Today we have a new project from Corin Tucker and Peter Buck together, called Filthy Friends. White Denim from Austin TX and Royal Trux from Washington DC are back with new singles. Richard Lloyd had a recent album which fell between the cracks, but we catch up. Sunwatchers who we know from a recent collaboration with Eugene Chadborune also have a new song out on their own. John Mayall teamed up with Todd Rundgren for a new song. Our friend from Australia, Jon S Williams has a solo acoustic record. We introduce Mary May from Croatia. Our friend Clara Engel is working on a new album and needs your help to put it out.
Heidi Berry – Up In The Air;
Filthy Friends – Last Chance County;
White Denim – Shanalala;
Alex Chilton – Take It Off;
Cross Brothers (Live in CLE);
Royal Trux – Year of the Dog;
Richard Lloyd – Countdown;
Saucers – I Didn’t Get It;
Messengers – (Must We Always Live For) Tomorrow;
Sunwatchers – Beautiful Crystals;
John Mayall with Todd Rundgren – That’s What Love Will Make You Do;
Outrageous Cherry – That Ain’t Why;
Juliana Hatfield – No Meaning;
Mary May – Softest Tune;
Jon S Williams – Place to breathe;
Clara Engel – Blackbirds Baked in a Sky Cake;
Hollowmen – Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely.
Leyla McCalla over in New Orleans is back with the new album entitled Capitalist Blues. John Wesley Coleman III, from the neighboring state of Texas also has a new solo record. Part Time Lover in my home-base of Cleveland has a new single for Blue Arrow Records (our sponsor). On the other side of the world, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard come with the new single. Over in whatever is left from Yugoslavia, we have two new exciting tunes. Snooze in Motion with their new single (or I should say his new single, it’s just one guy, San Mikulec from Zagreb). Koala Voice come from Kisovec in Slovenia and we have them here for the first time. We also have two tributes. Blue Cheer drummer Paul Whaley passed away in late January and Korni Grupa bass player, Bojan Hreljac passed away in December.
Flesh Eaters new album I Used To Be Pretty is in our hands and we check it out. Legendary Evan Dando and his Lemonheads announce their future release with the new single. The first singer of All, Dave Smalley is back as well with the new record. But, we kick off with the new stuff by Th’ Losin’ Streaks from Sacramento, CA. Then we check out the new music from Heavy Drapes. They come from UK and cope with the loss of their beloved member Garry Alexander Borland, but they continue strong without him. Over in Croatia, we introduce stoner rockers by the name of Stonebride. Residents founder Hardy Fox has passed away and so did Clydie King, legendary backup singer and Bob Dylan’s muse from the 80s. We pay respects to both of them.
Today we bring you the new record from Juliana Hatfield, first solo after her collaboration with Paul Westerberg and a playful album of Olivia Newton John covers last year. Matthew Sweet is also active, these days his new album Wicked System of Things is capturing attention of many music lovers. Legendary Long Ryders are back with a new single too. Nikki Hill, out in Durham, NC is back with the new album called Feline Roots. Jon S. Williams of City of Cool sent us one of his recent live sets. Dave Hill who we enjoyed last year as a part of Painted Doll duet is back with yet another interesting band Valley Lodge. We also introduce Italian band The Dirtiest and Teardrop City over in Oxford Mississippi, lead by Laurie Stirratt (ex Blue Mountain).
Welcome to the first ‘regular’ edition of The Little Lighthouse in 2019. Today we play a tune from the new ESC Life album, out soon on Ill In The Head records in North America. ESC Life come from Croatia, and so does Tena Rak. She used to play drums in Vlasta Popić, but that band no longer plays together. So we check out her solo act dubbed Å ećer and quartet Mi Nerve with three other ladies, Ivana PuÅ¡nik , Tea OvniÄević, and Ivana LjubiÄić. Back in the USA, Terry Six and Louie Bankston (ex Exploding Hearts) are back with an excellent new album together. Eugene Chadbourne teamed up with The Sunwatchers and recorded an album tribute to Minutemen, Doug Sahm and Henry Flyn. Paisley Underground legends Bangles, Three O’Clock, Dream Syndicate and Rain Parade made a record together covering each other’s songs. It’s almost a follow up to the legendary Rainy Day album. John Petković and Dave James of Death of Samantha have a new synth pop duet, Metrolight and we check out one of the songs recorded live in Cleveland recently. Holly Golightly has a new English solo album out and lots of folks included it on their lists of best albums last year. Yes, it’s that good. Outrageous Cherry are back with their final album entitled Meet You In The Shadows completed before the passing of founding lead guitarist Larry Ray.
In our year end review (part 3) we hear exceprts from some really good albums that somehow didn’t make it to our top 25 list and we also hear samples from singles, 45s and downloads that did not end up on any album. Still, we enjoyed them a lot! Next week – new stuff!
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.
It’s the last show of 2018! Today we start a little heavy. Machine comes from The Netherlands and Biblical is from Toronto, Canada. Both bands play hard rock. Then we introduce a humorous new band from Knoxville, TN, Ex-Gold. Constant Mongrel are new to us, but we know Kill Devil Hills really well. Both bands come from Australia and have new records out. Over in Macedonia, Bernays Propaganda is back with a new EP, featuring Mike Watt. And also on the same label, Balkan Veliki, we introduce Rade Jordanovski. We close the show with three new acts from UK: Broken Soundtracks and Laish. Groovy Uncle is back with a new record.
We are reaching the end of this year in a steady beat of Cakefight from Melbourne, Australia. The Marked Men come from Denton Texas, and we introduce them for the first time today. Also, The Berries are new to us as well as Irish singer songwrter Paul McCann. Andrew Combs makes a cover of Strokes and survives it. Gentle Cycle had a record over a year ago and it fell through the cracks so we check it out this time. Ohio singer-songwriter Chris Butler is back with two brand new albums out on Smog Veil and we sample a song from each of those records.