Saturday, December 31, 2022

It Starts With a Birthstone - 2022 Review

 


It's been a good year for music. Not perhaps a good one for the world but they rarely are these days. There are some promising signs. A mad Brazilian president voted out. The Amazon rainforest issues an enormous sigh of relief. A mendacious British charlatan finally shown the door. But plenty of wicked politicians still in charge. A Russian despot wreaking havoc in The Ukraine. We hope for better in 2023 but can't quite believe these hopes will be realised. Too many nutters around  These feel more and more like end times.

But back to music. It Starts With a Birthstone remains first and foremost about that. Next year this blog will turn ten in June. It's been and remains one of the most rewarding endeavors I've ever undertaken. Something to think about and continue working on, a process of constant discovery.

My own end of year album rundown was a proper mess this year. I only came upon my own favourite right before the end with Joan Shelley pipping the long term front runner Big Thief at the tape.

Plenty of great records neglected; Field Guides, Wu-Lu, Horace Andy, Fontaines D.C. many more Others on reflection, far too low. In my case Alvvays particularly. That's an excellent record. Hey I've finally got round to that Jana Horn record that so many are raving about and it's just great.

Drawing up a list of the best records of a year is a pretty futile task these days. When I first started becoming interested in these things reaching a general consensus seemed a more straightforward objective. In 1982, a great year for music and the one in which I left secondary school it seemed to be a matter of deciding, at in the UK at least, whether Sulk was better than New Gold Dream. Or else Upstairs at Eric's, Too-Rye-Ay, English Settlement, Hex Enduction Hour, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, Imperial Bedroom, The Lexicon of Love or your own favourite New Pop contender. Some even liked Thriller.  It certainly didn't feel like there were that many to choose from and between. 

Now with The Internet and the general immediate access to almost any music that takes your fancy, the game has been blown wide open. I had a really interesting conversation with a record shop owner of a great independent record shop in Canterbury  about this. yesterday I'd just been in HMV  and they'd been playing Hatful of Hollow, (as much a totem of my youth as any record I'd say), Because it connected so directly to that special time in my life I'd genuinely felt like dancing, despite my advancing age,  and wondered what the young people browsing the racks with me actually thought about it. Whether it gave them the sheer thrill that I was experiencing.

Nick, the record shop owner said his task in deciding what to stock is relatively simple these days. For The Smiths, he only really needs to keep a copy of The Queen is Dead somewhere in his racks because that is invariably the only record by the band that young people come into the shop asking for. Never for Strangways or Hatful or Meat. With Joni it's Blue apparently, Sonic Youth Goo, R.E.M. Automatic. The young it seems  are assembling their canon, almost immediately after being given their first record player for Christmas as more and more are these days. One record by an artist or band at a time

He also said that this has been his best year by far for selling vinyl, his shop's been open for six or seven years I think . That's a great thing. Certainly for him, but I'd say encouraging in general. Listening to music is always a good thing. I'm also absolutely resolved that listening to vinyl is the best way of making that important entre that happens to so many when you're 15 or 16. Constructing your personality and character alongside your record collection. We were both slightly bemused about the list making and assembly process, Joni for example did make any number of great records apart from Blue, and some might say that others are better when they mean they prefer them, but hey, Blue is great. It's a start. With luck they'll come back to her later and understand and appreciate the whole picture better. 

As for me, I'm planning to go to more gigs next year. I only went to a handful in 2022, I suspect a hangover from Lockdown, we all seem to be staying in more. But there are more options that appeal to me as the circuit returns to normality and I've already got Big Joanie, Native Harrow, The Golden Dregs and Dream Syndicate penciled in for next year. Can't wait.

New Albums For 2023


Some things to look forwards to in the coming months. I imagine many of my personal favourites will come from the margins and I'm not aware of them yet.
  1.  Robert Forster
  2. John Cale
  3. Iggy Pop
  4. Margo Price
  5. Young Fathers
  6. Yo La Tengo
  7. Paramore
  8. Shame
  9. Guided by Voices
  10. Andy Shauf
  11. Gorillaz
  12. U.S.Girls
  13. Billy Nomates
  14. Everything But The Girl
  15. The Murder Capital
  16. Mag Baird 
  17. The Go! Team
  18. Lana Del Ray
  19. Teleman
  20. P J Harvey

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2020

 


 

At the end of a year that none of us have ever seen the like of, here's It Starts With a Birthstone's countdown of my favourite fifty albums of the year. I like my list not unnaturally. I think it's eclectic, varied and reflects a lot of the things I've enjoyed and listened to during 2020.


1. SAULT - Untitled (Rise)

2. Sufjan Stevens - Lamentations

3. Billy Nomates - Billy Nomates

4. CHOPCHOP - Everything Looks So Real

5. Shabaka & The Ancestors - We Are Sent Here By History

6. Cornershop - England Is a Garden

7. Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today

8. Bananagun - The True Story of Bananagun

9. East Man - Prole Art Threat

10. Fontaines D.C. - A Heroes Death

11. The Mountain Goats - Getting Into Knives

12. Saint Savior - Tomorrow Again

13. Brona McVittie - The Man in the Mountain

14. Rufus Wainwright - Unfollow The Rules

15. Bo Ningen - Sudden Fictions

16. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Boltcutters

17. Lawn - Johnny

18. Nathalie Shah - Kitchen Sink

19. Arbor Labor Union - New Petal Instincts

20. Ora Cogan - Bells In The Ruins

21. Wire - Mind Hive

22. Isobel Campbell - There is no Other

23. The Homesick - The Big Exercise

24. Daniel Romano - How Ill Thy World is Ordered

25. Jeremy Tuplin - Violet Waves

26. Coriky - Coriky

27. Grimm Grimm - Ginormous

28. Kevin Krauter - Full Hand

29. I Break Horses - Warnings

30. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways To New Italy

31. The Innocence Mission - See You Tomorrow

32. U.S. Girls - Heavy Light

33. Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately

34. En Attendant Ana - Juillet

35. The Cool Greenhouse - The Cool Greenhouse

36. Latitude - Mystic Hotline

37. This Is The Kit- Off On On

38. Emma Kupa - It Will Come Easier

39. Drab City - Good Songs For Bad People

40. James Elkington - Ever-Roving Eye

41. No Age - Goons Be Gone

42. X - ALPHABETLAND

43. Aoife Nessa Frances - Land of No Junction

44. Jenny O. - New Truth

45. The Strokes - The New Abnormal

46. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song

47. Galore - Galore

48. Arbouretum - Let It All In

49. El Goodo - Zombie

50. Death Valley Girls - Under the Spell of Joy

The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 190 Yoko Ono - Yoko Ono Plastic Bag

 





Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 417 The Postal Service - Give Up

 





Song(s) of the Day # 3,257 THUS LOVE

 

So, on the last day of 2022 perhaps time to look forward to 2023 with one of The Guardian tips for next year. THUS LOVE a trio from Battlebro, Vermont. All three describing themselves as self identifying trans , they released a debut album Memorial which shows considerable promise.

To actually describe the record, I have to go back. To the Eighties and my own youth. This is a very Eighties record and a very Anglo one. Think The Chameleons, Psychedelic Furs, The Sound, Maurice Deebank of Felt's guitar sound, House of Love, Goth.



I've listened through to the record a couple of times and I'm not entirely sure personally. Hey, I've already lived through this. But they're a band that certainly sound like they have a future.

Friday, December 30, 2022

Losses of the Year

 


There seemed like rather a lot this year. Terry Hall was a particularly tough blow late in the day. Listed only according to how much the individuals meant to me:

  1. Terry Hall
  2. Ronnie Spector
  3. Pharoah Sanders
  4. Christine McVie
  5. Jerry Lee Lewis
  6. Keith Levine
  7. Wilko Johnson
  8. Mark Lanegan
  9. Jordan
  10. Chris Bailey
  11. Cathal Coughlan
  12. Martin Duffy
  13. Andy Fletcher
  14. Jet Black
  15. Gary Brooker
  16. Ronnie Hawkins
  17. Paul Ryder
  18. Taylor Hawkins

It Starts with a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2019

 

 


This is me. Looking a bit worse for wear and wistful midway through the calendar year in my new local. Here is the final rundown of my favourite records of the year. It's the fourth year I've done this Top Fifty on here, counting down one day at a time from the beginning of November. This one seems like my best list, not necessarily because the records are better this year but because the process has been the most thorough it's ever been. I can vouch fully for every album listed here. Many very good records haven't made it; Lana Del Ray, Bubblegum Lemonade, The Murder Capital, Ona, Mac Demarco, Wives, Sleaford Mods, The Persian Leaps, Jeanines, A.A.Bondy, Divino Nino and myriad others. Check out the upcoming playlist for specifics.
  1. Bill Callahan - Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest
  2. Sarathy Korwar - More Arriving
  3. Vanishing Twin - The Age of Immunity
  4. Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
  5. Lightning Dust - Spectre
  6. Robert Forster - Inferno
  7. Aldous Harding - Designer
  8. Wild Firth - Lawn Memory
  9. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
  10. Fontaines D.C. - Dogrel
  11. Big Thief - Two Hands
  12. Mega Bog - Dolphine
  13. The Mystery Lights - Too Much Tension
  14. Wilco - Ode To Joy
  15. Cate Le Bon - Reward
  16. Little Simz - Grey Area
  17. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
  18. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
  19. Damon Locks & the Black Monument Ensemble - Where Future Unfolds
  20. Joan Shelley - Like The River Loves The Sea
  21. Olden Yolk - Living Theatre
  22. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado
  23. Elva - Winter Sun
  24. Jeremy Tuplin - Pink Mirror
  25. Shana Cleveland - Night of the Worm Moon
  26. Hand Habits - placeholder
  27. Joanna Sternberg - Then I Try Some More
  28. Adam Green - Engine of Paradise
  29. Trash Kit - Horizon
  30. Possible Humans - Aspiring to be a Bloke
  31. Kevin Morby - Oh My God
  32. Fat White Family - Serf's Up!
  33. KOKOKO - Fongola!
  34. Tiny Ruins - Olympic Girls
  35. Good Morning - Basketball Breakups
  36. Rustin Man - Drift Code
  37. Program - Show Me
  38. Neutrals - Kebab Disco
  39. Boogarins - Sombre Duvida
  40. Penelope Isles - Until The Tide Creeps In
  41. Parsnip - When The Tree Bears Fruit
  42. James Yorkston - The Route To The Harmonium
  43. Kit Sebastian - Mantre Moderne
  44. Modern Nature - How To Live
  45. Kelsey Lu - Blood
  46. John Southworth - Miracle In The Night
  47. International Teachers of Pop - International Teachers of Pop
  48. Half Japanese - Invincible
  49. Doug Tuttle - Dream Road
  50. Jenny Hval - The Practice Of Love

The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 188 Essra Mohawk - Primordial Scene

 





Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 418 The Beatles - Please Please Me

 





Song(s) of the Day # 3,256 Fortitude Valley

 


Fronted by a Brisbanite, based in Durham, Fortitude Valley put out an eponymous album that highlight their unassuming but considerable strengths.

Sturdy indie tunes. Heartfelt lyrics. Simple but touching gifts. If this was so easy more would do it. Lovely stuff.



Thursday, December 29, 2022

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2018

 




That's me. And here are my Top 50 albums of 2018. It's been a great year for music. I can vouch for that by the number of fine records that haven't made this list. Among them; Ty Segall, Sons of Kemet, Kadhja Bonet, Hovvdy, Spare Snare, Clint Michigan, Wooden Shjips, Parquet Courts, Walter Martin, Loose Tooth, The Plastic Shoelaces, The Saxaphones, Joan As Policewoman and many more. Here are the the ones that made my list.

1. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
2. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Merrie Land
3. U.S. Girls - In A Poem Unlimited
4. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
5. Elza Soares - Deus E Mulher
6. Lawn - Blood On The Tracks
7. Low - Double Negative
8. Phosphorescent - C'est La Vie
9. Emily Fairlight - Mother Of Gloom
10. Gwenno - Le Kov
11. Bill Ryder- Jones - Yawn
12. Cat Power - Wanderer
13. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
14. Trembling Bells - Dungeness
15. Blood Orange - Negro Swan
16. The Goon Sax - We're Not Talking
17. The Lavender Flu - Mow The Glass
18. Richard Swift - The Hex
19. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar
20. Papercuts - Parallel Universe Blues
21. Natalie Prass - The Future & The Past
22. Olden Yolk - Olden Yolk
23. Tomberlin - At Weddings
24. Say Sue Me - Where We Were Together
25. Alela Diane - Cusp
26. The Essex Green - Hardly Electronic
27. Vital Idles - Left Hand
28. Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound
29. Elephant Micah - Genericana
30. Amen Dunes - Freedom
31. Air Waves - Warrior
32. Emma Tricca - St.Peter
33. Fog Lake - Captain
34. Rosali - Trouble Anyway
35. Cafe Racer - Famous Dust
36. The Innocence Mission - Sun On The Square
37. New Silver Girl - New Silver Girl
38. Blue Orchids - Righteous Harmony Fist
39. Whyte Horses - Empty Words
40. The Orielles - Silver Dollar Moment
41. Kikagaku Moyo - Masana Temples
42. Yo La Tengo - There's A Riot Going On
43. Adrianne Lenker - abysskiss
44. The Shacks - The Shacks
45. Santigold - I Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions
46. Frankie Cosmos - Vessel
47. Wussy - What Heaven Is Like
48. Nap Eyes - I'm Bad Now
49. Amaya Laucirica - Rituals
50. Holy Tunics - Butterdish 

NME - Albums of The Year



7 on mine
  1. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
  2. Wet Leg - Wet Leg 
  3. Beyonce - Rennaissance 
  4. Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
  5. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
  6. Rina Sawayama - Hold The Girl
  7. Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer
  8. Nova Twins - Super Nova
  9.  Rosalia - Motomami
  10. The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language 
  11.  Black Country, New Road -  Ants From Up There
  12. Taylor Swift - Midnights
  13. Charli XCX - Crash
  14. Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
  15. Yard Act - The Overload
  16. Harry Styles - Harry's House
  17. Pusha T - It's Almost Here
  18. Confidence Man - Tilt
  19. Wizkid - More Love Less Ego
  20. Foals - Life is Yours
  21. Mitski - Laurel Hell
  22. Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez, See Your Future
  23. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down
  24. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  25. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
  26. Loyle Carner - Hugo
  27. Steve Lacy - Gemini Rights
  28. Fred Again - Actual Life 3
  29. Father John Misty - Chloe & The Next 20th Century
  30. Alvvays - Blue Rev
  31. The Weekend - Dawn FM
  32. Kevin Morby- This is a Photograph
  33. Alex G - God Save The Animals
  34. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
  35. Kojey Radical - Reason To Smile
  36. Lizzo - Special
  37. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
  38. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  39. Bartees Strange - Farm To Table
  40. Warpaint - Radiate Like This
  41. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love
  42. J-hope - Jack in the Box
  43. caroline - caroline
  44. Oliver Sim - Hideous Bastard
  45. Wunderhorse - Cub
  46. Bjork - Fossora
  47. Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine
  48. Keylani - Blue Water Road
  49. Liam Gallagher - C'Mon You Know
  50. Just Mustard - Heart Under


The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 189 Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse

 





Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 419 Pixies - Bossanova

 





Songs of the Day # 3,255 The Smashing Times

 


Baltimore's Smashing Times sound as if they come from anywhere but Baltimore on fourth album Bloom. But you simply can't tell these days. 

Taking their name from a Television Personalities they sound a bit like that band if they'd had Robyn Hitchcock in the band and an unhealthy interest in The Byrds which Hitchcock of course did.

There's much slightly affected out of tune singing and harmonising. This isn't authentic but that doesn't make it any less likeable.

       So, hardly the Sound of Young Baltimore but a record for those who like the things I've listed.

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2017

Now a rundown on previous albums of the year since I started this back in 2017.







1. Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent
2. Les Amazones D'Afrique - Republique Amazone
3. The Feelies - In Between
4. Big Thief - Capacity
5. Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins
6. Oh Sees - Orc
7. Jane Weaver - Modern Kosmology
8. Kelley Stolz - Que Aura
9. Benjamin Clementine - I Tell a Fly
10. Dag - Benefits of Solitude
11. Ratboys - GN
12. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile -Lotta Sea Lice
13. Kevin Morby - City Music
14. Girl Ray - Earl Grey
15. Perfume Genius - No Shape
16. La Feline - Triomphe
17. Nadine Shah - Holiday Destination
18. James Elkington - Wintres Woma
19. Mick Head & the Red Elastic Band - Adios Senor Pussycat
20. Holiday Ghosts - Holiday Ghosts
21. Jesca Hoop - Memories Are Now
22. Peter Perrett - How The West was Won
23. H.Grimace - Self-Architect
24. Baxter Dury - Prince Of Tears
25. Wild Pink - Wild Pink
26. Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Navigator
27. Amadou & Mariam - Le Confusion
28. Novella - Change Of State
29. Tim Cohen - Luck Man
30. CTMF - Brand New Cage
31. '68 - Two Parts Viper
32. Trevor Sensor - Andy Warhol's Dream
33. Faith Healer - Try
34. Mary Epworth - Elytral
35. Grandaddy - Last Place
36. NE-HI - Offers
37. Entrance - Book Of Changes
38. Catholic Action - In Memory Of
39. This Is The Kit - Moonshine Freeze
40. Guided By Voices - How do You Spell Heaven
41. French Vanilla - French Vanilla
42. Spinning Coin - Permo
43. Ibibio Sound Machine - Uyai
44. Travis Bretzer - Bubble Gum
45. Sweet Baboo - Wild Imagination
46. Fresh & Onlys - Wolf Lie Down
47. The New Year - Snow
48. Kacy & Clayton - The Siren's Song
49. Bread & Butter - Bread & Butter
50. Karen Elson - Double Roses

There were lots of others that might have been there. Including these:

Priests, The Mountain Goats, Broken Social Scene, Waxahatchee, Beach Fossils, Bonny Doon, Sneaks, Stef Chura, Surfer Blood, Black Springs, Century Palm, DUDS, Mount Eerie, Bedouine, Ron Gallo, Sinkane, Flat Worms, Happyness, Valerie June, Zara McFarlane, Bill Baird, Chastity Belt, Wand, Rhiannon Giddens, Jay Som, Laura Marling, Tinariwen, Spoon, Rose Elinor Dougall, Moon Duo, Julien Baker.

Best Ever Albums - Albums of the Year

Seven on mine.


  1. Black Country, New Road -  Ants From Up There
  2. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  3. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
  4. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  5. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
  6. Black Midi - Hellfire
  7. Alvvays - Blue Rev
  8. Beyonce - Rennaissance
  9. Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
  10. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
  11. Arcade Fire - We
  12. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  13. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
  14. Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa
  15. The Weekend - Dawn FM
  16. Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez, See Your Future
  17. Pusha T - It's Almost Here
  18. Rosalia - Motomami
  19. Angel Olsen - Big Time
  20. Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
  21. Mitski - Laurel Hell
  22. Billy Woods - Aethiopes
  23. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
  24. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum
  25. Spiritualised - Everything Was Beautiful
  26. J.I.D. - The Forever Story
  27. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
  28. Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
  29. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
  30. Destroyer - Labyrinthitis
  31. Jack White - Fear of The Dawn
  32. Alex G - God Save The Animals
  33. FKA Twigs - Caprisongs
  34. Father John Misty - Chloe & The Next 20th Century
  35. Yard Act - The Overload
  36. Bjork - Fossora
  37. Taylor Swift - Midnights
  38. Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever
  39. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs. Mushrooms & Lava
  40. Nilufer Yanya - PAINLESS
  41. Perfume Genius - Ugly Season
  42. Viagra Boys - Cave World
  43. Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!
  44. Florence & The Machine - Dance Fever
  45. Charli XCX - Crash
  46. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
  47. Conway the Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes
  48. Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong
  49. Jenny Hval - Classic Objects
  50. The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language
  1.  Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott
  2. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  3. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
  4. Horace Andy - Midnight Rocker
  5. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
  6. Suede - Autofiction
  7.  Bill Callahan - YTLIIAER
  8. Jack White - Fear of The Dawn
  9. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
  10. Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia 
  11. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  12. Aldous Harding - Warm Chris
  13. Spiritualised - Everything Was Beautiful
  14. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
  15. Wilco - Cruel Country
  16. Rich Ruth - It's Over
  17. Kevin Morby- This is a Photograph
  18. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
  19. Makaya McCraven - In These Times
  20. Beth Orton - Weather Alive
  21. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
  22. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm - Carry Me Home
  23. Drive-By Truckers - Welcome 2 Club Kill
  24. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset
  25. Gabriels - Angels & Queens - Part 1
  26. Joan Shelley - The Spur
  27. Beyonce - Rennaissance
  28. Gwenno - Tresor
  29. Father John Misty - Chloe & The Next 20th Century
  30. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Life On Earth
  31. Oumo Sangare - Timbuktu
  32. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Endless Rooms
  33. Jeff Parker For Folks
  34. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
  35. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down
  36. Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
  37. Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin - Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin
  38. Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder - Get On Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
  39. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named If
  40. The Mars Volta - The Mars Volta
  41. Leyla McCalla - Breaking The Thermometer
  42. Alabaster DePlume - Gold
  43. Yard Act - The Overload
  44. Johnny Marr -  Fever Dreams Pts1 - 4
  45. Anais Mitchell - Anais Mitchell
  46. Cass McCombs - Heartmind
  47. Working Men's Club - Fear Fear
  48. Black Country, New Road -  Ants From Up There
  49. Midlake - For The Sake of Bethel Woods
  50. Moor Mother - Jazz Codes



  1. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  2. Joan Shelley - The Spur
  3. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott
  4. Angel Olsen - Big Time
  5. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  6. Wilco - Cruel Country
  7. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  8. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
  9. Brian Eno - Forever And Ever No More
  10. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named If
  11. The Delines - The Sea Drift
  12. The Weather Station - How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars
  13. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
  14. Beth Orton - Weather Alive
  15. Lambchop - The Bible
  16. Richard Dawson - The Ruby Cord
  17. Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
  18. Gwenno - Tresor
  19. Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong
  20. Kurt Vile - (Watch My Moves)
  21. Black Midi - Hellfire
  22. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Life On Earth
  23. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
  24. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
  25. Cass McCombs - Heartmind
  26. Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
  27. Black Country, New Road -  Ants From Up There
  28. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
  29. Julia Jacklin - Pre Pleasure
  30. Spiritualised - Everything Was Beautiful
  31. Kevin Morby- This is a Photograph
  32. Horace Andy - Midnight Rocker
  33. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
  34. Daniel Rossen - You Belong There
  35. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset
  36. SG Goodman - Teeth Marks
  37. Bitchin Bajas -Bajascillators 
  38. Courtney Marie Andrews - Loose Future
  39. Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin - Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin
  40. Ty Segall - 'Hello Hi'
  41. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Endless Room
  42. Jana Horn - Optimism
  43. Revelators Sound System - Revelators
  44. Makaya McCraven - In These Times
  45. Aldous Harding - Warm Chris
  46. Bjork - Fossora
  47. Rich Ruth - It's Over
  48. Carson McHone - Still Life
  49. Bill Callahan - YTLIIAER
  50. Drive-By Truckers - Welcome 2 Club Kill

The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 187 Fela Kuti - Fela's London Scene

 





Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 420 Bruce Springsteen - The River

 





Songs of the Day # 3,254 Jim Nothing

 


I'm easily pleased. I know what I like. If I start listening to a record and hear the germs of something that does something for me, then I will persist.

This was the case when I started listening to In The Marigolds, the latest record by Jim Nothing just the other day.

Jim Nothing are not an individual. They're a combo, a band, and they hail from Christchurch, New Zealand. and contain a member of Salad Boys, who that gave me such a delightful start to 2019 with the superlative This is Glue.

They start songs that make you wonder which Velvet Underground song you are going to hear next; We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together, Venus in Furs or Waiting For The Man. That is a good think btw.


They harmonise like The Pastels or Black Lips, i.e. deliberately badly. They wallow in a slightly put on ineptitude. They are the new, definitively weak, indie gang that have just moved to your neighbourhood. They give you the sense that they have a few Lemonheads and Jesus & Mary Chain records and are here to release their own take on them.

They are a very good thing. I enjoyed In The Marigolds very much and commend Jim Nothing to you without reservation.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Uncut Magazine - Albums of the Year

 

Twelve on my list.


  1. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  2. Joan Shelley - The Spur
  3. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott
  4. Angel Olsen - Big Time
  5. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
  6. Wilco - Cruel Country
  7. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  8. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
  9. Brian Eno - Forever And Ever No More
  10. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named If
  11. The Delines - The Sea Drift
  12. The Weather Station - How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars
  13. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
  14. Beth Orton - Weather Alive
  15. Lambchop - The Bible
  16. Richard Dawson - The Ruby Cord
  17. Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
  18. Gwenno - Tresor
  19. Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong
  20. Kurt Vile - (Watch My Moves)
  21. Black Midi - Hellfire
  22. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Life On Earth
  23. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
  24. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
  25. Cass McCombs - Heartmind
  26. Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
  27. Black Country, New Road -  Ants From Up There
  28. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
  29. Julia Jacklin - Pre Pleasure
  30. Spiritualised - Everything Was Beautiful
  31. Kevin Morby- This is a Photograph
  32. Horace Andy - Midnight Rocker
  33. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
  34. Daniel Rossen - You Belong There
  35. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset
  36. SG Goodman - Teeth Marks
  37. Bitchin Bajas -Bajascillators 
  38. Courtney Marie Andrews - Loose Future
  39. Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin - Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin
  40. Ty Segall - 'Hello Hi'
  41. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Endless Room
  42. Jana Horn - Optimism
  43. Revelators Sound System - Revelators
  44. Makaya McCraven - In These Times
  45. Aldous Harding - Warm Chris
  46. Bjork - Fossora
  47. Rich Ruth - It's Over
  48. Carson McHone - Still Life
  49. Bill Callahan - YTLIIAER
  50. Drive-By Truckers - Welcome 2 Club Kill

The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 186 Emitt Rhodes - Emitt Rhodes

 





Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 420 Bright Eyes - Wide Awake, It's Morning

 





Song of the Day # 3,253 Ash Ra Tempel

 


Monday, December 26, 2022

Maxi Jazz 1957 - 2022

 


The Supremes

 


Big Joanie - Back Home

 

Kristin Hersch and Throwing Muses seem unusual as a central influence on a band or artist these days, Particular when so much of today's musical youth seem to think Gang of Four, Mark E. Smith and Nick Cave are more than enough. It's not I'm afraid, kids, there's a whole ocean of sound out there.

But Kristin and the Muses seem to be very centrally significant to London trio Big Joanie, judging by a cursory listen to heir second album Back Home. There seems to be plenty of Kristin and Tanya's dark, brittle undertow to singer and bassist Stephanie Phillips and Estella Adeyen's delivery and plenty of the Muses deep unease to the band's general projection. They've freely admitted to the influence and anyway they bring plenty of their own fire to proceedings.

This is certainly a different sounding album. I for one have got tired of hearing rather similar sounding ones from young British bands in recent years who think that merely sounding a bit like Can equates to creativity. But Big Joanie aren't reading from the standard script which makes Back Home an intriguing listen that invites re-playing. 

The band also have an earnestness, a seriousness that is rather unusual nowadays. A sense that this stuff is actually important, it genuinely matters that brings to mind the likes of original Punk operators Patti Smith, X Ray Spex, The Slits or The Raincoats who also played as if something was at stake.

Whatever they're doing, it works.  Back Home is a fine record and Big Joanie are a fine band. I noticed they're playing in my back yard early next year and I'll make every effort to see them. For now, this will more than do.

MOJO - Albums of the Year


So, having published my own Records of the Year yesterday here is the first of a series from other periodicals and sites, Starting with Mojo. I pretty much have Mojo taste and share 16 choices from their list.
  1. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott
  2. Wet Leg - Wet Leg
  3. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
  4. Horace Andy - Midnight Rocker
  5. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
  6. Suede - Autofiction
  7.  Bill Callahan - YTLIIAER
  8. Jack White - Fear of The Dawn
  9. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
  10. Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia 
  11. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  12. Aldous Harding - Warm Chris
  13. Spiritualised - Everything Was Beautiful
  14. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
  15. Wilco - Cruel Country
  16. Rich Ruth - It's Over
  17. Kevin Morby- This is a Photograph
  18. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
  19. Makaya McCraven - In These Times
  20. Beth Orton - Weather Alive
  21. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
  22. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm - Carry Me Home
  23. Drive-By Truckers - Welcome 2 Club Kill
  24. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset
  25. Gabriels - Angels & Queens - Part 1
  26. Joan Shelley - The Spur
  27. Beyonce - Rennaissance
  28. Gwenno - Tresor
  29. Father John Misty - Chloe & The Next 20th Century
  30. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Life On Earth
  31. Oumo Sangare - Timbuktu
  32. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Endless Rooms
  33. Jeff Parker For Folks
  34. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
  35. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down
  36. Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
  37. Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin - Vieux Farka Toure Et Khruangbin
  38. Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder - Get On Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
  39. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named If
  40. The Mars Volta - The Mars Volta
  41. Leyla McCalla - Breaking The Thermometer
  42. Alabaster DePlume - Gold
  43. Yard Act - The Overload
  44. Johnny Marr -  Fever Dreams Pts1 - 4
  45. Anais Mitchell - Anais Mitchell
  46. Cass McCombs - Heartmind
  47. Working Men's Club - Fear Fear
  48. Black Country, New Road -  Ants From Up There
  49. Midlake - For The Sake of Bethel Woods
  50. Moor Mother - Jazz Codes

The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 185 The Stooges - Fun House

 





Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 421 The Stooges - The Stooges

 





Song(s) of the Day # 3,252 The Casual Dots

 


In 2004 Washington D.C's The Casual Dots put out their first and eponymously titled album. It gained a fair bit of attention and acclaim at the time as they were a supergroup of sorts. 

'Of sorts' is the operative term here as the groups they had been involved with previously had as apart from Bikini Kill, the groups The Casual Dots players had featured in previously were were ones you would only have been familiar with if you had been a devotee of angry, politically directed, angular bands, of the Nneties, associated with the Riot Girl movement.

This year the band reconvened to put out Sanguine Truth, a belated follow up album. Capitalising on the interest achieved with their first clearly not their first priority.

It's a fabulous record and I only wish it had come to my attention sooner and I could have put it on the list that I published yesterday. People like me care about things like that sadly. Anyhow, it's terrific. It's strident, angular, informed and deeply righteous. Everything you'd expect from a record from a band from these scenes.

I guess you might call it Punk, that most appropriated of terms. But it's sufficiently thought through to deserve the term Post Punk label rather in that it reminds you, or me at least of pioneers of that form; Television, Wire and more obviously, given its vocals and lyrical direction, the likes of Sleater Kinney and El Tigre.

It certinly knows its music history. Live For Yourself  sounds like one of those classic, self help anthems of the Doo Wop or Girl Group era. Each song surprises you with how carefully and skillfully it's assembled and executed. 

The Casual Dots have used the eighteen years between missives well.  Sanguine Truth is a late Christmas present for hipsters.


Sunday, December 25, 2022

Music Books of the Year

 


1. Miki Berenyi - Finger's Crossed

 2. Kid Congo - Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir

 3. Paul Thompson & John Watterson - Beware of the Bull - The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray 

Three well written stories of lives well lived. All anthologised on here. 

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2022 - Playlist

 

Cover of the Year - Sister John

 


Only one  stood out. Sister John's austere and splendid take on The Bluebells Young at Heart which I belatedly realised was a cover itself off a track from Bananarama's debut album. The original was shocking.

Songs of the Year # 1 The Stroppies


Songs of the year are of little importance these days now we all listen to such different things all the time and the Singles Charts are irrelevant. It's not like we're living in 1982 where John Peel is religiously broadcasting his listeners broadly similar tastes on his Festive 50 or countless earnest NME readers are trying to decide whether they prefer Party Fears Two, Glittering Prize or The Back of Love.

But this is probably my most played new song of the year and it comes from one of my favourite albums. Australians The Stroppies' Material Conditions off their Levity LP, a love letter to everything that was so great about Antipodean Underground Pop of the Eighties. Everything that put me in complete thrall to The Go-Betweens, The Clean, The Chills and countless others. On Material Conditions they have enormous fun with the spectacular riffage on Television's Venus one of my very favourite tracks. Then they have some more enormous fun. And then some more. Good work Stroppies.

 

Gigs of the Year

 


  1. Katie J. Pearson & Naima Bock - The Cluny, Newcastle
  2. Michael Head - The Cluny, Newcastle
  3. TEKE TEKE - Headful of Steam
I didn't go to many gigs this year. These three in fact. But they were all good 'uns. I guess I'm still not fully back in the swing of things post-Lockdown, plus the fact that I just  didn't see that much that appealed to me to me in 2022. I'll go to more next year. 

TEKE TEKE were a delight in a small venue just round the corner from where I live in the company of the cream of Newcastle's ahead of the curve hipsters. Weird Japanese / Canadian OST to a Manga movie that you haven't seen and was probably never made. True heirs to The B52's, something that's always welcome.



Michael Head was a slightly different story. An artist I've loved and respected for many, many years finally seen for the first time. It wasn't the most spectacular of gigs, just as I didn't think Dear Scott, the album he was so feted for by so many, was quite the spectacular triumph it was hyped up to be. It was solid rather, as was the show, but he's certainly an artist worth celebrating.

My favourite gig of the year tough was something else. Two of my biggest discoveries and makers of two of my favourite albums of the years. Naima Bock who I conducted a great conversations with both during and after her set. A great talent who has already realised her talent with the fabulous Giant Palm.

Then Katie J. Pearson who draws me further under her spell every time I play Sound of the Morning in flow in the company of a full band. Weird Indie Folk, brilliantly assembled and altogether magical on the night.

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2022

 

 
 Records I liked this year. By no means definitive. I only came up with a Number One that seemed right a few days ago, so was shuffling and changing right to the end, chucking out records that I loved along the way. I guess this describes my musical year fairly well though. I was a little bit 'Indie' for the most part in 2022. Perfectly happy with that. It also shows that female artists are generally the spine of my taste these days. There might be something in here you'd like to investigate further. Here's my favourite music related photo of me this year. That's me with Richard Dawson, a local hero where I live. I happened to bump into him in a quiet Saturday evening at my local in Newcastle and he was the most delightful of people. Giving a lot of his time incredibly generously and allowing me this fabulous photo too. Wonderful man. 

  1. Joan Shelley - The Spur
  2. Big Thief - Dragon New Mountain I Believe in You
  3. Naima Bock - Giant Palm
  4. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
  5. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
  6. Aldous Harding - Warm Chris
  7. Bill Callahan - YTILAER
  8. Fortunato Durrutti Marinetti - Memory's Fool
  9. Horsegirl - Versions of Modern Performance
  10. Nilufer Yanya - PAINLESS
  11. Kikagaku Moyu - Kumoyu Island
  12. Santigold - Spirituals
  13. Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
  14. Kevin Morby - This is a Photograph
  15. Katy J Pearson - Sound of the Morning
  16. Say Sue Me - The Last Thing Left
  17. Gwenno - Tresor
  18. Wilco - Cruel Country
  19. Lady Wray - Piece of Me
  20. The Stroppies - Levity 
  21. Jake Xerxes Fussell - Good & Green Again
  22. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
  23. Green / Blue - Offering
  24. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott
  25. Hurray For The Riff Raff - LIFE ON EARTH 
  26. Belle & Sebastian - A Bit of Previous
  27. Sessa - Estrella Acesa
  28. Ezra Furman - All Of Us Flames
  29. Hannah Peel & Paraorchestra - The Unfolding
  30. Park Jiha - The Gleam
  31. Laura Jean - Amateurs
  32. Kiwi Jr. - Chopper
  33. Mattiel - Georgia Gothic
  34.  Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
  35. String Machine - Halleujah Hell Yeah
  36. Smidley - Here Comes The Devil
  37. Jesca Hoop - Order of Romance
  38.  Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named It
  39. Jonathan Personne - Jonathan Personne
  40. Silvana Estrada - Marchita
  41. Vinyl Williams - Cosmopolis
  42. Seapower - Everything Was Forever
  43. Aoife Nessa Frances - Protector 
  44. Erin Rae - Lighten Up
  45.  Father John Misty - Chloe & the Next 20th Century
  46. Young Guv - Guv IV
  47. C. Duncan - Alluvium
  48. Papercuts - Past Life Regression
  49. Daniel Rossen - You Belong Here
  50. Moor Mother - Jazz Codes

The Mojo Collection - The Ultimate Music Companion # 184 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

 





Albums of the Year # 1 Joan Shelley - The Spur

 

So to my favourite album of the year. This process has been rather farcical this time round for reasons I won't bore you with. Far more so than at any point since 2017 when I first started doing this on here. Hey I'm older, that's my excuse for everything this days.

But It's not just that. It feels like a particularly good year for music this year. Of course it always is. You just need to know where to look. I feel like I do these days. I cast my net wider than I have done and when it comes to the final hundred, (what a ludicrous, self-imposed fool's errand, starting this countdown in mid-September), I immediately need to omit any number of great records worthy of wider recognition.


Joan Shelley was not actually on my original list and I only whittled down to The Spur as my favourite for 2022 a few days back. She actually deserves to be on everybody's list every time she releases a record. If she's put out a poor one, I haven't heard it.

She might be dismissed by some as rather worthy. Earnest. As if these are bad qualities. But I rather like qualities like these, these days. They equate with reliable and that's kind of what we need at a time when you certainly can't rely on politicians, or even the fact that you're going to get to your destination when you get into a bus or train or even a car in 2022.

The songs on here are things you can trust in and rely on. They'll get you to your desired destination. They're lovingly crafted, bespoke objects from a quality artisan . Bill Callahan turns up on the track I like most. Otherwise it's mainly Joan, her band and her wonderfully true voice and subtle and minimal guitar. It's a thing of beauty,


Best Ever Albums - Top 1,000 Albums # 422 A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders

 





Song of the Day # 3,251 Martial Arts

 


It's Christmas Days so here's a very Christmassy song in the grand tradition of Wizzard Christmas songs from The Martial Arts home of former BMX Bandit Paul Kelly.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Songs of the Year # 2 Eve Adams

 


Albums of the Year # 2 Big Thief - Dragon New Mountain I Believe in You


 


Big Thief are such a bunch of old hippies despite the fact that they're based, at least theoretically, in Brooklyn, New York. I'd like to say from the off in this review of their huge, new magnus opus, the ludicrously titled Dragon New Mountain I Believe in You, that this is by no means a criticism. In fact it's a huge compliment. It's wonderful to see such glorious ambiton from a band in 2022. Also wonderful to see this glorious ambition so utterly realised.


For this, it seems, is the band's masterpiece. That's really saying something, as they've already released some quite astonishing records since their debut, fittingly entitled Masterpiece way bach in 2016. I've followed their progress here in great depth on It Starts.. ever since to this point of new arrival. In 2022, or 1969 if you prefer to see it that way.


For the two bands that Big Thief resemble most of all now, having shed pretty much all of their early Punky, pained edge are the original Band, The Band, and Creedence Clearwater Revival with Janis, or perhaps Melanie, taking the mic.


Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief's lead vocalist and principle songwriter is the fulcrum of the band, their spiritual core, even though it's always clear that this is a full on collective effort from all four members of the group unit. This collective drive is immediarely apparent from any group shot that's taken these days, where they are inevitably draped around each other with clear and utter devotion and commitment.

For Lenker, who was raised in a Christian sect until she was 6, has clearly never quite lost her communal, outsider roots. In fact they've hardened and refined and defined themselves if anything over the course of Big Thief's career. Dragon New Mountain is the ultimate drawn out campfire hoedown, new age Music From the Big Pink meets Willie & The Poor Boys for new millenials and Lenker is always at the very heart of things.

It's a quite wonderful record. Focused on life, imagining death, with each band member straining ever sinew throughout the coure of ts run. Whether you can stay the course, and sit through all ot its twenty tracks at a single sitting is another matter. That's a lot to ask of twenty first century attention spans.

But that's what I did, early this morning, and I'm glad I did. It doesn't seem at first play, to have weak tracks. There was only one that I didn't particularlt care for and even that might grow on me. It's a quite astonishing record and may very well be the very best album that I'll hear all year. If that turns out to be the case, then Big Thief will certainly  deserve their moment. They're a band that have had their share of hard knocks, most notably Lenker and guitarists Buck Meek's marriage falling apart, but their staying on the band together anyhow, realising their musical mission took principle priority over all else.


So Big Thief are hippies essentially, just as The Patti Smith Group were hippies way back when as well as being original punks.  Dragon New Mountain is an altogether intriguing, mammoth trek, something to unpick at leisure over the coming months. They're a band that have stars in their eyes. I hope this record brings them their full critical and commercial due. It's utterly astonishing.