This batch from early 2022 includes recommended releases from Fooks Nihil, The Hanging Stars, Wovenhand, Doe St, The Lancashire Hustlers, Motorcade, Good Looks and more.
I’m not precisely following the meteorological seasons here, but figured this was a good time to catch up on new albums that I did not get around to writing full features on. My favorite so far, Rosalie Cunningham, has gotten pretty much zero attention this side of the pond, which is unfortunate. Hopefully she’ll get a chance to tour North America sometime and people will realize that she’s building on the foundations of her amazing previous psych noir band Purson into an even richer body of work. Spoon’s 10th album was kind of a surprise comeback to sharpness from the indie veterans, and Messa’s third is as great as I expected. Wet Leg is the debut of the year so far. Beyond Cunningham, I don’t think anything else will be Lucky 13 contenders at the end of the year, as I expect an avalanche of major releases in the next couple months.
- Messa – Close (Svart) | Italy | Bandcamp
- Rosalie Cunningham – Two Piece Puzzle (Esoteric Antenna) | UK | Buy
- Hällas – Isle of Wisdom (Napalm) | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Spoon – Lucifer On The Sofa (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
5. Fooks Nihil – Tranquility (Unique)
Europe has always been a refuge for music that’s fallen out of fashion in North America, which to my ears is a valuable service. While American pop’s unhealthy obsession with over-production and Auto-Tune abuse has extended beyond a decade, great guitar music continues to pour out of Europe. Beyond the boatloads of stoner/doom/psych, a handful of bands continue to explore nooks and crannies between offshoots of 60s psychedelia — jangly folk rock, cosmic Americana and country. Sugarfoot (Norway), The Hanging Stars (London, UK) and Fooks Nihil (Germany) are top shelf examples. The latter released their self-titled debut in September 2020, mixing British blues rock and psych influenced by the Kinks and Buffalo Springfield. It’s a great debut, and their follow-up is even better, introducing surf guitar to the West Coast (CSNY and Byrds) psychedelic folk.
6. The Hanging Stars – Hollow Heart (Loose)
Since 2016’s Over the Silvery Lake, London’s The Hanging Stars have put out consistently great, meticulously produced cosmic Americana albums. Hollow Heart is their fourth, where the West Coast psych folk blends deeper into the woodwork, and more contemporary bands like Beachwood Sparks, The Jayhawks and Teenage Fanclub come to mind, with a cohesively lush but hazy summer vibe. Recorded at Edwyn Collins‘ (Orange Juice) Clashnarrow Studios in Scotland, they’ve achieve a nearly ethereal sound, such as on “Weep & Whisper,” where the pedal steel threatens to just waft away and join the wandering herds of ambient country sounds. “Hollow Eyes, Hollow Heart” manages to evoke The Grateful Dead at their most bucolic and least annoying, Pink Floyd and even The Feelies in the fiercely strummed crescendo.
7. Wovenhand – Silver Sash (Glitterhouse)
It seems just yesterday when I was awed by the blazing power of 16 Horsepower in a small bar. Now David Eugene Edwards’ subsequent project Wovenhand has been in action for over 21 years. Edwards’ genuine religious fervor and intensity has gained the respect of heavy music fans, even if the music leans more toward folk and country than metal. Like Star Treatment (2016), Silver Sash is heavier than most of the earlier catalog, pounding rhythms and incessant drive resulting in a relatively heavy, monolithic sound, best exemplified by “Dead Dead Beat.” It may not have the dynamics and varied textures of Refractory Obdurate (2014), but it is essential listening for all Wovenhand fans, and curious folk/Americana connoisseurs ready for a challenge of post-punk/garage noir.
8. Doe St – Doe St (Legless)
It’s hard to beat the sound of a band discovering their first great guitar riffs and proudly displaying them on the first three tracks of their debut. Melbourne’s Doe St aren’t exactly newborn kittens to the indie garage/jangle pop scene, with members from Bleach and Stiff Richards, but they do a great job in conveying the exuberance of a new band. A lot of bands of appear and dissipated in the scene, but hopefully Doe St can stick with it and see this project through for a few albums.
9. Jack White – Fear of the Dawn (Third Man)
I have to admit, I’d nearly given up on Jack White matching anything he did with The White Stripes. Yes, Consolers of the Lonely (2008) with the Ranconteurs is great, but his fourth solo joint just might be the best thing he’s done since Elephant (2002). He fuses the whackadoo experimentation of Boarding House Reach (2018) with some of his best constructed songs with more guitars, and some choice riffs. Beefheart blood flows in places where he nearly teeters off the rails like “Into the Twilight” and the dadaist deconstruction of Cab Calloway in “Hi-De-Ho,” but the abrasiveness remains listenable in contrast to the previous album. The art direction is great too, via the title and Daniel Clowes-like cover (by Jennifer Dionisio) owns up to his semi-intentional embodiment of a cross between Tim Burton’s character Edward Scissorhands and a vampire early Vegas Elvis, before he bloated beyond sleekly fat into grotesque. I dig the blue hair too.
10. The Lancashire Hustlers – Big Ask (Steep Hill)
A new discovery for me, the duo of Ian Pakes and Brent Thorley are on their sixth album as The Lancashire Hustlers. Their gorgeous folk/psych/prog pop, which had me buying their entire catalog on Bandcamp to make amends for sleeping on them for nearly a decade. There’s tons of information coded into their deceptively simple songs, from Badfinger’s power pop to Emitt Rhodes’ baroque soft rock and Hollies harmonies. Unlike The Hanging Stars, you won’t mistake this duo as Californians. They sound exceedingly British that perhaps is most charming to an anglophiliac American. Hopefully they’ll come over and play soon.
11. Motorcade – See You in the Nothing (Idol)
Dallas new wave/synth pop band veers into darker post-punk on their second album, but more hooky and melodic than typical darkwave.
12. Good Looks – Bummer Year (Keeled Scales)
New bands are sprouting up in Texas seemingly every week, and the quality is impressive. Good Looks are based in Austin, but with members from all over the state. Tyler Jordan sings with a natural Townes Van Zandt twang that puts them in the Americana bucket, but with Jordan and Jake Ames’s guitar lines spilling over the sides with jangle pop chords and post-punk leads. Ames was hit by a car around the time of the album release, and suffered series injuries. There’s a GoFund me page to help with medical bills and therapy. Here’s hoping he can recover and this extremely promising band has a chance to flourish.
13. Sob Stories – Fair Shakes (Dandy Boy)
Oakland’s Sob Stories reminds me of bands from the punk era that inhabited the spaces between pub rock and power pop. Some languished in obscurity (The Boys), became cult legends (The Only Ones), and others became mainstream behemoths (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers). Sob Stories, who came out with their debut EP five years ago, finally deliver an album that fleshes out their early promise. From the lack of reviews, they may lean closer to obscure than behemoth, but will reward those who seek ’em out.
- Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia (Partisan) | UK | Bandcamp
- Brad Mehldau – Jacob’s Ladder (Nonesuch) | USA | Bandcamp
- Wet Leg – Wet Leg (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
- Fooks Nihil – Tranquility (Unique) | Germany | Bandcamp
- Hangman’s Chair – A Loner (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
- The Hanging Stars – Hollow Heart (Loose) | UK | Bandcamp
- M Ross Perkins – E Pluribus M Ross (Karma Chief) | USA | Bandcamp
- Straw Man Army – SOS (La Vida En Un Mus) | USA | Bandcamp
- Limousine Beach – Limousine Beach (Tee Pee) | USA | Bandcamp
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum (KGLW) | Australia | Bandcamp
- Naxatras – IV (Naxatras) | Greece | Bandcamp
- Wovenhand – Silver Sash (Glitterhouse) | USA | Bandcamp
- Astragal – Pure Cashmere (Astragal) | USA | Bandcamp
- The Haven Green – To Whom It May Concern (Mega Dodo) | UK | Bandcamp
- J.P. Bimeni & The Black Belts – Give Me Hope (Lovemonk) | Burundi/UK | Bandcamp
- Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto – Quartermass Expansion (Madlib Invazion) | UK | Bandcamp
- Motorcade – See You in the Nothing (Idol) | USA | Bandcamp
- Venator – Echoes From the Gutter (Dying Victims) | Austria | Bandcamp
- Love, Burns – It Should Have Been Tomorrow (Calico Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
- Ealdor Bealu – Psychic Forms (Metal Assault) | USA | Bandcamp
- Black Doldrums – Dead Awake (Fuzz Club) | UK | Bandcamp
- Tamar Berk – Start at the End (Tamar Berk) | USA | Bandcamp
- Children Of The Sün – Roots (The Sign) | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Evil Invaders – Shattering Reflection (Napalm) | Belgium | Bandcamp
- Winged Wheel – No Island (12XU) | USA | Bandcamp
- Sea Power – Everything Was Forever (Golden Chariot) | UK | Buy
Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia (Partisan)
These days it’s not uncommon for bands to double down on a particular style and fine-tune and perfect it incrementally. Fontaines D.C. is not that kind of band, though I kind of wish they were. Their unceremonious abandonment of post-punk on A Hero’s Death (2020) for slow, dragging dirges felt almost petulant, a reaction against people, um, liking their first album, Dogrel (2019). The dirges continue on their third, but it’s better. At least it has more variety, thought and effort, resulting in a more compelling, if inconsistent album. There’s still moments that give me the urge to abandon the album, like the title track that inexplicably draws from late 90s Primal Scream. Their stylistic experiments are much more effective on the dubgaze adventures on closing track, “Nabokov.” They throw a hooky bone in the most perverse way in the form of “Jackie Down the Line.” Their catchiest tune will have fans singing along from the perspective of an abuser, reminding me of The Smiths’ “Reel Around the Fountain.” “Roman Holiday” approaches the sweeping majesty that Bloc Party has touched on, as filtered through Echo & the Bunnymen. Like Bloc Party, Fontaines D.C. are a talented band in danger of getting lost in the wilderness, paying too much heed to anti-guitar sentiments of contemporary pop, forever abandoning the music that initially sparked their passion with the brightest flame. Let’s hope they find their way back.
Soft Hearted Scientists, Nathan Hall & The Sinister Locals
My other big catalog purchase was the whole kit & caboodle of these bands, with the common link in Nathan Hall. Heck, they could be the same band for all I know, they’re that new to me, despite the first Soft Hearted Scientists album, Uncanny Tales From The Everyday Undergrowth (a compilation of EPs) coming out back in 2005. Both bands specialize in psych folk, psych pop and prog pop. I plowed through the complete catalogs this past week and pretty much everything they did is stellar. A good entry point are two compilations, Whatever Happened to the Soft Hearted Scientists that spans from 2004-18, and The Kraken of Roath Park Lake, that covers highlights starting in 2017 through last year. While digging through their catalogs, I’ve been reading Steven Wilson’s book Limited Edition of One, where he talks about how Porcupine Tree came about as homemade tapes of him approximating XTC’s side project Dukes of Stratosphear, and maybe some Bevis Frond. Those early recordings were interesting only because of what he later achieved. Had they been as good as Soft Hearted Scientists and Nathan Hall, perhaps Wilson would be known for his psychedelic rock more than anything else.
