PnM.MiX - 22 H A R D songs from FAVORITE ROCK ALBUMS of AllMusic 2019

PnM.MiX - 22  H A R D  songs from FAVORITE ROCK ALBUMS of AllMusic 2019

Thee Oh Sees

"Long-awaited returns by the Long Ryders, Redd Kross, and Josh Homme's Desert Sessions series served as welcome blasts from the past, while Charly Bliss, Big Eyes, and Amyl and the Sniffers injected some youthful energy into the rock world.

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Influential California combo that mixes wild garage-punk noise and unhinged psychedelic exploration with occasional bouts of prog and metal.
Thee Oh Sees - Face Stabber / Psy-Ops Dispatch
Oh Sees' 2017 album Smote Reverser seemed at the time of its release to be just about as far as the band could push their combination psychedelic-metal-prog-jazz-garage sound before it might split into a million pieces. It was hard to imagine that John Dwyer and company could twist, fold, or mangle things any more than they were or that they could add more elements without capsizing the rollicking ship entirely. Face Stabber puts a lie to those preconceptions -- not only does the band take another step further out into space, they tumble through the abyss with an energetic fury that most bands can never conjure, much less one on their 300th album...

Rock-pedigreed super duo comprising Sean Lennon and Primus' Les Claypool. The combination of two of rock's most fearless and experimental musicians seems like a no-brainer -- even more so when considering their pedigrees. 
Claypool Lennon Delirium - South of Reality / South of Reality
On paper, the pairing of Les Claypool and Sean Lennon doesn't quite fit. From inside and outside Primus, Claypool has specialized in technically exacting rock, while Lennon favors a fuzzier approach, leaning on vibe and soft-focus melodies. The two approaches appear to be contradictory, but the Claypool Lennon Delirium proves they're complementary: Claypool sharpens Lennon's trippier elements, while the guitarist pushes the bassist toward melody. South of Reality, the duo's second album, crystallizes the benefits of this collaboration...

Kings of the rootsy side of the Paisley Underground, these country and folk-rock loyalists were a key influence on the Americana scene.
The Long Ryders - Psychedelic Country Soul / Psychedelic Country Soul
...All four members of the band -- vocalist and guitarist Sid Griffin, guitarist and vocalist Stephen McCarthy, bassist Tom Stevens, and drummer Greg Sowders -- contributed to the songwriting, and the sound and feel of the music is a joyous re-creation of what they've always done best, while the performances are crisp and energized, as taut and passionate as ever. And Ed Stasium's production is smooth but natural, flattering these musicians without intruding on the natural punch of their music. In 2019, the Long Ryders have an awful lot to say, and on Psychedelic Country Soul they're sharing their message with the heart and soul that made them great. It was real nice of Dr. Dre to give them a chance to put it all on tape.

The leader of Alabama Shakes went solo in 2019 with the funky, personal Jaime.
Brittany Howard - Jaime / 13th Century Metal
Jaime is the name of Brittany Howard's sister, a sibling who died from a rare cancer when she was 13 years old. Howard began reckoning with the enduring ramifications of her loss when she started writing a memoir, an exercise that eventually led to her 2019 solo debut Jaime. Running a tight 35 minutes but containing a lifetime's worth of drama and insight, Jaime is bracing in its adventure and generosity. Trace elements of Americana can be heard -- there's nary a trace of the rockabilly roar of her ferocious Thunderbitch side project -- but Jaime could never be mistaken for an Alabama Shakes album. It's too funky and too fluid in how it embraces noise, art, and soul: witness "13th Century Metal," a collaboration with jazz keyboardist Robert Glasper where an organ stutters like a broken synth, the rhythms are as tight as a loop, and Howard recites her spoken verse with abandon...

Teen trash poppers of the early '80s who tempered their fast and loud sound to become a major alternative rock act.
Redd Kross - Beyond the Door / The Party
Considering that Redd Kross have been around in one form or another for 40 years, it's surprising that they haven't released many records. This is only their seventh, and since 2012's Researching the Blues was recorded in 2007, it means Beyond the Door is the first album in a decade for the McDonald brothers, Jeff and Steven. Working with guitarist Jason Shapiro (late of Celebrity Skin) and drummer Dale Crover (of the Melvins), they don't do anything much differently than they ever have. Crunching guitar riffs, bubblegummy melodies, and pop-culture-heavy lyrics are still the order of the day; Jeff's vocals are still rock & roll perfection and the group play with an equal amount of swagger and joy...

Fuzzed-out classic rock revivalists from Los Angeles whose sound evokes the bluesy sound of legendary bands like Led Zeppelin.
Rival Sons - Feral Roots / Back In The Woods
Since debuting in 2009 with the self-released Before the Fire, Long Beach, California's Rival Sons have been on a tear, delivering a refreshingly unfussy blast of blues-blasted hard rock on an almost yearly basis... with Mike Miley's Valhallic drumming leading the charge, as does the greasy "Back in the Woods," the latter of which sets the narrative tone for the sea change that follows...

Indie rock supergroup featuring Jack White of the White Stripes, Brendan Benson, and two members of the Greenhornes.
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger / What's Yours Is Mine
Reconvening after a decade's absence, the Raconteurs resemble nothing less than a guild of craftsman united by taste and work ethic on their third album, Help Us Stranger. Ever since their debut, the quartet displayed a shared love for the rock and pop made before the advent of MTV, and while they've never abandoned an aesthetic steeped in FM radio, they've gotten livelier with each passing LP. Which isn't to say Help Us Stranger is a slack, loose affair. One of its considerable pleasures is how Brendan Benson encourages Jack White to stick to a strict outline and color within the lines, trends the latter largely abandoned on his willfully obtuse 2018 album Boarding House Reach...

As the frontwoman of the Nashville-based, Jack White-endorsed the Black Belles, Olivia Jean cultivated something of a cult following. After the Black Belles went their separate ways, Olivia Jean maintained a connection with Third Man Records, playing on a variety of White-related projects, including his solo tour and a record by Karen Elson. 
Olivia Jean - Night Owl / Siren Call
Olivia Jean takes the production reigns on Night Owl, her second solo album. Arriving a full five years after her 2014 debut Bathtub Love Killings, a record where she played nearly every instrument but found herself produced by Third Man Records head Jack White, Night Owl maintains an allegiance to all the groovy sounds that powered her first album...

Creator of clever and idiosyncratic indie pop with a garage rock undertow; frequently collaborates with Ty Segall.
Mikal Cronin - Seeker / I’ve Got Reason
After releasing the impressive classic rock-leaning MCIII in 2015, Mikal Cronin pivoted to spending a few years playing and recording with his old friend Ty Segall's band. When he did turn back to his own muse, he spent time holed up in a cabin in the California hills reflecting on recent heartbreak and writing songs. With the help of producer Jason Quiver of Papercuts, Segall and members of his band including guitrarist Emmett Kelly of Cairo Gang, Cronin set about putting them on tape. Much like the expansive, dense music on MCIII, Seeker isn't anything close to resembling his early power pop in the garage sound. This is huge, imposing music that's clothed in full arrangements of layered guitars, swelling background vocals, various keys and orchestral strings with Cronin singing with fierce passion and rueful regret...

An eccentric, adventurous musical collective featuring Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme as the ringleader.
Desert Sessions, Vols. 11 & 12 / Far East For the Trees
Josh Homme always meant to get back to the desert, it just took him nearly 16 years to do so. Homme never officially put his Desert Sessions project on ice, but Queens of the Stone Age kept him busy, as did domestic duties, so the call of the wild remained muted for year after year, until the collective finally returned in 2019 with Desert Sessions, Vols. 11 & 12. Time changes everything, including the tenor of the Desert Sessions. Where previous excursions into the arid netherworld relied on overpowering volume and nocturnal menace, Desert Sessions, Vols. 11 & 12 is concise and colorful, a blast of madness and mischief...

Formed two decades later, heirs to the grungy pop of '90s bands like Weezer and Veruca Salt.
Charly Bliss - Young Enough / Hard To Believe
The follow-up to their 2017 debut album, Young Enough leaves behind some of the grungier corners of Guppy while doubling down on caffeinated alt-rock anthems. That's to say they don't abandon distortion and animated rock drums, but prominent synths and a more extroverted and aerodynamic front land a little closer to No Doubt than the Breeders while remaining on that continuum. Following albums with acts including Morrissey and the Front Bottoms, Joe Chiccarelli produced the record...

Armed with swaggering attitude and crunchy riffs, Big Eyes deliver a modern take on punk rock and power pop.
Big Eyes - Streets of the Lost / Try Hard Kiss Ass
2016's Stake My Claim was the first Big Eyes album to feature two guitar players, and it changed the band's direction. Kait Eldridge's group had a sound that was tough-as-nails garage punk with a nasty edge and a nice line in hooky tunes. Her guitar playing was whip-smart and left a mark. With the addition of Paul Ridenour on guitar, the duo began to explore the possibilities of having two guitars trading punches and ending up in a tangled heap. The album was a fine start down the road to rock & roll Valhalla; on 2019's Streets of the Lost, they grab the rock & roll horns with both hands and wrestle them to the ground. The twin guitar attack of Eldridge and Ridenour reaches its full potential here on tracks that capture the low-slung heroics of Thin Lizzy, the new rhythm section of bassist Jeff Ridenour and drummer Scott McPherson is rock solid and punchy as hell, and Eldridge's songs have a newfound bite behind the catchy melodies...

A Los Angeles-based teenage garage punk quartet with a classicist pop bent and boundless energy.
The Regrettes - How Do You Love? / Has It Hit You?
Take the title of the Regrettes' second album as something of a promise. How Do You Love? finds the band -- or, perhaps more specifically, its leader Lydia Night -- exploring the ramifications of the titular question. It's a bit of an autobiographical quandary for Night, who fell madly and deeply in love sometime after the 2017 release of Feel Your Feelings Fool! The relationship didn't survive, but it inspired the song cycle of How Do You Love?, which traces the rise and fall of Night's first great romance. Chronicling an affair isn't a new concept. Other artists have cut their own song cycles about faded love; the Regrettes tackle this shopworn warhorse with the enthusiasm of youth and the urgency of a broken heart...

Boisterous '70s rock-inspired garage-punk four-piece famed for their lawless live shows.
Amyl and the Sniffers - Amyl and the Sniffers / Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)
With an energy befitting a tiny tornado, Australian punk crew Amyl and the Sniffers deliver a series of punches to the jaw with their rollicking self-titled debut. Clocking in at less than 30 minutes, Amyl and the Sniffers is an absolute thrill, the ideal soundtrack to a sweat-and-beer-covered bar brawl. Here, black eyes and bruises are a welcome trade for the fun and complete abandon within, which owes much to the band's electrifying vocalist, Amy Taylor. Channeling the spirits of forebears Wendy O. Williams, Karen O, and Poly Styrene, she is a riotous force...

Hard-edged blues-powered acoustic rock & roll from this renegade Colorado trio. A rootsy three-piece whose sound puts a dark, punk-influenced undertow on the blues, the Yawpers play hard-hitting songs that touch on culture and class as well as the emotional trials of ordinary lives.
The Yawpers - Human Question / Child of Mercy
On their first album, 2015's American Man, the Yawpers sprang out of the gate as one of the best roots rock bands to emerge in ages, with tough but literate songs and a potent take on acoustic country and blues. They aimed for something bigger and more ambitious on 2017's Boy in a Well, a picaresque concept album that was adventurous in a way that dwarfed their debut, both in material and execution. So in some respects, 2019's Human Question feels like a step back, a set of straightforward tunes that focuses on the band's skills as an electric trio rather than reinventing their stylistic wheel. But it sure doesn't sound like a band that's treading water -- Human Question is a superb rock & roll album, full of heart, soul, drive, and smarts...

U.K. garage rock band fronted by Billy Childish, delivering what they call "The Sound of Yesterday, Tomorrow."
Wild Billy Childish & CTMF - Last Punk Standing.../ Journey to the End of the Night
When the name Billy Childish shows up on the sleeve of an album, it's a guarantee that the contents will be raw rock & roll played with feverish purity and sung with the passion of a madman. He's had numerous bands over the years, and CTMF is on par with the best of them. Over the course of a handful of albums they've established themselves as keepers of the punk rock flame, undimmed by commercial concerns and undeterred by the lure of flashy stylistic diversions. Last Punk Standing... is another fine addition to their CV; the trio whip up some thrilling noise as they power through raging rockers, pounding punk polemics, a surf instrumental, and the occasional love song...

Raw, energetic Pittsburgh indie/post-punk quartet in the vein of Pavement, the Fall, and Wire, but with a garagey aftertaste.
The Gotobeds - Debt Begins at 30 / Twin Cities
...Some bands lose focus when too many other musicians join them in the studio, but on Debt Begins at 30, the Gotobeds sound as strong and defiant as ever, as the guests reinforce what they do rather than distract from it. On their first two albums, the band sounded like an inspired amalgam of the Fall, Pavement, and early Sonic Youth filtered through the perspective of a smart but utterly unpretentious garage band, and here they've added a few more ambitious angles without spoiling the formula or losing sight of their strengths...

Acclaimed lead singer and guitarist of Hüsker Dü and later Sugar, he has also dabbled in singer/songwriter styles and electronic music.
Bob Mould - Sunshine Rock / Sunshine Rock
At the end of the '90s, Bob Mould declared he was done with guitar-based rock & roll and he was looking for a new focus for his creative impulses. Two decades later, Mould has not only had a dramatic change of heart about that, he's making some of the best and most powerful rock of his career, while fronting what is arguably the best band he's ever had. The biggest difference between Mould's albums from 2012's Silver Age onward and his iconic work with Hüsker Dü and Sugar is that his songwriting has developed an emotional honesty and personal gravity that, as strong and passionate as his earlier work was, he never quite found before. And in bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster, Mould has discovered an appallingly good rhythm section who can hit hard without losing sight of the melodies, and when they lock in, they're as tight and sympathetic as anyone could wish...

Formerly of Blake Babies, the eclectic singer/songwriter graced MTV while retaining her D.I.Y. ethos with spry, girlish story-songs.
Juliana Hatfield - Weird / Do It to Music
A year before Weird, Juliana Hatfield delivered an album-length Valentine to her childhood pop idol Olivia Newton-John. Appropriately, some echoes of AM pop linger on Weird -- it's there in the occasional wash of analog synth and the insistent hooks, and it's there in exuberant closer "Do It to Music," a love letter to the complex joys of pop -- but the album is barbed by design, a return to the ornery personal pop that's been Hatfield's métier in the 21st century. The album title alone hints at what Weird is about: the feeling of not quite fitting in with the world at large...

Singer/songwriter and head of Rilo Kiley whose folk-country-rock solo concoctions recall Emmylou Harris.
Jenny Lewis - On the Line / Little White Dove
Consider On the Line as the companion to its predecessor The Voyager. It's not simply that the cover art invites such comparisons. Jenny Lewis once again works with producer Ryan Adams for a good chunk of the album, reuniting with a number of familiar players on the SoCal circuit, such as keyboardist Benmont Tench and Beck, while finding room for cameos from Ringo Starr, Don Was, and Jim Keltner. It's a high-end set of professional players, a supporting cast that lends On the Line the feeling of a low-key Hollywood jam session: everybody is in place, doing their best to make the star shine...

Best known as the bassist for hard rock icons Guns N' Roses, this artist also has a storied solo career.
Duff McKagan - Tenderness / Don't Look Behind You
...On McKagan's third solo album, Tenderness, he turns towards gentle country-tinged songwriting, but his punk spirit emerges in the unexpected form of social consciousness. On the Shooter Jennings-assisted album, most of the 11 songs center around political critique, social unrest, and even perspectives on gun violence, homelessness, and the #MeToo movement. The album followed a time that found McKagan rejoining Guns N' Roses for the "Not in This Lifetime" world tour and writing his second book, entering his fifties as a sober family man and a lifetime away from the debauchery and recklessness of his early years....

An explosive combo that pioneered progressive and arena rock, each new sound increasing their influence and legacy.
The Who - Who / She Rocked My World
It's not billed that way but given the Who's productivity since their initial split in 1982, it's difficult not to view 2019's Who as the band's final album. It's only their second album in 37 years, and if it takes them another 13 years to complete a third -- that's the length of time separating Who from 2006's Endless Wire -- both Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will be well into their eighties, a seemingly unlikely age for new work by rockers... After all these years, it becomes clear that the relationship between Daltrey and Townshend -- the singer serving as the songwriter's best interpreter and editor -- is at the core of the Who, which is why Who feels like a Who album: The two still bring out the best in each other.

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ALTER.NATiON SELECTiON

DRAHLA

ALTER.NATiON SELECTiON on DEEZER

Fierce and hypnotic post-punk U.K. trio. Combining the visceral and cerebral sides of post-punk with sonic and visual flair, the U.K. trio Drahla takes inspiration from '70s no wave as well as legends like Wire, the Fall, and Television Personalities. 
Drahla - Gilded Clouds from Useless Coordinates
“Go inwards and be bold.” This was Harmony Korine’s advice to aspiring creatives, during a Q&A at the British Film Institute back in early 2016. For the recently-formed Drahla, his words served as something of a directive, encouraging the trio to trust their own instincts, however far removed they might be from those of their peers. Three years on, the Leeds-formed band have defined their own vital subset of art-rock with Useless Coordinates, a debut album that’s as fearless as it is enthralling... As per their earliest releases, No Wave and post-punk remain integral to Drahla’s musical universe, evident in Brown’s brilliantly deadpan drawl, in the Gang Of Four-esque guitars on Gilded Cloud... On Gilded Cloud elegant snapshots from the golden age of Hollywood are juxtaposed with abrasive guitar textures... The result is an uncompromising but deeply rewarding debut where the internal and external, cerebral and visceral coalesce to quite startling effect.

Singer and songwriter, as well as a poet and activist, who naturally applies the latter two outlets to her modern, soul-rooted R&B. 
Jamila Woods - MILES
MILES - This feels more like a character study than other tracks on the album, like you’re stepping into the shoes of Miles Davis.
“Miles” felt like a persona poem, where you learn about the author through the lens that they choose to take. I used to love writing persona poems; I once wrote one from the voice of a pigeon.
Also, I have been thinking a lot about feminine and masculine energy, and how I aspire to have both in a good balance. It’s harder for me to be masculine and assertive—to say exactly what I want, speak up when I feel like someone is doing something wrong—so stepping into the voice of someone like Miles Davis is a good feeling.

Brooklyn-based psych-garage combo with with a Nuggets-inspired sound and roots in California. 
The Mystery Lights - Thick Skin from Too Much Tension!
The Mystery Lights are a band who live in the the year 2019 by fate, not by choice. Their music suggests that they arrived in the present day after passing through some wrinkle in time adorned with paisley; they are obsessed with '60s garage rock and psychedelia, and their songs and their approach make it clear they've done their homework when it comes to re-creating the nuts and bolts of this stuff. The Mystery Lights' third album, 2019's Too Much Tension!, captures the sound of that halcyon era when America's youth stopped playing "Louie Louie" and started abusing recreational drugs with a truly impressive accuracy, as if someone discovered a long-lost collaborative project with the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Chocolate Watch Band, and the Seeds joining forces in the studio...

Boisterous '70s rock-inspired garage-punk four-piece famed for their lawless live shows. 
Amyl and the Sniffers - Starfire 500 from Amyl and the Sniffers
With an energy befitting a tiny tornado, Australian punk crew Amyl and the Sniffers deliver a series of punches to the jaw with their rollicking self-titled debut. Clocking in at less than 30 minutes, Amyl and the Sniffers is an absolute thrill, the ideal soundtrack to a sweat-and-beer-covered bar brawl. Here, black eyes and bruises are a welcome trade for the fun and complete abandon within, which owes much to the band's electrifying vocalist, Amy Taylor...  While Taylor is undeniably the star of the show, the group -- guitarist Dec Martens, drummer Bryce Wilson, and bassist Gus Romer -- shine when they are given space to breathe. From the instrumental prelude to "Starfire 500" to the steadily building "Control," Amyl and the Sniffers prove there's more beneath the surface than their scuzzy, mosh-friendly, three-pronged attack.

Arguably the most important punk band of the 1990s and 2000s, with feminist songwriting matched by taut melodicism and jaw-dropping sonic complexity. 
Sleater-Kinney - Hurry On Home
Sleater-Kinney are back! Earlier this year, the legendary trio announced that they would have a new album out this year and that it was being produced by St. Vincent, and they’ve followed through. Their new album is called The Center Won’t Hold, as we found out last week, and it’ll be out later this year via Mom + Pop Records... In a press release, Carrie Brownstein says: “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person — ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness — in the middle of the chaos.”

New Sleater-Kinney Album, Produced By St. Vincent

Valerie Teicher (born Buenos Aires, Argentina), best known by her stage name Tei Shi, is a singer-

songwriter and producer currently based in Brooklyn. Incorporating the genres of shoegaze, indie pop, and R&B, she released her first singles and music videos in 2013, also performing live for the first time at CMJ.
Tei Shi - A Kiss Goodbye
Tei Shi, aka Colombian-Canadian musician Valerie Teicher, is preparing to drop the follow-up to 2017’s tremendous Crawl Space. We don’t have details on the new LP just yet, but today she’s sharing its lead single, “A Kiss Goodbye.” The track is a breathy retro Brazilian pop exercise transposed into languid modern production. “So I lead with my body/ Follow with my head,” Tei Shi sings. “If you got what you wanted/ Let me walk away.”...

Pioneers of Latin rock who successfully married elements of blues, rock, and Latin music, and enjoyed international acclaim for decades. 
Santana - Blue Skies from Africa Speaks
...Throughout, the Santana octet is on fire, fronted by Spain's inimitable force of nature Concha Buika, a singer, songwriter, poet, and producer. She is so versatile, she's been nominated for Latin Grammys in several genres, and is equally adept at flamenco, jazz, soul, funk, and Anglo-Latin and Afro-pop...  Laura Mvula guests on the simmering jazz-blues nocturne "Blue Skies," trading verses with co-composer Buika...

Expansive instrumental duo featuring guitarist Jared Mattson and his brother, drummer Jonathan Mattson. 
The Mattson 2 - Naima's Dream from Paradise
...Paradise is a much more laid-back and pop-oriented production. Cuts like the opening "Naima's Daughter" and "Moonlight Motel" are sparkling groovers built around Jared's bright-toned arpeggio's and lyrical guitar leads, all of which bring to mind a vintage late '60s/early '70s vibe that falls somewhere in between George Benson and the hippie vocal group Free Design...

Long-running Swedish band whose nostalgic sound incorporates free jazz, their native folk and instrumental ambience into their expansive psychedelic rock.
Dungen - Var Har Du Varit from Self-Discovery for Social Survival
Self-Discovery for Social Survival is a documentary film in three parts, following 16 surfers in three very different countries. Exploring hazy adventures in surfing cultures in Mexico, the remote Maldives Islands, and Iceland, the film's soundtrack is an integral part of the package, as the musicians worked closely with the producers of the documentary to create original music that not only scored the visual elements but acted as an emotional counterpart to the experiences of the surfers. For this project, the bands and artists were handpicked for their place in the somewhat psychedelic nature of surf culture and philosophy... Swedish acid rock powerhouse Dungen..

Indie rock supergroup featuring Jack White of the White Stripes, Brendan Benson, and two members of the Greenhornes. 
The Raconteurs - Somedays (I Don't Feel Like Trying) from Help Us Stranger
Reconvening after a decade's absence, the Raconteurs resemble nothing less than a guild of craftsman united by taste and work ethic on their third album, Help Us Stranger. Ever since their debut, the quartet displayed a shared love for the rock and pop made before the advent of MTV, and while they've never abandoned an aesthetic steeped in FM radio, they've gotten livelier with each passing LP. Which isn't to say Help Us Stranger is a slack, loose affair. One of its considerable pleasures his how Brendan Benson encourages Jack White to stick to a strict outline and color within the lines, trends the latter largely abandoned on his willfully obtuse 2018 album Boarding House Reach. There are jokes and asides peppered throughout Help Us Stranger -- the best of these is an intentional skip at the start of the title track, the kind of thing that will drive vinyl freaks batty upon the initial listen -- but the album is distinguished by its velocity, a momentum delivered as much through writing as it is through performance. Whether they're stitching together individual ideas or writing in tandem, Benson and White are full collaborators, honing their hooks and melodies so they're gleamingly lean, then they dress up these handsome bones with squalls of guitar, vintage synths, campfire acoustics, ghostly piano, gypsy violin, and thundering rhythms...

An adventurous Norwegian jazz-rock trio whose personnel come from Supersilent, Shining, and the National Bank. 
Elephant9 -  Farmer's Secret from Psychedelic Backfire I
After delivering the wonderful but uncharacteristically brief Greatest Show on Earth in 2018, Norway's premier jazz-rock outfit Elephant9 return with two sprawling double-length albums. Psychedelic Backfire I and II are live offerings captured over four nights at Kampen Bistro. The first two nights were presented by the original trio of keyboardist Ståle Storløkken, drummer Torstein Lofthus, and bassist Nikolai Hængsle, while the latter two evenings feature frequent collaborator, guitarist Reine Fiske. On each, the band revisit tunes from their back catalog without overdubs, edits, or corrections of any kind as well as covers.

Influential art punk band whose experimental sound harnessed self-destructing melodies, scattershot rhythms, and industrial-strength dissonance. 

Pere Ubu - What I Heard on the Pop Radio from Long Goodbye
Ever since "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," Pere Ubu have been portending the end, either with their apocalyptic sounds or the numerous times they've threatened to call it quits. This time, they may actually mean it. The band's mastermind David Thomas described The Long Goodbye as their "definitive destination," and if it is their final statement, they're not making any concessions. Unlike 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo, where they framed the complexity of their music in relatively short, simple outbursts, this time they lead with the avant side of their avant-garage, letting it sprawl and tangle in fascinating and unsettling ways. For the band's final chapter, Thomas was inspired by an unlikely pair of influences: commercial pop music and Raymond Chandler's classic 1953 noir novel The Long Goodbye (which, not coincidentally, was the author's final book and the culmination of the Philip Marlowe series).

...The band's name comes directly from a tune composed by pianist Mal Waldron, recorded by Donald Byrd and Booker Little for the 1960 album The Soul of Jazz Percussion (reissued as The Third World)...
The Quiet Temple - X Rated from The Quiet Temple
Founded by guitarist Duke Garwood and Soulsavers' Rich Machin, Quiet Temple is a loose-knit, slipstream instrumental collective named for a Mal Waldron composition immortalized by Donald Byrd and Booker Little. The rolling cast includes players who have worked with various bands over the past two decades and sometimes together. The roster includes saxophonist Ray Dickaty (Stereolab, Spiritualized); keyboardist Tim Lewis (aka Thighpaulsandra -- Spiritualized and Julian Cope), drummer Paul May, bassist Peter Marsh (both Woven Entity), and guitarist Tony "Doggen" Foster (Julian Cope, Spiritualized, Brain Donor). Their music crisscrosses genres from psych and post-punk to left-field jazz, steamy dub, kosmiche, and even Krautrock...  Ultimately, there are too few records like The Quiet Temple. While its musical referents are obvious, its assemblage, execution, and inspiration are not.

The Quiet Temple founded by Duke Garwood and Soulsavers' Rich Machin

Tokyo-based quintet De Lorians play a complex, freewheeling brand of spiritual jazz-rock heavily inspired by Frank Zappa and the Canterbury scene. The instrumentals on their 2019 full-length debut are filled with ecstatic solos and unpredictable time changes.
De Lorians - A Ship of Mental Health from De Lorians
De Lorians are a Tokyo-based quintet who play a freewheeling form of proggy, spiritual jazz-rock heavily influenced by Frank Zappa as well as the Canterbury scene... "A Ship of Mental Health" is unabashedly Zappa-fied, even suddenly breaking midway to splice in rapid-fire bits of conversation and snacking... At this fledgling stage in their career, De Lorians sound a little messy and scattered, but their energy is boundless, and the five of them seem to be a wellspring of ideas. Furthermore, it's quite refreshing to find a young group dedicated to this particular patch of the musical landscape -- their music is devoid of cynicism, and they seem thoroughly excited to be exploring the infinite possibilities of musical creation.

A project of Wooden Shjips' Erik "Ripley" Johnson and Sanae Yamada, San Francisco's Moon Duo are a psychedelic Krautrock band with chilly electronic underpinnings and drones inspired by Spacemen 3, Silver Apples, and Suicide.
Moon Duo - Lost Heads
It sounds like Moon Duo have found some new drugs. Historically, their brand of psychedelia has been a little foreboding — buzzing machinery guitars and guttural krautrock rhythms, imagery all focused on the occult and shadows and the grimier corners of the night... We got a hint of it with the album’s lead single and title track, sneakily one of the most addicting and straight-up prettiest songs Moon Duo’s ever recorded. “Lost Heads” might not have the lilting poppiness of its predecessor, but it definitely exists in the same airy, Technicolor world. The whole thing rides easily along a sun-dappled groove, with Johnson and Sanae Yamada’s vocals intertwined in a dreamily distant vocal...

Brooklyn indie rock quartet steered by the vulnerable songwriting of singer/guitarist Adrianne Lenker. 
Big Thief - Not
Big Thief are really not fucking around. Instead of riding the wave of having released one of the most acclaimed albums of the year, they’re returning with another new collection just months later.... “Not” is a hell of a way to introduce that new album. After U.F.O.F.‘s intricate, meditative beauty enraptured critics and fans alike, “Not” is a roiling, fraying rock song, a totally different side of the band’s personality. Adrianne Lenker’s raw performance pushes her typically elusive vocals to their most ragged extremes; the band’s delivery is something like art school Crazyhorse; the whole thing is as desperate and cathartic as the bulk of U.F.O.F. was pristine and enigmatic. Big Thief have long been elemental. This time around, they’ve leaned deep into the fire.

Fuzzy, deeply introspective indie rock project led by British-born, Chicago-based singer/songwriter Lillie West. A deeply introspective and noisy Chicago-based indie rock project led by singer/songwriter Lillie West, Lala Lala rose from playing basements in the underground D.I.Y. scene to signing with Sub Pop imprint Hardly Art...
Lala Lala - Fuck With Your Friends from Sleepyhead
Chicago band Lala Lala is centered around the dark-yet-vulnerable songwriting of Lillie West. West's songs reached a wider audience with her 2018 album The Lamb, a collection of straightforward and intuitive indie rock songs about sobriety, trauma, and recovery... Sleepyhead's blown-out drums, growling bass lines, and walls of layered vocals all look to '90s grunge... Listeners intrigued by riskier production and the happy accidents of lo-fi recording might even prefer the scattered and sometimes unhinged sounds.

Vocalist who makes atmospheric orchestral pop showcasing her torchy image and sensuously husky singing style. 
Lana Del Rey - Doin' Time from Norman Fucking Rockwell!
...This surreal mix of myth and reality, nostalgic visions of the past and grave warnings for the near future, total chaos and California coolness, defines the 14 songs on her fifth full-length. The album weaves love songs for self-destructive poets, psychedelic jam sessions, and even a cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time” through arrangements that harken back to the Laurel Canyon pop of the ’60s and ’70s. Throughout, Lana has never sounded more in tune to her own muse—or less interested in appealing to the masses...

The Godfather of Punk, who began shocking in the late '60s, influencing and (phenomenally) outlasting practically every punk movement to come.
Iggy Pop - James Bond from Free
If you'd been a baker for more than fifty years, you could be forgiven for being sick of the sight of chocolate eclairs. Similarly, a half-century on from the first Stooges album, Iggy Pop has made it clear he's not in love with rock & roll as he once was. Albums such as 2009's Preliminaries and 2012's Après have found him exploring less aggressive and more thoughtful material, and Iggy continues this trend with 2019's Free... While there are electric guitars on most of these numbers, there's little in the way of fuzz or bark, and a ghostly trumpet and waves of atmospheric keyboards play a much bigger role in the arrangements. Iggy had a hand in writing three of the tracks on Free, but most of the songs were penned by his primarily collaborators on this album, trumpeter Leron Thomas and Noveller, who is credited with "guitarscapes."  There are a few playful moments, most notably on the sly and slinky "James Bond...

Mike Patton is not so much a singer as he is an innovator in manipulation of the human voice. One of the most versatile, innately talented, and idiosyncratic singers in rock music, Mike Patton is also one of the genre's most valuable players, since he has divided his time between a host of diverse projects including Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Nevermen, Dead Cross, and an experimental solo career.
The influence of Jean Claude Vannier on French popular and film music cannot be overstated. A composer, arranger, conductor, and producer, he is best known for work he's done for other artists, but his own recordings and scores have gained critical notice too.
Mike Patton / Jean-Claude Vannier - Browning from Corpse Flower
Though few would have conceived of it beforehand, a collaboration between French composer and arranger Jean-Claude Vannier and American singer, lyricist, songwriter, and producer Mike Patton finds them a perfectly matched pair of musical reprobates... Musically, this set crisscrosses many genres, it is ultimately rooted in exploration and adventure yet grounded in sleazy chanson, lounge tropes, blues, cinema music, and sound library tropes... "Browning" sounds like a mutant outtake from the Rolling Stones' Emotional Rescue if it were arranged by Vannier, Keith Richards, and Gainsbourg...  Corpse Flower is a dark jewel from two remarkable musical iconoclasts. It offers surprise, humor, revelation, tenderness, and excess, with flair and a certain tarnished elegance. It's a high-water mark for both men, albeit one born from the belly of hell itself.

The project of singer/songwriter/guitarist Zachary Cole Smith, DIIV makes music that combines shoegaze bliss with grunge catharsis.
DIIV - Blankenship
The new DIIV album, Deceiver, is suddenly imminent. The revved-up NYC shoegazers will release the follow-up to 2016’s Is The Is Are in two weeks... The most exciting song they’ve unveiled so far, though, is today’s offering, “Blankenship.” With a motorik pulse and some of the crispest production of their career, the song surges forward into all manner of noise-pop theatrics, including lots of rad string-bending guitar riffs. Has it instantly become my favorite DIIV song? Maybe?...

New Zealand singer and songwriter who proved highly influential to indie pop for his work in the Clean and as a solo act. From his earliest days as a member of legendary guitar pop trio the Clean through a long-running career as a solo artist, singer/songwriter David Kilgour stands among the most important figures on the New Zealand pop landscape.
David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights - Ngapara from Bobbie's a girl
Both on his own and with his band the Heavy Eights, David Kilgour built up a strong CV of chiming, noisy, and sometimes thickly psychedelic indie rock since the Clean stopped recording (for a while) in the early '90s. On records like 1994's Sugar Mouth or 2004's Frozen Orange, right up to 2014's End Times Undone, he's made thoughtful, tuneful albums that chime warmly as his understated vocals deliver a big, soft punch. It's a formula that has served him well for a long time, but on 2019's Bobbie's a Girl, Kilgour and his band change things up. For one thing, it's mostly an instrumental album, with Tony De Raad and Kilgour's acoustic and electric guitars carrying the main melodic weight, Thomas Bell's bass and Taane Tokona's drums subtly shading the background, and an array of carefully placed keyboards coloring in spaces here and there...

With a noir-tinged, reverb-washed sound indebted to surf rock, psychedelia, and '60s girl groups, introspective indie rock group Frankiie emerged from Vancouver in the mid-2010s.
Frankiie - Funny Feelings from Forget Your Head
An indie rock group founded in Vancouver behind singer/guitarist Francesca Carbonneau, Frankiie emerged in 2015 with a debut EP that revealed '60s inspirations including girl groups and surf rock. They strengthen what were subtler psychedelic influences and focus on the harmonic, noir-tinted climate where these styles all overlap on their full-length and label debut, Forget Your Head (Paper Bag Records). Ringing guitar tones and a simple groove set the tone on the first track, "Funny Feelings." Evoking a poppier Grace Slick or Exene throughout the album, Carbonneau's naturally graceful vocals are punctuated by punky shouts and bent pitches that fall in line with the spooky melodic bass, minor intervals, and touches of the distortion that mark the song...

That Dog was a 1990s Los Angeles-based alternative-rock group fronted by Anna Waronker. The lineup of the Los Angeles-based indie pop quartet that dog. represented the flowering of a second generation of musical luminaries: singer/guitarist Anna Waronker was the daughter of famed producer and Warner Bros. head Lenny Waronker, while bassist Rachel Haden and her violinist sister, Petra, were two of the triplet daughters born to jazz titan Charlie Haden.
that dog. - Just the Way from Old LP
"I haven't felt like this since 1995," Anna Waronker snarls at one point on Old LP, the first album from that dog. in 22 years. During that time -- nearly half of Waronker, Rachel Haden and Tony Maxwell's lives -- the band's spiky yet vulnerable mix of punk, chamber pop and singer/songwriter confessions shaped later generations of indie rock and pop artists. It's all the sweeter, then, that Old LP is a near-flawless blend of experience and exuberance. Though Waronker and Haden sound only a day or two older than they did on 1997's Retreat from the Sun, all of that dog.'s members have become more seasoned musicians since that album's release. They also made Old LP at a deliberate pace, writing and honing a handful of songs each year after their 2011 reunion shows...

Greasy, bluesy jam band led by brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson, sons of Memphis studio legend Jim Dickinson. 
North Mississippi Allstars - Call That Gone from Up and Rolling
...NMA -- Luther and Cody on guitar and drums, respectively, Thomas on vocals and fife, Carl Dufrene on bass, and Sharisse Norman on vocals -- are a well-seasoned outfit; the quintet and most of their guests have been playing together in various capacities for most of their lives. "Call That Gone" is a filthy, squalling, bottleneck-guitar blues driven by rolling tom-toms with souled-out vocals from Luther and Thomas, her fife trading licks with his guitar...

Born in Limoges, France, Fabienne Delsol combines French pop with classic British beat. French-born vocalist Fabienne Delsol started her career as lead singer of the beat group-obsessed Bristols, then branched out on her own with a sound that started off in similar fashion only with some psychedelia and French pop added to the mix.
Fabienne Delsol - J’ai Fait De Lui Un Reve from Four
After taking a long break from recording, Fabienne Delsol returns with another light-hearted and snappy album that combines the hookiness of the beat group boom, the drama of vintage French pop, and the murky swirl of psychedelia. Her previous solo albums were helmed by Liam Watson at his famed Toerag studio; this time around Delsol takes half the wheel, with the studio's engineer Luke Oldfield also steering. They get a sound that's a little less reverb coated and a bit snappier, bringing Delsol's sound a little closer to the modern era. Not close enough to be be bland or slick; just enough to make the album sound less like a long-lost curio. As before, the songs are split between newly written tracks and covers of decades-old obscurities, both sung by Delsol in her sophisticated style... Delsol also covers a classic Françoise Hardy song from 1968, "J’ai Fait De Lui Un Rêve," capturing the song's stately charms while adding some buzzing guitars and soaring Mellotron. This song and the rest of the covers are done exactly right, with respect to the original but played and sung with unique style and personality. Delsol and her crew have plenty of each, and they make the covers sounds as much hers as the songs skillfully written for her by Gardiner. Four is another special record from an artist who can do no wrong, except for not making albums more regularly.

Respected New York City group that plays a highly cerebral brand of indie rock, with electronic and experimental influences.

Battles - Fort Greene Park from Juice B Crypts

Like a hummingbird in flight, Battles make the most complex labour look carefree and weightless... Ultimately, though, it's the tracks where Battles are left to their own devices that define the album. On "Fort Greene Park," watch as a blustering guitar collects itself into precarious catharsis — synths fall out of the drums that contain them, climb back in, and all builds to quietness. It's one of the most plaintively beautiful songs in Battles' catalogue, in its sonic attention to loss, to change over time. And, as we listen to it, we also listen to the sound of a band who continue to create after more than a decade — tempered with loss, yes, but also joy, also freedom.

Vibrant Norwegian quartet blending jazz, electronic music, R&B, and psychedelia into eclectic pop.
Broen - Do You See the Falling Leaves? from Do You See the Falling Leaves?
It's hard to express the creative leap Broen made between their international debut and its follow-up better than the albums' titles do. On 2017's I <3 Art, the Norwegian collective were above all creative, channeling their passion into breaking any remaining boundaries between pop, jazz, electronic music, R&B, and hip-hop. On Do You See the Falling Leaves?, they use their genre-fluid sound to explore the connections between the desire to make art and the desire to reach out to others... The title track's sensuous nine-minute sprawl is remarkably intimate, thanks to the husky warmth of Røe's voice -- which calls to mind Joan as Police Woman's Joan Wasser -- and the surprising, charming combination of tuba and a scorched electric guitar solo...

Welsh songwriter Cate Le Bon's distinctive voice and smart arrangements manifested as a dark, looming take on psychedelic pop over the course of multiple critically acclaimed solo albums, side projects, and production for others.
Bradford James Cox is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound.
Bradford Cox / Cate Le Bon - Canto! from Myths 004
Cate Le Bon's role as producer on Deerhunter's 2019 album Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? can be heard in both the album's experimental tendencies and organic yet distant arrangements. Le Bon's own 2019 strike Reward had the same balance of strong songwriting and production that blurred curiosity and confusion. The creative friendship between Le Bon and Deerhunter's Bradford Cox takes new shapes on their collaborative EP Myths 004. At its most straightforward, the seven-song project sounds like what could be outtakes from either artist's 2019 album. Opening track "Canto!" features Cox in a dramatic double-tracked vocal melody in an arrangement decorated with strums of autoharp, dissonant guitar soloing, and heavy tandem drum kits...

Best known as the compelling vocalist for Savages, Jehnny Beth is the performing name of French musician Camille Berthomier.
Jehnny Beth - I’m The Man
Savages leader Jehnny Beth has a new song out today, “I’m The Man,” which appears on the soundtrack for the British television show Peaky Blinders... Here’s what Beth had to say about the track in a statement: "I’m The Man’ is an attempted study on humankind, what we define as evil and the inner conflict of morality. Because it is much easier to label the people who are clearly tormented by obsessions as monsters than to discern the universal human background which is visible behind them. However, this song has not even a remote connection with a sociological study, collective psychology, or present politics; It is a poetic work first and foremost. Its aim is to make you feel, not think."

Chicago garage punkers who channel '60s and '70s influences with giddiness and irreverence.
Twin Peaks - Spiders (Kidsmoke) (Wilco Cover)
The Wilco tribute album Wilco Covered was released on CD with the November issue of Uncut, and only one of its songs was released digitally... That would be Twin Peaks’ take on “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” which, like “Company In My Back,” originates from Wilco’s masterful 2004 release A Ghost Is Born. It’s a roots-rock/krautrock hybrid that sets Wilco’s drowsy pop harmonies and rangy, agitated lead guitar work to a motorik pulse, punctuated by occasional widescreen bar-band explosions. Twin Peaks, Wilco’s Chicago rock descendants, have delivered a faithful reading of “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” one that reminds me how cool it would be to see the track back in Wilco’s setlist sometime soon...

Experimental rock outfit Health&Beauty is led by Chicago-based guitarist/songwriter Brian J. Sulpizio, also known as longtime guitarist for Ryley Walker. The project's melodic, exploratory songs take influence from pop music, free jazz, and meditative folk-rock. 
Health&Beauty - Saturday Night from Shame Engine / Blood Pleasure
Seven albums into the shape-shifting, lineup-shuffling, improvisational project of guitarist/singer Brian J. Sulpizio (Ryley Walker), Health&Beauty submits a sprawling group of songs that negotiates dark, rambling blues ("Saturday Night")... With a live version of the band at the album's core, much of Shame Engine/Blood Pleasure was recorded with the lineup of Sulpizio, guitarist Jake Acosta, bass player Bill Satek, and drummer Seth Vanek following a three-week tour in late 2017. A number of other familiar and first-time collaborators also contributed performances to Shame Engine/Blood Pleasure before it was deemed complete. Clocking in at over an hour, the album adjusts expectations with the trudging blues-rock of the nearly 11-minute "Saturday Night," which features Acosta's howling lead guitar alongside Sulpizio's minimalist vocals...

NEW NOISE: SORRY
Every time we listen to Sorry, the four-piece rock band from North London, we can’t help but feeling as if what is blaring through our headphones is unlike anything we have heard before. The music is rock, grunge rock, with strands of electronic coursing through it, and deliciously moody vocals from lead vocalist Asha Lorenz completing the circle.
Tags: alternative rock grunge post post-punk post-rock London
Sorry - Rock ‘N’ Roll Star
...Although they’re known for switching up their style from song to song, one thing this new one has in common with its predecessor is a reliance on wild saxophone trills. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” is a bit more deconstructed at first, like Sonic Youth attempting a nasty jazz track that eventually morphs into idiosyncratic pop music. Amidst the minimalist chaos, Asha Lorenz sings, I stayed up all night with a rock ‘n’ roll star/ He said you gotta just follow the part, you are not who you are.” From there it keeps transforming, always maintaining its unique aesthetic no matter how much the turmoil transforms....