You know, I thought I had listened to a lot of albums this year.  Dozens of 2022 albums.  Then, I started to read the "best of 2022" lists from a few publications and music writers. That was a reminder that there is SO much music released each year, and unless you are listening to music all day every day for your job, it's not possible to hear all of it.  There is certainly a whole pile of music that I missed, and it's likely that I would have really loved some of those albums. That said, here are some of the things I enjoyed.

Much like last year, some artists from my youth in the 90s put out new music this year.  Eddie Vedder released a solo album that was better than I was expecting it to be. Spoon released a new album, and if you read a few of the well-known music blogs, you'll see it turning up in a few lists of the top 2022 albums. There were also new offerings from Big Wreck (loved it), Metric (meh), Stabbing Westward (sounded like Stabbing Westward), Superchunk (very good and contains "Endless Summer", one of my favorite songs of the year), Placeob (I dug it), and Collective Soul (superb). Here's a sentence that I copied almost word-for-word from last year's blog: Guided By Voices released three albums this year, because of course they did.

In order to show that we've got more great stuff than just GBV, some other excellent 2022 albums from right here in Dayton, Ohio: Sad Songs From Ohio by Harold Hensley (roots/folk), Midwest Sorrow by TINO (hip-hop/rap), Peculiar by Yuppie (indie rock), Heather Redman & The Reputation by Heather Redman (soulful rock), E Pluribus M Ross by M Ross Perkins (70s sounding psychedelic pop), and Midwest Romance by Zac Pitts (poppy punky rock). 

Some other things that I dug, but didn't crack my top ten are albums from Koffee, Bartees Strange (favorite song "Hennessy"), SANNI, Nilufer Yanya (favorite song "Midnight Sun"), Mamalarky, Nick Campbell (favorite song "Your Kisses Taste like Jazz"), Isla Craig, Lauren Light, Jahmiel, The Smile, and Calexico.

 

Here are my top ten favorite albums, and other than the first one, they are in no particular order.

 

 

Oceanator - Nothing's Ever Fine

Oceanator is Elise Okusami's project name. She is from Brooklyn. This is, I believe, her second full-length album. If you'd like to read an excellent written interview with Elise, my pal Taylor Ruckle did one for Post-Trash. This album is called Nothing's Ever Fine, but everything here is definitely more than fine.

You can tell by looking at the list of song titles that Elise cares about album sequencing, which warms my heart. We open with "Morning", track 6 is called "Post Meridian", and we close with "Evening".  This album grabbed me right from the jump with "Morning"'s copious layers of guitars. Indeed, there is no shortage of energetic distorted rock goodness here, but the entire project doesn't just plow ahead at the same tempo... there are some changes of pace and texture for you to discover.  (Looking at you, "Solar Flares".)

Elise co-produced this album with her quite tastefully named brother, and with Bartees Strange. I feel no small amount of jealousy here, as I would really love to work with Bartees Strange, and even reached out to him about this way back in fall 2020. I feel like he would really understand the things I want to do musically, and be able to take me there, but also probably contribute some unique weirdness. Alas, that's probably something that's impossible now, given how his profile has risen and how much his career as an artist has taken off.  Elise and he are friends, and that surely contributed to making it easier to get him on this Oceanator record. 

I like the songs here, I like the sound here, I really dig the excellent music video for "Bad Brain Daze", and I can't wait to hear what future music comes from Oceanator. This is exactly the kind of album I want to hear, and Oceanator delivered. In fact, the next time I make a rock record, I won't be satisfied until it sounds at least as good as Nothing's Ever Fine.  This is my favorite album of 2022.

• Favorite songs: "The Last Summer", "Stuck", "Bad Brain Daze"

 

 

 

Cherimondis J - Dove Archer

Cherimondis is still in college, and is studying music.  She's an accomplished pianist in her music program, but also plays violin, and as you can hear on this album, she knows how to write a song. You're getting some soulful R&B grooves on Dove Archer, with sounds that might remind you of a few different flavors of music from the 70s, all wrapped up in a beautiful voice.

• Favorite songs: "Milk And Honey", "Let It Be"

 

 

 

 

Mobley - Cry Havoc!

So, I think Mobley is a genius. Truly. This gentleman is an artist's artist, self-producing this EP, and handling the visual aspects of the project, including video. I mean, check out the concept and his dancing in the video for "stay volk". I've watched it several times, and never stop being impressed. He writes the concepts, directs, produces, and edits his own videos. Every one that comes with this EP is worthy of your time.  He plays violin and trumpet and piano and guitar, and probably another half dozen instruments.

Cry Havoc! is a concept EP, focusing on a character.  I don't want to take the listening/watching experience away from you, so I won't go into more detail here, but if you wanted more information before you dig in, there are interviews with Mobley out there on the Internet.  I can't wait to hear more music from this Austin-based musician, I can't wait to see more videos from him, and I'd really like to catch a live show.

• Favorite songs: "stay volk", "lord"

 

 

 

Dazy - Out of Body

One of the reasons I take the time to write this particular blog entry every year is the hope that somebody somewhere will read it and find new-to-them music that they end up loving. That's how I found out about Dazy.  I had never heard of James Goodson, who is Dazy. Then I read a blog post by Josh Terry in which he described Out of Body like this:

"Imagine if every Fountains of Wayne song was written to be played at ear-shattering volumes".

Yes, please. Sold. I love this album.

• Favorite songs: "On My Way", "Deadline", "Ladder"

 

 

 

 

Amanda Shires - Take It Like A Man

I've been trying to listen to more country music recently.  It's something that didn't resonate with me at all, not even in the smallest, most insignificant way, until the last five years or so.  There were just so many things that were off-putting to me; the affected twang of the vocals when the singers didn't talk that way, twangy instrumentation, the bass parts barely daring to do anything other than root/fifth pedaling, the overly simplistic and less-than-creative compositions, the systemic racism... you know, those sorts of things.  Last year, however, there were touches of Americana and roots music in the list of my favorite albums, and I've certainly enjoyed live experiences with country-adjacent bands local to my area. I also really appreciate the efforts of Black Opry. At the end of the day, in some ways, genre is only a construct, and a well-written song is a well-written song, right?

There's your background for my listening expectations as I approached Take It Like A Man.  Amanda Shires is ostensibly a country artist.  After all, she's a fiddle player by trade. That said, I don't hear many of the things I historically didn't enjoy about country music on this album. First of all, the songwriting is excellent.. and if you write a good enough song, it should sound good with just about any kind of instrumental interpretation. Not only are these songs good, they are lushly layered and presented.  There are full string sections here, giving a much more luxurious harmonic pad than only fiddle, or a steel guitar.  There are things on this album that sound like rock to me.  There are things on this album that sound like pop to me. It's all tied together by Amanda's voice.

This is an artist with something to say, which is evident when one really concentrates on the lyrics. So if this right here is country music, ok then, I like country music.

• Favorite songs:  "Empty Cups", "Here He Comes", "Lonely at Night"

 

 

 

Guided By Voices - Crystal Nuns Cathedral

Let me guess what you're thinking.  How in the world can a band crank out two or three albums a year and expect people to keep up?  How could all of the songs possibly be good?  Well, speaking personally, I've had a hard time keeping up with Bob Pollard's output.  There was a time when I bought every single GBV full-length that came out, and I'm reasonably well versed in their material from 1994 to 2004.  However, keeping an ear on everything they do is a challenge for me now.  I mean, they released three albums in 2019, three albums in 2020, two albums in 2021, and three this year.  That's crazy output!  Are all of the songs good?

Well, I didn't get around to listening to ALL of those albums.  I can tell you that I definitely liked both of the albums that came out last year. Their first album of this year, Crystal Nuns Cathedral - their 35th album (!) - is full of good songs.  The songs are just as catchy as what you would expect, but the distorted guitars feel fuller than at times in the past, and string sections show up a few times. It seems that the band has permanently dispatched with the lo-fi recording aesthetic, and I'm ok with that. This is a solid rock and roll record from a solid rock and roll band.  We really shouldn't be surprised, should we?

• Favorite songs: "Climbing a Ramp", "Come North Together", "Excited Ones"

 

 

 

The Linda Lindas - Growing Up

Ok, they're kids. They're obviously getting some help, of course.  It turns out that the father of half the band is an industry professional with tons of experience.  He engineered, mixed, and produced this album, and is surely the reason that it sounds so polished. No doubt he's also helped them to get some endorsements and opportunities.  Ok, set that aside.

These kids all play their own instruments.  These kids write the songs.  When they play live, these kids perform the songs.  The songs are catchy and punky.  A couple of them remind me of what Sleater-Kinney might be like if they added a bass player. Some of the material is the sort of thing you might imagine kids would write about, like growing up, a pet cat, or a racist sexist boy at school.  I like this album. If they were out of school long enough to go on tour, I'd go see them if I could. For now, I'll settle for their appearance on NPR's Tiny Desk series.

This album is fun.  Turn it up.

• Favorite songs: "Oh!", "Talking To Myself", "Cuántas Veces", "Racist, Sexist Boy"

 

 

 

Momma - Household Name

If Momma keeps cranking out music like this, one would think they'd end up a Household Name, like their album title says. This is apparently their third album, so by now one would think they know what kind of band they are. Hooks?  Yes. Distorted guitars?  Uh huh.  Vocal harmonies?  Plenty of them.  A sense of dynamics?  It's loud-quiet-loud on a few of these songs. 

In case you are curious as to who I might compare them to, well, I'd have to think a bit.  They're guitar-forward rock and roll, and there are a few moments where they remind me very much of Veruca Salt, but that's likely mostly due to the vocal harmonies. Really, the sounds here taken as a whole remind me of the mid-nineties in general, the kind of music that teenage me would crank up in the car.  The folks in this band were certainly not alive then, but if that's the kind of music that influences them - and if you listen to this you will realize it absolutely is - well, what's wrong with that?

• Favorite songs: "Rockstar", "Lucky", "Spider"

 

 

 

Lung - Let It Be Gone

The album that Lung released in 2021 made my top ten.  I guess I'm consistent.  No, LUNG is consistent... consistently interesting and awesome.  Like I probably wrote in my end-of-year article last year, nobody sounds like Lung.  I challenge you, dear reader, to find me an artist that sounds like what Kate and Daisy are doing.  I don't think you will. They are described as "art punk cello rock".  Sure.  I didn't write that description, but I'd like you to know that there is indeed a cello involved, and they do indeed rock.

Certainly, few bands work as hard as Lung.  Head on over to their website and look at the tour page. They are true road warriors, playing here and there and everywhere, both near and far. In fact, this particular album was mostly written while the band was running around Europe and North America. I imagine they tested these songs in front of live audiences dozens of times before deciding what would make the album. 

Lung are not so busy being different and interesting that they don't bother writing catchy songs.  Quite the contrary.  There are cello riffs on this album that will have you humming along.  (This is definitely the first time I have ever typed the phrase "cello riffs".)  Much like on last year's Come Clean Right Now, the songs on this album sound bigger than you might expect from a band consisting of two people. Some of that is due to studio magic, but before you chalk it 100% up to the studio, I'd like you to know that they sound a lot bigger than only two people when they're playing a live show. It's part of the charm.  It's part of the rock.  Play this one loud.

• Favorite songs: "Sick", "The Prettiest Machine", "Siren Song"

 

 

 

 

Feeder - Torpedo

I discovered this band in 1997, shortly after their debut album Polythene. I loved that album front to back, and think it still holds up. I even caught Feeder live that year at the Newport Music Hall on High Street in Columbus, where they played with Jimmie's Chicken Shack and Everclear. Feeder was everything that the late 90s version of me wanted in a rock band - distorted guitar, memorable melodies,  big rock sound.  Here we are twenty-five years later, and they're still doing what they do.

This doesn't mean that Feeder is exactly the same as then. I bought their first four albums, and they understandably got more melancholy and introspective on Comfort In Sound, the album that came out after the death of their original drummer. I lost track of Feeder since then, missing a handful of albums.  It wasn't them, it was me. The new one here still brings the rock, but it sounds so much bigger than anything I remember from them. The lyrics on Torpedo were apparently very much inspired by some sort of global pandemic, but the big rock songs come out feeling kind of optimistic somehow.

If you have ever liked anything you've heard from this band, you'll like Torpedo.  I'm sure of this. It's everything you loved about this band, just louder, and without the sparkle of youth.  If you don't know this band, well, how do you feel about rock and roll?  If you like stuff that rocks, well, this album will hit you like... (don't say it, don't say it)

.... a torpedo.

• Favorite songs: "When It All Breaks Down", "Wall of Silence", "Born To Love You", "Submission"

 

This song started as a voice memo, a brief line of lyrics and the slightest suggestion of melody sung to my phone. The line in question was this one:

tell your teacher I got some bright ideas

Admittedly, that's not much to build a song around. The concept of "bright ideas" stayed with me.  I live in the Greater Dayton area, and this is a place that has seen many inventors and creatives. I decided to build the song into a love letter of sorts to the Gem City and to the thinkers who called this place home. I also decided to try to write a Guided By Voices song.

The second thing I wrote was the riff for the outro. I did the writing on piano, but I knew from the beginning that I would want that hook played on guitar and also sung. I knew from the beginning that I didn't want to include a traditional "chorus" with the song, and that I wanted it to be short and punchy.

This is what it sounds like.

My thanks go out to Dr J at WUDR and Juliet Fromholt at WYSO for playing this song on the radio.

I am also thankful to the personnel who played on this single. Here are the credits:

released March 31, 2020 
Music & Lyrics by Mike Bankhead 

Bass, Vocals: Mike Bankhead 
Guitar, Vocals: Eric Cassidy 
Drums: Brian Hoeflich 
Vocals: Patrick Himes 

Produced by Patrick Himes & Mike Bankhead 

Engineered and Mixed by Patrick Himes at Reel Love Recording Company, Dayton, Ohio 

Mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering, Nashville, Tennessee 

Art by Ashka RA 

©℗2020 You Could Be My Aramis Music (BMI)

 

***

"Bright Ideas" was taken down from global streaming services when I changed distributors, but it will be back TOMORROW, Tuesday 22nd March, 2022.

I found this to be an interesting year for music.  A few artists I listened to in my youth back in the 1990s put out new music this year.  This includes Candlebox, Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub, Garbage, Sleater-Kinney, Liz Phair, Toad The Wet Sprocket, and Quicksand.  None of these made my top ten for the year. Another band from back then from Canada called Big Wreck put out an EP this year, and I really like it... their singer Ian Thornley is about the closest voice I have ever heard to Chris Cornell (my favorite singer), and the songs on it are good.  It looks like this:

A few artists from my music community here in Dayton also put out new music... Looking at YOU: Age Nowhere, Paige Beller, Sadbox, The New Old Fashioned, and TINO.  (I encourage you to click on those links in the last sentence and check out some good stuff from Dayton, Ohio.) Guided By Voices also put out two albums in 2021, because of course they did. 

Another Ohio band who I have expressed my appreciation for in the past, Snarls, also has a new release this year.  They went to Seattle to record the EP What About Flowers? with Chris Walla (who you might know from Death Cab For Cutie), which is a pretty cool thing for a Columbus band to do. 

Elbow is one of my favorite artists, and they put out an album this year.  It's not among my favorites in their catalog, but maybe it'll surge after a few more listens.  My favorite song on it is "What am I Without You".  If you often read about music, you'll surely see the latest Japanese Breakfast album turn up on a few best-of-the-year lists.  I really dug the song "Posing For Cars" from that one.  Some other folks I know also put out fine work this year... Chelsey Coy's project Single Girl, Married Girl , Lauren Light, Baby Molly, and Greg Owens & the Whiskey Weather have new albums that deserve your attention.

Here's a blurb that I wrote for an album that I liked, but as it turns out, it's not in my top ten, and goes into the "honorable mention" category.  The cover art is awesome. Consider this a bonus blurb:

BEAMS - Ego Death 

I had never heard of this band until I started putting together my favorite albums of the year.  I checked in with Juliet Fromholt, music director over at WYSO, to see what she was considering for her end-of-the-year list, knowing that there were certainly things that I had missed.  Juliet sent me all kinds of stuff that she enjoyed, and while I certainly should have heard things from all of these artists on her shows, I don't get the chance to listen to ALL of the shows each week.  Beams was on Juliet's list.  I do my due diligence, working through the artists, and when I got to Ego Death... well, it stopped me in my tracks.  Give me all of that distorted guitar and songcraft and vocal harmonies please, thank you. 

A little Internet research tells me that this band is from Toronto, and that Ego Death is their third full-length album.  Apparently they were leaning in a more folk-sounding direction before, which is fine, but that's not what I hear on this album.  Whatever prompted their evolution into bigger sounds, well, I'm cool with it.  I might get around to heading back into their catalog to listen to their past work, but for now, I'm going to listen to this one a few dozen more times.  I dig it. 

• Favorite songs: "Born to Win", "Break Glass", "A Flower Blossomed"

 

 

All of the above said, here is my top ten, which, other than the first one, are in no particular order:

FAILURE - Wild Type Droid

I'm sure glad Failure are back, and they keep making excellent music.  This one is a little different than their last few efforts.  Think back to Fantastic Planet and The Heart Is A Monster... those are both long albums that sort of meander through a story, complete with instrumental segues to tie pieces together.  Next, they put out In The Future You Body Will Be the Furthest Thing From Your Mind, which was the result of collating four EPs into one album.  All of those are excellent work, by the way, and Fantastic Planet is especially a masterpiece. Failure has noticed that fewer and fewer people care enough about music to listen to an album all the way through, so they've adjusted their art to match.

This new one is only 10 songs.  It's still atmospheric and spacy. The songs that are supposed to sound big still sound big.  The songs that are supposed to be stripped down and more delicate are still stripped down and delicate.  Unlike their previous work, however, you probably don't lose anything from the listening experience if you listen to this one out of order, or put a song on a playlist.  You aren't losing any of the flow or context by doing that this time around.  Failure is still making music that sounds like Failure, but they seem to be tossing an olive branch to modern listening habits.

This is my favorite album of 2021.

• Favorite songs: "Submarines", "Bad Translation", "Half Moon"

 

ERIC BIBB - Dear America

People who know me are going to be surprised to see a blues album on this list.  There is more here than just twelve bar I-IV-V progressions and various solos. There is plenty of folk and americana sounds here as well.  What stands out to me the most here though, is that Eric Bibb clearly has something he still needs to say.  The Internet tells me that this is his 23rd studio solo album, so maybe it's a little amazing that he is still moved enough to keep making art.

Listen to his lyrics.  Eric doesn't live in the United States anymore, but he used to... and of course, we all live in the same world, and see the same appalling things.  Those of us who write songs use the craft to work our way through the feelings that life thrusts upon us, and that is what it seems Eric is doing on this album.  The album title and picture on the cover suggest that this collection of songs is intended as a letter to the United States... a letter complete with solos... a letter with frank declarations like: "what a way for a boy like me to have to die", in a song about Emmett Till.

• Favorite songs: "Born Of A Woman", "Emmett's Ghost", "White & Black"

 

 

ADIA VICTORIA - A Southern Gothic 

The "South" is not my home. I don't feel safe there. I really don't even like visiting. It is Adia Victoria's home, since she is from South Carolina. You can hear the love for her home in these songs. The love is there despite the region's traditional lack of inclusion of voices like hers.  She says this in Rolling Stone:  "I wanted to include myself in the history of the South. I wanted to make this young Black girl's narrative just as emblematic of a Southern experience as Faulkner could write."

Despite the love that Adia clearly shows here, there is also plenty of anger to go around, and the angry parts of the album are the ones that I think I relate to the best.  My favorite example of that here is on "Deep Water Blues". 

Sounds of blues, gospel, and country all collide on this album. If you happen to enjoy listening to any of these genres, well, this album is definitely for you.

• Favorite songs: "You Was Born To Die", "Whole World Knows", "Deep Water Blues"

 

 

 

THE MARS VOLTA - Landscape Tantrums (Unfinished Original Recordings of De-Loused in the Comatorium)

Ok, The Mars Volta released De-Loused in the Comatorium in 2003, and I happen to love that album.  These gentlemen from El Paso reached into the past, grabbed the early progress on those songs, and released them this year.  This album is probably more enjoyable if you are already familiar with the songs in their finished form... however, I think that even if I didn't know what these songs would eventually end up becoming, I would still be blown away.  Sometimes the sounds are frantic, sometimes delicate, there is plenty of playing around with rhythmic elements that aren't necessarily typical in rock music, and the mix is very different than what we got in 2003, so the songs all kind of shine in different ways.

In addition to these mixes being simpler and minimally produced for them (if you can believe it), the track order is different here, and the songs "Tira Me A Las Arañas" and "Cicatriz ESP" are missing.  That's ok, there is enough here to ponder.  Especially if you enjoy this band's work, listen on headphones, close your eyes, and dig in.

• Favorite songs: "Inertiatic ESP", "Eriatarka", "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed", "Televators"

 

 

 

JACKIE VENSON - Love Transcends

Jackie is an incendiary guitarist from Austin, Texas. Her music usually blends a few different styles, but with Love Transcends, she heads in a more traditional blues direction.  For her, this is keeping it simple. She says this about the album on her Bandcamp page: "Written across a decade, recorded in a pandemic, played in a style a century old."

In addition to her own songs, there's a mash-up of a Sister Rosetta Tharpe song and an old Negro spiritual. She plays her heart out when she is performing live, and you get some of that live feeling on this album. Her rhythm section is outstanding, and the little keyboard licks here and there add nice flavor and texture.  You'll want to turn this one up.

• Favorite songs: "Always Free", "Cover My  Eyes", "Love Transcends"

 

 

 

RHIANNON GIDDENS WITH FRANCESCO TURRISI - They're Calling Me Home

It's folk music gone international.  An American and an Italian living in the United Kingdom, and the music they make on this album shows influences from all three of those places. Strings are here, plucked and strummed and bowed, and they are the backdrop to strong vocals and beautiful harmonies. I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like this, even on the old traditional songs they cover here, and that's probably why it holds my attention.

• Favorite songs: "Avalon", "Si Dolce è'l Tormento", "O Death"

 

 

 

 

VALERIE JUNE - The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers

Many thanks to Greg Owens for telling me to go listen to this album.  I love it.  It's soulful, subtly groovy, elegant, relaxing, moving, and beautiful. I kind of feel bad for not having a few more paragraphs of things to say about it. Go listen. Really.

• Favorite songs: "Colors", "Call Me a Fool", "Smile"

 

 

 

 

YOLA - Stand For Myself

Yola is scheduled to stop by Cincinnati on her 2022 tour, and I currently have tickets.  I very much hope this show still happens.  Yola is English, but when she sings, she doesn't SOUND English.  No, you're getting a very soulful sound out of Yola, and one could conceivably put her music in to the "americana" genre, which is curious, because you know, she is English.

The songs sound classic, as if they could have been released in the sixties or seventies, as if they could have been recorded in Memphis or Detroit. Apart from the music, the subject matter of some of the songs also sounds like it could have been written in the sixties or seventies, which speaks to how little things have changed for Black folks in the grand scheme of things.

• Favorite songs: "Barely Alive", "Diamond Studded Shoes", "Starlight", 

 

 

 

 

LUNG - Come Clean Right Now

Chances are good that you haven't seen anything like Cincinnati's Lung.  Live, it's Kate on cello and Daisy on drums.  That description doesn't do the live sound justice, as the cello is played through an array of pedals and effects, and it's delightfully noisy in addition to being musical. Their shows are loud and punky and energetic and passionate and basically rock.

This here is their latest full-length.  Come Clean Right Now was released in August. It rocks. Taking this great music to the studio allows Lung to layer the cello and the vocals, giving the listener a lush experience together with the nodding along. 

• Favorite songs: "I'm Nervous", "Tick Tock", "Morning", "Arrow"

 

 

 

JERRY CANTRELL - Brighten

You might recognize Jerry Cantrell from such rock bands as Alice In Chains. He's been at the music thing for a very long time, and in addition to being the main songwriter for Alice In Chains, he's got a few solo albums out as well.  If you are familiar with his sound, well, you'll probably think Brighten sounds familiar, as it sounds very much like a Jerry Cantrell album.

That said, I like this one better than his other solo work.  Maybe I should go re-listen to the rest of his catalogue to see if I've missed some details, but the songs here just seem especially well-crafted and nuanced... even when they are simple.

• Favorite songs: "Black Hearts and Evil Done", "Nobody Breaks You", "Dismembered"

The dream I have had most often, since I was young in fact, involves a horrifically violent death in a car.  I even wrote a poem about it once, way back on 24th November 1997.  Here it is:

 

Most Recurring Dream

Silent
Under the shroud of night
Wearing a cloak of blood
Shards of glass scattered about
Trapped in this mechanical tomb
One arm twisted against the window
The other folded into my smashed chest
My final breath a gasp of pain
But not of surprise
Eyes open staring ahead lifelessly
I am wrapped tightly by these blankets of steel
The final sound was metal on metal
Broken at last

 

Yes, I know that's not exactly pleasant, but what can you do?  The brain comes up with what it comes up with.  Also, of course, driving (or riding) in cars is extremely unsafe, and worse when there are impaired drivers about, which there often are.

It's about that time where I link to a song that is relevant to dreams... how about this one?

 

That song is great.  Of course, that's not the album with the cover art that most closely matches the particular horrific dream I describe above.  (That would be Do the Collapse, which is probably my personal favorite GBV album.)

Sometimes I wonder if it's a symptom of my depressed state that a dream this macabre would keep turning up again and again.  

So, if you post this kind of a list after everyone else has already posted theirs, folks might actually pay attention to it?  Yes?  No?  At any rate, here are my favorites, in narrative order (not so much in order of which I like more or less):

 

Shrug - Easy is the New Hard 

Shrug are stalwarts of the Dayton music scene, having been around for 25 years.  This is their first album to be released on vinyl, and as if that’s not enough, it’s a double.  Some of the songs on the track list that showed up in their sets 15 years ago (“New Amsterdam” and “Bender” being the oldest if memory serves) coexist beautifully with new music that didn’t get played live until the album release show (“Powder” and “Follow the Captain”).  The result is probably the best, most eclectic work of their tenure, and certainly my favorite since 2002’s self-titled release. 

• Favorite Songs: “Powder”, “New Amsterdam”, “Follow the Captain”, “Blue Blanket” 

 

 

Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold 

About the same time that Shrug was getting going here in Dayton, this band started up in Olympia, Washington.  This is their 9th album, and it heads off in a different sonic direction from everything else in their catalog. This new direction cost them the powerful services of drummer Janet Weiss, as she departed the band just before they went on tour to support the album.  There is synth here, extra slick production, and pop sensibility, but it still sounds like a Sleater-Kinney album. That’s enough for me. 

• Favorite Songs: “Reach Out”, “Bad Dance” 

 

Big Wreck - ... but for the sun 

Here’s a third band that formed in 1994.  Ian Thornley’s voice is the closest I have ever heard to Chris Cornell’s, and it’s still as powerful now as it was when I first discovered this band.  If you enjoyed Soundgarden in the past, I think you would like Big Wreck as well. This new effort is a big, loud, swaggering rock and roll record. You want guitar solos?  There are plenty of them here. You want riffage? There is plenty of that here. You like shouting along whilst driving? These songs are perfect for that.   

• Favorite Songs: “In My Head”, “Give Us a Smile”,  “Alibi”  

 

Guided By Voices - Sweating the Plague 

How about a band that was already more than ten years old in 1994?  Indie rock royals Guided By Voices released three albums this year, because of course they did.  This is the last of the three. I have had a hard time keeping up on all of Bob Pollard’s music over the years, and would only consider myself somewhat well-versed on the albums that came out between 1994 and 2004.  With that caveat in mind, this album isn’t what I was expecting. I heard tempo changes, a brief Boston-esque lead guitar harmony, a song that starts a capella, all paired up with the usual amount of fantastic hooks. 

• Favorite Songs: “Street Party”,  “Your Cricket Is Rather Unique”, “Immortals” 

 

Elbow - Giants of All Sizes 

Apologies to Oasis, but Elbow are now my favo(u)rite Manchester band.  This is their 8th studio album. Lyrically, it’s darker than what we normally get from them, but personal tragedies and these modern times will have that effect.  Guy Garvey’s pristine voice, the band’s orchestral use of dynamics, and at least one song with massive audience sing-along potential on the hook… those things are still here.  Also, Pete Turner continues to bring interesting choices to the bottom end, along with solid grooves from which most of the other instruments hang. 

• Favorite Songs: “Empires”, “White Noise White Heat”, “Weightless” 

 

Idlewild - Interview Music 

Let’s stay on the island of Great Britain for a moment, but head up north to Scotland.  I have five of this band’s first six albums on CD (I don’t have the first one). There was a time when I would listen to something from Idlewild just about every day.  Somewhere around 2008, I completely lost track of them. It wasn’t them, it was me. I’ve missed a couple of their albums, and nearly missed this one, only having discovered that it came out in 2019 in December.  Other than the vocals (not the high ones), this doesn’t sound like the Idlewild I remember… there are plenty of atmospheric additions here, strings and reverb-drenched guitar and piano, and it’s all quite lovely. I need to spend more time with this album, but I know that I’ll like it more with each listen. 

• Favorite Songs: “Dream Variations”, “I Almost Didn’t Notice”, “Forever New” 

 

The Cranberries - In the End 

A short hop West across the Irish Sea brings us to the home of The Cranberries.  This mention is kind of like a career achievement mention, as the band decided not to continue after frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan died in January 2018.  This is their final album, released this year. The vocals come from demos instead of normal studio takes, but if I hadn’t read that online, I wouldn’t have known.  Some of the music would easily fit in among the songs on their first two albums. I feel like most folks probably don’t know this band beyond their hit singles, and that’s too bad, there is some songwriting brilliance in their career, and this is a satisfying final statement. 

• Favorite Songs:  “Lost”, “Wake Me When It’s Over”, “Illusion”, “In the End” 

 

Charly Bliss - Young Enough 

Back much farther West across the Atlantic, Brooklyn’s Charly Bliss dropped their second full-length album this year.  Full disclosure, I really wanted to like this album because I have met the members of this band, and they were pleasant and engaging young folks.  I like them as people.  (They also put on a very energetic live show.) My first couple of listens to this album, well, I wasn’t enthused… lots of synth, some drum machine sounds, the guitars and rock had taken a back seat to sugary pop.  Then I paid attention to the lyrics, listened closer to the songwriting, and focused on the harmonic choices. These songs are painfully confessional and personal, and I wonder how Eva manages to sing them on tour night after night without bursting into tears.  Further, this band’s gift for arrangement and hooks persists behind the pop sheen… and these songs sound excellent live, right alongside their older guitar-heavy work. Go get this album. 

• Favorite Songs: “Capacity”, “Camera”, “Young Enough”, “Chatroom” 

 

John Dubuc’s Guilty Pleasures - Where Have I Been All Your Life? 

Don’t let John Dubuc’s “aw shucks”, self-effacing demeanor fool you.  He is one of the best songwriters in Dayton. His lyrics oscillate between witty and silly, pointless and profound. He doesn’t feel the need to be constrained by the idea of genre, as there are sounds borrowed from reggae and country and fifties rock and power pop and folk.  Several songs from this album will absolutely get stuck in your head.  You have been warned.

• Favorite Songs: “It Ain’t That Far”, “Crazy Days”, “By the Ocean”, “Peace Love and Hamburger Helper” 

 

Me & Mountains - Dream Sequence Volume One 

This a very brief EP, so I feel like my comments here have to also be very brief.  I love everything this band does, their sound is right up my alley, and I want them to give me more music ASAP. 

• Favorite Song: “Demolish Me” 

 

Amber Hargett - Paper Trail 

Amber is lovely and genuine and sweet, comes armed with a powerful voice and a knack for songwriting, and once told a story that will ensure I never look at a submarine hatch the same way again.  Oh, and her album is great. 

• Favorite Song: "Church Mouse", but that isn't on this albums, so let's go with “Broke”, “Carolina Blue”, “Stay” 

 

In order to give you a peek behind the curtain at my songwriting process, I'd like to tell you about my second attempt at the 5 in 5 Song Challenge.  I have written about this challenge in a previous blog entry, so this time, I'll skip explaining the big idea and get straight to the songs.

Day 1, 14th October 2019.  Prompt was to use at least five of these ten words: creek, orange, cider, make, gather, cotton, oak, spinning, poured, without.  Amplifier bonus (which I don't recall being part of the challenge the last time I participated) was to use the chord progression Dbm, Fm, Eb7.

I'm proud of what I managed to write for this one.  I started with the chord progression, as I figured that would be the hardest part.  It was.  If you're not a musician, let me tell you that those three chords are kind of creepy and ominous sounding when used in sequence.  I structured my verses for the song around them, and managed to use all ten (!) of the words, which I believe is a first for me.  Here's the thing... using those specific words, but making it seem natural and not forced... that was tough.  All told, there is one part here that I will re-write.  I didn't like the melody I used in the bridge, so will go back to work on that.  Other than that, I think the rest of the song will stay as-is, and I'll be adding it to my live repertoire next month.  

 

Day 2, 15th October 2019.  Prompt was to use the following idea as a starting point:  It has to come to an end, before it can begin.  What is it?  (If that sounds to you like something Seneca might have said, well, you're not the only person who thought so.)  Amplifier bonus was to use a minor 4 chord.

For this one, I did not write fresh lyrics.  Rather, I used lyrics from my collaborator, Ruth.  She had lyrics that needed music, and when I saw the prompt, I remembered these specific ones, as I thought they fit.  Lyrics in hand, I wrote the music, which I found to be rather easy this time.  I mostly write in minor keys, and if you write in a minor key, your 4 chord is automatically minor.  Easy as pie.  From reading some of the comments in the group, I might be the only person who understood the amplifier this way, as a few folks asked for clarification, and the clarification was to take a major 4 chord and change it to minor... but that's not what the prompt said.  Maybe the default assumption is that people only write in major keys?  

 

Day 3, 16th October 2019.  Prompt was to use "Harvest Moon" as a song title.  Ick.  Amplifier bonus is to write in a key you're not comfortable in.  

Well, I'm not really comfortable in any key that requires me to use more than just the white keys on a piano.  I'm not a competent pianist by any means, so I feel all warm and fuzzy writing in A minor.  For this one, I wrote the song on bass instead of piano... and I wrote the verses in G minor, but the chorus in B flat major.  I leaned toward snarky and humorous for the lyrical content.  I think this song is the best one I wrote all week, and I plan to record it next year and get it ready to release in time for fall.  I'll be playing it in public starting next month.

 

Day 4, 17th October 2019.  Prompt was to use at least five of ten given words.  Now, I don't have the complete word list (oops), but here are the ones that I used: older, settle, calling, pocket, strong, resist.   That's six.   Amplifier bonus was to use this chord progression: F, G, Cmaj7, Am.

That chord progression basically told me to write the song in A minor, which as I mentioned above, is my warm & fuzzy key.  Ok.  I wasn't too thrilled with the list of words, but no matter, I got to work.  I used the fantastic closer from the album The Blinding White Of Nothing At All, "All You Really Want Is Love", as inspiration.  The main songwriter, John Davis, is a strong influence on my songwriting.  Now, the song in question (please listen to it) sounds like it was written in a major key, and I wasn't about to do that, but I did write the B part of the song to have a slight major key feel.  I wrote it in second person.  I also followed a similar structure. A B A B outro.  

I wanted to write a song that I love as much as I love most everything on that record, and I fell short of that goal.  However, I like what I came up with enough to add it to my live setlist starting next month.  It needs some light editing, but there is potential here.  I also feel that this is a good song for We Met In Paris, so I sent it over to Ruth.

 

Day 5, 18th October 2019.  Prompt was to use the following idea as a starting point:  she is strong as an old fallen tree, but hollow inside.  Amplifier bonus was to change key during the song.

This time, let's start with my overall goal.  I wanted to write a Guided By Voices style song.  I did that just a little bit on one of the songs from the last time I did this challenge, and after editing, it ended up being called "Huns of Doubt", and you will be able to get your hands on it soon.  This time though, I didn't want to use any non-sequitur chords or a crazy time signature.

Beyond GBV, I think of the Wright Brothers and aviation when I think of Dayton.  Transportation terms popped into my head.  I thought about calling it "Propeller", but that's the name of an early GBV album, so no, can't do that.  I thought about the airplane imagery in some of their songs and album artwork... then I decided to call the song "Submarine".  Boats are called "she" by sailors, right?  Submarines are strong, and hollow inside.  Ok, title achieved.  For the lyrics, I used terminology related to submarines as a metaphor for a break up.

Musically, well, doing a key change is not new to me.  For Prompt 2 during this challenge, I wrote the verses in minor and the chorus in major.  If you remember "Harvest Moon", I used relative minor/major keys.  For this one though, I did something I've never done before... I just moved the entire thing a whole step up.  I tried to be clever doing this... I have some harmony vocals in it, and one of the harmony vocal lines, I keep it droning on the same note, before AND after the key change.  I think there is some potential here, and I might go to the studio with it next year sometime.

 

***

Summary.  Five days, five songs.  Three songs added to my live rotation, just as soon as I learn them well enough to play them from memory.  All of the songs will need to undergo a little bit of editing, but I don't foresee a major re-write on any of them.  I felt more comfortable doing this challenge than the previous one.  It would seem that all of the songwriting work I have been doing is paying off... I'm getting better at my craft.  That said, there is always always always room for improvement, and I'll probably jump on future challenges like this in an effort to do just that.

If you would like to hear these songs, I encourage you to sign up for my mailing list on the homepage of this website.  At some point, I'll be sending them as gifts to the folks who are subscribed.

It occurs to me that this blog post would certainly fit in my Ohio Spotlight category, as well as under the Concert Review category.

Levitt Pavilion is a open air concert space in the heart of downtown Dayton.  Think of it like a very small amphitheater... there is a stage, a small area in the front with concrete, and a large grassy lawn that extends outward and upward from those first two areas. This space has 50 free concerts each year, in an effort to build community through art. Their schedule of artists is diverse, with all sorts of genres represented.  I am fairly certain that the most recent show this past Saturday was the highest attended they have had, as thousands of people packed the lawn and even overflow areas in the back.

The Breeders are the reason for the crowd. They were introduced to the crowd as "platinum recording artist, The Breeders".  This is a rock band with albums that have received high critical acclaim.  One of the albums contained a single whose video was in heavy rotation on MTV, back when MTV still played music videos.  The Breeders went on the road with Nirvana for multiple tours, and have played all over the world.  They are from Dayton, Ohio.  One could consider this a homecoming show.

This was my first experience seeing The Breeders live.  Back when you could catch them in the friendly confines of Canal Street Tavern, I wasn't into local music yet and was too young to be going to shows.

You can check the show setlist here, but I'll mention a few songs that were personal highlights for me.

The Breeders opened the show with "Saints", which is my favorite song from their second full-length album, The Last Splash.  The second song was "Wait in the Car" from the 2018 album All Nerve.  After briefly basking in the raucous applause, Kim Deal acknowledged that the band is from Dayton, and then mentioned that there are some other bands from this town... and then they fired off their GBV cover, "Shocker in Gloomtown".

Daylight turned into twilight, and twilight gave way to dark.  During this time, The Breeders played all of "the hits", and many other songs from across their catalog.  They gleefully engaged in banter with the audience, which contained many of their friends and family members.  Kelley said "I was born right over there", before looking around to get her bearings, and then pointing in the direction of Miami Valley Hospital.  Both the Deal sisters and Jimmy Mac name checked several Dayton suburbs and neighborhoods before closing the main set with a song that was specifically for Tipp City.

Personally for me, a bass player, the evening ended the only way it could... with Kim Deal playing bass on a song she wrote while with Pixies.  The set closer was "Gigantic".  When I was first learning to play my instrument, I spent a lot of time with Pixies albums, trying to learn Kim's beautifully simple bass lines.

 

After the final song, the band said their goodbyes, and again expressed their thanks at such a large turnout.  Kelley made her way to the front of the stage, shaking hands and giving high fives to the folks in the front ranks, many of whom seemed to be friends.  Jim encouraged the crowd to further support local music by heading a few blocks East to attend the first night of Dayton Music Fest (where he would be playing the following night during the triumphant return of The Mulchmen).  The band surely received "a big big love" from the community.  I was thinking that this was exactly what someone had in mind when making Levitt Pavilion a reality.