Flatbasset Radio's 25 Most Played Albums: May '16

Well hello again, internet. Welcome to yet another edition of Flatbasset Radio's Top 25!

That's right, folks, it's the first of the month. Cash your government checks, pay your rent, and indulge me in a bit of instant nostalgia.

As always, a big, big thank you to everybody who stopped by the blog last month. My buddy Nick & I put together an epic episode of Flatbasset Radio just a couple of weeks ago and it's gotten a very nice response, so thanks to anybody who gave it a spin. If you haven't given it a listen, you really should. Matter of fact, you should probably go back and listen to the other 77 episodes of the show too just to make sure you haven't missed anything.

Anyway, let's get to this post. I listened to a whole bunch of new music this month. The new Radiohead is excellent. The new Aesop Rock is even better. Fog's new one is great. I finally got around to Kanye's new one (epic!). Frankie Teardrop's new (and final) record is a gem. The new Astronautalis goes in. Ditto fore Homeboy Sandman. All in all, good month.

Before I get to the stats, the usual reminder: Every song listened to counts as a "play." Seems obvious, right? So, for example, the new Radiohead record has 11 songs, meaning each time I listen to it all the way through it counts 11 "plays." As usual, all stats come from my Last.FM page. Give it a follow if you really want to stay up on what's getting the most plays around Planet New Basset.

Alright, here we go...

01. Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid (107 plays)

02. Astronautalis - Cut The Body Loose (77 plays)

03. Frankie Teardrop - Hell Yep (70 plays)

04. Fog - For Good (56 plays)

05. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo (39 plays)

06. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (33 plays)

07. Tim Gadban - Vanishing Animal (33 plays)

08. Various Artists - ECS 100: Ecstattic Forever (A Compliation) (33 plays)

09. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Hearts Of Oak (26 plays)

10. Homeboy Sandman - Kindness For Weakness (26 plays)

11. The Hang Ups - The Hang Ups (25 plays)

12. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - All This Useless Beauty (24 plays)

13. Down By Law - Blue (24 plays)

14. R.E.M. - Eponymous (24 plays)

15. Tapes 'N Tapes - Outside (24 plays)

16. Lil' Wayne - The Dedication 2 (24 plays)

17. Ego Death - Daze (23 plays)

18. Paper Tiger - In Other Words: Part One (23 plays)

19. The Person & The People - Dark And Low (22 plays)

20. Various Artists - Meat Tape (22 plays)

21. The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me (22 plays)

22. Thursday - War All The Time (22 plays)

23. My Bloody Valentine - M B V (18 plays)

24. Lunch Duchess - My Mom Says I Have A Rich Inner Life (18 plays)

25. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (18 plays)

There it is, everybody. Stay tuned for more shows & words & stuff.

Image via Tap Music
Stats via my Last.fm page

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Album Of The Week: "No Luck" by What Tyrants

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of April 19th-25th:

What Tyrants - No Luck

01. Far Out
02. Muffins
03. No Luck
04. Feeling Alright (I'm Okay)
05. Lean On The World
06. Dancehall No. 2
07. 4's And 5's
08. Scuzz
09. Modern Man
10. What Chu Want?
11. Shag
12. Blue In The Face
13. Fuzz Trip

The Twin Cities are in the midst of a Golden Age of guitar music right now.  Between the good folks at Land Ski Records, No Problem Records, Forged Artifacts, and the glorious noise coming from Ecstattic Studios, it's a fantastic time to be a rock n roll fan here in Minnesota.

Of course, this being Minnesota, that rock n roll sound so much better when the sun's shining and the window's are open.  Enter What Tyrants and their debut album No Luck.  If ever there was an album meant to be played at parties or in cars, this is the one.

What Tyrants consists of brothers Sean & Kyle Schultz and Garrison Grouse doing pretty much everything you'd want out of a garage rock band.  At their core they sound like a mash-up of The Hives & The Hi-Fives (The Hive-Fives?), but they manage to stand out by adding a few wrinkles of surf-rock here, a bit of lo-fi nonsense there, and a secret ingredient that I suspect is English post-punk grooves.  Have a listen to "What Chu Want?" for a good example of this intoxicating mix.




Lyrically Sean Schultz isn't covering too many bases that haven't already been covered by dozens and dozens of the descendants of The Monks.  There's bitterness, there's cynicism, there's love, there's jealousy, the desire to just let go, but above all, there's an unflinching belief in the power of loud guitars and bundles of energy.  For my money, "Dancehall No. 2" doubles as the What Tyrants mission statement.



Like I said from the jump, summer's upon us.  Don't waste it.  Those sunny days and drunky nights will be that much more fun with a copy of No Luck.  It's available in stylish cassette form from the good folks at Forged Artifacts or as a Name-Your-Price download on the What Tyrants Bandcamp page.  Go get it now and enjoy a rock n roll summer.

Album Of The Week: "Not Apathetic" by Human Kindness

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of 5th-11th, 2015:

Human Kindness - Not Apathetic

01. Dorothy
02. 20 Years
03. Ahoy! The St. Croix
04. Glass
05. Midwest Midwinter
06. Interlude
07. Rejoyce
08. Hate Myself
09. Blunder Road
10. Anna, Anna
11. Mishima's Suicide

For those who have been following along with the blog & podcast for a while now you know that I've spilled plenty of digital ink talking up the lads from Human Kindness.  Their debut EP You Are So Loud That I Want To Die was one of my absolute favorite releases of 2014 (eventually landing at #4 of Flatbasset Radio's Most Played Albums Of 2014).  In my review of You Are So Loud... I said that the album was a mix of hardcore aesthetics and arena ideas and mentioned that, while those ambitions connect more often then not, I was left wondering just what the trajectory would be for Human Kindness.  I couldn't tell if this was going to be a thrilling one-off of great tunes built through years of digesting indie rock ideas or if the guys in Human Kindness had grander ambitions.

Enter Not Apathetic and many of those questions have been answered.  The album opens with "Dorothy," a brief, melancholy song about daydrinking & sexual tension highlighted by singer David Lawrence Anderson's eye for detail.  Despite its brief running time, "Dorothy" is an ideal, if risky, opener to the album.  It makes clear that we're listening to an album written and performed by a band that is aware of where they want to go and how they want they're sound to grow, but also by a band that is still wrestling with the insecurities that come with your early twenties.




With the groundwork laid, they launch into "20 Years."  Over beautifully jangling guitars Anderson opens the rest of the album by singing, "Sick to death of taking breaths, to scared to not know what comes next..."  In just that one couplet, Anderson manages to encompass the feeling of everyone's young adulthood.  The theme of anxiety permeates nearly every track on the album.  Anderson spends the record trying to cope with that anxiety through alcohol, music, road trips that allow temporary escape (but rarely travel further than 24 hours from home), and sexual encounters that have almost nothing to do with sex. It's an exhilarating ride that, on one hand, makes you want to grab Anderson & give him a good shake but, on the other, makes you long for the days when every interaction, every decision, & every word spoken meant so much.  I'd bet all the money in my pocket (roughly $7.60) that Anderson thinks of himself as a cynic, but the tales told on Not Apathetic are the tales of a man who's an optimist (even if he's prone to overthinking things).

While Anderson's lyrics and vocals take the forefront on the album, the racket worked up by the band marks an exciting amount of progress from their debut EP.  That EP (which, it should be noted, wasn't mastered) was home to ambitious instrumentals (double whammy "Breathing Deep (For Walking)" and "Breathing Deep (For Breathing)" especially), piano-and-loop based moments of pause, and guitar heroics that aimed for the sky.  It was a thrilling ride even if the instruments only really tended to express emotion when either dropped down to confusing loops or fuzzed up to 11.  Guitarist Alex Brodsky, drummer Josh Olson, and multi-instrumentalist Willem Vander Ark ensure Not Apathetic takes grand steps to make sure new ideas are worked into the mix and old ideas are fleshed out.  Not only are the fuzzed out guitars deployed with more precision now, but they're accompanied by pianos, loops, strings, and horns (!) that, rather than stand alone moments, are fully-integrated, essential parts of the songs, adding gravity & emotion to Anderson's narratives.  In many ways, these little additions perfectly mimic Anderson's neurosis, drifting into and out of songs like the stray moments of anxiety that haunt Anderson's narratives.




Again, back in my review of YASLTIWTD I likened Human Kindness to the ducks in the first episode of The Sopranos, stating that the EP made the listener feel like Tony, amused and excited as he watched the ducks learning how to spread their wings and fly.  I also warned that we should all enjoy Human Kindness while we can, because if they did in fact have the desire to take flight, they'd belong to everybody.  With Not Apathetic that day has come.  As the Twin Cities' music scenes continues to turn over from veteran bands to a new generation of bands who still look to Paul Westerberg for ideas, Human Kindness has positioned themselves above many of their garage-rocking peers by scaling down on the fuzzy guitars and cliched lyrics and doubling down on vulnerability, story-telling, risk-taking, and musical ambition.  In a city full of bands trying to make their Sorry Ma..., Human Kindness has embraced their modern influences and created an album that finds a place where Separation Sunday, The Londesome Crowded West, & The Photo Album meet.  They're flying now, enjoy it while they're still in sight.

Not Apathetic is out now and available for purchase on Human Kindness' Bandcamp page.  Pass up a latte this week & spend $5 on it.  When all is said and done it just might be the most memorable record of 2015.