This Is Art, Kids!

May

Piper-Summer Breeze

Sun on the skin, relaxing like life will last forever, drinking some pop, begging for winter to never come again. Piper’s Summer Breeze evokes these feeling perfectly in its ten breezy,funky tracks. A really consistent record, everything pieces together perfectly. Records like this makes all the digging worth it. The best city pop album I’ve ever heard.

New Order- Power,Corruption,Lies

This opens pretty great with “Age Of Consent” and “We All Stand”,but falls off right after. “The Village” and “586” feel like underwritten versions of better New Order songs(“Temptation” and “Blue Monday” respectively.). The second side has two pretty great tracks(“Ultraviolence” and “Leave Me Alone”), but also feels underwhelming. Still a good record, but they have at least two that are better.

Iron Maiden-Piece Of Mind

Maiden belongs to my favorite genre of heavy metal. A genre that I like to call Dungeon Core. All of their songs are heavy, but are also mostly about really nerdy fantasy/historical shit. The riffage here is on point and Dickinson sings the heart out of these silly lyrics. This is what peak metal looks like!

YMO-Naughty Boys

YMO sell out. This lacks so much of their distinctive sound that it sounds like any number of City Pop bands could have put this out. As a big fan of their previous records(Especially BGM!) this really disappointed me.

Swans-Filth

The relentless drums and sonic assault of Michael Gira’s voice just sounds like what I imagine being punched in the face over and over again feels like. Musically this is an interesting sounding record, but the lyrics are just too gross for me to truly enjoy it.

Tomoko Aran-Fuyu Kukan

I could tell that they were trying for a classic here and that counts for a lot. There is a consistency in sound, which I really appreciate. All of these songs sound like they belong together. The instrumentation is also top notch as well. There are a few moments that are a little too cheesy for me(“Body To Body”), but there are also some undeniable City Pop classics on here(The highlight of those being “Midnight Pretenders”. That song is so dang smooth.). Good, but not great.

Go Betweens- Before Hollywood

Jangly post punk by way of Australia. In spots it reminds me of Echo and The Bunnymen. This starts very solidly( I love the call and answer between the guitar and bass on “Two Steps Step Out”), but it becomes a slog about midway through. I wanted to like this more than I did.

June

Talking Heads-Speaking In Tongues

A great record, but probably my third favorite from them. While it does boast a tremendous song list, I do feel like it is mostly an all rise type of record. I like my records to have more peaks and valleys, so I prefer their previous two to this. That being said, this record makes me want to dance my face off and does feature what is possibly the greatest love song ever in “This Must Be The Place(Naive Melody)”.

The Polics-Synchronicity

Probably the best of their records. A big problem I have with their earlier records is that they just sound like a bunch of unconnected tracks. That problem is absent from this release everything seems to be of a piece here. The songwriting(barring “Mother” which is still fun.) takes a mature turn as well with songs about topics like environmental concerns(“Walking In Your Footsteps”) and codependency(“Wrapped Around Your Finger”). A pretty great swan song, I’m so glad they never recorded a reunion album.

America-Your Move

I have a soft spot for some of America’s 70’s hits (How can you deny “Sister Golden Hair”? An underappreciated masterpiece that song is.), but this is really bad. It leans into so many bad smooth pop 80’s tropes. It sounds like a completely different band. What the fuck is that cover too? Who the fuck wears a turtleneck to the beach?

Marshall Crenshaw-Field Day

Look at that cover, that’s a face that probably is very well acquainted with swirlees. “Whenever You’re On My Mind” is a power pop classic and “Our Town” is pretty good too. The rest of this doesn’t hit that level again, but it still is a fun record throughout. He kind of feels like a cross between Elvis Costello, and The Raspberries. A light recommend for me.

Richard Thompson-Hand Of Kindness

I’ve only ever been familiar with Shoot Out The Lights by him(With Linda Thompson). I’ve never been too into Celtic influenced stuff, but his voice really works for it(Dig “Both Ends Burning”, it’s so dang bouncy.) Some of the tracks are a little too heavy on the zydeco sound to comical effect though(The closer is especially bad.), but I mostly enjoyed this.

Lombard-Śmierć dyskotece

Lombard is a new wave band out of Poland. The playing here is all very skillful and and bouncy. Several of these tracks would not be out of place in an 80’s movie(Check ”Diamentowa kula” out. It sounds like a training montage track.). They definitely were influenced by Blondie, but the guitar licks would not sound out of place on a Thin Lizzy record. This is good stuff right here.

July

Tom Tom Club-Close To The Bone

The sophomore release from The Tom Tom Club finds them revisiting similar territory as their debut and that’s not a bad thing. This is a lot of fun, I just want to boogie to most of these tracks. It definitely makes me want to go further into their discography. 

Jonathan Richman- Jonathan Sings!

There are some good tracks on this record(“That Summer Feeling”, “The Neighbors”,”Someone To Hold Me”), but all of those tracks have better studio versions on other records by him. The rest of this record overuses cheesy backing vocals to a fault(“Stop This Car” is especially guilty of this with its bad 50’s nostalgia.). It’s hard for me to say you can pass on a Jonathan album, but this one is skippable.

Big Country-The Crossing

“I’m not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun in wintertime”

What a line! The opening track is incredible, but the rest of this is pretty uninspired arena rock crossed with some Celtic stylings. I’ve always loved the lead track, so hearing the rest of this was quite the disappointment to me.

Via Talas-Perfektan Dan Za Banana Ribe

Yugoslovic band with a real flare for melody. Very catchy stuff and would not sound out of place on Postcard. Clocking at just under 30 minutes, it never outstays it’s welcome. I liked it so much, I listened to it twice in a row. It’s a keeper, I think some of these tracks are going on my running mix.

Shonen Knife-Burning Farm

A very cute bublegum rock record from Japan. The songs do all kind of blend together towards the end, so I’d recommend listening to this a side at a time for the best experience.

Circle Jerks-Golden Shower Of Hits

Loud, obnoxious, crass. I really like the first track on this, but the rest of this is a little too snotty for me. They do a pop song medley at the end that is pretty funny the first time you hear it, but not after. Also, I learned Keith Morris is 70. Imagine still touring in a band called Circle Jerks at 70. 

Metallica-Kill ‘Em All

There is a lot to love here. A more primitive version of the band, lacking all their later pretensions, the songs are shorter too. There are also quite a few classics here(“Seek and Destroy” “Four Horsemen”, “Hit The Lights”), but by the second half of this record they have showed their hand and it gets to be repetitive. Probably the worst of the first four depending on how charitable I am feeling towards AJFA. 

Madonna-Madonna

I really do like the three big singles, but they are not without their flaws(“Lucky Star” and “Borderline” outstay their welcome by about a minute, and “Holiday” has some pretty terrible synth lines.). I also really like “Burning Up”, that song has a pretty great bass line. The rest of this is pretty disposable though.