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bedsitter23..and it all can be finally revealed..
Old 97s - The Grand Theatre Vol. 2 (New West) - The Old 97s are one of my favorite bands- for some reason they connected with me in a way that bands like Wilco, Son Volt and other similar bands never did. I haven't been a big fan of the band or Rhett Miller's foray into a more pop area, but the string of 97's albums from 1995 to 2001 are all-time favorites. I was excited last year when they returned to that classic sound with The Grand Theatre Vol 1. Volume 2, unsurprisingly is more of the same (Grand Theatre was to be a double-album), and pleasingly is as good or better than the excellent vol. 1
Radiohead- The King of Limbs (TBD) - The King of Limbs will likely sit as a low point in the band's canon. The fact remains it is still Radiohead and they are on the top of the mountain looking down on everyone else. I enjoy the atmospheric sound of this album, and if like Yorke's The Eraser, this feels like more of an aside than a bonafide go-in-the-studio-and-spend-monthsclassic, it is no less enjoyable.
Slug Guts - Howlin' Gang (Sacred Bones) - Australia has been the home of the greatest sleaze-noise-rock bands of all time - The Birthday Party, Lubricated Goat, the various Foetus projects, and the contemporary Naked on the Vague. The amusingly named Slug Guts follow this line and do the crash-and-burn Birthday Party sound as well as anyone since the days of Gallon Drunk. At its best moments, Howlin Gang recalls the ferocity and snarl of Iggy and the Stooges. Yet, at the same time, it all seems strangely accessible for an album with a track called "Hangin' in the Pisser".
Smith Westerns- Dye it Blonde (Fat Possum) - Every year my best-of list has my newest fave Britpop find. So, you'll have to excuse me a bit when I announce my favorite "New Britpop Hope" is a trio from Chicago. Smith Westerns pull from all the usual Britpop influences, a healthy dose of Mott/Bowie 70s glam, and more than anything, T. Rex. I hear a lot of bands that draw from Bolan's music, but I haven't heard a band so vocally inspired by Marc in a really long time. The band is still quite young, so it's hard to say if they have arena rock success in their future (a la Muse), but if nothing else, they left what will be one of the finer albums of this decade.
Eddie Spaghetti- Sundowner (Bloodshot) - It's pretty safe to say this is the album on the list least likely to change anyone's life or worldview. Still, it's a pretty fun, mostly solid record. Spaghetti was lead singer of the Supersuckers and has alternately churned out straight-ahead rock and Willie-N-Merle style country ballads. Sundowner is more of the former. It is a collection of mostly covers- but there are originals, and the covers he did choose are not the typical choices (Dwarves, Lee Harvey Oswald Band, Dean Martin).
Strokes-- Angles (RCA) - Sure, I know. Even when the Strokes change their formula, they don't change their formula, know what I mean? Angles is a very good record, though, and even if they never will capture the attention they once did, this is an album that deserves to be heard. Besides there's hundreds of thousands of bands out there with a bandcamp webpage and a copy of Marquee Moon, but at the end of the day, you'd just as soon as listen to the Strokes.
Tom Waits- Bad as Me (Anti)- I would be tempted to say that Bad as Me feels like the second album (2004's Real Gone and who knows what comes next) in the best trilogy of Tom Waits's career. I can't say that definitely. Rock critics generally stick with Swordfishtrombones/Rain Dogs/Frank's Wild Years as Waits's finest hours. A strong case could be made for any of the first four "piano bar" albums, and I could argue (though I may be alone) that the double shot of Alice and Blood Money is as good as Waits gets. Even then, I did not get to Bone Machine- which I often hear as many people's favorite Waits album. So, I am not going to say Waits is at his career highpoint here, but I will say it feels that way.
Old 97s - The Grand Theatre Vol. 2 (New West) - The Old 97s are one of my favorite bands- for some reason they connected with me in a way that bands like Wilco, Son Volt and other similar bands never did. I haven't been a big fan of the band or Rhett Miller's foray into a more pop area, but the string of 97's albums from 1995 to 2001 are all-time favorites. I was excited last year when they returned to that classic sound with The Grand Theatre Vol 1. Volume 2, unsurprisingly is more of the same (Grand Theatre was to be a double-album), and pleasingly is as good or better than the excellent vol. 1
Radiohead- The King of Limbs (TBD) - The King of Limbs will likely sit as a low point in the band's canon. The fact remains it is still Radiohead and they are on the top of the mountain looking down on everyone else. I enjoy the atmospheric sound of this album, and if like Yorke's The Eraser, this feels like more of an aside than a bonafide go-in-the-studio-and-spend-monthsclassic, it is no less enjoyable.
Slug Guts - Howlin' Gang (Sacred Bones) - Australia has been the home of the greatest sleaze-noise-rock bands of all time - The Birthday Party, Lubricated Goat, the various Foetus projects, and the contemporary Naked on the Vague. The amusingly named Slug Guts follow this line and do the crash-and-burn Birthday Party sound as well as anyone since the days of Gallon Drunk. At its best moments, Howlin Gang recalls the ferocity and snarl of Iggy and the Stooges. Yet, at the same time, it all seems strangely accessible for an album with a track called "Hangin' in the Pisser".
Smith Westerns- Dye it Blonde (Fat Possum) - Every year my best-of list has my newest fave Britpop find. So, you'll have to excuse me a bit when I announce my favorite "New Britpop Hope" is a trio from Chicago. Smith Westerns pull from all the usual Britpop influences, a healthy dose of Mott/Bowie 70s glam, and more than anything, T. Rex. I hear a lot of bands that draw from Bolan's music, but I haven't heard a band so vocally inspired by Marc in a really long time. The band is still quite young, so it's hard to say if they have arena rock success in their future (a la Muse), but if nothing else, they left what will be one of the finer albums of this decade.
Eddie Spaghetti- Sundowner (Bloodshot) - It's pretty safe to say this is the album on the list least likely to change anyone's life or worldview. Still, it's a pretty fun, mostly solid record. Spaghetti was lead singer of the Supersuckers and has alternately churned out straight-ahead rock and Willie-N-Merle style country ballads. Sundowner is more of the former. It is a collection of mostly covers- but there are originals, and the covers he did choose are not the typical choices (Dwarves, Lee Harvey Oswald Band, Dean Martin).
Strokes-- Angles (RCA) - Sure, I know. Even when the Strokes change their formula, they don't change their formula, know what I mean? Angles is a very good record, though, and even if they never will capture the attention they once did, this is an album that deserves to be heard. Besides there's hundreds of thousands of bands out there with a bandcamp webpage and a copy of Marquee Moon, but at the end of the day, you'd just as soon as listen to the Strokes.
Tom Waits- Bad as Me (Anti)- I would be tempted to say that Bad as Me feels like the second album (2004's Real Gone and who knows what comes next) in the best trilogy of Tom Waits's career. I can't say that definitely. Rock critics generally stick with Swordfishtrombones/Rain Dogs/Frank's Wild Years as Waits's finest hours. A strong case could be made for any of the first four "piano bar" albums, and I could argue (though I may be alone) that the double shot of Alice and Blood Money is as good as Waits gets. Even then, I did not get to Bone Machine- which I often hear as many people's favorite Waits album. So, I am not going to say Waits is at his career highpoint here, but I will say it feels that way.
