Tickle Your Taint Eclectic Music Reviews: Null’s Musical Obsessions 2020

By Null

This has been a fucked up year. I would be stupid to believe that working from home, living in a pandemic, dealing with right-wing insanity, quarantining downstairs from my life’s companion for much of the year, living close the fiery hell that became the Rocky Mountains due to an ever-worsening climate catastrophe, and never having the opportunity to hug my friends and loved ones didn’t influence my list of musical obsession for 2020. Of course it did. There were weeks were I couldn’t go outside because the smoke was so thick. I remember in the early summer during lockdowns hearing birds everywhere in the absence of cars and human movement and yearning for a slower, post-capitalist society. This was a year of beauty and dread, but then, I guess they all are.

One of the other major factors in my unending music consumption this year was the fact that at one point, I decided to open a box of old cassette tapes. This led to me listening to the bulk of my music, and buying the majority of my music, on cassette. It was cheaper and it was kind of fun. Of course, the niche, or trendiness of cassettes (if that exists), isn’t at play here, because being a dinosaur most of my original record collection was on cassette.

The second and more sobering reason I believe I did this is because cassettes somehow symbolized what I felt. As anyone who grew up listening to cassettes can attest to, they sound like shit, they could break, and be destroyed, rendering them unusable at any moment. I felt this in my gut. There is nothing beyond this moment. All will be dust. If not today, then tomorrow.

Cleary, as evident from my list, I am music’s bitch.

Also, I would like to send a shout out to my favorite bands, that I listen to often, and each year I move through their respective catalogs: Joy Division, The Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Dead Moon, Fugazi, Iron Maiden, Shostakovich Quartets, and Rachmaninov. You are my bed rock.

Kick back, have a few glasses of wine and read this crap, watch these videos, and listen to this music. You might like it.

Let’s do this. These albums appear in no particular order.

Tomberlin, At Weddings (Joyful Noise, 2018).

“My heart is a heavy coffin where I lay down everyone I love.”

This whole album is like a secret whispered in the dead of night. It’s a quiet and confessional affair from a young lady who escaped a repressive Baptist upbringing. It is intimate, painful, and hauntingly beautiful.

Smile Orange Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Written and composed by Melba Liston (Knuts, 1976).

Melba Liston was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and she put together a great band here to perform the music she wrote for this 1976 Blaxploitation film. I think the movie is a commentary on tourism in Jamaica, but I haven’t seen it myself. This record has been long out of print, but Tapehead City is selling copies of it on cassette. This is the kind of roots reggae that Joe Strummer loved, and it reminds me of hearing early Wailers for the first time. It sounds like it wasn’t recorded very well, which makes it sound perfect. It’s an instant, instrumental, reggae masterpiece, old school style.

Thelma and the Sleaze, Heart Like a Fist EP (Tapehead City, 2014).

As a self-described “independent all-female, queer southern rock band from Nashville, Tennessee,” Thelma and the Sleaze know how to rip it up. This 6-song EP arrived in my mailbox on a cute little pink cassette. Heavy rock tunes and a few slow burners with a little Janis Joplin thrown in the mix. Apparently they have a bunch of other releases too.

Kate Bush, The Kick Inside (EMI, 1978).

I bought my second copy of this album when it was remastered a few years ago. I only have this album, her first, and a greatest hits record that only reaches to 1988. I have been obsessed with this record for several years now. The story of Kate Bush and her first record are fascinating. She wrote all of these songs, complete, and with astonishing levels of lyrical and musical complexities when she was still a teenager who was known for smoking a lot of weed. The center piece of the album is the brilliant “Wuthering Heights,” which, of course, is based on Emily Bronte’s Victorian, gothic romance, novel of the same name. However, the other songs on the album showcase just how creative this young lady was. She was just 19 when the album was released. The album is a melding of classical music, pop, rock, and musical vignettes…I guess. It covers issues such as incest, sex, menstruation, love, and suicide. This level of musicianship just blows my mind. It feels so honest, raw, and unfiltered that it contains the essence of punk rock, as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but after a few listens, the melodies invade the soul and simply refuse to let go. If you like Bjork, you may be able to appreciate this beautiful and unique masterpiece. Also, “Wuthering Heights” was the first UK #1 that was both composed and performed by a woman.

Unicorn, Too Many Cooks (Harvest, 1976).

I stumbled across Unicorn by accident. This British band’s warm 1970s country rock reminded me of the soothing sounds I heard on the radio in my youth. Produced by David Gilmore, one can hear some of the same elements of the production found in mid 70s Pink Floyd. I discovered a Kate Bush connect here too. Apparently, Kate Bush’s brother gave a tape of her demos to a guy in Unicorn who then passed it onto Gilmore, who, in turn, practically forced his record company to sign her. Small world. Anyway, this Unicorn album kicks ass.

Julia Shapiro, Perfect Version (Hardly Art, 2019).

I wouldn’t say I was “obsessed” with this album, but I played it a lot in the background while I was working. It inadvertently weaved its way into my head. I internalized it, but the album is still a vague mystery to me. Its part dream-pop, shoegazing, and sometimes reminds me of Johnny Marr. I find most shoegazing bands pretty boring, but this isn’t a full on shoegazing record, but it is dreamy. Perfect Version is a solo album by Julia Shapiro. I think Julia sings and plays all the instruments except the drums. She is a member of the band Chasity Belt. I have never heard a Chasity Belt song.

Benediction, Scriptures (Nuclear Blast, 2020).

This is another album I bought on a whim. It arrived in the mail on a blood-red cassette tape. I only have space in my head for one death-metal band, and that band is Cannibal Corpse. As much as I have tried to get into other death-metal bands, I just can’t do it. I’ve heard Benediction referred to as an old school death-meatal band, but this album is much more chill than a Cannibal Corpse record, which illustrates just how extreme the Corpse is. Anyway, if you’re in the mood, check these guys out. The album is super catchy and the lead singer is a really fun and chilled out guy in interviews. I get an anti-Catholic vide from this album, which is reason enough to love it. These guys are old timers. The singer said in an interview that he had to sit in a chair during the filming of their new video, because he just had his hip replace. Keep on keepin’ on. Again, I can’t emphasize enough how catchy and hooky this album is; it’s just full of killer riffs, and for the most part you can understand the singer.

Blue Oyster Cult, Revolution by Night (Columbia, 1983).

SoDak turned me on to this stuff. Who knew I would be listening to BOC’s more commercial, radio friendly albums of the 1980s? Not me. I blame SoDak, a fellow comrade and Tickle Your Taint reviewer, for this one. We both swoon over “Shooting Shark,” which was a classic 80s single that should have been a big hit. The chorus really hits the heart. I listened to this strange album a lot this year. This is BOC’s “If You Leave,” or “(Don’t You) Forget About Me.”

Blue Oyster Cult, Mirrors (Epic, 1979)

Goddamn SoDak. Considering the pervious album, I found BOC’s 1979 release, Mirrors on cassette, so I threw down $2.99 and brought it home. It’s more of that commercial 1980s sound. I listened to this tape a lot this year too. Here is another earworm about ego and vanity. The background vocals were stuck in my head for at least a month. “Pretty girls can’t look away!”

Taylor Swift, Folklore (Republic, 2020).

Surprisingly, this may be my favorite album of the year, because, if I’m to be honest, I probably listened to this album more than any other.

I know I’m not supposed to like it, but my life is a long list of things I’m “not supposed to do.”

I don’t give two shits about Taylor Swift’s public persona, or interviews, or videos. I avoid them if I can. However, this album killed me, and comforted me. It reminded me of falling in love with my life partner 25 years ago. It reminded me of being a little kid and trying to rationalize a violent and abusive step-father. It reminded me of the little things that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else. I love the music, Taylor Swift’s voice, and the shifts from single vocal tracks to multi-tracked harmony vocals and the rhythmic, cascading, and percussive words falling down cliffs in slow motion, as well as the call and response patterns found throughout the album.

Now that she is in her 30’s, we get the joy of hearing her say “shit” and “fuck” several times.

The song “Epiphany” really did me in. In many ways it was the theme to the darkest times of this pandemic. Not only do I have several health care workers in my family, but I have also held the hand of 8 human beings, as they took their last breath. It’s the heart and the lungs. Also, I once knew a patient on an Alzheimer’s unit who always used to urgently tell me to “put your goddamn helmet on; you’ll get shot in the head and bleed out.” He was a WWII vet. He died alone in his bed. This song killed me.

Ada Lea, What We Say in Private (Saddle Creek, 2019).

This is another cassette I spontaneously bought from Tapehead City. I listened to it a lot in the background while I was working. It’s a strange little record filled with Beatles influences and some psychedelic weirdness. I had the last refrain from this song stuck in my head for weeks. “For real now, not pretend.”

Joanna Brouk, Hearing Music (NUMERO, 2016).

Numero released this two-disc set that collects much of Joanna Brouk’s home recordings. Whether one would call her music “new age,” “ambient, “drone,” or whatever, the fact of the matter is that her music is extremely beautiful and ethereal instrumental meditations. I think most of this music was made in the 1970s and 80s, but don’t quote me on that. It’s defiantly the best ambient album I have heard in quite some time.

L.A.N.E., Pictures of the Century (Vicious Circle 2020).

From the ashes of Les Thugs, L.A.N.E. (Love and Noise Experiment) release their second full-length album. Pictures of the Century is pretty moving, in that, by the end of this album the world looks bleak, as they illustrate both the rise of fascism and the ecological rift. Great, emotional punk rock.

Summer Cannibals, Can’t Tell Me Know (Tiny Engines, 2019) and Full of It (Kill Rock Starts, 2016).

I spontaneously picked up a Summer Cannibals cassette and really enjoyed it. They’re not reinventing the wheel; they just play guitars, write songs, and go on tour. They’re a very non-gimmick, straight up rock band that was clearly influenced by the late 1980s, early 90s rock, like the Pixies, Breeders, and what not. These two albums are just fun to listen to. Great riffs, catchy tunes, and great vocals. It takes me back to simpler times.

The Exbats, I Got the Hots for Charlie Watts (Tapehead City, 2018) and A Guide to the Health Issues Affecting Rescue Hens (Tapehead City, 2016).

The Exbats are just plain fun. They sound like the offspring of Dead Moon, but without all the weight and darkness.

Shostakovich, Violin Concertos, Alina Ibragimova – violin, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Vladimir Jurowski – conductor (Hyperion, 2020).

Dmitri Shostakovich is my favorite composer. I never listen to his symphonies, because his true brilliance was found in his smaller pieces, such as his violin concertos No. 1 and 2, found here.

I already have 3 other versions of these violin concertos, and my first one will probably always remain my favorite. However, I read some rave reviews of the performances here, so I thought I would pick it up. I was not disappointed; it is brilliant. The sadness, sorrow, fear, joy, beauty and heartache all bleed through.

Various Artists, Tapes Not Dead Vol. 2 (Tapehead City, 2019).

Some compilations are better than others. This comp has a great flow and I listened to it over and over and over and over and over again, and again. Punk, ska, garage rock, reggae, etc.

Here is a list of the bands: Clown Sound, Warm Drag, The Bobby Lees, The Advertisers, Thelma And The Sleaze, Gymshorts, Mount Sharp, The Loving Paupers, Dragon Inn 3, Antarctigo Vespucci, Juliana Hatfield, The Prizefighters, Jumpstarted Plowhards, Culture Shock, Shellshag, Adult Magic, Glasses, Worlds Fair, Living Room, Tanya Donelly.

The Loving Paupers, Lines (Jump Up, 2019).

The Loving Paupers are a great little reggae band with very soothing vocals. This album creates a particularly comforting mood. I instantly loved it. I can’t help but think of 10,000 Maniacs Hope Chest album. It also reminds me of the mellow grooves on H.R.’s Singing in the Heart EP, which I think is his best album.

Ghost Work, You’ll Be Buried With… (IDEAS, 2020).

Ghost Work is a new band from current and ex-members of Seaweed, Minus the Bear, Snapcase and Milemarker. I am a huge fan of Seaweed and hearing Aaron’s voice again was great. I was unfamiliar with the bands that the other members were in, but, like Seaweed, Aaron’s voice fits perfectly in with this underground rock post-punk stuff, or whatever you would call it. There are some dashes of new wave structures in Ghost Work as well. Not the syth new wave, but earlier Cure, or Buzzcocks, pop guitar hooks. It feels real and raw. I love it.

New Model Army, Between Dog and Wolf (Attack Attack, 2013).

The first time I listened to this record, I was lying in a completely black room with my Iron Maiden headphones on in my basement. My mind was blown. I hadn’t been this swept up by an album in a long time. The whole album is like a vision quest on the cusp of where the wilderness meets city, the personal meets the political, the subjective meets the objective, and the darkness meets an even deeper darkness in which one finds a source of light. NMA have always been a “360 degree” band, in that, they are able to sing about, and emotionally articulate, everything all at once while remaining tethered to the real world. I also need to state that a big aesthetic and earthy part of this album is that NMA introduce a plethora of drums all over this record, which, in part reminds me of the first time I heard Dead Can Dance. It’s as though this album is being orchestrated from the earth itself. This is a masterpiece album from one of the greatest punk rock bands of all time. (Thanks, SoDak.)