Mostly Music

  ALBUM OF THE YEAR - SHORT-LIST .... ALBUM #4 - Apr 2020 As those of you reading this know (thank you, you are nine nice people), these posts tend to be a reflection on the relationship I have with a band, regarding my history (if I have seen them live, how and when I discovered them) , rather than in-depth discussion on the album itself. Well, its my blog ...  Clear winners this time, but with a mention to The Strokes new album, I should really give that more of a chance ... by the way, feel free to comment on here, if you have opinions, suggestions, arguments..? April featured the reissue of the Art Brut debut album 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll', 15 years after the original release, and with an extra 15 tracks (digital release, those paying a fortune for vinyl got a download for the extra tracks, I believe). I got it on a Bandcamp Friday, support artists, folks ... I was very late to Art Brut, and originally got the CD of this album, second hand for 4 euro, Dec 2018. I got th...

 ALBUM OF THE YEAR - SHORT-LIST .... ALBUM #3 - Mar 2020 Feb was 'dry' and a struggle to find a really standout new album... March on the other hand .. If Morrissey or Baxter Dury had released their new albums in Feb instead of March , they would have had the opportunity to make my Album of the year short-list ... they must be kicking themselves... But although Morrissey for example had a bit of a return to form after his patchy last 3 albums (including a covers album that I have yet to hear), I do have an opinion that its really hard to make an essential album if you're into double digits for album releases (exception for David Lewis Gedge, obviously) , I have a platform here (13 readers of my last post, at last count) , and I want to offer the exposure where possible to bands starting out and less well known. With that in mind, ahead even of Stephen Malkmus (but wait ...?), the March nomination going onto the short list is coming from (another) Dutch band : Lewsberg.  The...

 ALBUM OF THE YEAR - SHORT-LIST .... ALBUM #2 - Feb 2020 When you get stuck on choosing your second album to join the short-list for Album Of The Year (with another 11 to go), it does make you wonder if this exercise is going to work out .... Feb was a bit of a 'dry' month.  Initially I had chosen in lieu of anything else, The Wedding Present's 'Marc Riley Session 4'. I love this band, but it was a bit of an inessential release. Only 9 tracks (under 37 mins), for this fourth volume, although the version of 'Bewitched' is truly something special https://open.spotify.com/track/33pPIpZqOEYhHilNYjmi3b plus ... confession time : I didn't actually buy this yet.... so I wasn't comfortable with my Feb choice, but didn't have other options. After consulting my rule-book (see my second ever post), I found a loophole.... Pixies released their seventh album in Sept 2019 ' Beneath The Eyrie'. I didn't buy it immediately, and so with the Feb 24th r...

 ALBUM OF THE YEAR - SHORT-LIST .... ALBUM #1 - Jan 2020 Cast your mind back to Jan 2020 ... just 10 years ago ... (just me? ) . The weather was cold. There were stories about the Flu going around in China, nothing to worry about surely ... Optimistic about the year ahead.... This was an 'easy' month to choose my album of the month for. There was a little competition from Algiers, who released 'There Is No Year' Jan 17th, and I had a ticket to see them in Feb ... don't remember why, but for some reason I didn't go to the gig anyway ...  However one of my favourite bands of recent times released their third album, and (deep breath) it was/is fantastic (arguably their best yet). 'Okay Decay' by Canshaker Pi. I first became aware of them because of a Pavement facebook post - Stephen Malkmus had helped produce their debut album with Studio Owner/Sound Engineer (also for Pavement) Remko Schouten.  Listened to some songs, watched some vids, liked it ... and th...

 Albums of the year - 2020 Now, before we begin :  2020 has been a shit year for live music, but fantastic for recorded music (from a consumer point of view). Highlights like multiple Listening Parties (mainly on Twitter), some great virtual events/livestreams, and the Bandcamp Fridays which made me feel like I was helping to contribute a little back to the people who make the art which enriches my life and who are royally undervalued by Spotify and other giant Streaming Bastards.  (that sentence, I thought it would never end ...) I think I bought more music this year than since I was a teenager. (maybe more, thinking back, I had little income to invest in music back then). Now - how to work out the albums of the year 2020  well... these are my rules, you won't find them with Gallop  So - first, the short-list. This will be a 13 album short-list.  Based on the date of release, there will be 12 Albums of the Month (Jan , Feb, March , I mean I could go on ......

 So... starting a blog. As the name suggests, it will be mostly about music. Why read what I write? well, why not? it's not going to hurt you ... too busy? Oh really, doing what? I call bullshit on that excuse ... Why a BLOG , in 2020 and the age of Youtube, Twitch and TikTok ? because as my dear old mum would say, 'you're got a face for the written page, you ugly git'  Anyway... mostly music.. music I like ... so currently a lot of Dutch bands, but other than that its probably going to be British or American bands. Indie stuff. The usual ... you know, Wedding Present/Cinerama, Smiths/Morrissey, Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, Pavement, Young Romance, Flowers, in my past there has been periods where my favorite band was Blur, James, White Stripes, REM, Madness ... I like smaller gigs. Being at the front row. I love finding new bands, support bands. I'm going to start this off with a Album of the Year 2020 ... then ... I don't know ... lets see JOIN ME .... ...