Meanwhile back in 2016...

Whitney - Golden days

File under: Don't know why, these tears in my eyes

Capsule review: Queens of the stone age - Queens of the stone age (1998)

It's on Loosegroove records, but it's nothing of the sort. Music from a lab.

Capsule review: Porcupine Tree - Stars die. The Delerium years 1991-1997 (2005)

tl;dr

Capsule review: Charlie Parker - with Strings (1949-52)

There's no romance in this time, and right now this record's driving the point home.

Meanwhile back in 2016...

M83 - Go!

File under: 2016 Steve Vai solos

Capsule review: Roger Nichols and the small circle of friends - Roger Nichols and the small circle of friends (1967)

The world is filled with soft pop masterpieces, and can't someone sing slightly out of key sometime?

Capsule review: Roy Orbison - At the Rock house (1961)

Roy Orbison without the pathos is like a party without booze, a hot day without ice cream. It's just wrong.

Capsule review: Harry Nilsson - A little touch of Schmilsson in the night (1973)

Wise guys polishing their conscience by appreciating Rodgers & Hart. It's a very 1970s thing. You see it in The Godfather. Sounds tawdry now.

Meanwhile back in 2016...

Cave Man - Never going back

File under: Never going back to sweet nostalgia 

Capsule review: Willie Nelson - Red-headed stranger (1975)

Quietly creepy folk parable about murderous preacher. Music is minimal, Willie's singing is all there is.

Capsule review: Rick Nelson - Album seven (1962)

Some artists are only just hitting their stride by their seventh album. Particularly when they're on the record company treadmill and have little say in how the records turn out. No singles or classics here, but Nelson reaching ever nearer to being a one man Everly Brothers, which you gotta admit is a pretty tough act. He thanks his darling not just for the broken heart but for the sweet memory.

Meanwhile back in 2016...

Ryley Walker - The halfwit in me

File under: Chicago post-rock for dummies

Capsule review: Parquet courts - Sunbathing animal (2014)

Like holding on to a cactus. Let's do it again.

Capsule review: Thee oh sees - A weird exits (2016)

Mantric gnome rock. Overloads so many senses it only makes sense as colours. Purple, green, orange, deep space black.

Meanwhile back in 2016...

Cat's eyes - Chameleon queen

File under: That ole care/don't care conundrum, with background opera.

Capsule review: Ezra Furman - Perpetual motion people (2015)

Finally, someone whose life was saved by rock'n'roll (not nu-rave or new minimalism). Heartbreaking and funny. And some great retro Jonathan Richman pop songs. I just gotta love the guy.

Capsule review: Sonic Youth - Spinhead sessions 1986 (2016)

Impressionist guitar soundscape. Might be the lost 40 minute 'Expressway to your skull' interlude. Aural honey for those who like that shimmering, jarring jangle. Home sweet home.

Capsule review: Mott the hoople - The hoople (1974)

The original Goodnight To The Rock 'n' Roll Era statement? Exasperatedly grand rock'n'roll stomp. Sounding out of time already and it was only the early '70s. Ian Hunter was born old. What comes after rock'n'roll, he ponders. 'I'm in love with her / and she's in love with me'.

Capsule review: Mystery trend - So glad I found you (1965-67, 1999 released)

Dubbed a mystery cause they couldn't very well get their pictures printed looking like they did. Obscure San Franciscan nuggets band, but 'we didn't take acid, instead we were all drunks' and 'we were all adults'. They soon spluttered out. 'Johnny was a good boy' the lone legacy. 'We were also completely drunk all the time'. Diverting though.

Meanwhile back in 2016 ...

Bibio - Town and country

File under: funky botanica

Capsule review: Mudhoney - My brother the cow (1995)

Great unheralded rock and roll record. You knew they had it in 'em. Bonus track is the entire record backwards.

Capsule review: Mudhoney - Piece of cake (1992)

Imagine if Neil Young had toured with these guys instead of Sonic Youth. Sleeps With Angels would've been 12 'Piece of crap''s.

Capsule review: Morphine - Good (1993)

If only more records were titled so self descriptively. Apart from this one, Michael Jackson's Bad and Tom Petty's Mediocre, it's a trend that never caught on. Sandman is a barroom zen philosopher. Life is empty but the glass is half full. The tunes would get better, but the mood is set.

Capsule review: Van Morrison - Veedon fleece (1974)

Communing with a wood spirit on sunday morning. Van directly plugged into the bucolic subconscious. Cultivates small wheatfield on his head.

Capsule review: Van Morrison - Bang masters (1967, 1991 released)

Van's the train conductor of rock, always showing up to remind us we've not nearly paid enough to be on this ride. Also would soon morph into (briefly) the Marcel Proust of guitar strummers. All of which raises the question if Proust had been a train conductor instead of a hypochondriac, would he have found the lost time between Brussels North and Central Station?
Here he's on the cusp and what a messy, thrilling place to be. Between 'Brown eyed girl' and 'T.B. sheets'.

Capsule review: Joni Mitchell - Dog eat dog (1985)

Different times, but it's still a little sickening to hear those cavernous Wall Street drums and a singer lamenting Ethiopia. Hey singer, you're part of the military-industrial complex now.

Capsule review: Joni Mitchell - Wild things run fast (1982)

Wild things run fast, unlike this record. I tried throwing it out several times but it doesn't fly any faster than other records.

Capsule review: The Meters - Fire on the bayou (1975)

They can get in the pocket, now they can't get out. (first listen)

Capsule review: Motorpsycho - Here be monsters (2016)

No monsters, Motorpsycho reassemble their familiar tropes. But with peak results. Confident masters. Surely the next best thing to diving into the unknown. (20160829)

Capsule review: Stephen Malkmus - Jicks picks Vol 1: Quiet music festival 20150627 (2016)

Merry pranksters growing old. Plundering their Pink Floyd and Carpenters albums. Have a cigar?

Capsule review: Big star - In space (2005)

Can't remember when I last played their '70s albums, but this one goes on all the time. Razor sharp opener 'Dony'. Then skip through a 3 song Posies reunion (no thanks). Arrive at an 8 song late period Chilton crash course in American music from R&B to disco, audibly created on the spot. Thrilling.

Capsule review: Alex Chilton - A man called destruction (1995)

Chilton starts late career hot streak spanning solo albums, Big Star and Box Tops reunions. All just fronts for the best rock'n'roll stylist of his (late) age. 'What's your sign girl' - my jam.

Capsule review: Sam Cooke - Keep movin' on (1963-64, 2001 released)

Just hitting his stride right before the end.

Capsule review: Alex Chilton - Live in London (1980)

He had just the ticket for punk rock, but his plane arrived a couple years late.
A shambles and badly recorded. So, more coherent than his contemporary records. Like Flies On Sherbert songs particular favorites in these versions.

Capsule review: Gene Clark - Roadmaster (1973)

Came out in the Netherlands exclusively then disappeared, which is sort of the same thing. Clark at his most gorgeous and melodic.

Capsule review: Lou Reed, John Cale & Nico - Le Bataclan, Paris, Jan 29 1972 (1972)

Amiable livingroom folk versions from the decadent three. Reed effortlessly tossing off gems, old and new. Cale strangely slipping into comedy ('The biggest, loudest, hairiest group of all'). Nico opens up a chasm that engulfs the audience. No follow-up.

Capsule review: The Creation - Our music is red with purple flashes (1966-68, released 2015)

Skip the stuff about painters and synesthesia. Remember them for monster 'How does it feel to feel' (and 'Making time'). There's no logical explanation for a song like that. Pure feel. Thicker than air.

Capsule review: Chin up Chin up - This harness can't ride anything (2006)

When post-rock doesn't work.

Capsule review: Mahavishnu orchestra - The inner mounting flame (1971)

Why do I keep burning myself on fusion? Lots of mounting, ridiculous fire.

Capsule review: Chastity belt - Time to go home (2015)

'I've made choices / with no reason', and this record's just one. I may wonder if 20 years ago this sort of thing was somehow more charmed, but good choice nevertheless.

Capsule review: Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy (2014)

10 singer-songwriter sketches in 17 minutes. Speed psychology. 'That's why you like me and I don't.' Ramshackle, giddy backing, check. Still just a little cutesy. 'Buses splash with rain' a highlight. 'I could be thrilling if you are willing to overlook a few things.' She's got the right idea.

Capsule review: King Crimson - In the court of the Crimson King (1969)

Immediately after King Crimson's performance at Chicago's Kinetic Playground on Saturday, gangsters burnt the club to the ground. Iron Butterfly, the group who were playing with King Crimson, lost all their equipment in the fire, while Crimson themselves lost a mellotron. (Record Mirror, 15 nov 1969)

Capsule review: Lula Côrtes & Zé Ramalho - Paêbirú (1975)

Heathen ritual of the elements conceived on ancient Indian archeological site, 'maybe even the presence of aliens'. Stunningly hermetic, and percussion jams.

Capsule review: Elton John - Captain fantastic and the brown dirt cowboy (1975)

Psychiatrist: 'Elton, have you considered writing down your issues in a diary?'
Elton: 'I know, I'll get Bernie to do it!'
On a wave of success artists invent these origin stories for their fame and fortune, as if their vocation was pre-ordained. But a night on the tiles with Long John Baldry is a poor narrative construct. Life should have gifted Elton something grander, monumental. The Ben Hur of self-help.

Capsule review: Jefferson airplane - Bless its pointed little head (1969)

With a muscular sound, physical where the studio albums are psychedelic breakfasts, this may just be the gateway I need to finally get into the airplane. ( first listen)

Capsule review: Alex Chilton - Top 30 (1977-93, 1997 released)

I could never figure out how Chilton remains charming while setting fire to the studio. But he does. Random highlights from Sherbert to Clichés, though you need the original records to make sense of it. If that were a possibility.

Capsule review: Jim O'Rourke & Loren Connors - Two nice catholic boys (1997, 2009 released)

Two friends with electric guitars wandered out on stage... Noise ensued. Repeatedly.

Capsule review: Hall & Oates - Abandoned luncheonette (1973)

A rich girl's Brewer & Shipley. Fuckin' 'She's gone'! Superb singing, '70s Laurel Canyon patented incessant acoustic guitar strumming. (first listen)

Capsule review: Dan Black - [Un] (2009)

Damn, that's some good cheesy synthpop anthems. Waferthin melodies, sung blankfaced into Fisher Price mic.

Capsule review: Terry Callier - What colour is love (1973)

I always thought it was pink, but Terry sings it black and blue. That's why he's the artist, I guess.

Capsule review: Alice Coltrane - Universal consciousness (1971)

Wow, so this is what everything at the same time sounds like.

Capsule review: Fence - The winding (2016)

Fence songs are never linear. The winding, indeed. Drift in and out of fragments. Takes a deceptive while to figure out. Here grooves run free. At times the rhythm section find themselves on a tightrope with no recollection how they got there. A good place.

Capsule review: dEUS - What we talk about (when we talk about love) (2006)

dEUS' last old style EP single is more grasping in the dark. The title track may be the fullest realization yet of Tom Barman's electro JJ Cale aspirations. Slinky. But three alternate versions only teach us: 1. its seductive groove is a studio creation (FM acoustic radio version), 2. Barman enjoys long vacations in Spain ('Sentimientos, quando hablamos de amor'), 3. remixes are the lowest form of wit (Untitled remix No 1). I had my suspicions all along.

Capsule review: Margo Guryan - Take a picture (1968)

Sometimes a man needs his slightly jazzy, 60s pop chanteuse mother figure to tell him everything will be alright. 'What can I say to make the bad things go away?' ('What can I give you'). Invite me for tea and I know I'll make it through.

Capsule review: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - How I long to feel that summer in my heart (2001)

Gorky's always worked best in small doses. Got it just right on 2001's The Blue Trees EP. After they beefed up the sound with strings on this majestically humble heartbreaker. Fabulous for one LP side. By the second side I no longer care.

Capsule review: Gilberto Gil - Realce (1979)

Musica Populeira Brasileira smoothed out in the late '70s like they switched from ice cream to soft ice. Gil is no exception but his gift is melodic invention, and he carries it through. Makes me smile, but no more, Gil. (first listen)