Sonic Advent Calendar: Day 25 - The Christmas Song

Here's John Zorn's fairly traditional take on "The Christmas Song" featuring Mike Patton on vocals.  Merry Christmas folks!

Sonic Advent Calendar: Day 24 - Silent Night

We are just hours away from Christmas morning and my wife and i still have SO MUCH to wrap.  The 4-year old is already bouncing off the walls with giddiness, and his younger brother is just following his lead.  Anyway, there's a lot going on here today, so let's calm it down a tad with Low's stripped down and beautiful rendition of "Silent Night."  Hang in there.  We're going to get through this.

Planning for Burial - Below the House (version)

So this is pretty damn cool.  Earlier this year, experimental/shoegaze/drone/doom/metal band Planning for Burial released their excellent "Below the House" LP.  Before the album was released, the artist dubbed the entire thing to a cassette and then degraded that heck out of it.  "Below the House (version)" is the result.  In the artist's own words:

This is not a simple cassette version of the album "Below The House" which was released by The Flenser on LP/CD/Digital in March 2017. This is an experiment in sound/tape degradation using that album as well as other elements as the source material.

Audio taken from a cassette dub that was buried for 2 months in my garden during early winter 2017, then it sat baking in the sun on the dashboard of my car for an additional 5 months before being ripped for production.

Stream the whole thing below and download it from the artist here.

Sonic Advent Calendar: Day 23 - Winter Wonderland

It might just be the NOLA blood running through my veins, but i will always carry the softest of soft spots for Louis Armstrong.  I remember hearing his music as far back as i can even remember, Satchmo tunes ringing in my ears forever more.  That voice.  That trumpet.  That presence.  Listen to his version of "Winter Wonderland" below.

St. Vincent

Hey guys, how did you let me almost go through 2017 without mentioning St. Vincent's new album?  That was a close one.  Anyway, "Masseducation" is out now on Loma Vista.  Watch the video for "Los Ageless" below.  That song's a banger.

Sonic Advent Calendar: Day 22 - Nut Rocker

Maybe, sorta, kinda a Christmas song, but i can't help but include this piano driven, boogie laden take on "The Nutcracker," performed by B. Bumble and The Stingers.  Listen to "Nut Rocker" below and just try not to shake along.

Friday Horror Trailer - Christmas Evil

Look! It's Our Favorite Album Art of 2017!!!

At last we've made it to our second to last list of the year.  I'll post a movie one late next week (so as to cram more viewings in beforehand).  Anyway, lots and lots of amazing artwork this year, and after some consideration, i think these are my 10 favorites (in descending order this time to shake things up), presented without comment (for the most part) because my head hurts.  Good work graphic artists!

 10. Boris - "Dear" LP

9. Sheer Mag - "Need to Feel Your Love" LP

8. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - "The Kid" LP
She looks like some kind of celestial being.

 7. Ariel Pink - "Dedicated to Bobby Jameson" LP

 6. Kelly Lee Owens - s/t LP
There's almost like a Bowie "Heroes" thing going on with this cover, not so much like it's Erich Heckel inspired, but like candid B-roll stuff.  It's awesome.

 5. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - "Spider Baby" 7"

4. "Witches Halloween Brew" cassette

 3. "The Blackcoat's Daughter" OST LP

2. Feral Ohms - s/t LP

1. Bell Witch - "Mirror Reaper" LP
This piece of work is equal parts fascinating and terrifying, and i could probably stare at it for hours combing over every last detail and getting lost in the sheer immensity of it all.  Wow.

And Now It's Our Favorite Songs of the Year that Did Not Come out in 2017!!!

Because i listen to more music than what just came out any given year, the last couple of years i've been listing my favorite songs that came out prior.  Sometimes i'm rediscovering something i loved years before, sometimes it's a song that i ignored the first time around but is now making me happy, and sometimes it's something i've never heard before.  With so much music out there to be found, both old and new, it's pretty impossible not to find amazing jams from days gone by.  Here are 10 songs from before 2017 that were either new to me or just made a larger impact on my than ever before...

1. Rebekah Del Rio - "No Stars"
"Twin Peaks" was pretty much my favorite thing this year...family members aside and whatnot...and one of my favorite parts of the series was the almost weekly live performances from The Roadhouse.  One of the best came from Mexican American singer Rebekah Del Rio, whom i only previously knew from her devastating a capella, Spanish language version of Roy Orbison's "Crying" from Lynch's "Mulholland Drive."  I guess the director and the singer remained friends after the film, as he co-wrote "No Stars" for Del Rio for her 2011 album "Love Hurts Love Heals."  The song is a show-stopper.  Beautiful.  Painful.  Heart-aching.  And i can't stop listening to it.

2. The Paris Sisters - "I Love How You Love Me"
Did i mention i liked "Twin Peaks" this year?  Anyway, i had never heard The Paris Sisters' 1961 hit "I Love How You Love Me" until its inclusion in the series, during a particularly, wonderfully shot scene with Amanda Seyfried.  It has stayed with me since.

3. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, & Tich - "Hold Tight"
Because of a chance re-viewing of Tarantino's "Death Proof" one night earlier this year on TV, i was reminded about how blisteringly awesome "Hold Tight" is.  It had probably been a decade or so since i had last listened to it, but became an almost daily thing after watching the movie.  Add to the fact that my 4-year old absolutely loves it, and it ended up on repeat for most of the year.

4. Françoise Hardy - "Il Est Trop Loin"
I have long been a fan of French chanteuse Françoise Hardy, and since she has decades of material to sift through, i often come across excellent music from her catalog that i never caught before.  And so we have "Il Est Trop Loin," a stripped down, psych-tinged, and melancholy French language take on the Peter, Paul, and Mary arrangement of the old folk song, "Sorrow."  It's wonderful, and now ranks right up there with my very favorite output from the artist.

5. The Eptones - "No One Else But You"
Thanks to always dependable Numero Group, i was able to hear this awesome, forgotten 60's rhythm and blues tune from San Antonio band The Eptones.  There was a whole scene in the city at the time with a number of amazing Mexican American bands.  All of it is worth checking out, but this song stuck the fastest.

6. Lynsey de Paul - "Won't Somebody Dance with Me"
I have Nicolas Winding Refn to thank for getting me hooked on this hokey, gooey, lovelorn track from from the early 70's performed by Lynsey de Paul.  It's weird because it hits me in on all of the nostalgia buttons though i had never heard it before this year.

7. Bohren & Der Club of Gore - "Ganz leise kommt die Nacht"
I had only a passing familiarity with German, jazz-indebted band Bohren & Der Club of Gore, but being the year of "Twin Peaks," and the band's penchant for finding just the right kind of Badalamenti groove, particularly on 2014's "Piano Nights," i fell hard for "Ganz leise kommt die Nacht."  It's gloomy, and oozing, and slightly menacing...just like 2017!

8. John Scoggins - "Treat Me Right"
John Scoggins' long lost album "Pressed for Time" got a lovely reissue earlier this year for Record Store Day.  I had never heard of the man before then, but that album's "Treat Me Right" is a power pop nugget to lord over all other power pop nuggets.

9. Barry White - "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up"
So much thanks to Edgar Wright for reminding me just how awesome and amazing Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" is.  The "Baby Driver" soundtrack is a blast from start to finish, as is the film, and rediscovering this jam was just icing on the cake.

10. Alton Ellis - "Whiter Shade of Pale"
I love Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale."  Always have.  And while i've never been the biggest reggae fan in the world, there is just something about Jamaican crooner Alton Ellis' dubby take on the rock classic.  It's damn near enough for me to reevaluate the entire genre, and it's one of my favorite songs of the year even though it came out half a century ago.



Be back tomorrow for our favorite album art of the year!

MGMT - Little Dark Age

While i thoroughly enjoyed MGMT's debut album 10(!!!) years ago, i've never really kept up with them since, with the band only occasionally popping up on my radar when a new single emerges from the ether.  And so we have "Little Dark Age," the title track from the band's upcoming new album out sometime early next year.  I dig it.  It's a smooth and synthy, goth-tinged pop nugget that just embeds itself in your earspace.  Watch the video below.