1990: Top 50 Singles

Our '90s flashback is about to begin! Last year we revisited our favorite singles of the '80s with a monthly series of posts featuring our Top 50 lists for each year of the decade as well as playlists where you could listen to most of these 500 tracks.

Between now and November 2012 (just in time for the Mayan Apocalypse!) we are going to choose another 500 remarkable singles, this time from the '90s, and create playlists with the music we like to remember from this period.

For the first installment of our '90s Singles project, we have the Top 50 of 1990, the year that the Madchester sound reigned supreme, Shoegazers flooded our ears with sweet noise and the American underground rock scene was revving its engines loudly as it was about to overtake the mainstream. Meanwhile, My Bloody Valentine who were getting closer to the end of the two-year gestation period that gave us "Loveless", released in April of that year the "Glider" EP on Creation Records (Sire for USA), showing us that they were not immune to the charms of the dance-rock crossover. And with "Soon", they proved that they could do it better - and dreamier - than anyone else:

My Bloody Valentine - Soon (Glider EP)

Here's 1990's Top 10 Singles - for the complete Top 50 click here:

1. Glider EP - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
2. Kool Thing - SONIC YOUTH
3. Telephone Thing - THE FALL
4. Heavenly Pop Hit - THE CHILLS
5. Jacket Hangs - THE BLUE AEROPLANES
6. I Am One - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
7. The Wagon - DINOSAUR JR.
8. Everything Flows - TEENAGE FANCLUB
9. Velouria - PIXIES
10. Sliver - NIRVANA

And here's the (almost complete) 1990 Singles playlist:

Attack of the 50 Foot Wave

50 Foot Wave, the rock beast created by Kristin Hersh and Bernard Georges of Throwing Muses with drummer Rob Ahlers, is back once again with an awesome 5-track new EP titled "With Love From The Men's Room". The EP, priced with the pay-what you like model that the group has used since 2005, is available from here, while you can also download their entire awesome back-catalog including all 4 EPs they've released between 2004 and 2009, instrumentals, live recording, and a few other goodies here.

The good news from Kristin Hersh's camp do not stop here. Throwing Muses, the band that introduced us to the astonishing talents of Kristin Hersh more than 25 years ago (along with those of Tanya Donelly of course), are also on the way back with a new album (their first since 2003) which is currently in the mixing stages. Throwing Muses who celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of their monumental (self-titled or untitled as we later found out) debut last September by releasing the "Anthology" compilation (a good place to start if you're unfamiliar with their work), currently have 38 new songs and we're waiting to find out how many of those will make it in their ninth album which is entirely listener-funded thanks to Kristin’s subscribers (Strange Angels) and other contributors via CASH Music.

Here's "Grey" from 50 Foot Wave's "With Love From The Men's Room" EP:

50 Foot Wave - Grey

And here's a blast from Throwing Muses's past - the amazing "Bright Yellow Gun" from the 1995 LP "University", which, in a fair world, should have been a universal No. 1 smash hit:

Throwing Muses - Bright Yellow Gun

The Men, live @ An Club (Athens, February 11, 2012)

They are called The Men, but they are actually (at least on stage) three men and one woman. They have named their latest album "Leave Home" in tribute to the Ramones but they don’t sound too much like them (not to me, anyway). They do, however, make one hell of a noise that would make Mudhoney or Dinosaur Jr. proud and their psych-rock jams sound even more appealing live than on record.

This was the first Athens show of the rising Brooklyn noise rockers that came at a time that we really needed a hard-hitting, ear-splitting rock show to get our minds off our troubles for a little while. And, truly, for at least an hour or so nothing could be further from my mind than the crumbling state of our national economy. 

The Men played a wall-shaking, intense set that sounded more focused than the exhilaratingly loud but wildly chaotic "Leave Home" and were at their best when delivering their shorter, faster noise punk bombs like the excellent "Bataille" or the new "Open Your Heart" from the forthcoming, same-titled album. With more tracks like this one (and perhaps a bit improved production) something tells me that the new LP which drops in March on Sacred Bones could see this band rising to new heights. We’ll find out soon enough. Meanwhile, check out one of the surprises of their set - their lean, mean cover of The Boys Next Door track "Somebody’s Watching Me":

The Men - Somebody's watching me, live @ An Club

The gig opened by the equally loud local hardcore punk act Ruined Families (we could use a hardcore revival right now, methinks) who delivered an explosive half-hour set at breakneck speed and by psychedelic garage rockers Acid Baby Jesus. The latter’s recent self-titled LP which got an international release by Slovenly Recordings, has raised the popularity of the band and I think they could easily have filled the club by themselves. In the year and a half since the last time I saw them, Acid Baby Jesus have grown into a fully-fledged garage-rocking machine that not only performs at the highest levels of adrenaline but is also able to put on a veritable rock’n’roll show, with impressive guitar theatrics that can sweep the fans off their feet and send them crowd-surfing in no time. A very fine, noisy rock’n’roll night indeed.

Acid Baby Jesus, live @ An Club

Ruined Families, live @ An Club

The Fall, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, February 10, 2012)

What a weekend! Strikes, demonstrations, the country on the brink of economic collapse - and what better band to provide the soundtrack to all this chaos than The Fall.

Around 11:30, on a Friday night that all public transportation is on standstill due to another strike, the 300 (give or take) loyal Fall fans who managed to get to Gagarin 205 are about to get their reward as Mark E Smith comes on stage and gives the traditional Fall introduction while the band is already locked to a relentless beat: “Good evening, we are The Fall from long, long days”.

Early in the set, after the introductory, rocking "Cosmos 7" from their latest (29th) LP, we also get the bonus of a couple of tracks from The Fall's really long, long days: "Psykick Dancehall", from 1979’s "Dragnet", is a reminder of the unique songwriting genius of Mark E Smith that made The Fall standout from the first crop of bands that came out of the punk explosion, while their cover of the garage standard "Strychnine", a staple of the band’s set since the late '80s, is a perfect demonstration of Smith’s ability to take a well-known song and make it a Fall song. Further examples of this trick came right at the end of the magnificent 75-minute performance with the two-song encore that included "Mr. Pharmacist" (the recent subject of this post) and The Big Bopper’s "White Lightning", a track that officially entered The Fall's Hall of Famous Covers in 1990.

In between these missives from The Fall’s early days we also got top-notch performances of the band’s more recent material with "Blindness", "I've Been Duped" (with Eleni Poulou on lead vocals and Smith on hilarious backing vocals and creative monitor meddling), "Bury" (we all feel we are from Bury tonight), "Greenway" (the Greek heavy metal one) and "Nate Will Not Return" being among the highlights. After all, despite the great history of this band, The Fall were never about nostalgia. Smith keeps looking forward and with the cracking band he has assembled once again (this line up has remained steady for four years now and it can certainly hold its own against any former incarnation of The Fall) he is still able to bring it with the same intensity as in his celebrated past.

I must have seen The Fall about a dozen times in the last 24 years, through their many highs and a few lows, and I have to say that without a doubt this was one of their best gigs yet. May the reign of the Hip Priest continue for many more long, long years!

The Fall - Blindness, live @ Gagarin 205 Club (February 10, 2012)

The Mongrelettes

The gig opened by the promising local neo-garage act The Mongrelettes. Four girls and a guy on farfisa with a fascination for '60s garage (the songs that The Fuzztones taught us) as well as Greek and French '60s pop. Here’s a taste of their delicious psychedelic garage-pop concoctions:

The Mongrelettes live @ Gagarin 205 Club (February 10, 2012)

The Fall's set list plus a few more photos from the night:

Damflicters, Cosmos 7, Psykick Dancehall, Strychnine, Cowboy George, I've Been Duped, Bury, Nate Will Not Return, Greenway, Hot Cake, Latch Key Kid, Blindness. Encore: Mr. Pharmacist, White Lightning

 

New Releases: January 2012

The first batch of 2012’s interesting new releases led by Cloud Nothings’ excellent third album "Attack On Memory" and Mark Lanegan Band’s single "The Gravedigger’s Song" off the forthcoming, highly anticipated LP "Blues Funeral":

Albums

CLOUD NOTHINGS - Attack On Memory
GUIDED BY VOICES - Let's Go Eat the Factory
THE BIG PINK - Future This
CHAIRLIFT - Something
PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL - Clay Class
DJANGO DJANGO - Django Django
HOSPITALITY - Hospitality
FIRST AID KIT - The Lion's Roar
TRAILER TRASH TRACYS - Ester
HOWLER - America Give Up
TRIBES - Baby
PULLED APART BY HORSES - Tough Love
THE MAcCABEES - Given To The Wild
CRAIG FINN - Clear Heart Full Eyes
THE BEVIS FROND - The Leaving Of London
GONJASUFI - MU.ZZ.LE
PORCELAIN RAFT - Strange Weekend
THE PHENOMENAL HANDCLAP BAND - Form and Control
CATE LE BON - CYRK
KATHLEEN EDWARDS - Voyageur
ANI DIFRANCO - Which Side Are You On?
IMPERIAL TEEN - Feel the Sound
NADA SURF - The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy
ERRORS - Have Some Faith In Magic
ISLET - Illuminated People
LOW-FI - What We Are Is Secret
DIAGRAMS - Black Light
17 PYGMIES - CIII: Even Celestina Gets The Blues (A Tale of Love and Quantum Physics)
CULT WITH NO NAME - Above As Below
HECTIC ZENITHS - Hectic Zeniths
SCHOOLBOY Q - Habits & Contradictions
THE INTERNET - Purple Naked Ladies

Singles & EPS

MARK LANEGAN BAND - The Gravedigger’s Song
GUIDED BY VOICES - Chocolate Boy
CLOUD NOTHINGS - Stay Useless
MALE BONDING / EMA - Aneurysm / Endless Nameless
GRIMES - Genesis
DJANGO DJANGO - Default
TOY - Left Myself Behind / Clock Chime
TRAILER TRASH TRACYS - Candy Girl / Strangling Good Guys
FRANKIE ROSE - Know Me
   Frankie Rose - Know Me by Slumberland Records
STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS / L.A. GUNS - Split Single
RADIOHEAD - Bloom (Jamie XX remix)
THE SHINS - Simple Song
ARCTIC MONKEYS - Black Treacle
THE KILLS - Last Goodbye
THE TWILIGHT SAD - Another Bed
THE ANTLERS - No Widows
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - We Take Care Of Our Own
CRAIG FINN - Some Guns
BON IVER - Towers
JAMES BLAKE - Love What Happened Here
MATTHEW DEAR - Headcage EP
M.I.A. - Bad Girls
SANTIGOLD - Big Mouth
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE - No Light, No Light
FEIST - How Come You Never Go There (Remix By Beck)
TRUST - Sulk
SBTRKT - Hold On
S.C.U.M. - Faith Unfolds
GAUNTLET HAIR - My Christ
PULLED APART BY HORSES - V.E.N.O.M

(mp3s via Pitchfork, Stereogum, Rolling Stone)

Killer Tracks: Serpents by Sharon Van Etten

I was looking for something special for this post which happens to be our 300th (pop! goes the champagne cork) when I stumbled upon this awesome performance of "Serpents" by Sharon Van Etten on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. As you can see below, for her TV debut the New Jersey singer / songwriter had the help of some of the distinguished guests on her forthcoming third album "Tramp", which is out next week on Jagjaguwar. The impressive list includes The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner (the former is also producing), Beirut's Zach Condon, Julianna Barwick, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, The Walkmen's Matt Barrick, and Doveman's Thomas Bartlett. The usually more restraint and more folk-oriented Sharon Van Etten lets it rip on this powerful track where the Dessner brothers' influence is strongly felt. Of course the most stunning element of the performance is Sharon's passionate vocals soaring above the scorching guitars and the driving rhythm section. A classic in the making:

Sharon Van Etten - Serpents

It goes without saying that "Serpents", which was released as a single last November, should have been among our Top Singles of 2011, but it's never too late to discover a great song (and apologize for the shortcomings of your year-end list). A free mp3 of "Serpents" is available here, while you can pre-order "Tramp" from here.

Update: Unfortunately, the video from the Late Night performance is no longer available. Here's a clip of "Serpents" performed live at Philadelphia on the first night of her current tour instead: