#stroppies

Happy new year, y’all. Here’s a handful of favorites from yet another ridiculously robust year for music from zee underground and below. Joshua Abrams & NIS was a no-brainer for me, a nearly perfect release all the way around, but the Bobby Would and Mount Trout albums were probably the two I listened to the most this year. Bad Breeding, SCAN and Asid kicked my teeth in, I zoned way the fuck out with Crazy Doberman, K-Group and the Dead C/the Never Quartet, and that Maleem Mahmoud Ghania record is now probably the best sounding record I own. I like that Siltbreeze only puts out one record per year now, I like that Jim Shepard's vaults were cracked, and if you like that legendary Keggs 7″, let me introduce you to the Society’s 7″. Lots of great stuff didn’t make the cut, and I’m still discovering more in the lists/recommendations of other trusted sources (like this Anadol record, or this Extended Hell mini-LP), so keep ‘em comin’. I didn’t do as much writing as I’d like this year, but that’s gonna change soon. Onward!

LP

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, Mandatory Reality (Eremite)

Krypts, Cadaver Circulation (Dark Descent)

Bobby Would, Baby (Low Company)

Chronophage, Prolog For Tomorrow (Cleta Patra)

Bad Breeding, Exiled (Iron Lung)

The Dead C, Rare Ravers (Ba Da Bing!)

Sempiternal Dusk, Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation (Dark Descent)

Crazy Doberman, s/t (Mastermind)

Itchy Bugger, Double Bugger (Low Company)

C.I.A. Débutante, The Landlord (Siltbreeze)

...and six more:

Fabulous Diamonds, Plain Songs (Alter)

Carla dal Forno, Look Up Sharp (Kallista)

Monokultur, s/t (ever/never / Förlag För Fri Musik)

The Pheromoans, County Lines (Alter)

The Stroppies, Whoosh (Tough Love)

Yellow Eyes, Rare Field Ceiling (Gilead Media)

7″/12″/Cassette

Asid, Pathetic Flesh 12″ (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Euromilliard, "Elève Modèle” b/w “Indolore” 7″ (Pollymaggoo)

Forra, Mostrame Lo Peor 7″ EP (La Vida Es Un Mus)

K-Group, “Accueil” b/w “Over-Future Shop” 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

Mount Trout, Shelter Belt cassette (Rough Skies)

The Never Quartet, “1.001.006″ b/w “1.001.007″  7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

Ossuary, Supreme Degradation cassette (Darkness Shall Rise)

Overt Hostility, s/t cassette (Loki Label)

Pinocchio, s/t 7″ EP (Toxic State)

SCAN, s/t 7″ EP (self-released)

Skiftande Enheter, s/t one-sided 12″ (Levande Begravd)

Reissue/Archival

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders, The Trance of Seven Colors 2xLP (Zehra)

Jim Shepard, Heavy Action 2xLP + 12″ (ever/never)

Smelly Feet, Left Odours cassette (Independent Woman)

The Society, “You Girl” b/w “Lonely” 7″ (My Mind’s Eye)

V/A, Heavy Space Records - Anthology Vol. 1 cassette (Ikuisuus)

Above: Bill Direen at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, Nov. 17

Shows

Jon Mueller at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, January 23

Gong-trance heaven

This Is Not This Heat at the Mill & Mine, Knoxville, TN, March 23

Best show of the year, no contest

BIG|BRAVE and Primitive Man at the Earl, Atlanta, GA, June 17

One of the most punishingly loud shows I’ve ever seen

Cube at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, June 20

Danced like a fool to his cracked techno

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society at the Diana Wortham Theatre, Asheville, NC, August 24

Now with faster tempos - brilliant

Bill Direen at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, November 17

The Stroppies (2020)

«I'll give you an example typically / It's less complicated than it simply should be»

I’m currently hypnotized by this tune: a refreshening rendition of a post-punk classic with some slight late Elastica vibes (kinda closing an influence loop).

The Stroppies (from Melbourne, Australia) covering Wire’s catchy witty Used to (among the closing tracks of their seminal record Chairs Missing, 1978).

Si de grosses machines comme Tame Impala ou Courtney Barnett ont conquis un public relativement large, des artistes australiens plus confidentiels se sont également mis – pour notre plus grand bonheur – à proliférer plus vite que les lapins dans le bush. [...] Les Stroppies font partie du peloton de tête des groupes les plus intéressants de cette constellation « aussie ».

Cloîtrés chez eux à Melbourne en plein confinement, les Stroppies en ont profité pour nous pondre une délectable reprise de Wire période Chairs Missing qui fait irrésistiblement penser à The Feelies et à The Chills. On recommandera leur excellent dernier album Look Alive!, et notamment les titres Roller Cloud et Holes in Everything, et bien sûr la réécoute de Whoosh, leur premier disque paru en 2018[sic].