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2019 (Before I forget)


2019 (Before I forget)


2019

Records I Like the Most  Released in 2019:
Wives - So Removed @@
Fontaines DC - Dogrel %%
Kate Tempest - The Book of Traps and Lessons ##
Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs ##
Peter Perrett - Human World @@
Mattiel - Satis Factory @@
Tough Shits - Burning in Paradise @@
Felice Brothers - Undress @@
Robert Forster - Inferno ##
Danny Brown -uknowhatimsayin %%



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Records I Like that Lots of Other Know-it-Alls Like:
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs
FKA  Twigs - Magdalene
Charly Bliss - Young Enough
Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
Refused - War Music
Aldous Harding - Designer
Better Oblivion Community Center - s/t
Black Midi - Schlagenheim
Cate LeBon - Reward
Raconteurs - Help Me, Stranger
Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury
Rhiannon Giddens - There is No Other
Bruce Springsteen – Western Stars





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Records I Like That A few Know-it-Alls Like:
Mick Trouble - Here’s The Mick Trouble Lp
Titus Andronicus - An Obelisk
75 Dollar Bill - I was Real
Tacocat - This Mess is a Place
Mdou Moctar - Ilana (The Creator)
Joan Shelley - Like the River by the Sea
Du Blonde - Lung Bread for Daddy
Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missiles
Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee
Adia Victoria - Silences
Lillo - Because I Love You
Nick Cave - Ghosteen
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Bandana




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Records I like that were by and large ignored by know-it-alls:
Chastity - Homemade Satan
Who - The Who
Chuck Mead - Close to Home
Denzel Curry - Zuu
Toby Hay - New Music for the 12 String Guitar
Kel Assouf – Black Tenere
Fleshtones – Budget Buster
Bellows – the Rose Gardener
Offset – Father of 4
Mystery lights – Too Much Tension
NOX Boys – out of Touch
Sebadoh – Act Surprised
21 Savage I am > I was
Emerson Snowe – That’s Rock n Roll
Andrew Wasylyk – Paralian
Mike – Tears of Joy
Thea Gilmore – Small World Turning
Summer Cannibals – Can’t Tell Me No
Westside Gunn – Flygod is an Awesome God
Catenary Wires – To the Morning
Nicole Yun – Paper Suit
Josienne Clark - In All Weather
Comet Gain - Fireraisers, Forever!
Kyle Craft - Showboat Honey
Deerhunter - Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?
Ruby Fields - Permanent Hermit
Ezra Furman - Twelve Nudes
Future - Save Me
Cavemen - Night After Night
Jesse Malin - Sunset Kids
Lankum - The LiveLong Day
Flesheaters - I Used to be Pretty 
Headland - What Rough Beast
Murder City Capital - When I Have Fears
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes - Catfish Blues
Cass McCombs - Tip of the Sphere
J.S. Ondara - Tales of America
Redd Kross - Beyond the Door
Mavis Staples - We Got by
Emerson Snowe - That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll
Vandoliers - Forever
Yawpers - Human Question
Whiffs - Another Whiff
Chelsea Wolfe - The History of Violence
Queen of Jeans - If You’re Not Afraid, I’m Not Afraid
Kacy & Clayton - Carrying On
Joseph - Good Luck, Kid
Willie Farmer - Man from the Hill
Mekons - Deserted
Patty Griffin - s/t
Mavi - The the Sun Talk
Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs
Young Thug - So Much Fun
JPEGMAFIA - All of My Heroes are Cornballs
Guided by Voices - Zeppelin Over China -AND- Warp & Woof -AND- Sweating The Plague by Guided by Voices


Comments

The people have spoken.

There is a town in Arkansas called Elaine.

Elaine, Arkansas is in Phillips County, one of the poorest counties in the United States, a flat expanse of deprivation where your Google Maps won’t keep you from getting lost. Elaine is lost. It looks like a place where nothing good has happened in a very long time.  That's, at least in part, because something terrible happened there. Something a majority of Americans don't know about.  I'm educated as a historian, but I lack the imprimatur of an advanced degree. I will do my best to offer a concise history lesson.  The facts are straightforward. In order to escape destitution and indentured servitude, black sharecroppers in the Arkansas delta organized under the banner of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America. On the 30th of September 1919, a prominent, white attorney named Ulysses Bratton traveled the three hours from Little Rock to meet with the workers to discuss strategy. They met at a small church on the outskirts of Elaine at a place c...

Robert Pollard and Richard Davies were COSMOS. At least in 2009. I like to keep up to date.

I’ve been such a good lad. Writing almost like a responsible journalist. That’s not a bad thing, but I promised myself (and you) that SPEW would be a place for more dashed off bits.   Well, here’s one.   Cosmos. Ever heard of them? Unless you’re a Robert Pollard completist, probably not. Their sole release, Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks was released in 2009 (one of Pollard’s 100+ issues, only about a 1/4 of which are Guided by Voices titles). Cosmos was a collaboration with Richard Davies, Australian pop oddball and auteur behind the cult faves the Moles. The two of them share a certain aesthetic, a vision that embraces early John Cale, the first two Brian Eno records, Pete Townshend’s Scoop demos, bits and pieces of the Beatles, and a dash of early Syd Barrett.   Some of the songs on J ar of Jam are based on little more than acoustic guitar and percussion, especially woodblock, others are full band janglers. Because of the duo’s shared sensibility it all hangs...

Jessica Lea Mayfield's unapologetic "Sorry is Gone"

Jessica Lea Mayfield, of Kent, Ohio, released her first album With Blasphemy so Heartfelt ( produced by Dan Auerbach, fellow Ohioan) at the tender age of nineteen. I missed it. I probably shouldn’t have.   Her second Auerbach (Black Keys) produced record Tell Me arrived in 2011 when she was 22, 23 maybe. I listened to it. I heard talent. But somehow the combination of songs, performance and production didn’t really hook me.   Never bothered with her alleged grunge-rock record, the two previous had been loosely in the roots-rock/Americana idiom, called Make My Head Sing . No Dan Auerbach. I don’t know who produced it, but Mayfield described it loosely as dedicated to one of her favorite artists, Dave Grohl. Not being a huge fan of the Zelig of contemporary rock, that dedication probably soured me on the project. Sorry. For me and Jessica it was a matter of timing. The time is now. And the record is Sorry is Gone. Which is pretty great.   Mayfield and pr...