Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash & Shows # 919 & 918

The first Replacements album Sorry Man, Forgot To Take Out The Trash was first released in 1981 on the Twin/Tone label. Although associated with other bands in the Minneapolis scene, they were different. While their uninhibited snotty energy tapped into punk, Paul Westerberg’s songwriting even in this early stage, stood out from the other bands at the time. Featuring Paul Westerberg on guitar/vocals, Tommy Stinson on bass, Bob Stinson on lead guitar and Chris Mars on drums, The Replacements first album featured 18 tracks.

The songs delved into themes of boredom, angst, despair, relationships, booze and everything in between. Containing now classic tracks such as “Takin’ A Ride,” “Customer,” “I Hate Music,” “Johnny’s Gonna Die,” “Shiftless When Idle,” and “I’m In Trouble,” throughout the Sorry Ma album, the songs are also filled a unique sense of humour and also abandon. Recorded at Blackberry Way in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the album was produced by Steve Fjelstad, Paul Westerberg and Peter Jesperson. Although it has been stated many times before, Peter Jesperson was instrumental in getting The Replacements not only gigs at The Longhorn (a venue he was helping book shows at), but he also helped get them a record deal to make Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash. Also a taste maker in the music scene in the Twin Cities at the time, when he first heard The Replacements 4-track demo tape, he flipped out. He became an instant lifelong fan and supporter. He also helped to record early demos of the band in addition to helping produce this album.

In 2021, a deluxe edition of Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash was released on Rhino Records. This edition, like the previous deluxe editions of their other albums that have come before this, expands a certain time period in the band’s history. This set features the original Sorry Ma album remastered with the B-side country ballad “If Only You Were Lonely,” along with 67 unreleased tracks and an unreleased live show live at 7th St Entry in Minneapolis on January 23rd, 1981. Included in the set is the original 4-track demo that got them their record deal, the demo that proceeded it (when they weren’t even known as The Replacements yet), a plethora of other early demos and recordings, there are alternate takes and outtakes from the Sorry Ma sessions as well. The 4 CD set also comes with a vinyl edition of the album made up from the alternate takes and some demos from this time period giving Sorry Ma a different sonic outlook called Deliberate Noise -The Alternate Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash. There is also a book with previously unreleased photos, interviews with the band members and associates as well as writings from band biographer Bob Mehr. Peter Jesperson, Rhino’s Jason Jones and Bob Mehr produced this deluxe set. Whichever version you listen to Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash is where it all began for The Replacements. There is chaos, reckless abandon and depth in the songs. Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash captures The Replacements in their earliest and rawest form.

Show 919 Playlist (Originally Aired On January 29th, 2022)(Destroyer, Teenanger, Cellos, The Replacements):

1. Broken Social Scene - Curse Your Fail
2. Gray - Wig
3. Ada Lea - Oranges
4. Fiver - Paid in Pride
5. The Sadies - Message To Belial
6. Bill Fay - Backwoods Maze
7. Good2Go - Hold Me Close
8. The Detroit Cobras - Bad Girl
9. The Retail Simps - Love Without Friction
10. Thee Headcoatees - Don't Try and Tell Me
11. Neu! - Hallogallo
12. Destroyer - Tinoretto, It's For You
13. Teenanger - Good, You?
14. Aversions - Sharp Left Turns
15. Devo - Strange Pursuit (Demo)
16. Trampoline Delay - Don't Let Go
17. Cellos - Moustache Rock
18. Lucy Dacus - First Time
19. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Penelope Halfpenny
20. Basement Revolver - Tunnel Vision
21. Cat Power - Pa Pa Power
22. The Replacements - Lookin' For Ya (Demo)
23. The Replacements - Raised In The City (Demo)
24. The Replacements - Careless (Alternate Version)
25. The Replacements - I'm In Trouble (Alternate Version)
26. The Replacements - Don't Ask Why (Alternate Mix)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 29 file to download/stream the episode.

 Show 918 Playlist (Originally Aired On January 22nd, 2022)(Fontaines D.C., Outtacontroller, Ronnie Spector, Dave Whitehead, Crissy DeVerbert, Hilary Bockham/Ida Red and Rachel Nagy Tributes):

1. Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down The Line
2. Lammping - Everylasting Moors
3. Trampoline Delay - Personal Space
4. Outtacontroller - Parts Unknown
5. Matt Ellis - Everything Sucks/I Hate It All
6. Print Head - Only Being
7. Print Head - Trouble Doubt Brewin'
8. Howlin' Wolf - Who's Been Talkin'
9. Roy Orbison - Lana
10. Paul Simon - Run That Body Down
11. Al Green - La-La For You
12. No Frills - I Don't Want To Be Your Dog Anymore
13. Scarlet Drops - It's Time To Do
14. Tunic - Ex-Epic
15. L00ping - Wasn't There
16. Diamondtown - Stride
17. Lost Patrol - I’m Not The One
18. Lost Patrol - Grow Up Hard
19. The Guitar Army Ft. Dave Whitehead - Pills (Live at The Vic 1998)
20. Zellots - On The Dole
21. Zellots - Soldier
22. The Delmonas - Comin' Home Baby
23. The Delmonas - Peter Gunn Locomotion
24. Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band feat. Ronnie Spector - Be My Baby
25. The Ronettes - What'd I Say
26. Ronnie Spector - You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory
27. The Ronettes - Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love
28. The Detroit Cobras - He Did It
29. The Detroit Cobras - Stay Down
30. The Detroit Cobras - Cha Cha Twist

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 22 file to download/stream the episode.

Revolution Rock: The 2021 Interviews & Show # 917

This year on Revolution Rock, the program featured eleven different interviews. Eight were audio based interviews that aired on the show and three were done through email specifically for this website. On this episode we featured highlights (or clips) from each of the audio interviews and music from each of the artists that were interviewed, whether it was for the radio program or for this website. Below you will find some info about these interviews plus the playlist and download/streaming links to the episode.

An Interview with Richard Hell (February 2021): 

In February 2021, as part of Revolution Rock’s annual theme month programming we spoke with New York punk icon Richard Hell. Known as one of the originators and pioneers during the early days of New York punk, Hell quit the music world in 1984 to focus on writing, only reappearing a few times on some music projects. Having co-founded Television, being one of the original members of The Heartbreakers (featuring Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls), Hell formed Richard Hell & The Voidoids in 1976 and released their debut album, Blank Generation in 1977. Hell’s look and aesthetic would go on as a template for punk music that would influence others, most notably The Sex Pistols, who in turn would influence their own music scene. The Voidoids first album is seen as a classic, with its title track still sounding as vital and thought provoking today. In 1982, he released the often misunderstood Destiny Street. The album has a long history, which Richard goes into detail about in the interview. It was reissued in 2021 as Destiny Street Complete via Omnivore Recordings. The set contains four versions of the album, along with a few outtakes. The original 1982 version remastered, the 2009 Destiny Street Repaired version, a newly remixed version of Destiny Street and a collection of demos that show early and different versions of the songs that would make up this album. Destiny Street Complete re-establishes the great moments of Destiny Street for everyone to hear. Richard Hell is an author, poet, musician and actor. In this interview Richard Hell covers the time period making Destiny Street, parts of his writing career and influences, along with his songwriting process in the Voidoids and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Patrick Flegel (of Cindy Lee/Women) & Michael Wallace (of Preoccupations/Women) (February 2021):

As part of a special program focusing on the 10th anniversary of Calgary band Women’s second and final album Public Strain we spoke with vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Patrick Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace. Recorded in the span of ten months in the dead of winter in Calgary by Chad VanGaalen, Public Strain explored more post punk sounds, often darker and more jarring, but at the same time there is something strangely beautiful that permeates this record. The album received widespread critical acclaim, eventually being long listed on the nominees for the Polaris Prize in 2011. Women toured heavily from 2008-2009. They also toured in support of Public Strain, but that tour was cut short in October 2010. Following a show that occurred in October 2010 in Victoria BC, Women stopped playing as a band. The band members went their separate ways. Bassist Matthew Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace went on to form the band Viet Cong (before changing their name to Preoccupations), guitarist/vocalist Patrick Flegel would continue creating music eventually creating music as Cindy Lee and Christopher Reimer joined the band The Dodos as their touring guitarist while collaborating and creating music until he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly in 2012. In these exclusive interviews Patrick talks about creating the music with Women for Public Strain, his influences as well as recording and performing as Cindy Lee. Michael Wallace, gives his own account of the sessions, recording with Chad VanGaalen and the moments leading up to the album, joining the band Women, Preoccupatons beginnings as well as plans for their next album. 

Listen to the full interviews here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Chad VanGaalen (March 2021):

Chad VanGaalen released World’s Most Stressed Out Gardner in 2021 on Sub Pop and Flemish Eye Records. The music that he creates while it is sometimes folk, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes indie rock, sometimes strange, is really its own thing. The universe in which the songs of Chad VanGaalen belong is a strange, wonderful, kind of messed up, cosmic place at times. As we enter these worlds we find ourselves absorbed by the sounds and stories that he produces. World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is eclectic and offers more variety musically than ever before on one of his albums, but still has the same feel of the best of Chad VanGaalen’s work. In the interview Chad discusses how the album was created and altered when he came up with the song “Samurai Sword” just before the album was set to be printed, working on songs and recording. He also discusses his time recording Women’s Public Strain and working with members of the band on their first two albums, buying stuff of Kijiji, gardening and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Chris Murdoch (April 2021):

Halifax musician, DJ and writer Chris Murdoch released the full-length debut album Collapse with his band Souvenir in April of 2021. This followed 2020, Beating into Dust EP. In 2020, we also spoke with Chris for this website through email to discuss his music history playing in bands and Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer. Black Dots is an eight-page essay is somewhere in between a zine and pamphlet that also includes exclusive illustrations done by graphic designer/musician Raymond Biesinger. Inside over the course of 2800 words, Chris Murdoch covers his own experiences being a musician and attending shows in Halifax along with information about when Black first met punk in the UK and US. It was released through the Pentagon Black label in Montreal and over $3000 was donated to Black Lives Matter Solidarity Fund Nova Scotia from its sales. Souvenir is a band out of Halifax, Nova Scotia featuring bassist/vocalist Lachie MacDonald (Tom Fun Orchestra, Great Plains, Dyscontrol), guitarist/vocalist Dave Banoub (Jon Hynes) and Chris Murdoch on drums/vocals (Word On The Street, Weekend Dads, Outtacontroller). Produced by Charles Austin (Outtacontroller, Future Girls) out of Ocean Floor Studios in Halifax, Collapse is the debut full-length album from Souvenir. With all three members contributing vocals and songs, Collapse features nine songs and album cover artwork by illustrator Raymond Biesinger. In the interview Chris talks about the recording and writing process that the band went through to create Collapse, politics in punk and more. 

 Listen to the full interview here:

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An Interview with Paul Jacobs (May 2021):

Montreal musician Paul Jacobs latest release Pink Dogs On The Green Grass was released via Blow The Fuse Records in 2021. With just thirteen tracks, this album follows 2020’s outtakes/demo collection Portrait of George (Demo & Songs I Forgot About) and 2018’s EASY. Already having several albums in his discography (and two releases as part of post punk group Pottery), Pink Dogs On The Green Grass shows Paul Jacobs branching out by finding a new way of approaching his music. Musically, references have been made to Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, early Beck, but you can also hear the influence of 60s psychedelia and bands such as The Byrds and Lou Reed. Lyrically, Jacobs words are at times surreal. They are sometimes about different characters or observations and often take on cryptic meanings. While some have said that the lyrics reveal unwanted moments that stick with you, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is much more than that. In the interview Paul talks about recording his new album, illustrating the videos for this album, who Bobby is from Pottery’s Bobby’s Motel album, David Lynch and more. 

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Mark Arm & Steve Turner of Mudhoney (August 2021):

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is the second full-length album from Seattle’s Mudhoney. An expanded 30th anniversary edition was released by Sub Pop in 2021 featuring demos, outtakes and non-album tracks. Originally released on July 26th, 1991, the album shipped 50,000 copies when it was originally released. Just a few months later, Nirvana’s Nevermind would be released and the whole musical landscape would change. Prior to being recorded, Mudhoney recorded five tracks with producer Jack Endino (who also produced their Superfuzz Bigmuff EP and the Mudhoney album) in a 24-track studio. Unhappy with the results, guitarist Steve Turner pushed for a change of direction. Liking the results of Conrad Uno’s 8-track recording studio called Egg Studios on the Thrillsphere album by Tacoma, Washington’s Girl Trouble, the band decided to record a selection of punk covers with Uno to see what it would sound like recording there. Several of these songs came out on singles or on compilation albums, but not all of them. In spring of 1991, Mudhoney began recording Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. On this album Mudhoney switches their focus embracing 60s garage influences such as The Sonics, Lollipop Shoppe, Neil Young, Spacemen 3, post hardcore, 80s hardcore and the sounds of bands such as Zounds and Hawkwind. In the interview Mark Arm & Steve Turner of Mudhoney talk about making the 1991 album, being in an unaired TV pilot for Fox, the influence of The Wipers, fuzz pedals and more. 

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Matt Ellis (May 2021):

Hamilton musician Matt Ellis has played in many different bands such as The Vapids, Flesh Rag and PlasticHeads. Usually on guitar, Matt recorded a series of Ramones inspired EPs in 2020 at his home where he played all of the instrumentation. All of the proceeds from these releases went towards different non-profit organizations in Toronto and Hamilton. Following a remix, the addition of real drums provided by Jimmy Vapid of The Vapids, Curtis Tone from PlasticHeads and two new tracks, Full Moon Fever was released on vinyl at the end of February 2021 on Surfin Ki Records. With an obvious Ramones influence, the songs that make up Full Moon Fever pull from the Dee Dee Ramone penned catalogue of Ramones tracks with a dash of The Spits, DBOY and Seattle band HEAD. At 18 tracks, none of the songs on Full Moon Fever go past the two-minute mark. Running through themes of isolation, frustration, boredom and escapism, Full Moon Fever delves into a manic dynamic of punk rock and suburban paranoia. Ellis released an album with another band called Anxious Pleasers on cassette that featured members of Hamilton band TV Freaks. In January 2021, he released a new digital single titled Everything Sucks. Matt Ellis did an exclusive Q&A for this website covering his music influences/history, the making of Full Moon Fever, guitars and his favourite Ramones albums. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with Shawn McDonald (June 2021):

London, Ontario musician Shawn McDonald has been involved in numerous rock bands over the years. In 2021, he made several albums from his discography with different bands he’s been in available digitally for the first time. One of his earlier bands, Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit released the album Hollandays digitally. It was a lost, previously unreleased album. In addition to this album he made other albums from this band available through Bandcamp and other streaming services. In 2018, 2 was released by the band Baby Giant. Baby Giant is made up of musicians Shawn McDonald and Tim McDonald. The band started out around 2017 to record a collection of reworked/reimagined songs in commemoration of an earlier band that the McDonald’s had been in called Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit (that album is called Grassy Magic). Being in numerous bands such as The Fine Print, Dragsville, Hurricane & Able and many others Shawn McDonald really showcases his songwriting abilities on 2, both on his own and in collaboration with Tim McDonald. The album was recorded by Tim McDonald (credited as King Woobs). Shawn McDonald did a Q&A for this website covering the writing of several songs in Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit, some of the bands he has played/recorded with and what he is currently working on. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with Neil Jarvis (July 2021):

Perhaps best known as being in the Manchester band Sprinters, Get The Band Back Together is the third solo album released by Neil Jarvis. Prior to this Sprinters released two excellent albums, 2017’s Sprinters and 2019’s Struck Gold. Neil’s earlier solo albums were recorded the same way as this one was, on a 4-track cassette recorder. Weekends (2012) and Halloween Summer (2014) featured lo-fi, psych/surf influenced sounds that were sometimes experimental. Get The Band Back Together is more acoustic based, but it still features the sometimes haunting nostalgic feeling that is present throughout all of Neil’s songs. Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder during lockdown in April 2020-June 2021, Get The Back Band Together takes Jarvis’ earlier tried and true method of recording/writing songs, but adds a sense of maturity and poignancy that sets this collection of songs apart from both Sprinters and his earlier work. Neil Did a Q&A for this website where he covers recording and releasing an album during the pandemic, the influence of musician David Berman and some of his earlier solo releases. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with The Garrys (October 2021): 

Get Thee To A Nunnery is the fourth full-length album by Saskatoon’s The Garrys. This three-piece sister trio features Erica Maier (guitar/vocals), Julie Maier (bass/vocals) and Lenore Maier (drums/vocals). They first started appearing on underground music radar with 2017’s Surf Manitou, which brought their prairie inspired surf dynamics and combined them with folk-like tales of Manitou Beach, SK, a family vacation spot that the Maier’s visited when younger. In 2020, The Garrys released their score to the 1922 silent film Haxan:Witchcraft Through The Ages, which was performed and recorded live as the film played in a theatre. They describe their music as “dreamy blood harmony surf rock doom-wop on morphine.” Get Thee To A Nunnery has been getting critical acclaim appearing on Bandcamp Daily, other sites and charting on the Earshot Top 50 Album Charts across campus radio in Canada. Revolution Rock spoke with Erica, Julie and Lenore Maier of The Garrys. In the interview they discuss their formation, recording/writing songs for Get Thee To A Nunnery, working with Dallas Good as producer, doing the live soundtrack to Haxan:Witchcraft Through The Ages and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

Show 917: The 2021 Interviews Playlist:

1. Richard Hell - Kid With The Replaceable Head  (Remastered) (Destiny Street Complete - Omnivore Recordings - 2021)

RICHARD HELL INTERVIEW CLIP

2. Richard Hell - Ignore That Door (Remixed)  (Destiny Street Complete - Omnivore Recordings - 2021)
3. Women - Narrow With The Hall (Public Strain - Flemish Eye - 2010/2020)

PATRICK FLEGEL (OF CINDY LEE/WOMEN) INTERVIEW CLIP

4. Cindy Lee - Love Remains (Cat O’Nine Tails - CCQSK Records - 2020)
5. Women - Everyone Is So In Love With You (Rarities 2007-2010 - Flemish Eye - 2020)

MICHAEL WALLACE (OF PREOCCUPATIONS/WOMEN) INTERVIEW CLIP

6. Preoccupations - Monotony (Preoccupations - Jagjaguwar/Flemish Eye - 2006)
7. Chad VanGaalen - Starlight (World's Most Stressed Out Gardener - Sub Pop/Flemish Eye - 2021)

CHAD VANGAALEN INTERVIEW CLIP

8. Souvenir - Ransom (Collapse - 2021)

CHRIS MURDOCH (OF SOUVENIR) INTERVIEW CLIP

9. Souvenir - Holding Pattern (Collapse - 2021)
10. Paul Jacobs - Half Rich Longer (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021)

PAUL JACOBS INTERVIEW CLIP

11. Paul Jacobs - The Telephone (Revisited) (Story About Anything EP - 2018)
12. Mudhoney - Into The Drink (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (30th Anniversary Edition) - Sub Pop - 2021)

MARK ARM & STEVE TURNER (OF MUDHONEY) INTERVIEW CLIP

13. Matt Ellis - Flowers In The Moonlight (Full Moon Fever - Surfing Ki Records - 2021)
14. Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - A-Jam (Hollandays - 2021)
15. Baby Giant - Japan (2 - 2018)
16. Neil Jarvis - Get The Band Back Together (Get The Band Back Together - On The Grind Records - 2021)
17. The Garrys - Devil’s Dip (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)

ERICA, JULIE & LENORE MAIER (OF THE GARRYS) INTERVIEW CLIP

18. The Garrys - In The Dawn (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 15 file to download/stream the episode.

2021 Album Highlights & Shows # 917, 916

For our annual albums of the year episodes, Revolution Rock once again did not rank any of the albums with any specific number. The following selections for the two episodes posted here feature a mix of albums from 2021 in no specific order, but all of them were albums that we enjoyed. Below you will also find six write-ups from albums that were released in 2021, three written by Dave and three written by Adam. Following these words are playlists and download/listening links to two episodes featuring music released in 2021.

2021 Album Highlights:
Written by Dave Konstantino

Paul Jacobs - Pink Dogs On The Green Grass

Paul Jacobs latest release is Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is out via Blow The Fuse Records. With just thirteen tracks, this album follows 2020’s outtakes/demo collection Portrait of George (Demo & Songs I Forgot About) and 2018’s EASY. Already having several albums in his discography (and two releases as part of post punk group Pottery), Pink Dogs On The Green Grass shows Paul Jacobs branching out by finding a new way of approaching his music. Musically, references have been made to Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, early Beck, but you can also hear the influence of 60s psychedelia and bands such as The Byrds and Lou Reed. Lyrically, Jacobs words are at times surreal. They are sometimes about different characters or observations and often take on cryptic meanings. While some have said that the lyrics reveal unwanted moments that stick with you, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is much more than that. With Pink Dogs On The Green Grass, Paul Jacobs reveals that the grass sometimes turns yellow on the other side and that sometimes the green grass can be found in the every day moments we find ourselves in. 

The Garrys – Get Thee To A Nunnery

Get Thee To A Nunnery is the fourth full-length album by Saskatoon’s The Garrys. This three-piece sister trio features Erica Maier (guitar/vocals), Julie Maier (bass/vocals) and Lenore Maier (drums/vocals). They first started appearing on underground music radar with 2017’s Surf Manitou, which brought their prairie inspired surf dynamics and combined them with folk-like tales of Manitou Beach, SK, a family vacation spot that the Maier’s visited when younger. They also sung of sea monsters that lurked those parts. In 2020, The Garrys released their score to the 1922 silent film Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages, which was performed and recorded live as the film played in a theatre. They describe their music as “dreamy blood harmony surf rock doom-wop on morphine.” Surf, psychedelia, doo-wop, garage and cinematic sounds of composers such as Ennino Morricone influence the music, but it is so much more than that description. Produced by Dallas Good of the Sadies, Get Thee To A Nunnery presents The Garrys capturing that nostalgic feeling that they do so well, that exists both in the past and the present, as it questions topics relating to family roots in Saskatchewan, isolation and decay of rural life, worldviews and faith in different generations and oppression. It doesn’t just address the past saying everything is great because that isn’t how it was. While also taking influence from Shakepeare’s Hamlet, Get Thee To A Nunnery goes further in The Garrys’ songwriting abilities. It explores new and old themes placing them in larger contexts that drift out beyond the borders that we once knew.

Chad VanGaalen – World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener

World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is the follow up to Chad VanGaalen’s 2017 album Light Information. If we are counting the two outtake albums that were released in 2020 (Odds & Sods 2, Lost Harmonies), it is his ninth studio album. Released in March 2021, World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is an eclectic collection of songs from VanGaalen. The music that he creates while it is sometimes folk, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes indie rock, sometimes strange, is really its own thing. The universe in which the songs of Chad VanGaalen belong is a strange, wonderful, kind of messed up, cosmic place at times. As we enter these worlds we find ourselves absorbed by the sounds and stories that he produces. World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener offers more variety musically than ever before on one of his albums, but still has the same feel of the best of Chad VanGaalen’s work. Like his illustrations and animations, the songs that Chad VanGaalen creates capture a sense of something of the unknown, the otherworldly, visually and sonically. With World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, Chad VanGaalen digs deep to show us a world that is dark, multifaceted and sonically captivating.

More 2021 Album Highlights:
Written by Adam Peltier

The Weather Station – Ignorance

Tamara Lindeman's past albums have displayed keen observations into human relationships, but her latest offering shifts the songwriter's insights to the relationship between people and the world around them. It would belittle Ignorance to think of it only as a “climate change” album; its exploration of complex themes and the intricacies existing between personal and ecology trauma refuse such a simple interpretation. Take the opener “Robber” - it may be about man-made environmental devastation, but it also evokes ideas of colonialism, capitalism, and meritocracy. However, there is no denying Lindeman's identification with nature on this album, from the pleading “Wear” to the cathartic closer “Subdivisions.” There is an artfulness to how Lindeman handles such themes, which in the wrong hands could be ham-fisted or pedantic. Instead, she offers an emotional vulnerability to her performance and lyrics, while never falling into fragility. In fact, the Weather Station has never sounded more confident or emboldened than on this record. Part of the album's charm is easily the band Lindeman assembled, whose performance incorporates elements of folk, baroque pop, and jazz, a combination which has led to many mid-70's Joni Mitchell comparisons. Certainly, Ignorance shares a lot of the warmth of albums like Court & Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns, but distinguishes itself through its propulsive grooves and the immediacy of its lyrics. Rather than wallow in the environmental collapse of our world, Ignorance offers a passionate response to the societal apathy (and “ignorance”) that has led us down this path.

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg

“Do everything feeling nothing.” Is there a greater distillation of how 2021 felt than this line? Florence Shaw's deadpan intonation is the perfect vessel to deliver this and the dozens of other quotable lyrics on New Long Leg, the debut album from the much hyped UK band Dry Cleaning. Unlike majority of other great white hopes touted by the British music press, Dry Cleaning delivered not only a solid album of grunge-tinged post-punk, but introduced the world to one of rock's most understated intense performers in Shaw. Her laconic delivery and dry observations imbue her lyrics with a mixture of dread and humour, reflecting the burned-out ennui felt by so many during the thick of these late-era capitalist pandemic years. Whether riffing on casual misogyny, Brexit, or eating Twix, Shaw should go down as one of the most unique and timely voices of the year.

Black Country, New Road - For the First Time

Long-associated tour mates of black MIDI (another band who released a fantastic album this year), the debut album by Black Country, New Road offered a breath of fresh air to the often hegemonic world of post-rock. While comparisons can be made to recent releases from Swans or Slint (who are name-checked on the track “Science Fair”), For the First Time is also indebted to klezmer music, free jazz, and noise. There probably isn't a greater crescendo this year than on the track “Sunglasses,” while the reserve of “Track X” shows the band also knows how to wring intensity from quieter compositions. Black Country, New Road have given listeners one of the most eclectic guitar rock releases of the year, and with a forthcoming sophomore album promised for 2022, continue to entice fans with wonders of where their sound will go next.

Show 916 (Originally Aired On January 8th, 2022)(Albums of 2022 Part Two):

1. King Khan Unlimited - Narcissist (Opiate Them Asses - Bargain Bin Records - 2021)
2. Visibly Choked - Third Time’s The Charm (Visibly Choked EP - Mothland - 2021)
3. La Luz - Watching Cartoons (La Luz - Hardly Art - 2021)
4. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney – My Popsicle (Superwolves - Drag City Records- 2021)
5. Snail Mail – Automate (Valentine - Matador Records - 2021)
6. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – OK Idicts (Theory of Ice - You've Changed Records - 2021)
7. The Weather Station – Robber (Ignorance - Fat Possum - 2021)
8. black midi – John L (Cavalcade - Rough Trade - 2021)
9. Black Country, New Road – Sunglasses aka The Guest (For the First Time - Ninja Tune - 2021)
10. Motorists - Surrounded (Surrounded - We Are Time - 2021)
11. TUNS - Double Down (Duly Noted - Murder Records - 2021)
12. Anxious Pleasers - Suck (Anxious Pleasers - Neon Taste Records - 2021)
13. Mononegatives - Living In The Age (Apparatus Division - Big Neck Records - 2021)
14. Jesse Fellows - Mail Bomb (The Four Oranges EP - 2021)
15. Ty Segall - Waxman (Harmonizer - Drag City Records - 2021)
16. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Fire at Static Valley (G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! - Constellation Records - 2021)
17. Low – Days Like These (HEY WHAT - Sub Pop - 2021)
18. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Hand of God (Carnage - Goliath Records - 2021)
19. Chad VanGaalen - Nightwaves (The World's Most Stressed Out Gardener - Sub Pop/Flemish Eye Records - 2021)
20. Parquet Courts - Homo Sapien (Sympathy For Life - Rough Trade - 2021)
21. The Garrys - Sintatula (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)
22. Viagra Boys -Ain’t Nice (Welfare Jazz - Year0001- 2021)
23. Paul Jacobs - Day to Day (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021)
24. Paul Jacobs - Your Last Words (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021) 

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Show 915 (Originally Aired On January 1st, 2022)(Albums of 2022 Part One):

1. Dry Cleaning – Scratchcard Lanyard (New Long Leg - 4AD - 2021)
2. illuminati hotties – Knead (Let Me Do One More - Hopeless Records - 2021)
3. Julie Doiron – The Letters We Sent (I Thought of You - You've Changed Records - 2021)
4. Andy Shauf - Spanish On The Beach (Wilds - Anti- - 2021)
5. Courtney Barnett - Sunfair Sundown (Things Take Time, Take Time - Mom + Pop - 2021)
6. Bill Jr. Jr. - Renaissance Man (Homebody - 2021)
7. Snake River - High Rides (The Lost Album - 2021)
8. Sunshiny Daze - The Night Knows (What The Day Don’t) (Clouds Melt Away - 2021)
9. Neil Jarvis - Time (Get The Band Back Together - On the Grind Records - 2021)
10. Danny Kroha - Come Out The Wilderness (Detroit Blues - Third Man Records - 2021)
11. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Nocturne Child (Cobra Poems - You've Changed Records - 2021)
12. Hot Garbage - Sometimes I Go Down (RIDE - Mothland - 2021)
13. PONY - Couch (TV Baby - Take This To Heart Records - 2021)
14. Souvenir - Circles (Collapse - 2021)
15. Squid – G.S.K. (Bright Green Field - Warp - 2021)
16. Idles – When the Lights Come On (Crawler - Partisan Records - 2021)
17. Iceage – Dear Saint Cecilia (Seek Shelter - Mexican Summer - 2021)
18. Ryley Walker – Axis Bent (Course in Fable - Husky Pants Records - 2021)
19. PRIORS - VideoDrome (My Punishment On Earth - Brain Gum Records - 2021)
20. Wine Lips - Get Your Money (Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party - Stomp Records - 2021)
21. Matt Ellis - My Neighbourhood Is A Dump (Full Moon Fever - Surfing Ki Records - 2021)
22. Amyl & The Sniffers - Security (Comfort To Me - Rough Trade/ATO Records - 2021)
23. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - (Are You) Ready Freddy (Swing From The Sean DeLear EP - In The Red Records - 2021)
24. Packs - Cling Film (Take the Cake - Fire Talk/Royal Mountain Records - 2021)
25. TEKE::TEKE – Barbara (Shirushi - Kill Rock Stars - 2021)
26. Kiwi Jr. - Maid Marian's Toast (Cooler Returns - Sub Pop - 2021)
27. Ducks Ltd. - 'Twas Ever Thus (Modern Fiction - Carpark Records/Royal Mountain Records - 2021) 

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