Greetings! It may be just the beginning of December, but we are kicking off our annual best of Springfield music poll a tad early this year so that we have plenty of time to compile results and get together write-ups because this year our results are going to be published in the January issue of Activator Magazine! Our poll has three parts: your favorite albums/releases that came out by local bands, your favorite songs by local bands that came out this year, and your favorite local shows of 2018. This is open to all Springfield local music of any genre! And not just Black Sheep shows of course! We compiled a list of 64 local releases this year (wow, that’s a lot)! You can view them all and find links to listen to most of them on our Springfield release guide right here. At the end of our poll usually we put in a suggestion box for Black Sheep / Dumb Records – we are doing that again this year, but instead it’s a suggestion box on the types of things you would like to see with a new space we are opening up downtown in 2019.

>>>VOTE IN THE BEST OF SPRINGFIELD MUSIC 2018 POLL HERE.<<<

If there are any local albums that we don’t have listed, there is a box at the bottom of the first portion you can still write-in your votes – we would also like to hear about anything we’ve missed! You can email us at blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com and we can always add releases to the poll.

The poll will be open now for the next ten days until December 13th! We know that for the shows portion of the poll, there are a LOT of HUGE shows lined up after that deadline happening as The Black Sheep’s final shows!! Maybe you can enter in shows that haven’t happened yet if you want? IDK!

We will be posting results of the poll at the end of this month or the beginning of next month along with physical copies of the January issue of Activator!

It’s that time of year again! It’s time for us to start gearing up for our annual best of Springfield music poll – the seventh year we have ran the poll and results looking back on the year in Springfield music if you can believe it or not. This year we’ve got something special up our sleeves – we are going to be conjoining forces with Activator Magazine to help create their January 2019 publication as a look back in Springfield music for 2018 and feature the poll results along with write-ups! Our poll (not active yet), will ask for your favorite albums and songs from Springfield bands released in the past year, as well as your favorite local shows you attended *not limited to any genres or specific venues!

The poll will be running on our site from December 3rd through the 13th.

Before we kick off the poll though we need your help in making sure we are listing off all of the Springfield music that came out this year! Here is our list of what we have so far (total of 45):

Adam Maletich – Over The Edge
Arlin Peelbes – When You Need Me
boon – Social Anxylophone
Dixie Narcos – Neurotic Static
Deep Hollow – Weary Traveler
Demons on Wheels – Unleashed
Devin Hayes – The Mind’s Diary
Eggman – Cube Zero
Eyes From Above – Principium EP
Foam Fangers – Foam Fangers EP
Foot – Big
Forest Saints – Nocturne
Glower – Glower EP
Graveswitcher – Graveswitcher
Go! Tsunami – A Day At The Beach
Hospital Job – Haze Like Me
Imaginary Colours – Blank Slate
Imaginary Colours – Dream WAV
Imaginary Colours – Tangled Up In Blue
Kenyon DeShasier – Together
Kenyon Deshasier – Wondrous Lover
The Little Death – Way Happier
Los Injectors – Rock Apocalypto
MAC – No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs
Master Bastard – Mouth Breather
MLR – Abandoned Evening
MLR – I’ll Be In This
No Cash Value – No Cash Value
Pryss – Alogia
Rather Dashing – Rather Dashing
Resistance To Reason – First Year
Rockford – Briarcliff EP
Sorry Charlie – Sorry Charlie
Stater Jacket – Decisions
Timothy Donavan Russell – Best of Ambient 2003-2018
Timothy Donavan Russell – Best of Experimental 2003-2018
Timothy Donavan Russell – Fibonacci
Timothy Donavan Russell – Golden Age
Timothy Donavan Russell – Knot
Timothy Donavan Russell – Microtonal Ambient
Timothy Donavan Russell – Rain Tree
Timothy Donavan Russell – The Sound of Cosmology
Timothy Donavan Russell – Sugarchurch
This Is A Stick Up! – The Dumpster Punk E.P.
Uncle Sam’s Mutagenic Children – Right Answers To The Wrong Questions
Wolf Crick Boys – War & Peace

There you have it. If you know of any other releases from Springfield bands or musicians from this past year, let us know so we can include it in our poll! A release consists of two or more songs of original music – also we are opening this up to nearby towns Decatur, Jacksonville, Taylorville, etc. Comment below or email us at blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com if you have any additions.

The further we get here into 2018 the more we should just get the end of our three part best of 2017 the heck over with!! Finally, here is the third and final part of of our three part series with your top voted shows that happened in Springfield in the year 2017.

1. 10-2 at Black Sheep: Looming (Seed Album Release), Screaming Females, Street Eaters, Choir Vandals 

2. June 9th, 10th, 11th Dumb Fe5t (seven locations throughout Springfield, 50 bands from 17 different states)

3. 9-16 Black Sheep 12 Year Anniversary Show with Bottom Bracket, Stick People, Prowess, Kate Laine

4. 4-7 at Black Sheep: Hippie Squishers, Vanilla Gorilla, Hood E. Klimate, Kabass

5. 7-1 at Black Sheep: Food & Money (reunion), Backwards Day (reunion), Livin’ Thing, Spell Breaker

6. 11-18 at Black Sheep: Black Sheep Band Lotto 2017

7. 7-7 at Black Sheep: P.I.N.T., Leche, Say Something, Grady Drugg (“The Bouncehouse Show”)

8. 10-14 at Black Sheep: Battle of the Bands

9. 5-13 at Black Sheep: Black Sheep Cover Show Part 6

10. 12-22 at Black Sheep: Black Sheep Holiday Show with Vonne (reunion), Bottom Bracket, Rockford, Telephone Junkies

Here we are with the second part of our three part Best of Springfield Music 2017 series with your top vote songs that came from Springfield bands and musicians in the past year! Nice! We had quite the time going through all of these and adding up the totals (there are a lot of songs out there). Once again, we do not have write-ups for all of these (sorry), just the straight forward results and the embedded songs on bandcamp players below. Enjoy! We’ll return tomorrow with the third and final installment of this series.

1. Bottom Bracket – Bottom Bracket

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2. Telephone Junkies – Monday Morning

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3. Looming – Queen

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4. Stick People – Easier Said

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5. Kate Laine – This Is Not A Test

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6. Prowess – Rat Bastard

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7. Livin’ Thing – Punch Line

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8. Night Night Boy – Ginger Ale

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9. Pryss – Goodnight Alt-Right

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10. Spell Breaker – Superstar

Alright all of you website viewers that we have out there. We have collected results for our annual Springfield Music poll this year, and everything is looking great. This year we felt we would reach out and extend the offer to anyone who would like to help write reviews for our top ten best ofs in the categories of albums, songs, and shows for the year 2017. If you are interested, send us an email to blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com. We will get back to you with a list of things for you to chose from (pick one) to write one to two paragraphs on. We do need it within the next day or two though! For examples of what we are looking for, you can check out last year’s (2016) results for shows here, albums here, and songs here.

The results for the best of’s will be posted along with write-ups probably at the very start of 2018! (Sorry we are a tad bit behind this year)! Stay tuned and thanks for being here!

Alright, we’ve finally got it together over here. We ended up with a total count of 55 local releases of original music that we can tell this year thanks to your help, which is a lot. Now it is time for us to launch our annual end of the year Best of Springfield Music Poll where we get to highlight some of your favorite bands, musicians, and shows that happened in the past year! As with previous years, there are three categories to our poll – albums, songs, and shows. The only required category is albums, and for that you have to check anywhere from 2 to 5 releases that came out this year (list is in the poll). You might have to think a bit harder to list out some of your favorite songs! To help there are links to most of the releases from this year on this post! You might have to think a little bit for your favorite shows this year too, take your time!

GO TO SURVEY!

The Best Of Survey will be up for exactly one week, ending on Tuesday, December 26th at 9:00 pm! Once the results are collected we will have featured write-ups on our site for the top ten voted for in each category. You can check out last year’s (2016) results for shows here, albums here, and songs here. We have also been building an ultimate Springfield album archive / database of Springfield releases over the past year or so on our site which you can check out right here.

Could you believe it, the year 2017 is actually drawing to a close. It’s been a pretty busy year for Springfield music – and we have the new addition of Southtown Sound to thank for a lot of great music being recorded and released in our area. The Studio began recording in March of this year and has worked with a countless amount of bands in Springfield and also all over the country since then.

Once again on this site we would like to highlight some of your favorite releases that came out in Springfield this year. So first we need YOUR help making sure we are covering all of the music that came out this year! Below is everything as far as bands and musicians putting out releases in the year 2017 in our city that we can think of – along with links to stream the music. As of right now we count a total of 54 releases that came out this year. If you were involved in a local release or know of one not on list, please comment below or email us at blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com and let us know!

Once we’ve gathered more of a final list of 2017 releases, we will have a poll go up in about one week on our site where you can tell us your favorite albums, songs, and shows that happened here in Springfield in the year 2017. Then we will highlight your top ten choices for all three categories at the very end of the month. You can check out last year’s (2016) results for shows here, albums here, and songs here. We have also been building an ultimate Springfield album archive / database of Springfield releases over the past year or so on our site which you can check out right here.

Abyss – Dreadnought
Animals With Human Names – The Basement Tape
Animals With Human Names – The Studio Tape
Attic Salt – Attic Salt
The Blue G’s – Helpless, Hopeless, Moving On
Boon – 1st Street
Bottom Bracket – Dreamland EP
Emasculate Regression – Split with Glass Path
Emasculate Regression – Technology is Simple Philanthropy
Eric Marvel – What A Disappointment EP
Deezy Da Paperboy – Under Ground Krown, Vol. 1
Fireside Relics – Shot Out The Saddle
Food & Money – 1979-1982
Good Times & Company – All American Grinder
GRINN – Burning Out
Gutterpriest / Apostate – Split
Heptanes – Demon Stratus
Kabass – Warrior Within EP
Kate Laine – Recurring Dream
Kristin Walker – Self-Acceptance
Lick Creek – EP
Livin Thing – The Godhead EP
Looming – Seed
Luct Melod – Februation
Luct Melod – Obscurum per Obscurius
Manic Buzzcut – Bathroom Horrors
Mikey Hash – UGLY EP
Nefarious Cloud – Espada 13
Nefarious Cloud – Majin Cloud
Nefarious Cloud – Reserection
Night Night Boy – Demo
Opposite Good – 1
Opposite Good – Night
The Plunge – The Plunge
Prowess – EP
Pryss – Sisyphus
Robot Bachelor – The Third Houseboat Album
Small Man – Demo
Spell Breaker – Spell Breaker
Starter Jackets – Preferred Stock
The Station – Head On Tomorrow
Stick People – Lips
Telephone Junkies – Monday Morning
Timothy Donavan Russell – Bioregion
Timothy Donavan Russell – The Dark Path
Timothy Donavan Russell – Slower Than Your Heartbeat
Timothy Donavan Russell – Structures
Timothy Donavan Russell – Wild Kilobyte Theater
Timothy Donavan Russell – Windows
Tom Irwin – All That Love
Various – Dumb Fe5t Comp
Vincent Sebastian – A New Rhode
War Magic – War Magic (2017)
Weeping Iniquity – Transvection

Here we go with the third and final installment of our best of Springfield music 2016 series with your favorite songs that came from local bands this year! With there being well over 30 releases put out by Springfield bands, and also a few that put out individual single songs, it is safe to say that this year there sure were a lot of hot HITS hitting the airwaves of The Black Sheep Radio Show. Here are your top ten favorites along with writeups by different musicians and members of the Springfield music scene as usual.

10. Starlorde – “My Laser Is Bigger”

“Look at those lasers, are they small lasers? And, Milk Tirehaus referred to my lasers: ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.” – Nick DeMarco (Torture Trend)

9. Livin’ Thing – “Becoming A Bug”

What can be said about Livin’ Thing that hasn’t already been said in their hard-hitting tell-all VH1 special “Milk Tirehaus is a Human Bag of Garbage”? More Specifically, what can be said about the song Becoming A Bug that wasn’t already mentioned in the chapter of “Milk Tirehaus is a Human Bag Of Garbage” entitled “Becoming A Bug is a Horrible Song Title”?

I’ll do my best.

This song is the least Rock N’ Roll of all the Livin’ Tunes, beginning with a sample that is upsetting at best & hilarious also at best. Perfectly in time with the sample, drummer Bangin’ Jack Pearce slams out an open hi-hat four count to usher in a swarm of Pitch Shifted bends from Mario “Jim’s Boy” Cannamela, and a brooding, trudging almost proggy rhythm line blasted loud and proud by Brian SKAlecki, and “Big Dick” Nick DeM…ahem…Foley. A tempo change arrives thusly, met with the aural assault of Milk “Mike Reisinger” Tirehaus’ vocals, unrelenting and brash in all the ways a punk vocalist should be. The discordant tonality meshes well with the tapey, distorted character of the cassette this song rode in on.

A Ripper. A Slammer. A Banger. A Rager. A song that leaves your ears ringing and begs the question “Whatever happened to Obi Wan Kanblo Mi?” -Brandon Carnes (Midnight Fall, M.I.O.K.A.P.)

8. Moondead – “Death”

“Death,” with its revving tempo and alternately deadpan and harrowing vocals, is prime Moondead, a powerful track by one of Springfield’s most dynamic young bands. I don’t know whether or not Kiki Walker – guitar and vocals – is aware of the work of Lydia Lunch, but to my ears they are kindred spirits regardless. The ghost of Lunch’s bands Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and Eight-Eyed Spy lurk around the corners of “Death” – less in specific sound than in an overall vibe combining menace, humor and catharsis. With Dani Sakach’s driving, nimble bass and Nick Murphy’s skillful and muscular drums propelling Walker’s self-possessed but emotional display, Moondead is the last band you’d wanna mess with. Proceed with care. – Scott Faingold (Epsom, Heptanes)

7. Animals With Human Names – “Pound Bricks”

I seriously love this song. I love this project and Jim is a super tight guy, I’m glad I know him. I remember the first time I saw Animals with Human Names perform at Black Sheep, this song really stood out to me and hooked me in for real. I wanted to hear it again because in this song, Pound Bricks, I am in a hot city jungle getting ready to prowl the town with my boots on and the sky is purple and I am getting some mad business done and life is real. It’s is a perfect landscape for city jungle smells that groove around in the air and keep things rolling. This song puts you in a mental space where you have to think on your feet and put the no nonsense smack down on all the haters and on all the things that stand in your way, especially yourself. I think it could’ve been written about going on a run or skating on the town, hence the super cool play on words in the song name, and I relate to that because getting exercize in the outdoors is super fresh and it puts me in the moment. Overall, jungles are tight and so is this beat and this world might try to slow you down but you just have to keep going. Thanks guys, see you later. – Clare Frachey (SAP, Shark Week)

6. Say Something – “Lawgiver”

Say Something in general reminds me of a form of punk lost in translation over the years. Its simple and straight forward as punk music typically is but somehow Say Something holds onto something that is honestly refreshing in its own right. Reminding me of Bush-era punk like “NOFX”, or “No Use For a Name” it also somehow manages to be a bit more mature than that. In a way I almost see it as a character of its genre but played by immensely solid and steady musicians.

The song Lawgiver has a sobering affect. As with the title the song inspires the feeling of outrage of control. An incredibly popular subject over the years for punk music. This song does not ring a bell with the lesser of this era in punk but is incredibly straight forward, no goofy chorus, no chanting, and no bullshit. Just straight up pissed off. Lawgiver is a song on the frontline of discourse. The rest of the record “Black Coffee, Black Cats” does not disappoint and mixes evenly a sardonic as well as a serious tone and commentary. – Tim Williams (Our Lady)

5. Fuck///\\\Mountain – “I Love You”

Three words. A statement simple, yet profound. From every utterance in every cliched pop song and movie, to the most sincere admissions, the ones that make or break you. Everyone wants to be told, with the utmost sincerity, “I Love You.” With the track of that title, Brandon Carnes of Fuck///\\\Mountain made clear his feelings and those of hundreds of contributors, whose sampled voices repeat this mantra for over four minutes, over the swells of Brandon’s guitars, and the comings and goings of a dog, whom I can only presume to be sweet Gypsy Rose. Seeing Brandon perform this song in Dumb Records was a highlight of the year for me, and a moment that moved me emotionally.

2016 was year full of rage, hate, violence and death for far too many people. Nearly everyone knows someone who was marginalized because of where they are from, the color of their skin, their identity or their orientation. Let Brandon’s beautiful song be a reminder to those people: If the world at large, your countrymen, family, or one’s own self treats you with hate and disparity, YOU ARE LOVED. – Tony Colantino (Chili Mac)

4. Epsom – “Dick3Blues” 

Epsom’s Dick 3 Blues is a wonderful example of how recent news can lead to a damn fine song. Back in 2015 sometime, the body of one time British King Richard III was found to be buried under a parking lot in some city outside of London. The song developed around the line ‘one man’s mausoleum is another man’s parking lot’ and just kind of flowed from there ccording to Scott Faingold, Epsom’s singer/songwriter. If you dig Freudian psychology, Shakespeare, and/or recent news you just might love what Epsom has done here. – Joe Coffey (best guy ever)

3. Attic Salt – “Hometown”

Attic Salt is the new up and coming! With their new song “Hometown” they will make you want to get up out of your seat and jump around. I always enjoy their lighthearted shows and look forward to seeing where they go. – Madison Chessare

2. Pryss – “I Fear No Man”

You guys, PRYSS so gets me right now, especially the title track off their album, “I Fear No Man.” PRYSS presents those rare tracks that could narrate a billion different experiences, including but not limited to: being nasty; telling off some loser who called your friend by a body part; or attending a rally because a certain fleabag is Not Your President. I’ve been so angry lately it’s almost consumed me. But listening to “I Fear No Man” takes my anger from a dejected and poisonous place and whips it into something more furious and powerful. I used to fear just about the whole world, but that’s a privilege I can’t afford to let swallow me anymore. Y’all, “I Fear No Man” is America’s 2017 lullaby—the finger on the pulse of the rage we need. Make it your soundtrack while you’re burning shit down 😉. – Emma Wilson (The Studio Show)

3. Animals With Human Names – “Old Man”

“Punks don’t die, no we just change genres.” – AWHN. Well ain’t that the TRUTH, especially for those of us who have been hanging around Black Sheep for most of its 11+ years now, we’ve seen crowds and waves come and go, plenty of friends who regularly come to shows fizzle out and maybe move away, sometimes getting into Dubstep or whatever the heck else (R.I.P. Donnie’s Homespun). Fortunately for us we have Jim Whitehead, one of Black Sheep’s most unsung heroes (in my opinion) still making music in the Springfield scene after all of these years and this year mixing it up hard with this new hip hop project of his “Animals With Human Names.” I have to also take a second to mention that Jim has been still going hard in his punk band Say Something, and also raises a family of two kids. He started a band with his 5 year old son Malcom this year called “Statues of the Dead,” which having them play a couple of punk shows was by far one of the coolest things we have gotten to see happen at Black Sheep. AWHN’s debut release The First Tape may have been my favorite to come out this year. It’s got a wide mix of instrumental tracks, samples, and a few full on tracks where Jim is rapping. It’s hard to sum up this project in one song, but I would say “Old Man” does the best job at that. Especially with the chorus turning into a theme song for the project “Alright, Okay, Animals With Human Names.” I for one am very unfamiliar with what old school rap artists I can compare AWNM to or anything like that as it is a genre I am not well versed in. BUT I also want to say that I love how in touch Black Sheep has become this year with the Springfield hip hop community. And AWHN also has yet to really connect with the hip hop artists and projects who have been going for longer than this year, but I see that happening in the very near future. Just yesterday I got a message from “Torche” himself saying how much he digs this new AWHN tape and asking for contact info for Jim! – Brian Galecki (Band Lotto Band #4)