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Fester’s Lucky 13: 2019 Year-End Summary

December 6, 2019 by A.S. Van Dorston

Top 100 Albums of 2019 |  Spotify Mix | 2019 Breakdown: Genre Lists | Late Entries, Reissues, New Old Discoveries | Videos, Shows | Movies, Television, Books, Audio Gear, Charities

In the weeks leading up to finalizing my year-end lists, I enter a kind of binge trance and listen to music nearly every waking hour. This kind of behavior was once considered unhealthy and obsessive, but thanks to binge culture and streaming services, it’s almost normal. As the year-end lists roll in, reliably tracked by albumoftheyear.org, I usually have something snide to say about the popular critics’ choices. But so far, they’re being massively dominated by women, and there’s not much to complain about. With just a couple exceptions like Billie Eilish and Little Simz, they’re in their 30s, and apparently riding artistic peaks. Surprisingly, I like nearly all of ’em — Lana Del Rey (34), Angel Olsen (32), Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood, 31), Tahliah Barnett (FKA twigs, 31), Solange (33), Sharon Van Etten (38), Lizzo (31), Brittany Howard (31), Jamila Woods (30), Cate Le Bon (36), Carly Rae Jepson (34), and Jessica Pratt (32). They mostly have pretty original variations of art pop, and don’t appear to be grooming for a Vegas residency anytime soon, with the possible exception of Jepson. But hey, someone needs to make some obscene money.

My own choice for top artist doesn’t turn 30 until April, but is already a veteran of several bands, including Ipso Facto, Purson, and a Beatles cover band with her dad. It’s possible her solo debut won’t show up on a single list on albumoftheyear, though it was near the top of the Prog magazine list.  A well rounded musician who played nearly all the instruments on the last Purson album, Rosalie Cunningham probably won’t be seen swanning the red carpet at awards shows, dating actors and having Twitter feuds with other celebrities, but it’s early days, who knows what the next decade holds in store.

The upside of the popularity of streaming services, is more people are beginning to understand and appreciate lists. Because they’re playlists. With unlimited access to nearly all the music, there’s no reason to listen to just a handful of albums to death. But unlimited choice can also be paralyzing. Luckily there’s some people who listen to more music than you’d consider healthy, and they have playlists thoughtfully curated for you. Maybe not specifically for you, but they’re a great starting point to customizing your own lists. I have them going back to 1949. You’re welcome.

Genre

Last year I talked about the critical and popular resurgence of jazz, which is still going strong. In sampling over 1,000 albums this year, I noticed a lot of trap artists. I did a deep dive and damn, holy misogyny! It’s not my thing, but even amidst the ugliness, there’s some beauty and innovation to be found.  I also noticed a lot of laidback sounding stuff. There’s always demand for music that pulses in the background, soothing our everyday rage. I shoveled some of that into a Chillbient list, which includes all kinds of subgenres like illbient, ambient, dub, drone, ethereal wave and minimal wave.

Comeback

A few years ago I attended a reggae fest that featured Toots & the Maytals, and Lee “Scratch” Perry. I’ve been a huge fan of Perry and all his production work (see my 2005 piece Lee “Scratch” Perry: Now Well-Loaded. He’s such a colossal figure in Jamaican music, but I didn’t expect much from his performance, considering he hadn’t recorded anything great since he freaked out and burned down his Black Ark studio in the late 70s. And sure enough, the performance was terrible. It was like coming across grandpa wandering around in the middle of the night, mumbling to himself because of a recent mini-stroke. But amazingly, Adrian Sherwood took on the task of assembling some coherent music, ending up with the surprisingly solid Rainford, but even better, it’s dub, Heavy Rain, one of the last great releases of the year.

Debut

Rosalie Cunningham has several albums under her swirly psychedelic belt, but this is her solo debut. Brooklyn’s Patio scratches a low-key arty Raincoats itch in a way that complements the approach Peluché took on their full-length debut last year. Rosegarden Funeral Party and Fontaines D.C. both had great debuts after a string of promising singles.

Memorium

It doesn’t feel right to mourn the loss of one human being over another, but there is the extra sting when you know an artist still has a lot more great music in them, such as when we lost Prince far too young. This year I’d say Scott Walker. May they also rock in excelsis DIO and rest in pieces: Dick Dale, Roky Erickson, Dr. John, João Gilberto, Ric Ocasek, Larry Wallis, Ginger Baker.

Underrated

Almost all the music in my top 100. Seriously. Even bands that had gotten some acclaim, but are now seemingly forgotten, like Priests. But particularly The Sonic Dawn, Patio, Lucille Furs, Custard Flux, The Warp/The Weft, The Honey Pot, The Galileo 7, True Moon, Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind and The Messthetics.

Disappointment

After the high anticipation for the new Vampire Weekend, the result was a big letdown. Unfortunately Rostam Batmanglij’s departure affected the band more than I hoped. Rather than being inspired by Paul Simon’s Graceland-era afro pop, we have an aimless, boring Ezra Koenig solo album more in line with Songs From The Capeman (1997). Never heard that album? Exactly. To top it off, what was meant to be a glorious celebration of the beginning of summer at the beautiful outdoor venue at Northerly Island became a cold, dreary slog through the new album, saving their best songs for the end long after we’d given up and gone home. The very bottom of my list is occupied by The National’s I Am Easy To Find. It’s certainly not the worst album of the year, but I find it exceedingly annoying.

Surprise

I was not a fan of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ excruciatingly dull, maudlin Push The Sky Away (2013) and Skeleton Tree (2016). They left me longing for the biting humor of Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008) and the Grinderman albums. Nevertheless I went to the show from the Skeleton Tree tour, and Cave was more dynamic, captivating and even joyous than ever. It’s back to funereal dirges with Ghosteen, but man, this is the most committed and convincing I’ve heard him since “The Mercy Seat.” It’s a heavy trip for sure, but it’s more satisfying when the mood strikes. Still, gimme that third Grinderman album!

Sitting barely in the top half of my list of 1,000+ albums is Coldplay’s Everyday Life, which snuck out November 22, and took me a week to realize it existed. After some really awkward missteps struggling to sound relevant, the band seem to have finally settled into their role of elder statesmen of the 10’s version of smooth adult contemporary, with of course a touch of art pop. It’s not bad!

Not Left Out

I get a lot of people asking, what about so-and-so? There’s a lot of albums that a cluster of critics and folks deem as “important” due to their social and political content. I definitely make sure to try to listen to all of them, and in most cases, they are somewhere in my list (which to date, includes over 1,090 albums for 2019). Others can judge music on so-called “importance,” but that’s not me. Music can be about anything and be powerful and affecting. It doesn’t have to have lyrics, or address hot topics to be relevant and worthwhile. Music can be spiritual, transcendent, nostalgic, silly, intoxicating, dumb, depraved, fun, difficult, and confrontational. While it can sometimes offer a snapshot of culture and politics, it’s not the news, and it’s a shitty political tool. Rather than raise awareness, it usually mirrors it, and in some modest ways, spread it around a little. But I don’t think it’s minimal usefulness as a tool for other means should mean anything in regards to the quality of the music. And I’m certainly not going to be patronizing and mansplain to you how any music has social relevance. Fuck that shit, I’ll leave that to the pompous and self-important. This project, this site, Fast ‘n’ Bulbous, is my lifelong passion project. Lists and playlists give me mental snapshots of the kinds of vibrating air that make me happy, evoking synesthetic imagery of candy, rainbows, unicorns, kittens, puppies, dragons, pretty humans, starlit skies, etc. To you, it may just be a garbage bin full of random love notes and odd rants, but at least it’s organized with a searchable database!

Fester’s Lucky 13 – The Best Albums of 2019

01. Rosalie Cunningham – Rosalie Cunningham (Esoteric/Cherry Red)

This album nearly didn’t see the light of day, as Cunningham was one of many artists (and the supporters who had invested the money, including myself) who was ripped off when PledgeMusic went under. Fortunately, Esoteric and Cherry Red came to the rescue. Plus, she’s assembled a killer band that includes Alasdair “Alpha Michelle” Mitchell of one of my favorite bands that fell between the cracks, Hidden Masters, who had just one album in 2013 before imploding. Alpha said the prolific Cunningham already has the next album written, so with any luck we’ll hear something within the year, and hopefully some live dates, when we can properly hail the psych noir queen. | Full Review | Buy

02. The Sonic Dawn – Eclipse (Heavy Psych)

It appears that psychedelic music has once again fallen out of fashion. No matter, psych bands are completely used to delving in the festering underground. There is always a dedicated fanbase that can support tours, especially in Europe. Danish band The Sonic Dawn has received little love with their brilliant third album. Sadly for me this means there’s little chance for a US tour unless they hitch a ride with, say, Syd Arthur (yaassss). Both bands have fluid, jazzy chops that are complementary and would be a killer bill. Let’s do this!  | Full Review | Bandcamp

03. Bent Knee – You Know What They Mean (InsideOut)

If you judged just on their label InsideOut and their recent tour with The Tea Club and Thank You Scientist, you’d have them pegged as straight-up prog. Boston’s Bent Knee aren’t so easy to nail down on any of their five albums since forming in 2010, as there’s more than a little post-punk fire and noise fury embedded in their art rock and prog pop. Their latest is likely their best, and is balanced with some elegiac moments featuring Courtney Swain’s versatile vocals.  | Buy

04. Motorpsycho – The Crucible (Rune Grammofon)

After 30 albums and a career-peak double The Tower (2017), these Norsemen deserve a vacation. But Motorpsycho are not ones to dick around, and this more concise edition (40:30) is tied to The Tower with more cover art from  Håkon Gullvåg. Recommended for those frustrated by the infrequent and inconsistent output of Tool. What you seek is Motorpsycho. | Full ReviewBandcamp

05. Spidergawd – V (Stickman)

What’s more out of fashion than psych and prog? Hard rock! Aside from Tool and Opeth representing the proggy side, there isn’t a single token straight up hard rock album lurking even at the bottom of the aggregated lists. But again, just because the mainstream forgot how to rock doesn’t mean there isn’t a healthy, vibrant scene. Look at the consistently growing and diverse festivals like Roadburn, Desertfest, Riot Fest and Psycho Las Vegas. Norway’s Spidergawd are one of the best, and still give me goosebumps.  | Full Review | Buy

06. Lucille Furs – Another Land (Requiem Pour Un Twister)

The second album of gorgeous psych pop from Lucille Furs, with a touch of progressive unicorn dust, sat atop my 2019 list like a pretty pony since the very beginning of the year. It’s barely budged, as it’s scintillating charms stubbornly refuse to fade. Chicago is overflowing with amazing jazz (check out the several entries in The Wire’s list), metal and hip hop, but this psychedelic jewel really should not be overlooked.  | Full Review | Bandcamp

07. Custard Flux – Echo (Custard Flux)

I recently read Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC, and I imagined, what if, following Skylarking and the psychedelic Dukes Of Stratosphear records, they came out with a gorgeous “electricity free” treatment of their prog pop in 1988, before the disappointing and fussily overproduced Oranges And Lemons?! It might have been the best thing they’d ever done. If that sounds appealing, you’re in luck, because Greg Curvey of the long-running psych prog band The Luck Of Eden Hall has done two such albums as Custard Flux. Helium (2018) and Echo, which apparently is not streaming yet on Spotify, but is well worth buying. | Review | Bandcamp

08. Rosegarden Funeral Party – Martyr (Moon Sounds)

Just like younger generations are putting their own stamp on long-running genres like industrial, ambient pop and drone, Rosegarden Funeral Party has a fresh spin on gothy post-punk, with some crimson shades of psych noir. Dallas, TX must be awfully hot to wear black (or elaborate blood red finery), but this band is committed. I’ve been anticipating this albums since their promising The Chopping Block EP and live album from last year. What really makes this band stand out from the dark wavers are their knack for the catchiest earworm melodies since peak Siouxsie & the Banshees.  | Bandcamp

09. Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel (Partisan)

I have to admit I’m a bit nostalgic for the breathless excitement of early 2000s British post-punk guitar pop that exploded in the aftermath of The Strokes and The Libertines. Dublin’s Fontaines D.C.’s propulsive energy evokes a touch of The Rakes for me, but with their own spin. Probably the least original song is their Pogues tribute “Dublin City Sky,” and it’s still freakin’ great. Just try not to bounce your head and chair dance to “Boys in the Better Land.”  | Review | Bandcamp

10. The Warp/The Weft – Dead Reckoning (Warp/Weft)

If Custard Flux satisfies the yearning for the shimmering, airy music of Syd Arthur, then The Warp/The Weft has the darker, earthier psychedelic folk prog of Wolf People covered. Despite this being their fourth album since 2013, I could find very little written about this mysterious band from Poughkeepsie. Sure, one could compare them to Fairport Convention (folk) and Jethro Tull (folky prog), but that only scratches the surface. Shane Murphy’s tenor vibrato evokes not only the great Roger Chapman (Family/Streetwalkers), but also Kristoffer Sjödahl of the long forgotten Swedish psych band Dead Man.  | Review | Bandcamp

11. Patio – Essentials (Fire Talk)

Brooklyn’s Patio scratches a low-key arty Raincoats itch in a way that complements the approach Peluché took on their full-length debut last year.  It’s not exactly the kind of stuff that’s trending with the kiddies, I can almost understand why something this understated is overlooked. Actually no I don’t, fuck that. It quickly got under my skin and demanded repeated plays for the past month. “Fools who ignore this evidence do so at their own risk and and pay dearly for it.” — Simon Leys. | Bandcamp

12. Magic Circle – Departed Souls (20 Buck Spin)

Boston’s Magic Circle has been releasing my favorite rock ‘n’ doom music since 2013, and their failure to ever do a proper tour is slowly driving me insane. They’re actually playing in Houston in April at Hell’s Heroes III with Satan, Slough Feg, High Spirits, Traveler and Smoulder. Tempting, but I’m hoping never to have to go to Houston. I did get to see singer Brendan Radigan perform with Pagan Altar this year, which was amazing. He did a great job, a doom show for the ages. Seems the only thing doom related that’s gotten attention this year outside of the doom community (what’s up Doom Charts cronies!), is Sunn O))). It’s cool and all, but I like good vocals, and Radigan delivers on my favorite doom album of the year. | Review | Bandcamp

13. Spirit Adrift – Divided By Darkness (20 Buck Spin)

While there was a slight lull in productivity by some of the bands responsible for reviving traditional heavy metal the past decade and a half (a five year gap between albums from Slough FegChristian Mistress is MIA since 2015), youngish guns like Spirit Adrift have quickly taken up the baton and established themselves as leading lights in the scene with three full lengths and a couple EPs to date since 2016. Spirit Adrift was an instant favorite from the beginning, and they’ve only gotten better, with Nate Garrett transitioning from his one-man doom project to a fully operational band, incorporating additional elements of classic rock and metal (Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest). Their third album is their most direct, but still maintains the expansive approach of cosmic spirit seekers from the days when psychedelic prog bands roamed the earth. | Bandcamp

Unless you’re my clone (get back in your cage you varmint!), no one is going to have the same top 13 as me. So while I wholeheartedly recommend checking them out, the real fun probably starts in the virtual crate digging portion of the program. Explore the top 100, and deep dive into the genre lists, explore the main playlist with over 200 artists and 22 hours of music and add stuff to your own playlists. Keep checking back over the next couple weeks, as I’ll be adding additional genre playlists. The psych one is completed. In about another week, my database will be fixed and you’ll also be able to explore all 1000+ albums mentioned. | Spotify Playlist

  1. Kills Birds – Kills Birds (KRO) | Buy
  2. Priests – The Seduction Of Kansas (Sister Polygon) | Bandcamp
  3. Tropical Fuck Storm – Braindrops (Joyful Noise) | Bandcamp
  4. The Honey Pot – Bewildered Jane (Mega Dodo) | Bandcamp
  5. Monarch – Beyond The Blue Sky (El Paraiso) | Buy
  6. Bask – III (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  7. The Galileo 7 – There Is Only Now (Damaged Goods) | Buy
  8. Rose City Band – Rose City Band (Jean Sandwich) | Bandcamp
  9. True Moon – II (Lövely Records) | Bandcamp
  10. Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind – CollectiV (Jim Jones) | Bandcamp
  11. Avatarium – The Fire I Long For (Nuclear Blast) | Bandcamp
  12. Neutrals – Kebab Disco (Emotional Response) | Bandcamp
  13. Moon Duo – Stars Are The Light (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  14. Leprous – Pitfalls (InsideOut) | Buy
  15. Opeth – In Cauda Venenum (Nuclear Blast) | Buy
  16. The Tea Club – If/When (The Tea Club) | Bandcamp
  17. Lowcaster – Flames Arise (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  18. The Messthetics – Anthropocosmic Nest (Dischord) | Bandcamp
  19. The Murder Capital – When I Have Fears (Human Season) | Buy
  20. Worshipper – Light In The Wire (Tee Pee) | Bandcamp
  21. Control Top – Covert Contracts (Get Better) | Bandcamp
  22. Magic Shoppe – Circles (Cardinal Fuzz) | Bandcamp
  23. Automatic – Signal (Stones Throw) | Bandcamp
  24. Dumb Things – Time Again (Coolin’ By Sound) | Bandcamp
  25. Garcia Peoples – Natural Facts (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) | Bandcamp
  26. Diagonal – Arc (Cobblers) | Bandcamp
  27. Colour Haze – We Are (Elektrohasch) | Buy
  28. The Lord Weird Slough Feg – The New Organon (Cruz Del Sur) | Bandcamp
  29. Chris Forsyth – All Time Present (No Quarter) | Bandcamp
  30. Kadavar – For The Dead Travel Fast (Nuclear Blast) | Buy
  31. Scarecrow – Scarecrow (Ritual Sound) | Bandcamp
  32. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen (Ghosteen) | Buy
  33. Elkhorn – Sun Cycle/Elk Jam (Feeding Tube) | Bandcamp
  34. Zach Brock | Matt Ulery | Jon Deitemyer – Wonderment (Woolgathering Records) | Bandcamp
  35. Baba Zula – Derin Derin (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  36. B Boys – Dudu (Captured Tracks) | Bandcamp
  37. Lizzo – Cuz I Love You (Atlantic) | Buy
  38. Sacri Monti – Waiting Room For The Magic Hour (Tee Pee) | Bandcamp
  39. Body Type – EP2 (Partisan) | Bandcamp
  40. White Denim – Side Effects (City Slang) | Bandcamp
  41. Ty Segall – First Taste (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  42. Skeleton Goode – Skeleton Goode (Mega Dodo) | Bandcamp
  43. Papernut Cambridge – Nutlets II (1978-2001) (Gare du Nord) | Bandcamp
  44. Jess By The Lake – Under The Red Light Shine (Svart) | Bandcamp
  45. Blue Orchids – The Magical Record Of Blue Orchids (Tiny Global) | Bandcamp
  46. Lola Colt – Human Made (Part I) EP (Black Tigress) | Bandcamp
  47. 10 000 Russos – Kompromat (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  48. Blackwater Holylight – Veils Of Winter (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  49. Orodruin – Ruins Of Eternity (Shadow Kingdom) | Bandcamp
  50. Lee “Scratch” Perry – Heavy Rain (On-U Sound) | Bandcamp
  51. Jack Hues And The Quartet Featuring Syd Arthur – Nobody’s Fault But My Own EP (Dawn Chorus) | Bandcamp
  52. Cate Le Bon – Reward (Mexican Summer) | Bandcamp
  53. Baroness – Gold & Grey (Abraxan Hymns) | Buy
  54. James McArthur And The Head Gardeners – Intergalactic Sailor (Moorland) | Bandcamp
  55. The Ivory Elephant – Stoneface (Kozmik Artifactz) | Bandcamp
  56. Sunwatchers – Illegal Moves (Trouble In Mind) | Bandcamp
  57. 75 Dollar Bill – I Was Real (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  58. Kaleta & Super Yamba Band – Medaho (Ubiquity) | Bandcamp
  59. These New Puritans – Inside The Rose (Infectious) | Buy
  60. Torche – Admission (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  61. The Membranes – What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away (Cherry Red) | Bandcamp
  62. Nil/Resplendent – Lesser Free Trade (Nils/Resplendent) | Bandcamp
  63. FKA twigs – Magdalene (Young Turks) | Buy
  64. Doug Tuttle – Dream Road (Burger) | Bandcamp
  65. Julie’s Haircut – In The Silence Electric (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  66. The Mystery Lights – Too Much Tension! (Daptone) | Bandcamp
  67. Crypt Trip – Haze County (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  68. Saint Vitus – Saint Vitus (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  69. Blood Incantation – Hidden History Of The Human Race (Dark Descent) | Bandcamp
  70. Crypt Sermon – The Ruins Of Fading Light (Dark Descent) | Bandcamp
  71. Savage Mansion – Revision Ballads (Lost Map) | Bandcamp
  72. The Devil And The Almighty Blues – Tre (Blues For The Red Sun) | Bandcamp
  73. Sugarfoot – In The Clearing (Crispin Glover) | Bandcamp
  74. Haunt – If Icarus Could Fly (Shadow Kingdom) | Bandcamp
  75. The Snakes – The Snakes (Anti-Fade) | Bandcamp
  76. Monolord – No Comfort (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  77. Saint Agnes – Welcome To Silvertown (Death Or Glory Gang) | Buy
  78. Black Road – Witch Of The Future (BloodRock) | Bandcamp
  79. Fred Deakin – The Lasters (Impotent Fury) | Buy
  80. Wand – Laughing Matter (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  81. Oh Sees – Face Stabber (Castle Face) | Bandcamp
  82. Jane Weaver – Loops In The Secret Society (Fire) | Bandcamp
  83. Ouzo Bazooka – Transporter (Ouzo Bazooka) | Bandcamp
  84. Gold – Why Aren’t You Laughing? (Artoffact) | Bandcamp
  85. black midi – Schlagenheim (Rough Trade) | Buy
  86. Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call (Dead Oceans) | Bandcamp
  87. The Silence – Metaphysical Feedback (Drag City) | Bandcamp

Below is my traditional snapshot of CDs I bought over the year. If the stack looks smaller, usually I wait until the end of the year to sell some of them, but I already gave some away to friends and sold some. But yeah, I’m buying less CDs, as my shelf space is finite. I sell off a bunch every year to keep it manageable, but I do continue to buy digitally, mainly through Bandcamp (you can follow my collection at https://bandcamp.com/fastnbulbous), but also 7Digital, Boomkat, Pledge Music, etc. I’m not sure exactly how many I bought this year, as I still get some promos, but I definitely couldn’t afford everything on this year-end summary. Spotify is great for sampling stuff, and I use it often. I curated 17 playlists this year. If you don’t use Spotify, I think they’re worth the minimal effort of trying out the free version.

2019 Breakdown

If you want to deep dive some of these genres, there’s often a lot more than the 13 listed. Over 600 albums in these genre lists, to be specific. By about Dec 16 you’ll be able to once again look them up with the list search.

Psych | Psych Pop & Prog Pop | Kosmische & Space Rock | Psych Noir | Psych Prog | Prog | Punk, Post-Punk & Hardcore | Garage Rock/Psych/Punk/Noir | Hard Rock: Desert/Fuzz/Stoner/Blues/Southern/Jam | Heavy Metal | Doom | Black/Death/Sludge/Technical/Speed/Prog/Avant Metal | Avant, Experimental, Post-Rock, Modern Classical, Ambient, Industrial, Noise & Drone | Art Pop, Dream Pop & Shoegaze | Indie Rock, Pop & Jangle Pop | Jazz & Fusion | Global, Reggae, Dub & Afrobeat | Electronic, Techno & Dance | R&B, Soul & Funk | Hip Hop & Rap | Folk, Americana & Country | Non-Metal For Metalheads | Late Entries |Reissues | New Old Discoveries

Psych

Like last year, I filed most of the best psych into other subgenres. Still, this is a good little list with a wide global reach, starting with Turkey’s Baba Zula, who have been doing soundtracks since 1996. Derin Derin is not a soundtrack, just a perfect introduction to their flavor of Turkish psych, which has been a vibrant scene since the 70s. Ty Segall throws away the guitars and sounds…exactly the same! Thanks to the use of slightly more exotic stringed instruments like a Greek bouzouki and a Japanese koto, this feels tossed off but with brilliant highlights, like most of Segall’s 30 albums. Keep ’em coming, I’ll just make my own mix! Blue Orchids were one of the original post-punk bands fusing the genre with psychedelia. Their latest is indeed magical. Blackwater Holylight snuck over from the stoner doom lists to spook the poppier artists here. Black Mountain just missed the cut. See playlist for over 220 artists, including songs from the Psych Pop, Kosmische, Space Rock, Psych Noir and Psych Prog lists. | Spotify

  1. Baba Zula – Derin Derin (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  2. Ty Segall – First Taste (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  3. Blue Orchids – The Magical Record Of Blue Orchids (Tiny Global) | Bandcamp
  4. Blackwater Holylight – Veils Of Winter (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  5. Sunwatchers – Illegal Moves (Trouble In Mind) | Bandcamp
  6. Oh Sees – Face Stabber (Castle Face) | Bandcamp
  7. Ouzo Bazooka – Transporter (Ouzo Bazooka) | Bandcamp
  8. Altin Gün – Gece (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  9. Papir – VI (Stickman) | Bandcamp
  10. Fat White Family – Serfs Up! (Domino) | Bandcamp
  11. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – And Now for the Whatchamacallit (What Reality?) | Bandcamp
  12. Lewis & The Strange Magics – Melvin’s Holiday (Soulseller) | Bandcamp
  13. Howling Giant – The Space Between Worlds (Blues Funeral) | Bandcamp

Psych Pop & Prog Pop

Back in February I was so blown away by The Sonic Dawn’s third album that I went on a bit of a psych pop bender, and ended up covering over 20 bands in the Dawn of Destruction: The Sonic Dawn & The Best of 2010s Psych Pop piece. It turns out we’re in a midst of a psych pop renaissance that really got rolling mid-decade. Four albums in this category made Fester’s Lucky 13 list. Also featured in that piece is the prolific (if you count all the solo projects) The Honey Pot. While chances are there will be a huge gap between the popularity of these bands with the likes of Tame Impala and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (who this year dabbled in traditional heavy metal, see below), there’s always hope for one of these great artists to get deserved recognition. | Spotify

Bubbling under: Doug Tuttle, Sugarfoot, Fred Deakin, The Magic Shoppe, Drugdealer, Reptile Tile, The Flaming Lips, Pond, The Hecks, L’Épée, Pipe-eye, VAURA, Guaxe, Gong, Alexander Tucker, Mac DeMarco, Kit Sebastian, The Babe Rainbow.

  1. The Sonic Dawn – Eclipse (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  2. Bent Knee – You Know What They Mean (InsideOut) | Buy
  3. Lucille Furs – Another Land (Requiem Pour Un Twister) | Bandcamp
  4. Custard Flux – Echo (Custard Flux) | Bandcamp
  5. The Honey Pot – Bewildered Jane (Mega Dodo) | Bandcamp
  6. The Galileo 7 – There Is Only Now (Damaged Goods) | Buy
  7. The Fast Camels – Full Of Strange (Magic Optician) | Buy
  8. The Greek Theatre – When Seasons Change (Sugarbush) | Bandcamp
  9. The Bright Light Social Hour – Jude Vol. 1 (Modern Outsider) | Buy
  10. The Green Ray – Five Points Of Light (Reckless) | Bandcamp
  11. Skeleton Goode – Skeleton Goode (Mega Dodo) | Bandcamp
  12. Papernut Cambridge – Nutlets II (1978-2001) (Gare du Nord) | Bandcamp
  13. James McArthur And The Head Gardeners – Intergalactic Sailor (Moorland) | Bandcamp

Kosmische & Space Rock

Mmmph, Moon Duo. As always, they deliver kandy coloured kosmische with the formula tweaked (dancy!) just enough from their last album to keep us engaged, not unlike how Stereolab did at their peak in the 90s.  Nils/Resplendent reunite for the first time since their brilliant experimental post-punk project The Fire Show ended in 2002. Less fire, more art and space merited the new name for this collaboration, their most genre-bending, ambitious project yet. | Spotify

Just missed the cut: Psychic Lemon, Acid Rooster, W.H. Lung, K-X-P.

  1. Moon Duo – Stars Are The Light (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  2. Nil/Resplendent – Lesser Free Trade (Nils/Resplendent) | Bandcamp
  3. Julie’s Haircut – In The Silence Electric (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  4. The Quiet Temple – The Quiet Temple (Wichita) | Bandcamp
  5. Föllakzoid – I (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  6. Vanishing Twin – The Age Of Immunology (Fire) | Bandcamp
  7. The Utopia Strong – The Utopia Strong (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  8. Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation – Sacred Dreams (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  9. The Cosmic Dead – Scottish Space Race (Cosmic Dead) | Bandcamp
  10. Juju – Maps And Territory (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  11. Weeed – You Are The Sky (Halfshellb) | Bandcamp
  12. L’Eclair – Sauropoda (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) | Bandcamp
  13. Dhidalah – Threshold (Guruguru Brain) | Bandcamp

Psych Noir

Since this genre is acknowledged by no one but myself, there’s only so many artists likely to unwittingly make this category! It’s a big one though, with the album of the year from Rosalie Cunningham, and another Lucky 13 entry, the debut from Rosegarden Funeral Party. Swedish band True Moon have been pretty underground since their self-titled debut in 2016. I would say partly due to people’s confusion. Are they goth? Post-punk? Psychedelic? Don’t strain yr pretty pink brains, babydollies. They’re psych noir, just roll with it! | Spotify

  1. Rosalie Cunningham – Rosalie Cunningham (Esoteric/Cherry Red) | Buy
  2. Rosegarden Funeral Party – Martyr (Moon Sounds) | Bandcamp
  3. True Moon – II (Lövely Records) | Bandcamp
  4. Jess By The Lake – Under The Red Light Shine (Svart) | Bandcamp
  5. Lola Colt – Human Made (Part I) EP (Black Tigress) | Bandcamp
  6. 10 000 Russos – Kompromat (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  7. Gold – Why Aren’t You Laughing? (Artoffact) | Bandcamp
  8. TAU – TAU & The Drones Of Praise (Tau) | Bandcamp
  9. Ancient River – After The Dawn (Summer Moon) | Bandcamp
  10. Moonrite – Let Me Be Your God (Soundflat) | Bandcamp
  11. Hexvessel – All Tree (Century Media) | Bandcamp
  12. The Great Discord – Afterbirth EP (The Sign) | Bandcamp

Psych Prog

El Paraiso is such a great label with gorgeous cover art and great taste in artists, that leans along the lines of space rock and proggy jazz fusion. I’d buy them all no questions asked if they would just offer more affordable digital deals via Bandcamp. Monarch is pretty unique for the label in that they’re American (via San Diego) rather than European, with their psych prog leaning more towards jammy cosmic Americana. They’ve been quickly crawling their way up my playlists to become one of my favorite bands. | Spotify

More: Druids, Monkey3, Rokurokubi, Numidia, No Man’s Valley.

  1. Motorpsycho – The Crucible (Rune Grammofon/Stickman) | Buy
  2. The Warp/The Weft – Dead Reckoning (Warp/Weft) | Bandcamp
  3. Monarch – Beyond The Blue Sky (El Paraiso) | Buy
  4. Bask – III (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  5. Sacri Monti – Waiting Room For The Magic Hour (Tee Pee) | Bandcamp
  6. The Silence – Metaphysical Feedback (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  7. Jouis – Mind Bahn (None More) | Bandcamp
  8. Garcia Peoples – One Step Behind (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) | Bandcamp
  9. Gods & Punks – And The Celestial Ascension (SRO) | Bandcamp
  10. De Lorians – De Lorians (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) | Bandcamp
  11. The Hare And Hoofe – The Hare And Hoofe (HATH) | Bandcamp
  12. Pyramidal – Pyramidal (Lay Bare) | Bandcamp
  13. Taraban – How The East Was Lost (Taraban) | Bandcamp

Prog

True to its name, progressive rock has not remained static, but continues to innovate and experiment, as the diversity of this list attests. Norway’s Leprous embody that spirit in a big way, as they are nearly unrecognizable on their seventh album compared to the blustery prog metal band they were on their debut Aeolia (2006). Their sounds now owes more to Talk Talk and late Scott Walker, and it’s pretty intense stuff. | Spotify

More: Body Hound, Tool, Suns Of The Tundra, iamthemorning, Magma, Magic Pie, Jon Pold Synergy. Playlist includes Psych Prog and Prog Pop selections too.

  1. Leprous – Pitfalls (InsideOut) | Buy
  2. Opeth – In Cauda Venenum (Nuclear Blast) | Buy
  3. The Tea Club – If/When (The Tea Club) | Bandcamp
  4. The Messthetics – Anthropocosmic Nest (Dischord) | Bandcamp
  5. Diagonal – Arc (Cobblers) | Bandcamp
  6. Jack Hues And The Quartet Featuring Syd Arthur – Nobody’s Fault But My Own EP (Dawn Chorus) | Bandcamp
  7. Mappe Of – The Isle Of Ailynn (Paper Bag) | Bandcamp
  8. black midi – Schlagenheim (Rough Trade) | Buy
  9. William Doyle – Your Wilderness Revisited (William Doyle) | Bandcamp
  10. The Tronosonic Experience – II: The Big Blow (Apollon) | Bandcamp
  11. Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band – Nightmare Forever (Castle Face) | Buy
  12. Krokofant – Q (Rune Grammofon) | Buy
  13. Guranfoe – Sum Of Erda (Apollon) | Bandcamp

Punk, Post-Punk & Hardcore

Like psychedelia, punk is seemingly in the DNA of nearly everyone. Thus, another expansive list of 100 that still doesn’t cover artists in the other genre lists who partake in the punk and post-punk gene pool. Just barely missing Fester’s Lucky 13 in the #14 overall spot is Kills Birds, a quite new LA based band. Their style of indie post-punk is very rough around the edges, evoking noise rock and even grunge from the early 90s. This is not a bad thing, especially when Bosnian singer Nina Ljeti channels the late Mia Zapata of The Gits. Priests got a fair amount of attention with their 2017 debut Nothing Feels Natural, but while their second album got great reviews earlier in the year, everyone seems to have forgotten about it for the year-end lists, with room in the collective brainspace only for the great Fontaines D.C. Don’t sleep on ’em!  | Spotify

  1. Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel (Partisan) | Bandcamp
  2. Patio – Essentials (Fire Talk) | Bandcamp
  3. Kills Birds – Kills Birds (KRO) | Buy
  4. Priests – The Seduction Of Kansas (Sister Polygon) | Bandcamp
  5. Neutrals – Kebab Disco (Emotional Response) | Bandcamp
  6. The Murder Capital – When I Have Fears (Human Season) | Buy
  7. Control Top – Covert Contracts (Get Better) | Bandcamp
  8. Automatic – Signal (Stones Throw) | Bandcamp
  9. B Boys – Dudu (Captured Tracks) | Bandcamp
  10. Body Type – EP2 (Partisan) | Bandcamp
  11. Secret Shame – Dark Synthetics (Secret Shame) | Bandcamp
  12. Greys – Age Hasn’t Spoiled You (Carpark) | Bandcamp
  13. Twin Tribes – Ceremony (Manic Depression) | Bandcamp
  14. Gauche – A People’s History Of Gauche (Merge) | Bandcamp
  15. Snapped Ankles – Stunning Luxury (The Leaf) | Bandcamp
  16. Trash Kit – Horizon (Upset The Rhythm) | Buy
  17. Steve Ignorant’s Slice Of Life – Don’t Turn Away (Wipe Out) | Buy
  18. French Vanilla – How Am I Not Myself? (Danger Collective) | Bandcamp
  19. Drab Majesty – Modern Mirror (Dais) | Bandcamp
  20. Dry Cleaning – Sweet Princess EP (It’s OK) | Bandcamp
  21. Deliluh – Beneath The Floors (Tin Angel) | Bandcamp
  22. Drahla – Useless Coordinates (Captured Tracks) | Bandcamp
  23. Weeping Icon – Weeping Icon (Weeping Icon) | Bandcamp
  24. Meatraffle – Bastard Music (Delayed) | Bandcamp
  25. Doctors Of Madness – Dark Times (Molecular Scream) | Buy
  26. Bench Press – Not The Past, Can’t Be The Future (Poison City) | Bandcamp
  27. Cold In Berlin – Rituals Of Surrender (New Heavy) | Bandcamp
  28. Glitter Wizard – Opera Villains (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  29. Orations – Receiver (Swiss Dark Nights) | Bandcamp
  30. The Futureheads – Powers (Nul) | Buy
  31. Dark Blue – Victory Is Rated (12XU) | Bandcamp
  32. Diät – Positive Disintegration (Iron Lung) | Bandcamp
  33. Lower Slaughter – Some Things Take Work (Box) | Bandcamp
  34. N0V3L – Novel EP (Flemish Eye) | Bandcamp
  35. Moving Targets – Wires (Boss Tuneage) | Bandcamp
  36. FTR – Manners (Metropolis) | Bandcamp
  37. Collider – -><- (Escho) | Buy
  38. Nervous Curtains – I Tried To Fight It But I Was Inside It (Dreamy Life) | Bandcamp
  39. Plague Vendor – By Night (Epitaph) | Bandcamp
  40. UV Race – Made In China (Aarght!) | Bandcamp
  41. T-Rextasy – Prehysteria (T-Rextasy) | Bandcamp
  42. Vital Idles – Vital Idles EP (Upset The Rhythm) | Bandcamp
  43. Uzeda – Quocumque jeceris stabit (Temporary Residence) | Bandcamp
  44. Flat Worms – Into The Iris EP (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  45. Desperate Journalist – In Search Of The Miraculous (Fierce Panda) | Bandcamp
  46. Second Still – Violet Phase (Fabrika/Sentimental) | Bandcamp
  47. The Gluts – Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  48. Mean Jeans – Gigantic Sike (Fat Wreck) | Bandcamp
  49. Otokobe Beaver – ITEKOMA HITS (Damnably) | Bandcamp
  50. Diagram – Transmission Response (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  51. Peter Perrett – Humanworld (Domino) | Bandcamp
  52. Pleasure Leftists – The Gate (Feel It) | Bandcamp
  53. Bleu Nuit – Le Jardin Des Mémoires (Requiem Pour Un Twister) | Bandcamp
  54. Institute – Readjusting The Locks (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  55. Ceremony – In The Spirit World Now (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  56. Ötzi – Part Time Punks Sessions EP (Otzi) | Bandcamp
  57. Pere Ubu – The Long Goodbye (Cherry Red)
  58. Deliluh – Oath Of Intent EP (Tin Angel) | Bandcamp
  59. Dune Messiah – Moments Of Bliss (Third Coming) | Bandcamp
  60. Nightwatchers – La Paix Ou Le Sable (Lovely) | Bandcamp
  61. FACS – Lifelike (Trouble In Mind) | Bandcamp
  62. Chain Cult – Shallow Grave (La Vida Es Un Mus) | Bandcamp
  63. Sheer Mag – A Distant Call (Wilsuns RC) | Bandcamp
  64. Pile – Green And Gray (Exploding Sound) | Bandcamp
  65. The Underground Youth – Montage Images Of Lust & Fear (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  66. Zig Zags – They’ll Never Take Us Alive (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  67. MNNQNS – Body Negative (Fat Cat) | Bandcamp
  68. Current Affairs – Object & Subject EP (Tough Love) | Bandcamp
  69. Bodega – Shiny New Model EP (What’s Your Rupture?) | Bandcamp
  70. New Model Army – From Here (earMUSIC) | Buy
  71. Fury – Failed Entertainment (Run For Cover) | Bandcamp
  72. Girl Band – The Talkies (Rough Trade) | Buy
  73. Uranium Club – The Cosmo Cleaners (Static Shock) | Bandcamp
  74. Sólveig Matthildur – Constantly In Love (Artoffact) | Bandcamp
  75. Ritual Howls – Rendered Armor (Felte) | Bandcamp
  76. The Shrine – Cruel World EP (Eliminator) | Bandcamp
  77. Sleaford Mods – Eton Alive (Extreme Eating) | Buy
  78. Khiis – Bezoar (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos) | Bandcamp
  79. Amygdala – Our Voices Will Soar Forever (Prosthetic) | Bandcamp
  80. Mermaidens – Look Me In The Eye (Flying Nun) | Bandcamp
  81. Mannequin Pussy – Patience (Epitaph) | Bandcamp
  82. dumb – Club Nites (Mint) | Bandcamp
  83. Interpol – A Fine Mess EP (Matador)
  84. Judy And The Jerks – Music For Donuts EP (Thrilling Living) | Bandcamp
  85. Kohti Tuhoa – Ihmisen Kasvot (La Vida Es Un Mus) | Bandcamp
  86. Ausmuteants – The World In Handcuffs (Anti Fade) | Bandcamp
  87. Le Butcherettes – bi/MENTAL (Rise) | Bandcamp
  88. Ezra Furman – Twelve Nudes (Bella Union) | Bandcamp
  89. All Your Sisters – Trust Ruins (The Flenser) | Bandcamp
  90. Metz – Automat (Sub Pop) | Bandcamp
  91. Victims – The Horse And Sparrow Theory (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  92. Vånna Inget – Utopi (Gaphals) | Bandcamp
  93. La Dispute – Panorama (Epitaph) | Bandcamp
  94. Issue – Cross The Line (Third Coming) | Bandcamp
  95. Warish – Warish EP (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  96. Gang Of Four – Happy Now (Gang Of Four) | Buy
  97. Mekons – Deserted (Bloodshot/Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  98. PUP – Morbid Stuff (Rise) | Bandcamp
  99. The Hussy – Looming (Dirt Nap) | Bandcamp
  100. Sneaks – Highway Hipnosis (Merge) | Bandcamp
  101. Hesitation Wounds – Chicanery (Deathwish) | Bandcamp

Garage Rock/Psych/Punk/Surf Noir

Remember when White Stripes seemed like a fresh, new novelty in the late 90s? When I recently saw Jack White he swanned onto the stage at Riot Fest for a set with The Ranconteurs like he was Jimmy f-ing Page. I don’t know if that’s going to happen with any of these artists (though Nick Cave is of course a star in his own right), but there’s just tons of fun to be had in the garage rock subgenres. Tropical Fuck Storm made a splash with their first album last year, and rolling out another one so quickly, but more weird and twice as prickly, appears to have lost them some critics. Not me, I’ll weather the storms with these Aussie fucksters to the ends of the earth. No relation to the cult leader responsible for the Jonestown Massacre, this Jim Jones was the lead vocalist of MC5-inspired garage psych Thee Hypnotics in 1989-94, the bluesier Black Moses 1999-05, and the drunk punk blues of The Jim Jones Revue 2008-12. His latest band The Righteous Mind nearly rivals Thee Hypnotics, thanks to the evocatively grim blues punk garage noir of debut Super Natural (2017). CollectiV is just as strong, but hasn’t seemed to gained traction this year. Fans of Tom Waits, Grinderman, Gallon Drunk and Tropical Fuck Storm (he learned from the latter in getting even more unhinged in his old age, per “Sex Robot”) should not miss this. | Spotify

More: Raptor, Shana Cleveland, Uffe Lorenzen, Dom Mariani, Foggy Tapes, Amyl And The Sniffers, The Whiffs, Guadalupe Plata, Les Grys-Grys, CFM, The Laissez Fairs, Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, Mark Lanegan Band, White Denim, Ty Segall, Dead Bars, The Darts, The Schizophonics, Warm Drag, The Gotobeds, Acid Carousel, The Backdoor Society, Josiah Konder, Singapore Sling, Frankie & The Witch Fingers, The Paranoyds.

  1. Tropical Fuck Storm – Braindrops (Joyful Noise) | Bandcamp
  2. Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind – CollectiV (Jim Jones) | Bandcamp
  3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen (Ghosteen) | Buy
  4. White Denim – Side Effects (City Slang) | Bandcamp
  5. KEYS – Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia (Libertino) | Buy
  6. The Membranes – What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away (Cherry Red) | Bandcamp
  7. The Mystery Lights – Too Much Tension! (Daptone) | Bandcamp
  8. Savage Mansion – Revision Ballads (Lost Map) | Bandcamp
  9. The Snakes – The Snakes (Anti-Fade) | Bandcamp
  10. Saint Agnes – Welcome To Silvertown (Death Or Glory Gang) | Buy
  11. Pist Idiots – Ticker (Space 44) | Bandcamp
  12. Horace Bones – Terra (Horace Bones) | Bandcamp
  13. Swedish Death Candy – Are You Nervous? (Hassle) | Bandcamp

Hard Rock: Desert/Fuzz/Stoner/Blues/Southern/Jam

Who knew that hard rock would become so unfashionable that not a single album is represented in the big list. I blame nu metal. It was embarrassing enough to turn off many from hard rock for life. No matter, it just goes back to being underground where it really thrives best. This article had the right idea, but used an entirely different set of examples of what’s great about rock right now than I am.  Some rockers are aging, but many are young, wild-eyed, fluffy-haired and keeping things exciting and vital. Like Garcia People, who draw on both The Grateful Dead and Television as influences. Not so young is Colour Haze who just put out a stealth release of their thirteenth album. Chris Forsyth knows his way around a jam too, but when I saw him this summer, hoo boy that was just a bit too noodly. But still, his albums are gorgeous. Like I imagine Spidergawd would be (haven’t seen them yet), Kadavar should teach others how to properly rock a stage. It helps to have a 7-foot tall sasquatch of a drummer named Tiger. | Spotify

  1. Spidergawd – V (Stickman) | Buy
  2. Garcia Peoples – Natural Facts (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) | Bandcamp
  3. Colour Haze – We Are (Elektrohasch) | Buy
  4. Chris Forsyth – All Time Present (No Quarter) | Bandcamp
  5. Kadavar – For The Dead Travel Fast (Nuclear Blast) | Buy
  6. Elkhorn – Sun Cycle/Elk Jam (Feeding Tube) | Bandcamp
  7. Baroness – Gold & Grey (Abraxan Hymns) | Buy
  8. The Ivory Elephant – Stoneface (Kozmik Artifactz) | Bandcamp
  9. Torche – Admission (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  10. Crypt Trip – Haze County (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  11. The Devil And The Almighty Blues – Tre (Blues For The Red Sun) | Bandcamp
  12. Solace – The Brink (Blues Funeral) | Bandcamp
  13. Elder – The Gold & Silver Sessions (Blues Funeral) | Bandcamp
  14. Merlin – The Mortal (The Company) | Bandcamp
  15. Looprider – Ouroboros (Call And Response) | Bandcamp
  16. Gygax – High Fantasy (Creator-Destructor) | Bandcamp
  17. Ecstatic Vision – For The Masses (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  18. Obsidian Sea – Strangers (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  19. The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Very Uncertain Times (Rise Above) | Buy
  20. Hans Chew & Garcia Peoples – Natch 10 (Black Dirt Studio) | Bandcamp
  21. Larman Clamor – Of Stranger Realms (Larman Clamor) | Bandcamp
  22. Parasol Caravan – Nemesis (Parasol Caravan) | Bandcamp
  23. Saint Karloff – Interstellar Voodoo (Majestic Mountain) | Bandcamp
  24. Salem’s Bend – Supercluster (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  25. Duel– Valley Of Shadows (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  26. Grotto – Lantern Of Gius (Stickman) | Bandcamp
  27. Gin Lady – Tall Sun Crooked Moon (Kozmik Artifactz) | Bandcamp
  28. Swan Valley Heights – The Heavy Seed (Fuzzorama) | Bandcamp
  29. Helms Alee – Noctiluca (Sargent House) | Bandcamp
  30. Sleeping Giant – Sleeping Giant (Sleeping Giant) | Bandcamp
  31. Devil To Pay – Forever, Never Or Whenever (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  32. Gary Clark Jr. – This Land (WB) | Buy
  33. Wet Tuna – Water Weird (Three Lobed Recordings) | Bandcamp
  34. Holy Serpent – Endless (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  35. The Well – Death And Consolation (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  36. Dead Feathers – All Is Lost (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  37. Hippie Death Cult – 111 (Hippie Death Cult) | Bandcamp
  38. Mars Red Sky – The Task Eternal (Listenable) | Bandcamp

Heavy Metal

My favorite way to take my heavy metal pills are live, in person, at my favorite neighborhood club Reggie’s Rock Club. While traditional heavy metal is just a small proportion of my list, it occupies over 75% of my live music experiences, because the bands are so genuinely passionate, and know how to put on a god damn show. It’s been nearly a decade since I last saw Slough Feg, one of the greatest live bands ever, and I’m going through withdrawal. I’m almost tempted to go to Houston to see them at Hell’s Heroes III next year. Almost. What a lineup! I think most of those bands will make their way to Chicago at some point. The prolific Haunt already have a new album, Mind Freeze, scheduled for Jan. 5, just around the corner. Hopefully they’ll come to a town near you soon and help thaw your metal starved brains. | Spotify

More: Midnight Priest, Angel Witch, Grand Magus, Sabaton, Gatekeeper, Idle Hands, In Aevum Agere, Enforcer, Chevalier, Frozen Crown, Tytus, Sacred Monster, Last In Line, Sanhedrin, Atlas Pain, Powerwolf, DragonForce.Spotify

  1. Spirit Adrift – Divided By Darkness (20 Buck Spin) | Bandcamp
  2. The Lord Weird Slough Feg – The New Organon (Cruz Del Sur) | Bandcamp
  3. Haunt – If Icarus Could Fly (Shadow Kingdom) | Bandcamp
  4. Traveler – Traveler (Traveler) | Bandcamp
  5. Atlantean Kodex – The Course Of Empire (Van) | Bandcamp
  6. Black Sites – Exile (Hoove Child) | Bandcamp
  7. Ravensire – A Stone Engraved In Red (Ravensire) | Bandcamp
  8. Smoulder – Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring (Cruz Del Sur) | Bandcamp
  9. Megaton Sword – Niralet EP (Dying Victims) | Bandcamp
  10. Haze Mage – Chronicles (Gimoire) | Bandcamp
  11. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rat’s Nest (Flightless) | Bandcamp
  12. Diamond Head – The Coffin Train (Silver Lining) | Buy
  13. Twisted Tower Dire – Wars In The Unknown (Twisted Tower Dire) | Bandcamp

Doom

If I don’t talk about an album at the top of a genre list, it’s because it made the overall Lucky 13, like Magic Circle. I’ll mention that they’re also in the fabulous lineup for the upcoming Hell’s Heroes III fest. A late year release that snuck up on me is Avatarium, Leif Edling’s (Candlemass) “side project” that is now on their fourth album. They could also easily fit in the psych noir and prog categories, and when stoner and sludge are the most common and popular flavors of doom,  Jennie-Ann Smith and company add some creepily elegant class to the party. | Spotify

  1. Magic Circle – Departed Souls (20 Buck Spin) | Bandcamp
  2. Avatarium – The Fire I Long For (Nuclear Blast) | Bandcamp
  3. Lowcaster – Flames Arise (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  4. Worshipper – Light In The Wire (Tee Pee) | Bandcamp
  5. Scarecrow – Scarecrow (Ritual Sound) | Bandcamp
  6. Orodruin – Ruins Of Eternity (Shadow Kingdom) | Bandcamp
  7. Saint Vitus – Saint Vitus (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  8. Crypt Sermon – The Ruins Of Fading Light (Dark Descent) | Bandcamp
  9. Monolord – No Comfort (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  10. Black Road – Witch Of The Future (BloodRock) | Bandcamp
  11. High Reeper – Higher Reeper (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  12. Brume – Rabbits (Magnetic Eye) | Bandcamp
  13. Flesh Of The Stars – Mercy (Flesh) | Bandcamp
  14. Goatess – Blood And Wine (Svart) | Bandcamp
  15. Alunah – Violet Hour (Heavy Psych) | Bandcamp
  16. Ogre – Thrice As Strong (Cruz Del Sur) | Bandcamp
  17. Green Lung – Woodland Rites (Kozmik Artifactz) | Bandcamp
  18. The Black Furs – Stereophonic Freak Out Vol​.​1 (Black Furs) | Bandcamp
  19. Troll – Legend Master (Shadow Kingdom) | Bandcamp
  20. Lord Vicar – The Black Powder (Church Within) | Bandcamp
  21. Doomstress – Sleep Among The Dead (Ripple) | Bandcamp
  22. Beastmaker – Eye Of The Storm EP (Church Records) | Bandcamp
  23. Eternal Black – Slow Burn Suicide (Obsidian Sky) | Bandcamp
  24. High Priest – Sanctum EP (Magnetic Eye) | Bandcamp
  25. Clouds Taste Satanic – Evil Eye (Kinda Like Music) | Bandcamp
  26. Bloody Hammers – The Summoning (Napalm) | Bandcamp
  27. Monasterium – Church Of Bones (Nine) | Bandcamp

Black/Death/Sludge/Technical/Speed/Prog/Avant Metal

Extreme metal, what can I say? I admire it from a safe distance! Every year there are super impressive innovations, tons of passion and creativity. It just occupies significantly less play time than other types of metal.  This year Decibel picked Blood Incantation for their #1 before it was even released. I listened, I liked. You won’t hear me say this in most cases, but here I’ll defer to the experts. Great cover art too. I almost slept on the Moon Tooth release — I loved their debut Chromaparagon (2016), and this one’s even better. | Spotify

More: Firebreather, Harsh Realm, Wizard Rifle, Beastwars, Cult Of Luna, Possessed, Kings Destroy, Gévaudan, Pyramido, Swamp Witch, Hexgrafv, Bewitcher, Amon Amarth, Candlemass, Darkthrone.

  1. Blood Incantation – Hidden History Of The Human Race (Dark Descent) | Bandcamp
  2. Moon Tooth – Crux (Pure Noise) | Bandcamp
  3. Gaahls Wyrd – GastiR – Ghosts Invited (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  4. Car Bomb – Mordial (Car Bomb) | Bandcamp
  5. Gatecreeper – Deserted (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  6. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard – Yn Ol I Annwn (New Heavy Sounds) | Bandcamp
  7. Year Of The Cobra – Ash And Dust (Prophecy) | Bandcamp
  8. Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance (20 Buck Spin) | Bandcamp
  9. Obsequiae – The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings (20 Buck Spin) | Bandcamp
  10. Coffins – Beyond The Circular Demise (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  11. Waste Of Space Orchestra – Syntheosis (Svart) | Bandcamp
  12. Devil Master – Satan Spits On Children Of Light (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  13. Possessed – Revelations Of Oblivion (Nuclear Blast) | Buy

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

Through the 90s, The Mermen were the most unique of the surf guitar influenced groups, distinguishing themselves with adventurous explorations of psychedelia and post-rock. Well into his 60s, leader Jim Thomas has been on an creative roll recently, with three albums, The Magic Swirling Ship, We Could See It In The Distance, (2017) and now A Murmurous Sirenic Delirium. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of Thomas’ jazzy picking, and all three albums have been on heavy rotation the past few months. Sunn O))) as bedroom music? You’d better have a VERY open minded partner! | Spotify

More: Pylar, Kim Gordon, Battles, Whistling Arrow, Warmdüscher, Centrum, Rakta, Deafkids, Malibu, Kandodo3, Consouled, Kevin Richard Martin, Saint Abdullah, A Winged Victory For The Sullen. 

  1. The Mermen – A Murmurous Sirenic Delirium (Mermen) | Buy
  2. Sunn O))) – Life Metal (Southern Lord) | Bandcamp
  3. Pelican – Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord) | Bandcamp
  4. Swans – Leaving Meaning (Young God) | Buy
  5. The Rainbow Gland – Naked In The Casket (Rainbow Gland) | Bandcamp
  6. Command Casual – Let’s Get Out Of Here (Command Casual) | Bandcamp
  7. Chelsea Wolfe – Birth Of Violence (Sargent House) | Bandcamp
  8. Lingua Ignota – Caligula (Profound Lore) | Bandcamp
  9. Black To Comm – Seven Horses For Seven Kings (Thrill Jockey) | Bandcamp
  10. Teeth Of The Sea – Wraith (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  11. Boris – LOVE & EVOL (Third Man) | Bandcamp
  12. Earth – Full Upon Her Burning Lips (Sargent House) | Bandcamp
  13. Pinkish Black – Concept Unification (Relapse) | Bandcamp

Art Pop, Dream Pop & Shoegaze

Art pop has really exploded in the mainstream. Some even try to shoehorn Taylor Swift into that subgenre. Let’s not get hasty now. In between the familiar names, there should be some exciting new discoveries for y’all. I’ve been listening to Cate Le Bon for nearly a decade and always liked her, but was never overly excited. That changed on her latest, a fairly subtle shift as she still take a low-key approach, but my RYM cronies have tagged her with the prog pop and zolo genres! What’s zolo? | Spotify

The term “zolo” was first coined by Terry Sharkie via his “Zany Zolo Muzik Hour” radio show to describe a cross-section of bands and artists with similar approaches to music. Zolo is characterized by hyper, jerky rhythms, synthesized bleeps and boings, polka-dot percussion, chipper falsettos, zany imagery and a Zappa-esque sense of humor. While zolo contains elements associated with Progressive Rock or New Wave, zolo itself is a creative thread that runs independently of both of these genres.

Finding its beginnings in the 1970s with the quirky prog of Gentle Giant and comic art-pop of Sparks (produced by another zolo godfather, Todd Rundgren), zolo reached its apotheosis during the late 1970s and 1980s, with XTC‘s Go 2Split Enz‘s Second Thoughts and Godley & Creme‘s L often considered the best examples of zolo music. Other albums high in zolo content include Bill Nelson & Red Noise‘s Sound-On-SoundDevo‘s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!Wazmo Nariz‘s Things Aren’t RightSnakefinger‘s Chewing Hides the Sound and Greener Postures and numerous works by Albert Marcœur. Zolo was particularly popular in Japan, spawning bands like P-Modelヒカシュー [Hikashu]UchoutenWha-Ha-Ha人生 [Zin-Säy!] and ピッキーピクニック [Picky Picnic]. — RYM

  1. Cate Le Bon – Reward (Mexican Summer) | Bandcamp
  2. These New Puritans – Inside The Rose (Infectious) | Buy
  3. FKA twigs – Magdalene (Young Turks) | Buy
  4. Wand – Laughing Matter (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  5. Jane Weaver – Loops In The Secret Society (Fire) | Bandcamp
  6. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct (Nuclear Blast) | Bandcamp
  7. The Stargazer Lilies – Occabot (Rad Cult) | Bandcamp
  8. FEWS – Into Red (PIAS) | Bandcamp
  9. Empath – Active Listening: Night On Earth (Get Better) | Bandcamp
  10. Have A Nice Life – Sea Of Worry (The Flenser) | Bandcamp
  11. Monochrome Set – Fabula Mendax (Tapete) | Bandcamp
  12. Anthony Reynolds – A Painter’s Life (Rocket Girl) | Buy
  13. Jenny Hval – The Practice Of Love (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  14. Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising (Sub Pop) | Bandcamp
  15. Sandro Perri – Soft Landing (Constellation) | Bandcamp
  16. Louise Lemón – A Broken Heart Is an Open Heart (Icons Creating Evil Art) | Bandcamp
  17. Routine Death – 2 Weeks To 4 Months (Fuzz Club) | Bandcamp
  18. Fly Pan Am – C’est çla;a (Constellation) | Buy
  19. Gnoomes – MU! (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  20. Dreamtime – Tidal Mind (Dreamtime) | Bandcamp
  21. Carnet De Voyage – Melo Disko (Gare du Nord) | Bandcamp
  22. Vagabon – Vagabon (Nonesuch) | Bandcamp
  23. Anna Meredith – FIBS (Black Prince Fury) | Bandcamp
  24. Rozi Plain – What A Boost (Memphis Industries) | Bandcamp
  25. Dead Leaf Echo – Pale Fire (Moon Sounds) | Bandcamp
  26. Mega Bog – Dolphine (Paradise Of Bachelors) | Bandcamp
  27. Kazu – Adult Baby (Adult Baby) | Bandcamp
  28. Kelsey Lu – Blood (Columbia) | Buy
  29. Metronomy – Metronomy Forever (Because) | Buy
  30. Jay Som – Anak Ko (Polyvinyl) | Bandcamp
  31. Marble Arch – Children Of The Slump (Geographie) | Bandcamp
  32. Lorelei K – Lightbender (Lorelei K) | Bandcamp
  33. Death And Vanilla – Are You A Dreamer (Fire) | Bandcamp
  34. No-Man – Love You To Bits (Kscope) | Buy
  35. Housewives – Twilight Splendour (Blank) | Bandcamp
  36. Poppel – Make Sense (Meritorio) | Bandcamp
  37. DIIV – Deceiver (Captured Tracks) | Bandcamp
  38. Maps – Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss. (Mute) | Buy
  39. Caroline Polachek – Pang (Columbia) | Buy
  40. Coldplay – Everyday Life (Parlophone)
  41. Spellling – Mazy Fly (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  42. Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell (Interscope) | Buy
  43. Our Destiny – Awakening (Our Destiny) | Bandcamp
  44. Bat For Lashes – Lost Girls (Bat For Lashes) | Bandcamp
  45. Ex:Re – Ex:Re (4AD) | Buy
  46. Dream Cars – Never Let Her Go (Dreamcars) | Bandcamp

Indie Rock, Pop & Jangle Pop

A series of horrible, phoned-in performances by indie bands has caused me to develop a nearly visceral hatred of landfill indie. And yet, there is so much out there, too much to ignore. The following are some of the more neglected albums, with exceptions like Ex Hex, who deserve all the praise they get. Brisbane, Australia’s Dumb Things are new to me, and they’re influenced by The Go-Betweens and The Apartments, and are able janglers, adding them to a long list of great Aussie jangle pop. | Spotify

More: The Dream Syndicate, Kate Davis, The Proper Ornaments, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Piroshka, Horsebeach, Angel Olsen, Winona Forever, The Ocean Party, Jade Imagine.

  1. Dumb Things – Time Again (Coolin’ By Sound) | Bandcamp
  2. Business Of Dreams – Ripe For Anarchy (Slumberland) | Bandcamp
  3. The Reds, Pinks And Purples – Anxiety Art (Pretty Olivia) | Bandcamp
  4. Ex Hex – It’s Real (Merge) | Bandcamp
  5. Zebra Hunt – Trade Desire (Jigsaw/Tenorio Cotobade) | Bandcamp
  6. Cloth – Cloth (Last Night From Glasgow) | Buy
  7. Modern Nature – How To Live (Bella Union) | Bandcamp
  8. Possible Humans – Everybody Split (Trouble In Mind) | Bandcamp
  9. Tourist Activities – Off My Mind EP (Den Tapes) | Bandcamp
  10. Corridor – Junior (Sub Pop) | Bandcamp
  11. Homer – Best New Music (Homer) | Bandcamp
  12. Fabienne Delsol – Four (Damaged Goods) | Buy
  13. Holiday Ghosts – West Bay Playroom (PNKSLM) | Bandcamp

Jazz & Fusion

I got to say, Chicago is dominating this genre, with the Brock/Ulery/Deitemyer Wonderment project, Greg Ward, Resavoir, Damon Locks, Jamie Branch and more. It’s not necessarily my hometown bias, as The Wire magazine’s list was filled with many of these artists. Wonderment is a power trio of accomplished musicians Zach Brock (violin), Matt Ulery (double bass) and Jon Deitemyer (drums), songwriters all. Over a decade in the making, this debut album fuses avant creativity with post-bop traditions for some lovely sounds that inspire repeated listening. It works just as well in the background as it does riding the rollercoaster of emotional impact from a focused listening session. Stick it on a playlist with your other jazz and fusion faves, and I guarantee it will stand out, and you’ll be running over to look at the playlist to make sure you remember who is making this incredible music. King Shabaka’s The Comet Is Coming project debuted with a promising fusion of jazz and space rock on Channel the Spirits (2016). On their second album, they’ve locked in an interstellar groove, and fortunately others are taking notice. | Spotify

  1. Zach Brock | Matt Ulery | Jon Deitemyer – Wonderment (Woolgathering Records) | Bandcamp
  2. The Comet Is Coming – Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery (Impulse!) | Buy
  3. Greg Ward Presents Rogue Parade – Stomping Off From Greenwood (Greenleaf) | Bandcamp
  4. Resavoir – Resavoir (International Anthem) | Bandcamp
  5. Zara McFarlane with Dennis Bovell – East Of The River Nile EP (Brownswood) | Bandcamp
  6. Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis (Constellation) | Bandcamp
  7. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble – Where Future Unfolds (International Anthem) | Bandcamp
  8. Mark de Clive-Lowe – Heritage II (Ropeadope) | Bandcamp
  9. The Budos Band – V (Daptone) | Bandcamp
  10. Alarmist – Sequesterer (Small Pond) | Bandcamp
  11. Jamie Branch – Fly Or Die II: Bird Dogs Of Paradise (International Anthem) | Bandcamp
  12. Angel Bat Dawid – The Oracle (International Anthem) | Bandcamp
  13. Mark de Clive-Lowe – Heritage (Ropeadope) | Bandcamp
  14. Rustin Man – Drift Code (Domino) | Bandcamp
  15. Ronin Arkestra – Sonkei (Albert’s Favorites) | Bandcamp
  16. Led Bib & Sharron Fortnam – It’s Morning (RareNoise) | Bandcamp
  17. Ezra Collective – You Can’t Steal My Joy (Enter the Jungle) | Buy
  18. Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society – Mandatory Reality (Eremite) | Bandcamp
  19. Mark de Clive-Lowe – CHURCH Sessions (Ropeadope) | Bandcamp
  20. Joe Armon-Jones – Turn To Clear View (Brownswood) | Bandcamp
  21. Brad Mehldau – Finding Gabriel (Nonesuch) | Buy
  22. North Sea Radio Orchestra – Folly Bololey: Songs from Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom (Dark Companion) | Bandcamp
  23. Esperanza Spalding – 12 Little Spells (Concord) | Buy
  24. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – Ancestral Recall (Ropeadope) | Bandcamp
  25. Portico Quintet – Memory Streams (Gondwana) | Bandcamp
  26. Daymé Arocena – Sonocardiogram (Brownswood) | Bandcamp
  27. Ne´rija – Blume (Domino) | Bandcamp
  28. Matt Mitchell – Phalanx Ambassadors (Pi) | Bandcamp
  29. Steve Lehman – The People I Love (Pi) | Bandcamp
  30. Ishmael Ensemble – A State Of Flow (Severn Songs) | Bandcamp
  31. Sly & The Family Drone – Gentle Persuaders (Love Love) | Bandcamp
  32. Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones – From Untruth (Northern Spy) | Bandcamp
  33. Le Rex – Escape Of The Fire Ants (Cuneiform) | Bandcamp
  34. Art Ensemble Of Chicago – We Are On The Edge (Pi) | Bandcamp
  35. The Spellcasters – Music From The Anacostia Delta (Cuneiform) | Bandcamp

Global, Reggae, Dub & Afrobeat

As I mentioned earlier, it was a really great surprise to get not one, but two new collaborations between Lee Perry and Adrian Sherwood. Compared to the massive amount of classics Scratch put out in the 70s, everything since the 80s has been pretty garbage. This dub album, released on Dec 6, is just what I’ve been craving. When tossing basically all non-Western music into one heap, there’s no way to honestly rate all this music in a meaningful way. I love me some good dub. And Angélique Kidjo, just a year after covering Talking Heads’ iconic Remain In Light (1980) in its entirety, emphasizing its African roots. She does a similar treatment of the catalog of Celia Cruz, the most famous Cuban singer. And damn, what a killer band she assembled. Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Shabaka Hutchings of The Comet Is Coming and Sons Of Kemet on sax, and the legendary co-architect of Afrobeat with Fela, Tony Allen on drums. I also lean toward arty/jammy Tishoumaren psych (75 Dollar Bill), Afrobeat (Kaleta & Super Yamba Band) and Mongolian throat-singing (The Hu). I was lucky to see Tuvan sensations Huun-Huur Tu live at their peak in the mid-90s. The Gereg balances those throat-singing traditions with the edgier noise experiments of Indonesians Senyawa. | Spotify

  1. Lee “Scratch” Perry – Heavy Rain (On-U Sound) | Bandcamp
  2. 75 Dollar Bill – I Was Real (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  3. Kaleta & Super Yamba Band – Medaho (Ubiquity) | Bandcamp
  4. Angélique Kidjo – Celia (Verve) | Buy
  5. The Hu – The Gereg (Eleven Seven) | Buy
  6. The Specials – Encore (Island) | Buy
  7. Kefaya & Elaha Soroor – Songs Of Our Mothers (Bella Union) | Bandcamp
  8. Mdou Moctar – Ilana (The Unseen) (Sahel) | Bandcamp
  9. Kel Assouf – Black Tenere (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  10. Tinariwen – Amadjar (Wedge) | Bandcamp
  11. Ana Frango Elétrico – Little Electric Chicken Heart (Risco) | Bandcamp
  12. Prince Fatty – In The Viper’s Shadow (Evergreen) | Bandcamp
  13. Kokoroko – Kokoroko EP (Brownswood) | Bandcamp
  14. Ifriqiyya Electrique – Laylet el Booree (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  15. The Aggrolites– Reggae Now! (Pirates Press) | Bandcamp
  16. Max Romeo – Words From The Brave (Baco) | Buy
  17. Mungo’s Hi-Fi & Eva Lazarus – More Fyah (Scotch Bonnet) | Bandcamp
  18. Bombay Groovy – Odyssey 2014-19 (Cosmic Eye) | Bandcamp
  19. Lee “Scratch” Perry – Rainford (On-U Sound) | Bandcamp
  20. The Beat feat. Ranking Roger – Public Confidential (DMF) | Buy
  21. The Skints – Swimming Lessons (Mr Bongo) | Bandcamp
  22. The Good Ones – Rwanda, You Should Be Loved (Anti-) | Bandcamp
  23. Newen Afrobeat – Curiche (Independiente) | Bandcamp
  24. Here Lies Man – No Ground To Walk Upon (RidingEasy) | Bandcamp
  25. Equiknoxx – Eternal Children (Equiknoxx) | Buy
  26. Rachid Taha – Je Suis Africain (Naïve) | Buy
  27. Sinkane – Dépaysé (City Slang) | Bandcamp
  28. Ziminino – Ziminino (International Black) | Bandcamp
  29. Ibibio Sound Machine – Doio Mien (Merge) | Bandcamp
  30. Black Flower – Future Flora (Sdban Ultra) | Bandcamp
  31. Jäh Division – Dub Will Tear Us Apart…Again (Ernest Jenning) | Bandcamp
  32. Khruangbin – Hasta El Cielo (Con Todo El Mundo In Dub) (Night Time) | Bandcamp
  33. Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell – Realm Of Spells (Jah Wobble) | Bandcamp
  34. Jah Wobble – The Electro Dub Extravaganza EP (Jah Wobble) | Bandcamp
  35. Àb&aactue;se – Invocation (Cosmic Compositions) | Bandcamp
  36. Nomade Orquestra – Vox Populi (Nomade) | Bandcamp
  37. Nomade Orquestra – Machina (Nomade) | Bandcamp
  38. Fumaça Preta – Pepas (Stolen Body) | Bandcamp
  39. Rodrigo y Gabriela – Mettavolution (ATO) | Buy
  40. Ahmedou Ahmed Lowla – Terrouzi (Sahel Sounds) | Bandcamp
  41. Odd Okoddo – Auma (Pingipung) | Bandcamp
  42. The Souljazz Orchestra – Chaos Theories (Strut) | Bandcamp
  43. Madalitso Band – Wasalala (Bongo Joe) | Bandcamp
  44. Phillipi & Rodrigo – Paciencia (Deewee) | Bandcamp
  45. Yao Bobby & Simon Grab – Diamonds (LAVALAVA) | Bandcamp
  46. Afenginn – Klingra (Tutl) | Bandcamp
  47. Clever Austin – Pareidolia (Clever Austin) | Bandcamp
  48. Xylouris White – The Sisypheans (Drag City) | Bandcamp
  49. Nubiyan Twist – Jungle Run (Strut) | Bandcamp
  50. Flamingods – Levitation (Moshi Moshi) | Bandcamp
  51. Ivan Conti – Poison Fruit (Far Out) | Bandcamp
  52. Alborosie Meets Roots Radics – Dub For The Radicals (VP)
  53. The Mauskovic Dance Band – The Mauskovic Dance Band (Soundway) | Bandcamp
  54. Gentleman’s Dub Club – Lost In Space (Easy Star) | Bandcamp
  55. Dub Colossus – Dr. Strangedub (Dub Colossus) | Bandcamp
  56. Ustad Saami – God Is Not A Terrorist (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  57. Ani Cordero – El Machete (Panapen) | Bandcamp
  58. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba – Miri (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  59. Sirom – A Universe That Roasts Blossoms For A Horse (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  60. Burna Boy – African Giant (Atlantic)

Electronic, Techno & Dance

It’s been a while since electronic music has excited me, so it makes sense that my favorite release would be Fenella. It’s a collaboration that includes Jane Weaver, who’s known for her song oriented psych pop (this year she also remixed Modern Kosmology (2017) on Loops In The Secret Society. Compared to the bubbly, percolating analog electronic sounds and ambient space madness, Fenella leans toward progressive electronic vibes. Zonal delves in illbient, industrial hip hop and ambient dub, which reminds me when Techno Animal and Scorn (who also have a new album this year) were new and exciting. A collaboration with Moor Mother on the first half is a bonus extra. Greece’s Jay Glass Dubs takes a slightly different approach to those same genres, while Confrontational and Mega Drive make some entertaining synthwave, though now darksynth has become the latest genre tag.

More: Hexcut, 100 Gecs, Scorn, Black Futures, Fennesz, Carla dal Forno, Powernerd, Duke, J-Walk, King Midas Sound, Sote, Blanck Mass.

  1. Jane Weaver – Fenella (Fire) | Bandcamp
  2. Zonal – Wrecked (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  3. Jay Glass Dubs – Epitaph (Bokeh Versions) | Bandcamp
  4. Confrontational – Under The Cover Of Darkness (Confrontatoinal) | Bandcamp
  5. Mega Drive – 199XAD (FixXT) | Bandcamp
  6. Bobby Krlic – Midsommar (Milan) | Buy
  7. Gross Net – Gross Net Means Gross Net (Felte) | Bandcamp
  8. Confrontational – Under The Cover Of Darkness (Confrontatoinal) | Bandcamp
  9. Mega Drive – 199XAD (FixXT) | Bandcamp
  10. Caterina Barbieri – Ecstatic Computation (Mego) | Bandcamp
  11. Amami – Giant (Bongo Joe) | Bandcamp
  12. Ekiti Sound – Abeg No Veg (Crammed Discs) | Bandcamp
  13. Tunes Of Negation – Reach The Endless Sea (Cosmo Rhythmatic) | Bandcamp

R&B, Soul & Funk

2019 was a really strong year for tuneful, smart, innovative fusions of soul, R&B and funk with art pop. After a long absence, trailblazer Missy Elliott came back with a new EP, but she had her work cut out for her to compete with the brilliant work from her acolyte Lizzo (who collaborated with her on the track “Tempo”). Lizzo has been around for a while — I got to see her open for Sleater-Kinney several years ago. But her third album is definitely a major breakthrough, with much to love. Durand Jones & The Indications had their second album of gorgeous Curtis Mayfield inspired Chicago soul. UK based Michael Kiwanuka is also hitting a career peak of arty psychedelic soul on his third album. | Spotify

More: Yola (she’s in the Country list), Raphael Saadiq, Shafiq Husayn, HÆLOS, Tony Njoku, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Mavis Staples, G&D, Yves Jarvis, J. Lamotta, Kindness, Missy Elliott, Erika da Casier, Dawn Richard.

  1. Lizzo – Cuz I Love You (Atlantic) | Buy
  2. Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call (Dead Oceans) | Bandcamp
  3. Michael Kiwanuka – Kiwanuka (Polydor) | Buy
  4. Carlton Jumel Smith – 1634 Lexington Avenue (Timmion) | Bandcamp
  5. Brittany Howard – Jaime (Columbia) | Bandcamp
  6. SAULT – 5 (Forever Living Originals) | Bandcamp
  7. Emily King – Scenery (ATO) | Bandcamp
  8. Hejira – Thread Of Gold (Limo Limo) | Bandcamp
  9. Solange – When I Get Home (Columbia) | Buy
  10. Avery R. Young – Tubman. (FPE) | Bandcamp
  11. P.P. Arnold – The New Adventures Of… (Earmusic) | Buy
  12. Sudan Archives – Athena (Stones Throw) | Bandcamp
  13. Jamila Woods – Legacy! Legacy! (Jagjaguwar) | Bandcamp

Hip Hop & Rap

According to all the 2010s decade lists, critics have annointed their undisputed Prince of hip hop, Kendrick Lamar. That’s great, but I think there’s still plenty of room for other artists to compete with crazy, ambitious, psychedelic spins on hip hop. So it was interesting to see who filled the gaps with Lamar sitting out this year. The overwhelming popular favorite is Tyler, The Creator, who’s really good, but it shows how much talent is out there where he could possibly sound a bit dull next to the artists in this list, starting with the electrifying and occasionally terrifying Zambian/Canadian queer trans Ashanti Mutinta, aka Backxwash. She has some raps about her personal experiences (the heartfelt “You Like My Body the Way It Is”), but also delves into devilishly edgy, demon summoning horrorcore. | Spotify

More: Sampa The Great, Sarathy Korwar, Dessa, Billy Woods & Kenny Segal, EarthGang, DJ Shadow, Kano, Flying Lotus, Sporting Life, Danny Brown, YBN Cordae, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Benny The Butcher, slowthai, Joell Ortiz, Tyler, The Creator.

  1. Backxwash – DEVIANCY (Grimalkin) | Bandcamp
  2. MC Yallah & Debmaster – Kubali (Hakun Kulala) | Bandcamp
  3. Yugen Blakrok – Anima Mysterium (IOT) | Bandcamp
  4. clipping. – There Existed An Addiction to Blood (Sub Pop) | Bandcamp
  5. Moor Mother – Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes (Don Giovanni) | Bandcamp
  6. Little Simz – Grey Area (Age 101)
  7. Malibu Ken – Malibu Ken (Rhymesayers) | Bandcamp
  8. Mahatma X – A Mobtown Suite Vol II (Home Assembly) | Bandcamp
  9. Rapsody – Eve (Jamla) | Buy
  10. MIKE – Tears Of Joy (MIKE) | Bandcamp
  11. Injury Reserve – Injury Reserve (Loma Vista) | Buy
  12. JPEGMAFIA – All My Heroes Are Cornballs (EQT) | Bandcamp
  13. Chali 2na & Krafty Kuts – Adventures of a Reluctant Superhero (Manphibian) | Bandcamp

Folk, Americana & Country

Folk and country are evergreen genres that are relatively immune to the ebb and flow of fashion, as it should be. Sure, sub-genres like freak folk occasionally flare and fade, and polished pop country (I’m tempted to call it Vegas country or Fat Elvis country) has been a big moneymaker around Nashville the past few years. Ironically there’s probably more guitar playing heard on country radio than pop radio, despite the overall disdain for all other guitar-based music. Folk is more niche in that there’s not much found on commercial radio or streaming channels, but there’s certainly still plenty of interest and audiences for it. My favorite of the year is more cosmic Americana, a term coined by Gram Parsons to describe his blend of hippy psychedelia, country, folk and blues. Moon Duo/Wooden Shjips’ Ripley Johnson teamed up with Rose City Band, resulting in a hypnotic fusion of country folk and kosmische, veering off the autobahn onto country roads, but with hallucinogenic neon colored landscapes. It overwhelmingly got the most play time for me this year, followed by Norway’s Sugarfoot, their fifth album of intoxicating, beautifully recorded hybrid of psych pop and Americana. | Spotify

More: Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker, Gin Lady, The Concerns, GospelbeacH, Orville Peck, Brighde Chaimbeul, Dodson And Fogg, Sam Amidon, Julia Jacklin, Rhiannon Giddens, Jade Bird, Aldous Harding, Lillie Mae, Joan Shelley, Jesca Hoop, Alexa Rose, Masaki Batoh.

  1. Rose City Band – Rose City Band (Jean Sandwich) | Bandcamp
  2. Sugarfoot – In The Clearing (Crispin Glover) | Bandcamp
  3. Steve Gunn – The Unseen In Between (Matador) | Bandcamp
  4. One Eleven Heavy – Desire Path (One Eleven) | Bandcamp
  5. Crystal Jacqueline – A Prayer For The Birds (Mega Dodo) | Bandcamp
  6. J.R. Bohannon – Dusk (Figureight) | Bandcamp
  7. Forktail – We Are The Ghosts (Menk) | Bandcamp
  8. Richard Dawson – 2020 (Weird World) | Bandcamp
  9. Yola – Walk Through Fire (Easy Eye) | Bandcamp
  10. Richard Aufrichtig – Troubadour No. 1 (King Of Truth) | Bandcamp
  11. Heilung – Futha (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  12. Rokurokubi – Saturn In Pisces (Rokurokubi) | Bandcamp
  13. Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs (Mexican Summer) | Bandcamp

Non-Metal For Metalheads

This list was part of a series of one-offs, just whatever theme that strikes my fancy, but it got so much positive feedback, I’m keeping it going at least another year. Along with excluding metal, I avoid hard rock and stoner rock, since that’s like a first cousin and we want to keep the gene pool separated. Basically it’s anything that deals with metals’ lyrical concerns (death, war, apocalyptic dread, dragons, etc) particularly brutal sounds, or some guitar shredding that doesn’t qualify as metal (check out Command Casual for a unique combo of electronic sequencers and Jon Allen’s elegantly complex guitar licks). Or the terrifying occult horror of Forktail. Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind’s gutteral garage noir and blues is a good fit here.

  1. Bent Knee – You Know What They Mean (InsideOut) | Buy
  2. Motorpsycho – The Crucible (Rune Grammofon/Stickman) | Buy
  3. Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind – CollectiV (Jim Jones) | Bandcamp
  4. The Messthetics – Anthropocosmic Nest (Dischord) | Bandcamp
  5. Diagonal – Arc (Cobblers) | Bandcamp
  6. 75 Dollar Bill – I Was Real (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  7. Sunn O))) – Life Metal (Southern Lord) | Bandcamp
  8. Swans – Leaving Meaning (Young God) | Buy
  9. The Rainbow Gland – Naked In The Casket (Rainbow Gland) | Bandcamp
  10. Command Casual – Let’s Get Out Of Here (Command Casual) | Bandcamp
  11. Chelsea Wolfe – Birth Of Violence (Sargent House) | Bandcamp
  12. Ifriqiyya Electrique – Laylet el Booree (Glitterbeat) | Bandcamp
  13. Lingua Ignota – Caligula (Profound Lore) | Bandcamp
  14. Black To Comm – Seven Horses For Seven Kings (Thrill Jockey) | Bandcamp
  15. Teeth Of The Sea – Wraith (Rocket) | Bandcamp
  16. Pinkish Black – Concept Unification (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  17. Zonal – Wrecked (Relapse) | Bandcamp
  18. Forktail – We Are The Ghosts (Menk) | Bandcamp
  19. clipping. – There Existed An Addiction to Blood (Sub Pop) | Bandcamp
  20. Deafkids – Metaprogramaçã̃o (Neurot) | Bandcamp
  21. Heilung – Futha (Season Of Mist) | Bandcamp
  22. Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra – Legacy Of The Dark Lands (Nuclear Blast) | Buy
  23. Blanck Mass – Animated Violence Mild (Sacred Bones) | Bandcamp
  24. Black To Comm – Before After (Thrill Jockey) | Bandcamp
  25. Nivhek – After Its Own Death / Walking in a Spiral Towards the House (Yellowelectric) | Bandcamp

Late Entries

Publishing the Year-End Summary on December 6, it’s impossible not to miss stuff. Anyone who revisits the summary and pays attention may notice that it evolves well into the next year, particularly the genre lists. Here’s some albums that made those lists that were not there before. Looking at the late release dates for most of them, it’s understandable why they probably made no other year-end list.

More: Reptile File, Cloth, Monarch, Empath, Homer, Resavoir, Ana Frango Elétrico, Horace Bones, Body Hound, Steve Ignorant’s Slice Of Life, The Aggrolites, Max Romeo, The Skints, Duel, Prettiest Eyes, Oceans Of The Moon, Pipe-eye, Odd Okoddo, Ekiti Sound, Powernerd, Gary Clark Jr., Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

  1. Avatarium – The Fire I Long For (Nuclear Blast) Nov 22 | Bandcamp
  2. Colour Haze – We Are (Elektrohasch) Dec 19 | Buy
  3. The Fast Camels – Full Of Strange (Magic Optician) Dec 6 | Buy
  4. The Greek Theatre – When Seasons Change (Sugarbush) Dec 6 | Bandcamp
  5. The Bright Light Social Hour – Jude Vol. 1 (Modern Outsider) Feb 1 | Buy
  6. The Green Ray – Five Points Of Light (Reckless) Sep 27 | Bandcamp
  7. The Stargazer Lilies – Occabot (Rad Cult) Nov 1 | Bandcamp
  8. The Phantom Broadcast – Antiquities (Vicarion) | Bandcamp
  9. Solace – The Brink (Blues Funeral) Dec 13 | Bandcamp
  10. Ancient River – After The Dawn (Summer Moon) Dec 27 | Bandcamp
  11. Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band – Nightmare Forever (Castle Face) Nov 22 | Buy
  12. Guranfoe – Sum Of Erda (Apollon) Dec 13 | Bandcamp
  13. Twin Tribes – Ceremony (Manic Depression) Dec 13 | Bandcamp
  14. Brume – Rabbits (Magnetic Eye) Nov 22 | Bandcamp
  15. Crystal Jacqueline – A Prayer For The Birds (Mega Dodo) Nov 15 | Bandcamp
  16. Larman Clamor – Of Stranger Realms (Larman Clamor) Dec 25 | Bandcamp
  17. The Whiffs – Another Whiff (DIG!) Dec 6 | Bandcamp

Reissues

A lot of reissues are meaningless to me because they’re often vinyl reissues, which I don’t do. At this point it’s hard to find any kind of classic or even historically significant underground album that hasn’t seen multiple iterations of remasters and reissues. For example, this is probably the third time since I bought most of those Dukes Of Stratosphear songs (Chips Off The Chocolate Fireball was the second CD I ever bought after Joy Division’s Substance).  For me the most rewarding reissue was the second box set of The Jazz Butcher, a band unknown to many, but Pat Fish’s literate, snarky jangle pop is deserving of at the very least the acclaim of Lloyd Cole & The Commotions and Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians.  Supposedly the next set will include all their singles, which were scattered throughout several albums, including a lot of out of print stuff such as “The Devil Is My Friend.”

  1. The Jazz Butcher – The Violent Years 1988-91 (Fire)
  2. XTC as The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psurroundabout Ride 1985-87 [CD+Blu-Ray] (Ape House)
  3. Echo & The Bunnymen – The John Peel Sessions 1979-83
  4. Gary Numan – Replicas: The First Recordings 1979
  5. Ut – Conviction (Blast First/Ut, 1986) | Bandcamp
  6. Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle: The First Recordings 1979
  7. KAK – Kak-Ola (Big Beat, 1968)
  8. Iron Maiden – Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (Capitol, 1988)
  9. The Cigarettes – You Were So Young 1979-80
  10. Iggy Pop – Zombie Birdhouse (Caroline, 1981)

New Old Discoveries


It’s hard to keep track of all the rabbit holes I dive down into throughout the year, but especially when I do a larger piece, I tend to explore the full catalogs of artists I write about, such as when I was reviewing The Sonic Dawn, and it was so good I figured there had to more similar great stuff like that which I’d missed this past decade. Indeed there was – Custard Flux, The Honey Pot and all their associated solo projects, The Luck Of Eden Hall, a band that was literally in my back yard for 30 years that I had no excuse missing. I knew about them, but didn’t realize how great they were until after Curvey moved to Michigan and started the Custard Flux project.

  1. Custard Flux – Helium (Custard Flux, 2018)
  2. The Honey Pot – Inside The Whale (Mega Dodo, 2016)
  3. The Luck Of Eden Hall – When The Clock Starts To Wake Up We Go To Sleep (LOEH, 2009)
  4. The Tea Club – Grappling (The Tea Club, 2015)
  5. Glorious Din – Closely Watched Trains (Insight, 1987)
  6. Chemistry Set – The Incomplete Fabulous Stinking (Green Monkey, 1989)
  7. Fea – Fea (Blackheart, 2016)
  8. Hans Chew – Open Sea (At The Helm, 2017)
  9. Elixir – The Son Of Odin (HR, 1986)
  10. Cloven Hoof – A Sultans Ransom (HR, 1989)
  11. Omen – Battle Cry (Metal Blade, 1984)
  12. Porcelain Moon – …As It Were, Here And There (Musea Parallele, 2009)
  13. The Warp/The Weft – Mapping An Absence (Admirable Traits, 2017)

Singles

I’d love to curate a year-end singles list as impressive as, say The Finest Kiss. But I don’t do singles. I did spend all year curating this though: | Spotify Playlist.

Videos

300+ videos, these are sorted by most recent.

Shows

I usually prefer shows at small clubs, but Iron Maiden is ruining it for me. Next show I’ll be like, but where are the flamethrowers?

Bruce Dickinson just turned 61 this month and he’s still leaping from great heights, swordfighting, and hitting the high notes. And he’s the spring chicken compared to the other oriiginal members (Adrian Smith 62, Steve Harris 63, Nicko McBrain 67!), most of whom did plenty of running around and pogoing. Metal’s superheroes.

The Legacy of the Beast tour is my favorite so far, partly because of the great stage show, with Bruce literally pulling flames out of his sleeves for “Flight Of Icarus,” sword fighting the giant Eddie in “The Trooper,” a 90% size replica of a 1941 Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb for “Where Eagles Dare” (boasting the best drum intro ever), a giant Icarus stature, an even bigger evil Eddie head, a noose, and more costume changes than Beyonce (every song!). But mostly because the set favored my all-time favorite, and often underrated Iron Maiden album, Piece Of Mind (1983), with four cuts, including my all-time fave “Revelations.”

There were a couple surprise choices, two long songs from Maiden’s lean Blaze Bayley years in the 90s, “The Clansman” and “Sign Of the Cross.” While I’d have preferred to hear “Still Life” or “Powerslave,” I sat and listened. Solid songs. The biggest cheers came of course for the older classics “The Number of The Beast” and encore “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and “Run To The Hills.”

Bruce got a bid greedy with his “Scream for me, Chicago!” requests, sometimes interfering with some of my favorite guitar parts, and weren’t we paying him to sustain that scream on “Number of The Beast” just a bit longer? But nevertheless we obliged. It was the least we could do for the best tour on the planet.

Wishlist of European bands I’ve never seen has remained the same:Motorpsycho, Colour Haze, Wolf People, Troubled Horse, Spirits Of The Dead, Lola Colt, Amplifier, Causa Sui, Blues Pills, Avatarium, Spectral Haze, Mythic Sunship, Spidergawd, Birth Of Joy, MaidaVale.

More: Castle/High Spirits, Tool, Mulatu Astatke & Angel Bat Dawid, ELO, Chris Forsyth & The Broken Mirror Motel Band. Dud show, Vampire Weekend.

  1. Iron Maiden, Hollywood Casino, Aug 22
  2. Pagan Altar, High Spirits & Cauchemar, Reggies, Aug 31
  3. Slayer, Patti Smith, Bloc Party, The Raconteurs, Hot Snakes, Riot Fest, Sep 13-15
  4. Bent Knee & The Tea Club, Beat Kitchen, Nov 10
  5. Kadavar, Ruby & The Hatchet, Black Road, Avondale Music Hall, Dec 20
  6. Blood Ceremony, Torche & Coven, Chicago Doomed & Stoned Fest, Reggies, May 31
  7. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever & RVG, Thalia Hall, Jun 4
  8. Maggot Heart, Sacri Monti & Earthless, Empty Bottle, Oct 3
  9. Vanishing Kids, Empty Bottle, Mar 31
  10. Shintaro Sakamoto & Sessa, Subterranean, Oct 18
  11. Jupiter & Okwess & Noura Mint Seymali, Millennium Park, Aug 15
  12. Lucifer, Spell, Reggies, Mar 21
  13. Elkhorn, Elastic Arts, Apr 14


Movies

I’d consider my top three movies a kind of trilogy. Comedies about three generations of good, nerdy people (tween boys in Good Boys, teen girls in Booksmart, and a seemingly mismatched adult couple in Long Shot), dealing with the realities of a corrupt, fucked up world, but still somehow holding on to a healthy amount of innocence and goodness. Basically a series of compelling arguments why a broken world is not excuse to become a selfish piece of shit. And yet they avoid the typical nauseating preachiness of all the over-dramatic Oscar bait, plus plenty of good laughs! Raunchy comedies with hearts of gold win in this house.

I don’t make it to the theater much, so I’ve yet to see Parasite, Knives Out, Jojo Rabbit, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, The Farewell, Uncut Gems, The Irishman, If Beale Street Could Talk, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, They Shall Not Grow Old, Dolemite Is My Name, Amazing Grace.

  1. Booksmart
  2. Long Shot
  3. Good Boys
  4. Captain Marvel
  5. Alita: Battle Angel
  6. The Last Black Man In San Francisco
  7. Abomidable
  8. Missing Link
  9. Downton Abbey
  10. Avengers: Endgame
  11. Pokémon Detective Pikachu
  12. The Secret Life Of Pets 2
  13. Little

Also decent: Wonder Park, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Men In Black: International, Shazam!, Isn’t It Romantic, The Hustle, Yesterday, Aladdin, Tolkien, Rocketman, What Men Want, The Lego Movie 2, Being Frank, Replicas.

Not good: Her Smell, Us, The Beach Bum.

Television

Somehow I forgot how good The Good Wife was, and it took a while to get around to plunking down extra money on top of our INSANE cable bill for the premium channel to see The Good Fight. Totally worth it though, and all three seasons were a nice outlet for the helpless rage regarding the systematic dismantling of the checks and balances of our democracy. I’m trying to make The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel last this winter, so far so great as of EP05. Sad to see Kimmy Schmidt and Broad City end, butGrace And Frankie, Schitt’s Creek, Big Mouth, The Kominsky Method and Pen15 are really great comedies.

S03 of The Crown covers 1964-77 with an entirely new cast, but maintains the amazing production values, and is a brilliant snapshot of history. The great Australian series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries will not return with a season 4 (S03 was 2015!), but instead a feature movie will premiere in February, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears. Instead, Ms. Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries is set in 1960s Melbourne, with Phryne’s niece Peregrine Fisher trying her hand at detecting with the guidance of The Adventuresses’ Club. The fashion, architecture and great storytelling are just as great as the previous series. I just noticed that women dominate the lead roles in every show on this list except for The Kominsky Method and Big Mouth.

  1. The Good Fight
  2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
  3. Grace And Frankie
  4. The Crown
  5. Ms. Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries
  6. Schitt’s Creek
  7. Big Mouth
  8. Stranger Things
  9. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
  10. The Kominsky Method
  11. Pen15
  12. Russian Doll
  13. Broad City

Also entertaining: Frankie Drake Mysteries, After Life, A Mystery In Paris, The Other Two, Preacher, I’m Sorry, Sex Education, Better Things, Undone, The Mandalorian, Emergence, Nancy Drew, HAPPY!, Killing Eve, Fleabag, Endeavor, GLOW, Catastrophe, American Gods, Elementary, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Other Two, Travelers, The Durrells In Corfu, Death In Paradise, Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, Forever, American Vandal, Silicon Valley, Love, Search Party, Crashing, Stumptown, Marvel’s Iron Fist/Daredevil/Luke Cage,  Dear White People, Father Brown, Flaked, Grantchester, American Housewife, SNL and The Masked Singer.

Haven’t seen cuz Premium channels: Watchmen, The Boys, Barry, The Leftovers, Twin Peaks: The Return, The Deuce, Girls, She’s Gotta Have It, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow, Lodge 49, The Americans, Big Little Lies.

Books

Red Bush is book two of an epic, post-dystopian solarpunk trilogy. This installment in the Redwood Revenger series is a bloody, sexy, and insanely fun adventure! The action happens in 2043, but jumps back to events in the 1690s that set the clock ticking for the Earth’s doom. As in book one, genres are hopped with ease: fantasy, sci-fi, cli-fi, satire, and now, historical nautical fiction, alien invasion, first contact, pirates, and Jacobean revenge tragedy(!). Peter Guralnicks’ Sweet Soul Music changed my life when I read it 20 years ago. Now Aaron Cohen’s Move On Up tells the mostly untold stories of Chicago soul music. Considering the importance of Chicago’s history of jazz, blues and early rock ‘n’ roll, it’s tragic that soul has been often overlooked. Cohen’s book is a colossal achievement that rights that wrong.

  1. Johannes Johns – Red Bush (The Redwood Revenger, Book Two) (2019)
  2. Aaron Cohen – Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power (2019)
  3. Neal Stephenson – Fall, or, Dodge In Hell (2019)
  4. Richard Morton Jack – Galactic Ramble: A critical guide to British popular music of the 1960s and 1970s (2019)
  5. Caitlin Moran – How to be Famous (2018)
  6. Brad Tolinski, Alan di Perna – Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar (2016)
  7. Vivian Goldman – Revenge of the She-Punks: A Feminist Music History from Poly Styrene to Pussy Riot (2019)
  8. Jim DeRogatis – Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly (2019)
  9. Alice Bag – Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story (2011)
  10. Raquel Joyce – The Music Shop (2018)
  11. Rob Reid – Year Zero (2012)
  12. Willow G. Wilson – Alif The Unseen (2012)
  13. Reid Taylor Jenkins – Daisy Jones & The Six (2019)

On my “shelf” to read:

Seth Bovey – Five Years Ahead of My Time: Garage Rock from the 1950s to the Present (2019)
Stephen Morris – Record Play Pause: Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist: The Joy Division Years (2019)
Ginger Scott – Drummer Girl (2019)
Bruce Sterling – Pirate Utopia (2016)
Richie Unterburger – Unknown Legends of Rock’n’Roll [Updated & Expanded E-Book Edition]: Psychedelic Unknowns, Mad Geniuses, Punk Pioneers, & More (2015)
Kramer, Wayne – The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities
Soulsby, Nick – Swans: Sacrifice And Transcendence: The Oral History
Lloyd, Richard – Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB’s and Five Decades of Rock and Roll: The Memoirs of an Alchemical Guitarist
Hook, Peter – Substance: Inside New Order (2017)
Doctorow, Cory – Walkaway
McDonald, Ian = Time Was
Willis, Connie – I Met A Traveller In An Antique Land
Rajaniemi, Hannu – Summerland
Eames, Nicholas – Bloody Rose (The Band #2)
Tidhar, Lavie – Unholy Land
Murakami, Haruki – Killing Commendatore

Audio Gear

This list reflects my own purchases for the past couple years. The HiFiMAN HE6se was the most recent, which I got new at an amazing sale price around Black Friday, and update of the venerable, classic HE-6, still one of the very best headphones for rock and metal. I enjoyed the Voce for a good year and a half before selling it, as it was great, just not suited for my purposes. I do like the Shangri-La Jr. a lot, but am also looking to sell so that I can try something else. I also sold the ÆON Flow closed mainly because I didn’t feel comfortable commuting with them through certain neighborhoods, so I replaced them with the cheaper and definitely inferior Meze Neo 99. I bought two pairs of Sennheiser x Drop HD 58X Jubilee headphones as gifts, and got to spend some time with one of them and I was super impressed. I’m tempted to get one for myself to replace my AKG K701, which was my first audiophile headphone, and died a violent death being whacked off it’s stand by the cats one too many times. The industrial strength but less comfortable beyerdynamic DT-1990 Pro is doing double duty with my guitar amp and as the living room nighttime movies can. The Zu Audio Omen Dirty Weekend II are my bulbous bedroom speakers, a b-day present in 2018. | Read more.

  1. HiFiMAN HE6se
  2. HiFiMAN Shangri-La Jr.
  3. Epiphone Les Paul Studio Goth (Amdusias – The Dark Duke)
  4. MrSpeakers Voce
  5. iFi iDSD Pro
  6. Sennheiser x Drop HD 58X Jubilee
  7. MrSpeakers ÆON Flow
  8. Zu Audio Omen Dirty Weekend II
  9. Astell & Kern AK Jr
  10. Meze Neo 99
  11. iFi iESL Energizer
  12. Schiit Modi DAC
  13. Orange Crush 35RT combo amp

Charities

Evil assholes are killing the planet, and in turn, all of us and the innocent critters. Here’s some of the organizations we support to somehow try to mitigate the damage. Hundreds are doing important work, but Center for Biological Diversity has developed an inspiring model of success that can light the way for everyone through an astute combination of groundbreaking petitions, lawsuits, policy advocacy, and outreach to media. Best Friends Animal Society is just as inspiring in how they have extended their influence through the U.S. with partnerships with other rescue organizations, their influential work with the Victory Dogs as documented in the movie The Champions (2015) and the Dogtown series on National Geographic, and their collaboration with Animal Planet on the Give A Dog A Home show with live coverage of adoptable animals. Their 33,000 acre sanctuary in Kenab, Utah is the largest no-kill sanctuary in the U.S., and we’ve volunteered there since 2017.

  1. Center for Biological Diversity
  2. Best Friends Animal Society
  3. WildAid
  4. Soi Dog Foundation
  5. Defenders of Wildlife
  6. African Wildlife Foundation
  7. Panthera
  8. Rainforest Alliance
  9. Human Society International
  10. Compassion in World Farming
  11. Snow Leopard Trust
  12. Oceana
  13. GreaterGood Charities

Coming in 2020

This year I’ve kept my head down focusing on what’s actually out, so I only know that there are announced release dates in Jan-Feb for Field Music, Algiers, Jack Hues, Wire, Envy, Explorer, Makaya McCraven, Shopping, Tame Impala, Grimes, Close Lobsters, The Sonic Dawn.

A year ago I said I was excited about the announcement that RVG was signed to Sub Pop, but then nothing. Spirits Of The Dead put out a song and said the album was coming, but they remain quiet. Also still waiting for new music from 180dB, Cold Showers, Golden Void, Orchid, Serpent Venom, TV On The Radio, The Verner Pantons, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jex Thoth, Las Cruces, Om, The Sea Kings, The New Christs, Electric Wizard, Christian Mistress, Marriages, Wolf People, Syd Arthur, Wovenhand, Vektor, Blood Ceremony, Asteroid, Blues Pills, Savages, Suns Of Thyme, The Urges, The Early Years and The Winstons. Lola Colt and Body Type put out EPs, with hopefully more coming soon.

Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2018
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2017
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2016
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2015
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2014
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2013
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2012
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2011
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2010
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2009
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2008
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2007
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Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2005
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2004
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2003
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2002
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Fester’s Lucky 13 — 2000
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 1999
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 1998
Fester’s Lucky 13 — 1997

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