Rolling Stone Australia September 2017

2017 hasbeengreatformusic.woe

unto those who declare, “Back in my day.. .”

andgoontotalkaboutsomebandthatplayed

with coal powered amps and hunted their own

meat when not touring. Witness someone turn-

ingintotheirparents.Nameayearthatwas

“awfulformusic”andIcanfieldstripyourfact

free assertion. People indict the 1980s like no

one’sgoingtocallthemonit.

The1980s?SonicYouth,Di-

nosaurJr.,Fugazi,NickCave

andtheBadSeeds–I’mnot

even trying.

Here’salistofrecordsthat

cameoutthisyearthatareab-

solutely worth hearing.

Crystal Fairy–Crystal Fairy:

Two Melvins, an At the Drive In and Le Butch-

erette, Teri Gender Bender, on vocals. As great

as it looks on paper. I can’t stop playing this one.

Chain and the Gang – Best of Crime Rock: The

ever prolific Ian Svenonius revisits tracks from

older Chain albums and throws in some new

ones, including my new favourite, “The Logic

ofNight”.Smart,cool,funny.

David Bowie–No Plan:Mr.Bowie’slastalbum

Blackstarwas perfect.No Planfeatures a few

more songs from the sessions.

Pontiak–Dialectic Of Ignorance:Thisband

mightbeabitobscureinAustralia.Theyare

fromtheUSAanddon’tmakebadrecords.

Guerilla Toss– GT ULTR A: Amazing playing

and one of the more interesting and talented vo-

calistsIhaveheard, Kassie Carlson.

Thee Oh Sees– Orc: John Dwyer is unstoppa-

ble. This is the third Oh Sees record in the last

several months and John’s getting better as he

goes. Never miss this band live.

Mikey Young– Your Move Vol. 1: One of the

best records of the year. Mikey

Young is probably connected to

half the records coming out of

Australia this year. How does

he do it?!

Dead Cross – Dead Cross:

Mike Patton and Slayer drum-

mer Dave Lombardo team up

for to-the-wall brutality.

CFM – Dichotomy Desaturated: Long time Ty

Segall alum and serious guitarist with his sec-

ond solo outing. Blue Cheer-ful.

Damaged Bug – Bunker Funk: John Dwyer of

Thee Oh Sees’ other band. Synth/exploratory

and really good.

Alan Vega–IT: The vocalist of Suicide record-

ed this before he passed last year. It’s Vega v. The

Abyss. Alan won. Talk about not going gently.

Wol f Eye s–Undertow: The great noise band

from Michigan unleashes more insanity. I’m in.

Myfavouritealbumoftheyearcomesoutin

September.Alex Cameron’sForced Witness.

He’s the smartest guy in the room by a mile.

Thomas and his band

Matchbox 20 have

launched their first U.S.

tour in four years, featur-

ing co-headliner Count-

ing Crows.

TheBoomtownRats

“I Don’t Like Mondays”

A lot of people don’t

realise this is a song

about a school shooting.

You can see Bob Geldof’s

social awareness coming

out even back then.

The Rolling Stones

“Ruby Tuesday”

This was a great ex-

perimental time for the

Stones. There’s nothing

special about a Tuesday,

so you might as well start

with this song.

The Cure

“Friday I’m in Love”

This song is pure candy,

especially for such a mo-

rose band. Robert Smith

smiles through the whole

video like a lunatic.

Rob Thomas

“Sunday Morning

New York Blue”

Stylistically, I was going

back to the Eagles’

“New Kid in Town” with

this. I’m bummed it never

made it on a record.

Sam Cooke

“Another Saturday Night”

To be a black singer that

crossed over like he did,

youhavetobesubver-

sive. He sang about his

pain in a way that white

kids could dance to.

MY LIST

Five Songs About

Days of the Week

Rob

Thomas

HENRY ROLLINS ON HIS FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2017 SO FAR

AFan’sNotes

September, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 29

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL WELDON

“Name a year that

was bad for music

and I can fi eld strip

your assertion.”