IN REVIEW: Let's Catch Up On 2020 With Haiku Reviews!

Eighteen albums might not seem like a lot to review in four months, but that running tally for 2020 does fill me with a little pride; even with a global pandemic and some time off work allowing me to spend much more time with music, averaging about one review per week is more than I thought possible considering how much procrastination (and, at times, outright ignorance) has played into my work ethic around here in recent years.

That said, there has been so much more released already this year that's worth talking about. So, I decided to go ahead and reinstate the gimmicky but fun haiku reviews I used as a cop out when catching up last year leading up to Year in Rock. This doesn't mean these albums don't warrant more thought out reviews, I just didn't get to them in a timely enough fashion. It also doesn't mean these albums aren't good enough to devote more time to; in fact, in a year where Fiona doesn't just decide to release a generational masterpiece, at least a couple of these would be strong nominees for Album of the Year.

Anyway, spending all this time on a preamble kind of undermines the point of doing haiku reviews, doesn't it? Let's get into it!

SPANISH LOVE SONGS Brave Faces Everyone
February 7, 2020 • Pure Noise
Highlights Generation Loss • Losers • Dolores

Sad and harrowing
Like modern America
As real as it gets.

BEACH BUNNY Honeymoon
February 14, 2020 • Mom+Pop
Highlights Promises • Cuffing Season • Cloud 9

Power pop heartache
A youthful rite of passage
That never gets old.

KVELERTAK Splid
February 14, 2020 • Kvelertak/Rise
Highlights Rogaland • Crack of Doom • Fanden ta dette hull!

If you ever doubt
Music is more than language
Then here is the proof.

WAXAHATCHEE Saint Cloud
March 27, 2020 • Merge
Highlights Can't Do Much • The Eye • Hell

Americana
What does it mean anyway?
Start with this record.

PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS Viscerals
April 3, 2020 • Rocket Recordings
Highlights Reducer • Rubbernecker • World Crust

This shit fucking slaps
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
What else can I say?

THE PACK a.d. it was fun while it lasted
April 17, 2020 • The Pack a.d.
Highlights Give Up • Soul Warden • No Good

Fourteen year career
Concluding on a high note
Come back any time.

JOEL PLASKETT 44
April 17, 2020 • Songs for the Gang/Pheromone
Highlights Memory Complete Me • Just Passing Through • Just Because

Just because you can
It doesn't mean that you should
One album's enough.

BRENDAN BENSON Dear Life
April 24, 2020 • Third Man
Highlights Good To Be Alive • Half a Boy (Half a Man) • Dear Life

Not fantastic, but
Not embarrassing either
Could have used less synth.

...and that covers some of the records I missed in the first four months of the year. Now, we'll get back to the usual style of reviews, although I'm sure by September there will be another backlog of records awaiting me, so maybe we'll do another run of haiku reviews then. Also, even after this, did I miss any 2020 releases that you feel I should rectify? Go ahead and make a request, and I'll see about it; I always like experiencing new music, so don't be shy!

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

SOUND BITES

Search This Blog