So happy to have discovered the music of Benge. Check out his youtube channel if you have not already ... amazing stuff. I watched "the making of" each of these tracks and this is perfect music to sit and work at my desk. Great compositions and you can nerd out on synths forEVER.
Another incredible collection of songs by C Duncan. This one stretches forward with some amazing song craft (It's Only a Love Song, Think About It), with many soft sonic touches that recall their first two cherished albums. There is always a C Duncan track that brings tears the first time you hear it, and this time it was Worry. Easily one of my favorite albums this year.
Another incredible album by the Brewis brothers. Every track is so brilliant, how can you pick a favorite? The Waitress is a Peter-sung up tempo banger that illustrates their mix of catchy riffs, percussion excellence and pure strangeness to perfect effect. I could pick Curfew in the Square as fave for the same reason. This album goes in some different directions than previous and thinking back now to their first two albums, my how much ground they are covering.
How couldn't you love a song with the line "A slow transition, from our home, to a fossilized garbage dump."?! Jerry Paper mixes mutant music mash-ups with irreverent lyrical themes to an endlessly entertaining musical effect.
Jerry Paper's high point. Very sophisticated musicianship mixed with the usual oddball lyrical musings. I listened to this like 7 weeks straight and still didn't wear it out.
This band crept up on me. A friend suggested them and I was like (their first couple albums), how are they doing this, sounding so simple and "retro" but delivering so much emotional staying power? I think this album breaks through to a higher level, and the song Sole Obsession was a play/repeat sing along banger for weeks. After seeing them live - with the whole crowd belting out "Garden State Parkway of your mind" (we live here/I grew up off it), they are allowed on my roads any time.
A special collection of acoustic songs by David which I come back to and listen over and over again. The production is sparse and disarming, giving the lyrical themes a more touching effect. I especially love the weaving, mournful lines of clarinet.
At this point it is safe to say I will buy and love anything the Brewis Bros. put out. I am a YMO fan so this is like manna from heaven (whatever that phrase is supposed to mean). The live drumming mixed with incredibly detailed phrase work on synth and guitars displayed on this record is absolutely mind-blowing.