Desert Island Albums (C.M.C. 10th Anniversary Edition)

The World Wide Web has just turned 29 today and Cool Music Central (the Blogger version) is now 10! Being active for almost one-third of the internet’s life on this platform (and actually much longer if you take into consideration that the very first C.M.C. incarnation materialized in 1999, in a now long gone domain) is certainly no mean feat and deserves to be celebrated with a special music list, the kind of which I have never attempted before.

Over the years I have published in Cool Music Central a great number of music lists; you can say that my obsession with list-making is actually one of the main drives for starting this blog in the first place (and this one as well, where you’ll find only lists). All of these lists however are always focused on a particular period of time (the albums of the month, the year, the decade). I have never tried in the past the seemingly impossible task of compiling a list of my all-time favorite records, my desert island album list if you will, and I guess that the time has finally come in this post, our 615th, marking C.M.C.’s 10 year anniversary.

To be able to narrow down the number of albums that make up C.M.C’s Desert Island list to a reasonable Top 50, certain rules had to be put in place:

The first prerequisite to consider an album eligible for inclusion was to have it in physical format, so the starting point for this list was the approximately 3500 albums currently in my record collection. A side effect of this rule is that although there is no specific time limit for the selection, in reality the albums that make up this list are all released between 1976 and today, since my record shopping has always been focused in the period after the punk explosion.

The second rule was to choose only one album from each band or artist for possible inclusion in the Top 50 in order to have a wider variety of voices represented and to avoid making this list another tribute to The Fall and the late, great Mark E. Smith, whose stellar releases could easily occupy about one-fifth of it. With this rule, I was able to narrow down the number of albums that could be in the Top 50 to about 200.

The last rule was to try to have a balance between all the periods represented in this list, although for the punk and indie rock sound that we favor, the years between 1977 and 1988 is the golden period.

With all the above rules in place, our Desert Island Album list has taken the shape of the Top 50 we present today. Of course there are many other albums equally worthy of inclusion, so in order to give a more complete picture of our all-time favorites, you will find below a further 150 selections in chronological order and with the second rule lifted. These are (at least for now) the 200 albums that have created Cool Music Central’s ultimate soundtrack, and the Spotify playlist below is what we are listening to all this week in celebration of our 10th anniversary!

C.M.C.'s Desert Island Top 50

01. Perverted by language - THE FALL (1983)
02. Daydream nation - SONIC YOUTH (1988)
03. Nevermind - NIRVANA (1991)
04. Rid of me - P.J. HARVEY (1993)
05. All mod cons - THE JAM (1978)
06. Entertainment! - GANG OF FOUR (1979)
07. Unknown pleasures - JOY DIVISION (1979)
08. Remain in light - TALKING HEADS (1980)
09. Meat is murder - THE SMITHS (1985)
10. Psychocandy - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN (1985)
11. Never mind the bollocks here's The Sex Pistols - THE SEX PISTOLS (1977)
12. London calling - THE CLASH (1979)
13. Surfer Rosa - PIXIES (1988)
14. Ramones - RAMONES (1976)
15. Zen arcade - HUSKER DU (1984)
16. Songs about fucking - BIG BLACK (1987)
17. It takes a nation of millions to hold us back - PUBLIC ENEMY (1988)
18. Life’s rich pageant - R.E.M. (1986)
19. From her to eternity - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1984)
20. Juju - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES (1981)
21. Live through this - HOLE (1994)
22. Siamese dream - SMASHING PUMPKINS (1993)
23. Bug - DINOSAUR JR. (1988)
24. Meat Puppets II - MEAT PUPPETS (1984)
25. Throwing Muses - THROWING MUSES (1986)
26. Slanted and enchanted - PAVEMENT (1992)
27. Sweet oblivion - SCREAMING TREES (1992)
28. Gentlemen - THE AFGHAN WHIGS (1993)
29. Is this it - THE STROKES (2001)
30. Turn on the bright lights - INTERPOL (2002)
31. Elephant - THE WHITE STRIPES (2003)
32. Songs for the deaf - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (2002)
33. Definitely maybe - OASIS (1994)
34. This Year's Model - ELVIS COSTELLO (1978)
35. XTRMNTR - PRIMAL SCREAM (2000)
36. Sun - CAT POWER (2012)
37. To be kind - SWANS (2014)
38. House of GVSB - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS (1996)
39. The hot rock - SLEATER - KINNEY (1999)
40. The magic city - HELIUM (1997)
41. Bakesale - SEBADOH (1994)
42. Return to cookie mountain - TV ON THE RADIO (2006)
43. Fever to tell - YEAH YEAH YEAHS (2003)
44. Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND (2004)
45. Good news for people who love bad news - MODEST MOUSE (2004)
46. Whatever people say I am, that's what I am not - ARCTIC MONKEYS (2006)
47. Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit - COURTNEY BARNETT (2015)
48. St. Vincent - ST. VINCENT (2014)
49. LCD Soundsystem - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (2005)
50. High violet - THE NATIONAL (2010)

Further recommended listening:

Pink flag - WIRE (1977)
Marquee moon - TELEVISION (1977)
Suicide - SUICIDE (1978)
The modern dance - PERE UBU (1978)
Real life - MAGAZINE (1978)
Live at the witch trials - THE FALL (1979)
Fear of music - TALKING HEADS (1979)
Setting sons - THE JAM (1979)
Closer - JOY DIVISION (1980)
Sound affects - THE JAM (1980)
Crocodiles - ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN (1980)
Kilimanjaro - THE TEARDROP EXPLODES (1980)
Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables - DEAD KENNEDYS (1980)
Los Angeles - X (1980)
Crazy rhythms - THE FEELIES (1980)
Playing with a different sex - THE AU PAIRS (1981)
The flowers of romance - PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED (1981)
The fire of love - THE GUN CLUB (1981)
The gift - THE JAM (1982)
Hex enduction hour - THE FALL (1982)
A kiss in the dreamhouse - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES (1982)
The days of wine and roses - THE DREAM SYNDICATE (1982)
Pornography - THE CURE (1982)
Fire dances - KILLING JOKE (1983)
Before Hollywood - THE GO-BETWEENS (1983)
Violent Femmes - VIOLENT FEMMES (1983)
Over the edge - WIPERS (1983)
Mommy’s little monster - SOCIAL DISTORTION (1983)
Burning from the inside - BAUHAUS (1983)
Power, corruption and lies - NEW ORDER (1983)
The wonderful and frightening world of... - THE FALL (1984)
The Smiths - THE SMITHS (1984)
Atom drum bop - THE THREE JOHNS (1984)
Native sons - THE LONG RYDERS (1984)
This nation’s saving grace - THE FALL (1985)
Gas, food, lodging - GREEN ON RED (1985)
Valley of rain - GIANT SAND (1985)
Blood and chocolate - ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS (1986)
Bend sinister - THE FALL (1986)
Sister - SONIC YOUTH (1987)
Warehouse: Songs and stories - HUSKER DU (1987)
Document - R.E.M. (1987)
Mirage - MEAT PUPPETS (1987)
Life’s too good - THE SUGARCUBES (1988)
The House of Love - THE HOUSE OF LOVE (1988)
Bummed - HAPPY MONDAYS (1988)
In the Spanish cave - THIN WHITE ROPE (1988)
Green - R.E.M. (1988)
Isn’t anything - MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1988)
My invisible lantern - SCREAMING TREES (1988)
House tornado - THROWING MUSES (1988)
Frenz experiment - THE FALL (1988)
Tender prey - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1988)
Automatic - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN (1989)
Monsters - MEAT PUPPETS (1989)
The Stone Roses - THE STONE ROSES (1989)
Doolittle - PIXIES (1989)
Extricate - THE FALL (1990)
Goo - SONIC YOUTH (1990)
Every good boy deserves fudge - MUDHONEY (1991)
Swift-work - THE FALL (1991)
Trompe le monde - THE PIXIES (1991)
Uncle Anesthesia - SCREAMING TREES (1991)
The real Ramona - THROWING MUSES (1991)
Fontanelle - BABES IN TOYLAND (1992)
Dirty - SONIC YOUTH (1992)
Dry - P.J. HARVEY (1992)
Code: Selfish - THE FALL (1992)
Henry’s dream - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1992)
New west motel - THE WALKABOUTS (1993)
Saturation - URGE OVERKILL (1993)
Independent worm saloon - BUTTHOLE SURFERS (1993)
In utero - NIRVANA (1993)
Too high to die - MEAT PUPPETS (1994)
Let love in - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1994)
Cruise yourself - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS (1994)
At action park - SHELLAC (1994)
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers) - WU-TANG CLAN (1994)
Deadsexy - SCARCE (1995)
University - THROWING MUSES (1995)
Scream, Dracula, scream - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT (1995)
No joke! - MEAT PUPPETS (1995)
Mellon collie and the infinite sadness - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (1995)
My brother the cow - MUDHONEY (1995)
Garbage - GARBAGE (1995)
To bring you my love - P. J. HARVEY (1995)
In the long still night - GALLON DRUNK (1996)
White light white heat white trash - SOCIAL DISTORTION (1996)
Black love - THE AFGHAN WHIGS (1996)
Dust - SCREAMING TREES (1996)
New adventures in hi-fi - R.E.M. (1996)
Too many days without thinking - SWELL (1997)
Brighten the corners - PAVEMENT (1997)
Dig me out - SLEATER-KINNEY (1997)
I can hear the heart beating as one - YO LA TENGO (1997)
Celebrity skin - HOLE (1998)
1965 - THE AFGHAN WHIGS (1998)
Powertrip - MONSTER MAGNET (1998)
Acme - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION (1998)
Keep it like a secret - BUILT TO SPILL (1999)
Stories from the city, stories from the sea - P.J. HARVEY (2000)
The unutterable - THE FALL (2000)
R - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (2000)
Group sounds - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT (2001)
White blood cells - THE WHITE STRIPES (2001)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB (2001)
Stephen Malkmus - STEPHEN MALKMUS (2001)
Source tags and codes - AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD (2002)
Yoshimi battles the pink robots - THE FLAMING LIPS (2002)
One beat - SLEATER-KINNEY (2002)
Coral fang - THE DISTILLERS (2003)
Abattoir blues / The lyre of Orpheus - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (2004)
Desperate youth, blood thirsty babes - TV ON THE RADIO (2004)
Funeral - THE ARCADE FIRE (2004)
Silent alarm - BLOC PARTY (2005)
Gimme fiction - SPOON (2005)
Let’s stay friends - LES SAVY FAV (2007)
23 - BLONDE REDHEAD (2007)
Icky thump - THE WHITE STRIPES (2007)
We were dead before the ship even sank - MODEST MOUSE (2007)
Favourite worst nightmare - ARCTIC MONKEYS (2007)
Dig, Lazarus, dig!!! - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (2008)
Antidotes - FOALS (2008)
Dance mother - TELEPATHE (2009)
Exploding head - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS (2009)
Fantasies - METRIC (2009)
Your future our clutter - THE FALL (2010)
I will be - DUM DUM GIRLS (2010)
Let England shake - P.J. HARVEY (2011)
Wild Flag - WILD FLAG (2011)
Only in dreams - DUM DUM GIRLS (2011)
Visions - GRIMES (2012)
Blues funeral - MARK LANEGAN BAND (2012)
Bloom - BEACH HOUSE (2012)
Factory Floor - FACTORY FLOOR (2013)
Shaking the habitual - THE KNIFE (2013)
Silence yourself - SAVAGES (2013)
Indigo meadow - THE BLACK ANGELS (2013)
Manipulator - TY SEGALL (2014)
Nikki nack - TUNE-YARDS (2014)
Warpaint - WARPAINT (2014)
Have you in my wilderness - JULIA HOLTER (2015)
The agent intellect - PROTOMARTYR (2015)
Currents - TAME IMPALA (2015)
Teens of denial - CAR SEAT HEADREST (2016)
My woman - ANGEL OLSEN (2016)
Human performance - PARQUET COURTS (2016)
American dream - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (2017)
Masseduction - ST. VINCENT (2017)
The underside of power - ALGIERS (2017)

R.I.P. Mark E. Smith, Hip Priest of The Fall group

It's a very strange feeling to suddenly find myself in a world where there is not going to be another new LP by The Fall, a constant source of pleasure for me for the last three and a half decades. I bet, though, that the group's 25th Peel Session is being organized as we speak in some other dimension, with a brand new line up...

Here are a few highlights selected from the 27 posts we did about The Fall in the 10 years of Cool Music Central's existence on Blogger, just a small tribute to the musical genius of the one and only Mark Edward Smith:

The Fall, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, February 1st, 2014) - Review of the group's last ever Athens gig

The Fall, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, February 10, 2012) - Their second to last Athens gig was one of their best live performances ever!

Primavera Sound ’10: Day One Review (May 27, 2010) - The Fall were one of the highlights of 2010's Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona

2010 Review: Top 30 Albums of the Year - The Fall at the top of the 2010 list of our favorite albums of the year with "Your Future Our Clutter"

Listening Habits 04.2010 - "Your Future Our Clutter" review

Listening Habits 11-12.11 - "Ersatz GB" review

The Top 20 Albums of the '00s: Number 9 - 2000's "The Unutterable" gets its place in our Top 10 Albums of the Noughties list

And finally, just a few nods to the group's 20th century insanely prolific and hugely influential output:

Fall Week: Bend Sinister

Fall Week: Lie Dream of a Casino Soul

Vintage Tracks 1: The Fall - Impression Of J Temperance

R.I.P. Mark, the wonderful and frightening world of The Fall will be a source of inspiration forever...

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

1979 Revisited: Top 40 Albums

Recently BBC Radio 6 celebrated the music of 1979 as part of My Generation, their year-long season of programmes presenting the history of pop music across the decades. Listening to The Sound of 1979 playlist reminded me that several of my all-time favorite albums were released on that year and although over the years I have compiled many "Best of" annual lists (all of which can be found  here), I have never gone on record about my favorites from 1979 (or any other year of the '70s for that matter).

Time to change all that: what follows is a list of 40 excellent albums released in 1979 which I would gladly listen to over and over again today. Most of them have been a huge influence on shaping what we now refer to as the post-punk sound and are indicative of the innovations and  transformations taking place in rock music at the late '70s as a result of the big bang caused by the punk explosion.

This short list, being of course a subjective collection of personal favorites, does not try to include everything that was going on in 1979, but in the near future we will publish in Cool Music Database an expanded and much more wide-ranging version that will cover all bases. But for now, here's our version of The Sound of 1979:

Top 40 Albums of 1979

1.  Entertainment! - GANG OF FOUR
2.  Unknown pleasures - JOY DIVISION
3.  Live at the witch trials - THE FALL
4.  London calling - THE CLASH
5.  Fear of music - TALKING HEADS
6.  Setting sons - THE JAM
7.  Armed forces - ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS
8.  Cut - THE SLITS
9.  Second edition - PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.
10. 154 - WIRE
11. Three imaginary boys - THE CURE

12. The B-52's - THE B-52'S
13. The Undertones - THE UNDERTONES
14. Drums and wires - XTC
15. Specials - SPECIALS
16. Secondhand daylight - MAGAZINE
17. Join hands - SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES
18. Dragnet - THE FALL
19. 20 jazz funk greats - THROBBING GRISTLE
20. Colossal youth - YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS
21. Eat to the beat - BLONDIE
22. Machine gun etiquette - THE DAMNED
23. A different kind of tension - BUZZCOCKS

24. A trip to Marineville - SWELL MAPS
25. Real to real cacophony - SIMPLE MINDS
26. Reproduction - THE HUMAN LEAGUE
27. Reggatta de blanc - POLICE
28. One step beyond... - MADNESS
29. The Raincoats - THE RAINCOATS
30. GI - GERMS
31. Y - THE POP GROUP
32. New picnic time - PERE UBU
33. Door, door - BOYS NEXT DOOR
34. Rust never sleeps - NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE
35. Wave - PATTI SMITH GROUP
36. Tom Verlaine - TOM VERLAINE
37. A can of bees - THE SOFT BOYS
38. Quiet life - JAPAN
39. Life in a day - SIMPLE MINDS
40. Eliptical optimism - SPHERICAL OBJECTS

2015 Review: The Old School

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 50 of 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.

Listening Habits 2015 05-07

Just before our summer break, we have prepared the list of our favorite albums for the period of May - July 2015, led by Holly Herndon and the wondrous, experimental electronica to be found on her sophomore full-length "Platform". 

The Fall are back with their 31st studio LP "Sub-Lingual Tablet" which, of course, could not be missing from our Top 5, while Giant Sand and Mark Kozelek's Sun Kil Moon are also in there with their latest efforts. 

If you're in the mood to try something new, we would suggest lending an ear to the catchy guitar pop of young Londoners Wolf Alice who make good on the promise of their early singles with debut album "My Love Is Cool". Time to take shelter from the summer heat and hit play:

Top 15 Albums

1.  Platform - HOLLY HERNDON
2.  Sub-Lingual Tablet - THE FALL
3.  Universal Themes - SUN KIL MOON

4.  Heartbreak Pass - GIANT SAND
5.  My Love Is Cool - WOLF ALICE
6.  Wire - WIRE
7.  II - METZ
8.  MCIII - MIKAL CRONIN
9.  California Nights - BEST COAST
10. Born Under Saturn - DJANGO DJANGO
11. Deeper - THE SOFT MOON
12. Carrie & Lowell - SUFJAN STEVENS
13. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful - FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE
14. Rough Trade Shops Recorded At The Automat: The Best Of Rough Trade Records - VARIOUS ARTISTS
15. About the Young Idea The Very Best of The Jam - THE JAM

Top 12 Tracks

1.  Interference - HOLLY HERNDON
2.  Auto Chip 2014-2016 - THE FALL
3.  First Light - DJANGO DJANGO
4.  Giant Peach - WOLF ALICE
5.  With A Sort Of Grace I Walked To The Bathroom To Cry - SUN KIL MOON

6. Texting Feist - GIANT SAND

7.  Blogging - WIRE
8.  Acetate - METZ
9.  Wrong - THE SOFT MOON
10. Say - MIKAL CRONIN
11. Fine Without You - BEST COAST
12. What Kind Of Man - FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

Wolf Alice - Giant Peach

Django Django - First Light

The Best Albums of 2015 so far

July is well underway, the temperature's rising and amid capital controls, financial and various other types of crisis and closely averted (?) catastrophes, we remain dedicated to the cause of new music discovery.

In this spirit, as we always do at the halfway point in the year, we have prepared a list of 40 albums, that may or may not be the "best" of the year so far, but they are certainly those that we have listened to the most in the past six months.

As usual, this list is without an "official" ranking, however the order of presentation is definitely not random and there is no doubt in my mind that the four albums at the top by newcomer  Courtney Barnett, '90s-school rockers Sleater-Kinney and Built To Spill, and (surprise - surprise) Holly Herndon with her left-field electronica, will be among the contenders for "Album of the Year" in less than six months from now.

Top 40 Albums of January - June 2015

• Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit - COURTNEY BARNETT
• No cities to love - SLEATER-KINNEY
• Untethered moon - BUILT TO SPILL
• Platform - HOLLY HERNDON
• Ivy tripp - WAXAHATCHEE
• Escape from evil - LOWER DENS
• Viet Cong - VIET CONG
• "Freedom tower" - No Wave dance party 2015 - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
• The magic whip - BLUR
• Foil deer - SPEEDY ORTIZ
• Hinterland - LONELADY
• Sub-lingual tablet - THE FALL
• Strangers to ourselves - MODEST MOUSE
• Short movie - LAURA MARLING
• Another eternity - PURITY RING
• The race for space - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
• What a terrible world, what a beautiful world - THE DECEMBERISTS
• Heartbreak pass - GIANT SAND
• Fast food - NADINE SHAH
• I want to grow up - COLLEEN GREEN
• California nights - BEST COAST
• MCIII - MIKAL CRONIN
• Kintsugi - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
• Born under Saturn - DJANGO DJANGO
• To pimp a butterfly - KENDRICK LAMAR
• Shadow of the sun - MOON DUO
• Universal themes - SUN KIL MOON
• My love is cool - WOLF ALICE
• Wire - WIRE
• II - METZ
• Deeper - THE SOFT MOON
• Transfixiation - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
• Panda Bear meets the Grim Reaper - PANDA BEAR
• Carrie & Lowell - SUFJAN STEVENS
• Edge of the sun - CALEXICO
• Distractions - SAUNA YOUTH
• Peanut butter - JOANNA GRUESOME
• Mutilator Defeated At Last - THEE OH SEES
• Whatever, My Love - THE JULIANA HATFIELD THREE
• Blade of the Ronin - CANNIBAL OX

Listen below to a playlist with some of our favorite tracks from our Top Albums of 2015 so far:

And since "Sub-lingual Tablet" is not on Spotify yet, here's "Auto Chip 2014-2016" from the still mighty Fall:

The Fall - Auto Chip 2014-2016

Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1980

Part two of our new, monthly series of posts where we pick a year from the '80s or '90s and present three favorite songs that fall into one of these three categories: Hit, Cult Classic or Obscurity.

Of course, it's not always easy to decide to which category a song fits in - surely, a hit cannot also be categorized as an obscurity, but it is possible that a song that had huge commercial success in one part of the world remained, at best, a cult classic in other territories.

This is exactly the case for the single I've chosen as my favorite hit of 1980: on March 10 of that year, The Jam released the double A-side 7'' single "Going Underground / Dreams of Children" which went straight to the top of the UK chart and remained there for three consecutive weeks. It was The Jam's first number one in their country (three more would follow before Paul Weller's shock decision to break up the band at the top of its popularity in 1982), but success for them never came on the other side of the pond, so, as far as North America is concerned, this one rather belongs to the Cult Classic category. No matter how you choose to categorize it, though, there is no doubt that "Going Underground" is one of the finest rock tracks of the '80s:

Choosing just one Cult Classic from 1980 is certainly a tough task. Just about any entry in our Top 50 Singles list of that year (apart from the few other obvious hits, of course) can be classified as a cult classic, so I could really just pick a random number and go with that one. Instead I'll break the tie with an obvious choice from one of the countless classics that The Fall have recorded throughout the '80s (and '70s, and '90s, and '00s, and so on) - here's "Totally Wired" from September 1980, released on Rough Trade as a 7'' single with "Putta Block" on the B-side:

Our final selection from 1980 was chosen as "Single of the Week" in all major British music newspapers in the spring of that year but failed to break into the charts. "Seven Minutes to Midnight" by Pete Wylie's Wah! Heat (one of his many Wah!-related incarnations) is undoubtedly a classic, but given that it is perhaps the least well-known track in my 1980's Top 10, I will pick it as the year's obscurity. On a positive note, its critical approval led to a contract with a major label where Wylie released the following year "Nah = Poo -The Art of Bluff", his debut album as Wah! (no more Heat, but not yet Mighty, if you know what I mean) which included this excellent song about the cold war and the era's nuclear paranoia:

On another positive note, Pete Wylie is preparing his first album in this century, titled "Pete Sounds" and you can help by pledging your support here.

Check out here the first part of Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities with our selections from 1985.

Vintage Tracks: Eat Y'Self Fitter

Haven't done a Vintage Tracks post in a long while, but it's time to bring it back in order to honor a special anniversary: on this date, 30 years ago, I bought my first ever Fall record and it suffices to say I never listened to music the same way again. That record was "Perverted By Language", The Fall's sixth LP released on the Rough Trade label on December 12th, 1983, and it started with this simply incredible track:

The Fall - Eat Y'Self Fitter

Genius! Listen to the whole album below with several extras tracks from the 2005 re-release on Castle Music:

The Fall, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, February 1st, 2014)

I can’t really say that this was a first. As every Fall fan knows, there is always a risk factor whenever you go to see live Mark E. Smith and his troops. Depending on Mark’s mood, mental/physical state and other unpredictable factors, on a good day you can witness pure, mind-blowing, rock brilliance in action but sometimes what you get is a spectacular fiasco. And, quite often, a bit of both - all part of the charm of a typical Fall gig.

Unfortunately, this time (and in stark contrast to the band’s previous gig at the same venue) what started very promisingly, with the band firing on all pistons propelled by the two dueling drummers, ended up in improvised shambles after Smith’s unexplained walk off the stage just before the half-hour mark of the show.

The rest of the band, led by Elena Poulou with the help of new drummer Darren who took over vocal duties for a couple of tracks, made a brave effort to continue and played for another half hour, but, let’s face it, this ship cannot be steered without its captain.

From the proper, first half of the gig the standout track was a powerful rendition of "Mister Rode" which sounded better than the recorded version from the recent "The Remainderer" EP, the opening "Victrola Time" and the cover of Frank Zappa’s "Hungry Freaks Daddy".  From the improvised, Smith-less, second half (the Fall-tribute part of the gig or, perhaps more appropriately, the post-Fall gig) the track that fared best was the cover of "White Lightening" with Darren doing his best M.E.S. impression.

As Smith once famously said, "If it’s me and your granny on bongos, then it’s a Fall gig". But, what do you get without him in the equation?

The Rattler Proxy, live @ Gagarin 205

The show opened with a 45-minute set by local act The Rattler Proxy which owes a huge debt to Suicide. The laptop-processed beats and ominous sounds are the backdrop for the Alan Vega-style yelps and screams of the singer who spent most of the time on his knees or rolling around the floor. An interesting performance, although the songs could use a bit more variety - just an idea, but how about adding a guitar to the mix?

Here’s what The Fall (and the post-Fall) ended up playing (not much relation to the planned set list):

Victrola Time, Hungry Freaks Daddy, Wolf Kidult Man, I’ve Been Duped, Strychnine, Mister Rode ...and without MES: Remainderer, White Lightening, Cowboy George. Encore (sort of): Amorator, Theme From Sparta F.C.

The Fall - Mister Rode (live @ Gagarin 205, Athens, February 1st, 2014)

New Releases: November 2013

Round up of November's most interesting album and single releases:

Albums

Back to Land

WOODEN SHJIPS - Back to Land
MAGIK MARKERS - Surrender To The Fantasy
TOY - Join the Dots
TESS PARKS - Blood Hot
BLOOD ORANGE - Cupid Deluxe
SWEARIN' - Surfing Strange
HOWE GELB - The Coincidentalist
MIDLAKE - Antiphon
SHEARWATER - Fellow Travelers
THE LIMINANAS - Costa Blanca
CATE LE BON - Mug Museum
THE WARLOCKS - Skull Worship
YVETTE - Process
THE KVB - Minus One
DEATH GRIPS - Government Plates
M.I.A. - Matangi
SKY FERREIRA - Night Time, My Time
LUSCIOUS JACKSON - Magic Hour
MINOR ALPS - Get There
BRENDAN BENSON - You Were Right
CONNAN MOCKASIN - Caramel
LUKE TEMPLE - Good Mood Fool
MICK TURNER - Don't Tell the Driver
MELVINS - Tres Cabrones

Singles & EPs

The Remainderer

THE FALL - The Remainderer EP
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - Night Mail
YO LA TENGO - Super Kiwi (mp3 via stereogum)
MAZZY STAR - Seasons Of Your Day / Sparrow
LEE RANALDO AND THE DUST - Revolution Blues / Bushes And Briars
JOANNA GRUESOME - Sugarcrush
THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE - Don't You Wanna Be Mine?
STEVE MASON - Fire!
THE FLAMING LIPS - Peace Sword EP
KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS - It's a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared)
JOHN GRANT - Gets Schooled
DESTROYER - Five Spanish Songs EP
NO JOY - Pastel and Pass Out EP
ICEAGE - To The Comrades / Jackie
DISAPPEARS / CLOUDLAND CANYON - Kraftwerk Ja Bitte!
LOCAL NATIVES - Ceilings
MAJOR LEAGUES - Silver Tides
MTNS - Salvage EP
GATEKEEPER - Young Chronos EP
GOLD PANDA - Reprise EP
CASUAL SEX - Bastard Beat EP
TEENGIRL FANTASY - Nun EP
SUMMER CAMP - Fresh / Two Chords

Listen to to our November 2013 playlist on Spotify:

"The Remainderer", The Fall's new EP, will be in shops on December 9. Here's the title track as performed live at Nantes' Festival Soy:

The Fall - The Remainderer (live @ Maison de quartier de Doulon, Nantes)

The Hit List: April 2013

The already long list of April's fine new releases just got longer with yesterday's Record Store Day goodies. Time, then, for a new Hit List including some of our current favorite tracks and, among them, three Record Store Day 2013 releases that stand out:

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Animal X

The one Record Store Day 2013 release that I currently own, the 7" picture disc of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' new single "Animal X", which, surprisingly, was available in Athens' record shops a week earlier than the rest of the world. The track was recorded in France during the recording sessions for "Push The Sky Away" and it's not on the album, although it's definitely one of the best Bad Seeds tracks of the year.

The Fall - Sir William Wray

Fall fans rejoice! Album number 30, titled "Re-Mit", is on its way and "Sir William Wray" was released as a 7" single on Record Store Day to whet our appetite. The single also includes "Hittite Man", another track from the forthcoming album (both are alternate versions on this release), plus the exclusive "Jetplane", a very good reason to try to track down this limited edition single.

A Place To Bury Strangers - Don't Burn the Fires

A Place To Bury Strangers have released a special EP full of Dead Moon covers for Record Store Day 2013 titled "Strange Moon". "Don't Burn the Fires" is the track that opens the record and if you'd like to find out more about Dead Moon, I would recommend to start with the Sub Pop compilation "Echoes of the Past", which I've been listening to again this week thanks to the APTBS release.

Our April Hit List closes with three excellent singles taken from our current favorite new albums, "Mosquito" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Shaking The Habitual" by The Knife and The Black Angels' "Indigo Meadow". More about them soon...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sacrilege
 

The Knife - A Tooth for an Eye

The Black Angels - Don't Play With Guns

5 years on Blogger!

Exactly five years ago Cool Music Central made its debut on Blogger.com with this post. Although C.M.C.’s online presence in one form or another goes all the way back to 1999 (click here for a glimpse of the past - our February 2003 homepage!), I think a little celebration is in order for the occasion.

And what better way to celebrate our blog’s birthday than with the music of the artists that have been featured the most in the 372 posts that we’ve managed since March 6, 2008. At the bottom of the page you can see a cloud of all the labels we have used for our posts. Based on these indisputable facts that reveal our musical infatuations of the past five years, we present you a special playlist with killer tracks from the 12 most blogged about artists and bands in our five year presence on Blogger:

CMC's Cloud Playlist: The first 5 years

1. The Fall (17 posts)

My all-time favorite band, still going strong after 37 years. Album number 30, titled "Re-Mit", will be out in April - expect the post-count to rise even further. By the way, happy birthday to renegade genius Mark E Smith who turned 56 yesterday. Here's "Bury" (the parts 2+4 version) off "Your Future Our Clutter", our 2010 Album of the Year:

The Fall - Bury pts 2+4

2. Dum Dum Girls (16 posts)

If Dum Dum Girls didn't exist, I'd have to invent them myself! The sound, the style, the melodies, the vocals - all the elements of my ideal noise pop group present and correct. "Jail La La" off their debut album "I Will Be" was our 2010 Single of the Year:

 Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La

3. PJ Harvey (14 posts)

"Let England Shake" was the only PJ Harvey album to be released in the past 5 years (not counting the '09 collaboration with John Parish), but not only did it become our Album of the Year for 2011, it also gave us the top single of that year, "The Words That Maketh Murder". Of course, PJ Harvey was also on the top of several other lists we have published here, including Best Album of the '00s for "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea". As you can understand, this is not a passing fling, this is love...

PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder

4. Nick Cave (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds & Grinderman - 6 & 5 posts)

Another long-term relationship of ours going all the way back to the pre-internet era. In the past 5 years we have covered gigs from both Nick Cave outfits and declared the previous Bad Seeds record "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" as our 2008 Album of the Year. With the recent release of the fine "Push the Sky Away" LP, the number of Nick Cave-related posts has already started to go up.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (10 posts)

OK, this is more of a fling than the band that I would take home and introduce to the parents. 2011’s "Belong" was a fine record but the main reason for being included in this esteemed company was our infatuation with their near-perfect self-titled debut album from 2009 that took the C-86 indie pop sound and updated it for a new generation.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

6. Sonic Youth (9 posts)

I cannot tell if Sonic Youth’s hiatus is permanent or not, but without a doubt this band’s influence on the guitar rock sound will remain eternal. Here’s "Sacred Trickster" off their last studio album, 2009’s "The Eternal":

Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster

7. A Place To Bury Strangers (8 posts)

One of Sonic Youth’s most talented disciples, true believers of the "plug in and destroy" noise tactics. "To Fix The Gash in Your Head" off their self-titled debut album was the single with which they made their C.M.C. debut.

A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash in Your Head

8. Telepathe (8 posts)

Our favorite new band of 2009 that earned Album of the Year with their excellent (and, may I say, criminally underrated in other esteemed publications) debut "Dance Mother". A new, long overdue album is expected this year.

Telepathe - So Fine

9. Anna Calvi (7 posts)

She is one of the most promising new artists to emerge from the UK in recent years and her eponymous debut album was at the top of our 2011 Best Debuts lists.

Anna Calvi - Blackout

10. Mark Lanegan (7 posts)

The magnificent voice of grunge-days favorites Screaming Trees, has been ever-present in recent years thanks to his numerous collaborations. "The Gravedigger's Song", one of our top-rated singles of 2012, is off "Blues Funeral", the record with which Lanegan made his triumphant solo return.

 Mark Lanegan Band - The Gravedigger's Song

11. Cat Power (7 posts)

2012 was the year of the Cat with both Album and Single of the Year going to Chan Marshall. Here's the latter:

Cat Power - Ruin

12. Metric (7 posts)

And finally, with another seven posts dedicated to them, we have Metric who scored Single of the Year in 2009 with "Help I'm Alive" off their awesome fourth album "Fantasies":

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Here's to the next five!

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

 

Listening Habits 11-12.11

Just before we start unveiling our year-end lists for 2011 (debuts, singles and albums), let’s take a closer look at some of the best records we’ve listened to in the last couple of months.

Regular Cool Music Central visitors will not be surprised to find The Fall’s latest LP (their 29th to be exact) at the top of our album pile. Consistency and the uncompromising rock'n'roll vision of Mark E. Smith is what sets this band in its many incarnations over the years, apart and above all competition.

"Ersatz GB" is, in a way, The Fall's heavy metal album, proving that there is still room for surprises in the unique Fall sound blueprint. "Greenway" (adopted by a recording of Greek joke-metal band Anorimoi) starts with a behemoth of a guitar riff and introduces Mark’s death metal voice, while the slow and heavy "Monocard" steals a page or two from Black Sabbath’s book of doom. The unusual folk of "Happi Song", written and sang by Elena Poulou, throws another curveball by not sounding like a Fall song at all. Elsewhere, it is business as usual for Mark and his troops (David Spurr, Pete Greenway and Keiron Melling complete the rest of the lineup which amazingly remains stable for a third LP), with propulsive tracks like "Cosmos 7", "Nate Will Not Return" or "Age Of Chang" delivering the rough edged, raw and aggressive sound that the Fall faithful have come to expect from the band and the reason we’re keep coming back for more for as long as Smith sees fit to stubbornly keep going at it.

Veronica Falls and Soft Metals offer two new additions to our "Best Debuts of the Year" list (more on this subject in the coming week) with their eponymous albums. Veronica Falls put their own, particularly enjoyable spin to the whole girl group-garage rock-'80s indiepop combo we've enjoyed lately with a record filled with catchy, energetic, straight-to-the-point songs, while Soft Metals (as we've already pointed out here) draw inspiration from all sorts of  electronic sounds from the '70s and '80s with a twist of new wave's resplendent darkness added for good measure.

"Original Colors", High Places' excellent third long-player, is the L.A.-based duo's most dance-floor friendly release so far, with fluid rhythms and chilled out synth melodies accompanying Mary Pearson’s majestic vocals. The highly addictive nature of their enchanting sound looks certain to bring High Places for a second consecutive year among the highest places of our year-end album list.

More enchanting sounds and harmonies, in this case guitar-based, are to be found in Real Estate's sophomore work "Days". The New Jersey band follows the example of its recently reenergized neighbors The Feelies, creating the sort of majestic guitar soundscapes which could become the perfect companion for a road trip. And in case your road trip needs something a bit more psychedelic, try following "Days" with Wooden Shjips’ latest effort, "West", for your maximum trippy enjoyment. As for The Black Keys' just-released seventh effort, all I can say right now is that with every new spin of their "El Camino" this week, the album keeps climbing up in our year-end list, reaching higher and higher. Tune in around Christmas to see where exactly it will end up.

Top 18 Albums

1.   Ersatz GB - THE FALL
2.   Veronica Falls - VERONICA FALLS
3.   Original Colors - HIGH PLACES
4.   Soft Metals - SOFT METALS
5.   Days - REAL ESTATE
6.   El Camino - THE BLACK KEYS
7.   West - WOODEN SHJIPS
8.   Creatures Of An Hour - STILL CORNERS
9.   D - WHITE DENIM
10. David Comes To Life - FUCKED UP
11. The Whole Love - WILCO
12. The Rip Tide - BEIRUT
13. Portamento - THE DRUMS
14. Endless Now - MALE BONDING
15. Lenses Alien - CYMBALS EAT GUITARS
16. Circuital - MY MORNING JACKET
17. Bon Iver - BON IVER
18. Our Own Dream EP - KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS

Top 20 Tracks

1.   I’m His Girl - FRIENDS
2.   Two Different Ways - FACTORY FLOOR
3.   Nate Will Not Return - THE FALL
4.   Lonely Boy - THE BLACK KEYS
5.   Bad Feeling - VERONICA FALLS
6.   It's Real - REAL ESTATE
7.   Banksia - HIGH PLACES
8.   Psychic Driving - SOFT METALS
9.   Lazy Noon - KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS
10. Into the Trees - STILL CORNERS
11. Black Smoke Rise - WOODEN SHJIPS
12. I Might - WILCO
13. Santa Fe - BEIRUT
14. Holdin’ On To Black Metal - MY MORNING JACKET
15.  Bess St. - WHITE DENIM
16. How It Ended - THE DRUMS
17. Bones - MALE BONDING
18. Definite Darkness - CYMBALS EAT GUITARS
19. Total Decay - THE SOFT MOON
20. Dark Eyes - CRYSTAL STILTS

Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

(mp3s via pitchfork and sub pop)