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On to the music:
For those of you who are new, we kick off every week by sharing what we’ve been playing. New year, new us? Not a chance. lol.
The playlist below is some of what I’ve had in heavy rotation:
Now it’s your turn.
What caught your ear this week? Any 2025 releases or shows you’re excited about?
Love to see Bob Mould on your list! I just got tickets to see him at Codfish Hollow (the awesome barn venue out in the middle of nowhere) on 4/15!! Super excited!
I've been listening to a lot of Northern Soul this week and was reminded how much fun this song from Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is, even though it didn't hit the charts in the U.S. But it ended up getting a lot of airplay in the UK and apparently was quite popular in clubs there https://youtu.be/JfKz1PYsY78?si=EpnkAiV5F9G4l-ka
For me - it's been all Lambrini Girls - https://lambrinigirlsband.bandcamp.com/album/who-let-the-dogs-out. New album came out Friday, and it's just exhilarating. In your face, powerful, political, feminist punk. Taking on sexism, misogyny, gentrification, racial bias in policing, capitalism, nepotism and so much more. They've also announced a US tour and cannot recommend their shows highly enough. I wrote about them here - https://3albums6oldguys.substack.com/p/radio-free-abq-lambrini-girls-perennial - and can just say they spent a lot of time in the crowd and quite literally sang while hanging from the rafters. Energetic jolt to start 2025.
I'd echo the appearance of Bob Mould... always great to hear what he's exploring. The new song feels more restrained than what was on 'Blue Hearts'. I've been delving down the road of old men and their acoustic guitars (my tastes confirming by own identity)- so Cash's American Recording releases, Ed Askew (RIP), Willie Nelson's The Border (hope I'm still releasing at 91!) and a new listen for me, Chris Smither.
Problem with Ringo's album, imo, isn't Ringo. It's the mediocre songwriting of T-Bone B. The three songs he didn't write are decent, I thought, though uninspired. (Crooked Boy was excellent -- I wish Ringo had fleshed that out into a full album.)
I do wish George had done a country album. Of all the Fabs, I love his country stuff the most. He has the guitar style, sensibility and voice for it.
I'd like to hear Daniel Lanois take a crack at working his magic with Ringo the way he did with Emmylou, Willie and Bob Dylan. (not that Ringo is in that category of artist/songwriter, but still, he is a Fab and therefore by definition Lanois-worthy.)
I'm glad you liked Longwave! They've loomed large here over the last several days. I don;t think glam pop is my thing, either, but I have some thoughts on the FF record coming anyway.
Lol didn't even know there was a Yacht Rock doc but definitely going to have to check it out. There are weeks that go by where all I live and breathe is Steely Dan
What e'er you do, Ryry.....don't knock the Yacht Rock Doc! Not that you would; I just thought of that! I, too, want to catch it! You're so new, Ryan, and loving the Dan as you (and I) do, I wanted to make sure you saw this recent dive I did, and hope I'm not repeating myself! Pay no attention to what looks to be the title....After pub, I realized the story was far bigger than Babs! It's the origin story of the Dan duo, pre-Dan!
I’ve never been much of a yacht rock guy, but the doc was so fun and engaging that I really enjoyed it! And yeah, Steve Lukather is definitely a highlight. :)
Mostly listening to 2024 classical releases as I chip away at the blurbs needed for the “Best Of” post - nine more to go!! Lots of great album-heralding singles, though, like Consumables latest, which I featured in A Song For Friday.
Here's another thumbs up for Bob Mould. Just got tickets to see him here in April. It's so nice to be back in a good concert city. We've been in Milwaukee for three weeks and already have tickets for Mould, Gang of Four, The Mekons, Dwight Yoakam/The Mavericks, and Mark Guiliana (Chicago).
I finally have time to catch up to some highly-ranked 2024 releases. MJ Lenderman (eh...I've heard so much post-Neil Young/Jay Farrar stuff like this that the bar is pretty high), Yard Act (some good stuff, not enough melodies for me), and Bodega (dug them early and them forgot about them, glad to revisit).
I'm digging Beulah's The Coast Is Never Clear thanks to Matty's recent column about them. Well worth checking out if you like Minibar or midtempo pop Wilco.
Looking forward to the playlist. Have a great week, everyone!
I love it! Maybe some Summerfest names that will interest you as well? I know they'll never do it, but I'd love if they just dropped the full lineup at once. lol.
Yeah, the slow drip is pretty hilarious especially since the last name announced was...Foghat. ;-) So far, there's no one we're dying to see. At the very least, we'll go for the local bands.
The weekend was all about Lambrini Girls and Franz Ferdinand. I think it’s a really strong start to the year although I appear to be in the minority in rating the FF record.
Warren Zevon's final album, The Wind, which someone on here mentioned (or wrote about elsewhere, I forget now). Which sent me down a Zevon rabbit hole.
It's interesting, how a steady diet of the Fabs more or less cleanses one's musical palate of everything but the good stuff.
There are a few last albums like that — George Harrison’s Brainwashed (though I listen to that one all the time because imo it’s his best), Leonard Cohen’s Thanks for the Dance…. a few others not coming to mind now.
I've been digging deep into English, Irish, and Scottish folk music, modern and traditional, so I've been listening to a lot of Roddy Woomble, Kate Rusby, The Chair, Billy Bragg, Ruth Notman, Karina Polwart, etc.
Bryan and I watched the Brian Eno documentary in a little art house theater last week. Loved it, highly recommend if you can find it online or somewhere near you.
I bought a little CD setup for my office and am going to start using it today instead of having YouTube playing in the background. I've amassed a couple of hundred CDs over the past few years without really trying, and they've all been quietly waiting for me to enjoy them.
First up is Art Pepper - Featured in Other Groups. This is a Japanese 2 disc collection consisting of flat transfers from master tapes recorded from 1953 to 1976. Pepper is one of my favorite alto sax players, so this should be a real treat.
Sold off all but 20 of my LPs last year, so it's been a welcome change of pace to spend $10 on a used CD instead of $40 (or $400) on a record. I'm sure I'll fall back down the expensive first pressing rabbit hole again at some point, but I had way too many records and needed a break.
Nice! That'll be a treat for sure. I should follow your lead and get one for my office too. I sold a bunch of my CDs right after our first son was born, but have slowly been building the collection back up.
I'm going to Mexico City later this week on a four-day music/food trip for a milestone birthday and will see/photograph two Jason Isbell shows. For the first, Centromatic is opening in a rare show (Will Johnson is now part of the 400 Unit) so I'm catching up with their catalogue again.
There are lots of people from South America here, so lots of South American music in the cafes.
We're going to a jazz show on Friday night at a club. I assume it will be in Spanish. We met a group of people this past weekend. One of the guys will be playing drums.
As I develop a routine here, I want it to include music - including non-English speaking - more than it did in LA.
Hi Kev and fellow On Repeaters! Original pressings of Lenny's Mama Said and Circus arrived at my doorstep just before the weekend. I can confirm that rock and roll is definitely not dead 😉
Been working my way through some early goth albums by new-to-me artists. I started yesterday with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's first two albums, 1985's "Talk About The Weather" and 1986's "Paint Your Wagon" . Great stuff! The algorithm pointed me to the London post-punk band The Sound and I've listened to their first four albums, released between 1980 and 1985. Yet another band that feels like they should have been much bigger than they were.
On new music, I gave Ethel Cain's latest a listen and I just . . . couldn't. The zzzahara album "Spiral Your Way Out" is interesting and promising, needs more listens. Really enjoyed the new girlpuppy track Champ and hoping an album is coming this year. I'm very intrigued to hear the jasmine.4.t album coming on Friday.
REALLY looking forward to new albums later this year by Throwing Muses (March) and Blondshell (May).
I've restacked this so that the GoFundMe has a bit more visibility.
Anyway, for this week's listens:
New - Kuře v hodinkách by Flamengo. Flamengo is a lesser known prog rock band that formed in Prague in the 60s, while Czechia was under communist rule/control. They released one album before being forced to disband. This album is pretty good - in it's heavier moments, it's like Deep Purple or Rush. Unlike these bands' records, this record has jazz influence and features sax and other various woodwind instruments.
Revisit - Be Here Now by Oasis. I never really understood why this got so hated by the public. Is it as rauchy as their debut or WTSMG? No. Is it good? Yes, even if All Around the World and Magic Pie drag a bit. The title track, along with Stand by Me, are the highlights here.
I decided to leave Spotify this year. I now use Musicolet to play my music which lives on my phone (yes, I've backed it up elsewhere). As part of this process, I've been rediscovering songs, including Clumsy by Our Lady Peace. which I listened to for the first time in ages yesterday.
It's tough because I found that to get away from it, the most sensical thing to do was downgrade my tech. What you're paying for on Spotify is the ability to stream music. I either had to go to another streaming service or invest in building my own server to stream. Both still cost money per month (although I imagine there's some way to do the build your own server thing with enough tecnical know how). So I investigated apps that would play music from Google Drive because I'm already paying for that storage. Not satisfied with those results, I found Musicolet which was well rated to play music on your device. I'm now doing things iPod style where if I buy new music, I have to add it to my phone, but my library is not so large nor the effort so cumbersome that it's bothering me.
I found it by looking for Android apps to play mp3s. In that quest, I came across a lengthy Reddit post that detailed the author's review of a number of apps. I pulled off the top three and assesed them myself. I liked its feature set and found it had strong reviews (and a 4.8 if I remember correctly).
It's an offline player so you have to put your mp3s on your device (the upside is I never worry about needing internet to listen to music). It also has a lot of customizable features, so much so that I haven't explored them all. I did get to select my interface accent color. I can create playlists. I can save ques and playlists. I can play with the equalizer and (I think) save different settings for different outputs (my phone vs. my headset for example).
Your ever have one of those mornings when you wake up and think "man, I need to listen to an influential queer, feminist folk icon from Canada today?" Too few know about Ferron, which is a shame. Here's Snowin' In Brooklyn. https://ytubl.ink/3DPQ
I really like the new Ringo Starr record, ‘Look Up’. That led me to his first Country record, ‘Beaucoups of Blues’. I also took a trip back to the 90’s and listened through The Verve’s second and third albums.
I heard TVOD on our local radio and fell in love with their new single, ‘Car Wreck’.
Gave the new Franz Ferdinand a listen and blew my head off with The Cult’s ‘Beyond Good and Evil’. ✌️✌️✌️
Today: Atheist - Piece of Mind. Technical death metal. The BEST tech death.
Last week -- Oneohtrix Point Never ambient/electronic
------R + 7, which I didn't care for. Is this vaporwave? If so I don't like it.
------The Fall Into Time, which I did like. Like Froese's solo stuff, Ypsilon or Aqua, would be the closest comps
--Skyramps. Days of Thunder. another Oneohtrix project, closer to 80's T-Dream? Like the soundtrack to Thief? Like that, it's right on the edge between being really good, and being maybe a little dated-sounding.
--Gnidrolog. obscure British eclcetic prog from the early 70's. No keyboards, like Mogul Thrash. In Spite of Harry's Toe Nail, their first, was great. It's heavy in unexpected spots., in that way quite like King Crimson.
--Second album Lady Lake, is more revered by the progheads, but I didn't like it as much. A little too airy fairy in places, although it's got some complex parts too. Just not as many as their first record did.
--Mojo's giveaway The Best of 2024.
----The Jack White song "Archbishop Harold Holmes" is great. When did he start wanting to sound like White Stripes again? THIS IS BIG NEWS.
----The Black Crowes' "Wanting and Waiting" sounds like it's from 30 years ago, if you think that's a good thing. I did.
----Didn't like the Kim Deal track very much, to my surprise. Because I just LOVE her.
--Another Mojo giveaway, A Man of Wealth and Taste. Brian Jones tribute.
----Didn't like Lucinda Williams' cover of "Paint it Black"
----"I'm Not Saying" from Nico is the best thing I've ever heard from her, which isn't saying a lot, but still.
----If you needed an excuse to hear Elmore James play "Dust My Broom" again or hear Muddy Waters do "The Red Rooster," they're here.
Gosh, you're all up on it. Lambrini Girls just wanna have fun. New Franz Ferdinand album... my! I didn't pay much attention to music today but went to my regular dancing club. They played a Nubya Garcia track which was great. More love for Billy Bragg ♥️
Hey Kevin, I'm hoping to start writing a new semi weekly newsletter about my latest listens as I go through 2025. For now though, here are some of the tunes that are newish on my January playlist:
I'm looking forward to the new feature! The only one I've heard here is "Hooked," with the rest new to me. Is Somebody's Knockin' a cover of the Terry Gibbs song?
Love to see Bob Mould on your list! I just got tickets to see him at Codfish Hollow (the awesome barn venue out in the middle of nowhere) on 4/15!! Super excited!
Nice! I'm hoping to see him here the next night.
Brb; off to Google where the heck Maquoketa is. Lol.
I've been listening to a lot of Northern Soul this week and was reminded how much fun this song from Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is, even though it didn't hit the charts in the U.S. But it ended up getting a lot of airplay in the UK and apparently was quite popular in clubs there https://youtu.be/JfKz1PYsY78?si=EpnkAiV5F9G4l-ka
On Mixcloud, I somehow wound up subscribed to a show that plays a ton of Northern Soul; it's fun for sure!
Tone Forest's eponymous album. A jazz trio comprising Miro Sprague, Marty Jaffe and Jason Ennis. And Big Lazy, a blues band I found on Bandcamp.
Both of those are new names for me. I'll check 'em out ASAP!
For me - it's been all Lambrini Girls - https://lambrinigirlsband.bandcamp.com/album/who-let-the-dogs-out. New album came out Friday, and it's just exhilarating. In your face, powerful, political, feminist punk. Taking on sexism, misogyny, gentrification, racial bias in policing, capitalism, nepotism and so much more. They've also announced a US tour and cannot recommend their shows highly enough. I wrote about them here - https://3albums6oldguys.substack.com/p/radio-free-abq-lambrini-girls-perennial - and can just say they spent a lot of time in the crowd and quite literally sang while hanging from the rafters. Energetic jolt to start 2025.
I was at their instore yesterday. It was incredible. The energy was sky high. I already liked the album before but now I am totally won over!
A jolt is just what we need, I think. Thanks for the links!
I'd echo the appearance of Bob Mould... always great to hear what he's exploring. The new song feels more restrained than what was on 'Blue Hearts'. I've been delving down the road of old men and their acoustic guitars (my tastes confirming by own identity)- so Cash's American Recording releases, Ed Askew (RIP), Willie Nelson's The Border (hope I'm still releasing at 91!) and a new listen for me, Chris Smither.
I'm with you on Mould, and am excited to hear what the rest of the record sounds like!
Longwave!? Nice - despite different sound they make me think of Pinback. After your playlist I am going to listen to both.
This past week I had Whirr 'Raw Blue' on repeat. Shoegaze AOTY 2024!!
* Lambrini Girls 'Who Let the Dogs Out' - Joy era Idles x Amyl, but a bit samey.
* Ringo Starr 'Look Up' - Ringo sorta goes West, with expected results.
* Franz Ferdinand 'The Human Fear' - It's official, glam-pop is really not my thing.
Posted two more playlists of favorite music from 2024 incl one of just shoegaze.
https://open.substack.com/pub/senorfix/p/media-fix-24-pt-ii
Problem with Ringo's album, imo, isn't Ringo. It's the mediocre songwriting of T-Bone B. The three songs he didn't write are decent, I thought, though uninspired. (Crooked Boy was excellent -- I wish Ringo had fleshed that out into a full album.)
I do wish George had done a country album. Of all the Fabs, I love his country stuff the most. He has the guitar style, sensibility and voice for it.
Agree 100% - wish they had followed the making of Beaucoups of Blues model.
I'd like to hear Daniel Lanois take a crack at working his magic with Ringo the way he did with Emmylou, Willie and Bob Dylan. (not that Ringo is in that category of artist/songwriter, but still, he is a Fab and therefore by definition Lanois-worthy.)
I'm glad you liked Longwave! They've loomed large here over the last several days. I don;t think glam pop is my thing, either, but I have some thoughts on the FF record coming anyway.
We also had one of our OGs post his 2024 list - https://3albums6oldguys.substack.com/p/og-charles-best-of-2024 - and that got me back to listening to Mannequin Pussy again. Had been a minute since I'd put on "I Got Heaven" but wow - delivers every time. https://mannequinpussy.bandcamp.com/album/i-got-heaven-2
Good morning from a smoky left coast. If you can do anything to help our brothers and sisters in Los Angeles, please do so. Thank you.
Here is what has been in my ears:
1. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1knJSMzp6SWo8aUh3W2hVo?si=5bd6f80e707f4e4c
2. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71PrDfTT9eNSnK4nHDJCqx?si=d67ab2f0f8644390
Thanks for the lists, and thanks for the reminder about our LA area friends!
Ashe & Suki Waterhouse: Pushing Daisies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nvLQEu5n00 (Along with Remi Wolf's Cinderella one of my favs of 2025)
Eddie Vedder: Save it for Later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTSJadYxRQI
Red House Painters: Bryd Joel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSChIbJJHo (an oldie of sorts)
Love this version of Save it for Later! Listened to it so much after hearing it on The Bear
Pushing Daisies is a great track. I really like both of those artists.
I love love love this version of "Save it For Later!"
Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
Nice one, Yana!
Steely Dan - Aja
Toto - Toto IV
The Doobie Brothers - Minute by Minute
Guess who finally saw the Yacht Rock doc, lol.
Lol didn't even know there was a Yacht Rock doc but definitely going to have to check it out. There are weeks that go by where all I live and breathe is Steely Dan
It's called Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary and you will love it :)
What e'er you do, Ryry.....don't knock the Yacht Rock Doc! Not that you would; I just thought of that! I, too, want to catch it! You're so new, Ryan, and loving the Dan as you (and I) do, I wanted to make sure you saw this recent dive I did, and hope I'm not repeating myself! Pay no attention to what looks to be the title....After pub, I realized the story was far bigger than Babs! It's the origin story of the Dan duo, pre-Dan!
https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/audio-archaeology-1971-barbra-streisand?utm_source=publication-search
IMO, it is really well done, and the artists interviewed all have a great perspective and no one’s too into themselves (well, almost no one. lol).
Lol. It’s pretty good, isn’t it?
My fave line is when Steve Lukather (paraphrasing) says he was just going to work every day.
I’ve never been much of a yacht rock guy, but the doc was so fun and engaging that I really enjoyed it! And yeah, Steve Lukather is definitely a highlight. :)
Mostly listening to 2024 classical releases as I chip away at the blurbs needed for the “Best Of” post - nine more to go!! Lots of great album-heralding singles, though, like Consumables latest, which I featured in A Song For Friday.
Nine more! Whew! I honestly don't know how you do it.
For anyone scrolling the comments, check out Jeremy's latest podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2024-in-review/id1588981051?i=1000682418655
Here's another thumbs up for Bob Mould. Just got tickets to see him here in April. It's so nice to be back in a good concert city. We've been in Milwaukee for three weeks and already have tickets for Mould, Gang of Four, The Mekons, Dwight Yoakam/The Mavericks, and Mark Guiliana (Chicago).
I finally have time to catch up to some highly-ranked 2024 releases. MJ Lenderman (eh...I've heard so much post-Neil Young/Jay Farrar stuff like this that the bar is pretty high), Yard Act (some good stuff, not enough melodies for me), and Bodega (dug them early and them forgot about them, glad to revisit).
I'm digging Beulah's The Coast Is Never Clear thanks to Matty's recent column about them. Well worth checking out if you like Minibar or midtempo pop Wilco.
Looking forward to the playlist. Have a great week, everyone!
I love it! Maybe some Summerfest names that will interest you as well? I know they'll never do it, but I'd love if they just dropped the full lineup at once. lol.
Yeah, the slow drip is pretty hilarious especially since the last name announced was...Foghat. ;-) So far, there's no one we're dying to see. At the very least, we'll go for the local bands.
Haha same. I will say watching people decry the lineup as “the worst ever” is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine.
New singles from Divorce, Japanese Breakfast and Prima Queen in the last week are all worth a listen. I’m really enjoying this one from Pompadour too
https://open.spotify.com/track/2sJEip7RZ8crtpYBHwcVCz?si=ynDkV9uURo2biGPqtsWx5Q
The weekend was all about Lambrini Girls and Franz Ferdinand. I think it’s a really strong start to the year although I appear to be in the minority in rating the FF record.
I recently viewed some Lambrini Girls videos on YouTube. I love the energy
Yes! They’re incredible.
As noted somewhere in this thread, no spoilers for Weds., but I'm (sorta) with you on the FF record.
„Smiling Through The Pain” by Swimming Paul - I have this whole album currently on repeat 🔁
P.S. big yaaay! for the „Have a nice day” on your playlist 🤩🫶✨
Right on! I'm glad you liked that one!
Been jamming out to Slowdive in preparation of seeing them in 2 weeks.
It's never a bad time to listen to Jay Reatard's Blood Visions
This is true!
Nice list, especially love the Longwave track, had many fun times hanging with Steve & co
I'm glad you liked that! I'm sure you've got some good stories too!
Warren Zevon's final album, The Wind, which someone on here mentioned (or wrote about elsewhere, I forget now). Which sent me down a Zevon rabbit hole.
It's interesting, how a steady diet of the Fabs more or less cleanses one's musical palate of everything but the good stuff.
Zevon rules. The Wind is incredible, but knowing how the story ends, I can only listen to it once in awhile
There are a few last albums like that — George Harrison’s Brainwashed (though I listen to that one all the time because imo it’s his best), Leonard Cohen’s Thanks for the Dance…. a few others not coming to mind now.
I've been digging deep into English, Irish, and Scottish folk music, modern and traditional, so I've been listening to a lot of Roddy Woomble, Kate Rusby, The Chair, Billy Bragg, Ruth Notman, Karina Polwart, etc.
Love Billy Bragg ❤️
Brilliant minds! LOL.
For an upcoming feature, or just for fun? Always a good time for Billy Bragg!
Bryan and I watched the Brian Eno documentary in a little art house theater last week. Loved it, highly recommend if you can find it online or somewhere near you.
https://www.filmfirstco.com/eno
I would love to go see this; the technology used sounds amazing, and worth the price of admission alone.
I bought a little CD setup for my office and am going to start using it today instead of having YouTube playing in the background. I've amassed a couple of hundred CDs over the past few years without really trying, and they've all been quietly waiting for me to enjoy them.
First up is Art Pepper - Featured in Other Groups. This is a Japanese 2 disc collection consisting of flat transfers from master tapes recorded from 1953 to 1976. Pepper is one of my favorite alto sax players, so this should be a real treat.
It's so easy to collect CDs isn't it? I'm starting to run out of room myself haha; hope you enjoy the setup!
Sold off all but 20 of my LPs last year, so it's been a welcome change of pace to spend $10 on a used CD instead of $40 (or $400) on a record. I'm sure I'll fall back down the expensive first pressing rabbit hole again at some point, but I had way too many records and needed a break.
Nice! That'll be a treat for sure. I should follow your lead and get one for my office too. I sold a bunch of my CDs right after our first son was born, but have slowly been building the collection back up.
I'm going to Mexico City later this week on a four-day music/food trip for a milestone birthday and will see/photograph two Jason Isbell shows. For the first, Centromatic is opening in a rare show (Will Johnson is now part of the 400 Unit) so I'm catching up with their catalogue again.
I didn't know that about Will Johnson. Cool!
Have a great trip! Looking forward to reading (and seeing) more about the trip when you get back.
Oh you will…
Karol G. I like her sound. She's Colombian and was playing in an Argentinian cafe in Valencia, Spain today.
That's a new name for me; I'm on it! I'm also curious to hear more about what you're listening to/hearing as you get a feel for the city!
There are lots of people from South America here, so lots of South American music in the cafes.
We're going to a jazz show on Friday night at a club. I assume it will be in Spanish. We met a group of people this past weekend. One of the guys will be playing drums.
As I develop a routine here, I want it to include music - including non-English speaking - more than it did in LA.
I'm 100% here for it.
Hi Kev and fellow On Repeaters! Original pressings of Lenny's Mama Said and Circus arrived at my doorstep just before the weekend. I can confirm that rock and roll is definitely not dead 😉
It most certainly is not! :)
Been really into some Midwest emo put out by Chinese Football, who hail all the way from Wuhan:
https://chinesefootball.bandcamp.com/album/win-lose
Also been listening to Yellow Magic Orchestra's Technodelic: https://tidal.com/album/97873156?u
Midwest Emo from Wuhan? You've definitely got my curiosity piqued!
Been working my way through some early goth albums by new-to-me artists. I started yesterday with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's first two albums, 1985's "Talk About The Weather" and 1986's "Paint Your Wagon" . Great stuff! The algorithm pointed me to the London post-punk band The Sound and I've listened to their first four albums, released between 1980 and 1985. Yet another band that feels like they should have been much bigger than they were.
On new music, I gave Ethel Cain's latest a listen and I just . . . couldn't. The zzzahara album "Spiral Your Way Out" is interesting and promising, needs more listens. Really enjoyed the new girlpuppy track Champ and hoping an album is coming this year. I'm very intrigued to hear the jasmine.4.t album coming on Friday.
REALLY looking forward to new albums later this year by Throwing Muses (March) and Blondshell (May).
Yeah, Ethel Cain was just a bridge too far with the ambient noise for me. I think what she does is interesting but not easy to listen to.
I have some thoughts on that record coming Wednesday. No spoilers, but let's just say we're of one mind here. Stay tuned!
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry were great and sadly didn't get as much exposure as Sisters Of Mercy but were just as good.
I think you will love The Sound, one of my top favorites and we have even put together 2 tributes to them.
The latest one is wonderful, and will be getting the ink it deserves soon! (I am way behind on this one)
Thanks Kevin and there is so much great music being released these days, so I'm always very appreciative when people even listen to our releases 😀
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEW THROWING MUSES RECORD. Yes, I'm yelling. lol.
Happy New Year Kev! Here's my weekly playlist thing. https://open.substack.com/pub/recentanddecent/p/recent-and-decent-55?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1z6rnh
Happy New Year Matt! As always, thanks for sharing your playlists with us!
I've restacked this so that the GoFundMe has a bit more visibility.
Anyway, for this week's listens:
New - Kuře v hodinkách by Flamengo. Flamengo is a lesser known prog rock band that formed in Prague in the 60s, while Czechia was under communist rule/control. They released one album before being forced to disband. This album is pretty good - in it's heavier moments, it's like Deep Purple or Rush. Unlike these bands' records, this record has jazz influence and features sax and other various woodwind instruments.
Revisit - Be Here Now by Oasis. I never really understood why this got so hated by the public. Is it as rauchy as their debut or WTSMG? No. Is it good? Yes, even if All Around the World and Magic Pie drag a bit. The title track, along with Stand by Me, are the highlights here.
Thank you for restacking! Every little bit of viz helps.
I decided to leave Spotify this year. I now use Musicolet to play my music which lives on my phone (yes, I've backed it up elsewhere). As part of this process, I've been rediscovering songs, including Clumsy by Our Lady Peace. which I listened to for the first time in ages yesterday.
tx for the info Katie. Spotify is going to be hard to get rid of, but all of us who love music (and musicians) need to share every new possibility.
It's tough because I found that to get away from it, the most sensical thing to do was downgrade my tech. What you're paying for on Spotify is the ability to stream music. I either had to go to another streaming service or invest in building my own server to stream. Both still cost money per month (although I imagine there's some way to do the build your own server thing with enough tecnical know how). So I investigated apps that would play music from Google Drive because I'm already paying for that storage. Not satisfied with those results, I found Musicolet which was well rated to play music on your device. I'm now doing things iPod style where if I buy new music, I have to add it to my phone, but my library is not so large nor the effort so cumbersome that it's bothering me.
Say more about Musicolet, please! I've never heard of it.
I found it by looking for Android apps to play mp3s. In that quest, I came across a lengthy Reddit post that detailed the author's review of a number of apps. I pulled off the top three and assesed them myself. I liked its feature set and found it had strong reviews (and a 4.8 if I remember correctly).
It's an offline player so you have to put your mp3s on your device (the upside is I never worry about needing internet to listen to music). It also has a lot of customizable features, so much so that I haven't explored them all. I did get to select my interface accent color. I can create playlists. I can save ques and playlists. I can play with the equalizer and (I think) save different settings for different outputs (my phone vs. my headset for example).
Thanks for this! Sounds pretty cool, really. I'll have to see if there is an iOS app for it.
Your ever have one of those mornings when you wake up and think "man, I need to listen to an influential queer, feminist folk icon from Canada today?" Too few know about Ferron, which is a shame. Here's Snowin' In Brooklyn. https://ytubl.ink/3DPQ
Thanks for this. I'll give it a spin tonight!
Just watched the Mars Volta/At the Drive In documentary. It's really good! We are the same age.
Oh, that sounds good! What is it playing on?
Amazon Prime, I think. We rented it.
Andy Bell from Ride recorded a cover of The Passions "Im In Love With A German Filmstar" with Dot Allison and Michael Rother and it's quite good -
https://andybell.bandcamp.com/album/i-m-in-love
This is fantastic!
I really like the new Ringo Starr record, ‘Look Up’. That led me to his first Country record, ‘Beaucoups of Blues’. I also took a trip back to the 90’s and listened through The Verve’s second and third albums.
I heard TVOD on our local radio and fell in love with their new single, ‘Car Wreck’.
Gave the new Franz Ferdinand a listen and blew my head off with The Cult’s ‘Beyond Good and Evil’. ✌️✌️✌️
Today: Atheist - Piece of Mind. Technical death metal. The BEST tech death.
Last week -- Oneohtrix Point Never ambient/electronic
------R + 7, which I didn't care for. Is this vaporwave? If so I don't like it.
------The Fall Into Time, which I did like. Like Froese's solo stuff, Ypsilon or Aqua, would be the closest comps
--Skyramps. Days of Thunder. another Oneohtrix project, closer to 80's T-Dream? Like the soundtrack to Thief? Like that, it's right on the edge between being really good, and being maybe a little dated-sounding.
--Gnidrolog. obscure British eclcetic prog from the early 70's. No keyboards, like Mogul Thrash. In Spite of Harry's Toe Nail, their first, was great. It's heavy in unexpected spots., in that way quite like King Crimson.
--Second album Lady Lake, is more revered by the progheads, but I didn't like it as much. A little too airy fairy in places, although it's got some complex parts too. Just not as many as their first record did.
--Mojo's giveaway The Best of 2024.
----The Jack White song "Archbishop Harold Holmes" is great. When did he start wanting to sound like White Stripes again? THIS IS BIG NEWS.
----The Black Crowes' "Wanting and Waiting" sounds like it's from 30 years ago, if you think that's a good thing. I did.
----Didn't like the Kim Deal track very much, to my surprise. Because I just LOVE her.
--Another Mojo giveaway, A Man of Wealth and Taste. Brian Jones tribute.
----Didn't like Lucinda Williams' cover of "Paint it Black"
----"I'm Not Saying" from Nico is the best thing I've ever heard from her, which isn't saying a lot, but still.
----If you needed an excuse to hear Elmore James play "Dust My Broom" again or hear Muddy Waters do "The Red Rooster," they're here.
Gosh, you're all up on it. Lambrini Girls just wanna have fun. New Franz Ferdinand album... my! I didn't pay much attention to music today but went to my regular dancing club. They played a Nubya Garcia track which was great. More love for Billy Bragg ♥️
Another eclectic mix from John Lennon to Gordon Lightfoot. Spacemen 3 and Little Feat. Pardon the mess on my comments page. https://weatheredmusic.ca
This is a great mix! The new 20/20 record is well worth people's time.
Re: the comments page: If there's a mess, I didn't see it.
Hey Kevin, I'm hoping to start writing a new semi weekly newsletter about my latest listens as I go through 2025. For now though, here are some of the tunes that are newish on my January playlist:
Violet - Joe P
Somebody's Knockin' - Mattiel & Troy Stains
Never Too Late - Elton John & Brandi Carlile
Hooked - Franz Ferdinand
Drift Away - The Horn
Anti - Superstar - Haute & Freddy
I'm looking forward to the new feature! The only one I've heard here is "Hooked," with the rest new to me. Is Somebody's Knockin' a cover of the Terry Gibbs song?
It is! A very faithful but welcome cover! Hadn't thought about that song in years.