Album Review- Better Than Jail

2024 was a good year for compilation albums. I think of compilation albums as a thing of the past. There were Soundtracks in most every decade. Then there were tribute albums that popped up in the 80s and seemed to really be a big thing in the 90s. Tributes to Roky Erickson, Leonard Cohen, Richard Thompson and others are still well loved. One might think streaming has changed our tastes for compilations but they still seem to be prevalent. 

The first that comes to mind is Cleopatra Records who churn out countless punk tribute compilations. These albums generally feel uninspired but I would also be lying if I didn’t have some interest in those. In 2024, they released Punk Floyd and Punk Me Up (a tribute to The Rolling Stones). Their compilations generally include an equal number of American hard core bands (Fear, JFA, Angry Samoans) and English punk and Oi bands (Vibrators, Anti Nowhere League, UK Subs)- most long past relevance. But compilations do abound and a good use of them seems to be tribute albums to well loved bands by new and indie artists. What a good way to get heard. (I should probably also miss the recent trends of charity albums that have got a great deal of attention but the fact that they are so necessary saddens me too) 

Petty Country has to be on the top of the 2024 list - a combination of popular country and critically acclaimed artists tackling Tom Petty songs got played on country radio but also found room for Steve Earle, Margo Price and Rhiannon Giddens. 

 David Olney was probably one of the more underrated songwriters in Nashville. Celebrating his work is Can’t Steal My Fire with a who’s who of Alt Country- Earle, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Janis Ian and a previously unreleased Townes Van Zandt live recording. 

My Black Country features works of Alice Randall. Randall, an NAACP Image Award winner is an author and has a successful career as songwriter for the likes of Reba McIntyre, Trisha Yearwood, Glen Campbell, and Johnny Cash among others. The list of musicians on this tribute are literally most of my favorite songwriters of the last decade- Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Sunny War, Valerie June and a list of artist I am not yet familiar with. 

 It may be Better Than Jail that shocked me the most. A benefit album geared at improving the criminal justice system. The lineup is Americana’s biggest stars- Earle, Price, Jason Isbell, Hayes Carll and Allison Moorer, Old Crow Medicine Show, War and Treaty, Bonnie Raitt and others. But most of the songs are well covered through the years- I Fought The Law, In the Jailhouse Now, Midnight Special, and I Shall Be Released. Yet there is still something fun about Steve Earle tearing through I Fought the Law or Raul Malo tackling Johnny Cash’s I Got Stripes. 

One foot in the past, one foot in the present. Bob Dylan’s story of Rubin Carter’s ordeal “The Hurricane” is one of those songs you probably shouldn’t cover. A monster of a story that just builds and builds. I’m not sure anyone but Dylan could have pulled it off and at that, I’m not sure that anyone but mid-70s Dylan could have made it work. Margo Price nails it though. Her cover is the gem on an album of a solid set of songs. 

 (Explicit Lyrics) 2024 - Wyatt Road/ Believe

What I Am Listening To - The No Ones

REM did the unexpected and decided not to tour and record continuously like rock juggernauts The Rolling Stones and U2. 

While it is tempting to call vocalist Michael Stipe a hermit, I am not sure that’s accurate. He has stayed busy and checking out his Wikipedia bio shows all the music that he has recorded and places where he has popped up. While there seems to be a solo album on the horizon (reported to be released in 2025) to this point, it seems his most visible project surprisingly is co-writing and producing the 2008 Fischerspooner reunion disc Sir. 

Which leaves guitarist Peter Buck in somewhat the same role Johnny Marr was in post-Smiths. A mix of different projects- some commercial, some obscure - but surprisingly prolific Buck’s most notable projects might be his two albums with Luke Haines of the Auteurs and playing in the supergroup The Baseball Project with Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate, Mike Mills of REM, Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows and Lynda Pitmon of Zuzus Petals. 

The Baseball Project has four albums and I am a big fan. The good news in the current age is that it’s a lot easier to find some of the more obscure records too, and according to Buck’s Wikipedia entry, he has quite a few of those too. Let’s start with five solo albums from 2012-2017 before he partnered up with Haines ( and self-effacingly advertised on his BandCamp). There’s 2018s Arthur Buck, an album with American songwriter Joseph Arthur. Then Filthy Friends- two albums- one in 2017 and 2019- another supergroup fronted by Corin Tucker of Sleater- Kinney and Buck (backed by McCaughey, Pitmon and Fastbacks guitarist and indie producer Kurt Bloch) Then there’s the Minus Five- a going concern since 1993 which records regularly- with McCaughey, Buck and a rotation of some of the biggest names in indie rock like Wynn and Colin Meloy of the Decemberists in the current lineup and Jeff Tweedy, Ben Gibbard and Ken Stringfellow in previous iterations). 

Buck fans may also be aware of Tuatara- which dates back to 1996 and most recently released a studio album in 2014. An instrumental group that defies genres, once again the lineup sounds like a who’s who of indie rock with Buck, McCaughey, Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees), Justin Harwood (The Chills, Luna) and guests like saxophonist Skerik (Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam). At least I have heard of most of these groups. I am not familiar with Tired Pony- another supergroup - in this case - a project for Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol backed by Buck, MacCaughey, Iain Archer, producer Jackknife Lee and Richard Colburnn of Belle & Sebastian 

This is just scratching the surface of Buck’s work. I didn’t talk about any of his defunct 1980s and 1990s projects and I haven’t gotten to his production work, the bands that he is part of who haven’t recorded albums, prolific work as a sideman, or his collaborations with Mark Eitzel and Billy Bragg. In any case, that is a lot to cover to get to yet another group Buck is active with. 

The No Ones seems an appropriate name for a band that is full of stars but are just here for a good time. The band debuted in 2017 with Buck on guitar, McCaughey on vocals and the two members of Norwegian indie pop band I Was A King. Their debut album 2020s The Great Lost No Ones Album (which was recorded in 2017 and delayed, though I also think it’s somewhat of the bands jumper peaking through) It doesn’t surprise me that a musician has so many projects (though certainly Buck has to have more than most), I think I am more surprised that he seems to keep them active. 

There’s plenty of other musicians who start side bands and abandon them after one album. But Buck isn’t like that and the No One’s made a second album released in 2023, My Evil Best Friend. My Evil Best Friend really might be one of those great “lost” pop records. A lot of reviewers picked up on the fact it’s a bit thematic in that it’s a homage from McCaughey to his heroes. Phil Ochs, David Bowie, Jenny Lewis, and George Harrison all pop up in the lyrics which according to the band’s promotional material is primarily Scott’s work. Given the band’s background, it’s no surprise the album has tons of big name guests - Debi Peterson (Bangles), Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven) The first No Ones album is a fine pop album but that second one is something special.

What I Am Listening to: Royal Headache

One of my favorite recent discoveries is the Australian band Royal Headache. 

I can almost definitely ascribe them to algorithm-based streaming. An Australian garage rock band would hit a lot of my favorite listens. I know algorithm based listening isn’t perfect. I compare it to listening to a commercial radio station (albeit one that plays your favorite bands). There’s a lot of repetition and it some times it feels like some bands get pushed more than others. A revelation that came when it was discovered one of the most streamed songs out there was a B-side recorded in the 90s by Pavement. 

That Royal Headache’s streaming stats stay high after they broke up in 2017 does not surprise me. I don’t want to get off track though. They released two albums - one in 2011 and one in 2015. Both are great though I will give the edge to High, the second album which was Steve LaMacq’s album of that year. There are very few albums that capture the band’s energy here. 

At just under 30 minutes, it’s a mix of punk angst and good ol indie rock longing. The NME (in its review of the band) namedrops The Dead Kennedys, the Smiths, Oasis, the Jam and the Sex Pistols. While those aren’t perfect descriptions, one can see the influences from those artists that helped the band straddle the throwback American Garage Rock sound (King Tuff, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees) with more modem noise rock like Japandroids and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. 

While the band has a standout legacy, it hasn’t (as often is the case) transferred to the ensuing band. Singer “Shogun” Tim Hall has started a band with singer/guitarist Finn Berzin called Finnoguns Wake which released its debut EP in 2024. (Finnoguns Wake doesn’t quite capture Royal Headache’s ferocity, at least not of yet, but it’s still early. 

Also, sadly like many acts, has only attracted a slight fraction of the listeners too) 2024 also saw the release of a live Royal Headache album “Live in America” consisting of eight songs recorded at WMFU in June 2012 and nine songs recorded during a concert at the Empty Bottle in Chicago in August of 2015. The band is insistent that there are no plans for a reunion but it’s a solid document for what was surely a magical band that gave us some magical moments

What I Am Listening to: Voxtrot

As I look back at my listening habits of my past, I feel nostalgic. 

Somewhere around 2006, I did a ton of streaming through a website called Live365. Live365 was a website where anyone could program their own personal radio station essentially. I had a few favorites and listened often. Some people who had stations probably did minimal programming and I know when I would listen, I would get certain songs over and over. Whereas some stations were very effectively running as personal versions of public radio. 

Music royalties were always anathema to Live365 who were trying to keep things affordable for its DJs. In 2016, that Legislation forced the website to shut down. Six months later, it came back but I assume most listeners didn’t. Big name streaming services are now the rule of the day and I admit that there’s where I headed as well, though I still don’t think I find as much as “new music” as I did before. It’s a long backstory to say that I had one of my favorite channels which seemed to specialize in what I would call Bedroom Pop. Specifically, the time of music that is associated with Morrissey’s early post- Smiths career. So I am talking bands like Belle and Sebastian, Heavenly/Talulah Gosh, Gene, Elefant, and the Divine Comedy. 

 You can see the list and can see different “scenes”, labels, decades and so on, yet they all seem to hold together. I had heard much of these bands but one that I discovered here was Voxtrot. (There were probably a few more- Pains of Pure of Heart, Earlimart, Beulah- that I remember as well from that station). I don’t know if Voxtrot sees themselves as being in the lineage of the Smiths and Belle and Sebastian. But music critics would now classify them as one of the bands during the rise of the music blogs which put them in the conversation with bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, St Vincent, Franz Ferdinand, Cat Power, MGMT and Animal Collective. 

Awash in the height of indie rock. It strikes me as incredible that the band’s early singles were released as EPs and didn’t make their debut album. Songs like “The Start of Something” and “Raised by Wolves” really sold that bedroom pop connection with its Lo-fi production and lyrics of teen insecurity. These highlights of 2005 through 2007 would finally by collected on one album in 2022. 

The band’s sole album was released in 2007. While the 5.9 given to it by Pitchfork seems to be damning it to less attention than it deserved, it does describe the flaw in the album. While trying the band to the next level, it was not an improvement over those early singles by trying to make them more radio friendly. It seemed the band took the roughest path to success and it hadn’t worked. They broke up in 2010. Of course, the reality is that the self titled 2007 album wasn’t Funeral or Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer or any of the Pitchfork proclaimed genre changing albums. 

It is quite a decent genre record that only pales in comparison to the promise of the first recordings. The band had hoped to work with Stephen Street but when that didn't happen, it was produced by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Beth Orton). The album does sound like a follow up album of any buzz band that poured their heart and soul into their early work, and are looking to match that success on short notice. I admit I hadn’t given Voxtrot much thought for years. When a song of theirs popped up on a stream, I was immediately taken back. 

Of interest, I saw the band had reunited in Fall of 2023 and were now recording their first music since they broke up in 2010. (Lead vocalist Ramesh McLean Srivastava released a solo disc in 2014). The Esprit DeCouer EP collects four songs recorded in the last two years. I hope this leads to more from the band. One of the true high points in an era where indie rock looked like it could change the world.

Album Review- Laurie Anderson- Amelia

One of the most enjoyable and typically hard to categorize albums of 2024 is Amelia by Laurie Anderson. 

Amelia is a fictional retelling of the last six weeks in the life of (and the last flight of)Amelia Earhart. From my understanding, it grew out of a project from the year 2000 for Dennis Russel Davies of the American Composers Orchestra (at least that is my understanding. One blog dates it back 40 years but I am not sure how accurate that is). Anderson is accompanied on disc by the Orchestra as well as guitarist Marc Ribot and vocalist ANHONI. 

 Anderson is one of the most unique musical artists to gain mainstream success. 1982s Big Science, 1984s Mister Heartbreak and 1986s Home of the Brave are a mix of the unusual (Anderson is responsible for creating music instruments like the tape-bow violin), the avant garde (Anderson collaborated with William S Burroughs, Eno and even Andy Kaufman among many others) and pop music (O Superman was a worldwide hit and her videos were played on Night Flight).

It is this compelling mix of the unusual and enjoyable that makes Amelia such a success. A mix of narration and introspection, as other reviewers mention, Anderson makes all the right choices here- keeping it stripped down as opposed to the originally planned large Orchestra accompaniment; and largely keeping the mystery of Earhart intact. Showing and not telling if you will. And I probably should do the same because I hate to give the mystery away; but I do wonder what to make of how to sell Anderson in 2025. At 34 minutes (split into 22 songs) it’s a fantastic begin to end listen. 

But as something akin to a poetic performance, I don’t know if it is something that I would listen to over and over again. Even less so, songs don’t necessarily “pop” and make themselves to the kind of playlists that most current music listeners probably utilize. Yet perhaps the world may never more ready for this album than now. It is not a world where there is a binary choice between buying an album or not. Amelia is the kind of experience that listeners can access in the same way they can listen to an audiobook or podcast.

What I Am Listening To - Sheer Mag

Sheer Mag are a four piece band from Philadelphia formed in 2014. They have released three proper albums - the most recent being 2024s Playing Favorites. But like so many bands, their most epic tracks are their early ones. 12 songs collected released over 3 EPs through 2015 and 2016 collected on one album in 2017. These originals undoubtedly send critics reaching for numerous 1970s band comparisons- Cheap Trick and Heart with their musical journey taking them from more AC/DC territory on 2019s A Distant Call to a way more radio friendly and varied sound on their latest. But the EPs are the masterpiece. At times, a viable heir to Thin Lizzy- irresistible hooks and garage rock thud with the charismatic Tina Halliday on vocals. Alternately they can pull in that very specific 70s pop sound. A bit Disco, a bit KISS, a bit Big Star, a bit Slade. I recommend the EP collection for “Worth the Tears” being possibly the most perfect rock ballad (albeit one that is powered by a killer cowbell). Surely, they could be on Mike Douglas or Dinah Shores’s TV shows. But yeah there’s also a point for the band’s debut opener “What You Want”. Big thumping drums. Guitar heroics and that wonderful frontwoman. Sheer Mag is for people who listen to KISS ironically and people who listen to KISS unironically. They surely are akin to female led punk bands like Shannon and the Clams but would be perfect for the guys who read Classic Rock magazine and complain real rock is dead. At once, recalling the garage and also recalling the arena. A balm then for many who are looking for the next Thin Lizzy, KISS, MC5, Skynyrd or Sleater Kinney.

What I Am Listening to: The Eyelids

The Eyelids are one of my favorite bands of recent years. I am not sure where I first heard them, perhaps on streaming, but it’s also possible I read about them first and decided to check them out. Reading about the band is impressive given they are a bit of a indie rock supergroup. In many ways, the majority of that is the hefty resume of drummer John Moen. Like Prarie Prince or Jim Keltner, Moen has played with many bands. His resume includes not only being the drummer for The Decemberists, but also Black Prairie, Robert Pollard’s project Boston Spaceships, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Heatmiser, Elliott Smith, the Minus Five and most notably the Dharma Bums. 

That Portland band always felt like an undiscovered gem. One of those Frontier Records label bands that deserved a bigger audience. Like so many of those legendary unheralded bands, Dharma Bums has lore too- the band whose concert was where Kurdt and Courtney met. Along with Moen, the other principal member is Chris Slusarenko. Chris played bass for Guided by Voices for a time, and appears on 2004s Half Smiles of the Decomposed. Slusarenko - also a member of Boston Spaceships- fronts the band. Jim Talstra on bass also comes from Dharma Bums, Jonathan Drews played guitar for the afore mentioned Boston Spaceships, and Victor Krummenacher adds another list of indie greats to the collective resume - founding and long time member of Camper Van Beethoven and Monks of Doom as well as associated artists of that band like Eugene Van Chadbourne and Cracker. 

They have been incredibly prolific even if they don’t seem to have gotten the attention they deserve. I believe they have released six albums in the last 10 years but their Allmusic profile is frustratingly incomplete. 2024’s No Jigsaw was their third album (plus an EP and a live album) in four years. It was also a double album with the second half being covers. Some famous - “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode, “Good Times Roll” by The Cars “Seven Seas” by Echo and the Bunnymen. Some more obscure like songs by Jean Paul Satre Experience, Big Dipper and the Straitjacket Fits. Mojo gave it four stars and REM and Big Star comparisons. 2017’s “or” may be their master work. 

Produced by Peter Buck, it truly is a great “lost album” for fans of college rock or the great power pop bands of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Jay Gonzalez of Drive By Truckers plays piano and organ, and Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven also guests. Although social media is full of negativity, I will likely remember for awhile that I turned someone on to this band who hadn’t heard them, and that is an incredibly cool thing. Maybe you will be next.

Album Review- Pixies- The Night The Zombies Came

The story of the Pixies has taken some unusual turns. 

For a long time, as many bands from the 80s and 90s decided to reform, they were a holdout. Now, in 2024, it's easier to think of bands that reformed than bands who didn't Yet, there seems to be little gain in reforming. In a best case scenario like Dinosaur Jr- they have put out solid album after solid album but still don't get a ton of attention. The Pixies may be the worst case scenario. If you want a comparison, maybe it's the Smashing Pumpkins. Key members are missing. The music doesn't stand up to the select small discography that had been for years, a gold standard for decades now. Yet, nothing stops the band from not only recording but being quite prolific. 

The first reunion album - 2014s Indie Cindy probably remains the most popular. It felt very “by the numbers” to try and recapture the old spirit. It was derided by many but still still remains the high point of Pixies 2.0. I haven't given up on the Pixies for two reasons. One is that their first four albums feel very different from each other and they bring that same spirit to the new releases. Surfer Rosa and Doolittle aren't that much different but Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde were varied in sound. Also the Frank Black discography was lengthy and often surprising. He wasn't resistant to releasing a dud album, but at any time, he might turn around and put out a great one. 

2016s Head Carrier is one of my favorite albums of the last 10 years. Critics and fans didn't particularly love it. NME and Mojo Magazine being the only places who gave it positive reviews. A detractor said it was as if the Pixies were just a “Pixies cover band”. But I disagree with the majority sentiment on this one. It does feel like a Pixies album to me and the addition of Paz Lenchantin I think brings a great new energy. 

2019s Beneath the Eyrie got the band's best reviews to date. It's hard to argue that it's not a better album musically but as the Pixies drew tighter, they lost some of their personality. I like the album okay and yet never really felt I truly connected with it. 2021s Doggerel continued the trend but with less effect. There are a couple of good songs that will fit nicely on a Pixies playlist but the album itself is the type to quickly to fade away from memory. 

With 2024s The Night the Zombies Came, the second incarnation of the band has released five albums which is as many as the original band did (or more if you don't include the 20 minute debut Come On Pilgrim as a full album). Lenchantin has left the band which probably makes sense as her career has shown her to be someone who needs more creative outlets than just side person in a band. Her place taken now by Emma Richardson of UK Blues rockers Band of Skulls. 2024s The Night the Zombies Came is probably helped by the fact that it has a horror theme to unify the album. In many ways, the band shift from the sound of the last two albums to a more measured move to capture that original Pixies sound. 

At this point, I think most early Pixies fan have moved on, but I don't have a problem accepting this as a subsequent album to Trompe Le Monde. It is a shock that for many years the Pixies topped those “which band would you like to see reform” polls - pristine and stuck in time. But inevitably have taken a path we attribute to The Rolling Stones- a constant recording and touring band that will churn out a new album every couple of years. Which may inevitably be their true legacy. Longtime fans may be long gone and these albums may be unheard. But even if they never reach those early career peaks, there is plenty to enjoy. Cheesy horror movies play well to surf guitar, energetic rhythm and Black Francis's lyrical style. 

It's easy to believe if this had been a Frank Black album it might be hailed as some kind of comeback. It also seems inevitable to describe the album in ways that it most likely have been better with input from Kim Deal. Yes, I feel I should have likely moved on from those discussions as a Deal-Francis reunion doesn't even have the chances of the proverbial snowball in hell. But Deal released an album that is just as exciting a mere 28 days later. Pixies 2.0 inevitably will be classified as "Black Francis backed by Santiago and Lovering" but this album gives me hope that there's still good music ahead.

Album Review- Peter Perrett- The Cleansing

I originally wrote this in December of 2024

Like most Americans, I know Peter Perrett from his Only Ones’s hit “Another Girl, Another Planet” a song which may be my favorite and appears on my most streamed songs lists every year (along with Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes and Throwing Muses’s Not Too Soon). Like Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World”, “Another Girl..” is a timeless song, better than the best single of many storied bands; timeless in a way that it still pops up on motion picture soundtracks from time to time. Perrett is one of greatest characters in the James Dean style self- destructive rock mythology. “I always flirt with death…” starts his most famous song while he exudes a sexy shambolic swagger with band following. 

On the third and final album- 1981s Baby’s Got A Gun, he would sing “Why Don’t You Kill Yourself”. Those who may want to mythologize rock n roll excess will point out Johnny Thunders’s 1978 So Alone album which puts Thunders, Perrett, Phil Lynott and Steve Marriott on a cover of “Papa Rolling Stone” (Perrett can also be heard on background vocals on the Thunders classic “You Cant Put Your Arms Around a Memory”). Or how about the fact that Perrett’s girlfriend/Only Ones manager was with Bon Scott on the night he died. Or maybe that Keith Richards was in talks to produce his band in their early days. In the battle with excess, excess often won. 

Perrett popped up briefly in 1996 as a solo artist and then in 2004 with his sons and another erstwhile rock wannabe casualty Pete Doherty in BabyShambles. Perrett would reunite Only Ones for a few appearances in 2007 and 2009 but he largely remained a rock n roll casualty until 2017 How the West Was Won was released that year to much acclaim. I have to admit I wasn’t drawn in by the promotional singles of the time. Humanworld, the follow up appeared in 2019 

 Five years later, the much acclaimed third album The Cleansing has appeared with even more critical success and a knock out single in “I Wanna Go With Dignity” As that song implies, thoughts of death are in the air, but then again they always were. At twenty songs, it feels like a CD size length, and I wonder if most artists wouldn’t have cut 20 minutes, but it’s never a bad listen, and I wonder if I should revisit the other two recent albums. 

Not surprisingly, he occasionally wanders off weird directions- there’s a song called Secret Taliban Wife for example or a Richard Pryor reference on Set the House on Fire. Still. If you find these charming, there’s not too many of this kind of great rock n roll characters still around with Thunders, Stiv Bators, Joe Strummer and Mark E Smith gone. But there’s still a few wisened elder statesmen like Marianne Faithful, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, and David Johansen around making music and Perrett joins that class here.

Album Review - Mick Harvey- Five Ways to Say Goodbye

Mick Harvey has slowly made his way near the top of the list of my favorite musicians. 

Harvey’s career is often overshadowed by his association with Nick Cave which lasted from Cave’s early days in the Boys Next Door to the Birthday Party and then the Bad Seeds up and including until Dig Lazarus Dig. He also among many other things, produced and played on Anita Lane’s solo records and was a member of Crime and the City Solution during their 80s heyday. He played on and co-produced PJ Harvey (no relation) on 2000s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and again on 2011’s Let England Shake. (He appears on four songs on 2016s Hope Six Demoliton Project). Harvey has as a solo artist recorded four songs of Serge Gainsbourg covers (the first two released in 1995 and 1997 and the second two in 2016 and 2017). These albums are fantastic. 

 In 2018, Harvey teamed with Christopher Richard Barker, a British singer/songwriter who also writes supernatural fiction they created an album about Edgar Bourchier- a fictional World War 1 soldier and poet. It’s the kind of concept that normally either works or doesn’t, but I think it’s a strong album. Then in 2023, Harvey paired with Mexican singer/filmmaker Amanda Acevedo for her musical debut. The pairing recorded an incredible album called Phantasmagoria in Blue. Which if these are all excluded (including film soundtrack and score work) puts at Mick Harvey at solo album # 5 (2024s Five Ways to Say Goodbye is then the first since 2013s Four (Acts of Love)) even if he hasn’t truly been idle.

 Although Harvey has written some great lyrics, these affairs are cover heavy. Mick’s formula seems to pick songs by some great and varied songwriters- Cave, PJ Harvey, Van Morrison, Guy Clark, Tim Buckley, Lee Hazlewood, the Saints and Emmylou Harris. That doesn’t change here. There’s a version of the much covered Neil Young’s “Like A Hurricane”. It’s a worthwhile addition though. 

One of the best moments is a cover of Marlene Dietrich’s “A Suitcase in Berlin” which given Harvey’s history is a perfect combination. Otherwise, the choices tend to be homage to great Australian acts- the Saints, Ed Kuepper, the late Triffids leader David McComb, indie rocker Lo Carmen and Bruno Adams led goth country peers Fatal Shore. “Demolition” from deep in the former Saints guitarist Kuepper’s catalog (found on his 2009 album “Outtakes and Rarities”) is another highlight. 

Original composition “When We Were Beautiful and Young” sits comfortably with the rest of the album’s vibe. It’s a tribute to Harvey’s ear that all of these elements blend together so perfectly into one work. 

 Australian gothic country is so overshadowed by Nick Cave- the most critically and commercially successful artist of the genre, in a way the Beatles or Cheap Trick loom over power pop, or the Big Fours own their respective genres of Metal and Grunge Rock. Even more so for Harvey who has been so closely associated with Cave. Still, new listeners shouldn’t worry about that. He has created his own sound and is one of the best to do it.

Album Review: Cheekface- It's Sorted

For some reason, probably age, I like to categorize music using the usual factors of geography, year and so on. 

I feel like in recent years, music is starting to transcend the rigid genre divisions in ways that it hadn’t previously. That said, I doubt I will change my mindset which is probably the human emotion of departmentalizing things. 

So when I think of SoCal trio Cheekface, I think of the first song of there’s I heard - the pop-punk 2022s “When Life Hands You Problems” and immediately I categorize them with bands like Green Day and Blink 182 and though they are LA based, they seem the next in a lineage of Lookout (San Francisco) Records and Cargo (San Diego) Records. 

After hearing that particular song and moving onto their other output, it’s probably better to lump them with the sing-talk bands of today- Yard Act, Wet Leg, Dry Cleaning, Sleaford Mods and so on. In fact, in the same song, Cheekface can start out with the aloof, detached haughtiness of Yard Act and then end up in goofy Jonathan Richman style territory a la Bug Club. 

 Music has changed over the years and so it’s all Reddit, YouTube and Streaming and Anthony Fantano (surely the closest thing to Robert Christgau in 2024). Allmusic doesn’t even have a Cheekface entry even though they have millions of streams and vinyl available through Bandcamp. 

Interestingly, as I checked out online reviews, there is one band that pops up on comparison more than any other and I didn’t expect it and that’s They Might Be Giants. Paste says about the new album “slinging songs about late capitalism and social anxiety, and (none of their peers) can match the LA indie rock trio’s sheer winsome They-Might-Be-Giants goofiness. 

 New Noise says “Katz’s half-talking delivery (bringing to mind the deadpan wit of Cake or They Might Be Giants) perfectly sets the scene, while the music scuttles along, usually culminating in some of the most irresistibly catchy pop-rock choruses you could wish for.” 

Zerovu blog says it’s a lineage that begins with Young Fresh Fellows then goes to TMBG then Weezer before arriving at Cheekface. In any case, this band might be too quirky for some people but the combination of hooks and quirks has definitely found it an audience

Best Albums of 2024

As I usually do this time of year, please enjoy my list of Top 20 albums of 2024, which are all artists I featured last year.

Sam Barber- Restless Mind (Lockeland Records/ Atlantic) -21 year old releases 28 song debut album with as much ambition as early Zach Bryan with a similar set of talents too.

Brigitte Calls Me Baby- The Future Is On the Way Out (ATO) - I am going to tell my children this debut from Chicago based five piece is the Smiths.

The Bug Club - On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System (Sub Pop)- Quirky Welsh duo continue to thrill with their multi-genre influenced indie rock.

Zach Bryan- The Great American Bar Scene (Belting Bronco/Warner)- Bryan finally reaches his full potential making an album that gets played on country radio but in line with Springsteen mythos, even featuring the Boss himself.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Wild God (PIAS)- As if Ghosteen-era Nick Cave would meet pre-Ghosteen era Nick Cave and they made a record.

Cheekface - It's Sorted (Cheekface)- Somehow pulling from the slacker pop of Jonathan Richman and Steven Malkmus and quirky alternative like the B-52s and Devo to make music that is somehow both and also neither Blink-182 style Pop-Punk and modern day Crank Wave.

Decemberists- As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again (YABB)- With a six year hiatus, Colin Meloy returns with an album that pulls from all of the eras from the band from the bookish, 19th century-obsessed quirky folk of the early albums and the melodic prog rock-loving straight forward Americana of recent years.

Mick Harvey- Five Ways to Say Goodbye (Mute)- The first "solo" album in a decade from the hardly idle Harvey is a fantastic curation of mostly covers that fit well into his catalog.

Libertines All Quiet on the Eastern Esplenade (Casablanca/Republic/EMI) Surprising fourth album is a fan favorite from Barat and Doherty’s gang.

NewDad- Madra (Atlantic/Fair Youth) - Long awaited debut from Irish band that blends shoegaze and indie pop in the ways those great groups of the 1990s often did.

Old 97's-American Primitive (ATO)- As the title implies, the Old 97's keep it pretty raw here, and continue their streak of great albums.

Peter Perrett- The Cleansing (Domino) - Third solo album from the other side of a career that started with the glorious self-destructive leader of the Only Ones still with the qualities that made him so compelling with the gravitas of approaching the final years.

Real Estate - Daniel (Domino) - Sixth album from one of the great bands of that made their recorded debut in the same magical "indie rock" era with Passion Pit, Florence and the Machine and Titus Andronicus, still going strong mixing surf sounds, jangly guitars and dream pop.

Charlie Risso -Alive (T3) Hugo Race produced Chanteuse from London via Genoa delivers cinematic third album that deserves to be heard.

Still Corners -Dream Talk (Wrecking Light) - Dreams are the theme on the sixth album from long time neo-psych ethereal pop UK/US duo.

Swami and the Bed Of Nails- All Of This Awaits You (Swami)- Out of the sadness of losing friend Rick Froberg, John Reis gives us this immensely enjoyable songs about things as diverse as condiments, Banana peels and Harbor Freight tools. Suck it, writer's block.

The The- Ensoulment (Cineola/Earmusic) -For a brief moment, Matt Johnson and Warne Livesay team up again and capture some of that Infected/Mind Bomb magic.

Tindersticks - Soft Tissue- (City Slang) - Album # 14 is a short one but contains the elements like Stuart Staples's soulful voice to add some excellent new songs to their lengthy catalogue.

Vacations- No Place Like Home (Nettwerk/No Fun) -Third album from Australian indie poppers bridges classic college rock and millennial pop influence.

X- Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum)- Much heralded final album from legendary band gives us what we want- Billy's fantastic guitar, DJ's thump and those wonderful harmonies with lyrics that look back at their career, leaving us wanting more even if all we get might be solo work.

Album Review- The Cure- Songs of a Lost World

Listening to the Cure as a teenager was life changing for me. 

While I always loved the new wave bands that made it to radio, my musical journey took a significant change in routes. The Cure hit the kind of commercial and artistic heights that few bands can achieve with 1989s Disintegration and 1992s Wish. Over 30 years later, it's not surprising these achievements overshadow everything else. Contemporary fans may have had a hard time realizing this at the time, but everything is possible when you are young, and if we are being honest, rock was still new. The U2 or REM (or Beatles-Stones) conundrum is real. Continue to churn out albums that are pale imitation of predecessors or break up and keep the legacy intact? 

The Cure chose to continue. The band's trajectory was unusual though. By the time they had mainstream radio play, they had been around 15 years- a string of iconic singles compiled in 1986 for Standing on a Beach. In my mind the preceding albums 1985s The Head on the Door and 1987s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me are every bit as great as the more well known two that followed. And that's my opinion. 

Heck- those early Cure albums (along with their compatriot Siouxsie and the Banshees) essentially created genres that followed and are considered cult classics. Even the debut of Three Imaginary Boys (resequenced and released in the US as Boys Don't Cry) is shockingly timeless and likely more regarded now than it was 30 years ago. 

But following their peak, the Cure could never quite find that next great recipe. It's funny that at the time, Disintegration was considered an instant classic and Wish was weirdly upbeat for a band known for depressive songs. I think most Cure fans have come around to Wish, but subsequent albums are largely unloved. I have a soft spot for 1996s Wild Mood Swings which strived to do what it said on the cover- jumping styles and emotions. It feels overlong (though it's surprisingly shorter than Wish) and maybe a more selective edit could have saved it. 

The Cure strives to advertise 2000s Bloodflowers as the final chapter of a trilogy of classic albums with Pornography and Disintegration. Try as I might though, I never found much to like about the album. Reviews varied and though it had the traditional sound, it was to some ears, uninspired. 

In 2004, the band tried something new that sounded intriguing on paper, working with Ross Robinson who had produced the biggest Nu Metal albums of all time, working with Limp Bizkit, Korn and Slipknot. 

That eponymous 12th album is better than its reputation with “The End of the World” worthy of inclusion on a greatest hits compilation, and in general, it's a pretty good end-to-end listen even if it doesn't break any kind of new ground. Which brings us to the last time we had a Cure album. 

It's hard to believe it was in 2008 when we got 4:13 Dream. While it has some fans, I found it, as many did, a fairly generic album that tried to recapture some past glories but is ultimately one of the worst albums of their career. Songs of A Lost World comes not only with much delay but also a ton of positive reviews out of the gate. The shock may be that it's as good as advertised. The 2024 version of The Cure has added Reeves Gabriel of Tin Machine on guitar (Of note, the band also re-added Roger O'Connell and Perry Bamonte who were major contributors to Disintegration and Wish respectively but had been jettisoned for the four piece outfit on 4:13 Wish). This feels like a cheap review but there does seem to be a lot of truth to the fact that Gabriels's guitar work is the element to make the band sound fresh. It's maybe even a little jarring upon initial listens, but in quick order, it feels like an important ingredient in the final product. It's also probably a bit unfair to the rhythm section too, who are equally captivating here. While from a quality control point of view, paring down to eight songs as opposed to 14 or 15 as the last two records, means we get the “all killer, no filler” vibe.

 I think some of the newness will wear off - a New York Post review calls it the Best Rock of the Album of the year- but it should also stand up. After a couple of decades or more of trying to recapture a sound, it seemed that everything just fell into place.

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