Punk-blues veteran Jim Jones has been around since the mid 80s, but this year brought the debut album release by his newest combo, the Righteous Mind, and a record that may come to be regarded as Jones’ defining moment. Super Natural is shot through with gritty rock’n’roll, fuelled with fire and brimstone. Swaggering and sleazy tunes like “Aldecide” and “Boil Yer Blood” are urged on by Jones’ yelps and howls, Malcolm Toon’s screaming guitar, and Phil Martini’s voodoo beat. It’s incendiary stuff that goes straight for the guts with its raw and giddy ambience.
2017 was generally a good year for debut albums: Feed the Rats and its lively stoner rock by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs was an exciting burst of loud and powerful euphoria that proved even more thrilling when they ventured out at this summer’s Supersonic Festival. Nadah El Shazly’s beguiling and mesmeric Anwar was a much more chilled affair, as classical Egyptian sounds rubbed up against whoozy jazz and electronic grooves for a warm North African ambience.
Veteran sonic explorer Jane Weaver’s Modern Kosmology was like a strange transmission from a place far, far away with its blend of electro pop, motorik grooves and spaced-out psychedelia. Thievery Corporation’s latest was also a pleasant surprise from a band that have been around the block a few times. The Temple of I and I saw the chilled-out duo pay tribute to the golden age of Rasta-infused dub reggae with plenty of socially conscious vocals from Notch and a posse of others.
My gig of the year came courtesy of Swans, as the band’s most recent line-up bowed out with some relentlessly powerful shows that showcased not only their glorious The Glowing Man album but also plenty of never-to-be-recorded tunes. Birmingham’s Asylum was treated to a heady two-and-a-half-hour long set in May that saw Michael Gira summon up an earthy groove, like a demented shaman in an apocalyptic storm that forcefully grew and then ebbed away again. My track of the year, however, was Al Lover’s electro-motorik monster “NEUicide!”. A tune that does exactly as the title suggests, by splicing together the spirit of Neu! and Suicide over seven and a half minutes of dirty electro-trance dowsed in garage rock attitude. All in all, 2017 was quite a trip.
Two More Essential Albums From 2017
Thievery Corporation - The Temple of I and I
Jane Weaver - Modern Kosmology
Gig of the Year
Swans at the Asylum, Birmingham
Track of the Year
Al Lover - "NEUicide!"
