It’s been a minute since I dropped a ‘here’s what I’m hearing’ post but there’s no time like the present so, in the immortal words of Marvin Gaye: let’s get it on.
Mogwai – To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate The Earth
New albums from Mogwai are always gonna be warmly received by me – be it soundtrack or studio – but this year’s As the Love Continues is one of their finest in years. Its’ so fucking good. In fact this, the first track on the album, is good it got my normally ‘post-rock ambivalent’ wife into the album. Just a stunning effort from the band, no doubt helped by the lack of distractions being in lockdown gave them and an easy Best Album of 2021 contender already.
Dinosaur Jr – I Ran Away
Well – another probable contender for that title is already on the way! Dinosaur Jr recently announced their new album Sweep It Into Space is en route (and pre-ordered by me of course). A new slab of Dinosaur Jr is plenty of reason to pay attention (see this post for more proof) but the new one is produced with Kurt Vile and features him on 12-string apparently. It’s the band’s first since 2016. Can’t wait!
Ben Howard – What A Day
Well, here we are with another hotly-anticipated (by me) album. Ben Howard has been a real mainstay on my stereo for years, there’s something about the vibe he taps into that’s just right up my street. His new album – Collections From the Whiteout – is produced with The National’s Aaron Dessner – and songs dropped so far feel like a lighter, though no-less adventurous sound than his last album
Jaguar Sun – The Heart
You know Spotify certainly has its drawbacks but it can also lead to great discoveries too. I stumbled by pure chance – having been listening to that fucking great Bleachers tune ‘chinatown’ which features Bruce Springsteen – a few weeks back into a playlist it was recommending me called ‘Dream Pop’ – a genre I hadn’t really paid attention to. What a fucking muppet. There’s so much gold in there that hits so may buttons for me that I’ve spent a long time immersed in it every evening and just drifting off like I’m wrapped in shimmering clouds, man. This Jaguar Sun dude has some great stuff but ‘The Heart’ is the one that I keep finding myself humming.
Philip Sayce – Black Roller Coming
Oh dude – getting back to the grittier guitars and electric blues crunch just in case you worried. I caught a Philip Sayce last year and his album Spirit Rising got a load of plays last year and into this. Loads of that sweet guitar tone and rip for when it needs turning up load.
R.E.M – So Fast So Numb
Even if they’re no longer active as a band in the traditional sense, R.E.M have been outstanding in celebrating the anniversaries of their albums with beefed up takes on all bang on their 25th Anniversary with notable beefed-up editions of their Warner Bros albums especially. This year marks 25 years since the release of my favourite R.E.M album New Adventures in Hi-Fi and I’m eagerly anticipating news of a similar treatment for it, especially as getting the original on vinyl is pretty priced way out of likelihood.
Pixies – Alec Eiffel
As much as I love new Pixies music arriving, they’re another band that are aware of their legacy and the value it has to fans and have treated us to similar revisiting of their albums, albeit on their 30th anniversary. Expanded takes on Dolittle and Come on Pilgrim… It’s Surfer Rosa were treasure troves of additional material while last year’s Bossanova was a great pressing of a classic. This year marks 30 (shocking) years since the last album in their initial run – Trompe Le Monde and another I’m in eager anticipation for.
Side note: while we’re talking new music and spins… I heard the new Foo Fighters album and fell asleep. I’ll leave it at that.
Mumbling About... 
Before I get to your list, let me completely usurp it by asking the following question – who the hell does that Yank Meghan Markle think she is with all her weeping and blubbering? And upsetting the great Piers Morgan so much that she complained to ITV. And he walked off while being chastised. The nerve! If you listen, Markle, why old chap, she’d tar and feather your beloved monarchy. She’d send them to the Tower of London and have their eyes pecked out by crows. Thank God you have newspapers that tell it like it and are in no way compromised by their relationship with the monarchy. God Save the Queen!
Jim, you’ve given me a proper laugh there sir. Piers Morgan can only be described as the kind of thing you desperately wipe off your shoes after stepping in.
Health Secretary illegally by not revealing details of contracts awarded over Covid, Prince Andrew still wanted for conversations by the FBI, Sunak fucking people over with the budget (especially health and education workers who have been broken by the pandemic), Boris Johnson being a colossal cock as usual… but OH MY GOD HOLD THE FRONT PAGE: Meghan is lying when she said she was suicidal, the ungrateful bitch!
How does Morgan (friend of Trump) keep getting hired? A nasty piece of work he is. Anyway, we take turns having the worst twits running the country. With Trump gone or at least in exile, i think you lot win. And please – abolish the fucking monarchy already.
Same reason other bellends get paid – people will watch a car crash and it generates headlines. I’m all for the abolition of the monarchy, no invoking a fictional deity to save some non-elected sponger from this Man of Kent
Alas, too many people have too much invested in keeping that particular amusement park running to shut it down. Harry was right and this song, I think, goes a long way to explaining it
That being said, I’ve not followed the news or given the press the satisfaction of absorbing their headlines because I place too high a value on my mental health. But you’ve gotta shake your head at the absurdity of it. Harry has long been vocal and repeatedly used a potty-mouth to describe the press long before he even watched an episode of Suits. But it’s all HER fault eh, must have been her who made him feel bad about those who dragged him and his brother out of their grief at its rawest to parade them behind their mother’s coffin for press and public’s consumption.
We’re a hell of a lot more sympathetic to her over here. Partially, I suppose, because she’s American. But we also have this love/hate thing with the Royals. We loved ‘The Crown’ and we find all things monarchist fascinating. But much in the same way we find monkeys in a cage of interest.
I listened to all of these. A very good list. So good in fact I said to myself, is this Music Enthusiast I’m actually reading? But I digress. Notes:
Good post-rock tune. You recall my son’s band, Pray for Sound. He’s quit them. He was never a major fan of that style even though he had a hand in writing a lot of their stuff. Given a choice, he’d have been in a band sounding like some combination of Green Day, Nirvana, and Foo Fighters. As to Dinosaur Jr, it’s odd that I’ve never really gotten into them even though they’re from my backyard. If by backyard, I mean Amherst which is about as close to Boston as London is to Swindon. Liked it.
Never heard of Howard or Jaguar Sun or have forgotten about them if you wrote them up. Good stuff. As to Sayce, yes I was wondering when you were going to stop being such a tosser and actually rock the fuck out. Anything by R.E.M. is worth a listen. And the Pixies, yes. I say old chap, you do love your Boston bands
High praise indeed (well, tosser aside 🤣). I think we’ve mentioned before how there must be something in that Massachusetts water:
Aerosmith
Morphine
Lemonheads
Pixies
Buffalo Tom
Caspian
Dinosaur Jr…
All regular guests on my stereo. Boston is top of the list when I visit the States – a lot more likely know there are adults in charge there again.
Well, the good kind of tosser. The high class kind, not like those fucking Kentish men.
Boston is, alas, musically not what it was, not even close. I was fortunate to be here for most of it. Some other bands would include Boston, The Cars, J. Geils. ‘Til Tuesday, Godsmack, Dropkick Murphys. Extreme, Letters to Cleo., Mission of Burma, Belly. And, most proudly, Anal Cunt.
BTW, someday you’ll have to explain which is worse – a tosser or a wanker. I believe Jeff perhaps to be both.
Mogwai hit number one in the UK right? I like them generally so I should check it out.
They did! I don’t think anyone was more surprised by the band themselves, they broke the top ten in the US too
New Mogwai is most excellent. Really great stuff and I’d agree that it’s album of the year contender. I’m also looking forward to the new Dinosaur Jr. and St. Vincent albums. It’s been a slow start to the year album wise, but I have a feeling that’s because everyone seemed to release great music last year (well, mostly everyone).
I’ve been wondering what kind of New Adventures in Hi-Fi reissue we can expect. I dare say they’ll have a fair few extras and live shows to pick through.
Also, Foo Fighters – I didn’t make it past track 3.
That Junior sounds really good. Just a reminder that I dont listen to them enough. That “Chinatown” cut got my attention. Liked the Pixies, REM revisits.