You're Not Punk
Will Justin ever finish his Best of 2021 series? I don’t know, but hey, I’m here to let you know what’s what in 2022 so far.
So far on the pod this year we have discussed X’s second album, Touché Amoré's first album and a Fat Wreck Comp. Coming up this week Justin and I will be sans guests and we will be doing an “I’m Listening” on our Patreon.
Study break
I’m doing my homework this year. In the spirit of The Pitch List from the first quarter of last year, Justin will be compiling me a short playlist of stuff to check out every Friday.
I think the clearest winner from this round is the new record Drottningar Dauðans from the Icelandic Chorus-Pedal-Manglers BÖRN. This record was put out by the always reliable Iron Lung Records. I guess you could call this Deathrock? It’s that kind of Post-Punk that sounds like arctic ice being shattered by a polar icebreaker ship.
If it sounds country…that's what it is
I need country music to step up its game this year. There wasn’t a lot that really caught my ears last year so I’m getting my boots dirty kicking over every rock this year looking for some twangy stuff to tip my hat to. Here’s a couple things that I spun this week.
Brilliant Mistakes are new comers from Atlanta that I think have a lot of potential. Their debut full length Outsiders starts off with some similar sounding but catchy Tom Petty meets Gin Blossoms Alt Rock that I might be willing to admit could be called Power Pop. Most of the record though stays in the Americana lane like early Wilco or Old 97s. For fans of Alt-Country in general.
This record is getting some hype. I think it’s pretty good. I would compare to Jenny Lewis and that whole school of pop oriented modern Americana but it has some lo-fi kind of Indie Rock bonafides. Perhaps that should be Canadiana? If you liked that Charlotte Corncob record from last year or the twangier Weakerthans stuff I could see this being up your alley.
Relatin’ dudes to Jazz
Okay, okay, I know y’all don’t follow this for Jazz recs but I’m keeping track of my listening in that genre with this playlist. Special highlights this week are The Rumproller by Lee Morgan, the ‘66 follow up to the crossover hit The Sidewinder and At the Room 427 by Koichi Matsukaze Trio, a recommendation from friend of the pod Cory, a mid-70s Japanese live record that has been reissued this month.