New Prog Contest and '80's Cruise Update

Just to let you all know, there's a new prog rock contest gearing up on the Sputnik Music website, and I've thrown my hat into the ring. I know a lot of you guys were following along with last year's contest, and with the Prog Tournament of Champions contest that followed it. As promised, our good friend and host, Friday13th, has hung up his contest organizer hat (at least for now), but another User, Jethro42 has stepped up to host this year's tourny. Jethro has won two previous Prog Rock Tournaments, and he's one of the most knowledgeable people I know about this particular genre, so this should be fun.

It's not clear exactly how many contestants we'll have for this one - it will be a minimum of 16. And we're not sure exactly when we're starting, but I expect Round 1 to begin within the next few days.

I'll be listing all of the contestants and the matchups here, but here's a SPOILER ALERT: My entry this year is none other than Long Island's own prog masters extraordinaire, Frogg Cafe, and their fine 2011 LP Bateless Edge.

So far, the Frogg boys are one of only two American bands in this year's contest (the other being The Mercury Tree), but we'll see how the final lineup shakes out. In any event, I think this album can do some real damage in the tournament. I turned Jethro on to Frogg Cafe a few years ago, and he rates them highly, but they're going to come as a surprise to most of the other contestants. So wish them (and me) luck.

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In the meantime, Denise and I are now within two weeks of our '80's Cruise out of Port Canaveral, and I'm starting to get psyched. The entertainment schedule came out yesterday, and it looks like we might only be able to eat dinner in the main dining room three times, the schedule is so packed.

I'm especially looking forward to seeing A Flock of Seagulls a couple of times (even though the only original member in the touring band is Mike Score). And other top choices include Human League (who'll be getting on the ship in St. Thomas and getting right back off again after their two shows), Belinda Carlisle and Berlin.

We've had a few cancellations from the original lineup, but not nearly as many as I'd have thought, and Entertainment Cruise Productions (ECP), the host company, has done a great job replacing the ones that cancelled with pretty equivalent acts. So 38 Special, Morris Day and the Time and John Parr are out, replaced by Night Ranger, CAMEO and Paul Young. To be honest, the only way this effects me is I'm a little sorry to see John Parr go - I've always loved "St. Elmo's Fire" (otherwise known as "Man in Motion").

Other acts on the ship (roughly in the order of my level of interest in them) include Gene Loves Jezebel, Modern English, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Dire Straits Legacy, Johnny Hates Jazz, Dramarama, ABC (Denise hates that I have them this low on my list), Jack Russell's Great White and the Sugarhill Gang. There will also be some solid (from what I hear, anyway) '80's cover bands, including Jessie's Girl, Strangelove (a Depeche Mode tribute band) and Trial By Fire, plus some solo musicians for the various ship bars, etc. And our old WLIR/WDRE friend Larry the Duck will be there, as well as Lori Majewski (from Sirius FM) and a trio of former MTV Veejays, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodwin and Alan Hunter. (Who? Whatever.)

Now I'm trying to keep some perspective on this. There are still a bunch of ways this could go sideways. If either Denise or I test positive for COVID, it's game over. They won't let us on the ship. If the airlines get wonky on us (like they have a number of times in the last few months) it could be a problem. (Although we're flying in a day early, so we're trying to give ourselves a little wiggle room here). And of course, we're flying out of New York in early March, so there could always be winter weather to contend with.

This will be our first cruise since the world got closed down in March of 2019 (when Denise and my son were actually on the last '80's Cruise). It will be my first cruise since our family cruise on the Carnival Conquest in 2017. So fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the 2023 '80's Cruise has been announced for next March leaving out of Los Angeles (!), and Denise already booked us this week before we even know the lineup! (I'm hoping for Thomas Dolby, since he's done the cruise before, and he lives on the West Coast now, and maybe Missing Persons). They're supposed to announce said lineup on the first night of this year's cruise, and Denise assures me we can cancel without penalty by March 25. Ho boy!

I'll keep you updated beforehand. And of course, assuming we actually make it onto the boat, I'll give you the full review afterward. Will I get my hair done with the guys from Flock of Seagulls? Will I shoot some heroin with Belinda Carlisle? Will I even bother getting off the ship in the Caribbean? (Right now, the first two are looking more likely than the last one, but we'll see.) Stay tuned!

New Jethro Tull Album/Belated R.I.P. to Jeff Curtis

Jethro Tull, one of my favorite bands of all time, just put out a new album. It's called The Zealot Gene, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I really wanted it. After all, Ian Anderson (who for the uninitiated is not only the last original member of Jethro Tull but he's also been the unchallenged mastermind behind the band since Mick Abrams left after their first album) is 74 years old now. His voice has been decimated for decades, to the point where I've decided I just can't bear to see him live anymore. And the last project he released, 2017's The String Quartets, was kind of cringy, due to both his vocal issues and the we-don't-give-a-crap attitude of the BMG record label on which it was released. (They couldn't even be bothered to get the order of the songs right on the album cover.)

It's hard to see your heroes go downhill. A few years ago, I saw Leslie West in concert. He was very hard of hearing, in a wheelchair (because he'd had both legs amputated, due to diabetes), and had lost a significant amount of his guitar-playing ability. A month or so later, I almost bought a ticket to see Gordon Lightfoot at the Westbury Music Fair until I went up on YouTube to hear what he sounded like in the present. I discovered that he sounded like a random old man singing Gordon Lightfoot songs on a park bench. Keith Emerson reportedly committed suicide because he was scheduled to go out on tour and was terrified that he was going to humiliate himself in front of his fans because of the deterioration of his keyboard-playing skills. All of this only reminds me of the effects of aging I see in myself every day. (I'm about a decade younger than my '70's musical heroes.) It's not something I enjoy.

So when I heard that Ian was putting out a new album under the Jethro Tull moniker, I was more anxious for him than I was excited. Last year, Yes, put out a new LP (The Quest), and while it certainly wasn't one of their best efforts, I found myself relieved that it was at least a credible effort. I desperately hoped that Ian and the lads could pull off the same. Because if it turned out to be an embarrassment, it would honestly hurt my heart.

In the end, I needn't have worried. While I wouldn't put it anywhere near Jethro Tull's Top 10 albums, it's actually pretty good. It's better than last year's Yes LP. In fact, to me, it's better than any album of original music Jethro Tull has released since 1987's Crest of a Knave. (Some JT fans are pretty fond of 1995's Roots to Branches, but I've never been one of them.) It's not as good as either of Ian's last two solo releases, 2012's Thick As a Brick 2 or 2014's Homo Erraticus (both of which probably should have been released as Jethro Tull albums), but those were both first-rate projects.

The recording for Zealot Gene began in 2017. However, first a heavy touring schedule and then the COVID pandemic delayed its finish for a few years. The band here consists of Ian on vocals and his usual assortment of other instruments (flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, etc.); Florian Ophahle (who actually left the band in 2019, after most of the guitar parts had already been recorded); David Goodier on bass; Josh O'Hara on keyboards; and Scott Hamilton on drums. Ophahle's replacement on guitar, Joe-Parrish-James, also played on one track.

This brings up the elephant in the room, the absence of longtime guitarist Martin Barre. Barre replaced Mick Abrams in the Tull lineup for their second album in 1969, and this is the first original studio album released under the JT name without him. At one point, Anderson was quoted as saying that it wouldn't really be a Jethro Tull album without Barre (which is probably the reason TAAB2 and Homo Erraticus were released as Ian Anderson albums), but he's obviously changed his mind. Some Tull fans are a little upset about this. However, the reason Anderson decided to release this under the Jethro Tull appellation was that this particular lineup (prior to Ophalhle's departure) was (not counting Hammond) actually the longest-standing lineup in Jethro Tull's history, but they had never played on an original JT album. I can see Ian's point.

While its not exactly a concept album, there are two thematic threads running throughout. The first is the concept of The Zealot Gene itself, Anderson's explanation for some (most?) of humankind's propensity to see things purely in black and white, and to get worked up to murderous intensity over extreme positions. The second is a comparison of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible - each song comes with an associated Biblical quote and is loosely based on that quote or story. 

There are 12 songs on the LP, and they're mostly pretty good. Critics have latched onto the full-band tracks like the title track, "Shoshana Sleeping", "Mine Is the Mountain" and "Mrs. Tibbets", and understandably so. "Mine Is the Mountain" is a particular goody that finds an all-powerful and possibly insane God ranting up on his mountain and threatening to turn people's children into corpses and their wives into pillars of salt if they piss him off. Nevertheless, I would caution listeners not to sleep on the three little acoustic almost-solo tracks that Anderson slipped into the album's second half. "In Brief Visitation" is actually my favorite song here, and "Three Loves, Three" is only slightly behind it.

And thankfully, in this case, Anderson was able to write songs that his voice could largely still handle. You can hear his loss of vocal power here, but at least he's not croaking like he was on the vocals of the String Quartets LP. And all of the other instrumentation is excellent - in fact, his flute work is often exquisite.

So in the end, rather than being an embarrassment, The Zealot Gene actually turned out to be a welcome addition to the Jethro Tull discography. And as of the beginning of 2022, Anderson is already hard at work on another album. Whether it will be an Ian Anderson solo album (and I suspect it will be) or another Jethro Tull is uncertain at this time. Am I still anxious for him? Hell yeah! But at least I'm a little hopeful this time as well.

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I'm late talking about this, and for that I apologize. However, unfortunately, I learned a couple of weeks ago that local Long Island musician Jeff Curtis had passed away. Jeff was well known on the local scene as an excellent guitarist. He released (at least) two excellent albums of instrumental music, 1998's Dreams and 2003's The Next Place.

I don't really have any details about his passing. Denise let me know about it after seeing it on Frank Walker's Facebook page.

I can't really say I knew Jeff very well. I booked him several times for Long Island Music Coalition events. I always found him to be a nice and amiable person, and I rated him as a first-rate musician. My heartfelt condolences to his family. I was sad to hear that he's no longer with us.

Review of Aimee Mann's "Queens of the Summer Hotel"

I posted this review a few minutes ago on the Sputnik Music website:

Review Summary: This album needs context.

On the whole, this album seems to not have been as well received as Aimee Mann's previous release, 2017's Mental Illness. And I get it. At first listen, it seems kind of plain, and the songs maybe a little simplistic. Even the instrumentation doesn't reach out and grab you. There's a lot of quiet piano and strings, and the style seems slightly dated. Frankly, when I first heard it, I was somewhat disappointed, as Mann has long been one of my favorite artists. So how did Queens of the Summer Hotel become one of my Top Ten Albums of 2021? It's a matter of context.

To really get what's going on here, you have to go back to the early 2010's. At that time, Mann and her sometimes collaborator Ted Leo (of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists) were playing around with the idea of trying to turn her 2005 LP The Forgotten Arm into a Broadway musical. That album told the story of John, a down-on-his luck boxer riddled with addictions, and his relationship with a young drifter named Caroline. The potential project even drew some interest from a veteran Broadway producer. Unfortunately, in 2014, Rocky the Musical, a stage version of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movie hit the Great White Way, and Mann and Leo immediately realized that Broadway probably didn't have room for two boxing musicals. (It didn't help that the Rocky production was something of a flop.)

Nevertheless, Mann was clearly intrigued by the idea of dipping her toe into musical theater. (Maybe the interest was there all along. Let's not forget that her career as a solo artist received a major boost thanks to her contributions to the 1999 film Magnolia.)

In any event, while I'm not 100% sure of the timeline, somewhere along the way, Mann managed to get a commission to write songs for a stage adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's 1993 memoir, Girl, Interrupted. This is the tale of the eighteen months Kaysen spent in a mental hospital in the late 1960's in a ward made up of mostly troubled young women from wealthy families. Hollywood released a film adaption of the book in 1999, directed by James Mangold and starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. The film is a bit more sensational than the memoir, though, and the songs on Mann's album are based on Kaysen's original account of her story.

This structure gave Mann the chance to explore the theme of mental illness, one she is clearly fascinated by. (Mental Illness, after all, is the title of her previous LP, and Mann herself entered a rehab facility in 2002 to deal with a variety emotional ailments.)

Once I learned this, and read up a bit on Kaysen's story, the album took off for me. What we really have here is a series of musical character studies of the people comprising the author's recollections. There's Kaysen herself, an 18-year-old who gets talked into checking herself into the hospital for depression after a suicide attempt, supposedly for a "few weeks," but is held there for 18 months; Lisa, who is diagnosed as a sociopath (which may or may not be accurate); Daisy, who has an unhealthy and somewhat creepy relationship with her father (and whose eventual suicide impacts all of the other patients); the drug-addicted Torrey; and Polly, a young woman diagnosed with schizophrenia, whose body is disfigured by the scars she received from setting herself on fire.

Mann's version of the story is peppered with references to artists who suffered from mental conditions themselves, such as Robert Lowell and Syvia Plath. Even the title of the LP, Queens of the Summer Hotel, is taken from the title of a poem by Ann Sexton, a poet who struggled with bipolar disorder.

Many of the songs refer back to Kaysen and her feelings of disassociation and not being whole. Others are sung from the viewpoint of other characters, such as "Home By Now", where Daisy describes her father's special "love" for her; "In Mexico," told from the viewpoint of Torrey, whose parents check her out of the hospital against her will and bring her to Mexico, where her addiction once again overcomes her; and "Burn It Out", where Polly expresses her belief in the healing power of fire.

One of the emotional highlights of the album is "Suicide Is Murder", which describes the impact of a suicide on the people left behind: "But beware cause anyone who knew you/Will be cursed, and part of them will also die." She goes on to describe the act as "a heartless killing spree." The song is a real gut punch.

Mann brings it all together on the final track, "I See You", where she sings about each of the damaged souls from Kaysen's tale with compassion and understanding. Her descriptions reveal each girl, even the seemingly cold-hearted Lisa, as a full person and not just as a collection of symptoms and psychoses. They're just trying to make lives for themselves, even as they each struggle with their individual pain and confusion.

Queens of the Summer Hotel left me hungry to go back and read Susanna Kaysen's memoir. It's a beautiful album, and one full of heart and humanity.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Top 20 Songs of 2021, Part 2 - #'s 10-1

Well, a year's worth of listening goes into making up these year-end Best Of lists. So let's bring it all home and put 2021 to bed.

Here are my Top 10 Songs of 2021, from # 10 down to # 1.

10. Epica - "Rivers" Epica - Rivers

This is from my #1 album of the year, Epica's Omega, and it's the slow ballad of the LP. The piano is gorgeous here, but the track's strongest point is that it allows vocalist Simone Simons the chance to really demonstrate the sheer beauty of her voice.

9. Soen - "Illusion" Soen - Illusion

Finally, a win for the boys. This is Swedish supergroup Soen's second time in three years on the Top 20 Songs list, thanks in no small part to the mesmerizing vocals of singer Joel Ekelof (as well as to some majestic guitar work by Cody Lee Ford). This is a slow-to-mid-tempo track of epic grandeur.

8. Chvrches - "How Not to Drown" Chvrches - How Not to Drown (with Robert Smith)

Well the girls are back, but this time, Chvrches' Lauren Mayberry gets a very able assist from The Cure's Robert Smith. This one is kind of hypnotic, and what a grand team up!

7. Tigers Jaw - "Lemon Mouth" Tigers Jaw - Lemon Mouth

This is another one of those bands that seems to have at least one song in the running for this list every time they release an album. This alt rock band tends to alternate male and female vocals, and in fact Brandon Walsh seems to actually take about two thirds of the leads. But bandmate Brianna Collins sings this one, and does a beautiful job on it.

6. Maggie Lindemann - "Knife Under My Pillow" Maggie Lindemann - Knife Under My Pillow

Disney brat Olivia Rodrigo had the teen set eating out her fingers this year, and I get why. But if I was going to put my money on an up-and-coming pop princess, I think it would be this 23-year-old Texan. This is my favorite track from Maggie Lindemann's debut LP Paranoia, which was released last January. It's something of a pop punk ode to night terrors.

5. Wolf Alice - "The Beach II" Wolf Alice - The Beach II

This laid back, soft tune by British alt rockers Wolf Alice also sounds like a nursery rhyme. It's not all that complicated, just really pretty, made even more so by singer Ellie Rowsell's highly pleasing vocals.

4. Icon For Hire - "Enemies" Icon For Hire - Enemies

This is a bizarre little track that I heard early in 2021, and it just stuck with me all year. It's got kind of a playful horror vibe.

3. Torres - "Thirstier" Torres - Thirstier

Well, you saw Torres' "Don't Go Puttin Wishes in My Head" on the first half of this Top 20 list, and honestly, it was almost a coin toss as to which of these two songs I liked better. They're both about the same complicated relationship, and while the first was more bouncy and joyful, this one is about the pure desire that pulls Torres towards her partner. Both tracks really needed to be on this list.

2. Teenage Wrist - "Taste of Gasoline" Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline

This one is just a classic alternative rock single with a perfect hook. This is another one of those songs (and albums) that I heard early in 2021, and it just stayed with me all year. I'm amazed that this LA band isn't better known. It should be.

1. The Sere - "Always the Cold Moon" The Sere - Always the Cold Moon

Whoa! Just when you thought New York had been totally disrespected, with none of the top local albums making the Album of the Year list, here comes a local lad to win the grand prize and take the Top Song of 2021 title. I don't know much about who this synthpop artist is, other than that his name is JonS and he's a New Yorker. I found him by complete accident on Bandcamp.com. But this very '80s-style electropop song was without a doubt my favorite track of the year. It's from an EP of the same name. So eat our undies, rest of the world! New York is back, baby!

And with that, we put 2021 to bed. This Top 20 playlist can be found on YouTube at Top 20 Songs of 2021.

So, 2022 music will start coming out in a week or so, and I'll also be starting my listening for my Fleetwood Mac article and getting ready for the 80s Cruise in March. And who knows, maybe I'll even sneak in an album review before then.

So don't do anything I wouldn't do, and I'll see you guys real soon.

Top 20 Songs of 2021, Part 1 - #'s 20-11

This year's Top 20 Songs list was difficult to put together for technical reasons. Four or five months back, I hamfistedly hit something I didn't mean to on the desktop computer that I usually download my music onto, and consequently screwed up the Media Monkey account I use to keep my music organized. As a result, while I have continued to be able to use it to get new music onto my iPod classic, I have not been able to download playlists. So to listen and compare my favorite songs by each artist, I've had to create and listen to playlists on YouTube, which is a huge pain in the cannoli's. It means dealing with constant commercials, getting kicked off of YouTube every five songs or so, etc. None of that will be a problem this year, as I bought myself a new laptop and had my daughter set it up and download Media Monkey onto it for all my music for 2022 and beyond. (Unless I screw that one up, too.)

But enough about my little troubles. In any event, I persevered, and I was able to get it done. So I can now present to you my Top 20 Songs of 2021. (And by the way, you'll notice that just as on my Top 10 Albums list, the ladies rein supreme here. All I can say, guys, is I hope you step up your game in 2022.)

Once again, I'm going to spread this list out over two posts. I'll be covering #'s 20-11 here, and #'s 10-1 in a second post later this week.

Note that these weren't necessarily singles. (In fact, probably none of them were.) They were just my 20 favorite songs of the year.

So here's Part 1 of my list, in reverse order:

20. Creeper - "Midnight" Creeper - Midnight

This is sort of like a vampiric Bruce Springsteen tune from this British goth/pop punk band with dueling male and female vocals. It's from their 2021 EP American Noir. It's absolutely a musical love story for the undead.

19. Submotile - "Sunflower" Submotile - Sunflower

As I mentioned in my Top 10 albums list, Submotile is a two-piece husband/wife duo from Dublin, Ireland (which I assume is his hometown. She's Italian.) I love the juxtaposition of her ethereal vocals with the insane, surf-rock-out-of-control drums on this track. 

18. As December Falls - "I Don't Feel Like Feeling Great" As December Falls - I Don't Feel Like Feeling Great

This is clearly my faux Josh-Farro-era Paramore song of the year, from this band's new LP Happier.. I get that a lot of people think As December Falls imitates 2005-2009 Paramore just a little too slavishly. But I say if you're going to copy, at least copy off the best. And honestly, I enjoyed this LP more than I've enjoyed either of Hayley Williams' two solo albums, or even the two most recent Paramore LPs.

17. Sweet Trip - "In Sound, We Found Each Other" Sweet Trip - In Sound, We Found Each Other

According to Wikipedia. this San Francisco-based electronic duo are known for blending alternative rock with intelligent dance music. This song is dreamy and pleasant, and would have probably even been higher on this list if they didn't go mucking about with some weird electronic sounds during the last 30-45 seconds. But it's still mighty purdy.

16. Hayley Williams - "Inordinary" Hayley Williams - Inordinary

Speaking of Paramore, here's what former pop punk princess Hayley Williams has been up to lately. I thought her LP from this year, Flowers for Vases/Descansos was a little hit or miss. It's very acoustic, and very subdued. As you'll hear, this track is about as quiet and laid back as you can get. But this song, at least, is also very personal and genuine, and I liked it soon as I heard it.

15. Ad Infinitum - "Unstoppable" Ad Infinitum - Unstoppable

Ad Infinitum is a Swiss symphonic metal band with beauty-and-the-beast vocals. Their 2021 LP Chapter II: Legacy was my first experience with them, but it won't be the last. Their music speaks of epic battles and the like, and as you'll see if you watch the video I've linked to up above, lead singer Melissa Bonny can do a power hair twirl with the best of them. This track is one of the two highlights of the album, the other being a song called "Son of Wallachia".

14. Torres - "Don't Go Puttin Wishes in My Head" Torres - Don't Go Puttin Wishes in My Head

I really tried to keep this song out of my Top 20, because (spoiler) it's not the only Torres song on this list. But this one is just so joyful and triumphant, and it has such a great hook, that I just couldn't exclude it and still feel this was an honest list. Well played, Torres. Well played.

13. The Pretty Reckless - "Witches Burn" The Pretty Reckless - Witches Burn

The Pretty Reckless are a fairly rare entity these days, a straight-up hard rock band. This song is something of a feminist anthem in the best sense of the word - don't try to burn this lady at the stake. She'll gut you like a fish, and consequences be damned!

12. Grouplove - "Oxygen Swimming" Grouplove - Oxygen Swimming

This Is This is kind of an awful name for an album, and the cover art is just dreadful. Having said that, this LP is far and away Grouplove's best since their 2011 debut Never Trust A Happy Song, and I just love this track in particular. It's a song that finds a couple in love just lying in the dark, cuddling and talking about whatever comes to mind. It's intimate, and just makes me like these people. Grouplove was one of the concerts I had tickets for that got cancelled by the pandemic in 2020. I'll always be kind of sad about that.

11. Blackmore's Night - "Nature's Light" Blackmore's Night - Nature's Light

This is the title track from the new Blackmore's Night album. It's regal and bombastic, and totally representative of what Blackmore's Night is all about. It's a royal processional theme, and you can just see the various lords and ladies entering the courtyard behind the queen before today's joust. Candice's voice is lovely here, as it always is.

So that's it for the first part of my list. If the work from my job isn't too heavy, I'll try to post Part 2 tomorrow. In any event, it will be up sometime in the next few days. Peace, my people.

Top 10 Albums of 2021

I thought I might start writing this earlier today, but instead, I spent the day at the ER with my daughter's boyfriend, who was suffering from a very painful ear infection. But it was a day well spent, as he's doing better now. So this seems like a good time to post my Top 10 Albums of 2021 list.

As I mentioned yesterday, this is the first time ever that there's absolutely no overlap between this list and my Top 10 Local Albums of 2021 list (which I posted last night). I have a theory as to why that might be, and my theory is a simple one -- since joining the Sputnik Music website more than five years ago, I've not only become less focused on the local music scene but also way more focused on the international music scene. Where most of my music consumption used to take place from American and British artists, you're going to notice that this year's Top 10 list has much more of an international flavor to it. However, I do still make sure I listen to a certain percentage of New York and (where possible) Long Island artists each year, so I'll be surprised if next year makes it two years in a row with no New York artists on my Top 10 Overall list.

Just a few rules - as to what constitutes an "album" for the purposes of this list, nothing has changed here. To be considered, an album has to be a full-lengther that has either 7 or more songs, or runs at least 30 minutes. It also has to be all by one artist -- no multi-artist compilations allowed. Once again, digital-only releases certainly qualify, and the majority of music I listened to this year was in a digital file format. And once again, I really only consider studio albums for this list -- no live or best-of comp albums.

Just one other thing to highlight here. Remember when the numbnuts politicians used to refer to one year or another as "The Year of the Woman"? Well they've got nothing on me. I've always (or at least since the 1980's) had a special love for female vocalists, and female-fronted bands and artists have always been over-represented on my Best Of lists. But in the past, the guys have usually sneaked in for close to 50% at least. (How is that "over-represented" you ask? Simple. Fair or not, there are just way, way, way more bands out there with male singers, so for my list to be 50% female-fronted is an over-representation of the ladies' presence in the music scene in general). This year, both on this list and my Top 20 Songs list, the ladies have just taken over and are out of control. It's not any kind of a political statement or virtue signalling on my part. It's just what I like. 

Without further ado, here, in reverse order, are this year's picks.

Top 10 Albums of 2021

10. Piana - Raula

Piana is the creative name for Naoko Sasaki from Morioka, Japan. Her music is light as a feather, and very exquisite. I think I found her this year when somebody rec'd one of her tracks for the Sputnik Music Song of the Day thingy. Raula (as best I can tell) is her fifth full-length album.

Favorite Track - Piana - Rafe

9. Submotile - Sonic Day Codas

Continuing with an international theme, Submotile is an Italian-Irish two-piece band from Dublin, Ireland that mixes elements of noise-rock, shoegaze, ambient and post-rock. Again as far as I'm able to tell, this is their second full-length LP. The band is made up of Michael Farren and Daniela Angione Farren.

A Favorite Track - Submotile - No Exit Cracks

8. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

North London alternative rock band Wolf Alice first made my Top 10 Albums list in 2017 with their sophomore effort, Visions of a Life. Well guess what? They'reeeee baaaaack! And I guess it's gonna be a habit. Nice job, guys.

A Favorite Track - Wolf Alice - Safe From Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)

7. Solarus - A Dance With Tragedy

This was a December release and a very late addition to my Top 10. Solarus is a Canadian symphonic metal band from London, Ontario. A Dance With Tragedy is their third full-length effort. I don't know a whole lot more about them, except that they knocked a pretty nice album by San Francisco's Sweet Trip off of this list. So good on them.

Favorite Track - Solarus - Waking Mind

6. Aimee Mann - Queens of the Summer Hotel

Oh yeah. You guys know I love Aimee Mann, and I have since her 'Til Tuesday days. This one took a little longer to grow on me than some of her others - the music sounds kind of simple at first. It's the concept that's a bit more complicated. This is a series of songs that Mann wrote for a stage adaptation of Susanna Keysen's 1993 memoir Girl Interrupted (which was previously turned into a Hollywood film starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie). I expect to see this on Broadway someday.

Favorite Track - Aimee Mann - In Mexico

5. Teenage Wrist - Earth Is a Black Hole

Teenage Wrist is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. Although there have been other members in the past, it's currently a 2-person collaboration between Marshall Gallagher and Anthony Salazar. This is their fourth full-length LP.

A Favorite Track - Teenage Wrist - Earth Is a Black Hole

4. Sirenia - Riddles Ruins and Revelations

Sirenia is a gothic/symphonic metal band from Stavenger, Norway. This is their tenth full-length album. And yeah, I know the track I'm rec'ing below as my favorite is actually a cover of a song by the French singer Desireless. But I don't care, OK? Because that's just how I roll! (And because it kind of sounds like a metal song that could have been written by ABBA.)

Favorite Track - Sirenia - Voyage, Voyage

3. Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark

Arab Strap are a veteran Scottish indie-rock band who formed in 1995, broke up in 2006 and reunited in 2016. As Days Get Dark is their first original studio album in 16 years. The band features mostly-spoken lyrics, a strange sense of humor and a wickedly dark view of the world. The band's core members are Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton.

Favorite Track - Arab Strap - The Turning of Our Bones

2. Mostly Autumn - Graveyard Star

This is the second appearance on my Top 10 Albums list for this British progressive rock band. The first was 2017's Sight of Day. Mostly Autumn is a 7-piece ensemble that features both male and female lead vocals, courtesy of the husband and wife team of Bryan Josh and Olivia Sparnenn. The band mixes the classic prog rock sounds of bands like Genesis, Jethro Tull and Renaissance with Josh's Gilmouresque lead guitar, hard rock and Celtic folk sounds.

Favorite Track - Mostly Autumn - Skin of Mankind

1. Epica - Omega

This is actually the first appearance on this list for Dutch symphonic rock band Epica, although lead singer Simone Simons scored highly on last year's Top 20 Songs list for singing the lead on the Ayreon song "This Human Equation." Omega is Epica's eighth full-length album, and their first in five years. It's packed with heavy rock anthems and beautiful ballads as well.

A Favorite Track - Epica - Kingdom of Heaven Pt. 3 - The Antediluvian Universe

So there we have it - another year, another Top 10 Albums list. If you'd like to listen to the ten songs recommended above, here's a link for a playlist with all ten of them: Top 10 Albums of 2021

Coming up next: The Top 20 Songs of 2021, Part One.

Top 10 Local Albums of 2021

Last year, I wrote about how every year I was getting earlier and earlier with my Best Of lists. This year, as you can see, I've reversed that trend. I'm not sure why. It just took me longer this year to get my stuff together. 

This is the first of my three year-end Best Of lists, to be followed by Top 10 Albums of 2020 and Top 20 Songs of 2020. Traditionally, I've always posted this one first on this blog, the reason being that obviously, any "local" album that shows up on my Top 10 Albums list would also, by necessity, show up on this one.

But here's a couple of thoughts about music in 2021, the second year of the global COVID pandemic:

1. While I found a lot of really good music out there this year, I didn't find much GREAT music. In fact, this year, for the first time ever, I didn't rate any LPs higher than 3.5 out of 5. I'm usual pretty selective with 4.5's and 5's - these days, I rarely ever rate an album higher than a 4 when I first hear it. I prefer to rate the best LP's a 4 to start off with, and let them grow into 4.5's and 5's after a year or two roll by and I get some perspective on them. However, this year, I awarded no 4's at all. And,

2. SPOILER ALERT: While I've had years where 7 out of 10 of my Top 10 Albums come from local artists, this year, none of them did. There is no overlap whatsoever between my Top 10 Albums list and my Top 10 Local Albums list. Does that mean the releases on this list suck? Not at all. These are all fine LPs, especially #'s 1 and 2. I just look at it like these are all flawed gems. But they are still gems.

Three more thoughts before I give you the actual list.

1. Once again, as I've drifted further and further from the actual local Long Island music scene in my own life, this list comprises all artists who can in some way, shape or form be considered local to the New York/Tri-State area. These are all nationally known musicians/bands who have national, and in some cases, international, followings. I did get to hear some fine releases from "local" artists in the more classical sense this year, including albums from Smol Data, Rorie Kelly, Russ Seeger and Quickdraw, and I wanted to give a special nod of respect to them here. But this Top 10 is a bit more national than I'd probably like it be, partially because I'm not out there anymore as much as I'd like to be, and partially because I think the COVID virus is still doing a lot to squelch an actual local Long Island music scene.

2. As for the definition of the word "local", as always, I try to keep it very loose. For the purposes of picking a Top 10 Local Albums list, here's what I consider "local": 1. Long Island, for sure; 2. The five boroughs of NYC (especially Brooklyn, where a lot of Long Island bands have run off to); 3. Sometimes Jersey or a little ways upstate, if the mood takes me. (As I've said in the past, I'm not giving away money or anything, so I kind of get to make up the rules as I go along). Also, if a band or artist spent a decent amount of time living on and playing on Long Island or in the City in the past, they get to qualify, even if they've moved to another area of the country. And,

3. My trend towards digital music has continued, to the point that almost all of my 2021 music was purchased in the form of a digital album, as opposed to just 3 or 4 years ago, when I wouldn't even permit non-physical media to be considered for this list.

The overall rules for consideration to make this Top 10 list are A. An album has to meet my definition of "local" in #2 above, and it has to be a full-length album of at least seven songs (unless there are one or more epic-length songs). EPs aren't allowed. It also has to be all by one artist -- no compilations.

So let's get started.

Top 10 Local Albums of 2021

10. Sufjan Stevens - Convocations

I'll be honest, I really didn't want to include this album on this list. For one thing, although Sufjan clearly qualifies (he was born in Michigan, and I think he lives up in the Catskills now, but according to his Wikipedia page, he lived in NYC for 20 years), this is the second year in a row where he's eating up two spots on this list. (He's a prolific little so-and-so.) And for another, this is just such a different album musically than any other LP here. But ultimately, it just wouldn't be denied.

Convocations is actually a 5-disc, 49-song set of all instrumental new age trance music which functions as a meditation on the five stages of grief. It's not much an album to listen to as it is one to allow to wash over you. (Why he couldn't throw in a 50th song irritates the hell out of my OCD, but it is what it is.) 

Favorite Track: Sufjan Stevens - Meditation II

9. Xeno & Oaklander - Vi/deo

When this two-piece Brooklyn duo first made this list two years ago, I compared them to Eurythmics. I'm not really happy with that comparison, though. For one thing, vocalist Liz Wendelbois is French/Norwegian, with an ethereal voice and a French accent. (Her partner, Sean McBride, is a Maryland boy.) For another, this year, at least, their music, while still somewhat icy, is making me think as much of a less-complicated Stereolab as it is of Eurythmics. As best I can tell, this is their seventh full-length album.

Favorite Track: Xeno & Oaklander - Infinite Sadness

8. Sleigh Bells - Texis

Where our previous entry was cold and ethereal, this Brooklyn-based duo is noisy and raucous. They mix David E. Miller's rude guitars and overdriven production with Alexis Krauss's sing-song vocals. After getting off to a great start with their 2010 initial release Treats, I feel like they've been a little lost for the last decade or so. This, their fifth full-length LP, sees them getting back to surer footing.

Favorite Track: Sleigh Bells - Justine Go Genesis

7. The Antlers - Green to Gold

The Antlers are a Brooklyn-based folky indie rock band who are now a two-piece. They're sort of like a way, way more laid back version of The Decemberists. The reason for this is probably because founder/frontperson Peter Silberman suffers from a number of hearing-based conditions that make him sensitive to the loud stuff. (You probably won't find him at a Sleigh Bells concert, for example, unless he's wearing some industrial-grade ear plugs). Consequently, the music here is soft, quite warm, and often very beautiful. This is The Antlers' sixth LP, and first in seven years.

Favorite Track: The Antlers - Wheels Roll Home

6. Infintome - Voyage Home

I can't tell you a lot about these guys, but I'll give you what I've got. Infinitome is the project of two twin brothers whom I think were initially from New Jersey, David and Richard Horn. This is their only LP under this band name, although they've apparently been playing together in a number of bands for years (and they're rumored to be working on a follow-up). On this one, they went out and hired themselves an ace drummer (Scott Higham) and recorded a mostly instrumental progressive rock space opera set far in the future, where an archaeologist seeks to uncover the secrets of humanity's long-lost home, a planet called Earth. The music here is inspired by bands such as Yes, Genesis and Kansas. Works for me.

Favorite Track: Infinitome - Voyage Home

5. Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind

Here he is again! Sufjan, Sufjan, Sufjan - don't you maybe want to find something else to do besides music once in a while? Join a bowling league! Take a cruise, maybe? No? Well, I guess it's going to be up to the rest of you guys to up your games if you don't want him hogging up this list every single year.

Anyway, this LP is a bit more of usual the Sufjan style than Convocations, as he and frequent touring partner/opening act Angelo De Augustine give us 14 graceful tracks of lovely low-key music with exquisite vocal harmonies, each of which is purportedly based on a film. (My favorite, "The Pillar of Souls", for example, is supposed to be based on Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Sweet!) So I guess even when he tries to do something else, like watch a movie, it gets turned into a song. Now that's dedication. (Or insanity.)

Favorite Track: Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine - Pillar of Souls

4. Laura Stevenson - Laura Stevenson

This Rockville Center native has made this list before. As always, her voice and her musical compositions are as warm as honey. She's a particularly well-loved artist on the music website Sputnik Music, where this LP came in at # 26 on the staff's Top 50 list. I don't really know what else to say besides, "Enjoy."

Favorite Track: Laura Stevenson - Continental Divide

3. Dream Theater - A View From the Top of the World

After a couple of missteps in the mid-2010's culminating with their ambitious but often cringeworthy 2016 effort The Astonishing, this is DT's second album in a row to make this list. This is a very solid project overall, but the clear highlight for me is "Transcending Time", which sounds like a Boston song with tasty modern synth elements. I've never been a huge fan of vocalist James LaBrie, but the son of a bitch sings his heart out on this album, and John Petrucci's guitars are just on fire on this album. (Petrucci also wrote four of the album's seven songs.) I couldn't really ask for much more from these guys.

Favorite Track: Dream Theater - Transcending Time

2. Torres - Thirstier

There was just a hair trigger between my #2 and #1 local albums; they're both really good. Torres has been no stranger to my Best Of lists over the last five or six years, and this one is probably her best LP to date. I'm not going to be able to give you my favorite track for the LP, as one or two of these little beauties just might show up on my Top 20 Songs list (hint, hint), but this is an album rich with songs about her relationship with her fiancee, artist Jenna Gribbon (who designed the cover for her 2020 album Silver Tongue).

A Favorite Track - Torres - Big Leap

1. Blackmore's Night - Nature's Light

I think this was the only actual album review I wrote this year, so you guys should have seen this coming. Blackmore's Night has long been one of my favorite bands. Candice Night's voice is still simply majestic, and Blackmore is Blackmore - he's a legend, and deservedly so. This is another case where I can't give you my top track, because - reasons. But I'll hook you up with something else totally worthwhile.

A Favorite Track - Blackmore's Night - Second Element

So that's my Top 10 Local Albums of 2021 list. I'll be back in a day or so with my Top 10 Albums of 2021 overall list. Meantime, if you'd like to listen to these recommended tracks as a playlist, here it is: Top 10 Local Albums of 2021