louder than war

GUS IRONSIDE
Louder Than War and Vive Le Rock magazines
Whitley Bay, UK

Hector Gannet - "Big Harcar" (GUGA Records)
Fronted by Aaron Duff, the best singer to emerge from North-East England since Eric Burdon, Hector Gannet conjured visceral seascapes celebrating the wild beauty of Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Snowgoose - "The Making of You" (Glass Modern Records)
Sublime folk-rock from the Anglo-Scottish outfit's second album.

Suzie Stapleton - "We Are the Plague" (Negative Prophet Records)
The promise of Stapleton's early EPs was fully delivered on this stunning debut album.

Michael J Sheehy - "Distance is the Soul of Beauty" (Lightning Archive)
A late night slow-burner with shades of the third Velvet Underground album.

Speedways - "Radio Sounds" (Alien Snatch! Records)
The new kings of power-pop set out their stall with a flawless album.

The Hellfire Club - "A Different Song" (Strength in Numbers)
Rousing Americana with a Glaswegian twist.

2016 was a great year for new music in my view, from both new and established acts. I found it pretty difficult to whittle the list down to ten, but here goes.

1. deux furieuses - "Tracks of Wire"
In a year dominated by abject misogyny and the rapid rise of idiocracy in the western world, Ros Cairney and Vas Antoniadou kicked against the pricks with a masterful collision of tribal drums, brutal guitar and razor-sharp feminist/humanist critique. The true heirs of Patti Smith's mantle.

2. Iggy Pop - "Post Pop Depression"
Jim Osterberg and his notorious alter-ego finally coalesced on a brave, compelling album that sought resolution of the key themes of his life's work.

3. Ela Orleans- Circles of Upper and Lower Helll.
Dark, trippy and completely absorbing, an album that mirrored the free-fall disorientation of 2016.

4. David Bowie- "Blackstar" 
You know about this one. A class act, to the end.