Time for our favorite January past-time, looking back on the best music of the last year, while looking forward to what’s new for the months ahead! Here are some of our favorite bands from 2009, and what you should be looking for in 2010. What follows is 25 bands to be excited about, and two hours of music! CONTINUE READING
The Generationals scored big this year with their outstanding release on Park The Van Records, Con Law. The single, “When They Fight, They Fight”, bottled the essentials of 1950’s-era garage R&B while sealing the deal with off-kilter harmonies, nostalgia inducing horns, and enough arty beats to keep the whole thing fresh as 2010!
MP3: Generationals “When They Fight, They Fight” Park the Van Records
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound put out their third LP this year, When Sweet Sleep Returned on Tee Pee Records. It’s soaring and epic jams, even at their darkest, shine with that unmistakable and golden light of California. On “Two Stage Rocket”, Crazy Horse meets 70’s-era Floyd for high flying antics and space temple visitations! The album includes mad cover art from mondo surrealist, Andy Ristaino.
MP3: Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound “Two Stage Rocket” Tee Pee Records
By this time in his career Kid Congo Powers should be considered some sort of punk rock national treasure, having laid down legendary guitar work for the Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and The Cramps. His newest solo-work, Dracula Boots, is a must have noire-classic with this voodoo man returning to his early garage and Chicano rock obsessions. Playing with his “nefarious” Pink Monkey Birds, some of the tracks were recorded on an old PA in a high school gymnasium somewhere in the midwest. Tunes like “Late Night Scurry” crackle in black and white with 1950’s, cinematic vividness.
MP3: Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds “Late Night Scurry” In The Red Records
HEY BUDDY, MORE MUSIC INSIDE
This September, San Francisco’s female power-trio Grass Widow released their second EP on Captured Tracks. It’s choke full of no-wave licks and stripped down, tense drumming with killer harmonies. Their single, “Out of Body Experience”, opens with anxious, angular guitar work before opaque vocals reflect oddly off each other. About midway in, the whole thing breaks down when south of the border horns hit, and a maelstrom of guitar slides the whole thing to a scraping halt.
MP3: Grass Widow “Out of Body Experience” Captured Tracks
The Fresh and Onlys put out a second album this fall, Grey-Eyed Girls on Woodsist Records. As the first single “Invisible Forces” showed, the band was onto a darker and moodier vibe with Tim Cohen’s voice seemingly haunted by a host of past crooners, and the guitars echoing in menacing, acidic vibrations. Like finding 30 year old micro-dot on the bottom of some old ice box in Manchester. Look for a new album out by the band this spring on, In The Red Records.
MP3: The Fresh and Onlys “Invisible Forces” Woodsist Records
The xx’s self-titled September ’09 release on Young Turks was an understated, make-out music masterpiece. This young band hails from south west London having met at the Elliot School, whose notable alumni also include Hot Chip, Four Tet, and Burial. The band recorded the album at night in a small garage at the XL studios, and these conditions lend cool and hushed tones to the back and forth sexual politicking between Romy Madley Croft and Jamie Smith. “…Space Bass” is a brilliant remix by Jamie Smith of the bands, “Basic Spaces” track, and the remix has the bass throbbing with an ache barely still warm.
MP3: The xx “Basic Space(Jamie xx Space Bass remix)” Young Turks
Lead by Chris Woodhouse (Karate Party, producer of A Frames, Coachwhips, Erase Eratta) and John Pritchard (Sexy Prison), Mayyors destroy an indulgent object called music. On “Crawl”, huge slabs of “shut the fuck up” perform mouth surgery and leave you face down in the black scuzz! This band is also associated with the very fine Mt. St. Mtn. label!
MP3: Mayyors “The Crawl” Mt. St. Mtn.
Those who have been tuned in over recent months know we haven’t been able to get enough of Sweden’s ultra-mysterious, Yoga. Their release, Megafauna on Holy Mountain, is a stoney gauze of black metal atmospherics played in AM-hiss from some post-apocalyptic radio above the arctic circle. This latest track, “Dreamcast”, exchanges black metal tropes to float in creepy baby dreams.
MP3: Yoga “Dreamcast” Holy Mountain Records
San Francisco’s Wooden Shjips released their second LP, Dos on Holy Mountain Records, and it’s deep- fried, sun baked psychedelia in heavy, long doses. Much psych history touched upon here, but really love the Suicide organ drone on this track, “Motorbike”. Seems they dig serious retinal stimulation too, and if you do, check out this lightshow magick.
MP3: Wooden Shjips “Motorbike” Holy Mountain Records
The Dutchess and the Duke followed up their raw and rugged debut, She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke this year, with another release on Hardly Art, Sunset/Sunrise. Recorded at Greg Ashley’s analogue equipped Bay Area studio lends just the right warmth to Jesse Lortz somber meditations, and on a track like “Living this Life” police sirens bleed right through the circling guitar refrain, male/female vocals, and single bass drum’s nodding beat.
MP3: The Dutchess and the Duke “Living this Life” Hardly Art
El Jesus de Magico continues Ohio’s very fine, “who gives a fuck” tradition, bringing us some of the finest bands from the underbelly of pop! Real scorched scuzz here on their limited edition release, Scalping the Guru on Columbus Discount Records. The band practices and records in an old funeral home in Columbus, Ohio, and on a tracks like “Summer of Luhv”, haunted and psychotic flashbacks are to be expected!
MP3: El Jesus de Magico “Summer of Luhv” Columbus Discount Records
Jon Dwyer continues his hardest working man in rock act, with his
Thee Oh Sees project now becoming a bona fide band, and releasing a slew of split 45’s and full lengths for, Tomlab, In the Red, and others. Having initially gone through several name variations and band line-ups, Thee Oh Sees have since charted a strong course on LPs like, The Masters Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In, and Help. Sharing vocal duties with Brigid Dawson on the track “Go Meet The Seed” off Help, the band continues to develop from it’s two-piece, alt-folk inception, to it’s now Kinks inspired jangle rock.
MP3: Thee Oh Sees “Go Meet the Seed” In The Red Records
Everything about Xiu Xiu is exquisite, over-wrought, and totally fucking kick-ass. So, of course, we are looking forward to Mr. Jamie Stewart’s soon to be released seventh full-length, Dear God, I Hate Myself on Kill Rock Stars! The opening track, “Grey Death”, includes everything awesome we’ve come to expect from Xiu Xiu, including impeccable and ingenious production, itchy sex and death obsessed lyrics that get under your skin, and Jamie’s over the top, irony crushing performance style. Dear God, I Hate Myself comes out Feb. 23, 2010, and Deluxe editions come with chocolates and blood!
MP3: Xiu Xiu “Grey Death” Kill Rock Stars
Talbot Tagora released their debut, Lessons in Woods Or A City on Hardly Art this summer, and it’s all kinds of metal scrapping metal noisy for a three-piece, as Mark Greshowak and Chris Ando shred white hot guitar lines to Ani Ricci’s jagged and driving drums. “Ichthus Hop”, the second track on the album, comes on like a battering slab of robot metal, and sounds strangely beautiful doing so!
MP3: Talbot Tagora “Icthus Hop” Hardly Art
This past year saw LA’s Dirt Dress releasing, on cassette, two of a three part sonic series called, Perdido En La Suciedad (“Lost In The Dust”) on Papermade Records. Stripped down and shambled in the best of ways, Dirt Dress make the most of very little! A song like “Trash” has wobbly-kneed, Gun Club guitar lines, while the singer exclaims in a sort of hillbilly, Lou Reed drawl, a daft narrative about wandering through a resale shop…”Oh wait, what’s this?/Whuz this thing?/Whuz this…do/How much is this?/I can pay less/”Oh, you can’t do that!”/Time for me to go.” Okay, I guess you gotta hear him do it.
MP3: Dirt Dress “Trash” Papermade Records
The Sian Alice Group followed up their stellar debut, 59.59, with another excellent release in 2009 on The Social Registry, Troubled, Shaken, Etc. Recorded at drummer Rupert Clervaux’s London studio, Grays Inn Road, Clervaux’s recording and production are again naked and precise. A track like “Close to the Ground” is cinematic, with it’s meticulously constructed chamber folk being the perfect venue for the fresh, English country-side aire, of Sian Ahrens voice. Exquisite and unadulterated.
MP3: Sian Alice Group “Close to the Ground” The Social Registry
After a couple well received 7″s, The Mantles have been good enough to give us a self-titled, full-length on Siltbreeze. Recorded by Greg Ashley, you can expect only the best in West Coast garage and Paisley Underground, jangle pop. Surf Acid Classics.
MP3: The Mantles “Don’t Lie” Siltbreeze Records
Portland’s Fist Fight are veterans of that towns great house-party scene, and vocalist/keyboardist Johnnie Monroe and drummer Christian Carmine hail from another breeding ground for Northwest music, Olympia, WA! “Space Whisper” is a hot, wet come-on, with Monroe delivering the goods while sounding at times like Courtney Love in her most inspired, Pretty on the Inside or Live Through This days. The band is currently undergoing some line-up changes like adding a guitarist, and they’re doing some recording, so look for new stuff soon!
MP3: Fist Fite “Space Whisper”
The Smith Westerns self-titled LP came out this past June on HoZac Records, and everything about it ruled from it’s album art mash up of Nirvana’s Nevermind-cover, down to the record’s trashy, blown-out glam takes on early T. Rex.
MP3: Smith Westerns “Girl In Love” HoZac Records
Das Racist, “is a weed edge/hare krishna hard core/art rap/freak folk music duo based in Brooklyn, NY, comprised of Queens-born Himanshu Kumar Suri and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez.” That’s what they said. Serious race bending, identity melt down, here. No label yet. EP coming soon!
MP3: Das Racist “Ek Shaneesh”
Amen Dunes is one-man-band Damon McMahon, and for his 2009 release, DIA on Locust, the artist spent his time holed up in a Catskill’s ramshackle with a four-track. “In Caroline” is evidence that serious substance abuse followed! McMahon currently calls a small, two-room apartment overlooking the Temple of Earth in North-Central Beijing home. Hmmm, wonder what that’ll sound like. Drying out?
MP3: Amen Dunes “In Caroline” Locust
The Master Musicians of Bukkake continued to perfect their black arts this year with their Totem One release on, Conspiracy Records. MMOB’s shifty and shifting line-ups have included members of Sun City Girls, SUNN)))O, Earth, Burning Witch, etc. Totem One is fully loaded for inter-dimensional traveling! Further forays into the far out due this year on SCG’s own Abduction label.
MP3: Master Musicians of Bukkake “People of the Drifting Houses” Conspiracy Records
AFCGT is A Frames plus Climax Golden Twins, and they have a self-titled release out on Sub Pop. Some serious Dead C huffings here, as hazy cretins jam around smoking sulfur pots in some spacey hollows. “Two Legged Dog” gives a good taste. Jesus, put that miserable bastard down!
MP3: AFCGT “Two Legged Dog” Sub Pop Records
Starving Weirdo’s Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay craft beautiful and unsettling tapestries of free form sound, weaving electro acoustic improvisations with field recordings from their rugged Northern California surroundings. On their newest LP, Into An Energy on UK label Bo’ Weavil Recordings, the duo is joined by their occasional collaborators Steve Lazar and Greg Devaney for the whole of the work, and what follows is a kind of, “deep-forest-ghetto-musique concrete”.
MP3: Starving Weirdo’s “Pagan Unity Ritual” Bo’ Weavil Recordings
Mayor Daley’s Facial Expressions came out in April of ’09 on Chicago micro label, Rotted Tooth, run by Cacaw drummer, Kyle Reynolds. On “Choices”, vocalists Kelly Carr suffers all sorts of vocal possessions, like some sort of gothic bloodletting, as guitar, bass, and drums shift on a beat through varying grades of B-movie menace and horror.
MP3: Mayor Daley “Choices” Rotted Tooth
