Lungfish has had a lot of bassists–three, last time I counted. While I wouldn’t count Nathan Bell as my favorite (I’m a Sean Meadows man) but he did play on both Necrophones and The Unanimous Hour, so….respect.

As it turns out, his new band, Human Bell–a duo with Arbouretum’s David Heumann–has a self-titled album that just came out on Chicago’s Thrill Jockey records. What’s more, they’ll play a free in-store at D.C.’s Crooked Beat on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. Human Bell isn’t bombastic, but it does rely on the same cyclical picking and deep vibes of both Bell and Heumann’s former groups. Here’s the MySpace if you want to check some sounds; the Thrill Jockey page for the album also includes streams of the tracks.

Being unemployed and all, I’ve had a lot of time to sit around and think about the past. Ya’ know, the good old days of 2002, when I was but a rosy-cheeked college twerp and dance-punk still ruled the minds and hearts of music-loving tweens accross D.C.

Most recently I’ve been thinking about Measles Mumps Rubella. More than a few of my peers wrote off this post-punk quartet as “art-fag,” chastising them as a weaker version of Black Eyes and latecomers to the extra-percussion fad. But in their first incarnation MMR were pretty good. Vocalist Brett Lyman spouted unintelligible static through his heavilly delayed microphone and the rest of the group kicked up a pretty ambitious bit of noise before they ditched Lyman, set sail for Brooklyn, and eventually disbanded.

If you missed them, don’t be too hard on yourself. It was hard to hear any of their music–mainly because they were so f’ing self-conscious about selling it. I remember having to haggle with the guitarist to buy a copy of their demo and having to pull teeth again to get the “Fountain of Youth” single AT THE RECORD RELEASE SHOW.

This trend continues–though not at MMR’s behest. Last week I stumbled onto their MySpace page and found–much to my surprise–that the band has been attempting to posthumously upload their entire back catalog–including the Fantastic Success LP, “Zusammen Mit Motown” 7-inch, and “Fountain of Youth” 12-inch–onto iTunes along with the unreleased last gasp “Dynamic Disaster.” For one reason or another Fantastic Success is all that’s up there. However, the band has kindly posted a bunch of these tracks up on their MySpace page for people to listen to until the whole iDebacle is resolved.

Pour a little out for 2002 and have listen.

Here’s a live video filmed at the Warehouse Next Door:

D.C. alt-country stalwarts Shortstack provide their top eleven records of 2007. It’s a list that’s at once dusty and esoteric (Daniel Higgs, Sir Richard Bishop) and contemporary (Spoon, Vic Chesnutt) and entirely befitting of the band–who hold the high honor of being the sole local group that former City Paper staffer John Metcalfe ever admitted to liking. Shortstack’s recently completed The Covers EP–which features excellent arrangements of tunes by John Fogerty, Daniel Higgs, and more–arrives February 5th on Gypsy Eyes.

In no particular order..

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Vandaveer - Grace and Speed
Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments
Vic Chestnutt - North Star Deserter
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Daniel Higgs - Ancestral Songs
Iron and Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Various Artists/Dust-to-Digital Records - The Art of Field Recording, Vol. 1
Ted Leo - Living with the Living
Feist - The Reminder

Local singer/songwriter/guitar-shredder Carol Bui was kind enough to provide CP with a list of her top ten records of 2007. Bui’s sophomore record, Everyone Wore White, came out this year on the label 54º 40′ or Fight! You can read more about that here.

Here’s a list of ten albums I’ve listened to most this year, some are new releases, some aren’t.

In no particular order:

Kala, M.I.A

Harmonium, Glos

In Rainbows, Radiohead

Excellent Italian Greyhound, Shellac

First Take, Roberta Flack

Polemics EP, 31Knots

Places, Georgie James

Dizzy Spells, the Ex

The Best Gun, Pash

Ys, Joanna Newsom

Let in the Light, Shannon Wright

Placelessness, Alina Simone

Live at the Academy NYC 12.4.92, Television

Marry Me, St. Vincent

Sure, the smoking ban has made the Black Cat a little more comfortable. But can a night at the Red Room really compete with an evening of live music performed in the comfort of somebody else’s home?

Tomorrow night Brooklyn’s Little Women–who have a new CD arriving courtesy of the DC based Sockets label–will perform their potent take on out-jazz skronk alongside Melissa Moore, Eric Carbonara, Anup Pradhan, and D.C.’s own Layne Garrett at the Lighthouse on Saturday night at 9 p.m. sharp. The Lighthouse is an actual house located on 1421 Buchanan St. NW, and not a tower providing continuous light as a signal to navigators.

Adding to the list-mania here, below are a few the best albums I discovered online this year.

1. Colored Balls, Heavy Metal Kid
Some friends introduced me to Queensland born pub-rock hero Lobby Loyde and his band the Coloured Balls during a recent extended road trip. I was able to locate a sorta pricey reissue of the band’s first record–Ball Power– at Ameoba Records. But nowhere in the next 20 or so cities that I was to visit could I find a copy of Heavy Metal Kid. Luckily a friend clued me in to a blog that had posted it in its entirety. Tight braids of ferocious boogie guitar and thick ropes of throbbing bass.

2. Francis Bebey, Akwaaba
I found this record posted on a music message board. Mainly composed of thumb piano, eerily distorted vocals, and light percussion, Akwaaba is minimal, repetitive, and surprisingly reminiscent of modern house music—in the best possible sense.

3. The Ex, Live in Ethiopia
I had read about the Ex’s Ethiopian tour with drummer Han Bennink but never thought I would get to hear anything from it. This is a great soundboard recording from one of their sets that I randomly stumbled into on a message board. All covers of Ethiopian songs, slightly more melodious than the band’s usual output but just as gnarly. Ethiopiques for post-punk people.

4. Lifetones, For a Reason
The guitarist from This Heat’s solo dub record weds his previous band’s odd melodic and rhythmic sensibilities to lush delays and afro-pop guitar riffs. Never reissued and seemingly impossible to locate this was my nerd-rock holy grail. The songs “For a Reason” and “Good Side” are killer hip-hop samples waiting to happen.

5. Brian Jonestown Massacre, My Bloody Undergound
Jonestown’s sole permanent member and chief nutjob Anton Newcombe posted this “album preview” on the bands website and–surprise!—it’s actually pretty good. Long drones, evil distortion, and fucked up vocals that I can’t understand. If he had pressed this onto colored vinyl placed it in a spray-painted cardboard sleeve and put somebody else’s name on it hipsters might have bought this. After listening to this I walked over to my dresser to fish out my long-forsaken Jonestown T-shirt–wondering if I maybe didn’t hate them anymore. Well, at the very least I can say that I don’t hate this. Totally worth it, because it was free.

6. Kandja Kouyaté et l’Ensemble Instrumental du Mali
Pulled from the Awesome Tapes From Africa blog. Gorgeous, ethereal music from Mali that I know little if anything about.

A few days ago I was walking past Crooked Beat Records with some friends and one of them pointed out the promo poster for Nothing Is Underrated, the sophomore solo album by Fugazi bassist Joe Lally. He mentioned the image’s similarity to Phil Collins‘ scarlet-tinted, egg-shaped visage as it appears on the cover of No Jacket Required–Collins’ Grammy-winning third solo effort, which spawned such rockin’ radio singles as “Sussudio” and “Take Me Home.” At first I wasn’t convinced, but after referencing No Jacket Required’s cover, I’m not so sure. I don’t think Lally will be hearing from Phil’s management any time soon, but they certainly have something in common–the faint red light, the neckless head hovering alone above a bottomless darkness.

There’s certainly no shortage of evidence to suggest the Advancement of David Lee Roth and Van Halen–take Roth’s recent stint as a radio host, or Eddie Van Halen replacing bassist Michael Anthony with his 15-year old-son, Wolfgang. Or Eddie Van Halen naming his child Wolfgang in the first place.

All that aside, this recent footage from a show in Greensboro, North Carolina, makes a more academic argument for the genius of the reunited Van Halen. By playing their synthesizer backing tracks at 48K instead of 44.1K the band managed to turn their #1 single jump into a microtonal exploration worthy of Iannis Xenakis. Was it an accident? A highly overt trip into the avant garde? Or Advancement?

And in his defense, Michael Anthony was way ahead of the game here:

While attending GWU I sort of lost faith in college radio–chalking it up as a breeding ground for obnoxious buttoned-up Clear Channel hopefuls and a forum for giggly dorm-sex talk shows. But I guess that stuff only applies to my alma mater.

American University’s WVAU College Radio is up to some cool stuff, particularly this weekend when they will host a free show at Kay Spiritual Life Center featuring awesome LA punks Mika Miko and D.C.’s own Apes.

Here’s the full line-up and address information.

MIKA MIKO- newwave/prepunk/courtesyphone from L.A.
PRE- U.K. noise rock on Skin Graft Records
APES- experimental garage from D.C.
THE SUBJECTS- indie rock from Brooklyn on Pretty Activity Records

Kay Spiritual Life Center
American University (Tenleytown/AU on the red line- courtesy shuttle to campus)
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, D.C.

Did I mention that this is free?

We all make mistakes! Here’s a few upcoming shows with mistake-themed anecdotes.

Black Cat:
Tue. 11/6: Alasdair Roberts, Charalambides, Heather Lee Murray. $10
One time I went to see Charalambides play in Scott Verrastro’s living room. I made the mistake of using the word “chicks” within earshot of band member Christina Carter and she really let me have it. I believe that she was in the right on this one: “chicks” is a word for men who wear madras shorts and listen to O.A.R. I do neither.

Rock and Roll Hotel:
Tue. 11/06: Psychic TV $18
Once, while touring Europe, my friend and I both read a copy of Simon Reynolds‘ Rip it Up and Start Again: A History of Post-Punk. Much discussion was had about Throbbing Gristle’s Genesis P-Orridge and his pre-TG band COUM Transmissions. During their performances Orridge would do things like give himself blood-milk enemas and draw blood from his testicles. Although this behavior did place Orridge on a promising path toward musical infamy, I would still consider this behavior a mistake.

Thu. 11/08 (on sale 9/28): Juliette and the Licks $12/14
The last time this band played at Black Cat I was having drinks at the bar with a few friends. Somebody ran up to us and said something along the lines of, “Juliette Lewis is upstairs fronting this terrible band–you really have to see it.” We walked up and it really was sort of nightmarish. It was like watching a movie where Juliette Lewis plays rock star and there’s this adoring crowd and everybody loves her, but the band is terrible and she’s terrible and the movie is terrible, but you’re not just watching the movie you’re actually in it. Very meta. Or kind of like this movie. Anyways, going upstairs was a mistake.

Tue., 11/20 (on sale 9/28): Black Dice $10/$12
I don’t think this band makes mistakes. I thought they had made a mistake when they threw out their drummer, but then they made two really great drummerless records. Then their drummer made a great record by himself. So many great records!