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Sam’s Faves of 2018

It’s time for my annual blog post…

Without further ado, my favorite albums of 2018:

Khruangbin Con Todo El Mundo (Dead Oceans)
Durand Jones & the Indications self-titled (Dead Oceans)
Bodega Endless Scroll (What’s Your Rupture?)
Jean Grae & Quelle Chris Everything’s Fine (Mello Music Group)
Janelle Monae Dirty Computer (Bad Boy)
Altin Gun On (Bongo Joe)
Smokescreens Used to Yesterday (Slumberland)
Idles Joy As an Act of Resistance (Partisan)
Low Double Negative (Sub Pop)
Cut Chemist Die Cut (A Stable Sound)

I encourage you to enjoy these on vinyl (link will go here as soon as I get off my butt and update the online store).

And because 2018 offered so much more music than can fit neatly in a Top 10 list, here are my 23 favorite songs of the past year…

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LAZY SALON

Lazy Salon | Boot Magna | 3hive.com

Lazy Salon | Boot Magna | 3hive.com

LAZY SALON is back with Boot Magna, his newest release of tasty, hypnotic beats. Boot Magna is split into 2 sides, side one is more uptempo and dance-friendly while side two takes things back a bit with a more chilled-out vibe. Boot Magna is made up of a combination of remixes, new tracks and previously unreleased tracks. LAZY SALON is damn good at what he does and Boot Magna is no exception. You can snag Boot Magna now via LAZY SALON’s Bandcamp page – I highly recommend that you do.

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Paces Lift & Ben Bounce

Paces Lift & Ben Bounce | Tropikoro | 3hive.com

Digging from vinyl bins all around the globe the beat making dynamic duo of Paces Lift & Ben Bounce go deep into the vast world of psych and tropical grooves on their sophomore release Tropikoro. Give the standout tracks “Telephone”, “The Marketplace” and “The Great Phantasmo” a spin below for a taste of Tropikoro’s radness.

Tropikoro is available now on vinyl (recommended) and digitally via Wax Thématique and Paces Lift & Ben Bounce’s Bandcamp page. Enjoy.

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Benedek

Benedek | Kushel | 3hive.com

L.A. producer/beat-maker Benedek’s new EP, Kushel, caught my attention right off the bat as it’s opening track “Geo-Soul Anthem” sounds like it could have come from my all-time favorite skateboarding video The Search For Animal Chin. My good friend Viet and I watched that video almost every day for an entire summer before carving up the local curbs and speed bumps.

Kushel is one of my favorite EPs of the year. It has just enough chilled-out groove to go along with its head-nodding beats – a perfect soundtrack to your next get together or grinding up some curbs 80’s style. You can get Kushel now on cassette or digitally from Leaving Records. Enjoy.

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Khruangbin

Khruangbin | Con Todo El Mundo | 3hive.com

Khruangbin | Con Todo El Mundo | 3hive.com

Houston, Texas trio Khruangbin (for the phonetically challenged like me, it’s pronounced KRUNG-BIN) came together from a common love of ’60s, ’70s and ’80s Thai funk and soul music (you can listen to their “Essential Thai Funk Mixtape” here). Their new album Con Todo El Mundo is a smoking hot, groove-filled slab of funk, psych and soul. Give “Maria También” a spin below for a sample – you will not be sorry. Con Todo El Mundo is out now via Dead Oceans and I can not recommend it enough. Enjoy.

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Favorite Releases of 2017 (Todd’s List)

Here are my favorite albums/EPs from 2017, in no particular order…

Monster Rally Flowering Jungle (Gold Robot)

Spotting Spotting EP (self-released/Aarght)

The Rebel Set 4 Song EP (Hidden Volume)

Ty Segall Ty Segall (Drag City)

Molly Burch Please Be Mine (Captured Tracks)

Doug Tuttle Peace Potato (Trouble In Mind)

David Bowie No Plan EP (Columbia)

FRONDS Cold Across My Skin (Gold Robot)

Jake Xerxes Fussell What In The Natural World (Paradise of Bachelors)

Lilith Apology Plant (Disposable America)

Tall Friend Safely Nobody’s (Exploding In Sound)

Oh Sees Orc (Castle Face)

Bedouine Bedouine (Spacebomb)

UV-TV Glass (Deranged)

Destroyer ken (Merge)

Mountain States Whispers (Coaster)

Kevin Morby City Music (Dead Oceans)

Otoboke Beaver Love Is Short! (Damnably)

Century Palm Meet You (Deranged)

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Soul of a Woman (Daptone)
RIP

Slowdive Slowdive (Dead Oceans)

Open Mike Eagle Brick Body Kids Still Daydream (Mello Music)

Milo Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?! (self-released)

Michael Nau Some Twist (Suicide Squeeze)

Thundercat Drunk (Brainfeeder)

Jack Cooper Sandgrown (Trouble In Mind)

Waxahatchee Out In The Storm (Merge)

OCS Memory of A Cut Off Head (Castle Face)

Once And Future Band Once And Future Band (Castle Face)

The Safes Tasty Waves (Hidden Volume)

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Monster Rally

Monster Rally | Flowering Jungle | 3hive.com

Monster Rally | Flowering Jungle | 3hive.com

Ted Feighan is back with his newest and strongest Monster Rally effort yet, Flowering Jungle. His cut and paste production skills are on point as he takes the listener on a groove-filled tour into his world of hip hop beats meets exotica from days past. As soon as the needle drops on track one, “Sunny Sloth”, your troubles are whisked away and replaced with warm thoughts of chilling on the beach in some far away land where Monster Rally is DJing and the Mai Tai’s are constantly flowing. Thanks for the escape, Ted!

Flowering Jungle is available now from Gold Robot Records – you need this record.

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April 17 Mixtape

April 17 | Mixtape | 3hive


20 tracks to hopefully get your springtime started off on the right foot!

1. The Gain – You Should Know (vinyl rip)
2. Thee Oh Sees – Bloody Water
3. Gang of Four – Glass
4. DiCaprio – Ectoslavia
5. Tomorrow’s Tulips – Hotel Nowhere
6. Karriem Riggins – Other Side of The Track
7. DJ Okawari – Bounce (feat. Talib Kweli)
8. Grandaddy – That’s What You Get For Gettin’ Outta Bed
9. Say Hi – Elouise
10. Gum Country – Whoa Oh
11. Nice Legs – Ashtrays
12. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Critical Beatdown
13. Oddisee – Digging Deep
14. Pilkington – All Around The Neighborhood
15. Easy Love – I Want You To Know
16. Molly Burch – Please Be Mine
17. No Vacation – Mind Field
18. Idles – Well Done
19. Elastica – Stutter
20. Damaged Bug – Bog Dash

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Xinobi

Xinobi | On the Quiet | 3hive.com

Xinobi | On the Quiet | 3hive.com

One of my biggest bummers about not going to SXSW this year was missing the Discotexas showcase featuring Moullinex, Bufi, Da Chick and my favorite artist on the Portuguese label, Xinobi.

Xinobi is nom de plume of Bruno Cardoso, who co-founded Discotexas and puts out genre-omnivorous dance music such as you’ll find on his latest, On the Quiet. One moment you’ll hear Ian MacKaye extolling the virtues of skateboarding over delicate synths and a shuffling beat, the very next you’ll hear a club friendly slice of emo house.

As eclectic as it is, On the Quiet is a digestible delight to the ears, a funhouse labyrinth of minimalist beats, warm synths, and organic samples with an array of human voices to guide you through. And, if you opt for the physical format, you’ll be treated to ‘zine-style liner notes. So why not indulge?

[Buy On the Quiet as it was meant to be heard – on luxurious, imported vinyl – in the 3hive Co-op Shop, while supplies last.]

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Trementina

Trementina | 810 | 3hive.com

Trementina | 810 | 3hive.com
Trementina describe their latest album as “music for lucid dreaming”. Not a bad “file under” for a band intent on evolving beyond the My Bloody Valentine tributes that drew listeners to 2014’s solid shoegazer effort Almost Reach the Sun.

New influences and elements mark each track, from the lilting Beach House sound of “Please, Let’s Go Away” to the cavernous dub of “A Place Up in the Sky”. The modulated wall of guitar and rumbling drums get traded for otherworldly atmospherics with a backbone of machine beats, clearing a bigger space for singer Vanessa Cea to fill with her angelic vocals. Given Cea’s presence it’s tempting to compare her to a coherent Robin Guthrie or playful Siouxsie Sioux but, taking the album in as a whole, her range is too wide to peg.

Compared to earlier recordings, the album feels more connected to its origins: the band’s home studio in the remote town of Valdivia, Chile (its title, 810, refers to the distance in kilometers from the capitol city of Santiago). While I’ve never been, these songs seem to evoke the moods and mindset of a place only the band knows well enough to communicate.

810 is escapist and intimate at the same time, and one of my favorites of 2017 so far.

[Buy Trementina’s 810 on shiny new vinyl in the 3hive Co-op Shop, while supplies last.]