Sugarmen "Dirt" [single] (Poor Old Soul Records)

This is that rock n roll sound that has groovy bass lines and the vocals sometimes go back and forth between singing and speaking.    It is no coincidence that the name of this band is Sugarmen because it sounds like "Sugar High" by Coyote Shivers and just that overall feel of being part of the "Empire Records" soundtrack.    Will it be on my mixed tape?  Absolutely!   This song rocks.    I want more more more.

Milo's Planes "Aural Palate Cleaning Exercises"

[€5 for CD or Download // https://milosplanes.bandcamp.com/album/aural-palate-cleaning-exercises]

When I first started listening to this- and I mean the very first time, within the first song or two- I could hear some Cheap Trick but that actually ended up changing as the album went on and the more that I listened to it the more I could only hear this as a sort of punk rock n roll or punk n roll even.

Somewhere between Local H by way of their first album and Refused this has a definite quality of loud rock that also reminds me of just the first time that I heard Trail of Dead and that in and of itself should be enough for this to be in your top rotation not just this year but forever.

You know, even if Milo's Planes are my age or around it anyway there is no guarantee that they listened to and are influenced by the same things as me so when I hear what I hear some other people might hear something more recent in a sense.   And that's what you have to love about this heavy, sing it till you lose your voice rock because there is so much of it out there you can pick and choose the good bits of it to create an amazing album such as "Aural Palate Cleansing Exercises".

The Boy I Used to Be "Grip" EP

[£4.99 for Cassette or Download // https://pieandvinylrecords.bandcamp.com/album/grip-ep]

Video for "Try": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XglvILdz6gY&feature=youtu.be

I spent quite a while trying to think of the name of the band that sings "All the little kids with the pumped up kicks" because it's been quite a while since I listened to that band, but luckily for The Boy I Used to Be their name is still fresh in my mind and so they shouldn't suffer a similar fate of being that one hit wonder (Though it could be more a case of them having one EP I review and then they go unnoticed and forgotten after that)

In fact, this EP, "Grip", should solidify them as some sort of great rock band and since they have a habit of selling out of cassettes you're going to want to get your hands on this one early.    It's somewhere between Wheatus and Local H, Soul Coughing and Replacements.    There is a bit more shoegaze on here than I remember previously but then again the song "Rust" also has hints of Marilyn Manson's "Lunchbox" so it kind of balances itself out, no?

With other bands such as Silversun Pickups present the one thing you need to know is that for all of their rock influences none of them are bad and this mix of them makes for a stellar EP at that.   I'm not really laughing at the song title "Pissy Elliott" (probably created before the Super Bowl) but then again they also have "Maucauly Sulkin'" so who cares about song titles anyway, right?

Texas Never Whispers "Texas Never Whispers"

[http://www.texasneverwhispers.com/ // http://texasneverwhispersband.bandcamp.com/]

The term Americana can get used far too often these days but it's what Texas Never Whispers reminds me most of still.   That and I can hear a lot of The Wallflowers in here and I've never been a big fan of Jakob Dylan and company but Texas Never Whispers just somehow makes it work for them.

Like something off of the "Empire Records" soundtrack combined with a honky tonk there are elements of Counting Crows in these songs as well as Phantom Planet and The Hold Steady.    The singer can really belt out these melodic songs about being poor and making music.    One of my favorite lines on this entire album is about "the words we never figured out, we still sung along" as it does hit home for me.

I think there are a lot of songs out there that I've heard growing up from Nirvana to Pearl Jam to Smashing Pumpkins even and I might not have known the exact lyrics to the songs so I'd just sing it my way- something I still do to this day- and I'm not sure why.    I remember only really looking up lyrics to specific Nirvana songs maybe three or four years ago and thinking, "Is that what he said?"

There is a sort of mystery in that though-- making up the lyrics yourself as opposed to singing the correct ones.    When you learn the actual lyrics it's like the reveal of a magic trick or something, right?    It has that peaking behind the curtain effect which sometimes can make things seem less fun.

Texas Never Whispers is actually from Texas and they have that sound that you would expect to find from such a great state when you think of any sort of rock n roll or country artist such as Robert Ellis.     They don't lean as close to the country and western side of things as most artists from Texas do though, and that's okay by me, and they're not really folk either so I'm hesitant to call them Americana so... is there a genre yet for Texacana?   That would be where I put them.

Father John Misty "I Love You, Honeybear" (Bella Union / Sub Pop)

This is my second time hearing Father John Misty and I seem to recall the previous release "Fear Fun" coming with a lot of hype but me reducing it to simply being a mix of folk and psychedelic rock.    While this remains true on "I Love You, Honeybear" some other qualities are here that either weren't on "Fear Fun" or I was just eager to overlook them.

To say that this is folk meets psych is not quite a combination I've heard before but you can easily enough take bands from either side and put them together to get the general idea.   Or you could just imagine EFS if he had written an album that was explained to him in a dream by Jim Morrison, Jerry Garcia and John Lennon.

What I like most about this album that has an overall acoustic feel of melody to it though are perhaps the lyrics.   Having a chorus with the hook of "people are boring" makes me smile, and yet the other songs tend to tell stories of adolesence and sexual encounters.   That isn't to say that these are your traditional folk songs though, as there are a lot of f-bombs so they seem to have that dirty pirate tale feel to them.  (I believe one did reference a eunich slut)

A foul-mouthed Simon & Garfunkel (?), Father John Misty creates the type of songs that seem safe on the surface but deep down are found on records that kids would have to hide under their beds from parents.     And that is in a much more direct way than most of those artists like The Who and Hendrix who had implied lyrics and Father John Misty just flat out sings about being drunk and stoned.

California X "Nights in the Dark" (Don Giovanni)

California X are a band that makes you think about California and the wonderful weather of the west coast.    I don't know myself why it is exactly, but I've had this conversation with a number of people before (some of them as band interviews) and there is just something about growing up on the east coast and dreaming of moving to California because it's all bright and sunny skies and not... Well, if you're in New England look out your window.

The big guitar rock sound of California X reminds me of something between Weezer and Piebald but also has that similar Featherface appeal which I do enjoy so much.     It's fuzzy, yet it's rock n roll at its finest.     Some Replacements come out but I also like to think of this as from that same sort of genre that made Bill and Ted want to save the universe.  (Wyld Stallyns rule!!)

A perfect fit on the "Mallrats" soundtrack or just out in the sun California X is the feeling we all long for of perfect weather and even those who do have still want to sing about it.   Snow might be taking over outside right now as I type this, but you can at least have a warmer weather state of mind by listening to "Nights in the Dark".

Meat Wave "Brother" (Brace Yourself)

Meat Wave brings forth seven songs of punk rock n roll that can be anything from Trail of Dead and Local H to Foo Fighters.   Elements of Cadillac Blindside can also come out in these songs, which feel like a step above something you'd hear on Burger Records, and it just has that heavier side to it as well, so hence the emphasis on the word ROCK.

Sleater-Kinney "No Cities To Love" (Sub Pop)

The best part about reviewing Sleater-Kinney is that I don't have to find comparisons to make because at this point in time Sleater-Kinney simply sounds like Sleater-Kinney and more importantly as I listen to this what I can hear is the influence that this band has had on its contemporaries.   Wow, so much of so many bands that came after SK come out in this and as such I suspect a lot of my comparisons this year will revolve around this album.

Regardless of how anyone might feel about this album- and I for one think it's rocking- you cannot deny the place of Sleater-Kinney in music history and if this album only serves as a way for someone who has never heard of Sleater-Kinney before to not only hear them for the first time here but also go back and listen to their older releases well then it all seems worth it.

Additionally, I know very little about the musicians which make up Sleater-Kinney as a band but considering their place in the history of rock n roll I highly suspect that none of them would have decided to release a new album if they didn't fully stand behind it and believe it to be that damn good.    I'm really a fan of this and it is in line as one of my early favorites for the year, but this should become like all other Sleater-Kinney music: timeless.