The Pretty Flowers (Noah Green)
photo by Natalie Milazzo
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2020? (In order 1-5)
- The Cribs - Night Network
- Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
- Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today
- Hurula - Jehova
- The Psychedelic Furs - Made of Rain
2. What band did you discover in 2020 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
This year I dove into, say, the 5-½-foot mark of the Guided by Voices Olympic-size swimming pool of music. I’d been a GBV fan before, but with a catalog as big as theirs, there were some major gaps--mostly early GBV, Bob’s solo albums and the final three albums for Matador. Early in 2020 I read Matthew Cutter’s book Closer You Are: The Story of Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices and it helped to put the band into context and perspective, and it gave me something to obsess over for a while to distract from the pandemic. What I really appreciate about Bob is his work ethic and how his approach to lyrics is so similar to his approach to his collage work. I do collage art myself--I’m trying to do more of it this year--and had never made a lyrical connection to it before, but now I definitely see that a relationship exists.
3. How will you remember 2020? (In terms of music)
I will fondly remember The Pretty Flowers being super active in January and February, playing shows with Samiam, Cutlass Supreme and Marriage Material. The rest of 2020 I’ll remember as the substitute to live shows of buying virtual tickets to see livestreams from Mr. Bungle, Angel Olsen and The Cribs, and finding ways for my own band to record apart from one another and stay active as a band.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2021?
A new album from The Pretty Flowers. It’s probably 75% done.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2021?
I haven’t been paying enough attention to what is coming out in 2021. It feels like an eternity from now. Our friends Near Beer have a debut album coming out next year that I’ve been listening to a lot and is great. I don’t know what it will be called, just that it will rule.
6. Trying to put a positive spin on things, what is your favorite development from the global pandemic this year? (Is there a new medium you enjoy, a specific song or collaboration, personal news, etc. that was a bright spot?)
My favorite development is that The Pretty Flowers have been able to record music in quarantine for comps that are either out or are coming out soon. One that’s already out is a Television Personalities tribute comp called Mummy, Mummy Please Look At Me that came out on cassette on Dandy Boy Records. We contributed a cover of the song “King and Country” for that. Coming soon is The Stowaways Presents Listen Up! A Benefit for Democracy Now! LP, for which we contributed a new song called “Bucket Beach”.
