Favorite New Music Releases of 2020

 

My favorite new music releases of 2020.

Listed in the order they were released:

Close Lobsters – Post-Nep Anti: Arte Povera in the Forrest of Symbols (Shelflife)

– Scottish indie/rock release their first album in 31 years. It contains all the smooth vocals and melodic
jangly guitar hooks that made the band stand out from so many others all those years ago. Do not let the very Metal cover art fool you. (Their 1987 song “Let’s Make Some Plans” is in my All-Time Top 10 Favorite Songs)

Wasted Shirt – Fungus 2 (Famous Class) – Ty Segal and Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale team-up. The music is a bit over the top for Segal and a bit under for Chippendale. (I find it hard to make it through a whole Lightning Bolt album). Prime Touch and Go era Butthole Surfers inspired noise with a few Led Zeppelin riffs here and there. It's hard to keep up with the different bands and material Ty Segal releases but I recommend checking this one out

.

Big Cheese – Punishment Park (Triple B ) – NYHC style

band out of the UK but not like Agnostic Front, Sick of it All, or other big names. Instead, Big Cheese takes its influence from some of the lesser-known NYHC bands like Breakdown, Alone in a Crowd, Outburst, or Straight Ahead. They even managed to capture the slight echo recording style, so many of those bands had.

Dogleg – Melee (Triple Crown) – I am not really sure what you would label this kind of music Michigan’s Dogleg plays. The band had a conversation with fans on Twitter about this yesterday. Tons of hooks but not “pop/punk”. Loud guitars but not “noise” or “hardcore”. Some seriously powerful anguished vocals singing emotional lyrics but not “emo”.

Fiona Apple- Fetch the Bolt Cutters (Epic) – I have never

been a Fiona Apple fan. I do not think I have owned one album by her. then the title of this album made me curious, so I gave it a listen. Not really rockin’ at all (it is nominated for the “Best Rock Album” Grammy) more of a laid smooth-flowing album with a variety of interesting percussion. It sounds like the musicians were having a ball in the studio. Now it's time to go back and revisit her catalog.

Mikey Erg – Bon Voyage (Stardumb) – After a calmer song-oriented 2019 album Mikey Erg returns to the revved-up pop/punk that made his previous band The Ergs! So much fun. Only 4 songs, 3 originals, and a Beatles cover (“Mother Nature’s Son”) but so many hooks. Just what I needed to hear at the height of 2020 issues.

Nation of Language – Introduction, Presence (Self

Released) - The New York Duo (?) doing a very good mix of O.M.D, Depeche Mode, and later Roxy Music. Not a clunker among the 10 songs. Make sure to check out their Pixie's cover released separately too.

Territories – When the Day Is Done” (Pirates Press) - Heartfelt anthemic melodic punk rock out of Ontario, Canada. Somewhere between the punk rock (“Guns of the Revolution”) and power/pop (“China”) of the Red Rockers, with a little early U2 and Stiff Little Fingers mixed in. So good to sing along to. “Quit This City” may be my favorite song of the year. Make sure to check out their previous album and the material of the band Knucklehead, which most of the members came from.

New Found Glory – Forever and Ever x Eternity (Hopeless Records) – NFG dropped

the overproduction of the last 17 years or so, beefed up the guitars and kept the vocals a bit rougher for this one. The songs are faster and heavier. But all songs still manage to maintain their pop hooks.

Hum – Inlet (Earth Analog) - When Hum surprised everyone with a new album this past summer, I was expecting it to be like the sparse post-rock, ambient almost shoegaze sound of the breakout 1993 Astronaut album and its followers. There is a little of that, but it mainly picks up to the pre-breakout fame sound of their debut album Electra 2000. Layers and layers of tidal waves of guitars. The first song is even titled “Waves”

Paper Mill – Past the Westway (Self-Released)-

Sometimes it pays off to scan through some of the Playlists like “new punk tracks” on Spotify. This is how I find out about this UK band. Gruff vocals over-revved up melodic riffs. Some of these guys were members of a band called Beneath Atlantis, but Paper Mill is a far better band. Looking forward to an upcoming full-length.

Lucy and the Rats – Got Lucky (Dirty Water) – Female melodic vocals fronted melodic 3-chord power/pop-influenced punk rock out of London, although I think the singer Lucy is Australian. 13 hook-filled songs with a slight surf influence. Perfect theme for this last summer.

Creeper – Sex. Death, and the Infinite Void

(Roadrunner) – I first heard of this British band when they were listed all the way at the bottom of the poster for 2018’s Reading Festival. Powerful and melodic “horror punk” with a singer who can really belt out the tunes. A.F.I. meets Meatloaf. They will be getting big in 2021. Some members were in a previous more punk band called Our Time Down Here.

Be Well – Weight and the Cost (Equal Vision) – Brian McTernan, formally frontman of Washington, D.C.’s Battery now known more for his production work, is joined by members of Bane, Darkest Hour, and others for Equal Vision’s best album in years. ‘Weight’ still has many hardcore elements of Brian and co’s past bands but also adds heavy melodic guitars and real singing. Through in some seriously intense lyrics dealing with fatherhood, depression, and more. Such an unbelievably powerful album. Demands to be listened to all the way through each time.

Dropdead – Dropdead 2020 (Armageddon) – Providence’s Dropdead long-running (29

years!) extremely fast hardcore/punk/thrash(?)/grindcore (?) release their third album (among many singles). The only difference is this time the vocals are a lot clearer. You can really understand the lyrics, instead of the indecipherable screaming on their other material. Although I have liked all their stuff, I do find it more enjoyable to be able to sing along.

AC/DC – POWERUP (Columbia) – The expression gets used a little too much, but a new AC/DC album is exactly what we needed after this year. This album is exceptionally good. I am not even a Brian Johnson AC/DC fan. Believe the hype.

Spotify Playlist With Two Songs From Each Release

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/30iSr9Vv56VdUpXu52SACF?si=Xd2Vj3mvTaOurNBYHTPiMQ

ALL! On A Major Label? Part One

It's definitely been said in this blog before that The Descendents/ALL are my favorite band and have been since I heard their song “80's Girl” aired on Towson State's radio station when I was about 15 years old. What may have not been stated is that I had been listening to both bands for about a year or so before even realizing they were essentially the same band. This may sound ridiculous but keep in mind it was 1988 the internet was not readily available and serious fanzines were hard to come by in the suburb of Columbia, MD. 

Plus even though the formats of their albums were kind of similar, the bands were on different record labels. The Descendents releases were on SST Records while ALL's were on Cruz Records. Matching up of band members, on every case card only listed by the first name, was a pretty difficult task since The Descendents had so many different members. Even though ALL's band members had remained constant, at this point ALL was up to their second singer. 

Full disclosure: The same thing happened to me with The Misfits and Samhain. Probably even longer since it would still be a couple years until I really got into The Misfits. 

  

  

Around 1990 when Allroy's Revenge was released I eventually figured it out and The Descendents and ALL became my favorite BAND. A couple years later ALL would secretly move on to their third singer Chad Price for 1993's Breaking Things album. In 1994 ALL was set to release their sixth album, second with Chad, named  Pummel. I was anxiously anticipating its release. 

Around this time the local “alternative” radio station WHFS had a show called “Now Hear

This”, focused on upcoming new releases. The show also had local bands perform in its closing section “Dave's Garage”. Offhand Washington DC's Frodus is the only “Dave's Garage" band I can remember. On the night I am passively listening to a Sunday night episode of “Now Hear This” when I heard Dave say, “Next we have a song from the new album by the punk band ALL”. 

Did I hear that right? Although the show did have some lesser-known bands in the past, most were still "modern rock” sounding bands on major labels or larger indies. Not melodic punk like ALL on small independent labels like Cruz Records. 

After the commercial Dave came back on announced the song. It was called “Stalker” and I was instantly floored. It was so loud. The song had Stephen Egerton's signature guitar but it sounded so much eviler. Karl Alvarez's bass sounded like it was plodding along much more distorted than anything I had heard him play before. Drummer Bill Stevenson sounded like he was beating his drums even harder than he usually does. But the most shocking aspect of the song was singer Chad's voice. He still sounded like himself but his voice sounded more growly and angry as he sang “I hear footsteps down the hall, I've been waiting right behind your door, No one will hear. Don't you worry my dear”? When he sings “It's your eyes, your smile, It's your hair, your face It's your life” he has reached almost demonic death metal style vocals, while guitarist Stephen Egerton plays Slayer-Esque riffs to close out the song. 

       When the song was over DJ Dave announced that the song was off their forthcoming album Pummel, still three months away from being released. But this time it would not be on Cruz. This one was coming out on Interscope. A major label. 

    

  Before you think I am going to go on a "corporate rock still sucks" rant about punk or underground bands signing to major labels I've never felt there was anything wrong with it, It was always my belief if you worked hard, paid your dues, etc, which The Descendents/ALL definitely had done, good for you. Plus like I said in my Dear You entry, the independent labels were pretty hard to find in the suburbs, often resulting in not being able to obtain a copy for a while after its release. With Pummel coming out on a major I knew it would be able to be picked up the day it drops. 

  

No, I never get upset or anything when band signs with a major label with only one catch: They don't change their sound. After hearing Stalker premiered on that February night I feared that may have been the case with ALL. It would still be a couple months until Pummel would be released and I could find out 

  

The Golden Age of Tribute Albums: The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young

The late 80s into the early ’90s tribute albums were always a great way to learn about new underground bands as well as the artists they are paying tribute to. A few posts here and there I want to focus on a few for me pretty vital ones.

 Sometimes the artist being paid homage are bands you know and like and you want to hear newer band's interpretations of their music. Sometimes the artists being paid tributes are classic bands or artists you the listener may not be familiar with and hearing a band you know to do their songs serves as a good introduction to the artists.  

1989's The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young for me fell on the latter. 

 A few of the artists on the album were new to me. At this point, I had never heard of Flaming Lips, Nikki Sudden, and the French Revolution or his many bands, as well as the vital Swell Maps he and his brother, were in. 

Loop, Psychic TV, and had barely heard Nick Cave. Originally I owned the album cassette, so I did not hear B.A.L.L.’s “Out of the Blue” until years later when I upgraded to the CD 

 

Some bands do the covers in their own style, Soul Asylum, and the Pixies, two of the bands who made me seek out the tribute, do this at the beginning of each side of the tape.  Soul Asylum’s “Barstool Blues” would have been right at home on their album Hangtime from the year before. The Pixies “Winterlong” at home on Doolittle.  

For a long time, I thought Sonic Youth’s version of “Computer Age” was adapted to their style. Years later when I finally heard the original Neil Young version of his “experimental” album Trans, the Sonic Youth version was very true to the original. In retrospect, though I am very glad Sonic Youth decided not to use the computerized effects on the vocals of the chorus like Neil did in his version. Neil actually used the vocoder on a few songs on that album, something I've read many fans were not happy with.

 

Some bands totally changed the song, which most of the time I would not find out until years later. Nikki Sudden and his band at the time The French Revolution did a fully electric and rockin' version of the more subdued folky acoustic version of “Captain Kennedy” of Neil Young’s album.  

 

The UK’s droney band Loop did not have to adapt too much. I would say Neil's song “Cinnamon Girl” was almost written for the band if I had not come out years before.  

Nick Cave has the real showstopper in his take on “Helpless”. Accompanying slide

Loop

 guitar by Kid Congo Powers with The Bad Seed's Mick Harvey on the bass and drums. It was a pretty blown-away experience. I think at that point I had only really heard Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' song “Mercy Seat”, a much louder but equally intense song. I picked up a few Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds albums shortly after. 

I’m also pretty sure this may have been the first time I knowingly heard the Flaming Lips. Sounds shocking now but at this point, the band had only released three albums. The Awesome In A Priest Driven Ambulance, the band's "masterpiece", as well as the only album I really love by the band., would not be released until a year later.  

 

A couple experimental songs. New York City band Bongwater, featuring Shimmy Disc Records owner Kramer on bass and actress/performance artist Anne Magnuson on vocals makes “Mr. Soul”, a song originally by Neil Young’s early band Buffalo Springfield, even more, psychedelic than the already very psychedelic song.  

The late Geneses P. Orridge’s band Psychic TV does a pretty stripped-down version of “Only Love Can

Psychic TV

Break Your Heart” with guitars, guitar, drums, and some strings. I’d file this under the experimental side of the spectrum since in their own Psychic TV material would have so much more noise and effects going on. This would soon be found out when I picked up some of the earlier stuff a little after hearing them on this album. But Psychic TV fans please don’t get too let down. The band does add some of what sounds like a theremin in the end.  

Dinosaur Jr, probably the most Neil Young-influenced band on the tribute, totally makes “Lotta Love” off Young's Comes A Time a whole new animal. J and Lou attack their instruments while “Special guest vocalist” Artie “Are You Ready” Sinatra screams the lyrics along. To me, it kind of sounds like Neil Young covering “Don’t” off of Dinosaur Jr’s Bug Album.  

 

Musician Henry Kaiser closes out the LP/Tape with a medley of “Needle and the Damage Done” and

Dinosaur Jr circa 1989

“Tonight's the Night”. The medley is rockn'. Also, straightforward sounding. A bit odd for a musician I would later find out is mostly known for his “sonic diversity” 

The only song on the album I usually skip over is Victoria Williams's version of "Don't Let It Get You Down". This isn't because it's a bad song or Neil's original or Victoria's cover. I am just not a fan of Victoria's voice. 

The album is out of print but you can listen to it on youtube or even download it right here:https://www14.zippyshare.com/v/D3xZv7tR/file.html