Month: January 2019

This is the second part of my completely subjective best of 2018, music-wise.  Part I was published on Monday.  Music is a central part of my life, there is almost always music playing in our house, in our cars.  Or I am playing music.  I have a collection of musician friends, I am always amazed by their creativity.  And in the dark times we live in, I find I need music more than ever to give me some balance.  So, without further ado, the best of the second half of 2018: Wooden Shjips, V (Thrill Jockey) Essential psych rock from San Fran’s favourite sons.  More of the same, but this is a good thing, big basslines, fuzzy guitars, stoned vocals.       Black Thought, Streams of Thought Vol. 1/Streams of Thought Vol. 2 (Human Re Sources) We know Black Thought from his day job as the frontman of Philadelphia’s long-running The Roots.  From this position, Thought has distinguished himself as one of the best lyricists and deft word-smiths of hip hop.  Streams of Thought, both volumes, is essentially his solo début.  Damn.     Iggy Pop & Underworld, Teatime Dub Encounters ep (Caroline International) The legendary Iggy Pop and the equally legendary Underworld.  A collection of songs recorded in a hotel around the time of the Trainspotting 2 soundtrack.  Iggy is hilarious and profound, Underworld provide the soundtrack and Carl Hyde’s vocals serve as a counterpoint...

As we sat around over the holidays discussing the past few years, we realized that we called 2016 a tire fire.  That made 2017 a dumpster fire.  So what was 2018?  We struggled with this, but ultimately, we decided it was just a clusterbombfuck.  We invented a brand new word for 2018!  Last year wasn’t as brutal with killing musicians as 2016 and 2017 was, I guess.  But we still lost some greats last year.  Pete Shelley, of the Buzzocks is gone.  Country legend Roy Clark also checked out. The legendary French chansonier, Charles Aznavour left.  And so did Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane.  The great French-Algerian singer, Rachid Taha died of a heart attack. Rapper Mac Miller lost his battle with drugs.  The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin went to her Great Reward. Ed King of Lynyrd Skinner died. Charles Neville checked out.  So did the rapper XXXTentacion.  Legendary punk drummer, Charlie Quintana is dead.  Delores O’Riordan, frontwoman of the Crandberries is gone.  The legendary brains behind the Muscle Shoals Sound, Rick Hall left us.  Steve Soto of the Adolescents passed away. The brilliant drummer Vinnie Paul died.  The Grateful Dead’s John Perry Barlow (no relation) joined Jerry Garcia in the sky.  OK, I take it back.  2018 was a mean killer too. But we have some great music from last year’s clusterfuckbomb.  And this is my completely...