Tag: 2010s
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Japanese Breakfast, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, 2017 on Dead Oceans
First release on Dead Oceanes from Michelle Zauner, aka Japanese Breakfast, and her/their second full length LP. It’s an eclectic record but I really enjoy it. (The AV Club at the Onion called Zauner a “21st-century Björk” – though that makes me wonder why Björk isn’t a 21st-century Björk). My copy is the 2023 reissue…
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boygenius, boygenius, 2018 on Matador
Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker are boygenius – this was their debut self-titled EP, which came out in 2018. They recorded and produced the EP in just four days at Sound City in LA. Love the nod to Crosby, Stills & Nash’s debut album in the cover photo. They’re joined here by Anna…
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Peter Buck, I Am Back to Blow Your Mind Once Again, 2014 on Mississippi/Change Records
The follow up to Buck’s self-titled debut release, also on Mississippi Records out of Portland OR. Buck works again here with Scott McCaughey, William Rieflin, Corin Tucker, and Jenny Conlee, but also Patterson Hood who co-wrote and sings “Southerner.” Also includes a cover of The Mummies’ “(You Must Fight To Live) On the Planet of…
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Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel . . . , 2012 on Clean Slate / Epic
The full title is The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do but most people refer to it just as The Idler Wheel. The title comes from a poem Apple wrote. Fiona Apple’s fourth studio album and her most commercially…
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Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour, 2018 on MCA Nashville
Musgrave’s fourth album on MCA Nashville, produced by Musgraves with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, with songs co-written by Musgraves with folks like Shane McAnally, Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, and the producers. Though still on the MCA Nashville label, it’s very much an album that starts to wander deliberately outside of contemporary country conventions, moving…
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Adele, 21, 2011 on XL Recordings
What can you say about Adele, so popular to be parodied in SNL as the one voice capable of uniting all Americans in adoration? This of course was her followup to her debut “19” and was a massive success in its own right with “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” which were sort…
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The Waterboys, Modern Blues, 2015 on Harlequin and Clown
Underappreciated album from The Waterboys on the label Mike Scott created from 2015 – I believe this album (in all its formats) was the the label’s only release. Sides three and four are one track – “Long Strange Golden Road” – in both fully realized and acoustic demo format. The album was recorded in Nashville,…
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Chet Baker, Deep in a Dream, 2017 on Jazztwin
Places where record collectors hang out online are full of threads about “grey market” European pressings of Jazz from the 50s and early 60s. Many of these take advantage of some “loopholes” in coverage of copyright and press vinyl sourced from CDs or existing records ripped to digital. When I picked this up, I worried…
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Peter Buck, Self-Titled, 2012 on Mississippi/Change Records
First solo album by the long-time guitarist for R.E.M., released in 2012 on Mississippi Change records. My copy is from the second pressing, which means it omits the song L.V.M.F. on side two, though it is still printed on the label (and crossed out on the rear cover). He sampled from Sonny Boy Williams’ profane…
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Wye Oak, Shriek, 2014 on Merge Records
Third album on Merge Records and fourth overall for Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, produced by Wye Oak with Nicolas Vernhes (who had worked with Fischerspooner and Dirty Projectors). Artwork by Ashley North Compton My copy via Dyno Records in Newburyport MA
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Wye Oak, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, 2018 on Merge Records
The most recent full length from Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner, on Merge. The Wye Oak was the largest white oak tree in the US until it died in 2002 (at over 460 years old). There is still a Wye Oak State Park in Talbot County. The album was mixed by John Congleton and mastered…
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Justin Townes Earle, Live at Grimey’s, September 4th, 2014, on BMG.
Though it was recorded in 2014, and released in 2015 on Vagrant Records, my copy is the 2023 Record Store Day reissue on BMG – two 45rpm records in blue vinyl. This was recorded the month Single Mothers was being released but also includes songs that would be on Absent Fathers My copy via Newbury…
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Conor Oberst, Ruminations, 2016 on Nonesuch
Oberst was hospitalized in 2015 in the middle of a tour for the punk band Desaparecidos, and this album was written and recorded in the recovery from that experience. It was recorded in Omaha in just two days, with Ben Brodin as Engineer, Mike Mogis doing the mixing, and Bob Ludwig mastering. My copy is…
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The Alarm, Equals, 2018 on The Twenty First Century Recording Company
The Alarm joined here by Billy Duffy from the Cult. The Twenty First Century Recording Company was set up by Mike Peters back in the 90s. The Alarm have actually put out six records since 2011, though I’ve not followed them as closely as I did back in their heyday in the 80s. They are…
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Bonnie Bishop, Ain’t Who I Was, 2016 on Plan BB
I first heard the title track of this album on a Paste Sampler from 2017 so was happy to find the LP (produced by Dave Cobb) at Dyno Records in Newburyport. Here she is performing it at the Paste Studios: Bishop is from Austin TX (but may now be in Nashville?) and has been putting…
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Jolie Holland & Samantha Parton, Wildflower Blues, 2017 on Cinquefoil
Holland and Parton were the original core of the Be Good Tanyas, later joined by Trish Klein and Frazey Ford. I was (and still am) a massive fan of the Be Good Tanyas, often letting their albums Blue Horse and Chinatown run all day while working. Here they reunite on an album via Cinquefoil Records,…
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Kristin Hersh, Crooked, 2019 on Fire Records
Crooked actually first came out in 2009 (digital/online) or 2010 (CD), but this Fire Records issue for Record Store Day 2019 was the first vinyl issue. Hersh wrote all the songs, produced and played all the instruments, with Steve Rizzo as recording engineer at Stable Sound (his studio at Sandy Point Stables) in Portsmouth Rhode…
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Japandroids, Near to the Wild Heart of Life, 2017 on Anti- Records
Third full length from Vancouver BC rock duo Japandroids, and their first on Anti-. Came with a 24 page booklet insert and poster. There was a ~5 year break after Celebration Rock and lots of incessant touring. I think it’s a more mature record than the previous two and look forward to more. My copy…