January - Part 2: Sex, Chubs, and Bloc & Roll
Let's jump into some of the stuff that kicked off my new year. A couple of albums came at the helm of my wife. She's been getting into White Reaper lately after their newest album, You Deserve Love. Many car rides have been accompanied by this record. It's a really catchy form of Garage-Rock. When we weren't listening to White Reaper, it was usually Courtney Barnett. I'm already familiar with her two albums and her collaboration with Kurt Vile, but neither of us had listened to her earliest work. In anticipation of seeing her in February, I decided to check out A Sea of Split Peas, which is composed of her first two EPs. While it's got some good tracks, there's no denying she got better with each release.
The start of the year tends to be a little light on new albums, but there were a few I gave a listen to. Amongst them was Chubby & the Gang's debut album, Speed Kills. If you're unfamiliar, Chubby & the Gang are a raucous London based, Pub-Rock group. It's fast, it's loud, and it's fun to listen to! While we're on the subject of London Punk bands, so, up until this year, I had never actually listened to Nevermind the Bollocks. I've been so overexposed to "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen" that my interest in actually listening to the entire album had become pretty tenuous. I decided to finally dive in when my wife and I were driving home from a day trip to the mountains. The track that stood out the most to me was "No Feelings." It was basically the Sex Pistols channeling New York Dolls, which from my understanding was the point, and they nailed it. I probably would have loved this album in my teens, but listening to it now, I'm kind of lukewarm. It's not an album I'll find myself returning to often.
One of my favorite releases from last year was Better Oblivion Community Center's album, and I really enjoyed boygenius' EP in 2018. I hadn't actually listened to any of Phoebe Bridgers' solo stuff other than "Motion Sickness" though. With a little encouragement from a friend of mine I gave Stranger in the Alps a listen, and I figured I should check out Julien Baker's, Turn Out the Lights while I'm at it. Both are beautiful albums, but damn did Baker's make me feel short of breath and cornered. An amazing album, but one I have got to be in the right mood for.
To offset the suffocating nature of Turn Out the Lights, I went to the opposite side of the spectrum with Rammstein, Emperor, and Imperial Triumphant's, Vile Luxury, which is a blend of Black Metal and Jazz... somehow. It's pretty much an hour of chaos. I didn't include any metal tracks for this playlist because frankly, there wasn't a way to not make it jarring, haha. I'm sure I'll have a spurt of Metal intrigue one of these months that will result in a more Metal oriented list.
So yeah, that's just a few of the albums I've listened to for January. if you're curious about what else was coming out of my speakers, just check out the playlist:
