December 1, 2023 by A.S. Van Dorston

It’s that most wonderful time of the the year — list season! Plus Krampusnacht, where you get goodies from Fester’s Bucket O’ Nasties if you’re nice, and some light punishment from Krampus if you’re naughty.

"Epic Christmas" by Margaryta Yermolayeva. Buy this or her other amazing art at https://www.etsy.com/listing/916829784/8x8-epic-christmas-ryta-holiday-winter

At a time with most everyone is stressed out by really major stuff — the pandemic, war, climate disaster, it’s sad to see that their access to the healing powers of music continues to be hindered by, let’s just say an extremely imperfect system for music discovery and consumption. On one hand, if my younger self saw the future of being able to access nearly everything via streaming, I’d have thought that was a utopia situation. Instead, the increasing amount of choices, compounded by the vastly increased amount of music released each year, affect people in different ways. Some have chosen to ignore digital altogether and find comfort in buying only records or CDs. Hoarding physical artifacts is something many of us can relate to and understand. Others are frozen by the vast choices, and default to consuming garbage fed to them by algorithms, A.I. and corporate media, kind of like symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome. Fast ‘n’ Bulbous is 28 years old, but far from mainstream. But I firmly believe within at least the genre lists of the annual Lucky 13, there truly is something for everyone. You don’t have to take Fester’s clammy hand or even touch it, but let it guide you gently to your musical happy place.

Genre

New Age. After a lifetime of ridiculing New Age music, I started seriously dabbling with the genre when a certain rat bastard came into power in 2016 in order to subdue my rage (I’d alternate between that and Death Metal). The number of New Age and adjacent (ambient jazz/Americana/country/electronic) projects continued to populate my lists through the pandemic. Maybe not the top of my lists, but they’re nestled in there. Thanks to André 3000 dropping New Blue Sun on November 17, everyone’s talking about that “flute album.” His album is the real deal. There have been sightings of him playing flute going back nearly a decade, as he’s put serious time into the instrument after first trying the saxophone and bass clarinet, inspired by John Coltrane. He connected with the double flute, but for the recording, co-produced with Carlos Niño, he switched to a digital version. The collective of experimental L.A.-based musicians helped shape an artistically substantial fusion of New Age, Ambient and Spiritual Jazz influenced by Alice Coltrane, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Laraaji and Yusef Lateef. There’s been some entertaining complaints about the Outkast member veering so far from hip hop, but he will also end up bringing over a new audience to this music, which can only benefit contemporaries like Julie Byrne, Mary Lattimore, North Americans, Matt LaJoie and Shabason, Krgovich & Harris.

A genre that has been around for decades, but bands like Zulu drew some attention to it is Powerviolence. It’s a subgenre I initially thought was unnecessary, but it has a pretty specific meaning. While Crossover Thrash is simply a hybrid of hardcore punk and thrash metal, Powerviolence is a mix of thrashcore and grindcore with wildly fluctuating rhythms. All the people at RYM who approved of the label Slacker Rock should spend a night in jail to contemplate their crime. Talk about a meaningless label. They should reconsider my Psych Noir, which was rejected.

Comeback

Once upon a time, when a band did not release an album for seven years, it was assumed they were broken up and long gone, and a new album would genuinely be a surprise, even a shock. Imagine if the Beatles released a surprise album in 1977. One could count the release of “Now a nd Then” as a comeback, but I’m talking about fully active bands releasing albums. When I saw Blood Ceremony’s triumphant set at Roadburn Festival in 2016, I thought perhaps their flavor of witchy occult psych noir and psych prog was ready for some crossover success. Instead, they went quiet. When Alia O’Brien completed a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and got a day job as an anthropologist, I was afraid that was it for the band. So it was truly exciting when they released their fifth album like it was no big deal, just a brief pause. But they truly are a big deal.

Also in Fester’s Lucky 13 with significant gaps since their last album were Graveyard (5 years), Baroness (4 years), Queens Of The Stone Age (6 years) and Royal Thunder (6 years). The longest gap in my top 100 is 38 YEARS, with celebrated Paisley Underground influencers Rain Parade, who’s last album was Crashing Dream (1985). Dang! Also releasing their third album, 30 years later, are relatively under the radar Boston shoegaze/noise pop band Drop Nineteens. Peter Gabriel of course is the biggest star here, not only releasing his first album in 21 years, but probably his best in 37 years. I don’t know why he hasn’t appeared on lists, the entire album has already been released throughout the year as singles. Bush Tetras released their first in 11 years, and just outside the top 100, Swedish heavy metal band Heavy Load released their fourth album 40 YEARS after their last!

Debut

Debut of the year is Tubs. This might be the most excited I’ve been for a new indie jangle pop band since Rolling Blackouts Coastal Thunder. Bubbling under are La Rosa Noir, Egyptian Blue, Spiritual Cramp, The Keening, Do Nothing, Nemegata, Blood Lightning, Krypta, and Demons My Friends.

Memoriam

Of the many unpleasant surprises of beloved musicians dying too young, Tom Verlaine is a big loss. Marquee Moon (1977) got more spins in the Doom Cave than just about any other album. Years ago there were rumors of a fourth Television in the works, but sadly it never happened.

Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
Ooh, there I stand ‘neath the Marquee Moon
Hesitating

Well, the Cadillac
It pulled out of the graveyard
Pulled up to me
All they said, “get in, get in”

May they also rock in excelsis DIO and rest in pieces: Jeff Beck (Yardbirds), Yukihiro Takahashi (Yellow Magic Orchestra) Van Conner (Screaming Trees), David Crosby (Byrds, CSN&Y), Fuzzy Haskins (Funkadelic), Ryuichi Sakamoto (Yellow Magic Orchestra), Mark Stewart (The Pop Group), Harry Belafonte, Rita Lee (Os Mutantes), Algy Ward (Tank, The Damned, The Saints), Andy O’Rourke (The Smiths), Mark Adams (Saint Vitus), Tina Turner, Blackie Onassis (Urge Overkill), Teresa Taylor (Butthole Surfers), Sinéad O’Connor, Erkin Koray, Robbie Robertson (The Band), Sixto Rodgriguez, Gary Young (Pavement), John Kezdy (The Effigies), Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth), Dwight Twilley, Mars Williams (Psychedelic Furs, The Waitresses, Liquid Soul, Custard Flux), Geordie Walker (Killing Joke), Shane McGowan (The Nips, The Pogues, The Popes).

On a personal note, I said goodbye to my old friend Bria Clark-Toulemonde, who succumbed to cancer on October 19. She and her musician husband Matthew moved to Texas in the spring and tragically he suffered a massive stroke shortly after and is still on his long road to rehabilitation. Thanks to Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM), they both got top notch medical care.

Underrated

Of the million plus people who bought the latest Metallica and Foo Fighters that were left disappointed, they probably wouldn’t have been had they gotten Spirit Adrift. In terms of balancing artistry with accessibility, the Spirit Adrift album nails it. We’ll see if anyone notices. Nearly as accessible are Baroness, Royal Thunder and Spidergawd.

Disappointment

In recent years I’ve grown to accept the fact that few bands can maintain creative vitality beyond a fairly short period, and decline is inevitable. Thus, I wasn’t that bothered by Gorillaz, Teenage Fanclub, Blur, Smashing Pumpkins Rancid and Mudhoney not being on par with their best work. All those bands released albums that are not terrible, but inhabit the bottom half of my list of 1,000 albums of the year. The biggest disappointment has to be someone who I had greater expectations for who did make the top 100. While I’ve been unsatisfied to an extent by every album PJ Harvey has released since Uh Huh Her (2004) — both Let England Shake (2011) and The Hope Six Demolition Project (2016 ) seemed like dry, academic exercises, I felt she was building up to something special, tying her latest, I Inside the Old Year Dying with her poetry book Orlam, written in Dorset dialect. It is fairly haunting, and it’s doing well on year-end lists. And yet I still want more from her. It lacks that spark that had me in awe of Harvey from 1992-2000. Sorry Polly, you’ll always be a sister from another mister, growing up in a small town listening to Captain Beefheart, but I still think you’re holding back.

Worst

I did a way with the overrated section years ago because why bother? There’s so much, it’s hard to pick one. It always made me squirm that Foo Fighters had somehow become the default “last rock stars.” How embarrassing for rock. That said, their 11th album is actually one of their best, though I’m still not a fan. I’m bemused by the popularity of Sleep Token. There are worse bands, but man, the over the top production is excruciating. Even more so with the latest manufactured Japanese metalcore child band Hanabie. Them and Babymetal just creep me out, and both were strong candidates for worst album.

But no other artist has fallen from greater heights as U2. They were my favorite band in 1983-84, but gradually grew more and more grating. I didn’t think they could get any worse than on the horrific Songs of Experience, but completely out of any ideas, they decided to go back and ruin all their good songs too on Songs of Surrender. For fuck’s sake. Now they have a Vegas residency with the most audacious, overblown spectacle using state of the art technology at the Sphere, something they’ve been heading toward ever since Bono put on his oversized sunglasses in the early 90s and discovered irony. I am somewhat curious to see the Sphere, but fuck Bono.

Surprise

The Church have been steadily releasing albums for over 40 years, maintaining an impressively consistent quality. And yet I didn’t expect to be so taken with their 22nd album like I was, a sci-fi/occult concept album set in 2054 with a Ziggy-like character Eros Zeta to employ a machine developed by a North Korean scientist (The Hypnogogue) to pull music from dreams.

Fester’s Lucky 13 – The Best Albums of 2023

1. Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box)

Quickly following up from last year’s The Carrier, former Wolf People’s Jack Sharp’s solo project ventures into more progressive psychedelic folk than the predecessor’s biker rock. It’s haunted and dreamy, with incredible guitar that references Turkish Anatolian psych, Tuareg desert rock, Captain Beefheart, Fairport Convention and Wishbone Ash. A prickly yet magical album that measure up against the best of Wolf People, and the best album of 2023. RIYL Fairport Convention, Trees, Pentangle, Lankum, Sam Burton, Lucid Sins, David Eugene Edwards, The Keening. | Full Review | Buy

2. Spirit Adrift – Ghost at the Gallows (Century Media)

Spirit Adrift have been on an ascending creative arc since the beginning that has lead to their fifth and best album so far. Stellar songwriting, memorable riffs and production clarity aren’t always necessarily recognized or rewarded in the metal community. Case in point, after three consecutive albums making Decibel’s top 10 in their year-end list, this time they’re #31. Graduating from cult favorite to a major headliner band is bound to involve growing pains, but Nate Garrett has plenty of experience overcoming challenges. RIYL: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mastodon. | Full Review | Bandcamp

3. Graveyard – 6 (Nuclear Blast)

It was a long five years, but Graveyard’s sixth album was worth the wait. While many European bands barely ever set foot in North America, Graveyard toured consistently, providing many of my most memorable live experiences since 2009. For all the poor bastards who wonder where the hard rock went aside from the perpetually disappointing Foo Fighters, I steer them toward Lights Out (2012) and Hisingen Blues (2011) for starters. Some have noted that much of the album features simmering atmospherics. It’s true, and they’re totally satisfying, just as the hard rockers are. Consider this their Led Zeppelin III rather than their Presence. RIYL: The Doors, Free, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, Witchcraft, Kadavar. | Full Review | Buy

4. Baroness – Stone (Abraxan Hymns)

Establishing a recognizable signature sound yet never repeating yourselves is no easy task, and that’s what makes Baroness consistently one of the best rock bands of the 21st century. The fact that their sixth album 20 years into their career is a contender for their best album is even more impressive. RIYL: Gauze, Fugazi, Mastodon, Torche, Kylesa. | Full Review | Bandcamp

5. Body Type – Expired Candy (Poison City)

This Sydney indie pop band is on a tear, releasing their sophomore full-length barely a year after their debut. After their first couple EPs, I initially associated them with various post-punk bands I dubbed Trip Jam, but this is simply the best indie surf pop in years. RIYL: Pixies, Helium, Sleater-Kinney, Warpaint, Peluché, Goat Girl, Wet Leg. | Full Review | Bandcamp

6. Blood Ceremony – The Old Ways Remain (Rise Above)

In 2016, two of my favorite occult/psych noir albums were released by Purson and Blood Ceremony. Purson broke up and I was afraid the same would happen with Blood Ceremony. I was ecstatic when the long awaited fifth album was announced, and it does not disappoint. What boggles my mind is that this is not obscure, difficult listening occult prog just for genre enthusiasts, but extremely accessible rock music. This should be way more widely celebrated. Where my goths at? You should be lapping this up like sweet nectar from demon teats. RIYL: Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Jex Thoth, The Devil’s Blood/Molasses, Purson/Rosalie Cunningham, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Jess & the Ancient Ones, Mansion. | Full Review | Buy

7. Queens Of The Stone Age – In Times New Roman… (Matador)

Unlike the other bands in the Lucky 13, Queens Of The Stone Age did actually achieve significant crossover mainstream success 21 years ago. It didn’t hurt that Dave Grohl lent a hand on the drum kit for a bit. They briefly became fashionable again around 2013, thanks partly to Josh Homme’s production work for Arctic Monkeys. Whether this album is overlooked or not doesn’t much matter now, QOTSA are permanently linked to iconic rock cognoscenti, with Homme working with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones (and Grohl again) in Crooked Vultures and collaborating with Iggy Pop. RIYL: Led Zeppelin, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Kyuss, Crooked Vultures, Arctic Monkeys. | Full Review | Bandcamp

8. Royal Thunder – Rebuilding the Mountain (Spinefarm)

Like Graveyard and Blood Ceremony, I thought we lost Royal Thunder. Yet here they are, triumphantly returned from the land of the dead with Mlny Parsonz voice stronger than ever on their fourth album. RIYL: Fleetwood Mac, Soundgarden, Afghan Whigs, Baroness. | Full Review | Buy

9. Lucid Sins – Dancing in the Dark (Totem Cat)

This Glasgow band expands their scope on their third album from occult psych noir into autumnal progressive folk. In hindsight they seemed destined to take this creative path, and onto Fester’s Lucky 13. RIYL: Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash, Blue Oyster Cult, Fairport Convention, The Strawbs, Graveyard, The Warp/The Weft, Wolf People/Large Plants, Blood Ceremony, Ghost. | Full Review | Bandcamp

10. Spidergawd – VII (Crispin Glover)

Originally seen as fun, catchy hard rock spinoff from Norway’s Motorpsycho (Bent Sæther was on bass 2013-16), Spidergawd are now seasoned vets on their seventh album, where they take a more melodic approach along the lines of catchy 80s AOR, but without the stinky cheese. RIYL: Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Night Ranger, Saga, Gypsyhawk/Gygax, Horisont, Corsair, Black Trip/VOJD, Carousel/Outsideinside/Limousine Beach, The Vintage Caravan, Haunt, High Spirits. | Full Review | Bandcamp

11. The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind)

As always jangle pop is dismissed as too easygoing to be “important” music. Nothing this enjoyable could ever be meaningful! And yet I can’t be the only one who thinks there was never enough of this style of music in the first place. I’ve always liked a bit of post-punk edge to my jangle, like a Feelies album that never came in the six years between the motorik, slashing Crazy Rhythms in 1980 and the Pete Buck produced pastoral The Good Earth in 1986. More young bands seem to share that desire, like Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and more recently, Thus Love, influenced by Easterhouse and The Chameleons, and The Tubs, formed by Owen Williams, formerly of noise pop band Joanna Gruesome. The jangle is strong from the first notes of “Illusion Pt. II” and while it all rushes by way to quickly, nine songs in just over 26 minutes, there’s a lot to unpack, with Jam like power pop harmonies, a serrated Wire sharp riff on “Sniveller,” and riffs after relentless riff all the way through the final track, “Wretched Lie.” It definitely leaves me craving more, and adding the Names EP (2021) to the playlist for an additional ten more precious minutes of music. RIYL The Feelies, The Smiths, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever | Bandcamp

12. Civic – Taken By Force (Flightless)

Australia has a long, colorful history of garage punk, which I covered in Between The Cracks: Aussie Garage Punk. Despite the fact that the bands behind two recentish (at the time of writing in 2018) favorite albums, The New Christs and Hits, have been dormant for nearly a decade, there are still dozens of bands keeping the flame, from the critically adored Amy and the Sniffers to The Chats, Cold Meat, Stiff Richards, CLAMMS, Smarts, A. Swayze & The Ghosts and many more. My favorite of the most recent batch are Civic, who are clearly the ones to take up the Saints/Radio Birdman torch, which is pretty literally passed on by original Birdman/New Christ Rob Younger, who produced their second full-length. There’s a new crisp clarity to their previously murky garage punk sound, with some Church-y jangle and surf noir twang. “Trick of the Light” and “Blood Rushes” change up the pace with slower, simmering tempo, establishing a less frantic, melancholy mood. Melodies are also slightly more forward than on their breathless EPs from 2018 and Future Forecast (2021), but with the band riding the forces of destruction like the surfer on the cover, risking being dashed against the rocks. Overall the thunder down under rages unabated, laced with visions of apocalyptic dread and dumpster fires, as all good rock ‘n’ roll should. RIYL Radio Birdman, The Saints, The New Christs, The Church. | Bandcamp

13. Geese – 3D Country (Partisan)

It’s weird that I was late to hear Geese’s 2021 debut album Projector, because I make a special effort to hear ALL the post-punk. It’s a promising debut, with extra doses of goofy weirdness and an adventurous willingness for experimentation that aligns the Brooklynites with young bands across the pond, Black Midi, Black Country New Roads and Squid. Their second album expands their repertoire far beyond art punk into a kind of spastic roots/Southern/country rock that distinctly reminds me of the chaotic swagger of early White Denim. Like James Petralli, vocalist Cameron Winter can nimbly shift from wacky vocals along the lines of Jon Wahl of Claw Hammer to elegant falsetto notes worthy of, if not Jeff Buckley, then Thom Yorke. Both bands are drawing from the chooglin’ jams of Meat Puppets, and this is a very good direction indeed. I’d been wringing my hands waiting for a new White Denim album, but since June 23 this album has been waving at me, yo, dumbass, listen over here! As a nice bonus, they released the EP 4D Country on October 13. RIYL White Denim, Parquet Courts, Ought, The Gotobeds, Squid. | Bandcamp

Spotify Mix

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Favorite Albums of 2023

Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box) | UK | Buy
Spirit Adrift – Ghost at the Gallows (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Graveyard – 6 (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Buy
Baroness – Stone (Abraxan Hymns) | USA | Bandcamp
Body Type – Expired Candy (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
Blood Ceremony – The Old Ways Remain (Rise Above) | Canada | Buy
Royal Thunder – Rebuilding the Mountain (Spinefarm) | USA | Buy
Queens Of The Stone Age – In Times New Roman . . . (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind) | UK | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – VII (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
Bad//Dreems – HOO HA! (Farmer and the Owl) | Australia | Bandcamp
Spotlights – Alchemy for the Dead (Ipecac) | USA | Bandcamp
IE – Junk Body (Moon Glyph) | USA | Bandcamp
Lucid Sins – Dancing in the Dark (Totem Cat) | UK | Bandcamp
OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) – Bauhaus Staircase (White Noise) | UK
La Rosa Noir – Arellano (My Grito Industries) | USA
Temples – Exotico (ATO) | UK | Bandcamp
Civic – Taken by Force (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Grave Pleasures – Plagueboys (Century Media) | Finland | Bandcamp
The Belair Lip Bombs – Lush Life (Cousin Will) | Australia | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Painting of My Time (Floodlights) | Australia | Bandcamp
Shallowater – There is a Well (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
All Them Witches – Baker’s Dozen (ATW) | USA | Stream
Geese – 3D Country (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin) | Canada | Bandcamp
The Fierce & The Dead – News From the Invisible World (Bad Elephant) | UK | Bandcamp
Mystic Braves – The Spinning Wheel EP (Lolipop) | USA
Egyptian Blue – A Living Commodity (Yala!) | UK | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium | Bandcamp
Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (Domino) | USA | Bandcamp
Hollow Hand – Your Own Adventure (Curation) | UK | Bandcamp
Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz – Ex Machina (Pi) | USA | Bandcamp
The Church – The Hypnogogue (CommVess) | Australia | Buy
Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium (Season Of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Emile – Spirit (Heavy Psych) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Shedfromthebody – Amare (Shedfromthebody) | Finland | Bandcamp
Howling Giant – Glass Future (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
David Eugene Edwards – Hyacinth (Sargent House) | USA | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium
Motorpsycho – Yay! (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
The Clockworks – Exit Strategy (Clockworks) | Ireland
Stoned Jesus – Father Light (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Patio – Collection (Fire Talk) | USA | Bandcamp
RVG – Brain Worms (Fire) | Australia | Bandcamp
Witch Ripper – The Fight After the Fall (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
R.M.F.C. – Club Hits (Anti Fade) | Australia | Bandcamp
Skull Practitioners – Negative Stars (In The Red) | USA | Bandcamp
Glass Hammer – Arise (Glass Hammer) | USA | Bandcamp
din-din – din-din (Splithand) | USA | Bandcamp
The Black Waves – Sonic Maze (Silver Factory) | France | Bandcamp
DoctoR Doom – A Shadow Called Danger (Ripple) | France | Bandcamp
Martin Dupont – Kintsugi (Minimal Wave) | France | Bandcamp
Squid – O Monolith (Warp) | UK | Bandcamp
Sonic Jesus – Badway (Fuzz Club) | Italy | Bandcamp
Upper Wilds – Jupiter (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Rough Trade) | USA | Bandcamp
The Haven Green – Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt (Mega Dodo) | UK | Bandcamp
White Canyon & The 5th Dimension – Gardeners of the Earth (White Canyon) | Brazil | Bandcamp
Blood Incantation – Luminescent Bridge EP (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Agusa – Prima Materia (K2) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Kanaan – Downpour (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK | Bandcamp
Mansion – Second Death (Mansion) | Finland | Bandcamp
Korine – Tear (AVANT!) | USA | Bandcamp
Vanity Mirror – Puff (We Are Busy Bodies) | Canada | Bandcamp
Mondo Drag – Through the Hourglass (RidingEasy) | USA | Bandcamp
Ist Ist – Protagonists (Kind Violence) | UK | Bandcamp
The Treasures Of Mexico – Burn the Jets (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
REZN – Solace (REZN) | USA | Bandcamp
9K33 – Urtext 1977 (9K33) | USA | Bandcamp
Rose City Band – Garden Party (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
Sorcerer – Reign of the Reaper (Metal Blade) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Dream Wife – Social Lubrication (Lucky Number) | UK | Bandcamp
Druid Fluids – Then, Now, Again & Again (Copperfeast) | Australia | Bandcamp
Rival Sons – Lightbringer (Atlantic) | USA | Buy
Hilary Woods – Acts of Light (Sacred Bones) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament (Bad Omen) | UK | Bandcamp
Legendry – Time Immortal Wept (No Remorse) | USA | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Frankie & The Witch Fingers – Data Doom (Reverberation Appreciation Society) | USA | Bandcamp
The Dear Hunter – Migrant Returned (Equal Vision) | USA
High Spirits – Safe on the Other Side (HR) | USA | Bandcamp
Narrow Head – Moments of Clarity (Run For Cover) | USA | Bandcamp
The Coral – Sea of Mirrors (Run On) | UK | Buy
Peter Gabriel – i/o (Real World) | UK | Bandcamp
Rival Sons – Darkfighter (Atlantic) | USA | Buy
PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan) | UK | Bandcamp
Bas Jan – Back to the Swamp (Fire) | UK | Bandcamp
The Carburetors – Drinking From the Skulls of Our Enemies (Fast Forward) | Norway
Hotline TNT – Cartwheel (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Cable Ties – All Her Plans (Merge) | Australia | Bandcamp
GHOSTWOMAN® – Hindsight is 50/50 (Full Time Hobby) | USA | Bandcamp
Century – The Conquest of Time (Electric Assault) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Do Nothing – Snake Sideways (Orchard) | UK | Bandcamp
Spiritual Cramp – Spiritual Cramp (Blue Grape) | USA | Bandcamp
The Heavy Minds – Beyond Gloom (StoneFree) | Austria | Bandcamp
Swans – The Beggar (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
Kanaan – Diversions Vol. 2: Enter the Astral Plane (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy

Bubbling under: See full list of 1,000+ albums here.

2023 Breakdown: Genre Lists

As always, you can deep dive any of these these genres with the list search. While previously I had limited an album to one genre list, it didn’t accurately reflect the multi-genre nature of many of these albums. So this year an album will show up in multiple lists. I have a widget that automatically pulls from the database, so as albums are added and moved around in the future, this will reflect it.

Psych

When I reviewed Hollow Hand’s last album Star Chamber (2018), I made a case that we were in the midst of a psych pop renaissance, with great new albums by The Sonic Dawn, The Honey Pot, The Galileo 7, Papernut Cambridge, The Sand Pebbles, The Beginner’s Mynd, The Citradels, Lucille Furs, The Dials, The Urges, The Butterscotch Cathedral, and singer-songwriters Jacco Gardner, Doug Tuttle, E.L. Heath and Max Kinghorn-Mills, who started as a one-man project under the name Hollow Hand, then assembled a band by his second album, with a solo 4-track tape Willow Garden (2017) released in between. Alas, it’s as if I scared them all off, my feature a flashlight scattering them like raccoons in the night, as we haven’t had new music from hardly any of the above artists. Five years later, we finally get Hollow Hand’s third album, and it was worth the wait. Kinghorn-Mills has honed his songwriting to the point where there isn’t a single track that does have sticky melodies worthy of the Beatles, Byrds or the Trees. A country psych flavor is introduced on tracks like the single “One Last Summer,” and “All My Love” kicks off with an indie folk hook The Shins would envy, then morphs into gently trippy psych. The talented band includes Tim Smith (Midlake, Harp), Spencer Cullum, Ryan Pollie, and Holly Macve, with a warm, intimate mix by Chris Cohen. It’s unlikely there will be a psych pop festival, all the more reason to treasure every note and performance from rare talents like Hollow Hand. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Lamp of the Universe, Vanishing Kids, Krypta, Agusa, Rain Parade, Amplifier, San Leo, London Odense Ensemble, Goat, Slow Draw, Population II, Mars Red Sky. | More

Spidergawd – VII (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
IE – Junk Body (Moon Glyph) | USA | Bandcamp
Temples – Exotico (ATO) | UK | Bandcamp
All Them Witches – Baker’s Dozen (ATW) | USA | Stream
Hollow Hand – Your Own Adventure (Curation) | UK | Bandcamp
The Church – The Hypnogogue (CommVess) | Australia | Buy
The Haven Green – Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt (Mega Dodo) | UK | Bandcamp
White Canyon & The 5th Dimension – Gardeners of the Earth (White Canyon) | Brazil | Bandcamp
Agusa – Prima Materia (K2) | Sweden | Bandcamp
DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Rose City Band – Garden Party (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
Druid Fluids – Then, Now, Again & Again (Copperfeast) | Australia | Bandcamp
Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy

Psych Pop & Prog Pop

After a six year run of incredibly ambitious and lengthy albums, Motorpsycho dial it back with more laid back album of acoustic numbers and psych pop that circle back to a trio of albums from 2000-2002. Coincidentally, Bent Sæther’s singing here brings to mind Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue, who were at an artistic peak in that same time period. The plaintive melody of “Real Again” could strike a chord with audiences not yet on board the psychonaut vessel, but at the same time wears out it’s welcome for me on too many repeat plays compared to their more labyrinthine compositions, which they do revisit on “Hotel Daedalus” and the interwoven textures on closer “The Rapture” with acoustic and electric guitars and strings, given a baroque Swedish psych folk flair by producers Reine Fiske and Lars Fredrik Swahn. The album ends with the verse “The days are getting longer, summer’s almost here, I thank my guardian angels, we survived another year.” There were far worse ways to kick off the summer. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Permanent Clear Light, Sparks, Anton Barbeau, Soft Hearted Scientists, Madness, Norm Archer, Bar Italia, Dengue Fever, Blonde Redhead, Abracadabra, B.C. Camplight, Daydream Review, Lil Yachty. | More

Temples – Exotico (ATO) | UK | Bandcamp
Mystic Braves – The Spinning Wheel EP (Lolipop) | USA
Hollow Hand – Your Own Adventure (Curation) | UK | Bandcamp
Motorpsycho – Yay! (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
Martin Dupont – Kintsugi (Minimal Wave) | France | Bandcamp
Vanity Mirror – Puff (We Are Busy Bodies) | Canada | Bandcamp
The Treasures Of Mexico – Burn the Jets (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
The Coral – Sea of Mirrors (Run On) | UK | Buy
Peter Gabriel – i/o (Real World) | UK | Bandcamp
Holy Wave – Five of Cups (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
The Bright Light Social Hour – Emergency Leisure (Modern Outsider) | USA | Bandcamp
Me And My Kites – A Safe Trail (Me and My Kites) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Death And Vanilla – Flicker (Fire) | Sweden | Bandcamp

Kosmische & Space Rock

31 years in, Chattanooga’s Glass Hammer continue their creative roll with some of their best work. Just a year after completing their ambitious Skallagrim trilogy, they pivoted to an equally impressive space rock opera. Yes, there are whooshy keyboards, of course. But their brand of psychedelic space rock is filtered through their distinctive brand of symphonic prog enhanced with some metallic doom crunch. On “Arion (18 Delphini b),” Steve Babb is given the vocoder treatment a la ELO, though Hannah Pyror handles much of the vocal heavy lifting as on the previous two albums. A.R.I.S.E. (Android Research Initiative for Space Exploration) follows the mission of spacecraft Daedalus that vaguely infers some kind of emotional, romantic dalliances with cyborgs and aliens before the doomed mission flickers out, only sporadically emitting intermittent ghost transmissions. “The Return Of Daedalus” is a 16:50 long monster jam focusing on interplay between Reese Boyd’s guitar and Babb on bass.

Bubbling under: Sherpa, Death and Vanilla, Rich Ruth, Amplifier, San Leo, Lord & Sharp, London Odense Ensemble, Bobby Lee, Goat, Population II, Melenas, bdrmm, Weite, Polymoon, The Mos Eisley Spaceport, Spacelords, Ufomammut, Kosmischer Läufer, Sunwatchers, Golden Hours, The Silver Linings. | More.

IE – Junk Body (Moon Glyph) | USA | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium
Glass Hammer – Arise (Glass Hammer) | USA | Bandcamp
The Black Waves – Sonic Maze (Silver Factory) | France | Bandcamp
Blood Incantation – Luminescent Bridge EP (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Kanaan – Downpour (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK | Bandcamp
Mondo Drag – Through the Hourglass (RidingEasy) | USA | Bandcamp
REZN – Solace (REZN) | USA | Bandcamp
9K33 – Urtext 1977 (9K33) | USA | Bandcamp
Kanaan – Diversions Vol. 2: Enter the Astral Plane (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp

Jam

A new release on the Danish El Paraiso label is always something to anticipate and celebrate. The label has slowed down somewhat in the past couple years, making every new release all that more exciting. Justin Pinkerton was a key member of the Bay Area band Golden Void with Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless), who released two of my favorite albums of the 2010s. Disappointment over that band’s breakup was eventually tempered by Pinkerton joining the El Paraiso roster, with a solo progressive electronic/ambient album Aak’Ab (2020) and his instrumental psych jam project Futuropaco. Following up the 2018 self-titled debut, he expands his global reach, incorporating Turkish Saz to his percussive, funky compositions augmented with Moog synths. I can recognize some Afrobeat rhythms, but also a kind of Italian Euro-funk. Yeah, I just made that up. The point is that Pinkerton doesn’t sound like anyone else, and like all El Paraiso records, it sounds amazing. | Buy

Bubbling under: Rotor, Emergency Group, Eric Silverman, Expo Seventy, Black Moon Circle, Yawning Belch.

Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Live in Chicago ’23 (Needlejuice) | Australia | Bandcamp
Acid Rooster – Flowers & Dead Souls (Sunhair) | Germany | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Live at Red Rocks ’22 (Needlejuice) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Third Mind – The Third Mind 2 (Yep Roc) | USA | Bandcamp
Carlton Melton – Turn to Earth (Agitated) | USA | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – Loppen 2021 (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Edena Gardens – Live Momentum (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
The Spacelords – Nectar of the Gods (Tonzonen) | Germany | Bandcamp
Mystic 100’s – On a Micro Diet (Listening House) | USA | Bandcamp
Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns – Weejuns (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
Taper’s Choice – History of Taper’s Choice Vol. 1 (ORG) | USA | Bandcamp
Smokey Mirror – Smokey Mirror (Rise Above) | USA | Buy

Noir (Folk, Garage, Psych, Punk, Surf)

On their sixth album, Protomartyr literally and figuratively go to the desert, recording at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, where Joe Casey contends with the loss of his mother, subtly incorporating reverbed Western noir sounds of pedal steel guitar. It’s not a retooling of their sound, however, which remains recognizably consistent throughout their catalog, incorporating menacing Rowland S. Howard guitar influences with noise rock, and slightly different applications of art rock and punk with each album. At a distance or in the background, with Casey’s not exactly melodic vocals, it can feel like an oppressive gray slab of gloom, with roots in clenched-jaw 90s post-punk like Hammerhead and Tar. But closer listens opens up the details and shows why this band will never be forgettable, and their albums have staying power. | Full Review | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Harp, Crime & the City Solution, The Men, Red Telephone, Helicon, The Primevals, The Devil’s Trade, Loose Sutures, The Black Delta Movement, Hexvessel, The Wytches, Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows. | More .

Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box) | UK | Buy
Graveyard – 6 (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Buy
Blood Ceremony – The Old Ways Remain (Rise Above) | Canada | Buy
Lucid Sins – Dancing in the Dark (Totem Cat) | UK | Bandcamp
La Rosa Noir – Arellano (My Grito Industries) | USA
Civic – Taken by Force (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (Domino) | USA | Bandcamp
David Eugene Edwards – Hyacinth (Sargent House) | USA | Bandcamp
Skull Practitioners – Negative Stars (In The Red) | USA | Bandcamp
The Black Waves – Sonic Maze (Silver Factory) | France | Bandcamp
Sonic Jesus – Badway (Fuzz Club) | Italy | Bandcamp
Mansion – Second Death (Mansion) | Finland | Bandcamp
GHOSTWOMAN® – Hindsight is 50/50 (Full Time Hobby) | USA | Bandcamp

Psych Prog

Formed in 2011, this band from Midi-Pyrénées, France, DoctoR Doom is one of the first who were clearly influenced, not just by Wishbone Ash and more obscure early 70s proto-metal, psych and prog, but by Swedes Witchcraft and Graveyard. With the former gone off the rails, and the latter dormant for the past five years, they’re a welcome addition to the club. Eight years after their debut This Seed We Have Sown (2015), they’ve graduated from a Pentagram in the basement sound to a more detailed, sophisticated production on their sophomore release, mastered by Kent Stump of Wo Fat. Jean-Laurent Pasquet’s vocals may not be the band’s strength, but they are noticeably improved this time around, his gravelly voice carrying more melody than before. The Thin Lizzy style twin guitars are always welcome on tracks like “Hollow,” and the closer is a bit of a surprise, a cover of G.F. Händel’s “Sarabande,” another dual guitar showcase. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Giöbia, Vanishing Kids, Teke::Teke, Krypta, Agusa, Amplifier, Mong Tong, Mars Red Sky, The Spacelords, Dirty Sound Magnet, Permanent Clear Light, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. | More.

Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box) | UK | Buy
Baroness – Stone (Abraxan Hymns) | USA | Bandcamp
Blood Ceremony – The Old Ways Remain (Rise Above) | Canada | Buy
Lucid Sins – Dancing in the Dark (Totem Cat) | UK | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium | Bandcamp
Howling Giant – Glass Future (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium
Motorpsycho – Yay! (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
Stoned Jesus – Father Light (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
DoctoR Doom – A Shadow Called Danger (Ripple) | France | Bandcamp
Agusa – Prima Materia (K2) | Sweden | Bandcamp
DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Mansion – Second Death (Mansion) | Finland | Bandcamp

Prog

London instrumental four-piece The Fierce & The Dead have been hard to nail down, as their diverse influences cover a lot of ground, from cosmic space jams and sprawling post-rock to Frippian prog punk through their first three full-lengths and numerous EPs. It felt like just yesterday when I was marveling over The Euphoric (2018), which impressed me in a similar vein of The Messthetics minus the jazz-rock aspect. The promise that their fourth album would include vocals from bassist/keyboardist Kevin Feazey added a good amount of intrigue. What would the band metamorphize into? Something along the recent project by The Smile? Heavier prog metal? Eclectic art rock like Steven Wilson’s (Porcupine Tree) solo albums? While the new album could appeal to fans of those artists, this is something else entirely. RIYL: Peter Gabriel, Amplifier, Motorpsycho, Steven Wilson, The Messthetics, The Smile. | Full Review | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Amplifier, Jordsjø, Saint Karloff, Plague Rider, Mos Eisley Spaceport, Tanith, Sunwatchers, Dirty Sound Magnet, Dead Quiet, Sermon, Katatonia, Abstract Concrete, Malokarpatan, Flight, Tusmørke, Ne Obliviscaris, Owl, Smokey Mirror, PLANK, Døheimsgard, Mouth, Slow Wake, Acid Magus, Gorod. | More.

Lucid Sins – Dancing in the Dark (Totem Cat) | UK | Bandcamp
Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin) | Canada | Bandcamp
The Fierce & The Dead – News From the Invisible World (Bad Elephant) | UK | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium | Bandcamp
Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium (Season Of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers – Mojo’s Heavy Cream (Lay Bare) | Belgium
Stoned Jesus – Father Light (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Witch Ripper – The Fight After the Fall (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Glass Hammer – Arise (Glass Hammer) | USA | Bandcamp
Blood Incantation – Luminescent Bridge EP (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Agusa – Prima Materia (K2) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Mondo Drag – Through the Hourglass (RidingEasy) | USA | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp

Punk & Post-Punk

I don’t know if it was planned, but I suspect a perverse humor involved in choosing both the band and album names, as a Google search results mainly in ads for patio furniture. True to the self-deprecating subtlety of bands I’ve associated with Trip Jam (post-punk informed by post-90s loose grooves, trip hop slowcore and dream pop) over the years Patio continue to sing softly and carry a fluffy stick. Starting with a spare, core bass and drum sound inspired by ESG, jangle pop, and The Breeders’ Pod (1990), the sound overall is quite beautiful, with only occasional slashing guitar and pointed lyric to hint at the presence of some seething rage. Compared to Luxury EP (2016) and Essentials (2019), their second full-length expands its repertoire with more complex rhythms and changes, and a simultaneously more abstract and progressive songwriting approach. Close and repeated listens reveal unfolding layers under the simplicity, which is probably why this album has been completely overlooked. There’s just too much music to wade through in an era where the majority of gatekeepers are suffering from atrocious tastes right now. It’s hard to say if Patio’s music will become fashionable like how The Raincoats found their audience a decade later, but I hope so. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Do Nothing, Spiritual Cramp, Bush Tetras, Dust, Final Gasp, 1476, Maggot Heart, The Murder Capital, RVG, Sweeping Promises, Display Homes, Deeper, Fearing, Blood Bells, Crime & the City Solution, The Psychotic Monks, The Men, Institute, Vipertime, EXEK, Truth Club, The Guru Guru, Institute, Current Affairs, Drop Nineteens, Temple Of Angels, Algiers, Scowl, EVNTYD, Ist Ist, Rid Of Me, Motorama. | More.

Body Type – Expired Candy (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
Bad//Dreems – HOO HA! (Farmer and the Owl) | Australia | Bandcamp
La Rosa Noir – Arellano (My Grito Industries) | USA
Civic – Taken by Force (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Grave Pleasures – Plagueboys (Century Media) | Finland | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Painting of My Time (Floodlights) | Australia | Bandcamp
Geese – 3D Country (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
Egyptian Blue – A Living Commodity (Yala!) | UK | Bandcamp
Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (Domino) | USA | Bandcamp
The Clockworks – Exit Strategy (Clockworks) | Ireland
Patio – Collection (Fire Talk) | USA | Bandcamp
RVG – Brain Worms (Fire) | Australia | Bandcamp
R.M.F.C. – Club Hits (Anti Fade) | Australia | Bandcamp

Goth, Deathrock & Darkwave

SubRosa was such an important, adventurous band in the doom metal scene that helped expand the genre in multiple directions. It was a crushing loss when their broke up in 2019, which makes the first album from former member Rebecca Vernon such an event. Of course such a restless creative spirit such as Vernon wouldn’t want to revisit past glories, instead pushing forward into an alluringly ethereal hybrid of dark chamber folk, psych noir, goth and post-rock. Co-produced by Billy Anderson and Nathan Carson (Witch Mountain), this is gloriously gloomy autumnal music that evokes the forests of the Pacific Northwest where it was recorded.

Grave Pleasures – Plagueboys (Century Media) | Finland | Bandcamp
David Eugene Edwards – Hyacinth (Sargent House) | USA | Bandcamp
Ist Ist – Protagonists (Kind Violence) | UK | Bandcamp
The Keening – Little Bird (Relapse) | USA | Bandcamp
Hallows – A Quieter Life (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Final Gasp – Mourning Moon (Relapse) | USA | Bandcamp
Throat – We Must Leave You (Svart) | Finland | Bandcamp
The Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery (Human Season) | UK | Bandcamp
Harp – Albion (Bella Union) | USA | Bandcamp
Fearing – Destroyer (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
Blood Bells – Now the Dawn (Blood Bells) | USA | Bandcamp
1476 – In Exile (Prophecy) | USA | Bandcamp
Ritual Howls – Virtue Falters (Felte) | USA | Bandcamp

Hardcore Punk, Crust Punk, Crossover Thrash & Powerviolence

These subgenres were getting a bit buried, but merit attention. Final Gasp is primarily deathrock, but there is an element of hardcore punk in their gothy slurry. It’s been growing on me more and more over the past month, no easy task when it’s competing for attention with hundreds of other albums.

Bubbling under: Filth Is Eternal, Street Tombs, Geld, Brain Tourniquet, Boris & Uniform, Choncy, Exhibition, Trophy Eyes, False Fed, GEL, Destiny Bond, All Out War, World I Hate. | More.

Final Gasp – Mourning Moon (Relapse) | Bandcamp
Split Dogs – Split Dogs (Venn) | Bandcamp
Zulu – A New Tomorrow (Flatspot) | Bandcamp
Scowl – Psychic Dance Routine EP (Flatspot) | Bandcamp
Skourge – Torrential Torment (Lockin’ Out) | Bandcamp
The HIRS Collective – We’re Still Here (Get Better) | Bandcamp
Drain – Living Proof (Epitaph) | Bandcamp
Closet Witch – Chiaroscuro (Zegema Beach) | Bandcamp
World Peace – It Is Written (Twelve Gauge) | Bandcamp
Enforced – War Remains (Century Media) | Bandcamp
Existence – Go to Heaven (Quality Control) | Bandcamp
Pest Control – Don’t Test the Pest (Quality Control) | Bandcamp
The Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom – Summoning the Gatekeepers (Bretwaldas) | Bandcamp

Garage Rock

From the band’s name, and their NYC address, one might expect a young group of scruffy, depraved noise fiends on all kinds of drugs. This dates me, as I came up in the days of early Pussy Galore, Swans and Live Skull. Instead, these are some outwardly mild-mannered middle aged blokes, including guitarist Jason Victor, whose CV dates back to the mid-90s with Willard Grant Conspiracy, and since 2012, The Dream Syndicate. The trio with Kenneth Levine (bass) and Alex Baker (drums) placed Craigslist ads to find a singer, but it didn’t pan out, so they settled on each singing the songs they wrote after the Death Buy EP (2019). The band can kick up a fierce storm, but they lean more toward melodic than the no wave influences of the aforementioned bands from the 80s NYC noise scene. I’ve seen tracks like the brooding “Intruder” described as a shoegaze/goth/dark punk combo. I just call that garage noir, along the lines of what post-punkers Protomartyr have been exploring, but with more of a chugging Detroit via Australian garage punk flavor. Life has a way of lowering expectations once you’re in your 40s, but I’d say the band is a bit self deprecating with Negative Stars. Had I any to give, they’d deserve at least four. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Night Beats, Maggot Heart, Teke::Teke, RVG, The Routes, Crime & the City Solution, The Men, The Stayres, Stepmother, The Judges, Purling Hiss. | More.

Graveyard – 6 (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Buy
Body Type – Expired Candy (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
Royal Thunder – Rebuilding the Mountain (Spinefarm) | USA | Buy
Bad//Dreems – HOO HA! (Farmer and the Owl) | Australia | Bandcamp
La Rosa Noir – Arellano (My Grito Industries) | USA
Civic – Taken by Force (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Mystic Braves – The Spinning Wheel EP (Lolipop) | USA
Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (Domino) | USA | Bandcamp
RVG – Brain Worms (Fire) | Australia | Bandcamp
R.M.F.C. – Club Hits (Anti Fade) | Australia | Bandcamp
Skull Practitioners – Negative Stars (In The Red) | USA | Bandcamp
DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Frankie & The Witch Fingers – Data Doom (Reverberation Appreciation Society) | USA | Bandcamp

Hard Rock

The best way to summarize High Spirits’ formula is to compare their rare cover, “Memories,” to the original, found on Swedish band Europe’s self-titled debut album from 1983. The song structure is true to the original, but the keyboards are stripped away, the guitar sound is beefed up with a more forceful Iron Maiden style chug, and the vocals are recorded better, unadorned by reverb. As usual, Chris Black played all the instruments himself, as he did on the previous four albums, and most of his other projects. Re-listening to the previous albums and EPs, the sound has definitely evolved, from looser, fuzzier tones that were gradually honed to the gleaming, tight hard rock of Hard to Stop (2020). The new album impressively improves on it, with the vocals more up front and confident than ever, as if he focused all the energy usually shared with a variety of bands into this album. Now how about a world tour with Spidergawd and Haunt. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Tanith, Freeroad, Kvelertak, Dead Quiet, Flight, Owl, Deathchant, Bahboon, Firmament, Smoulder, Svartanatt, The Vintage Caravan, Mouth, Greta Van Fleet, Komodrag and the Mounodor. | More.

Graveyard – 6 (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Buy
Baroness – Stone (Abraxan Hymns) | USA | Bandcamp
Royal Thunder – Rebuilding the Mountain (Spinefarm) | USA | Buy
Queens Of The Stone Age – In Times New Roman . . . (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – VII (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
Rival Sons – Lightbringer (Atlantic) | USA | Buy
High Spirits – Safe on the Other Side (HR) | USA | Bandcamp
Rival Sons – Darkfighter (Atlantic) | USA | Buy
The Carburetors – Drinking From the Skulls of Our Enemies (Fast Forward) | Norway
Sweat – Who Do They Think They Are? (Tee Pee) | USA/Switzerland | Bandcamp
Crown Lands – Fearless (Spinefarm) | Canada | Bandcamp
Maggot Heart – Hunger (Svart/Rapid Eye) | Germany | Bandcamp
C.O.F.F.I.N – Australia Stops (Legless) | Australia | Bandcamp

Stoner/Desert/Fuzz

Kanaan, the Norwegian instrumental space rock band started on the acclaimed El Paraiso label, and maintain their high quality psychedelic stoner jams on their sixth album and second for Jansen. Last year’s Diversions Vol. 1: Softly Through Sunshine, as the title suggested, was a departure into more minimalist, spacey Kosmische textures, while Downpour has them returning to more guitar heavy jams. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Saint Karloff, Ufomammut, Dead Quiet, Deathchant, Bahboon, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, KIND, Tinariwen, Some Pills For Ayala, Betty Benedeadly & Braden Guess, Kadabra, Domkraft. | More

Baroness – Stone (Abraxan Hymns) | USA | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – VII (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
All Them Witches – Baker’s Dozen (ATW) | USA | Stream
Howling Giant – Glass Future (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Stoned Jesus – Father Light (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Kanaan – Downpour (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK | Bandcamp
REZN – Solace (REZN) | USA | Bandcamp
Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign (Rise Above) | Japan | Buy
Green Lung – This Heathen Land (Nuclear Blast) | UK | Bandcamp
Witchskull – The Serpent Tide (Rise Above) | Australia | Buy
Goat Explosion – Threatening Skies (Into Endless Oceans) | Germany | Bandcamp
Restless Spirit – Afterimage (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp

Heavy Metal

One thing the long-suffering doom metal genre is good at is to be forgotten and left in the basement for years and years. Case in point, Pentegram, Bedemon, Pagan Altar, The Obsessed and Sorcerer all recorded demos took years, often decades to release an official album. In the case of Stockholm, Sweden’s Sorcerer, it took 26 years after they made their 1989 demo. Now they’re on album number four since that 2015 debut, In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross, and they sound better than ever. Anders Engberg’s vocals cut through the gloom and fog like a lighthouse beam, while the band whips up more up-tempo, energetic metal than is typically associated with their brand of epic doom metal. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Owl, King Gizzard, Vision Master, Iron Void, Oldest Sea, Thriller, Helms Deep, Tailgunner, Heavy Load, Valentino Francavilla, Gatekeeper, Tanith, Freeroad, Cirith Ungol, Blood Star, Meurtriéres, Malokarpatan, Flight, Anthem, Century, The Night Eternal, Owl, Iron Savior, Lord Mountain, Deathchant, Tribunal, Megaton Sword, Smoulder, Faerie Ring, Triumpher. | More.

Spirit Adrift – Ghost at the Gallows (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Sorcerer – Reign of the Reaper (Metal Blade) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament (Bad Omen) | UK | Bandcamp
Legendry – Time Immortal Wept (No Remorse) | USA | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Century – The Conquest of Time (Electric Assault) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Kerrigan – Bloodmoon (HR) | Germany | Bandcamp
Haunt – Golden Arm (Iron Grip) | USA | Bandcamp
Green Lung – This Heathen Land (Nuclear Blast) | UK | Bandcamp
Air Raid – Fatal Encounter (HR) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Tailgunner – Guns for Hire (Fireflash) | UK | Buy
Goat Explosion – Threatening Skies (Into Endless Oceans) | Germany | Bandcamp
Snakemother – Snakemother (Snakemother) | USA | Bandcamp

Doom

I’ve followed Finnish Kartanoists Mansion through their brilliant batch of four EPs starting in 2013, and First Death of the Lutheran (2018), and never for a second did I ever consider them doom metal. You wouldn’t think RYM would be lacking genre labels, but that’s what happens when they don’t adopt my completely appropriate label, psych noir. It capably encompasses the occult, goth and even prog influences. That said, “Sword of God” and “No Funeral” are quite doomy, but still far from what anyone could consider traditional doom metal. Whatever you want to call it, their second full-length is gloriously creepy, mysterious and weird. Someday the band will inspire their own cult. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Margarita Witch Cult, Iron Void, Saint Karloff, Bell Witch, Ufomammut, Cirith Ungol, Lord Mountain, Marthe, Bahboon, Tribunal, Wolvennest, KIND, Morag Tong, Domkraft, They Watch Us From the Moon, Emperors Lair, Vokonis. | More.

Stoned Jesus – Father Light (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Mansion – Second Death (Mansion) | Finland | Bandcamp
REZN – Solace (REZN) | USA | Bandcamp
Sorcerer – Reign of the Reaper (Metal Blade) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign (Rise Above) | Japan | Buy
Tribunal – The Weight of Remembrance (20 Buck Spin) | Canada | Bandcamp
Green Lung – This Heathen Land (Nuclear Blast) | UK | Bandcamp
Witchskull – The Serpent Tide (Rise Above) | Australia | Buy
Vanishing Kids – Miracle of Death (Aural Music) | USA | Bandcamp
Sherpa – Land of Corals (Subsound) | Italy | Bandcamp
Goat Explosion – Threatening Skies (Into Endless Oceans) | Germany | Bandcamp
Snakemother – Snakemother (Snakemother) | USA | Bandcamp
Godthrymm – Distortions (Profound Lore) | UK | Bandcamp

Metal

Witch Ripper perhaps sells the band short in that it gives the impression they will sound like any of the literally hundreds of doom sludge bands currently toiling away, flooding the scene with music of widely variable quality. And perhaps that was true of this Seattle band when they formed in 2012 and quickly released a four song demo. But they have developed into something far more impressive over the last decade, fusing a supercharged version of proggy sludge with arena worthy vocal parts that reach for the cheap seats and unashamedly namecheck Muse, Coheed & Cambria, Queen and Bowie, along with Baroness, Torche, High on Fire and Mastodon. On top of that, their second full-length spins a pulp sci-fi yarn of a scientist searching the galaxy to cure his wife who’s in cryostasis. I admire the ambition, and their range of influences have resulted in a worthy artistic statement that is far from cringe-worthy, in comparison to the enjoyable but leaning a bit too obviously on Rush’s Hemispheres, new album from Crown Lands. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Bell Witch, Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, Nithing, Neurectomy, Blood Incantation, Malokarpatan, Diego Caicedo, Xoth, Sublation, Enforcer, Agriculture, Majesties, Marthe, Afterbirth, Vastum, Sermon, Cattle Decapitation, Døheimsgard, Ahab, Xoth, Gorod, Suffocation, Sublation, Fires in the Distance, Full Of Hell And Nothing, Anti-God Hand, Blackbraid, Enforced, Raider, Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, Ahab, Mizmor, Krallice. | More.

Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin) | Canada | Bandcamp
Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium (Season Of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Witch Ripper – The Fight After the Fall (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Blood Incantation – Luminescent Bridge EP (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign (Rise Above) | Japan | Buy
VoidCeremony – Threads of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin) | USA | Bandcamp
Cruciamentum – Obsidian Refractions (Profound Lore) | UK | Bandcamp
Panopticon – The Rime of Memory (Bindrune) | USA | Bandcamp
KEN mode – VOID (Artoffact) | Canada | Bandcamp
Wayfarer – American Gothic (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
Outer Heaven – Infinite Psychic Depths (Relapse) | USA | Bandcamp
Enslaved – Heimdal (Nuclear Blast) | Norway | Bandcamp

Power Metal, Epic Adventure & Symphonic/Dark Romance Metal

I didn’t realize I was in dire need of a dose of epic heavy metal and power metal along the lines of classic Manowar. Pittsburgh’s Legendry deliver the goods on their third album, with a bonus smattering of prog, which inspired me to check out their first two. Blood and thunder! | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Bloodbound, Kamelot, Angra, Within Temptation, Xandria, Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution, Beyond The Black, Atavista, Twilight Force, Foretoken, Delain, Lovebites, Powerwolf, OK Goodnight, Nuclear Winter, Angus McSix, Ross The Boss. | More.

Legendry – Time Immortal Wept (No Remorse) | USA | Bandcamp
Air Raid – Fatal Encounter (HR) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Tailgunner – Guns for Hire (Fireflash) | UK | Buy
Fifth Angel – When Angels Kill (Nuclear Blast) | USA | Bandcamp
Cirith Ungol – Dark Parade (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp
Helms Deep – Treacherous Ways (Nameless Grave) | UK | Bandcamp
Valentino Francavilla – Midnight Dreams (Valentino Francavilla) | Italy | Bandcamp
Gatekeeper – From Western Shores (Cruz del Sur) | Canada | Bandcamp
By Fire & Sword – Glory (No Remorse) | USA | Bandcamp
Anthem – Crimson & Jet Black (Ward) | Japan | Buy
Iron Savior – Firestar (AFM) | Germany | Buy
Megaton Sword – Might & Power (Dying Victims) | Switzerland | Bandcamp
Triumpher – Storming the Walls (No Remorse) | Greece | Bandcamp

Avant, Experimental, Post-Rock, Modern Classical, Drone

I was stoked to see the excitement and attention given to London bands Black Midi, Black Country, New Road and Squid the past few years. There’s even a scholarly paper that attempts to assign the bands a “generic term for the contemporary avant-garde British rock scene.” All of them (Gremlin-Core, Speedycore, Windmill-Core) are awkward and unlikely to stick. Between Black Midi’s hectic avant-prog/jazz-rock, Black Country, New Road’s chamber post-rock (which reminds me of Long Fin Killie, but could easily evolve into something more like Elbow), I’ve always been more aligned with Squid’s experimental art punk going back to their LINO EP (2017). Their second album is a bold progression from the energetic but less cohesive Bright Green Field (2021) which has a significant learning curve to process, which promises for rewarding repeated listens. This kind of rapid development promises the band will be one to watch. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Leonov, Golden Hours, Wolvennest, PLANK, The Devil’s Trade, Water Damage, Sigur Rós, Sprain, Pere Ubu, Kaskadeur, The Holy Family. | More.

IE – Junk Body (Moon Glyph) | USA | Bandcamp
The Fierce & The Dead – News From the Invisible World (Bad Elephant) | UK | Bandcamp
din-din – din-din (Splithand) | USA | Bandcamp
Squid – O Monolith (Warp) | UK | Bandcamp
Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK | Bandcamp
Hilary Woods – Acts of Light (Sacred Bones) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Swans – The Beggar (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
The Keening – Little Bird (Relapse) | USA | Bandcamp
Kauan – ATM Revised (Artoffact) | Finland | Bandcamp
ML Buch – Suntub (15 Love) | Denmark | Bandcamp
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth – Secret Stratosphere (Merge) | USA | Bandcamp
Lankum – False Lankum (Rough Trade) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp

Industrial & Noise

Hunger is the third album from Linnéa Olsson and associates based in Germany. Garage & Psych Noir / Post-Punk / Noise Rock. I saw them perform the songs live on their tour with Messa, five years since I saw them last. Their edge and power hasn’t diminished at all. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Cementin, Rid Of Me, Holy Tongue, Djunah, Purling Hiss, Abstract Concrete, Stuck, Teeth Of The Sea,, Oozing Wound, Blues Ambush, Water Damage, Sprain, John Cale, Stuck, Mandy, Indiana, The Telescopes, Model/Actriz, Oxbow, Ceramic Dog, FACS, Pile, Great Falls. | More

Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (Domino) | USA | Bandcamp
Skull Practitioners – Negative Stars (In The Red) | USA | Bandcamp
Upper Wilds – Jupiter (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
9K33 – Urtext 1977 (9K33) | USA | Bandcamp
Throat – We Must Leave You (Svart) | Finland | Bandcamp
Maggot Heart – Hunger (Svart/Rapid Eye) | Germany | Bandcamp
WE Are The Asteroid – WATA You, A Lion Tamer? (Bad Rope) | USA | Bandcamp
Axis: Sova – Blinded by Oblivion (Drag City) | USA | Bandcamp
M(h)aol – Attachment Styles (TULLE) | UK | Bandcamp
Die Spitz – Teeth EP (Poop Butt) | USA | Bandcamp
The Psychotic Monks – Pink Colour Surgery (Vicious Circle) | France | Bandcamp
Crime & the City Solution – The Killer (Mute) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Men – New York City (Fuzz Club) | USA | Bandcamp

Ambient & New Age

Slow Draw is Mark Kitchens of Arlington TX’s Stone Machine Electric. This is the first I’d heard of his Ambient/Psych/Drone project, but Tidal shows there’s a half dozen other albums that I will have to circle back to. Comparisons with Sonic Youth are mentioned which I don’t hear. What I do hear is a mix of Tortoise in the clean guitar tones and Labradford in the slow, deliberate liquid bass lines. The keyboards evoke a mix of both 70s R&B and space rock. Definitely the most engaging, listenable ambient music this year. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Mary Lattimore, Sigur Rós, Maria BC, Golden Brown, Dexter + Franz, Grails, BCMC, North Americans, Vince Clarke, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tujiko Noriko, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Lawrence English & Lea Bertucci, Rainy Miller x Space Afrika, Mammatus, Laurel Halo, rosie Carr, Loscil & Lawrence English, Prizes Rosa Rosa, Balmorhea.. | More.

IE – Junk Body (Moon Glyph) | USA | Bandcamp
Infinite River – Space Mirror (Birdman) | USA | Bandcamp
Rich Ruth – Live at Third Man Records (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Acid Rooster – Flowers & Dead Souls (Sunhair) | Germany | Bandcamp
Coventry – Our Lady of Perpetual Health (Septic Jukebox) | USA | Bandcamp
Lord & Sharp – Kiwi (Aural Canyon) | USA | Bandcamp
Infinite River – Prequel (Birdman) | USA | Bandcamp
Bobby Lee – Endless Skyways (Tompkins Square) | UK | Bandcamp
Nashville Ambient Ensemble – Light and Space (Centripetal Force) | USA | Bandcamp
Slow Draw – The Mystic Crib (Slow Draw) | USA | Bandcamp
Niecy Blues – Exit Simulation (Kranky) | USA | Bandcamp
Laurel Halo – Atlas (Awe) | USA | Bandcamp
Jeffrey Silverstein – Western Sky Music (Arrowhawk) | USA | Bandcamp

Instrumental

In just over a year, the supergroup consisting of Martin Rude & Jakob Skøtt of Causa Sui, Sun River and London Odense Ensemble and Papir’s Nicklas Sørensen have released four albums, including a live album. Denmark’s El Paraiso label features a lot of collaborate projects between musicians from multiple bands. After reading the book on Chicago’s kranky records, I recognized some similarities between the labels. Some of the collaborations are one-offs, but in the case of the trio of Jakob Skøtt (Causa Sui), Nicklas Sørensen (Papir) and Martin Rude (Sun River), they clearly clicked last year when they recorded the gorgeous debut of instrumental psychedelic folk and space rock infused with jazz, ambient, drone and post-rock. The label describes Sørensen’s guitar as “glistering” which is about right, but may be stolen by a toothpaste company. A live album is also coming in a couple weeks. The landscaping may be ongoing, but Edena Gardens has become a place to stay a while.

Bubbling under: SQÜRL, Edsel Axle, Trees Speak, Rotor, Scaphoid, James Elkington, Dead Cosmonauts, Heavy Blanket, Pire. | More.

Kanaan – Downpour (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
Kanaan – Diversions Vol. 2: Enter the Astral Plane (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy
Edena Gardens – Agar (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Edena Gardens – Dens (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Trabants – Lockdown (Pt. II) EP (International Fuzz Society) | USA | Bandcamp
San Leo – Aves Raras (Bronson) | Italy | Bandcamp
Slow Draw – The Mystic Crib (Slow Draw) | USA | Bandcamp
Weite – Assemblage (Stickman) | Germany | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – Loppen 2021 (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Edena Gardens – Live Momentum (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Orions Belte – Women (Jansen) | Norway | Bandcamp
Wozniak – Memory Disorder (Morningside) | UK | Bandcamp

Art Pop & Dream Pop

I have written fairly often about my love for the Sydney band’s fourth album, Heyday (1986), where their intersection of post-punk, psych and jangle pop produced some of their most energetic, memorable songs. They crossed over with a mainstream hit on the next album, and what many haven’t realized was that they never stopped releasing great albums. 42 years into their career, The Hypnogogue looks like yet another highlight, an alluringly ambitious sci-fi/occult concept album set in 2054 with a Ziggy-like character Eros Zeta to employ a machine developed by a North Korean scientist (The Hypnogogue) to pull music from dreams. This delightfully colorful concept pairs well with the band’s flavor of art pop and dream pop they’ve been exploring since the 90s (along with shoegaze, space rock). While it’s a bit sprawling at 64+ minutes, it’s an entertaining ride, accented with some of The Church’s best songs of the past decade. | Buy

Bubbling under: bdrmm, Temple of Angels, The Clientele, Young Fathers, EVNTYD, Novelty Island, Vanishing Twin, Mega Bog, Parannoul, The Black Watch, Patrick Wolf, Motorama, Permanent Clear Light, Julie Byrne, Sun June, The Witching Tale, Leonov, Sparks, Estrella del Sol, Modern Nature, Sans Merit, Fatoumata Diawara, OMD, Mint Field. | More.

OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) – Bauhaus Staircase (White Noise) | UK
The Church – The Hypnogogue (CommVess) | Australia | Buy
Shedfromthebody – Amare (Shedfromthebody) | Finland | Bandcamp
Martin Dupont – Kintsugi (Minimal Wave) | France | Bandcamp
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Rough Trade) | USA | Bandcamp
Peter Gabriel – i/o (Real World) | UK | Bandcamp
PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan) | UK | Bandcamp
Bas Jan – Back to the Swamp (Fire) | UK | Bandcamp
Flyying Colours – You Never Know (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
Death And Vanilla – Flicker (Fire) | Sweden | Bandcamp
The Clientele – I Am Not There Anymore (Merge) | UK | Bandcamp
Catatonic Suns – Catatonic Suns (Agitated) | USA | Bandcamp
ML Buch – Suntub (15 Love) | Denmark | Bandcamp

Shoegaze

Things move slowly for French psych noir/shoegaze band The Black Waves. After forming in 2008, it took them five years to release their debut album, Thousands of Visions (2013). While other bands formed during that time are on their fourth through seventh albums, we’re finally getting the follow-up from the debut a decade later. Inspired by The Black Angels and Warlocks, Sonic Maze doesn’t tweak the formula too much, serving up wave after wave of dense, dark distortion on top of some pretty accessible hooks and melodies, but shifting the focus from post-punk elements to a full-on heavy reverb guitar smoke show. David Brasseur’s vocals on “All the Colors of the Dark” bring to mind Peter Murphy on early Bauhaus tracks. “Cheating Death in the Outterspace” sounds like it could be a sprawling 10+ minute space rock excursion, but they keep it at a succinct 4 minutes, with the entire album just over half the length of their debut. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Drop Nineteens, bdrmm, Temple Of Angels, Parannoul, Musta Huone, Wozniak, Leonov, Agriculture, Golden Hours, Slow Pulp, Troller, Mint Field, Adelaida, The Telescopes, Slowdive, Wednesday, Anti-God Hand, yeule, cursetheknife, Teksti-TV 666, feeble little horse. More.

Spotlights – Alchemy for the Dead (Ipecac) | USA | Bandcamp
Shallowater – There is a Well (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
Shedfromthebody – Amare (Shedfromthebody) | Finland | Bandcamp
The Black Waves – Sonic Maze (Silver Factory) | France | Bandcamp
White Canyon & The 5th Dimension – Gardeners of the Earth (White Canyon) | Brazil | Bandcamp
DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Narrow Head – Moments of Clarity (Run For Cover) | USA | Bandcamp
Hotline TNT – Cartwheel (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Volksempfänger – Attack of Sound (Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube) | Netherlands | Bandcamp
Flyying Colours – You Never Know (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
Vanishing Kids – Miracle of Death (Aural Music) | USA | Bandcamp
Sherpa – Land of Corals (Subsound) | Italy | Bandcamp
Catatonic Suns – Catatonic Suns (Agitated) | USA | Bandcamp

Synthpop, New Wave, Coldwave, Minimal Synth

It’s made me happy to see a younger generation of bands exploring goth. One standout was the debut album from Oakland’s Fearing, Shadow in 2020. I nearly missed their follow-up released on the metal label Profound Lore. They are quite heavy. While there’s an uncomfortable number of coldwave and minimal wave artists crossing over into Italo-Disco and EBM (electronic body music — ugh I hate that tag), Fearing dig deep in the heavier side of coldave and post-punk, just the way I like it. Same goes for Ritual Howls, who got a bit more attention on some year-end lists.

Sparks is in an entirely different world than anyone else on their lists, their pioneering work in art pop going back to 1971. The fact that they are still creating artistically solid albums all these years later is more than you can say for the Rolling Stones.

Erin Birgy sets a great example for persevering. As Mega Bog she released a few pretty unexceptional albums of indie rock, surf, dream pop, art pop and psych pop, gradually improving over the course of six albums, with Life, and Another (2021) a standout. On her seventh, she veers into new wave, synthpop and coldwave with a touch of prog, along the lines of early Eurythmics and Ultravox, with the cool vocal delivery that reminds me of Martha and the Muffins. But it’s not the genres as much as it is her songwriting, which invokes a sci fi space opera infused with intrigue and dread.

Bubbling under: Body Of Light, Korine, House Of Harm, Inhaler, OMD, The Serfs, Paramore, Stephen Steinbrink, Astrophysics & Hatsune Miku, Belgrado, Mareux, Harsh Symmetry, Nabihah Iqbal, Fever Ray, Pain the the Yeahs, Duran Duran, Death Bells, Inhaler, Baxter Dury, DRIFT. | More.

OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) – Bauhaus Staircase (White Noise) | UK
Grave Pleasures – Plagueboys (Century Media) | Finland | Bandcamp
Martin Dupont – Kintsugi (Minimal Wave) | France | Bandcamp
Korine – Tear (AVANT!) | USA | Bandcamp
Hallows – A Quieter Life (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Fearing – Destroyer (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
Ritual Howls – Virtue Falters (Felte) | USA | Bandcamp
Sparks – The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (Island) | USA | Bandcamp
Mega Bog – End of Everything (Mexican Summer) | UK | Bandcamp
Red Telephone – Hollowing Out (Red Telephone) | UK | Bandcamp
Motorama – Sleep, and I Will Sing (I’m Home) | Russia | Bandcamp
rocky – rocky (Lulu’s Sonic Disc Club) | Australia | Bandcamp
Teeth Of The Sea – Hive (Rocket) | UK | Bandcamp

Indie Rock, Pop & Jangle Pop

In the early 90s when Riot Grrrl and queercore groups were making an impact in the punk and indie scenes, I never would have imagined that 30 years later women would have even fewer rights, and allegedly sophisticated female pop stars would avoid the word “feminist” like it’s a dirty word. Listening to their music leaves me feeling irritated from my skin to my core. Thankfully there are a bunch of diverse bands that provide an antidote like anti-itch bug spray, like Body Type, RVG and Dream Wife. Dream Wife remain too uniquely prickly on their third album to truly cross over to mainstream audiences, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some brilliant tracks that couldn’t sneak under the barbed wire, like “Who Do You Wanna Be?,” “Orbit” and the title track. I could see clever placement of a track like “Hot (Don’t Date a Musician”) on some Netflix TV show catching fire. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Eyelids, Holy Wave, The Coral, Raze Regal & White Denim Inc, RVG, En Attendant Ana, Shredded Sun, Star 99, Yo La Tengo, Coventry, Falling Stars, Truth Club, Drop Nineteens, EVNTYD, Soft On Crime, Parannoul, The Black Watch, Tough Age, Ratboys, Motorama, Life Strike, Buddie, Colored Lights, Marnie Stern. | More.

Body Type – Expired Candy (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind) | UK | Bandcamp
Bad//Dreems – HOO HA! (Farmer and the Owl) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Belair Lip Bombs – Lush Life (Cousin Will) | Australia | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Painting of My Time (Floodlights) | Australia | Bandcamp
Geese – 3D Country (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
The Church – The Hypnogogue (CommVess) | Australia | Buy
RVG – Brain Worms (Fire) | Australia | Bandcamp
R.M.F.C. – Club Hits (Anti Fade) | Australia | Bandcamp
Upper Wilds – Jupiter (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
The Treasures Of Mexico – Burn the Jets (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
Dream Wife – Social Lubrication (Lucky Number) | UK | Bandcamp
The Dear Hunter – Migrant Returned (Equal Vision) | USA

Power Pop

In the late 00s, John Moen (drums, guitar) and Chris Slusarenko (guitar, bass, keyboards) banged out five albums with Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) as Boston Spaceships. I’d completely ignored them because, well, I can barely keep up with Pollard’s main band. I still need to give those albums a listen, but first, I had to acquaint myself with the first three albums by their next band, Eyelids, after The Accident Falls (2020), a beautiful rendering of Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett lyrics to power and jangle pop. Like that album, their fifth is produced by R.E.M.’s Pete Buck, and it’s heavier on the jangle. Probably they figure of the kiddos in the likes of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever can revive interest in jangle pop, why not these indie veterans. Why not indeed, essential stuff for jangleheads. Janglephiliacs? | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: The Evening Sons, Chris Farren, Diners, Hurry, Uniboys, Norm Archer, Pete Molinari, Poppy Patica, Curling, Sharp Pins, Onesie, The New Pornographers, Grande Royale, The On And Ons, Guided By Voices, Militarie Gun, Teenage Fanclub, Diamond Dogs, Guided By Voices, The Struts, Onesie, Citizen, Foo Fighters, Ming City Rockers, Bully, Danko Jones, The Front Bottoms, Starbenders, Jeff Rosenstock. | More.

The Belair Lip Bombs – Lush Life (Cousin Will) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Treasures Of Mexico – Burn the Jets (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
Eyelids – A Colossal Waste of Light (Jealous Butcher) | USA | Bandcamp
Tamar Berk – Tiny Injuries (Tamar Berk) | USA | Bandcamp
Liquid Mike – S/T (Kitschy Spirit) | USA | Bandcamp
Sharp Pins – Turtle Rock (Sharp Pins) | USA | Bandcamp
Star 99 – Bitch Unlimited (Lauren) | USA | Bandcamp
The Belair Lip Bombs – Lush Life (Cousin Will) | Australia | Bandcamp
Ronnie D’Addario – All Gathered in One Room (Ronnie D’Addario) | USA | Bandcamp
Falling Stars – Lonely No More (Tee Pee) | USA
The Whiffs – Scratch ‘N’ Sniff (DIG!) | USA | Bandcamp
Tee Vee Repairman – What’s on TV (Total Punk) | Australia | Bandcamp
Screaming Females – Desire Pathway (Don Giovanni) | USA | Bandcamp

Jazz

While I don’t keep up with the whole jazz scene, I do have a thing for experimental big band, rooted in my love of Charles Mingus’ most expansive works, and the fifth album from this Stockholm band is a whopper of a triple album. Recorded at Atlantis studio in Stockholm with 43 musicians and mixed by Jim O’Rourke, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into, nearly two hours of music that balances avant-garde free jazz/fusion intensity with some really pleasing compositions. The final track concludes with some jazz poetry in the form of a riddle about a mysterious “last of the late great finger wigglers,” the legendary tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee. | Buy

Bubbling under: Mike Reed, Jamie Branch, Misha Panfilov, The Circling Sun, Yussef Dayes, Dave Easley, Rich Ruth, The Unknown New, Scree, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Jason Moran, High Pulp, Wadada Leo Smith and Orange Wave Electric, Prairie Wolf, James Brondon Lewis & Red Lily Quintet, Lakecia Benjamin, Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily, The Latin Dead, deVon Russell Gray, Nathan Hanson, Davu Seru, Pat Methany, Artemis, Alfa Mist. More.

Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz – Ex Machina (Pi) | USA | Bandcamp
Rich Ruth – Live at Third Man Records (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Vipertime – Arise (HPBC) | UK | Bandcamp
Fire! Orchestra – Echoes (Rune Grammofon) | Sweden | Buy
Matt Ulery – Mannerist (Woolgathering) | USA | Bandcamp
Isaiah Collier – Parallel Universe (Night Dreamer) | USA | Bandcamp
Aaron Dooley – The International Disassociation of (Centripetal Force) | USA | Bandcamp
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation) | USA | Bandcamp
Lakecia Benjamin – Phoenix (Whirlwind) | USA | Bandcamp
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar) | USA | Bandcamp
The Unknown New – Three Floors (Unknown New) | USA | Bandcamp
Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek – New Future City Radio (International Anthem) | USA | Bandcamp
The Necks – Travel (Northern Spy) | Australia | Bandcamp

Jazz Fusion & Jazz-Funk

More music pulled from the two day session from last year. This is El Paraiso practicing some restraint, because they likely could have created a six volume collection from this collaboration of psychedelic jazz. And many fans would eat it all up. The supergroup of London’s Tamar Osborn on flute/sax and Al MacSween on keys, 2/3 of Causa Sui plus Martin Rude of Sun River/Edena Gardens have created an endlessly listenable fusion of jazz-rock and psych rock. Recommended for those wishing Traffic had hooked up with Return to Forever. | Buy

Bubbling under: Joseph Shabason, High Pulp, Daniel Villareal, Zopp, Wadada Leo Smith and Orange Wave Electric, muva of Earth, Sexmob, Alabaster dePlume, KNOWER, Takashi Kokubo & Andrea Esperti, Charif Megarbane, Pat Methany, Dinner Party, Alfa Mist. | More.

Agusa – Prima Materia (K2) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Cazayoux – Cazayoux (Ramble) | USA | Bandcamp
London Odense Ensemble – Jaiyede Sessions Volume 2 (El Paraiso) | UK/Denmark | Buy
Vipertime – Arise (HPBC) | UK | Bandcamp
Fire! Orchestra – Echoes (Rune Grammofon) | Sweden | Buy
Isaiah Collier – Parallel Universe (Night Dreamer) | USA | Bandcamp
Edena Gardens – Live Momentum (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Aaron Dooley – The International Disassociation of (Centripetal Force) | USA | Bandcamp
Lakecia Benjamin – Phoenix (Whirlwind) | USA | Bandcamp
Sunwatchers – Music Is Victory Over Time (Trouble In Mind) | USA | Bandcamp
King Krule – Space Heavy (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns – Weejuns (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
Modern Nature – No Fixed Point in Space (Bella Union) | UK | Bandcamp

Global, Reggae, Dub & Afrobeat

Austin based global/LatinX garage psych band. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Creation Rebel, Hannu Saha ja Pakastee, Polobi and the Gwo Ka Masters, Bokani Dyer, Baaba Maal, Fatoumata Diawara, Bombino, Tinariwen, Jantra, Brown Spirits, Adrian Younge & Tony Allen, Dengue Fever, African Head Charge, Dudu Tassa, Jonny Greenwood, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramid, Altin Gün, Ekiti Sound, Dele Sosimi & the Estuary 21, Anoushka Shankar, Pachyman. | More.

Nemegata – Voces (Nemegata) | USA | Bandcamp
Cazayoux – Cazayoux (Ramble) | USA | Bandcamp
Godflesh – Purge (Avalanche) | UK | Bandcamp
The Loving Paupers – Ladders (Easy Star) | USA | Bandcamp
Goat – Medicine (Rocket) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy – O Yinne! (Philophon) | Ghana | Bandcamp
Vipertime – Arise (HPBC) | UK | Bandcamp
EXEK – The Map and the Territor (EXEK) | Australia | Bandcamp
Brown Spirits – Solitary Transmissions (Soul Jazz) | Australia | Buy
Mong Tong – Tao Fire (Guruguru Brain) | Taiwan | Bandcamp
Hollie Cook – Happy Hour in Dub (Merge) | UK | Bandcamp
Moonlight Benjamin – Wayo (Ma Case) | Haiti | Bandcamp
Langendorf United – Yeahno Yowouw Land (Sing a Song Fighter) | Sweden | Bandcamp

Electronic

On their third album, electronic psych experimentalists Mong Tong mix gamelon, tablas and space rock with samples of local celebratory (and funeral) music, resulting in strikingly original sounds that vary from party atmospheres to what would make for convincing horror movie soundtracks. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Retep Folo & Dorothy Moskowitz, Ekiti Sound, Buck Curran, Purelink, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Belbury Poly, Laurel Halo, Caroline Polachek, Luxury Elite, Prairiewolf, Induced Geometry, Kate NV, Psychic Temple featuring Lisa Bella Donna, nunn, Scrimshire, Forest Swords, Magic Sword, Merlin, Sofia Kourtesis, Aphex Twin, Everything But The Girl,, Slowspin, Tim Hecker, Föllakzoid, Kylie Minogue, Clark. | More.

9K33 – Urtext 1977 (9K33) | USA | Bandcamp
Mong Tong – Tao Fire (Guruguru Brain) | Taiwan | Bandcamp
Hysterical Love Project – Lashes (Motion Ward) | UK | Bandcamp
Laurel Halo – Atlas (Awe) | USA | Bandcamp
Kosmischer Läufer – The Secret Cosmic Music Of The East German Olympic Program 1972-83: Vol. 5 (Unknown Capability) | Germany | Bandcamp
Holy Tongue – Deliverance And Spiritual Warfare (Amidah) | UK | Bandcamp
Hannu Saha ja Pakasteet – Taas kerran, äkkiä (Bafe’s Factory) | Finland
Public Memory – Elegiac Beat (Felte) | USA | Bandcamp
Teeth Of The Sea – Hive (Rocket) | UK | Bandcamp
Jantra – Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds From the Fashaga Underground (Ostinato) | Sudan | Bandcamp
Steven Wilson – The Harmony Codex (Virgin) | UK
John Cale – Mercy (Double Six/Domino) | UK
Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen a Way (Fire Talk) | USA | Bandcamp

R&B, Soul & Funk

Formed way back in 2004, Austin’s The Bright Light Social Hour is only on their fifth album since 2010. They caught my attention with Jude Vol. I & II in 2019 & 2020, with some really schmoove kosmiche infused psych pop. On their latest, they circle back to some funk elements from their debut album (which also featured, for better and worse, post-hardcore, post-rock, and southern boogie blues jams), while continuing the synth pop elements added on Space Is Still The Place (2015), enhanced by bits of prog. This time they really lean into the highly polished sophisti-pop approach. In the wrong hands (Tame Impala), this could be awful, but they’re just too good for the music to go off the rails. This is summer music that at first percolates in the background with the hum of the air conditioner, but soon seduces with the subtly relentless grooves, enhanced by some really effective arrangements (expertly placed background vocals, just the right amount of synth burps and sighs, and studio class funk drumming). Just do the planet a favor and use protection. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: The Ironsides, Jim Jones All Stars, Corinne Bailey Rae, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sunny War, McKinley Dixon, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Gabriels, Sampha, BLK ODYSSY, Niecy Blues, Say She She, RAYE, Lucas Santtana, Lil Yachty, Rainy Miller x Space Afrika, Janelle Monáe, St. Paul & The Broken Bones. | More.

ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Rough Trade) | USA | Bandcamp
The Bright Light Social Hour – Emergency Leisure (Modern Outsider) | USA | Bandcamp
Raze Regal & White Denim Inc – Raze Regal & White Denim Inc (Bella Union) | USA | Bandcamp
Miranda And The Beat – Miranda and the Beat (Ernest Jenning) | USA | Bandcamp
Jalen Ngonda – Come Around and Love Me (Daptone) | UK | Bandcamp
Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth – Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman) | USA | Bandcamp
Isaiah Collier – Parallel Universe (Night Dreamer) | USA | Bandcamp
Howard “Youngblood” Bomar – I, Who Have Nothing (Sundazed) | USA | Bandcamp
Niecy Blues – Exit Simulation (Kranky) | USA | Bandcamp
Black Pumas – Chronicles of a Diamond (ATO) | USA | Bandcamp
Algiers – Shook (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune) | UK | Bandcamp
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar) | USA | Bandcamp

Hip Hop & Rap

Algiers got a fair amount of acclaim for their fusion of Post-Punk/Post-Industrial with Gospel on their first two albums, but inexplicably became really unfashionable for a while. Their fourth album has them collaborating with a number of artists, including Big Rube, Zack de la Rocha, billy woods, Backxwash and more, fusing Hip Hop with their core sound quite successfully. I’m not saying this is the best pure hip hop album, but it’s the album that clicks with my own listening habits the most. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: The Streets, Fatboi Sharif & Steel Tipped Dove, Alfa Mist, Atmosphere, Noname, Shabazz Palaces, Masego, Sleaford Mods. | More.

Algiers – Shook (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune) | UK | Bandcamp
Aesop Rock – Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers) | USA | Bandcamp
El Michels Affair & Black Thought – Glorious Game (Big Crown) | USA | Bandcamp
McKinley Dixon – Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (City Slang) | USA | Bandcamp
Slauson Malone 1 – EXCELSIOR (Warp) | USA | Bandcamp
Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum) | USA | Bandcamp
MIKE – Burning Desire (10k) | USA | Bandcamp
billy woods & Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz) | USA | Bandcamp
JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown – Scaring the Hoes (AWAL) | USA | Bandcamp
slowthai – UGLY (Method) | UK | Bandcamp
RAYE – My 21st Century Blues (Human Re Sources) | UK
Rainy Miller x Space Afrika – A Grisaille Wedding (Fixed Abode) | UK | Bandcamp

Folk & Americana

When Emile Bureau released his debut solo album The Black Spider (2020), it was in conjunction with his Denmark based band The Sonic Dawn’s fourth album, Enter the Mirage (2020). This time around we don’t get the double deal, but we do get some increasingly impressive songwriting. Emile’s solo psychedelic folk maintains a recognizably fluid sense of flow while subtly incorporating elements of south Asian classical and Brazilian bossa nova. His surreal ruminations on nature and the cosmos are luminescent and highly addictive. The Italian Heavy Psych Sounds label is more associated with an impressively consistently high quality heavy stoner psych. Fans should take the leap of faith and try out the gentler side of psychedelia here. Fingers crossed The Sonic Dawn’s fifth album is just around the corner. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Sam Burton, Elkhorn, Bobby Lee, A.S. Fanning, Mapache, Peter One, Aaron Dooley, Krano, Jeffrey Silverstein, Myrkur, Glyders, Maya Ongaku, The Bures Band, Cory Hanson, Stella Kola, Julie Byrne, Sun June, Will Johnson, The Witching Tale, Hannu Saha ja Pakasteet , John Francis Flynn, Estrella del Sol, Cat Power, Grian Chatten, Dylan LeBlanc, Candidate, Betty Benedeadly & Braden Guess, Maria BC, Immaterial Possession. | More.

Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box) | UK | Buy
Shallowater – There is a Well (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
Hollow Hand – Your Own Adventure (Curation) | UK | Bandcamp
Emile – Spirit (Heavy Psych) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Motorpsycho – Yay! (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
The Haven Green – Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt (Mega Dodo) | UK | Bandcamp
Rose City Band – Garden Party (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
Lamp of the Universe – Kaleidoscope Mind (Astral Projection) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Me And My Kites – A Safe Trail (Me and My Kites) | Sweden | Bandcamp
The Chronicles of Father Robin – The Songs & Tales of Airoea – Book I (Karisma) | Norway | Bandcamp
Matthew ‘Doc’ Dunn – Fantastic Light (Cosmic Range) | Canada | Bandcamp
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth – Secret Stratosphere (Merge) | USA | Bandcamp
Harp – Albion (Bella Union) | USA | Bandcamp

Country, Country Blues/Psych/Rock/Soul

When Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips/Moon Duo) debuted Rose City Band as a solo project in 2019, there was more J.J Cale choogle found in his Cosmic Americana than country. However, as the project has expanded into a full band, including Barry Walker on pedal steel, the country element grew stronger. That’s alright by me, as he still maintains a similarly soothing, chill ambience. And since this has become Johnson’s primary craft for riffriding, I wouldn’t mind hearing evidence on record of the band’s ability to let loose with more dynamic rock in their live sets. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Hot Spring Water, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Mikaela Davis, Eric Silverman, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band, Doug Paisley, The Murlocs, Florry, Allison Russell, James & The Giants, Margo Price, Jolie Holland, Lori McKenna, The Pink Stones, Lucero, Margo Cilker, Robert Finley, Tyler Childers, Kara Jackson, Maybel, The War And Treaty, Deer Tick, The Pink Stones, Cowboy Junkies. | More.

Shallowater – There is a Well (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
Rose City Band – Garden Party (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth – Secret Stratosphere (Merge) | USA | Bandcamp
Jack Browning – Red Eye Radio (R&D) | UK | Bandcamp
Mapache – Swinging Stars (Innovative Leisure) | USA | Bandcamp
The Bures Band – Birds Nest (Cardinal Fuzz) | Australia | Bandcamp
Wilco – Cousin (dBpm) | USA | Bandcamp
Will Johnson – No Ordinary Crown (Keeled Scales) | USA | Bandcamp
Carmen Nickerson – Room to Grow (Carmen Nickerson) | USA | Bandcamp
Bob Lefevre & The Already Gone – Two (Already Gone) | USA | Bandcamp
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit – Weathervanes (Southeastern) | USA | Bandcamp
Hot Apple Band – So Long, Noodle House (Third Eye Stimuli) | Australia | Bandcamp
Country Westerns – Forgive the City (Fat Possum) | USA | Bandcamp

Blues Rock

I’ve always appreciated Rival Sons’ talent for writing strong tunes and Jay Buchanan’s powerful voice since their 2009 debut. But despite seeing them live twice and being impressed, I’ve also held them at arm’s length, as I felt they weren’t quite distinctive enough, compared to a band like Iceland’s The Vintage Caravan. However, listening to Feral Roots (2019) and their latest next to Greta Van Fleet, I can see this band really does have it together, and deserves the mainstream success that inexplicably has only translated for GVF. Lightbringer is nearly as great. Either way, anyone craving a bluesy hard rock band at the top of their game are in luck. Check out their video of “Nobody Wants to Die” with Fuzzlord and gang vs. The Preacher! | Buy

Bubbling under: Dommengang, Howlin’ Sun, Child, Zâloman Grass, The Murlocs, Westing, Morass Of Molasses, The Heavy, Ally Venable, The Arcs, When Rivers Meet, King Howl, The Kills, Dewolff.

Graveyard – 6 (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Buy
All Them Witches – Baker’s Dozen (ATW) | USA | Stream
Rival Sons – Lightbringer (Atlantic) | USA | Buy
Rival Sons – Darkfighter (Atlantic) | USA | Buy
wht.rbbt.obj – Whiskey Hotel Tango EP (wht.rbbt.obj) | USA | Bandcamp
Ritual King – The Infinite Mirror (Ripple) | UK | Bandcamp
The Third Mind – The Third Mind 2 (Yep Roc) | USA | Bandcamp
Moonlight Benjamin – Wayo (Ma Case) | Haiti | Bandcamp
Black Pumas – Chronicles of a Diamond (ATO) | USA | Bandcamp
Glyders – Maria’s Hunt (Drag City) | USA | Bandcamp
Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows – Hail to the Underground (Blues Funeral) | Australia | Bandcamp
Durand Jones – Wait Til I Get Over (Dead Oceans) | USA | Bandcamp
Smokey Mirror – Smokey Mirror (Rise Above) | USA | Buy

Singer-Songwriters

The prolific David Eugene Edwards is responsible for approximately 20 albums between Sixteen Horsepower, Wovenhand and collaborations. Fans of his influential folk noir and gothic Americana should appreciate this psych folk adorned with a gloomy shroud of gothic country. The atmospherics are assisted by Ben Chisholm (Converge, Chelsea Wolfe) and a layer of electronics informed by post-industrial and darkwave, something he’s dabbled in on later Wovenhand and a collaboration with Crime & the City Solution’s Alexandre Hacke on Risha (2018). Inspired both by a vision and the Greek myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus and other ancient folklore, his solo debut finds Edwards more inspired than he’s been in years. Predictably, the album was completely ignored by NPR Music and Pitchfork on it’s release, and instead got reviews exclusively from metal blogs, and one metal glossie, Metal Hammer. Apparently only metal fans understand and appreciate Edwards’ intensity. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Maria Elena Silva, Grian Chatten, Dylan LeBlanc, Emma Tricca, Yuma Abe, Maria BC, Kevin Morby, Anna B Savage, Vanille, Jonathan Wilson, Lydia Loveless, Stephen Steinbrink, Susanne Sundfør, Margaret Glaspy, Lisa O’Neill, King Tuff, Billy Nomates, Anna St. Louis, Pete Molinari, Brigid Mae Power, J. Wiegold, Dorthia Cottrell, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Timber Timbre, Margo Price, Jolie Holland, Angie McMahan, Lori McKenna, Shirley Collins. | More.

David Eugene Edwards – Hyacinth (Sargent House) | USA | Bandcamp
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Rough Trade) | USA | Bandcamp
PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan) | UK | Bandcamp
Tamar Berk – Tiny Injuries (Tamar Berk) | USA | Bandcamp
Matthew ‘Doc’ Dunn – Fantastic Light (Cosmic Range) | Canada | Bandcamp
Crosslegged – Another Blue (Crosslegged) | USA | Bandcamp
Sam Burton – Dear Departed (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
H. Hawkline – Milk for Flowers (Heavenly) | UK | Bandcamp
A.S. Fanning – Mushroom Cloud (K&F) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Peter One – Come Back to Me (Verve) | Ivory Coast | Buy
Cat Power – Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert (Domino) | USA
Rahill – Flowers at Your Feet (Big Dada) | USA | Bandcamp
Jen Cloher – I Am the River, the River Is Me (Milk!) | Australia | Bandcamp

Dance-Pop

Not quite a full Lucky 13 here, the dance-pop parties has kind of leveled off at the Doom Cave the past 20 years or so. Chappell Roan gets the nod for the wittiest lyrics, and least annoying music.

Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Island) | USA
Slayyyter – STARFUCKER (Fader) | USA | Bandcamp
Janelle Monáe – The Age of Pleasure (Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic) | USA
Álex Anwandter – El diablo en el cuerpo (5AM) | Chile
Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good! (EMI) | USA
Carly Rae Jepsen – The Loveliest Time (Interscope) | USA
Kylie Minogue – Tension (BMG) | Australia
Cowgirl Clue – Rodeo Star (Vada Vada) | USA | Bandcamp
Troye Sivan – Something to Give Each Other (EMI) | Australia | Bandcamp
Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (Republic) | USA
Alison Goldfrapp – The Love Invention (Skint/BMG) | UK
Nuovo Testamento – Love Lines (Discoteca Italia) | USA | Bandcamp
Romy – Mid Air (Young) | USA | Bandcamp

Live Albums

Rosalie Cunningham – Live at Acapela (Cherry Red) | UK
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Live in Chicago ’23 (Needlejuice) | Australia | Bandcamp
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth – Secret Stratosphere (Merge) | USA | Bandcamp
Rich Ruth – Live at Third Man Records (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Ecstatic Vision – Live at Duna Jam (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Live at Red Rocks ’22 (Needlejuice) | Australia | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – Loppen 2021 (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Edena Gardens – Live Momentum (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Slaughter on First Avenue (Rise Above) | UK
The Feelies – Some Kinda Love: Performing The Music Of The Velvet Underground (Bar/None) | USA | Bandcamp
The Vintage Caravan – The Monuments Tour (Napalm) | Iceland
Cat Power – Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert (Domino) | USA
Parannoul – After the Night (Topshelf) | South Korea | Bandcamp

The Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is the club for musicians and bands who have been in action for 40 years to over a half century. Not everyone peaks in their 20s or 30s, as some musicians have done their best work well into their 70s and 80s. To put this into perspective, Frank Sinatra, who’s first single was in 1942, had what anyone would consider a long career. But he would have had to release great albums after 1982. Unless you consider L.A. Is My Lady (1984) great, his last great album would have been Watertown from 1970. Peter Gabriel’s first official album in 21 years is possibly his best since So (1986). Despite releasing the entire double album as singles throughout the year, it seems everyone has kind of slept on it, at least in terms of year-end lists. He no longer has an MTV to play “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” to death, but at this point he shouldn’t need it.

Bubbling under: OMD, John Cale, Pere Ubu, Hawkwind, Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee, Madness, Arto Lindsay, Vince Clarke, Metallica, Ali Farka Touré, The Damned, Voivod, Uriah Heep, Iggy Pop, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Shirley Collins, Raven, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dexys, Duran Duran, Bettye LaVette, Taj Mahal, The Rolling Stones, Stray, Pretenders, Public Image Ltd., Doro, Pat Methany, Overkill, Jethro Tull, U.D.O., L.A. Guns, Paul Simon, The Zombies, Girlschool, Dokken, Half Japanese, Depeche Mode, U2.

The Church – The Hypnogogue (CommVess) | Buy
Peter Gabriel – i/o (Real World) | Bandcamp
Bush Tetras – They Live in My Head (Wharf Cat) | Bandcamp
Rain Parade – Last Rays of a Dying Sun (Flatiron) | Buy
Gong – Unending Ascending (Snapper) | Bandcamp
Crime & the City Solution – The Killer (Mute) | Bandcamp
Sparks – The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (Island) | Bandcamp
Swans – The Beggar (Young God) | Bandcamp
Uriah Heep – Chaos & Colour (Silver Lining)
Baaba Maal – Being (Marathon Artists) | Bandcamp
The Feelies – Some Kinda Love: Performing The Music Of The Velvet Underground (Bar/None) | Bandcamp
Tinariwen – Amatssou (Wedge) | Bandcamp
Dolly Parton – Rockstar (Butterfly) | Buy

I just learned that these artists also released albums, but I just can’t: Rick Springfield, Duff McKagen, Joe Perry, Cat Stevens/Yusuf, Yes, Def Leppard, Roger Waters, Ian Hunter, Nils Lofgren, Neil Young, Paul Rodgers, Ann Wilson & Tripsitter, John Mellencamp, Alice Cooper.

Non-Metal For Metalheads

I’m using genre tags in my database filter for this, so Panopticon and Wayfarer are metal bands that snuck on. Another Heaven refer to themselves as “sludgegaze,” as good as tag as any to describe their formula of post-punk, post-rock, shoegaze and sludge pop. The album came out of chaos and hardships, so while the music can be dreamy, it’s more of the wake-up-screaming variety. See also Ali Jaafar’s (guitar, vocals, cello) other project, DIIE. | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Golden Hours, Wolvennest, Sprain, John Cale, Slow Wake, Pere Ubu, mandy, Indiana, The Holy Family, Model/Actriz, Wather From Your Eyes, Big | Brave, Teeth Of The Sea. | More.

Spotlights – Alchemy for the Dead (Ipecac) | USA | Bandcamp
IE – Junk Body (Moon Glyph) | USA | Bandcamp
din-din – din-din (Splithand) | USA | Bandcamp
Squid – O Monolith (Warp) | UK | Bandcamp
Mansion – Second Death (Mansion) | Finland | Bandcamp
9K33 – Urtext 1977 (9K33) | USA | Bandcamp
Swans – The Beggar (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
Another Heaven – IV: Heaven Sent (Mpls Ltd) | USA | Bandcamp
Panopticon – The Rime of Memory (Bindrune) | USA | Bandcamp
The Psychotic Monks – Pink Colour Surgery (Vicious Circle) | France | Bandcamp
Dan Melchior Band – Welcome to Redacted City (Midnight Cruiser) | USA | Bandcamp
Wayfarer – American Gothic (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
Slow Draw – The Mystic Crib (Slow Draw) | USA | Bandcamp

Reissues

That’s a lotta Hawkwind. For those note so committed or with that much $, there are more reasonable smaller versions.

Hawkwind – Space Ritual (Atomhenge/Cherry Red, 1973) 11CD
The Teardrop Explodes – Culture Bunker 1976-82 (Universal) 6CD
The Replacements – Tim (Let it Bleed Session) (Rhino, 1985) 2CD
The Dream Syndicate – History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned (Fire, 1982) 4CD
Wishbone Ash – Argus 50th Anniversary (Snapper, 1972) 3CD, 2LP
The Pretty Things – The Complete Studio Albums 1965-2020 (Madfish) 15LP
Acetone – I’m Still Waiting (New West, 1992-2001) 11LP
Fun Boy Three – The Complete Fun Boy Three (Chrysalis) 5CD
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs (Island, 1985)
Pharoah Sanders – Pharoah (Luaka Bop, 1977)
Neil Young – Chrome Dreams (Reprise, 1977)
The Breeders – Last Splash (4AD, 1993)
Arthur Russell – Picture of a Bunny Rabbit (Audika/Rough Trade)

Bubbling under: Thin Lizzy, A.R. Kane, T. Rex, Pink Floyd, The Who, Cardiacs, Rush, Albert Ayler Quintet, Nirvana, Joe Gibbs & the Professionals, The Who, Motorhead, The Darkness, Betty Davis, Ibrahim Hesnawi, Les Rallizes Denudes, Steely Dan, Sparklehorse, New Order, Laraaji, Gals Costa, ABC, John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy, The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, De La Soul, Joni Mitchell, Drive-By Truckers, Little Feat, The Auteurs, Haircutt 100, Billy Bragg, Nancy Sinatra, David Bowie, Prince, R.E.M., B.E.F., Neutral Milk Hotel.

Late Entries

As always, Raven Sings The Blues elevates year-end lists to a beautiful art form. Last year it came out the same day as mine, the Friday before before Krampusnacht. This time it was nearly two weeks later, and I had some catching up to do. Of all the lists that aren’t mine, RSTB best exemplifies a cohesive taste and aesthetic that is impossible to argue with. Pretty much all the others are garbage in comparison, though Rosy Overdrive and Aquarium Drunkard also get honorable mentions for covering a ton of indie rock and beyond that’s completely ignored by all the other publications. I have to say, slogging through AD’s sprawling, unorganized list was a bit of an ordeal. It wouldn’t kill them to curate it a bit, given their diverse coverage, to some kind of genre or theme breakdowns.

We can’t always rely on EOY lists to fill the gaps. Sometimes good old fashioned word of mouth works when all the other lists fail to note a great album. Such was the case with La Rosa Noir, a Chicago band lead by Yeshi Regalado. The Chicana songwriter tells stories of the punk scene, relationships, and the loss of her mother. The dreamy post-punk/surf noir hybrid fits in perfectly with women-lead Trip Jam bands like Body Type, Goat Girl, Mere Women, Groupie and Warpaint. Still waiting for a way to actually buy the album.

La Rosa Noir – Arellano (My Grito Industries)
Upper Wilds – Jupiter (Thrill Jockey) | Bandcamp
Vanity Mirror – Puff (We Are Busy Bodies) | Bandcamp
The Treasures Of Mexico – Burn the Jets (Spinout Nuggets) | Bandcamp
Volksempfänger – Attack of Sound (Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube) | Bandcamp
Sweat – Who Do They Think They Are? (Tee Pee) | Bandcamp
Air Raid – Fatal Encounter (High Roller) | Bandcamp
Dust – et cetera, etc EP (Kanine) | Bandcamp
Sherpa – Land of Corals (Subsound) | Bandcamp
Goat Explosion – Threatening Skies (Into Endless Oceans) | Bandcamp
Axis: Sova – Blinded by Oblivion (Drag City) | Bandcamp
The Toads – In the Wilderness (Anti Fade) | Bandcamp
Death And Vanilla – Flicker (Fire) | Bandcamp
Catatonic Suns – Catatonic Suns (Agitated) | Bandcamp
Kerrigan – Bloodmoon (HR) | Bandcamp
Liquid Mike – S/T (Kitschy Spirit) | Bandcamp
The Chronicles of Father Robin – The Songs & Tales of Airoea – Book I (Karisma) | Bandcamp
Cigarette Camp – Chalk EP (Dead Broke) | Bandcamp
Matthew ‘Doc’ Dunn – Fantastic Light (Cosmic Range) | Bandcamp
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth – Secret Stratosphere (Merge) | Bandcamp
Rich Ruth – Live at Third Man Records (Third Man) | Bandcamp
Display Homes – What if You’re Right and They’re Wrong? (Erste Theke) | Bandcamp
Soft Serve – Soft Covers (Little Lunch) | Bandcamp
HMLTD – The Worm (Lucky Number) | Bandcamp
Draag – Dark Fire Heresy (Draag) | Bandcamp
Crosslegged – Another Blue (Crosslegged) | Bandcamp
Deeper – Careful! (Sub Pop) | Bandcamp
Fearing – Destroyer (Profound Lore) | Bandcamp
Blood Bells – Now the Dawn (Blood Bells) | Bandcamp
Papernut Cambridge – Channel Suite (Gare Du Nord) | Bandcamp
1476 – In Exile (Prophecy) | Bandcamp
Gong – Unending Ascending (Snapper) | Bandcamp
Margarita Witch Cult – Margarita Witch Cult (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
En Attendant Ana – Principia (Trouble In Mind) | Bandcamp
Shredded Sun – Each Dot and Each Line (Shredded Sun) | Bandcamp
Star 99 – Bitch Unlimited (Lauren3) | Bandcamp
The Psychotic Monks – Pink Colour Surgery (Vicious Circle) | Bandcamp
Coventry – Our Lady of Perpetual Health (Septic Jukebox) | Bandcamp
H. Hawkline – Milk for Flowers (Heavenly) | Bandcamp
Elkhorn – On the Whole Universe in All Directions (Centripetal Force) | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: Lord & Sharp, EXEK, The Belair Lip Bombs, Ritual Howls, Dan Melchior Band, Vision Master, Vipertime, Bobby Lee, Nashville Ambient Ensemble, Matt Ulery, Thriller, The Third Mind, Seablite, Iron Void, Hysterical Love Project, Lord Mountain, Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns, Traindodge, Heavenward, Negative Reaction, Truth Club, A.S. Fanning, Hollie Cook, Melenas, Institute, Langendorf United, Disguised Malignance, Mapache, Peter One, Aaron Dooley, Krano, Mos Eisley Spaceport, James and the Cold Gun, Maya Ongaku, Soft On Crime, The Unknown New, Musta Huone, Orions Belte, Monde UFO, The Smashing Times, Jeffrey Silverstein, Air Raid, Glyders, Mystic 100’s, The Bures Band, Sun June, Will Johnson, Fabio do Nascimento, Sans Merit, Bondo, Misha Panfilov, Stephen Steinbrink.

Fun Cheese

I’ll also add somewhat of an equivalent to guilty pleasure. There are plenty of albums getting attention that are corny as hell by Creeper, Greta Van Fleet, Skindred and Starbenders. I had deep reservations about all of them, but the one album I truly enjoyed was the shameless Rush worship of Crown Lands’ Fearless. Sure, there are also elements to Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson, but mostly it’s a super fun Rush album. | Bandcamp

Crown Lands – Fearless (Spinefarm) | Bandcamp
Twin Temple – God is Dead (Pentagrammation) | Buy
By Fire & Sword – Glory (No Remorse) | Bandcamp
Dolly Parton – Rockstar (Butterfly) | Buy
Greta Van Fleet – Starcatcher (Republic)
Juliana Hatfield – Sings ELO (American Laundromat3) | Bandcamp
The Coffinshakers – Graves, Release Your Dead (Svart) | Bandcamp
Creeper – Sanguivore (Spinefarm)
Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution – Golden Age of Music (Mascot) | Bandcamp
The Struts – Pretty Vicious (Big Machine) | Bandcamp
Dethklok – Dethalbum IV (WaterTower)
Lovebites – Judgement Day (Victor)
Diamond Dogs – About the Hardest Nut to Crack (Wild Kingdom)

New Old Discoveries

Every year, along with keeping up with just a tiny percentage of the 100,000 new albums released each year, I take deep dives down rabbitholes discovering older music I’ve missed. Some years I’ve logged as many as 800 new old discoveries. Like last year, it’s under 300. I can’t even pretend to have heard everything I want to hear. Some, like Oliver Nelson, Eric Dolphy, of course, and Judee Sill, Spirit and Townes Van Zandt, I knew, but just hadn’t heard those particular albums in full. Others, like Good Rats, are completely new to me, and the discovery provided days fun getting to know their catalog. From the land of the Pizza Rat, this Long Island band formed way back in 1964, and released their first album in 1969, a promising mix of psychedelic and hard rock. Tasty is where they hit their peak with a super cool fusion of psych prog, jazz-rock, and touches of showtuney extravagance of Queen and Meat Loaf. It’s strange that they’re relatively unknown now, as they were kind of a big deal. When Twisted Sister, Zebra and Aerosmith were still just opening acts in small clubs, Good Rats were occasionally headlining at Madison Square Garden, The Nassau Coliseum and The Philadelphia Spectrum, supported by Rush, KISS, Journey and others. Ratcity in Blue (1975) is nearly as great — “Reason to Kill” slays me. Peppi Marchello is a standout vocalist, compared by some to Steve Marriott, but I’d say he sounds closer to Roger Chapman of Family/The Streetwalkers.

Good Rats – Tasty (WB, 1974)
Oliver Nelson with Eric Dolphy – Straight Ahead (Prestige, 1961)
Good Rats – Ratcity in Blue (Ratcity, 1975)
Oliver Nelson Sextet – Screamin’ the Blues (Prestige, 1961)
Deaf Dealer – Journey Into Fear (Sonic Age, 1987)
Judee Sill – Heart Food (Asylum, 1973)
Spirit – The Family That Plays Together (Ode, 1968)
Lee Clayton – Border Affair (Capitol, 1978)
Ups And Downs – Sleepless (What Goes On, 1986)
Townes Van Zandt – Townes Van Zandt (Poppy, 1969)
Steve Hiett – Down on the Road by the Beach (CBS/Efficient Space, 1983)
Eskaton 4 – Visions (Soleil Zeuhl, 1981)
Fehlfarben – Monarchy and Everyday Life (Electrola, 1980)

Bubbling under: The Fall, The Aints, The Holiday Crowd, The Jim Carroll Band, Chubby Checker, Maple Mars, Ian Blurton, Tricky Woo, 3Ds, C’mon, Eyeless In Gaza, Communicant, The Moles, Antena, Deux Filles, Iron Age, The Sadies, Regal Worm, Dion, Nathan Hall & The Sinister Locals, Black Bonzo, Strawberry Path, Edge Of Sanity, Sotomonte, Wolf, Mistreater, Temple Fang, Whitelands, Soft Hearted Scientists, Jalayan, Rick Hromadka, Cursed Arrows, Ram Jam, ACTORS, Fire Party, Kahvas Jute, Parish Hall, Psychic TV, SS Decontrol, Stephen Stills, Springhouse, Bam Bam, Fooks Nihil, Dead Flowers, Lester Bowie, The Darling Buds, Revolver, Diesel Park West.

Records

Last year (2022) I had the blahs being cooped up inside during the horrendous summer heatwave and not getting out enough. I buy downloads mostly, but missed going to record stores with a mission, so I started buying records, and put up 18 display shelves which I could change every week or so and have something to look at. I bought seven of my Lucky 13 on LP, but won’t list those since I already talked about them. The order isn’t related to how I rate the music, but rather how stoked I was to find it, or how cool the album art, packaging, gatefold is. The Messa album was sold out everywhere I looked last year, but I got to pick it up at their live show. The first two Black Angels albums were reissued in special Levitation editions. On the top of my short wantlist are any of the early Ufomammut records, which are hard to find at least at reasonable prices.

Colour Haze – All
Messa – Close
The Black Angels – Directions To See a Ghost
Sleep – Dopesmoker
Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
High On Fire – The Art of Self Defense
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Clear Spot
Wire – 154
Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind
The Sonic Dawn – Enter The Mirage
Blue Cheer – Outsideinside
Hawkwind – Hall of the Mountain Grill
Rush – Grace Under Pressure

Bubbling under: Pink Floyd, Baroness, Elder, Graveyard, Electric Light Orchestra, Uriah Heep, Yes.

Best of Texas

Halloween marked my second anniversary at Rancho Bulboso in Texas, and as always this list is a bit loose in that I chose to claim Harp, even though former Midlake member Tim Smith relocated with his wife Kathi Zung to Durham, NC, and Danny Lee Blackwell of Night Beats came back to his hometown of Dallas for a while, but migrates around the country.

Formed in 2013, Dallas based Narrow Head combine shoegaze, post-hardcore and grunge, influenced by Smashing Pumpkins, Helmet, Quicksand and Deftones. I also hear a bit of Floor & Torche’s sludge pop. Their third album, Moments of Clarity is by far their best yet, and has been creeping it’s way up my list and playlists. | Bandcamp

Spirit Adrift – Ghost at the Gallows (Bastrop)
Narrow Head – Moments of Clarity (Houston)
Holy Wave – Five of Cups (Austin)
The Bright Light Social Hour – Emergency Leisure (Austin)
Nemegata – Voces (Austin)
Night Beats – Rajan (Dallas)
Raze Regal & White Denim Inc – Raze Regal & White Denim Inc (Austin)
WE Are The Asteroid – WATA You, A Lion Tamer? (Austin)
Demons My Friends – Demons Seem to Gather (Austin)
Harp – Albion (Denton)
Lord & Sharp – Kiwi (Aural Canyon) | Bandcamp
The Stayres – The Stayres (Austin)
Slow Draw – The Mystic Crib (Hurst)

Bubbling under: Black Pumas, Sun June, Smokey Mirror, Cactus Lee, Skourge, Being Dead, Scaphoid, USA/Mexico, Troller, Water Damage, Burn Ritual, Slumbering Sun, Will Johnson, Thunder Horse, Fibril, Explosions In The Sky, Bridge Farmers, Summer Salt, Ally Venable, Terry Klein, Balmorhea, Frozen Soul, Whore Of Bethlehem, Club Coma.

Labels
In 2020 17 albums by Nuclear Blast made my list, and Ripple with 15 last year. Ripple tops the list for the third year in a row, and I’m sure I’m missing a couple that I have to dig into my Bandcamp collection and grab ’em. Their $5/mo subscription continues to be a bargain.

Ripple (15)
Heavy Psych (12
Napalm (12)
Relapse (12)
Nuclear Blast (11)
Century Media (10)
ATO (9)
Matador (9)
20 Buck Spin (8)
Season Of Mist (8)
Dying Victims (7)
Fire (7)
Magnetic Eye (7)

Bubbling under: Metal Blade, Partisan, Profound Lore, Svart, Fuzz Club.

Singles

As usual, I’m waiting for my singles guru Toby to come up one of his rare, but essential postings on The Finest Kiss. He almost tempts me to start buying actual 7″ records again. Best selection of indie pop, jangle pop, dream pop, and soul that you won’t see on any other list. At the moment, it is not published yet, so here’s last year’s.

Videos

Shows

I don’t get out as much as I used to, but had to see Elder since they were kind enough to come to town for the second year in a row. At the Fugitive show on Dec 1, I expected to hear some Power Trip songs, partly because Fugitive only has an EP worth of songs so far, but to see an actual Power Trip set with original members was a cool surprise!

Elder (Empire Control Room)
Fugitive/Power Trip (Mohawk)
Christian Mistress (Hell’s Heroes V)
Messa (The Lost Well)
Tower (Hell’s Heroes V)
High On Fire (Levitation)
Duel (Ripplefest)
Civic (Levitation)
Unwound (Levitation)
REZN (Empire Control Room)
Haunt (Hell’s Heroes V)
King Buffalo (Ripplefest)
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats (Levitation)

Bubbling under: Codeine, Wo Fat, Hällas, Danava, Maggot Heart, Gatekeeper, Pagan Altar, Freeways, Spell, Triptykon, Celtic Frost, Brocas Helm, Satan, Possessed, Razor, Skull Fist, Riot City.

Movies

Jack Shit sounds like a bad Halloween movie, but no. That would be Renfield. At some point in the past couple years, studios apparently decided not to make movies available on streaming services without paying extra. I pay so much for all the apps, I’m just not willing to chuck over another $20 to watch a newer release. There’s 26 seasons of Silent Witness available, so…

Jack Shit

Haven’t seen yet: The Boy and the Heron, Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, Barbie, A Haunting in Venice, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, May December, Asteroid City, Past Lives, Blue Beetle, Pretty Red Dress, Perfect Days, Poor Things, You Hurt My Feelings, Anatomy of a Fall, Passages, The Zone of Interest, The Holdovers, Bottoms, The Beasts, They Cloned Tyrone, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Quasi, Suzume, Air, John Wick: Chapter 4, Cocaine Bear, Linoleum.

Television

The huge disappointment of the very successful adaptation of William Gibson’s The Peripheral being cancelled was mitigated by the surprise return of S02 of Good Omens, based on one of my other all-time favorite books by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I love David Tennant so much in that, that I picked up the blu-ray of his Dr. Who episodes. That and Muppets Mayhem made me happy beyond reasonable expectations, which is more than one normally would dare expect from TV.

Good Omens S02 (Prime)
Muppets Mayhem S01 (Disney+)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel S05 (Prime)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
Daisy Jones & the Six (Prime)
The Gilded Age S02 (Max)
One Piece S01 (Netflix)
Sex Education S04 (Netflix)
Deadloch S01 (Prime)
Only Murders in the Building S03 (Hulu)
Ted Lasso S05 (Apple)
The Bear S02 (Hulu)
Goosebumps (Disney+)

Bubbling under: Perry Mason S02 (Prime), Heartstopper S01 (Netflix), What We Do in the Shadows S05 (FX), And Just Like That S02 (Prime), The Moonstone S01 (Prime), Hidden Assets S01 (Prime), Haelan Coben’s Shelter S01 (Prime), Never Have I Ever S04 (Netflix), The Bay S02 (Prime), Platonic (Apple), Upload S03 (Prime), Bupkis (Peacock), The White Lotus S02 (Max), Ridley S01 (Prime), Loudermilk S03 (Audience), XO Kitty S01 (Netflix), Sweet Kaaram Coffee (Prime), Wellmania (Netflix). Bad Sisters (Apple), Grantchester S08, Hope Street S01, The Lake S02 (Prime), Physical S02 (Apple), Father Brown S10, Murder in Sweden S01, Endeavour S09, D.I. Ray S01, The Tower S02, Beyond Paradise S01.

Haven’t seen: Foundation S02 (Apple), Silo S01 (Apple), The Great (Hulu), Dark Winds S02 (Prime), Reservation Dogs (FX), Slumberland, Riverdale (Netflix), The Outer Banks S01 (Netflix), Lockwood & Co S01 (Netflix).

Books

While I’ve been known to read everything and anything when it comes to music, I started getting bored with the 33-1/3 books that cover single albums. I’m more interested in how music connects with culture, history, other bands, which is why I prefer Dan Franklin’s previous book, Heavy, over his new Electric Wizard book. | Full Review

Fiction: I read a lot of floofy genre fiction like sci fi comedies that generally aren’t worth singling out. I bought Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore when it came out in 2018, and it took me five years to finally get around to reading it. I don’t know why I waited, Muraksmi rules. This is a long one 736 pages, that begins with a portrait painter stuck in a rut getting a divorce and staying in his friend’s father’s remote mountain home. First it’s about artistic inspiration and breaking through to a new level, but also goes into the supernatural, as Murakami likes to do.

Bubbling under: Death: The Antidote to Misery by Mats E. Eriksson, The Sentence by Louise Erdich (2021), Musical Guides to Modern Eon & Comsat Angels, Will Sergeant memoir, Tricky memoir, Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling (2020), and speaking of waiting a long time to read something, while Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five (1969) is one of my all-time favorite books, I just read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965) this year.

Heavy: How Metal Changes the Way We See the World by Dan Franklin (2020)
You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music by Bruce Adams (2023)
DENIM AND LEATHER: The Rise and Fall of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal by Michael Hann (2023)
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (2018)
Reincarnation Blues: A Novel by Michael Poore (2017)
Anthem: Rush in the ’70s & Limelight: Rush in the ’80s by Martin Popoff (2020)
Rock and Roll vs. Modern Life by Seth Kim-Cohen (2023)
Songs in Ursa Major: A Novel by Emma Brodie (2023)
Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath—And Beyond by Geezer Butler (2023)
Girl in a Band: A Memoir by Kim Gordon (2015)
Come My Fanatics: A Journey into the World of Electric Wizard by Dan Franklin (2023)
The Tastemaker: My Life with the Legends and Geniuses of Rock Music by Tony King (2023)
The Light Pours Out of Me: The Authorized Biography of John McGeoch – Rory Sullivan-Burke (2022)

Fester’s Favorite Things

I ain’t Oprah, so don’t expect a surprise goody bag in your inbox, but these are a few of the things that made life worth living. Kidding, they only take the edge off the apocalyptic dread.

WiiM Pro Airplay 2 WiFi multiroom streamer | Buy
Back when Logitech discontinued support of their Squeezebox products, it was dark days for keeping streaming going at the Bulboso household. When the Duet receivers would suddenly die I would buy another used one on eBay until those died. I tried Raspberry Pi, which would work for a while then also die. Sonos Connect worked for me for about a year and they they too stopped supporting that product, replaced by the twice as expensive Sonos Port. I had no option but to upgrade, and I was PISSED. I vowed never to buy another Sonos product ever again as soon as an alternative arrived that was cheaper than Bluesound. When the Port suddenly stopped supporting Roon in April, WiiM came to the rescue, with a very reasonably priced ($150) streamer that I got for $120 on sale. It was super easy to set up, and is compatible with ALL the things, including my Roon setup, which I have a permanent lifetime subscription to. I use external DACs with them, but you can get the WiiM Pro Plus ($220) that includes a solid DAC, a remote and voice command.

HEAVYS H1H: Headphones engineered for heavy metal. | Buy
While I put in my crowd-funding preorder in 2022, I didn’t actually receive the HEAVYS until July. I got two for $300, gifted one to a friend, which was cheap enough to want to try even if I didn’t really need them. Since then the MSRP price has creeped up from $250 to $329, though you can get them 30% off at the moment. While at that range, they may not be the best option for everyone, I’ve been happy with them.

Legendary Sennheiser engineer Axel Grell teamed up with metalheads and made a pair of headphones for metalheads. Forged in the fires of Hell, blessed/cursed by Satan? Commissioned by Krampus? Who knows! What’s impressive is for all the innovative tech packed into them — 8 drivers including subwoofers, patent-pending loudness tech (to eleven, baby!), noise cancellation, option to used wired or wireless, psychoacoustics patented technology keeps the volume high without pressure damaging the ears, and dosimeter listening fatigue protection. Does that mean I can doze off with brutal death metal blaring without worrying about hearing damage? When I finally tried these sweet Lucifer cups, my main use was indeed to plug them into my NAD 3020D in the bedroom and listen while I read, nodding off with the music on. It does prevent you from going to ear-damaging volume, but you wouldn’t want them on all night. Even when the volume is set low, the demon voice that announces bluetooth connection, power on/off remains the same too loud level, which could be annoying if I used these every day. I do not, so it remains a tolerable quirk.

They sound great, definitely better clarity than other portable headphones I’ve had in the past like Meze Neo-99, Philips Fidelio X2 and NAD Viso HP50. They have their quirks, mainly being bass heavy, as advertised. They are marketed to metalheads, but I imagine most of the general public who can tolerate Bose & Beats would find these a good value. When traveling, listening to Tidal on my phone via Bluetooth sounded better than I’d ever have expected. The noise reduction (HellBlocker) mode worked fine when I tried it in a New Orleans hotel room with some noise coming from outside, though a more rigorous test would have been to listen on the El train in Chicago. They’re comfortable, sturdy, offer fun options for shell variations, a great gift for the metalhead in your life, or yourself.

Otter pajama shorts | Buy

Perfect companion to my guitars and skull shorts!

PUMA Deviate Nitro running shoe
After wearing Adidas for decades, and having become pretty happy with their Ultraboost series, I was disappointed that they are the only major shoe brand to refuse to stop using kangaroo skins for soccer shoes. They even lobbied in CA to allow them to sell them there. It was a nightmare to find a replacement that’s not $180. I think I found the answer in Puma’s 2021 model of Deviate Nitro, which can be found for $80 right now. Amazingly, it uses the carbon plate technology associated with the “super shoes” that have been credited with helping athletes smash world records the past several years. They’re also super light, at 9oz compared to Ultraboost 22’s 11+. I’m not running speed workouts consistently enough for these to make any difference in my running, but they do have an even lighter racing flat version, the Deviate Nitro Elite, that have been seen at Puma outlet stores for just $50 ($200 MSRP) that would be worth checking out too.

Krampus art from Etsy
Everyone here knows the most wonderful time of the year between Halloween and Xmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa is not Thanksgiving, but Krampusnacht on December 5. Just like last year, the Lucky 13 banner art features Margaryta of RytasArtWorld‘s painting, “Epic Christmas.” Below is another one of her series with Krampus and black cats.

Perhaps I gave you gift ideas (for which you’ll never be forgiven) or even more likely, your own wishlist. If they still listen to music files, a Bandcamp gift card is pretty cool.

Posted in: Bandcamp, Books, Features, Film, Listicles, Lucky 13, News, Rants, Reissues, Reviews, TV, Videos/Singles

Tagged: Baroness, Blood Ceremony, Body Type, Civic, David Eugene Edwards, Emile, Fester's Lucky 13: 2023 Year-End Summary, Geese, Graveyard, Hollow Hand, Large Plants, Lucid Sins, Motorpsycho, Movies 2023, Patio, Protomartyr, Queens Of The Stone Age, Reissues 2023, Royal Thunder, Spidergawd, Spirit Adrift, The Church, The Fierce & The Dead, The Tubs, Top Albums of 2023, TV 2023

Other

Stuff

April 13, 2026

Spirit Adrift – Infinite Illumination (20 Buck Spin)

Truckfighters – Masterflow (Fuzzorama)

April 6, 2026

The Big Wave: Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Cardinals, The Twilight Sad, Bad//Dreems

Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box)

Fester’s Lucky 13: 1989

Fester’s Lucky 13: 2023 Year-End Summary