Just a few days remain in the year 2012, so without further ado I now present our year-end top tens! Special thanks to Joe Keller for suggesting I revive this tradition from the Now Wave days!
First, here's my top ten album list:
10. Masked Intruder- self titled
9. OFF!- self titled
8. Youthbitch- Don't Fuck This Up
7. Ana Lucia- self titled
6. Mean Jeans- On Mars
5. Randy America- F*ck Vision
4. The Ills- Tuning Out
3. White Wires- WWIII
2. Gentleman Jesse- Leaving Atlanta
1. Kurt Baker- Brand New Beat
Next, a top ten from Matt Mayhem:
10. White Wires- WWIII LP
9. Mean Jeans- On Mars LP
8. Half Rats- self titled tape
7. The Cry!- self titled LP
6. Guantanamo Baywatch- "Oh Rats"/"A Boy To Love" 7"
5. Sugar Stems- "Like I Do"/"Never Been In Love" 7"
4. Youthbitch- Don't Fuck This Up LP
3. Suicide Notes-"Hey Baby"/"Wolf Couple"/"Last Chance" 7"
2. Chain Of Love- "In Between"/"Breaking My Heart" 7"
1. Primitive Hearts- self titled EP
All the way from Spain, here's a top ten from Javier Iglesias:
1. The Nomads - Solna
2. Kevin K - Tramp Stamp
3. Mojomatics - You're The Reason For My Troubles
4. The Crazy Squeeze -self titled
5. Imperial State Electric - Pop War
6. Gentleman Jesse - Leaving Atlanta
7. Joey Ramone - ....Ya Know
8. Redd Kross - Researching The Blues
9. Sonic Beat Explosion - Sister Psychosis
10. The White Wires - WWIII
If it is possible to include EPs, I will put in the number 1 of the list:
Biters - Last of a Dying Breed
Now here's Peter Santa Maria's Top 10 (or so) for 2012:
2012 could easily be labeled "The Year of The Comeback" and people
gettin' back to their "roots". More musicians seemed to be reforming
their once legendary bands (latest being Rocket From The Crypt!) and/or releasing records that harkened back to their "glory days". Some
might call it a nostalgia crisis, but I just call it good music. And
hey, there were a few "new" bands that I found out about this year and
also really dug. So, never mind the bollocks, here's my top 10 (or so)
for 2012!
The Hives - Lex Hives
I was ready to write off The
Hives after the incredibly disappointing The Black and White Album,
but luckily these stylish Swedes took the time to regroup and wrote one
helluva set of songs. It's almost like a best-of compilation, as it
takes the best song characteristics from each one of their albums and
comes up with one solid representation of everything that The Hives do
great musically: fast, short songs, mid-tempo garage stompers,
swaggerin' soul, and each one of their songs is full of hooks, smart and
catchy lyrics (Howlin' Pete knows how to play with words and really
turn a phrase) and pretty much just flat out ROCK. Lex Hives was
self-produced by the band, and it definitely was a smart move after the
over-produced, too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen mess of The Black and
White Album. Lex Hives has a live 'n' loose vibe and sound, almost
like Exile On Main Street. GREAT drum sound here, just sounds like
someone bashin' the drums in a BIG room, distrorto bass, clean cut like
glass guitars that break-up JUST enough to give them some bite and
Howlin' Pete's circus ringleader revival vocals over top of the whole
thing. R'N'F'N'R!
Redd Kross - Researching The Blues
The
brothers McDonald are back, and thank fuckin' gawd because they were
sorely missed by this music listener! This is one of the most solid rock
'n' roll records to come out this year, or in the past 10 years for
that matter, and one of Redd Kross' best to date. So many great riffs,
hooks, choruses... just GREAT songwriting. Guitar tones go from jangly
chords to distorted leads, backed by bashing drums and bouncy bass.
"Stay Away From Downtown" is pretty much the perfect rock song and
should be blastin' out of car stereos, iPods and transmitting from radio
stations every hour on the hour. Mining Beatles to Big Star, 60's
garage to 70's glam to 80's punk, Redd Kross is a rock 'n' roll
juggernaut and Researching The Blues is their newest testament to
everything that ROCKS!
Bob Mould - Silver Age
Another
contender for best comeback album is right here. Bob Mould went off and
experimented with electronic music, became a DJ, wrote a book... and
that's all well and good. Dude can do whatever he wants with his life.
But when I want to listen to or pay attention to Bob Mould, I wanna hear
that VOICE and LYRICS and just that big, gloriously noisey guitar
racket that only Bob Mould can produce. Pure pop power punk! I always
equated Mould with being like a punk rock Pete Townshend (and
Townshend's attitude was pretty punk already!), a true rock 'n' roll
storyteller. Silver Age is definitely one of the best albums Bob Mould
has ever released, totally on par with his Husker Du output and
rivaling anything that he did with Sugar. Silver Age is full of
middle-aged punk rock piss and vinegar, evident from the line "Never too
old to contain my rage" in the title track. But the album isn't just
all bottled up anger, there's lot's of positive hope too, illustrated
best in one of the last songs on the album, "Keep Believing". I can only
hope Bob Mould keeps making great albums like Silver Age.
Bouncing Souls - Comet
Always
been a fan of this band! Saw them coming up "in the scene" on the east
coast in early '90s, was in a band or two that shared stages with them,
was always proud of their success and longevity, these guys definitely
paid their dues and have earned everything they have gotten. I know they
were "experimenting" (there's that word again) with their songwriting
and instrumentation on last couple records, which produced mixed
results, in my opinion. But with Comet, 'Souls are firing on all
cylinders with 10 really strong anthemic punk rock and sing-a-long pop
punk tunage. Great lyrics. Great production by Bill Stevenson
(Descendents, ALL). Comet is easily one of their best albums.
Nude Beach - II
Jangly
power pop and roots rock 'n' roll with heart on your sleeve lyrics and
just honest songwriting. No pretense or preening here, and these dudes
worship at the altars of past songwriters with names like Westerberg,
Petty, Springsteen, Case, and Felice. At times, when I am walkin' around
the city listening to this album, these guys come across like a
reincarnated Real Kids for the new millenium, and that just makes me
smile. Saw them open up for Reigning Sound this summer in Philly, and
these guys bring the goods live too.
Heap - Defriended
NYC's
HEAP come back with their first release in four years here, a mighty
rolickin' collection of power pop rock 'n' roll songs! Songs about hard
times, harder drinks, time lost, changin' times and the only thing you
can count on in this world is... NYC sound guy extraordinaire Noel Ford.
Cheap Trick guitar crunch with Bash and Pop's soul = good rockin'!
The Mess Around - Boner Time
High-energy
trashy garage punk rock 'n' roll from NYC! Who knew THAT still existed
in NYC?! A boozey cocktail of early-Replacements and Miracle Workers
served in a dirty hi-ball glass down under with Radio Birdman, Lime
Spiders and Celibate Rifles on the bar jukebox. The Mess Around also win
the "Best Album Title of the Year" award (note to editor: awards will
not be honored). Another fine release from the quickly burgeoining Drug
Front Records rock 'n' roll dynasty!
Born Loose - self tited
Speakin'
of Drug Front Records, here is the debut full-length from Larry May's
(of Candy Snatchers infamy) new-ish band. Born Loose is a GREAT live
band, and that comes across loud 'n' proud on this album. I can smell
the sweat and see the on-stage mayhem within a few short minutes of the
needle dropping on the vinyl. Sonically, this has more orchestration
than any Candy Snatchers album (horn section on opening track, very
reminiscent of The Saints), organ/piano ("House of Creeps" and "Bad
Baby Faye"), and some more mid-tempo numbers that really lay down a
rockin' groove as opposed to just blastin' out a stabbin' slab of punk
rock (although there are a couple of those too!) . "China Bus Express"
is the best song not written by New York Dolls I have heard in ages.
The Figgs - 1,000 People Grinning
The Figgs have been together... 25 years!
Damn! How many bands can say that? Not many!
This
25 song anthology spans their entire career, and honestly, this should
be TWICE as long to really do this band any justice. The Figgs are one
of those bands that just write amazing songs that run the whole gamut of
the rock 'n' roll genre: fast rockers, mid-tempo stompers, soulful slow
burns, powerful pop, punked up anthems, funky love songs, acoustic gems
and... the LYRICS! Both Pete Donnelly and Mike Gent seem to be able to
say in song things I can never articulate. The Figgs have been there,
done that (as far as the major label game goes) and came out on the
other side, yet they seem like perennial underdogs (I guess we could
call it Replacements-itis or maybe Graham Parker syndrome). It kills me
that a band like this is not HUGE. Oh well, pick this up and join the
secret society of people with really good taste in music (i.e. FIGGS
FANS!)
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat and Bone
The Jon
Spencer Blues Explosion's first album of new material in 8 years, Meat
and Bone, is much like The Hives' Lex Hives: it comes across like the
perfect compilation album of past and present. You get JSBX scuzz noize
blooze beginnings and their soulful Stones swagger later period, with a
sprinkle of funky fuzz on top of it all. Also this time around, much
less schtick, and way more rawk. The songs here feel like real songs and
not just "Blues Explosion" spiels. Standout tracks like "Black Mold"
sound like a castaway Iggy ripoff, "Danger" sounds like a lost Stooges
outtake, "Black Thoughts" and "Bear Trap" are pure slide guitar Stones
blues 'n' roll. JSBX turn in a stripped-down, recorded-live-in-a-room
rock 'n' roll album with yelps and yells in all the right places, and
one of their very best albums to boot!
OFF! -self titled
Keith Morris. Steven McDonald. Mario Rubalcaba. Dmitri Coats.
16 songs clockin' in under 16 minutes.
Artwork by Raymond Pettibon.
Punk.
Fuckin'
Rock.
'NUFF SAID!
Spider Fever - self titled
This
band features Mario Rubalcaba (RFTC, OFF!) gettin' out from behind the
drums, slingin' a guitar and gettin' in front of the mic to belt out
some fuzzed-out Killed By Death riff punk rawk. All killer, no filler on
the 9 tracks here. Turn this up, smash and thrash around the room and
blow yer eardrums out!
Next, here is Joe Keller's Best of 2012:
Albums
10. Municipal Waste - The Fatal Feast
There's
an ongoing debate in comment sections across the internet - is
Municipal Waste heavy metal or thrash or thrash metal or are they
crossover? I know very little about heavy metal outside of its
now-ancient progenitors (AC/DC, Black Sabbath [including the Dio years],
Motorhead, Deep Purple), so applying the correct label on what they do
is outside of my abilities - but I can tell you that I can't stop
listening to it. Many say MW frontman Tony Foresta has the "DRI voice"
which is ok by me - I think that just means his vocals aren't on either
end of the ridiculous spectrum (eunuch-level operatic high or cookie
monster unintelligible low) which is probably why I am able to like this
band (plus, "Dealing With It" rules). This 5th long player from the
‘Waste is perfect for long lift sessions at the gym or blasting out of a
car while you and your friend knock down mailboxes with baseball bats
while drinking a rack of Yuengling. The overall theme is centered on
zombies in space - which sounds like it would be played out at this
point because of The Walking Dead on AMC but trust me, the ‘Waste make
it work and this record delivers the goods.
9. The Figgs - The Day Gravity Stopped
I
am a near-fanatical Figgs fan. It is hard for them to do wrong by me.
This double LP (the SECOND double LP in the Figgs cannon) is bigger and
sweeter than a 44 oz. fountain coke from Wawa. Side A has some real gems
- I read once in an interview with guitarist Mike Gent that the Figgs
were huge fans of Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks
(I've heard them cover at least two songs from that record) and The Day
Gravity Stopped may be the result of their collective Kinks-mania.
While there is no general concept that holds the record together as best
as I can tell, it is rich with character sketches ("Lovely Miss Jean", "Inspector RT") and timeless quality pop.
8. Sonic Avenues - Television Youth
I
was super late on this band - Ken from Dirtnap Records hepped me to
them a few months before he released Television Youth, the sophomore
effort from Montreal’s Sonic Avenues. Sonic Avenues have their own
great sound - fantastic melodies, strong pop songwriting, production
with the right amount of grit, and a cool signature guitar sound. Any
time I try to concoct a comparison to other existing bands, it always
falls apart (best I can muster is The Marked Men with the late Jay
Reatard doing early Cure outtakes [see, that was awful - who would want
to listen to that?]) which just demonstrates how original this band is
(or, just how poor of a writer I am). I highly recommend tracking down
their debut self titled LP as well.
7. Sick Sick Birds - Gates of Home
Sick
Sick Birds last LP, Heavy Manners, was a great refined punk/post-punk
rock album. It was one hell of a debut. Gates of Home is slightly
more lo-fi, but the same great band is playing the songs. I think
certain bands are the perfect representation of a place. For instance,
The Arrivals ARE Chicago to me. The Modern Machines ARE Milwaukee.
Sick Sick Birds are Baltimore as far as I'm concerned. I can picture
the Baltimore skyline as seen from an I-95 passenger as I listen to "Gates of Home". Few bands can pull of this trick.
6. Black Wine - Hollow Earth
By
now, a structural pattern for Black Wine LPs is starting to emerge - a
nice symmetry, three singers, three songwriters, three songs apiece, a
little double sided Divine Comedy from the Jersey Shore. Black Wine are
the sort of band that could have saved SST when they were putting out
all of those Zoogz Rift records (which I admittedly have a soft spot
for, too). While the blueprint for how they arrange their albums is
somewhat static, the songs themselves are not. It's the type of daring
underground rock music unencumbered by a stiff musical formula or
predefined image that made digging countless record racks and sending
away via mailorder all worth it in previous decades. Hollow Earth features some of the best Black Wine, in particular, the haunting "Flatland", which as far as I can tell takes lyrical cues from a Richard
Feynman analogy on how explaining the fourth dimension (time) in
space-time to humans is like explaining the 3rd dimension to flat bugs
that live in a 2D world.
5. Bob Mould - Silver Age
Bob
Mould puts his snooze-worthy techno on hold and dishes up some
Sugar-esque rockers on this long player. On the skins is none other
than everyone's favorite Best Show call-in guest, Jon Wurster (oh yeah,
he also plays drums for a little band called Superchunk, as well). This
is my favorite Mould since Last Dog and Pony Show, which I have always
thought is a bit underrated. Hopefully, Silver Age will not suffer the
same fate.
4. Toys That Kill - Fambly 42
Toys
That Kill are a weird little band - this summer someone told me that
once you cross the bridge into San Pedro, you're on another planet -
you're not in LA anymore . Toys That Kill are on another planet. It's
herky jerky rhythmic punk music that sounds like squawking cat and or
dog humans are singing over it. I mean this in the best possible way.
3. Sickoids - self titled
A
killer 20 min long 12" disc from what I might consider the best band
from Philly of all time, Hooters be damned! (sorry Roy.) Chorus effect
laced guitar cranked out over bass-static and punishing drums. Some
tracks even remind me of the more hardcore stuff on Zen Arcade, which is never a bad thing! Had the
opportunity to watch this band multiple times this year in multiple
sweaty stinky punk houses - they were no joke. They've already sort of
broken up, but I'm hoping they recorded some more stuff before they hung
up their boots.
2. Cheap Girls - Giant Orange
Cheap
Girls dish up their 3rd and best LP to date. It goes down easy like an
ice cold beer after a long day of working at a shitty job and makes you
forget about the worries in your life like a big fat bar of Xanax.
Seemingly from a time when great melodies melded with catchy guitar
hooks and straight-forward production (I think they called it "alternative" when it hit about 20 years ago), Cheap Girls are
descendents of such Midwest titans as The Replacements, The Goo Goo Dolls,
and Soul Asylum - rock bands from the Midwest who grew up and out of
the punk scene. However, I would say Cheap Girls has far surpassed The
Goo Goo Dolls and Soul Asylum. There are plenty of hits on this one - "Ruby" in particular is a real banger.
1. Screaming Females - Ugly
The
New Brunswick power trio have pretty much kicked ass since inception,
lighting basement shows ablaze with their guitar pyrotechnics incendiary
vocals. Marisa Paternoster's trademark howl and shriek is no doubt an
acquired taste, but you know what, so is Frank Black's bellowing and
squealing, and Doolittle is one of the best records ever. Ugly is
heavy on the riffs and packed with deadly guitar shredding. Everything
you've ever read on a blog about Marisa's guitar skills is not hype -
none other than J Mascis himself has given her the thumbs up in print.
However, often times the Scremales rhythm section is over-looked. Ugly should correct this - with Steve Albini at the recording console the
band has never sounded better - I swear it sounds like Dave Grohl
playing drums on "expire" and King Mike's fuzzy Rickenbacher has never sounded better than on the epic "Doom 84". This band will be on SNL in less than 5 years, and it will be a joyous occasion.
Singles/EPs
10. Altered Boys - self titled 7"
Pissed-off
East-Coast hardcore - all of those words go together so well. Altered
Boys sound a bit more Boston than Jersey Shore, but honestly who cares.
They are without a doubt the best hardcore band in NJ right now. If
you can catch them live, don't miss 'em.
9. Omegas - NY Terminator
Montreal’s
Joy Boys are at it again, delivering brutal hardcore. If you enjoyed
their 2011 LP Blasts of Lunacy (perhaps the best album title in the
last decade), you will surely revel in slam-skanking to NY Terminator,
their newest batch of jams.
8. Lemuria - Varoom Allure
This
record was a Record Store Day special - more straight ahead and
pop-oriented than their sophomore LP. Great drumming and vocals as
always.
7. Sugar Stems - Greatest Pretender
Sugar
Stems do female fronted power pop like no other in this present day and
age. Aided by veteran axe-man Drew from the Jetty Boys/Leg Hounds,
Betsy has penned some of the best jangly, distortion-free power pop this
side of Pandoras. This single was a teaser for their 2nd LP that came
out a few weeks before the end of 2012 - I regret not being able to
purchase it before I made this list!
6. Tenement/Culo split
Tenement
continues to amaze. Another band that does not have a preset mold for
what they do - any Pitchfork-reading snob who gives you shit over
listening to pop punk needs to sit their ass down and listen to this
band. Culo is fast hardcore delivered with wild abandon - had a chance
to share a bill with them last year in Chicago, and they were great. Did
not get a chance to pick up their full length yet, but it's on my to-do
list.
5. Young Skin - The Sticky Pages
A
super-group comprised of my friends - so take my recommendation with a
grain of salt. However, I think I can safely say, personal
relationships be damned, there are some great straight ahead grungy,
garagey punk tunes on here, particularly "Uneasy", which Miranda Taylor
delivers with the perfect amount of melody and snarl.
4. Mikey Erg/Alex Kerns split
...Speaking
of biased opinions! Mike's ability to write a song that tugs at your
heartstrings and makes you want to pump your fist in unison to the beat
has not waned an iota since the passing of our old band The Ergs, as
evinced by "Song Against Ian Raymond". The Down By Law cover satisfies
the 15 year old in me, but it is no way a match for "Song Against..."
and in a way that's good - Mike must have known he had hot shit on his
hands so the 2nd song he put on this thing had damn well better be a
throwaway or else it would have been a waste of a good song. I am
jealous The Ergs never got to perform this one! I predict Mike will
make the best pop record anyone's heard in a long time next year. Alex
Kern's laconic vocal delivery is one of my faves - the often lyricist and
drummer of Lemuria delivers two quirky gems.
3. Big Eyes - Back from the Moon
Big
Eyes are named after a top notch Cheap Trick song - should give you an
idea where this band is coming from - excellent power-pop-ish rock n
roll songs with big crunchy guitars. Singer/guitarist/songwriter Kate
Eldridge has been cranking out great stuff for years despite her youth -
most notably in Used Kids and her own group Cheeky. This 7" is Big
Eyes at their most polished so far and that's not a bad thing at all.
The A side is a killer hit complete with "oooh" laden bridge and a
chorus I defy you to forget after hearing it just once.
2. Neighborhood Brats - Ocean Beach Party
This
band is the best new find of 2012 for me - and this 7" smokes! The
A-side is a great uptempo rocker deriding California beach culture. It
zips by in less than 1.5 minutes and totally rules. However,
it's the B-side that makes this 7" - the menacing mid-tempo "Shark
Beach". It's all wrapped up with a really cool looking black and white
front cover - this is the band to watch next year. Their full length is
going to be at the top of everyone's 2013 top ten list.
1. Red Dons - Auslander
Red
Dons hit the world with the best song, A-side, and 7" of the year with "Auslander, a big, soaring, epic punk song complete with memorable
guitar lead and passionate chorus about being an outcast everywhere you
go in life ("Auslander" is pejorative term for "foreigner" in German).
At this point, I think Red Dons have stepped out of the shadow of The
Observers and really carved out their own name.
Also great this year:
Mean Jeans - On Mars
School Jerks - self titled
Guantanamo Baywatch - Chest Crawl
Creem - self titled 12"
Boston Strangler - Primitive LP
Plastic Cross - Grayscale Rainbows
Nude Beach - II
Good Demos/tapes worth checking out:
1. Altered Boys
2. Real Cops
3. Snowdonia
4. Voight-Kampff tape
Next up, we have a top ten from Danny Dysentery:
1. Midnite Snaxxx - self titled LP
A supergroup! Great poppy garagey all around awesomey punk.
2. The Gaggers - "Psychosomatic" 7"
My favorite band going.
3. Mean Jeans - On Mars LP
The best pop punk album of the year.
4. The Anomalys- "Retox" 7"
The best live band I saw this year and a killer single to boot!
5. The No Tomorrow Boys - "Animal Eyes" 7"
Punked up Buddy Holly, Fuck yeah!
6. The Paper Bags "II" 7"
Classic punk rock and it came in a paper bag itself, best packaging of the year.
7. Neighborhood Brats "Ocean Beach Party" 7"
My other favorite band going right now.
8. Big Box- Die Now LP
Evil pervey hardcore.
9. Raveonettes - Observator LP
More gloomy pop songs.
10. Teenage Bubblegums - Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Pray for Tomorrow
Italian pop punk that's all sugar highs. I love it.
And lastly, a top ten from Travis Ramin:
10. The return of the Subsonics
One of the most unique garage bands of the '90s is back and sounding just as good!
9. Newly discovered Esquerita material from Norton
The "Hittin' on Nothing" 45 is especially killer (support Norton Records!).
8. Lee Hazelwood LHI Years double album
Great material AND naked '60s ladies all over the cover wearing Lee Hazelwood mustaches!!
7. Dueling 50 year anniversary concerts and subsequent new material from The Beach Boys and Rolling Stones (and the Monkees!)
Even Wyman put down his metal detector and picked up the bass for "Jumpin' Jack Flash".
6. Charlie My Darling
Rolling Stones movie filmed in 1965 and never released. Made to get the Stones used to be around cameras, but they also captured riotous concert footage and hotel room songwriting. VERY COOL!
5. The Midnite Snaxx (all of their releases!)
One of Tina Lucchesi's best bands. As the kidz say.."It's aaaall gooood" (do the kidz still say that?). "80 in the 40" rules!
4. La Sera - Sees the Light LP
An honest to goodness modern yet '60s girl group sound without the phony "doo wop" posturing. The videos are great too. Perfect for the lonely teenage boy type!
3. The New Surfsiders - "Kokomo" b/w "Good Vibrations"
Not to be confused with Lou Reed's The Surfsiders, this is the New Surfsiders. Equally retarded, equally GREAT!
2. Redd Kross - Researching the Blues LP
"Stay Away from Downtown" is the best song of the year and the best song of their career. Everything they have done has led to this song. I haven't played a song over and over again like this in a long time. If released in the late '70s, it would be duking it out on the charts with "Surrender" and the like. Great video too!!!
1. Wired Up book and companion Hector 45
An AMAZING collection of rare Euro glam rock and bubblegum singles cover art from the early '70s. It's something I've waited for someone to do for so long. It's also a great way to find out about some cool records you might not know about. Even cooler is that it was compiled by Jeremy from the Busy Signals and Mary from the Baby Shakes. It comes out perfect when it's in the hands of rockers and collectors as opposed to some dipshit wannabe
Rolling Stone magazine flunky. SLADE, HECTOR, JOOK AND BEYOND!!!!!! YOU WON'T STOP LOOKING THROUGH THIS BOOK
One More....
Getting to introduce Ronnie Spector and doing WOO HOO with the 5678's, and playing with the Little Girls at the Girls Got Rhythm festival. The Muffs set was absolutely killer too!
Thanks everyone! Happy holidays!
-L.R.
