Last year, I was fully appalled by the year that was 2020, a scorched earth year of illness and political shit-storms. We all had high hopes for 2021, didn’t we? It was really no better, and arguably worse. And is currently – as I write this well into 2022 there continues to be public health meltdowns and the threat of world war. The constant salve (aside from my sweet little family) was of course music. I say this every year: the creativity, innovation, and quality of new music never fails to floor me, and it’s getting bit silly as a refrain, like being surprised by snow every winter. I should just accept and agree that we cannot see the bottom of the well of potential music and should have no expectations of it drying up.
RIP 2021
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| Charlie Watts |
We also lost a Rolling Stone, with drummer great grandaddy Charlie Watts passing on this year. I’m not a drummer guy, but Charlie Watts seemed so utterly consistent to me, an unwavering metronome of a man who you got the sense would rather be playing jazz instead of hitting the snare for possibly the most renowned rock band in history.
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| Lee "Scratch" Perry |
reggae greats: Bunny Wailer and Lee “Scratch” Perry. Bunny Wailer co-founded the Wailers with Marley and Tosh. With both Marley and Tosh dying long ago, Bunny kept on moving, with numerous recordings and his own label Solomonic. His solo debut, 1976’s Blackheart Man, is a classic. Lee Perry was a larger than life personality, with his mania only being outmatched by his unbelievable productivity. He was arguably the greatest and most influential producer in reggae history.
My Top 20 Songs of 2020
In a
massive field of competitors, narrowing a top song list is pretty much
folly. But for posterity and so on, here
is what I came up with:
1. The Pet Parade – Fruit Bats
2. New Revolution – The Besnard Lakes
3. Face on the Rail Line – The Catenary Wires
4. Invisible Lines – Tape Waves
6. The Right Thing Is Hard To Do – Lightning Bug
7. Under the Rolling Moon – Ducks Ltd.
9. Paprika – Japanese Breakfast
My Top 25 Albums of 2021
Bnny is the nom de plume of Jessica Viscius and band (originally it was just her as Bnny). I discovered this record late (I think in 2022 before getting around to writing this) and it was a great find. I hear Mazzy Star, Garbage, La Luz, and Widowspeak – that kind of smokey noir cool folk sound, a little bedroomy, VU-influenced, and nailing that difficult combination of mournful/catchy. This is beautifully done and I look forward to more. Choice song: “Time Walk”.
24. Gold Dust – s/t
Gold Dust is the solo outfit of Stephen Pierce, who helps lead delectable noise-poppers Kindling. Somewhere along the way, it seems, Pierce fell in love with the gentler pastures of psychedelic folk, citing the typical influences (The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Richard & Linda Thompson) but also more obscure acts like Gary Higgins (his 1973 album Red Hash was unearthed and roundly celebrated in 2005) and Japan’s Happy End. His detour into this world is so deep, he is apparently cataloging international psych and folk rock of the 60’s and 70’s for a future book. On this very limited self-released debut (currently, /200) he carries the torch admirably. This is dreamy and soaring psych folk worthy of his influences, tapping into that same earthy chemistry of the sixties that has inspired bands like Ladybug Transistor, The Hanging Stars, Fleet Foxes, and Real Estate. Choice track: “Run Into Clouds”.
I can’t say
I have a good sample size, but Russian shoegaze really tends to take it up a
notch. I count myself a fan of Pinkshinyultrablast
(#18 of 2016: “…assault the ears with supercharged, wall-of-sound shoegaze”)
and Gnoomes (top 30 of 2019, best described as “experimental mad-gaze”), two
bands that turn all pedal and amp dials to 11.
Blankenberge follows suit with Everything, a brain-frying brigade
of fuzzed out noise that sounds like the band is sandblasting a Kalashnikov
AK-47. If that sounds distasteful, the
foundation of noise has a dreamy counterpoint in Yana Guselnikova’s
angelic vocals paired with upper register keyboards parts that recall early M83. The fullness that is created is enveloping,
demonstrating once again how shoegaze is a genre that often tightropes the
mystical line between beauty and barbarism.
Choice track: “Different”.
22. Crystal Canyon – Yours With Affection and Sorrow
Here is another shoegaze triumph, this time from Crystal Canyon. Yours With Affection and Sorrow is their sophomore effort and immediately grabbed my attention after only a few moments of fuzzy reverb. There are copious nods to Cocteau Twins and Lush, but the guitar squalls bring them closer to Soft Science, Westkust, and genre grandparents My Bloody Valentine. There are now enough shoegaze oriented bands that it is sometimes a slog to find the gems that really shine – there’s a lot of noise amidst the noise! Crystal Canyon (and Blankenberge) stand out somehow as skilled purveyors of the scene that can’t die. Choice track: “Turn Blue”.
21. Ovlov – Buds
Ovlov got my attention with 2018’s Tru, an extremely solid indie rock album indebted to 90’s era bands like Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr., Chavez, and Superchunk. This sound continues with Bud, and the 90’s throwback sonics are somehow even more welcome this time around – maybe I’m simply most wistful for that era nowadays, what with the world imploding so spectacularly. There is a bit more restraint here (at times), recalling bands like Seam and His Name Is Alive, with stronger songwriting overall. If you were kicking around the 90’s indie rock world, you’d think this was next great thing to come out of Matador records. Choice track: “Strokes”.
20. Mint Julep – In A Deep & Dreamless Sleep
A deep and dreamless sleep – I could use me some of that. Mint Julep attempts to take us there with this (nonetheless) dreamy and ambient chillwave outing. I assumed this was a new band, but a cursory look shows they are the married duo of Keith and Hollie Kenniff, active since 2007 and both with a number of solo releases. In fact, I have Keith Kenniff’s beautiful 2012 ambient album Branches (think Philip Glass) and only now am I making the connection. Mint Julep has a dancey motif and close comparisons can be made to Washed Out, Delorean, Tycho, and the like. Hollie Kenniff’s vocals also recall Memoryhouse, Still Corners, and Beach House. If you feel like chillin’ out to some mid-tempo beats overlaid with a polished shimmer, this is your summer drink. Choice track: “Mirage”.
19. White Flowers – Day By Day
Among my favorite songs of each year there is usually one that evokes long ago memories, as if the song had always existed. There is usually some stylistic attachment to the 80's, when my musical taste was being imprinted. “Graveyard Girl” by M83 was a 2008 song that was seemingly scored for a John Hughes movie; “Ascension” from I Break Horses (2014), a synthy goth-pop masterpiece, sounds like it was first broadcast on Toronto’s City Limits in 1985; “Hang The Cowboy” by Petite League (2020) is a lo-fi indie-rock single that should have been in the underground bins of Toronto’s Vinyl Museum, and then lovingly added to me record collection next to Hüsker Dü and Camper Van Beethoven. Such is the case in 2021 in regards to “Stars”, a gorgeous new wave goth masterpiece that pulls on the same nostalgic heartstrings. This is what sublime means to me – the ability to create a new song that feels 40 years old for immediate absorption into my autobiography. Needless to say, the whole album is wonderful. Choice track: “Stars”.
18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_od’s Pee AT STATES END!
Now the elderly (anti)statesmen of Canadian post-rock and avant neo-classical, GY!BE continue to impress with another though-provoking (or mind-bending) album of experimental art. It begins as their things typically do, with a unsettling collage of radio frequencies, hidden voices, and found sounds, slowly morphing into a post-apocalyptic anthem. And as per usual, there are the long soundtrack passages that build, build, build, finding some sort of relief by resolving all the collected/conflicted parts into a juggernauting wholeness. Soft and thoughtful moments are also peppered into the movements to provide some respite from the war. GY!BE remains exclusively instrumental and I have a difficult time naming another outfit that so effortlessly translates political thought into sound. Sure, any given listener will make their own abstract associations, but it is unlikely that those associations are of a sunny beach or a walk in the forest (but could be, I suppose) – it is more likely, across listeners, to evoke images of burning capitol buildings and the razing of marble colonnades. Another remarkable firestorm. Choice track: “Cliffs Gaze / cliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE”
17. Cool Ghouls – At George’s Zoo
Another band it took me awhile to check out because the silly name. I really must ignore these semantic biases. I suppose jokey bands rub me the wrong way. I first heard Cool Ghouls via the 2016 album Animal Races and I was suitably impressed by the delectable mix of garage rock, space cowboy, jangle, and retro psych. I immediately grabbed 2021’s At George’s Zoo and it was happily consistent. I love garage rock throwbacks (Crystal Stilts, Woods, Moon Duo, BRCM, Triptides, etc.) and the Ghouls are tops in this category. The vocal harmonies and electric guitar foundationally capture that 60’s psych rock so well that you can imagine their teak furnished living room and shag carpet covered in old vinyl from CSNY, The Association, The Left Banke, and The Zombies. Choice track: “To You I’m Bound”.
16. Silver Synthetic – Silver Synthetic
Like Cool Ghouls above, Silver Synthetic mine sounds from the past, but in this case the touchstones are 70’s power pop, country, and British pub rock. Big Star is the obvious ground-zero, but I also hear Nick Lowe, Shoes, Gram Parsons, Cheap Trick, and The Velvet Underground. What more is there to say about this? I suppose just that emulating old 70’s rock tropes run the risk of turning out rather boring. You have to do it right to move out of the garage. Your rhythm section needs to be in the pocket. The guitars need to sparkle with a balance of clarity and edge, finding that comfortable place that winks at the blues but doesn’t pander to them. The vocals need to be up front, effortless, and well harmonized. This is a pretty good definition of what Big Star gave us, and Silver Synthetic does this more than capably. This is a GREAT rock album. Choice track: “Out Of The Darkness”.
15. Pardoner – Came Down Different
This is another random web find and I am fully on board. The tongue-in-cheek hype sticker of Pardoner’s Came Down Different provides some review snippets, such as:
“Guitar” – Pitchfork
“Punk” – NPR
“Chaotic and Strange” – Bandcamp
In a way, this is a pretty good sum up. It opens with a mess of feedback followed by a daunting metal riff but this is a ruse, as it jumps right into a slackified indie-punk worthy of Parquet Courts, Pavement, and Archers of Loaf. It’s intentionally lo-fi and dirty and wonderful. Pardoner are pure 90’s indie rock, with a jagged line leading back to the Velvet Underground (check out “Lucky Day”, for example), via the Amercian punk of the Circle Jerks and Squirrel Bait. Choice track: “I Wanna Get High To The Music”.
Massage was formed by Alex Naidus, formerly of Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Turning down the distortion and slinging on a Rickenbacker, Naidus has moved from the fuzzpop of Pains to classic janglepop that would have headlined a Flying Nun records showcase. Lots of call outs to The Bats, The Clean, The Feelies, as well as the 60’s folkpop of The Byrds and The Turtles. There are lot of contemporaries doing the same thing (e.g., Ducks Ltd., Chime School, Reds Pinks and Purples) and Massage’s Still Life sits among the best. Choice track: “I’m A Crusader”.
13. Smoke Bellow – Open For Business
Two thirds of Smoke Bellow hail from Australia but have set up shop in Baltimore – I don’t know why this is an unexpected genealogy, but it is somehow, especially when one hears the music. This is a strange pastiche of Stereolab, Gastr Del Sol, Deerhoof, and High Llamas. There is a lot of minimalist synthy krautrock lines rotating around in odd time signatures, centred with disaffected art-school vocals. This description sounds dystopian and off-putting and, were it not for my firsthand listenings, I’d typically dismiss such as thing. But it is WONDERFUL. On paper, it sounds cold, but it is warm and engaging, due in no small part to the lovely African jazz influences, recalling The Very Best, Fool’s Gold, and classic 60’s-70’s artists like African Jazz Pioneers and Bokani Dyer (I had to look these names up on my highly recommended compilation The Rough Guide to South African Jazz). So…if you’re looking for Stereolabish post-punk flirting with kwela jazz rhythms, these Australian transplants out of Baltimore will fix you up (there’s a musical description I’d be hard pressed to predict writing). Choice track: “Furry Computer 2”.
12. Flyying Colours – Fantasy Country
Is is just me or is Australia exhibiting some sort indie-rock/-psych renaissance over the past decade? I can show evidence for this based on my postage fees alone – a proportionately larger number of records have been traveling to me across the Pacific from down under (and from Japan). Among the amazing crop of contemporary bands (e.g., Courtney Barnett, Tame Impala, Redspencer, Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever, Jade Imagine, The Goon Sax, Twerps, Terrible Signal, Quivers, Amyl and the Sniffers, Chook Race etc., etc., etc.) Melbourne’s Flyying Colours fly particularly high. On Fantasy Country, the formula is a motorik psyched-out shoegaze that is equal parts Lilys, American Analog Set, and Slowdive. A huge, propulsive space jam from a band that sits among the top of the Aussie indie ranks. Choice track: “White Knuckles”.
11. Catenary Wires – Birling Gap
Big shout out to the indefatigable Vinyl Douche who has consistently delivered me absolute gems of musical delight via his YouTube channel during this thing we call the pandemic. His tastes match mine almost exactly (minus the jazz), but he routinely shows LPs by bands that are under my radar. In this case, he’s given me Catenary Wires, one of the many, many outlets of indiepop royalty Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey, who I was unwittingly familiar with through Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, Marine Research, and Tender Trap. This outfit, however, is far more polished and professional, sounding much more like The Mamas and Papas, Camera Obscura, Belle & Sebastian, and Ladybug Transistor. This is an incredibly pretty record that is almost alarming in its wistfulness. If you put this on your ears, don’t be surprised if you find yourself alone and meandering along a seaside boardwalk in some obscure British hamlet. Choice track: “Face On The Rail Line”.
I am a fan of Echodrone’s 2018 LP Past, Preset, and Future, which I thought was a great shoegaze album, but was interested to see if/how they evolved. I’m glad I kept tabs on them because Resurgence is a tremendous record with lots of novel twists and turns. This time around these young San Franciscans move into the territory of School of Seven Bells and M83. And every time I hear the first notes of “View Master”, I instinctively feel like I am hearing a brand new Swervedriver track (if you know me, there is really no higher complement). The production is maybe a bit too compressed and the left-field cover of Billy Joel’s “My Life” remains a head scratcher – but this should illustrate how strong this album is, as it still ranks among the best of the year for me. Go Echodrone! Choice track: “View Master”.
Outside of the Sam (a.k.a., The Vinyl Douche), I have no heard no one speak of Tape Waves, the husband and wife dream pop duo of Kim and Jarod Weldin. This is straight forward guitar-based dream pop, the sort of ethereal loveliness we enjoy from bands like Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, High Violets, and Pains of Being Pure at Heart. This sort of fare can come off featureless at times, but when you get that optimal mix of fuzz/jangle/delay/reverb with gossamer female vocals, you’ve hit the sweet spot that melts me into my chair. Bright, to me, is a quintessential dream pop album and, along with Lightning Bug (see #4), demonstrates how the genre can still captivate and calm. Choice track: “Invisible Lines”.
8. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime
Mahamadou Souleymane, AKA Mdou Moctar, is Nigerien artist that has been making world-wide waves with his brand of explosive jazz rock that is steeped in the musical heritage of the Magreb and west African highlife and funk. Arabic rhythms and scales are fused with rock to produce a truly powerful and celebratory sound. Souleymane is one of those special electric guitarists, extremely talented and innovative, sounding like Hendrix and Page mixed with jazz and African guitar (I am a dilettante in this area, but Moctar plays in the takamba and assouf styles, the latter also known as “desert blues. I highly suggest checking out some video of the band setting up, unannounced, in dusty courtyards and plazas in their home city of Agadez, Niger). I’m not positive how I came across this record but I was surprised to learn he had signed with big indie rock label Matador records, after some American patronage brought him some global attention – including write ups in Rolling Stone and The Guardian. And touring with Parquet Courts, for example, which feels bizarro somehow. It was only later that heard that they played my wee home town in Guelph, Ontario, as part of a festival – I missed this completely and I’m still gutted by it. This is some of the most powerful fusion psych rock I have heard. Choice track: “Tala Tannam”, a mellow and meditative track, but for the incendiary rock check out “Chismiten”.
7. Amyl and The Sniffers – Comfort To Me
I love me some old-school punk but barely pay attention to new bands that try to emulate the golden age of 1977-1982. While I prefer much of my new music loud and raucous, the original first-wave punk formula is somehow hard to pull off. These days, I really do need some post in my punk, to the point that I specifically ignored Amyl and the Sniffers. I guess I expected some overdone, refurbished, and inferior version of, say, D.O.A.. But then I finally put on Comfort To Me and, ka-blam, I must beg forgiveness. Amyl and the Sniffers (from Australia) absolutely nail that late 70’s London sound, filth, and fury. They have reignited my love of old punk and I’ve found myself reaching regularly for classic early records by The Damned, Still Little Fingers, The Vibrators, and The Adverts. Choice track: “Security”.
TUNS is the perfect power-poppy union of Sloan, Inbreds, and The Super Friendz and I am plenty happy their 2016 self-titled debut was not a one-off supergroup release. It took some years, but they have reassembled to give us Duly Noted, another top to bottom hookfest that sounds like Shoes in 1970’s Suburbia. It’s inescapable that these Haligonian colleagues Chris Murphy, Mike O’Neill, Matt Murphy (no relation to Chris) are a vocal/songwriting match made in heaven and clearly should have always been playing together in some form. They probably always were in each others basements and studios and on shared tours. It’s good to see it formalized into another exceptional released. Choice track: “In The Middle of The Way Home”.
5. Ducks Ltd. – Modern Fiction
Perhaps it is the YouTubers I’ve been hanging with, but there seems to me a preponderance of excellent jangly indiepop recently, following in the footsteps of those underground, DIY genre-defining outfits of the 80’s (a decade I’ve reappraised as amazing in recent years) – bands like Massage, Red Pinks and Purples, Wild Honey, and Pale Lights have been mining the sounds of Trashcan Sinatras, The Ocean Blue, Wedding Present, Close Lobsters, etc. I can picture the members of Ducks Ltd, from Toronto, playing their collections of rare singles from Slumberland and Sarah Records on an 80’s suitcase stereo, all nerdy, cool, and sweet. This is the best jangle pop record of the year and the field is a competitive one. Choice track: “Under the Rolling Moon”.
4. Lightning Bug – A Color of The Sky
There are so many obscure bands toiling away out there, it’s so easy for worthy releases to get lost in the playlist shuffle. Lightning Bug is one of those band who has me wringing my hands with the question as to how much incredible music I might be missing due to happenstance. I found A Color of the Sky through complete serendipity (and currently have no memory of the circumstances). All I know is that it shot to the top of the honor pile immediately and yet I don’t think I saw it appear on any year end lists. Band lead Audrey Kang spins magical, mellow, ethereal yarns with one foot in gentle folk and the other in spacious dream pop – equal parts Mazzy Star, Jess Williamson, and Weyes Blood. And Karen Carpenter, maybe? It is a gorgeous floaty journey and deserves way more attention than it has received. Choice track: “The Right Thing Is Hard To Do”.
3. The Besnard Lakes -- Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings
I count Besnard Lakes among one of my most favorite bands in the past 20 years and among my Top 10 Canadian acts of all time (and that’s some real good company). Every release is momentous shoegaze bombshell and always lands in the upper reaches for my year end lists. Great Thunderstorm Warnings may be their best yet, just as soaring and powerful as 2016’s A Coliseum Complex Museum. It’s more of the same in the best ways possible, and the words “grandiose” and “transcendent” are seemingly unavoidable. It is hard to articulate the differences between space rock and shoegaze, except that the former seems attached to 70’s psychedelia and Hawkwind – but both apply here. At times, the Lakes enter the prog rock realm of Steven Wilson and Pink Floyd. As always, the harmonizing vocals of Jace and Olga are exquisite. Slap on a pair of headphones, turn down the lights, and immerse yourself in this symphonic gem. (A caution: I bought the vinyl and it sounded awful – a poor pressing with unacceptable hiss. The CD, of course, was wonderful. No such thing as a bad CD “press” and digital mastering these days is so advanced. CDs rule). Choice track: “Our Heads, Our Hearts On Fire Again”.
2. Nation of Language – A Way Forward
I briefly sampled Nation of Language late in 2021 and their synth pop did not grab me for some reason. I kept seeing them show up an all sorts of feeds I follow and trust so I gave A Way Forward another go. Then it hit and hit me hard. There are lots of synthpop subgenres and approaches, many of which I like – the chillwave of Washed Out and Alpine Stars, the dream pop of Beach House and I Break Horses, and the dance grooves of Holy Fuck and Caribou. There are fewer bands that successfully reference old new wave/synthpop (favorites include Burning Hearts and M83). Nation of Language, however, feel like they have been beamed directly from the 1980’s, something I would see on City Limits late on a Friday night. They are direct descendants of early OMD and Depeche Mode (and The Assembly, The Spoons, China Crisis, Fiction Factory, and Talk Talk). In all seriousness A Way Forward is a better album than any of the LPs put out by these bands. It has all the trappings: old school synth patches, bouncing arpeggios, and that signature new wave vocal crooning, at once vulnerable, semi-precious, and cold/cool. I’ve listened to it over and over, suspicious of the dreaded recency effect. I’ve put on Speak and Spell, It’s My Life, and Dazzle Ships to compare. Nation of Language is the clear winner. This is extraordinary! Could it be that A Way Forward is…the best new wave/synth pop album of all time? I say yes. Choice track: “This Fractured Mind”
1. Fruit Bats – The Pet Parade
Somewhere along the way, Eric D. Johnson’s Fruit Bats have transformed from “good/great” to “mind-boggling excellent”. This is quite an accomplishment when entering the 20th anniversary of releasing music. I can think of a few artists who rekindled flagging careers after decades of work, but this steady state of quality releases being capped with such an incredible album like this seems unusual. My love of the Fruit Bats began with their 2003 album Mouthfuls (and notably the songs “Rainbow Sign” and “Slipping Through The Sensors”) which squared nicely with my new found love of twangy alt-country/folk records by Wilco, Royal City, Great Lake Swimmers, Sufjan Stevens, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, and the like. Over time, Fruit Bats introduced more complex arrangements and upped the production value and, entering into the 2010’s, pursued that sort of 70’s A.M. Gold sound that was being revived by bands like The War On Drugs, Phospherescent, and later Iron & Wine albums. By the release of 2018’s Gold Past Life, Fruit Bats were creating fully formed yacht rock and I was starting to tune out a little. But some sort of turning point seemed to happen when Johnson joined forces with Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman to form Bonny Light Horseman. Their sole album to date (self-titled in 2020) was a gorgeous alt-country/folk piece, excellent top to bottom and also yielding my song of the year “Deep In Love”. This set the stage for The Pet Parade. I’m sort of out of superlatives for this one. While the song structures can be reduced down to pretty simple three chord folk, Johnson manages to elevate the craft to soulful folk perfection. The production is an expansive, wide open field and the melodies/harmonies are instantly memorable. Fruit Bats, a Chicago-based band, sound like Laurel Canyon royalty effortlessly playing classic Americana rock/pop in late-70’s Californa. Choice track (and my personal theme song to pandemic emotional coping): “The Pet Parade”.
Other Amazing Albums and Releases from 2021
Another Heaven – III – The Sorrowful Cries of Bird With Singed Fingers. Crushingly beautiful sludgey shoegaze for fans of Jesu, Pelican, and Deafheaven.
Bachelor – Doomin’ Sun. Collaborative effort by Melina Duterte (Jay Som) and Ellen Kempner (Palehound). It’s what you might think: slightly lo-fi, arty, indie-rock/-pop, lyrically vulnerable/sardonic, and catchy as all hell.
Beachy Head – Beachy
Head. A supergroup of members of
Slowdive, Soft Cavalry, and Flaming
Lips, sound like Mojave 3 doing Slowdive
without Neil Halstead.
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| Bobsled Team - The Colours Blur |
Black Country, New Road – For The First Time. A frenetic post-punk jazz blasting apocalypse. Troubled and ultra-talented youth bleeding their hearts and fingers. For fans of Dry Cleaning, Fontaines D.C., and Slint.
Chime School – Chime School. Drummer for Seablite steps out from the behind the kit with a Gretsch and jangles us into submission. This sounds like C86 heaven.
Courtney Barnett – Things Take Time, Take Time. Barnett usually lands in my top 10. This is still a GREAT album of literate indie rock and she remains among my most favorite artists in the past decade.
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| Dummy - Mandatory Enjoyment |
Fleeting Joys – All Lost Eyes & Glitter. More brilliant woozy fuzz and fire from these preeminent shoegaze masters.
Geordie Gordon – The Tower. Multi-instrumentalist Geordie Gordon (U.S. Girls, The Magic, Barmitzvah Brothers) goes solo on this digital release of slick soulful folktronica.
Hovvdy – True Love. A folk/indie-rock record similar to Silver Jews, Built to Spill, Richard Davies, and Hayden. Filling up the space with piano, pedal steel, and layers of voices seems has taken Hovvdy in a new compelling direction. Choice Track: “Around Again”.
Kiwi Jr. – Cooler Returns. Kiwi Jr. returns and it’s cool. More VU-inspired indie rock and power pop from these Torontonians
La Luz – La Luz. More groovy psychedelic surf rock that makes me think of Tarantino films.
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| Liz Phair - Soberish | |
heights 25 years ago. I’m proud of her.
Lord Huron – Long Lost. Massive folk-pop, the size of mountains. Beautiful and cinematic, with a old-timey charm.
Lunation Fall – Near. Fuzzy swirling shoegaze, like falling into a giant cotton candy machine. In France.
Model Village – World of Carp. Happy go-lucky indie-pop from Britain, like early Camera Obscura. Oddly, vocals of Lily Somerville sound a little like German 80’s band Propaganda.
Painted Shrines – Heaven and Holy. Collaboration of Jeremy Earl (Woods) and Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards) is another worthy addition to both bands’ garagey psych-pop.
Petite League – Joyrider. Lo-fi indie rock/punk that sends induces (for me) waves of nostalgia for the undergound 80’s.
Pia Fraus – Now You Know It Still Feels The Same. Reworkings of old songs, this is splendid shoegaze/dreampop, influenced undeniably by My Bloody Valentine, but often with a more melodious crystalline pop sheen that puts them among peers Pains of Being Pure At Heart, DIIV, and M83.
Psychic Flowers – For
The Undertow. Postcard. Fuzzed out power pop, recommended if you like Dogleg, Bully,
Petite League, Joanna Gruesome, and the like. I also got a Japandroids
feel at times.
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| Quivers - Golden Doubt |
Redspencer – Dreamworld. Melancholic mid-tempo jangle, perfectly delivered, like The Go-Betweens just woke up after a peaceful nap.
Reds, Pinks, and Purples – Uncommon Weather. Bedroom pop from Glenn Donaldson that curtsies to The Smiths, Aztec Camera, The Chameleons, and The Field Mice.
Sarah Neufeld – Detritus. Arcade Fire violinists wows us with a gorgeous neo-classical ambient strings accompaniment to a Peggy Baker dance choreography.
The Shop Window – The State of Being Human. Northern soul-inflected indie-pop, relatives
of later Jam, Go-Betweens, Housemartins. These guys have been around the block, in
various outfits and supporting roles since the 90’s, and suddenly went for it with
The Shop Window (it seems). Great
record, and super promising “debut”.
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| Squirrel Flower - Planet (i) |
Still Corners – The Last Exit. A move away from earlier chillwave to a darker sultriness, recalling Mazzy Star and Waxahatchee, with some Americana twang and Lynchian vibes
Subsonic Eye – Nature of Things. Singaporean foursome is gives us 90’s indie rock (think Belly, The Sundays, Juliana Hatfield) and I didn’t know I needed it this much.
Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine – A Beginner’s Mind. Angelo de Augustine is the heir apparent to Stevens' older sublime folk charms (e.g., Michigan, Seven Swans). Here they join forces to compile a beautiful folky chamber pop LP.
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| Toledo - Jockeys of Love |
Lucksmiths, Bon Iver, and Kings of Convenience.
Triptide – Alter Echoes. Excellent 60’s oriented psych-pop from these
San Franciscan songsmiths. Side two has
a loungey production that sometimes works sometimes does not. But overall this is great.
Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters – Destiny Waving. Ambient dreamscaper Schnauss joins (again) Mark Peters of shoegazey Engineers to give us some more blissful magic that would likely provoke a thumbs up each from Eno and Lanois.
Wednesday – Twin Plagues. Delightfully tough to place rock music, sometimes arty, sometimes punk, a little country. Contemporaries include Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, Big Thief, and Ashley Shadow, and you really hear the inherited sounds of slacker old indie rock, like Pavement, Butterglory, Pixies, and PJ Harvey.
Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend. Maybe have moved a little too far into alt-pop territory for my tastes but still overall a great record.
Hope you're all surviving and thriving!
