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 2022 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 2022, 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 2022.
2022 Album Highlights:
Written by David Konstantino
The Sadies - Colder Streams
Colder Streams is the 11th studio album by The Sadies. Produced by Richard Reed Parry and recorded by Pietro Amato in his Montreal studio Skybarn, the album was made between 2019 and 2021. Colder Streams was completed and ready to go prior to the unexpected passing of Dallas Good in February of 2022. The album is the culmination of the decades of the bands work and combines their mixture of country, garage, punk, surf and bluegrass music so seamlessly. Lyrically, the songs dig deep, as The Sadies often do, but there is something special found in the songs here. Songs such as “Stop and Start” brings forth waves psychedelic and fuzzy garage music as lyrics “The sadness comes like a setting sun/The war is won when the fight is done” delve into themes of hope, despair and spirituality. “Message To Belial” points towards bleak, apocalyptic imagery that reflects our modern times while musically the mid-tempo, trippy and psychedelic number is an example The Sadies in their musical element. “More Alone” is a folk/cinematic surf inspired track. It is an intense and lyrically poignant track, as it is believed to be about the passing of friend Justin Townes Earle. With lyrics it goes further “I learned to accept that there’s nothing anyone can say/It hurts me to think about what could have been/And everything that won’t ever be,” “I feel more alone/Then when I’m alone,” and “In this day and age/Rage has become all the Rage,” which also touches on social commentary.
“All The Good” is a folk/Americana track sung by Travis Good. More depth is revealed throughout the lyrics “When I search for answers/Questions are all I find/I wish I knew what I needed to do this time,” “Better Yet” jumps into garage and punk featuring fuzz guitar from Jon Spencer, “Ginger Moon” is an uptempo number, “Cut Up High and Dry” blends garage, psych and bluegrass, while “End Credits” fittingly ends Colder Streams with a moving instrumental in a cinematic, Ennio Morricone-inspired fashion. The Sadies have been a part of the indie and underground music scenes in Canada and throughout other parts of the world for quite some time now. They have often been called “unclassifiable rock” due to the sounds that they create. Colder Streams has been said to be their strongest album to date. It is hard to argue with that since everything found here captures all the best elements of The Sadies live dynamic. With the tragic passing of Dallas Good, Colder Streams serves as a document and an important moment in the bands history as they forge a new path ahead into the future.
Dion Lunadon - Beyond Everything
Beyond Everything is the second full-length album by Dion Lunadon. Previously of The D4 and A Place To Bury Strangers, the album was released via In The Red Records in June 2022. Pulled from a large collection of songs written between 2017 and 2019, Beyond Everything adds more of a dynamic element to Dion’s sound building on components of his 2017 album, while not forgetting them completely. “By My Side” begins with a drumbeat and wild, unhinged guitar sounds. Lyrically the words in the song lend themselves to the interpretative side of things as they rise and waver between the guitars, drums and distortion prevalent throughout the vocals. “It’s The Truth” cuts through with distorted guitar, thrashy sounding drums and a smooth bassline that glues it all together. This untamed injection of garage and psych rock balances itself with lyrics that evoke a feeling of absence that makes the heart grow fonder. “Screw Diver” is one of the longer tracks found on Beyond Everything. With pummeling drums and guitar riffs, the song contrasts this with a calming, yet unnerving vocal melody. “Elastic Diagnostic” is another highlight found on this album. Starting with a fuzzy, driving bassline and the lyric “Hungry just to be alive,” the song builds around the hums and tones conjured by the guitars on this track. As it captivates with its deep spellbinding groove, noise and abstract lyrics “Close my eyes/Get lost in the fall,” the song gets lost in the moment as Lunadon summons up shades of a Fun House-era Iggy Pop vocally. “Glass Doll” attacks with a distorted punk rock fragility as “Too Hard To Love, Too Young To Die” digs into a 60s garage pop meets punk atmosphere. With its repetitive lyrics, use of space and undeniable intensity, lyrically it seems to address a desire to overcome difficult hardships.
The press release for Beyond Everything reads: “Beyond your skin, beyond your screen, beyond what you think you know. What lies in this area? An area with no opinions, motives, sides or divisions. An area where governments and capitalists have no currency and the absolute truth reigns supreme.” The songs that make up this album don’t adhere to any specific theme other than themselves. They illustrate a use of space that only adds to their intensity, melody, noise and overall impact. Beyond Everything resonates in more ways than one.
Ghost Woman - Self-Titled
Ghost Woman’s debut self-titled album was released in July 2022 on UK label Full Time Hobby. The album was recorded, produced and played entirely by musician Evan Uschenko, a Canadian born musician, who for the last while has been a touring musician as part of Michael Rault’s touring band. Touring with the likes of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and Jacco Gardner and Mild High Club, the insight he gained inspired him to create this debut album. Although they did release the Lost Echoes EP in 2016, this album is their first full-length album. Ghost Woman simmers with the embers of 60s garage nuggets compilation tracks, while at the same time it has a hazy laidback groove that is reminiscent of 60s and 70s music. With references points in the press release such as Kurt Vile and The Black Angels (I’d also add The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, Jefferson Airplane, Can and Jon McKiel), “All the Time” starts off Ghost Woman’s debut album with a hazy kaleidoscope of 60s rock grooves. The listener gets sucked into the song and album as Uschenko’s vocals captivate when combined with lyrics such as “I haven't felt this cold in days/The wind it blew your name away,” and “But I can't get you off my mind/And lately someone's leaving all the time,” the bass groove on “Do You” combined with the psychedelic and 60s early Rolling Stones vibe present on the guitars float within the dynamics found on this album.
Songs such as “Behind Your Eyes” are indebted to The Byrds and garage rock, lyrically the lo-fi hooks in the chorus “But you won’t understand me this time/Not much there behind your eyes” paints a mood and hazy picture that are abstract and haunting, “Dead and Gone” (originally on 2016’s Lost Echoes EP) is a fuzzy, lo-fi uptempo number that drives forward with an incendiary fashion, “Jreaming” is a lackadaisical song. It sounds like the tape was left rolling and this song was captured by accident, the song is unique and entrancing with its hallucinatory lyrics dealing with the complexity for the sense of being free while also being in need. With a second album coming in January 2023 (Anne, If) and live shows, Ghost Woman’s debut is a mosaic of sounds that could be called modern vintage. However, Ghost Woman’s kaleidoscope of hazy musical dynamics leaves the listener in a trance that is fleeting, yet stirring.
Written by Adam Peltier
Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There
Ants from Up There may be the single greatest album about failure ever recorded. Isaac Wood’s intimate lyrics are less poetry than a confessional: personal insecurities, social anxiety, and isolation paint the landscapes of Black Country, New Road’s world. The portraits presented are intimate and yet elliptical: crumbs of toast scattered in a bed are the insidious signs of a relationship’s dissolution; tabletop RPG characters become stand-ins rejecting English nationalism; wet dreams of Charli XCX are portents of masculine insecurity; while a song about messing up cooking while following a YouTube tutorial evokes fears of failure and inadequacy. These probing psychological explorations are propelled by one of 2022’s greatest musical evolutions: the Slint-meets-klezmer band sounds of their debut are completely uprooted, exchanged for lusher chamber pop compositions that evoke the likes of Talk Talk, Sufjan Stevens, and Wolf Parade. There are even nods to pre-rock popular music such as the music hall touches on “Chaos Space Marine” and “Bread Song.” Then there is the band’s use of space on these compositions, which results less in songs than worlds to inhabit (see the masterfully sustained tension on “Snowglobes” or the near-ambient passages of “Good Will Hunting”). While this appears to be Isaac Wood’s last album with the band he helped to found, he is leaving on a high note, with Ants from Up There acting us Black Country, New Road’s magnum opus.
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
In a year of incredible double albums, none seemed as sprawling or as satisfying as Big Thief’s whimsically titled Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. The album acts as a revelation in many ways. We see Big Thief eke away from their usual somber bleary-eyed folk to embrace noisy indie rock, country sing-alongs, orchestral pop, and rhythmic trip hop. Yet the even bigger reveal is just how fun the band can be. Sure, Adrianne Lenker still can break your heart and make you weep on the more intimate cuts, but tracks like “Spud Infinity” and “Blue Lightning” are just plain fun, complete with non-sense lyrics and in-between band banter. This is the sound of a group letting their hair down, taking their selves slightly less seriously, and coming across all the better for it. There is nary a dud across these twenty songs, and the overall experience shows Big Thief to be more than just another maudlin indie folk act: this astonishing turn shows the band to be one of the most versatile and ambitious acts working today.
black midi - Hellfire
Jazz-rock. Prog-punk. Baroque-noise. There are a dozen labels one could cast on black midi, each feeling somewhat right yet ultimately off. The greatest compliment to pay a band these days is to admit nothing else quite sounds like them, and while there are elements of Scott Walker, Captain Beefheart, and King Crimson in the London trio’s sound, there is no mistaking the group for anyone else. Like the shifting visceral hellscape of the album cover, Hellfire’s sound is constantly in flux. This Heat style postpunk breaks down into Jacque Brel theatrics. Laser focused punk rhythms morph into acid jazz. Geordie Greep’s vocals threaten to shift from wavering baritone to barked shrieks at a moment’s notice. The album’s a constant reminder that, hey buddy, don’t get too comfortable: everything changes, nothing is free from mutability. Considering the comfort we seek in the assurance of patterns and predictability, it only makes sense that black midi compose a hell from an ever shifting wasteland. Yet give yourself over to it, embrace the pull of the flux, and you may find the hellfire not too bad to drift in. For all it offers, and all the album refuses to do, Hellfire is one of the most startling and original works of the year.
Show 965 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 17th, 2022) (Best of 2022 Albums Part Two):
1. The Chats - Ticket Inspector (Get Fucked - Bargain Bin Records - 2022)
2. Osees - Funeral Solution (A Foul Form - Castle Face - 2022)
3. Fruit Tones - Don’t Speak A Language (Pink Wafer Factory - Alien Snatch Records - 2022)
4. Fake Palms - Visions (Lemons - Hand Drawn Dracula - 2022)
5. Susans - Nine (Susans - Painters Tapes/Tedious Medium - 2022)
6. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Magnificent Hurt (The Boy Named If - EMI/Capitol Records - 2022)
7. Fontaines D.C. – Jackie Down the Line (Skinty Fia - Partisan/Rough Trade - 2022)
8. White Lung – Date Night (Premonition - Domino Recording Co. Ltd. - 2022)
9. Kamikaze Nurse – Boom Josie (Stimuloso - Sub Pop - 2022)
1. The Chats - Ticket Inspector (Get Fucked - Bargain Bin Records - 2022)
2. Osees - Funeral Solution (A Foul Form - Castle Face - 2022)
3. Fruit Tones - Don’t Speak A Language (Pink Wafer Factory - Alien Snatch Records - 2022)
4. Fake Palms - Visions (Lemons - Hand Drawn Dracula - 2022)
5. Susans - Nine (Susans - Painters Tapes/Tedious Medium - 2022)
6. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Magnificent Hurt (The Boy Named If - EMI/Capitol Records - 2022)
7. Fontaines D.C. – Jackie Down the Line (Skinty Fia - Partisan/Rough Trade - 2022)
8. White Lung – Date Night (Premonition - Domino Recording Co. Ltd. - 2022)
9. Kamikaze Nurse – Boom Josie (Stimuloso - Sub Pop - 2022)
10. Dumb – Gibberish (Pray 4 Us - Mint Records - 2022)
11. Soul Glo – Thumbsucker (Diaspora Problems - Epitaph Records - 2022)
12. Animal Collective – Dragon Slayer (Time Skiffs - Domino Records - 2022)
13. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Gettin’ to the Point (Reset - Domino Recording Co. Ltd. - 2022)
11. Soul Glo – Thumbsucker (Diaspora Problems - Epitaph Records - 2022)
12. Animal Collective – Dragon Slayer (Time Skiffs - Domino Records - 2022)
13. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Gettin’ to the Point (Reset - Domino Recording Co. Ltd. - 2022)
14. Cate Le Bon – Harbour (Pompeii - Mexican Summer - 2022)
15. The Burning Hell - Birdwatching (Garbage Island - You've Changed Records - 2022)
16. Steven Lambke - Sea Level (Volcano, Volcano - You've Changed Records - 2022)
15. The Burning Hell - Birdwatching (Garbage Island - You've Changed Records - 2022)
16. Steven Lambke - Sea Level (Volcano, Volcano - You've Changed Records - 2022)
17. Status/Non Status - When They Were (Surely Travel - You've Changed Records - 2022)
18. Tim Swaddling - Real Gone (Manifests - 2022)
19. Juliana Riolino - Why Do I Miss You (All Blue - You've Changed Records - 2022)
19. Juliana Riolino - Why Do I Miss You (All Blue - You've Changed Records - 2022)
20. Kevin Morby - Disappearing (This is a Photograph - Dead Oceans - 2022)
21. The Paranoyds - Lizzie (Talk Talk Talk - Third Man Records - 2022)
22. Black Angels - History of the Future (Wilderness of Mirrors - Partisan Records - 2022)
23. The Volebeats - You Get Closer (Lonesome Galaxy - Mad Bunny Records - 2022)
24. Ghost Woman - All the Time (Ghost Woman - Full Time Hobby - 2022)
25. The Sadies - Ginger Moon (Colder Streams - Dine Alone Records/Yep Roc Records - 2022)
26. Aldous Harding – Tick Tock (Warm Chris - 4AD/Flying Nun Records - 2022)
27. Alex G – Runner (God Save the Animals - Domino Recording Co. Ltd. - 2022)
21. The Paranoyds - Lizzie (Talk Talk Talk - Third Man Records - 2022)
22. Black Angels - History of the Future (Wilderness of Mirrors - Partisan Records - 2022)
23. The Volebeats - You Get Closer (Lonesome Galaxy - Mad Bunny Records - 2022)
24. Ghost Woman - All the Time (Ghost Woman - Full Time Hobby - 2022)
25. The Sadies - Ginger Moon (Colder Streams - Dine Alone Records/Yep Roc Records - 2022)
26. Aldous Harding – Tick Tock (Warm Chris - 4AD/Flying Nun Records - 2022)
27. Alex G – Runner (God Save the Animals - Domino Recording Co. Ltd. - 2022)
28. Yves Jarvis – Bootstrap Jubilee (The Zug - You've Changed Records - 2022)
29. Wilco – Mystery Binds (Cruel Country - dBpm Records - 2022)
29. Wilco – Mystery Binds (Cruel Country - dBpm Records - 2022)
Show 964 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 10th, 2022) (Albums of 2022 Part One):
1. Alvvays – Pomeranian Spinster (Blue Rev - Polyvinyl - 2022)
2. Wet Leg – Supermarket (Wet Leg - Domino Records - 2022)
3. Beach House – Once Twice Melody (Once Twice Melody - Mistletoe Records - 2022)
4. Angel Olsen – Big Time (Big Time - Jagjaguwar - 2022)
5. Big Thief – Blue Lightening (Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You - 4AD - 2022)
6. Ty Segall - Over (Hello, Hi - Drag City Records - 2022)
7. Big Rig - Crying in a Corn Maze (Big Rig - Peaceful Tapes - 2022)
8. Bloodshot Bill - Spitfire (Songs From The Sludge - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2022)
9. Apollo Ghosts - Acid Jenny (Pink Tiger - You've Changed Records - 2022)
10. By Divine Right - Fuzzy Empires (Otto Motto - Fortune Stellar Records - 2022)
11. Wolfmanhattan Project - H Hour (Summer Forever and Ever - In The Red Records - 2022)
12. Jon Spencer & the HITmakers - Push Comes to Shove (Spencer Gets It Lit! - In The Red Records - 2022)
13. Dry Cleaning - Conservative Hell (Stumpwork - 4AD - 2022)
14. black midi – Welcome to Hell (Hellfire - Rough Trade Records - 2022)
15. Destroyer – Tintoretto, It’s For You (Labyrnthitis - Merge Records - 2022)
16. The Smile – We Don't Know Tomorrow Brings (A Light for Attracting Attention - XL Recordings - 2022)
17. Black Country, New Road – Good Will Hunting (Ants from Up There - Ninja Tune - 2022)
18. Preoccupations - Slowly (Arrangements - Flemish Eye - 2022)
19. Viagra Boys - Punk Rock Loser (Cave World - Year0001 - 2022)
20. CLAMM - Monday (Care - Chapter Music - 2022)
21. Dion Lunadon - Living and Dying With You (Beyond Everything - In The Red Records - 2022)
22. Weird Nightmare - Lusitania (Weird Nightmare - Sub Pop - 2022)
23. Sloan - Dream It All Over Again (Steady - Murder Records - 2022)
24. Kiwi Jr. - Parasite II (Chopper - Sub Pop Records - 2022)
25. Weak Signal - Spooky Feeling (War&War - 2022)
26. Baby Giant - Brightside (All Day Dreaming - 2022)
8. Bloodshot Bill - Spitfire (Songs From The Sludge - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2022)
9. Apollo Ghosts - Acid Jenny (Pink Tiger - You've Changed Records - 2022)
10. By Divine Right - Fuzzy Empires (Otto Motto - Fortune Stellar Records - 2022)
11. Wolfmanhattan Project - H Hour (Summer Forever and Ever - In The Red Records - 2022)
12. Jon Spencer & the HITmakers - Push Comes to Shove (Spencer Gets It Lit! - In The Red Records - 2022)
13. Dry Cleaning - Conservative Hell (Stumpwork - 4AD - 2022)
14. black midi – Welcome to Hell (Hellfire - Rough Trade Records - 2022)
15. Destroyer – Tintoretto, It’s For You (Labyrnthitis - Merge Records - 2022)
16. The Smile – We Don't Know Tomorrow Brings (A Light for Attracting Attention - XL Recordings - 2022)
17. Black Country, New Road – Good Will Hunting (Ants from Up There - Ninja Tune - 2022)
18. Preoccupations - Slowly (Arrangements - Flemish Eye - 2022)
19. Viagra Boys - Punk Rock Loser (Cave World - Year0001 - 2022)
20. CLAMM - Monday (Care - Chapter Music - 2022)
21. Dion Lunadon - Living and Dying With You (Beyond Everything - In The Red Records - 2022)
22. Weird Nightmare - Lusitania (Weird Nightmare - Sub Pop - 2022)
23. Sloan - Dream It All Over Again (Steady - Murder Records - 2022)
24. Kiwi Jr. - Parasite II (Chopper - Sub Pop Records - 2022)
25. Weak Signal - Spooky Feeling (War&War - 2022)
26. Baby Giant - Brightside (All Day Dreaming - 2022)
JSD 2022 (Show # 966)
Every December 22nd, CJAM FM holds a 24-hour radio marathon entitled Joe Strummer Day. Its purpose is to confront poverty and homelessness in the Windsor/Detroit area all wrapped around the music of Joe Strummer and The Clash. This year featured an astonishing and revealing amount of interviews addressing concerns in the area by CJAM station manager Walter Petrichyn, but it also featured some great music and other interview programs (many of them combined interviews and programs about poverty and homelessness related issues with music. Some were just music). For Revolution Rock we decided to do a program that was mainly a music program, but one that also brought up different places in Windsor for people in need during this time of year. We called the program Time and The Tide. Named after the B-Side to the Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros single Tony Adams and also found on the newly released Joe Strummer 002 box set. We featured a selection of tracks from this new box set in addition to some rare Clash live recordings featuring Keith Levene in 1976, bands associated with The Clash and some Clash/Joe Strummer covers.
Find the full schedule here and a link to Revolution Rock’s episode below the playlist.
JSD 2022 Playlist (Originally Aired December 22nd, 2022)(Covers, The Clash w/Keith Levene, Joe Strummer 002):
1. Thee Mighty Caesars – 1977 (Caesars Remains - Hangman Records - 1992)
2. Catbite – White Riot (Catbite/Omnigone split - Bad Time Records - 2020)
3. Babyshambles & friends – Janie Jones (Strummerville - B-Unique Records - 2006)
4. The Kowalskis – Complete Control (Backlash - Tribute To The Clash - Dwell Records - 1999)
5. The Clash - I Know What To Think of You (Live at the 100 Club 08.31.1976)
6. The Clash - I Never Did It Live at the 100 Club 08.31.1976)
7. The Clash - How Can I Understand the Flies Live at the 100 Club 08.31.1976)
8. The Clash - Mark Me Absent Live at the 100 Club 08.31.1976)
9. The Clash - Deadly Serious (Dig A Hole) Live at the 100 Club 08.31.1976)
10. The Joy Zippers – Hitsville UK (White Riot Vol. Two (A Tribute To The Clash) - Uncut - 2003)
11. Lucinda Williams – Straight to Hell [live] (A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer - 2020)
12. The Sparks – We Are the Clash (White Riot Vol. Two (A Tribute To The Clash) - Uncut - 2003)
13. Steel Leg V The Electric Dread - Haile Unlikely by the Electric Dread (Steel Leg V The Electric Dread - Virgin Records - 1978)
14. Big Audio Dynamite - V.Thirteen (No. 10 Upping St - CBS/Columbia - 1986)
15. Joe Strummer - When Pigs Fly (Joe Strummer 001 - Ignition Records - 2018/When Pigs Fly Soundtrack - 1993)
16. Joe Strummer - Junco Partner (Acoustic) (Assembly - Dark Horse Records - 2020)
17. Joe Strummer - Outta Space (Permanent Record Outtakes - 1988)
18. Joe Strummer - X-Ray Style (Demo) (Joe Strummer 002 - Dark Horse Records - 2022)
19. Joe Strummer - Time and the Tide (Joe Strummer 002 - Dark Horse Records - 2022)
20. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Get Down Moses (Outtake) (Joe Strummer 002 - Dark Horse Records - 2022)
21. Kensington Hillbilly’s - London Calling (The Crooked Beat - 2012)
22. The Hold Steady – Washington Bullets (A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer - 2020)
23. Jeff Tweedy – Death or Glory (A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer - 2020)
24. The National – Clampdown (White Riot Vol. Two (A Tribute To The Clash) - Uncut - 2003)
25. Johnny West – Bankrobber (Bankrobber - 2010)
