Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Electricity.
The Captain is one of my all time favourites, his Avant Garde Jazz, Delta Blues, Punk, Rock and Roll racket is literally impossible to categorize so don't even bother trying just sit back and let yourself into the insane world of Captain Beefheart.
This is the first single to be taken from Ponds new EP Hobo Rocket. It's almost impossible to talk about Pond without mentioning Tame Impala, lead singer Nick Allbrook is former Impala bassist and Pond features other members of Tame Impala, even Kevin Parker featured on their previous album on the drums. But whereas Kevin Parker is clearly massively influenced by Tomorrow Never Knows era Beatles, Pond's sound is a lot heavier, imagine if The Stooges had been on acid instead of heroin and lived in San Fransisco in the late 60's instead of Detroit and you have an idea what they sound like. This single is magnificent fun and is loud enough to annoy the neighbours which is a phrase I haven't been able to use enough recently.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Higgs Boson Blues.
The latest single to be taken off the Bad Seeds album Push the Sky Away is one of the best songs this year. I can assure you that you won't have heard another song this year sung by a 50 year old man rhyming Hannah Montana with African Savannah and for this alone it is worth a listen! To me the song sounds like it's going to explode any second but never does and I think it's the case with a lot of the album, there's almost an underlying threat through all the songs but whereas in previous albums they would have delivered on this threat they seem more restrained on this record but I think this gives the song a brilliant atmosphere.
Lou Reed - The Kids.
One of my favourite songs ever from one of my favourite albums ever Lou Reeds Berlin. This song is incredibly brutal and chilling and nothing like any of the songs from the glam rock Bowie produced Transformer. The first lyric sets the tone:
"They're taking her children away, because they said she is not a good Mother"
If this wasn't enough towards the end of the song there is the sound of crying children over the music. Legend has it that Lou got the children to cry by telling them their parents had been killed. Unsurprisingly the record was a commercial disaster but would go on to influence bands such as Joy Division and is now considered a masterpiece.
Deerhunter - Monomania.
Halcyon Digest was one of my favourite albums of the past couple of years and I could have easily listened to 10 more albums from Deerhunter like that but what I love about Deerhunter is that they never rest on their laurels and this song finds Deerhunter in a completely different place. Whereas the last album had a very dreamy, ambient sound to it this song is urgent, fast and the sound of a band playing as if their lives depend on it and I love it! It's a great garage rock song that literally sounds like it was recorded in a garage, it just makes you want to jump around. I mean it's not as good as Helicopter or Desire Lines but it's by no means at all a backwards step for the brilliant Deerhunter.
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