Mind Spiders
Mind Spiders
Dirtnap Records

Mark Ryan, singer/guitarist for Texas punk band The Marked Men, has given his lone star cronies another reason to celebrate and collaborate, courtesy of his new solo project, Mind Spiders. While the band’s live incarnation brings together friends from The Marked Men, High Tension Wires (made up of Marked Men, Reds, and Riverboat Gamblers), Bad Sports, and Uptown Bums, the recording is all Ryan, who four-tracks his way through twelve lo-fi pop creations that blink and scream like the main attraction at the carnival of fuzz. As a whole, Mind Spiders feels a hell of a lot like a 60s garage rock record, candy-coated in electric spazz and shake, but Ryan is able to riff on this blueprint on a song-by-song basis, coaxing a range of styles out of the inherent raw energy throughout; “Go!,” “Don’t Let Her Go,” and “No Romance” showcase his punk roots (“Go! was supposed to be on The Marked Men’s last LP but was left off), “Read Your Mind” and “Slippin’ and Slidin’” contain a country n’ soul vibe, while “Your Soul,” “Neurotic Gold,” and “Close the Door” end the album on an indie new wave note. Mind Spiders is eclectic, catchy, and earmarked for sound.

Listen to “No Romance” from Mind Spiders!

High Watt Crucifixers
High Watt Crucifixers
Self-Released

Texas neck breakers, the High Watt Crucifixers, take the nut up or shut up approach to layin’ down road burnin’ sleaze rock songs, which means their self-titled debut sounds like something you’d want blastin’ away while you’re getting your cock tattooed in a truck stop restroom by a lot lizard with a loose moose knuckle. It’s a greasy good time, is what I’m really getting at here, and like all ragged riff merchants, their degenerate roots can be traced all the way back to AC/DC, but they throw in enough speed, fuzz, and punk to call to mind bands like Zeke, The Divine Brown, and the Riverboat Gamblers. Now, High Watt aren’t selling me anything I don’t already own with songs like “Easy Action,” “You Want It,” “Sell Your Soul,” or “Rock N Roll Salvation,” but I’ve yet to hear a sleazy scorcher in all my bearded years with one of those familiar titles that’s even come close to letting me down. Same goes here as each one of ‘em feeds my demon and blasts me with a heavy dose of hot evil action, like I’m French kissing a blow torch. And that, brothers and sisters, is totally bad-ass.

Listen to “Easy Action” from High Watt Crucifixers!

I realize there’s still over a month to go in 2009, but hardly anything good ever comes out in December. The rock n’ roll release season always seems to peak in October and after that it’s a slow slide into a new year and, hopefully, new good music. So I like to get a jump on my end of the year list in the hopes that it will provide you with some killer bands and albums to catch up with before the year is out. It also gives me a chance to try and remember all the new shit I heard over the last 11 months. That’s not an easy task. In fact, some of this stuff may not even be from 2009, but so it goes.

As with all best-of lists, this one has its disclaimers. The big one here is that this list includes only the albums I listened to, so if I didn’t include Slayer’s new album or Immortal’s new album it’s because I haven’t heard them…yet. So don’t get your panties in a knot if there are some glaring omissions. And, of course, this list is exclusive to the music I listen to; it’s my favourites for the year…and hopefully some of yours.

Oh, and why 39? Because it’s one better than 40. If 666 is the number of the beast, think of 39 as the number of the beard.

All right, enough screwing around. Let’s get to it…

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