Hey folks!

Nominations for the upcoming Best Album of 2001 tournament open up in six days, on January 17th! That means time is running out to listen to new albums and potentially nominate them. Actually, that’s a bit of a lie — the nomination period will last two weeks, so technically you’ve got about three weeks to listen to new albums. Still! Not a lot of time left!

I’ll go over this again next week, but just a head’s up on how it works: the nomination form will be a Google form, and you’ll enter in every title you want to nominate — no limitations. You’ll be able to edit your entry until the nomination period closes, so I encourage you to keep listening to new albums during that time. When it’s all done, I’ll count up the number of votes each album got, and the top vote-getters will be entered into the tournament.

Here’s what I’ve heard since last newsletter, with the caveat that, honestly, I’ve mostly forgotten a lot of this. That’s no mark on the albums, but on my memory and my lack of initiative in taking notes when I’m listening. A reminder that I find most albums Likeable, and anything that gets a Like I will probably be nominate. (However, only albums that do better than that will get any seeding votes from me, assuming they make it through).

Antibalas, LIBERATION AFRO BEAT, VOL. 1 (Spotify, YouTube)

My experience with afro beat is extraordinarily limited, so I don’t know if this homegrown version makes the grade in the context of the genre. But I enjoyed it! It did however, remind me of one of Beck’s lines on Futurama: “That song doesn't usually last three hours, but we got into a serious thing. And then I forgot how it ended.” Throw it on while doing chores. Rating: Like.

Gamma Ray, NO WORLD ORDER! (Spotify, YouTube)

At times edges up to Kent’s Europudding Metal Line, where it’s closer, imo, to musical theater than metal. This happens with a lot of power metal, which is why I don’t often listen to it. But overall, this is a strong set of tunes. If you’re metal-resistant but pro-hooks, this could be your thing. (Wikipedia and other places have the title as simply NO WORLD ORDER, but there’s clearly an exclamation point there.) Rating: Like.

Ozma, ROCK AND ROLL PART 3 (Spotify, YouTube)

My least favorite of this bunch. Lots of comparisons to Weezer, and that’s easy to see, but to my ear it goes directly for Weezer-style hooks and just whiffs it. Has a puppy-dog quality that makes it hard to hate, though. Love that cover. Rating: Interesting/Like.

Gojira, TERRA INCOGNITA (Spotify, YouTube)

Gojira is, from what I can tell, kind of like the Metallica of France, despite not really sounding like Metallica. This is death metal at its base, but they throw in proggy bits and other non-metal genres. (IIRC, there’s one song that’s just like an alt-rock thing.) Easy to see how they got popular — extremely competent, doesn’t rock the boat too much. Kind of like 90s Metallica. Rating: Like.

Soilwork, A PREDATOR'S PORTRAIT (Spotify, YouTube)

Despite having the same rating, kind of prefer this to TERRA INCOGNITA. This is “melodic death metal” and while it doesn’t go both barrels on the melodic part like 2001’s Arch Enemy album, this is worthy of the genre name. Said this before, but you’d be surprised how many bands get categorized as MDM and, imo, don’t follow through on the first M. It’s like, “Oh, this isn’t quite as relentless as Cannibal Corpse, must be melodic.” No, dipshits! Anyway, buy Swedish. Also, if the name “Soilwork” sounds a little white-fashy (it does to me!) there’s no indication they are. Rating: Like.

Techno Animal, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BOMB (Spotify, YouTube)

One of the big 2001 revelations for me, and a companion album to another big revelation, Cannibal Ox’s THE COLD VEIN. This is industrial rap, the industrial brought to you by Kevin Martin a.k.a. The Bug and Godflesh’s Justin Broadrick, and the rap brought to you by a series of underground rappers, including, uh, Cannibal Ox’s Vast Aire and Cannibal Ox producer El-P. This gripped me from the first beat, and honestly I didn’t think Broadrick had something like this in him. A must-hear, even if just to verify it’s not your thing; it’s almost the Platonic ideal of mine. Rating: Love.

Paul Oakenfold, SWORDFISH <<THE ALBUM>> (Spotify, YouTube)

Terrific house/dance music, slightly downgraded for having dialogue samples from one of the stupidest movies ever made. Pulp Fiction was seven years previous, Travolta, quit trying to milk it, especially with these Z-grade Tarantino knock-off monologues. Anyway, if this gets in and N.E.R.D.’s IN SEARCH OF… gets in, we’ll have “Lapdance” in the tournament twice. Rating: Like.

Firewater, PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY (Spotify, YouTube)

I started listening to this as I was composing this newsletter, and kind of had a sinking feeling right from the first seconds: I was going to like this a lot and need to add it. Spoiler: more than just Like. I know this is Tod A’s follow-up project to Cop Shoot Cop, and I’m pretty sure I heard the Firewater albums previous to this, but I don’t recall him going all-in on catchy rock as he does here. First track wouldn’t be out of place on the Nuggets box set, and third track is like a Michael Penn song with rough alt-rock edges. Not a bum track in the bunch; even the title track, which uses the title in the chorus and makes it work. Bonus: only 40 minutes long! Rating: Love.