Remembering Trish Keenan

Five years ago musician Trish Keenan of Broadcast fame passed away at age 42 from pneumonia. Still missing her talent very much today. She was and will forever will be an inspiration to me.

Powered by Rainbow Static: White Poppy

Carousels are lovely for a person like me. I don't like unpredictable wild rides with blind turns at high speeds. For those with anxiety the gentle circular motion and slow gallop of the horses is a thing of comfort and beauty. While in the modern day many wouldn't consider it amusement park worthy, these sparkling, majestic rides offer a gentle, dreamy passage beneath a sturdy flying beast.

Taking White Poppy's 2015 release entitled National Phenomena for a spin is the musical version of a merry-go-round. You softly get carried round and round in a current of shimmering delay with an occasional whisper of sweet nothings.

Below are some video's by this two piece from Vancouver, Canada.

Can Punk Make You a Black Feminist?

Chardine Taylor-Stone thinks so!

 

Thank You David Bowie

At a very young age I wasn't sure what gender David Bowie was and it honestly never mattered to me. He seemed otherworldly and gave me, like so many others, the courage to be whoever we wanted to be. He made the rebirth of self possible through art and what lost outsider with even just an inch of creativity wouldn't be inspired by that? He was among the first artists I was exposed to that blurred the lines of  what the world saw as male or female and helped me understand it was okay to have any varying degree of masculinity and femininity. From him I also learned that with androgyny we could be stripped of a gender tag and not have to identify firmly as either. What gorgeous freedom that can deliver a kid trying to find their way in life.

Bowie was an icon on so many levels, as a musician, performer, nonconformist, ally, fashion visionary, and we can add conversation starter to that list. He helped confront pop culture and challenge the strict boxes artists were supposed to nearly fit within.

Thank you David Bowie for bringing a little more acceptance, mystery, style, talent, and excitement to our suburban bedrooms.

Cina Polada

This Finnish band fueled by a husband and wife team call themselves bedroom indie pop but I disagree unless the bedroom they reference is from the '80s, has room for 5 members with guitars, bass, a lot of effect pedals, drums, two keyboards plus a singer, and is covered with posters by bands like The Human League, Spandau Ballet, and Thompson Twins. Cina Polada are catchy, mild mannered synthpop (RIYL Au Revoir Simone, Saint Etienne, Lykke Li) and a debut EP is expected from them this year.

Smile Down Upon Us

Have you ever watched kids just being kids? They play alone or with others in total disregard for the outside world. They throw 100% of themselves into their magical world and seemingly don't seem to care what anyone else thinks. To be this free, this open, and this genuinely playful is something most adults don't know how to recreate in the slightest. Smile Down Upon Us however has managed to escape restriction and maintain total innocence. There is genuine chemistry between UK / Japanese duo Keiron Phelan and moomLoo. This exotic garden is brought to life with the help of a few additional musicians and the end result is a leisurely stroll down a colorful path you won't want to end. 

 

My 2015 Favorites and End of Year Wrap Up

This is a repost from my other blog Lightning's Girl. While not all the artists below feature at least one female member, almost 75% of them do.

If you truly believe that there aren't any good modern day bands or great new records being made, you didn't try very hard this year. 2015 delivered an abundance of quality music. So much in fact that this might be the largest list of stuff I loved since I started making end of year best of lists two decades ago. I think playing in an active band (Positive No) has helped me stay on top of new music too but in the end, I will always call myself a music fan before I call myself a musician. Finding new music to fall in love with is an addiction I don't ever want to kick.

This Spotify playlist features 100 songs from a large variety of genres that I really loved this year. Not all of the artists on this playlist made my best of / end of year list below so they are two different beasts, great songs -v- great albums. 

Happy new year friends. 

Top 25

Sauna Youth DISTRACTIONS  (Upset the Rhythm) 

Whyte Horses - Pop or Not (self released)  

Dirty Ghosts LET IT PRETEND (Last Gang Records) *"Cataract" is my song of the year

Trash Kit - CONFIDENCE (Upset the Rhythm)**came out Dec 2014 / LP arrived in 2015

Sacred Paws 6 SONGS (Rock Action Records)

Desperate Journalist ST (Minty Fresh) 

Joanna Gruesome PEANUT BUTTER (Slumberland Records)

Love of Diagrams BLAST (Bedroom Suck Records) 

Novella LAND (Sinderlyn)

Annie Girl and the Flight BODIES (Annie Lipetz)

Viet Cong ST (Jagjaguwar)

Dilly Dally SORE (Partisan Records)

The White Birch THE WEIGHT OF SPRING (Glitterhouse Records)

Doe FIRST FOUR (Old Flame Records)

Soko MY DREAMS DICTATE MY REALITY (Babycat records) 

Shopping WHY CHOOSE (Fatcat Records)

Soak BEFORE WE FORGOT HOW TO DREAM (Rough Trade Records Ltd) 

Julia Wolfe ANTHRACITE FIELDS (Cantaloupe Music)

Boogarins MANUAL (Other Music)

Chain of Flowers ST (Alter)

Pinkshinyultrablast EVERYTHING ELSE MATTERS (Club AC30)

Hurry Up ST (Army of Bad Luck Records)

Wand GOLUM (In the Red Records)

Infinity Girl HARM (Topshelf Records)

Eternal Summers GOLD AND STONE (Kanine Records)

Other Favorite Records

Terrible Truths ST (Bedroom Suck Records) 
The Leaf Library  DAYLIGHT VERSIONS (Where it's at is where you are)

Salad Boys METALMANIA (Trouble in MInd Records) 

Cloakroom FURTHER OUT (Run For Cover Records)

Menace Beach RATWORLD (Memphis Industries)

Gnoomes NGAN! (Rocket Recordings)

Kagoule URTH (Earache Records Ltd)

No Joy MORE FAITHFUL (Kemado Records) 

Wildhoney SLEEP THROUGH IT (Deranged Records) 

Swervedriver I WASN'T BORN TO LOSE YOU (Cobraside)

Death and Vanilla TO WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Fire Records)

Jacco Gardner HYPNOPHOBIA (Polyvinyl)

Noonday Underground BODY PARTS FOR MODERN ART (Hands Full Records)

Cold Beat INTO THE AIR (Crime on the Moon) 

Eerie Summer - THE WAY I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ANY MORE (self released) 

Youth Lagoon SAVAGE HILLS BALLROOM (Fat Possum Records) 

Julia Holter HAVE YOU IN MY WILDERNESS (Domino Recording  Co Ltd) 

C. Duncan ARCHITECT (Fatcat Records)

Ghetto Ghouls COLLISIONS (Self Released)

Knife Pleats HAY BARK BEACH (Where it's at is where you are)

Jeff Bridges SLEEPING TAPES (Squarespace)  

Myrrias ALL ALONE (self released)

Bjork VULNICURA STRINGS (self released)

Beach Slang THE THINGS WE DO... (Polyvinyl Records)

Protomartyr THE AGENT INTELLECT (Hardly Art) 

The Spook School TRY TO BE HOPEFUL (Fortuna Pop)

Intelligence VINTAGE FUTURE (In The Red Records)

Sextile A THOUSAND HANDS (felte)

Killing Joke PYLON (Spinefarm)

Sumac THE DEAL (Profound Lore)

Reissues / Collections:

Oz Brazoes ST (Som Livre) 

Annie Philippe - SENSATIONNEL! - Ace Records

Guerre Froide ST (Born Bad Records) 

Va CRIMINALE VOL 3 & 4 (Goodfella)

Marie et les Garcons 1976 - 1979 (Ze Records)

Va LIBRARY OF SOUND GROOVES / OBSCURE PSYCHEDELIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE ITALIAN CINEMA (Semi-Automatic Records)

Assorted Favorite 2015 Moments:
Being featured on Apartment Therapy

Playing Brownies one last time (Hi-Fi Bar) 

Favorite show I played was @ Bathtub Republic in DC

Harrisburg, PA / Little Amps - secret weapon of a DIY show space and great coffee / people.

Peep Show final season (Favorite show of all time) 

Twin Peaks DJ set to cast members Mrs. Briggs and Lucy

Beach Slang live / seeing Jim some 20 years post Weston 

Live: Mutoid Man / Child Bite live at Gwar-B-Q (Gwar Bar is also a favorite place of 2015) 

Dynamic Truths reunion show @ The Answer

Asbury Park, N.J. Pinball Museum

Beaufort, SC - who knew?  

Supreme Court ruling making same sex marriage legal

Loretta Lynch as Attorney General

U.S. and Cuba make nice

Strangeways Tirami'zu Brew Rum Barrel Aged Porter  

Master of None for its stellar music supervision
DJing with Bob Nastanovich in the name of charity

This band doesn't have much of an online presence so here is a video from one of the best records I purchased this year.