Top 20 albums for 2019

 There were a lot of great releases this year. These are some of the ones that I played the most and enjoyed. I could have easily made the list 50!!! 

1. FRANK MARINO- LIVE AT THE AGORA THEATER DVD BOX (CANADA)

What can you say??? 6hrs of live Frank Marino playing songs from his first to his last studio album plus a range of covers.  Frank has not released anything in years and this show was recorded in 2011!  Stunning….  His vocals are truly amazing and the guitar playing brilliant.  An incredible release.

2. GOV’T MULE- BRING ON THE MUSIC VOL 1&2 4LP

 

         Wow.. Gov’t Mule never play a bad show and this was an awesome one that focused almost entirely on their original material with only 2 cover songs.  Excellent recording, filming and performance. Great light show in this historic theatre!  Killer…

3. THE BLACK WIZARDS- REFELCTIONS LP (PORTUGAL)

         This is an album that I have played a lot this year. Just great songs, vocals and playing. A band I still have never seen live but met the people and they are really cool.  Highly recommended female fronted psychedelic rock!

4. BIG SCENIC NOWHERE- DYING ON THE MOUNTAIN LP (US)

         This is a really excellent new band with the guitar player for Fu Manchu and Gary from Yawning Man plus their local Desert crew. Fantastic songs..  Great EP…

5. DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES- TRE LP (NORWAY)

         I was really looking forward to this album and it did not disappoint me at all. It was great to get to see them live as well and they played a lot of songs from the new album. Wife really digs these guys as well.

6. JOHN GARCIA AND THE BAND OF GOLD LP (US)

         This was John rocking out once again after a couple of more laid back solo records. The vibe is great on this.  Vista Chino got into his blood.  Great record…

7. ELDER- THE GOLD & SILVER SESSIONS LP (US)

         I really like Elder and they are really cool people as well.  This is something really new for them, doing improvisations but it worked great forcing them into uncomfortable territory.  A great EP….. the last with Matt on drums…

8. WHITE MANNA- APE ON SUNDAY LP (US)

         What a psychedelic trip this LP is. I did not know what to expect but I played this a lot when I got it. Andy from Carlton Melton fit in perfect and perhaps pushed them into exploring some different psychedelic vibes. Great album.

9. PAPIR- VI LP (DENMARK)

         Papir are back with another original album title!  Don’t worry about that. After a very laid back 5^th album the band give this one a bit more energy. It is a small evolution in the sound but one I dig. Amazing playing from all three world class musicians.

10. MOTORPSYCHO- THE CRUCIBLE LP (NORWAY)

         I did not expect anything less from Motorpsycho! Another intense musical journey. Great songs, intense lyrical themes and more mellotron!!!  I hope they leave that off the next one..  The band is on the top of their game at the moment.  Wow..

11. SACRI MONTI- WAITING ROOM FOR THE MAGIC HOUR LP (US)

         We have been waiting a long time for this record and it finally arrived and I got to see and hang out with the guys as well.  Another fantastic record. I think might like it more than the first. Great 70s hard rock with a unique vibe and tones of killer solos.

12. COSMIC DEAD, THE- SCOTTISH SPACE RACE 2LP (UK)

         This record can seriously fuck you up. The band has two new members and they seriously push the band hard on this one. Powerful almost metallic punk space rock at times.  Quite the mindblower….

        

13. NUKLI- THERE IS ANOTHER WAY CD (UK )

         This album totally caught me by surprise. I knew the band were still playing all the time but this was recorded like 8 years ago and finally came out. Just a great psych rock album. Lovely memorable songs with positive lyrics.  I am so happy SRP will release this on vinyl in 2020!!

14. GIN LADY- TALL SUN CROOKED MOON LP (SWEDEN)

         Gin Lady¨s last record was my top record in 2018 and while I like this one a lot as well, it did not reach the same height for me. A had hoped for a bit more rocking and a few longer songs. Anyway, it is still an awesome album and I love the artwork!!

15. GOATESS- BLOOD AND WINE 2LP (SWEDEN)

The last Goatess record is one of my faves of the last decade.  I still get totally into it when I play it LOUD.  I was very excited about this one but I have to say, the music is still totally amazing but I am not a big fan of the new singer. He is growing on me though..

16. DATURA4- BLESSED IS THE BOOGIE CD (AUSTRALIA)

         My wife and I really dig this band a lot.  We have played their previous albums a lot. This one as the title suggests throws a bit of Status Quo into the vibe on a few tracks but they stick to what they are great at.  Another nice set of tracks…

17- PYRAMIDAL- PYRAMIDAL LP (SPAIN)

         This is my favourite band from Spain. I always look forward to see what direction they will take. We had a preview of a few of the tracks from this record on the live from Wurzburg record. Another great 40mins journey.

The next releases are all ones that I appear on but I think they all deserve to be on this list.

18- BLACK MOON CIRCLE-THE STUDIO JAMS VO 1-3 BOX SET (NORWAY)

         This is a 5CD box set with over 150mins of bonus material from our BMC studio jam sessions.  What a great value plus all three of the studio jam volumes mastered for CD with the original album artwork and a large booklet with all the details and a history of the band, thus far.

19. ØSC meets BMC- FREAKOUT IN THE FJORD 2CD (2019)

         This amazing jam session took place in Nov 2017 in Trondheim the day after the Freak out in the Fjord Festival, where both bands appeared. A 3LP gatefold with amazing artwork by Ed Unitsky.  2hrs of music.  I am very proud of this release.

20-. 3RD EAR EXPERIENCE WITH DR SPACE- EAR TO SPACE 2LP (US)

This was a really fun collaboration with one of my fave US bands, 3^rd Ear Experience.  They sent me tracks and asked me to set up and jam a long as if I was there and then I sent them two tracks. It was fun and the music turned out excellent..

 Hope that 2020 will bring us many great albums.  Thanks for reading. Have a great new year everyone in this crazy world.

The Ivory Elephant- StoneFace (Bilocation Records ARTIFACT 59)

This is an Australian band that has been around since 2012 but  since 2017 have 4 releases on their bandcamp site. I really liked their last album and was happy to hear they had this new on in 2019.  The album features 10 tracks and starts off with a droned organ followed by guitar on the lead track, Storm.  The bass slowly rolls in on this nice stoney track. The vocal sounds really nice with the effected guitar to give a totally different vibe.  At 4mins the track really takes off in a new direction and the guitar becomes more intense.  Maybe I’m Evil also starts slow but with a more driving drum rhythm. The effected guitar and vocals are back. Love some of the pedals he uses on the solos and other parts, Nice. Wars is a long bluesy track with a really nice groove. Roll on features some really cool guitar. Jazzhead Part1 closes side A and is focused primarily on dual guitar and bass with no drums. A beautiful 2 min track. Low Expectation brings back the energy with a nice drive and a catchy riff. Stoneface Jambourie is a lovely track with some keyboards, acoustic guitars, banjo (?), sitar, etc… The title track is next and starts with a piano line, a bit beautiful but also dark at times. The guitar lines is quite Pink Floyd like but the track just flows and is the longest one on the album. Awesome vibe. Hard Case is another bluesy one with a female guest vocalist. The band have done a great job of coming up with a lot of outstanding songs on this record. The Jazzhead Part 2 finished the record.  Check this great band out. Hope they come to Europe one day..

http://theivoryelephant.com

https://kozmik-artifactz.com/

https://theivoryelephant.bandcamp.com/album/stoneface

Mikkeline & Flux- Forvandlet (Traume Tone 002)

Mikkeline & Flux are a Danish trio (Ole- Drums, Percussion has played with Mental Midget, Strejfer, Fritz Fatal), Troels (Bass, Synth, backing vocal, has played with Sort Sol, The Poets, Henrik Olsen) and Mikkeline (Vocals, Guitar, Melodica, Ukelele). This album features 10 tracks. All the songs are sung in the Danish language. As they state in the promo sheet, this is Danish Rock. I normally don’t review bands like this at all but this is a female lead dark indie rock but with some unusual lyric (if you understand Danish), strange vocals (as on the first track Det Magiske Kontor- The Magic Office).  Skønhed I Mørket is another slow paced track but with a more dirty hard sound when it gets to the middle section and spaced out. Cool song. 

Frossen Ild focuses more on the vocals at the start before the rest of the band joins with some backing vocals, bass and drums. A sort of ballad. To Toner has a krautrock like bass line and a darker vibe.  Stjerenekasterøje ends side A. The vocal is a bit of a spoken word for some of it. Track reminds me a bit of Spids Nøgenhat if you took away all the psychedelic parts! A very nice song.  Side B starts off with Ugh! Så meget Pis!  Very garagy this one with a bit of strangeness thrown in as well with the discordant guitar. Svantes lykkelige dag keeps the vibe mellow to start but then this one starts to rock and the vibe vibrates between melodic and nasty.  Forvandlet although simple it is a very effective track with its dark mood and heavy bass line.  I like this one a lot. Skrig som Søløver is more of the same, a bit of a dark angry vibe on this album side. Dystre Strenge is more melodic and the vocals are very nice. Klovn ends this quite cool record. I had to hear it quite a few times before I really got into it. It is a grower and it helps if you understand Danish (at least if you can read it with the enclosed lyric sheet).  Check the links below.

https://mikkelinew.wixsite.com/mikkelineflux

https://www.facebook.com/mikkelineflux/

We Here Now- The Chikipunk Years (Elektrohasch 179)

I have never heard of this band before. It says all instruments by Un Chiquitino (one Brazilian, one Peruvian and one Indian), which seems like the name of the band but the CD is called something different. The back of the CD cover shows a trio (guitar, bass and drums). Anyway, this is some raw rock and roll, featured in 10 short tracks. Soujourns starts things off with some nice energy and harmony guitar parts. This short track cuts right into a sort of African like guitar line for Gathering and Separation. The vocals are nice and melodic but it is difficult to hear even what language he sings in.  Is it English or Spanish or Portuguese??  About 2mins into this track a strange and very out of place sample from an English movie is spliced in and then they come back to the guitar solo section of the track.  Detachments keeps the energy high and returns again with some nice layered guitar to compliment the drive and melodic voice. I wish the songs were longer here as they have some great grooves and ideas. Angelus Novus is a short guitar piece that leads into Planes of Inmanence, the last track on side A. Some great drumming on this track which has a more repetitive nature about it with the melodic voice over the top.

Side B starts off with Detachments (reprise) and features some really nice guitar playing over a very drum and bass repetition. Frontiers and Determinations has a more psychedelic nature as the band go for recurring riffs and some effects on the vocals. Dukkha returns to tracks more like the first ones. Paramubulation features some really nice guitar leads on this instrumental track that has many more changes than the tracks with all the recurrent riffs and themes.  Clearings is the last track and best track. Fantastic instrumental. Wow..

I have to say, I quite liked this record after a few listens but it is for sure out of the left field for Elektrohasch. A lot of descriptions describe it as garage rock but it is far too complex for that genre. It has a raw production though. Cool…  You can hear a 10min sample of the record below.

http://elektrohasch.de

https://homemadegiftsrecords.bandcamp.com/releases