Stoner Rock Playlist #61

 

My latest playlist;  Share with someone else if you like it.  

Top Ten Stoner Rock Albums of 2017

Here are my top ten Stoner Rock albums of 2017, in video form.  I picked one tune from each (made sure none are tunes I've posted here in the past), starting with #10 and finishing with #1.  The result is not for the faint of heart, but classic stoner rock through and through.  Playing time is just shy of 64 minutes.  Hope you will have the time to put it on and give it a chance.  If you are short for time or impatient, you can see my #10 through #1 picks below.  In the video, track info is given for the first 20 seconds of each tune.  

#10: "(((I'm Heroin)))" by Mephistofeles            #9: "New Beginnings" by Radio Moscow

Retro and raunchy; great album                             Radio Moscow never disappoints 

   

#8: "Emperor of Sand" by Mastodon              #7: "Reflections of a Floating World" 

Tons going on here, but eventually these                  by Elder.  Elder is one of the all-time 

tunes will be stuck permanently in your head           greats of the genre                                 

#6: "Time Travel Dilemma" by Spaceslug.        #5: "Villains" by Queens of the Stone Age

This, along with "Mountains & Reminiscence",         Josh Homme never does anything 

make two classics in the same year.                            half-assed.  More aggressive than 
                                                              "..Like Clockwork"      

#4: "Force Field" by                          #3: "Spacelord" by Spacelord

                    The Atomic Bitchwax.                              This, along with the 3 tracks on "New

       Stoner rock royalty does it again                        Horrible Menace", are must-haves

#2: "Electric Mountain" by Electric      #1: "Doubleblind"  by Skunk      

Mountain.  Instantly became one                 I swear these guys loved exactly

of my all-time favorites.  Can't                the same bands from the 70's as  

say enough about this one.                   me.  I knew this would be my 

                                                                   number one of the year the first  

                                                                night I heard it.

These Deserve To Be On The List Too:  

"Blackbird" by The Riven: only 23 minutes, but every one of those minutes is classic.  Can't wait for a full-length release

"The Naked High EP" by The Naked High.  Again, can't wait for the first full-length album.  (although their "EP" is as about long as each of the last two Atomic Bitchwax albums)

"Planetary Space Child" by Ruby The Hatchet:  Quality, cover to cover

"About Time" by Horisont:  It's kind of like early eighties hard rock songwriting with a late seventies sound.  Truly unique in today's world and truly great album cover to cover

"Jake Leg Boogie" by Five Horse Johnson:  This band is back in a big way, giving us one of their best releases

"Revolution on Repeat" by Troubled Horse: their second release establishes them as masters of throwback rock

"The Tower" by Motorpsycho: truly mind-blowing material that can't be fully grasped in just a few listens 

Stay safe tonight, and make sure rock music is played really loud as you send 2017 on its way.

Happy New Year, Over and Out 

-ULTRA

THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX: Force Field

The Legend Continues

The Atomic Bitchwax have gotten so good, and have been delivering great rock for so many years, they now live in the great bands of all time category.  "Gravitron" was my pick for album of the year in 2015, and definitely one that would be in my hand if I had to grab a handful of CD's to save from a burning house.  "Force Field" picks up where Gravitron left off, while managing to be more manic.  "Tour de Force Field" would have been an easy but appropriate title for this review.  2017 is yet another year where some of the best music comes out in the final weeks.  Hear for yourself;  

There was a time when I thought that Finn Ryan Atomic Bitchwax wasn't quite as good as Ed Mundell Atomic Bitchwax.  Now I realize that Finn's TAB has always been awesome, and it just took me a while to realize it.

The Atomic Bitchwax is:

Bob Pantella (drums)

Finn Ryan (guitar)

Chris Kosnik (vocals, bass)

Go pick up "Force Field" from  lots of places.  You can pick up every single Atomic Bitchwax album before this, 8 albums for $5 here.  As I have stated before on this site, you will NEVER get more for $5 than you will with this download.  Honestly, if your collection is only missing one of the eight albums, it still a good deal.  

Anyhow, am rethinking my 2017 top ten, but will post both my top ten Stoner Rock albums, and my top ten Stoner Rock tunes before the New Year.  Back next weekend

-ULTRA

ULTRA'S SUNDAY SOUNDS

MIXED BAG

Mixed Bag is not the name of a band, but refers to a post with two very different tunes which would normally not be played together.  

I mentioned the untitled track from Nullset's self-titled album in last week's post, so I wanted to make sure it gets posted.  It's an awesome bonus track; you actually feel like the band gave you a gift.

Next:  Even though I posted a review of this Atomic Bitchwax album a couple of weekends ago, the album is really special and needs to be shared.  Here is "Down With The Swirl" from TAB's album "Gravitron."

In my opinion, The Atomic Bitchwax's Gravitron and Elder's Lore are the frontrunners for album of the year.  Hope you enjoyed these tunes       -ULTRA

THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX: Gravitron

 The Bitchwax Are Back In Full Force!

This is the best Finn Ryan album yet, in my opinion.  When Finn first replaced Ed Mundell in TAB, it was such a radical change of course that it took me some time to appreciate him.  Even Chris Kosnik’s vocals sounded different to me after Ed left the band.  But each release with Finn has been more likeable than the last for me, and the latest, Gravitron, has definitely entered the TAB “top three” along with the first two releases, and in no particular order.  The last album, “The Local Fuzz”, was really ambitious.  A 42:16 single track (all instrumental) album that I am guessing they were advised against doing is a really cool idea.  Not to mention that it never lets up in intensity for even a moment of those forty two minutes and sixteen seconds.  But the reality is that it is seldom the right time to play a 42 minute track, and I have probably listened to it “cover to cover” about five times.  I have owned Gravitron less than a week and it’s already exceeded that count.  With catchy song titles such as “Sexecutioner”, “Fuck Face” and “Down With The Swirl” and even catchier songwriting, The Atomic Bitchwax is flexing its muscle with this album, and appears to be using steroids.  I consider Gravitron a “Back In Black” type of album in that I expect to overdose on it now and then keep coming back to it from time to time thirty years later.  By the way, if somehow you are missing any TAB albums, Chris Kosnik is selling the previous seven albums as a ZIPfile download, for only $5 (All seven albums for a total of $5, legal and sold directly by the band).  Here’s where to get it: http://www.theatomicbitchwax.com/Download.html  You will not get the opportunity again in your life to purchase this much awesome for $5.

Here's the official video for Sexecutioner, from the album Gravitron:

Here is TAB at Dunajam a couple of years ago

If you stick through this one it will be clear to you what an awesome and impressive guitar sound Finn pulls off on the beach!

(If I should ever become rich, I will be at Dunajam)

The Atomic Bitchwax is (L-R):

Bob Pantella (drums)

Finn Ryan (guitar)

Chris Kosnik (vocals, bass)

Rock music might not be the most popular music right now, but it sure is the coolest

-ULTRA