this list is dedicated to stevie nicks, who said in the last rolling stone that album rock is dead! thanks to lindsey buckingham for not believing such horse s***.
laura gibson – la grande
gregory rawlins – elwha
diamond rugs
ty segall band – slaughterhouse
mike surber – the long con
faithless saints – state dependent learning
zz ward – til the casket drops
strangled darlings – red, yellow & blue
sassparilla – magpie
todd snider – agnostic hymns & stoner fables
aaron mark brown – realities of grandeur
king elephant – exhaust
cloud nothings – attack on memory
hillfolk noir radio hour
galactic – carnivale electricos
drunken prayer – into the mission field
ani difranco – which side are you on?
the mutts – separation anxiety
the missionary position – consequences
santigold – master of my make believe
putting this laura gibson album in a mantle display next to some of the classic albums, gives a certain gravity to the experience. listening in that vein, i feel the same power in essentially only one instrument: the voice of laura. it is a complex mix of glottal vocal action, and keys that intertwines in perfect harmony throughout with flowing patterns. she has enough tenderness to carry some dark, soulful messages without having to use too much range and thus making the dark seem tolerable, even intriguing. she still has the range when needed. the extra bias factor: in the live show, it proved every bit as visually pleasing to watch her pull off a slightly uptempo version. named after la grande, we were thus lucky enough to get a promo for it in la grande. that happened on march 1st, the opening night of the arts center at the old library on penn. a magical night complete with a little blizzard keeping a good many out of town fans from making it over the pass (and laura barely squeaked past the police closing the road). a packed house nonetheless and ambiance to every last candle flame, dark streak for dark streak, with the eeriness of the video filmed at hot lake the previous october. this was a highly anticipated release, the concert even moreso, neither disappointed on any level. i am happy that this music and good sprit was felt all over the world, in europe and at sxsw. la grande life, baby!
until this year, i had seen rawlins play solo twice, and both of those featured a lot of unreleased stuff. by the time of elwha, things had taken a dramatic upswing and right about now a music industry executive needs to take note with a contract in hand. thinking purely of the cd, and not even considering the interstellar overdrive cover he killed on guitar with the best crew of spliced together musicians ever, this tribute to his first son holds more emotion than an entire soap opera season. the actor in greg adds a special dimension. but mostly, it’s the guitar work seen live that makes the disc infinitely more appreciated. a visual experience indeed. rawlins comes purely to entertain and then hopes you like the songs as well. and, oh, by the way, they’re masterful. for orson.
side project of deer tick member john mccauley, who accidentally created a supergroup with steve berlin (los lobos) and other members of deer tick, six finger satellite, dead confederates and the black lips. this is a “debut” record inviting you to get drunk like a gangster on christmas. allmusic.com says “the songs have a ragged swagger that lurks somewhere between a stones tribute act and the second-best garage band in town and this group tears into their makeshift tunes with commendable vigor,” going on to compare it with golden smog and various offshoots. diamond rugs might turn out to be a one-off project. hopefully not, but if so at least they left one hell of puke stain the next morning.
garage phenom segall has put some of the more incredible lo-fi doom and space rock from an impressive scene in san francisco. after several “solo” recordings, this is the “debut” as a full band. recorded in 3 days back in february, released in june, there was not a minute wasted, about the most efficient operation in a true punk manner. pitchfork says this record “opens with a scorching double shot of motor city burning rave ups…heavy and hooky…and redrafting the [stooges’] fun house floor plan for their own devious devices…there’s that evocative title…and both albums end with extended free-form meltdowns…unapologetic grimness, blast-furnace heat and panic-attack inducing lack of oxygen.” this may turn out to be segalls own fun house, but you owe yourself the slaughter.
sons of guns made the best album of 2011, which still sounds every bit as perfect, and then splintered into three other bands for 2012. and then all three get props on the year end list? who could guess that? at this point, you could just say that one of these guys released a record and it would be on the list before i hear it. all three are not just complete albums, but chock full of sing-a-long songs. i suppose the best albums are full of sing-a-longs. what should i even say about it? the songs are crafted like 70s era folk songs, but clearly produced with a modern alt bent. but with equipment to bring listen, for starters, to a way with words, western endeavors and the song about climbing trees in the forest. you’ll be hooked and ready to pay this rising star however much he asks to play your private party.
these songs are so etched into my head from seeing them live so many times over the last 4 years, that having the disc in 2012 seemed a bit of an afterthought. watching the birth of songs like lord, the lube! finsihed thru to a well produced cd, not unlike the well rehearsed live sets. that's not to say they're perfect. they'll still get drunk and fall off the stage, especially for a tip. on some level, it can feel overproduced compared to the spontanaeity live, which I prefer. but after letting the cd take the place of the fact that i can’t see them live anymore, its a solid reminder to make a trip to the nearest city to see them one more time in 2013. and let's not forget classic properties in the lyrics that add to the staying power. it’s offensive. and anything offensive makes people think in a different way. that’s enduring. but that’s all the more i should say about this lest i piss off uncle bobby.
i rarely find myself listening to love songs. it’s triply rare that i would freak out over an entire album of love songs. this woman from roseburg, oregon went down to l.a. a couple of years ago and quickly made a collision with greatness. til the casket drops is her debut album released back in october and she’s already got kendrick lamarr and freddie gibbs singing on a it? how does that happen? she’s that good to hit the big time that quick. if her second album is even half as good as this, people will never remember adele or lykke li at all. not that that’s zz ward’s intent, but there can be no other result when she starts breaking all the grammy records. see her now while you can still shake her hand afterwards, tomorrow she will be on the cover of all the magazines at the supermarket newsracks.
even when a band can reproduce their live sound onto disc, it is still hard to visualize seeing the live show by hearing. with strangled darlings, hearing gives a complete mental picture of the live show, such that you can probably even guess what hat george will wear on stage. devil in outer space made the year end list last year as well, but strangled darlings sticks to the success formula with a little less rigid structure and a little faster tempos that makes red, yelow & blue as compelling as the last. this band may or may not ever make it big time. i would expect not, because they’re too good. and that’s the tragedy that falls onto most good bands and why commercial radio always sucks.
they say they wanted to make a pop record. they sort of did step away from a harder driven couple of past albums. but the message is just as hard. this is perhaps the hardest, loudest jug band, likely to perform in a small town. with bo diddley style cigar box guitar, 50 plus harmonicas in a case, a wash bin/broom stick bass, kick pedal tambourine, and an infectious smile of the accordian/keyboardist (and i mean the smile is infectous in the recording) this stuff is for keeps, exactly what the rabble rouser is about.
american songwriter gave this #11 of the year, rolling stone #47, what more am i supposed to add? “good things happen to bad people” could well be the catchphrase of the century if this “recession” holds out another 9 decades, and right now do we have any reason to think otherwise? the only sad part of this being ranked highly by anyone and everyone is that his tribute album to jerry jeff walker is bound to be overlooked. a tragedy since jerry jeff walker needs exposure as a songwriting hall of famer in his own right. todd snider is surely bound for the songwriter’s hall of fame as well, which should put him securely as one of the top 5 best musicians to ever come from oregon. this album is a fresh piece of that pie.
one of the coolest things is to interview a legend of his local scene over an hour long lunch. one of the most heartbreaking things is to then lose the file before having a chance to play it on air or transcribe it. but being able to have lunch with aaron and see his cd release party, which happened to be the start of the treefort music festival back in march was the kind of times we bust our butts working all week every week for. realities of grandeur (despite my calling it birds in the night on the last podcast) was an early year fave so much that by summer i had played it out and then sort of forgot about it until dj yeti started using it for the intro to his show and i was thus re-introduced to what i had originally introduced. it borders between sounding like the soundtrack to the next rocky movie (though hopefully there isn’t one) and sounding like a soundtrack for disney movie. aaron is a master of showtunes. full of nuggets of wisdom like “all people are the same age when you’re out of time.”
these guys came out of nowhere (well, missoula to be exact) only a year and a half ago, and i am still not sure how i was lucky enough to come across this. props go out to kentaro, formerly of kuoi, for turning the world onto great stuff that would otherwise be obscure. exhaust is the closest thing to garage as you’ll find in the northwest. it’s that pure. i am hooked. the hit song getaway driver grooves, but is not indicative of the rest of the album. be prepared to gently put your face through plate glass.
cleveland's cloud nothings come back with their third album in three years. it was engineered by steve albini, though one review said that "he played scrabble on facebook most of the time." that is to say it's pretty much their own product and when you read all the other best of lists from major publications, you will find this somewhere towards the middle to end. not because it's not great, but because the major publications have to put the over publicized crap that their close friends coerced them into putting up high, lest they lose their financial backing. then, when the writers get an extra spot to put what they really like, they put this. this is not unlike a killdozer album. it will be a long standing classic.
might be the best hillfolk to date. a lot of concert favorites, including some redux of older songs. a little narration for extra flavor. the sound of hillfolk noir can only be explained as junkerdash. if you don't know what that means, then you have to see it live to get it. if you do know what that means, then you have seen them live, perhaps many times, and you definitely get it. if you can't see them live, this is about as good a representation of the hillfolk brand. plus, it comes in a choice of a 10" or a cd. tough choice as the cd has 4 or 5 more songs, but the 10" is such a retro throwback, your grandfather will think you stole this from his grandfather's artifacts. it's that legit. then the music will wake your grandfather's grandfather.
the liner notes give an explanation of how midaevil churches banned dancing in a way that gave birth to the carnival. it then goes on to explain how every different section of nola celebrates mardi gras. then the album gives a different feel for the various customs with loads of guests like mystikal and cyril and ivan neville. if you want a real jamming cajun party at your house, this record is a must have.
morgan christopher greer could get lost in the singer/songwriter jungle of portland, or he could find the outlet to make a difference. let's hope for the latter. these songs are simple and you might feel like you even wrote them. not because it's easy, but because you can relate to the heartfeltness. i know nothing about the guy and had never heard of him before, but was apparently inspired from a couple conversations with tom waits when he was still down in california. we were lucky enough that fluff and gravy records sent the cd to us and then i just played it time after time. then heard a portland radio appearance and the guy is the real deal as a musician.
some good things are even better because of timing. that is the case with this cd. the first ani cd i have heard in years, it has a classic throwback with the title track cover song, but surely seems spawned from occupy protests in 2011. on the other hand, some people like ani difranco will find their niche market and record the same comfortable styles with their fans. i don’t know if ani’s career has been like that since the last time i saw her in concert eons ago, but the utter force of this makes me think not. it does have her rabble rouser attitude, which is always good for lots of extra listens.
funk, blues, driven rock has all the sounds of the classic midwest garage, complete by being filtered through the manifold of a '66 GTO. terrific production channels the fierceness of natural grooves into something related to pop music that i feel in my skin. it’s a mid melter for sure. but a lotta funk in these guys too. very much worth owning, especially since they give away all their music on the website for free.
all i can really say about the missionary position is that this guy is from seattle, has a lot of soul, and is rather introspective. he can make a rocking chair without even sitting in it, too. i expect. this cd was very frequently played on my computer. santigold – master of my make believe (atlantic records)
punk singer santi white changes her tune to disco and goes gold, literally, figuratively and in name. listen once and you will have dj panda to thank. request it at keol – we have it – on vinyl only.
i never considered ep's before for a year end list because it starts to get closer to being a single many times, but i was reminded this year that an ep can have a good many artisitc merits. these especially:
correspondence school
finn riggins – benchwarmers
linden wood – thoughts & mumbles
kory quinn & the comrades – angels & outlaws
fools rush – expired
the music wrong
blasted canyons – 2nd place
edmund wayne
fidlar
as i have listened to perhaps a record number of records/cds this year, i have to say the pool from which to pick was enormous. it's not possible to listen to enough music to be able to truly know what the best is, only what i like enough to listen to over and over. here is an extra list of albums that i liked, and wanted to hear more than once or twice, but just didn't have the chance to...
nomads – solna
off!
spyrals
gonjasufi – mu.zz.le
jerry fels & the jerry fels – evil is the root of all money
evans the death
justin robinson & the mary annettes - bones for tinder
caustic casanova – someday you will be proven correct
james dean kindle & the eastern oregon playboys
uncle lucious – and you are me
jeff the brotherhood – hypnotic nights
plug – back on time
a killing dove
king tuff – bad thing
jon spencer blues explosion – meat & bone
various artists – repo man (soundtrack redux)
various artists – lost notebooks of hank williams
various artists – new multitudes (songs of woody guthrie)
bobby conn – macaroni
mynabirds – generals
first aid kit – the lion’s roar
redd kross – researching the blues
the asteroids galaxy tour – out of frequency
current swell
mosley wotta – kinkonk
andre williams & the sadies – night & day
hospitality
lost satellites – the war will end
viva voce – the future will destroy you
killer mike – r.a.p. music
chrome cranks – ain’t no lies in blood
black bananas – rad times express iv
…and you will know us by the trail of dead – lost songs
aesop rock – skelethona
terry malts – killing time
neil young – psychedelic pill
messhuga – koloss
the cult – choice of weapon
roberta flack sings the beatles – let it be roberta
phenomenal hand clap band – form and control
japandroids – celebration rock
eliza rickman – o ye sinner
ambush party – you are not safe without us
melvins – freak puke
isodore – life somewhere else
big boi – viscious lies & dangerous rumors
rayLand baxter – feathers & fishooks
steve sullivan & the factory – evil is a man made thing
bloody knives – blood
fanny alger – yellow monster
cursive – i am gemini
sound of curves – cast of the charade parade
heartless bastards – arrow
dirty ghosts – metal moon
soul rebels – unlock your mind
air – le voyage de dance la lune
forgotten citizen – scylla & charybdis
ultraista
eddy current suppression ring – primary colours
these united states
torche – harminocraft
the oppressed – antifa hooligans
pond – beard, wives, denim
foxy shazam – the church of rock and roll
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