Last week, just as I was finishing off the 25th playlist of the year, the new Steve Gunn album arrived. This week, the last-minute radical guitar hero is Chris Forsyth, whose first studio album with the Solar Motel Band is absolutely killing it as I type.
It reminds me that one of the most enjoyable things I did on my blog last year was compile – with a lot of help – this “Marquee Moon”/”Sailor’s Life” Youtube playlist: a bunch of clips inspired by musicians currently operating in that elevated zone. Forsyth was one of the key inspirations for the list, and also one of the contributors, along with the other musicians like Cian Nugent, Tom Carter and Nathaniel Bowles. If you haven’t heard it before, I can’t recommend it enough.
Other great stuff this week includes the new album by the amazing bluegrass vet Alice Gerrard, produced by MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger, which comes strongly recommended. A quick reminder, too, that our new address for letters to the mag is uncut_feedback@ipcmedia.com: we’d love to hear from you.
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey
1 [REDACTED]
2 Steve Gunn – Way Out Weather (Paradise Of Bachelors)
3 Wand – Ganglion Reef (God/Drag City)
4 Syl Johnson – Diamond In The Rough (Fat Possum)
5 Spider Bags – Frozen Letter (Merge)
6 USA Out Of Vietnam – Crashing Diseases And Incurable Airplanes (Aurora Borealis)
7 Van Dyke Parks – Super Chief: Music For The Silver Screen (Bella Union)
8 Vashti Bunyan – Heartleap (FatCat)
9 Orlando Julius With The Heliocentrics – Jaiyede Afro (Strut)
10 Morrissey – World Peace Is None Of Your Business (Harvest)
11 Tweedy – Sukierae (dBpm)
12 Alice Gerrard – Follow The Music (Tompkins Square)
13 A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Atomos (Erased Tapes)
14 Karen O – Crush Songs (Kobalt)
15 Blonde Redhead – Barragán (Kobalt)
16 Sinoia Caves – Forever Dilating Eye (Jagjaguwar)
17 Sterling Roswell – The Call Of The Cosmos (Fire)
18 Mark Fry – South Wind, Clear Sky (Second Language)
19 King Tuff – Eyes Of The Muse (Sub Pop)
20 Various Artists – Night Walker: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 3 (Ace)
21 Chris Forysth & The Solar Motel Band – Intensity Ghost (No Quarter)