Ghosts Of West Virginia, Steve Earle & the Dukes

Ghosts Of West Virginia, Steve Earle & the Dukes, 2020, :30

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Ten beautifully crafted songs about West Virginia, specifically about coal miners and their dangerous, disappearing way of life.  Earle is a fantastic songwriter, of course, but here I think he surpasses himself, treating the subject with reverence and righteous ire (as when he howls the names of the 29 miners killed in the 2010 explosion on "It's About Blood").  An artist taking on the voice of a working man is always a tricky task, but for me I don't think he made a misstep on the album.  Earle's voice at this point is a raspy growl, which he uses to perfect effect.  Favorite tracks: "Heaven Ain't Goin' Nowhere," "Union, God and Country," "Black Lung," "The Mine."

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple

It's the title word count-up to ten! Four words.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple, 2020, :52

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Well-known or being one of the very few perfect score albums on Pitchfork. I'm a big fan of When the Pawn, so I was looking forward to this. It does not disappoint. I don't know if it's deliberate, but Apple overcomes her somewhat limited range (most of her songs rattle along at a bump-pa-PUM, bump-pa-PUM pace) in that everything comes out sounding like percussion: the piano, handclaps, bass. Tribal songs and schoolyard chant rhythms influence her vocal delivery, which is also percussive. It all feels and sounds like Apple is lambasting you around the head with words and snark and anger and internal rhyme and more words. It's quite brilliant. The album contains multitudes. Just dig this one verse: "While I'd not yet found my bearings / Those It Girls hit the ground / Comparing the way I was to the way she was / Sayin' I'm not stylish enough and I cry too much / And I listened because I hadn't found my own voice yet / So all I could hear was the noise / That people make when they don't know shit / But I didn't know that yet." This is real talk for the girls and other kids who need to hear it. Hell, I'm an old man, and I'm still learning. Favorite tracks: "I Want You To Love Me," "Ladies," "Relay," "Cosmonauts," "For Her."

In Waiting, Pillow Queens

It's Woman Week, Irish version!

In Waiting, Pillow Queens, 2020, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

A terrific queer Irish rock band, Pillow Queens come out the gate with all their talent on bold display.  This is the kind of new music that makes me, an old man, hope for the future.  Assertive and honest, these songs deal with love and acceptance, whether clothed in thick guitar riffs or a softer emo strum.  From snarls to soft "ohh ohh" choruses, it's catchy, poignant, and richly atmospheric. Favorite tracks: "HowDoILook," "Brothers," "Gay Girls," "Handsome Wife."

Quickies, Magnetic Fields

Continuing the alphabet of albums, Q is for quite brief songs.

Quickies, Magnetic Fields, 2020, :46

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Like TMBG's Nanobots and Elvis Costello's Get Happy!!, this album features a lot of very short songs. There are 28 of them, to be exact, the longest one at 2:35. While I'm a devotee of Stephen Merritt's songwriting, I think his strengths are palatial, cleverly rhymed torch style songs. To me, his wit and his storytelling need room to present themselves fully. So he's challenging himself on this album, and that's a fine thing, but it isn't his best work. "The Biggest Tits in History," one of the longer songs, is basically a dad joke, and "The Day the Politicians Died" is similarly one-note. Some of the others are pretty good verses from songs that didn't get fully written. However, the bright spots are very good. "The Best Cup of Coffee in Tennessee" is a story song that would have fit well on 69 Love Songs. I think, however, overall I'm disappointed because the moments of sweeping melody and catchy refrains are few and far between. Favorite tracks: "The Best Cup of Coffee in Tennessee," "My Stupid Boyfriend," "When the Brat Upstairs Got a Drum Kit."

Beat the Champ, Mountain Goats / Blast From the Grassed, Hayseed Dixie

Continuing the alphabet of albums, we have a B twofer.

Beat the Champ, Mountain Goats, 2015, :45

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

A concept album about wrestling, and very specifically so, with references to cage matches, spectators in the rafters, faces turning to heels, and even name-checks of specific wrestlers. But also, an album very much about people and the choices they make and the connections and spaces between them. The song "Animal Mask," for examplw, is a very clever blend of a description of a wrestling match and a rumination on singer John Darnielle's new baby son, and "Unmasked" uses the metaphor of the wrestler dropping his character to explore how accurately we seen each other in general. The album is best when straddling these two worlds. Favorite tracks: "Foreign Object," "Choked Out," "Heel Turn 2."

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Blast From the Grassed, Hayseed Dixie, 2020, :41

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The world's best bluegrass cover band takes on a dozen songs from various decades. I love pretty much anything these guys do, but I especially like it when they get goofy and fast. They've toned down the "dumb hillbilly" image a bit since their debut, but still can whoop it up. Favorite tracks: "You Need to Calm Down," "Take On Me," "Dancing Queen."

In Sickness & In Flames, the Front Bottoms

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

In Sickness & In Flames, the Front Bottoms, August 21 2020, :52
 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Folk-punk, or rather folk-emo band. Sounds like nothing so much as an acoustic Say Anything. And a little like Defiance, Ohio. I like the angry strumming and shouted choruses and the earnest heart-on-their-sleeve vocals. The lyrics are rather trite but they fit the material, somehow. Not profound, but strongly felt, let's say; not everything needs to be poetic. If I have a cavil about this album it's that it seems overloaded. At a generous 52 minutes over 12 songs, many of them 4 or 5 minutes, and every song an epic, with several ending with these ten- or fifteen-second long muttered spoken word codas… and it just gets to be a bit much.  As I say, though, that's a minor grouse.  Favorite tracks: "Fairbanks, Alaska," "Love At First Sight," "Camouflage."

Rough and Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2020. The final one! Back to the future. 

Rough and Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan, 2020, 1:10

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

On June 19, the Great One dropped a surprise album, and all anyone could talk about was the 17-minute nostalgia dystopia "Murder Most Foul." I liked that, but aside from its novelty length I don't think it's that much of a standout in the Bob oeuvre.  This album is mostly in the vein of his bluesy growler Together Through Life, one of my least favorite Dylan albums.  But there's a lot to love here, lots of those Dylan lines that make you suddenly stop, start upright, and say, "Wait, what now?"  Like in "Black Rider:"  You're digging the tough blues groove about some mysterious death-like figure and then you hear "Black rider, black rider, hold it right there / The size of your cock will get you nowhere."  With Bob, you just gotta jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard.  If this turns out to be Dylan's last studio album, it will be a definitively apt one, with its looking back at the past through grim-colored glasses.  Favorite tracks: "False Prophet," "Goodbye Jimmy Reed," "My Own Version of You."

Flower of Devotion, Dehd

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old. 

Flower of Devotion, Dehd, July 17 2020, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I don't even know how to begin to characterize this.  A power trio.  Low-fi, DYI garage-surf-pop?  The male and female shared vocals, there are shades of Imperial Teen, catchy hooks just peeking out of the fuzz.  Both vocalists use their voices as instruments, growling, yelping, screaming, pleading, whispering.  The drumming is sparse and moody.  Lots of tricks in their bag; each song has its own discrete tone and structure. The songs are taut and emotional, the lyrics simplistic and raw, heart-on-the-sleeve.  "I am a flood for you."  "Do you want to disappear with me?"  "I feel myself falling apart."  "Here's to this hoping / Taking a wing / I want to show you / You are my dream."  "You only want me when you're sad / And I got no time for it."  Favorite tracks: "No Time," "Flood," "Apart."

Father of All Motherfuckers, Green Day

It’s Manic Monday! Wherein I listen to a rocker, a punker, or just a general banger. 

Father of All Motherfuckers, Green Day, 2020, :26

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I’ve been a huge, huge fan of Green Day since they appeared on MTV, jumping up and down and tearing up their couch like total morons in the "Longview" video. I went out and bought that album, and everything since, and the stuff that came before, and loved practically everything. A brilliant band, absolutely brilliant, playing what they want, saying what they want, and parlaying an obsessive drive to entertain into massive success. But… I just wasn't enthralled by the singles from this album that I heard when they came out. And indeed, they're representative of the whole. It's a little glossy, a little too poppy, for my taste. Slick, pop-perfect production but not much in the way of muscle or snarl. Lots of "yeah whoa"s and "oh oh oh-oh"s and "la la"s in the choruses. "Meet Me on the Roof" sounds like if someone told Prince about pop-punk and he tried to make a song in that genre without hearing any examples. This is Green Day lite, watered down. I'm not angry, Billie Joe, just disappointed. Favorite track: the Beatles-inspired “Stab You in the Heart."

See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion, Josh Ritter

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion, Josh Ritter, August 28 2020, :30

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I love me some Josh Ritter!  This eight-song rare and unreleased collection shows that even the stuff he leaves on the floor is gold.  "Time Is Wasting" is a jaunty Ritter-esque romp that brings to mind "Getting Ready To Get Down," one of his best works.  Catchy tunes and literate, exuberant lyrics mark nearly all the songs on this disc.  It includes a version of "Lawrence, KS" recorded live in Lawrence, Kansas, which is a cute gimmick, and a cover of Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms," a poetic song about war, but which is so somnolent it puts coffee to sleep.  Oh well, six out of eight ain't bad, and if my math is correct, that's exactly the same ratio as four out of five stars.  Favorite tracks: "Time Is Wasting," "Haunt," 'Waiting On You."

SUGAREGG, Bully

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

SUGAREGG, Bully, August 21 2020, :38

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Never heard of this band, but I saw a few positive reviews and wanted to give it a try.  It's a grunge-punk therapy session.  Singer Alicia Bognanno shouts, growls, and croons personal lyrics about her bipolar disorder over surging riffs and waves of melodic noise.  The loud-quiet, sweet-shrill delivery reminds me of the Kelley Deal 6000 or Sleater-Kinney.  That harsh to honeyed sound is definitely a retro one but it's effective, with a modern approach to soul-baring millennial angst lyrics: "And I feel pressure to get away / Everyone just settles in this space / And there's so much more that I could do / Than fucking around staring down at my dirty shoes."  It took me a few listens to dig the melodies out from the roar of pain and loud guitar, but I warmed up to it.  Favorite tracks: "Stuck In Your Head," "What I Wanted."

Solo! Acoustic (Vol. 1), Steve Wynn

Solo! Acoustic (Vol. 1), Steve Wynn, 2020, :48

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I've been a Steve Wynn fan ever since his first solo album, Kerosene Man, which came out in 1990, which means I've been a fan for oh my lord thirty years how is that possible I'm so very old.  Anyhoo.  This new release, only available on his website or Bandcamp, is a recreation of his solo acoustic concerts.  It's got some songs from his solo albums, some from his work with the Miracle 3, a Gutterball song, even one from the 2017 Dream Syndicate reunion album How Did I Find Myself Here?, but all slowed down and acoustic.  Now, like I mentioned, this is coming from a big fan, but, well, like a lot of singer-songwriter rock front men, Steve Wynn is not exactly Leo Kottke on the guitar.  So these sparse versions are not as compelling as the full band versions.  The call and response chorus of "My Old Haunts" just comes out flat out of a single throat.  Even on the songs that were originally slow and steady like "Merrittville," Wynn's voice doesn't attain the menacing hiss it does on the original songs.  So.  Three stars for being Steve Wynn and giving the world thirty years of fantastic music after breaking up one of the best bands of the '80s.  Favorite tracks: the beautiful "If My Life Was an Open Book," "Manhattan Fault Line."

The Mother Stone, Caleb Landry Jones

It’s T’Newsday! Wherein I listen to an album less than six months old.

The Mother Stone, Caleb Landry Jones, May 1 2020, 1:05

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I know this fellow as an actor, in War on Everyone and as Banshee in one of the X-films. He sings and plays drums, keyboard, and guitar on this album. It's period psychedelic rock. It's not original at all, but if you love late Beatles material, with all the string arrangements and weird voices and such, or heck, even if you love the Rutles, you’ll probably like this. Shades of T-Rex, Pink Floyd, Bowie, and Kramer too. It’s earnest, if a bit long (15 tracks, two over seven minutes and two over six minutes) and not cohesive as an album. Uncharitably, it's self-indulgent; charitably, it proudly follows a muse. I'm going to go with charitable.  Favorite tracks: "Licking the Days," the wild epic "Thanks For Staying."

Ben and "Sweets", Ben Webster & Harry "Sweets" Edison / Twelfth, Old 97’s

Ben and "Sweets", Ben Webster & Harry "Sweets" Edison, 1962, :39

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Tenor sax and trumpet veterans jam. Sound like they’re having fun, like on the eight-minute "Kitty," a lost Bond theme that never was. Swinging and rolling. Very pleasant and sometimes they even get close to something like a bop. Nothing that blows your mind or drops your jaw but all very professional, skilled, and melodic. Wynton Marsalis said this is music for "grown folks" and if you don’t like it you need to stay home sucking your thumb and playing video games. That kind of sounds like fun, too, though.  Favorite tracks: "Better Go," "Kitty."

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Twelfth, Old 97’s, 2020, :43

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The first artist to be featured here three times is, yep, the Old 97's. This is their new album. Possibly their best since Too Far To Care. Maybe sometime in the future I'll think it's five stars. Some truly genius songs on this one. If I tried to quote the good lines I'd just end up listing the lyrics to the whole song. Oh what the hell. “I like you better than a six pack of beer / And that’s the perfect amount / To make my vision unclear.” Classic. "It's safe to say we're in a real bad way / Mama used to try, now all she does is pray." Got some Magnetic Fields-esque lyrics, a Yo la Tengo melody, fast rhythms and lyrical callbacks. That last part sounds like an Old 97's line! What rhymes with callbacks? Ball sacks! This thing writes itself. I'll add that, with all due respect to "West TX Teardrops" and other terrific Murry tunes, his contributions to this album aren't really up there with his finest efforts.  Favorite tracks: "Confessional Boxing," "The Dropouts," "I Like You Better."