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).
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.
Our show today begins with the new single from John Paul Keith, a musician from Memphis who we follow closely with every project. Faux Killas, also out in Memphis are also back with the new record. We also have new stuff out of Boston. Dinosaur JR has a new single and Barrence Whitfield and his Savages are also back with the new album. We introduce two new names for us from Greece, who come with high recommendations from Paul in Rock XS: The Karamazov Project lead by Panos Pantazopoulos and the retro hard rockers Ribbons of Euphoria. Out in Philadelphia, we introduce a new band for us called Hurry, although they’ve been putting the stuff out for at about eight years now. Remember we said Bellrays have a new ep two shows ago? Well, they also now have a full length, so we check out one of the songs from it.
Today we introduce a few new names in this show. Freak Genes, two guys from Manchester, Male Gaze from San Francisco, and we introduce Rod Bryan from Arkansas. Rat Columns from Perth are back with the new record and so is Benjamin Booker. My Buddy Moose from Rijeka are finally out with the new record which was nearly two years in making. Supergroup Sweet Apple is also back with the new rocking record (with members from Cobra Verde, Witch and Dinosaur JR). Danny And The Champions of the world, an Americana band from the British isle, is also back. Today’s show is dedicated to Aleksandar D. Kostić Kosta, legendary journalist from Belgrade who influenced me a lot. He passed away this week at a young age of 55.
Last we presented positions 35-14 of what I think were the best albums in 2016. Today we continue with that business and we present Top 13 best albums this year. It doesn’t mean that these any worse than the ones we will put in top 13, it’s just a matter of personal taste. This year was not an easy one, but it brought us some records that will stay with us for many years I think. The top part of the list is reserved some some incredible comebacks (Sylvia Juncosa, Dinosaur Jr, Jody Stephens), new comers (Honeymoon Disease, Honey, Blaak Heat, Connections). But the album that marked year from me, is Julie Christensen’s new project Stone Cupid. She sang better than ever, on a record that is rocking, grungy and rootsy at the same time. A killer span of genres that can only be brought by one of the Divine Horsemen. Dive into my selection of the top 13 records and hopefully you will find something for yourself. See you next year!
Today we start off with the new Dinosaur JR album that they call Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not. Then, Low Cut Connie stopped by Cleveland on August 26th and played some brand new songs from the upcoming album. Death Lens come from LA and they play a tune from their new album Fuck This. Surinam come from Toronto and Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco continue their furious discography with another new record. Meet Your Death come from Austin TX and they play us a Mose Allison tune If You Live. Then we also have two great new country singer-songwriters, Kelsey Waldon from Kentucky (pictured here) and Miss Tess from New York.
Today we hear new song by Dinosaur Jr, played live at Jools Holland show. Josh Haden is back with his new album Carolina. Our old friend Ray Mason is back with the new record Shy Requester, mostly recorded by just Ray and his guitar. Matt Z from Tyvek has a new band called Mountains and Rainbows and we check it out today. Diarrhea Planet are slowly arising from the Nashville underground into mainstream with their new slick album. Death Valley Girls is a new band from Los Angeles. We say goodbye to the legendary fiddler of Fairport Convention, Dave Swarbrick who passed away on June 6th this year. 
Three rocking returns today. ZZ Top open the show with a new heavy rocker from their new record La Futura. Dinosaur Jr also rock with a new song from the new record I Bet On Sky. And Ian Hunter is back with a playful new record When I’m President. On the power pop front, we introduce the new artist, a librarian from Portland, Maine, Kurt Baker. Juliana Hatfield is back with a new untitled record. And then we have two new live albums, one for Los Lobos and other for Joe Strummer. Actually, the latter is a combination of an anthology and a live record from his days with The Mescaleros.
Sweet Apple is a side band for John Petkovic of Cobra Verde, J Mascis of Dinosaur JR and Dave Sweetapple of Witch. It happened in a bitter moment when the trio of these rock’n’roll greats desperately needed a break not only from the music that they worked on in their original bands, but also a break from the situations in life that at the time seemed to choke them. Sometimes the best cure is to run away which a pack of friends, experience something new and return as a richer person. This is exactly what this pack did. A weaker person would cut his wrists, but these three people poored their hearts into a rocker that bursts with energy and desire for life. Casual atmosphere in the record creation allowed J to switch over to drums, totaling only three solos on the entire record. Still, there’s plenty of brilliant guitar work on the record courtesy of Tim Parnin of Cobra Verde and John on his purple Gretch (which he used in the songwriting process). Nothing is forced here, songs are charged with energy, crispy riffs are everywhere only to slow down on Dead Moon which stands out as a dark reminder that a man needs light to live, even if that light comes from a stage light show.