| Back again for the first time since this same tired-list shit as last year. Sigh.
Anyway, I made a “My Favorites of 2017” playlist for you to enjoy:
Here’s my random ramblings on this years releases:
Most Essential
1. The Rubs – Impossible Dream – Hozac
Goddamn, Joey Rubbish just fucking killed it with this one. My most-played record of the year. This is power-pop perfection. Every single song is a hit. All of these songs have hooks that got stuck in my head more than once. For a guy that I’m told came to music later in life, he really is making up for lost time. Listen to this record front-to-back twice in a row and you’ll fall in love with it.
2. Lo Tom – Lo Tom – Barsuk Records
This is a quote/un-quote “supergroup” of indie rock lifers, featuring two of my wife’s all-time favorites, David Bazan and TW Walsh of Pedro the Lion fame (and like a million other bands). The story goes that this group of aging dads took multiple years to make this record that was born of them jamming in their off-time. If you like RIFFS (and I know my SW@MI peeps do), this is for you. 8 tracks with no fat on the bone. Come for the opening riff, stay for the Drive Like Jehu-level guitar interplay on the last track. Live show also crushed.
3. Jack Cooper – Sandgrown – Trouble In Mind
I made a very personal connection to this record and this is what I wrote about this record a few months back on Facebook, which remains my feelings. Jack also plays in Ultimate Painting and used to play in Mazes.
I’ve really been enjoying the new Jack Cooper LP that came out on Trouble In Mind Records recently. It’s a slightly melancholic rumination/reflection on life in his hometown of Blackpool and the wider Fylde Coast in the North West of England. (Coincidentally, a few miles down the road from where spent the bulk of my formative years…) I love any culture that reflects the Northern English experience, as I’ve always felt it’s under-exposed.
My take on the album is that it’s really a concept record about being from somewhere – anywhere, really – and what that place meant to you growing up and what it means to you now and all the nostalgia and complicated emotions that can bring up.
That’s a complex series of thoughts and feelings for me personally, in that I’ve always felt like I’m from multiple places all at the same time – and hence kind of from nowhere. So, it’s been a trip to think about this stuff, especially as I’m now lucky enough to feel settled where I always wanted to be.
4. The Schizophonics – Land Of The Living – Sympathy For The Record Industry
This is not a band that needs any introduction to anyone that pays attention around these parts, but I was stoked to be able to own not one but TWO records from this year. Both are great, both are in mono, and both perfectly capture the live sound, but also manage to showcase them as a studio band at the same time. Never have a band deserved to have a breakout year as much as Pat and Lety Beers and whichever bassist is lucky enough to be playing with them on any given night.
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Everything Else
Alvvays – Antisocialites – Polyvinyl
Dream Machine* – The Illusion – Castle Face
Doug Tuttle – Peace Potato – Trouble In Mind
Freak Genes – Playtime – Alien Snatch!
The Golden Boys – Better Than Good Times – 12XU
Kelley Stoltz – Que Aura – Castle Face
Lord Loud – Passé Paranoia – King Volume
Lost Balloons – Hey Summer – Dirtnap
Mike Krol – Mike Krol Is Never Dead: The First Two Records – Merge [Re-issue]
Mind Meld – Mind Meld – Permanent Records
Oh Sees – Orc – Castle Face
Skip Church – Out Of Tune, In Touch With The Devil – Randy Records
Ty Segall – Ty Segall – Drag Shitty
The Schizophincs – Ooga Booga 10” EP – Pig Baby Records
Warm Soda* – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Castle Face
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*I understand many of you will be turned off by me including these bands, given the unpleasant statements that Matthew and Doris Melton made earlier this year. I don’t condone their views but I’m choosing to separate artist from art. Your mileage my vary with that.
Random “Bests”
Best Album Cover (photo) – “Ooga Booga” by The Schizophonics
Best Album Cover (non-photo) – “Orc” by Oh Sees
Best song not on the playlist – “Put Your Weight On It” by The Schizophonics
Best Re-issue – Mike Krol Is Never Dead: The First Two Record
Best Band T-Shirt I bought this year: Death By Unga Bunga logo, black on white, baseball Tee: https://deathbyungabunga.tumblr.com/image/166723517469
Best Live Shows
Angel Olsen @ Wiltern
Lo Tom @ Bootleg Theatre,
A Giant Dog @ Bootleg Theatre and
Hot Snakes @ Alex’s Bar and Troubadour |
chriswhiteheadshow 