1. Black Lips – Arabia Mountain (Vice)
Produced by big time producer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Duran Duran), OG’s (Original Garagers) Black Lips come charging back with their latest. Black Lips played Gonerfest 1 way back in 2004, too many people crammed into the Buccaneer!
2. John Paul Keith – The Man That Time Forgot (Big Legal Mess)
New! Not produced by Mark Ronson, but solid action from Memphis’ top picker and singer. And nicest guy to boot!
3. Axemen – Three Virgins (Siltbreeze)
Amazingly chaotic band from New Zealand originally released by Flying Nun but sounding nothing like the skeletal pop of The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, Chills, etc. Seeing the Axemen in Memphis in 2010 was one of the least-likely events I have ever attended. Still don’t really know how that happened. Bonus: They were great!
4. Happy Thoughts (Hozac)
Simple, perfect Midwest guitar pop. So happy to finally have a full album from these folks.
5. Human Eye – They Came From The Sky (Sacred Bones)
Timmy Vulgar sorta ran a parallel course with Jay Reatard, both starting out as raw mean punkers and growing from there, but where Jay went pop, Timmy aimed for the sky. Watching him control a huge swarm of guitar live a few months ago, Joe T proclaimed “The 60s had Hendrix. We’ve got Timmy Vulgar!” Impressive.
