It’s that time again, or well past that time actually, just 9 days left in this year and i’m really hoping i can come up with 10 releases I find worthy. I don’t know why I’m feeling this way about it, last year I think i did two top 10 lists because there were so many records i wanted to include. This year…not so much. Perhaps it’s because so many of the bands that are making just about everyone else’s lists really did nothing for me. That’s right Kanye, Arcade Fire, Jay Z, Daft Punk, Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells, and many more, you just didn’t move me or even worse, you fucking repulsed me with lameness, stupidity, limp and weak tones in the style of wussy or confounding WTF’s when i listen to something everyone is raving about and really just don’t fucking get it. That happened a lot this year. Thanks Pitchfork, you out-did yourself more than any other internet music repository or forum for blivet-style music writing. For those of you that don’t know, a blivet is a 5 pound container stuffed full of 10 pounds of shit, not unlike most pitchfork record reviews, bloated by pretense and superfluous over-intellectualized hipster bilge. I’d take the blunt, direct and effective and not completely void of humor style of Buddyhead, styrofoamdrone, tinygrooves, getbent, Noisey, and Crack Magazine any day. Check out all of those sites–they’re good.
Wax Idols–Discipline and Desire
I really loved Wax Idols first LP, a garage-y tough and punchy affair with punk rock chops weaving around and through some very astute pop-song structures almost completely written and performed by Hether Fortune herself. With this years follow-up Discipline and Desire we got a very evolved and more group-composed effort that sounds a lot different, showing vast growth and a bold foray into a darker moodier musical realm. It’s meticulously produced and performed showing a band that has gone well beyond what most bands do between their first and second releases, an awkward make or break period of time that Wax Idols skillfully traversed coming out way ahead of the curve. Listening to this record you can sense the collective and advanced knowledge of great musical influences and talking with Hether and reading interviews and keeping up with her very active social media presence, I’m amazed by her archival grasp and devotion to music that was made well before she was born. She composes brilliantly structured pop songs, all hard or edgy enough in all the right places, a quality that I could only compare to one of my favorite bands ever, Wire. Then I read an interview and she names them as one of her main influences. She clearly knows a lot about music and is resolutely driven to create her own. As a multi-instrumentalist, a savvy and instinctual songwriting talent with a relentless drive to throw herself completely into performance, and a flair for being outspoken and aggressive, Hether has delivered her strongest steady flex of pure rock and roll muscle yet. Thats what you get with Discipline and Desire, an authentic unstoppable musical force to be reckoned with.
Thee Oh Sees–Floating Coffin
What is there to say about Thee Oh Sees that i haven’t already tried to say? They are truly unforgettable. One of the most pure and raw genius personifications of everything rock and roll can be that i have ever witnessed. I count myself lucky to have seen them perform too many times to count at the Eagle Tavern over the past ten years. I’m also thrilled that they have traveled and played literally all over the world and have become a massively popular sensation where ever they played. That was pretty much a given, I’ve never seen them be any less than astonishing live and i’m sure they brought the magic on tour. Floating Coffin is every bit as astonishing a testament to their greatness as a record could be, their strongest and darkest release to date, good from end to end ripe with influences ranging from kraut rock to garage rock to heavy psych to drone. They also have a huge body of recorded work and I’m hard pressed to choose even one disc that isn’t great. If you aren’t hearing Thee Oh Sees by now you are really missing out. They will stand as an important part of San Francisco’s rich musical history, in fact Thee Oh Sees just might be the last great San Francisco band. (Insert lament about artists and musicians not being able to afford to live here any more and the steady exodus of some of our best bands relocating as we speak) At a show here in SF last week Thee Oh Sees announced they were going on an indefinite hiatus–not disbanding, but not playing for a long time. I can understand that, they’ve been like the hardest working/touring band for several years straight and deserve a break but I feel sad nonetheless for the void this will leave in our local music scene. Band figurehead and mad genius Jon Dwyer is relocating to Los Angeles and Brigid Dawson keyboardist and vocalist is moving to Santa Cruz, see aforementioned lament as reasons for departure. Sigh.
Black Joe Lewis–Electric Slave
With this, his third release, Black Joe Lewis came up with a disc that surprised me by being more hard rocking and moving toward a more garage-rock edginess as opposed to the R&B Soul revue style of his previous efforts. That aspect is still quite present on this record but from the opening chords of “Skull Diggin'” with the gloriously loud, low and distorted rumble of guitar Black Joe Lewis pulls you in to his world of serious hard rock guitar heroics served up plenty funky but firmly harder edged in the axe department. I also love the song called “The Hipster” which leads me to believe that Austin Texas is going through a similar situation as San Francisco, gentrification and an influx of young dickheads every where you go being stupid and annoying. Joe says “Fuck that shit.” to the kids who wanna move into the ghetto. There’s a great long cut called “Vampire” that’s downright Cramps-ish in its subject matter and style, sounds a bit like Creedence doing “Graveyard Train.” It’s almost Shockabilly. Like I said, there’s a real garage-rock vibe to this record. His band features one of most well-placed horn sections this side of King Khan and His Shrines and vocally he can get pretty incendiary, like some of the best soulful blues screamers or even James Brown. Altogether this record is like a really cool party looking for a place to happen.
Fuzz-Fuzz
Out of all the records in this list I’d have to say that this Debut LP from Fuzz is my very favorite release of the year. Before it came out in November, the band released a string of amazing singles, some are on the LP and some are not, but all of them hinted that their album would be a monster and guess what–it is! This group is a side project of Ty Segall’s, another former SF resident and musical over-achiever who has released a fuckload of great records over the past few years and with Fuzz he’s taken to the drum kit instead of guitar and he is the vocalist. Charles Moothart plays guitar and Roland Cosio plays bass. I believe these three musicians have collaborated and played with each other a long time in various other projects. With Fuzz something definitely huge and amazing is going on. They hit like a monster, big heavy guitar riffs bust out reminding me of Sabbath and Blue Cheer and Cream and FuManchu and being really stoned. The bass player fills the low-end with muscular deep grooves and drama and it turns out that Ty is a great drummer, showing instinct and a personal flair. When I saw Fuzz play live, Ty looked happier onstage than I’ve ever seen him, singing and drumming blissfully, all smiles. When they get going something very raw and primal completely hits your core, waves of sound move through your body and suddenly you’re uncontrollably head-banging. It all feels natural. Each cut is epic and powerful, some featuring quieter and more subtle instrumental breaks and even some suprisingly beautiful vocal harmonies. But the main attraction here is that indescribable heavy grind that takes over your body, kinda like the best parts of The Stooges Funhouse, those moments when you think, “this might be the the very best that rock music can ever be.” Yeah, they are that good. They also just released Fuzz Live at the SF Eagle from the night that i saw them and it captures the sheer melt-your-face-off dirgey psych-rock trip this trio creates. You need to have this.
Drenge
Drenge are a two piece rock act from England, where there’s been a few hard rocking british duos cropping up this year, notably Wet Nuns and more recently Royal Blood whom you’ll be hearing about in the coming year. Drenge fit right in with the blues-based-hard-rocking-pair-of-dudes template plus they are actually brothers. I was drawn to them by their chosen cover art (above) and some clever song titles like “People in Love Make Me Feel Yuck” “I Wanna Break You in Half” “Dogmeat” “Gun Crazy” and “Fuckabout.” They are apparently quite loud when they play live and on record the vocalist has a very clear and powerful voice best exemplified in the song “Backwaters,” my favorite on the disc. I will forever be intrigued by bands with two members who make such a huge sound. I also appreciate a sense of humor which this band exhibits a lot of, like their song “I Dont Wanna Make Love To You,” a piss-take of the original Willie Dixon song “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” popularized by Muddy Waters and Etta James and Foghat to name a few. They cleverly take the song to opposite day and a whole new cruel meaning. Another highlight is the scorcher “Lets Pretend” which swells to a crescendo, moving from plaintive to menacing over the course of 8 minutes but seems like less. Overall Drenge’s debut is dark and tough and snotty and well worth a listen.
The Living Eyes–s/t:
It’s not much of a record cover but whats inside of this sleeve is one satisfying slab of Australian teen Garage-rock thats catchy as all hell and bounces around in my head all day when i hear it. This record is full of simple charm and skilled musicianship that sounds way beyond their years, as does the retro-fascination with 60’s psych influences and Texas Psych and garage and Australian garage punk from the 70’s as well as other young bands from their home town of Geelong who seem to be navigating a similar musical history and presenting their own unique or modern take on styles of the past that move them. Their name comes from a Rocky Erickson song, if thats any indication for you. How do young people become so knowledgable about music created before they were born? Is it the internet that has 0pened portals of time for their exploration? How ever it is happening, I’m really glad it is because this band has created one of the most smile inducing, hook-infested and pure psych-pop-garage-rock records I’ve ever heard. I think the vocalist provides a great deal of this bands appeal with his gritty and scratchy but higher pitched delivery, although the amazing guitar hooks help a great deal. I listened to this all the way through while writing and there isn’t one song on here that i dislike. These kids have got it going on.
The Future Primitives–Into The Primitive
This trio from South Africa maintains a pure garage-rock aesthetic and have done so with their two previous releases as well but with Into the Primitive something clicked into place making this their best effort to date and a tremendously fun disc. I do have a minor complaint about this record and almost all records that fall under the genre of Garage Rock and that is there are far too many songs about girls, too many girls names and “she’s” “hers” and “babies” flying around in the lyrics. This annoys me because i play music in a gay bar for mostly men and it renders certain cuts sort of inappropriate to play. I know this is a very nit-picking complaint but i’m just saying. The non-gender specific cuts are great enough to forgive the girly ones. The songs bounce all over varied styles from throughout the history of garage rock, a bit of The Cynics, The Lyres, 13th Floor Elevators, etc. but the album definitely has a fresh and current level of energy that could move them beyond the cult-ish realm of bowl haircuts, dark glasses and skin tight black pants from that one section at the record store. Though inspired by the past The Future Primitives are moving ecstatically in the present and looking very much ahead. Its not like countless other bands starting in the early 90’s didn’t dip their feet in the Garage Rock pool and run with it. Now in 2013 it’s clearly still happening, maybe even more and i fucking love it.
Queens of The Stoneage–Like Clockwork
I have always pretty much loved this band until they released 2007’s Eras Vulgaris and that record just didn’t do it for me at all. Then the band toured performing their first LP to mark the 10th anniversary of its release and that show was brilliant. This was the band that I knew and loved in full effect and I was so happy to know they hadn’t lost their appeal completely. This year when they released …Like Clockwork, five full years after the disappointing Eras Vulgaris, I was a bit afraid that it might suck. Well it didn’t. This record is a return to much of what makes them great but its also a departure for head Queen Josh Homme who dips into some slower compositions exhibiting a more sensitive and evolved songwriting style that really works here. His vocals also encompass a broader range and new levels of sophistication. But the best parts of this record are the songs that hit hard like “Smooth Sailing” with its dark humorous lyrics and hard rocking funky hooks and “I Sat By The Ocean” and “My God is The Sun.” I keep returning to this record and enjoying it more and more each time. Like Clockwork debuted on Billboards hot 200 chart at number one, a first for the band, and critical acclaim has been forthcoming. I like that the band took some chances on new and different directions and it it paid off with a very solid release.
Fidlar–Fidlar
I almost forgot just how much I enjoyed this first full length release by Southern Californias hard partying hard playing ferocious surf/punk wonderkinds FIDLAR because it came out early in the year. There is a completely juvenile stoner simplicity to their lyrical content, songs about drinking beer , smoking weed, skipping school, skateboarding and calling some girl a whore but the intensity of their playing brings to mind bands way more mature and intense, like for instance the Pixies. Not a lot of bands prompt Pixies comparisons at all in my mind but with FIDLAR I definitely hear it. So did the Pixies I guess when they chose FIDLAR to open for them on their most recent tour. Some people think this band is pretty stupid and immature and they sort of are really, but that turns very appealing when they back it up with sheer, hammering adrenalin pumping ear splitting rock and roll played like it could kill you and make you want to scream along as it mows you down. It’s cathartic and untamed and isnt that a nice couple of things for a band to be? I think so.
The Wytches–Beehive Queen and more
Okay, this isnt even an album really but rather a handful of singles this young band from Brighton has put out over the last year and I dig them so much I’m just gonna act like it is an album. They have about 7 or 8 songs out there spread over three 7-inch singles and this band just fucking slays me. “Beehive Queen” is my favorite song of the year as it comes snarling out of some semi-spooky psychedelic swamp sounding surf-y, gothic, grand and grungey with clever psychedelic pastiches and vocals that sounds like an extra frantic Jack White if he were a bit raspier and british. This one song sent me tearing up the internet for all things Wytches I could find and i came up with more here and there like “Digsaw”, “She’s so Far Out,” “House of Mirrors,” and a few more. Look them up on youtube–they have some great videos and lots of live footage. It appears that this band is getting quite the buzz about it, gaining in popularity, selling out shows and possibly coming to the states in the spring. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and wait for a full length this year.