Listing To Starboard...Fifty Favorite LP's 2018

LISTING TO STARBOARD...

FIFTY FAVORITE LP'S 2018

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50) CLEARANCE: At Your Leisure

49) MISSING EARTH: Gold, Flour, Salt

48) TANUKICHAN: Sundays

47) TOTAL BETTYS: This Is Paradise

46) THE SPOOK SCHOOL: Could It Be Different

45) ANNA BURCH: Quit The Curse

44) MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER: Bon Voyage

43) PLLUSH: Stranger To The Pain

42) DOG PARTY: Hit & Run

41) SOME EMBER: Submerging The Sun

40) LET'S EAT GRANDMA: I'm All Ears

39) BUILDINGS AND FOOD: Quick Beat Save

38) CHASTITY: Death Lust

37) MADELINE KENNEY: Perfect Shapes

36) GRUFF RHYS: Babelsberg

35) GIRL GAZE: Fade Out

34) TUNE-YARDS: I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life

33) LALA LALA: The Lamb

32) OBNOX: Bang Messiah

31) ADRIANNE LENKER: abysskiss

30) STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS: Sparkle Hard

29) ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER: Hope Downs

28) WYE OAK: The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

27) MIYA FOLICK: Premonitions

26) SPEEDY ORTIZ: Twerp Verse

25) SHOPPING: The Official Body

24) THE GOON SAX: We're Not Talking

23) KURT VILE & THE VIOLATERS: Bottle It In

22) THE BETHS: Future Me Hates Me

21) WAX IDOLS: Happy Ending

20) YO LA TENGO: There's A Riot Going On

19) NO AGE: Snares Like A Haircut

18) KHRUANGBIN: Con Todo El Mundo

17) CLOUD NOTHINGS: Last Building Burning

16) ILLUMINATI HOTTIES: Kiss Yr Frenemies

15) CAMP COPE: How To Socialise & Make Friends

14) SNAIL MAIL: Lush

13) BONNY DOON: Longwave

12) IAN SWEET: Crush Crusher

11) JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET: Both Directions At Once

10) SWEARIN': Fall Into The Sun

9) COURTNEY BARNETT: Tell Me How You Really Feel

8) YOWLER: Black Dog In My Path

7) SUPERCHUNK: What A Time To Be Alive

6) MITSKI: Be The Cowboy

5) TROPICAL FUCK STORM: A Laughing Death In Meatspace

4) MOURN: Sorpresa Familia

3) EAST BRUNSWICK ALL GIRLS CHOIR: Teddywaddy

2) BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT: Mother Of My Children

1) SAY SUE ME: When We Were Together

Bleached/Japandroids at the Fonda Theater

JAPANDROIDS

BLEACHED

FONDA THEATER, LA

08 NOVEMBER, 2012

L.A.'s Bleached is no stranger to these pages, having opened up for Veronica Falls earlier in the year.  This go-round saw them share the bill with Japandroids, from Vancouver, for a feisty night of noise.  For my take on the Japandroids set, check the Owl Magazine.  Photos and video of Japandroids follow Bleached.
The Clavin sisters, Jennifer and Jessica, formed Bleached in the wake of their previous band Mika Miko dissolving, and it has been a slow and satisfying build.  After a handful of singles, a full album is on the horizon for next spring on Dead Oceans, and it should push the band's profile considerably.  They've been working hard on the road, and it certainly shows.  Their Ramones cum Shangri-La's attack is well honed at this point, and it will be interesting to see how they've grown in the studio.
They didn't seem fazed at all by the big stage, rising to the occasion with a set that featured a few new songs, and touched on their cornerstones: the singles, especially a rousing version of "Searching Through The Past", and the obligatory (and always welcome) Ramones cover.  It was short, but sweet, and I look forward to the not-too distant future, when Bleached will be the headliner.

(JAPANDROIDS)

Night Of The Living Malkmus

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS

NURSES

SOHO SANTA BARBARA

27 FEBRUARY, 2012

On the second swing of touring for last year's Mirror Traffic, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks ventured further afoot, landing in Santa Barbara for a return visit to the intimate Soho.  He was in rare form, loose and playful, perhaps given the presence of his sister at the show, whom he nearly outed both her address and phone.  He also made time to parry the obligatory 'Pavement' shout out by launching into a monologue about doing Whippets w/said person's mother.  Vintage Malkmus.

The setlist, pictured after video, was adhered to in spirit, rather than by the letter, and a high point was a rousing segue from the new album's "Asking Price" into "Stick Figures In Love" without missing a beat.  Not new anymore drummer Jake Morris seems much more in place with the band, seamlessly locking in with long standing bassist Joanna Bolme.

The encore was the Malkmus tradition of a jangled mix of covers, and this was no exception.  Starting out with Boston's "Peace Of Mind", it gave way to the Velvet Underground's "When She Comes", before straying through Joy Division, and finishing fittingly with The Doors' "The End".  I will update video of that in the future, for those interested morbidly or otherwise.  It was the perfect capper to the evening.

Portland trio Nurses filled the opening bill, winning the restless audience over.  Their tunes were ghostly psychadelic tinged animals that ran loose in a live setting.  Lead guitarist Aaron Chapman was sporting a beautiful 1964 national Barracuda.  Their last two LP's: Apple's Acre, from a few years back, and last year's Dracula, are both out on Dead Oceans.
 

 

Editor's Note: Previous blog post was a resurrected unpublished draft of a Malkmus/Jicks show from last fall, which, for consistency's sake, seemed to work best here...