In September 2017, Enter Shikari released their fifth album, The Spark, which saw the British post-hardcore experimentlists foreground the synth-pop sounds that have always been an undercurrent in their work. It’s a move that makes even more sense once you hear what the band were blasting this year. “For us personally, 2017 was a game of two very distinct musical halves. We started the year looking backwards and touring in celebration of 10 years since the release of our debut album, and then halfway through the year we released what we would consider to be our most forward-thinking music so far.“While we were putting our list together, it became apparent that it’s been a good year for great music. It’s probably been a good year for shit music too, but we haven’t been listening to that. It’s always amazing how some people can still release new music from beyond the grave. Still, were glad they did.“This is a list of music released this year that we’ve been enjoying, from the smooth tones of Brian Eno to help with mindfulness, to the big bangers like Astroid Boys.”—Enter Shikari
Keyboardist Erik Deutschs sound has been described as "a gumbo of American music that touches in jazz, blues, pop, funk and dub," and with his swirling new album Falling Flowers, that statement is definitely true. Touching on psychedelic and atmospheric, Deutsch traverses the realm of what a keyboard can do. An artist in his own right, Deutsch has also been backing up artists like Citizen Cope, Norah Jones, Alice Smith, Rosanne Cash and Shooter Jennings as well as touring regularly with Charlie Hunter throughout his career. Obviously a master of his craft, its no surprise he made a playlist championing his fellow keyboardists. Check it out here or hit play above.Says Deutsch of his playlist, "Hammers, Strings, Stops, & Knobs is my tribute to some of history’s best ticklers, plunkers, pounders, and tweakers of all things related to the undisputed heavyweight champ of western music: the keyboard. Every one of these essential artists holds a special place in my heart as the uniqueness of each of their musical voices exist on a level reserved for the very best (not to mention that these are seriously dope tracks!) So kick back, relax, and allow a hefty dose of keyboard wizardry to brighten up your day."
Ernest K. is a Nashville-based rapper who is deeply influenced by the Space Jam soundtrack and Eminem. The Dowsers recently asked him to make us a playlist. Here is what he gave us, in his own words:I’ve always loved a very wide variety of music. This playlist I’ve put together barely scratches the surface of all the music I consume and have consumed over the years. It’s a mix of some current songs I’m diggin’ and songs I loved growing up that helped shaped me into the artist I am today. So... roll sum .... or don’t... whatever floats your boat lol... kick back and enjoy.
The musical force of nature known as Ezra Furman returns this February with his most epic statment yet, Transangelic Exodus (Bella Union), a quasi-conceptual glam-goth-pop odyssey that he describes as “a queer outlaw saga.” Here, he reveals the influences that pushed the record to the next level. “These are songs I was into during 2016-2017 that made me want to turn the way I made music on its head. One develops a certain idea of what music is supposed to be and how it’s made, but the fact is, the possibilities are infinite—possibilities for songwriting, for arrangement, for editing and sound and delivery and combinations of ideas.“I’m not sure why, but a few times every year since I was 12 I’ve just heard something and said, ‘THAT. That is my future. That is what I need.’ It started before I even played an instrument. It was never (solely) about making the music, but about a way of thinking or being I could hear in a song. When you hear music that’s not like something you’ve heard before, you can sometimes intuit a whole different cultural and/or personal ethos from it. That’s what happened when I heard these songs, and I craved to incorporate some element of them into both my music and my life. Sometimes, it even happens with songs you’ve heard a million times, but that you just had never heard in that certain way before.“The Talking Heads’ and Nick Cave’s paranoia. The Mountain Goats’ and Lou Reed’s storytelling. The ear-candy pleasure principle of Vampire Weekend and Sparklehorse. The musical anarchy of Tune-Yards and Beck. It all got folded into my brain and pushed me toward Transangelic Exodus.“I’m so glad people write songs and make records. I’m so grateful for the work they put in to realize their mad visions. It’s like water to me. I need it to live. And I’m so glad I get to make my own as well.”—Ezra Furman
Rising Sydney, Australia-based singer CXLOE only has a couple singles out to date, but is making some pretty big waves in the pop world nonetheless. Her latest offering “Show You” (produced by Max Farrar and Sam Farrar of Maroon 5)- is part one of a two-part release series following up her previous hits, “Monster” and “Tough Love,” which right out of the gate garnered her millions of streams and radio play. And if youre based in AU, you might already recognize her face from Spotifys New Music Friday cover. Not bad for a newcomer! We asked CXLOE to throw together a playlist for us as shes about to embark on tour with Marian Hill in Australia, and shes celebrating other new/ up-and-coming female singers like H.E.R. and heroes like Charli XCX with her mix.Says CXLOE about her playlist, its "An all female vocaled playlist filled with pop bangers and lyrical content that every male and female can get down/cry to." Enjoy above or go here. And maybe keep some tissues close by?
Anna Nordeen and Reni Lane make up the spunky Brooklyn indie-pop duo Fever High, whose recently released full-length debut, FHNY, not only includes production by Fountains of Wayne mastermind Adam Schlesinger, but also a vocal cameo from Jeff Goldblum. (Yes, that Jeff Goldblum.) Here, they take a thematic cue from their album’s lead single, “Spy,” and curate a Dowsers playlist of songs that make a virtue of voyeurism. “Our new song Spy explores the age-old topic of surveillance through the perspective of a paranoid lover. There are so many incredible takes on this theme—whether its on-the-nose like Secret Agent Man or more tangential like Suzanne Vegas Toms Diner—so we gathered together our favorites just for you. Given current world events, we believe this is a theme that will continue to give inspiration for new songs about the James Bond in all of us. Were just happy to be part of the lineage!”—Reni Lane
Despite parting ways with his long-time collaborator Josh Young (a.k.a. YehMe2) in 2016, Flosstradamus Curt Cameruci continues to rally the HDYNATION—a.k.a. Hoodie Nation—as a one-man festival-rockin machine. For this playlist he created specially for The Dowsers, the Chicago trap-master selects the tracks that best reflect the Floss philosophy. "The overall theme is HDYNATION and its roots. I tried to incorporate some early Floss influences—90s Chicago rappers, drill music, NY hip hop from 411 skate videos, and even a punk track!"—Curt Cameruci, a.k.a. Flosstradamus
The electropop of Australian producer/DJ Flume certainly moves—the tracks on his latest album are full of dizzying drops, deep, tough rhythms, and gorgeous, sky-climbing pop hooks—but there’s a sludgy textural element that adds weight and helps him stand apart from the pack of superstar DJs. His latest album, 2016’s Skin, is a perfect piece of post-everything pop maximalism, and his hand-curated Spotify playlist serves as a virtual index to his influences. Jeremih bumps up against MF DOOM, while Boyz Noize share airtime with Sigur Rós. The assortment would make no sense unless you’re familiar with Flume, but, for the initiated, it’s damn near perfect.
As Forever, Canadian artist June Moon takes us on a musical experience that comes off both sincerely sweet and slyly seductive. Since releasing a self-titled EP in 2016, Moon has subtly shaped and reshaped Forever’s sound to reflect her own emotional journey, especially after experiencing a devastating heartbreak. The result is her second EP, Close to the Flame, a six-track set that transforms her woe into woozy, almost euphoric productions that meld hints of velvety R&B, soulful pop, and slinky trip-hop beats—just experience the opener “Blur” to fully sink into Forever’s luxurious grooves. To get a feel for what inspires Moon herself, we asked the singer/songwriter to make us a quick mix of what makes her tick—or rather, lick. Says Moon of her playlist entitled I’ve Tried to Recite the Makings of You: “I made it in bed thinking about licking the air. These songs are good for that.”
Hey! My name is Frank Hannon and I am a singer/solo artist, as well as the lead guitarist for the multi-platinum band TESLA. Our biggest selling (and some would argue "best" album) was an album recorded live in concert, called Five Man Acoustical Jam. It was an honest and raw recording.As a kid growing up and discovering music on FM radio in the 1970s, there was a trend of live albums that would fuel my passion for rock n roll. By 1976, FM rock-radio stations were playing live recordings that were huge hits. Peter Frampton had the biggest live album of all time, while he also previously had success with a live album in 1971 with Humble Pies Performance: Rockin the Fillmore!The 70s decade would produce and capture some of the best recordings of the greatest concerts by legendary artists. The albums that captured the purest, most raw and honest performances are the ones that grabbed me the most. It was the sound of screaming electric guitars mixed with an enthusiastic audience that created the interplay that would inspire me to want to play music the rest of my life.
The ’90s have never sounded better than they do right now—especially for modern-day indie rockers. There’s no shortage of bands banging around these days whose sound suggests formative phases spent soaking up vintage ’90s indie rock. Not that the neo-’90s sound is itself a new thing. As soon as the era was far enough away in the rearview mirror to allow for nostalgia to set in (i.e., the second half of the 2000s), there were already some young artists out there onboarding ’90s alt-rock influences. But more recently, there’s been a bumper crop of bands that betray a soft spot for a time when MTV still played music videos and streaming was just something that happened in a restroom. In this context, the literate, lo-fi approach of Pavement has emerged as a particularly strong strand of the ’90s indie tapestry, and it isn’t hard to hear echoes of their sound in the work of more recent arrivals like Kiwi jr. or Teenage Cool Kids. Cherry Glazerr frontwoman Clementine Creevy seems to have a feeling for the kind of big, dirty guitar riffs that made Pacific Northwestern bands the kings of the alt-rock heap once upon a time. The world-weary, wise-guy angularity of Car Seat Headrest can bring to mind the lurching, loose-limbed attack of Railroad Jerk. And laconic, storytelling types like Nap Eyes stand to prove that there’s still a bright future ahead for those who mourn the passing of Silver Jews main man David Berman. But perhaps the best thing about a face-off between the modern indie bands evoking ’90s forebears and the old-school artists themselves is the fact that in this kind of competition, everybody wins.
It may be that 2019 was the best year for ’90s metal since, well, 1999. Bands from the decade of Judgment Night re-emerged with new creative twists and tweaks: Tool stretched out into polyrhythmic madness, Korn bludgeoned with more extreme and raw despair, Slipknot added a new drummer (Max Weinberg’s kid!) who gave them a new groove, and Rammstein wrote an anti-fascism anthem that caused controversy in Germany (and hit No. 1 there too). Elsewhere, icons of the era returned in unique ways: Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor scored a superhero TV series, Primus’ Les Claypool teamed up with Sean Lennon for some quirky psych rock, and Faith No More’s Mike Patton made an avant-decadent LP with ’70s soundtrack king Jean-Claude Vannier. Finally, the soaring voice of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington returned for a moment thanks to Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton, who released a song they recorded together in 2017.
Taking a look at the playlists for my show on Boston’s WZBC might give the more seasoned college-radio listener a bit of déjà vu: They’re filled with bands like Versus, Team Dresch, and Sleater-Kinney, who were at the top of the CMJ charts back in the ’90s. But the records they released in 2019 turned out to be some of the year’s best rock. Versus, whose Ex Nihilo EP and Ex Voto full-length were part of a creative run for leader Richard Baluyut that also included a tour by his pre-Versus outfit Flower and his 2000s band +/-, put out a lot of beautifully thrashy rock; Team Dresch returned with all cylinders blazing and singers Jody Bleyle and Kaia Wilson wailing their hearts out on “Your Hands My Pockets”; and Sleater-Kinney confronted middle age head-on with their examination of finding one’s footing, The Center Won’t Hold.
Italian guitar heroes Uzeda—who have been putting out proggy, riff-heavy music for three-plus decades—released their first record in 13 years, the blistering Quocumque jerceris stabit; Imperial Teen, led by Faith No More multi-instrumentalist Roddy Bottum, kept the weird hooks coming with Now We Are Timeless; and high-concept Californians That Dog capped off a year of reissues with Old LP, their first album since 1997. Juliana Hatfield continued the creative tear she’s been on this decade with two albums: Weird, a collection of hooky, twisty songs that tackle alienation with searing wit, and Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police, her tribute record to the dubby New Wave chart heroes (in the spirit of the salute to Olivia Newton-John she released in 2018). And our playlist finishes with Mary Timony, formerly of the gnarled rockers Helium and currently part of the power trio Ex Hex, paying tribute to her former Autoclave bandmate Christina Billotte via an Ex Hex take on “What Kind of Monster Are You?,” one of the signature songs by Billotte’s ’90s triple threat Slant 6.
