Denis' Best of 2012

                                                                 
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1.    Om – “State of Non-Return” – I’m really into Eastern Religion so it makes sense that I would love Om. I’m really into fat booty bass so it makes sense that I would like Om. The lyrics are about Buddhism and elder gods that are not Cthulhu. These days the band leans more towards the long, drawn-out, atmospheric songs with an emphasis on percussion and other instrumentation rather than the older bass-heavy jams. This track has plenty of fuzzy bass and gets nice and loud, just like I like it. The rest of the record is great for chants or an epic joint-rolling sesh. What did I just write???

2.     Dinosaur Jr. – “Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know” – I think we can all agree that the best music came out in the 90s. Hello? Hello??? Anyway, the new Dinosaur Jr. record contains a lot of the elements that make this band great…come on, you love that one guitar solo, but his song switches it up a bit with a dance-y/Cure vibe PLUS the solo. BOOM, we all win.

3.     Screaming Females – “Rotten Apple” – I hate new music. Ugh it’s all different and you have to get used to it and it isn’t that one record that you love and you’re used to and you can actually sing the guitar solos because you’ve listened to it that much. That being said, this is one of the few newer bands that I have really gotten into the past few years. Guitar rock with a pop-punk feel and sick solos. My only complaint is that lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Marissa Paternoster loves doing weird shit with her voice (which you can hear some of on this track), but if you can look past it this band is really good.

4.     Beastie Boys – “Gratitude” – Admit it, you love the Beastie Boys. Okay, you haven’t listened to them in years, but you still know the words to (ENTER SONG HERE) and sing it loud when you hear it. Plus, you were kind of bummed when you heard MCA died. How many groups admit that they were stupid kids at one point and grow up to be really politically active adults? Anyway, MCA has no vocals on this track, but holy shit that bass line is great. Is he playing bass or rapping in heaven? I guess we’ll never know since we’re all going to hell.

5.     Propagandhi – “Devil’s Creek” – So you listened to Propagandhi when you were into pop-punk in the 90s and thought they were fine. Well if you haven’t listened to the last four records from this band you’ve missed their transformation into a melodic thrash punk/prog-metal powerhouse. In my opinion this is one of the best bands around currently that know how to mix a few different genres of music and stay fresh with each record.

6.     Led Zeppelin – “No Quarter” – Yes, I am aware that this song came out a few years ago. A few hundred, amirite? Today I am your classic rock radio DJ and I invite you to get the “led” out. Actually, I insist. GET THE LED OUT.

7.     Milk Music – “Fertile Ground” – Fuzzy rock by dudes that maybe don’t really know how to play instruments. Luckily, I am usually that dude so I can appreciate this. Also, has a 90s feel (see above somewhere)

8.     Royal Headache – “Psychotic Episode” – This band follows in the footsteps of Marked Men to bring you super-fast but melodic punk rock. Other tracks on this record almost have a punk meets Motown/Northern Soul feel. I’m sure they sound like some other bands that have existed but fortunately for myself I don’t really listen to a lot of music so derivative things sound fresh and new to me. I WIN!

9.     I Hate Myself – “To A Husband At War” – I lived most of the 90s as a sad sappy fucker and this was the band that really captured how I felt: miserable and corny. I recently found their entire output in digital form on the internet and had myself a look back and laugh fest. No really, I laughed about the fact that I was such an idiot…that listened to great music. Enjoy?

10.  2 Chainz – “Birthday Song” – I really didn’t have a #10 but I just heard this song last week and needed to include it here. The best part about this is the video so maybe skip this track and just watch that instead. I like most of my rap to be absurd and insane, so this jam really fits in there. “When I die, bury me inside the Gucci store”. Wow, this guy gets me.

Peter Wonsowski's best of 2012

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or:

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2012 went by all too quickly, but not without a myriad of monumental highlights.  Cheers to everyone here, with hope that 2013 continues to build upon the good.

1) DOPPELGANGAZ - The Doppelgangaz are a ghastly vagrant duo from NYC, and they have beats for DAYS.   Once or twice a decade a hip hop group comes around that has PHENOMENAL production and remembers to have a ton of FUN.  I'm about a mixtape away from throwing their hat in that ring.  Extra 2012 bonus points for rapping/using in a sentence:  "ill haberdashery"

2)  MENAHAN STREET BAND - The Daptone family just GETS it.  They know all the intangible qualities that transcend soul-revival into something timeless and sincere.  What makes the band's sophomore LP wonderful isn't just that it's maybe the record of 2012 for me, but they pushed the boundaries of their song writing throughout: smooth strings, sinister western slide guitar, cassette left out in the sun, and plenty of late night soul.

3) POGO - A video editor who mashes up old movie clips into something manic and musical.  This one utilizes Wizard of Oz segments.  I find it syncs up with my occasionally cartoon brain.  Pogo is trying in vain to get a grant to travel the world and field record and film every culture, and then "do what he does".

4) CLAMS CASINO - ugh, I ignored this boob based on the name alone.  I was unaware he was making incredibly fuzzed out ambient crushing beats for underground rappers.  like if "This Will Destroy You" started DJing.  VERY hard to pick out a single track, but his often free mixtapes have so many fantastic evolving loops that are the farthest thing from traditional "beats" underneath 99% of  hip hop.

5)  THIS WILL DESTROY YOU - speaking of... last years "record of the year" (in my opinion) was their album Tunnel Blanket: a dense, challenging, and transporting apex for this San Marcos band.  This particular song was actually a score for a short film,  not even advertised by the band, but they killed it here and effectively simple too.  They almost brought a Texas-sun-drenched-VHS quality to the underlying loops, but their notes and mood are as transcendent for me as ever.

6)  CAST KING - this is LITERALLY the sound and song of a dying cowboy.    

7)  DARLING DEARS - just a gorgeous soul melody that is as deep as cuts can get.  What I love about delving deep into soul music is how many unsung artists you will discover who have all the passion, sloppiness, poorly produced charm, and sincere magic that any of our favorite lo-fi masterpieces,  passionate punk 7"s, and DIY dreamers ever possessed.  This is NOT Motown, or Stax, or even Twinight.  What you are hearing is the sole musical document of this NY group in 1972 who simply HAD to record this tune.  Only 1000 45s were ever made, and absolutely everything from the 2 minute mark make this a priceless jewel (listen to those drums!!!).  

8)  KID KOALA -  I always kept him at an arm-length away as a musician I respected but never truthfully "got into".  It's because as a turn-tableist and DJ, he's far more interested in creating jazz and abstract movements, or deconstructing minimalist blues, than making a "beat" we can tap our toes to.   Then I saw this EP of late night sleepytime ambient record scratches for his newborn (who he claims helped with some piano samples).  The whole thing is beautiful, and an example of something I waited a long time for an artist to create without knowing I wanted them to.  The album comes with a full illustrated book he "scratched" himself, and apparently when he toured off this record, there were headphones and pillows for the audience...

9)  JACKSON C FRANK - "The Blues Run The Game" -

  What in heaven's name is this mamby-pamby folk singer doing on my list, and what could he possibly know about" the blues"? 

 Well, When Jackson C Frank was 11, most of his friends died in a fireball that blew up in the school classroom.  Over half his body was covered in burns and he required 7 months in the hospital, when a teacher brought him his first guitar.  Haunted by memories and battling a resultant depression, ten years later he received a small fortune as part of an insurance settlement.  Like the song begins, he then "caught a boat to England", wandering aimlessly spending his money, performing songs, falling in and out of love.  One such love followed him all over the world, ending their relationship as she ended her pregnancy.  Another such love was a young girl he convinced to drop out of nursing school to write her songs, that girl being Fair-port Convention's Sandy Denny, whose biggest fans are Led Zeppelin and Nina Simone. 

   Jackson C Frank made enough of a name for himself to attract the attention of fellow folk wieners Simon and Garfunkle, who produced and recorded some of his songs.  Frank hung up a sheet and asked them to leave the room, presumably out of nervousness, but he still gets points for not wanting to look at their faces while he played.  His record never went anywhere, the folk audiences moved on, and Frank fell into obscurity and further depression.  Depression then crippled him when his baby boy died of cystic fibrosis, dissolving his family, and then disappearing completely himself, in and out of various institutions. 

  An avid folky and record collector traced him down decades later, buying him a $10 guitar and a tape recorder, and as lore would have it, pulling Jackson C Frank out of his shell and giving him new hope at a new life with new songs.  However, one day while sitting on a bench outside, he was randomly targeted and shot in the eye by some kid.  A blinded Frank then moved to Woodstock where he was supposed to record demos and prepare for a reissue of his sole musical output, but none of this would happen, as he then died of cardiac arrest at the age of 56.

  This song is both broad in its feeling lost in the present, and specific in its fears for the future.  I've since tried to listen to several neutered covers of this and every single one of them, even the equally troubled Nick Drake, miss the point.  The intangible melancholy was too personal, but it comes across loud and clear in his words and his playing here and here alone.   

10)  I found this on youtube by accident one day.  I've always had an affinity for music boxes and i've always been intrigued to actually make them.  This is is from a video of some guy who did just that, re-composing APHEX TWIN'S "Avril 14th" as a beautiful gift to his girlfriend.  It's not only something I could listen to until I went gentle into that good night, but a craft I'm even more intrigued by.

- - - - - - - -

  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this was a great year for records, especially October, with the new Godspeed!, Mono, Menahan, and Neurosis being released in one budget destroying swoop.  Neurosis, and Deafheaven get my vote for metal record of the year.  

  Finally, my older brother Dan and I finally got to see one of our song writing favorites who had a huge impact on us in how we listened to, interpreted, and even made, music: Jeff Mangum in Austin City Limits!  Pair that with him taking his daughter to the Paul McCartney concert where they bought the t-shirt I designed, and he's responsible for two of the hugest "doesn't get better than this" occasions this year 

thanks everyone!
-pw!


"Ya gotta follow that dream wherever that dream may lead"  - Elvis Presley

Jeanne's Mix

Hey guys! So last year I made a mix but never really got it together to post it.  I made a backdated post with a link to a youtube playlist for that one you can check out here.  This year I found that a lot of the music that stood out was related to memorable shows which actually makes this list a little more fun to write about.

 

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1) No Meaning- Terrible Feelings: I'm noticing already that a lot of bands on my list this year are bands Alexis had on hers last year. It's not surprising at all that Alexis is way ahead of me on this since  I generally don't have a clue what's going on but we could also see this as evidence that the songtrade blog WORKS. Anyway I listened to Terrible Feelings a ton this year and saw them when they came around.  They really know how to deliver the despair but in a package that seems deceptively cheerful initially.

2) Fast and Frightening- L7:  I'm getting to that point where I'll occasionally revisit something from my past to try and determine if it holds up or if it's something purely nostalgic for me.  Like a lot of people in my age group I accidentally ended up buying Bricks are Heavy from Colombia House, taped "Andres" off WDRE in the middle of the night, and bought "L7" on cassette from a dollar bin, but I never really paid "Smell the Magic" any mind. Turns out it still has a lot of appeal and I got pretty stuck on this song as an on- repeat- morning- coffee- chugging- jam.  You know, something to get me really stoked before I left the house to do something lame like ride my bicycle to the post office.

3) Sombras Ocultas- Criaturas: One of the best bands I saw this year. You can actually watch that specific show here on youtube.

4)The Hunt- Sepultura:  Mike and I made a playlist of metal bands covering punk bands earlier this year and I ended up frequently listening to this cover of New Model Army over and over and over and over again while I do dumb shit at work.

5) A Dangerous Meeting- Mercyful Fate: Sometimes I REALLY want to like a band and I just can't.  I've actually been making a concerted effort over the past couple of years to learn to deal with King Diamond's singing style because I really appreciate what he has going on.  It's been slow going but I'm getting there.

6) Black Caped Carnivore- Wooden Stake: I like this because it sounds like it was recorded in a tomb.

7) Sanctuary- Crimson Scarlet: So while I liked what I'd heard before I saw them the experience of seeing them barrel through their set in a red lit smokey living room at a Halloween show packed with weirdos in costumes really sealed the deal.  I felt like sound-wise and aesthetically we all could have walked right onto the set of Return of the Living Dead or something.

8) In my Head- Belgrado:  Similarly the night I saw Belgrado I was absolutely content with the perfect weirdness of my surroundings.  A ramshackle goth "club" in the dilapidated upper floor of an Italian restaurant? With perfect haunted house ceiling holes and chipped plaster and just the right smattering of old Halloween decorations? With a weird ass DJ mc-ing like he was at a roller rink? yes yes yes. Perfect.

9) Creeping Symmetry- Infinite Void:  I did some artwork for a previous band these folks were in but missed my chance to see them play so I wanted to make sure to check out their new band while they were here from Australia. SO glad I did.

10) There's a Ghost in My House- R. Dean Taylor:  I feel like the haunted or empty house is a great tangible metaphor for heartbreak and I think this song would pair perfectly with one of my other miserable favorites, Seven Rooms of Gloom by the Four Tops.  The Fall also do a great but pretty straightforward cover of this song.

Allen's song list for 2012

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2012 has been a year of reflecting for me. It has also been a nonstop shitfest. But musically there hasn't been too much "new" stuff that I have gotten into. So this list reflects me getting into some classic metal bands that I should have years ago & some newer rap music that I discovered this year. I hope it is diverse enough to keep you interested.

1. Flatbush ZOMBIES - S.C.O.S.A. - Flatbush ZOMBIES are like if you took all the kooky spiritualism out of Gravediggas & replaced it with weed & strippers. Shit is straight stupid but I enjoy the hell out of it. They finally put out a mixtape this year with like five good tracks. This is my favorite.

2. Manilla Road - Crystal Logic - This is one of the metal classics that I finally got into. Like a Michael Moorcock tale come to glorious metal life. Totally over the top vocals. Can't get enough of this record.

3. Abysme - Formless - My favorite local band that also happen to be good friends of mine & a sick death metal outfit. Nothing groundbreaking. Just really well executed. For fans of Autopsy, Dungeons & Dragons, & all things awesome. Check out the album art by Putrid for this, it is fucking nutzoid.

4. Riot - Feel the Same - Another band I am kicking myself for not getting into sooner. A perfect blend of NWoBHM & NYC dirtiness. That opening riff gets stuck in my head for weeks & it isn't even the catchiest part of this gem.

5. The Lord Weird Slough Feg - High Passage/Low Passage - My good friend Mike Bolam turned me onto this band. This song is from the album Taveller. This is from Wikipedia "The album is based on GDW's 1977 science fiction role-playing game, Traveller.". Why are you still reading this? You should be rocking out & rolling dice.

6. Killer Mike - Regan - I fucking hate Ronald Regan. So does Killer Mike. I have never felt more vindicated in an opinion. This song kicks ass & the whole album Killer Mike did with El-P has to be on every top ten list for hip-hop.

7. Morbus Chron - Red Hook Horror - Swedish baby death metallers making insane music based on one of Lovecraft's most racist stories. Enjoy. 

8. Death Grips - Beware - I know I am very late on this record. I don't know if it is hip-hop or experimental rock. Shit is just good. I am the Beast I worship.

9. Dio - Hungry for Heaven - This one is a cheat. I have known & loved this song for years. This past year I went through a period where I was listening to this every morning before work. It gets me pump. It will dothe same for you. I am just sharing the love.

10. Action Bronson - Double Breasted - Lastly I give to you Action Bronson. Imagine a kid from NYC of Albanian descent that raps exactly like Ghostface about the subjects of food, sex & drugs. Stop imagining & live that dream. His mixtape "Blue Chips" is great & yes it is named after the movie starring Nick Nolte.

Honorable mentions for 2012: Pallbearer(you beat me to it Josh), Lake Mungo, Kill List, the fiction of Joe Abercrombie, Todd & the Book of Pure Evil, Labyrinth Lord & amazing friends that support me through thick & thin. 

No thanks list: Poseurs & cancer. 

Josh:Songtrade:2012

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1. The Hobbit Soundtrack - The Misty Mountains - Haters be damned, I loved this movie.  It made me cry like six times; the songs definitely played a big part in that.  (The other part had to do with me being a huge, sentimental nerd.)  The first thing I did when I got home was download this song.  So many Middle-earth feelings. 

2. Pallbearer - Foreigner - Pallbearer’s debut, Sorrow and Extinction, is easily my favorite release of the year.  They wear their Warning influence proudly (which I am stoked on, since I LOVE Warning), but they do a great job of taking Warning’s highly-emotive doom metal and pushing it into more mystical, cosmic realms.  This record never ceases to draw me in and keep me enthralled every time I listen.  I had a pretty weird emotional moment listening to this song on the bus a little while ago.  These guys are probably one of the top three live performances I saw this past year as well; they’re coming out West in a few months and I can’t wait to see them again.

3. Milk Music - No Life - I listened to Milk Music’s Beyond Living record so much this year.  Really great raw, noisy stuff that reminds me a lot of The Wipers and Dinosaur Jr. (especially the loose, blown-out melody of the latter.)  Missed them when they passed through Philly, but now that I live in the same state as them hopefully I’ll catch them live. 

4. Blue Öyster Cult - Before the Kiss, a Redcap - After knowing and liking BÖC’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” for years I felt like there was something about this band I should be getting.  I tried a lot of their stuff and connected with none of it other than an odd song here or there.  Finally, their self-titled debut showed up at the record store where I used to work and I found something I liked.  For me, the fueled-by-biker-speed hard rock of the early stuff balances out the more indulgent, proggy pop they explore on their later records, and it all works pretty well. 

5. Varghkoghargasmal - Near the Stars - Super weird German one-man band playing kind of inept, instrumental, non-distorted metal that is kind of not metal at all.  I have no idea what’s happening a lot on this record (Drowned In Lakes), but I am so into it; something about the loose clumsiness of the whole thing really sells it and makes it seem pretty sincere.  I really love the way the reverby guitar sounds like a banjo at times on this song. 

6. The Ruins of Beverast - I Raised this Stone as a Ghastly Memorial- I just got this record, Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite, and normally I wouldn’t throw something so new on a best-of list, but I have been OBSESSED.  More weird German one-man metal, but this is on the opposite end of the spectrum; where Varghkoghargasmal succeeds by getting everything wrong, RoB does everything perfectly.  Epic, atmospheric doomy black metal that’s crushingly expansive, mysterious and just SO GOOD.

7. Rein Sanction - F Train - Really cool early-90’s Sub Pop band that got lost in the whole grunge craze.  They apparently got compared a lot to Dinosaur Jr. (some of which is warranted), but they definitely stand on their own--the singer certainly sounds like J. Mascis and the same sludgy heaviness is there, but Rein Sanction seem to take the sound into weirder, darker, more meandering places.  Highly recommended for 90’s alt-rockers old and new. 

8. John McLaughlin - Dragon Song -  This song is from Devotion, a solo record from John McLaughlin, who used to play with Miles Davis and later went on to form the Mahavishnu Orchestra.  I’m not a jazz fan by any means, so that stuff doesn’t mean much to me, but I figured I’d throw it in for any curious individuals.  Really cool, heavy instrumental psych-rock stuff that kind of goes all over the place.

9. Alcest - Faiseurs De Mondes -  Alcest’s Les Voyages de L'Âme came out right at the beginning of the 2012;  I listened to it a little, liked it, and then totally forgot about it.  When I was going over music to prepare for this year’s Songtrade I remembered it and now I’m totally into it.  It’s probably a lot more rock-oriented than earlier records, but after careful consideration it’s not a jarring progression; all the elements I know and love are still present, just really well integrated.  The same dreamy shoe-gaziness is there, the same hypnotic black metal-inspired transcendence is there, and the same overall beauty is the result--it just all hangs together in a more subtle way, which tells me that good old Neige has kind of perfected the way to take us where he wants us to go.  I think this song is a pretty great representation of that.  Alcest toured this year, too, and they pulled all of it off live just as well. 

10. Wishbone Ash - Errors of My Ways - Really great 70’s jam with some killer twin lead guitar, which would later become the hallmarks of two of my favorite bands, Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden.  This is off of Wishbone Ash’s self-titled debut; they get a little more polished and proggy after this, but I think the raw folkiness works pretty well on this album.  Epic guitar hippies.

Bonus Tracks: [This was a pretty weird year for me musically; I feel like I sought out a lot less music than normal.  I was pretty preoccupied by my move out to Seattle both mentally and physically, so aside from a handful of the stuff up above I probably listened to more older stuff than anything else.  I think it was a comfort thing.  As a result, I listened to the following three songs about a million times, and I figured a 2012 list would be incomplete without them.]

11. Black Sabbath - Die Young - Heaven and Hell was the first record I listened to every Monday for about four months or so.  Starting every week with a little Dio offered some necessary encouragement at a trying time, and I kind of think I should get this Monday-morning tradition restarted.  Also, fuck is this a great song.

12. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Ramble Tamble - A copy of Cosmo’s Factory sat just across from me at the record store for months.  Every time I couldn’t figure out what to play next I just grabbed it and threw it on the turntable.  I got super obsessed with this song as a result.  I really dig the weird, sprawling jam it becomes about two minutes in, and I like the way it just kicks back in a few minutes later like nothing happened.  After this year, “Ramble Tamble” is for sure on the short list for my favorite Creedence song.

13. Candlemass - A Sorcerer’s Pledge - I listened to Candlemass’ Epicus Doomicus Metallicus so much during and after the move for some reason.  So, so much.  Not a day of packing or unpacking went by where I didn’t listen to this song or at least start singing it to myself when I wasn’t listening to music.  I think it’s a testament to just how killer of a jam it is that I haven’t associated any of the stressfulness of said move with it--it’s just too good of a song.  Even now when I listen to it I don’t think of cardboard boxes, I think of an ageless sorcerer cursed by his own foul deeds.