Top 50 Albums of the Decade

50. Cold Specks - Neuroplasticity (2014)

49. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork (2013)

48. Torres - Three Futures (2017)

47. Dana Falconberry & Medicine Bow - From the Forest Came the Fire (2016)

46. Petal - Shame (2016)

45. Death Grips - The Money Store (2012)

44. Iceage - Beyondless (2018)

43. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - I'm in Your Mind Fuzz (2014)

42. Total Control - Typical System (2014)

41. Lady Lamb - After (2015)

40. Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace (2018)

39. Arcade Fire - Reflektor (2013)

38. Screaming Females - All At Once (2018)

37. Merchandise - Totale Nite (2013)

36. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker (2010)

35. Petal - Magic Gone (2018)

34. Los Kowalski - Dejarte Ir (2018)

33. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland (2017)

32. Beck - Morning Phase (2014)

31. Tame Impala - Currents (2015)

30. Polvo - Siberia (2013)

29. No Joy - Wait to Pleasure (2013)

28. Throwing Muses - Purgatory/Paradise (2013)

27. My Bloody Valentine - m b v (2013)

26. Beak - >>> (2017)

25. Le Butcherettes - A Raw Youth (2015)

24. Angel Olsen - My Woman (2016)

23. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (2019)

22. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)

21. black midi - Schlagenheim (2019)

20. Richard Thompson - Dream Attic (2010)

19. Warpaint - The Fool (2010)

18. Screaming Females - Ugly (2014)

17. Lower Dens - Nootropics (2012)

16. Le Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL (2019)

15. Owen Pallett - Heartland (2010)

14. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (2010)

13. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2 (2014)

12. Boris - Heavy Rocks 2011 (2011)

11. Braids - Flourish/Perish (2013)

10. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2011)

9. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (2010)

8. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening (2010)

7. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 3 (2017)

6. Aphex Twin - Syro (2014)

5. Julia Holter - Ekstasis (2012)

4. Autolux - Pussy's Dead (2016)

3. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (2014)

 2. Lady Lamb - Ripely Pine (2013)

1. David Bowie - Blackstar (2016)

Top 30 Albums of 2019

30. Chat Pile - This Dungeon Earth EP

29. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - And Now for the Whatchamacallit

28. Guided By Voices - Sweating the Plague


27. Mariee Sioux - Grief in Exile


26. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest

25. Gruff Rhys - Pang!


24. Chat Pile - Remove Your Skin Please EP

23. Beck - Hyperspace

22. Pond - Tasmania


21. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

20. Guided By Voices - Zeppelin Over China

19. The Desert Sessions - The Desert Sessions Vol 11 & 12

18. Guided By Voices Warp & Woof


17. Ex Hex - It's Real


16. FEELS - Post Earth


15. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Fishing for Fishies


14. Robert Forster - Inferno


13. Messthetics - Anthropocosmic Nest


12. Cherry Glazerr - Stuffed & Ready


11. Xiu Xiu  Girl with Basket of Fruit


10. Big Thief - Two Hands


9. Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - De Facto

8. Thom Yorke - ANIMA

7. JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes are Cornballs


6. Big Thief - U.F.O.F.


5. Caroline Polachek - Pang

4. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

3. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors


2. black midi - Schlagenheim

1. Le Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL

Spotify Playlist: Addicted to Self-Control

Cherry Glazerr - Stuffed & Ready

I'm a sucker for 90s nostalgia, and in the current shitshow in which we live, it seems amazing to me now that angsty rock peaked well before the decade was over. Not that Cherry Glazerr is an exercise in nostalgia; while their music leans heavily on "grungy" loud-soft dynamics, it just as much recalls Japanese Breakfast's dream pop and Metric's synth rock. And, not to pigeonhole Clem Creevy, whose emotional palette is far from monochrome, but a pure strain of anger is a prominent part of it, and in the current state of things, it's hard to believe it ever went out of style. In the album's most cathartic moment, Creevy screams "I see myself in you and that's why I fucking hate you!" It's a sentiment that might look banal on paper, but when it comes around, it's earned. When Cherry Glazerr released its third album Apocalipstick in early 2017, Creevy was, in her own words, an overconfident teenager, and is now more world-weary and cynical. She conveys a relatable sense of wrongfootedness, her jabs tempered with self-effacing humour. Stuffed & Ready, however, is not the dirgy, mopey album it might sound like I'm describing. It's a pop album powered by genuine humanity and meticulous songcraft. I'd say it's "stuffed" with hooks and "ready" to rock you, but I'm not a complete and utter fuckwit. Instead I'll say that in a better world, Stuffed & Ready would be a massive hit, but paradoxically, a better world would be unable to produce it.

RIP Ginger Baker

RIP Peter Edward Baker

19 August 1939 - 6 October 2019

This is basically a memorial blog now.

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - De Facto

One thing I might not have noticed on my first listen had I not known already is that Mexican band Lorelle Meets The Obsolete's fifth album is sung entirely in Spanish. Lorena Quintinilla/Lorelle's vocals are typically half-whispered and placed low in the mix, so I have trouble understanding what she's singing anyway. This particular creative decision is a pointed response to the clusterfuck at the border. I don't speak Spanish, but "La Maga" doesn't need a translation.

2016's Balance introduced more streamlined songwriting to the band's palette; as in the past, and particularly on that album, elements of the band's songs are familiar, even radio-ready, but are used as springboards for songs with less conventional payoff. "Líneas En Hojas"'s bass line evokes "Billie Jean", but it's more of a trance than a floor-filler. "Resistir"'s chords would be at home as the intro to a garage rock song, but the song never progresses beyond them, instead gradually adding sound to ramp up the drama. De Facto walks a fine line, relatively immediate in its appeal without filing down the band's edges to the extent that it could be reasonably described as their "pop" album. It is both their strongest album melodically and their most abstract.

Spotify Playlist: David Berman