Will Hermes – Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (Faber and Faber, 2011)
Please see my full review here.
Guided by Voices – Let’s Go Eat the Factory (Guided by Voices, Inc./Fire)
Please see my full review here.
Gordon Withers – The Joy Formidable on Cello (self-released)
Please see my full review here.
D.Y.S. – “Sound of Our Town”
I meant to review this a while back since it came out last month, but in any case this is the second track to be released in their ongoing and so far digital only single series. This is another winner in the same style as “Wild Card”, their stomping, Boston-style street punk track that was released a few months ago, though truth be told I don’t like this one quite as much as “Wild Card”. This time around, their hometown gets a major shoutout both in the lyrics and particularly in the chorus, which contains the city spelled out letter by letter by none other than Dicky Barrett of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones! Look for a new track (either an original or a cover) from the series to be released soon!
Gil Scott-Heron – Pieces of a Man (Flying Dutchman)
Though many would cite 1974’s Winter in America as his finest work (a great album as well, so don’t get me wrong), I prefer this 1972 classic, the first of his many collaborations with pianist Brian Jackson. Less than a year after his passing, and 40 years after this was recorded and released, songs like “Home is Where the Hatred Is,” “Lady Day and John Coltrane” along with the title track and of course “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” sound and feel strikingly contemporary and are deeply moving.
Generation X – Generation X (Chrysalis)
Whether it’s the original UK version or the abridged U.S. edition that added several great singles (“Your Generation,” “Wild Youth” and their great version of John Lennon‘s “Gimme Some Truth”) while taking out some great U.K. only tracks like “Listen” and “Too Personal”, Generation X’s 1978 debut is still an absolute pop-punk corker!
Swervedriver – Mezcal Head (A&M)
I think that this is not only their finest hour, but also one of the best albums of the ’90s. I can’t wait to see them play in March!
Andrew W.K. – I Get Wet (Island)
Amidst the news that he’s celebrating the 10th anniversary of this album by playing it from start to finish, I listened to it for the first time in a while and thankfully it still holds up. Though deceptively simple on almost every level, on this record W.K. and his band are almost idiot savants in that they (somewhat similar to Turbonegro) did with arena-ready pop-metal (albeit much heavier than most of that genre) what The Ramones did to rock and roll in general in the mid ’70s and no, I’m not kidding. In other words, this is still all killer, no filler, catchy and above all else, positive, inspiring and fun!
Afflicted Man – The Complete Recordings (Senseless Whale)
This 2 CD Australian only reissue from 2007 is exactly what it says it is. I came across this collection in Austin when we were at End of an Ear in 2008 and heard it playing and I’m glad I picked it up. This material (3 7” and 3 Lps) dates to the early ’80s, but sounds little like anything else released by anyone during this that time period or since then. Best described as a cross between ’77 UK punk and repetitive, droning psych or perhaps Krautrock, its closest parallels are pre-punk predecessors like perhaps Hawkwind, any of Mick Farren‘s bands (The Deviants and Pink Fairies come to mind here) or on this side of the pond, George Brigman‘s Jungle Rot. Sometimes, it also sounds like The Damned were trying to do on Music for Pleasure. Worth a listen.
Antioch Arrow – The Lady is a Cat (Gravity)
Since the John Henry West discography recently came out, I’ve also been listening to other early Gravity Records bands and releases. Though they dissolved into self-parody by the time I saw them play in 1994, this 1993 12” EP (their debut release) is an atonal, art-punk steamroller of a release. Imagine an early ’90s version of Iceage, but from San Diego and not Denmark, and influenced by Nation of Ulysses and you’ll have some idea of what you’re in for.
