WIRE 'Nocturnal Koreans' (2016)

Smooth and beautiful new album from Wire. I like all their eras. This 2016 album sounds closer to the '154'/ 'Change Becomes Us' Brian Eno sound. Playing this one in rotation for a while. 'Internal Exile' is my current favorite from this album. I may actually consider seeing them again if I know the setlist in advance.

METALLICA 'Hard Wired to Self Destruct' (2016)

Ok. This is prolly the best album of 2016. 

LOU REED 'Berlin" (1973)

Someone told me that Bob Ezrin produced this album and so I listened to it today beginning to end. I can hear the classic "Ezrin-esque" production, orchestration, far from dry vocals. 'The Kids' is depressing as hell, as well as being the most memorable song for the lyrics alone, Some real deep shit here.

HEAVY HEARTS 'Bliss' (2016)

Late contender for one the best findings this year. Ontario heavy rock band that brings to mind CAVE IN (during the more melodic period) . There's melancholy melody and up front tuned down production. Added to my new rotation.

THE DEPRECIATION GUILD 'Spirit Youth' (2010)

Most likely because I was looking up related artists for The Bilinda Butchers, I came across The Depreciation Guild. Brooklyn dream pop band that made smooth, lush tunes. Apparently they broke up in 2011. Nothing terrifically original, but its a good album. 

PHOTEK DJ Kicks' (Mixed album) (2012)

Checked this album out today. I've liked Photek (aka Rupert Parkes') music since circa 2000. A friend described it to me as 'techno' but this collection I would classify as ambient and electronica which is fine by me. Some of the backdrops came straight from Nine Inch Nails' kitchen.  A little crossing into dub territory with break beats. I'll pick 'Modern Man' by DLX as my first round favorite. Nice keyboard work. Smooth and floaty. A few tracks had a DnB groove which didn't knock my socks off especially since I'm a house music head. I thought there would be more of Photek's original music here, but only a few tracks are actually given credit to him.

SOUND CITY - 'Real to Reel' (2013)

Yeah, I'm late for the party here but this is not something that I would have picked up on 3 years ago. Dave Grohl and impressive cast of players assembled to make a really good sound track of hard rock songs to the Sound City documentary. Stevie Nicks always does it for me. Love her vocal tone. And I actually really like the Rick Springfield song. Lee Ving from Fear is entertaining for about 2 minutes. The McCartney track was also decent. The whole album is produced well and not too glossy.

KITCHEN SINK #31 (MIXCLOUD: DJ Elizabeth K, Black Friday special) (2016)

https://www.mixcloud.com/eklisiewicz/kitchen-sink-31-lets-go-down-and-blow-our-minds-black-friday-special/

I've spent quite a few weekend nights enjoying Elizabeth's Mixcloud radio show. Dream pop, shoegaze,...and psychedelic music that she focuses on this particular show. All of the tracks released in 1967. I found a few that I liked, but as a whole this is not my thing. But if its your style, this is for you. 

V/A: PURE TRANCE VOLUME 5 (2016)

Its one of those weeks where I spend many hours listening to non stop trance and house. If Solarstone and the Forerunners are involved, its always going to be great. Biologick gave me a standout cut here as well as too many to name. I love the way this mixes from the start to the end seamless picking up BPM and energy. All classy. Wonderful trip.

SOUL ASYLUM 'Change of Fortune' (2016)

Caught me by surprise that they were still making albums these days. This is as good as their previous best songwriting, but with updated, bigger production. As a whole, I always liked Soul Asylum more than The Replacements and Dave Pirner a better writer than Westerberg.
I'll be listening to this all week and beyond.

12/13/16:
This has turned out to be one of my top 10 for 2016. I'm thinking that the 3 songs in a row:
Doomsday
Ladies Man and
Moonshine
 are the peak of the album. Moonshine could be one of the best SONGS of the year.

THE MODERN LOVERS 's/t' (1976)

I'd heard drips and drabs of this band through the years and they never bowled me over. So checking out the full s/t album I found a few really good standout cuts;  'Pablo Picasso' and 'Girlfriend' which were better than what I remember. Some genius lyrics.

THE LUCY SHOW 'Mania' (1986)

I remember hearing about this UK band when I was a DJ on WSIA in 86 when this album came out, but I was completely engulfed in hardcore punk and heavy metal at the time. So recently, I stumbled across this album again for a full listen and I like it a lot. Very REM (and they even toured with them). This may be considered dream pop before the term was used. Some soft ballad-y stuff minus the cheese. And no, that is not Michael Stipe in the picture. Glad I found this album though 30 years late.

NAGLFAR 'Ex Inferis' EP (2002)

Swedish black/death metal band that I like a lot as one of my favorites in the genre, but somehow I missed this 2002 EP on Century Media records. Not too overproduced, the way black metal is supposed to be. Blasting and thrashing with excellent guitar skills. Will add this to my metal favorites list.

TITLE TRACKS 'It Was Easy' (2010)

It's hard for me to keep up with the bands on labels I used to love, Like Dischord Records, Even though this didn't come out on Dischord, and the band are now on the roster, its got members of Q and Not U who made very good music. These hipsters today really don't like too much (or any) distortion on their guitars. Some almost folk-ish pop here. Varied harmonies. Not terribly memorable for me for the most part. I can't see myself listening to this album again.

DEALING WITH DAMAGE 'Navigating the Middle Ground' (2016)

There's an innocence in the vocals of this punk band. Ed from Stupids (UK punk veteran) plus some other above average writers and musicians. It's on bandcamp and I like what I hear upon a few listens. Tuneful vocal lines, Well produced.

11/15: I've revisited this album a few times now and its really started to click.

https://dealingwithdamage.bandcamp.com/releases

MENNO DE JONG 'LIVE 2016: Liquid Soul@ In Trance We Trust" 2016

I'm in one of those phases where I just listen to trance and house for days. This set makes me wish I was on 3 hits of 'X" and a mountain of K. I don't do that anymore, but the music keeps the vibes around and my current fave DJ does the trick.

1. Liquid Soul & Vini Vici - universe inside me
2. Nok & Kopel - daydream
3. Liquid Soul & Dj Dream - liquid dream
4. Liquid Soul - digital abuse
5. Ticon - tripticon
6. Protonica & Tristate - source code
7. Zentura - sonic masala (Lifeforms rmx)
8. Ranji & Mind Spin - secrets of the universe
9. Zyce - imagine
10. Ace Ventura - rebirth (Gaudium rmx)
11. Liquid Soul - devotion (Zyce & Morten Granau rmx)
12. Liquid Soul & Neodyne - cherub

MASSAGE TRIBE 'Tibetan Bowls, Bells & Flutes'

 So in trying to stay at peace and weather the horrifying results of this 2016 election, I listen to things like this to keep me grounded and at peace. Smooth Buddhist music for meditation.

ROLLING STONES 'Still Life' LIVE (1982)

Ah for nostalgia. I saw this tour, my 2nd ever concert experience in 1981. (Queen was my first in 1980)  This Rolling Stones show from what I remember was excellent. The song selection here, only 11 songs, these days doesn't come to reflecting my best of, but the gig was fun. I always liked their cover of Smokey Robinson's "Going to a Go Go" and that's the tune that made me search out this live album.

SLOAN 'A Sides Win. Singles collection 1992 through 2005

In catching up with the music that I'd been listening to this month that I'd not gotten a chance to write about, I'd missed Sloan who I'd always glossed over for some reason. What a terrific, catchy and memorable group of singles here. Very discerning band who keep their output (at least their singles) high quality. '500 Up' is my pick hit.

SISTER BLISS 'DJ Sets on Mixcloud:

https://www.mixcloud.com/SisterBlissOfficial/sister-bliss-in-session-27-10-15/

Rediscovering the wonderful FAITHLESS {UK}  has led me to lend an ear to member SISTER BLISS and her DJ sets. And it lives up to the quality expected from a Faithless album. Very smooth house/electronica Euro style meets America soul with that tech edge, Excellent set and now following her on Mixcloud.

FAITHLESS '2.0: The Greatest Hits & Biggest New Remixes (2015)

Oh FUCK YES! Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo. Trip hop, house and ambient royalty came to fame circa 1997 and are now remixed most gorgeously by some of heavy hitter huge name DJs.
'God is a DJ' by Tiesto?? Damn terrific job. Armin Van Buren doing a trance take on 'We Come 1' and a lot more newer names that I'm learning about here in this 29 track remix-a thon.Even the Drum and Bass / jungle mixes are terrific. This will be in my shuffle all winter.

RED FANG 'Only Ghosts; (2016)

A very catchy mix of metal and grunge with coarse and sometimes tuneful vocals. A lot the songs here catch a fierce groove and often just swing. Just discovered these guys today, but upon first listen they make a good impression.

HI-FI MYSTERY SCHOOL '22: The Lightcodes (The Movie Soundtrack)

I've grown to love ambient electronica. This is a beautiful album which I believe is from a group of folk from Amsterdam, a few of which (ie; Menno de Jong) have been kicking my ass lately.  Very relaxing stuff and great for meditation or reading.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Ok, so being realistic here, this experiment is on course to fail. I'm not even up to 200 albums yet and I'm nowhere near the goal. I lost interest in blogging for quite a while and I chose to enjoy the albums I'd discovered earlier in the year and not just to gloss over some brilliant findings.

I'm going to continue the discovery accordingly and add where possibly, but the rest of the year will be spent mostly on enjoying the years previous discoveries.

Thanks,
Midge f. Lightweight

JILL SCOTT 'Light of the Sun' (2011)

Because R n B is infinitely better than hip hop and because my roommate gasped when I told him I didn't know who Jill Scott was, I'd started listening to this album from 2011. Very smooth sounds, relaxing. I'm hearing 'So in Love' as my top cut here, but I can do without the borderline rap-boastfulness that follows. All in all it's a positive vibe.

MARILLION 'FEAR: Fuck Everyone And Run" (2016)

....AND.....My favorite band of all time does it yet again. Beautiful work as always. But gone are the days where I listen to a new album from them start to finish. There is way too much epic music for me to let slide by without noting the highlights thus trying to eat the whole album all at once. It gets to overwhelming. This will be consuming a LOT of my listening time since I'm getting ready for the NYC show in Nov, less than 1 month. Here we go...

NEW MODEL ARMY 'Winter' (2016)

Consistently above average music from New Model Army. This one is no different. Somewhere between folk and new wave and punk. Some dark undertones and great tuneful vocals always mixed up front. My favorite album from them is The Ghost of Cain for sentimental reasons. Never saw them live though.

DESCENDENTS 'Hypercaffium Spazzinate' (2016)

Quite possibly a career best for Descendents. No filler, and I'm hearing a most perfect album. The Beach Boys pop with a heavy guitar crush and hard as nails rhythm section is back. A few spins in and 'Comeback Kid' is my favorite. With their huge raging popularity these days, they still put out a faithful and uncompromising album. In my top 5 bands ever.

Updated as of 10/10/2016

Marillion
Sonic Youth
Black Sabbath
Descendents
Black Flag

Probably in that order.

MENNO DE JONG 'Ahimsa' remixes EP

I was completely knocked on my ass from the mind-blowing 'Indecent Noise Mix' of this dudes' "Ahimsa". Heard it on Solarstone's Mix cloud podcast #40 and it brings trance to a frenetic new level.  Now to purchase a DJ set where it gets played in the middle of a complete firestorm. This is my fave trance single of 2016.

THE BILINDA BUTCHERS 'Regret Love Guilt Dreams' (2011)

This is a really cool dream pop band that I've been listening to a lot lately. They seem to have oriental themes in their sound. I think I read that they were touring China. Very smooth, lush music. Floaty and pretty. Produced well.

RADIO 4 'The New Song and Dance' (2000)

I don't remember how I first this band but I saved a few songs somewhere and not for reason they've popped up.Total Jam/rifles/mod pop. But here's the thing. The lead off track 'How the Stars Got Crossed' is wonderful. But the rest of the album is somewhat spotty.

More later on this.

GIUDA 'Speaks Evil' (2015)

HELLS yeah. Saw them this summer and I can testify that this band rocks. Just when you think that a song can't have possibly more hooks than it does, this band rips yet another catchy riff.
Plus the singer is a sex god. He tends to 'feel' more than sing. Love ths.

CRASH CAR SISTERS 'The Crystal Garden' (2015)

Another most EXCELLENT find here. Thanks to my friend Liz who does the weekly internet radio show 'Kitchen Sink' on Primal Radio also available on Mix Cloud at:

https://www.mixcloud.com/eklisiewicz/

If I haven't mentioned it, she's the queen of shoe gaze, dream pop/noise/alternative and psychedelia.

This week I'd found out about this terrific band that I have on repeat a lot. A Mexican shoe gaze band?? YEP! And they're stellar.

You can sample and buy their album on band camp, but don't be put off by the $50 MX price. There's a US dollar translation that makes it only $2.71.
Check out 'Automatic' and 'Broken'. Dammit, just listen to the WHOLE THING. It's THAT f'n good.

https://carcrashsisters.bandcamp.com/album/the-crystal-garden

Wonderful pop songs that COULD actually be in the vein of Doughboys but with the dream pop/noise overlay. This would have been in the best of this year, but its a 2015 release.

DESTROYER 666 'Wildfire' (2016)

Ok, so THIS just may be the album that gets me excited again about metal in 2016. Aside from the silly, generic heavy metal name, this album completely shreds. Great tempo changes, chops. Has an old analog thrash sound and its wonderful. Guitar solos coming out of the walls.

Fave lyrics:

Await - the feeling of dread
Dogs lap the blood as the trees
drink the piss of the dead.

Anyhow, they're Australian and they play their asses off. Never grinding or blasting TOO fast where it gets blurry. (Though I do love me plenty blurry shit)

Right underneath Prong for best metal record of 2016.

And ya gotta love their bio which notes:

Following their debut release, Deströyer 666 had a line-up of Warslut; bassist Bullet Eater (aka Phil Gresik, ex-Bestial Warlust,Hobbs' Angel of Death, Mass Confusion); Gospel of the Horns' drummer Howitzer; and guitarist Shrapnel. They recorded the group's first studio album, Unchain the Wolves (1997). Soon after Howitzer was replaced by Deceiver and during 1999 Deströyer 666 recorded Phoenix Rising, though it was not released until more than a year later.

KURT VILE 'Wakin on a Pretty Daze' (2013)

Spotify un-redeems themselves with a really bad 'Indie' playlist but I will not focus on the negative. I did pick up on this really good artist; Kurt Vile. In places, (ok MANY places) his voice sounds like Thurston Moore, but the simple, clean song structures set him apart. Quite a few beautiful and melancholy tunes here. A few listens and 'Was All Talk' is the standout. Sounds like a drum machine setting the pace, but only on this track is it evident. Its a more organic sounding album as a whole and a good find for the day.

THE BLACK WATCH 'Jiggery Pokery' (2014)

L.A. band that I'd liked from Jack Rabid's radio show today. Quiet tuneful songs with assorted backdrop of strings. Great title obviously lifted from recently dead SCOTUS Scalia. Made it through the album once and I may visit again if I hear more them going forward 'Alice in Lotusland' is my pick hit.

DJ JACK RABID 'The Big Takeover Radio Show' #70 (2016)

http://bigtakeover.com/radio/the-big-takeover-show-number-70-may-23-2016

or

http://realpunkradio.com/podcast/thebigtakeover/djjackrabid052316.mp3

Always a fan of DJ Jack Rabid and his vast library of alternative music and knowledge. I always walk away from his shows really liking quite a few new bands that I'd never heard. This month its 'The Black Watch' from this show, as well as a band called IdleWild. He'd picked 'Caring Line' from Government Issue as a tribute to Washington DC vocal icon John Stabb, who was also a close friend of mine. Oh man, I can't start weeping again.

Anyhow, here's the setlist. And I was really impressed with the new Ruts D.C. song.

DJ Jack Rabid
Don Vail – Personal League (Fades) new
Pale Lights – Mother Cries (Séance For Something EP) brand new
Prophet Hens – Popular People (single, Music Must Destroy) brand new
The Black Watch – Orange Kicks (b-side, “Jealousy”) brand new
Shirley Bassey – Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Thunderball soundtrack bonus track) 1965
DJ Jack Rabid
Idlewild – A Film For the Future (Live in 2015) new live LP
Ruts D.C. – Psychic Attack (single, Music Must Destroy) brand new
Bob Mould – Lucifer and God (Patch the Sky) new
Wire – Still (Nocturnal Koreans) new
The Shangri-Las – Out in the Streets (single, Shangri-Las-65!) 1965
DJ Jack Rabid

NYC POPFEST SET:
The Chills – I Can’t Help You (Silver Bullets) new
Soft Science – Better Be Good (Highs and Lows) 2011
Trash Can Sinatras – Let Me In (Or Let Me Out) (Wild Pendulum) brand new
Secret Shine – Last Leaves (All of the Stars) 2008
The Move – Fields of People (Shazam) 1970, newly reissued; Ars Nova
DJ Jack Rabid

MEMORIAL SET:
Beastie Boys – Egg Raid on Mojo (Polly Wog Stew EP) 1982; R.I.P. guitarist John Berry(also ex-Even Worse), 1963-2016
Government Issue – Caring Line (You) 1987; R.I.P. vocalist John Stabb, 1961-2016
LiLiPUT (Kleenex) – Hitch-Hike (LiLiput compilation) recorded 1980, released 1993; R.I.P. guitarist Marlene Marder, 1955-2016
Poison Girls – Pretty Polly (Chappaquiddick Bridge) 1980; R.I.P. vocalist/guitarist Vi Subversa, 1935-2016
Guy Clark – Desperados Waiting For the Train (Old No. 1) 1975; R.I.P., 1941-2016
DJ Jack Rabid
Tanya Donelly – Worry Doll (Swan Song Series)

ALICE COOPER 'Welcome to my Nightmare' (1975)

Yeah, well I know the hits and I'd never listened to the whole album straight through. And this year I've been all about Alice Cooper so today's listening at work was well spent. I keep forgetting how complex their music is. 'Department of Youth' sticks out next to 'Only Women Bleed' and the title track. 41 years later and this sounds like a fresh album. Damn, there were some incredibly well recorded albums before everything sounded so digital. That's all I keep thinking. Now to look at some videos. I'm grateful I got to see Alice at least once so far.

DEXTER CURTIN and MARCUS JAHN (Live-at-tanzen-am-strand, Germany) (2016)

I have ZERO idea who these 2 DJs are but that's the potential joy of trawling around on Mixcloud. Love at first play for this live set of strange vibes and rhythms. Excellent and seamlessly woven electronica. I guess I'll face facts, I really don't give a shit about metal this year. Its all about electronica, Brit Pop and shoe gaze. I'll be playing this set for the next few days at work for sure. Love this bizarre sound.

https://www.mixcloud.com/DexterCurtin/dexter-curtin-marcus-jahn-live-at-tanzen-am-strand-cospudener-see-leipzig-05-05-2016-part-1/

THE LUCID DREAM 'self titled' (2015)

Since the past 2 weeks has me bouncing back and forth between house music and shoe gaze, this find has popped up and its pretty good. After reading up on them and seeing they're getting compared to trip-hop (I don't hear that at all though), this UK band has some terrific hypnotic rhythms going. A lot of echo-y/chorusy excursions. And a lot of guitar noise. The album is not quite as addictive as the Desert Mountain Tribe album I'm hooked on right now, though.

DESERT MOUNTAIN TRIBE 'Either That or The Moon' (2016)

I guess I'm starting to become more and more interested in dream pop and shoe gaze, My friend Liz who does a great radio on Mix Cloud called 'Kitchen Sink' turned me on to this release and I've been playing it for days now. Very haunting, echo-y unsettling album which sounds like it was recorded very loud. Top picks on this for me are the bonus track 'Leave it Behind' and Take a Ride' which there is a video for.  Very high 9/10 for this one.

Edit on 5/23/2016; This is in the top 10 albums of 2016 so far for sure.

THE MONOCHROME SET 'Spaces Everywhere' (2015)

Tried like 3 times to like this band. And this third time I find the most annoying because its like good song, bad song, good, bad, etc.. a lot of contemporary soft pop rock that I don't have any idea what classifies as. WTF. I might want to kill this singer. Don't even let me go there.

Spotify Playlist 'FRESH FINDS: BASEMENT. New Directions in Electronic Music (2016)

Stumbled across another OUTSTANDING collection of electronica. Hard pressed to come across a song I don't like on this playlist. Ranging from progressive ambient house to brash synth compositions to flat out experimental music. Every year I wind up completely blown the fuck away on where technology and creativity take music. 2016 has been a great year so far.
30 tracks here and I guess it grows by 10 each week?  I don't know.

My current favorite track is by an artist you cannot pronounce: Drtdjjoxe and the track called "SEXTRONIC".

This is an absolutely MIND MELTING gorgeous experimental gone house music track. The song sounds like their accompanying art.

I probably should do a review of every single artist on this collection at some point, but for now, this 'Sextronic' track is the top of the playlist.

Spotify Playlist "BRITPOP' (compilation)

Where Spotify fails miserably with their 'New Music' compilation, they pull off a huge win with their BritPop collection. I'm already a fan of quite a few songs on here from The Verve, Oasis, Stone Roses, Kaiser Chiefs, and now I can say that singles they've featured here make me want to further investigae Ash, Elbow, Suede and more. Though Blur continues to do nothing for me.

THE TRANSITIONS 'Dark Times' (2015)

My friend Mike D recommended this album to me just a day ago. Started out where I thought some loose muddy guitar sound was going to be a mediocre effort, but instead I hear some REALLY early Social Distortion vocal sounds and some most catchy and addicting songs. Mike hears Joy Division, and that may be, but I don't think I've ever listened to a full on Joy Division album so I can't say. The singer here sings without pretense and the playing borders incompetence, but still there's something about this album that had me play it in the office on repeat 4-5 times today. The track "The Call" is a bizarre, haunting gem of a song. Good stuff here. 

M 'POP MUZIK REMIXES (2009)

How DARE no one inform me that the single greatest new wave song ever was remixed by 13 different artists in 2009 for a 30th anniversary makeover? Yes. I like pretty much all of them and I listened to 6 in a row and then 7 in a row to decide which 13 were the best.  To be revisited with the results in a week.

GROOVE ARMADA 'Little Black Book' (2015)

UK duo who have done some solid remix and productions in the past. But if this is their new direction, I'm passing on it. Really surprising and disappointing. Only like 1 track here called 'Song4Nick' and even that one is somewhat below par for this band. A lot of minimalist electronica and the louder stuff is devoid of engaging emotion. Sorry.

JAZZ STANDARDS (Masters) (2016)

I'm lacking some jazz in my life and so to rectify that, this new collection has some artists that are familiar and this collection makes for very relaxed music in the office these days while I work on creating technical documents. A few rounds of listening and I immediately like the tracks from Coleman Hawkins 'Body and Soul', and the tracks from Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. I get annoyed easily from scat singing, so the Shirley Horn gets a skip. My mind still doesn't understand how these songs are actually written, but I'd gather a tremendous amount of skill and discipline since there was no Protools or sampling back then. Was there?
 So there are 30 songs on here and it will take another week of listening to digest the really important, stand out tracks.

SACCHARINE TRUST 'Worldbroken' (1985)

This album never made it to my tape deck in the 80's. This band always had a monster rhythm section, but was way too jazzy/experimental for me to understand back then. They have their moments on other albums, especially their great 1st EP. But Joe Baiza (guitar) I think plays too many random notes ala Greg Ginn which has done it better. I don't understand Brewer's poetry either.