Audio By Carbonatix
Artist: CornershopTitle: Judy Sucks a Lemon for BreakfastRelease date: April 20Label: Ample Play
Have you seen Esquire‘s list of “50 Songs Every Man Should Be Listening To”? It’s not bad. I totally agree with them about Eels’ “End Times,” Johnny Cash’s “Ain’t No Grave,” She & Him’s “In the Sun,” Soft Pack’s “Answer to Yourself,” and a few others by acts I’ve enjoyed this year.
But I totally disagree on shit like Midlake and Vampire Weekend. And they’re a little too excited about the Drive-By Truckers’ “This Fucking Job.” I think that band has peaked. Sure, their new record’s okay, but “TFJ” isn’t one of the better tunes on it.
And there are a handful of songs on the list that I still haven’t heard but really want to, including Roky Erikson’s new one.
So, here’s my question to you, readers? What 50 songs do you think everyone should be listening to? I know, 50 is an awful lot. The dude from Esquire got paid a lot of money to listen to a ton of music and come up with that list. How about if you give me 20 or even 10? Send them to jay.bennett@newtimes.com, and I publish your list in an upcoming Nothing Not New post.
One band that will not be appearing on any list anytime soon is Cornershop. Actually, I guess they could appear on the list for Longest Hiatus Resulting in an Underwhelming Record. Hard to believe Cornershop’s been around for nearly 20 years. They were “globalizing” their groovy pop sound before globalization was cool. Their last record came out in 2002, and now we’ve got Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast — which by no means is a bad record but is just a touch on the boring side.
You’d think Cornershop would “come back” with a bigger statement, one befitting their former status as a top-tier indie-rock band. Instead we’re delivered a small handful of cool and spacey world music-ish jams, a whole bunch of half-baked and sleepy Rolling Stones knock-off “rockers,” and one imminently pointless cover of Manfred Mann’s “The Mighty Quinn.”
Judy is definitely listenable and it’s perfectly suited to be playing overhead as you stand in line at a coffee shop. But the whole thing lacks energy, and the band doesn’t sound they’re having much fun playing these songs. It sounds like another day at the office for Cornershop.
Best song: The Kinks-ish (and impossibly titled) “The Roll of Characteristics (of History in the Making).” Also, the 16-minute finale, “The Turned On Truth (The Truth Is Turned On),” is warm and hypnotic.Rotation: Medium-lowDeja vu: Drum circleI’d rather listen to: The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?Grade: C
“Nothing Not New” is a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about it. Why? Because in the words of his editor, Martin Cizmar, he suffers from “aesthetic atrophy,” a wasting away of one’s ability to embrace new and different music as one ages. Read more about this all-too-common ailment here.
The “Nothing Not New” Archives
April 16 — Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks (B+)April 15 — Coheed and Cambria: Year of the Black Rainbow (D-)April 14 — Foxy Shazam: Foxy Shazam (D, later changed to a B)April 13 — MGMT: Congratulations (B+)April 12 — Odds ‘n’ Sods: Robyn Hitchcock, RJD2, Scorpions, and More
April 9 — Murder by Death: Good Morning, Magpie (B-)April 8 — Harlem: Hippies (C+)April 7 — Slow Club: Yeah, So (B)April 6 — Black Francis: NonStopErotik (B+)April 5 — Growing: Pumps! (F)
April 2 — Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: Medicine County (B)April 1 — Dum Dum Girls: I Will Be (A-)March 31 — The Dillinger Escape Plan: Option Paralysis (B+)March 30 — Local Natives: Gorilla Manor (B)March 29 — The Bird and the Bee: Interpreting the Masters: Hall & Oates (C)
March 26 — Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Rush to Relax (C+)March 25 — Let’s Wrestle: In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s (B)March 24 — Goldfrapp: Head First (D)March 23 — She & Him: Volume 2 (A-)March 22 — Broken Bells: Broken Bells (C+)
March 19 — Locksley: Be In Love (B)March 18 — jj: jj no. 3 (C-)March 17 — Xiu Xiu: Dear God, I Hate Myself (D+)March 16 — Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do (B-)March 15 — April Smith and the Great Picture Show: Songs for a Sinking Ship (C)
March 12 — The Morning Benders: Big Echo (C+)March 11 — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil’s Tattoos (B)March 10 — Acrassicauda: Only the Dead See the End of War (C-)March 9 — Titus Andronicus: The Monitor (B+)March 8 — Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks (A)
March 5 — Liars: Sisterworld (A-)March 4 — Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (A-)March 3 — Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain’t No Grave (B+)March 2 — High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine (C)March 1 — Joanna Newsom: Have One on Me (C)
Feb. 26 — Freeway & Jake One: The Stimulus Package (D)Feb. 25 — Past Lives: Tapestry of Webs (B-)Feb. 24 — Shout Out Louds: Work (B)Feb. 23 — Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (B+)Feb. 22 — Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago (D+)
Feb. 19 — The Strange Boys: Be Brave (B+)Feb. 18 — Tindersticks: Falling Down a Mountain (A)Feb. 17 — Lightspeed Champion: Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You (C-)Feb. 16 — Adam Green: Minor Love (B-)Feb. 15 — Juliana Hatfield: Peace & Love (B+)
Feb. 12 — Massive Attack: Heligoland (C-)Feb. 11 — The Watson Twins: Talking to You, Talking to Me (C-)Feb. 10 — Hot Chip: One Life Stand (B+)Feb. 9 — You Say Party! We Say Die!: XXXX (B+)Feb. 8 — Allison Moorer: Crows (B)
Feb. 5 — Joe Pug: Messenger (C)Feb. 4 — The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack (A)Feb. 3 — Polysics: Absolute Polysics (B-)Feb. 2 — Pierced Arrows: Descending Shadows (A-)Feb. 1 — The Brunettes: Paper Doll (B-)
Jan. 29 — Basia Bulat: Heart of My Own (C)Jan. 28 — Priestess: Prior to the Fire (B)Jan. 27 — The Magnetic Fields: Realism (B)Jan. 26 — Four Tet: There Is Love in You (D)Jan. 25 — Delphic: Acolyte (C+)
Jan. 22 — The Hot Rats: Turn Ons (B+)Jan. 21 — Los Campesinos!: Romance Is Boring (A-)Jan. 20 — Midlake: The Courage of Others (D-)Jan. 19 — Laura Veirs: July Flame (B+)Jan. 18 — Beach House: Teen Dream (C)
Jan. 15 — Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM (B)Jan. 14 — OK Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (D)Jan. 13 — Eels: End Times (A-)Jan. 12 — Spoon: Transference (B)Jan. 11 — Editors: In This Light and On This Evening (D+)
Jan. 8 — Surfer Blood: Astro Coast (B+)Jan. 7 — Yeasayer: Odd Blood (C-)Jan. 6 — Cold War Kids: Behave Yourself EP (B+)Jan. 5 — Vampire Weekend: Contra (D+)Jan. 4 — Texas Tornados: Está Bueno! (B)
Jan. 1 — Scanners: Submarine (B-)
