aBIRD has released two singles on Mint400 since this past summer and is currently working on an LP for 2018.
Ghettoblaster caught up with aBIRD’s Adam Bird and Nick Ivory to get their thoughts on the best releases of last year. This is what they told us.
Adam Bird
Spoon – Hot Thoughts
I don’t think there is a dud in Spoons catalogue between Girls Can Tell and GaGaGaGaGa . Unfortunately Transference and They Want My Soul dropped the ball a bit for me. But, Hot Thoughts picks it right back up.
QOTSA – Villains
Given the impossible task of following up Like Clockwork, I think Villains has the deck stacked against it. The production, while ambitious and different doesn’t always work. However, the songwriting is great and that’s what counts.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Man Who Built the Moon
I’ve never been an Oasis or Noel fan so it took a lot of arm twisting by friends to get me to check this out, but I’m glad I did because this album contains a few songs I’ll be listening to regularly for years to come.
Bell Witch – Mirror Reaper
This album was released as a single 83 minute track of gloomy doomy amazingness. My love of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore was the stepping stone to get me into this album and it’s just brutal.
Calvin Harris – Funk Wav Bounces Vol 1
This is the best kind of pop music. I just fucking loved this album.
Nick Ivory
Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked At Me
Desolate music to dissociate to. Viscerally sorrowful, touching the existential nerve. Vital album for traversing loss.
Priests – Nothing Feels Natural
Not a political album at face, insofar as the democratization of bodies could ever be apolitical, but this is post punk to document the brain-rattling mania of the Trump era. It feels good to buy something you can’t afford.
Dirty Projectors – Self-titled
Divisive amongst fans. Hooked from the first single. Angular rhythms and glitchy textures. Problematic in subject.
Craig Finn – We All Want The Same Things
My fourth quarter, hail mary. Returned to this after a tepid initial listen and it clicked. The greatest lyricist in the game.
Protomartyr – Relatives In Descent
Not much to add, just a really solid album that finally got me into Protomartyr.
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