Now Hear This

Carrie Brownstein, of Sleater-Kinney and Portlandia fame, released a top 23 "punk" albums list this past week, which has properly received some attention.  Although many of these bands are more accurately described as Post-Punk or New Wave, as DFA Records first suggested on its Twitter feed, it is a good list for discovering some of the better music the 70s had to offer (why wasn't I listening to Pylon more?). 

Here it is (I underlined a few that would certainly make my own list):

• Wire, 154
• Au Pairs, “You” 7-inch
• Delta 5, “Mind Your Own Business” 7-inch
• Undertones, “You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It?)” 7-inch
• Wipers, Is This Real?
• Talking Heads, Remain in Light
• Bad Brains, “Pay to Cum” 7-inch
• Fugazi, 13 Songs
• Mo-Dettes, “White Mice” 7-inch
• The Slits, Cut
• The Jam, All Mod Cons
• The Stooges, Fun House
• X-Ray Spex, Germ Free Adolescents
• The Clash, Sandinista!
• Rites of Spring, Self Titled
• Buzzcocks, A Different Kind of Tension
• Minutemen, Double Nickles on the Dime
• Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade
• The Replacements, Let It Be
• B-52’s, Wild Planet
• Television, Marquee Moon
• Gang of Four, Entertainment!
• Pylon, Gyrate 

Also, for god's sake, you should be listening to Phoenix's new album Entertainment! (not a typo, it shares a title with the Gang of Four album, above) this week.  There are a couple of tracks that don't quite manage to soar, but it's a big wet spit in the face of impossibility to follow an album as essential as Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix with something as strong as Entertainment!   

The mix they concocted for the Paramount last month let the voice-of-god low end of the synthesizers resonate in your chest cavity.  The album further demonstrates that that element of their sound has fully matured.  The buzzy warmth of the synths on this record is like a bed I don't want to get out of.