mash up record will be called: Low La Tenglow.