Listening Habits 01-02.2019

In the first post of this blog in March 2008, we presented the list of the Top 20 albums we have been listening to during the start of that year. Fast forward eleven years and what better way to start C.M.C.'s twelfth year on Blogger than with our current list of favorites:

As usual at this time of the year, the mix of albums we are listening to combine new releases with quite a few important "leftovers" from the previous year, records we either started listening close to the end of 2018 and we still can't get enough of (Julia Holter, Kurt Vile, Low, Spiritualized, Mudhoney), a few late releases that took us a while to get a hold of (Jon Spencer, Phosphorescent, Cloud Nothings), but also some new discoveries that came to our attention thanks to the various year-end lists (Tropical Fuck Storm, The Beths, Audiobooks, Gabe Gurnsey), which should definitely find a place in the final version of our own "Best of 2018" as well.

As for the first new releases of 2019 that earned our appreciation and the most spins during January and February, those include "Ex:Re", the debut solo project by Elena Tonra of Daughter, "Stuffed & Ready", the third LP by Cherry Glazerr (see also here), the return of Deerhunter with "Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?" and, of course, "Remind Me Tomorrow", the fifth and best album so far by Sharon Van Etten, who tries and succeeds to open up her sound to new influences, creating a joyous and richly rewarding listening experience from start to finish.

Here are our 20 favorite albums and tracks for January - February 2019:

Top 20 Albums

1.   Remind Me Tomorrow - SHARON VAN ETTEN
2.   Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? - DEERHUNTER
3.   Stuffed & Ready - CHERRY GLAZERR
4.   Ex:Re - EX:RE
5.   Aviary - JULIA HOLTER
6.   Bottle It In - KURT VILE
7.   Spencer Sings The Hits - JON SPENCER
8.   A Laughing Death In Meatspace - TROPICAL FUCK STORM
9.   Digital Garbage - MUDHONEY
10. Double Negative - LOW
11. And Nothing Hurt - SPIRITUALIZED
12. C'est La Vie - PHOSPHORESCENT
13. Physical - GABE GURNSEY
14. Now! (in a minute) - AUDIOBOOKS
15. Future Me Hates Me - THE BETHS
16. Last Building Burning - CLOUD NOTHINGS
17. Merrie Land - THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN
18. Big Attraction & Giddy Up - AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS
19. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 18 - VARIOUS ARTISTS
20. Life & Death On The New York Dance Floor 1980 - 1983 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 20 Tracks

1.  Seventeen - SHARON VAN ETTEN
2.  Element - DEERHUNTER
3.  Wasted Nun - CHERRY GLAZERR
4.  Romance - EX:RE
5.  I Shall Love 2 - JULIA HOLTER
6.   Loading Zones - KURT VILE
7.   Do The Trash Can - JON SPENCER
8.   The Future Of History - TROPICAL FUCK STORM
9.   Friends In The Bubble Bath - AUDIOBOOKS
10. You Can - GABE GURNSEY
11. Boys in the Better Land - FONTAINES D.C.
12. Future Me Hates Me - THE BETHS
13. Westgate - AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS
14. Kill Yourself Live - MUDHONEY
15. The Morning After - SPIRITUALIZED
16. New Birth In New England - PHOSPHORESCENT
17. Fly - LOW
18. Merrie Land - THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN
19. Half Life - SMERZ
20. Leave Him Now - CLOUD NOTHINGS

Top 50 Albums of 2018

Happy New Year to all! We begin 2019, our 11th year on Blogger, with the list of our favorite albums of the past year, a well-established tradition of this blog.

Looking back to 2018, it's easy to find plenty of very good albums, but rather difficult to single out a few that stood out above all else to become the obvious choices for Albums of the Year. As a result, perhaps more than in any other year in recent memory,  we've seen a wide variety of albums claiming this distinction in the numerous year-end lists out there, and quite a few surprises. I mean who would bet a year ago that albums by relatively low profile new artists like Mitski, Idles or Shame would be topping year-end lists or that Low's experimental twelfth album would earn such a wide acclaim?

Inevitably, even our choice for Album of the Year is one that upsets the odds, as I would never have guessed back in February, even as I was selecting U.S. Girls' sixth album "In a Poem Unlimited" as the top new release of the month, that by the end of 2018 it would be our choice for the Number One of the Year.

Meg Remy's experimental pop project has come a long way since the lo-fi solo recordings she was presenting us about a decade ago. With her previous record, U.S. Girls' 4AD debut "Half Free" in 2015, we were presented with her most accomplished collection of songs up to that point. Three years later, Remy widens the musical borders of her project even further by collaborating with members of the funk and jazz instrumental collective The Cosmic Range and the end result, the hauntingly beautiful "In a Poem Unlimited", is an undoubtedly impressive accomplishment: a strong, soulful, forward thinking record where personal politics and fluid dance-pop music combine to create the perfect protest record for our current turbulent times.

Elsewhere near the top of our list, you will also find other strong female voices with Anna Calvi's third and perhaps best album to date, the magnificent "Hunter", and Courtney Barnett's sophomore full-length "Tell Me How You Really Feel", while the jangly guitars of Rolling Blackouts C.F. earn the Australian band the title of Debut Album of the Year with the majestic "Hope Downs".

Without any further ado, check out below Cool Music Central's Top 50 Albums of 2018, based, of course, on what we were able to lend a careful ear to so far. As always, a more complete version of this list will appear here, sometime in 2019.

Top 50 Albums of 2018

1.   In A Poem Unlimited - U.S. GIRLS

 

2.   Hunter - ANNA CALVI 

 

3.   Hope Downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER 

4.   Tell Me How You Really Feel  - COURTNEY BARNETT 

5.   7 - BEACH HOUSE 

6.   Wide Awaaaaake! - PARQUET COURTS 

7.   Freedom's Goblin - TY SEGALL 

8.   All Nerve - THE BREEDERS 

9.   Goat Girl - GOAT GIRL 

10. Songs Of Praise - SHAME 

11. Joy As An Act Of Resistance - IDLES 

12. Endless Scroll - BODEGA 

13. Beyondless - ICEAGE 

14. Snow Bound - THE CHILLS 

15. Wanderer - CAT POWER 

16. Possible Dust Clouds - KRISTIN HERSH 

17. Aviary - JULIA HOLTER 

18. Marauder - INTERPOL 

19. Bottle It In - KURT VILE 

20. Microshift - HOOKWORMS 

21. Snares Like A Haircut - NO AGE 

22. We're Not Talking - THE GOON SAX 

23. Lush - SNAIL MAIL 

24. Vessel - FRANKIE COSMOS 

25. Be The Cowboy - MITSKI 

26. What A Time To Be Alive - SUPERCHUNK 

27. Digital Garbage - MUDHONEY 

28. Jericho Sirens - HOT SNAKES 

29. Kazuashita - GANG GANG DANCE 

30. I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life - TUNE-YARDS 

31. Double Negative - LOW 

32. And Nothing Hurt - SPIRITUALIZED

33. Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino - ARCTIC MONKEYS 

34. Dove - BELLY 

35. Sparkle Hard - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS 

36. The Church Of Simultaneous Existence - THE AINTS! 

37. Hell-on - NEKO CASE 

38. Clean - SOCCER MOMMY 

39. Rebound - ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER 

40. Twin Fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST 

41. Pinned - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS 

42. Twerp Verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ 

43. Twentytwo In Blue - SUNFLOWER BEAN 

44. Little Dark Age - MGMT 

45. Always Ascending - FRANZ FERDINAND 

46. Marble Skies - DJANGO DJANGO 

47. The Official Body - SHOPPING 

48. Felt - SUUNS 

49. There's A Riot Going On - YO LA TENGO 

50. I'll Be Your Girl - THE DECEMBERISTS

Listening Habits 09-10.2018

It won't be long until the endless scroll of the "Albums of the Year" lists for 2018 begins on your screens and as we consider our own two cents on the matter, here are the latest new albums with the most spins on C.M.C.'s record player for the first couple of months of the fall season:

Anna Calvi's "Hunter", her third and probably best album so far, is at the top of our list and is certainly a strong candidate for 2018's year-end Top 5, while Martin Phillipps continues his songwriting rejuvenation with "Snow Bound", the second album for New Zealand's legendary The Chills after their comeback in 2015.

Six years ago Cat Power claimed the top of our 2012 Albums of the Year list with "Sun". Her return with "Wanderer", the 10th album in her amazing 23-year career, finds her returning to a more acoustic sound with minimal arrangements where her voice is the center of attention and shining as always.

Other notable releases this fall which also deserve prominent positions in the coming year-end lists are "Possible Dust Clouds", Kristin Hersh's latest solo release and first for Fire Records, where her electrifying sound reaches the fever pitch we usually find in her Throwing Muses records, and "Marauder", Interpol's sixth album who have collaborated with producer Dave Fridmann to give us perhaps their best work in this decade.

Add to these five excellent new albums, the strong releases by newcomers Bodega from New York, who have one of the best debuts of 2018 with "Endless Scroll", Australia's The Goon Sax who share some of the same DNA with The Go-Betweens (both literally and metaphorically as Robert Forster's son Louis is one of the founders of the band), Bristol's positive punks Idles, Denmark's Iceage and Japanese-American songwriter Mitski and you have a pretty solid Top 10 for September-October 2018. And, of course, there's more...

Check out our Top 15 below and listen to a playlist with some of the standout tracks from these albums:

Top 15 Albums

1.   Hunter - ANNA CALVI
2.   Snow Bound - THE CHILLS
3.   Wanderer - CAT POWER
4.   Possible Dust Clouds - KRISTIN HERSH
5.   Marauder - INTERPOL
6.   We're Not Talking - THE GOON SAX
7.   Endless Scroll - BODEGA
8.   Joy As An Act Of Resistance - IDLES
9.   Beyondless - ICEAGE
10. Be The Cowboy - MITSKI
11. Sparkle Hard - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
12. The Church of Simultaneous Existence - THE AINTS!
13. Pinned - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
14. Hell-on - NEKO CASE
15. Goners - LAURA GIBSON

Top 15 Tracks

1.   As a Man - ANNA CALVI
2.   You Get  - CAT POWER
3.   Make Time 4 Love - THE GOON SAX
4.   Complex - THE CHILLS
5.   Breathe In - KRISTIN HERSH
6.   The Rover - INTERPOL
7.   How Did This Happen?! - BODEGA
8.   Danny Nedelko - IDLES
9.   Pain Killer - ICEAGE
10. Nobody - MITSKI
11. Refute - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
12. Last Lion of Albion - NEKO CASE
13. Domestication - LAURA GIBSON
14. Never Coming Back - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
15. Red Aces - THE AINTS!

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

Top 20 Albums of the first half of 2018

Just after the halfway point of 2018, we are taking a moment to single out the 20 albums we've enjoyed the most among the numerous new releases of the past six months. The order of presentation is not totally random, but we'll avoid numbers in our Top 20 list as rankings change almost daily at this point in time. Let's just say that U.S. Girls, Beach House and Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever have delivered the albums with the best odds for challenging for 2018's Album of the Year title!

In a poem unlimited - U.S. GIRLS 

7 - BEACH HOUSE
  

 Hope downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
  

Tell me how you really feel - COURTNEY BARNETT
 

Wide awake! - PARQUET COURTS
 Freedom's goblin - TY SEGALL
All nerve - THE BREEDERS
Goat Girl - GOAT GIRL
I can feel you creep into my private life - TUNE-YARDS
Microshift - HOOKWORMS
Lush - SNAIL MAIL
Songs of praise - SHAME
Snares like a haircut - NO AGE
What a time to be alive - SUPERCHUNK
Jericho sirens - HOT SNAKES
Twin fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST
Tranquility base hotel + casino - ARCTIC MONKEYS
Dove - BELLY
Twerp verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ
Clean - SOCCER MOMMY

Listening Habits 04-05.2018

Second albums are always a challenge, especially if your debut happens to be among the best ones of the current decade, but Courtney Barnett has pulled it off in spectacular fashion with "Tell Me How You Really Feel".

Her new offering, which comes only months after "Lotta Sea Lice", her fine collaborative effort with Kurt Vile, lyrically deals with the anxieties and insecurities of the author ("Crippling Self-Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence" is a very revealing song title) but the music in contrast sounds relaxed and self-assured, creating another strong batch of breezy indie pop songs that give further proof of Courtney Barnett's songwriting genius!

Parquet Courts' sixth full-length "Wide Awaaaaake!" continues the band's amazing run of top-notch punk-influenced rock records, but this time the spectrum of influences has widened further to include funk and dance-pop elements.

Without sacrificing the rough edges of their sound, Parquet Courts are broadening their musical horizons and with the help of producer Danger Mouse, they have created their most diverse sounding record to date, where post punk, indie pop and funk coexist peacefully and create a powerful whole.

Among the rest of the albums that stood out for us in the last couple of months you will find the long-awaited, excellent debut by promising London post-punk quartet Goat Girl, Tune-Yard's techno-influenced fourth LP "I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life", the ambitious "Microshift", the third full-length effort by Hookworms where psych-pop meets krautrock, the full-on punk rockin' return of Hot Snakes and Superchunk, and some fine pop melodies by britpop heroes Arctic Monkeys and New York hopefuls Sunflower Bean.

Check out below our Top 12 Albums for April - May 2018 and have a listen to our Top 15 Tracks on the Spotify playlist:

Top 12 Albums

1.   Tell Me How You Really Feel - COURTNEY BARNETT 

2.   Wide Awaaaaake! - PARQUET COURTS

3.   Goat Girl - GOAT GIRL

4.   I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life - TUNE-YARDS

5.   Microshift - HOOKWORMS

6.   Jericho Sirens - HOT SNAKES

7.   What A Time To Be Alive - SUPERCHUNK

8.   Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino - ARCTIC MONKEYS

9.   Twentytwo In Blue - SUNFLOWER BEAN

10. Felt - SUUNS

11. The Official Body - SHOPPING

12. Robyn Hitchcock - ROBYN HITCHCOCK

Top 15 Tracks

1.   Need a Little Time - COURTNEY BARNETT

2.   Four Out Of Five - ARCTIC MONKEYS

3.   Mardi Gras Beads - PARQUET COURTS

4.   The Man - GOAT GIRL

5.   Mx Liberty - THURSTON MOORE

6.   Violations EP - SNAPPED ANKLES

7.   Look at Your Hands - TUNE-YARDS

8.   Static Resistance - HOOKWORMS

9.   Six Wave Hold-Down - HOT SNAKES

10. What a Time to Be Alive - SUPERCHUNK

11. The Hype - SHOPPING

12. I Was a Fool - SUNFLOWER BEAN

13. Look No Further - SUUNS

14. Virginia Woolf - ROBYN HITCHCOCK

15. The Seeker - BUFFALO TOM

Courtney Barnett - Need A Little Time

Listening Habits 03.2018

"In A Poem Unlimited", the second album by U.S. Girls for 4AD and sixth overall since Meghan Remy first introduced us to her solo recording project about a decade ago, is her most accomplished and impressive work so far. The album, recorded in collaboration with members of the Toronto-based funk and jazz instrumental collective The Cosmic Range, uses electropop and disco rhythms to create songs that constitute vivid character studies of women grappling with power and protest the lies and hypocrisy surrounding us. Personal politics and fluid pop music combine to create a perfect protest record that fits perfectly with the current turbulent times.

Among the best albums we’ve listened to in the first few months of 2018, we also have "All Nerve", the excellent fifth LP by The Breeders, who make a spectacular return to form after a 10 year absence, this time with the same lineup that gave us the classic "Last Splash" in the 90s. First single "Wait in the Car" is the perfect companion to "Cannonball" in The Breeders "best of" playlist, while tracks like "Nervous Mary", "All Nerve", "Blues at the Acropolis" or the Amon Duul II cover "Archangel's Thunderbird" can easily stand next to their past glories.

In the 10 years between the last two Breeders albums, Ty Segall has released more than ten records, steadily building up an impressive discography that spans the whole spectrum of rock ’n’ roll, from garage and punk, to hard rock and blues. His latest work, "Freedom’s Goblin", adds also soul and funk touches to the mix, while somehow still managing to include nods to every single rock genre that has ever influenced him without ever losing the plot (as, I’m afraid, is the case with Jack White’s latest offering). The end result can easily be counted among his best efforts so far, a new peak to an already impressive run.

Check out below the 12 albums we've listened to the most in the last month and a half, the first batch of LPs that stood out for us in the 2018 release calendar:

Top 12 Albums

1.   In A Poem Unlimited - U.S. GIRLS
2.   All Nerve - THE BREEDERS
3.   Freedom's Goblin - TY SEGALL
4.   Plunge - FEVER RAY
5.   Songs Of Praise - SHAME
6.   Twin Fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST
7.   There's A Riot Going On - YO LA TENGO
8.   Little Dark Age - MGMT
9.   Always Ascending - FRANZ FERDINAND
10. I'll Be Your Girl - THE DECEMBERISTS
11. Boarding House Reach - JACK WHITE
12. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 17 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 12 Tracks

1.   Pearly Gates - U.S. GIRLS
2.   Blues At The Acropolis - THE BREEDERS
3.   She - TY SEGALL
4.   IDK About You - FEVER RAY
5.   Nervous Young Inhumans - CAR SEAT HEADREST
6.   For You Too - YO LA TENGO
7.   One Rizla - SHAME
8.   Over And Over And Over - JACK WHITE
9.   Little Dark Age - MGMT
10. Feel The Love Go - FRANZ FERDINAND
11. Severed - THE DECEMBERISTS
12. Shadow - CHROMATICS

U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates (ft. James Baley)