Dungen - Tio Bitar
This just came out today, and I love it on first listen. It's just the sort of retro rock I've been craving - Hendrix-inspired psychedelia, Jethro Tull style prog influences, and just really well put together songs. It doesn't sound stale at all, partly from the influences of Scandinavian folk, and partly because the lyrics are in Swedish so you can't tell how ridiculous they might be, heh. This is multi-instrumentalist Gustav Ejstes' fourth album, and he's just in his mid-20s. I like this even better than his acclaimed Ta Det Lugnt (2004), and expect more great things from him.
Colour Haze * Tempel (Elektrohasch GER) 06
Nice fuzzy sound, lots and lots of endless, repetitive riffing, need more/better songs, yet it continues to grow on me.
Priestess * Hello Master (Ace Fu) 06
Another young (Canadian) band finding their voice -- rocks hard, pretty varied fare between atmospheric numbers and hard and fast.
Sahg * Sahg 1 (Candlelight) 06
Awesome Norwegian doom rock. Sludgy, Sabbathy goodness.
Witchcraft * Firewood (Candlelight) 05
This is what stoked my appetite for more Sabbath-inspired doom/stoner rock. Since they hadn't come out with a new one yet, I sought out the others listed above, along with Wolfmother, The Sword, High On Fire, the Melvins, Nebula.
Peter Gabriel - 3 Melting Face 79
I had 2, Security and So and only liked a couple songs from each. Don't know why it took me so long to get this, it's pretty awesome. The paranoia and production reminds me of Bowie's Scary Monsters.
Sonic Youth * Daydream Nation 88
One of my favorite albums ever, I was listening to it while reading the new 33-1/3 series pocket sized books about it. A triple CD reissue comes out June 10, and in July Sonic Youth are performing it live in Chicago, and probably elsewhere. I highly recommend it -- the show I saw in fall of '88 was life-changing.
Dinosaur Jr. * Bug 88
Dinosaur were a big influence on Sonic Youth during Daydream Nation. Their first three albums were reissued in '05 and the band reunited. I saw them twice that year, at Metro and Lollapalooza. Not quite as loud as when I saw them in the 80s, but that's probably a good thing.
