Goodbye to the teen years of the 2000’s. A “decade” of categories this year!
BEST MUSIC BOOK – BIOGRAPHY DIVISION: Nothing’s Bad Luck by C.M. Kushins
This is a thorough biography of the life and music of Warren Zevon. No punches are pulled in describing the disorder in the house and the dirty life and times of this excitable boy (my apologies for that sentence). Despite many dark moments, it’s a really good read.
BEST MUSIC BOOK – JOY DIVISION: This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else by Jon Savage
This is a great oral history of the Joy Division story. It provides insight into the life of the band and their environs. You can feel it. And you may learn things; for instance, that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was sort of a response to that schmaltzy hit song “Love Will Keep Us Together.” [I can’t believe that never occurred to me before.]
BEST MUSIC BOOK – I HAVEN’T FINISHED IT YET DIVISION: Chamber Music by Will Ashon
I’m about half way through this one (I’m sure I’ll be done by year end) but it’s already grabbed me. This book is subtitled “Wu-Tang and America [In 36 Pieces],” it’s about the Wu-Tang Clan and their classic debut album. But it also incorporates history and racism and provides lots of food for thought. Plus many pages have a song titles running down the side of the page suggesting recommended listening related to the topic at hand. This book Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit.
BEST CLASH THING I – Stay Free: The Story of The Clash
This multi-part podcast appeared on Spotify. Narrated by Chuck D, it did a great job of telling the bands story. Even if you’re well-versed in the band, you’ll learn some things. And it was interesting hearing Chuck D’s perspective on their influence on him and Public Enemy (which was done without hijacking the story).
BEST CLASH THING II – The 40th anniversary of London Calling
I’m sure everyone in the world agrees with me that this is the greatest album of all time. There’s no debate about that, right?
BEST 50+ YEAR OLD SONG – “You’re Dead” by Norma Tanega
This song was used several years ago in the hilarious “What We Do in the Shadows” and I was reminded of it while bingeing the TV series based on the movie that was released this year. I assumed this was a recent song, maybe written for the movie, but no; it’s from 1966. What? And it wasn’t even her one minor hit song. Oh, and then there’s her relationship with Dusty Springfield (again – what?), but you can dig up those details on your own.
BEST BAND I “DISCOVERED” – Dismembered Sound Booth
Between “All Are Friends Are Dead” (released in 2018) and this years “Extinction Party!” DSb has given us a boatload of excellent tunes. This made my site move perilously close to becoming exclusively a DSb fan site.
BEST LIVE SHOW – Southern Culture on the Skids
They came out by themselves with no pretense, set up their gear, plugged in, and let it rip. Seeing them live was a reminder of what a great catalogue of songs they’ve built. Totally fun, but if you go see them watch out for flying fried chicken.
BEST ALBUM FROM AN OLD FRIEND – Stephen Mallinder “Um Dada”
Seemed like a lot of long-timers I like released records this year –Pixies, The Specials, Bad Religion, KMFDM, Guided By Voices (haha no surprise on that last one). I really dug this one from the former (maybe still current?) Cabaret Voltaire member. It’s a nice mix between later house era CV and mid-period CV à la “Microphonies.”
Honorable mention in this category to Nick Cave for “Ghosteen,” which struck me as a brilliant and lush exploration of grief, but I’m still peeling the onion on that one to say much more.
BEST KEVIN DRUMM – “Purge”
I bought a huge mound of Kevin Drumm’s catalogue through Bandcamp and started a review page as I slowly work through the many hours of music. This noisy one got 5 “m’s” on my special trademarked rating scale for the Drumm releases. I’ll need to pick up the pace as I’m already eyeing other large music catalogues available on Bandcamp. The music never stops.
