The Best Music Of 2018

Albums
1. Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
2. Megative - Self-titled
3. Cliff Westfall - Baby You Win
4. Iceage – Beyondless 

Singles/EPs
1. Boss - Steel Box
2. Sheer Terror - Pall In The Family
3. Crown Court - Mad In England

Reissues/Archival Releases
1. John Coltrane - Both Directions At Once
2. Bob Dylan - More Blood, More Tracks
3. The Kids/Real Kids - November 1974 Demos / Spring 1977 Demos
4. Laughing Hyenas - Life Of Crime
5. Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness
6. Baby Grande - 1975/1977 
7. Bob Seger & The Last Heard - Heavy Music
8. Helter Skelter - I Need You 45
9. Blue Cheer - The '67 Demos
10. Kubie & The Rats - Turtle Dove 45

Live shows
1. Spiritualized at The Kings Theater
2. Roddy Radiation at Hank’s Saloon
3. The Scientists at Union Pool
4. Peter Hook & The Light at Brooklyn Steel
5. Mr. Airplane Man at Hank’s Saloon
6. The Brought Low with The Mighty High,
Moral Panic, and Green Dragon at Hank’s Saloon

What Has Become Of Me?

“I used to think there was no time like the present. I used to think there was no time but the present. Now I know better — or different, anyway. In the end, the past will always be there. The past is all there is: the present never sticks around for long enough, and the future is anybody’s guess. In time, you always have to hand it to the past. It always gets you in the end.”

"I Think I Swallowed A Shot-Glass"

Watching a calm, effortlessly cool and confident Frank record this melencholy masterpiece live in the studio in front of an orchestra with the great Gordon Jenkins conducting = pure bliss.

Where The Winds Hit Heavy

You know, there's cover versions of classics and then there's making a song your own. Howard Tate owns this one, so much so that he even subtly retitles it, which I am sure Dylan took no issue with.

A Bar Like A Black Hole

"Daylight bent and broken at its threshold, full of Mohawk ghosts."

The sentimental feelings are starting to overtake me as I count down the days until the closure of Hank's, where I've been booking shows since 2013 (and frequenting for many years before that). There's no way to put into words my feelings about the place, and while I am thrilled that we'll live on in a new space, nothing can compare to that glorious pockmarked corner of Atlantic and Third.

Artwork by John Tebeau
Quote from Jonathan Lethem

Moving Away From The Pulsebeat

Pete Shelley

Rest In Peace

I can perfectly recall the day I scored The Buzzcocks' Singles Going Steady and being absolutely floored at a collection of singles better than most band's albums (I must've played "Ever Fallen In Love" a dozen times that day). I had the honor of meeting Pete Shelly a few years back at the after-party for one of their shows. We chatted for a minute and I asked him if I could buy him a drink. He smiled and purred, "a Cosmo please." I endured quite the looks ordering it in that dump of a bar, Lit Lounge. Anyway, he was a gentlemen and truly one of the greats, making music that I'll listen to for the rest of my life.

Set You Free This Time

The top-10 greatest Byrds songs, subject to change at any moment. This is TOUGH to keep to just ten, let alone put in any kind of order.

1. "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better"
2. "Thoughts And Words"
3. "The World Turns All Around Her"
4. "Eight Miles High"
5. "Why"
6. "Draft Morning"
7. "Set You Free This Time"
8. "Here Without You"
9. "Just A Season"
10. "Chestnut Mare"

(Not included are massive favorites like "Goin' Back," "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," and "My Back Pages" as they weren't written by the group.)

A Thousand Points Of Light

I won't celebrate his death, and in fact George H.W. Bush seemed to have aged into a decent, caring human being (and he did a few great things like sign the Americans With Disabilities Act into law). Yes, compared to who we've got now, he looks wonderful in hindsight, but how can anyone forget what an awful president he was? Some reminders: the disgusting race-baiting Willie Horton ads, the Gulf War and the utter destabilization of the Middle East, the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure in Iraq (which some would call a war crime), the escalation of the drug war, and so on. When he left office he had an overall 22% approval rating and wasn't even invited to the Republican National Convention. Oh, and lest we forget his involvement with the Iran-Contra affair when he was VP (and his pardoning of Caspar Weinberger once he was president).

Poster by John Yates