Sharing the sharing.
New Zealand’s Salad Boys have returned with their newest long player This is Glue. Like previous Salad Boys’ releases, This Is Glue blurs the lines between in-your-face rock and roll and laid-back jangle-pop. Give opening tracks “Blown Up” and “Hatred” (below) a spin to see what I mean.
This Is Glue is out now and available from Trouble In Mind Records. Enjoy.
Philadelphia 3-piece, Droopies, are the definition of the term power-trio. Their sophomore release Responsible People is packed with in-your-face hooks as they bounce between shoegazey punk rock and jangly psych-pop, with one common denominator: fuzz and lots of it. These guys get pretty big sound for there just being three of them.
Responsible People is out now digitally via Droopies Bandcamp page and on a limited cassette release through Funny / Not Funny Records. Give “Gone Wrong” (below) a spin, then go get your hands on a copy of this bad boy. Enjoy.
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.
Massachusetts’ Prefab Messiahs are back with Psychsploitation, a new slab of psyched-out, fuzz-pop goodness. This time only taking 2+ years from their last release, Keep Your Stupid Dreams Alive – compared to the 32 years between KYSDA and their first album, Flex Your Mind.
Psychsploitaion’s 10 tracks are politically charged and crammed full of all the reverb, fuzz and jangle you can handle. Give my favorite tracks “Having a Rave Up” and the appropriate album closer “Last Day on Earth” a spin below for a taste.
Psychsploitaion is available now on CD via Lolipop Records and on Cassette through Burger Records. Enjoy.
San Francisco’s Spiritual Cramp are a refreshing throwback to the snotty rock ‘n roll and punk rock days of the 70’s and 80’s. Their debut EP Mass Hysteria is a real stomper. Check out the shimmery (dare I say Clash-like?) “Tenderloin” and the in your face “Wrecking Machine” below.
Mass Hysteria is out digitally via Spiritual Cramp’s Bandcamp page and on vinyl through Deathwish.
Brooklyn (by way of Nashville) duo Sufis are back with the third LP, After Hours, out today (Jan 12) via Burger Records. It’s a groove-filled (seriously, this sucker is groovy as hell), psych-pop romp that’s been on repeat since it landed in my inbox. I highly recommend you spend some quality time with this album.
Give standout tracks “Till I Get Home” and “All Knowing (71)” (below) a spin to sample their goodness. Enjoy.
Better late than never – my auditory loves of 2017, in rough order…
Thundercat Drunk (Brainfeeder)
Intoxicating, weird, vulnerable, and soooooo damn funky. My Album of the Year if I had to pick one.
Slowdive Slowdive (Dead Oceans)
The comeback album of our collective dreams.
Trementina 810 (Burger)
If this hadn’t been The Year of Slowdive’s Triumphant Return, I’d like to think this gorgeous offering of dreamy shoegaze from Chile’s Trementina would’ve been the talk of the town.
The xx I See You (Young Turks)
Now that producer Jamie Smith, aka Jamie xx, is getting his due as the driving force behind The xx juggernaut, I might be able to stop raving about him. But why stop now?
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Soul of a Woman (Daptone)
What a force. What a voice. What a loss.
Big Thief Capacity (Saddle Creek)
This album has quietly slipped on to a bunch of Best of 2017 lists because it is just that: a quiet album of incredible strength.
Grandaddy Last Place (30th Century Records)
“Even still the rockers are…”
Mountain Goats Goths (Merge)
A wonderfully engaging concept/tribute album – whether you are, were, or have ever loved a goth.
Boris Dear (Sargent House)
Rumored to be a farewell letter to their fans, it’s a welcome return to the nuanced take on sludge/drone/doom metal that first lured me in almost 20 years ago.
Fazerdaze Morningside (Flying Nun)
Nearly perfect bedroom pop.
Moses Sumney Aromanticism (Jagjaguwar)
All the feels.
Molly Burch Please Be Mine (Captured Tracks)
A sparse, timeless album that allows nothing to interfere with the purity of Molly’s hypnotic voice.
Doug Tuttle Peace Potato (Trouble in Mind)
Hypnotic psych pop with enough ragged edges to keep you awake.
Homeboy Sandman Veins (Stones Throw)
Based on record sales in the “>3hive Co-op Shop, not everyone agrees – but I think he’s one of the best, most versatile MCs around.
Waxahatchee Out in the Storm (Merge)
Katie Crutchfield finds her sound and voice amidst the rubble of a failed relationship.
Honorable mentions: Iron & Wine Beast Epic [buy vinyl], Protomartyr Relatives in Descent, LCD Soundsystem american dream [buy vinyl], Destroyer ken [buy vinyl], Open Mike Eagle Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, The Courtneys II [buy vinyl], King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Murder of the Universe [buy vinyl], Jonwayne Rap Album Two, Priests Nothing Feels Natural, Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Hitchcock [buy vinyl]
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)
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.
23 punk rock slabs dedicated to our favorite radio DJ – Sean Boy Walton. Enjoy.
1. 7 Seconds – Here’s Your Warning
2. T.S.O.L. – World War 3
3. The Lillingtons – I Saw The Apeman (On The Moon)
4. Hüsker Dü – I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About
5. The Replacements – Something To Dü
6. SAMIAM – Long Enough To Forget You
7. The Briefs – Year Long Summer
8. Ramones – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
9. Hard-Ons – Girl In The Sweater
10. The Undertones – Male Model
11. Descendents – Jean Is Dead
12. Adolescents – Self Destruct
13. Circle Jerks – Moral Majority
14. Misfits – Astro Zombies
15. Zodiac Killers – Radiation Beach
16. Bad Brains – Sailin’ On
17. Dead Milkmen – Tiny Town
18. The Marked Men – Doctor Dan
19. Rocket Reducers – Don’t Wanna Wake Up
20. Zig Zags – Sin Eaters
21. Bad Religion – Quality Or Quantity
22. Offspring – Hand Grenades
23. SNFU – Big Thumbs