Weekend Music Roundup

The weekend is here and it's bringing Snowmageddon in a few hours. That's a perfect time to hunker down and keep the turntable spinning. This week I'm taking a look at some recent pick-ups, some old and some from last year that I didn't get around to listening to before the end of December. There's a range of rock, metal, and folk on here. Hopefully you have some time to sit back and enjoy.

J Mascis - Elastic Days: The new album from the Dinosaur Jr. frontman is his first solo album in four years and was released late last year. One thing that can be said about Mascis is that he's consistent. Whether it's the Dinosaur Jr. albums of the last decade or his solo work, he's tapped into his psyche and developed a sound that allows for the expression. If there's a downfall to this, it's that there isn't much difference between albums and few surprises, but when every able is consistently good, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

Mick Ronson - Slaughter on 10th Avenue: The debut solo record from the Spiders from Mars and legendary glam rock guitarist was released in '74. I'd been looking for a copy of this record for a while and found a beautiful "test pressing" in the local shop and couldn't resist. It's the first test pressing that I've ever added to my collection. This is a fantastic Bowie-esque record with some classic glam tracks that places it in the category with Ziggy and All the Young Dudes.  

Ryley Walker - The West Wind: This EP was released in 2013 as a limited edition vinyl and I recently came across a copy in the store. Being as Ryley is one of my favorite new songwriters of the decade, I was super excited to give this a listen. The three songs on here are classic Ryley style dark folk that reminds me of Dave Van Ronk and Nick Drake. 

Blue Öyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees: The NY heavy rock band released this live double album in 1975, just when they were reaching their creative peak. This was a time when heavy metal was beginning to break free from hard blues and this album represents that early metal sound that AC/DC were just beginning to do. The energy on this record is fantastic. Some standout tracks for me are "Hot Rails to Hell," "Buck's Boogie," "Last Days of Man," "Cities of Flame," and the incredible "Born to Be Wild" cover to close.

Emma Ruth Rundle - Some Heavy Ocean: Over the past few years, Emma has emerged as one of my favorite performers and I recently went back and found a copy of this 2014 release, her second solo record. Though still beautifully gloomy, she's definitely grown darker in the past few years. This is another wonderful record with lots of dark wave dreampop. "We Are All Ghosts" and "Arms I Know So Well" are pure brilliance. I really hope this is an artist who gets wider attention really soon.

Ghost - Prequelle: The fourth album from the Swedish metal band was released this summer and has become the band's biggest success, rocketing them to stardom here in the states. After being disappointed by their last album, I was bit skeptical about this one, but it's quite good. The incorporate some glam metal elements into their sound and it all comes together to create one of the most listenable metal albums in some time, and therefore no surprise to me that it's been so popular.