#Lydia Loveless

[mostlythemarsh]

Friday Records

[jazznoisehere]

Lydia Loveless: Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again (Bloodshot Records, 2023)

Layout: George Hondroulis Photography: Jillian Clark.

[artjipson]

Favorites of 2023: Just the List

This time of the year every music writer’s fancy turns to the ubiquitous quest for the best of/favorites of the year. We start with a list of albums and singles we played on YTAA at least three or four times. Then we consider what songs and records slipped into our consciousness and we spent more time simply thinking about that song, that album — those words. If there is a pattern to what we…

[tuuneoftheday]

Lydia Loveless - Runaway

[punkrockmixtapes]

Listen/purchase: astrozombies (featuring lydia loveless) by Sammy Kay

[sinceileftyoublog]

Square Roots 2024: 7/13-7/14

Big Star Quintet's Jody Stephens

BY JORDAN MAINZER

One of this year's Square Roots headliners is calling it quits after their upcoming album and current tour, and another hasn't really been a proper incarnation of itself for a decade and a half. Nostalgia be damned, this past weekend, both X and Big Star Quintet beat the heat and sounded as good as ever. Okay, my in-person experience with X is limited to Riot Fest 2017, I never got to see Big Star, and otherwise, all I have are each band's multiple live albums to wonder what they might have been like in their heyday. Hindsight aside, X's cowpunk momentousness and Big Star Quintet's glorious sky-high rock and roll rendered them the unabashed standouts of a weekend that featured guitar music heavyweights new and old.

X's John Doe & Exene Cervenka

X has released only one song from their final record Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum), and they did perform a few new chuggers during their Saturday night headlining set. But from the moment Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, D.J. Bonebrake, and touring drummer Craig Packham entered the stage to Link Wray's "Rumble", you knew their focus would be the past: "You're Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not", "In This House That I Call Home", and "Because I Do". Yes, Zoom whipped out his saxophone and Bonebrake his vibes; Cervenka and Doe's contrasting vocal timbres gave the whole set an rousing feel, as if the sonically diverse voices in the crowd were meant to shout along with them. They did, to the stuttering "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts", and some of the more musically inclined, limber set goers perfectly air-drummed Packham's choppy thwacks on "Los Angeles". If X is truly leaving us, they're at least still having a blast.

Big Star Quintet's Chris Stamey

Big Star Quintet, meanwhile, may have only one member of the original power pop quartet in drummer and vocalist Jody Stephens, but they feel more Big Star than, say, the current Beach Boys feel like the Beach Boys. (I know, that's not a high bar to clear.) But at least two of the members have direct connections. Jon Auer (The Posies) was part of the reformed Big Star from 1993 until 2010, when the deaths of Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel effectively ended the band. Chris Stamey briefly played bass for Chilton in the late 70s before embarking on his own musical career with The dB's. And while R.E.M.'s Mike Mills (who participated in a Chilton tribute concert during SXSW 2010) couldn't join the Quintet in the Chicago area, not one, but two members of Wilco (bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone) rounded out the lineup and provided a wonderful local connection to boot.

Big Star Quintet's Pat Sansone

The Quintet was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Big Star's sophomore masterpiece Radio City, but on Sunday night, they didn't adhere to any self-imposed rules and play the album front-to-back. Instead, before even mentioning Radio City or playing any of its songs, they started their set by banging out 9 (!) straight from Big Star's debut, #1 Record, switching off lead vocals and instrumentation. Stirratt unleashed a feverish falsetto on "In The Street", immediately answering the question of who would sing "September Gurls" when the band inevitably played it last. Sansone and Auer gorgeously harmonized on the ripping rocker "Don't Lie To Me", while Stamey provided some welcome quietude on "Give Me Another Chance" and "Watch the Sunrise". The band itself was in sync, but not stuffy, deft enough to tackle the funk-to-stadium rock breakdowns of Radio City's "O, My Soul", loose enough to adhere to the snappy ramshackle spirit of the harmonica-imbued "Life Is White".

Big Star Quintet's Jon Auer

When Stephens sang, though, it felt a little bit like time stopped, and not because he brought the house down or anything. (His voice does remain strong!) He dedicated "The India Song" and "Way Out West" to Hummel, stating, simply and heartbreakingly, "He was a close one to me." And when the rest of the band stepped up to the microphone with acoustic guitars in hand, and it was clear they were to play the beloved "Thirteen", Stephens admitted, "I remember being 13, don't you? I was really uncomfortable with myself, but it makes for a great song!" Here was the last remaining connection to one of the greatest bands in American history, still vulnerable, reminding you that no matter how old you get or how long certain songs and records have been around, the emotions never die.

Sansone

Lydia Loveless

Oh, I'll throw in a bonus weekend standout: the great Lydia Loveless, less than a year removed from their sixth LP, Nothing's Gonna Stand in My Way Again (Bloodshot). The record is classic Loveless, heartbroken, all while dealing with the trials and tribulations of life both regular ("Toothache") and time-specific (pandemic isolation). Their high and lonesome twang pervaded each song, save for Nothing's "Poor Boy", during which Loveless belted, showing off their vocal chops. "Sex and Money" proved to be the cheeky live anthem you knew it was going to be the first time you heard it. At the same time, Loveless continued to give their previous album Daughter its due. (Introducing "Wringer", Loveless quipped that it was "from Daughter, which came out in 2020, which means it was very successful...everybody was out doing stuff, money burning holes in their pockets.") From the prickly guitar strums of "Say My Name" to the deliberate drum beats of "Don't Bother Mountain", the latter of which saw Loveless switch to synth, their performance of the Daughter songs showcased that it's Loveless' most thematic and instrumentally diverse album to date. That's not a small feat, with a catalog as deep as theirs.

Loveless

Loveless

[furnituregonewrong]

Somewhere Else - Lydia Loveless 

[loudlylovingreview]

Al Maginnes: Lydia Loveless's X

She says fuck as many times as she wantswhen she talks between songs of flesh betrayedand reclaimed. And just over her heart, a tattooed X, a set of crossed sticks, stitchedinto the skin with a sewing needle and ink,jailhouse style. Maybe a first tattoo, something small and easy to hide, roadmapsfor the larger designs decorating her armsand shoulders, the way chords point to songs.The vine…

[mostlythemarsh]

Friday Records

[xxmolls]

Lydia Loveless - “Head”

[therarefied]

Lydia Loveless' “Runaway”

[naptownchris]

I could write songs every day for the rest of my life and never come up with a line as perfect as "You could write me a love letter in the gravel with your piss and I would read it with an open mind."

I don't talk about my love for Lydia Loveless very much. It almost feels too precious to share with people. But I do. I love her music with my whole heart. Even if I'll never write anything as good myself.

[jawhawk]

[hubcaphalo]

favorite albums of 2023

Here we go: favorite albums of the year. I like to make my lists every year and these? Are just my favorites. Are they the best albums of the year? Who the fuck knows. Maybe some are, some aren’t. I make these lists for myself, because I like to go back and revisit these, but if you listen and find something here you like, that’s awesome!

favorite albums of 2023, in alphabetical order:

Allison Russell - The Returner (listen: The Returner, Snakelife)

Austin TV - Rizoma  (listen: Su Nombre Es El Tuyo, Reflejo Infinito)

Bethany Cosentino - Natural Disaster  (listen: Outta Time, I’ve Got News for You (fun fact, I was listening to this for the first time walking home from the grocery store, and the last 2 lines of this song just sucker punched me out of nowhere and I burst into tears on the street lmao))

Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky  (listen: My Blood Runs Through This Land, Nobody)

Brian Lopez - Tidal  (listen: Black Mountain, Looking Glass)

Bully - Lucky for You  (listen: How Will I Know, Days Move Slow) 100% my favorite album this year. I love everything she does.

Explosions in the Sky - The End  (listen: Loved Ones, Ten Billion People)

Eyelids - Colossal Waste of Light  (listen: Runaway Yeah, Colossal Waste of Light)

Fruit Bats - A River Running to Your Heart  (listen: Rushin’ River Valley, Waking Up in Los Angeles)

Gaby Moreno - X Mí (listen: Luna de Xelajú, Intento) yes, this is technically an EP but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hozier - Unreal Unearth  (listen: Francesca, Unknown/Nth)  

Indigo De Souza - All of This Will End  (listen: Wasting Your Time, Smog)

Janelle Monae - Age of Pleasure  (listen: Lipstick Lover, Rush)

La Fonda - We Are Infinite  (listen: We Are Infinite, Kaleidoscope)

Lydia Loveless - Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again  (listen: Sex and Money, Poor Boy)

Medejin - The Garden  (listen: Shell, January)

Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel  (listen: No Reason, Whole)

Victoria Monet - JAGUAR II  (listen: Party Girls, How Does It Make You Feel)

Y La Bamba - Lucha  (listen: Dibujos De Mi Alma, Nunca)

Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy  (listen: I Saw, Rice)

And an honorable mention to this fantastic EP:  Konyikeh - Litany (listen: Girls Like Us)