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bedsitter23Is there anyone on this list under 45 and not five albums in?
Hardly....
On with the countdown
Interpol – El Pintor (Matador)- Interpol just makes me feel out. They were the new kids in that New ‘New Wave” of 2002, and here they are the old establishment. Time flies. I didn’t get into them at first (Ladytron was my favorite artist of that movement) but by “Antics” I was hooked. It has been downhill since. “Our Love to Admire” isn’t all that bad (but that awful cover makes you feel like it is worse than it is) but 2010’s self-titled album is. This is a definitive comeback. It won’t sell you if you’re not already a fan. It’s the same old formula- Joy Divisionish vocals and lyrics that Michael Stipe-ish in their ambiguity, but if you like the formula, this album provides a solid set of songs that are as good as anything the band has ever released.
J Mascis- Tied to a Star (Sub Pop)- Remember the 90s, when we thought Grunge would change the world, and Mascis would be spoken about in the reverent tones reserved for the likes of Clapton and Page. Well, 2014, Grunge’s legacy is Nirvana t-shirts as high school girl fashion item, ever more ridiculous statements almost weekly from Billy Corgan, and Nickleback. Mascis is under the radar, it seems. He’s busy with a handful of diverse and ambitious projects you may not have heard of; and he is able to crank out wonderful albums of acoustic-ish pop tunes. “Star” is almost indistinguishable from 2011’s “Several Shades of Way”, but it’s wholly enjoyable, song after song of Mascis-ness. In an alternate universe, this would be well acclaimed as commercially as it is critically.
Chuck Mead- Free State Serenade (Plowboy)- I hadn’t given the solo career of Chuck Mead much thought until a Facebook friend made mention of this album. BR549 (of which Mead was a singer and co-founder) were an unsung late 90s/early 00s band, that gave us at least two deserving and distinguished albums, before losing steam commercially and artistically. This is album #3 for Mead, and the things that made you like BR549 are all here. In fact, it has a very similar feel to his old band (and the inclusion of former bandmate Don Herron on fiddle certainly helps). The songs are all about Kansas and stories from that state,delivered in that old-school Country (with modern rock sensibility) way that BR549 used to.
Morrissey- World Peace is None of Your Business (Virgin EMI)- I think this is the worst album in the career of my favorite artist. So do I include it here? Well, it’s 2014, so I can’t find the right album to push it off the list, so it stays. The problem here is the man himself, and unbelievably his lyrics. The rap on “Neal Cassady Drops Dead” stands out as the worst since Blondie’s cars/bars/Mars “Rapture”. Other atrocities include “your mammy” and slyly comparing a gold-digging woman to a cow. At least, always his worst albums had 2 or 3 killer singles to save it. Only “Istanbul” stands out in that category. We would be more forgiving with a couple of great songs, and we would probably be more forgiving if this was a “lost album”, which it sounds like it inevitably will be (as the record company has already deleted it). Musically, it’s ambitious (“I’m not a Man” has Sonic Youth-ish moments) and I have no slight on producer Joe Chiccarelli (whose career started with Zappa before moving on to Oingo Boingo and then Alanis Morrissette). It is certain at its best moments, that is striving for the magic of “Strangeways”, but songs like “Smiler with a Knife” and “Kick the Bride down the Aisle” sound like rejects from that album. All said, yeah, I listened to it a lot, and maybe it was time spent trying to like the album, but as weak as the year was, I am keeping it.
Mystic Braves “Desert Island” (Burger Records)- When I first heard these guys, I thought of the Growlers. Indeed, I found out they were openers for the Growlers recently. This was my favorite album far and away in a genre that gave us some “ok” discs in 2014 (Growlers, Allah Las) which is the Nuggets influenced Garage Rock genre. MBs are way more polished than the Growlers and as much draw from 60s British Invasion (they opened for the Zombies, in fact). I like this album a lot because of that polish. I have seen a lot of reviews on the band that open with the question if they are authentic. I think if they were from Austin, they might be taken more seriously. Authentic? What does that even mean? It’s not 1969. I did like this one a lot though.
Karen O “Crush Songs” (Cult)- “Serious” indie rock critics really hated this album; which is funny, because if this was an internet bootleg, the same people would be fawning all over it. It is an official release though, even if it has that bootleg feel. Songs recorded 2006-7ish, some not even a minute long. That said, I really do enjoy this album, and if you are a fan of this artist, you should like it, or should appreciate it, as it is not hard to imagine these songs being worked up into finished Yeah Yeah Yeahs pieces. It is one of those moments that usually don’t get captured (except in the rare bootleg) and sound like an incredibly intimate setting with the artist.
Old 97s “Most Messed Up” (ATO)- Just a wonderful album from these underappreciated veterans. The opener starts with the declaration that the band is older than their fans (indeed, the band is old enough to drink, while some of their fans aren’t). It’s a great Replacements-type statement to open a strong album (The Mats comparisons seem pretty apt throughout). This certainly feels like a ‘return to form’ album, but I can’t label it that simply because their last three albums have been so good. But the critics have been heralding this as an album that is as good as any the band ever released, and it’s easy to get caught up in that excitement with this record. I still think they are way underappreciated, and I don’t think anyone is playing this but a few fringe Americana stations, but just a great drinking-and-carousing shambolic beautiful mess.
Hardly....
On with the countdown
Interpol – El Pintor (Matador)- Interpol just makes me feel out. They were the new kids in that New ‘New Wave” of 2002, and here they are the old establishment. Time flies. I didn’t get into them at first (Ladytron was my favorite artist of that movement) but by “Antics” I was hooked. It has been downhill since. “Our Love to Admire” isn’t all that bad (but that awful cover makes you feel like it is worse than it is) but 2010’s self-titled album is. This is a definitive comeback. It won’t sell you if you’re not already a fan. It’s the same old formula- Joy Divisionish vocals and lyrics that Michael Stipe-ish in their ambiguity, but if you like the formula, this album provides a solid set of songs that are as good as anything the band has ever released.
J Mascis- Tied to a Star (Sub Pop)- Remember the 90s, when we thought Grunge would change the world, and Mascis would be spoken about in the reverent tones reserved for the likes of Clapton and Page. Well, 2014, Grunge’s legacy is Nirvana t-shirts as high school girl fashion item, ever more ridiculous statements almost weekly from Billy Corgan, and Nickleback. Mascis is under the radar, it seems. He’s busy with a handful of diverse and ambitious projects you may not have heard of; and he is able to crank out wonderful albums of acoustic-ish pop tunes. “Star” is almost indistinguishable from 2011’s “Several Shades of Way”, but it’s wholly enjoyable, song after song of Mascis-ness. In an alternate universe, this would be well acclaimed as commercially as it is critically.
Chuck Mead- Free State Serenade (Plowboy)- I hadn’t given the solo career of Chuck Mead much thought until a Facebook friend made mention of this album. BR549 (of which Mead was a singer and co-founder) were an unsung late 90s/early 00s band, that gave us at least two deserving and distinguished albums, before losing steam commercially and artistically. This is album #3 for Mead, and the things that made you like BR549 are all here. In fact, it has a very similar feel to his old band (and the inclusion of former bandmate Don Herron on fiddle certainly helps). The songs are all about Kansas and stories from that state,delivered in that old-school Country (with modern rock sensibility) way that BR549 used to.
Morrissey- World Peace is None of Your Business (Virgin EMI)- I think this is the worst album in the career of my favorite artist. So do I include it here? Well, it’s 2014, so I can’t find the right album to push it off the list, so it stays. The problem here is the man himself, and unbelievably his lyrics. The rap on “Neal Cassady Drops Dead” stands out as the worst since Blondie’s cars/bars/Mars “Rapture”. Other atrocities include “your mammy” and slyly comparing a gold-digging woman to a cow. At least, always his worst albums had 2 or 3 killer singles to save it. Only “Istanbul” stands out in that category. We would be more forgiving with a couple of great songs, and we would probably be more forgiving if this was a “lost album”, which it sounds like it inevitably will be (as the record company has already deleted it). Musically, it’s ambitious (“I’m not a Man” has Sonic Youth-ish moments) and I have no slight on producer Joe Chiccarelli (whose career started with Zappa before moving on to Oingo Boingo and then Alanis Morrissette). It is certain at its best moments, that is striving for the magic of “Strangeways”, but songs like “Smiler with a Knife” and “Kick the Bride down the Aisle” sound like rejects from that album. All said, yeah, I listened to it a lot, and maybe it was time spent trying to like the album, but as weak as the year was, I am keeping it.
Mystic Braves “Desert Island” (Burger Records)- When I first heard these guys, I thought of the Growlers. Indeed, I found out they were openers for the Growlers recently. This was my favorite album far and away in a genre that gave us some “ok” discs in 2014 (Growlers, Allah Las) which is the Nuggets influenced Garage Rock genre. MBs are way more polished than the Growlers and as much draw from 60s British Invasion (they opened for the Zombies, in fact). I like this album a lot because of that polish. I have seen a lot of reviews on the band that open with the question if they are authentic. I think if they were from Austin, they might be taken more seriously. Authentic? What does that even mean? It’s not 1969. I did like this one a lot though.
Karen O “Crush Songs” (Cult)- “Serious” indie rock critics really hated this album; which is funny, because if this was an internet bootleg, the same people would be fawning all over it. It is an official release though, even if it has that bootleg feel. Songs recorded 2006-7ish, some not even a minute long. That said, I really do enjoy this album, and if you are a fan of this artist, you should like it, or should appreciate it, as it is not hard to imagine these songs being worked up into finished Yeah Yeah Yeahs pieces. It is one of those moments that usually don’t get captured (except in the rare bootleg) and sound like an incredibly intimate setting with the artist.
Old 97s “Most Messed Up” (ATO)- Just a wonderful album from these underappreciated veterans. The opener starts with the declaration that the band is older than their fans (indeed, the band is old enough to drink, while some of their fans aren’t). It’s a great Replacements-type statement to open a strong album (The Mats comparisons seem pretty apt throughout). This certainly feels like a ‘return to form’ album, but I can’t label it that simply because their last three albums have been so good. But the critics have been heralding this as an album that is as good as any the band ever released, and it’s easy to get caught up in that excitement with this record. I still think they are way underappreciated, and I don’t think anyone is playing this but a few fringe Americana stations, but just a great drinking-and-carousing shambolic beautiful mess.
