Matteo Maioli Awards 2019

“Like why you get so scared Of the fragile weak and weird
We’re a nation in reverse, Trapped inside your hearse

And we’re all fucking morons, Don’t you know it’s true
We’re all fucking morons, My finger’s pointing straight at you”

David Feck of Comet Gain, 2019

SIDE A: BEST OF 2019

Quest’anno i miei awards sono dedicati sia al corrente anno musicale sia al decennio che ci lasciamo alle spalle. Nell’onda lunga della Brexit i Comet Gain hanno pubblicato un piccolo grande capolavoro – forse un disco che può cambiare la vita, o almeno la loro visto che meriterebbero ben altra attenzione; mentre colui che ho messo in seconda posizione, l’ex Silver Jews David Berman, della vita ha sempre avuto un’idea tutta sua: negativa a conti fatti, sconfitto dalla depressione, ma grottesca e originale nell’arte, e l’epitaffio “Purple Mountains” è da inserire tra le sue cose migliori. Seguono i Wilco di Jeff Tweedy (un must dal vivo come ho avuto modo di constatare a Padova) e due voci femminili imprenscindibili degli ultimi anni, quelle di Adrianne Lenker e Kate Tempest .

LA TOP DEI 50 ALBUM

1)COMET GAIN – “Fireraisers, Forever!” (Tapete)
2)PURPLE MOUNTAINS – “Purple Mountains” (Drag City)
3)WILCO – “Ode To Joy” (dbpm)
4)BIG THIEF – “U.F.O.F.” (4AD)
5)KATE TEMPEST – “The Book of Traps and Lessons” (Def American)
6)THE HOLD STEADY – “Thrashin’ Through The Passion” (French Kiss)
7)YAK – “Pursuit of Momentary Happiness” (Virgin)
8)THE MURDER CAPITAL – “When I Have Fears” (Human Season)
9)AMERICAN FOOTBALL – “American Football (LP3)” (Polyvinyl)
10)DANNY BROWN – UKNOWWHATIMSAYIN'” (Warp)
11)FONTAINES D.C. – “Dogrel” (Partisan,2019)
12)NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – “Ghosteen” (Bad Seeds Ltd)
13)BIG THIEF – “Two Hands” (4AD)
14)LITTLE SIMZ – “Grey Area” (Age 101)
15)BLACK MIDI – “Schlagenheim” (Rough Trade)
16)LEE FIELDS AND THE EXPRESSIONS – “It Rains Love” (Big Crown Records)
17)TITUS ANDRONICUS – “An Obelisk” (Merge)
18)JULIANA HATFIELD – “Weird” (Cargo)
19)PEDRO THE LION – “Phoenix” (Polyvinyl)
20)I WAS A KING – “Slow Century” (Coastal Town Records)
21)BON IVER – “I,I” (Jagjaguwar)
22)MICHAEL KIWANUKA – “Kiwanuka” (Interscope)
23)C’MON TIGRE – “Racines” (BDC)
24)BRITTANY HOWARD – “Jaime” (Columbia)
25)EDWYN COLLINS – “Badbea” (AED)
26)SHARON VAN ETTEN – “Remind Me Tomorrow” (Jagjaguawar)
27)IGGY POP – “Free” (Caroline)
28)ALICE TAMBOURINE LOVER – “Down Below” (Go Down Records)
29)NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE – “Colorado” (Reprise)
30)JESSE MALIN – “Sunset Kids” (Wicked Cool)
31)NICK WATERHOUSE – “Nick Waterhouse” (Innovative Leisure)
32)THESE NEW PURITANS – “Inside The Rose” (Infectious)
33)UNDERWORLD – “Drift Series 1 Sample Edition” (Smith Hyde Prod.)
34)MASSIMO VOLUME – “Il Nuotatore” (42 Records)
35)THE DREAM SYNDICATE – “These Times” (Ruby/Slash)
36)SWERVEDRIVER – “Future Ruins” (Rock Action)
37)WEYES BLOOD – “Titanic Rising” (Sub Pop)
38)FKA TWIGS – “Magdalene” (Young Turks)
39)THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – “In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights” (Concord)
40)LIVESKULL – “Saturday Night Massacre” (Bronson Recordings)
41)RICHARD DAWSON – “2020” (Weird World)
42)OH SEES – “Face Stabber” (Castle Face)
43)JULIE’S HAIRCUT – “In The Silence Electric” (Rocket)
44)THE LONG RYDERS – “Psychedelic Country Soul” (Omnivore)
45)PIXIES – “Beneath The Eyrie” (BMG)
46)COSMETIC – “Plastergaze” (To Lose La Track)
47)MARK LANEGAN BAND – “Somebody’s Knockin'” (Heavenly)
48)BOB MOULD – “Sunshine Rock” (Merge)
49)TYLER THE CREATOR – “Igor” (Columbia)
50)BECK – “Hyperspace” (Capitol)

LA TOP 10 DEI BRANI DI DISCHI FUORI DAI CINQUANTA

SLOWTHAI, “Doorman”

THE RACONTEURS, “Bored and Razed”

THOM E. YORKE, “Not The News”

ALTIN GUN, “Kolbasti”

SPIELBERGS, “NFL”

BLACK PUMAS, “Colors”

SPOON, “No Bullets Spent”

JARV IS, “Must I Evolve?”

BILL CALLAHAN, “Call Me Anything”

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, “Drive Fast (The Stuntman)”

LIVE OF THE YEAR @KEXP: TITUS ANDRONICUS

I MIEI LIVE DELL’ANNO
Wilco, Gran Teatro Geox, Padova
Geoff Farina, Bronson Cafè, Ravenna
Built To Spill, Locomotiv, Bologna
Echo & The Bunnymen, Corte degli Agostiniani, Rimini
Courtney Barnett, Beaches Brew Hana-Bi, Marina di Ravenna

BEST REISSUE 2019
THE REPLACEMENTS – “Dead Man’s Pop”: ovvero quando la prima versione di qualcosa è sempre la più genuina. Fantastica anche la biografia Trouble Boys, recuperatela se potete.
The Genius Paul Westerberg turns 60 the last day of the Decade.

BEST COVER 2019
I WAS A KING, “Slow Century”

SIDE B: MY TENNIES IN MUSIC

Ispirato dalla lettura dell’ottima “Piccola Guida agli Anni Dieci” del nostro er director Paolo Bardelli, da cui ci sarebbe già tanto da recuperare, ho immaginato una mia lista di 75 artisti della decade, scegliendo 60 album e 15 live con il criterio di non ripetere artisti e venues e distinguere in quattro “macrozone” geografiche di provenienza. Il tutto per garantire uno spettro più ampio possibile.
Buona lettura e ascolto…e che ci attenda un decennio altrettanto ricco di grande musica!

TOP USA
THE NATIONAL – High Violet (4AD,2010)
GIRLS – Father,Son,Holy Ghost (True Panther Sounds,2011)
FLEET FOXES – Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop,2011)
BEACH HOUSE – Bloom (Bella Union,2012)
FRANK OCEAN – Channel Orange (Def Jam,2012)
A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW – Sea When Absent (Lefse,2014)
KENDRICK LAMAR – To Pimp A Butterfly (Aftermath,2015)
WAXAHATCHEE – Ivy Tripp (Merge,2015)
SUFJAN STEVENS – Carrie and Lowell (Asthmatic Kitty,2015)
BOB MOULD – Patch The Sky (Merge,2016)
BIG THIEF – Capacity (Saddle Creek,2017)
GRIZZLY BEAR – Painted Ruins (RCA,2017)
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – 50 Song Memoir (Nonesuch,2017)
LOW – Double Negative (Sub Pop,2018)
PURPLE MOUNTAINS – Purple Mountains (Drag City,2019)

TOP UK
FOUR TET – There is Love in You (Domino,2010)
PAUL WELLER – Wake Up The Nation (Island,2010)
ARCTIC MONKEYS – Suck It And See (Domino,2011)
PJ HARVEY – Let England Shake (Island,2011)
GRAHAM COXON – A + E (Parlophone,2012)
DAVID BOWIE – The Next Day (Columbia,2013)
THE FAUNS – Lights (Invada,2013)
SLEAFORD MODS – Divide And Exit (Harbinger, 2014)
GAZ COOMBES – Matador (Caroline,2015)
YOUNG FATHERS – White Men Are Black Men Too (Big Dada,2015)
KATE TEMPEST – Let Them Eat Chaos (Fiction,2016)
RADIOHEAD – A Moon Shaped Pool (XL,2016)
IDLES – Joy As An Act Of Resistance (Partisan,2018)
SPIRITUALIZED – And Nothing Hurt (Bella Union,2018)
COMET GAIN – Fireraisers, Forever! (Tapete,2019)

TOP ITALIA
SAMUEL KATARRO – The Halfduck Mystery (Trovarobato,2010)
VERDENA – Wow (Universal,2011)
SUBSONICA – Eden (EMI,2011)
COSMETIC – Conquiste (La Tempesta Dischi,2012)
MIMES OF WINE – Memories for the Unseen (Urtovox,2012)
THE TUNAS – The Tunas (Wild Honey,2012)
VICKERS – Ghosts (Black Candy,2014)
ALICE TAMBOURINE LOVER – Like A Rose (Go Down Records,2015)
ANY OTHER – Silently,Quietly,Going Away (Bello Records,2015)
IOSONOUNCANE – Die (Trovarobato,2015)
SOVIET SOVIET – Endless (Black Candy,2016)
VISIONI DI CODY – Celestino (Autoproduzione,2016)
GHEMON – Mezzanotte (Macro Beats,2017)
LECHUCK – Dovresti Farlo Adesso (Dreamingorilla Records,2018)
RICCARDO SINIGALLIA – Ciao Cuore (Sugar Music,2018)

TOP EUROPE-WORLD
PANTHA DU PRINCE – Black Noise (Rough Trade,2010)
FEIST – Metals (Polydor,2011)
AIR – Le Voyage Dans La Lune (Virgin,2012)
ALLO DARLIN – Europe (Fortuna Pop,2012)
JOHN TALABOT – Fin (Permanent Vacation,2012)
TAME IMPALA – Lonerism (Modular,2012)
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – Push The Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd,2013)
SPLASHH – Comfort (Kanine Records,2013)
SUUNS – Images du Futur (Secretly Canadian,2013)
THE NOTWIST – Close To The Glass (City Slang,2014)
BJORK – Vulnicura (One Little Indian,2015)
COURTNEY BARNETT – Sometimes I Sit And Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk Records,2015)
ROYAL HEADACHE – High (What’s Your Rupture,2015)
LORDE – Melodrama (Universal,2017)
ICEAGE – Beyondless (Matador,2018)

TOP CONCERTS
ST VINCENT, Locomotiv, Bologna 23/02/2011
PATRICK WOLF, Arteficierie Almagià, Ravenna 25/10/2012
YEAH YEAH YEAHS, ColumbiaHalle, Berlino 6/05/2013
SUEDE, Estragon, Bologna 14/11/2013
SUZANNE VEGA, Bravo Caffè, Bologna 24/02/2014
THE LIBERTINES, Arena Treptow, Berlino 4/10/2014
STARS, Covo Club, Bologna 24/01/2015
AFTERHOURS, Velvet, Rimini 3/04/2015
MUDHONEY, Bronson, Ravenna 16/05/2015
TY SEGALL, Beaches Brew, Hana Bi Ravenna 7/06/2016
NADA SURF, Zona Roveri, Bologna 31/10/2016
BILLY BRAGG, Teatro Degli Atti, Rimini 6/08/2017
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD, Rocca Malatestiana, Cesena 29/07/2018
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, Corte degli Agostiniani, Rimini 8/07/2019
WILCO, Gran Teatro Geox, Padova 20/09/2019

(Matteo Maioli)