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Playlist, The Best of 2016

Flashlite #411 – The Best Albums in 2016 (Part One)

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Best of 2015We start today with the countdown to my list of favorite albums in 2016. Today we cover positions 35-14. 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. In this bottom end of the list you will find two bands that did really well in our list last year, with their new albums (Datura4 and Faux Killas). Some of the old friends returned (Ray Mason, Descendents, Westerberg, Jonathan Richman, Javier Escovedo and Apache) and there are a few records from what used to be Yugoslavia (Bernays Propaganda, Thee Melomen, Erotic Biljan). Plus a healthy dose of new bands. It all makes a good playlist! Come back in 7 days to find out what’s in top 13!

Medicine Boy – You’re an Animal Now;
Datura4 – Mary Caroll Park;
Bernays Propaganda – Lazi me, lazi me;
Thee Melomen – Criminals;
Ray Mason – I Gave Up Giving Up Drinking;
Descendents – Feel This;
Don’t – Fever Dreams;
Radkey – Le Song;
Purling Hiss – Fever;
Faz Waltz – Dynamite Sam;
Flesh Panthers – Let It Die;
Scarcity Of Tanks – Into Your Activities;
The I Don’t Cares – Dance To The Fight;
Javier Escovedo – Bad And Good;
Seger Liberation Army – Chain Smokin’;
Erotic Biljan And His Heretics – Wham Bam;
Faux Killas – Laura’s Song;
Apache – Hey Medusa;
Zig Zags – No Brains No Balls;
Dan Stuart – The Whores Above;
Jonathan Richman – Outside O’ Duffy’s;
Meet Your Death – Tracking The Dog.

Playlist

Flashlite #53

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Greg KoonsAfter four-week break, The Little Lighthouse is finally back. But not for long. In two weeks Radio SC is taking a summer break with re-runs, so this show will resume when they return in September. But let’s see what we have on today! Dinosaur Jr are back with a new album called Farm and it’s a good one! I must admit, I did not expect too much, since it seemed to me that their reunion was motivated by anything but pure artistic inspiration. I guess I was wrong. Greg Koons, who we praised for his great LA on TV song, finally has a debut record out. It’s called Welcome to the Nowhere Motel and it represents him as already developed singer-songwriter with a nice rock edge. Another songwriter, Willie Nile, who wrote some of the most engaging lyrics about New York City, is also back. The new album is called House of a Thousand Guitars. And then we have one more singer-songwriter, Ray Mason, the hardest working man in rock’n’roll who puts out at least two records per year, is back again with the new record Like Bugs Chewing on Paper and this time it’s a solo deal. Predrag Delibasic, multi-instrumentalist from Perth, Australia recently recorded a demo and a single, and it’s filled with very approachable, danceable but imaginative instrumentals, played on weird instruments. We end things up today with two live bootlegs that I’ve recorded in Pittsburgh using my mp3-player: Ed fROMOHIO and Grant Hart – two legendary SST musicians who need no introduction.

Clive Gregson & Christine Collister – As Lovers Do;
Scarce – Scorpion Tray;
Dinosaur Jr – Over It;
Dinosaur Jr – No Bones;
Cedars – For your information;
Elektricni Orgazam – Glave;
Predrag Delibasic – Leaves Falling on Lisbon;
Modern Lovers – Egyptian Reggae;
Greg Koons And The Misbegotten – Here She Comes;
Willie Nile – Run;
Willie Nile – Hide Your Love;
Ray Mason – They Don’t Make Records Like That Anymore;
Ray Mason – Sin Eater;
Lemonheads – I Just Can’t Take It Anymore;
Gram Parsons – I Just Can’t Take It Anymore;
Jack-O & The Tennessee Tearjerkers – Ditch Road;
The Moaners – Elizabeth Cotton’s Song;
Ed fROMOHIO Trio – In Memory of Elizabeth Cotton;
Grant Hart – I Knew All About You Since Then.

Playlist

Flashlite #25

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Ray Mason Today’s episode is filled with new music. Hard working musician from Massachusetts, Ray Mason, sent us the new Lonesome Brothers CD called The Last CD along with two of his older releases that we have missed. We check all that out in this show. The Heretics from Oslo in Norway also send us their new ep – five furious garage rock tracks. Cobra Verde form Cleveland also have a brand new album out. It was recorded nearly two years ago, but it’s finally out. It’s called Haven’t Slept All Year and it’s a candidate for the hottest release this year. New Jersey rockers The Successful Failures are here at the Little Lighthouse for the first time and we showcase them with their title song and one other song from their latest album called Ripe For Burning. Philadelphia band Love City also debuts at the show with an upcoming 7″ called Regretting. From Boise Idaho, we get to hear a new band called The Very Most and their Beach Boys influenced pop. We close the show with the spankin’ brand new album for the Georgia Satellites singer Dan Baird who has a new band called the Homemade Sin. And woah – that’s was a pretty long list for one show, huh?

The Reigning Sound – Uptight Tonight;
Cobra Verde – Riot in the Foodcourt;
The Heretics – Dipper Boy;
The Successful Failures – Successful Failures;
The Succesful Failures – All I Can Take;
Love City – Regretting;
Gun Club – Carry Home;
Pierced Arrows – Frankenstein;
Paul Revere and the Raiders – Free;
The Very Most – Good Fight Fighting;
Endless Boogie – Coming Down The Stairs;
Paul Westerberg – Knockin On Mine;
Lonesome Brothers – Fins On A Cadillac;
Ray Mason Band – I’m Not That Kind Of Guy;
Ray Mason – I’m Not That Kind of Guy;
The Woods – Battleship Chains;
Georgia Satellites – Battleship Chains;
Dan Baird & Homemade Sin – Damn Thing To Be Done;
Steely Dan – Reelin’ In The Years;
Stitches – Tip The Wink.

Playlist

Flashlite #21

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All The Saints We welcome you to a new epsode of The Little Lighthouse with several new interesting tunes. We have a brand new band from Atlanta GA, All The Saints with their own twist on psychedelic rock. The Service Industry were around for quite some time with their songs about survival in the working class, but this is their debut at the Little Lighthouse. Diplomats of Solid Sound is a new retro band from Iowa, drawing on soul and funk sound patterns from the golden era of 60s and 70s. Also, check out two new tunes that we dug out for you – one by Ray Mason and other by The Moaners.

Also, from now on, we will have two new bonuses (bonae?) per week, the usual Down on the Corner and a new one – Mystery Train, another good show prepared weekly by Zikica Simic.

The Fuzztones – Bad News Travels Fast;
Screaming Trees – Transfiguration;
Rain Parade – One Half Hour Ago;
Pink Floyd – Astronomy Domine;
All The Saints – Papering fix;
The Service Industry – They Fired Me;
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – which way to go;
King Khan and The Shrines – Sweet Tooth;

Diplomats of Solid Sound – Budget Fro;
Miss Alex White and the Red Orchestra – Submarine;
Tralala – Dark Things;
The BellRays – One Big Party;
Petula Clark – Dans Le Temps;
Voice Of The Beehive – I Say Nothing;
Madness – Burning The Boats;
Ray Mason – I Wanna Be A Holiday;
The Moaners – Raggedy Tune.

Bands

Ray Mason Band

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(Written long time ago for my old website) Ray Mason is from Haydenville, Massachusetts. This middle-aged gentleman has been around with his guitar for some twenty years now, and it looks like people in the local scene know him and respect him very much, as he was already an object of a tribute album. In his lengthy career, Mason left handful of cassette tapes in the eighties and five cd’s in last five years. He recently compiled his early cassette work on a cd called Square Crazy. That disc includes an interesting collection of great pop tunes with a twist, recalling NRBQ’s sense of humor. All those early tunes are recorded on a simple four track tape recorder, and the sound has a wonderful lo-fi charm. His two last regular issues came out in just a year span. One of them in early 2001 with a great rock’n’roll title When the Clown’s Work is Over. The other one came out in May 2002, Ten Dollar Man.

When the Clown’s Work is Over is full of nice guitar music and some of the songs are written in a righteous rock’n’roll style, and they’re worth of any Dylan’s, Young’s or Wynn’s tune. One can easily see how his style matured from his early tapes without dropping down in quality. My personal favorite is Up But So Loose which in just two minutes tell us a great rock story spiced up with a very creative riff. So you thought that the guitar rock is dead, huh?

Ten Dollar Man is the newest Ray Mason’s Work. He gathered his band again and recorded an album with just 10 songs, filling out just a small fraction of what can be fit on a cd, but all songs are really nice which makes up for the quantity. It’s a collection of tunes all enriched with a fine sense of humor. Similar usage of humor is also done by NRBQ. But what takes this issue a little bit farther is that there’s a special personal seal that all of the tunes carry. The album is very consistent in its quality through all 30 minutes of its lenght.

Mason also has a band Lonesome Brothers that he runs parallel to his solo career together with his friend Jim Armenti. Lonesome Brothers just came up with the new album called Swamptown Girl, which is a little more acoustic than Ray Masons’ solo work, but it’s still filled with cool songs. And what a suitable name for the band! Lonesome is probably the most frequently used name in country and brothers – well I guess Jim and Ray are some kind of creative brothers…

Website: www.raymason.com