Houseshow’s Top 10 Songs of 2016
From Chicago to Europe & Australia, how we survived the year with incredible indie rock
by Katie Ingegneri, Editor-in-Chief
Since 2016 was the first full year that Houseshow has been in existence since its inception in March 2015, I decided to make an end-of-year list of what my favorite new songs were in the world of “indie rock” that I follow and curate with this magazine, plus our community on Facebook and on Spotify. I’ve never really articulated the scene of music that I curate much beyond “Chicago DIY rock n roll,” and “a celebration of the next generation,” but maybe now is the time to articulate it.
Some of the bands and musicians tour internationally, some are scarcely known beyond small groups in Chicago or other cities. Most of the musicians are in their 20s. For the most part they are “rock” bands or artists, but with a diversity of styles and influences, ranging from punk to pop, retro-tinged and modern. “Rock music” is often disparaged as being dead, being boring, as having lost the heritage of the sounds that first changed the world 60 years ago. But I think the bands that Houseshow covers and follows definitively prove otherwise. Rock music has always been my favorite style of music (as a former classical musician and broad-minded human I listen to just about everything), and it was after I moved to Chicago and discovered this still-living, thriving, vibrant scene that the Houseshow movement was catalyzed into existence.
This magazine and community is built around the incredibly exciting renaissance in indie rock music happening where we are based in Chicago right now, with rock bands like Twin Peaks and The Orwells growing up while showing the world that rock music is still very much young, alive and exciting, while Whitney blew everyone’s minds this year with their timeless country-soul. My Chicago neighborhood of Logan Square continues to be home to some of the best garage rock and indie bands in the city, and while 2016 saw the shuttering of some of the scene’s primary DIY venues like Young Camelot and Wally’s World, venues like Cole’s Bar continue to provide a sense of community and a space friendly to all kinds of bands. And I continue to be grateful to live in Chicago, full of excellent venues and shows by touring musicians every day of the week — not to mention an incredibly supportive community of creators and fans.
One of my goals in 2017 is to focus more of my attention on how I can help the Chicago community with DIY shows and spaces. With the recent Ghost Ship DIY space tragedy in Oakland, and the simple fact of changes in urban geography preventing people from hosting as many shows as there were when I first started going to houseshows at Benny Goetz of The Symposium’s apartment (a former hub of the The Orwells/Twin Peaks/The Walters/Modern Vices/The Symposium/Yoko and the Oh No’s scene, Houseshow’s core groups), it’s more important than ever to continue to support and foster accessible spaces where people feel and are safe in their chosen artistic communities.
Beyond the physical spaces, Houseshow is rooted in the idea of genuine, visceral appreciation of music — music that is powerful, enjoyable, innovative, comforting, energizing, thought-provoking, culturally relevant — not what “critics” say is “best,” but the songs that punch you in the gut, get in your ear, in your heart and don’t let go. The songs I chose this year also tend to have a certain timelessness inherent to great music — we’ll still be playing these a long way down the road.
2016 was the year I started making Spotify playlists for Houseshow to keep track of relevant new releases throughout the year from Chicago rock bands and musicians across the country. Those lists are where most, if not all of my 2016 “top 10” songs are from. I generally think “best of the year” lists tend to be pretty goofy and arbitrary, but I think it’s worth recognizing at least some of the standouts of the year. I’m discussing songs rather than full albums, to recognize EPs, singles, etc, and the fact that sometimes the greatest songs are on not-great albums, while some of the new albums I enjoyed the most don’t have songs on this list (like Drugdealer’s “The End of Comedy,” Cullen Omori’s “New Misery,” Har Mar Superstar’s “Best Summer Ever” and The Lemon Twigs’ “Do Hollywood”).
Thank you to readers, fans and followers for all your support of the Houseshow community in 2016, and get ready for an even bigger 2017! Now, in no particular order, Houseshow’s top 10 songs of 2016. And you can follow the playlist on Spotify, of course, linked at the end of the article!
“Like Going Down Sideways,” Cut Worms
I’m not sure if any other song blew me away more this year with its sheer force of magic than “Like Going Down Sideways” by Cut Worms, aka Max Clarke, formerly of The Sueves. Like Angel Olsen, Max is a former Chicago-dwelling musician who moved before I got here (or knew about him), and I’m very upset about that. This song, the B-side of the single that I discussed earlier this year from Randy Records, is one of the most timelessly beautiful and dreamlike songs I’ve ever heard. It could have come out of Greenwich Village in 1963, it could have come out of London in 1972, but it came out of America in the 21st century. And that makes me feel pretty good as we face our impending dystopian future.
“Heavenly Showers,” Twin Peaks
“Down in Heaven” was an album that helped define 2016 for me, after I got a SoundCloud link from Big Tuna himself early last winter prior to the official release — I’ve definitely listened to it many, many times in 2016. It’s lovely, and there’s still something beautiful and new to be heard each time. I loved the singles, I loved my bud Colin Croom getting to shine in a song on his first official album as a member of the band. My favorite song, though, was the somewhat-overlooked “Heavenly Showers.” I think it’s overlooked just because they don’t seem to play it much live (besides the lovely NPR rooftop session in New York, below). It really nails the Stones vibes, with a horn section in the middle and at the fade-out (hi, Will Miller!) and a timelessness inherent to perfect rock songs. While Twin Peaks are always one of my favorite live acts, it’s kind of funny that many of my favorite songs they barely play live, like “Ordinary People,” “Mind Frame,” and now “Heavenly Showers.” Maybe that can change in 2017.
“They Put a Body In The Bayou,” The Orwells
The second single from The Orwells’ forthcoming album “Terrible Human Beings,” it’s a song I’ve been hearing them play live here in Chicago since at least mid-2015. I think it’s fucking great. I think the music video is fucking great. With every song they do, The Orwells continue to show what exactly got me so excited about them in the first place — they catch your attention with these high-energy, well-written rock songs and get right under your skin. This year, I was lucky to be involved in the artistic production of this new album (you’ll hear more about it in 2017) which makes it extra special to me, when a mere 2 years ago I was just about to interview this wild lead singer kid for the hell of it, before Houseshow was ever even a thought. Crazy how life happens sometimes.
“Real Bad Lookin’,” Alex Cameron
Alex Cameron is the Australian equivalent of Chicago’s own Jimmy Whispers (okay, he moved to LA, but he’s still ours). I saw him open for Foxygen on their last tour and bought his record “Jumping the Shark” this year, which I really like, a collection of elegantly sparse, synth-based songs with literary lyrics like short stories. The album standout is “Real Bad Lookin’,” a catchy and hilariously dark song with lines that almost make you gasp when you first hear them (“who the hell are they to tell me that I can’t leave my kid in the car”), about “the drunkest, ugliest girl in the bar” and “the dumbest, richest guy at the bar” which, by the end of 2016, did turn out to be a truly perfect and timely song for this country that elected Donald Trump President. Listen to the lyrics and I think you’ll think similarly — at any rate, definitely check out his work. Hope to see Al Cam on stage in 2017.
“Polly,” Whitney
At first I almost chose “No Woman” for this, because that song and music video have become some of my Chicago all-time favorites (particularly on rainy or snowy winter days). But 2016 was the year the world discovered Whitney, as I and others foretold, and they are deservedly getting on many a mainstream media outlet’s “best of 2016” list, so “No Woman” is everywhere. I’ve decided to pick “Polly” instead, as one of my favorite songs of theirs, and the song I always remember hearing the first time I saw them in summer 2015 at DIY venue La Cubierta, and how that rising horn part stuck with me — a moment when I knew I was witnessing something special.
This year, Whitney’s music stuck with a lot of people, including Sir Elton John. And they’re such a nice group of guys too, you gotta be happy for ’em. After being hooked on their private collection of demos prior to the album release (very few fans will ever know what it was like to only have one song of theirs to listen to at the beginning) and seeing them play many times, I am so ready to hear what comes next.
“Synth Song,” The Symposium
My friends in The Symposium didn’t come out with too much new music in 2016, which is a bummer, but in the winter they did drop this track — a haunting synth-saturated soundtrack to cold Chicago nights, showcasing how truly good they can be at catchy indie rock songwriting when they put their minds to it. (Cough. I want a new LP in 2017. Cough.)
“Bamboo,” Hinds
There aren’t nearly enough all-girl rock bands in the international spotlight, but there is Hinds, the Madrid-based, garage-pop quartet, and they’re fantastic. I kind of think of them as a female equivalent of Twin Peaks, as their happy energy and exuberance at shows is infectious, which I learned when I was lucky to catch them both at SXSW in Austin and for a recent show in Chicago this fall. I really love their debut album, “Leave Me Alone,” a great collection of songs about love, partying and being young. “Bamboo” is a particular standout, a fun and quirky love song from a female perspective, something that is often lacking in the indie rock world that I follow. I can’t wait to see them play live again and to hear how their sound develops with their next album.
“Shut Up Kiss Me,” Angel Olsen
How much do I love Angel Olsen? Let me count the ways. I’ll always associate the memory of going to see her for the first time in Chicago in 2014 with the night I first got to talk to Mario of The Orwells, setting the stage for the existence of this entire magazine. (And as they told me recently, Max Kakacek and other future members of Whitney were at that show, and had just begun the project that would become Whitney, inspired by Angel’s haunting and intimate songs.)
Angel came out with her 4th album, “My Woman,” this year, which transcended all expectations. My favorite song was the upbeat rock number “Shut Up Kiss Me,” with its associated video which was also one of my favorites of the year — like Hinds, I love these songs that are from a female perspective, rather than the dude bands I tend to immerse myself in. Bow down to the queen of indie.
“(Joe Gets Kicked Out Of School For Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn’t a Problem),” Car Seat Headrest
There are times when you discover really special bands that quickly find such a monumental place in your listening life that you don’t know how there was ever a time when you didn’t know them. In 2016, that happened to me with songwriter Will Toledo and his band Car Seat Headrest. So glad I came around, since I’ll always have to live with the memory of seeing them go on a small, easily accessible stage after Whitney during the Urban Outfitters showcase at SXSW and then not paying attention. Ugh. Luckily, the universe helped me make up for it when I made it to an incredibly intimate lunchtime set at JBTV Studios in Chicago before I saw them again at Thalia Hall that night.
I think pretty much every Car Seat Headrest song is fantastic in some way or another (and how magical for a music nerd like me to discover a “new” musician that already has an extensive back catalogue of 11 albums of great songs), and 2016’s banner LP “Teens of Denial” is full of incredible work, like the devastating epic “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia,” the angsty “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales,” and the depressive but upbeat rock of “Fill in the Blank” and “Vincent,” but “Drugs With Friends” is my selection for the year, about what you learn — and don’t learn — from partying and doing drugs with your friends on the weekend. The looping lines of “drugs are better with friends are better with drugs / drugs are better than friends are better than drugs” will resonate with anyone who stays out too late. Thank god for Will Toledo, man. More writing to come on my obsession with this band in 2017.
“The Lotus Eaters,” Flesh Panthers
Chicago’s Flesh Panthers, who I profiled earlier this year, came out with one of the best and criminally underlooked rock records of 2016, “Willow’s Weep,” which deserves a far wider audience than our Chicago rock scene. It’s only 8 songs, but it’s undeniably enjoyable for whatever kind of rock fan you may be. While I love all the songs on it, “The Lotus Eaters” is perhaps my favorite, with Poseidon, Calypso and a whole cast of Odyssean characters making their way into a rock song, complete with a true rock n roll “ooh wah, ooh wah, yeah yeah yeah” chorus. Run, don’t walk, to your favorite local record shop and demand it now.
