Goon

LA band Goon dropped a new track last week.  It's a gentle little lament, and kind of feels like the encroaching winter.  Check out "Death Spells" below and download it here from Born Losers Records.

Friday Horror Trailer - Christmas Bloody Christmas

 

Daily Jam - Pulse (Section I)

I'm about to be off for two weeks...which means today is going to be hectic and busy getting everything done beforehand.  So let's calm my soon to be frayed nerves with some minimalist neo-classical music from composer Steve Reich.  Here's the opening section of "Pulse" from the 1978 album "Music for 18 Musicians."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Kit Sebastian

Here's a wonderful new song from UK duo Kit Sebastian. "Enkaz" serves as farewell and eulogy to band member Merve Erdem's grandfather who passed away last year. There's a classic and cinematic Turkish psychedelic vibe to it that can really get under the skin. Check the track out below and download it here from Brainfeeder.

Daily Jam - Around and Around

Forever a soft spot in my heart for the music of John Denver.  There's just something about it.  Here's "Around and Around," our Daily Jam.

My Favorite Old Movie Discoveries of 2024

I watch so many movies.  I always have, but ever since the pandemic transitioned my job to a hybrid thing where i'm working from home 50-60% of the time, the number of films i watch on a monthly basis just exploded.  I should probably dial it back some and read instead, but i am what i am.  Here are 10 movies i saw for the first time this year that i absolutely adored.  We've got some Blaxploitation, some Wim Wenders, a profound surfing movie from John Milius, over the top Hong Kong action, a Walter Hill classic that is entirely too hard to find, ugly Italian mondo exploitation that disturbed and repulsed me but has also stuck with me ever since, a '90s crime thriller, an underseen dram from Dennis Hopper, a '70s neo-noir crime drama with Dustin Hoffman, Harry Dean Stanton, and Gary Busey, and spaghetti western featuring Orson Welles and a score by Ennio Morricone.  You know, the good stuff.

Seek these films out and give 'em a view.

1. Across 110th Street (1972)

2. The American Friend (1977)

3. Big Wednesday (1978)

4. Black Cat (1991) / Black Cat 2 (1992)

5. The Driver (1978)

6. Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971)

7. One False Move (1991)

8. Out of the Blue (1980)

9. Straight Time (1978)

10. Tepepa (1969)

All of these movies are certainly worth your time.  I'll be back with my favorite movies of 2024 closer to the end of the year to give myself adequate time to see as much as i can.  Be there.

IDLES & Danny Brown

One of my favorite songs of the year gets an upgrade as rapper Danny Brown joins Bristol band IDLES on a new version of their track "POP POP POP."  It rules.  Check it out below and download it here from Partisan Records.  Now i want a whole album from these two.

Daily Jam - Simply Shady

Here's a little George Harrison on a Wednesday morning.  Listen to "Simply Shady" below, our Daily Jam.

My Favorite Old Song Discoveries of 2024

Along with the scores of new artists and new music that floods my speakers, every year also brings me a slew of discoveries, older tunes that are new to these ears and cement themselves to my psyche just as much as any instantly pre-ordered new jam.  This year brought me some old Middle Eastern film score music, some avant garde jazz from Texas, '70s folk that i only previously knew from samples, a spoken word oddity with folk and drone made by a witch, some early new wave from San Francisco, an old French chanson artist rediscovering himself through synth pop and jazz in Japan, old school funk and soul, some private press power pop years ahead of its time, an experimental mix of electronic music, post-punk, new-wave, and jazz, and piano demo from an '80s proto-emo band.  You know, the good stuff.

I can't imagine 2024 without these tracks blasting aside the new stuff, so check 'em out below.

1. Ahmed Malek - "Theme Djalti"

2. Hannibal Marvin Peterson & The Sunrise Orchestra - "The Bombing"

3. Bonnie Dobson - "Light of Love"

4. Barbara, The Gray Witch - "Witch's Love Song"

5. Units - "I-Night"

6. Pierre Barouh - "Les Uns et Les Autres"

7. Bobby Womack - "Across 110th Street"

8. The Bob Hughes Band - "You Broke My Heart"

9. Peter Gordon and Love of Life Orchestra - "Young Girls"

10. The Hated - "Words Come Back (Piano Demo)"

I'll be back tomorrow, and you should be too for my favorite old movie discoveries of 2024.

Klack Covers Chappell Roan

So, i didn't have the slightest idea who Chappell Roan is until about 3 months ago.  My wife wanted to see her the Austin City Limits Music Festival, so i snagged some tickets for an anniversary gift.  Then the artist caused a stir by pissing off a bunch of blue-no-matter-who neoliberal types by not endorsing Kamala Harris for a slew of reasons including the still ongoing genocide in Palestine.  I then got to stand in the middle of maybe the largest crowd of people i've ever been in for that ACL performance.  I had no idea she was that big of deal.  I learned something.  Anyway, Madison, Wisconsin techno-industrial act Klack just dropped a handful of covers of Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!"  I'm digging the "1982 Cassette Version" in particular.  Listen below and download them all here.

Daily Jam - Cat Girl Tights

Here's a yearning little indie pop number from The Wedding Present member David Gedge's wonderful side project Cinerama.  Listen to "Cat Girl Tights" below, our Daily Jam.

My Favorite Songs of 2024

It was actually kind of difficult to limit myself to just 100 songs this year.  We really did get a lot of amazing work from a lot of amazing artists in 2024.  Let's keep up that pace for 2025.  We're gonna need it.

Anyway, i'm just jotting these down at random, as i wrote them down in my notebook in the first place, except for number one.  I love everything on this post, but nothing hit me quite the way that Fat Dog's "King of the Slugs" hit me this year.  It's my favorite.  Check out the whole list, and few tunes, below, my favorite 100 songs of 2024.

1. Fat Dog - "King of the Slugs"

2. The Smile - "Bending Hectic"

3. Justice w/ Tame Impala - "Neverender"

4. Grandaddy - "You're Going to Be Fine and I'm Going to Hell"

5. Flowertown - "00"

6. Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, & Marta Sofia Honer - "Ten Hour Wave"

7. Dead Bandit - "Circus"

8. Slow Salvation - "Japan"

9. Mark Peters - "Cinder Flower"

10. The Hologram People - "Isola Dei Morti Viventi (Main Theme)"

11. Sam Morton - "Cry Without End"

12. Zetra - "Holy Malice (Annabel)"

13. Sarita Idalia - "Spirit Ditch"

14. Chelsea Wolfe - "House of Self-Undoing"

15. Near Beer - "Al Pacino"

16. Akira Galaxy - "What's Inside You"

17. Gwendoline - "Conspire"

18. Joyer - "Silver Moon"

19. Lip Critic - "It's the Magic"

20. IDLES - "Pop Pop Pop"

21. Pink Milk - "You Will Follow Me to Hell (Night on Earth)"

22. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - "Emergence"

23. Girls in Synthesis - "Lights Out"

24. Daisy Rickman - "Feed the Forest"

25. Winged Wheel - "Sleeptraining"

26. Meatbodies - "Hole"

27. Orcas - "Under the Milky Way"

28. Winter - "Sallow"

29. Babyrose & BADBADNOTGOOD - "Weakness"

30. Honey Radar - "Combat Paper"

31. Thom Yorke - "Knife Edge"

32. Overmono & The Streets - "Turn the Page"

33. Beings - "Happy to Be"

34. Dawn Chorus & The Infallible Sea - "Reveries"

35. Xeno & Oaklander - "Magic of the Manifold"

36. The Garrys - "Cakewalk"

37. Belong - "Souvenir"

38. Bill Baird - "Invisible"

39. TR/ST - "Soon"

40. Jessica Pratt - "Life Is"

41. Magdalena Bay - "Death and Romance"

42. Midwife - "Killdozer"

43. Beak> - "Strawberry Line"

44. Robert Ashcroft w/ Ruth Radelet - "Faded Photograph"

45. The Drin - "Tigers Cage"

46. Tupperwave - "My Lucky Stars"

47. Tristwch Y Fenywod - "Ferch Gyda'r Llygaid Du"

48. R. Missing - "The Down that Creeps"

49. KITE with/ Anna Von Hausswolff & Henric De La Cour - "Losing"

50. Previous Industries - "Dominick's"

51. Sleepwalk - "Lucky to Be"

52. Mica Levi - "Slob Air"

53. STOMP TALK MODSTONE - "Purple from Love"

54. Flesh of Morning - "The Devil in Me"

55. Fontaines D.C. - "Starburster"

56. Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan - "A Shared Sense of Purpose"

57. The Gabys - "Cursed"

58. Cold Cave - "Hourglass"

59. Wand - "Hangman"

60. Cindy Lee - "Kingdom Come"

61. Animal Piss, It's Everywhere - "Beach Song"

62. Washed Out - "The Hardest Part"

63. The Body - "End of Line"

64. Hatchie - "Eyes Without a Face"

65. White Shape - "Knives Down"

66. The Submissives - "Obsessed"

67. Anthony Green - "Megadeath"

68. Raudiver - "Leave"

69. Wussy Duo - "Cellar Door"

70. Clinic Stars - "Only Hinting"

71. Cassie Ramone - "Together"

72. Inner Magic - "Discovery"

73. The Serfs - "Regen"

74. Ideal Living - "Loving and Still"

75. Art d'Ecco - "Serene Demon"

76. Mount Eerie - "I Walk"

77. Paten Locke - "Canseco"

78. HEALTH - "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)"

79. Sadplanet - "Walk"

80. Broadcast - "Follow the Light"

81. L'Eclair w/ Klaus Johann Grobe - "Lotus"

82. Sons of Zoku - "Nu Poeme"

83. Kompromat - "I Let Myself Go Blind"

84. Deary - "Aurelia"

85. Pounds 448 & Bohemia Lynch - "Power Grid"

86. Sunshy - "Stop Saying How You've Been"

87. Trophy Grief - "Everything Ends"

88. Beth Gibbons - "Floating on a Moment"

89. Fine - "Losing Tennessee"

90. The Olivia Tremor Control - "The Same Place"

91. Boyhood - "Shells"

92. Knifeplay - "Spirit Echo"

93. Disarme - "Change"

94. Soaring - "Sun"

95. Minuit Machine - "Hold Me"

96. Ka - "Tested Testimony"

97. Kendrick Lamar - "Not Like Us"

98. The Mellons - "Tell Me Why"

99. The Odd Pattern - "Letarg"

100. The Cure - "Endsong"

And one to grow on...

101. The Moment of Nightfall and Tony Jay - "Kori no Mori (Ice Forest)"

As per usual, i'm certainly leaving something off.  Be back here tomorrow for my favorite old song discoveries of the year.

Whatitdo Archive Group

Reno, Nevada based band Whatitdo Archive Group, purveyors of jazz, funk, soul, and library sounds, dropped a new Christmas-themed 7" at the end of November to push us all straight into the heart of the holiday season.  "Wild Man" takes inspiration from world folklore, like the yeti or the abominable snowman or Krampus, and makes a loungey, funky groove of it.  Check the track out below and download it here from Record Kicks (the vinyl is sold out).

Daily Jam - Houses

Here's a wonderful folk rock song from Canadian artist Elyse Weinberg originally recorded in 1969 for what would have been her sophomore album "Greasepaint Smile."  For some reason or another, the record was shelved and didn't see release until 2015.  Which is just crazy to me.  Anyway, listen to "Houses," featuring none other than Neil Young on guitar, below, our Daily Jam.

My Favorite Albums of 2024

It's that time of year again, when we blogging or writing types start unpacking a whole 12 months worth of songs, albums, movies, and more that made all the time and things a little more bearable.  2024 sure has been...something, hasn't it?  On a personal level, i'm learning what it's like to live with a middle schooler in the house, and that sure is...something too.  It can be hard to stay positive these days.  There is a veritable world of shit just outside the door.  And all i can say is to take solace in the things and people you have, and the people and things you love.  I know i've said it all before, but i have a wife who i've been kicking around with in some form or another for over 25 years now, my two beautiful and hysterically funny sons, my family, my friends who i love like they're my family, my dog, and one enormous and kick-ass record collection.  These are the things that make it easier to wade through all the bullshit and horror in the world.  I'll take what i can get.

So without further delay, here are 25 albums i really, really liked this year.  As per usual, rather than doing a ranked system, the albums are just presented alphabetically, as God intended.  My 25 favorite albums of 2024.  Check 'em out.

1. Bill Baird - Soundtrack

Fellow Texas and former Soundteam member Bill Baird has been cracking out the homemade psych pop records for years now.  Ever the prolific artist, he released two new albums in 2024, one of which, "Soundtrack," is an homage to European film scores and library music with some hints of psych, drone, neo-classical, and ambient music thrown in for good measure.  If i was still in school, this one would probably be one of my study records.

2. Beak> - >>>>

Geoff Barrow may be hanging up his touring shoes, calling it quits for his time with proggy, psych-laden, experimental band Beak>, but man, he sure is going out on a high note with new album ">>>>."  This is a weird one that had my ears piqued at the opening, funereal organ notes of "Strawberry Line" and then kept me hooked from there.  It's one of those albums that upon my first listen through, immediately started over and listened start to finish again.

3. Broadcast - Spell Blanket: Collected Demos 2006-2009

I still miss the music and magic of Trish Keenan on a daily basis, but this year saw the release of two new collections of demos from her band Broadcast that made things a little easier.  It's a bittersweet feeling though, as listening to the snippets and songs on "Spell Blanket," one has to wonder what these might have sounded like if given the attention and time to gestate into a proper studio album.  Lone Broadcast member James Cargill has also said that these two demo collections will be their final releases, closing the door on the band.

4. Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee

When all is said and done, Cindy Lee's massive new album "Diamond Jubilee" is probably my favorite album of the year.  I've always enjoyed the lo-fi, girl group pop sounds the artist employs, and the new record distills it down to its purest essence.  If there's never another release, this is the magnum opus.

5. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

The Cure's new album is the best work from the band in decades, probably their best since "Disintegration."  What a wonderful surprise for 2024.

6. Dead Bandit - Memory Thirteen

Chicago band Dead Bandit makes an extension of the kind of post rock we used to get back in the '90s, off kilter and often instrumental melodies simultaneously in debt to punk, prog, jazz, and more.  "Memory Thirteen" feels like an exploration of sound, dark aural tunnels leading to new undiscovered regions.

7. Deary - Aurelia

I am a shoegazer at heart, and UK band Deary's 2nd EP continues their (so far) flawless stretch.  Dreamy reverbed jams for dreamy reverbed people.

8. The Drin - Elude the Torch

There's a lot of excitement in the post punk scene of Cincinnati, Ohio, and my favorite artist from said scene is probably the scruffy, noisy band The Drin.  Their latest feels like it was recorded through permanent gray skies, elements of post punk, no-wave, and art rock fused into a fuzzy din, an old black and white photo made into sound.

9. Fat Dog - WOOF.

"It's fucking Fat Dog baby!!!"  My favorite new artist of the year, and favorite live act to boot, birthed into the world an album of cheeky, sardonic weirdness, but let's everyone in on the joke.  And listening, i don't know whether to gyrate, dance, or get into a fist fight, the blend of Eastern-tinged industrial techno noise punk skronk giving me uncontrollable fits and shakes.  This is the shit right here.  All hail the King of the Slugs.

10. Fine - Rocky Top Ballads

A late entry to my year-end bevy of goodies, but a fine one (see what i did there) nonetheless.  "Rocky Top Ballads" is full of dreampop, folk, country, and indie pop vibes, playing like some undiscovered project Hope Sandoval might have been involved in years ago.  Denmark does it right.

11. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown

Beth Gibbons continues to be one of the best voices in all of pop music.  There's an eternal quality to it, an ever-present classic tone that strikes a nerve like no other.  That "Lives Outgrown" is her real debut solo effort is mindboggling.

12. Grandaddy - Blu Wav

It's been a few years, but the death of original Grandaddy member Kevin Garcia weighs heavy on the band's 2024 album "Blu Wav."  Jason Lytle and company have always had a way of wrapping the melancholy with the silly in a way that feels profound, and while that's still certainly the case with the new record, there are some moments of deep sadness that just hit differently.  KGAR 4EVR.

13. IDLES - TANGK

I don't know if there's another band out there who sound quite the way that Bristol band IDLES do.  They're kind of post punk, kind of dancey art rock, kind of political protest music, kind of something else entirely.  New album "TANGK" even has some moments that dip into trip-hop territory.  And then there's front man Joe Talbot's unmistakable, heavily accented vocals.  These guys get better and better with each new release.

14. Ka - The Thief Next to Jesus

"The Thief Next to Jesus" is a powerful swan song from the late, great Ka.  The New York rapper and firefighter has been releasing singular work for almost two decades.  And while it's sad and upsetting that we won't be getting any more music from the man, what an album to go out on.

15. Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, & Marta Sofia Honer - The Closest Thing to Silence

Improvisational jazz, new age synths, and psychedelia collide on this collaborative effort from experimental composers and musicians Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, and Marta Sofia Honer, and we are all the better for it.

16. Midwife - No Depression in Heaven

Colorado's Midwife makes dusty, lo-fi dreampop, drone, and shoegaze for the masses, floating, fragmented sounds that play like slowly fading memories.  She perfects that sound on new album "No Depression in Heaven."

17. Mount Eerie - Night Palace

Another massive and sprawling album on the list, this time around from the long running Phil Elverum project Mount Eerie.  New album "Night Palace" is a noisy, dusty, sometimes hushed, and at times almost chaotic piece of work.  It's a lot to sift through, but so rewarding getting to the other side.

18. Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch

LA based artist Jessica Pratt released what is probably the album of her career so far with "Here in the Pitch," a record that pulls from '60s pop, wall-of-sound production, and spectral folk.  It's a beautiful listen.

19. Previous Industries - Service Merchandise

Previous Industries are the hip-hop trio of Open Mike Eagle, Video Dave, and STILL RIFT, and their debut is a stoned and quirky throwback trip, something to nod your head to through the haze of smoke, chuckling to yourself all the while.

20. Cassie Ramone - Sweetheart

Cassie Ramone's new album "Sweetheart" really reminded me about how much i love that girl group indie rock sound, and how much i miss bands like Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls and so on.  These songs get into your head and stay there, echoing around forever more.

21. Daisy Rickman - Howl

UK artist Daisy Rickman released quite the British folk album this year with "Howl," a haunting, Pagan sonic tome that feels of the seasons.  It's equinox music for walks through the woods and valleys.

22. Wand - Vertigo

LA band Wand seems to grow artistically with each subsequent release, and 2024's "Vertigo" continues that streak.  The group used to be a garage rock band or psych rock band.  It's a bit harder to categorize them these days, but the output is stellar.

23. White Shape - Through the Lupine

Illinois band White Shape describe themselves as a reverb soaked experimental heavy psychedelic rock band.  While that's all certainly true, new album "Through the Lupine" plays like a kind of dreamy synth folk, humming tones that hang in the air and gentle melodies that seem to keep you there floating along too.

24. Winged Wheel - Big Hotel

Detroit band Winged Wheel make krautrock-infused noise rock, motorik rhythms and fuzz for days on end.  Put the headphones on and just melt away.

25. Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

And finally we get to goth chanteuse Chelsea Wolfe and her new album "She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She," a mix of dark folk, metal, industrial noise, and trip-hop.  I've come to expect nothing less from her.  She always delivers the goods.

And there you have it, my favorite 25 albums of 2024.  Be back here tomorrow for my favorite 100 songs of the year.