Like I did last year I resolved to follow up on the acts which have made my top 5 review lists from 2014, 2015, 2016, and now 2017. I was curious to see if they were still making music and whether it was still good stuff. So over the last couple weeks or so I have been checking things out with these 20 acts and this is what I found.
From 2014, it should be noted that Billy Roberts and the Rough Riders (#5) had “Greenbah” finally come out toward the back end of 2017. It’s a very mature evolution of their rockabilly sound, and would have been a contender for the top 5 had I formally reviewed it. So they are still making music, and still difficult to pin down on social media. The only drawback: you still have the acquired taste of his nasal voice to deal with and it doesn’t work on every song.
Rpresenting a different foreign shore, The Lost Poets (#3) have put out a new, cool single called Vulture (The Duel) (with an almost disturbingly morbid video) as well as one back in January called Riviera Keys and are still seeking venues for the short film “Insubordia pt. 3”. They are honing that sludge rock sound, to be sure.
Meanwhile, my New York-based top 5 artists Tomas Doncker Band (#4) and Paul Maged (#1) are keeping very, very busy. Considering the Doncker “band” is just part of the Doncker “brand” we find he’s doing a lot – performing on more tribute albums such as a project commemorating Curtis Mayfield, working with longtime collaborators, writing music for upcoming off-Broadway plays, and running his record label. A really busy guy, and that’s just his recent social media feed. And since I recently reviewed the first of a planned trilogy of EPs that will make up Maged’s next full-length, it’s obvious Paul’s making more music. The next phase, called “The Glass River”, comes out in February.
The only downer is that my top 5 slot seemed to be the kiss of death for Monks of Mellonwah (#2), whose trail has gotten colder since they last put out music in 2015.
My 2015 crop has gone off in a number of different directions. There are the more traditional, like Idiot Grins (#5) who put out a new album called “State of Health.” To me it was a throwback to the 60’s thanks to their guests, including the backing harmonies of the Byrd Sisters. They had a couple whipsaw changes in direction with this one back and forth from a Motown style to retro country, but they seem to have found their groove this time. Down the California coast, the Liquorsmiths (#4) didn’t follow up their 2016 release “All My Friends Are Fighters” with any other new stuff, but they keep playing a regular schedule of gigs around the San Diego area.
Even farther down south the Pacific, almost to the end of the world, is the subject of a single Tumbler (#3) put out in August called Ushuaia. Richard Grace of the band explained that it was a retrospective of the lost native Yamana tribe from the region, which had a rich but only verbal language and was wiped out from smallpox and other diseases when Westerners found the area and settled on Tierra del Fuego.
The Yamana’s story is of two cultures meeting. We wanted to reflect that in the way we recorded the song. Mostly though, we wanted the song to tell the story of these people’s disappearance – of how terrible and tragic it is and, worst of all, of how little we actually truly care.
Even farther out are the Space Apaches (#2) who seem to have disappeared into the ether, but the guy who went in the most interesting direction was Jas Patrick (#1). While he may not be doing music anymore, he has succeeded in his new field of voiceover work. In 2017 he received one of the Voice Arts Awards for his work on a radio commercial, which led to new representation. I suppose in the grand scheme of things winning a national award and being #1 in your craft is more important and lucrative than being #1 on my chart. But I still like the songs.
If anything, my 2016 crop is still doing things the conventional way – with one exception. It’s also a matter of scale: Michael Van and the Movers (#5) played every so often near their California base, Midwest Soul Xchange (#4) and Steve Hussey and Jake Eddy (#2) each did a string of shows over the summer with MSX touring around the upper Midwest and Hussey and Eddy holding court in venues in West Virginia and Ohio, and Jim Peterik (#3) doing shows with his band the Ides of March, including a current gig on a Moody Blues cruise. Tough life if you can find it for the purple-haired one.
But the sad news to me was the demise of The Magic Lightnin’ Boys (#1) who announced in September they were calling it quits. They promised to finish some recording commitments for digital release and played as part of a Chris Cornell tribute show in October. It sounds like they will go their separate ways, though.
Since I just did the 2017 top 5, there’s not much to add with them – an upcoming show apiece from Revolushn (#5) and Justin Allen and the Well Shots (#3) are the extent of their future plans at the moment, although Revolushn just did the “Good Acid Tour” to San Francisco, the New York area, and Los Angeles in November. Meanwhile, there’s a focus on upcoming studio time for Rich Lerner and the Groove (#4), but Free Willy (#2) is promising a new album early this year called “Too Cool For The Room.”
Finally, Freddie Nelson (#1) is pleased about getting airplay for his album on satellite radio. I guess I will have to check that out.
In so many words, that’s an update on some of the best bands featured on monoblogue music. Hopefully I’ll have more to review this year.