2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 7

Spells
One Of Our Favorite Denver Bands, Spells

Here are a few picks from SPELLS!

Mrs. Magician - Bermuda

Signals Midwest - At This Age

Martha - Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart

Ned Garthe Explosion - Flashlight Tan

Steve Adamyk Band - Graceland

The Hotelier - Goodness

ESP Ohio - Starting Point of the Royal Cyclopean

Tony Molina - Confront The Truth

Mako 1972 - Funeral Music

Sleaford Mods - TCR - EP

Brianna Dolly
Streetlight Records - Graphic & Social Media Director @ briannadolly.com

Top 10 Films Released in 2016:

The Witch - Robert Eggers

Moonlight - Barry Jenkins

Into The Inferno - Werner Herzog

The Lobster - Yorgos Lanthimos

Handmaiden - Chan-wook Park

Hunt For The Wilder People - Taika Waititi

Swiss Army Man - The Daniels

Midnight Special - Jeff Nichols

Men & Chicken - Anders Thomas Jensen

Kubo & The Two String - Travis Knight

Chad Dryden
The Record Exchange

1105 West Idaho Street

Boise, ID 83702

And, in no particular order:

AFROSONICS - People Meet Your People
ELDOPAMINE - Sounds Like A Reasonable Thing For A Band To Play
MONEY - Suicide Songs
MARISSA NADLER - Strangers
PARQUET COURTS - Human Performance
THOMAS PAUL - Singalongs
SASHA - Scene Delete
SFM-STEVE FULTON MUSIC - Eponym
SLEEPY SEAHORSE - Frienditions
A TRIBE CALLED QUEST - We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service

2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 6

Ben Desoto
Talent Buyer and Artist Development at Bohemian Nights

Here are 10 records that burned out my turntable this year...

Esmé Patteron - We Were Wild

Margaret Glaspy - Emotions & Math

Fruit Bats - Absolute Loser

Eros & Eschaton - Weight of Matter

Paper Bird - Paper Bird

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down - A Man Alive

Angel Olsen - My Woman

Tribe Called Quest - We Got it From Here...

Car Seat Head Rest - Teens of Denial

Kevin Morby - Singing Saw

Helen Triesch
WEA Music Group, Account Manager, Independent Sales

In no particular order:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree

Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

Savages - Adore Life

Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter

David Bowie - Blackstar

Angel Olsen - My Woman

Parquet Courts - Human Performance

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound

Dinosaur Jr. - Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not

Tribe Called Quest We Got it From Here...Thank you 4 Your Service

And Because I can never narrow it down to just one list:

Cool Shows I saw this year: Margo Price, Neil Youjng, Case/Lang/Viers, Black Sabbath, Buzzcocks, LCD Soundsystem, Robert Plant, and The Kills

Kayvan S.T. Khalatbari
Co-founder of Denver Relief Consulting, Sexy Pizza, Sexpot Comedy, and Social Use Advocate

And, in no particular order:

Parquet Courts - Human Performance
Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service
The Devil Makes Three - Redemption & Ruin
Dwight Yoakam - Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars...
Allen Toussaint - American Tunes
De La Soul - and the Anonymous Nobody...
Noname - Mixtape
DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will Fall

I'd Love to Turn You On #169 - Allen Sherman – My Son the Greatest

Allan Sherman - My Son The Greatest (The Best Of)

In this blessed season of light you may have often found yourself asking: “What would it be like to be Jewish during the Christmas season?” An excellent question, and I can answer it for you: it is humbling, interesting, a little isolating, but most of all, it is funny. The Jewish people have a long history of finding humor in all sorts of situations, and being kind of excluded from the biggest national holiday in the American calendar could be the source of weird feelings and bitterness, and yet… most of the great Christmas songs were written by Jews and I personally love Christmas. I like the lights, I like the happiness it brings kids, I like that people try to be nice to their families and neighbors - all good! Growing up in New York, both the beauty and emotional schism of the holiday were even more apparent. Many Jews in America in the 20^th century developed their own interesting and funny traditions. Going to a movie and out for Chinese (another group in some ways excluded from Christmas) food is a huge deal. Participating in the gift giving, but not really knowing why - big. Watching Christmas movies and appreciating them for their achievements in cinematography - big! But biggest for our family was Christmas 1962 when Jewish comedian Allan Sherman put out his My Son The Folk Singer album and Jews throughout America went into a spasm of laughter that, for me at least, has not subsided to this day. Sherman perfected the technique that has made Weird Al Yankovic a household name in the modern era. He took famous songs and made up new and hilarious lyrics to them.

I was lucky enough to meet Weird Al many years ago, and I asked him if he listened to Allan Sherman growing up. He actually got down on his knees, à la Wayne’s World, and said “I’m not worthy!” Yes, Allan Sherman was the best at song parodies. He brought a real sense of history, musicianship, and, as mentioned, Semitism to his work. In 1962 there weren’t that many Yiddish accents in mainstream media, yet, when Allan Sherman’s “Sarah Jackman” (a parody of “Frère Jacques”) was released and President John F. Kennedy was overheard singing it, suddenly the inverted clauses and misplaced proper nouns started to become part of American life. Sherman actually reached mega-stardom with his hit song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!” –which took the classical standard by Ponchielli, “Dance of the Hours,” and turned it into a letter from a homesick kid stuck at sleepaway camp. The song was an enormous hit and made Sherman very famous very fast. However, in my estimation it is the least of his accomplishments. My Son The Greatest is filled with hilarious adaptations of popular songs loaded with cultural references of the moment (in the late 50’s and early 60’s). He takes on advertising, fast food, consumerism, T.V., slang, The Beatles, beatniks, history, movie stars, politics, even Christmas itself.

For me, and I suspect for many other Jewish people, the best are his parodies of Jewish family life, where he affects the heavy Yiddish accent and makes merciless fun of the Jewish people’s halting steps into American culture. “Sarah Jackman,” “The Streets Of Miami,” “Shticks Of One And Half A Dozen Of The Other,” and most importantly “Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max,” in which he spits out more hilariously rhyming Jewish surnames than seems possible in three minutes, are the songs that really hit home with me. I remember my Dad having his drink come out of his nose the first time he heard these lines delivered:

Merowitz, Berowitz, Handelman, Schandelman
Sperber and Gerber and Steiner and Stone
Boskowitz, Lubowitz, Aaronson, Baronson, 
Kleinman and Feinman and Freidman and Cohen
Smallowitz, Wallowitz, Tidelbaum, Mandelbaum
Levin, Levinsky, Levine and Levi
Brumburger, Schlumburger, Minkus and Pinkus

And Stein with an ‘E-I’ and Styne with a ‘Y’

To hear our heritage yelled out proudly and humorously on a major-label release through our own hi-fi was just too great. It made me feel like I was part of the fabric of America, not an outsider. I liked and identified with being someone who was part of a great tradition of poking fun at ourselves and the world around us.

When I pulled out My Son The Greatest to listen to for this review each song reawakened wonderful feelings of self-awareness, nostalgia and yes, a little of the magic spirit.

Merry Christmas mine friends!

-          Paul Epstein

2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 5

Luke Sinclair
Long Time Customer and Good Friend of the Shop

2016

I spent a lot of 2016 digging deeper into old Irish, jazz, and country albums, which at times led me to not notice the new music coming out. I kept up with my favorite bands & artists, but over the past couple of months, I realized everything else I missed over the year. And what a year it was, I'm still trying to catch up!

New Album Favorites (In No Particular Order)

The White Stripes - Complete Peel Sessions

Radiohead - Moon-Shaped Pool

Casey James Prestwood & the Burning Angels - Born Too Late

KT Tunstall - KIN

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity

A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service

Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger

Various Artists - George Fest

Autolux - Pussy's Dead

Charles Bradley - Changes

Night Moves - Pennied Days

Margo Price -  Midwestern Farmer's Daughter

Reissue Faves from 2016

The Beatles - Hollywood Bowl

Led Zeppelin - Complete BBC Sessions

Oasis - Be Here Now (especially Noel Gallagher's 2016 remix of "D'Ya Know What I Mean?" Holy Crap)

Chris Anderson
Sony Music, Sales Representative

Yes! I love these things.

1) Car Seat Headrest  “Teens Of Denial”

2) Preoccupations  “Preoccupations”

3) DIIV  “Is The Is Are”

4) Parquet Courts  “Human Performance”

5) Ty Segall  “Emotional Mugger”

6) Elza Soares  “A Mulher do Fim do Mundo”

7) Savages  “Adore Life”

8) A Tribe Called Quest  “We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service”

9) David Bowie  “Blackstar”

10) Swans  “The Glowing Man”

Darlene D'Agostino Beck
Director of Marketing. Z2 Entertainment

Iggy Pop, Josh Homme - Post Pop Depression

Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth

Black Mountain - IV

Ray LaMontagne - Ouroboros

Angel Olsen - My Woman

Esme Patterson - We Were Wild

Carseat Headrest - Teens of Denial

Flume - Skin

BADBADNOTGOOD - IV

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound

St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Sea of Noise

Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!

Devendra Banhart - Ape in Pink Marble

2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 4

Itchy-O
Denver-based percussion-centered electronic performance band.

1. Church Fire - Pussy Blood

2. David Bowie - Black Star

3. Amanda Palmer - Piano Is Evil

4. SPELLS - Staying In Is The New Going Out

5. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from here... Thank you 4 your service

6. Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression

7. Savages - Adore Life

8. Horseback - Dead Ringers

9. Archy Marshall - A New Place 2 Drown

10. JG Thrilwell - The Venture Bros. Vol 2

Scott Brand
Manager, Commercial Development, Caroline 

Top Records 2016

·         Nxworries – Yes Lawd! (Stones Throw)

·         Blood Incantation – Starspawn (Dark Descent)

·         Haast’s Eagled – II: For Mankind (Holy Roar)

·         Sumac – What One Becomes (Thrill Jockey)

·         Cult of Luna with Julie Christmas – Mariner (Indie)

·         Bhavachakra – Bhavachakra (Translation Loss)

·         Sonny Sharrock – Ask the Ages (M.O.D. Technologies)

·         Seven Sisters of Sleep – Ezekiel’s Hags (Relapse Records)

·         Yussef Kamaal – Black Focus (Brownswood Recordings)

·         King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (ATO Records)

·         Trap Them – Crown Feral (Prosthetic Records)

·         Träd, Gräs och Stenar - Träd, Gräs och Stenar (Anthology/Mexican Summer)

·         The Avalanches – Wildflower (Astralwerks)

·         Johnny “Hammond” Smith – Gears (Concord)

·         Rotten Sound – Abuse to Suffer (Seasons of Mist)

Top Songs 2016

·         Nxworries – Get Bigger / Do U Luv

·         Seven Sisters of Sleep – War Master

·         Yussef Kamaal – Lowrider

·         Hooded Menace — Elysium of Dripping Death

·         Jan Hammer Group — Don't You Know

·         Primordial — Bloodied Yet Unbowed

·         The Brothers Johnson – In the Way

·         Roger Webb – Flying Objects

·         The Comet is Coming – Channel the Spirits

·         Idris Ackamoor and  the Pyramids – Epiphany

·         Cult of Luna with Julie Christmas- Cygnus

·         Power Trip – Hammer of Doubt

Top Shows 2016

·         At the Drive-In – Palladium, Los Angeles: June 1^st, 2016

·         Taake – The Regent Theatre, Los Angeles: June 11, 2016

·         Anderson .Paak – Theatre at the Ace Hotel, Los Angeles: June 27^th, 2016

·         Demilich w/ Hooded Menace – Complex, Glendale, CA: October 19^th, 2016

·         Dillinger Escape Plan - The Regent Theatre, Los Angeles: October 30^th, 2016

Zoe Lanterman
Marketing Director, Soda Jerk Presents

Here’s my choices:

·         Anderson .Paak - Malibu

·         Justice – Woman

·         Parquet Courts – Human Performance

·         Wilco – Schmilco

·         Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition

·         Kaytranada – 99.9%

·         Allah-Las – Calico Review

·         Car Seat Headrest – Teens Of Denial

·         Margaret Glaspy – Emotions and Math

·         King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon infinity

I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #155 – Clueless (1995, dir. Amy Heckerling)

Cher: "It's like that book I read in the 9th grade that said '’tis a far far better thing doing stuff for other people.'"

One might initially take pause at the merits of Clueless and wonder why this film would possibly be worthy of a blog post, and to those people I would have to say, as if! While Clueless is I'm sure relegated to the far-reaching depths of my generation’s nostalgia sector, and people of other generations might not immediately see the merit, this stylish modern day (1995) update of Jane Austin's Emma is truly a 'Baldwin' or 'Betty' of a film. While this is certainly an amazing movie to zone out and munch some popcorn to, I've found upon recent viewing that there is actually more to the simple narrative and bubbly characters than initially meets the eye. So while I feel that the importance of this mid-nineties pop-culture gem is a no brainer, I am delighted to take some time to explain to you why.

So, let's take a step back and survey the story and our hero's and heroine's shall we? The story follows Cher (Alicia Silverstone), an extremely popular and affluent teen, as she navigates some of the more delicate growing experiences of teenage years. She's not that amazing at school, but a crazy good strategist and is able to convince many of her teachers to change her grades for higher marks through her powers of persuasion. She's envied by many and loved by most, but unable to reach the feeling of complete fulfillment with her life. Her best friend Dionne (Stacey Dash), also "named after (a) famous singer(s) of the past, who now does infomercials," is also incredibly rich and popular. Cher’s dad is an important litigator (Dan Hedaya), and her step brother, Josh (Paul Rudd), is an intellectual college-radio-loving pre-law student. Cher's life is pretty perfect, driving her Jeep to class and the mall and back home to her McMansion, but as the story unfolds she starts to feel that there is more to life than style and flair. Through attempting to help an 'adorably clueless' new classmate, Tai (Brittany Murphy), Cher is forced to confront a lot of the aspects about herself that she eventually will find much less flattering than initially thought, and she eventually finds love in a rather unlikely place.

While the bottom line of this movie is that it showcases the growth of a somewhat vapid teen into a well-rounded young woman, the real appeal is the light and fun nature of the movie. This is just an enjoyable movie to relax and watch. The dialog, fashion, settings, etc. are so delightfully nineties it's fantastic! While this could easily date this movie, it only serves to increase the charm that is Clueless. Additionally, the soundtrack is chock full of amazing gems of the era. From the obvious - No Doubt, Coolio, The Beastie Boys, and Salt-N-Pepa - to the less so obvious - Radiohead, Supergrass, the Cranberries - the music is utterly classic!

In the end, if you are looking for a fun evening in watching a radically enjoyably silly romp of a movie with an undercurrent of a poignant coming of age plot, this is most certainly the movie for you. If you haven't seen Clueless, allow me to "do something good for mankind" and provide you with an introduction to this splendidly entertaining piece of killer 90's cinema. If you have seen this movie, isn't it about time you picked up a copy and revisited Cher and the crew in Beverly Hills? I so totally think it is! 

- Edward Hill

2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 3

Arturo Gómez
Music Director, KUVO-Denver

My personal Top Ten favorite releases of 2016

1. Steve Turre “Colors for the Masters” Smoke Sessions Records

2. Ray Charles Orchestra “Zurich 1961” TCB

3. Wilson “Chembo” Corniel Quintet “Land of the Descendants” Chemboro Records

4. Catherine Russell “Harlem on my Mind” World Village

5. Erroll Garner “Ready Take One” Sony Legacy

6. Allan Harris “Nobody’s Gonna Love You Better” Love Productions

7. Andy González “Entre Colegas” Truth Revolution Records

8. Harry Allen NY Saxophone Band “The Candy Men” Arbors Records

9. Dave Stryker “Eight Track II” Strikezone Records

10. Hot Club of San Francisco “John, Paul, George & Django” Hot Club Music

Taylor Townes
Independent Retail Coordinator, Merge Records

I put together a list of new stuff from the year or reissues that are sort on the experimental / new age / ambient spectrum, with the idea that people might want to zone out to them given how completely shitty the year was.... so that's this:

Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie Prince Billy - Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties

Psychic Temple - Plays Music for Airports

Mary Lattimore - At the Dam

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani - FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS

Matthewdavid's Mindflight - Trust the Glide and Guide

Syrinx - Tumblers from the Vault

Anna Homler & Steve Moshier - Breadwoman & Other Tales

And if you want a more traditional list, or more of what I listened to most rather than something concept-y (though there's a lot of overlap), here's that, in no order really:

Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie Prince Billy - Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties

Psychic Temple - Plays Music for Airports

Warehouse - super low

Heron Oblivion - Heron Oblivion

David Bowie - Blackstar

Mary Lattimore - At the Dam

Kikagaku Moyo - House in the Tall Grass

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani - FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy

Gina M Cuomo
General Manager - Sie FilmCenter

the albums that stick out are:

Luke Cage soundtrack

Red Fang - Only Ghosts

Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness

A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here

2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 2

Rupert Morrison
Drift.

DRIFT WEBSITE

103 HIGH STREET, TOTNES

DEVON, UK. TQ9 5SN

Records Of Thee Year

The year 2016, or perhaps Thee year 2016 has been about one band for us at Drift, San Francisco's explosive Thee Oh Sees. John Dwyer's garage polymaths dropped THREE releases this year, firstly a face melting live LP back in the early summer, a paradigm for their assault on the senses. In August their seventeenth studio album (and our record of the year) in A Weird Exits, a duel drumming adrenaline bubbling rawk LP that we've played to death over the last few months. Finally, they saw the year out with An Odd Entrances, very much the companion to Weird, but an altogether more psychedelic trip into the marshy underground. Hell of a band.

 Elsewhere we've played and grieved equally the last swansongs from David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. Nick Cave's Skeleton tree was almost too much to play with any kind of regularity and some gargantuan returns from Radiohead and The Avalanches really did not disappoint against all the anticipation. Most spun albums from Whitney, Angel Olsen, Hiss Golden Messenger, Ryley Walker, Kevin Morby, Heron Oblivion, Preoccupations and our good friends Ultimate Painting.

 Biggest "who is this?" sellers off the turntable have doubtless been BADBADNOTGOOD and Kaytranada, two of the most brilliantly sculpted albums and such a privilege seeing people loose their mind too for the first time. That's why we do it right? Turning people on, that's why record shops open the door every morning.

Frankie Brack
Pizza Cook/Cartoonist

Hello, My name is Frankie Brack and I am Twist and Shout family. I now live in Brooklyn, NY making pizza (of course) and drawing cartooons!! This is my sick list of 2016.

My top 20 albums from 2016. in no particular order.

1. Pizza Time – Todo

2. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Until the Hunter

3. B Boys - No Worry No Mind

4. Parquet Courts - Human Performance

5. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity

6. Schoolboy Q - Blank Face LP

7. The Game – 1992

8. Ty Segall & The Muggers - Emotional Mugger

9. Feels – Feels

10. Angel Olsen – My Woman

11. Geneva Jacuzzi – Technophelia

12. Jeremih – Late Nights: Europe

13. Mild High Club – Skiptracing

14. Morgan Delt – Phase Zero

15. Cosmonauts – A-Ok!

16. The Reverberation Appreciation Society Presents – A Tribute To Pet Sounds

17. Alex Cameron – Jumping The Shark

18. Soft Hair – Soft Hair

19. The Julie Ruin – Hit Reset

20. Thee Oh Sees – A Weird Exits

My top 16 albums that didn’t come out in 2016 but I got OBSESSED wit em.  in no particular order.

1. Gato Barbieri – Caliente (1976)

2. Les McCann – Much Les (1969)

3. Miles Davis – In A Silent Way (1969)

4. Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby (1976)

5. Part Time – What Would You Say? (2011)

6. Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Vol II (1994)

7. Good Morning – Shawcross (2014)

8. Brian Bennett – Voyage (A Journey Into Discoid Funk) (1978)

9. Horace Silver - Song for My Father (1964)

10. Venom – Welcome To Hell (1981)

11. Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes – Paix (1972)

12. Deru – 1979 (2014)

13. Graham De Wilde – Clouds (1981)

14. MC Pooh - Life Of A Criminal (1992)

15. The Liminanas - The Liminanas (2010)

16. Geneva Jacuzzi – Lamaze (2010)

I’d have to say my favorite show was Angel Olsen at a place called Warsaw here in Brooklyn. I even got to meet her that day! Swoon! <3 Second favorite was Junior Brown, got to meet him too! But I also went to a lot of other really great shows. Including Ty Segall & The Muggers, Morgan Delt, Cherry Glazerr, Still Corners, The Cosmonauts and many more that I can’t remember right now.

I didn’t go to a lot of new movies this year but my favorite movie experience was a 35mm print of David Lynch’s Wild At Heart. Which is like the best movie ever! I also got to see Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud by Louis Malle in the theatre, which was also excellent.

There were a lot of bummers this year but there were also some very cool things. Thank you Twist and Shout for reminding me that not everything sucks! Miss you, Love you!!

Terry McGibbon
RED Distribution, Sales & Marketing Rep

1)      Royal Headache – High.

2)      Q5 – New World Order.

3)      Sloucher – Certainly.

4)      Joseph Arthur – The Family.

5)      Ages And Ages – Something to Ruin.

6)      Anomalisa soundtrack.

7)      Neil Young – The Monsanto Years.

8)      Nick Cave – Skeleton Tree.

9)      J Churcher – Borderland State.

10)      Money – Suicide Songs. 

I'd Love to Turn You On #168 - Kid Creole & the Coconuts – Off the Coast of Me

Former English teacher August Darnell began his career in Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, writing lyrics imbued with a sharp wit for the group and helping their debut album and its hit single “Cherchez La Femme” climb the charts and go gold in 1976. On leaving the band after three albums, August Darnell formed his own version of his big brother Stoney Browder’s disco/tropical/big band fusion, but unless you come to this music familiar with Dr. Buzzard, Kid Creole & the Coconuts will sound like nothing else in the world. The music is less disco, less retro, more imbued with New Wave flash, Downtown NYC cool, and showtune razzle-dazzle, but still cut from the same multifarious cloth. Darnell adopted the larger-than-life personality of Kid Creole, a humorously self-deprecating yet egotistical tropical dandy who takes Cab Calloway and classic Hollywood glamor as his role models, gathered a group of Coconuts (lead by Darnell’s then-wife Adriana Kaegi) as backup singers (and in a sense, a Greek chorus commenting on the Kid’s exploits), and set off on his funk-Latin-showtune-Caribbean-New Wave adventure for many albums, starting with 1980’s Off the Coast of Me.

The album kicks off with “Mr. Softee,” which opens with the Kid exclaiming “I got a funny feeling baby/that tonight you wanna sleep with me/but I got appointment in the morning/need at least eleven hours of sleep.” It’s part and parcel of the Kid Creole character that Darnell inhabits – he’s surrounded by a trio of beautiful backing singers and yet he’d rather be asleep than making whoopee, despite pleas by the Coconuts: “I know you can’t satisfy/but at least you can try.” It’s this kind of wit that Darnell displays throughout the album, and throughout all of his Kid Creole records. The rest of the first side finds Kaegi taking a lead vocal on the lovestruck “Maladie D’Amour,” the warm Caribbean breeziness of “Yolanda,” in which he tries to convince the title character to leave her “Danny Boy,” and the faraway island reverie of the title cut. The second half of the record again kicks off strong with the fast, light dance music of “Darrio,” in which the title character can’t get his Coconut admirers into Studio 54, working his hardest to convince them that “the place is just about through/it ain’t even safe to get high” (absolutely true in early 1980 when they recorded the song) and that they “should go check out Mr. James White,” then a labelmate of Kid Creole’s on the eclectic ZE Records label. Kaegi again takes the lead on a German-language version of the WWII Marlene Dietrich hit “Lili Marlene,” followed by the Latin lilt of the bilingual (English and Spanish) “Bogota Affair,” and the Caribbean styled “Calypso Pan American.” It’s a tropical tour that’s never less than entertaining, whether in dance mode or balladic lament. The CD adds five bonus tracks – three extended mixes that are fine enough, plus two excellent single-only cuts, “He’s Not Such A Bad Guy After All,” where a Coconut doesn’t fully make her case for the title statement, and “There But For the Grace of God Go I,” a minor chart hit Darnell wrote for the group Machine which appears here in a slightly altered but no less catchy version performed by Kid Creole & the Coconuts.

Though he’s made progress on some charts, Darnell’s group has never hit the top 40, the closest they’ve come being a #90 hit performing with, of all people, Barry Manilow on a number called “Hey Mambo!” But, especially from his debut through his run at Sire Records, ending in 1987 with I, Too, Have Seen the Woods, he never stepped wrong, releasing album after album charming, literate, catchy music. Mostly these are out of print, but often findable used (especially on vinyl), but their debut is available and remains the best intro to the group. Just don’t stop here.

-         Patrick Brown

2016 Best ofs from friends of Twist & Shout Part 1

Dean Whitmore

Sub Pop Records, Direct Sales Guy / Buyer of Things

10 GREAT ALBUMS OF 2016:

Special “Favorite Records of 2016 That Were Released Really Late 2015” section:

Richard Dawson - Nothing Important

Wolf Eyes - I Am a Problem: Mind in Pieces

Top 5 of 2016 (in no order after Heron Oblivion)

Heron Oblivion - I listened to this record 5 times in a row after my first listen. Beautiful & powerful, scrappy & assured. My favorite record of the year. There are obvious folk rock touchstones (Fairport, Pentangle) as well as echoes of previous bands the members have been in (Comets On Fire, Meg Baird, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound). Punky jabs & Sonic Youth nods show up as well & manage to fit in seamlessly. Timeless record.

Dwarfs of East Agouza - Double LP from this trio from Cairo that features Alan Bishop & two Egyptian musicians. Repetitive jams w/ post punky bass lines, propulsive hand percussion, keys & guitar, heavy on the picking & light on the strum that can sound Arabic, African, atmospheric & rockin'. Groovy as hell. I do all four sides every time.

So Pitted - neo - Freak/art rock fueled by young adult despair/frustration/anger. Dirgy/sludgy riffs, throat shredding vocals. Arty & unpretentious. Made by kids weaned on Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead & 90's radio hits? It's not easy to understand how this comes of that for me... I hear Devo, Unwound, Karp, Nirvana etc.

Neutral - S/T - Cold, collage, art punk from Sweden. Songs center around a repetitive bass / keyboard / guitar line, tape hisses & warbles, spoken Swedish language female vocals deadpan, a taped conversation or found sound appears. Sinister & vulnerable, sometimes at the same time. At times this reminds me vaguely of Finnish "freak folk" bands of the oughts.

Karl Blau - Introducing.. - Covers of classic country tunes (many of which I must admit I didn't know). Saw him play for 2 hrs at a bar in Anacortes over the summer & would've stayed for a third if he'd kept playing. I was only vaguely familiar w/ Karl before this which made me feel sorry that I missed a lot of opportunities to see him, buy his records & hear his great songs & wonderful voice.

Favorite Show of 2016

Senyawa - My girlfriend cried & screamed fuck yeah involuntarily, i stretched my eye sockets to keep from crying as well, forgetting there was anything else but this insane blend of modern, traditional, classical, punk, metal, noise music for awhile.

These Artists Released Records In 2016 That I Enjoyed A lot (In no order)

Hound Dog Taylors Hand, Uranium Club, Cate Le Bon, The Writhing Squares, Renderers, Nothing Band, Ryley Walker, Omni, Violence Creeps, Justin Gallego, Rafi Bookstaber, Male/Female, Spray Paint, Kikagaku Moyo, Spacin', Private Room, Nathan Bowles, Oren Amberachi, Primitive Parts, Goat, Trashies, Marisa Anderson, Roy Montgomery, Thee Oh Sees, Bad Breeding, Dead C, Mary Lattimore, Behavior, Vats, Colleen, the Baird Sisters, Lithics, Zig Zags, Rosalie, Stickers, EL-G, PJ Harvey, Ignatz, Lavender Flu, DoNormaal, Beret, Kane Strang, Gnod, VHS, Mothers, Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band, Fat White Family, Dræmhouse, Male Bonding and all the other ones I’ve forgotten..

So many great reissues. Too many to list. A record consumers dream / nightmare. Keep it coming I guess. 

Terry Currier

Owner, Music Millennium, Portland OR

Alejandro Escovedo - Burn Something Beautiful

David Bowie - Blackstar

The Shelters - The Shelters

Frankie Lee - American Dreamer

William Bel l- This is Where i Live

Kyle Craft - Dolls of Highland

Margo Price - Midwest Farmer’s Daughter

Kacy + Clayton - Strange Country

Ian Hunter - Fingers Crossed

Mudcrutch - 2

Doyle Bramhall Jr. - Rich Man

John Renbourn & Wizz Jones - Joint

Primal Scream - Chaosmosis

Aoife O'Donovan - In The Magic Hour

Mystery Lights - Mystery Lights

Alisha Sweeney

Host, CPR's OpenAir/102.3 FM

I'm not the authority on music, but I do know that these albums comforted me the most over the last twelve months when I needed it. This collection also happens to be some of the most compelling records that  I loved talking about on the radio this year too! xx

1)David Bowie - Blackstar

2)Margaret Glaspy - Emotions and Math

3)The Avalanches - Wildflower

4)Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree

5)Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker 

6)A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service 

7)Savages - Adore Life

8)N.A.F. - N.A.F. 

9)Anderson .Paak - Malibu 

10)Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

10 GREAT LOCAL ALBUMS OF 2016:

1)Eros and the Eschaton - Weight of Matter 

2)Wheelchair Sports Camp - No Big Deal 

3)Shel - Just Crazy Enough

4)Dressy Bessy - Kingsized

5)YAWL - A Pile To Keep, A Pile To Burn 

6)Slim Cessna's Auto Club - The Commandments According to SCAC

7)Lisa Prank - Adult Teen

8)Mesita - With Love, From Laniakea

9)Chimney Choir - (dream) 

10)Colfax Speed Queen - Talk To Your Doctor