Mclusky

Well well well, if it isn’t my old blog. Sorry about the false start the other day, turns out I wasn’t quite ready to bring this thing back full time. I did kick around changing formats and even got as far as discussing things with another person, and that was enough to derail me. But enough of the Jim Anchower routine, I have business to get to! It’s time to look at 2025 releases and absolutely fail to rank them. Massive respect for all the writers out there who do produce a list, that shit seems really hard. No, I’m going to cop out, put some half-assed “awards” here, and mostly just write a little about the albums that have really stuck with me for this year.

Good one today.

All, “Vida Blue”

Even on their later albums, All could still sometimes summon up some nicely soaring power pop stuff. I mean, this is basically just Cheap Trick, but whatever, Cheap Trick is fun.

Sonic Youth, “Dirty Boots”

Meanwhile, this is basically what it sounds like when Sonic Youth tries to play a pop song. This is the song that opens Goo, and it lets you know that the band has not fallen off at all from Daydream Nation. There are some bands and albums that are unmistakably at their time, and they only really make sense when viewed within their original context. Then there are bands like Sonic Youth, who at their best sound totally outside of time, as fresh now as when they first made this record [checks] almost 29 years ago? Goddammit, I’m old.

Can you tell the Voodoo Glow Skulls and Suicide Machine apart? Most people can’t.

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, “Blues Downtown”

Soul revivalist Willis leans more towards the Motown end of things than the Stax/Volt side, although obviously there’s still plenty of Stax influence here as well. And my god, those drums at the start of the song. Anyway, this album (Keep Reachin’ Up) is fantastic.

Voodoo Glow Skulls, “Thrift Shop Junkie”

Voodoo Glow Skulls are usually at their least interesting in their generic hardcore mode. This is, um, a pretty generic hardcore song.