2012 Tunes, a list of some faves
a LIST
In looking at the music for this list I came to realize...my musical tastes seem to be heading toward the musically mellow cliff. Aside from Neil Young, Mission of Burma and Chuck Prophet, the majority of these offerings are trending toward ambient, folk, or geezer rock, but such is the process of evolving musical preferences. The loud and snotty or cantankerous ear bleeders of my youth seem too be less of a priority, and music with a somewhat more 'mature' bent is what my ears crave nowadays. But that could turn on a dime and next week I might be listening to the loudest, snottiest, ear bleeding noise out there. In no particular order these are some of the things that wormed their way into my ears last year. As the urge strikes I will expound in a bit more detail, but as a first salvo here they are:
THE LIST:
Graham Parker and The Rumour - Three Chords Good, a welcome return of these veteran pub rockers.
Ane Brun - It All Starts with One (actually late 2011, but whose counting)
Can - The Lost Tapes (previously unreleased goodies from the vast Can archive)
Alejandro Esocvedo - Falling Off the Sky, challenging roots rock with Esovedo's usual panache.
Bill Fay - Life Is People, folk music with a capital F, meaning not really folk music, but music by/for folks.
Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow (reissue)
Time of the Last Persecution (reissue)
Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship, lovely pop, tunes with actual melodies
Kelly Hogan - I Like to Keep Myself in Pain, adult music, soulful vocals and guest star writers
Mission of Burma - Unsound, right where they left us decades ago, brash and brittle tunes
The Morning Benders - The Big Echo (from 2010, but I just discovered 'em this year, so deal with it)
Rod Picott - Welding Burns, more rootsy folk, with a bleak literate lyrics
Kimmo Pohjonen (w/ The Kronos Quartet) - Uniko, stark and foreboding music
Chuck Prophet - Temple Beautiful, loud rock and roll
Patti Smith - Banga, my lifelong love affair continues
Tame Impala - Lonerism, psychedelic in the Syd Barrett, Love kinda way
Neil Young - Psychedelic Pill, if I was still doing psychedelic drugs, and I'm not, it would sound like this
LATE ADDITIONS:
Calexico - Algiers, don't know how I forgot this one, but now making amends.
Bill Lloyd - King of Tokyo, a down home Fountains of Wayne, earthy pop made in rural heaven.
Cloud Nothing - a noisy racket of off kilter goodies.
Sonnymoon - Sonnymoon, twee vocals, washes of electro whatsits, and jazzy jazz sounds
Beach House - Bloom, ethereal moody washes of sound, and shadowy vocals make for a shimmering stew.
Oh, and I might add or remove goodies from this list at any time, depending or how fickle I am feeling at any particular moment. Snarky ain't I?
