Listen to the playlist here

Hotline TNT – Cartwheel-second album from the shoegaze band (yes, actual shoegaze and not descriptor) on Third Man Records. I just found out about them, a customer picked this up on Friday and one of my employees bought it on his recommendation and then I picked it up from him playing it in the store and now I am telling you about it.  There is a lot of good pop music buried in these swirling guitars and noise and they are fucking yummy. I love that these songs are not long and drawn out just because they can be. They come and hit quick and leave an impression. This is a must, must listen. 

Jaime Wyatt – Feel Good-Jamie’s 2020 album Neon Cross was a favorite of mine. I finally got to see Wyatt perform last year and it really drove those songs home even further for me as Jamie told a lot of stories of her personal life on stage. Wyatt will be performing at Reverb Lounge next year. I was hoping for an album as good with Feel Good, but we got an album much better than Neon Cross. This album has a bigger sound, it’s country-but soulful and not trying to go for any country cliches. The production is better, and there is a lot more happening in the songs both lyrically and musically. I would’ve never expected a fuzz rock guitar solo like we get at the end of “Where The Damned Only Go’. Wyatt also worked with other songwriters on this album She also covers Grateful Dead’s “Athea” on the album and Butch Walker of all people makes a vocal appearance on “Ain’t Enough Whiskey”. She really found the right mix of things for this album. A must listen 

Laura Veirs-Phone Orphans-Lucky number 13 in the solo album discography from Veirs. Laura is a beloved songwriter going back to the late 90’s and remains somewhat overlooked apart from a loyal fan base. Veirs founds a little more notice when she put out an album in 2016 with Neko Case and k.d. Lang. Phone Orphans follows up last years Found Light album. That album was her first without her co-producer and ex-husband Tucker Martine. The concept behind Phone Orphans is that these were songs that have been recorded into her phone memo app over the past eight years. She has mastered them, but left them unedited. It makes for a very intimate album and like most of Veirs work I think it works best listened to by oneself and in a place or space where you really enjoy deep listening. I have been enjoying this on early morning walks all week and it really connects with this changing season for me. It won’t be for everyone as it’s not really hook based songwriting, though songs like “Valentine” may appeal to many. Check it out. 

Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee – Los Angeles– This is the drummer of The Cure (Lol) and the drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees (Budgie) and producer Jacknife Lee who has worked with everyone from The Cars, R.E.M. Weezer, Modest Mouse and Taylor Swift. To me Jacknife Lee’s importance is that he was in the final project with my beloved Cathal Coughlin’s final project Telefis. I was going to write this off as collaborations like this with tons of guest artists rarely work. This one only works sometimes such as on “Bodies” with Lonnie Holley and Mary Latimore with aggressive off kilter vocals and harp mixing with the drummers rhythm for total chaos. Primal Scream’s Bobbie Gillespie shows up as does LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and both of their tracks are very strong and takes us back to some of their respective groups prime moments. The Edge and Isassc Brock from Modest Mouse take turns also. In the end it’s way too many people involved, but it’s much better and has many more good moments than I anticipated. 

William Eggleston – 512-So William Eggleston is a photographer obviously. He also put out a synthesizer classical album six years ago as his debut. It’s a bit much in places, but also cool and stunning and puts me into that weird liminal space I like to be in.  I would have never listened to it, but it was put out on indie label Secretly Canadian and so my interest was peaked. Here we are with album number 2 the 84 year old is playing at a grand piano and there are other instruments involved played by others, but I don’t think they were ever in the same room. The press release gave me a headache it is so full of pretentious overthinking and over-explaining. It’s a very pretty, and interesting piano based album.  He really expresses himself well and there are some improvisational twists and turns that keep it from being too On Golden Pond. 

IAN SWEET – Sucker– This is the fourth album under the Ian Sweet name. The last album was dealing with mental health issues which had her in daily group therapy sessions. Sweet feels more confident and less concerned with the outcome of the music here, though this album is a huge success. She has moved onto a big dreamy pop music, but maintains some of her indie sensibility which allow for these songs to be well crafted and of more substance than much of the pop music out there. Make no mistake though, this is a play for a bigger audience and this album deserves it. 

ill peach – THIS IS NOT AN EXIT-this the debut album from a duo who write for a lot of big name artists. They have decided to do their own thing and site LOW as an influence, which is interesting. Nothing on here sound like LOW (well there are some atmospheric “intermission”  moments here and there), but instead it is pretty in your face pop music and the titles are all in CAPS to drive that point home.  It’s good pop music though with “17” and “HEAD FULL OF HOLES” standing out. “Blah, Blah, Blah” is probably the most immediate song, but it’s hard to get past the lyrics. Worth a listen for sure. 

Semisonic – Little Bit of Sun-new album from the classic Minneapolis band that had the hit album and song in the 90’s.  Dan Wilson is one of the most in demand and prolific song-writers out there writing hits for pretty much everyone. Name a big pop or country artist or band and Wilson has probably written for them. So Semisonic is purely a passion project as he definitely does not it to be financially successful. He joins up again with the original trio of John Munson (Munsun and Wilson were in Trip Shakespeare together) and drummer Jacob Slicter.  So, this is a very nice adult pop-rock record with no immediate standouts, but a pleasant overall listen. “So Amazed” is probably the most hook filled song on the album, but feels a little long in the tooth stylistically.  Check it out if you are a fan. 

Others Things I Enjoyed 

Danielle Howle – Current

 Dirty Nice – Surrenderland

 Drop Nineteens – Hard Light

Empty Country (Joseph D’Agostino of Cymbals Eat Guitars) – Empty Country II

Joy (Anonymous) – Cult Classics

Sonny Digital – Dolores Son

 Spiritual Cramp – Spiritual Cramp

TIFFY – So Serious

TALsounds – Shift

Time Spent – Estrangers

Tkay Maidza – Sweet Justice

Skyway Man – Flight of the Long Distance Healer

 Swampmeat Family Band – Polish Your Old Halo

Sylvia Tyson – At the End of the Day

Sen Morimoto – Diagnosis

Resavoir – Resavoir

 Move 78 – Grains

Osmo Lindeman – Electronic Works

  Liza Anne – Utopian

 Marnie Stern – The Comeback Kid

Yawning Balch (feat. members of Yawning Man and Fu Manchu) – Volume Two

 SUDS – The Great Overgrowth

Light Beams – Wild Life

Kevin Abstract – Blanket

King Creosote – I DES

Kontrust – madworld

Actress – LXXXVII—-

Amor Muere – A time to love, a time to die

Animal Hospital – Shelf Life

 Matmos – Return to Archive

Ava Mirzadegan – Dark Dark Blue

bar italia – The Twits

Crystal Fighters – Light +

Enny Owl – Homes in Humans

Hilary WoSarah Davachi – Long Gradus

Not My Thing, But Might Be Yours 

 AJR – The Maybe Man

Youth Fountain – Together In Lonesome

 Bad Wolves – Die About It

Jeffrey Martin – Thank God We Left the Garden

Silent Planet – Superbloom

Carnation – Cursed Mortality

Cash Bently – Cash Corridos 3

Cody Johnson – Leather

Cold War Kids – Cold War Kids

Zoo Wees – Therapy

Dirty Honey – Can’t Find the Brakes

Green Lung – The Heathen Land

Gregory Porter – Christmas Wish

 Jeezy – I Might Forgive… But I Don’t Forget

Jimmy Buffett – Equal Strain on All Parts

Jung Kook (of BTS) – GOLDEN

Marshmello – Sugar Papi

Michael Franti & Spearhead – Big Big Love

New Kids on the Block – The Block Revisited

 Satan’s Fall – Destination Destruction

Seth MacFarlane and Liz Gillies – We Wish You The Merriest

Shooter Jennings – Shooter Jennings & The Werewolves of Los Angeles Do Zevon

Static-X – Project Regeneration: Vol. 2

 The Struts – Pretty Vicious

Suffocation – Hymns from the Apocrypha

Suzy Bogguss – Prayin’ For SunshineVan Morrison – Accentuate the Positive