Pretty weird year? Let’s not get into it. Onto the sounds…

I highly recommend everything in the F.O.A.P column, but these are the ones I came back to the most for sheer fun.

Top 5 of 2020:

Cindy – Free Advice (Mt. St. Mtn.)

San Francisco slowcore gem that is rightfully getting a little buzz around it. It has the dreaminess of Low or maybe Cat’s Miaow with a touch of Algebra Suicide or Young Marble Giants new wave art energy. It’s been reissued with fancier packaging HERE.

Hum – Inlet (Polyvinyl)

This one’s a big warm bag of heavy riffs. Post-grunge, post-alt, post-doom pop? I don’t know what to call it. It is big sounding.

Zeel – Hardrock on Easy Street (Tall Texan)

Dinosaur Jr. and Das Damen (ripe for rediscovery in my opinion) are the touchstones here. It’s bludgeoning college rock, great sleeve, a frayed jammy trip element too.

Chronophage – The Pig Kiss’d Album (Cleta Patra/Soft Office)

Late entry here but totally brilliant DIY art punk pop. RIYL: The Homosexuals, The Raincoats, Art Bears, etc! WOW, seriously.

Toner – Silk Road (Smoking Room)

I’m not gonna get out of this review without mentioning albums from a certain era: Cor Crane Secret, Triskaidekaphobe, Isn’t Anything. I am enjoying the confusion between grunge and shoegaze in this band. I guess Dinosaur Jr.’s BUG really is the first shoegaze record. I enjoy when psychedelia collides with punk, heavy rock and pop as it did in the best ’88-’92 music. This is in the same ballpark as Zeel, perhaps a bit more EVOL-ved?

Top 5 Old Records I dug out during quarantine:

I’m sure we’ve all been ‘shopping’ in the corners of our home record bins. Here are some oldies that came back into my life.

Reptile House – Listen to the Powersoul (Merkin)

This is Dan Higgs’ Pre-Lungfish band. You can hear the beginnings of Lungfish’s mantra rock but add a good dose of death rock and psychedelia. Honestly, this has moved into my top ten of all time, wildly original DC post-punk.

Peter Tosh – Legalize It (CBS)

This album is perfect, one of the best Reggae records ever made. Yes, I smoke weed, but even if you don’t you must hear this record, so powerful.

Husker Du – Warehouse Songs and Stories (Warner Bros)

I have been listening to this since high school but just realized that side 4 is the best side. This is an incredible collection of songs. “Up in the Air” was covered by Heidi Berry, amazing. It’s ridiculously good and bizarrely dismissed in favor of Zen Arcade. Why can’t they have two double album masterpieces?

Astrud Gilberto – Look to the Rainbow (Verve)

I am a huge Bossa nova fan. Astrud’s records are a goldmine of opiated breeziness. Shadow of Your Smile is my favorite (fans of Stereolab need to check that one out), but during COVID I got into this one pretty heavy.

Light – Turning (Wurlitzer Jukebox)

Echo and 4-track cassette drenched UK folk music, so drenched it’s more like a noise/drone record with a folk record playing underneath. Perhaps Flying Saucer Attack inspired or just a contemporary, this is a lost band, not much info out there. File next to Movietone’s The Blossom Filled Streets and FSA’s Further for late ‘90s classics.