Music 2019

What better way to kick off the first weekend of 2020 then by talking about the past year.  It was another wonderful year of new music, but I will admit that this was probably the least amount of new music I have listened to since I began doing this.  At a certain point it has gotten to feel more like a job to listen to new music and write about it rather than the hobby it started off being.  Part of it has to do with having more responsibilities and a busier schedule than I once had; and that will only get busier and more hectic once we welcome our son into the world.  It used to be that I was able to find a new album and spend some time listening to it, getting to know it.  There were some albums that are on this year’s list that I listened to once and completely forgot that I had listened to when reviewing the albums at the end of the year.

One of the tweaks I am going to make going into 2020 is writing down the new releases that come out on Friday rather than just going into Spotify and saving the album to my library.  Since I have been doing this for seven years now, there are hundreds of albums saved to my Spotify library, which makes finding an album to listen to from the most recent year a little more difficult than I feel it needs to be.  I am hoping that I will have enough new music listened to next year in order to keep doing this blog and playlist; but I am heading into unchartered territory becoming a first-time father and have no idea what to expect.

I am a very indecisive person, doesn’t matter what it is, if I am asked to choose between two things I’ll hem and haw before reluctantly making a decision.  A decision that I will second guess for the next few hours, days, etc.  So, when it came to picking my favorite album of 2019, I couldn’t pick just one, as there were two albums that I really enjoyed.  The first album was Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow.  Van Etten’s voice and the music that accompanies it are top notch from beginning to end.  Producer John Congleton gives everything room to breathe, their own space to occupy while maintaining a consistent sound throughout.  This record is solid from start to finish with this listener not wanting to skip any songs.  Each song is its own story, a little chapter in this novel of an album.  I would highly recommend listening to this album through headphones so that you can catch everything that is going on within the songs.  This album also contains my favorite song of 2019, “Seventeen”.

My other favorite album of 2019 was Purple Mountains self-titled debut album Purple Mountains.  I never knew much about David Berman before this year.  I had heard some songs by the Silver Jews on different Spotify playlists, but I never delved deeper into their catalog.  Sadly, I learned a lot more about David Berman after he took his life in August of this year.  At the time of his death, I already had this Purple Mountains album saved in my library due to just the name of the band catching my eye.  Once I finally listened to the album, I understood what everyone was talking about in losing a great lyrical and musical mind.  This album is absolutely fantastic.  The music is great, with the band Woods providing the musical backing.  Each song has its own unique sound, ranging from the honky-tonk sound on the opening “That’s Just the Way That I Feel” to the subdued and morose “Nights That Won’t Happen”.  This album was one where I made a concerted effort to listen to the lyrics very intently and I was not disappointed in his lyricism.  Though a majority of the lyrics are sad, they are also thought provoking and beautiful.  The words seem to flow from Berman’s mind with ease.  It is a very big loss to the music world that David Berman is no longer around.  This album contains my favorite song about drinking in malls, “Margaritas at the Mall”.

As always, there will be a link to my Spotify playlist with a track from each album I checked out and an asterisk next to the albums that really stood out to me this year:

• Anderson .Paak – Ventura
• Angel Olsen – All Mirrors *
• Band of Skulls – Love Is All You Love
• Beck – Hyperspace
• Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center *
• Big Thief – Two Hands
• Big Thief – F.O.F *
• Billie Eilish – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
• The Black Keys – “Let’s Rock”
• Black Mountain – Destroyer
• Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock
• Brant Bjork – Jacoozzi
• Brittany Howard – Jamie
• Cage The Elephant – Social Cues
• Cass McCombs – Tip of the Sphere
• Charly Bliss – Young Enough
• The Claypool Lennon Delirium – South of Reality
• Coldplay – Everyday Life
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock
• Crocodiles – Love Is Here
• The Dead South – Sugar & Joy
• Deerhunter – Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?
• Delicate Steve – Till I Burn Up
• Desert Sessions – 11 & 12
• Drenge – Strange Creatures
• Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call
• Foals – Part 1 Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost
• Karen O & Danger Mouse – Lux Prima
• Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell! *
• Pond – Tasmania *
• Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains *
• The Raconteurs – Help Us Stranger *
• Raphael Saadiq – Jimmy Lee
• Reignwolf – Hear Me Out *
• Royal Trux – White Stuff
• Seratones – POWER
• Sharon Van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow *
• Steve Gunn – The Unseen in Between
• Strand of Oaks – Eraserland *
• Sturgill Simpson – SOUND & FURY *
• Sunflower Bean – Come For Me
• Thee Oh Sees – Face Stabber *
• Tinariwen – Amadjar
• Unloved – Heartbreak
• Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising *
• Yak – Pursuit of Momentary Happiness

New Music: March-June 2019

I started the years off well with keeping up with my writing, couple of blogs and the beginning of ideas for others, then predictably it dropped off.  Like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner off a cliff.  So, my self-imposed every two-month new music blog has turned into four months.  I will admit that there are times when listening to new music begins to feel more like work than something that I just enjoy doing.  And it’s not listening to the music that I find tedious, but just the thought of writing afterword.  Once the music hits my ears all thought about it feeling like work melts away until the final note of the album is played and then those thoughts come flooding back into my head.  Anyways, now that I have ranted about how something I freely choose to do sometimes feel burdensome, lets get to some music.

As always, there is a ton of great new music out there.  In my first post of the year, I had mentioned two candidates for my favorite album of the year so far in Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow and Better Oblivion Community Center’s self-titled debut album.  While there have been some albums that I have really enjoyed, Bob Mould’s Sunshine Rock, Pond’s Tasmania, Cage the Elephant’s Social Cues, Strand of Oaks’ Eraserland and the Karen O. and Danger Mouse collaboration Lux Prima come to mind; these three albums stood out to me:

The Raconteurs – Help Us Stranger: The Raconteurs returned with their first release in just over a decade with Help Us Stranger.  I have been anxiously awaiting this album to come out since they released the first two songs in December 2018.  I am a big fan of pretty much everything Jack White does and The Raconteurs is my favorite musical vehicle of his.  I think him and Brendan Benson play beautifully off of one another as song writers.  With Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler providing the backbone, The Raconteurs are a perfect blend of garage/classic/pop rock and their newest release solidifies that belief.  From the scorching opener Bored and Razed to the laid back, quasi protest, country tinged closer Thoughts and Prayers.  Help Us Stranger proves that even spending nearly a decade not putting out any music, with occasional one off shows here and there, hasn’t hurt their writing and cohesion one bit.

Big Thief – U.F.O.F.: Big Thief is back with their third record.  The Brooklyn quartet has quietly provided their fans with arguably the best string of three albums of any band this decade.  This newest album is one of, if not the, prettiest sounding records of the year.  It sounds so warm and welcoming, like the band has opened its arms and enveloped you in their group hug of folk and indie music.  There are a few moments on this record that are uncharacteristic for Big Thief, such as on the opening track “Contact”, which features some distortion and screaming.  This is such a beautiful sounding album that I feel words can’t convey that belief enough.  Big Thief is a must listen.

Reignwolf – Hear Me Out: If you’re a sucker for loud, distorted, bluesy, garage rock as I am, then Reignwolf is a band you should check out.  After providing energetic, unpredictable shows for a few years and building a rabid fanbase, Reignwolf finally released their debut album, Hear Me Out.  It sounds vaguely familiar, yet wholly refreshing.  It is bands like Reignwolf that always give me hope for the future of rock.  Sometimes I feel that I have heard so many different versions of rock, thinking it has all been done and then one band comes along and provides a fresh approach to it all and reinvigorates my love for the genre.

Here are the rest of the albums that provided musical entertainment over the last four months:

• Anderson .Paak – Ventura
• Billie Eilish – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
• Black Mountain – Destroyer
• Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock
• Cage the Elephant – Social Cues
• Cass McCombs – Tip of the Sphere
• Charly Bliss – Young Enough
• Delicate Steve – Till I Burn Up
• Drenge – Strange Creatures
• Foals – Part 1 Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost
• Karen O & Danger Mouse – Lux Prima
• Pond – Tasmania ­
• Strand of Oaks – Eraserland
• Sunflower Bean – King Of The Dudes (EP)
• Yak – Pursuit of Momentary Happiness

February Music

My favorite album for the month of February was the band Yuck’s newest release, Stranger Things.  This is the bands third album, second without lead singer and founding member Daniel Blumberg.  Having only listened to their first album sometime in the past, and enjoying it, I was delighted to find out that they had a new release.  I have found Stranger Things to be a very accessible listen, with the perfect mix of pop melodies and fuzzed out guitars; harkening back to 90’s bands such as Pavement and the Pixies.

Other albums released in February that I got to listen to were:

• Benji Hughes – Songs in the Key of Animals – a singer/songwriter, with a history of jingle writing, whose second album’s first half showcases his lightheartedness with a breezy, summer vibe that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I found the back half of the album to be the pared down, straight forward type of songwriting that I prefer.
• The Frights – You Are Going To Hate This – trio that blends punk, surfer, and indie rock together into a cohesive sound that is all their own. Having never been much of a punk listener, I thought that this was a solid album, and clocking in at only thirty-three minutes, a quick listen.
• KING MUD – Victory Motel Sessions – a dirty blues rock duo comprised by two musicians from bands I had never heard of before; but after listening to the album, I will definitely seek them out. Recorded in only five days allows the album to capture the rawness and intensity of the group.  Perfect album to listen to on a Saturday afternoon with a beer in one hand and a joint in the other.
• Sunflower Bean – Human Ceremony – young, as in not old enough to buy beer young, trio out of Brooklyn that thoroughly impresses on their debut album. The musicianship is top notch and would be able to pass as a band that has been around awhile.  The future for these kids is very bright.

Other things that have come across my sonic radar this month:

• Bad Bad Hats – Psychic Reader – debut album from a Minnesota trio that offers up lo-fi pop rock songs.
• King Tuff – Was Dead – a recommended listen from Matt Norlander, is the debut album of musician Kyle Thomas from 2008. Filled with an array of catchy tunes, this album showcases the songwriting prowess of Thomas that he was unable to put forth in the many other projects he has been a part of.
• The Velvet Underground – after watching the second episode of HBO’s new show Vinyl, in which Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground make an appearance, I had to go on a Velvet Underground binge. This is one of my favorite bands and I feel that sometimes they, and Lou Reed in particular, are underrated for their contributions and influences to music and bands around the world.  They are unabashedly themselves, putting forth art that is truly their own and not caving to any pressures to make their music more accessible for a wider audience.  Either you like it or you don’t and Lou Reed doesn’t care either way.
• The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness – admittedly I knew very little about The Weeknd up until a few months ago. I thought that this was a group and was a little surprised to find out that The Weeknd is just one dude.  I was introduced to this album by my fiancée who had it playing in her car non-stop.  After a few listens through I found myself humming to songs while at work and now understand what all the fuss has been about.