2025 in random celebrity encounters via my Simpsons calendar/some favorite records of the year

The Simpsons calendars I've been using for my main calendar since high school include two celebrity or cult-celebrity birthdays on each day of the year. Last year, I started a new annual tradition of listing the celebs I'd seen in person from that year's calendar (I covered 2023 and 2024 in one post). It was slim pickins for 2025 (but not Slim Pickens; I never saw him in the flesh). I'm also bringing my favorite records of the year back to this site (I did it on Instagram last year). 

2025 in calendar celebs

Jam Master Jay

When I was attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the school closed a street near the student union and held a free concert/block party on the Sunday before the first day of classes. When I was a freshman and sophomore, both concerts were hip-hop legends. My sophomore year, the Sugarhill Gang and DJ Melle Mel performed, and in my freshman year, Run-D.M.C. headlined the event. It was 1995, so Jam Master Jay was still with us and still in the group. I remember them putting on a quality, high-energy show. I also saw some of Run-D.M.C.'s Fun Fun Fun Fest set many years later after Jam Master Jay had died. I can't remember who was filling in as guest DJ that night. 

Steve Gorman

Steve Gorman was the longtime Black Crowes drummer from 1987 until 2001, with a second brief stint in 2005. After his less-than-flattering portrayal of the Robinson brothers in his 2019 memoir, I doubt he'll be playing with them again. I saw him play with The Black Crowes at Stubb's during the 2001 SXSW festival near the end of his first run with the band. I know The Black Crowes are one of those bands that hipsters sneer at, but I happen to really like their first four albums, especially the second one. Here's a delightful anecdote from an old Ryley Walker tweet for all those sneering hipsters. When Walker and Destroyer's Dan Bejar toured together and shared a vehicle, the only driving music they could agree on was the Unwound discography and The Black Crowes' Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.

Neko Case

I've seen Neko Case, both as a solo artist and as a member of The New Pornographers, live multiple times at multiple venues, including the only Austin City Limits TV taping I've attended.

Snoop Dogg

I caught some of Snoop Dogg's set at one of the Fun Fun Fun Fests during that brief window of time when he was performing reggae music as Snoop Lion. Not his finest hour.

Corin Tucker

I saw Corin Tucker live with Sleater-Kinney back in the late '90s. I really liked that band when Janet Weiss was the drummer, but I can't get into the St. Vincent-produced record or the subsequent post-Weiss records, and I don't like how they handled Weiss's departure.  

Favorite records of the year

BASIC - Dream City EP

Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee (one of my favorite records of the 21st century)

Neko Case - Neon Grey Midnight Green

Destroyer - Dan's Boogie

Employees of the Month - In Space

Eraser - Hideout

Flowers Destroy - Hawks Listen

Hayward x Dalek - Hayward x Dalek

Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak

Dan Melchior - Reveries

Mint Mile - andwhichstray

Modern Nature - The Heat Warps

Motherfuckers JMB & Co. - Music Excitement Action Beauty

mssv - On and On

Nape Neck - The Shallowest End

Orcutt Shelley Miller - Orcutt Shelley Miller

Gwenifer Raymond - Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark

Retail Simps (as The Educated Fools) - Tantric Decapitation: 69 mins of trichotomy and liquefaction

Rose City Band - Sol y Sombra

Sessa - Pequena Vertigem de Amor

Tropical Fuck Storm - Fairyland Codex

Twisted Teens - Blame the Clown

Twisted Teens - Twisted Teens

Jean-Claude Vannier - Jean-Claude Vannier et son orchestre des mandolins

Winged Wheel - Desert So Green

I also liked these records

AVTT/PTTN - AVTT/PTTN

Circuit des Yeux - Halo on the Inside

Guided By Voices - Thick Rich and Delicious

Guided By Voices - Universe Room

Mclusky - The World Is Still Here and So Are We

Melvins - Thunderball 

The Men - Buyer Beware

The Moles - Composition Book

Mourning [A] BLKstar - Flowers for the Living

Osees - Abomination Revealed at Last

Mike Polizze - Around Sound

Rip Van Winkle - Blasphemy

Ty Segall - Possession

Superchunk - Songs in the Key of Yikes

Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override

Venamoris - To Cross or to Burn

Neil Young - Coastal Soundtrack

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts - Talkin to the Trees

2023 and 2024 in random celebrity encounters via my Simpsons calendars

Since my Instagram account is so focused on what records and CDs I'm listening to every day, I thought I'd do something different here instead of a favorite albums of the year post. I haven't watched The Simpsons in years, but I still buy the Simpsons calendar each year for my home office. One thing I like about it is that it includes the birthdays of two famous or cult-famous people for each date. Last year, I jotted down the names of the people I'd seen in person and made a little thread about it on the garbage site formerly known as Twitter, but I thought it'd be fun to make it a year-end post with a little more context, so here's 2023 and 2024 in random celebrity encounters via my Simpsons calendars: 

2023

Dave Foley

I saw Foley perform with the rest of the Kids in the Hall during their reunion tour in the early 2000s at The Backyard in Austin.

David Bowie

I saw Bowie on his final tour (the setlist was a mix of greatest hits and recent stuff, with Mike Garson and Gail Ann Dorsey in the band), also at The Backyard in Austin. Wikipedia tells me that show was on April 27, 2004.

Jim Jarmusch

Early 2000s again. Jarmusch appeared at the much-missed CinemaTexas International Short Film Festival to present a program of his favorite short films and do a Q&A afterwards. This was on the UT campus at the Texas Union Theater.

Liz Phair

I saw Phair open for The Flaming Lips in the mid-'00s at Stubb's in Austin.

Wyatt Cenac

I saw Cenac do two separate standup sets at two separate Fun Fun Fun Fests in Austin, probably late '00s/early '10s.

Kevin McDonald

See Dave Foley above. 

Andre the Giant

My parents and I helped my nephew and my uncle's then-wife move to San Diego when my uncle was stationed there during his navy service. While there, we went to a WWF show at the San Diego Sports Arena. The Internet tells me this was July 16, 1988. In the main event, Andre the Giant wrestled "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Andre won.

Mark McKinney

See Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald above.

Adam Yauch

Stubb's again. SXSW 2006. I was in line to see The Fiery Furnaces, on a showcase that was mostly new indie bands. The line was extremely long for that kind of show, making me grumpy. I got even grumpier when someone told me that the line was so long because the Beastie Boys were rumored to play a surprise early set. I did not believe this rumor. I thought people were being scammed by an Internet hoax and messing up my line-avoiding plans. My frown turned upside down when the Beasties did indeed play a surprise early set.

Elvis Costello

I saw Costello play with the Imposters, again at The Backyard, in the early to mid-2000s. I used to see a lot of shows there. Nice, pretty place to see a big act, but getting out of the parking lot after the show was like trying to leave the Hotel California.

Jeff Tweedy

Saw Wilco at Stubb's in the mid-2000s. It was kind of an underwhelming show, but they were in a transitional period between Jay Bennett's firing and Nels Cline's hiring and Tweedy hadn't kicked his painkiller addiction yet, so I caught them at probably their lowest point. I should see them again sometime.

Andy Kindler

Saw Kindler do a ridiculously funny standup set at the original Cap City Comedy Club in Austin when it was a few blocks from my house and not in the fucking Domain (HATE the Domain) in 2013 or 2014.

"Weird" Al Yankovic

I saw "Weird" at Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2010. That man puts on a show. I have fond memories of a friend of mine wheezing with laughter during the Jurassic Park-themed "MacArthur Park" parody: "Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark/All the dinosaurs are running wiiiiild."

Neil Young

Even though Neil is my all-time favorite, I've only had the opportunity to see him once, on the Le Noise tour (with Bert Jansch opening!) at Bass Concert Hall in Austin in 2011. Great, great show, even though a contingent of boomers in the crowd were insanely obnoxious and kept yelling out song titles and unnecessary commentary. I'm not even going to talk about what happened this past year, when the world's most poorly timed lightning storm ruined my one chance at seeing Neil with Crazy Horse.

Neil Hamburger

"Cancel it! Neeeeeeil Haaaamburger's in town." I got to see Gregg Turkington perform as his Neil Hamburger alter ego at the Austin Film Society after a screening of Entertainment. It was a joy and a delight.

Sarah Silverman

Saw her do a standup set at Fun Fun Fun Fest one year. Her contempt for the rock festival audience was palpable, and she stopped mid-joke when her time was up. I get a kick out of artists who despise their own crowds (we sometimes deserve it), but it wasn't my favorite standup experience, especially after seeing great sets from Rob Delaney and Bridget Everett.

Fred Armisen

Here's a weird one. Armisen is someone I saw in person before he was famous. His Chicago-based band Trenchmouth played a house party with a few other Chicago bands passing through my college town of Lincoln, Nebraska in the mid-'90s. I think it was just a few months before the band would break up and Armisen would begin pursuing acting and comedy and about seven years before Armisen was legally required to be in 75% of everything produced in the United States. 

DJ Bonebrake

Saw Bonebrake drumming for X at one of the Fun Fun Fun Fests. They were fucking great.

2024

Rob Zombie

When I first got to college in 1995, I went to every live show I possibly could, from local hardcore shows in abandoned warehouses to arena bands I didn't even like. I was making up for lost time. The rural small town I grew up in didn't really get much in the way of live music unless you wanted to see Lee Greenwood at a nearby county fair, so the only two live shows I'd seen prior to '95 were a Wilson-less, Mike Love-led Beach Boys and Guns N' Roses (with Blind Melon opening). A high school friend was in town with some of his newly acquired college friends, and they wanted to see White Zombie and Filter. I didn't care about either band (though the early White Zombie records, when they sounded like Swans and Birthday Party, are surprisingly decent; they were long past that by this point), but I was just excited to see any live show that wasn't Lee Greenwood. I was bored by Filter, but White Zombie had enough theatrical shenanigans to keep me entertained. Not a great night of music.

John Cooper Clarke

The British punk poet is involved in one of my weirdest Austin airport experiences. I was picking up my wife at the airport in 2015. As I waited at one of the escalators for her, a former coworker I hadn't seen in a few years was also there, waiting for her boyfriend. Then Rick Perry, during his presidential run, comes down the escalator, grinning and schmoozing. A few minutes later, John Cooper Clarke, one of the most distinctive-looking guys ever, appears on the escalator. This is even weirder than the time Fatboy Slim was in line behind me while I was buying a turkey sandwich and then I saw Kinky Friedman as I was walking back to my gate to eat the sandwich. My wife finally comes down the escalator, and I tell her what she's missed.

Brutus Beefcake

I saw Brutus Beefcake at another WWF show, this time in Rapid City, South Dakota, in November 1988. (I can't believe I talked my father into two wrestling shows in the same year. My dad was convinced we were forever on the brink of financial ruin, and this was way out of character for him.) Beefcake was working his barber gimmick at this point, and he defeated Ron Bass. Can't remember if Bass was "Outlaw" Ron or "Cowboy" Ron at this point, but I prefer Bass in his early '80s territory days. If this had been a shoot instead of a work, Bass would've killed Beefcake. Yeah, I'm throwing around the wrestling lingo.

D'Arcy Wretzky

This was the moment when I decided to only see live shows I cared about and also the moment when I realized I didn't like arena shows. On a whim, I decided to hop in a car with a friend of mine and his friendly, non-scary drug dealer to see Smashing Pumpkins in either Kansas City or St. Louis ('96 was a while ago) when they had an extra ticket. My high school enjoyment of the Pumpkins had run its course, and it was a long drive to a boring, passionless show, except when they brought out the late Dennis Flemion from The Frogs on keyboards. He had the pizzazz the Pumpkins were lacking. It was another long drive home. The novelty of seeing any live show at all had worn off, and I was starting to understand that I liked live music in a rock club or house party or small theater way more than I liked sitting in an arena and seeing corporate show biz.

Josh Homme

I've never seen Homme front his own bands, but I did see him play drums for Eagles of Death Metal one SXSW. I think it was that same Beastie Boys year. It was in some Sixth Street club I've never been in before or since, and I got yelled at by a real jerk of a club owner for standing too close to a VIP stairwell entrance. 

Dizzy Reed

Dizzy Reed played keyboards for Guns N' Roses when I saw them live on the Use Your Illusion tour in Rapid City, South Dakota with my uncle in 1992. I was a sophomore in high school. I was excited, but I also thought it was too loud, though I'd never admit that at the time.

Brian Posehn

I saw him do standup at one of the Fun Fun Fun Fests. I miss those fests. Usually, festivals are a horrible nightmare, but those were well-organized (except for the clusterfuck final year), thoughtfully curated, and not horribly overcrowded.

Maria Bamford

I've seen her do standup twice. Once at one of the Fun Fun Funs, and once headlining at Cap City with Jackie Kashian opening. She's one of the best.

Werner Herzog

Another CinemaTexas festival. I really miss those film festivals. Herzog showed two of his short films and did a Q&A at the Texas Union Theater one night, and showed two more and did another Q&A at the original Colorado Street Alamo Drafthouse the following day. He showed Lessons of Darkness, Bells from the Deep, How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck, and The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, which are four particularly strong Herzog shorts. He gave it the full Herzog in the Q&As.  

My 2023 in music

Time for this dead blog's yearly reanimation. Here are my favorite new and archival albums of 2023 (as of 1/5/24; it changes daily).

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2023 

(a few are from late 2022, but time is not real)

Meg Baird - Furling

Bill Callahan - YTI⅃AƎЯ

Eddie Chacon - Sundown

Cut Worms - Cut Worms

Yonatan Gat - American Quartet

Guided By Voices - Nowhere To Go But Up

PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying

The Lloyd Pack - I Can't Remember

Man On Man - Provincetown

Medicine Singers - Medicine Singers

Dan Melchior Band - Welcome to Redacted City

mssv - Human Reaction

One Eleven Heavy - Poolside

Osees - Intercepted Message

Oxbow - Love's Holiday

Plates of Cake - Got a Feeling That I Live Here

Protomartyr - Formal Growth in the Desert

Purling Hiss - Drag On Girard

Marnie Stern - The Comeback Kid

Sunwatchers - Music Is Victory Over Time

Terry - Call Me Terry

Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World

HONORABLE MENTIONS 

Brown Spirits - Solitary Transmissions

Circus Devils - Squeeze the Needle

Eyelids - A Colossal Waste of Light

Guided By Voices - La La Land

Guided By Voices - Welshpool Frillies

Mamady Kouyate - Proclamation

Dave Lombardo - Rites of Percussion

The Men - New York City

Modern Nature - No Fixed Point in Space

Molina/Talbot/Lofgren/Young - All Roads Lead Home

Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure

Monotonix - On

Mudhoney - Plastic Eternity

The New Pornographers - Continue as a Guest

P.G. Six - Murmurs & Whispers

Quasi - Breaking the Balls of History

Rose City Band - Garden Party

Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead

Those Pretty Wrongs - Holiday Camp

Tropical Fuck Storm - Submersive Behaviour

Venera - Venera

Kurt Vile - Back to Moon Beach

Wilco - Cousin

Wilco - Cruel Country

Neil Young - Before and After

FAVORITE REISSUE/COMPILATION/ARCHIVAL ALBUMS OF 2023

C-Clamp - Dream Backwards

The Chieftones - The New Smooth and Different Sound

The Ducks - High Flyin'

The Feelies - Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of The Velvet Underground

Maxx Traxx - Maxx Traxx: Third Rail

Charlie Megira & The Modern Dance Club - Love Police

Arthur Russell - Picture of Bunny Rabbit

Helene Smith - I Am Controlled By Your Love

Sparklehorse - Bird Machine

Barbara Stant - My Mind Holds On To Yesterday

Joyce Street - Tied Down

Various - Eccentric Boogie

Various - Eccentric Northern Soul

Various - Ghost Riders

Various - If There's Hell Below...

Various - L80s: So Unusual

Various - Skyway Soul: Gary, Indiana

Neil Young w/ The Santa Monica Flyers - Somewhere Under the Rainbow

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Isabelle Antena - En Cavale

Bailey's Nervous Kats - The Nervous Kats

Peter Barclay - I'm Not Your Toy

Chisel - Set You Free

Duster - Remote Echoes

Eiafuawn - Birds in the Ground

Everyone Asked About You - Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts

Andre Gibson's Universal Togetherness Band - Apart: Demos 1980-1984

Isis - Mosquito Control/The Red Sea

Charlie Megira - Charlie Megira und the Hefker Girl

Native Nod - This Can't Exist

Pot Valiant - Never Return

Rex - C

Chuck Senrick - Dreamin'

Shira Small - The Line of Time and the Plane of Now

Various - Mid-Atlantic Story Vol. 3

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams

My 2022 in music

Welcome back to this ghost town of a blog. Here are the late 2021 and 2022 releases I enjoyed this year, in both the new and archival/reissue categories. 

New

Guided By Voices – Crystal Nuns Cathedral

Springtime – Springtime

Metrolight – Copyright Strike EP

John Dwyer, Ryan Sawyer, Greg Coates, Wilder Zoby & Andres Renteria – Gong Splat

Superchunk – Wild Loneliness

Cat Power – Covers

Thurston Moore – Screen Time

Colpitts – Music from the Accident

Destroyer – Labyrinthitis

Freakons – Freakons

King Garbage – Heavy Metal Greasy Love

The Surfing Magazines – Badgers of Wymeswold

Myriam Gendron – Ma délire – Songs of love, lost & found

Aldous Harding – Warm Chris

Kurt Vile – (watch my moves)

Dälek – Precipice

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Endless Rooms

Mark Lanegan & Joe Cardamone – Dark Mark vs Skeleton Joe

Guided By Voices – Tremblers and Goggles by Rank

Sessa – Estrela Acesa

The Delines – The Sea Drift

Ty Segall – Hello, Hi

Daniel Villarreal – Panamá 77

Kikagaku Moyo – Kumoyo Island

Beyoncé – Renaissance

Oneida – Success

Chris Forsyth – Evolution Here We Come

Osees – A Foul Form

Duster – Together

Naima Bock – Giant Palm

Built to Spill – When the Wind Forgets Your Name

Noori & His Dorpa Band – Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan’s Red Sea Coast

The Afghan Whigs – How Do You Burn?

Melvins – Bad Mood Rising

Lambchop – The Bible

Cass McCombs – Heartmind

The Bobby Lees – Bellevue

Metrolight – Metrolight

Dead Cross – Dead Cross II

Makaya McCraven – In These Times

Weyes Blood – And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – World Record

John Wesley Coleman III – Kiss Apocalypse

Nurse & Soldier – Let’s Spend the Day Together

Mike Baggetta/Jim Keltner/Mike Watt – Everywhen We Go

Björk – Fossora

Dry Cleaning – Stumpwork

Aoife Nessa Frances – Protector

Archival/Reissue

Jeff Phelps – Magnetic Eyes

Branko Mataja – Over Fields and Mountains

Karate – The Bed Is in the Ocean

Various Artists – V4 Visions: Of Love & Androids

Sonic Youth – In/Out/In

Suburban Lawns – Suburban Lawns

Ponderosa Twins Plus One – 2 + 2 +1 = Ponderosa Twins Plus One

Robert Pollard – Our Gaze

Neil Young – Citizen Kane Jr. Blues

Various Artists – Valley of the Sun: Field Guide to Inner Harmony

Various Artists – Super Hits of the 70s

Super Djata Band – En Super Forme Vol. 1

Neil Young – Royce Hall 1971

Neil Young – Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971

Archie James Cavanaugh – Black and White Raven

Various Artists – Eccentric Deep Soul

Various Artists – Eccentric Soul: The Shiptown Label

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Toast

Various Artists – The Chicago Boogie Volume 2: This Love Will Last

Various Artists – The Chicago Boogie Volume 3: Set It Out

Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Noise & Flowers

June Chikuma – The Midas Touch

Blondie – Against the Odds 1974-1982

Various Artists – Bound for Hell: On the Sunset Strip

Birdlegs and Pauline – Birdlegs and Pauline

Codeine – Dessau

Unwound – Live Leaves

Current – Yesterday’s Tomorrow Is Not Today

Karate – Time Expired

Can – Live in Cuxhaven 1976

Guided By Voices – Scalping the Guru

Jenny Mae – What’s Wrong with Me? Singles + Unreleased Tracks 1989-2017

The Hated – The Best Piece of Shit Vol. 4

Various Artists – Penny & The Quarters & Friends

Neil Young – Harvest: 50^th Anniversary Edition

Allan Wachs – Mountain Roads & City Streets

Laraaji – Segue to Infinity

My 2021 in music

Hello friends and enemies,

It's been a while. In lieu of a best music of the year list (I no longer pretend to rank things in some kind of permanent hierarchy), here is every 2021 (or 2021-ish) new release and reissue/archival release I added to my collection in physical media form, in rough order of acquisition. I'm ignoring digital releases, so Myriam Gendron and Springtime will just have to wait until 2022. Goodbye until 2022, suckers. 

New releases

Thurston Moore - By the Fire

Cub Scout Bowling Pins - Heaven Beats Iowa 7"

Jeff Tweedy - Love Is the King

Damaged Bug - Bug on Yonkers

Osees - Metamorphosed

Kurt Vile - Speed, Sound, Lonely KV (ep)

Yo La Tengo - We Have Amnesia Sometimes

Melvins - Working with God

Tamar Aphek - All Bets Are Off

USA/Mexico - Del Rio

Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility

The Peacers - Blexxed Rec

Guided By Voices - Earth Man Blues

Dinosaur Jr - Sweep It into Space

Field Music - Flat White Moon

Bobby Lee - Origin Myths

Mush - Lines Redacted

Kid Millions & Jan St. Werner - Imperium Droop

Three-Layer Cake - Stove Top

Rose City Band - Earth Trip

Writhing Squares - Chart for the Solution

Mr. Bungle - The Night They Came Home

Lambchop - Showtunes

Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime

Birds of Maya - Valdez

Cub Scout Bowling Pins - Clang Clang Ho

Anthony Joseph - The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives

Human Impact - EP01

Amaro Freitas - Sankofa

Guided By Voices - It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them!

The Scientists - Negativity

Melvins - Five Legged Dog

Ty Segall - Harmonizer

Circuit des Yeux - -io

White Denim - Crystal Bullets/King Tears

Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds

Tropical Fuck Storm - Deep States

Bill Callahan & Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Blind Date Party

Modern Nature - Island of Noise

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Barn

Reissue/Archival

Various - Reach

Various - Numero 95

A.R.T. Wilson - Overworld

Anthony Moore - Out

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Way Down in the Rust Bucket

The Haskels - Taking the City by Storm

Neil Young - Young Shakespeare

Female Species - Tale of My Lost Love

Various - Rust Side Story Vol. 24

Can - Live in Stuttgart 1975

Various - Eccentric Disco

Various - Country Funk III: 1975-1982

Karate - Karate

Karate - In Place of Real Insight

Seam - Headsparks

Neil Young - Carnegie Hall 1970

Various - Driftless Dreamers in Cuca Country

Phew - Phew

Various - Christmas Dreamers: Yuletide Country 1960-1972

Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - I Shall Wear a Crown

Charlie Megira - Da Abtomatic Meisterzinger Mambo Chic

Can - Live in Brighton 1975 

My 2020 in music

I wrote about my incredibly strange and traumatic year on my movie blog, so I'm not going to do much writing here. Instead, here is every new release and newly reissued archival album I enjoyed and acquired this year. 

 

 

 

 

2020 albums

Bent Arcana - Bent Arcana

Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue

Built to Spill - Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston

Bill Callahan - Gold Record

Ora Cogan - Bells in the Ruins

Sam Coomes - True Death

Brigid Dawson & The Mothers Network - Ballet of Apes

Destroyer - Have We Met

Greg Dulli - Random Desire

Field Music - Making a New World

The Flaming Lips - American Head

Aoife Nessa Frances - Land of No Junction

Grand Veymont - Persistance et changement

Guided By Voices - Mirrored Aztec

Guided By Voices - Styles We Paid For

Guided By Voices - Surrender Your Poppy Field

Human Impact - Human Impact

Mark Lanegan - Straight Songs of Sorrow

Jackie Lynn - Jacqueline

Alain Johannes - Hum

King Buzzo w/ Trevor Dunn - Gift of Sacrifice

Lambchop - Trip

Magik Markers - 2020

The Magnetic Fields - Quickies

Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques

Melvins/Mudhoney - White Lazy Boy EP

The Men - Mercy

METZ - Atlas Vending

Million Lands - The Ochre World

Mint Mile - Ambertron 

Modern Nature - Annual EP

Mourning [A] BLKstar - The Cycle

Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo

Nap Eyes - Snapshot of a Beginner

North Americans - Roped In

Obnox - Savage Raygun

OOIOO - Nijimusi

Osees - Protean Threat

Joe Pernice - Richard

Mike Polizze - Long Lost Solace Find

Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today

Lee Ranaldo & Raul Refree - Names of North End Women

Gwenifer Raymond - Strange Lights over Garth Mountain

Cash Rivers & The Sinners - Bad Side of the Coin

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways to New Italy

Rose City Band - Summerlong

Tobin Sprout - Empty Horses

Moses Sumney - grae

Sunwatchers - Brave Rats EP

Sunwatchers - Oh Yeah? 

Tamikrest - Tamotait

tētēma - Necroscape

JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland - Oscillospira

U.S. Girls - Heavy Light

Wasted Shirt - Fungus II

Waterless Hills - The Great Mountain

White Denim - World as a Waiting Room

Yo La Tengo - Sleepless Night EP

Neil Young - The Times EP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2020 Reissues, Repressings, Archival Releases

24 Carat Black - III

Otis Brown - Southside Chicago

Dhaima - Love Lives Forever

Trey Gruber - Herculean House of Cards

Masumi Hara - 4 X a Dream

Tommy McGee - I'm a Stranger

Silkworm - live albums on Comedy Minus One's Bandcamp page

Silver Jews - complete discography

Valium Aggelein - Black Moon

Various - Eccentric Funk

Various - Louis Wayne Moody High

Various - NuLeaf: Smooth Jazz Underground

Various - Whispers: Lounge Originals

Neil Young - Archives Vol. II

Neil Young - Homegrown

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Return to Greendale 

 

2019 late to the party

Jim Sauter & Kid Millions - Safe & Sane 

2019 in music

Happy new year, jerks! Here are the albums I enjoyed in the old year.

Favorite records of 2019 in no particular order
Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains 
Guided By Voices - Zeppelin Over China
Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - De Facto
The Delines - The Imperial
Julian Lynch - Rat's Spit
Cass McCombs - Tip of the Sphere
Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - Miri
House of Hiss - Sand Never Sets
Solange - When I Get Home
Aldous Harding - Designer
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
Spiral Stairs - We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized
Ex Hex - It's Real
Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You)
Stephen Malkmus - Groove Denied
Priests - The Seduction of Kansas
USA/Mexico - Matamoros
Spotlights - Love & Decay
BITW - BITW
Sunwatchers - Illegal Moves
Chris Forsyth - All Time Present
Mdou Moctar - Ilana: The Creator
Boogarins - Sombrou Duvida
Mourning [A] BLKstar - Reckoning
Sad Planets - Akron, Ohio
Rose City Band - Rose City Band
Kotokoto - Institute
75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real
Vanishing Twin - The Age of Immunology
School of Language - 45
Fox Millions Duo - Biting Through
Tropical Fuck Storm - Braindrops
Ty Segall - First Taste
White Denim - Side Effects
Kid Millions & Sarah Bernstein - Broken Fall
Modern Nature - How to Live
Mike Patton & Jean-Claude Vannier - Corpse Flower
Oh Sees - Face Stabber
Pernice Brothers - Spread the Feeling
Mudhoney - Morning in America EP
Thurston Moore - Spirit Counsel
Diagonal - Arc
Malibu - One Life
Imani Coppola - The Protagonist
Guided By Voices - Sweating the Plague
Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
Mark Lanegan Band - Somebody's Knocking
Battles - Juice B Crypts
Kim Gordon - No Home Record
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
Wilco - Ode to Joy
Cunts - Cunts
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado
The Flaming Lips - King's Mouth
Omni - Networker
Sessa - Grandeza
Desert Sessions - Vol. 11 & 12
Fitted - First Fits
The New Pornographers - In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
Ramblin' Deano & Ice Cold Singles - Ramblin' Deano and Ice Cold Singles
Mistresses - Define "Relationship"
Kel Assouf - Black Tenere

Favorite older records and archival collections reissued or issued for the first time in 2019 in no particular order
Gelbart - Egg Ray Test Hits Cow Action
New World Music - Intellectual Thinking
Duster - Capsule Losing Contact
Jah Division - Dub Will Tear Us Apart ... Again
Kele Goodwin - Hymns
Rupa - Disco Jazz
Chasman - Synth-E-Fuge
Various - Escape from Synth City
Guided By Voices - Warp and Woof (new album assembled from four 2018 EPs)
Jeremy Freeze - Breaking the Skin
Various - Planisphere
Various - You're Not from Around Here
Don Slepian - Sea of Bliss
Elisa Waut - Elisa Waut
Prince - Originals
Andy the Doorbum - Art Is Shit
Indian Summer - Giving Birth to Thunder
Joanna Brouk - The Space Between
Normil Hawaiians - What's Going On?
Various - Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood soundtrack
Coolies - South Auckland Girls in the Garage
Hug - A Young Person's Guide to Hug
Various - Visible and Invisible Persons Distributed in Space
Charlie Megira - Tomorrow's Gone
Gary Davenport - Scattered Thoughts
Screaming Females - Singles Too
Hamlet Minassian - Armenian Pop Music
Jim Shepard - Heavy Action
Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream
Sanford Clark - They Call Me Country
Antena - Camino del Sol EP
Neil Young & Stray Gators - Tuscaloosa

Favorite records of 2018 I didn't get to until 2019
Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace
Obnox - Templo del Sonido
Obnox - Bang Messiah
Sunwatchers - II
U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited

My band's record
My band The Early Stages released our album, Terrible Business, in 2019 on our own Self-Satisfaction label. I'm proud of it. Get it on vinyl or digital download here or here or stream it on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and the other streaming sites, but we'd love you forever if you make a vinyl or download purchase if you like the music and can afford it. Thanks! 

 

Random number generator news headline cutup poetry #5

POLAR LAP DANCE BOWL SEALS

BILLIONAIRE LAKE ABORTION

MICHIGAN BOWL TAX

BILLIONAIRE LAKE ABORTION RAND PAUL SHUTDOWN

TAX BOWL MARIAH CAREY

ABORTION ABORTION

BOWL TRIAL BOWL MICHIGAN

BILL LAKE BILL

RAND PAUL NFL POLAR TRIAL

SUPER BILL BOWL BOWL LAP DANCE LAP DANCE

TAX VORTEX

SUPER BOWL OFFICIALS VORTEX SUPER BOWL

SUPER MARIAH CAREY SHUTDOWN VORTEX

POLAR TRUMP BOWL

BILLIONAIRE LAP DANCE

MARIAH CAREY POLAR ABORTION LAP DANCE OFFICIALS

TRIAL BILLIONAIRE NFL

POLAR BILLIONAIRE TAX VORTEX

RAND PAUL MICHIGAN NFL SEALS

SEALS SUPER TRUMP NFL SEALS BILL BOWL

TRUMP SEALS POLAR SEALS

Random number generator news headline cutup poetry #4

BOWL WALL VORTEX

ANTHONY COOKIE TALIBAN

SAG TEXAS TEEN

ROGER COULTER AWARDS COOKIE

TEXAS BOWL TEEN

DAVIS IOWA ANTHONY ANN

POLAR SAG WALL

IOWA SHUTDOWN DENMARK

POLAR TALIBAN

STONE TEXAS VORTEX AWARDS

TEXAS SHUTDOWN WALL

TEXAS WALL TALIBAN

DAVIS ROGER

TEEN DENMARK VORTEX STONE

VORTEX WALL BOWL AWARDS

ANN DAVIS TALIBAN

SAG DENMARK AWARDS

SAG TEXAS TALIBAN

SAG PRO DENMARK

COULTER SAG

TEXAS DENMARK PRO TEXAS SHUTDOWN

Random number generator news headline cutup poetry #3

ROGER LARA NURSE ROSS

BLACKFACE TRUMP INSURANCE

INSURANCE ROSS FROZEN ROGER

BLACKFACE TRUMP NURSE

OSWALT OSWALT ROSS ROSS

STONE WILBUR STONE FRAUD

ROGER NBA ARIZONA ROSS

VIDEO FRAUD

ROSS ARIZONA OSWALT STONE LARA

ARIZONA PHOTOS

GATORS BLACKFACE ALL-STARS

ARIZONA PATTON NBA ARIZONA

BLACKFACE NBA PHOTOS FROZEN

ROSS STONE STONE OSWALT

GATORS LARA OSWALT

NURSE PHOTOS

SHUTDOWN ARREST SHUTDOWN

OSWALT GATORS

ALL-STARS ARIZONA PHOTOS

INSURANCE WILBUR INSURANCE

NURSE ARIZONA

Random number generator news headline cutup poetry #2

Needing a break at work a few days ago and suffering from that day's absence of weirdness and chance, I used a random number generator to create a cutup-style poem from the words in The Washington Post's "In the News" links. I think it captured a little of the present moment's terror, absurdity, stupidity, and information overload, so I'm going to keep doing them a few times a week. The first one was posted on my Instagram at joshkrauter, but I'll post the rest of them here.

#2

BOWL ICE AMAZON ANN

PATRIOTS SHUTDOWN

SHUTDOWN PANTENE

COULTER STATE BORDER BABY

COULTER CONWAY SECURITY

ANN MARINE SHUTDOWN ANN

MICROSOFT YOUTUBE AMAZON SECURITY

YOUTUBE SPANISH GEORGE

SECURITY ANN BORDER SHUTDOWN

BABY COULTER BOWL

BABY MARINE ANN CONWAY

AMAZON GEORGE

GEORGE SHUTDOWN

PANTENE PANTENE MICHIGAN

STATE SUPER AMAZON MICROSOFT

SPANISH SUPER SPANISH

YOUTUBE ICE

SPANISH  BORDER SECURITY

ICE AMAZON MICHIGAN

SPANISH MARINE SUPER AMAZON

My year in music 2018

Instead of ranking bests and favorites and whatnot in any kind of preferential order, I'm going the info-dump route this year with a list of all the new and reissued albums released in 2018 that I purchased with the money earned from my soul-destroying job (are there any other kinds?), the live shows I attended of my own free will, and the bands my band played shows with, in chronological order, plus some other music-related 2018 biz. I think it's pretty clear from these lists that I'm a 41-year-old man, but it's also clear I'm not dead yet. As I said to the cars blocking my exit from work and the guy driving the wrong way down the one-way street last Friday, "Happy fuckin' new year, assholes!"

2018 New Releases I Heard, Liked, and Bought
La Feline - Triomphe
NADINE - oh my
Berry - Everything, Compromised
Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin
Cash Rivers & The Sinners - Blue Balls Lincoln
MGMT - Little Dark Age
Guided By Voices - Ogre's Trumpet (live)
Field Music - Open Here
Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
Oneida - Romance
The Breeders - All Nerve
Nap Eyes - I'm Bad Now
The Men - Drift
Bonny Doon - Longwave
Guided By Voices - Space Gun
Yo La Tengo - There's a Riot Going On
Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Paradox
Mint Mile - Heartroller
Charnel Ground - Charnel Ground
Melvins - Pinkus Abortion Technician
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound
Afternoon Freak - The Blind Strut
Yonatan Gat - Universalists
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Sparkle Hard
Split Cranium - I'm the Devil and I'm OK
Neko Case - Hell-On
Michael Rault - It's a New Day Tonight
Express Rising - Fixed Rope II
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
Protomartyr - Consolation
Death Grips - Year of the Snitch
Dead Cross - Dead Cross EP
Spotlights - Hanging by Faith
Mike Patton - 1922
The Carters - EVERYTHING IS LOVE
Ty Segall & White Fence - Joy
Chad Popple - A Popple People
Mudhoney - LiE (Live in Europe)
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals
White Denim - Performance
Oh Sees - Smote Reverser
Papa M - A Broke Moon Rises
House of Feelings - New Lows
Terry - I'm Terry
Beak - >>>
Cat Power - Wanderer
Mudhoney - Digital Garbage
Marissa Nadler - For My Crimes
Cash Rivers & The Sinners - Do Not Try to Adjust Your Set I Am the Horizontal and the Vertical
Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
Kurt Vile - Bottle It In
Jo Passed - Their Prime
Ty Segall - Fudge Sandwich
J Mascis - Elastic Days
Jeff Tweedy - Warm
Planet B - Planet B
Guided By Voices - Wine Cork Stonehenge 7"
Guided By Voices - 100 Dougs 7"
Mark Dippel - Mild Agoraphobia (got the download, record appears to be lost in the mail)

2018 Archival and Reissued Albums I Heard, Liked, and Bought
Various - Eccentric Soul: The Cash Label
Laraaji - Vision Songs, Vol. 1
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Do Not Pass Me By, Vol. II
Eula Cooper - Let Our Love Grow Higher
Weirding Module - A Newer Age
Various - Eccentric Soul: The Saru Label
Foreign & Domestic - Your Mountain vs. My Iceberg
Apolo - Live in Stockholm
Bernadette Carroll - Laughing on the Outside 7"
Neil Young - ROXY: Tonight's the Night Live
Various - W2NG: 89.9 FM
Happy Rhodes - Ectotrophia
Various - Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Exotic Delights
John Somers - I Dreamt the Dreams that Kept Me from Sleep
Zuider Zee - Zeenith
Various - Teen Expo: The Cleopatra Label
Homeboy Sandman - Nourishment (Second Helpings)
The Scientists - Weird Love
Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen
Kamal Keila - Muslims and Christians
Various - Switched-On Eugene
Various - Basement Beehive: The Girl Group Underground
Colin Potter - A Gain
Blondie - Heart of Glass 12"
Spontaneous Overthrow - All About Money
The Scientists - The Scientists E.P.
Thelma Jones - I Can't Stand It 7"
Chhoti Maa - Caldo de Hueso
Normil Hawaiians - More Wealth than Money
Rodion G.A. - Rozalia
Neil Young - Songs for Judy

2018 Live Shows Attended
Martin Rev w/ Heavy Times, The Hentchmen, and Elisa Ambrogio
SXSW: Ex-Girlfriends, Painted Hands, Will Courtney & The Wild Bunch, Suspirians, Nameless Frames, Big Foot Chester, Waco Brothers, Ramblin' Deano, Moaning, Speedy Ortiz, Kurt Vile, Big Bill, Tommy Wright III, Yonatan Gat & Eastern Medicine Singers, Ice Cold Singles, John Doe
Chrome w/ Mind Spiders and Burnt Skull
Xylouris White w/ Charalambides and Soft Healer
Tejas Nights
Built to Spill and Afghan Whigs co-headlining tour w/ Ed Harcourt
Dollar General
John Wesley Coleman III w/ Abigail und Hansel and Evening Mirrors
Guided By Voices w/ Park Doing
Dead Random
Body/Head w/ The Austerity Program, USA/Mexico, and Exhalants
The Scientists w/ Meet Your Death and Teenage Cavegirl
John Wesley Coleman III w/ The Ripe and The Crack Pipes
Dollar General w/ Rocket 808
Lyres w/ Oneida, The Ugly Beats, and Semihelix
Ty Segall w/ Emmett Kelly
Kurt Vile & The Violators w/ Jessica Pratt

2018 Bands My Band Shared a Bill With
A group of bellydancers
Abstract Class
Chamberlain Greene
a bunch of musician friends at a hootenanny in our practice space
Abigail und Hansel
Suspirians
SXSW: The John-Pauls, The Crack Pipes, Kay Odyssey, Popper Burns, A Place to Bury Strangers, OBN IIIs (I could also say Obnox and METZ, but I was about to collapse from exhaustion, too many tacos, and too much alcohol, and missed their sets to go home and sleep)
Abigail und Hansel (again)
Aurora Plastics Co.
Alma Lee
Book of Shadows
ST 37
Gheri Signfeld's Atrophied Sac/Liquid Mice supergroup
Baby Robots
My Education
Dollar General
The Oysters
Apopka
Chronophage
Woozyhelmet
UtinUtin
Electric Mushrooms
Como las Movies
Matt Hoopengardner
Baby Robots (again)
Local Shadows
John Wesley Coleman III

Playing that shit
My band, The Early Stages, recorded a full-length album with a friend of ours over the summer, and we are in the dispiriting, humiliating, discouraging process of trying to find someone to put it out. We will probably end up putting it out ourselves. We have never been what this town or its various punk rock scenes want, but we keep grinding away, doing our thing, and finding kindred spirits in other local oddball groups who don't quite fit in with what the gatekeepers and schmoozers are perpetuating and promoting. I am proud of this record and glad we did it. I hope you can hear it next year.

In the process of trying to get someone interested in our record, I've been shamelessly sending it to musicians I like. Mostly I get a thank you and no further response, but someone who gave me solid feedback was Kid Millions from Oneida. Because of those message exchanges, I had the opportunity to take a drum lesson from him while he was in town playing a show, and it was a great experience. Besides being a really nice guy, he was an enthusiastic and effective teacher who helped me break some bad habits and improve my stick control technique, which has reduced the hand cramping that occasionally bothers me when I play. He also suggested I buy a drum pad and a couple rhythm pattern books, which I did, and practicing these patterns has become a meditative habit for me. I get sucked into it and lose track of time, and it's been a great thing for me this year, when depression keeps kicking me in the face and my job's bringing me down. And it's great to learn new things and improve at an instrument I've been playing since I was 10 after I'd hit a wall and leveled out. 
 

Internet Content

1. "Now We're Talkin' Yellow" by The Colour Lovers UK
2. "72 Turkeys" by Too Many Turkeys
3. "Swamp Ass (In Mid-July)" by Southside Sonny & The Port Authority Pranksters
4. "I'm Sick of Todd" by Todd's Neighbors
5. "Crank It Up (And Rock)" by Ruff Stuffing
6. "My Feet Are Possessed By Dancing Ghosts" by Terrified Barbara
7. "Road Trippin' On PCP" by Bong Sweater
8. "Road Trippin' on PCP Part 2" by Bong Sweater
9. "Now You're Feeling Wonderful" by Positive Michael
10. "Your Whole Family Died in a Trampoline Mishap" by The Indelicate News Breakers
11. "You'll Never Get Tired of This One" by Permanent Enjoyment
12. "It Gets Worse" by Future Adult
13. "70s Livin' (Is Just Alright With Me)" by Bucky & Sweetums
14. "Open Bar Doesn't Mean You Can Grab a Bottle of Scotch and Take It Home, Gary" by Sir Elton John
15. "Metal Machine Music, Side 4" by Carole King
16. "The Boys Are Back At It Again Once More" by Tan Lazlo
17. "Archipelagos in the Ocean of My Emotions" by Randy & Rhandy
18. "The Year Is 1977 and That Will Never Change" by The Calendar Dummies
19. "Is a Potato?" by The Third Cerebellum
20. "Nine Ways to Party" by 10 Ways to Party
21. "Hey, Jeff!" by There's Jeff
22. "Moving (Forward) By Moving Backwards (To the Side)" by Negative Sweat Ltd.
23. "Everybody Listen To This" by Bossy Pricks
24. "Copyright Infringement" by The Welcome Back Kotters
25. "This Can of Expired Peas Is Probably Okay To Eat" by Whisperin' Kip Simmons
26. "Bloodletting of the She-goat in the Burning Forest of the Succubi" by Betty Johnson
27. "This BBQ Stand Is Closed on Monday" by Disappointed Todd
28. Parade magazine read by my computer's text-to-speech software
29. "Beep Boop Bop (Computers Are Here)" by Floppy & The Disks
30. "Your Life Is Kinda Stupid" by Honest Rod & The Blunt Talkers

My favorite music of 2017

I didn't like much of what happened this year on a global, national, state, and personal level. I won't bore you with a recap. You're all living the nightmare, too, and are probably beating yourself up about what you could have done to stop the Fall of the Roman Empire 2: Mar-a-Lago Boogaloo. It was a bad-news-every-morning kind of year, and not just politically. (Contracting an extremely painful case of shingles in March was just one of the many lowlights.)  
The oppressive shittiness of the present moment has its positive side effects, however, one of which is a heightened gratefulness for the things in my life that are not awful. In that spirit of gratefulness, I present my favorite albums of 2017. 

My favorite records of the year

The Afghan Whigs - In Spades
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys - Rot
Björk - Utopia
Circuit des yeux - Reaching for Indigo
Andrew Cohen & Light Coma - Unreality
Crystal Fairy - Crystal Fairy
Tim Darcy - Saturday Night
Destroyer - ken
The Feelies - In Between
Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band - Dreaming in the Non-Dream
Noah Georgeson - Osian
Guadalupe Plata - Guadalupe Plata 2017
Guided By Voices - How Do You Spell Heaven
Yasmine Hamdan - Al Jamilat
Mark Lanegan Band - Gargoyle
The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir
Man Forever - Play What They Want
John Maus - Screen Memories
METZ - Strange Peace
Obnox - Niggative Approach
OCS - Memory of a Cut Off Head
Oh Sees - Orc
Peacers - Introducing the Crimsmen
Priests - Nothing Feels Natural
Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent
Lee Ranaldo - Electric Trim
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The French Press
Ty Segall - Ty Segall
Spotlights - Seismic
Tobin Sprout - The Universe and Me
Sweet Apple - Sing the Night in Sorrow
Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
Träd, Gräs och Stenar - Tack för Kaffet (So Long)
USA/Mexico - Laredo
Wand - Plum

Honorable mentions

Beck - Colors
Big Boi - Boomiverse
Circus Devils - Laughs Last
Dälek - Endangered Philosophies
Damaged Bug - Bunker Funk
Dead Cross - Dead Cross
Downtown Boys - Cost of Living
The Fall - New Facts Emerge
Feral Ohms - Feral Ohms
The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody
Guided By Voices - August By Cake
LCD Soundsystem - American Dream
Ted Leo - The Hanged Man (Kicked down to honorable mention solely because the drum sound is the worst I've ever heard on a commercially released recording. Why would you do that to your drummer, Ted Leo?)
Melvins - A Walk with Love and Death
Thurston Moore - Rock N Roll Consciousness
The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains 
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - solo album series (Roman Lips, Zen Thrills, Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade, Ensayo de un desaparecido, Azul mis dientes, Gorilla Preacher Cartel, Killing Tingled Lifting Retreats, Solid State Mercenaries, Birth of a Ghost, Doom Patrol)
Ty Segall - Fried Shallots
Spiral Stairs - Doris & The Daggers
Teen Judge - Teen Judge
Neil Young + Promise of the Real - The Visitor

Favorite reissues, archival releases, soundtracks

Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail) and Do Not Pass Me By
CAN - The Singles
The Creation - Action Painting
Crimpshrine - Free Box
Guided By Voices - Live from Austin, TX
Hüsker Dü - Savage Young Dü
Isis - Live VII
Alex Johnson - Operation Oasis
Laraaji - Vision Songs Vol. 1
Look Blue Go Purple - Still Bewitched
The Necessaries - Event Horizon
Noise Addict - 10,000 Kids with Guitars
Oneida - Live at Secret Project Robot
The Replacements - For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986
Jackie Shane - Any Other Way
Sheer Mag - Compilation
Super Static Fever - Silent Dynamic Torture
Valve Studio Orchestra - Dota 2 and Fight Songs: The Music of Team Fortress 2
Various Artists - Eccentric Soul: The Cash Label
Various Artists - Seafaring Strangers: Private Yacht 
Various Artists - Southwest Side Story
Various Artists - Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares
Neil Young - Hitchhiker

Favorite album of 2016 I didn't get until 2017

75 Dollar Bill - Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock

The days of old (Alf edition)

This post is dedicated to the boys from Robot Town
 
I was just at the 7-11 on my lunch hour, buying lottery tickets because that is what 2017 has done to this old soldier. The usually monotone, all-business clerk saw the Alf t-shirt worn by the young man in his early twenties in line ahead of me and said, with much enthusiasm, "Boy, what do YOU know about Alf? I used to LOVE Alf! I STILL love Alf!" The young man replied, "My mom showed me all the cool stuff from the '80s that I missed, like Alf." His tone was wistful, melancholy. He was genuinely saddened that he missed that time in our nation's history when Alf was a current television show but also glad he lived in a time when one's mother could stream episodes of Alf from the days of yore on today's current devices.