Top Moon Tunes 2018 Volume 9


Just less than a month on from Volume 8, here is Volume 9 of the monthlyish Top Moon Tunes of 2018. After the relatively consistent Volume 8 this instalment is a roller coaster of sound; with a bit of Punk, some traditional and modern Folk and a bit of Electro, along with the usual Rock 'n' Roll.

As usual, there is a bit of guff on each artist beneath the embedded Playmoss playlist below and it is also on Spotify




1. Mountain Man  - Boat

This is from the second LP from this threesome from Vermont USA  "nestled in the tradition of American folk". Their debut LP was released back in 2010 to critical acclaim and the 8 year gap can be partially explained by Amelia Randall Meath also being the lead singer of the electro pop duo Sylvan Esso. The new LP has also received a great deal of critical acclaim and much of it, like this track, is very reminiscent of the tracks featuring Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch on the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? 

2. Squirrel Flower - Conditions

Squirrel Flower is a Iowa, Trumpyland, based Bostonian Ella Williams who was first brought to my attention when this track was a track of the week on God Is In The TV back in May. She has recently re-released her debut EP with a couple of new tracks. Previously, she had released another EP of more folky material under her own name, which you can find on the Squirrel Flower bandcamp page and on Spotify. This track is a highlight along the opener and the sound is strikingly similar to the more rock 'n' roll Mitski tracks, but with a bit more PJ Harvey. Other tracks are a bit folky and the new ones get a bit ambient.

3. IDLES - Danny Nedleko

This track is from The Moon album of the month despite the fact it was released the month before, but I was a little wary of it as I failed to appreciate their much acclaimed debut. I did think they had an admirable style and attitude but lacked the tunes.  However,  I was intrigued when the announcement of the new album received its very own post in the Folk Radio UK blog (FRUK) and it is a great album of powerful political punk from this Bristol in Brexshit Blighty based band. It also has some great and amusing lyrics, with lines like "Blighty wants his country back, 50 inch screen in a cul-de-sac", but they also show a more emotional side with the moving and wonderful June.

It is worth having a google of the  lyrics, if only to get a better idea of the actual words. I did think one chorus was palm trees in heaven,  but it turned out to the more appropriate concrete and leather..

4. Mutual Benefit - Come to Pass

Mutual Benefit is Jordan Lee from Austin, Texas in Trumpyland and he first appeared on The Moon with an equally gorgeous track from his last LP on A Best of 2016. He has been releasing stuff since 2009 and there are a couple more LPs plus and EP on Spotify plus a few more EPs/mini LPs on Bandcamp. On this LP he sounds more than ever like Mercury Rev doing default Sufjan Stevens.

5. Menace Beach- Black Rainbow Sound (ft. Brix Smith)

This is another artist that first appeared on The Moon on A Best of 2016 on which I wrote: "Hailing from Leeds, EU in the Good Lords very own County. They are another band that has upped their game recently, their debut LP  did not quite float my boat, but since they have released a number of singles and EPs that have."

And this album continues their development from their second LP by adding more electronic sounds. It kicks off with this title track and carries on in much the same vein and quality, but this track has the most obvious chorus and features Brix Smith, the former Fall member and former wife of the late Mark E Smith.

6. Du Blonde -  Buddy

Du Blonde is the LA based Beth Jeans-Houghton originally from the north east of The North in Brexshit Blighty. Her first Du Blonde LP was The Moon album of the year back in 2015. She has now made a very welcome return with two new tracks from a new self-produced album due out next February. The new tracks are more low-fi indie and less rock, but the tunes are just as good.

7. Exploded View - Dark Stains

This Mexican based collaboration between, Blighty born and raised citizen of nowhere, Annika Henderson and Mexican producers Martin Thulin and Hugo Quezada, first appeared on The Moon on A Best of 2016 and since the release of their remarkable debut they have released an EP and a second LP. The new LP does start off a bit lower key than the debut, with this track being an upbeat early highlight, but then it does get a bit more explosive nearer the end with the likes of Come on Honey.

8. Frontperson - Young Love

This is from a new collaboration between a couple of Canadian indie royalty -  Kathryn Calder  a solo artist and member of The New Pornographers and Mark Andrew Hamilton  aka Woodpigeon. It was rather surprisingly brought to my attention by an excellent review on God Is In The TV, rather than FRUK, or from a Trumpyland blog feed. This gorgeous track is one of the more folky ones in a varied  and ambitious LP.  Many of the tracks are duets like the poptastic Tick Tock and then This City of Mine would not be out of place on the Exploded View LP.

9.Declan O'Rourke  - Johnny and the Lantern

This is a track from my favourite album that has actually been released this month. After checking his wiki page I am surprised he has only recently come to my attention due to the album review in FRUK.  He has been releasing albums since 2004 to great acclaim and success over in the part of the British Isles that will be staying in the Union of (relative) Enlightenment. This is his 7th album but he has apparently been working on the songs for 15 years. It is a song cycle chronicling stories from the great Irish famine with songs about starvation due to the actions or inaction of mankind and of "economic migration", borders being closed, including those to "the land of the free" and then this track about a man being murdered and then dismembered. It is therefore obviously not at all relevant to 2018....

10. Amber Arcades - Baby, Eternity

Annelotte de Graaf AKA Amber Arcades is from The Netherlands which, mainly due to not wanting to be seen to be anything like the Germans, is one of the more enlightened parts of the Union of (relative) Enlightenment and appropriately she has released an album called European Heartbreak  with tracks such as Goodnight Europe inspired by the rise of populism. I was well aware of her debut album, but it had failed to float my boat, but then her recent collaboration with Mr Bill Ryder Jones was more promising and this album is a big step up. It is far less indie, far more ambitious musically as well as a bit political. This closing track is one that deals with more personal issues, but highlights the ambition.

11. Spiritualized - The  Morning After

I have admired Spiritualized over the years and got into a few of the songs I had heard, but had never actually listened to an album - even the much acclaimed Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. But then Mr Pierce has been a bit inactive in the era of streaming subscriptions. The economic limitations of this era meant that he had to figure out how to reproduce his cacophony of sound on his own at home with only quick trips to various studios to record specific instruments. And now due to this new era of streaming I can check out the results and they are very impressive. I do think that this new way of working has meant he has let it all hang out a bit more and be more varied, with this track being a good example, as it is possibly the first Spritualized song that ought to go down a storm in the indie disco in heaven. He has hinted it may be his last Spiritualized album, but I hope it is not his last home produced LP.

12. Julia Jacklin - Body

This is the third appearance on The Moon by Miss Jacklin from downunder. A track from her debut solo LP was featured on A Best of 2016 and then the fantastic Fuckin 'N' Rollin  from her band Phantastic Ferniture featured on Top Moon Tunes 2018 volume 5.  I have no idea if this track is just a timely one off single or the first preview track from a new album.  Its languid style is similar to her debut LP, but it has a more contemporary sound and is a positive indicator for whatever comes next.

13. Pip Blom - Pussycat

Ms Blom is another artist from The Netherlands. She started releasing music back in 2013 on her own and at a very young age. But since 2016 she has recruited a band and has been releasing increasingly impressive single and EPs. This track is one of 4 strong tracks from a new EP that rocks in a very Pixies/Breeders mode.

14. Bill Ryder-Jones  -  Mither

The very talented Mr Ryder-Jones is a multiple Moon offender since A Best of 2013; both as a musician and as a producer. This is a new track from his upcoming 4th LP and it, along with the other pre-release track, suggest that it will carry on from where the brilliant West Kirby Primary left off. This track is also a touching ode to his late mother.

15. Billy Wylder - Till Your Well Runs Dry

This is another case of some top Rock 'n' Roll being brought to my attention by FRUK 
They are Cambridge, Massachusetts, Trumpyland based and are led by Avi Salloway and I guess they are considered a bit folky because he has spent 3 years touring the globe with Bombino, a Tuareg guitar hero from Niger and this has influenced the  Billy Wylder sound. It is their second LP and would push Declan O'Rourke for Moon album of the month if it were not for the IDLES release from the month before. This is just one of many highlights, but it does have the chorus of the year so far.

Comments

Trending on The Moon