Regular (lol) readers will know that I'm a sucker for lists, so I always buy end-of-the-year issues. This year I got Uncut, MOJO and Classic Rock and delved into their 2018 retrospectives. My first reaction was "Oh, I don't think I have a single album of these. That's a first!". Goes to show how far out of touch you can get, buried in your own record collection (not to mention work, work, work), though another factor may be my newly-rediscovered affection for ancient vinyl - more about that later. So let's see what can one surmise from these lists?
- UNCUT's No.1 is a big surprise. I mean, Low? They've been at the periphery of my vision for decades, I have some of their songs in compilations here and there. They may be a likeable indie band, but what is the chance that they'd suddenly release the Record Of The Year 25 years into their career? After hearing the samples on the free CD's, I'm still not convinced. Likeable indie tunes, for sure, but not that exciting.
- At least MOJO went for a jazz album. That's some hard to argue with out-of-the-box thinking for you. Their track on the sampler CD was pretty good, but how to compare it to anything else in the list?
- Both publications rate new band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever very high, and after hearing the songs on the free CD's, I'm inclined to agree. They remind me of some of my favourite 80's indie bands, but with a modern twist.
- Young Fathers are another "new" (to me, at least) band worth checking out: Can't quite place them, they sound a bit like Tricky but have their own thing going.
- Also, judging from the reviews, Janelle Mone must have made the R&B album of the year, easily. Will check it out, sometime, maybe - but don't expect too much. My taste for R&B is stuck in the 70's.
- Fatoumata Diawara seems to have made the "World" album of the year, though I'm not sure she'd agree with that description. African album of the year, probably yes...
- New albums by Paul Weller and Elvis Costello hyped in British magazines: what else is new? I'll believe it when/if they cross over. The ocean or the channel, whichever comes first.
- Speaking of the Channel, French artist Héloïse Létissier (AKA Christine And The Queens) may have made the best pop around for 2018. The new Lana Del Ray? Or someone even better?
- 90's favourites making welcome comebacks include: The Breeders, Spiritualized and... Go-Kart Mozart?
- I was surprised by relatively low placings by former press darlings like The Gorillaz, Bjork, Beach House and John Grant. Even Jack White appears to have lost his mojo.
- I've learned that not only is Eleanor Friedberger (ex-Fiery Furnaces) part Greek, she's apparently lately been living in Athens, and even conceived her new album Rebound in the goth club of the same name which miraculously still exists, even though the last time I set a foot in it was when Siouxsie was still making records with The Banshees.
MOJO MAGAZINE: 1. Kamasi Washington - Heaven And Earth 2. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino 3. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs 4. Janelle Mone - Dirty Computer 5. Christine And The Queens - Chris 6. Idels - Joy As An Act Of Resistance 7. Ryley Walker - Defman Glance 8. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel 9. Spritualized - And Nothing Hurt 10. Breeders - All Nerve 11. Fatoumata Diawara - Fenfo 12. Pusha T - Daytona 13. Kurt Vile - Bottle It In 14. Paul Weller - True Meanings 15. Tracy Thorn - Record 16. Cypress Hill - Elephants On Acid 17. Gaz Coombes - World's Strongest Man 18. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar 19. Low - Double Negative 20. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears 21. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake! 22. Field Music - Open Here 23. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour 24. Oh Sees - Smote Reverser 25. Cat Power - Wanderer 26. Elvis Costello - Look Now 27. Paul McCartney - Egypt Station 28. Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound 29. Gwenno - Le Kov 30. Khruangbin - Con Todo El Mundo 31. Anna Calvi - Hunter 32. Gruff Rhys - Babelsberg 33. Ry Cooder - The Prodigal Son 34. Insecure Men - Insecure Men 35. Suede - The Blue Hour 36. Sleep - The Sciences 37. The Goon Sax - We're Not Talking 38. Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin 39. Stephen Malkmus - Sparkle Hard 40. Maisha - There Is A Place 41. Richard Thompson - 13 Rivers 42. Prince - Piano And A Microphone 1983 43. Chris Carter - Chris Carter's Chemistry Lessons Volume 1 44. Yo La Tengo - There's A Riot Going On 45. Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster I Run 46. Binker & Moses - Alive In The East? 47. Imarhan - Temet 48. Phosphorecent - C'est La Vie 49. Villagers - The Art Of Pretending To Swim 50. Hookworms - Microshift 51. Belle & Sebastian - How To Solve Our Human Condition 52. Confidence Man - Confident Music For Confident People 53. Courtney Marie Andrews - May Your Kindness Remain 54. Go-Cart Mozart - Mozart's Mini Mart 55. Mudhoney - Digital Garbage 56. Swamp Dog - Love, Loss And Auto Tune 57. John Grant - Love Is Magic 58. Laura Veirs - The Lookout 59. Cedric Burnside - Benton County Relic 60. Jon Hassell - Listening To Pictures 61. Jon Hopkins - Singularity 62. Mitski - Be The Cowboy 63. Sons Of Kemit - Your Queen Is A Reptile 64. Jim James - Uniform Distortion 65. Bjork - Utopia 66. Lump - Lump 67. Willie Nelson - Last Man Standing 68. Johnny Marr - Call The Comet 69. Jungle - For Ever 70. Neil Young & Promise Of The Real - The Visitor 71. Shame - Songs Of Praise 72. Hailu Mergia - Laal Belu 73. Jack White - Boarding House 74. Candi Staton - Unstoppable 75. Gorillaz - The Now Now
UNCUT: 1. Low - Double Negative 2. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs 3. Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin 4. Spritualized - And Nothing Hurt 5. You La Tengo - There's A Riot Going On 6. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer 7. Gruff Rhys - Babelsberg 8. Beak> - Invada 9. Christine And The Queens - Chris 10. Sons Of Kemet - Your Queen Is A Reptile 11. Richard Thompson - 13 Rivers 12. Neko Case - Hell-On 13. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar 14. Ry Cooder - The Prodigal Son 15. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Look Now 16. Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus 17. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel 18. The Breeders - All Nerve 19. Cowboy Junkies - All That 20. Jack White - Boarding House Ranch 21. Kamasi Washington - Heaven And Hell 22. Father John Misty - God's Favourite Customer 23. Kurt Vile - Bottle It In 24. Paul Weller - True Meanings 25. Courtney Marie Andrews - May Your Kindness Remain 26. John Prine - The Tree Of Forgiveness 27. Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance 28. Dirty Projectors - Lamp Lit Prose 29. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears 30. Melissa Laveaux - Radyo Siwel 31. Gazelle Twin - Pastoral 32. Gwenno - Le Kov 33. Connan Mockasin - Jassbusters 34. Hookworms - Microshift 35. Go Kart Mozart - Mozart's Mini Mart 36. The Lemon Twigs - Go To School 37. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Sparkle Hard 38. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us 39. Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound 40. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquillity Base Hotel + Casino 41. Cat Power - Wanderer 42. Melody's Echo Chamber - Bon Voyage 43. Tracy Thorn - Record 44. Ryley Walker - Deafman Glances 45. Anna Calvi - Hunter 46. Kathryn - From When I Wake The Want Is 47. Julian Holter - Aviary 48. Laura Veirs - The Lookout 49. Mary Lattimore - Hundreds Of Days 50. The Necks - Body 51. Gwenifer Raymond - You Never Were Much Of A Dancer 52. Willie Nelson - Last Man Standing 53. David Byrne - American Utopia 54. Tune-Yards - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life 55. Jess Williamson - Cosmic Wink 56. Dawn Landis - Meet Me At The River 57. Elephant Micah - Geneicana 58. Mary Gauthier - Rifles And Rosary Beads 59. Stick In The Wheel - Follow Them True 60. Us Girls - In A Poem Unlimited 61. Laurie Anderson & The Kronos Quartet - Landfall 62. Angelque Kid Joe - Remain In Light 63. Israel Nash - Lifted 64. Suede - The Blue Hour 65. Blood Orange - Negro Swan 66. Arve Henriksen - The Hight Of The Reeds 67. Phosphorescent - C'est La Vie 68. Richard Swift - The Hex 69. Natalie Prass - The Future And The Past 70. Harmony Rockets - Lochesis/Clotha/Atropos 71. Jon Hopkins - Singularity 72. Oliva Chaney - Shelter 73. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour 74. Beach House - 7 75. Fatoumata Diawara - Fenfo
CLASSIC ROCK seems to go way out of its way to distinguish itself from the "mainstream" magazines. I mean, sure, one doesn't expect them to include indie pop, R&B or world music albums, but for heavens' sake one would think they'd find a place for veterans like Ry Cooder, Paul McCartney, Richard Thompson, Willie Nelson, or Neil Young, all of which are listed by the other magazines. Instead we get David Crosby and half-forgotten hard rockers like Saxon and Uriah Heep. Another interesting aspect is which former indie groups have graduated to the "Classic Rock" category: Ash, Reef, Manic Street Preachers, Andrew W.K, and The Damned are in the Top 50, but not Paul Weller, Elvis Costello or Suede. Grunge is alive and well with Stone Temple Pilots and Alice In Chains, even though their original singers are dead. Clutch see themselves rise to No.1 after decades in the shadows, and they even do it by singing a recipe for crab cakes. See? Perseverence does pay out! Other 90's stalwarts like Corrosion Of Conformity, Nine Inch Nails, Nashville Pussy, Monster Magnet, A Perfect Circle etc. gain a place on the list on the merit of their heaviness alone. Of course the magazine can't ignore an ancient juggernaut like Judas Priest, and even acknowledges solo albums from old favourites: former Guns N Roses (Slash), ZZ Top (Billy Gibbons), Kiss (Ace Frehley), Journey (Steve Perry), and Motorhead (Phil Campbell). Judging from the samples on the CD, Fantastic Negrito is the new band to watch, although I also hear good things about Greta Van Fleet and The Struts.
No comments:
Post a Comment