Kevin Bronson on December 28th, 2016

0

Michael Stock is a DJ, promoter, teacher, radio host, vinyl junkie and fearless explorer of rock music’s nooks and crannies. Since 2005, he has helmed the weekly club night Part Time Punks, now stationed at the Echo every Sunday, and his weekly Part Time Punks radio show (3 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays on KXLU 88.9 FM) recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary.

Ask him what kind of music he loves, and the answer requires a lot of descriptors: “Punk, Post-Punk, Synth-Punk, Synth-Pop, Minimal Synth, Dark/Cold/Minimal Wave, NDW, Industrial, New Wave, No Wave, C86, Indiepop, Twee, Shoegaze, Baggy and even Krautrock.” You get a gold star if you can identify an artist who fits each of those niches; sometimes it’s better to just invite Stock to play you some music.

Which is exactly what we’ve done.

Here, via Spotify, are Part Time Punks’ favorite tracks of 2016 — and the playlist comes with an asterisk. Since he is a purveyor of vinyl and often-obscure releases, not all of Stock’s favorites appear on Spotify. In particular, he highlights the first track, from the dream-pop duo Them Are Us Too. It’s from a 2015 Part Time Punks Session and occupies the lead-off spot as a tribute to singer Cash Askew, who died in the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland.

It’s especially resonant because Them Are Us Too had recently released a beautiful new song “Angelene,” which appears on the Scream Queens Magazine compilation (available on Bandcamp) and which you can find out more about here.

Included here are some L.A. favorites, including Death Valley Girls, Feels, Drab Majesty, Cosmonauts, Tennis System, Sex Stains and Froth, and Stock ends his mix with another artist who left us in 2016, David Bowie.

In many ways, it was that kind of year.

||| Stream: Part Time Punks’ Top 40 of 2016 *

 * Note: Because the entries by RAKTA and So Hideous bleed together as one song on the album, both songs appear on this mix, making it a 42-track compilation.

01 THEM ARE US TOO – Could Deepen (Part Time Punks Session)
02 MJ GUIDER – Fiction Control
03 CHASMS – Black Ice
04 SILENCE IN THE SNOW – Lost Gems
05 ROCKETSHIP – Autumn Tears
06 DEATH VALLEY GIRLS – Pink Radiation
07 PITY SEX – Burden You
08 LAKE RUTH – Dr. Snow & The Broad Street Pump
09 DIIV – Loose Ends
10 THE GOON SAX – Sweaty Hands
11 TENNIS SYSTEM – Here We Go
12 FLYYING COLOURS – This Is What You Wanted
13 WILD NOTHING – To Know You
14 DRAB MAJESTY – Cold Souls
15 PALE DIAN – Evan Evan
16 BLACK MARBLE – Iron Lung
17 WRAY – Giant
18 COSMONAUTS – Short Wave Communication
19 TRAAMS – A House On Fire
20 FROTH – Contact
21 CULTURE ABUSE – Heavy Love
22 DILLY DALLY – Next Gold
23 NOTHING – Eaten By Worms
24 NEWMOON – Everything Is
25 TOY – Clear Shot
26 FEELS – Close My Eyes
27 THE TISSUES – On The Magazine
28 SEX STAINS – Land Of La-LA
29 PREOCCUPATIONS – Zodiac
30 EXPLODED VIEW – No More Parties In The Attic
31 ALL YOUR SISTERS – Open Wide
32 YOU. – Space Flower
33 RAKTA – Filhas Do Fogo / Conjuração Do Espelho
34 SCENT OF SILENCE – The Existence Burns In Silence
35 SO HIDEOUS – Yesteryear / Hereafter
36 AN AUTUMN FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN – On Fire
37 GERM – Escape
38 ALCEST – Eclosion
39 DEAFHEAVEN – Gifts For The Earth
40 DAVID BOWIE – Blackstar