Tag: The Beths

Categories
Playlists

Playlist: New tunes from 2022, part three

If I was still looking at this blog as something that should be scheduled or on schedule or whatever, I might consider this post a couple weeks behind that “s” word. I’ve been trying* to post these quarterly playlist updates a couple of weeks after the end of each quarter but well, the two week vacation I took that spanned the end of August and the beginning of September put me a bit behind.

Yeah. That’s right. I took some vacation. Two weeks! It was the longest period from work that I’d properly taken since before the pandemic. I spent as much of it as I could experiencing nature, sitting by the water, going on hikes, and just generally taking in our province’s natural beauty. It wasn’t exactly restful, per se, but it was definitely good for the soul.

Prior to that, I actually attended several evenings of an honest-to-goodness music festival at the beginning of July. It was an amazing feeling to return to a bit of normalcy, see some bands I’d seen before and some I hadn’t, and seeing people outside of my bubble, all revelling in the ecstasy that is the live music experience. I say again, I t felt great. Then, the day after the festival ended, a friend of mine who I had attended a couple of the dates with texted me to say he had tested positive for COVID. So I tested myself and thankfully came through it clean. But it was definitely a bitter reminder for me that though we may be done with the pandemic, it may not necessarily be done with us.

Otherwise, the summer flew by in a haze and blur of sameness. With all the work, eat, and sleep, I am super thankful of my continued employment, general good health, and that I am continuing to spend my life with my very best friend and love of my life. And of course, there is always the music.

This third part of this annual playlist represents the music that has followed me and kept me going through this third pandemic summer. It is yet another great 25 tunes (for parts one and two, check here and here) representative of the best that’s been released during the last three months. Highlights include:

      • Opening things up with “Rockstar”, this ripping track off the third album by Momma calls to mind 90s rockers, like maybe Babes in Toyland and L7, but most definitely Veruca Salt
      • “Circumference”, a brilliant synth-pop gem by Working Men’s Club ripped right from the heart of the 80s
      • More dream pop beauty from Toronto-based indie pop quartet Tallies, a sweet explosion called “Wound up tight”
      • I’ve not been a fan of Animal Collective, nor Noah Lennox’s solo work as Panda Bear but his recent collaboration with Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember is pure sunshine, “Gettin’ to the point” is just a case in point
      • When I think of Kasabian, I typically think of blistering high energy numbers but this ballad called “The wall” off their latest record is equally full of passion
      • “It’s always the quiet ones” by Suede – that’s right, they’re back and it’s majestic
      • Kristian Mattson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, covering “Pink rabbits” by The National is like a collision of some of my favourite music from a decade ago
      • Finally, Yeah Yeah Yeahs teamed up with Perfume Genius for “Spitting off the edge of world”, the magnificent first single of their latest album

Here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it:

1. “Rockstar” Momma (from the album Household name)

2. “All comes crashing” Metric (from the album Formentera)

3. “Day 21” Secret Machines (from the EP Day 21)

4. “Fables” Interpol (from the album The other side of make-believe)

5. “Circumference” Working Men’s Club (from the album Fear fear)*

6. “Vanishing point” Julien Baker (from the EP B-sides)

7. “So far for so few” The Sadies (from the album Colder streams)

8. “Eventually” Beach Bunny (from the album Emotional creature)

9. “Wound up tight” Tallies (from the album Patina)

10. “Parasite II” Kiwi Jr. (from the album Chopper)

11. “Gettin’ to the point” Panda Bear & Sonic Boom (from the album Reset)

12. “The wall” Kasabian (from the album The alchemist’s euphoria)

13. “Forever in sunset” Ezra Furman (from the album All of us in flames)

14. “A line of shots” The Afghan Whigs (from the album How do you burn?)

15. “Slowly” Preoccupations (from the album Arrangements)

16. “Roman candles” Death Cab For Cutie (from the album Asphalt meadows)

17. “Expert in a dying field” The Beths (from the album Expert in a dying field)

18. “It’s always the quiet ones” Suede (from the album Autofiction)

19. “Heart attack” Editors (from the album EBM)

20. “Pink rabbits” The Tallest Man On Earth (from the album Too late for edelweiss)

21. “First high” Nikki Lane (from the album Denim & diamonds)

22. “Backup plan” Maya Hawke (from the album Moss)

23. “Friday night” Beth Orton (from the album Weather alive)

24. “Pagan man” Pixies (from the album Doggerel)

25. “Spitting off the edge of the world (ft Perfume Genius)” Yeah Yeah Yeahs (from the album Cool it down)

Those of you who are on the Apple Music train can click here to sample the above tracks as a whole playlist.

And as always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you are safe and continue to be well. Above all, enjoy the tunes.

*Trying might be a strong word here.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Beths “Jump rope gazers”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Beths
Album Title: Jump rope gazers
Year released: 2020
Details: tangerine vinyl, included foldout “takahe” poster

The skinny: Ever since I saw Auckland New Zealand’s The Beths blow the proverbial doors off the stage at 2019’s Bluesfest, I’ve been spinning their debut constantly, to the point where I’m sure even my turntable was looking forward to new material from the band. The announcement of the impending followup came last spring and I immediately jumped on their American label, Carpark Record’s website to get the pre-order done. I must’ve been one of the quicker draws because when it was finally delivered a few months later, it arrived with a limited edition foldout poster tucked in with it. Just one more bonus to add to the bright tangerine colour of the vinyl pressing and the fun and energetic music within. “Jump rope gazers” wasn’t the immediate doe-eyed crush that “Future me hates me” was but it grew on me to the point where it landed at the number seven spot on my top ten albums of the year list. Good, good fun.

Standout track: “I’m not getting excited”

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 2020: The honourable mentions (aka #10 through #6)

Good morning everyone! And happy Thursday!

We’re finally nearing the end of this trash can fire of a year we call 2020. And not a moment too soon.

But this also means that it is that time of year. You know which I mean. The time of the year that music writers and hack bloggers, like myself, try to come up with their lists ranking the best that the year had to offer. Many end of the year lists have already started popping up, some even as early as the end of October. I don’t blame these eager beavers for trying to rush the end of this year but I wasn’t one of those. I wanted to keep my list open, in case something brilliant was released in November* or I found an album released earlier in the year that I had missed. And it’s a good thing I did too because one album in particular came out of nowhere and snuck itself into the number nine spot just before I started writing this post.

This will mark my fourth year running doing end of year lists for this blog so I’ve pretty much got this process down to an art. Like last year, I decided to wrap things up with a final post on my favourite album on the final day of the year, and so to do that, Thursdays became the day of the week of choice for this series. As always, I am starting things off with an ‘honourable mentions’ post, this post, listing out albums 10 through 6, and will countdown my favourite five albums, one each week, for the next five.

Of course, I’ve cheated a bit with my photo at the top of this post. You may note that it shows three additional albums from 2020. These are albums in my vinyl collection that won’t appear in the list but bear mention nonetheless. I also featured two of these – Gateways Drugs “PSA” and The Exbats’ “Kicks, hits and fits” – in my Vinyl Love series over the last two weekends so go check those out too.

Despite (or perhaps because of) all the craziness going on this year, 2020 was another great one for new music. I had fears early on that the COVID-19 pandemic would have an impact on the ability of all our favourite musicians to continue to produce and release new music and that at some point during this year, the new releases would dry up. But this never happened. Indeed, the reverse seemed to be true and musicians everywhere seemed to become more productive and creative in the various states of lockdown we endured.

With all these excellent releases, I am sure I missed out on one or two so as we go through my own 10 favourite albums over the next month or so, I welcome your comments and thoughts and perhaps even your own top ten favourites in the comments space provided.

Let’s do this.

#10 The Strokes “The new abnormal”

Back almost twenty years ago, way back in 2001, New York City’s The Strokes released “Is this it”, an album often credited with reinvigorating indie rock and kickstarting a garage rock wave that would eventually morph into a post-punk revival. I’ve never thought they’ve been able to come close to the same energy that made that debut album so great and breathtaking but in my opinion, on “The new abnormal”, their sixth LP and first in seven years, they’ve come very, very close. The garage rock from the debut has given way to a new wave glam vibe but their knack for breathing new life into retro sounds is still very much alive. “The new abnormal” is indeed a temporary respite from these crazy times.

Gateway tune: “The adults are talking”

#9 Venus Furs “Venus Furs”

This self-titled release by Montreal-based Paul Kasner’s project, Venus Furs, is the album I mentioned above that just squeaked into this list at the last moment. Its relatively quiet launch back in July meant that I missed it until it received a positive review in one of my favourite magazines, Under the Radar, and the words there piqued my interest. Kasner’s perfectionist approach to this debut album has drawn favourable comparisons to Kevin Shields, Anton Newcombe, and Thurston Moore and yeah, listening to the eight songs on this neat package, you might catch whiffs of each. But you might also catch on to something else going on here: perhaps it’s a psych rock explosion that transcends space and time. A glass of wine, a rose, a special pipe, a lava lamp, and a jet pack to the next galaxy.

Gateway tune: “Chaos and confusion”

#8 Bright Eyes “Down in the weeds, where the world once was”

It feels to me like this indie rock/folk trio led by Conor Oberst has been around forever but I’ve never found myself able connect with their music. I’ve checked in on the albums they’ve released over the last couple of decades and even seen them live once (and maybe twice). I know Oberst has always been a strong songwriter and he has a legion of fans that swear by him but I actually think it took his collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers last year on their project, Better Oblivion Community Center, for me to truly appreciate his worth. Maybe it was leftover shiny and fuzzy feelings from that album that had me falling for this one on first listen but given the reactions to this being a smooth next step despite the nine year separation between albums, I went back and rediscovered that maybe I’ve been wrong about Bright Eyes all these years. I definitely think “Down in the weeds, where the world once was” is either an accidental stroke of genius or a planned mess of perfection. Maybe both.

Gateway tune: “Mariana trench”

#7 The Beths “Jump rope gazers”

I admit that I was a bit disappointed when I first heard this sophomore release from Auckland, New Zealand’s The Beths. It was another of those cases of expectations raised beyond reconciliation by the band’s previous release, in this case their fantastic debut, “Future me hates me“. Their blistering set  that I had witnessed last year at Ottawa’s Bluesfest obviously didn’t help matters. However, I didn’t give up after the first listen and  my persistence has paid dividends, allowing the album to grow on me exponentially with time. Yes. “Jump rope gazers” has a lot of the same energetic power pop that made the debut so buzz-worthy but also has Elizabeth Stokes and friends slowing things down and getting personal with equally rewarding results.

Gateway tune: “I’m not getting excited”

#6 The Rentals “Q36”

I discovered this year that I’m a Rentals fan! Sure I remember liking “Friends of P.” back in the day but never bothered to check out the rest of the debut album, 1995’s “Return of The Rentals”. Then, I heard their 2014 album, “Lost in Alphaville”, in passing and thought it enjoyable as well. But it wasn’t until I listened to the new album (too late to the party to get a copy of the self-released, super limited vinyl) that I finally woke up. I immediately went back to acquaint myself with the complete back catalogue of the project by ex-Weezer bassist, Matt Sharp, and it’s all excellent. If you’re not in know (as I wasn’t until recently), I highly recommend starting out with this retro futuristic concept album that smacks of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie called “Q36”.

Gateway tune: “Shake your diamonds”

*As it is, I feel like there might be at least one noteworthy album released in December will not get its due from all the list makers (myself included) because of its late release.

Check back next Thursday for album #5 on this list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.