Unherd Christmess 2023

Well surprise, surprise... Santy showed up this year. Wishing a decent holiday and beyond for all!

 Like Wild Turkey, Milk, and Candy Cane

1. 0h! Gunquit Don't Believe in Xmas

2. Chesterfie1d Kings Hey Santa Claus

3. Bebee Ga11ini You Ain't Getting Nothin

4. T0xic Kid Merry Cretins Xmas

5. Lisa Mycho1s I'll Be Home For Xmas

6. Jay A11en Effin' Dreidel Song

7. Do11yrots Because I'm Santa

8. Paul Ke11y Xmas Train

9. J Roddy Wa1ston Santa Claus

10. Ta11 Poppy Syndrome Come Some Xmas Eve (or Halloween)

11. Irene Pena Will You Turn Up (for Xmas)

12. Chris lsaak Almost Xmas

13. ANC4 There Goes My Baby (Xmas Lament)

14. My M0rning Jacket Feelin Sorry

15. Cindy Laws0n Hey Santa

16. Sp00n Xmas Time (Is Here Again)

17. American Goner Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

18. Linda Lindas Groovy Xmas

19. Heatwaves What Will Santa Bring

20. Macy Grey Xmas With You

21. Peppermint Kicks It's a Peppermint Xmas

22. Crocodi1es Xmas in Hell

23. Supernatura1s Xmas is Doing My Head In

24. Geoff Pa1mer Lonely Xmas all

25. Street Wa1kin' Cheetahs Fuck Xmas

Faves of 2023 Vol.3

 

Well, that was a record-setting period of dormancy for this blog. Apologies to all followers, artists, and visitors. The lone bright spot to my neglect is there's already an Orphans mix that's 70% completed - and there's still the Best of 2023 to compile before then.

This Faves mix is the first time I've organized the running order of the tracks based mostly on volume levels. You''ll notice the playback volume increases as the mix goes on - and do consider that a warning if you dare to play on shuffle. I'm not sure why some albums push everything in the red until eardrums bleed while others sound like all the mics were positioned under wet cattle blankets, but it's becoming a pet peeve of mine. And, yeah, I'd be prepared to upgrade from peeve to crusade, but I suspect the chances of changing anything are equal to a dog catching a snowflake. 

I'm Always Shooting for High Fallutin'

1. Pat T0dd & the RankOutsiders Livin' in a World of Hurt

2. Somerda1e Crooked Roads

3. The 198l Easy

4. Lydia Love1ess Toothache

5. The B1ips Good Lookin' Liars

6. Twin Temp1e Spellbreaker

7. C0ach Party Be That Girl

8. Art Bergmann Raw Naked Monday

9. W0rriers Trust Your Gut

10. Meyerman WWDAT

11. Mas0n Lowe You Took a Chance on Me

12. Uni B0ys Let's Watch a Movie

13. 0dd Robot Anti-Revolution

14. The Hangmen Midnight Riders

15. The 0dds Staring at a Blank Page

16. Samantha Marie Push Me Out

17. Diamond D0gs Desiree, Yet Another Lonely Mile

18. Barrence Whitfie1d & the Savages Bad Situation

19. EUT San Francisco

20. Ratb0ys Morning Zoo

21. Pkew Pkew Pkew The Dumbest Thing I Ever Done

22. Gee Strings Rock 'n' Rolls

23. Backstreet Girls Waste Side Story

24. Curt Baker Rock & Roll Club

25. Pacifica Premature Rejection

Faves of 2023 Vol. 2

It seems as soon as I open my mouth about the impending end of rock 'n' roll or the rock era (or some other such nomenclature denoting the narrow purview of whats-I-likes 'n' whats-I-don'ts), the artists themselves show up in droves to prove either my point is wrong or my timing sucks. This mix is a case in point. It's filled with some of the best songs I've heard in ages. I've been road testing it in my car for the last couple weeks and noticed a couple things: a) every song rewards multiple listens, and b) keep an eye on your speedometer because a few of these tunes just plain don't respect reasonable speed limits. Anyway, if this is the reaction to my rockaroll doomsaying, I'll have to keep on bitching. In the nonce, I hope y'all are enjoying the summer!

A Calculated Strategy or an Underwhelming Prayer

1. L0w Cut C0nnie Are You Gonna Run?

2. Is1and of Love Losing Streak

3. Sing1e Mothers Sad Dumb Game

4. A1ex Lahey Shit Talkin'

5. Boy Go1den Hard Headed

6. Samantha Fish No Apology

7. Jim J0nes A11 Stars I Want You (Any Way I Can)

8. The Weirdo11s Reputation

9. The Pear1 Harts Coming Down

10. Belleville Something Good

11. Hearts Apart Still Burn
12. S1ander Tongue Huntin'

13. GracieH0rse Hollow Head

14. J0an Jett If You're Blue

15. Babagan0uj Stay Up For Me

16. Dear Tick Disgrace

17. Durand J0nes Sadie

18. The Vices At Least That's What They're Saying

19. 01ivia Jean Too Late

20. Brix Smith Valley Girl

21. RVG Midnight Sun

22. Ryan Hami1ton Haunted by the Holy Ghost

23. 10 Tonnes Monday Morning

24. Jim B0b Thanks For Reaching Out

 

Summer 2023

Just noticed there's been a rash of older links blocked due to copyright issues, which is fair enough - I just wish the offended parties made themselves known so I could simply delete their track and switch it out for an artist that sees the value in this sort of low-rent, low-grade, low stakes promotion. Oh well... this blog's been trundling along for 15 years now, so it's been a pretty good run. You may want to snag this Summer mix quickly though. 

 Summer Bruises, No More Excuses

1. CVC Anogo 

2. G0rd D0wnie & B0b R0ck Lustre Parfait

3. Durand J0nes See It Through 

4. Yum Yums Crush On You

5. Sp00n Wild (Moon Mix)

6. Jenny Lew!s Cherry Baby

7. Michae1 Head Broken Beauty

8. DN3 Hold On

9. Uptown Sinc1air Whatever U Want

10. The Redwa11s You'll Never Know

11. Izzy Strad1in Shuffle It All

12. Sticky Fingers Fortunes, Seasides & Girls

13. Summer Sa1t Macaroon

14. G1adie Hit The Ground Running

15. Surf Curse Sugar

16. Ben Kwe11er I Gotta Move

17. King Tuff Tell Me

18. Drramarama Everyday

19. Rave0nettes Get Lost

20. Spacey Jayne Sorry Instead

21. Ceramic Anima1 Sweet Unknown

22. The Ye1ins Everything The Sun

Not That Kind Of Girl (Vol. 2)

A companion volume to the Not That Kind Of Girl mix from 2016, which itself was a follow-up to 2015's original All Kindsa Girls mix. No need to elaborate on the theme. Only change this time out is I tried to avoid the usual suspects (ie: My Best Friend's Girl, American Girl, China Girl, Hollaback Girl, Material Girl, Rich Girl, etc.), although I can easily imagine any or all of those appearing on the next volume.

Shine On Little Baby, You're Too Good For This World

1. Secret P0wers Not My Kind of Girl

2. Te1ephone Lovers Downtown Girl

3. Budokan The Right On Girl

4. The Sick R0se Pathetic Girl

5. Mad Ro11ers Ukraine Girl

6. Cheap Star Flower Girl

7. Minky Starshine Miss American Girl

8. Diam0nd Dogs Small Town Girl

9. Butch Wa1ker East Coast Girl

10. M0m Ordinary Girl

11. S1ick! Telefone Tuff Girl

12. J0e Strummer Coma Girl

13. The Matt1ess Boys Romanian Girl

14. The Mayf1owers Sunflower Girl

15. The Dirtb0mbs Sunshine Girl

16. The Star Spang1es Tear It To Pieces Girl

17. Turb0 Fruits Favorite Girl

18. The N0mads Demolition Girl (Saints cover)

19. Bad Sp0rts Hypothetical Girl

20. Sugar Sugaar Hampton's Girl

21. Laurie Biagini Gold Plated Girl

22. Bubb1egum Lemonade Cool Guitar Girl

23. LA Exes Cocaine Girl

24. Reigning S0und North Cackalacky Girl

25. Si1ver Sun Original Girl

26. Dangereens (Bye By) Little Uptown Girl

 

Covers Project Vol. 21

 So Dig This Big Crux

1. B1ack Cr0wes Rocks Off (Rolling Stones)

2. Superchunk Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing (Minutemen)

3. Dirty F1ix Back of My Hand (The Jags)

4. J0nathan Pushcar The Kid's Are Alright (The Who)

5. Chip Z'nuff Honaloochie Boogie (Mott the Hoople)

6. E1ectric 6 No More Mr. Nice Guy (Alice Cooper)

7. Die T0ten H0sen Getting Beaten Up (The Piranhas)

8. Miss Ge0rgia Peach River Deep Mountain High (Ike & Tina)

9. Ryan Hami1ton Banditos (The Refreshments)

10. Eddie & the H0t R0ds Once Bitten Twice Shy (Ian Hunter)

11. Neur0tic 0utsiders Janie Jones (The Clash)

12. The Linda Lindas Tonite (The Go-Gos)

13. The Bittersweets Story of Love (The Saints)

14. Cheap Trick Money (Barrett Strong)

15. Green Day Dreaming (Blondie)

16. M0m Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson)

17. JD McPhers0n Manta Ray (Pixies)

18. Hay1ey Mary Can't Stand Me Now (The Libertines)

19. Streetwalkin' Cheetahs Know Your Product (The Saints)

20. 01ivia Jean Orinoco Flow (Enya)

21. Sunny War Baby Bitch (Ween)

22. Coo1 Jerks You Really Got a Hold on Me (Smokey Robinson)

23. The Dip Paranoid (Black Sabbath)

24. Easy Star A11 Stars Rock n' Roll Suicide (Bowie)

25. Sp00n I Can't Give Everything Away (Bowie)

Faves of 2023 Vol.1

Y'know, I was gearing up for a rant about the sheer idiocy of burning books, Beatles records, and/or Bud Light cases, but I think I'll instead continue with my original policy of keeping politics buried in the subtext of this blog. Besides, the featured pic, with its questionable grasp of grammar and syntax, succinctly sums up everything I have to say about pretty much everything... and I don't see the upside to belaboring the essential point.  

It Ain't Hard to See What the Fuck is Happening

1. The Men Hard Livin'

2. Crocodi1es Upside Down in Heaven

3. Eye1ids Swinging in the Circus

4. B1ack Star Riders Better Than Saturday Night

5. The Reyt0ns Cash In Hand and Fake IDs

6. Nude Party Hard Times (All Around)

7. Grade Two Fast Pace

8. Mark Busat0 Sunken Ships

9. Sunny War No Reason

10. Spacey Jane Sitting Up

11. Arxx Baby Uh Huh 

12. Bass Drum 0f Death Keys to the City

13. Ron Ga11o San Benedetto

14. Lucer0 One Last FU

15. Trench D0gs Georgian Red

16. White Reeper Fog Machine

17. Frankie R0se Anything

18. The No 0nes Throwdown in Whispertown

20. B1ues Lawyer Salary

21. Sun R00m Cadillac

22. Daddy L0ng Legs Nightmare

23. Gh0st W0man End of a Gun

24. F0xy Shazam I Can Change For You

 

Orphans 2022

 

Some time next year I'll no doubt discover an absolute gem that I frustratingly managed to never hear (suggestions always welcome, btw), but for now 2022 is pretty much wrapped with this mix. Over all, a good year - although I'm definitely seeing hints that the rock era could be drawing to a close. That might be complete hogwash of course; after all, some pinched-faced conservative moralists claimed rock was dead back in 1958 - and I don't want to align myself with any of those sorts of knobs. Maybe I'll just shut up, clutch on to the words of Oscar Wilde ("reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"), and continue onward as if change and entropy aren't a feature of this life. Seems as good a plan as any.

Walking Forward, Looking Back

1. T. Rexic0 Oh Yeah

2. Jay A11en & the Arch Criminals Be Mine Tonight

3. R0mero Crossing Lines

4. The Che1sea Curve Jamie C'mon

5. Karma Gambit Cable Knit Sweater

6. Maura & the Bright Lights Perfect Girl

7. The De1ta Riggs The Real Electric

8. JD McPhers0n Just Around the Corner

9. Kevin Stevens0n Brand New Day

10. Titus Andr0nicus Give Me Grief

11. P0inted Sticks Anywhere

12. Emper0r Penguin A Gun and a Badge

13. The Pinx Dust to Diamonds

14. Dr0pper Waste of Time

15. Stars Like 0urs Radio

16. Spark1ehorse It Will Never Stop

17. B1usterfields Too Obvious

18. T00 Much Joy What Pricks We Were

19. The Hooten Ho11ers Back in Business Again

20. Butch Wa1ker Tell Me I'm Pretty (Methamphetamine Pt. 2)

21. Big J0anie In My Arms

22. Jeremy & the Har1equins One Shot (of Rock & Roll)

 

Best of 2022

 The Un-Herd Music Top 50 of 2022

 

1. The Jazz Butcher The Highest In The Land

Like Bowie's "Blackstar" this is an intimate last release by an artist ruminating on his impending mortality. The main difference being that Pat Fish makes you sing along as he breaks your heart.

 

2. Fuzzbubble Cult Stars From Mars 

As far as I can tell, it took 20 years for the band to follow their debut and, incredibly, this infectious collection of Lennon-esque vocals & Cheap Trickian power chords may have been worth the wait.

3. Sweet Things Brown Leather

Opening up their Stonesy sound with ballads, slide guitar, and a hint of country/southern rock only makes it more Stonesy - but this is the mean cold-blooded late 60s Stones, so just know that any stray yayas in yer system are about to get out.

4. Blackbirds FC Magiclands

 

It's hard to imagine anyone improving on the mellow melodic heights of the Go-Betweens, but this Melbourne band may have done just that. Impossible to resist.

5. The Rubs (dust)

 

One man band Joey Rubbish delivers so many hooks in these 11 songs you'd be excused for assuming it's a best-of collection. Hints of 80s synth pop, 00s garage, Kinks, Beatles, Thin Lizzy without ever sounding like anything other than the Rubs.

6. Gold Star Headlights U.S.A. (pts I & II)

 

Low key indie pop perfection with a deep & lasting atmosphere of melancholy. Somehow immediately pleasing while also a grower.

7. Spoon Lucifer On The Sofa

 

At this point it's doubtful a new Spoon album will take anyone by surprise, unless the surprise lies in the recognition that Britt Daniel & co. somehow just keep getting better.

8. Starcrawler She Said

 

Part of what's been so fun through this band's first 3 albums is the impending sense of a monstrous wave about to break. You can feel they're gonna be deservedly huge, you just don't know when. The time should be right about now. 

9. Simon Love Love, Sex & Death Etc

Melodic, witty, and a little foul-mouthed, Simon Love is single-handedly saving power pop from the wimpy jangle hordes. If there was any justice in the world (there isn't) he'd already be some kinda star.

10. Ceramic Animal Sweet Unknown

 

Dan Auerbach produced Pennsylvania band has a knack for matching vocal melody with an ear worm guitar hook. Nothing overly flashy, but satisfying in the extreme.

 

 

 

 

11. The Lings The Lings

12. Extra Arms What Is Even Happening Right Now?

13. The Sparklers Miss Philadelphia

14. Dot Dash Madman in the Rain

15. Young Guv III

16. Gyasi Pronounced Jah-See

17. Uni Boys Do It All Next Week

18. Foxy Shazam The Heart Behead You

19. The Hoodoo Gurus Chariot of the Gods

20. The 1990s Nude Restaurant

21. Diamond Dogs Slap Bang Blue Rendezvous

22. Popular Creeps All of This Will End In Tears

23. Interrupters In The Wild

24. 2nd Grade Easy Listening

25. Surf Curse Magic Hour

26. Faz Waltz On The Ball

27. The Handcuffs Burn The Rails

28. Diane Coffee With People

29. Sour Ops Deep Fake

30. Gasoline The Orange Album

31. Fantastic Negrito White Jesus Black Problems

32. Kevin Stevenson Reality Alley

33. The Dip Sticking With It

34. Emperor Penguin Sunday Carvery

35. Too Much Joy All These Fucking Feelings

36. Banditos Right On

37. Cheap Star Wish I Could See

38. Tuk Smith & the Restless Hearts Ballad of a Misspent Youth

39. Mattiel Georgia Gothic

40. House of Love A State of Grace

41. Sino Hearts Lightening the Darkness

42. Bishop's Daredevil Stunt Club Please Stand By

43. Cheap Cassettes Ever Since Ever Since

44. Pink Mountaintops Peacock Pools

45. Nicky Egan This Life

46. Gladie Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out

47. The Chelsea Curve All The Things

48. No. 2 First Love

49. Triptides So Many Days

50. The Speedways Talk of the Town

It's Been An Upside Down Cold, Cold Year

1. B1ackbirds FC Magiclands

2. The Spark1ers Our Beloved Grudges

3. The Rubs Hang On To Me

4. Diane C0ffee Bullied

5. Surf Curse Little Rock 'n' Roller

6. Fuzzbubb1e Dragonfly Pt. II

7. Extra Arms Feeling Alright

8. Faz Wa1tz Love Time Bomb

9. Sweet Things Cold Feet

10. Interrupters Jailbird

11. F0xy Shazam Dancing With My Demons

12. Y0ung Guv Good Time

13. Uni B0ys On Your Lovin' Mind

14. Sour 0ps Deep Fake

15. H00doo Gurus Equinox

16. Popu1ar Creeps Black & Blue

17. D0t Dash Space Junk, Satellites

18. The Lings Little Josie

19. Go1d Star Shivers

20. Gyasi Feed Your Face

21. 2nd Grade Teenage Overpopulation

22. Diam0nd Dogs Rocked,Wrecked, Robbed & Ruined

23. Simon L0ve I Will Dance

24. Ceramic Anima1 Long Day

25. Jazz Butcher Never Give Up