John Maus, “A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material” (Ribbon Music, 2012; original recordings 1999-2010)
Cool stuff from a dude whose approach to synth-pop is as literal and precise as his approach to album-titling. This distills the cold, alien, perverted yet oddly romantic side of synth-pop to a pure essence.
Try 2, 3, 6
7/26/12
John Krautner, “Fun With Gum, Volume One” (Burger, 2015)
Burger artists tend to have this particular knack for fusing blurriness and aggression that makes seemingly done-to-death genres sound fresh and spontaneous again, and Krautner’s take on Midwest power-pop is no exception. Loosely swinging mid-tempo beats drive cotton-candy-hazy and sweet sound-vignettes of bowling, supermarkets and summer fun.
Try 4, 5, 6
8/15/15
Jim Hendrix, “First Rays Of The New Rising Sun” (MCA, 1997; original recordings 1968-70)
Hendrix’s last studio work may not be his “best,” but it is my favorite. With a new ease and mastery but undiminished power, Hendrix moved simultaneously into proto-funk and singer-songwriter territory with an audacity and brilliance that offer tantalizing hints of how he might have revolutionized the music scene yet again had he lived. There’s a quiet intensity, a sense of hard-earned peace here that’s like nothing else.
Try A/4, B/2, C/2, C/4, D/2, D/4
10/22/11
Juliana Hatfield, “Hey Babe” (Mammoth, 1992)
Hatfield’s first (and best) solo album uses a circumspectly adorable approach to mask a forceful powerchord punch, crystallizing a tactic that would influence many. Not only that, the melodies twist and turn in all sorts of peculiar directions, following Hatfield’s fancies, yet always remain coherent and stick to your ear like sour apple bubblegum. I fuckin’ love this album.
Try 3, 5 (great) and especially 6.
5/12/11
Joanna Gruesome, “Weird Sisters” (Slumberland, 2014)
This falls into the neo-C’86/twee Brit-style indie-guitar-pop niche that’s one of this label’s signatures, and this group actually is from the U. K., but this is unusually hard-driving, volatile and convulsive stuff, shot through with atonal outbursts and hidden song-structural trapdoors and hairpin turns. Brash, raw, gorgeous.
Try 1, 2, 6, 7
7/15/14
J C Flowers, “Driving Excitement And The Pleasure Of Ownership” (ATP, 2016)
British guitar-psych-pop outfit, a lot more acid-damaged than anything the U.K. has come up with for a while. Gently sinister, Velvets-inflected strum that wafts languorously, then abruptly splits into discordant fragments of bubble. Cool stuff, like middle-schoolers sniffing magic markers in the art room and trying to re-record “Tomorrow Never Knows” with toy instruments.
Try 5, 9
10/21/16
Joe “King” Carrasco And The Crowns, “Joe King Carrasco And The Crowns” (Hannibal, 1980)
Fast, stripped-down, hyper-catchy Tex-Mex rock’n’roll with an ultra-day-glo New Wave sheen, like if you crossed the Ramones and the Cars, then made ‘em listen to nothing but “96 Tears” for a year.
Try 1/1, 1/ 2, 2/2, 2/4, all
1/12/11
John Carpenter, “Halloween” (Compass International, 2013; original release 1978)
Spooky soundtrack to the pioneering slasher-flick, written by the director. Ideal for whiling away late-night hours on the air.
Play any track.
1/23/14
John Cale, “Guts” (Island, 1975; originally recorded 1973-75)
Probably the ex-Velvets bassist’s best solo stuff, and certainly the most extreme; vaguely glam/Roxy, Music-style rock and roll overdriving into bludgeoning paranoia, with truly disturbing lyrics/vocals from Cale.
Try 1 /4, 2/1, 2/1.
Jacuzzi Boys, “No Seasons” (Florida’s Dying, 2009)
These guys crank out exceptionally catchy garage-punk. Here it’s grangier, more pummel-oriented and less poppy than their recent LP in Hardly Art, but equally compelling in its own way.
Try A/4, A/5, B/2
1/29/12