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"

You might remember that I have a song about a particularly unpleasant experience with the police, and that TINO had the kindness to feature on it. The story behind writing "Anecdote" is right over here, on a previous blog entry.

This is one of my five singles that have been removed from the world's most popular streaming services. It makes its triumphant return tomorrow, February 22nd.  Would you be so kind as to give it a listen tomorrow wherever you stream music?

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"

You know I love music.  For some reason that I fail to understand, there exists a subset of artistic people - whether musical or otherwise - that have some kind of strange aversion to sport in general, and really love to make their disdain known. Fear not, I'm not one of those people whose interests are so limited. I enjoy all sorts of different stuff, and some of that stuff, well, that includes many forms of sport.  I happen to especially love baseball. I've written here about baseball before.  No, really, I have.  Last year, I ranked my favorite ballparks.  (Click here to read.) I love going to games.  I love watching games on television.  I love reading about baseball.  I love playing fantasy baseball.  It's fair to say that I have a deeper emotional connection to baseball than any other sport.  Why is that?

Part of that surely goes back to childhood.  I remember swinging plastic bats at plastic balls thrown by my grandfather and my father.  Playing catch with one's father is somewhat of a male American cliché, but it's cliché because it's true... I played catch with my dad for countless hours over many years. Baseball is a place where being left-handed is an advantage.

Consider this quote from the well-known 1989 motion picture Field of Dreams, said by a character played by James Earl Jones:

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. 

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.

Now, I am completely uninterested in nostalgia as a tool of patriotism, and there is no part of me that yearns for past times when people who looked like me were publicly executed with impunity.  Wait, that still happens, let me rephrase... there is no part of me that yeans for a past when the greatest baseball player of all time was not allowed to play in Major League Baseball. That said, despite how much the game has changed, the basic tenets remain.  To quote another baseball film, "It's a simple game... You throw the ball, catch the ball, hit the ball.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."  I find that simplicity to be beautiful.

Despite the big picture simplicity, if you look closely, baseball has a certain level of complexity and is filled with infinite possibilities.  For example, there are nine (9!) ways that a batter can safely reach base.  Not all of them involve actually hitting the ball.  There are deep cat/mouse games between batters and pitchers. There are well-coordinated movements by the defenders for who backs up which base (I love watching catchers running down to back up first in their gear), for who the cut off man will be on a given play, whether a throw should even be cut in the first place, who covers second on a steal attempt, and the intricate dance of a run down play.

I don't quite remember what year it was when my parents decided to get cable, but I absolutely remember that TBS was one of the channels that we had.  The gentleman who owned that television channel also owned a baseball team, and did plenty of cross promotion with these holdings.  This meant that just about every evening, there was a baseball game on TV, and it was always the same team.  I watched a lot of games.  I became a supporter of this team.  The broadcasters who I listened to night after night - Skip Caray, Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton - they became my friends.  My favorite players were Murphy and Horner, Rafael Ramirez and Oberkfell and Hubbard... then Blauser and Andrés Thomas and Zane Smith... then Smoltz and Glavine and Avery and Gant and Justice and Pendleton. (As someone once said, at the end of the day, we support laundry.)  I watched so many games, that as an elementary school kid, I memorized the disclaimer that would be read on the air each game.  These days, I don't quite remember whether they would read it in the 3rd inning or the 4th inning, but I still remember every single word.  

This telecast is authorized under broadcasting rights granted by the Atlanta National League Baseball Club and is intended solely for the entertainment of our audience. Any rebroadcast, retransmission, or other use of the pictures, descriptions, or accounts of this game without the express written consent of the Atlanta National League Baseball Club is prohibited.

The Atlanta National League Baseball Club won the World Series this week, on Tuesday 2nd November. They are champions.  CHAMPIONS. The last time this happened was my senior year of high school.  This made me happy, albeit briefly.  I don't really do happy... but I freely admit that I am deeply emotionally connected to the Atlanta National League Baseball Club.  When I was young, they were horrid. They lost 106 games in 1988.  They very nearly lost 100 games again in 1989.  I watched the games anyway.  They unexpectedly won the pennant in 1991, going from last place to first place in a year, and lost a very exciting World Series in 7 Games to the Twins.  (I still haven't forgiven Hrbek.)  They were pretty good throughout all of the 90s, but only managed to win that one championship.  That is a championship I will never forget, in part because their opposition was a team from Ohio, but I think I'll remember this one for longer.

Of course, part of that is recency bias. Part of it is how this team managed to win.  Their best player blew out his knee halfway through the season.  One of their other major contributors turned out to be a terrible human being and domestic abuser, and was away from the team for that reason. There were several other injuries.  Of all the teams that made the playoffs in baseball this year, Atlanta was near-unanimously declared to be the worst of them.  Strange things can happen in small sample sizes, however, and baseball is decidedly odd that way.  Of course, you can never really know how all of these professionals are as people, but this group of players comes across as eminently likeable, and they never quit.  I kind of like how the article I link to in the previous paragraph puts it:

Atlanta completed a mathematically improbable journey to Tuesday’s champagne bath. The NL East champs didn’t have a winning record until Aug. 6, and they had the lowest win total of any team to reach MLB’s postseason this year, including the Wild Card clubs. The Braves are just the eighth sub-90-win team to win a World Series in a non-shortened season.

Improbable.  But the improbable happens fairly often in baseball, in ever-changing ways.  That's probably another reason I love baseball so much.

 

I released an album in 2020, and of course, have listened to it way more than anyone else has.  That's kind of how it works for songwriters, you spend so much time listening and critiquing your own art.  I feel obligated to mention that release, because I'd really like you to listen to it if you haven't done so yet.

Curious about some of the other things I listened to in 2020?  Be assured, I spent time with music that wasn't actually my own music, and there was certainly no shortage of albums released.  Did you know that Pearl Jam put out an album this year?  It's true.  Guided By Voices put out three albums this year, because of course they did.  Some artists who released albums I enjoyed this year are Lesley Barth (Big Time Baby), Lydia Loveless (Daughter), Nick Kizirnis (The Distance), and Local H (Lifers).  However, here are my favorites, in no particular order, except for perhaps this first one:

 

HUM - Inlet

HUM dropped this on the world as a complete surprise.  In unison, music blogs everywhere reviewed Inlet with collective awe and near-universal approval.  If you’re a music fan who reads about music, and younger than my generation, I’m sure you didn’t understand it.  "Why are there suddenly all of these articles about a band I’ve never heard of"?  That’s what you surely asked yourself. 

HUM hail from Champaign, Illinois, and had a moderate hit song on their third album in the 90s.  From the first time I heard that song, I knew this was exactly the kind of band I would love to play in and the kind of band I would love to see.  Riff-tastic.  Layered.  Like shoegaze, but with more driving drums, very subtle harmonies, and some separation in the guitars.  A little bit like metal, but not quite as angry or as fast.   (Let's take a moment to appreciate some things about that excellent song I linked to that would be generally be castigated today by people in the music business.... introduction of 33 seconds, complete sonic deviation from introduction to the body of the song, all of the instruments are real, the vocals are not pitch corrected, vocals not sitting right on top of the mix, almost two minutes go by before the chorus shows up, total run time is five minutes.)

HUM disappear for 22 years, then drop an album out of nowhere that sounds like they had never left.  It is glorious, and is my favorite album of the year.  The guitar tones and feel of the songs remind me of my youth, but the vocals are on occasion just a touch more prominent in the mix now than they were a couple of decades ago.  There are still lyrics about space and relationships, and there is still all sorts of rock being brought to the table.

• Favorite songs:  “Waves”, “Step Into You”, “Cloud City”

Punch The Sun - Brevity

If you read my blog, you might remember that I’ve mentioned this album before, when I posted an interview with Shannon Söderlund.  Well, here we are near the end of the year, and Brevity remains one of my favorite albums, and I have listened to it over and over and over again.  That sweet 90s rock sound will probably always be a soft spot for me, and this album has plenty of it, but also plenty of vocal harmonies and clever lyrics.  Go listen to it immediately, leave your ammunition in the junk drawer, and don’t be like Steve. 

• Favorite songs:  “Ammunition", Hey Steve”, “11 Until 2”

 

 

 

Snarls - Burst

I am pretty sure that everyone in Snarls is too young to remember anything about the 90s, but here again, the rock sound from that time period shows up on a 2020 album.  These folks are fellow Ohioans, hailing from Columbus.  They've had a good year... they've gotten plenty of press from the prestigious and coveted media outlets who we all wish were listening to our music, they signed to a record label, and they released Burst, their debut.  Sure, the pandemic nixed their touring plans, and I'm sure that caused them to lose their collective marbles, but as soon as its possible, I think they'll head out on the road in search of world domination.  I'd really love to put together a show and play with them in Dayton, but that is probably not enough profile for them.

The songs here are good.  A lyric on the album that really resonates with me goes "twenty seems further than it ought to be", which I find to be amusing because there is no way this was written from my point of view.  You'll be learning more about a specific member of this band later. (That is what they call "a tease".)  For now, let's say that this is another album that lands squarely on some of my favorite sounds... two guitar attack, vocal harmonies, hooks aplenty. 

• Favorite songs:  "Hair", "Concrete", "Burst"

 

 

 

Radkey - Green Room 

I discovered this band early in 2020, via their 2019 album No Strange Cats.  That’s an outstanding, punchy, punk-influenced bundle of rock.  I remember checking the touring schedule to see if Radkey were going to make it to Ohio, and then… well, we all know what happened in the spring, and what that did to touring bands. 

Radkey clearly got to work during the months of isolation, and dropped a new album this year.  It picked up right where their previous one left off… I mean, check out this video for the lead single: 

You’ll be nodding along to everything on this album, and the interpretation of a Bill Withers classic at the end is a nice cherry on top of a tasty rock and roll sundae. 

• Favorite Songs: “Two-Face”, “Judy”, “Stains”

 

 

TINO - Past Due 

You know, in my youth, I listened to a lot more hip hop and rap than I do now.  Don’t get me wrong, I still very much respect the art form, but as I get older, I find that this genre has stopped resonating with me.  Well, TINO is here to bring it all back. 

He grew up in Cleveland, but he calls Dayton home these days, and music in the Gem City is better off for it.  You can learn more about him in an interview he did earlier on my blog.  With TINO, you shall find high energy delivery, intelligent lyrics, and rhymes that you probably didn’t expect. There is plenty of truth spoken on this album, about the 1995 Cleveland Baseball Club (whatever happened to them at the end of the season?), and about the government. 

This gentleman takes his art seriously, and he’s got more on the way.  If you know of more hip hop like this, point me in that direction. 

• Favorite Songs: “95 Tribe”, “Gov’t”

 

 

 

The Lees of Memory - Moon Shot 

John Davis does it again.  You might remember him from previous bands, such as Superdrag, and previous blog entries, such as this one right here.  Davis grabbed Brandon Fisher and Nick Slack, and dropped this album in July. 

A funk song isn’t the sort of thing you would ever expect here, but you get one on the last song of the album. Other than that, this sounds like a natural continuation of the sounds we have gotten on this band’s first three albums.  

If you don’t listen to the lyrics, you might think this is a happy album.  It’s not, and really, given what most of us have collectively experienced this year, that’s not a surprise. The lyrics on the album express plenty of problems, but they also comment on something that many of us do to deal with it all.  My favorite lyric on the record is from “Crocodile Tears”, and it goes:  the radio might help when you feel blue / that’s what rock and roll’s supposed to do / records lift me up when I can’t move / that’s what rock and roll’s supposed to prove. 

Yep, that’s about right. 

• Favorite Songs: “Crocodile Tears” , “Free & Easy”, “Far Beyond”

 

 

 

Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas

I thank NPR and their Tiny Desk series for introducing me to Lianne La Havas a few years ago.  If you have a few minutes, I cannot strongly enough recommend her enthralling performance from 2015.  Here it is: 

Two of those songs are from her second album Blood, and the other one is from her debut Is Your Love Big Enough?... but that’s a good sample to show you what she is about as an artist.  Lianne writes beautiful songs, and has a strong, otherworldly beautiful voice. 

I find the song “Green Papaya” particularly interesting.  There isn’t any percussion, so the guitar gives you the rhythm.  If you’re thinking that’s the bass player’s job, well, the bass here is sparse, and serves as more of an accent that occasionally moves the feeling along, it’s not actually doing rhythm work.  (I happen to very much LOVE what the bass is bringing here.) There is a time signature change at the chorus, but without a steady percussion instrument, I keep having a hard time finding the downbeat, and that really holds my interest.   

Lianne has been covering “Weird Fishes” live with her band for years now, so it’s pretty cool to see it show up on this album, and a very interesting choice to cover.  Here’s their official video of it, and something that keeps bringing me back to this is seeing the drummer start with the exact beat from the original song, and then change it.  Lianne makes this song her own.  Also, the a capella bit gives me chills.

 

• Favorite Songs: "Green Papaya", "Paper Thin", "Sour Flower"

 

 

 

Oceanator - Things I Never Said 

Oceanator is the project name for one Elise Okusami… a band and a person from New York City.  This is the Oceanator debut album, full of fuzzy guitars for body and catchy lead licks that you might end up humming.  Right around the time of release, this album got all kinds of press from just about every corner of the world of online indie rock commentary.  (Well, at least I noticed this in the corners of that world that I happen to visit.)  I don’t think I can say anything that hasn’t been said already by a ton of writers who are more professional than me.  If you want more details, definitely go check out some reviews. 

I’ll sum up this way:  I dig this album.   

• Favorite songs: "Hide Away", "Walk With You", "The Sky Is Falling"

 

 

 

Sault - UNTITLED (Rise) 

Sault released two albums this year.  Many of their song lyrics directly reflect very relatable thoughts and feelings, and are expressed as direct observations or true-to-life quotes.  For an example, they have a lyric that goes like this: don’t shoot, guns down racist policeman, don’t shoot, I’m innocent 

That particular lyric isn’t on this album, it’s on the other one they released this year.  Both of them are certainly worthy of your attention, but this is the one that makes my list of favorites from the year. The percussion sometimes sounds like it comes from some genre of EDM, whereas other times I get a very Afro-Caribbean feel from it.  The music over the percussion is a mash-up of r & B, funk, soul, and gospel.  I don’t even know what to call it… Up tempo soul?  Disco revival?  Maybe we should eschew categorization here and just say that many of the tracks here will make you want to move. 

The bass groove on “I Just Want to Dance” is great, and I think I’ll spend some time learning that one for the fun of it.  The bass on “The Beginning & the End” is also awesome, and I might mess around with that as well. 

• Favorite songs:  “Free”, “You Know It Ain’t”, “Uncomfortable”

 

 

 

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

I didn't want to like this album.  It has been written about everywhere, and Bridgers has been making so many appearances that I don't know if we can refer to her as "indie" anymore.  Being ubiquitous makes you mainstream, doesn't it?  She even got nominated for a Grammy this year.  (An aside, her nomination is in the Best New Artist category, but she's not exactly a new artist.  The lesson here, as always, is that the Grammys are clueless.)  So yeah, I didn't want to like this album, and I didn't want to write about it, as I am not generally in the habit of listening to or writing about pop stars.

Here's the thing though... Punisher is every bit as good as people say it is. The pop sheen on the production is a bit much for me, but the songs are strong.  Phoebe Bridgers is brilliant, and listening to her songs makes me want to work on my craft.

• Favorite songs: "Kyoto",  "Chinese Satellite", "Moon Song"

 

 

Way back in April 2020, I began an interview series here on the blog.  I call it "Amplified" because my intent is to make the voices of artists louder.  We musician types desperately wish to be heard, and although I don't exactly have a mammoth readership, I figured I'd try to get some additional ears to the work of folks I respect.  After all, I'd love for someone to do that for me, and am grateful for every single listener.  Here's a brief summary of a very diverse group of people who agreed to participate this year:

Lauren Light - pop/soul singer/songwriter, podcaster, owner of a licensing company

Nina Pelligra - a capella looper artist, songwriter, engineer

Sarah Rudy - guitarist, songwriter

Dirty Doc - guitarist, songwriter

Shannon Söderlund - bassist, guitarist, songwriter

TINO - rapper, songwriter, performer

Greg Owens - guitarist, singer/songwriter

Treneti - vocalist, bassist, songwriter, producer

Megan Fiely - abstract artist, recovering musician

OriSoaring - multi-instrumentalist classically trained on saxophone, songwriter

 

If you missed any of these, I encourage you to revisit the interviews at the links.  Listen to the music, look at the artwork, connect with the artists on social media.

 

 

An interview with a musician in back-to-back weeks!  What's with this craziness?  Glad you asked.  The song that TINO and I collaborated on is available tomorrow, Tuesday 14th July, on all streaming services. I figured this would be a good time for all of us to get to know him better.  First, and you might have already guessed this, but "TINO" is a nickname and stage name.  His "government name" is Valentino Halton.  (I need to remind myself of this, as I misprinted his last name as "Hamilton" in the liner notes for the compact disc version of Anxious Inventions & Fictions.  He's chill though, so he has forgiven me.)

TINO recently released an EP called Past Due.  It's solid, you should definitely check it out.  You'll probably enjoy the groove on the track "95 Tribe", which is about the baseball club in TINO's hometown of Cleveland.  (He's a Dayton fella now, but is originally from Cleveland.)  I happen to personally enjoy this track very much, partially because of the excellent groove and lyrics, but also because I remember the World Series that year quite fondly, it being my senior year in high school, and my favorite team being involved.  My favorite team is the National League club, by the way.  Just to remind everyone, the World Series lasted six games that year.  In Game Six, there was only one run scored.  This was it.   Do you remember how that game ended?  I do, but let's refresh everyone's memory.  This is the last out.  TINO managed not to mention Carlos Baerga in "95 Tribe", but it's ok.  My personal favorite from the EP is "Gov't", which also has a fantastic groove.  

Strangely enough, all of the previous interview subjects in this series are women, so I'm breaking new ground with this one.  Interview with this gifted gentleman after the photo.

 

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre.

I’m a high energy performer who is at home over uptempo production. My music ranges from deeply personal to ubiquitous in theme. There’s something for everyone, but not in a generic and vague way. 

 

2.  I remember meeting you because first, I saw you perform with Sidekick Complex, and second, I would see you at the indie rock shows, and that's my genre.  Then I checked out a couple of your solo sets.  At some point if/when we can all go to shows again, I imagine there are folks who go to the rock shows who also enjoy hip hop, but don't know much about that music community in our town.  Maybe it works the other way as well.  How do you think we can cross-promote so the music community has fewer silos?

I think it’s as easy as “Hey, I like your music. Want to play this show with me?” That’s how I got my first shows and I construct a lot of bills I put together in a similar fashion. I try to attract fans that enjoy a wide spectrum of music and not just one genre so variety is welcome. 

 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money?

Mobb Deep, Infamy. I bought it to score a movie I made in high school 

 

4.  What is your creative process like?

For me it always starts with a beat. I hear something, fall in love, and I start writing. It could be production someone sends me, a song I heard on the radio, or even a moment during another artists live performance. I don’t use everything I write. 50% of what I do will never see the light of day or I’m not good enough yet to flush the idea out. 

 

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences?

Michael Jackson for his showmanship, Prince for his musicianship, Lauryn Hill for her spirit, Amy Winehouse for her ability to channel her pain, Kanye/OutKast for re-popularizing music that wasn’t gangster rap, and Drake for his ability to sum up a lot of these qualities in one hip hop artist. 

 

6.  If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

I would hope a focus would be placed back on full bodies of work instead of collections of singles. I miss the cohesive journey music used to be about. 

 

7,  How do you intend to keep growing as an artist?

As long as I’m willing to admit there is still room for improvement in my art and I don’t get content with where I’m at I don’t believe I can stop growing as an artist. 

 

8,  I know you've done a ton of studio work over the last couple of years.  If you don't want to give too much away here, that's fine, but what can we expect from TINO in the near future?

The pandemic has afforded me the opportunity to tweak and refine my next work as well as slate some releases before it. I will say my next full length will be the best version of my work to date.

***

Personally, I strongly believe in the album as an art form, and am disappointed at the general listening habits of folks today.  I agree with TINO on this 100%.  Having TINO in the studio for "Anecdote" was a very educational experience for me, as he has a skill set that I do not have, and I was able to learn from his preparation and his approach.  The man is serious about his craft, and it shows in his results.  I linked to his website above, but you can also find TINO on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Please check out "Anecdote" tomorrow on Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, Deezer, or wherever you stream music, and also please check out TINO's work on these platforms.

 

This is what Merriam-Webster says about the word  anecdote:  "a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident"

Let me tell you a short narrative of a biographical incident that is not amusing in any way.

A few years ago my wife and I were coming home from a brief trip to New York.  We ended up flying into Detroit, then renting a car to drive home.  As we were headed South on I-75, we were stopped by the Michigan State Police.  I was not in violation of any traffic laws.  You should know where this is going.  This armed person yelled and screamed at us, succeeded in intimidating my wife by saying we would be charged with "a felony" (which was complete nonsense), and was generally abusive.  I ended up handcuffed, illegally searched, and screamed at even when I complied with instructions.  After sitting for awhile in his vehicle, and upon him discovering that I am not, in fact, a criminal, he tried to get me to say that I understood why he had to stop me and cuff me and search me.  I didn't want any such discussion on his recording, so I remained silent.  Once he ran out of reasons to detain us any longer, he let us go.  No apology.  I asked Misty to get the entire interaction on video from the moment the lights and sirens went on, but she didn't do so.  I thought that armed person was going to shoot me and then excuse it with lies... I was armed, I was on drugs, I tried to take his taser, he feared for his life, I threatened him... as they do, they kill and lie about why they kill.  I tried to explain to Misty afterward that if he shoots me, it's her word against his, and nobody will believe her, so she needs to have these interactions on video to have a basis for a lawsuit.  At any rate, I am convinced that if she wasn't also in the car, I wouldn't be here today.

The above interaction completely ruined my day.  It made me angry, but of course, when you're dealing with an armed racist, you can't afford to be angry.  All of the adrenaline pours into your blood because you are in a true "fight or flight" situation, but either one of those options results in your execution.  Later, you get the shakes. I'm a songwriter, and that's how I process emotions and such, so the skeleton of what would eventually become "Anecdote" started that very day, still on I-75, still driving toward home.  It took awhile for me to edit and distill all of the above paragraph into a package that would fit neatly into a song, but it didn't feel complete.

Then I heard an interview that TINO did with Gem City Podcast.  I think it was this episode. He told one of his personal experiences with "driving while black", and I thought to myself that his story and his skill set would be the perfect addition to this song.  I reached out.  He agreed to come rap on my song.  

What we have now is a cross-genre collaboration called "Anecdote".  We both tell short narratives of a specific biographical incident.

You'll be able to hear this song soon.