As accustomed, every year around this time we look back and review some of the best albums that I’ve enjoyed in the past year. In this installment of the Little Lighthouse, we review albums that took #30-#14 positions on my list. Although, it should be said that the list is that of a moment, and not a result of a very careful deliberation. Enjoy the music! Top 13 next week.
Yawpers – Earn Your Heaven;
Motorpsycho – Lux Aeterna;
Meat Puppets – The Great Awakening;
Mattiel – Rescue You;
Thee Melomen – Time Has Come;
Ty Segall – Squealer;
Redd Kross – Punk II;
Eamon McGrath – Unsung Warsong;
Morlocs – Buffoon;
Bad Moves – Out of Reach;
Lisa Prank – Rodeo;
Jonathan Richman – Alegre Soy;
The Flesh Eaters – The Green Manalishi;
Mikal Cronin – Fire;
Wolfmanhatan Project – Jar in the Staircase;
Eugene Chadbourne and The Sunwatchers – Give Back The Key To My Heart;
Those Pretty Wrongs – Undertow.
Another one of our heavier editions. We open up with Hot Lunch, a new band for us that commutes between San Francisco and Oakland, CA. Then we have Thee Lexington Arrows fronted by Kathleen Wilson over in Baltimore, doing a fantastic version of Gimme Shelter. Then we check out another refreshing cover, Cherry Red originally performed by Groundhogs, but this time from the new live Ty Segall album. Another killer cover in today’s show is Don Nix original in a fresh new version from Pharlee over in San Diego, CA. And the fourth cool cover is Will Anything Happen a Blondie classic this time performed by the Cleveland band Missed, fronted by Mickey Marie. We also check out their new single. And then all the way in Slovenia, we have a band with a similar name, Mist. We close with tracks from the new albums by Sad Planets and Murlocs.
We continue our countdown to the best albums in 2018 and in this episode we announce two albums which share the title of the best one at The Little Lighthouse in the past year. I Am The Polish Army debut album My Old Man struck us with its great enthusiasm, musicianship, songwriting and playful performance. Harlan T. Bobo finally put out his record The History of Violence out on Goner, which just might be his greatest yet. Chip Kinman, along with the help of his son on guitar and his brother behind the knobs created a post-modern patchwork of an album with an astonishing amount of historical and rock references under the Ford Madox Ford moniker. Two ladies, Bat Fangs brought us a quick and powerful rock’n’roll album with hits going steady. Tony Molina on his Kill The Light is even more brief, but the brevity just makes you play the album over and over again. Bad Sports brought an excellent barrage of love punk rock tunes worthy of the greatest examples in the past. Patsy Gelb and her Rats compiled all those perfect singles from their inception on a single record, seriously contending Singles Going Steady as one of the strongest compilation records in the history of rock music. Schizophonics with their amps turned to the max gave us an album that floats like a perfect MC5 tribute. Mama Rosin teamed up with Mick Collins on a collection of cajun and zydeco chants. Ty Segall is as active as ever, but his main release this year entitled Freedom’s Goblin is one of the deepest he recorded yet. Krist Novoselic is back with Giants In The Trees. And that’s our top 10 this year! Looking back at that top 10, this was a really good year and we can only wish 2019 can be at least as good as this one.
Every year around this time we look back. This year is again. We begin the new 2019 with a retrospective of best albums in last year. Next week I will present the lest top 12 albums last year. This week we focus on positions 25-12.
The highlight of today’s show is interview with Doris and Matthew Melton of Dream Machine. I decided to inspect their interesting histories. You can find out where they come from, how they got together, what got them to switch from love songs to more abstract themes, what equipment they use to make records and what in the world it all has to do with Yugoslav 70s rock. But that’s the second part of the show. The firs part introduces new music from Sick Thoughts, Bad Sports and Platinum Boys. From Greece, we hear the new tunes of their legendary band The Last Drive. Ty Segall, the most productive rock musician ever just finished yet another album this year and it’s one of those cover albums. Today we check out his cover of Dils’ Class War.
Tonight we check out the new music from Mark Lanegan, who teamed up again with Duke Garwood. We also check out the new song from J Mascis, with another solo effort. Another legend from around that time, Chris Mars, the drummer of The Replacements has a new album, so we check that out as well. ESC Life used to be a touring band for Grant Hart and now they have a new single. Ty Segall, Charles Mootheart and Chris Shaw from Ex Cult are back with their GØGGS. Desert Mountain Tribe are also back with the new album and so is Brian Lisik, but he is from Ohio. We introduce Grex from Oakland, California. Death of Samantha is in our live in Cleveland segment.
Ty Segall is back with the new double LP, and it sounds like he surpassed his last year’s self titled record. Lots of good music on this one. Heron Oblivion have a new album out, which was recorded live in San Francisco last year. Thee Fine Lines from Springfield, MO and our local darlings, Archie and The Bunkers are also back. Also from Cleveland, we have the new band for David Petrovich, who Clevelanders know as a charismatic guy selling second hand junk in the basement of Beachland. The new band is called Black Tights. We also have them in our live in CLE block. We also introduce Robyn Gibson from UK who keeps cranking excellent home made covers of power pop hits. Another band that we hear here for the first time is The Cold Still from Canada. The biggest thing in today show is the new band that we play for the first time at the show. They come from Brooklyn and their name is I Am The Polish Army. Today’s show is dedicated to the South African trumpet player Hugh Masekela who passed away last week.
The Little Lighthouse presents best albums in 2017. A good way to usher the new year is to put together a list of best albums in the previous one. We’ve been doing this for a long time with more or less discipline, but the criteria is always personal and the lists simply collects albums that I’ve kept coming back to most frequently. This time we cover positions 35-15 and tune in next week for the top 14. Today we cover one of four albums that was put together by the productive and controversial Matthew Melton (Warm Soda), heavier rock records from The Obsessed, Elder, Motorpsycho All The Witches and Ruby The Hatchet show a modern approach to head banging, twisted Americana of Ethan Daniel Davidson, Yawpers and My Buddy Moose represent a fresh approach to a genre that needs reinvention badly. Strong lyrical works from Daniel Romano and John Wesley Coleman III are the best to enjoy while reading and musing on the inner sleeves. Bully, Lost Balloons, Sheer Mag, Needles//Pins show that indie rock still has something to say. Beautiful vocals of Dead Rock West are to admire. Ty Segall had an album of his career. Baby Shakes simply have short and fun record that makes you wanna play on and on. Newcomers Improbables and experienced Golden Boys hail from their garages with high octane garage rock and of all experiments from King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, their Microtonal Banana was the most fun.
This show starts with Paint Fumes from Charlotte, NC. Then we check out the new album by Ty Segall, done to support the American Civil Liberties Union. His friend over in California, Kelley Stoltz is also back with the new record. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard must be the busiest band in the world, along with Ty Segall. They already published their third album this year, and it’s a collaboration with another Australian band called Mild High Club. King Washington is a new trio from LA and Edgar Jones comes to us from UK. Andy Gabbard has a new record called Plenum Castle. Last week we heard David Nance with is take on the Beatles, and this week we hear his own epic tune called Ambulance.
Today we start with The Meatbodies, a band that involves Chad Ubovich, a long time collaborator of Ty Segall. Then we introduce Sabbath Assembly, self described occult band that travels between Texas and New York City. White Reaper come from Louisville KY and Ghoultown come from Texas, both bands quite rough and heavy. Automatic City from France bring us their playful brand of boogie woogie and so do modern legends Endless Boogie who are back with a new record. We also have two new albums by two wonderful ladies. Juliana Hatfield is here with Pussycat and Mary Bragg debuts at the show with an original approach to songwriting. The Obsessed has a new record called Sacred and we also check how they sounded in Cleveland a few weeks ago. Redd Kross also visited us here in town, after 20 years.