THE DANMAN CAN

1.    Osees   Abomination Revealed At Last   **** 2.    Chime Oblivion   Chime Oblivion   **** 3.    Wet Leg   Moisturizer   **** 4.    Hannah Cohen   Earthstar Mountain   **** 5.    Shiner   BelieveYouMe   **** 6.    The Hives   The Hives Forever Forever The Hives  ***1/2 7.    Deftones   Private Music   ***1/2 8.    Alison Goldfrapp   Flux  ***1/2 9.    Rata Negra   Hawai   ***1/2 10.  My Morning Jacket   Is   ***1/2 11.  Mouth 2 Mouth   Mouth 2 Mouth   ***1/2 12.  Automatic   Is It Now?   ***1/2 13.  Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter   Forever, I’ve Been Being Born  *** 14.  Heartworms   Glutton For Punishment   *** 15.  Darkside   Nothing  ***

1.    Osees   Sorcs 80   **** 2.    Future Islands   People Who Aren't There Anymore   **** 3.    St. Vincent   All Born Screaming   **** 4.    Karate   Make It Fit   **** 5.    Röyksopp   Nebulous Nights   **** 6.    David Best   Message - Send - Failure  ***1/2 7.    J. Robbins   Basilisk   ***1/2 8.    Zombi   Direct Inject  ***1/2 9.    Redd Kross   Redd Kross   ***1/2 10.  The Folk Implosion   Walk Thru Me ***1/2 11. The Jesus Lizard   Rack ***1/2 12. Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets Indoor Safari ***1/2 13.  RJD2   Visions Out Of Limelight  ***1/2 14.  Chromeo   Adult Contemporary   ***1/2 15.  The Cure   Songs Of A Lost World  ***1/2 16.  The Smile   Cutouts   ***1/2 17.  John Carpenter   Lost Themes IV: Noir ...

1.    Osees   Intercepted Message **** 2.    Jessie Ware   That! Feels Good!   **** 3.    The Damned   Darkadelic **** 4.    Alison Goldfrapp   The Love Invention **** 5.    Fever Ray   Radical Romantics **** 6.    The Chemical Brothers   For That Beautiful Feeling  **** 7.    Jaakko Eino Kalevi   Chaos Magic **** 8.    Peter Gabriel I/O  **** 9.    DJ Shadow   Action Adventure   **** 10. Blonde Redhead Sit Down For Dinner  **** 11. The Hives   The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons   ***1/2 12.  Metric   Formentera II   ***1/2 13.  The Go! Team   Get Up Sequences Part Two   ***1/2 14. Foo Fighters   But Here We Are   ***1/2 15.  Queens Of The Stone Age   In Times New Roman...  ***1/2 16. Allen Epley   Everything ***1/2 17.  Jonathan Bree   Pre-Code Hollyw...

1.    Spoon   Lucifer On The Sofa  ****1/2 ( Review ) 2.    Kavinsky Reborn   **** 3.    Beach House   Once Twice Melody  **** 4.    Osees   A Foul Form **** 5.    Angel Olsen   Big Time   **** ( Review ) 6.    Röyksopp Profound Mysteries II   **** 7.    Röyksopp   Profound Mysteries III   **** 8.    JB Dunckel Carbon   **** 9.    Lovelock   Someone **** 10.  Eels   Extreme Witchcraft  **** ( Review ) 11. New Freedom Sound Eight Freedoms **** 12.  Fujiya & Miyagi   Slight Variations ***1/2 13. The Smile   A Light For Attracting Attention ***1/2 14.  Metric   Formentera ***1/2  15. Röyksopp   Profound Mysteries   ***1/2 16. Tears For Fears   The Tipping Point ***1/2 17. Automatic Excess ***1/2 18.  Placebo   Never Let Me Go ***1/2 19.  Björ...

Angel Olsen 's newest studio effort, Big Time  (2022), is a lovely and sparse, country-tinged album that strays from its more lush, orchestrated, and sometimes synthesized predecessor, 2019's All  Mirrors . This more organic approach will appeal to fans of  Neko Case  and  Harry Nilsson . Big Time  is a grower, an album that might come off as simplistic on a first listen, but which rewards with subsequent spins, if you're willing to let it envelop you.

Lucifer On The Sofa  (2022) is Spoon  at their most polished but it's Spoon, so of course it delivers. Lucifer  is a tight blend of straightforward rockers and somber soothers. With one of the most consistently great outputs of any artist I can name, it's easy to see why Spoon's popularity has only grown over the years (longtime fan since 2001 here), and why so many people continue to love them. Nearly thirty years—and 10 albums deep—into their career, they remain one of my Top 10 Bands.

Eels have released a lot of great albums. Extreme Witchcraft  (2022), their fourteenth (!) studio LP in 26 years, is easily one of their Top 5. Mark Oliver Everett (or "E," as he's known) essentially is  Eels, and he's self-produced most of their albums. Extreme Witchcraft  is the second Eels album co-produced by John Parish , who co-produced another one of the band's best albums, Souljacker , 21 years earlier.  Right from the get-go, it's obvious that Parish put his stamp on this record—the heavily layered sound here is similar to Souljacker , but filtered through the life experiences that E has had since then. I'm a pretty big fan of Eels, and I do appreciate the more sad, slow aspects of a lot of E's music. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I prefer this type of Eels album—namely fun and rockin'. 

1.    Still Corners   The Last Exit  ****1/2 ( Review ) 2.    Rata Negra   Una Vida Vulgar  **** 3.    Crumb   Ice Melt   **** 4.    Descendents   9th & Walnut  **** 5.    Voyag3r   New York Ninja  (Soundtrack) **** 6.    The Go! Team   Get Up Sequences Part One   ***1/2 7.    Dry Cleaning   New Long Leg   ***1/2 8.    St. Vincent   Daddy's Home  ***1/2      9.    Quicksand   Distant Populations  ***1/2 10.  Andrew W.K.   God Is Partying   ***1/2 11.  Tomahawk   Tonic Immobility  ***1/2 12.  Sarah Neufeld   Detritus  ***1/2 13.  Colleen   The Tunnel And The Clearing  ***1/2 14.  Museum Of Love   Life Of Mammals  ***1/2 15.  John Carpenter   Lost Themes III: Alive After Death   ***1/2 16.  My Mornin...

If you've ever wondered what an entire album based around Chris Isaak 's " Wicked Game " would sound like,  Still Corners ' The Last Exit  is your answer. And that's not a back-handed compliment—I love that song and this LP is wonderful. But seriously, there's also a helping of Mazzy Star ,  Jesse Sykes , Neko Case , Air  and some Dire Straits  in SC's sound. Simple and catchy melodies, reverb-drenched vocals, twangy guitars, pretty without being too precious—lots to appreciate.

1.    Hum   Inlet  ****1/2 ( Review ) 2.    Jessie Ware   What's Your Pleasure?  ****1/2 ( Review ) 3.    Jonathan Bree   After The Curtains Close   ****1/2 4.    Shiner   Schadenfreude  **** ( Review ) 5.    Deftones   Ohms  **** 6.   Public Practice   Gentle Grip   **** ( Review ) 7.    Moaning   Uneasy Laughter   **** ( Review ) 8.    Maserati   Enter The Mirror  **** 9.   …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead   X: The Godless Void And Other Stories  ****  ( Review ) 10.  Osees   Protean Threat   **** 11.  Run The Jewels   RTJ4  **** 12.  Nine Inch Nails   Ghosts V: Together  /   Ghosts VI: Locusts   **** ( Review ) 13.  My Morning Jacket   The Waterfall II  ***1/2 14.  Artificial Pleasure   A New Joy  ***1/2 ( Review ) 15....

Jessie Ware 's fourth studio album,  What's Your Pleasure?   (2020), is a hi-NRG/disco/funk/house masterwork. It taps into the kind of late 70s/early 80s nostalgia that a fair amount of artists channel these days but without ever feeling like old hat. Ware's velvety voice fits her collaborators' grooves like a glove. 12 boogie jams good for any occasion. Recommended for fans of Giorgio Moroder , Chromeo , Madonna , Kylie Minogue , and  Sade .

For their sophomore album, A New Joy  (2020),  Artificial Pleasure  lean more heavily on synths and a synthesized soundscape. When combined with their singer's distinctive timbre, it results in a sound even more reminiscent of  The Faint  than on their debut,  The Bitter End (2018) (my Top Album that year; my review here ).  If that first album was their early 80s tribute, A New Joy  feels like their mid 80s follow-up. AP are still pulling from the  Bowie ,  Eno ,  Ferry ,  Talking Heads  songbook but they never simply ape a formula.  ANJ  does not immediately grab the listener in the way that TBE  did, but it's a really good album and feels like it will be a grower. There are a few tracks that don't do much for me, but thankfully the album's weakest track is also its shortest.

Cults ' 2020 album, Host (their fourth), is 12 tracks of dreamy, introspective synth-laden pop, recommended for fans of Metric , Enon and Danger Mouse  style production.

Moaning 's second LP,  Uneasy Laughter   (2020), is 13 neo-new wave nuggets, blending ennui with catchy melodies. Recommended for fans of  The Cure , Gary Numan , Joy Division , Interpol , Snowden , and Q Lazzarus .