Well here we are, another year come and gone. It was a shitty year for most things, but one thing that didn't disappoint was the music scene, which delivered several out-of-the-park albums, so I thought for our last show of the year we'd go through 2012 and have a platter of some of the best tracks, right here at Klen House. My love of Swans is old hat by now, their album Soundtracks for the Blind among my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, album of all time, but it bears repeating that this year's offering The Seer is mind-blowingly good, album of the year easily. Goat's "Goathead" is precisely what I imagined Jimi Hendrix sounded like when I was a kid before I actually heard his work. I was eventually disappointed by Jimi, but Goat fries like no other, one of the most cracked guitarlines I've heard in a long time. Cate le Bon reminds me a bit of a modern-day Nico, something that could easily fall into obnoxious hipster irrelevance but she skirts the line quite well, think Nico singing one of John Cale's better albums, Paris 1919 perhaps. Howlin' Rain's newest album has a serious Guns 'n Roses vibe for me, their later, pompously epic stuff like Use Your Illusion or Chinese Democracy, really it's the album Democracy should have been, gloriously huge and screaming toward the stratosphere. Keep freaky, listeners, and see you next year.
1. Swans - Avatar (from The Seer)
2. Goat - Goathead (from World Music)
3. Cate le Bon - Cyrk (from Cyrk)
4. Hexvessel - Woods to Conjure (from No Holier Temple)
5. Ergo Phizmiz - Ophelia (from Eleven Songs)
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6. Howlin' Rain - Phantom in the Valley (from The Russian Wilds)
7. Red River Dialect - Appleseed (from Allupontheway)
8. Matthew Dear - Earthforms (from Beams)
9. Gold Motel - Cold Shoulders (from Gold Motel)
10. Would You Be My Love - Ty Segall (from Twins)
Got two addendums today, a couple amazing songs that didn't make the show because they were too damn long. Up first is Epizootics! from the always incredible Scott Walker's new album Bish Bosch, which is most certainly on my top 10 list for this year...
And second is a mammoth slice of proggy goodness from Motorpsycho from their new album The Death-Defying Uniform. Prepare yourself for the void!
You'd never expect it, but sometimes even Klen House can relax and enjoy the holidays. So in the spirit of giving, we're here to offer up a veritable Santa's bag worth of tunes, with all your Christmas favorites...C-3P0, H. P. Lovecraft, Daleks, and Mister Magoo are pulling the sleigh, and of course Steve Austin himself is filling in as St. Nick. Nothing else to say, except that I played the hell out of that Six Million Dollar Man album when I was a kid. Enjoy!
1. The Six Million Dollar Man - The Kris Kringle Caper, part 1
2. C-3P0 - Christmas in the Stars
3. The Sonics - Don't Believe in Christmas
4. The Six Million Dollar Man - The Kris Kringle Caper, part 2
5. The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society - I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth
6. Gary Ferrier - Ringo Deer
7. The Six Million Dollar Man - The Kris Kringle Caper, part 3
8. The Go-Go's - I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek
9. Jim Backus & Daws Butler - I Was a Teenage Reindeer
10. Akim & The Teddy Vann Production Company - Santa Claus is a Black Man
11. The Six Million Dollar Man - The Kris Kringle Caper, part 4
Acoustic guitars (and one acoustic piano) are the theme of the day here at Klen House, a week to indulge my inner folkie and let my politely freaky flag fly. We start off with the semi-title-track from Anaïs Mitchell's wonderful folk opera Hadestown, a retelling of the myth of Orpheus & Eurydice with Depression-era folk tunes. It's good stuff! The Incredible String Band's 'Painting Box' is another of my favorite tunes, a great slice of 60s slightly-psyche folk rock that worms its way into your head and doesn't let go. I've mentioned on several occasions my love of Michael Gira's band Swans, but he does a pretty killer solo act too, firm and commanding with one of the best voices in music today. Last but not least is a cut from poet Ian Silva, gently British-styled folk which deserves more love than it gets.
1. Anaïs Mitchell - Way Down Hadestown
2. David Morris - Shay
3. Gary Higgins - Cuckoo
4. The Incredible String Band - Painting Box
-Commercial: QT Quik Tan-
5. John Cale - The Endless Pain of Fortune
6. Michael Gira - Oxygen
7. Ian Silva - Adam's Dream (Liebestraum Blues)
Peace, love, and sandlewood right here!
It doesn't look like Hadestown is touring, but Anaïs Mitchell is putting out an album of ballads!
David Morris' band Red River Dialect has a bandcamp. Did you forget? Here it is!
Michael Gira's Young God Records has everything you could ever want in the entire universe.
Ian Silva's album is available here for free! Why the hell not?
For our addendum today, dig The Incredible String Band...
