Author Archives: Jon Chaisson

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About Jon Chaisson

Author, blogger, music collector, cat wrangler. May contain trace amounts of sugar and caffeine. Books available at Smashwords!

Year End: Favorite releases, March & April 2025

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Spring 2025 was a bit of an odd season for me musically, as there were quite a few albums I was interested in hearing but only maybe a few I ended up truly enjoying. It’s not that the albums were bad, just that I never quite resonated with them for one reason or another. Still, I did find a few that I latched onto…

Bob Mould, Here We Go Crazy, released 7 March. I can always depend on Mould to come out with a well-written and contemplative album, no matter whether he’s in a loud or a soft mood.

Throwing Muses, Moonlight Concessions, released 14 March. I’ve been a fan for decades and I’m happy to see that Kristin Hersh is still going strong with her intelligent and quirky music.

Steven Wilson, The Overview, released 14 March. After a few electronic-based albums, Wilson returns to his original prog sound with an intriguing concept album about viewing Earth from space. I can always rely on his music for a good writing soundtrack!

Lucy Dacus, Forever Is a Feeling, released 28 March. Her new album is much more laid back and contemplative, but just as creative and lovely.

SPELLLING, Portrait of My Heart, released 28 March. This Oakland musician has been a local favorite for quite some time with her experimental hybrid sounds.

Miki Berenyi Trio, Tripla, released 4 April. The former Lush frontwoman finally releases her own solo debut and it was definitely worth the wait. It’s a wonderful dreampop album that expands on her former band’s style with a heavier and stronger sound.

OK Go, And the Adjacent Possible, released 11 April. While several of their previous albums had poppier and more radio-friendly songs alongside their always-captivating videos, this album feels a bit more experimental, but it works perfectly.

Tunde Adebimpe, Thee Black Boltz, released 18 April. The TV On the Radio lead singer’s full-length solo debut was a long time in coming (apparently he’s been doing voice acting all this time?) and it’s well worth the wait.

SAULT, 10, released 19 April. I’ve been fascinated by this curiously semi-anonymous band ever since KEXP introduced me to them, and each release is always captivating.

**

More to come…

Year End: Favorite releases, January & February 2025

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My plan for 2025, as you recall, was to get myself out of the collector/completist mindset (or at least tone it down considerably) so I could then connect with the music in my library on a more personal level. I’d like to think that this worked out for the most part, as I did find myself returning to a lot of albums and songs as the year went on. There are still some albums that aren’t getting as much play as I’d hoped, but I’d kind of expected that to happen.

Given that I was still finding steady ground in which to make this change, the first couple of months of 2025 did go by in a bit of a blur. Some albums I listened to occasionally, some I tried out after hearing a single on KEXP, but it took me a few listens to latch on until I got used to this change in listening habit.

So without further ado…

Franz Ferdinand, The Human Fear, released 10 January. Good to see this band still going strong after several years and a few member changes, and while they’ve mellowed a bit, they’re still enjoyable.

tunng, Love You All Over Again, released 24 January. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a release from this band, and it was a pleasant return. They’re not quite folk but not quite indie either, just kind of off in their own little quirky universe, and they’re always a fun listen.

Mogwai, The Bad Fire, released 24 January. I keep expecting this band to be blisteringly loud like, say, Caspian and other post-rock bands — and they do, occasionally — but for the most part they’ve embraced their mellower and more atmospheric sounds, which fits well with their movie score works.

J Mascis, “Breathe” single, released 30 January. I was quite excited by this one, considering one of my favorite formerly-local musicians (the Dinosaur Jr singer, still a Pioneer Valley local as far as I know) covering one of my favorite Cure b-sides.

above me, above me EP, released 31 January. Slumberland Records has been brilliant over the last few years in releasing wonderful albums by local Bay Area bands, many of them coming from my own neighborhood! This one in particular caught my attention with its video and its several locations I was familiar with. [For instance, that first shot is taken on Lake Street and turning onto 17th Avenue heading south to California. A and I would walk this bit all the time after work, especially during the pandemic.]

Heartworms, Glutton for Punishment, released 7 February. This is another good example of a band I forget that I like! I posted about them last month after hearing “Jacked” on KEXP and dug out her debut album to listen to again. I really love how she manages to perfectly channel the 80s-90s goth and post-punk I grew up listening to back in the day!

Inhaler, Open Wide, released 7 February. Elijah Hewson really does sound like his dad Bono these days, doesn’t he? And the band is sounding more like the 90s-era U2 but with decidedly less bombast. Still, I’ve grown to really like their stuff and still pop this one on now and again.

Doves, Constellations for the Lonely, released 28 February. This here is probably the first Favorite Album of the Year for me. I mean, I’ve always loved this band, even though their releases have been rather sporadic over the last several years (partly due to lead singer Jimi Goodwin’s health), but this second return since 2020’s The Universal Want hit it out of the park. It’s got the atmospheric moodiness of their first two records Lost Souls and The Last Broadcast, and starting the record with the breathtaking “Renegade” captured my attention immediately. And yes, it became quite the favorite writing session soundtrack for me. I highly recommend this one!

Andy Bell, pinball wanderer, released 28 February. The Ride lead singer’s latest record was not what I expected at all, to be honest, and that’s a good thing. Quite unlike the stronger and noisier sounds of his main band, this solo work sounds surprisingly like he’d chosen to be inspired by unexpected bands like Boards of Canada. It’s more sedate and heavier on the electronics, even while retaining his signature melodic style. This was another frequent writing session soundtrack this year.

**

Coming up: Favorites from March and April!

Fly-by: brb, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

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I am of course working today (our store only closes on Christmas Day), but thankfully it will be a morning shift, and will most likely entail a few regulars coming in having forgotten cranberries or extra cream or something. Then there’s Black Friday tomorrow, which usually isn’t too bad.

In the meantime, I’m going to take it easy and enjoy the day and the food. See you next week!

A year without mixtapes

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Alas, I did not have the time, nor the inclination, to make any mixtapes this year. I’m pretty sure I’ll still do my year-end playlist/mix, but other than that, I just never got around to it. But that’s okay! This isn’t the first time I’ve gone through a musical dry spell. Between 2006 and 2011, I only made eight mixes in total — two of them were for someone else, and the last was when I’d decided to resurrect the year-end mix.

The main reason for not making one? Well, I’d hinted at it late last year when I’d wanted to spend more time listening the albums I downloaded rather than focusing on the discography completism spiral I’d fallen into over the last couple of years. I felt too disconnected from the music in my own library and wanted to change that. So over the course of 2025, I gave my favorites some more repeat listens. Got to know them a bit better. Found a few singles and deep cuts that caught my attention. Not to mention revisited a lot of my favorite albums from recent years, with the occasional deep dive into an oldie but goodie. And I replayed a lot of albums during my writing sessions!

The other reason for not making one is because I just hadn’t had time or the ability to listen to them other than at my desk. There’s also the fact that we’d recently moved and

So, will I be making more of said mixtapes in 2026? We shall see. I’m not going to confirm or deny at this point. If I’m in the mood for it, I’ll do it. If I do, I might try revisiting the style of my oldest mixes by allowing older songs, something I haven’t done in ages. [A lot of my most recent non-writing-soundtrack mixes usually stick to newish releases from the last few months.]

Either way, the point isn’t just to make the mixes, but to enjoy the tunes I put on them. And I think I’m finally on the way back to that point.

And so it begins…

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The above was the first Christmas song of the season to be heard at work the other day. Yes, I know Thanksgiving is still a week away, but this is actually right about on time for my store. The holiday music pops up sometime in mid-November, just a few songs here and there mixed in with the regular playlist we have, and will only go full-on 24/7 on Black Friday.

And for the record, the first Christmas song I actually noticed being played in-store somewhere was this past weekend at World Market, and they were playing Cocteau Twins’ version of “Frosty the Snowman”. Not a bad choice!

Anyhoo…it’s that time of the year, and I’m down. I actually quite enjoy holiday music, even at work!

Catching up on music with…Ritual Howls

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I’ve said it before, I do love how the current generations of bands have decided to learn from 80s post-punk these days, and Detroit’s Ritual Howls has chosen to latch themselves specifically to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Bauhaus. The noisy guitars, the high treble of the drums, and the growly bass of the vocals, it all works out amazingly well.

They recently dropped their sixth album Ruin a few weeks ago on Halloween, and it’s been getting some play during my writing sessions these last few days. It’s definitely bringing me back to those goth and industrial shows I’d listen to on college radio back in the day.

I wish I was as cool as Calvin

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I was introduced to Too Much Joy by my friend Chris back in 1990 when the major label reissue of their second album Son of Sam I Am dropped, and I was immediately hooked. At that point in time I was still listening to far more doom and gloom music than I really should have been listening to, and TMJ was refreshing, noisy and funny but without being too absurdist or corny. I put this cassette in my Walkman quite a lot near the start of my sophomore year when I needed a pick-me-up. Later on in the summer of ’91 I would see them live at the Hatch Shell, where I very nearly got hit by flying glass. Whee!

It’s not a brilliant album by any means, and they’re firmly entrenched in the ‘punk band that definitely doesn’t take itself seriously at all’ genre, but instead of going the meathead drunk-and-partying route, they took the intellectual Gen-X ennui-and-irony route, which caught the attention of several kids my own age. While it never got enough major airplay, they were a firm favorite on alternative radio and retained a loyal fanbase. Years later in 2020/2021 they reunited and have released two new albums since then.

The album ran the gamut between the ‘bad karma thing to do’ action of making fun of bums, to being traumatized by clowns…

…to singing about reincarnation (a song I still know all the words to!)…

…and not just a cover of an LL Cool J song….

…but a cover of the weird-yet-catchy classic by Terry Jacks.

So why a major reissue of an album from 1988 and reissued in 1990? Simple: after thirty-five years, the rights to their breakthrough album finally reverted back to them. They’d gotten the quite-aged masters back and got them cleaned up, and they sound fresh and vibrant once more.

Pure silliness, but I highly recommend this album because it’s just that much fun.

Catching up on music with… KMFDM

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I do have a soft spot (heh) for industrial music. I don’t listen to it all that often, but I’ve loved it since I first heard those dance beats, clanky percussion and crunchy guitars in the late 80s with bands like DAF and Front 242 and Skinny Puppy and Ministry. Which means I was into it well before all those sci-fi action films of the 90s used this genre for all those martial arts fight scenes! [Looking at you, Mortal Kombat and Matrix movies!]

I used to see KMFDM at the indie record stores all the time, which is a surprise considering Wax Trax! releases (the label they’d been on for years) weren’t always easy to find. They’ve been around since the early 80s themselves, starting out in Germany and eventually emigrating to the States. I’m pretty sure I’d heard one or two of their songs on WAMH back in 1988-89, as there was an industrial/techno/EBM show that would play stuff like this.

I owned only a few of their CDs back in the day, but I’d throw them on now and again when I needed the boost for something that would fit the Mendaihu Universe’s more tense moments that I was writing at the time. [Interestingly enough, this is the kind of music Alec Poe would listen to, which goes quite against the laid back aura he puts out through most of the trilogy. It’s all under the skin and hidden away with him.]

They’re still around these days, having dropped an original album (Let Go) early last year and a revisit of an older album this year (Hau Ruck 2025). They may not get a lot of airplay, but they’re definitely an interesting band to check out.

Catching up on music with… Heartworms

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The other day on the way back from Costco we’d heard her single “Retributions of an Awful Life” from her 2023 EP A Comforting Notion and it occurred to me that she’s definitely someone I should listen to more often. Why? Because she somehow manages to capture what goth and post-punk sounded like in the late 80s and early 90s — a good ten years before she was born, mind you — and embraced that sound fully. Sometimes she sounds like mid-80s Siouxsie & the Banshees, and sometimes she sounds like early Garbage. And sometimes she sounds like Liliput. It’s all a wild mix of that cold and dark post-punk that I still gravitate to all these years later.