Top Moon Tunes 2019 Volume 8



After a bit of a break for the summer, here is Volume 8 of the monthlyish Top Moon Tunes of 2019.

There is a bit of a difference between the Playmoss and Spotify versions due to restrictions to certain Ubend content in Playmoss, the Pernice Brothers album being on Spotify, but not available in the UK and the latest Girl One and the Grease Guns material being only available on Bandcamp.

Therefore, there is a bit of ye-oldy music on both versions. With a track from 2013 and one from the end of the last century on Spotify and one from the Noughties from The Artist of the Teenies on Playmoss.

As ever, there is a bit of guff on each artist beneath the embedded Playmoss version below.




1. Ezra Furman  - Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone

This is the cracking opening track, and one of the songs of the year/Teenies from The Moon album of the last couple of months from a multi Moon offender and one of the great artists of the Teenies. This track also manages to represent the state of mind of any vaguely progressive person on either side of the pond.

2. Jade Imagine - The News

Another topical track from yet another rock n' roll band from Downunder. Led by Jade McInally who is also the bass player for Jess Ribeiro who featured on Top Moon Tunes 2019 volume 7.

3. The Harmaleighs - Sorry, I'm Busy

The Harmaleighs are a Nashville USA based duo and they are another example of  some excellent rock n' roll I have discovered via God Is In The TV that is not at all traditionally Nashville. They are my top new discovery of last month and this track is from their 2nd LP, which is more rock n' roll and more modern sounding than the more folky debut.

4. Chloe Foy - Oh You Are Not Well

Ms Foy is a UK singer songwriter who first featured in Folk Radio UK (FRUK) back in 2012. She was brought to my attention with a more recent post on the release of a video for Without You - a track she first released as an acoustic version of back in 2014 and it is gorgeous and very reminiscent of peek Laura Marling. This track is her most recently released brand new track and her long awaited debut LP must be coming soon. However, there is well over a albums worth of material in EPs and singles on Spotify with a generally alt Folk sound and with melodies that remind me of early James at their most folk.

5. Deadbeat Beat -  From What I Can Tell

This is the 3rd appearance on The Moon from this Detroit, USA band who were one of my discoveries of 2017. They also featured on Top Moon Tunes 2018 volume 8 with the single edit of Trees Grass and Stone. Now their long awaited new album has been released and it includes Trees Grass and Stone in all its full 8 and a bit minutes glory. It is a standout, but the rest of the album is quality. They have lost a bit of the punky edge of their earlier albums, but have gained some class.

6. Joy Som - Tenderness

Joy Som is Melina Duterte, a singer songwriter from LA, USA. This is her at her most dreamy Top Pop and is from her second LP of indie rock n' roll.

7. Holiday Ghosts  - Slipstream

This band from Falmouth, UK is the first of possibly a few new discoveries from The Finest Kiss  half year round up and I can only agree wholeheartedly with their description:

"Album number two from these Modern Lovers meets Pastels beatniks sees them still flying under the radar. Not sure how accurate internet radar is for this sort of thing these days, but I love rollicking ramshackle rock and roll like this."

8. Sleater-Kinney  - The Future Is Here

This is a band I have been aware of for years but managed to miss their 90's output. I did check out their 2015 comeback but it did not quite float my boat. This new album is quite a change, that has apparently upset some old fans because of the St Vincent production and because the songs have choruses. I am a fan of St Vincent as a guitarist, a performer and now as a producer, but not as a songwriter. This album has that missing ingredient and I love a good chorus.

9. Ty Segall -  The Fall

Mr Segall is my personal artist of the teenies, simply due to the weight of great rock n' roll he has released. After last years Moon album of the year he has come back with one of his more difficult  LPs that is most similar to 2016 Emotional Mugger, but with more brass and less guitar, except it is the most guitar sounding brass. And like Emotional Mugger, it is worth preserving with. This track is like a Bond theme on speed with a drum solo -  what's not to like? It is also his first LP to go straight on to Spotify and some tracks even have their own gifs of Ty playing the drums etc. How times change.

10. Pernice Brothers  - Eric Saw Colours and or Crestfallen

I was a fan of the Pernice Brothers and Joe Pernice's former band The Scud Mountain Boys in the time before The Moon and Spotify.  Mr Pernice has featured on the Moon once before  as one half of the The New Mendicants with Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub infamy on A best of 2014 on The  Moon.  The track featured was a Joe Pernice one and I described it as his most Scud Mountain Boy like since their demise.

This new Pernice Brothers album is the first since 2009 and is their most Scud Mountain Boy like, and it is also the most Teenage Fanclub  sounding like the Bryds, with Eric Saw Colours being a prime example. Unfortunately, the new album is not yet available on Spotify in the UK for some reason. Therefore, the Spotify version of the playlist has the gorgeous Crestfallen from their classic 1998 album Overcome by Happiness. Where the new album is available, you will have the pleasure of both tracks.

11. Lana Del Rey -  Bartender or For K Part 2

The most multi of Moon offending Miss Grant may not quite be my personal artist of the Teenies but she is The Artist of the Teenies as no other has had the same cultural impact, combined with popular success and an ever increasing critical acclaim. On Spotify we have a top track from her latest LP, but, as her record company will not allow her Ubend content to work in Playmoss, I have included a gorgeous acoustic version of a track from the Lana Del Ray album she recorded in 2008 and released briefly  in 2010.

She ends the decade with a 4th UK number 1 and critically acclaimed album of grown up 70's inspired pop called Norman Fucking Rockwell. Class.

12. The Paranoid Style - A Goddamn Impossible Way of Life

The Paranoid Style first appeared on The Moon back on  A Best of 2015 and then in 2016 they got their very own Moon post in which I described them as thus:

"The Paranoid Style is a Washington, D.C. USA-based garage rock band led by the husband-and-wife duo of singer and songwriter Elizabeth Nelson and Timothy Bracy, formally of The Mendoza Line.

The band is named after Richard J. Hofstadter's 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, which is most topical in 2016 as it explores the recurring paranoia in American politics."

This track is from their 2nd LP which is as rock n' roll as their previous material, but also packs far more of a political punch. The Painted Lines blog has described it as "an album that rewards replays and requires an investment in time. The lyrics are so densely packed with historical and cultural references that you may find yourself on wikipedia trying to learn more. "

And on this track:
"The Easter Rising hits you at a fever’s pace in this homage to the Irish Rebellion of 1916. The guitar is played at the pace of DC punk and would have fit in well in the 930 club in the 80s. Elizabeth pays homage to the citizen army of the rising in Dublin with shout outs for Padraig Pierce and James Connolly."

It ends with a timely punk rock cover of Dominic Behan's Building Up and Tearing England Down. What's not to like?

13. The Rails - Mossy Well

The Rails are a married duo of Kami Thompson and James Walbourne. Kami is the daughter of folk royalty Richard Thompson and they have been much trumpeted by Folk Radio UK since the release of their first LP back in 2014. This Stephen Street produced third LP adds more rock to their Folk Rock sound, with this gorgeous track being one of the folkier moments.

14. Girl One and the Grease Guns - Driving Without Headlights (Once Again)  or The Multiplex (Is No Good For Me)

This mysterious Leeds based band are my re-discovery of the year due to their one and only 2017 LP now being available on Bandcamp after previously only being available via a thing called a "compact disc". Also available is their final single from 2018 and final EP from March this year, along with all their pre-album releases compiled as a 20 track compilation.

They first appeared on The Moon back in 2014 with a compilation of their songs available on Spotify, but the album and releases since are not available and so I have created a Playmoss playlist of all the songs. Therefore, on Spotify, I have included Driving Without Headlights (Once Again) - their debut single from 2013, and on Playmoss it is the poptastic The Multiplex (Is No Good For Me) from their 2019 EP.

Their Bandcamp bio states:

Formed late 2012. Released first single early 2013. Released seven 7" singles, one full length album, one mini-album, one 12" white label single and one 20 track compilation CD. No photographs, no live appearances. Their identities remain a mystery. Current status of Girl One And The Grease Guns...disbanded.

But on Facebook in July they said:

New music, coming September. Not from Girl One And The Grease Guns...but...

15. Jessica Hoop - Outside of Eden (feat. Kate Stables and Justis)

Ms Hoop is from Santa Rossa in California USA but has since become an honorary Mancunian. She is an artist I have been aware of for years and this track is from her 6th LP. I did check out her 2016 LP ,recorded  as a duo with Iron and Wire's Sam Beam , but it did not quite manage to float my boat. However this new LP, with numerous collaborations has.

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