(The Hussy/No Coast Records/Cave Curse/Fire Heads/On-And-Off Member of Nobunny (Bobby Hussy)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2018? (Preferably in order 1-5)
- Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt (Fat Possum)
- Donkey Bugs - Ancient Chinese Secrets (Fish Records)
- Digital Leather - Pink Thunder (FDH Records)
- Lavender Flu - Mow The Glass (In The Red)
- Mind Spiders - Furies (Dirtnap)
2. What band did you discover in 2018 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
Spiritualized. I had always been a Spacemen 3 fan but always sorta sided with Sonic Boom for whatever reason. I sorta dug his songs on Spacemen 3 records the most I guess. But I've really come to love J Spacemen and what he has done solo. The record that came out this year is absolutely stunning and honestly a true masterpiece. I dug into his entire catalog this year which was rough on my wallet, but definitely worthwhile. A lot of earworms to get through in his prolific catalogue.
3. How will you remember 2018? (In terms of music)
I think this year was really cool in terms of new bands and new records happening in Madison, a lot of stuff I recorded and am really proud to help translate to vinyl: Proud Parents did an LP on Dirtnap that is absolutely fantastic Midwestern great jangle-pop. Dumb Vision and Wood Chickens released stellar records on Big Neck. No Hoax finally got their recordings done...just in time for their breakup show with Agent Orange. Solid Freex put out a great debut and have a follow-up recorded! BUT the best new band in Madison right now is WASH. Very impressive pseudo-grunge shoegaze band with ethereal yet piercing vocals. Definitely the band to watch from Madison this year!
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2019?
Well! The Hussy is back baby! We are making a new LP as we speak. We'll be touring a bit and have some big show announcements coming up soon. STAY TUNED! My other projects are also releasing records in 2019. Cave Curse has a brand new 7" coming out on Goodbye Boozy that features the new 4-piece lineup and it boosts the first recordings as the quartet! Fire Heads are releasing a split 12" with Milwaukee's fantastic Sex Scenes. Big Neck will be putting that out. I changed things up this year and put Kind Turkey in the ground. I started over with a new label called No Coast. We've done a few releases this year that have been great: Blaha, Digital Leather, No Hoax, Woodman/Earhart....and I have a bunch of irons in the fire: The debut Wash EP will be coming out on my label as a limited edition cassette. A two-fer tape release with Mood Altar and BIGPIG is after that...Those are both projects from Black Panties' frontman Luc Michaelski. I'm doing the final Midwest Beat album, "Incantations"; they were one of Wisconsin's finest pop bands and broke up in 2018. I'm also currently in the process of releasing a Red Mass LP via No Coast. This is the first LP I've pressed and released on my label. It's a Montreal post-punk garage outfit that has been around a decade. My girlfriend and I will be driving up to Montreal for the release show in March.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2019?
Hmmm. I'm not sure just yet what's coming out or being recorded right now. I know Wash plans to record a full-length as a companion to their EP. I'm sure Wood Chickens will pull another great record out of their hats just like they did this year with "Well Done!". Other than that I'm always checking out what Crash Symbols, In The Red, Total Punk, Drunken Sailor and a few other choice labels are doing. I guess the most anticipated record for me of 2019 is the Red Mass LP I'm releasing. I truly believe in the record and the band. It's fantastic stuff!
6. Right now there are two primary types of digital services: subscription streaming and the bandcamp approach that's more individualized. Do you have a preference and what direction do you think future streaming/download services will move toward?
I think Spotify is definitely the future. With No Coast I've worked out a distribution deal where all of my releases are on Spotify, Itunes, etc. I upload them all to Bandcamp and I use it for all physical online sales as of right now. I also have distribution in the US via Revolver but if someone is buying direct from the label they are getting it through Bandcamp. It's is a great tool for bands and small labels, but I think most people are using Spotify to discover new music these days.
