THE LOUDER STUFF
DREAM THEATER – A View From The Top Of The World
A typical Dream Theater record, i.e. it’s one month long featuring one track that lasts a fortnight and six shorter ones ranging in duration between two and three days each, but it’s a good month. No seriously, this is definitely the best Dream Theater album with Mangini in the fold. (8)
GREEN LUNG – Black Harvest
What if Ghost was a doom metal band influenced by Queen and Uriah Heep? (9)
KING WOMAN – Celestial Blue
I didn’t know that Chelsea Wolfe had joined Eyehategod. (8)
MELVINS – Five Legged Dog
4-LP, 36-track acoustic album featuring reinterpretations of songs from their catalogue plus a bunch of covers. Still manages to sound heavy as fuck. (7)
TOM MORELLO – The Atlas Underground Fire
A somewhat disappointing mix of recycled Audioslave riffs, simplistic EDM beats, and sensationalist guest choices (Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder duetting on a cover of “Highway To Hell”???). (6)
THE OTHER STUFF
BEDOUINE – Waysides
Another one of Joni Mitchell’s spiritual children, one of the good ones. (7)
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – B-Sides And Rarities Part II
Get the proper albums first. (7)
LANA DEL REY – Blue Banisters
Her second album this year is much more autobiographical and for the most part steers clear of the 60’s/70’s Americana mythologizing. It’s not “Norman Fucking Rockwell!” but then, nothing is. (8)
GROUPER – Shade
It’s getting rave reviews from all serious music media but it’s a bit too low-fi for my taste. She clearly knows what she’s doing and I’m sure that sounding like a stoned amateur folkie’s bedroom demos is a deliberate thing, but I find getting any enjoyment from this too taxing. (6)
LILLY HIATT – Lately
Americana heiress continues her streak of solid “7” albums. (7)
JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT – Georgia Blue
During 2020’s U.S. election thriller he went live on social media promising a charity tribute album to his favorite Georgia artists if the Democrats would win the state, and Jason’s a man of his word. So here it is, great covers of great tracks (REM, James Brown, Cat Power, Otis Redding, Black Crowes, Indigo Girls, Gladys Night, Allman Brothers, Vic Chesnutt…) featuring great guests. (9)
MY MORNING JACKET – My Morning Jacket
Long hair, long jams, long wait between albums. A welcome return for these Grateful Dead disciples. (7)
POKEY LaFARGE – In The Blossom Of Their Shade
Caribbean-flavored old-school Americana, like if Hank Williams had grown up in Haiti. (8)
BUFFALO NICHOLS – Buffalo Nichols
Best blues album of the year, with lyrics like a punch in the gut. (9)
STICK IN THE WHEEL – Tonebeds For Poetry
Even though there is a strong possibility these guys have never heard of Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis, and even though they take their cues from English traditional music rather than anything Balkan-related, they fit very comfortably next to that Greek duo’s Greekadelia/folktronica sound. (7)
VINTAGE TROUBLE – Juke Joint Gems
The blues/rock/soul band’s fourth album is actually their second one, recorded in 2012 but unreleased until now, and has much more in common with their fun, raw debut than with later releases. (8)
