Last year we started our year-end review of best albums that we heard in the past year. This week we head positions 14 to 1. For the number one this year I chose Californian band Cool Ghouls. After several delightful garage rock records, last year they took a huge leap and made a fantastic genre spanning record that shows good taste, measure and expert knowledge of rock’n’roll history. One song will remind you of Beach Boys, other on Todd Rundgren, another one of Byrds, Love, Leonard Cohen… approach seems deliberate and result is stunning album. In a post-post-post modern post-capitalist world an this album looks like a conveyor belt in which best moments of the past roll by one by one, perfectly strung together until the final product comes out. They do their recycling shamelessly and proudly. It’s paradoxically original. It’s an art form. And we love it here.
Our list for 2021 looks like this…
30 The Most - Of What We Have
29 Mike Edison and Guadalupe Plata - The Devil Can't Do You No Harm
28 Chris Church - Game Dirt
27 Kid Khan Unlimited - Opiate Them Asses
26 Daniel Romano - Kissing The Foe
25 Grave Flowers Bongo Band - Strength Of Spring
24 Motorpsycho - Kingdom of Oblivion
23 Yola - Stand For Myself
22 The Exbats - Now Where Were We
21 Shaye Zadravec - Now and Then
20 David Gahan and The Soulsavers - Imposter
19 Danny Kroha - Detroit Blues
18 Murlocs - Bittersweet Demons
17 Salebarbes - Gin à l'eau salée
16 Red Devil Ryders - Pour Me Another One
15 Big Hogg - Pageant of Beasts
14 Endless Boogie - Admonitions
13 Bevis Frond - Little Eden
12 Lelee - Cuka, bije, pumpa
11 Astute Palate
10 Divine Horsemen - Hot Rise of an Ice Cream Phoenix
09 Kid Congo - Swing From The Sean DeLear
08 Rosali - No Meduim
07 Petrified Max - Year Gone By
06 Dinosaur JR - Sweep Into Space
05 Richard Rose - Radiation Breeze
04 A Little More Time With Reigning Sound
03 Bat Fangs - Queen of My World
02 The Reflectors - Faster Action
01 Cool Ghouls - At George's Zoo
And playlist for today is:
Endless Boogie – Bad Call;
The Bevis Frond – Cherry Gardens;
Lelee – Pozeluvam;
Astute Palate – Loose Wings;
Divine Horsemen – Mind Fever;
Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds – (Are You) Ready, Freddy;
Rosali – Mouth;
Petrified Max – Blue Skies Always;
Dinosaur JR – And Me;
Richard Rose – Evil Twin;
Reigning Sound – You Ain’t Me;
Bat Fangs – Never Coming Down;
The Reflectors – Carry On;
Cool Gouhls (Closing Meddley).
Ultimate Painting duet is back with the new album over in UK. Another duet, husband-and-wife Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland are back with the new album of blues standards as Whitehorse. Another husband-and-wife duet, Mark Nicholas and Alison Cotton over in UK, is presented here for the first time as The Left Outsides. We know nothing of Palmyra Delran’s marital status, but she is also back with the new album and almost every song out there features someone to help her in a duet. Speaking of duets, Colin Linden teamed up with Luther Dickinson, and we check that out in this episode. We also hear new music from Rosali Middleman from Philly, Pedro the Lion from Seattle and Lost Bayou Ramblers from Broussard, Louisiana.
