Articles by MattN

Jack White - No Name - Front cover

PoOPlists, PoOpLists 2024 January 18, 2025

Matt Nerney Poop 2024

There’s been way too much craziness happening this year for me to really focus on new music. I heard a lot of
music, but I just didn’t have the bandwidth to give it more serious consideration. I’ve been trying to catch up for the
last month or so, but the white noise (Trump, if you didn’t know) is overwhelming right now. Hopefully I’ll get a
chance to really dig into all of this music at some point and truly hear it. For now, it feels like this, which is good
enough, I guess.

African Head Charge - A Trip to Bolgatanga - CD cover

PoOPlists, PoOPLists 2023 January 7, 2024

Matt Nerney Poop 2023

I just want to say that I’m thankful for all the creative artists who are still making transportive music that can guide us through the mayhem of the modern world. Listening to this kind of expansive, mindful music is one of the ways that helps me make it through the day in the increasingly bizarre and logic-free world we live in.

Chip Wickham - Cloud 10

PoOPlists, Pooplists 2022 January 7, 2023

Matt Nerney Poop 2022

POOP 2022: I have to say that I don’t think 2022 was a banner year for music. Yes, there were a handful of releases that seem likely to stand the test of time. But only the very top albums had that great “album” feel, with quality and continuity running through all of the tracks. Many other albums had some great individual tracks, but didn’t seem to hold up across the length of the whole. Overall, though, most of what I heard was pretty underwhelming. Is this the way it’s always been? Or is this the way that I’ve always been?…

Alabaster Deplume ~ To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1

PoOPlists, Pooplists 2020 December 13, 2020

Matt Nerney Poop 2020

Well. I don’t think anybody will be waxing nostalgic about 2020 any time soon, so I certainly won’t start here. Let it suffice to say that I did listen to a LOT of new music this year and that is always a good thing. Also, I can’t wait for January 20 … a new beginning!

New Pornographers ~ In the Morse Code of Brake Lights

PoOPlists, Pooplists 2019 January 31, 2020

Matt Nerney Poop 2019

Grumble, grumble, grumble … the future of music … grumble, grumble … the future of technology … grumble, grumble, grumble … the future of society … Sit Down I Think I Love You     Buy New or Used via Amazon    Rent via iTunes [?] 1. New Pornographers ~ In the Morse Code of Brake Lights: Still kicking out the glam. I feel like AC Newman has kind of become my age-set inner voice (well, at least in my head). I’m not always sure what he’s on about, but it somehow always feels right (just like in my head). A very…

Brian Eno - Music for Installations

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2018 January 9, 2019

Matt Nerney Poop 2018

M.Nerney : POOP 2018 Well, it’s the end of an era. Printed POOP has come to an end. While I lament the fact, it doesn’t really surprise. I won’t go into a full-on screed against technology, but I will say that I’ll deeply miss the physical manifestation of all our rants and raves. So thank you, Mark, for all of the years of toil, trouble and hard nagging that you put in to bring this motley crew of music obsessives laughter, joy, and most essentially, new sounds to hear and love. Thanks also to Zip for carrying the torch into…

Planetarium - Planetarium

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2017 January 6, 2018

Matt Nerney Poop 2017

2017 done, dusted … and we’re still alive! We may be the laughingstock of the planet, but at least we’re still here to laugh. And at the end of these next four years (or less … hope springs eternal!) we may even have learned something valuable about ourselves as a nation. There is a feeling somewhere inside me that says this struggle we’re facing will make us a better people and a better nation. Don’t get me wrong, I still think most people don’t know what’s good for them, but I think enough people will realize that what we have…

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2016 January 18, 2017

Matt Nerney Poop 2016

Well … I said my goodbyes to Bowie last year, I guess I’ll say goodbye to America as we know it this year. Not much of a joke, but it seems like we’d better laugh or we’re likely to be crying in the years to come. I did notice this year that many of the albums I had in heavy rotation were instrumental (or mostly … with wordless vocals). I wonder if I’m tired of all the senseless chatter in the world or I’m just taking solace in the silence … goodbye to language, indeed. Sit Down I Think I…

PoOPlists 2014 January 17, 2015

Matt Nerney Poop 2014

It was a year of continuous change, but also of hopeful permanence. We started the year in a small rental in Reading, Vermont and ended it in our rambling new home in Grafton, New Hampshire. In between, moving and madness. At journey’s end, we found the home of our dreams, a historic colonial, with barns, land, and forest. We’ve just ordered our seeds and are planning the vegetable garden. The cycle of life continues. Of course, one needs a soundtrack for all this change, and 2014 certainly provided it. Tops of the Pops     Buy New or Used via Amazon…

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2013 January 12, 2014

Matt Nerney Poop 2013

2013 was a year of big changes for my family and while music still played an important role in my experience, it just didn’t integrate itself as it usually has in the past. Moving to Vermont, finding new jobs, and shaping a new way of life has been a massive shift, an incredible life change that has included more wood-stacking, snow-blowing, and thankfully, more craft beer drinking. The experience has been intensely hectic and harried, but overall, happy. Music seemed almost to be an afterthought. The holidays though, as usual, brought many year-end reflections, and of course, the POOP. Tops…

No Picture

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2012 January 25, 2013

Matt Nerney Poop ’12

Less new music, more old music … same old thing. Actually, these 15 albums are the only new titles that I held on to this year (so far) … guess I’m just getting old and finicky. Go figure. 1. Grizzly Bear ~ Shields : sublime 2. Sigur Ros ~ Valtari : more ambient than any of their recent releases, more fragile, and more beautiful 3. Tim Eriksen ~ Banjo, Fiddle, & Voice : folk music, exactly as the title says 4. James Yorkston ~ I was a Cat from a Book : much the same as always 5. Brian Eno…

No Picture

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2011 January 30, 2012

Matt Nerney Poop ’11

Well, I spent most of the year meandering down memory lane, listening to old favorites, in an attempt to brainwash my children into becoming a bit more like dear old dad. I get a real kick out of hearing my kids sing along, words seared into memory, to songs I know they’ll never hear on the radio, or pretty much anywhere else for that matter. All right, you might hear “Clash City Rockers” on the airwaves, but “Tennessee Jed” or “We Sing Hallelujah”? Hearing a six year old sing along to Richard Thompson is somehow comforting, and joyously, deliriously demented…

No Picture

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2010 January 9, 2011

Matt Nerney Poop ’10

I realized this year that I just don’t like “new” music anymore. I still like the same old stuff I always liked, and anything that sounds like the same old stuff I always liked. I have become an old curmudgeon. Just go through the old lists. You’ll see what I mean. About half way through the year, I got tired of trying to find new stuff that sounds like the old stuff. As a result, my music obsession morphed from old school reggae to Zappa and the Grateful Dead. Go figure. I am pleased to report that my son Declan’s…

No Picture

PoOPlists January 9, 2011

Matt Nerney Poop 2010

I realized this year that I just don’t like “new” music anymore. I still like the same old stuff I always liked, and anything that sounds like the same old stuff I always liked. I have become an old curmudgeon. Just go through the old lists. You’ll see what I mean. About half way through the year, I got tired of trying to find new stuff that sounds like the old stuff. As a result, my music obsession morphed from old school reggae to Zappa and the Grateful Dead. Go figure. I am pleased to report that my son Declan’s…

No Picture

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2009 January 29, 2010

Matt Nerney Poop 09

Another year, another list, eh? Well, I have to say that on the verge of my 40th year, I may have finally reached the age of the curmudgeon. I don’t know if I’ve just lost my taste for new music, or if, as I suspect is true, new music really is just getting worse. Of course, there will always be good new music out there; it just seems it’s getting harder and harder to find. As the year wore on, I found less new music that interested me, and so I retreated back into a long forgotten love … reggae…