Best of 2019 Lists from Friends of Twist & Shout! (Round 4)

Scott Brand

Director, Commercial Development, Caroline

Top 9 of 2019! (In no particular order!)

Obsequiae – The Palms of Sorrowed Kings

Besvarjelsen – Vallmo

Immortal Bird – Thrive On Neglect

Mndgsn - Snaxx

Horndal - Remains

My Diligence – Sun Rose (Mottow Soundz)

Frankie and the Witch Fingers – ZAM

Battles – Juice B Crypts

Mass Worship – Mass Worship

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Esmé Patterson

Denver-based musician. You can find out more about her here - https://esmepattersonmusic.com/

Bill Callahan - Shepherd In a Sheepskin

SUNN O))) - Life Metal

Solange - When I Get Home

Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

Blackwater Holylight - Veils of Winter

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Michael Bunnell

ThinkIndie Executive Director; owner Record Exchange, Boise ID

Bob Dylan - Travelin’ Thru, 1967-1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15

John Coltrane - Blue World

Hayes Carll - What It Is

Kronos Quartet - Terry Riley: Sun Rings

Steve Earle and The Dukes - Guy

Buddy and Julie Miller - Breakdown On 20th Ave. South

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

Hildur Gudnadottir - Chernobyl Soundtrack

Eilen Jewell - Gypsy

Josh Ritter - Fever Breaks

Wilco - Ode To Joy

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Corsicana

Hiii, Ben here from the band Corsicana. I tried to list records in order of their personal significance, hope y'all enjoy! You can check out my band's stuff at www.corsicanamusic.com. (:

My top 10 list for the year would have to go something like this:

1 - i,i by Bon Iver

2 - U.F.O.F. by Big Thief

3 - MAGDALENE by FKA Twigs

4 - ANIMA by Thom Yorke

5 - Atlanta Millionaires Club by Faye Webster

6 - Dimly Lit by From Indian Lakes

7 - Anak Ko by Jay Som

8 - LP3 by American Football

9 - Better Oblivion Community Center by Better Oblivion Community Center

10 - Ventura by Anderson. Paak

My best of the decade list:

1 - 22, A Million by Bon Iver

2 - Familiars by The Antlers

3 - Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens

4 - good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar

5 - Stranger In The Alps by Phoebe Bridgers

6 - LP1 by FKA Twigs

7 - The King Of Limbs by Radiohead

8 - Moving Away by Gleemer

9 - Pure Heroine by Lorde

10 - Ology by Gallant

2019 Best of Lists from Friends of Twist & Shout! (Round 2)

Mike Marchant

My name is Mike Marchant. I’m a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who has been releasing records under a bunch of different names for about a decade. My latest project is called Lightning Cult. It’s a collaboration with my pal Luke Bern Carr. You can find us in record stores, at www.lightningcult.bandcamp.com, and on streaming services. We have an Instagram (@lightningcultsound) but we mostly use it to post pictures of dogs and bicycles.

Floating Points - Crush - The rest of this list is in no particular order, but this is definitely my #1. It’s immersive and beautiful. I’ve listened to it more than anything that came out this year. I think that the most interesting sounds being made today are being made with modular synthesizers. Every synth sound and drum sound and blip and squeal on “Crush” sounds amazing... But, what makes this record really special is that all of those amazing sounds are working in service of excellent compositions.

Peter Ivers - Becoming Peter Ivers - I used to cover Ivers’ songs during solo performances. Every time I did, someone would come and ask me, “hey, what was that one song?” Well, that one song and a bunch of other great ones are on this record.

The New Pornographers - In the Morse Code of Brake Lights - A.C. Newman knows his way around a huge hook…  I love pretty much everything he releases.  Also, the string arrangements are amazing and Neko sounds better than ever.

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising - Impeccable songwriting, impeccable production.

Fennesz - Agora - Most nights, around 8 or 9, I take a walk around my neighborhood and listen to a record. I must have listened to Agora a few dozen times during these night walks. This is ambient music that rewards active listeners. 

Oso Oso - Basking in the Glow - I guess I’m into emo again? Is this emo? Whatever, it’s great.

Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains - RIP David Cloud Berman. You and your songs mean whole lot to a whole lot of people.

Thurston Moore - Spirit Counsel - Woah. Two and a half hours of Thurston Moore. I’m into it.

Thom Yorke - ANIMA - So I put this on and think, “hey, this is cool, I like it but don’t love it.” Then this one melody shows up (4:40 into “Twist”, it repeats through the end) and makes me weak in the knees and brings me back to the record over and over again….

Cate Le Bon - Reward - Cate Le Bon is an amazing songwriter, and I love her inventive arrangements.

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Bevin Traylor

Former Twist & Shout employee Bevin Traylor is now a manager at Euclid Records in St. Louis (https://www.euclidrecords.com/). These are her faves of the year in no particular order/

Black Marble – Bigger Than Life

Ride – III

Nilufer Yanya – Miss Universe

Ezra Furman – Twelve Nudes

Highwomen – S/T

People Under The Stairs – Sincerely The P

Priests – Seduction Of Kansas

BabyFace Willette – Face To Face (reissue)

Fat White Family – Serf’s Up

Floating Points – Crush

Coathangers – Devil You Know

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Andrea Paschal

ThinkIndie GM/CIMS Executive Director 2020

A Selection of Favorites from 2019:

1. Aldous Harding - Designer

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

3. Orville Peck - Pony

4. M83 - Knife + Heart (Official Soundtrack)

5. Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls

6. Blood Orange - Angel’s Pulse

7. Xeno and Oaklander - Hypnos

8. Vendredi sur Mer - Premiers Émois

9. Piroshka - Brickbat

10. Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love

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Bruce Trujillo

Host / Programming Assistant, Indie 102.3

Colorado Public Radio

In alphabetical order:

Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center

Black Belt Eagle Scout - At The Party With My Brown Friends

Alex Cameron - Miami Memory

Colfax Speed Queen - Dirty Mirror

Combo Chimbita - Ahomale

Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile

Kiltro - Creatures of Habit

Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Y La Bamba - Mujeres

I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #152 – Wings Of Desire (1987, dir. Wim Wenders)

Damiel: When the child was a child, it was the time of these questions. Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here, and why not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Isn't life under the sun just a dream? Isn't what I see, hear, and smell just the mirage of a world before the world? Does evil actually exist, and are there people who are really evil? How can it be that I, who am I, wasn't before I was, and that sometime I, the one I am, no longer will be the one I am?

Wings of Desire is Wim Wenders’ gorgeous, philosophical, poetic love note to humanity. When I first stumbled upon this film I was in a very strange place in my life, trying to find my footing and direction, and working toward a somewhat unknown goal of the future. The tone, tenor and the inquisitive yet hopeful nature of this film resonated with me on an unforeseen level. The beauty of human kind is that we all have a story, and that the journey, filled with good, bad, and everything in between, is what makes life worth living. The preceding lofty statement is what Wenders successfully attempts to encapsulate in this beautiful and timeless piece.

The narrative follows Damiel, an angel constantly in love with humanity and engaging in the intense mental battle of whether to fall and become a human to create his own narrative. Damiel is accompanied on his journey through Berlin (during the tumultuous time before the fall of the wall) by another angel named Cassiel. Both of the angels are tasked with observing and cataloging the day-to-day lives of humankind as they walk unseen among them, listening to each person’s every thought. They spend time discussing the simplest, seemingly mundane activities with an infectious adoration. The film follows the angels as they observe a number of interesting characters. There is Homer, “The Aged Poet,” who wanders pondering the great mysteries of life and what lies ahead for him as he nears the end of his life; Peter Falk (playing himself) is an actor shooting a film set in WWII Nazi Germany and questioning the nature of art and his place in the world; and finally there is Marion, the beautiful trapeze artist who steals Damiel’s heart through her poetic ruminations on life and love.

The film, which was shot by Henri Alekan, strikingly moves in between stunning black and white representing the world of the angels and luscious color representing the world of mankind. This creates an amazing dynamic that mirrors the idea that Damiel, Cassiel, and the rest of the angels are merely there to observe and cannot affect the work around them, or fully experience or appreciate human life/existence. This visual cue/metaphor is incredibly effective in creating that divide, which is key to the motivations of Damiel.

With a film that is so philosophical, where the majority of the dialog is in thought, the actors are truly put to the test. Being able to convey certain emotions without actually speaking any line (except that of the mental voiceover) can be difficult to do without falling into the trap of overacting. This is yet another facet where this film shines. Bruno Ganz, as Damiel, and Otto Sander, as Cassiel, are perfect in the roles as the pensive but lovingly optimistic angels. Curt Bois brilliantly plays the aged poet with reserve and subtlety; Peter Falk brings some well-placed levity to the story; and Solveig Dommartin is perfectly seductive as the melancholic yet hopeful goth-rocking trapeze artist. There is true depth to the acting talent in this film.

To recap, this is quite possibly one of the most poignant and poetic cinematic love letters to human kind. It’s beautifully shot and acted, the narrative is brilliant but pensive, and if you need any more of a push to check out this film there is an awesome cameo from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It’s hard for me to fully express how much this film means to me, but I would just honestly love to turn you on to this movie, so please check it out!

-         Edward Hill

I'd Love to Turn You On #5: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Kicking Against the Pricks

We spend so much of our time buying, selling and listening to the latest releases that we sometimes forget to plumb the depths. Every one of us here got in to record store thing, at some level, because we have a deep interest and curiosity about all kinds of music. Most of us are collectors to some degree or another, and one of the abiding joys of collecting is to pull out the rare, beautiful, little known or downright obscure album and turn on a friend. Sometimes it's a classic that needs to be shined up and put back on the top shelf. With that in mind we are going to revive a column we used to include in our newsletters called, appropriately enough, I'd Love To Turn You On. This will give our super collectors and musical academicians to wax poetic about their favorite albums (or movie or book for that matter).

Nick Cave is a great songwriter.  Actually, Nick Cave is an amazing songwriter, one of the best in all of rock.  But as many great songs as Cave has written, I think he's an even better interpreter.  His cover versions always manage to shed new light on and bring new life to classic songs from a wide variety of genres and sources that also illuminate Cave's deep musical knowledge and appreciation.  That's why I consider Kicking Against the Pricks his greatest album.  Considering how many dubious all-covers albums have cluttered our shelves over the years, Cave and the Seeds' achievement here is all the more remarkable.

Kicking Against the Pricks was originally a 12-track album released in 1986.  The version I own and became obsessed with is a mid-90s CD reissue that adds two bonus tracks, "Black Betty" and "Running Scared," dropped right in the middle.  The version you're going to buy was remastered last year and released as a two disc set.  Disc 1 restores the original running order, Disc 2 is a DVD that includes a 5.1 mix, the bonus tracks, and some videos.

The first thing that must be discussed is the fantastic performance by the Bad Seeds.  Always more than a mere backing band, the Seeds are true collaborators and here they are in stellar form.  Barry Adamson and Thomas Wylder provide a solid rhythm section, Blixa Bargeld (from industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten) throws in some stinging guitar licks and Bad Seeds MVP Mick Harvey is all over the place.

Of course, it's the songs themselves that make the album.  Opener "Muddy Water" may just be the best and it's mysterious in more ways than one.  The title, lyrics and mood suggest the brooding of deep southern blues.  But it was actually written and originally recorded by pioneering 70s bluegrass group The Seldom Scene.  Harvey's organ solo is breathtaking, eclipsed only by Cave's haunting vocal.  When he croons "Hard to say just what I'm losin/Ain't never felt so all alone" it’s like a punch to the gut.

Several of the selections are songs with numerous cover versions throughout the years, as if Cave were assembling an alternate universe songbook of rock/folk/blues standards.  "Long Black Veil" is no less effective for its fairly traditional reading, but "Hey Joe" is something else entirely.  It starts off tight and keeps wrenching up the tension level like a tightening noose.  Their take on master songsmith Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is more Glen Campbell than Isaac Hayes yet still manages to convey the heartbreak beneath the song's pop surface.  The most radical reinvention just might be the Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties" which comes across like a demented sea shanty.

Kicking Against the Pricks made Cave's fascination with all forms of song, particularly American folk and blues, clear for all to see.  It would serve as a map for his future musical directions but on its own stands as an amazing performance by an amazing performer.