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

New Releases: June 2018

Check out the most interesting albums, singles and EPs released among the World Cup fever of June 2018:

Albums

Hope Downs

ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER - Hope Downs
SNAIL MAIL - Lush
LUMP - Lump
NEKO CASE - Hell-On
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - Something Else
GANG GANG DANCE - Kazuashita
LET’S EAT GRANDMA - I’m All Ears
MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER - Bon Voyage
FATHER JOHN MISTY - God’s Favorite Customer
GRUFF RHYS - Babelsberg
JIM JAMES - Uniform Distortion
THE ESSEX GREEN - Hardly Electronic
JOHN PARISH - Bird Dog Dante
JULIAN COPE - Skellington 3
JOHNNY MARR - Call The Comet
GORILLAZ - The Now Now
LYKKE LI - So Sad, So Sexy
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE - High As Hope
THE CHARLATANS - Different Days
STUART STAPLES - Arrhythmia
GET WELL SOON - The Horror
BLACK-EYED SNAKES - Seven Horses
MOURN - Sorpresa Familia
GIRLS NAMES - Stains on Silence
VIRGINIA WING - Ecstatic Arrow
DEATH GRIPS - Year of the Snitch
FLASHER - Constant Image
HERE LIES MAN - You Will Know Nothing
THE WAVE PICTURES - Brushes with Happiness
ECHO LADIES - Pink Noise
WARMDUSCHER - Whale City
KAPUTT - We Repeat To Forget
BOY AZOOGA - 1, 2, Kung Fu!
SINK YA TEETH - Sink Ya Teeth
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - Age Of
PREFUSE 73 - Sacrifices
SOULWAX - Essential
KAMASI WASHINGTON - Heaven and Earth
HOWLIN RAIN - The Alligator Bride
MATTHEW SWEET - Tomorrow's Daughter
NATALIE PRASS - The Future and The Past
SOPHIE - Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
BEST COAST - Best Kids

Singles & EPs

Consolation EP

PROTOMARTYR - Consolation EP
PARQUET COURTS - Total Football
SNAPPED ANKLES - Four To The Forest Floor EP
MAZZY STAR - Still EP
DEATH IN VEGAS - Honey
FUCKED UP - High Rise
NINE INCH NAILS - Bad Witch EP
THE CHARLATANS - Totally Eclipsing
INVSN - Forever Rejected EP
LIFE - Grown up
SORRY - Showgirl
YUNO - Moodie EP
TIM BURGESS - Inspired Again 
PETE YORN AND SCARLETT JOHANSSON - Apart EP
JOE GODDARD - So Much / Human Touch
JUNGLE - Happy Man / House in LA
NO JOY - Blue Room Sessions
DINOSAUR JR - Blue Room Sessions

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Straight

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!

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