Listening Habits: Summer 2018

We’re closing the summer period with the presentation of the new records and reissues that we’ve been listening to the most during this hot season.

At the two top positions of our album list we have a couple of the best releases of 2018 so far, the seventh Beach House LP simply titled "7" and the debut full-length by Australian indie-rockers Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, the excellent "Hope Downs". 

Rolling Blackouts C. F. had already shown us what they are capable of with their first two EPs and especially last year’s stunning Sub Pop debut "The French Press". On "Hope Downs", their Go-Betweens-style pop craftsmanship, bolstered by jangling, multilayered guitars, continues to shine for the duration of 10 excellent tracks that solidify the band’s position as one of the brightest hopes for guitar-rock in an era that the genre desperately needs it.

Meanwhile, the dream-pop journey of Beach House continues and amazingly they seem to keep getting better, slowly evolving and perfecting their sound. Their seventh album in twelve years is undoubtedly one of the highlights of their career so far, successfully mixing contemporary dance-pop elements to their sweet psychedelic swirling sound, while the collaboration with Sonic Boom who took on production duties, proved to be fruitful, balancing perfectly all elements and influences that make up the sound of "7".

The Sub Pop hat trick at the top of our Top 16 Albums list is concluded with another indie-pop gem by Frankie Cosmos, the excellent "Vessel", a record full of melodic, perfectly-formed pop vignettes that stick to your mind despite of (or maybe because of) their brevity.

Other notable entries in our Summer list include "Lush", the debut Snail Mail album that showcases the songwriting and guitar playing talents of 19-year old Lindsey Jordan (who is certainly making her guitar teacher Mary Timony proud), the manic indie-rock thrills of "Snares Like A Haircut" by No Age, the always fine dance-pop experiments of Gang Gang Dance in "Kazuashita", the return of '90s favorites Belly with "Dove", the first LP in 23 years for Tanya Donelly’s successful project after her tenure in Throwing Muses and The Breeders, and the new records by Speedy Ortiz and Soccer Mommy who follow in the path that Belly and their contemporaries created back in the '90s.

And talking about influential bands, a recent reissue that should not go unnoticed is the box set "Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990", including the first four Flaming Lips albums on Restless Records plus two more CDs of B-sides and rarities from the first period of the Oklahoma rock mavericks. Essential listening!

Top 16 Albums

1.   Hope Downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
2.   7 - BEACH HOUSE
3.   Vessel - FRANKIE COSMOS
4.   Lush - SNAIL MAIL
5.   Snares Like A Haircut - NO AGE
6.   Kazuashita - GANG GANG DANCE
7.   Dove - BELLY
8.   Twerp Verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ
9.   Clean - SOCCER MOMMY
10. Rebound - ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER
11. Joy - TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE
12. V. - WOODEN SHJIPS
13. Marble Skies - DJANGO DJANGO
14. Consolation E.P. - PROTOMARTYR
15. Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990 - THE FLAMING LIPS
16. Made To Be Broken (reissue) - SOUL ASYLUM

Top 15 Tracks

1.   An Air Conditioned Man - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
2.   Lemon Glow - BEACH HOUSE
3.   Shiny One - BELLY
4.   Heat Wave - SNAIL MAIL
5.   Your Dog - SOCCER MOMMY
6.   Apathy - FRANKIE COSMOS
7.   Wheel of Fortune (feat. Kelley Deal) - PROTOMARTYR
8.   Popper - NO AGE
9.   Lotus - GANG GANG DANCE
10. Surface to Air (feat. Self Esteem) - DJANGO DJANGO
11. Fast Slow Disco - ST. VINCENT
12. Lucky 88 - SPEEDY ORTIZ
13. In Between Stars - ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER
14. Body Behavior - TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE
15. Red Line - WOODEN SHJIPS

1999: Top 50 Singles

Time for the final installment of our '90s Singles project - I hope you had as much fun listening to our playlists as we did compiling them!

Once a month since February we've been revisiting a year from the '90s and choosing our 50 favorite singles of that year, the majority of which you can stream through our Grooveshark playlists . The complete Top 50 lists can be found in Cool Music Database, the central hub for all our year-end lists, while you can easily find all our '90s related Top 10 posts by clicking here.

Our 1999 Top 50 Singles list is actually an updated version of the first ever year-end singles list that we published in the first incarnation of Cool Music Central which was launched in the summer of 1999 as a DIY webpage hosted by Netscape. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, but I still consider Sleater-Kinney's "Get Up" to be not only one of the band's finest moments but also one of the most moving songs I've ever had the pleasure of listening. The fact that the same year The Flaming Lips also released the greatest single of their amazing (and, of course, ongoing) career, while Primal Scream reinvented dance-punk with the venomous "Swastika Eyes" only helps to make 1999 one of the strongest years for music in the second half of the '90s, preparing the ground for an even better 2000.

Here's our Top 10 Singles of 1999 with accompanying videos (official or unofficial) - go here for the complete Top 50:

1.   Get Up - SLEATER-KINNEY
2.   Race For The Prize - THE FLAMING LIPS
3.   Swastika Eyes - PRIMAL SCREAM
4.   Hot Topic - LE TIGRE
5.   Metal Fingers In My Body - ADD N To (X)
6.   Pretty Please - VERBENA
7.   I Can't Wait - BRASSY
8.   Touch Sensitive - THE FALL
9.   6 Track EP - ELASTICA
10. Teenage FBI - GUIDED BY VOICES

Listening Habits 10.2009

In this month's album selection we have a healthy dosage of hedonistic noise, an abundance of ingenious experimentation, inspired melancholic ballads, a bit of electro brit-pop, plenty of grungy guitars and even more ear-shattering noise.

The title of the second A Place To Bury Strangers album clearly states the band's intentions. They are after our heads and they have just the right guitars and effect pedals to achieve the critical mass of noise necessary for their sinister purpose. Peace and quiet-loving folks will be seeking injunctions but for noise-heads across the globe who love nothing better than to have their minds blown, this is a cause for celebration.

The band's sound remains rooted in their love for the "Psychocandy" wall-of-noise with its buried pop melodies while paying close attention to Kevin Shields' guitar effects, Sonic Youth's sonic assault, Big Black’s shattering rhythms and the gothic new wave atmospherics of the early '80s. The main difference with their debut album is the superior production (perhaps the result of a cash injection from the Mute deal) that makes "Exploding Head" sound richer and more dynamic, while the songwriting is more consistent, avoiding the highs and lows of the first effort. The amazing "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" was the track that showcased what this band was really capable of, and this potential is fully realized this time around resulting in a thrilling noise trip that renews and revitalizes the genre.

Among our Top 3 albums of the month we also have the latest Flaming Lips psychedelic opus as well as the most pop friendly effort of The Fiery Furnaces.

The Oklahoma freaks have struck a rich new vein of inspiration and the imaginative sounds that burst out have filled a double album full of the most dazzling, wildly experimental music they’ve done since "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots". "Embryonic" is immersed in a creative chaos as the band proceeds in destroying and recreating its musical universe and by the time it reaches its conclusion with the magnificent "Watching the Planets" we are left observing a brand new cosmos that took shape in just seventy minutes.

As for the Friedberger siblings, they have managed to surprise us once again by presenting us their most accessible record since "Gallowsbird's Bark". In "I’m Going Away" they have simplified their unpredictable song structures without losing any of their inventiveness, creating a joyously melodic pop record that is not afraid to rock out when it’s necessary. Matthew’s piano sets the tone in most of the songs while Eleanor’s imposing delivery dominates proceedings as usual.

Top 10 Albums

1. Exploding Head - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
2. Embryonic - THE FLAMING LIPS
3. I'm Going Away - THE FIERY FURNACES
4. Dragonslayer - SUNSET RUBDOWN
5. Six - THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION
6. Broken - SOULSAVERS
7. There Is No Enemy - BUILT TO SPILL
8. King Of Jeans - PISSED JEANS
9. Backspacer - PEARL JAM
10.In This Light And On This Evening - EDITORS

Top 15 Tracks

1. In Your Heart- A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
2. We Are Water - HEALTH
3. Death Bells - SOULSAVERS
4. Suicide - THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION
5. Watching The Planets - THE FLAMING LIPS
6. Charmaine Champagne - THE FIERY FURNACES
7. Heart Of Stone - THE RAVEONETTES
8. Pat - BUILT TO SPILL
9. False Jesii Part 2 - PISSED JEANS
10. You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II) - SUNSET RUBDOWN
11. Morning Light - GIRLS
12. Quick Canal (feat. Laetitia Sadier) - ATLAS SOUND
13. Papillon - EDITORS
14. Give Blood - RAIN MACHINE
15. Got Some - PEARL JAM

In Your Heart - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS


Charmaine Champagne - THE FIERY FURNACES