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"

 

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.

 

 

Those of you who live in the Dayton area and follow local music are probably already familiar with Doctor Art Jipson, but for readers who are not, I offer a brief introduction.  Doctor Jipson is a professor at the University of Dayton with expertise in sociology and criminal justice.  Yeah, heavy stuff.  When he is not shaping young minds in the classroom, he is shaping them via music, as he is DJ on a WUDR program called Your Tuesday Afternoon Alternative.  I think it's fair to say that there isn't anyone who cheers louder for independent musicians from Dayton and around Ohio than Dr. J.   

Recently, Dr. J has been playing "I Am a Number" on his show.  Now, I didn't release or advertise that particular song as a "single".  All of Anxious Inventions & Fictions is FCC friendly, so all of it could conceivably receive radio play, and while I encourage the folks at college and indie radio who receive the album to play whatever they want, most often folks don't get past the "singles".  Dr. J plays the music he likes, the music that moves him, and I am thoroughly pleased that he likes "I Am a Number" enough to give it airplay.  That being the case, as a gift to him - and also to all of you out there - here's the story of that song.  I hope you enjoy the story, and I hope you like the song as much as Dr. J does.  (Thank you, Dr. J.)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

 

Ten dollar book filled with twenty cent words
Juxtaposed only to make it absurd
Carelessly tripping your way around diction
Turning your stories from fact into fiction

I had the above lyrics sitting around for several years.  Despite what they sound like given today's climate, they are not about any political figures.  Those lyrics were originally about a certain social media platform with the word "book" in its name, and about how people would share things that are verifiably false or absolute nonsense.  Note that again, I wrote these words long before it became common knowledge that social media is weaponized as a propaganda tool by all sorts of nefarious actors.  It took awhile before I was able to compose any music to fit the lyrics.  When I finally did, I had to simplify the lyrics a bit to make them fit the song, make them easier to sing (a nod to Greg Owens for the idea to turn "tripping" into "trip"), and create some extra alliteration ("stories" became "tale").

I composed the music on piano, like I often do.  The main riff consists of individual notes F, A, and C, followed by a G major chord and two F major chords.  Right from the beginning, I knew I wanted this to be a guitar rock song, and I knew I wanted it to sound like Knoxville's own Superdrag.  John Davis - formerly of Superdrag and currently the man behind The Lees Of Memory - is a strong influence on my songwriting.  You don't always hear it, but on Anxious Inventions & Fictions, that influence is clear on "I Am a Number" and "Promise".  In order to get to the sound I wanted, I recruited Tim Pritchard (who you might know from bands such as The Boxcar Suite and Shrug) to play guitar, since he loves the work of John Davis as much, if not more, than I do.  I told Tim that I wanted it to sound like a Superdrag song, and he knew what to do.  When there were questions about a tonal approach for some of the guitar parts, I asked him to imagine what Brandon Fisher would do, and away we went.

Also, community drummer Brian Hoeflich deserves a special shout-out here.  I asked him to do his best Don Coffey Jr. impression, and he did that.  However, I made an arrangement change at the last moment, in the studio... a couple of deviations from how I had done the demo.  I tried to explain it verbally, but the most effective way to show Brian what I was looking for was to sit at the piano and play/sing the entire song for him.  We went to the piano, he brought a piece of paper, and he charted the entire song as I played it and sang.

I had one music writer tell me that this song reminded him of Hüsker Dü.  Now, I have only listened to three or four Hüsker Dü songs, and although I know how respected Bob Mould is (I see you Joe Anderl), I have only listened to a couple of his solo albums.  I haven't listened to nearly enough of that band to be influenced by them directly... but I have 5 Superdrag albums, and have seen them 3 times... so, any Hüsker Dü influence one might hear in my music comes filtered through John Davis.

I had been playing this one out at Showcase Thursdays and other open mic events on piano before eventually getting in the studio with it.  Strangely enough, even though bass is my main instrument, I didn't write the bass line for the song until the day before tracking it.  Listen closely during the chorus, and you might notice that the bass notes follow the vocal melody, and not necessarily exactly what the guitars are playing. 

As they say, if you can't figure out what the product is on a given tool or website, then YOU are the product.  When it comes to social media, we are the product.  That's something worth keeping in mind.  Obviously, I use social media, I mean, you probably arrived at this blog post via a link from one of the sites where I maintain a presence. These tools have their uses, and I'm not trying to say that they are all evil all of the time.  What I am trying to say is best expressed in the song lyrics:

How great is your stake in me?
This is all marketing data for sale
How much will you lie to me?
This is all marketing, targeted offering
I am a number 

 

You might remember that last week's blog was about co-writing "Won't Love You Anymore" with the gentleman pictured below.  I figure that this would be a good time for us to all get to know him a bit better.  Interview after the picture:

 

photo by Jon Estes

 

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

I’m a singer/songwriter that writes and performs songs about, and for people who feel like they’ve been left behind by the world or someone they loved.  

 

2.  It seems like "Five Years From 21" was written when you were 26 years old.  You're older than that now.  How do you feel your life has changed since then? 

Quite drastically really. When I wrote that song, I was feeling really depressed and defeated. I was 26, working a retail job that I hated with coworkers that were mostly teenagers. I wasn’t playing a ton of music. I just wasn’t pursuing it at the time. I was lost.   

Fast forward to now: I’ve got a great “day job” that is flexible enough for me to still focus on music but also affords me an income to live comfortably. I’m married and couldn’t be happier! I’ve never been more confident in my music and my ability to connect with fans than I am right now. I’m feelin’ pretty damn good! ha  

 

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

It probably would’ve been either Gish or Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. I got the “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” single for Christmas when I was nine and fell in love with the band. One of my siblings already had Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness so I set out to buy the rest of their discography.  

  

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

The last concert I saw was in October of last year. Just typing that is really depressing! It was Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman here in Nashville. I’ve seen Isbell a handful of times but this may have been my favorite show of his. Our seats were great! We were pretty close (although there’s really not a bad seat at the Ryman). I drank significantly less than I have at past shows which led to less having to get up and get a drink or go to the restroom. Haha That was kinda a revelation! Maybe I don’t need to down 10 beers at a show! The band was fantastic as always. It was just a really great experience.  

  

5.  I happen to know you love The Smashing Pumpkins, like I do.  Let's get granular here... give me three of your favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs, and tell me specifically why you love them. 

"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" – It’s not a song I listen to regularly now but it had a profound effect on me as a child. I remember getting the single for Christmas as well as a boom box. I sat in my room and played that song over and over. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but something about that music just really spoke to me. I immediately vowed to be a rock star and got my first guitar on my tenth birthday six months later.  

"Geek U.S.A." – Between that crazy guitar solo and Chamberlain’s incredible drumming this is just a straight up bad ass rock song! There’s tons of energy complete with a super quiet down part that then gets loud which is so wonderfully typical of the Pumpkins. It’s perfect.  

"Blissed and Gone"  – This an outtake from Adore. There’s several different versions, but I couldn’t find the original one that I heard anywhere. I think I probably illegally downloaded it on Napster or Kazaa (sorry ☹). It’s one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard and that’s probably why I like it. It’s just super sad. Ha  

  

6.  You are the first person I have co-written with, and the experience was so positive for me that now I have a music project built around co-writing with a friend.  How has our collaboration influenced you? 

Our collaboration wasn’t the first time I’d co-written with somebody, but it was the first time I was actually happy with the final product! Ha The experience has encouraged me to want to co-write more. It was also cool that we were able to do it remotely. I was kinda surprised we were able to make that work, but we did! 

  

7.  If you had the power, what would you change about the music industry? 

It’d be easy to say, “I wish it was like the good ole days when people actually paid for music.” However, the major labels were in power back then, and folks like me and you wouldn’t stand a chance. In the digital age, we have more power. As an artist, I guess I’m kinda okay with how it is. As a consumer, I really hate paying extra for TicketMaster fees! Is TicketMaster really necessary?!? 

  

8.  How do you intend to keep growing as a songwriter and artist? 

When I was younger, I often wrote about my own life. It was very self-absorbed. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started putting myself in other people’s shoes and writing from their point of view. I want to keep on doing that. Getting better at it. Meeting new people with different struggles and shining a light on that with my music. I also started learning how to play harmonica and I really want to step up my guitar game next. Basically, I just want to keep getting better at every aspect of my music. 

 

***

Why not go visit Greg's website?  You can also find him on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.  I'm not going to ask you to send Greg messages and emails to bug him about when he's going to get around to recording "Won't Love You Anymore" himself, but I'm not going to NOT ask you to do that, either.  Or something.

You can listen to my recording of "Won't Love You Anymore" on all digital streaming services tomorrow, 11th August.  Would you do me the kindness of clicking here to pre-save on Spotify, or here on Apple Music?

 

when the stars fall out of the sky
and the moon breaks up with the tide
when the sun goes nova with a deafening roar
that's when I won't love you anymore

Those lyrics were around for awhile.  I managed to put a catchy melody and a simple chord progression with them.  That combination made a chorus. This is how a song starts....

And sometimes the song starts and then stops.  I wrote a verse, didn't like it, and discarded it.  I wrote another verse that wasn't any better and discarded it.  I would put the song down for weeks at a time, work on other things musically, and come back to it.  At no point was I able to write a verse that I thought was good enough to go with a decent chorus.  If you are wondering whether that was frustrating, I assure you that it was.  On the good days, the songs kind of write themselves, they just kind of fall out of you and things make sense... at least, that's what many songwriters will tell you.  It rarely happens for me that way, I usually have to put plenty of work in to write a song, but if I keep working at it, eventually I am able to finish.  This one wasn't like that.  It wasn't happening.  Sure I could have picked any of the many pieces I discarded just to call the thing "finished", but I have some perfectionist tendencies, and I didn't wan to settle for mediocre when the potential was there for something better.  

See that paragraph above?  Way too much "I".  There was a point when that had to become "we".  Enter Greg Owens.  

I met the handsome, bearded Mister Owens at a music conference in Nashville. He agreed to have a listen to those lyrics I posted above, as well as the music I had, and try to come up with a verse for it.  Now, if you clicked on the link to his website that I added above and listened to any of his songs, you will notice that we do not write in the same genre .  That said, we both very much love Smashing Pumpkins, so we have some similar influences.  When Greg got back to me with a verse, it was... well, perfect.  

Mostly perfect.  Musically, it was exactly what the song needed.  It complemented the chorus I had written very well, and the chord progression made perfect sense.  Lyrically, it was ok, but I thought we needed to do better.  WE.  Between a couple of Skype conversations and lots of back-and-forth emails, ideas came up, were debated, were traded, were refined.  Greg asked whether we needed a bridge.  I thought we did.  Greg wrote a bridge.  Eventually, we had a finished product.

The finished product is called "Won't Love You Anymore".  It is so much better for having been a collaboration.  This experience taught me that letting go of your pride and asking for help can be a good thing.  Songs are usually so personal to songwriters, but sometimes the best thing to do is open yourself up to another person's creativity and talent.  I am proud of the song that we wrote together.  You'll be able to hear it soon.