Albums of the Year: Justin Pearson
Not a year passes without new quality material by Justin Pearson. In fact in 2016 the boss of Three One G added a very pleasant gem to his discography, the follow-up to Head Wound City’s self titled EP from 2005. We might have secretly given up on new material by the supergroup consisting of members of The Locust, The Blood Brothers and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which makes it especially cool that Justin Pearson and pals managed to not only tackle the great expectations, but maybe even surpass them on their official debut LP. And Pearson? Already hard at work on his next projects, for example the first album by Dead Cross or shooting videos for Planet B….
Doomsday Student – A Self-Help Tragedy
I have been lucky enough to have people such as Eric Paul, Craig Kureck, and Stephen Mattos in my life since the early days of Arab On Radar. Doomsday Student’s new LP and everything in between right now and back when I first saw those guys perform live have impacted me in so many ways, musically, artistically, and otherwise. The new Doomsday Student LP has more space and elements of psychedelic rock which lend even more depth to contemplate life as we may or may not know it. And at the same time, it delivers jarring, confusing, beautiful, and unsettling pieces of music.
Links: Facebook | [amazon_link id=“B01M4FZJ5H“ target=“_blank“ ]Amazon[/amazon_link]
David Bowie – Blackstar
I think in a few more years we just might start to understand what we were being told with this album.
Links: Facebook | [amazon_link id=“B017VORJK6″ target=“_blank“ ]Amazon[/amazon_link]
Silent – A Century Of Abuse
My brother and comrade Jung Sing is one of the best performers and players of music that I get to see, hear, and relate to on a personal lever. However, this time Jung does it as a vocalist. But not only Jung, each player in Silent have the ability to deliver music that is along a modern day version of what Bauhaus or possible early Bad Seeds would have been doing if they had a time machine and ended up in Mexicali, BC, playing under much more brutal life circumstances.
Links: Facebook | [amazon_link id=“B01JABVKR6″ target=“_blank“ ]Amazon[/amazon_link]
Invisible Skratch Piklz – The 13th Floor
I was given the chance to track vocals on Polka Fist Pump before the track was titled or released on this album. The instrumentation of only turntables on the track, but written in the mind frame of where and what punk music is derived from gave me a fresh perspective on agitation, aggression, and intensity of music that may or may not be obvious as far as it’s roots. The track with my vocals hasn’t been released yet, but the trio’s album has and it’s fantastic, bridging old and new into something modern and relevant.
Links: Facebook | Bandcamp
MSTRKRFT – Operator
When Jesse Keeler sent me Operator and mentioned that some of our friends contributed guest vocals to it, such as Sonny Kay, Ian Svenonius, and Jake Bannon, I knew the album was bound to have some gems on it. Of course MSTRKRFT have the ability to depart from what is the norm and expected and still come out on top of their game in the genre or world that they are part of, and it didn’t surprise me at all. Each track delivers it’s own thing. Each track has it’s own life. And of course, I love hearing my comrades since on tracks that is not their norm. This is a fantastic electronic album.
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Justin Pearson // Head Wound City online: Facebook // Facebook | Website | Twitter // Twitter | [amazon_link id=“B01BW89U0O“ target=“_blank“ ]Amazon[/amazon_link]
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