Sunday, January 26, 2025

Best of 2024

 The Un-Herd Music Top 50 of 2024

1. Dangereens - Chic
 
An unexpected (and very welcome) return that adds some GramParsonics to their already impressive mix of Westerbergianisms and RonnieLanery. If you follow the references - and have no allergy to cowbells and handclaps - you'll undoubtedly appreciate.
 
2. Pavid Vermin - Brutality Is My Only Friend
 
The concept here is AI-enhanced grisly death metal lyrics and song titles at the service of British Invasion-era music. Sure, it's a gimmick, but it's a hilarious gimmick. And it wouldn't be anywhere near so entertaining if the music didn't deliver so thoroughly on those classic hooks.

3. The Heats - The Heats
 
I'll straight-up admit this is my personal nostalgia speaking, but I saw these guys countless times back in the day and have always considered their "Have An Idea" album (and "Hunk Of Burnin' Live") a lost power pop masterpiece so, 40 years later, I'm totally stoked to be able to pimp their equally great new album.
4. Hinds - Viva Hinds

Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote have been maturing with each release, and it's a delight to hear where they've landed on this album - unpredictable, vulnerable, confident, quirkily rockin' - without losing their established appreciation for fun.
5. The Weirdolls - Almost Unbreakable Toys

To suss out the influences of the band, just triangulate their original songs with the two covers (Sylvain Sylvain's "Teenage News" and Eddie & the Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Wanna Do"), which'll give fair warning that the word "dolls" isn't in the band name by accident.
6. The Courettes - The Soul of the Fabulous Courettes

Less stomping on the gas pedal as they hurtle towards a discount Spectorian Wall of Sound opens a secondary route to extra melody and charm in Flavia Couri's vocals - but no need for worry, speedsters: it's still a thrill ride.
7. Stephie James - As Night Fades

Gorgeous set of songs with hints of 50s sock hops and 60s saloon singers swirling amid memories of Roy Orbison, echoed drums and guitar twang. A very singular mood, but if it matches your own state of mind there won't be much better.
8. The Yum Yums - Poppin' Up Again

I mean, what more do you need? Ramonescore bamalama mixed with classic rock riffs, nasal teenage vocals, over-the-top Beach Boy harmonies, and sugary hooks for days. If it was easy, everybody would do it.
9. Cheap Cassettes - They'll Never Forgive You For Pop

Flirting with the same raggedly perfect imperfection of mid-period Replacements (and fueled with a similar us-against-the-world defiance) may not be a marketing strategy that gets rewarded in these times, but that album title lets us know the band doesn't particularly care.  
 
10. Various - Silver Patron Saints: the Songs of Jesse Malin

Few tributes are created with this much care. 27 tracks featuring such indie luminaries as Spoon, Low Cut Connie, Rancid, the Hold Steady and slightly more mainstream names like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joe Armstrong and Tom Morello. If you're not yet a fan of Jesse Malin, you will be after giving this a listen.


11. Pat Todd & the RankOutsiders Keepin' Chaos At Bay
12. Love Fiend Handle With Care
13. Beth Lee Hardly Matters
14. Amyl & the Sniffers Cartoon Darkness
15. The Peawees One Drive
16. Sheer Mag Playing Favorites
17. Laughing Because It's True
18. Gold Star How To Shoot The Moon
19. Extra Arms Radar
20. Valley Lodge Shadows In Paradise

21. The Jesus and Mary Chain Glasgow Eyes
22. JD McPherson Nite Owls
23. Th' Losin Streaks Last House
24. Split System Vol. 2
25. Marc Valentine Basement Sparks
26. Jordan Jones And I, You
27. Bad Moves Wearing Out The Refrain
28. The Fastbacks For WHAT Reason
29. Emperor Penguin Gentlemen Thieves
30. Bottlecap Mountain Electric Love Spree

31. Swami & the Bed of Nails All Of This Awaits You
32. Redd Kross Redd Kross
33. Naked Giants Shine Away
34. Teenage Frames Everything Has Led To This
35. Los Chicos Never Is Too Much
36. Nervous Eaters Rock 'n Roll Your Heart Away
37. Ceramic Animal Cosmic Eraser
38. Quireboys Wardour Street
39. The BellRays Heavy Steady Go!
40. Colman Gota Don't Stop Playing Guitar

41. The Okmoniks Afterparty Fever!!!
42. Silver Sun Mild Peril
43. Minky Starshine Boozers Gloom and a Pinch of Anxiety
44. Junior League Our Broadcast Day
45. Daniel Romano Too Hot To Sleep
46. Buffalo Tom Jump Rope
47. Good Looks Lived Here For A While
48. The Fleshtones It's Getting Late (and More Songs About Werewolves)
49. Kim Deal Nobody Loves You More
50. Band of the Underhand A Cheap Ride To Heaven

 
1. Dangereens Fly By Nighter
2. The Heats I Hope You're Wrong
3. Hinds Hi, How Are You
4. The Weirdo11s Teenage Fault
5. The C0urettes You Woo Me
6. Stephie James Five and Dimer
7. The Peawees One Drive
8. The Cheap Cassettes Everyone But You
9. The Yum Yums Vitamin U
10. Pavid Vermin Brutalizer of My Soul
11. C0unting Crows Oh Sheena
12. L0ve Fiend Just For Eddie
13. Beth Lee Wall
14. Laughing Narcissist Blues
15. Sheer Mag When You Get Back
16. JD McPhers0n I Can't Go Anywhere With You
17. Go1d Star Fade Away 
18. The Jesus and Mary Chain Pop Seeds
19. Va11ey Lodge Trouble
20. Th' L0sin Streaks I Mean You
21. Marc Va1entine You're One of Us Now
22. Quireb0ys Jeeze Louise
23. Sp1it System Alone Again
24. Bad M0ves Out of My Head




Saturday, December 21, 2024

Faves of 2024 Vol. 3

I seem to be running late in all directions these days, so in lieu of the traditional, bad attitude UHM Xmas mix I'm putting up a last volume of this year's faves. It's a weird Xmas anyway, what with the world teetering on the precipice of something unfathomably dark. Or maybe not. I've resolutely avoided articulating my expectations for 2025 and plan on keeping it that way. I'm at the point of just sorta hoping I'll be proven stupendously wrong about it all. Regardless, up or down, bad or good, we've got an awesome soundtrack for it.  
 

1. Pavid Vermin Excremental Feast on the Decomposing Remnants of Humanity
2. Chuck Pr0phet w/ ¿Qiensave? Sugar Into Water
3. Naked Giants Apartment 3
4. The Takes Outside 45
5. Beth Lee Blue Skies
6. King Stingray What's The Hurry?
7. Lù1ù Lùlù
8. Cheap Cassettes Bad Xerox
9. The Weirdo11s Broken Toy
10. Amy1 & the Sniffers Big Dreams
11. Japandr0ids D&T
12. Baba A1i Heart Racer
13. Teenage Frames Jump Around Until We Die
14. The Peac0cks Some
15. Rat B0y She's The One
16. The Krayo1as I Am Your Dirty Mexican (El Grito Mix)
17. The Vo1tz Fire Up Indigo
18. Sp00n The Way We Used To Roll
19. Conor Don0hue Wasteland
20. Quireb0ys Howlin' Wolf
21. The F1eshtones Love Me While You Can
22. Rancd No Way Out (D-Generation cover)
23. The Nerv0us Eaters Rock 'n' Roll Your Heart Away
24. Peter Perrett I Wanna Go With Dignity

 

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Hello My Name Is Mix (vol.10)

I kinda hate when I'm forced into an immoral act against my will. Sometimes, however, a guy just has to do what a guy has to do. I'm speaking, of course, about including the unnecessary apostrophe in a band name that ends with an "S." I mean, I'll call a band whatever the band members want to be called - that's 100% their prerogative - but it's just annoying that, by simply typing out a track list, I have to get tarred and feathered as someone who doesn't know the difference between plural and possessive. Ah well, eventually I managed to get over Johnny Thunders' inability to spell "lose" (as in "Born T(o)o Lo(o)se"), so I imagine the same dulling of righteous indignation will save the day here as well. Also, there's a new Name's mix (you see what I did there?).

 
1. Meyerman Katie Wong
2. The Mowg1i's Norman Rockwell
3. Be11saint Jim Carrey 
4. Fast Co1or Natasha Lyonne
5. Stephie James Steve McQueen
6. Surf Curse Randall Flagg
7. The S1eeveens Aretha Franklin
8. Mike Vio1a Paul McCarthy
9. The Trafa1gers Davey Parker
10. Willie J. Hea1ey Tiger Woods
11. Lizzie N0 Annie Oakley
12. Pointed Stix Billy Wilder
13. B1ondshell Veronica Mars
14. Sing1e Mothers James Gandolfini
15. B1ack Honey Charlie Bronson
16. Stumps David Byrne
17. Pixies Ernest Evans
18. Kid Kapichi Oliver Twist
19. Rob M0ss & Skin-Tight Skin Richard Jewell
20. B1air Gun Andrew Savage
21. Great Big C0w  Wyatt Aubrey
22. Lion Is1and Danny Larusso
23. Joey Ram0ne Maria Bartiromo
24. Rande11s Paul Stanley

Monday, September 30, 2024

Faves of 2024 Vol. 2

 

Ain't gonna lie... I was just about to get on the ol' soapbox to once again bemoan the current state of music (and you know shit's gone real wrong when the word "bemoan" gets trotted out) - but eff me if things didn't get hopeful once we turned the corner on summer. Suddenly there was a growing multitude of worthy releases to cram onto this mix, many of which I could envision making the Best Of The Year list. And, of course, there's still more coming, including anticipated albums by the Fleshtones, the Linda Lindas, Japandroids, Kim Deal, and Amyl & the Sniffers. So I guess  my bemoaning will just have to bewait, because this Fall seems like it's gonna be rockin'.
 
 
1. Friends of Cesar R0mero More Like Norman Fucking Mailer
2. The Be11Rays Down On My Knees
3. Dangereens Friday Night
4. Good L00ks Can You See Me Tonight
5. Benny Tr0ken Nowhere to be Found
6. Mo1ecular Steve Heavens to Betsy
7. The Shivas Closer To Me
8. Hinds On My Own
9. The C0urettes Stop! Doing That
10. Th' L0sin Streaks Well I Never
11. Juni0r Varsity Back to Reno
12. JD McPhers0n Sunshine Getaway
13. Beans & Fatback Black and Blue
14. Colman G0ta Always Late
15. Swami & the Bed of Nai1s Teen Hate
16. Bad M0ves Hallelujah
17. 0ceanator First Time
18. Laughing Sour Note
19. Tamar Berk Good Impression
20. The Dictat0rs Let's Get The Band Back Together
21. The Privates Don't Take It Out On Me
22. Jessica B0udreaux Doctor
23. Dune Rats Beers, Bongs & Bullshit
24. Pat T0dd & the Rank0utsiders That Little Bit of Nothing

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Covers Project Vol. 22

Don't need to say too much about this collection, except that the existence of these covers proves that some bands I'm a fan of are fans of bands I'm also a fan of. And that may be the most convoluted sentence I've ever written - but scroot, I'm leaving it intact.

Spoiler alert: this ain't no disco. Also not wholly 70s in origin.


Well, My Friends Are Gone And My Hair Is Grey

1. The Handcuffs All The Way From Memphis (Mott the Hoople)
2. The Midnite Ca11ers Come Dancing (the Kinks) 
3. De1ta Riggs Talking In Your Sleep (Romantics)
4. Extra Arms Gates of Steel (Devo)
5. Linda Gai1 Lewis The Way I Walk (Jack Scott via the Cramps)
6. Ted Le0 + the Pharmacists Suspect Device (Stiff Little Fingers)
7. Die T0ten Hosen (I'm) Stranded (the Saints)
8. Bi11ie Joe Armstrong Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon)
9. Mary L0u Lord Baby Blue (Badfinger)
10. Ginger Wi1dheart Substitute (the Who)
11. The Dr0wns Ballroom Blitz (the Sweet)
12. The Checkered Hearts Precious To Me (Phil Seymour)
13. Miss Chain & the Br0ken Heels Be With Me (the Yum Yums)
14. Cuff the Duke Instant Karma (John Lennon)
15. Pixies Crystal Closet Queen (Leon Russel)
16. Ju1iana Hatfield Telephone Line (ELO)
17. Jay A11en & the Arch Criminals It's Not Unusual (Tom Jones)
18. The Methad0nes Goodbye to You (Scandal)
19. Litt1e Richard Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones)
20. J0an Jett Androgynous (Replacements)
21. B1ack Crowes You Wear It Well (Rod Stewart)
22. Eye1ids Eye of Fatima Pt.I (Camper Van Beethoven)
23. The Dah1manns Teenage News (Sylvain Sylvain)
24. Pat T0dd Tower of Song (Leonard Cohen)


 

Sunday, July 7, 2024

Summer 2024

Trying out a different file sharing service, so let me know if there's any issues. Otherwise, this is a fairly typical UHM summer mix, focusing on songs that just sorta sound like summer to me. It's an admittedly inexact science - but, after going through weeks of stringent testing, I can assure you this mix absolutely aids in the successful lifting of cocktails. 

Have a great summer, evvabuddy.

Take Me To Urgent Care Or The Record Store

1. S0ccer Mommy Soak Up The Sun
2. Puffy 恋のライン愛のシェイプ
3. Band of the Underhand Perfect World
4. Locks1ey Down For Too Long
5. Sheer Mag Golden Hour
6. Redd Cr0ss Way Too Happy
7. The Trafa1gers Sunnyside Drive
8. Kevin B0we & the 0kemah Prophets California Sober
9. Green Day Corvette Summer
10. J0hn Muq Shake Shake
11. Luci0us Jackson Summer Daze
12. J0rdan James Love Song
13. P0ny Cry
14. Aut0gramm Love is for Fools
15. The Marias Real Life
16. Buffa1o Tom In the Summertime
17. The Stan1eys Summer
18. Marc Va1entine Strange Weather
19. Hana Voo Hammer
20. Sp00n Silver Girl
21. The L0stines A Tear
22. Pacifica Fantasies

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Faves of 2024 Vol. 1


Last spring my wife and I took a trip to Las Vegas. It was my first time there. Got nothing against it or anything, but being neither a gambler nor golfer I've never really felt the necessity to visit. For that trip, though, my wife found us the Punk Rock Museum (she's pretty awesome that way)(and in most other ways). Now, I'll admit I was dubious. I mean, what kind of glitzy, sanitized silicone version of punk rock would a place like Vegas present? But my suspicions were erased immediately. Our tour guide was Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks, Bad Religion), which was some good OG cred and he was a really cool guy as well. And then we stepped into the first chamber, which was a shrine to the New York punk pioneers (Velvets, Dolls, Suicide, that whole Mercer Arts scene). They even had Johnny Thunders' red leather jacket - the one he was wearing outside of Gem Spa on the back cover of the Dolls debut album. It just got better from there, moving across the US, UK, and Canada (only major omission was Art Bergmann, which is almost unforgivable, given his "Bound For Vegas" should be their theme song). I don't promote much other than songs I like on this site, but I heartily recommend a visit if you're ever in the area. Punk rock people are the best.   

You Can Be Free If You Want To

1. Amp1ifier Heads w/ Barrence Whitfie1d They Came To Rock
2. Danie1 Romano You Can Steal My Kiss
3. Jeen Just Shadows
4. Band of the Underhand Hold On Wait a Minute
5. The Libertines Mustangs
6. Stephie James Party Doll
7. Marc Va1entine Eve of Distraction
8. The Bacarrudas You Can Have My Love If You Want It, Okay?
9. The Baby Sea1s My Labia's Lopsided But I Don't Mind
10. Jesus & Mary Chain Girl 71
11. Coach Party Hi Baby
12. Sheer Mag Eat It & Beat It
13. Extra Arms Everything Disappears
14. The Peewees The Wolf
15. Emperor Penguin I Wouldn't Put It Like That
16. Shannon & the C1ams Oh So Close Yet So Far
17. Mad 0nes Last Summer
18. Maddam Nick
19. The Prize First Sight
20. Wi1der Lee Riot
21. Jordan J0nes Can I Stay
22. The Ref1ectors Time Is All I Have
23. Aeria1 Cadence
24. The Yum Yums Baby Doll
25. The Lem0n Twigs Rock On (Over and Over)