A little earlier this month, we were very sad to learn of the loss of Psychic Ills founder, frontman, and songwriter Tres Warren at just 41 years old. Regulars on MM, at the time of his death, Warren was overflowing with creativity, actively writing new songs, and excited about the next phase of the band and was getting ready to go into the studio alongside longtime collaborator Elizabeth Hart and their bandmates to record the sixth Psychic Ills full-length, which was supposed to be out this fall.
While those songs were tragically not recorded, the band did record a pair of covers for a new 7″, which we’ve got for you today. Never Learn Not to Love and Cease to Exist are the first new Psychic Ills songs to be released since 2016’s Inner Journey Out, and while they no longer precede a new album as originally intended, they stand as a celebration of Tres Warren’s beautiful musical spirit. You can listen to both songs now, and order the vinyl from the Sacred Bones website.
Originally appearing on The Beach Boys 1969 album 20/20, credited to Dennis Wilson and with changes to the arrangement and lyrics, Never Learn Not To Love was written as Cease To Exist by a then unknown songwriter named Charles Manson. His version would eventually appear on his album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, released in 1970, by which time he was already incarcerated for the events that he is most commonly known for today.
After the halcyon folk-rock & roll of his self-titled debut album, Virginia Trance (Scott Ryan Davis of longstanding MM faves the Psychic Ills) returns with a new, equally engaging record.
Vincent’s Playlist, sprawls on early proto-punk and garage jangle that resemble the easier, yet still jagged sounds of The Velvet Underground, Neil Young & Crazy Horse and 80s alternative rock staple Flying Nun Records. Old Psychic Ills teammates Chris Millstein and Jimy Seitang join the ride, delivering a poignant, earnest haven of yearning songs.
Listen to the ruminative, hypnotic drone of the excellent Hello Lou Reed. The album is out on the 8th May – pre-order here.
The garage-psych roar of Portugal’s Sunflowers has been a favourite discovery of ours since we happened across long player Castle Spell a couple of years ago.
We’ve been waiting for new album Endless Voyage ever since we sharedDreamweaver from it at the backend of last year, which also made it into our 2019 Best of lists.
The record is out now and can be purchased from Bandcamp here. Check out a couple more cracking tracks from it here.
Following the success of last year’s excellent Twelve Nudes long player,, Ezra Furman is back with Sex Education OST, songs from season 1 and 2 of the hit Netflix TV show.
The 19-track LP will be released via Bella Union and is available to stream or download from today, with a physical release on CD and vinyl to follow on 10th April (order here).
The first track from from it is the resigned, bitterly brilliant Every Feeling.
And here we have the final part of our favourite tunes of 2019… Discover and enjoy.
25 UV Race – Mr Blame A brash, unapologetic race through proto-punk stomp and malodorous glam-punk aesthetics.
24 Lonesome Shack – The City is a Desert Anchored by an insistent country blues refrain that has a touch of something primal about it, and sounds like it could almost be a lost take from the Doors’LA Woman.
23 Sudakistan – Automaton A storming, irresistible slab of psych infused garage rock. Prepare to be pounded into submission.
22 Siskiyou – Nothing Disease Hushed, twilight folk matched with a macabre, ironic pathos. Gorgeous stuff.
21 Ezra Furman – Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone Vicious. A fast and furious thrash. Like an amphetamine fuelled Lou Reed for our own desperate times.
20 The Felice Brothers – Special Announcement I’m saving up my money / To be president / I can promise more berries / On Blueberry Hill / I can promise you this / Charlie Parker on the ten dollar bill Classic Felice Brothers ramshackle Americana and our favourite lyrics of the year – mobsters eating lobsters in dim-lit rooms!
19 The Lumineers – Gloria A song about addiction and love. The catchy uptempo folky strum is perfectly juxtaposed with the resigned sadness of the lyrics.
18 DIIV – Blankenship Capitalist greed, climate destruction. Explosive riffs and distortion sets off the condemnation perfectly.
17 Lightning Dust – Led Astray A haunting reflective ballad set to cosmic synths.
16 The Tallest Man On Earth – I’m A Stranger Now A poetic, heartbreaking rumination on growing apart. A little drop of poison in the rain / a little drop of madness in my heart
15 FEWS – More Than Ever More Than Ever takes FEWS’ propulsive menace and aligns it once more to themes of estrangement and alienation. It is a song about apathy and pointlessness, and is a brilliant, unrelenting anthem for the disenfranchised.
14 Water Music – It Ain’t Over Yet… Outsider folk of the very best kind. Dark, melancholic and lyrical.
13 Fontaines DC – Big Dogrel was album of the year for many, and a host of Fontaines DC’s tunes from it featured in our round up last year. However, Big was one of the new tracks, and it was another crackerjack of short, snappy, irresistibly catchy punk rock.
12 Baxter Dury – Slumlord Slumlord is a tale of the unpleasant, the tainted and the grotesque, whilst still retaining a sense of something despairingly romantic about it. It is the musical equivalent of a bare lightbulb swinging in a dingy bedsit, casting sickly light on things you might not want to see, and then suddenly illuminating something that might break your heart. Musically there are echoes of The Clash, of Straight to Hell perhaps, and some Nile Rodgers style funk that just settles into a groove that quickly becomes irresistible.
11 She Keeps Bees – Kinship Drum heavy, hypnotic folk. A meditative hymn to mother nature.
10 Hideous Sun Demon – Cheap Association Savage, scuzzy slab of punk rock that is so good it would give Buddha a migraine.
9 Ohtis- Runnin Beautifully dark country-Americana taking us through songwriter Sam Swinson’s autobiographical journey of indoctrination and addiction. Has a touch of Lord Huron about it.
8 Ian Noe – Meth Head Stark, brutal and unforgettable folk. A despairing, unflinching story of prowling junkies that are way beyond hope or redemption. I just kept pacing by / Swattin’ through the flies / And her stench, rancid and stout / While she stood there cryin’ “Please!” / With her fist between her knees / And the sores drainin’ ’round her mouth
7 Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan A sparkling, effervescent joy of shimmering guitars and indie jangle. And prophetic to boot…
6 Party Hardly – Rats in the Kitchen A rousing indie anthem that is the musical equivalent of waking a guard dog – a bit woozy in places, but equally likely to suddenly tear your ears off with no warning and no apology!
5 WIVES – Servants Like the Rolling Stones seen through the prism of New York’s seediest underside, a perfect bass-driven combination of menacing modern blues and post-punk rumble.
4 Deliluh – Lickspittle A Nut In The Paste By equal measure propulsive and laconic, it hums along at a fair old pace with something of classic era Sonic Youth about it.
3 The Murder Capital – Feeling Fades Intense, brooding post-punk par excellence, a song with menace aforethought…
2 Guru – Ltd Reminiscent of the best of Traams, Brighton punks Guru deliver a brilliantly tense, propulsive anthem that builds to a frenzied crescendo.
1 hd hausmann – A Modern Weight Taking in elements of folk and Americana but ultimately producing a kind of outsider pop, hd hausmann recall the early works of The National or David Kitt crossed with Leonard Cohen’s poetic charms. Anchored by a deep, velvety vocal the gently hypnotic A Modern Weight surreptitiously wormed its way into our consciousness and would not be dislodged. A slow burner that creeps up and grips like a vice.
We’ve decided to do things a bit differently this year – too many times in the past we’ve posted our favourite songs of the year and then discovered late releases we wished we’d added! And also 2019 was a shit year for the world – Brexit, Johnson, Trump, the world burning… at least there is music.
So, way after everyone else has done theirs, here is MM’s countdown of top 100 tunes for 2019 – part 1!
100 Chupa Cabra – Violent Urges
99 Metz – Dry Up
98 Youth Sector – Renting Spaces In My World
97 Some Bodies – TV Show
96 Tummyache – Median
95 Dr. Dog – Can’t Catch Me
94 Amyl & The Snifters – Monsoon Rock
93 DITZ – Gayboy
92 Phobophobes – Blind Muscle
91 B Boys – I Want
90 Big Thief – Not
89 Matt Shapiro – Rockaway Girl
88 Pile – The Soft Hands of Stephen Miller
87 Port Juvee – Hope to Lose
86 The Murder Capital – Green & Blue
85 Better Oblivion Community Center – Dylan Thomas
84 Oh Sees – Heart Worm
83 Spectator – Weight
82 Fat White Family – Feet
81 Hurt Valley – Apartment Houses
80 Bambara – Serafina
79 Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – At The Back Of The Pit
78 Crows – Chain of Being
77 WIVES – Hit Me Up
76 Cate le Bon – Daylight Matters
75 Slaves – One More Day Won’t Hurt
74 B Boys – Instant Pace
73 LIFE – Moral Fibre
72 Catholic Action – People Don’t Protest Enough
71 Black Adidas – Be Cool
70 Panik Attaks – Terror
69 FEET – Outer Rim
68 The Dream Syndicate – Put Some Miles On
67 Purple Mountains – Margaritas At The Mall
66 Lightning Dust – Competitive Depression
65 Comet Gain – We’re All Fucking Morons
64 LIFE – Excites Me
63 Hotel Lux – Tabloid Newspaper
62 Sunflowers – Dreamweaver
61 Sleep Eaters – Bad Love
60 Frog – Black Friday
59 Patio – Boy Scout
58 Working Men’s Club – Teeth
57 The Stroppies – Cellophane Car
56 Brooke Bentham – All My Friends Are Drunk
55 IDLES – Mercedes Marxist
54 Bee Bee Sea – Be Bop Palooza
53 Sleep Eaters – Life of Sin
52 Field Medic – The Bottle’s My Lover, She’s Just My Friend
Sam Doores, formerly of The Deslondes and Hurray for the Riff Raff will release his self-titled solo debut on 13th March via New West Records.
The thirteen song set blends traditional southern roots, New Orleans R&B, and psychedelic landscapes into a cinematic and infectious whole that reckons with heartache and loss, love and gratitude, fresh starts and, ultimately, a whole lotta change.
For now we have the video for the album track Let It Roll. Sounding like a soulful lost classic from the 60s, it is simply gorgeous.
Shame on us! We missed the news that Thomas and Alex White aka The Electric Soft Parade are back with their first new music in six years! Stages is released on January 8th on CD/LP/download via Chord Orchard.
Over seven expansive tracks, the record deals with the passing of Thomas and Alex’s mother, reaching through love, loss, mourning and hope, but with their ambitious pallet always intact.
For starters, check out the almost-ten-minute sprawling glory and orchestral psychedelia of Roles Reversed.
Bristol’s Ead Wood has shared a breezy, kaleidoscopic slice of sun-dappled psych-pop. Skin came out yesterday via Leisure Records.
After his previous summer single Plum Cake, Skin adds grit and guts to Wood’s shimmering guitars and is an ode to the thing that unites us all: skin. But despite its relaxed demeanor, the track grapples with plenty of anxieties just below its surface.
Check out the video for the new single below, and you can also stream Plum Cake too.
