All posts by E-6

I am not a number! I am a free man!

Squirrel Flower – Alley Light

It was an unusually strong year for music. Several new (to me) artists that quickly became favorites, as well as a number of excellent releases from artists I already dug. Some years it’s tough to come up with a top 10. This year the competition was fierce and some really fine music was relegated to the honorable mentions.

Best of 2023 (in order)

Wednesday Rat Saw God. Album of the year. Great from start to finish. Also picked up all their earlier releases after realizing that Rat Saw God was their fourth album—-all of them terrific, I might add. Throw in Lenderman’s solo stuff and these youngsters from Asheville, NC were far and away my most listened to act(s) of 2023.

Hotline TNT Cartwheel. Plays like a classic from the first wave of shoegaze, yet completely contemporary. A heavy Ride influence with some Swervedriver and a pinch of Sugar thrown in for good measure. Fantastic album.

Squirrel Flower Tomorrow’s Fire. Muscular, brooding indie rock from Chicago transplant Ella Williams. (fwiw, Jake Lenderman plays in her studio band for Tomorrow's Fire, so you know the guitars are on point.)

Laurel Halo Atlas. Instrumental music that is simultaneously dreamy, yet slightly disorienting. Found it to be a great soundtrack for both painting and cooking. She is a frequent collaborator with Bootsy favorite Julia Holter.

Blonde Redhead Sit Down for Dinner. After nearly a decade on the sidelines, BRH return with a lovely, mellow release that grows and grows with repeated listens.

dusk Glass Pastures. Alt-country band from 'Sconi with more than a little late-60’s San Fran, rough-neck/hippy vibe. (Think Moby Grape, right down to the 3 guitar attack and multiple lead vocalists.)

MJ Lenderman and The Wind Live and Loose. Jake Lenderman and his crackerjack band blaze through 14 originals and close with a fabulous cover of “Long Black Veil.” Dude is only 24 years old. He is definitely one to watch.

Deerhoof Miracle Level. What can I say? These guys continue to deliver the goods. Entirely sung in Japanese.

Cory Hanson Western Cum. Like Foxygen covering the Eagles. lol Seriously, an axe-wielding tour de force from the Wand dude. Ridiculously horrible album title, though. (shout-out to Zach for turning me onto Pale Horse Rider a few years back in these same year-end best of's.)

Angel Olsen Forever Means EP. Two of the four songs rate amongst her finest work. I’m on board for whatever Angel wants to do

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Ratboys The Window
Lana Del Rey Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd?
Sufjan Stevens Javelin
Slow Pulp Yard
Mitski The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Feist Multitudes
feeble little horse Girl with Fish

2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
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Alvvays – Tom Verlaine

Song of the year from the record of the year.

Bootsy’s Best of ‘22

Alvvays Blue Rev - Toronto band makes a tremendous album three leap and deliver the most satisfying rock record of the year. Continue reading Alvvays – Tom Verlaine

4 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10 (4 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10)
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Black Country, New Road – Opus

These seven early-twenty-somethings are part of the same South London scene that produced Black Midi, Squid, and yes, Dry Cleaning. It's virtually impossible to categorize their music, (other than avant-garde), as they mix such disparate elements as post punk, math rock, klezmer and free jazz among their influences. From their 2021 debut album For the First Time. I was gonna play "Black Sunglasses" --the first song of theirs I was introduced to--it's brilliant! Unfortunately, the lyrics to that one are decidedly NSFW. However, if you’re intrigued by “Opus”, you really need to check it out. As one witty You Tube commenter said of "singer"/guitarist Issac Wood, "I like my vocalists to sound like they're standing on a window sill yelling at a police negotiator." Perfect.

3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)
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Bootsy’s Hungover Kale

BOOTSY'S HUNGOVER KALE

I stumbled upon this "recipe" while trying to recreate/interpret a wonderful dish called Hungover Kale from Mucci’s Restaurant on W. Lake Street in Minneapolis. Theirs includes pancetta, pine nuts and Chardonnay. As I had none of the above items, I decided to wing it with ingredients that I had on hand. After all, that's half the fun of cooking, IMO. And while I won’t claim that my dish is tastier than the offering from Mucci (it isn’t), I can attest that it's pretty damn good in its own right (it is.) Serve it as a main course with an egg or two on top, or in combination with a side of buttered noodles, rice, or macaroni and gravy.*

*hat tip to Paulie Walnuts

Ingredients:

-6 cups kale chopped and washed

-1 medium to large yellow onion chopped

-6 cloves garlic chopped (more or less to your tastes)

-8oz ground pork sausage (could sub turkey sausage or skip entirely, but it becomes a different dish--still good, I bet)

-2  jalapeño peppers sliced (more or less depending on your tastes)

-3 tablespoons olive oil

-3 oz. dry vermouth (a good glug from the bottle.)

-1 can cannellini beans drained and rinsed

-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (you could cut that in half if you lack fortitude)

-sea salt

-black pepper

-farm fresh eggs (optional)

-green onions (optional)

-quarter cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts (optional)

Now first an admission, I rarely ever follow a recipe. (It's why I don't bake. lol) In fact, I take a perverse pride in winging it in the kitchen. I once made dinner for a group of co-workers from the restaurant at the Hilton,  including the executive chef and his wife. Yes, I was nervous. Very nervous, as a matter of fact. Turns out,  I shouldn't have been--everybody loved it. (It was my Hot and Spicy Pork.) Afterwards, Chef J.G. asked if he might have the recipe. I told him there wasn't one, I just threw it together by feel. He smirked and said, "I wasn't aware that you played Jazz." With that in mind, these measurements are all approximations.

In a large skillet add 3 tablespoons olive oil and bring to medium heat. Add onion, jalapeños, and a couple pinches of sea salt. Cook until onions are semi-translucent. Add garlic and brown for a few minutes. Add ground pork sausage and raise heat to med high. Add the crushed red pepper and brown the sausage while gently mixing the contents with a spatula. Once the meat is cooked somewhat (med-rare-ish), raise heat to high and add the cannellini beans. After a minute or so, add 3 ounces of dry white vermouth (cooking sherry or the Chardonnay that the recipe actually calls for could be substituted.) Promptly add the chopped kale on top of ingredients and cover. After a minute or so on high, reduce heat all the way down to low. Check dish after 12-15 minutes and stir your mixture of ingredients all together. Re-cover the skillet and continue on low heat for 5 more minutes. The beauty of this recipe is that while it's ready to serve at this point, you can continue to keep the dish on low heat for another 15 minutes or more. Kale retains its integrity far longer than most greens, so it won't turn to mush. It affords you the time to tend to other items you might be preparing, or simply give you an opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine before dinner. First rule of the kitchen? Marinate the chef. Top with the pine nuts or walnuts if you have them. (I did not this outting.) Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Once plated, a sprinkling of sliced green onion will add even more color, flavor and texture thus assuring your dish is ready for its close-up, Mr. DeMille. Bootsy's Hungover Kale: a versatile and tasty dish that works for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Serves 3-4 as an entree, 6-8 as a side dish.

Roxy Music – More Than This / Jealous Guy

There were essentially three versions of Roxy Music. The Eno Years '71-'73, which encompassed the first two records Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure--and featured an experimental, avant garde, glam rock group. The second version was the Sophisticated Rocker period '74-'75 during which the band blossomed musically and they released the incredible 3 album run of Stranded, Country Life and Siren, after which the group broke up to pursue solo ventures. In 1979, the band reformed and lastly (also sadly least) became the dance-pop Roxy Music/what would become solo BRIAN FERRY that would be the most successful version of the band. In their defense, this period did produce the lushly beautiful Avalon, and Manifesto has it's moments. Still, the era pales in comparison to the first 5 albums, IMHO.
From Avalon (and obviously lip-synched) 1982

We'll end on their swell cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy", a song Bryan Ferry makes his own.

6 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 106 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10 (6 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)
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FMD – Is this still a thing?

Once upon a time The Friday Random Ten spread across the interwebs like wild fire 🔥 Blog after blog of people dropping their lists and conversing about the results. I, myself, felt like I’d let everybody down if I’d forgotten to copy and paste my 10 on at least a half dozens blogs. Alas, as the quiet Beatle once said, “all things must pass.”

And with that, do whatever it is you do.

Roxy Music – Pyjamarama / All I Want Is You

I'll tell anybody who'll listen, Roxy Music clips from German television are YouTube's greatest gift.
"Pyjamarama" was released as a single only, though there is a fine version available on the live record Viva Roxy Music. 1974

From Country Life 1974

5 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 7.20 out of 10)
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Roxy Music – Mother of Pearl / Psalm

Two from Stranded, the first Post-Eno record, 1974
Great lyrics on both tunes, and it should come as no surprise that David Byrne was a huge fan of the band.

Love the way they gradually turn this dirge into Dixieland worthy of a second line. Brilliant.

5 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 105 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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