Listening Habits 03-04.2017

As we have already pointed out in previous posts, the list of new releases of the last couple of months included plenty of outstanding albums by several of our favorite artists, both old and new, and here are those that earned the most spins:

The return of The Jesus And Mary Chain with their first album in 19 years was inevitably going to be one of the major events in the music calendar of 2017. As soon as the familiar guitar chords of "Amputation" open their seventh album "Damage And Joy", it is obvious that the Reid brothers are returning exactly where they left off at the end of the '90s and start to retrace their steps back to their origins and the sounds that shaped them. Echoes of almost everything they've done before can be heard in the 14 songs of their comeback (with added female vocals to sweeten the deal) as well as tributes to their heroes and despite the familiarity of the end result, there is no denying that "Damage And Joy" is another essential chapter in the history of one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of the last 30-something years.

Spoon offer us the other great rock record of the first quarter of the year with their ninth album "Hot Thoughts". The Texan outfit continues its impeccable streak of releases with another collection of richly melodic and dynamic songs, eager to toy with electronic rhythms and even dabble with jazz for a while, without straying from its main mission: to create constantly awesome rock 'n' roll!

Other great comebacks that you will find in our album list include "Hey Mr Ferryman", one of the best solo efforts by Mark Eitzel, the voice of American Music Club, this time in collaboration with Bernard Butler, "In Between", only the sixth full-length in the 40-year history of New Jersey legends The Feelies, "Silver / Lead", the 16th album by the unique rock genius of Wire and Grandaddy's return after an 11-year hiatus with "Last Place", a record not far away from the late '90s sound of the band. Add next to these, the excellent new records by Laura Marling, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Moon Duo and the rest of the records that make up our latest Top 20 and it's obvious that 2017's discography is really in bloom right now!

Top 20 Albums

1.  Damage And Joy - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
2.  Hot Thoughts - SPOON
3.  Semper Femina - LAURA MARLING
4.  Hey Mr Ferryman - MARK EITZEL
5.  In Between - THE FEELIES
6.  Flying Microtonal Banana - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD
7.  Last Place - GRANDADDY
8.  Silver / Lead - WIRE
9.  Occult Architecture Vol. 1 - MOON DUO
10. Heartworms - THE SHINS
11. In Mind - REAL ESTATE
12. Volcano - TEMPLES
13. English Tapas - SLEAFORD MODS
14. Love In The 4th Dimension - THE BIG MOON
15. I See You - THE XX
16. Hang - FOXYGEN
17. Heron Oblivion - HERON OBLIVION
18. Damaged Good - BETTIE SERVEERT
19. The French Press EP - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
20. 3 O’clock EP - BLONDE REDHEAD

Top 20 Tracks

1.  Hot Thoughts - SPOON
2.  Amputation - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
3.  French Press - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
4.  The Last Ten Years - MARK EITZEL
5.  Soothing - LAURA MARLING
6.  Way We Won’t - GRANDADDY
7.  Gone Gone Gone - THE FEELIES
8.  Short Elevated Period - WIRE
9.  Rattlesnake - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD   
10. Cold Fear - MOON DUO
11. Follow The Leader - FOXYGEN
12. Dead Alive - THE SHINS
13. Darling - REAL ESTATE
14. Strange Or Be Forgotten - TEMPLES
15. Moptop - SLEAFORD MODS
16. Sucker - THE BIG MOON
17. Say Something Loving - THE XX
18. 3 O’clock - BLONDE REDHEAD
19. Faro - HERON OBLIVION
20. B-Cuz - BETTIE SERVEERT

Spoon - Hot Thoughts

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Amputation

The April '17 Hit Parade

Hope you all enjoyed yesterday's Record Store Day and that you were able to find those special releases you were after. Actually, with such a strong roster of new releases lately, I don’t think that a special day is needed to give us an incentive to visit our local record stores. As you will see next week in our latest Listening Habits post, there is currently a huge pile of excellent records we are going through and plenty more are going to be added over the next few weeks as we're anxiously expecting new releases by the likes of The Afghan Wigs, Mark Lanegan, The Black Angels and At The Drive-In to name but a few.

With so many excellent new releases by returning favorite artists, it is easy to overlook some very worthwhile albums by new or relatively new acts that are coming out over the same period. To avoid making this mistake, in this post we have chosen to highlight the new work of a few of these bands that we are either newly acquainted with or we have known about for a little while. Say hello to London all-girl four-piece The Big Moon and Melbourne rockers Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and welcome back the psychedelic sounds of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, also from Melbourne, and Temples from Kettering:

The Big Moon - Sucker

The Big Moon are Juliette Jackson, Soph Nathann, Celia Archer and Fern Ford. They made their debut with the single "Sucker" in 2015 and after a few more singles, among them last year's pop gem "Silent Movie Susie", they have just released their debut album "Love in the 4th Dimension", a strong pop record that brings to mind the era when bands like Elastica or Sleeper ruled the indie airwaves. Check out above the reworked version of "Sucker" that opens their debut album.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Julie's Place

We can't wait to hear what Melbourne's Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are going to present to us when the time comes for their debut album. For now we'll have to make do with their astonishing second 7-track EP "The French Press", their Sub Pop debut, that sounds like a marriage made in heaven between Broken Social Scene and The Go-Betweens!

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Rattlesnake

Psychedelic rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have been going for a while now, releasing so far nine albums in five years! Their latest one "Flying Microtonal Banana" is an outstanding mix of psych and krautrock sounds and is just the first installment of five albums set to be released in 2017 that experiment with microtonality. This is going to be interesting, to say the least...

Temples - Strange Or Be Forgotten

We have been championing Temples ever since we've come across their excellent debut album "Sun Structures" at the beginning of 2014. Now the Kettering four-piece is back with its sophomore work "Volcano", another psychedelic pop trip with more dance-rock influences this time around, but with a prevailing 60's rock vibe at its core, with strong melodies forming the backbone of their sound.

Visit us again next week for the complete list of our favorite albums and songs for March - April 2017, it's gonna be a blast!

Live: The Black Heart Procession @ Fuzz Club (Athens, March 31st, 2017)

It's been six years already since the last time we saw The Black Heart Procession in Athens, in one of their last tours before they decided to take a break. Back then Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel, the creative core of the group, had played as a duo, presenting a stripped down acoustic show with only the bare essentials: a keyboard, a guitar and Pall’s signature instrument, the musical saw.

The reunion of the band came about as we've reached the 20th anniversary of its formation and to mark the occasion, Pall and Tobias decided to revisit the songs of "1", their debut album recorded in 1997. Enlisting the help of two musicians from Serbia, this new version of The Black Heart Procession presented "1" in its entirety, giving the opportunity to their fans, old and new, to listen live the eleven songs that started their story.

Although personally I am more fond of their work during the next decade and especially of "Amore Del Tropico", their fourth album from 2002, the songs from "1" have certainly retained their melancholic charm and represent the romantic, "black" heart of the group as good as any of their subsequent albums.

If you’re looking for the highlights of the hour-long main set, I would say that for each member of the audience these would have to coincide with their favorite songs off the album, as its live presentation was quite faithful to the recorded version. So for me the stand-out moment was "Release My Heart", the most electrifying song of a mainly acoustic record, followed by "Blue Water Black Heart' and "Square Heart" (as you can understand, the matters of the heart are ubiquitous on "1").

The show closed with a three song encore, during which Pall Jenkins addressed the audience for the first time, not only to thank us for being there at the last show of this tour, but also to explain the reasons for choosing these particular songs for the finale. So, for "A Cry for Love" the choice was down to the popularity of this track on YouTube (and I’m guessing from the enthusiastic reception of the crowd that a lot of the "likes" came from Greece). Regarding "The War Is Over" (from the album "Three"), it was the anti-war subject matter the deciding factor, while "Borders", the new song that closed the evening, was chosen as it speaks about the refugee and immigration issues, currently at the forefront of the news. As Pall pointed out, San Diego, the band's hometown which is located near the borders with Mexico, is strongly influence by Latin culture and no wall can break the strong ties that exist between people, regardless where they are coming from.

With these three songs The Black Heart Procession waved goodbye and renewed our rendezvous for their next tour. Let's see where this reunion will lead, beyond this first rate opportunity to retrace the band's first steps.

The Black Heart Procession - A Cry for Love (live in Athens)

The Black Heart Procession - Square Heart (live in Athens)

New Releases: March 2017

The list of new releases for March 2017 was a particularly impressive one, featuring several important comebacks, including the first new album by The Jesus And Mary Chain in nearly two decades and the return of Boss Hog after 17 years. Add next to them new records by several of our favorite artists and bands, like Spoon, Laura Marling, Temples, Real Estate, Sleaford Mods and Wire to name but a few, and you have quite a great month for new music!

Albums:

Hot Thoughts

SPOON - Hot Thoughts
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - Damage and Joy
BOSS HOG - Brood X
ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER - The French Press
LAURA MARLING - Semper Femina
REAL ESTATE - In Mind
TEMPLES - Volcano
GRANDADDY - Last Place
THE SHINS - Heartworms
SLEAFORD MODS - English Tapas
WIRE - Silver / Lead
LAETITIA SADIER SOURCE ENSEMBLE - Find Me Finding You
BRITISH SEA POWER - Let The Dancers Inherit The Party
CONOR OBERST - Salutations
CRAIG FINN - We All Want the Same Things
SPIRAL STAIRS - Doris and the Daggers
MILK MUSIC - Mystic 100s
PHARMAKON - Contact
ADULT. - Detroit House Guests
KELLY LEE OWENS - Kelly Lee Owens
JAY SOM - Everybody Works
VAGABON - Infinite Worlds
UV-TV - Glass
THE COURTNEYS - II
CIRCUS DEVILS - Laughs Last
MINUS THE BEAR - Voids
BARDO POND - Under The Pines
ARBOURETUM - Song of the Rose
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF - The Navigator
DESPERATE JOURNALIST - Grow Up
CIRCA WAVES - Different Creatures
SECRET SHINE - There Is Only Now
MOUNT EERIE - A Crow Looked At Me
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS - 50 Song Memoir
DAMAGED BUG - Bunker Funk
THE BUG Vs EARTH - Concrete Desert
BLANCK MASS - World Eater
FUTURE - HNDRXX
KID KOALA featuring EMILIANA TORRINI - Music To Draw To: Satellite
GOLDFRAPP - Silver Eye
HOLLY MACVE - Golden Eagle
FORMATION - Look At The Powerful People
WHY? - Moh Lhean
VENN - Runes
GREG GRAFFIN - Millport
BODY COUNT - Bloodlust
SOULWAX - From Deewee
DEPECHE MODE - Spirit
JARVIS COCKER AND CHILLY GONZALES - Room 29
ALEXIS TAYLOR - Listen With(out) Piano
METHYL ETHEL - Everything Is Forgtten
SACRED PAWS - Strike a Match
PC WORSHIP - Buried Wish
BAIT - Bait
WOLF EYES - Undertow 

THE RESIDENTS - The Ghost of Hope
DIAMANDA GALÁS - All The Way
DIAMANDA GALÁS - At Saint Thomas the Apostle Harlem
JULIA HOLTER - In The Same Room
WHERESWILDER - Hotshot

Singles & EPs

THURSTON MOORE - Cease Fire
BLONDE REDHEAD - 3 O'Clock EP
SNEAKS - It's a Myth EP
PINS - Bad Thing EP
SPINNING COIN - Raining On Hope Street
FUCKED UP - Year of the Snake
THE BESNARD LAKES - The Besnard Lakes are the Divine Wind
BLEACHED - Can You Deal?
CATE LE BON - Rock Pool
JULIEN BAKER - Funeral Pyre
ANOHNI - Paradise EP
MAX JURY - Under The Covers
UNQUALIFIED NURSE BAND - Death Surf A52
THE WAVE PICTURES - Canvey Island Baby
HORSEBEACH / THE PHEREMOANS - Alone / Removals
THE BLUE ORCHIDS - Skull Jam EP
BRIX AND THE EXTRICATED - Something To Lose / Faced With Time
BLONDIE - Long Time
DEPECHE MODE - Where's the Revolution
STONE FOUNDATION - Your Balloon is Rising (Featuring Paul Weller)
HANNAH LOU CLARK - The Heart And All Its Sin EP

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - French Press