Welcome to 2005
Congos: Heart of the congos
Decemberists
Richard Buckner : Dents and Shells
Waylon Payne : The Drifter
Patty Griffin : Impossible Dream
FAVE of 2004
My favourite album of 2004 is
Mudlow: Welcome to Mudlow Country
The rest in an ever changing order are:
Jim White: Drill a hole in the substrate and tell me what you see
The list below was all great stuff too. But the list above held sway.
Here's what i'm listening to (work and home):
Artist name links to artist website.
I ain't got the time to spiel on everything so if I slap it up here...it's good!
Jim White: Drill a hole in the substrate and tell me what you see
Jim White: The mysterious Tale of How I shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus!
13aug04
( the title song contains the lyrics "my momma beat me with a George Jones album That's why I sing this way" and the disc also includes Johnny Paycheck's final performance)
10jul04
28jun04
MUDLOW: Welcome to MUDLOW Country
http://www.westpierrecords.com/Mudlow.htm
With a voice like a rarely (although occasionally liberally) greased pawnshop trombone
Mudlow's Tobias wails croons growls and squalls across the lushly criminal sultry seaport
landscape that is Welcome To Mudlow Country. It's their first album.
With a swagger and swing so long and thick they gotta wear it for a belt,
Brighton's Mudlow have become my new Afghan Whigs, my new Nick Cave,
my new Marah, impossible to play loud enough. I want to crawl inside their sound and
drink deep till hammered and slaked then dance. spin,buck,bark and rail along with it before
the next song picks me up on it's gangster lean and shoulders me to the next basement bar.
Bass and drums swingin' beats fatback crisp and cold hot greasy. Drummerman Matt Black
layin' so far back into that drop down it's a G.D. Memphis
miracle the whole thing don't totter and tip backwards on it's big sexy ass. But that Bass! Damn. Paul Beat keeps it all pulled down sublow sonic like a big fine woman's behind the wheel
backin' it up. Brass horns careen and plead and sob and harmonica call the lonely and
lonesome home. For all the raw refined glorifying groove power it's no stoop to roll it back
and lay out in rich cinematic black and white and noir. Tobias's guitar crawls from under it's
own rock and slithers and slinks and solos sideways and frontwards. He chops chunks
scratches and lines out colours in deep blues and orange red, chocolate dark brown and
bright white heat. His lyric work intrigues with Waits-ian leanness and heft rifely populated by characters, misfits, fuckups, frauds, sociopaths and common charmers. My people. Despite
the deceptively dour imagery there is simply an undeniable joy shimmering throughout.
You can tell Brighton's finest love playing these songs. Live I ain't seen 'em and Lord knows
if I will on the otherside of the world but i've been told and I surely reckon they must put out
on of the heaviest shows out. This is frayed sharp black suit Outlaw Music.
Midnight sometime Harvest Moon Chinook Wind Sunless winter cannery dockside.
It's all the same and something bad comin' and goin'.
Each song stands upright alone alright but the soundscape is beautifully frosted
with subtle sounds of running machinery, creaking ships and crying seabirds,
down stairs doors (un)locking and matchlight building burning.
Nothing to distract but to add some stones and brambles along the river road to
catch on the cuffs of your ears and set you to watch where you're walkin' and
maybe LiSTEN where you're goin' for a change. Even to my beat ears it's one of
the best sounding recordings i've had the pleasure to hear. Sonically raw and
gorgeous and mapped out with care. If given three quarters the chance these
damned kings of the south deserve for recording an album this down, this grimy,
this menacing, this star spankin' grand and glorious my world will sleep in
safety and spite. Thank You Mudlow.
Gustav Mahler: Symp #8 "Symphony of a thousand b/w Kindertotenlieder
(songs on the death of children)
Yo-Yo Ma: Solo
.......................................................................................................................................................
My '03 was slow in some ways for music but still there were some wonderous and exciting finds this year. ton's o'thanks and blessings to all the kind folks who hooked me up with cds this year! This year we were once again blessed by the DBT:
My vote for album of the year.
DBT really came thru on the promises hinted and rolled in on last years Southern Rock Opera. Watch for an official release of Patterson Hood's years old solo disc as well as a solo disc by newish-trucker Jason isbell as well...meanwhile...
Here's what else I loved in the '03:
( in no particular order )
Go to the artists website by clicking their name.
Click the album title and that'll take you to Amazon.com where y'all can listen & buy !
Thanks!
"I've always loved the twang of hurt" Thad Cockrell
"Warmth and Beauty, delivers a big ol' slab of heartache from a man whose motto is
"puttin' the hurt back in country."
I needn't say more need I? This record is just gorgeous.
KB is the past and future of country music and it's best present (if it has one) all rolled up into one sweaty ass-haulin' no sht takin' ball. all he's got now is a self-made demo but that will change soon. one of the best live performers workin' today with out a net of nashvillianPOP bullshit. KB has thrown down the gauntlet of DEATH TO FALSE COUNTRY!
and if he has his way (and he usually does) it'll bygawd stay down.
All hail the HonkyTonk Prince of N.FL !
"Folk, Country, Gospel & oldTimey Bedtime Songs"
This is the cd we play when it's time to put Roscoe down for his nap or bedtime. It's great 'cuz
it's not one of those sickly sweet pastel kittens and bunnies and barney recordings. My fave track is Hobo's Lullaby as done by Kathy Kallick which feature the soothing lines "I know the police give you trouble. They make trouble everywhere. But when you die and go to heaven there will be no police there". It also featuresSweet Honey in The Rock doing Hush L'il baby, Beth Chapman does Love Me Tender, ill Staines does Home on the Range...and many more. It's a wonderful recording that we can listen to twice a day without getting sick of it.
oh Miss Williams...I heart you heartbroken heartbreaker.
"The country album that The Replacements never made"-Rolling Stone
Only MUCH MUCH better.Much Much Deeper.Much Much more beautiful. Much Much more raw. -Rick Saunders
If Hendrix played fiddle and ran a bluegrass band. This disc will fkng melt yr mind
and destroy all you ever thought you knew about "old-timey" fiddle bands. Trust me.
smart lyrics. fine alt-country-esque music. like if yr fave southern novel was a record. in my world she's the new Patty Griffin.
they rock much harder and groove far deeper than any band from Solleftea Sweden has a right too. But then you realize....Oh Yeah! Solleftea is a sister city to Madison Mississippi and it all makes sense! Their album is the best 34 minutes i've spent in a very long time. mere words cannot do it justice. Only volume can. You'll soon find out why Soleftea is home to the worlds longest 2X4!
indy blues from INDY! download their whole new cd fer free! 1st track vies for bloozrawk single of the year in my world!
damn sorry nobody has heard of 'em or if they have probably dismissed them on name alone.
Distance Between is a fantastic alt-country gem packed with what should have been memorable singles and top-shelf covers. alongside Two Dollar Pistols cd You Ruined Everything this is one of the best country records of the last few years.
I lucked out and got a hold of 3 of her records this year and it's no wonder they call her the female Dwight. Good hard honkytonk from a woman who should be huge.
He does a damn fine turn as George Jones in the play Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story but he also writes some of the smartest country, bluegrass, popwhatchamacallit, alt-somethingerother yr likely to hear. Give him a a taste. He put out a damn fine record with Ralph Stanley this year too!
a young RL playin' it rough and raw and beautiful.
The man who wrote RedNeck Mother (made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker) is back with Screw You We're from Texas. It's about damn time! rough n' rowdy raw blues and sht that wouldn't be at all outta place on Fat Possum Records.
Good ol'Paul Westerberg takes a run at his own blues and it's what you'd expext...rollin' and stumblin' . rawkin' and raw like that band he used to play with. Thanks Paul!
by gawd what is the deal with Texas? They sire as hell know how to grow 'em.
Wayne's new live one swings harder than a Willie Mays vs Hank Aaron slap off.
damn near relentless in its superbness. raw and shthot Texas honkytonkin' from one of the greats!
rockin' that thing like it ain't got no bone...Hungarian Style!
yr mama n' daddy won't know the difference. ain't none.
20 of yr fave Tejas artists singin' Buck songs real good. and it is!
a slew of yr fave Tejas artists singin' covers of Cheatin' Songs.
Hell I thought i'd heard it all but Kelly Willis doin' Me & Ms Jones proved me wrong. Damn fine and hard to find.
more swell misery and payback. good hard singin' and songwriterin'. You ain't heard him but that's not my fault. You can change.
Strummer's last is brimming with promise and it's a damn shame he's gone. I think this is his best post-Clash work. Get it.
Like Strummer it seems like Weller just keeps getting better.
This is by far his best and most consistant solo recordings. I've never been wholly satisfied with his post-Style Council music but he takes more chances here and has put down his best singles (as if he got american airplay! pfft!) in years. Check out A Bullet For Everyone to see what I mean. Brilliant and hopeful.
if the Beatles (did I mention the beatles destroyed america?) were a 25 piece...
PiG iRON JOE I just know they took some sorta correspondence course taught by R.L. at some sorta Detroit New School of Nuggets. each song on this 5 tracker is a gem. Deliver Me will scare the bejeezus outta ya... the cover of "Alabama Train" creeps and crawls and huffs thru a million miles of crescent moonlit cotton fields. Stick 'Em sounds like a lost track of a 1971-era Beastie Boys daddy. Great production that lets it breath deep and low when it needs to and choke when it should. They gigged with the Soledads. I'd reckon it was a Texas Death Match.
I got me a copy of our friend Elam McKnight's cd and it's a natural murderer.
Full-on rawkin'rollin'in the mud naked drunk on shine with both barrels sawed off and blastin baby.
Startin' off with Braid My Hair the gitar blasts gnarled bursts of sound surly enuff to unkink the hairs on the back of yr neck. His fkd up take on Terraplane Blues is akin to no other. Track 4:Sugar Cane is pure soul blues sweetness thatd slap the lips off Mick. I'm typin' witha wiggly baby on my lap...wigglin thanks to Elam...so I don't have time to get too deep into it but while I hate comparison shopping i'll come right out and say it...a nationwide tour with Elam McKnight and his band on the same bill with The Black Keys would sure as hell stomp a new mudhole in america.after hearing this thang i'm downright scared to hear this junk live. I know Elam would have me walkin' outta the club with a stiff limp. funkydownass sht that makes me damn glad to be alive to hear that real blues finally has a future.
Wonderful acoustic & electric R.L. Burnside-esque stuff compiled by Dave Alvin. buy now. thank later.
Mr.Whitley was the obvious heir apparent to Merle,Lefty,George and many others and would have succeeded had he not drunk himself to death. He's got a couple hits packages out but this is my favorite.
Their most fully-realized album yet...still just as creepy but with a much broader instrumental palette...this record should appeal to a wider range of ears while still keeping the old fans happy. or sad. If you've never heard 'em but love Johnny Cash's song Delia yet were disappointed that it wasnt scary or wrong enuff...you'll love the Handsome Family!
outtakes and live stuff and such + a couple live vids from Bobby's kid. great full-on rockout smart-pop action. Try it.
Not enough bands play the saw. lovely. spooky. unlike.
MUDLOW
Gawdamn I love a band with a horn section! That said it's the 1st
track Catherine Wheel that I think sets the tone on this 6 slice ep. Spare and TENSE as hell if the UK has some sorta CrossRoads equivilant like a road just over the hill from the Westbury Horse on a black cold wet night at 3am...that's where i'd like to hear this song sung. Chilly. I kept waitin' for the whole thing to explode with horns but no Mudlow is smarter than that. The guitar rings and and calls Mudlow out to the 2nd track which is the rompin' stompin' arse whoopin' of Down In The Snow. That's when they drop the other boot. Tobias pulls out Tom Waits' vocal cords to flog a horn section that eye gouges and pulls hair while his swangin'mud covered gitar
cuts throats like Nugent. Bass and drums are right where they oughta be bobbin' and weavin' and drivin' Mudlow to the next bar on the way home.
Produced by none other than the great Johnny Dowd (and if ya don't have any of his stuff you should- johnnydowd.com ) these ol' geezers (who rocks harder than a ol'geezer who has to rawk? takes one to know one) stomp,bluster and blare like a fist fight at a 16 Horsepower brush arbor revival. If I had one of those alarm clocks that plays cds their cover of Your Enemy cannot harm you (but watch yr close friend) would sure as hell wake my goat mouth up e'ver mornin'.
I dig this more and more with each listen. Not just burly but heavy.
Allison is another one of our most underated country artists.
A great songwriter and a powerful performer this disc + dvd set proves that Shelby Lynn's sister is not just that.
one of the greatest bands you've never heard of.
like if Nick Cave was american and raised up by an itinerant fire and brimstone preacher grandfather who would only let him listen to the Carter Family. Maybe. and more. or if the Doors played old-timey music. or...
RE'Presentin' the Dark Blues and lettin' it roll straight and low outta the bad side of Seattle!
Like if when they pressed the button to blow the dome a GRAVEL ROAD song played instead. BOOM!
The Sultanas Mission Statement:
"It's too late to regress. The old growth has been sacrificed for more strip malls. The countryside has been suffocated by suburbia. Advertisements and multinationals have convinced the generations that newer is better. Packaging speaks louder than contents. Regional identity is being ironed into 4-lane highways of freedom fries. Orange groves are transformed into golf courses. In an attempt to soften the transition, modern country music instills complacency among its audience. Images of social arrival juxtaposed with rural nostalgia have replaced true human themes in the music. Cracking voices are orchestrated. Guitars twang in binary imitation. Drums fall into mechanical cadence. The president wears a cowboy belt in its celebration.
In rebellion, some musicians attempt a regression into older media such as honky-tonk, rockabilly, blues, and surf. However, many of these musicians get tangled in nostalgia and forget about their main artistic objectiveto write music that reflects themselves and what they know best. For these reasons, The Sultanas became a musical project."
The Sultanas are a combo of everything.
rockabilly rockouts harbour freejazz wigfests vs surfing metal science.
brainy with social skills.
Ya know it's damn hard to come up with a "Best Of" anything
in music but if I have to pick ONE cd I listened to the most this year
and is still bein' shuffled from my truck to my wife's car and back it is:
Here's what else I loved in the '02:
(In no particular order though the first ones come to mind first so I s'pose I played them more).
Go to the artists website by clicking their name. Click the album title and that'll take you to Amazon.com
Yr purchase supports Roscoe's Education Fund! Thanks!
Willie Heath Neal and The Damned Old Opry : Unknown
