Grandaddy
Last Place
30th Century
2017
Rating: 8.5 beard breakthroughs out of 10
I suppose it's just the nature of modern connectivity and social media, but it wasn't the least bit surprising that Grandaddy got back together and recorded this new album, "Last Place." I've followed lead man Jason Lytle on Instagram for years, and you could see it brewing all along...reconnecting with old bandmates, reforming for festivals, spending time in the studios, and now this obvious final product. It was actually nice to follow along at arm's length, modern day eavesdropping essentially, on an artist you really admire.
But let's talk about what's important - how does this new album by a reformed Grandaddy actually sound? Well - exactly as you probably are hoping - exactly like the Grandaddy of old. If it leaked that they actually recorded "Last Place" right after they finished "Just Like the Fambly Cat" in 2006, no one would question it. I wouldn't rank this as high as their masterpiece "The Sophtware Slump," but it easily stands toe-to-toe with the rest. The album kicks off with a great one-two punch, "Way We Won't" and "Brush with the Wild," and never fails to delight from there on out. There's even a call back to "Sophtware" with the track "Jed the 4th," not only referencing a frequent theme from that record, but even including a snippet of one of the "Jed" songs you can find on "Sophtware."
My only complaint - they're not playing anywhere near me anytime soon, and I might have to fly my dumb ass out to California just to see them next month.
Superchunk
The Breadman 7''
1991
Matador
Rating: 10 embroidered shirts out of 10
Another Superchunk gem - the title track is still an exciting one to hear, and the band still plays it occasionally. You can also find it on the "Tossing Seeds" compilation if you're so inclined. The real story though is side b, "Cast Iron" - if not my very favorite Chunk song, it's at least top three. It was also my very first favorite song of theirs, which I'm sure colors my overall ranking at least a little bit. If "Slack Motherfucker" was that first taste that got me interested in the band, "Cast Iron" was the full shot of heroin that got me totally addicted for life. This is the seventh physical copy of this song I've owned - this seven inch, LP/CD/cassette of "No Pocky for Kitty" (the full-length it appeared on after this single), and lastly the LP/CD/cassette of the already mentioned "Tossing Seeds" compilation. I've not got a problem, you've a got a problem for not being as stupid about this band as I am!
Honor Role
Craig Olive 7''
Homestead
1988
Rating: 6.5 viking settlers out of 10
It should be noted that neither song on this Honor Role record is named "Craig Olive" - yeah, it's one of those seven inches. I'm not even sure what I mean by that...I've just never liked it when a seven inch has a "name." Pet peeves don't always have to make sense. I've always thought of Honor Role as a "spazzy proto-math rock" meets "eighties college rock" band, but only the b-side "Lives Of The Saints No. 135 (Naked Wife)" mostly fits that billing; side a, "Twist!," is kinda boring and uneventful and not a cover of the famous song by the same name. Both songs can also be found on the compilation that Merge put out in the nineties that was inventively titled "Album."
Cause Co-Motion
I Lie Awake 7''
Slumberland
2008
Rating: 6 future laboratories out of 10
Cause Co-Motion were an underrated jangle pop band from a few years ago that never released a proper album, but had a shit ton of singles (and eventually, a compilation of these singles that would act as a full length). They had a bunch of really catchy songs but never seemed to make a splash. This isn't their strongest single, but it's decent - the title track is the strongest of the three short offerings, but all are worth a listen. I always assumed these guys were from the Midwest, probably getting them confused with the Midwest Beat who have a similar sound, but they were actually from Brooklyn. Useless information!
Neil Halstead
You Are the Glue 7''
Brushfire
2012
Rating: 6.5 qwerty keyboards out of 10
This seven inch is strangely upbeat for Neil Halstead. Released around the same time as his great solo record "Palindrome Hunches," I assume these two songs ("You Are the Glue" / "Tennis for Dennis") were recorded around the same time and just didn't fit the overall vibe of that album. Mind you this is me completely guessing out of my ass, I could be totally wrong. They're not bad songs, I'll probably dig them more with some additional listens, but it just isn't what I was expecting from the typically somber and morose Halstead.
Teenage Fanclub
Long Shot 7''
Creation
1998
Rating: 5 corner kicks out of 10
This seven inch is for the most die hard of Teenage Fanclub fans only, and even then it would only be for completest reasons. I ran across it in the bargain bin so no real gain or loss for me to be honest. The title track is an instrumental the band recorded for the 1998 World Cup, I presume to be used in commercials and promos and whatnot. It's a rather uneventful but upbeat number, and includes a brief portion of the Velvet Underground's "There She Goes Again" right in the middle of it for unknown reasons. The b-side is a twelve minute version of this same song called "Loops and Stings," which is designed solely for TV production use. The fact that they released this at all is pretty funny to me, and probably a sign of just how "football" crazy they are across the pond.
Superchunk
Mower 7''
Merge
1992
Rating: 9 sharpened blades out of 10
Came across a bunch of Superchunk singles that I was missing from my collection - this is the first of that group. Obviously, this is a Chunk classic - "Mower" is from what is widely considered one of their best records "On the Mouth," a song that is still often featured in their live sets. Interestingly, the b-side "On the Mouth" isn't actually on the record "On the Mouth," but for my money it's one of their very best songs - probably the very best non-album track IMO. It's entirely possible I love this band even more now in my old age than when I first heard them in high school after buying their first singles comp "Tossing Seeds" on a whim.
Brad Pot
Brad Pot
Slovenly
2017
Rating: 7 cherry candies out of 10
It feels like all of the punk bands that have come out of Australia over the past decade or so have been custom formulated just so that I would love them - and Brad Pot continues that proud tradition. Eleven songs in twenty four minutes, this is straight-forward buzzsaw punk with heavily distorted vocals and a little bit of synth here and there. I think I might compare every punk band to something Jay Reatard was a part of, and in this case I'd go with his first outfit the Reatards. You could probably throw some Spits references in there too if you wanted. This whole album is so aggressive and immediate, it feels like Brad Pot are racing themselves to get it over with as fast as possible. No duds at all, with "100 Bills" getting my nod for top track.
Run The Jewels
RTJ3
Self-Released
2016
Rating: 9 dizzy eardrums out of 10
Hey look, another middle aged white dude who loves Run The Jewels! That's definitely a unique thing that warrants further investigation! Seriously, no one needs to hear another dipshit like me expound on the awesomeness that is El-P and Killer Mike. They manage to feel both old school and modern at the same time, which is probably exactly why RTJ appeals to people like me. There's about a million well written reviews already out there if you care to read such things, but here's the deal - if you're on the fence about Run The Jewels, they make it easy for you: go to the link above and you can download their album for free and decide for yourself if this is the best hip hop group of the last decade (hint: it is).
Side note: this came out so late in 2016 I'm probably putting it on my best of 2017 list because fuck it why not. It's probably going to be better than almost anything released in 2017 anyways.
Jeff Rosenstock
Worry.
SideOneDummy
2016
Rating: 7 ice cold cold sores out of 10
Occasionally I listen to the podcast "Who Charted?" - they almost always talk about music, usually of the top 40 variety, and I almost never like what they're talking about (but I listen anyways because Howard and Kulap are funny). A comedian by the name of Matt Besser was a guest on the show a few weeks ago talking about his favorite songs of 2016, and one of his selections was by Jeff Rosenstock - I was immediately hooked. Apparently the dude came up playing in ska-punk and pop-punk bands that were somewhat popular, but I'd never heard of him because that's definitely not my scene. This album is probably best described as (mostly) grown-up pop punk...a little less agro, a little more acoustic guitar. You can definitely hear how his old scene influenced what Rosenstock is doing now though, particularly with his reliance on sing-a-long choruses - but many of the songs are so damn catchy you don't even get mad about this overused device. I think Besser's song pick was "Wave Goodnight to Me," and I'd have to concur that it's the best track here -it was stuck in my head after only one listen. Most of the album is quite strong, but occasionally he resorts to his ska-punk past - the track "Rainbow" is particularly, um, not good, but nobody's perfect. There's enough here to make this more than worth checking out.
Nada Surf
Peaceful Ghosts
Barsuk
2016
Rating: 8.5 pink skyscrapers out of 10
Hey, I'm writing about another live album! This time it's the brilliant pop act Nada Surf, a band that can basically do no wrong in my book. This past summer they played some gigs in Austria and Germany with local orchestras, and "Peaceful Ghosts" is the recorded output of (I assume) those gigs with the best takes cobbled together. As with any release of this nature (assuming you're already a fan because a live album seems like a weird place to start listening to a new act), only one thing really matters - how does the recording sound? The answer: brilliant, mesmerizing, moving. In fact the recordings are so clean that other than the polite applause at the end of each track, you might think these are just alternate studio takes with an orchestra added. And the orchestra WORKS...I mean really works. They should look into actually recording some songs like this in the studio on their next album. Like most official live recordings, "Peaceful Ghosts" almost works as a "best of" also: this is packed with classic songs like "Blizzard of '77,"Blonde on Blonde," "Rushing," "Inside of Love," and so many more. Of course not every song I wanted is on here, but that just means they can release another live album like this include an entirely new group of their excellent pop gems.
The Notwist
Superheroes, Ghostvillains + Stuff
Sub Pop
2016
Rating: 8 museum debts out of 10
I didn't really have any intentions of writing about a live Notwist album - honestly, I've not paid a ton of attention to them since "Neon Golden," though there probably aren't a ton of albums in my collection that I've listened to more than that one. Thing is, even though live records are often write-offs in my book, this is good - really fucking good. The "Neon Golden" songs are why I decided to give "Superheroes, Ghostvillians + Stuff" a listen, but the recording sounds so fantastic that I've even enjoyed the tracks I don't know and it's inspired me to spend some time listening to their last couple of records. There is an energy & life here that is hard to really describe or quantify but it makes for an album that's even more engaging than their studio output, and that's rarely the case (at least for my ears). Built to Spill's "Live" from 2000 might be the last release of this nature to make me feel this way, and like on that record the band really lets the songs "stretch their legs" if you will...quite a few are twice or even three times longer than their studio counterpart. This doesn't always work, in fact it rarely works, but it definitely works here.
Terry Malts
Lost At The Party
Slumberland
2016
Rating: 7.5 fragile egg chairs out of 10
Terry Malts first record "Killing Time" was one of my favorite releases of 2012; their second effort "Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere" was still decent, but a step down from their debut. Given that, I wasn't sure what to expect from this third outing "Lost At the Party" - a continuing (very slight) downward trend, or a return to their previous form? Luckily, it was the latter - the differences between this release and the last are subtle and I'm way too dumb to accurately put them in words, but this batch of songs has a little more punch or sheen (or whatever you want to call it) to them that was missing on the last pass. As always, the Terry Malts sound is cold and very eighties, a combination of punk and new wave and pop...they're more or less a modern version of XTC, Jesus & Mary Chain, and/or Echo & the Bunnymen depending on the particular song. I mean that as a compliment, for the record, as I've loved all three of those bands for much of my life. It's not so much that Terry Malts are ripping off those bands as they are re-imagining the same sounds for a new, current audience. Opener "Used To Be," "Won't Come To Find You," and "Seen Everything" are my picks for best tracks but there isn't a weak spot in the entire procession.
Teenage Fanclub
Here
Merge
2016
Rating: 8 sand toddlers out of 10
I've been thinking for a few months on what to say about this latest Teenage Fanclub record, "Here." I'm not sure I have a lot more to go with other than "sounds a lot like Teenage Fanclub" and "really damn good." For my money, this is the best pop band in the world, and nothing about "Here" changes my mind about that. If you enjoyed their last couple of records on Merge, "Man-Made" and "Shadows," then this is a must buy. In fact, this is the best of these three records that I think of as their "mature pop" years. "I'm In Love" and "Thin Air" is up there with one of the best one-two punches to start any of their records. Maybe a few more mellow tracks than this band usually features, but even those are terrific. If you've never listened to this band, go get "Bandwagonesque" or "Songs from Northern Britain" first - otherwise, a worthy buy to be sure.
Preoccupations
Preoccupations
Jagjaguwar
2016
Rating: 7.5 eco-warrior latrines out of 10
Preoccupations used to be called Viet Cong, a band I had never heard of until there was a bit of hubbub over their name. Apparently it was offensive to some folks - I'm guessing the Vietnamese - though I'm not entirely sure why, as it's the name of a group that fought with the North Vietnamese and not a slur I don't think. I think a good rule to follow is that if you're a bunch of white dudes, don't name your band after anything that in any way has any connection to another culture, even if it seems non-offensive. Non-white culture obviously - I can't imagine anyone would give a shit if you named yourself after somethingFrench or German or...er, well, maybe not anything Nazi related. Unless you're a Nazi band, in which case I guess it makes sense. Maybe don't be in a Nazi band though, okay? That seems like a dumb thing to do. Let me state for the record that Preoccupations are not Nazis, though they are Canadian. The Stampeders and Pilot are also Canadian, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Uh, where was I? Anyways, old band with a new name, first record I've heard by them, and I like it quite a lot. Sounds like the perfect combination of Wolf Parade, Constantines, and the Walkmen (token non-Canadian reference). One of those rare cases where I was in a record store and heard this album playing and actually asked the clerk who it was. I never do that - either I already know who it is, I'm too embarrassed to admit I don't know who it is to the music nerd clerk, or my desire not to talk to people is greater than my desire to know what it is. I guess I could have just used Shazaam.
This review has been almost entirely useless and pointless. Just check this record out, it's worth a listen for sure.
