Today we begin our traditional review of the best records at the Little Lighthouse in the past year. Although “the best” should be understood in a very limited way. These records is basically just a very personal selection of new music that stuck with me this year. It may not be the best, but it somehow resonated in my mind. The time will tell whether these records will last longer than one season, but I definitely tend to go back to the stuff that I liked.
The list this year has 25 titles, and we first cover the bottom end of the list. The next week is 2016 and we will cover the top 10. This was a good year for the music from ex-Yugoslavia. We have two bands in the lower part of the list (Vlasta Popić and Bernays Propaganda). One more title will be covered next week. It was also a good year for Swedish bands. This year we have Ghost and Bäddat För Trubbel. Australians are traditionally welcome on our list(Zerodent, Paul Kelly and one more next week). Memphis, Austin, Detroit and San Francisco still rule in the US. Looking forward to 2016 – hopefully with even more surprises for the new generations of rockers…
Sweet Apple – I Surrender;
The Bevis Frond – Second Son;
Paul Kelly – Where Were You When I Needed You (With Clairy Browne);
The Yawpers – Walter;
Vlasta Popić – O vodi;
The Ghost – From The Pinnacle To The Pit;
Sonny Vincent and Spite – Now That I Have You;
Low Cut Connie – Taste So Good;
Fuzz – Jack The Maggot;
Zerodent – You;
Soldiers of Fortune – Dog Tooth Down;
Cairo Gang – A Heart Like Yours;
Bäddat För Trubbel – Fran Afterwork Till Lillordag;
Giant Sand – Texting Feist;
Bernays Propaganda – ÄŒuvaj se od tie Å¡to te Äuvaat.
In some way, this show is the part two of the jam show we heard last time. Only two new albums today. Both of them are not so new, but I didn’t get to play them yet in the show. Motörhead has a relatively fresh album called Bad Magic which surprised me with the high quality that it brings. Also, Ghost, Swedish Satanists, had a cool album this year called Meloria. Again something, not something that I would normally go for, but really cool album nevertheless. Tune in next year for the new episode with the year-end retrospective of best albums.
It’s a jammy show today. We have entirely improvized band called Soldiers of Fortune, consisting of many established musicians from New York (Oneida, Chavez, Interpol). Jesper Eklow from Endless Boogie seems to play a very important role forming the sound on the new Soldiers of Fortune record Early Risers. Next, we have the legendary (ex) Yugoslav band Disciplin A Kitchme, who are back with yet another great sounding record entitled Opet.. Ethan Johns is also back with the new album and we introduce a new name: Greek band 7-Odds. Dom Mariani’s DM3 has a nice new compilation record.
We bring you some cool new stuff. Daughter of Howe Gelb and Paula Jean Brown (of the original Giant Sand line up), has a great band called Patsy’s Rats. Impulsive Hearts from Chicago are also fronted by a lady: Danielle Sines. Miriam Linna of Norton Records has made another new album this year Down Today. We also introduce Green Hornet from Netherlands and Sloming Moops from Zagreb, Croatia. Also from there, Thee Melomen have a new single. Peter Buck of REM is back with a nice solo record. An interesting tribute came out recently in Tucson AZ for Rainer Ptacek.
Vinyl Junkyard instalment #15 is here! In special episodes like this one I play almost entire LPs that I found dirt cheap somewhere laying in some bargain bin at a record store. Today’s pick are two volumes of Jin Records compilations of Swamp Pop hits Golden Dozen that came out some time in the 70s. Jin Records was a home to some great Swamp Pop hits, Opelousas Sostan by Rufus Jangneaux most notably. Swamp Pop was a special brand of Louisiana rock music that was probably the main genre in that state locally and it rarely got out. The music was a blend of rock’n’roll and cajun melancholy. We will go through twenty two of the 24 tunes on these two albums and we will provide some dry info on most of the bands that found their place on these records.