Last week we presented our favorite Debuts of the Year. However, taking a look at the long list of albums under consideration for our Top 50of the Year (almost ready, wait for it!), I find that a significant percentage comes from bands with a long history. Some of them have never stopped recording, others reappeared after a long absence, some have all or most of their original members and others have a rotating lineup that serves the vision of the band leader. All of them, though, have a history that goes back at least twenty years and in 2015 have produced great records that even if they don’t surpass their best work, they are certainly important additions in their remarkable discography.
Here are 2015’s Top 15 Albums from the Old School of Rock:
1. Untethered Moon - BUILT TO SPILL 2. No Cities To Love - SLEATER-KINNEY 3. The Magic Whip - BLUR 4. Ones and Sixes - LOW 5. "Freedom Tower" - No Wave Dance Party 2015 - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION 6. Sub-lingual Tablet - THE FALL 7. Silver Bullets - THE CHILLS 8. Ghost Notes - VERUCA SALT 9. Works for Tomorrow - ELEVENTH DREAM DAY 10. Heartbreak Pass - GIANT SAND 11. Wire - WIRE 12. Music Complete - NEW ORDER 13. Pylon - KILLING JOKE 14. Stuff like that there - YO LA TENGO 15. Whatever, My Love - THE JULIANA HATFIELD THREE
Built To Spill - Living Zoo
Coming up next week in our 2015 review: The Tracks of the Year.
Viet Cong, live @ Six D.O.G.S (Athens, September 2, 2015)
The summer weather still holds well here in Athens but the fall live season has already kicked off with two very sweaty and very loud gigs in the first week of September.
For starters, on September 2, we headed downtown to the tiny Six D.O.G.S club where Canadian post-punks Viet Cong presented their excellent debut album under less than ideal circumstances, with support from local psych-rock act Chickn. I'm sure on another day, another place, Viet Cong could have given us much more, but under the problematic conditions of this night (extreme heat, sound problems and failing gear) only epic set-closer "Death" came close to representing the true potential of this band.
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, September 6, 2015)
Four days later, it was time to revisit the Gagarin 205 club where the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion made their Athens live comeback, 11 whole years after their last visit here. Back then, on the same stage, they had given us a truly unforgettable performance which started with a "best of" set before playing their classic "Orange" LP in its entirety, in celebration of its 10th anniversary. This time the dynamic trio had a fine new album to present, "Freedom Tower - No Wave Dance Party 2015", their second full-length since ending their hiatus in 2011, and they did so with excellent style (as usual) and without neglecting their formidable past. They even threw in the 90-minute explosive mix a cover of the Beastie Boys' early classic "She's On It", to make this New York No Wave dance party complete. As always, watching the Blues Explosion testifying on stage, was an absolute pleasure and a testimony to the transcendental power of rock 'n' roll!
BLML, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, September 6, 2015)
For the opening of this night we enjoyed an hour-long set by BLML, a.k.a. George Karanikolas' Blackmail, who presented his project's new album "Panopticon", a fine addition to 2015's local rock production from one of the most important players in the Greek scene of the last three decades, starting the count, of course, with his work with the legendary Last Drive.
Check out more photos from both gigs below as well as videos of Viet Cong's "Continental Shelf" and Blues Explosion's "Cooking For Television":
Viet Cong - Continental Shelf (live @ Six D.O.G.S, September 2, 2015)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Cooking for Television (live @ Gagarin 205, September 6, 2015)
Viet Cong with Chickn @ Six D.O.G.S:
Viet Cong
Chickn
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with BLML @ Gagarin 205:
JSBX
BLML
PS: As it is obvious, the JSBX / BLML gig prevailed in the first, furious live clash of September. Join us again next week when we'll be comparing the on-stage prowess of Angel Olsen and Parquet Courts, both appearing at An Club in the coming days - our live entertainment is guaranteed!
Every month we present the latest new releases that have piqued our interest, but what were those albums and songs that we've listened to the most and have rightly earned a place in C.M.C.'s record collection? This is the question we answer every other month in our Listening Habits posts and the time has come for the second one of the year, which is actually the first consisting entirely of 2015 releases.
The top of our March - April album list belongs to the excellent debut by Melbourne singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, whose killer single "Pedestrian At Best" was also number one in our previous Top 20 Tracks list. The compilation "The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas" introduced us to her unique songwriting talents a couple of years ago and now her proper full-length debut "Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit" provides further proof that Barnett is able to transform her influences in witty, infectious songs that describe in a captivating manner intriguing characters and personal thoughts and insecurities.
"Untethered Moon", the eighth album by Built To Spill and their first since 2009, finds the Boise, Idaho, rockers in fine form, rocking out with the same passion as in their best records from the '90s and early '00s. They say that change is essential to survival, but sometimes it makes a lot of sense to stick to your winning ways and play to your strengths, and this is exactly what's going on here from the very first guitar riff to the last.
Other excellent records we've enjoyed in the last couple of months include "Escape From Evil", the third and best album so far by Lower Dens, "Ivy Tripp", also the third full-length by Waxahatchee who I'm looking forward to seeing live in the upcoming Plisskën Festival in Athens, "Foil Deer" by the increasingly wonderful Speedy Ortiz and the notable return to action by longtime favoritesThe Jon
Spencer Blues Explosion, Modest Mouse and Blur with their first work in twelve years.
Here's the complete Top 20 list of highly recommended albums:
Top 20 Albums
1. Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - COURTNEY BARNETT 2. Untethered Moon - BUILT TO SPILL 3. Escape From Evil - LOWER DENS 4. Ivy Tripp - WAXAHATCHEE 5. Foil Deer - SPEEDY ORTIZ 6. "Freedom Tower" No Wave Dance Party 2015 - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION 7. The Magic Whip - BLUR 8. Strangers To Ourselves - MODEST MOUSE 9. Hinterland - LONELADY 10. Another Eternity - PURITY RING 11. Short Movie - LAURA MARLING 12. Fast Food - NADINE SHAH 13. The Race For Space - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING 14. I Want To Grow Up - COLLEEN GREEN 15. Kintsugi - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE 16. Shadow Of The Sun - MOON DUO 17. To Pimp A Butterfly - KENDRICK LAMAR 18. Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper - PANDA BEAR 19. Transfixiation - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS 20. Edge Of The Sun - CALEXICO
The music festival season is upon us; next week we'll be attending the Plisskën Festival here in Athens, but last week Cool Music Central was in London for I'll Be Your Mirror, the sister event to the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival which usually takes place in holiday resorts. IBYM instead takes place in cities around the world and this May's event, which was curated by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, took place at London's iconic Alexandra Palace venue (the People's Palace!).
The event featured some of Yeah Yeah Yeahs favorite artists playing live in two different rooms, the huge Main Hall and the more intimate Panorama Room, plus special screenings of films and documentaries for the film buffs including Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Rumblefish, The Devils, Taking Off and Breadcrumb Trail (an in-progress Lance Bangs documentary about Slint). The 12 hours of great music on offer didn't give us the chance to visit the cinema but we did take notes on what we need to check out in the future. Here's what we did get to see and listen to during our Saturday at Alexandra Palace:
Anika
After a hasty browsing of the records on sale at Rough Trade's pop up shop in the venue's Palm Court (there was plenty of time for that during the rest of our stay in London), we headed straight for the Panorama Room were Anika was opening the festival with her seductive, laid back dub grooves. Unfortunately we didn't catch all of her band's set but we were there just in time for two of her best covers from the recent eponymous EP, The Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz" and Chromatics' "In The City". In the video playlist at the end of this post you can watch "Officer, Officer", the track that closed Anika's set.
K-Holes
First band of the day at the large (and rather too luxurious for rock 'n' roll) Main Hall of AlexandraPalace was New York City five-piece K-Holes. The band was formed by ex-Black Lips guitarist Jack Hines but their sound is more no wave than garage rock, with singer Vashti Windish stealing the spotlight with her energetic performance and sax player Sara Palmquist adding a certain James Chance element to the proceedings.
Big Freedia performing "Azz Everywhere"
Over at the Panorama Room, Big Freedia was housing a highly entertaining New Orleans bounce rap party, while the Divas demonstrated how to properly shake your booty:
The Divas shakin' it - anything goes at a Big Freedia party!
And continuing our frantic to and fro between the two rooms, we're back in the Main Hall where we stumble upon a different kind of party: New Yorkers Prince Rama present the future dance hits of the End of the World (which, frankly, sound a lot like a cross between '80s electropop and '70s disco-funk) and judging by the zombie invasion that happens at the end of their show, the End we're talking about is the infamous Zombie Apocalypse! Prince Rama may not have the best tunes of the day but thanks to their joyous performance and relentless positive energy, they certainly delivered one of the most fun sets of the festival.
Prince Rama
...and the zombie invasion of the End of the World!
The party at the Main Hall continued with the repetitive, experimental electronic grooves of The Field (perhaps better suited for a late night than a mid-afternoon performance) and with the always entertaining garage rock of the Black Lips who were surprisingly very well behaved given their hell-raising reputation (perhaps the influence of the stately Alexandra Palace?).
The Field
The Black Lips
Between these two Main Hall performances, we got the chance to catch up with Dirty Beaches at the Panorama Room (it's been a year and a half since Alex Zhang Hungtai's Bios performance), who informed us that they have just flew in from Russia while their tip for the most happening city of Europe right now is Berlin (apparently the place to be for beautiful babes and free drugs - it seems Merkel's policies are working very well for some European citizens after all!). The intense 30-minute performance combined electric guitar with electronic noise and percussion bringing the Dirty Beaches' lo-fi sound closer than ever to that of Suicide.
Dirty Beaches
The Locust
The noise intensified back at the Main Hall with a rare performance by The Locust and the triumphant return of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion who played at lightning speed and maximum power an hour-long set with material from all their albums. It's twenty years since the first time I saw them play live (a few miles south from here, at the now sadly defunct London Astoria 2 venue) and I can verify that they haven't lost anything from their incredible showmanship!
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Mick Harvey
After a bit of relaxation with Mick Harvey giving his interpretations to the hits of Serge Gainsbourg, it was time to head for one last time to Alexandra Palace's Great Hall for the headline performance of the festival from our hosts. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have taken us into their world with the music acts and films they have chosen for this day, now it was time to bring their music into the mix.
Oh yeah, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!
"Sacrilege", their fine new single, made for an excellent opening of the set even without the gospel choir. Karen O came on stage in a funny hat and large round glasses which were quickly replaced by a mosquito-styled pair for their second track (no prize for guessing its title), "Mosquito". The first blast from the past came immediately after with "Bang", taking us all the way back to their legendary first EP, which was also represented by "Miles Away" (check it out at our video playlist along with the mighty "Heads Will Roll").
The 15-track set featured selected highlights from all their three previous albums, with "Zero" going down a storm and "Maps" along with an explosive "Date With The Night" forming the perfect encore. One-third of the set was made up of "Mosquito" songs, which stood up well against the celebrated older material, proving that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are standing the test of time better than any band of their generation. So, there you have it...Q.E.D.: the theory of evolution applies to music as well and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are the living proof!
The evolution has begun: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs played: Sacrilege, Mosquito, Bang, Cheated Hearts, Under the Earth, Soft Shock, Subway, Zero, Gold Lion, Despair, Y Control, Miles Away, Heads Will Roll. Encore: Maps, Date with the Night
Half-hour of live music from I'll Be Your Mirror festival, starring Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mick Harvey, Black Lips with King Khan, Dirty Beaches, Prince Rama, Big Freedia, K-Holes and Anika:
IBYM video playlist
Other performers in the IBYM festival: King Khan and the Shrines, Jah Shaka, J.G. Thirlwell's Manorexia, DJ Jonathan Toubin.
