Beach House
Teen Dream
Released January 26, 2010 (Sub Pop)
Short notes: Drowsy Baltimore duo make a Sub Pop record. Beautiful, but not entirely attention-grabbing.
BRANDON: B+
I think that the idea of "pop" has changed a fair bit within the indie community over the last 5 years. I see this record described often as what I might (borrowing an idea from my political science day job) call "pop with adjectives"--dream pop, psych-pop, chill pop. It's as thought the idea of "pop" has become either so divisive, disagreeable, or broad that we can't really see what it all might have in common. So when I say that this record doesn't sound like "pop" to me (and singer Victoria Legrand certainly doesn't sound like Stevie Nicks, which is a comparison made by several otherwise reputable sources. Ok, so maybe her voice has a certain timbre reminiscent of Stevie, but the way she sings--the phrasing, the way she lifts her voice--is completely different), you'll forgive me. There's nothing really exuberant here. There's emotion, and dynamic variation, and arrangements sometimes evocative of pop, but what I think of as essentially "poppy"--the energy, really--is largely absent.
There's still a lot to enjoy here. The songs are beautiful, all laid back organ swirling and jerky drum machines, with Legrande's vocal dynamism (I'm led to believe she shows rather more range here than on previous records) out in front. But the wide-eyed, simple, and soft approach of a lot of the current indie crop (Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, these kids) leaves me a bit cold. At the end of the day, it sounds a bit like a genre exercise, rather than the great pop record everyone else seems to be hearing. Recommended, but not without reservations.
LIN: C+
Except for those rare moments where I have some free time to just listen to music, I'm doing something else while I have my headphones on. So, when I say that an album doesn't hold my attention, it's not necessarily a damnable critique. But when 'what I'm doing' is 'work,' where I'm often looking for a little distraction, then it's a little harder to give the music a pass. This isn't a bad album at all -- the songwriting is pretty good, the music isn't bad -- it's just mostly boring outside of its beginning and end. It'd make a great soundtrack to some indie hipster romcom, where the pleasant sheen and lack of significant hooks is beneficial and bolstered by images.
18 December 2010
17 December 2010
2010 Albums: Ariel Pink & Haunted Graffiti, Backyard Tire Fire
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Before Today
Released June 8, 2010 (4AD)
Short Notes: Scenester, Animal Collective bud washes off the taint of association, gets hi-fi.
BRANDON: A
Hot off the heels of yesterday's anointment of "Round and Round" (this album's "single") as the track of the year by the folks over at Pitchfork, this record now comes with the endorsement of (at least) half the writers here at She's Making Whoopee in Hell. Like the Beach House record we'll be reviewing in a few days, Before Today represents not only the "mainstream" debut of one of indie rock's recent touchstones, but the mainstreaming of a major indie sub-genre, so-called "chillwave," or what I like to call, simply, "cheap synthesizer pop." But none of the backstory really matters, thankfully, for your listening enjoyment. As a pop fan, there's a ton to like about this record. Ariel Pink's a hell of a songwriter, and it sounds like (in Pollardesque fashion--not that this sounds like GBV), he's learned to keep the lo-fi affect from getting in the way of the hooks. Unlike a lot of the major indie releases we've got on tap for this project, this record succeeds entirely as a pop record first, which is rare enough. And do have a listen to "Round and Round," which I really wish I'd had for those long summer afternoons of driving. It's outstanding. Highly recommended.
LIN: C
Feel free to chalk this one up to me just not getting it -- because I just don't get it. Somehow, the album doesn't hit (or hit close enough to) my musical touchstones. Maybe I'm just too uncool and old-fogeyish and lack the will to discover (or put up with) the new trends. Much of the album sounds like half-baked ideas resurrected from demo cassettes recorded in 1983. I can't say the production reflects that metaphor, but it [the production] is a big reason I do not like the album: it's hard for me to stomach the "washed out" sound -- akin to turning the contrast way up on your monitor -- that's been perpetuated recently by bands like Animal Collective. Pink may have some songwriting chops ("Butt-House Blondies" and "Little Wig" are alright) but it's not immediately obvious, buried under everything else.
Backyard Tire Fire
Good To Be
Released February 16, 2010 (Kelsey Street Records)
BRANDON: C
This should be right up my alley (and actually, I did enjoy their last record). Lead singer Ed Anderson has a nasal yelp that reminds me, occasionally, of Jim Heath (the good Reverend Horton Heat), and the band has a style that recalls the Bottle Rockets, but this record just doesn't bring the quality songs. There's a lot of decent pieces here (and an appealing southern gothic vibe), but the whole just isn't the sum of the parts. The funny songs aren't really funny ("Brady"), and the serious songs aren't tugging my heartstrings ("Food For Though," "Once Upon a Time"). Definitely sounds like a band not entirely able to translate the energy of the live show onto wax. Too bad.
LIN: B-
Backyard Tire Fire's 2007 LP Vagabonds and Hooligans was one of the more pleasant albums I've discovered by randomly picking it up. This album sounds much the same; Anderson's fairly distinctive voice and the production are the two closest connections. The songs, too, sound familiar. There'd be some points off for that even if retreads of brilliance are still brilliant. Unfortunately, the songwriting isn't at the same level -- which only enhances the been-here-done-that feeling. The second half improves things a bit, highlighted by "Hell and Back," which reminds me of a poppier Jay Farrar, followed by the title track and "A Thousand Gigs Ago," which would be a much better song if it didn't trade on so many clichés. Still, a couple of mix-worthy tracks don't make an album.
Before Today
Released June 8, 2010 (4AD)
Short Notes: Scenester, Animal Collective bud washes off the taint of association, gets hi-fi.
BRANDON: A
Hot off the heels of yesterday's anointment of "Round and Round" (this album's "single") as the track of the year by the folks over at Pitchfork, this record now comes with the endorsement of (at least) half the writers here at She's Making Whoopee in Hell. Like the Beach House record we'll be reviewing in a few days, Before Today represents not only the "mainstream" debut of one of indie rock's recent touchstones, but the mainstreaming of a major indie sub-genre, so-called "chillwave," or what I like to call, simply, "cheap synthesizer pop." But none of the backstory really matters, thankfully, for your listening enjoyment. As a pop fan, there's a ton to like about this record. Ariel Pink's a hell of a songwriter, and it sounds like (in Pollardesque fashion--not that this sounds like GBV), he's learned to keep the lo-fi affect from getting in the way of the hooks. Unlike a lot of the major indie releases we've got on tap for this project, this record succeeds entirely as a pop record first, which is rare enough. And do have a listen to "Round and Round," which I really wish I'd had for those long summer afternoons of driving. It's outstanding. Highly recommended.
LIN: C
Feel free to chalk this one up to me just not getting it -- because I just don't get it. Somehow, the album doesn't hit (or hit close enough to) my musical touchstones. Maybe I'm just too uncool and old-fogeyish and lack the will to discover (or put up with) the new trends. Much of the album sounds like half-baked ideas resurrected from demo cassettes recorded in 1983. I can't say the production reflects that metaphor, but it [the production] is a big reason I do not like the album: it's hard for me to stomach the "washed out" sound -- akin to turning the contrast way up on your monitor -- that's been perpetuated recently by bands like Animal Collective. Pink may have some songwriting chops ("Butt-House Blondies" and "Little Wig" are alright) but it's not immediately obvious, buried under everything else.
Backyard Tire Fire
Good To Be
Released February 16, 2010 (Kelsey Street Records)
BRANDON: C
This should be right up my alley (and actually, I did enjoy their last record). Lead singer Ed Anderson has a nasal yelp that reminds me, occasionally, of Jim Heath (the good Reverend Horton Heat), and the band has a style that recalls the Bottle Rockets, but this record just doesn't bring the quality songs. There's a lot of decent pieces here (and an appealing southern gothic vibe), but the whole just isn't the sum of the parts. The funny songs aren't really funny ("Brady"), and the serious songs aren't tugging my heartstrings ("Food For Though," "Once Upon a Time"). Definitely sounds like a band not entirely able to translate the energy of the live show onto wax. Too bad.
LIN: B-
Backyard Tire Fire's 2007 LP Vagabonds and Hooligans was one of the more pleasant albums I've discovered by randomly picking it up. This album sounds much the same; Anderson's fairly distinctive voice and the production are the two closest connections. The songs, too, sound familiar. There'd be some points off for that even if retreads of brilliance are still brilliant. Unfortunately, the songwriting isn't at the same level -- which only enhances the been-here-done-that feeling. The second half improves things a bit, highlighted by "Hell and Back," which reminds me of a poppier Jay Farrar, followed by the title track and "A Thousand Gigs Ago," which would be a much better song if it didn't trade on so many clichés. Still, a couple of mix-worthy tracks don't make an album.
15 December 2010
2010 Albums: Anais Mitchell, Antony and the Johnsons
Day 3, two more reviews!
Anais Mitchell
Hadestown
Released March 9, 2010 (Righteous Babe)
Short Notes: "Quirky" Vermont singer/songwriter signs to Ani's label, recruits major guests (Bon Iver), gets Greek.
BRANDON: A
So, she's calling this a "folk opera," the story of Orpheus and Euridyce set in Depression-era America. The first time I heard this, I had no idea what to make of it (although thanks to ye olde liberal arts education, I did "get it"). The arrangements (done mostly by her collaborator Michael Chorney) are lush and interesting, and the vocal guests (especially Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and folkie Greg Brown) are spectacular. The first time through, it seemed like a novelty at best, and a mishmash of cutesy, folky over-reaching at worst. But subsequent listenings have been rewarding--this record's a grower. And despite my wife's judgement ("It's boring. Turn it off."), I find the eclecticism of it all endearing. Frankly, the weakest part of the album is Mitchell's own voice, which is a bit high, nasally, and shrill, like a less pleasant Nellie McKay. But there's little enough of that, and the album's ambitious vision is both fully realized and successful. Highly recommended.
(Note that this version of "Why We Build The Wall" is not the album version.)
LIN: B+
I knew nothing about this album before putting it on except its impressive roster of guest musicians. This may have been an asset: part of the fun was trying to figure out what the hell was going on -- the album's internal logic. But it's also a liability: I spent my time trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It's a concept album and sounds like it, which isn't necessarily a good thing given the frequency of style shifts. Still, the individual tracks do work, more or less, especially those closer to the gothic country of Jim White ("Way Down Hadestown") or the "noir film soundtrack" that reminds me of Black Heart Procession's Amore del Tropico ("Why We Build The Wall"). I've listened to this a couple of times and I'm still not ultimately sure what to think; like people that you just can't get a read on, it’s also intriguing.
Antony & the Johnsons
Swanlights
Released October 12, 2010 (Secretly Canadian)
Short notes: Consistently good, but not a step forward, either.
BRANDON: A-
Antony's had a great run since 2005, when I Am a Bird Now brought his unique talent to wider exposure. Swanlights, technically his fourth record (but the third since '05) is a worthy addition to the catalogue. While the sonic palette on an Antony record is, at this point, relatively predictable, that doesn't subtract from the emotional punch or the evident craftsmanship. On this record more that past alums, I hear Antony using his voice to play with space--repeating words, ever adding a bit of scat singing on "I'm in Love," my favorite track. But despite the high praise, this record isn't quite at the level of his best work, either. If you don't know him, better to start with last year's The Crying Light, which was slightly more consistent with the quality of the writing, or his exceptional turn as vocalist on 2008's Hercules and Love Affair record, which gave him a rather broader sonic canvas than his own records. Recommended, especially if you're already a fan.
LIN: A-
Any discussion of the best vocalists in current music has to begin with Antony Hegarty -- in my mind, this argument is QED'd by the 1-2 of Hercules and Love Affair's fabulous dance track "Blind" and Antony's own absolutely devastating "Hope There's Someone" (from 2005's I Am A Bird Now). The previous two albums pulled off the (surprisingly difficult) trick of being emotionally resonant despite being thematically dissimilar to my own life, i.e. it's easy for me to get behind songs about alcoholics, unrequited love, and the ennui of modern life, but self-gender image is something entirely different. (I wish to note, though, that even pointing that out does a disservice to his ability to tap into the universal.) Which is a long way of saying that, this album? Not as much. It's still good, but lacks the -- I don't know... cathartic gravitas? maybe? -- of the previous works. It's still there at times (the title track, the first single "Thank You For Your Love") but the missing emotional cohesion between tracks gives just enough room to pull the blanket of ironic detachment over your head.
Anais Mitchell
Hadestown
Released March 9, 2010 (Righteous Babe)
Short Notes: "Quirky" Vermont singer/songwriter signs to Ani's label, recruits major guests (Bon Iver), gets Greek.
BRANDON: A
So, she's calling this a "folk opera," the story of Orpheus and Euridyce set in Depression-era America. The first time I heard this, I had no idea what to make of it (although thanks to ye olde liberal arts education, I did "get it"). The arrangements (done mostly by her collaborator Michael Chorney) are lush and interesting, and the vocal guests (especially Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and folkie Greg Brown) are spectacular. The first time through, it seemed like a novelty at best, and a mishmash of cutesy, folky over-reaching at worst. But subsequent listenings have been rewarding--this record's a grower. And despite my wife's judgement ("It's boring. Turn it off."), I find the eclecticism of it all endearing. Frankly, the weakest part of the album is Mitchell's own voice, which is a bit high, nasally, and shrill, like a less pleasant Nellie McKay. But there's little enough of that, and the album's ambitious vision is both fully realized and successful. Highly recommended.
(Note that this version of "Why We Build The Wall" is not the album version.)
LIN: B+
I knew nothing about this album before putting it on except its impressive roster of guest musicians. This may have been an asset: part of the fun was trying to figure out what the hell was going on -- the album's internal logic. But it's also a liability: I spent my time trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It's a concept album and sounds like it, which isn't necessarily a good thing given the frequency of style shifts. Still, the individual tracks do work, more or less, especially those closer to the gothic country of Jim White ("Way Down Hadestown") or the "noir film soundtrack" that reminds me of Black Heart Procession's Amore del Tropico ("Why We Build The Wall"). I've listened to this a couple of times and I'm still not ultimately sure what to think; like people that you just can't get a read on, it’s also intriguing.
Antony & the Johnsons
Swanlights
Released October 12, 2010 (Secretly Canadian)
Short notes: Consistently good, but not a step forward, either.
BRANDON: A-
Antony's had a great run since 2005, when I Am a Bird Now brought his unique talent to wider exposure. Swanlights, technically his fourth record (but the third since '05) is a worthy addition to the catalogue. While the sonic palette on an Antony record is, at this point, relatively predictable, that doesn't subtract from the emotional punch or the evident craftsmanship. On this record more that past alums, I hear Antony using his voice to play with space--repeating words, ever adding a bit of scat singing on "I'm in Love," my favorite track. But despite the high praise, this record isn't quite at the level of his best work, either. If you don't know him, better to start with last year's The Crying Light, which was slightly more consistent with the quality of the writing, or his exceptional turn as vocalist on 2008's Hercules and Love Affair record, which gave him a rather broader sonic canvas than his own records. Recommended, especially if you're already a fan.
LIN: A-
Any discussion of the best vocalists in current music has to begin with Antony Hegarty -- in my mind, this argument is QED'd by the 1-2 of Hercules and Love Affair's fabulous dance track "Blind" and Antony's own absolutely devastating "Hope There's Someone" (from 2005's I Am A Bird Now). The previous two albums pulled off the (surprisingly difficult) trick of being emotionally resonant despite being thematically dissimilar to my own life, i.e. it's easy for me to get behind songs about alcoholics, unrequited love, and the ennui of modern life, but self-gender image is something entirely different. (I wish to note, though, that even pointing that out does a disservice to his ability to tap into the universal.) Which is a long way of saying that, this album? Not as much. It's still good, but lacks the -- I don't know... cathartic gravitas? maybe? -- of the previous works. It's still there at times (the title track, the first single "Thank You For Your Love") but the missing emotional cohesion between tracks gives just enough room to pull the blanket of ironic detachment over your head.
14 December 2010
2010 Albums: Against Me!, Alcest, Alejandro Escovedo, Aloe Blacc
Here's the first batch of capsule reviews! Please consult the series introduction for detailed information about whatinthehell is going on.
Against Me!
White Crosses
Released June 4, 2010 (Sire)
Short notes: Accused sell-outs (and victims of Wikipedia vandalism) actually follow a well-worn punk path, with reasonable success.
BRANDON: B
So, this isn't the old Against Me! (not that it has been for awhile now). And you know what? I'm good with that. Unlike the scene kids, I never had any stake in Against Me! as a movement or a standard-bearer, and this incarnation is a hell of a lot less sanctimonious. This is a band that’s mining the same earnest, not quite punk place as the Gaslight Anthem and Social Distortion, albeit, I'd argue, somewhat less effectively. I've got a huge soft spot for that sort of big, anthemic guitar pop with a kick, so I like this album a fair bit. There's not a lot of variety here--everything soars, everything is remarkably serious (the occasional wry humor of their earlier records is entirely gone, primarily in favor of Robert McNamara references), everything rocks out (except the song about Bob Dylan, which starts with a harmonica and has some of the worst lyrics this side of Ke$ha). It ain't subtle ("Suffocation! Modern life in the Western world..."), but it ain't bad.
LIN: B
That punk music traditionally concerns itself with the tearing down society doesn't mean that it necessarily should. While it's not correct to call this happy or optimistic -- album highlight "Because of the Shame" makes that clear -- White Crosses at least approaches that line from the side of reflection or, occasionally, contentment. It's damning with praise to say that this appeals to my mid-life middle-class ethos, the part of me that gets excited about gardening and and minivans. "I was a teenage anarchist but the politics are too convenient," Tom Gables sings after asking us if we remember when we wanted to set the world on fire. The price of growing up is the recognition of complexity and the knowledge that destruction isn't the answer even if it is easy.
Alcest
Ecailles de Lune
Released March 29, 2010 (Prophesy Productions)
Short Notes: Dude's name is Snow (not THAT Snow, at least I don’t think so), at least in French.
BRANDON: B
I don't really have the tools to effectively analyze music like this, but I can tell you a few things. First, it's not exactly metal. There's full-throated screaming and fast, heavy drumming, but there's a lot of shoegazey droning and noodling guitar atmospherics. Pitchfork compared Neige's singing to Jonsi from Sigur Ros, and in places, I think that's a fair comparison (about the only one I'm able to make, as this really doesn't sound like anything else I listen to). I enjoyed listening to it while writing, which is about as strong an endorsement as I'm likely to give mostly instrumental guitar music.
LIN: B-
Shoegazer impulses have only ever appealed to me in a metal context, where the power of the music overwhelms the "wallowing in self-misery" feeling that I traditionally find associated with that genre. The best moments on this album are those that more closely approach post-rock, like the penultimate "Solar Song," but it doesn't really satisfy the metal itch and doesn't provide me much more than Explosions in the Sky or Russian Circles or the good parts of Sigur Ros -- but that's just because I'm usually looking for something that forces me to listen. This album is too passive -- too shoegazy? not metal enough? -- for my taste, but good for throwing on while doing other work.
Alejandro Escovedo
Street Songs of Love
Released June 29, 2010 (Fantasy/Concerned Music Group)
Short Notes: A legend continues his long swerve into the middle of the road. But that doesn't mean it's bad.
BRANDON: B+
Guys with back catalogs going all the way back to legit 70s California punk have to change it up pretty frequently to sustain that level of productivity. Since his near-death Hep-C experience in 2003, Ecsovedo's put out 3 "solo" records, which is a decent level of productivity for anybody in trad guitar rock not named Neil Young. And he's still an electrifying live player--a recent appearance on Austin City Limits highlighted his hot and blue guitar and his new band, the Sensitive Boys. But the songs on the new record, for all the great playing and the not bad lyrics ("The first time I saw you, I thought I must of dreamed you up," for instance, could go either way), are uneven. Reviews call it "radio-ready," and there are indeed some hooks here. But there's a bit too many slow ones, or fast ones that reward more with instrumental drive than with lyrical depth. This is, for better or worse, Dad-rock, from a guy with legitimate chops and a bit more nuance than the Claptons and Knophlers of the world.
LIN: B
Working through the back catalogs of popularly established artists who've already started to make alright-but-not-great albums isn't particularly sad since you already know what you're getting into. I got into Escovedo right at the end of his most fruitful period; indeed, it's his "With These Hands" that immediately comes to mind when I read Brandon's intro to this project. Which is to say: my expectations are pretty high for each new release. Escovedo has one of the great voices in music and it has lost little of it's power, polishing up some of the mediocre-by-comparison songwriting and keeping the album from being a legitimate disappointment. Nothing is bad here, but nothing is great either.
Aloe Blacc
Good Things
Released September 28, 2010 (Stone's Throw)
Short notes: Recession zeitgeist-capturing soul single. Yeoman soul in an era of electro-Hip Hop, brought to you by those retro cats at Stones Throw.
BRANDON: A-
Nothing terribly innovative for anyone familiar with the post-neosoul revival template(1999-2006, say). Mayer Hawthorne's exceptional "A Strange Arrangement" album from last year, also on Stones Throw, comes to mind. That said, it's pretty damn solid. Even the ballads and mid-tempo non-burners work here, although the highlight is still the single ("I Need a Dollar"). Beautiful, if not radical production and arrangement with good-to-great songs ("Politician" and "Miss Fortune," especially) with a consistent, mid-70s soul ghetto-observational focus, updated for the Great Recession (he drops a bank bailout reference on "So Hard"). Altogether worth the 50 minutes.
LIN: B+
It's not often that a cover -- let alone a cover of such a recognizable song -- saves its album, but that's what Blacc's version of Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" does. It's hard to explain, but it was that point in the album, two-thirds of the way through, where it clicked for me. Before that, the single "I Need a Dollar" and the beat to "Politican" were all I was taking from the album. The album lacks anything revolutionary, giving it the "comfort food" feeling, reminding me of early 70's Philadelphia soul at times. Five good/great tracks ("Hey Brother" and "Miss Fortune" being the other two) and competent filler makes this worth at least a few repeat listens.
Against Me!
White Crosses
Released June 4, 2010 (Sire)
Short notes: Accused sell-outs (and victims of Wikipedia vandalism) actually follow a well-worn punk path, with reasonable success.
BRANDON: B
So, this isn't the old Against Me! (not that it has been for awhile now). And you know what? I'm good with that. Unlike the scene kids, I never had any stake in Against Me! as a movement or a standard-bearer, and this incarnation is a hell of a lot less sanctimonious. This is a band that’s mining the same earnest, not quite punk place as the Gaslight Anthem and Social Distortion, albeit, I'd argue, somewhat less effectively. I've got a huge soft spot for that sort of big, anthemic guitar pop with a kick, so I like this album a fair bit. There's not a lot of variety here--everything soars, everything is remarkably serious (the occasional wry humor of their earlier records is entirely gone, primarily in favor of Robert McNamara references), everything rocks out (except the song about Bob Dylan, which starts with a harmonica and has some of the worst lyrics this side of Ke$ha). It ain't subtle ("Suffocation! Modern life in the Western world..."), but it ain't bad.
LIN: B
That punk music traditionally concerns itself with the tearing down society doesn't mean that it necessarily should. While it's not correct to call this happy or optimistic -- album highlight "Because of the Shame" makes that clear -- White Crosses at least approaches that line from the side of reflection or, occasionally, contentment. It's damning with praise to say that this appeals to my mid-life middle-class ethos, the part of me that gets excited about gardening and and minivans. "I was a teenage anarchist but the politics are too convenient," Tom Gables sings after asking us if we remember when we wanted to set the world on fire. The price of growing up is the recognition of complexity and the knowledge that destruction isn't the answer even if it is easy.
Alcest
Ecailles de Lune
Released March 29, 2010 (Prophesy Productions)
Short Notes: Dude's name is Snow (not THAT Snow, at least I don’t think so), at least in French.
BRANDON: B
I don't really have the tools to effectively analyze music like this, but I can tell you a few things. First, it's not exactly metal. There's full-throated screaming and fast, heavy drumming, but there's a lot of shoegazey droning and noodling guitar atmospherics. Pitchfork compared Neige's singing to Jonsi from Sigur Ros, and in places, I think that's a fair comparison (about the only one I'm able to make, as this really doesn't sound like anything else I listen to). I enjoyed listening to it while writing, which is about as strong an endorsement as I'm likely to give mostly instrumental guitar music.
LIN: B-
Shoegazer impulses have only ever appealed to me in a metal context, where the power of the music overwhelms the "wallowing in self-misery" feeling that I traditionally find associated with that genre. The best moments on this album are those that more closely approach post-rock, like the penultimate "Solar Song," but it doesn't really satisfy the metal itch and doesn't provide me much more than Explosions in the Sky or Russian Circles or the good parts of Sigur Ros -- but that's just because I'm usually looking for something that forces me to listen. This album is too passive -- too shoegazy? not metal enough? -- for my taste, but good for throwing on while doing other work.
Alejandro Escovedo
Street Songs of Love
Released June 29, 2010 (Fantasy/Concerned Music Group)
Short Notes: A legend continues his long swerve into the middle of the road. But that doesn't mean it's bad.
BRANDON: B+
Guys with back catalogs going all the way back to legit 70s California punk have to change it up pretty frequently to sustain that level of productivity. Since his near-death Hep-C experience in 2003, Ecsovedo's put out 3 "solo" records, which is a decent level of productivity for anybody in trad guitar rock not named Neil Young. And he's still an electrifying live player--a recent appearance on Austin City Limits highlighted his hot and blue guitar and his new band, the Sensitive Boys. But the songs on the new record, for all the great playing and the not bad lyrics ("The first time I saw you, I thought I must of dreamed you up," for instance, could go either way), are uneven. Reviews call it "radio-ready," and there are indeed some hooks here. But there's a bit too many slow ones, or fast ones that reward more with instrumental drive than with lyrical depth. This is, for better or worse, Dad-rock, from a guy with legitimate chops and a bit more nuance than the Claptons and Knophlers of the world.
LIN: B
Working through the back catalogs of popularly established artists who've already started to make alright-but-not-great albums isn't particularly sad since you already know what you're getting into. I got into Escovedo right at the end of his most fruitful period; indeed, it's his "With These Hands" that immediately comes to mind when I read Brandon's intro to this project. Which is to say: my expectations are pretty high for each new release. Escovedo has one of the great voices in music and it has lost little of it's power, polishing up some of the mediocre-by-comparison songwriting and keeping the album from being a legitimate disappointment. Nothing is bad here, but nothing is great either.
Aloe Blacc
Good Things
Released September 28, 2010 (Stone's Throw)
Short notes: Recession zeitgeist-capturing soul single. Yeoman soul in an era of electro-Hip Hop, brought to you by those retro cats at Stones Throw.
BRANDON: A-
Nothing terribly innovative for anyone familiar with the post-neosoul revival template(1999-2006, say). Mayer Hawthorne's exceptional "A Strange Arrangement" album from last year, also on Stones Throw, comes to mind. That said, it's pretty damn solid. Even the ballads and mid-tempo non-burners work here, although the highlight is still the single ("I Need a Dollar"). Beautiful, if not radical production and arrangement with good-to-great songs ("Politician" and "Miss Fortune," especially) with a consistent, mid-70s soul ghetto-observational focus, updated for the Great Recession (he drops a bank bailout reference on "So Hard"). Altogether worth the 50 minutes.
LIN: B+
It's not often that a cover -- let alone a cover of such a recognizable song -- saves its album, but that's what Blacc's version of Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" does. It's hard to explain, but it was that point in the album, two-thirds of the way through, where it clicked for me. Before that, the single "I Need a Dollar" and the beat to "Politican" were all I was taking from the album. The album lacks anything revolutionary, giving it the "comfort food" feeling, reminding me of early 70's Philadelphia soul at times. Five good/great tracks ("Hey Brother" and "Miss Fortune" being the other two) and competent filler makes this worth at least a few repeat listens.
13 December 2010
2010 Albums: Series Introduction
So, what's this?
On the phone the other day, Lin and I were discussing how difficult it is to forge the same sorts of connections with music that we used to back in college. Now, I don't want to be one of these guys who's nostalgic for college at 30, but the ages of 14-22 were a time in my life when I frequently had the opportunity to forge deep, permanent relationships with new albums on a pretty regular basis. It was easier back then to find a couple of hours to listen to something on repeat--to live inside of it, to memorize the lyrics and study the liner notes, to imagine what life was like for the band, and to have the record become part of who you were at that moment.
I've written before--really, a pretty long time ago--about how different my life was when I only had 300 albums, and I knew them all by heart. I wouldn't trade my knowledge of music now for what I had back then (or my life now, for that matter, for what I had back then). But back before Napster and file trading, before the blogs, and before we became adults who work and don't have time to go to that many shows any more, the sheer pleasure of discovering a new band, or a new record was so pure, so magical. It's so rare that I find that anymore, and I think it's not just because I'm older.
Part of it is, for me, the lack of community. The people I see everyday don't know me as a music fan. They know me as a college professor, as an African politics guy. That's alright with me, but I don't really talk music, except on the phone and on Facebook. It's not the same as getting some beers and going back to my apartment and listening to records for hours. I lack--I miss--that sense of community. But that's not an excuse.
I think, really, that it's because I don't take the time. I have friends, my age (who play in bands, not coincidentally), who seem to make time, and who seem to forge new, meaningful relationships with music. I'm jealous, and for that, there is only one cure: I'm going to publicly shame myself into listening to about 200 new records (with 2010 release dates) over the next 3 months or so, with Lin over here. We're going to post short, capsule-style reviews, complete with professor-style letter grades. And at the end, we're going to post a list of our top 40 for the year gone by. If we were smart, we'd have started in October. Hell, we'd have started in January 2010. But here we are. Wish us well, and here we go... -- Brandon
The Opening Bit:
Outside of an unfortunate bit of data loss in February, I had a pretty good music year, forcing myself to go back through some stuff I'd listened to once and forgot and then resetting my foundation with the classics, finally sitting down with some famous albums I'd never bothered with before. I re-thought through how I interacted with music and how I wanted to track my listening and make the stuff I like more accessible in the future.
Because the sad fact is that Brandon's absolutely right. Back in the day when I had 200 albums, it was easy to know which ones were the best and which tracks were best skipped, my fingers reflexively reaching for the "next" button on the CD player. A few albums later, and a fundamentally different way of approaching listening (primarily the switch to solely digital) and it's downright impossible. A new song has to seriously WOW for me to remember it a week later.
This is why I generally don't concern myself with much new music and instead try to focus on back catalogues of artists I love and other classics. I try to use time to my advantage, letting others do much of the whittling away of the superfluous.
But then December rolls around and I feel like I've failed in my duties of a music geek. I feel like I've missed out on something that might’ve enrich my life.
So, here's to 200 or so 2010 albums in three months or so, looking for the gems that would have been completely avoided or missed with just one introspectiveless pass. -- Lin
A note on grading...
Brandon: As I tell my students every semester, grading is far more subjective than either students or teachers often like to admit. We’re unable to offer any particular access to the universal, or the Platonic form of the “good” pop album, and so the only way to make the ratings we offer valuable is to be as specific as possible about how we constructed them. For me (Brandon) at least, I’ve pretty closely followed the old Robert Christgau Consumer Guide rubric, which can be found here.
In short, A/A- records are thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding listens, B+/B records will be appealing to people who like that sort of thing, but are (in our opinion) unlikely to move the uninitiated to rapture, and C and below are generally good hackwork or bad artistic statements.
Lin: To keep things sane, I'll also use Christgau's rubric. I like that it makes it as difficult to get a bad grade (I'm a fairly forgiving grader, though my former students may disagree) as the highest grades. Most modern music (I have a tendency to argue) isn’t particularly bad -- if anything, it’s usually just boring. My ratings will most likely reflect this. It’s worth pointing out, though, that the rating itself is just a single datapoint and that two albums may be awarded a “B” based on entirely different criteria. So, of course, I recommend also reading our blurbs for further justification or excuses. As always, comments are welcomed, especially if you disagree.
On the phone the other day, Lin and I were discussing how difficult it is to forge the same sorts of connections with music that we used to back in college. Now, I don't want to be one of these guys who's nostalgic for college at 30, but the ages of 14-22 were a time in my life when I frequently had the opportunity to forge deep, permanent relationships with new albums on a pretty regular basis. It was easier back then to find a couple of hours to listen to something on repeat--to live inside of it, to memorize the lyrics and study the liner notes, to imagine what life was like for the band, and to have the record become part of who you were at that moment.
I've written before--really, a pretty long time ago--about how different my life was when I only had 300 albums, and I knew them all by heart. I wouldn't trade my knowledge of music now for what I had back then (or my life now, for that matter, for what I had back then). But back before Napster and file trading, before the blogs, and before we became adults who work and don't have time to go to that many shows any more, the sheer pleasure of discovering a new band, or a new record was so pure, so magical. It's so rare that I find that anymore, and I think it's not just because I'm older.
Part of it is, for me, the lack of community. The people I see everyday don't know me as a music fan. They know me as a college professor, as an African politics guy. That's alright with me, but I don't really talk music, except on the phone and on Facebook. It's not the same as getting some beers and going back to my apartment and listening to records for hours. I lack--I miss--that sense of community. But that's not an excuse.
I think, really, that it's because I don't take the time. I have friends, my age (who play in bands, not coincidentally), who seem to make time, and who seem to forge new, meaningful relationships with music. I'm jealous, and for that, there is only one cure: I'm going to publicly shame myself into listening to about 200 new records (with 2010 release dates) over the next 3 months or so, with Lin over here. We're going to post short, capsule-style reviews, complete with professor-style letter grades. And at the end, we're going to post a list of our top 40 for the year gone by. If we were smart, we'd have started in October. Hell, we'd have started in January 2010. But here we are. Wish us well, and here we go... -- Brandon
The Opening Bit:
Outside of an unfortunate bit of data loss in February, I had a pretty good music year, forcing myself to go back through some stuff I'd listened to once and forgot and then resetting my foundation with the classics, finally sitting down with some famous albums I'd never bothered with before. I re-thought through how I interacted with music and how I wanted to track my listening and make the stuff I like more accessible in the future.
Because the sad fact is that Brandon's absolutely right. Back in the day when I had 200 albums, it was easy to know which ones were the best and which tracks were best skipped, my fingers reflexively reaching for the "next" button on the CD player. A few albums later, and a fundamentally different way of approaching listening (primarily the switch to solely digital) and it's downright impossible. A new song has to seriously WOW for me to remember it a week later.
This is why I generally don't concern myself with much new music and instead try to focus on back catalogues of artists I love and other classics. I try to use time to my advantage, letting others do much of the whittling away of the superfluous.
But then December rolls around and I feel like I've failed in my duties of a music geek. I feel like I've missed out on something that might’ve enrich my life.
So, here's to 200 or so 2010 albums in three months or so, looking for the gems that would have been completely avoided or missed with just one introspectiveless pass. -- Lin
A note on grading...
Brandon: As I tell my students every semester, grading is far more subjective than either students or teachers often like to admit. We’re unable to offer any particular access to the universal, or the Platonic form of the “good” pop album, and so the only way to make the ratings we offer valuable is to be as specific as possible about how we constructed them. For me (Brandon) at least, I’ve pretty closely followed the old Robert Christgau Consumer Guide rubric, which can be found here.
In short, A/A- records are thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding listens, B+/B records will be appealing to people who like that sort of thing, but are (in our opinion) unlikely to move the uninitiated to rapture, and C and below are generally good hackwork or bad artistic statements.
Lin: To keep things sane, I'll also use Christgau's rubric. I like that it makes it as difficult to get a bad grade (I'm a fairly forgiving grader, though my former students may disagree) as the highest grades. Most modern music (I have a tendency to argue) isn’t particularly bad -- if anything, it’s usually just boring. My ratings will most likely reflect this. It’s worth pointing out, though, that the rating itself is just a single datapoint and that two albums may be awarded a “B” based on entirely different criteria. So, of course, I recommend also reading our blurbs for further justification or excuses. As always, comments are welcomed, especially if you disagree.
18 January 2010
My 21 Favorite Albums of 2009
2009 — what a crapsuck of a year. Without overstating or getting into it, it was easily the worst since, well, high school at least and I am not sorry that it is over. If I ever needed an object lesson in saving power of music, this was it. Music was one of the few things that keep the year from being a complete personal disaster.
I've read others claim that 2009 wasn't a great year for music. In one sense I agree: there were few great albums — albums good enough to be considered for regular rotation let alone my favorite 100 albums of all-time. On the other hand, there were a significant number of "pretty good" albums released this year. These albums are good enough to keep around for occasional airing and mix-tape fodder if not ohmigod you got to hear this moments.
Albums 1-3 on my list are ones I consider "great" and have received many spins over the year and will probably receive many more over the next. On my personal rating system, they are the only albums I gave a 5 out of 5 to this year. Albums 4-21 all received a 4 out of 5, and they exhaust this category.
Not that this makes my list any more valid than the next guys, but I did try to keep up with new music this year. The following albums are culled from around 60 that I got this year. There were, more or less, three types of albums I picked up in the last 12 months:
1) New albums by artists I already like: albums from, for instance, Slayer, Clutch, Raekwon, Patterson Hood, Franz Nicolay, Marilyn Manson, Neko Case, etc. None of these albums made the top 21. (Maybe I'm a harsher critic on the artists I already love?)
2) Critically acclaimed albums: albums from, for instance, St. Vincent, Grizzly Bear, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Phoenix, Dirty Projectors, Girls. None of these albums made the top 21, though Girls would be #22.
3) Other albums that I thought might like for various reasons, like reading a review: many of these are in the top 21, but also include decent-but-not-great albums from Anaal Nathrakh, Lightning Bolt, Doomriders, and Emilie Simon.
I tell you this in an attempt to explain where my list is coming from and to (maybe) alleviate some why didn't you include X?
(I planned on including a song from each of the following albums, but my internet situation is, uh, unsettled. I'm posting this from the laundromat down the street, so I can't really upload anything. Apologies.)
NOW ON TO THE LIST!
—
Bonus: Worst Album of the Year: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
I cannot explain the depths of my hatred for this crap except to say: if this is the future of all music, like in a Bill & Ted type world, I'm selling all my records and becoming a monk. No joke. I can't explain why I hate it so much because to do so would require me to listen to it again and, though I may be a masochist, I'm not that much of a masochist.
Bonus: Most Disappointing Album of the Year: The Flaming Lips - Embroynic
They said it's a return to form. My favorite Lips album is In a Priest Driven Ambulance. Ergo, I thought I'd love it. Three tracks, maybe, but the rest deserves a slow shake of the head and closed eyes. Not a return to form.
Bonus: Album I like but only got after making the rest of the list and I'm to lazy to go back and revise it: Melody Gardot - My One And Only Thrill
I love Gardot's first album — it was one of the main albums that helped me get through the crapsuck of 2009 — despite my dislike (more or less) for jazz and jazz-y type music. I only found out that she released a new album 10 days before the end of the year. It's more consistent than her first and probably better.
#21: Converge - Axe to Fall
So low only, probably, because it was the last one added to the list and I haven't entirely digested it yet. Also it wasn't a big year in metal for me. Converge is a band I've been wanting to get into for a long time. Even so, this is the first (and only) album I've heard from them. It's good, if you like this sort of thing.
#20: Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Mastodon, or "The metal band all the indie kids love," as I like to call them, isn't exactly my cup o' tea. It's fine, and I like Crack The Skye more than Leviathan but less than Blood Mountain, but I don't get why the kids — indie and metal, for that matter — love it so much.
#19: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
A hit-or-miss album with top-notch hits and no horrible misses averages out to "good." All The King's Men is the track that convinced me to get the album and it's probably my favorite, despite the hokey vocal hook. We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues is another highlight and not just for the title.
#18: The xx - xx
It's way to indie for me to truly love it, but I have no problem with it appearing high up on other lists. Infinity is great, but the slow-burn earnestness of Shelter is my favorite track on the album, and one of my favorite tracks of the year. There's enough stuff here that I find middling (including the tedious Fantasy) for it to be ranked higher, but enough good that it still gets a spot.
#17: Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
I've only heard and gotten into Camera Obscura in the last few months. I fully admit that my like of this album may be because we're still in the honeymoon phase. A solid album, even if it lacks many highlights. The opener, French Navy, is one of the better pop songs of the year I heard. The closer, Honey in the Sun, is also up there.
#16: Alela Diane - To Be Still
If this were a list of my favorite albums I got in 2009, Diane's "The Pirate Gospel" could be #1. This album smooths the rough edges that were on Pirate — which is mostly a bad thing. The first half is fine if unexciting, but the second half makes up for it, starting with My Brambles, the best track on the album. Diane is quickly becoming one of my favorite female vocalists.
#15: Wax Tailor - In The Mood For Life
Got into Wax Tailor this year through the excellent and prolific Everything On My Ipod. As with most albums like this — DJ/Hip-Hop/Turntable, beat/sample-based — it's best listened to as one complete whole. Still, the poppy Dry Your Eyes, Leave It, and Greenfields easily stand on their own and are the highlights.
#14: Röyksopp - Junior
Really hit-or-miss, but the best tracks are amazing. The Girl And The Robot with Robyn on the vocals, is probably my favorite dance track of the year and one of my favorite tracks regardless of genre. Tracks 8-10 are what keeps this album from being higher.
#13: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
I may be alone in this, but I always thought that Jason Isbell was a step below Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, his former compatriots in the Drive-By Truckers, as a songwriter. But Isbell's two solo albums have forced me to re-evaluate. This album is — and stop me if I've said this before — more consistent than his first but also lacks the greatness of tracks like Shotgun Wedding or In a Razor Town. Which isn't to say there are no highlights here. Clearly there are: Cigarettes & Wine is my favorite, but Sunstroke, The Blue and The Last Song I Will Write are great examples of Isbell's strength — the mid-tempo number.
#12: Russian Circles - Geneva
How do you judge instrumental post-rock? I have very little idea and I'm still relatively new to the genre. But like porn — isn't this how the saying goes? — I know it when I see it and I know what I like. Russian Circles has more of a metal vibe to it than most other post-rock bands, which is something I dig. The 10 minute closer Philos is the stand out track: reminds me of a more assertive Explosions in the Sky.
#11: Mandy Moore - Amanda Leigh
I know, right? I got this after reading a review at the awesome My Hmphs. Not many pop singers — or modern musicians in general — mine 1940's popular music for sounds and ideas. Moore does that on most of these tracks (the single I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week being the notable exception) to good effect. The best way I can describe highlights like Pocket Philosopher or opener Merrimack River is that they sound like a Preston Sturges film.
#10: Regina Spektor - Far
When I look at my list, I wonder if I ranked this album too high. See, Regina Spektor is an artist that I don't love and, on paper, wouldn't love. I don't find myself wanting to put her music on all that much. But when I do, even if it takes a few songs to get into it, I go all "Why don't I listen to this more often?" So, I don't know what all that means. Apparently it means the tenth best album of the year. The lead single "Laughing With" is my favorite and was an antidote to the crapsuckiness of 2009 I talked about in the introduction.
#9: The Antlers - Hospice
This blurb will say less (remarkable, I know) than any other blurb from this list. Why? I'm not sure how to describe this album — either in terms of its characteristics or in terms of why I like it. For the former, all I can say is that the vocals are mixed too low but that's probably okay given the ethos and pathos. For the latter — get back to me. Maybe I'll be able to say something intelligent after six dozen listens. It's best to listen to the entire album (and get the booklet, which is linked through the wikipedia article), but Bear and Two probably stand on their own the best.
#8: Pelican - What We All Come To Need
See my comments on post-rock in #11, though I think this is more "instrumental metal" than post-rock. Close enough, and the same thoughts apply. A solid album all the way through and difficult to pick any highlights.
#7: Baroness - Blue Record
Justifiably one of the more critically acclaimed metal albums of the year. It has more of a classic rock influence than most metal — this is a good thing! And, to my ears, there's some riffs and guitar lines that wouldn't sound out of place on a late-70's Queen record. Oh, it still rocks and it still shreds and it's still undeniably metal. If you want to get into metal but don't already like it, there are worse places to start. A Horse Called Golgotha is my personal fave.
#6: Tiny Vipers - Life On Earth
I want to say I heard about this album through John Darnielle's blog, but I can't be sure. This album took me a long time to listen to — I do most of my music listening while working or writing. Life On Earth does not lend itself to the background. It's quite and subtle enough that it demands you pay attention to it. Which is all fine because it's a great album and she has a great voice. Dreamer and the 10 minute title track are my favorites, though there are no truly weak tracks.
#5: The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come
And speaking of John Darnielle. First, let me say I love the conceit of using bible verses, but not explicitly talking about what the verses say. This reminds me of Krzyztof Kieslowski's miniseries "The Decalogue," which I also love. Second, there are no bad songs here and picking highlights is difficult since any track could do. Third, and this is the bad part, it's his second worst album (ahead of only Get Lonely) since All Hail West Texas. That it still gets #5 is just a testament to how awesome Darnielle is as a songwriter.
#4: Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
What I said about Regina Spektor, above, is true here as well, even more so: I rarely want to listen to it, but it blows me a way when I do. Between this album, I Am A Bird Now and the Hercules and Love Affair album, I think you could make the claim that Antony Hegarty is one of the best vocalists working today. Best tracks? Epilepsy Is Dancing and Aeon.
#3: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night Of The Soul
This album was never officially released due to a legal dispute with the label. But you can find it out there and the artists have condone the downloading since they like it and want it heard. And it should be. It's a magnificent album and you ought to have it. All I'll say is that the title is apt and it's one of the better late-night-drinkin-whiskey albums I've heard.
#2: William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In The Dark
Whitmore's first three albums are most acoustic, dominated by his banjo or guitar and rarely (if ever) using percussion. So it surprised the bejesus out of me when Mutiny, the first track on Animals, opens with just drums playing a martial beat before he intones: "It's a goddamn shame..." And the only other instrument is an echoing choir. It's amazing and one of the best political songs I've heard. (That's how I choose to interpret it, anyway.) It doesn't get better from there because it can't, but the entire album maintains the quality. Essential.
#1: Yusuf - Roadsinger
You know the story. In 1977 the man known as Cat Stevens converts to Islam, changes his name, and quits music while still at the near-top of his game. I grew up listening to Cat Stevens music so it has a great deal of nostalgic value. But it's not just nostalgia unlike, say, Billy Joel. Stevens had one of the best voices in pop music and wrote some of the more interesting pop music and, philosophically, had some of the better lyrics in pop music.
This, his second album since returning to non-religious music, is the best of his career. And it's the best album of 2009.
His voice hasn't deteriorated. It's still strong and emotive as those early 70's albums. Lyrically, time has only given more to write about and more perspective. Musically, it's similar to his classic albums.
I've long claimed that suffering makes the best music; the worst thing an artist can do to his music is to get happy. You can look at the history of music and find so many examples to support this claim. Stevens' 70's work is a good example. It's difficult not to interpret it in light of his eventual life choices, but it's not exactly wrong to do so: he was looking for something better, something bigger. (Consider Sitting, for example.) That lack, the cause of suffering, informed his best music. What makes Roadsinger his and the year's best is simple: it's a potent counterargument to the previous paragraph.
This album is from a man who is content, a man who has found the truth (or at least believes he has). But unlike crap like the entirity of CCM, it's not necessarily religious and it's not intended as commercial. Yusuf comes of as a man who is it peace with himself and he'll help you if you want him to, but if you don't he'll wish you the best as you move on your way.
Not that it's all happiness and rainbows. There's a recognition of the darkness in the world (ahem - World of Darkness, most explicitly) but it's coupled with the sadness that comes with knowing the right choice is difficult to make but also with the knowledge that we have the ability to make the choice despite the external realities.
Which is why, in the crapsuck that was the year, when the black dog came and came hard, something like this:
and the next verse:
Carried on down the road to the marketplace
I was still alone and no one knew my face
Then a stranger sang with voice like the wind
Then the hails began to sing:
"Welcome in."
and the conclusion, spoken from experience:
provided both the promise of hope and the promise of things to come. That's the saving power of music, the ability of song to make things better, to tip the scales from the red back to the black. Sometimes that's all that's needed even if that little bit won't change the world.
(Posted by Lin)
I've read others claim that 2009 wasn't a great year for music. In one sense I agree: there were few great albums — albums good enough to be considered for regular rotation let alone my favorite 100 albums of all-time. On the other hand, there were a significant number of "pretty good" albums released this year. These albums are good enough to keep around for occasional airing and mix-tape fodder if not ohmigod you got to hear this moments.
Albums 1-3 on my list are ones I consider "great" and have received many spins over the year and will probably receive many more over the next. On my personal rating system, they are the only albums I gave a 5 out of 5 to this year. Albums 4-21 all received a 4 out of 5, and they exhaust this category.
Not that this makes my list any more valid than the next guys, but I did try to keep up with new music this year. The following albums are culled from around 60 that I got this year. There were, more or less, three types of albums I picked up in the last 12 months:
1) New albums by artists I already like: albums from, for instance, Slayer, Clutch, Raekwon, Patterson Hood, Franz Nicolay, Marilyn Manson, Neko Case, etc. None of these albums made the top 21. (Maybe I'm a harsher critic on the artists I already love?)
2) Critically acclaimed albums: albums from, for instance, St. Vincent, Grizzly Bear, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Phoenix, Dirty Projectors, Girls. None of these albums made the top 21, though Girls would be #22.
3) Other albums that I thought might like for various reasons, like reading a review: many of these are in the top 21, but also include decent-but-not-great albums from Anaal Nathrakh, Lightning Bolt, Doomriders, and Emilie Simon.
I tell you this in an attempt to explain where my list is coming from and to (maybe) alleviate some why didn't you include X?
(I planned on including a song from each of the following albums, but my internet situation is, uh, unsettled. I'm posting this from the laundromat down the street, so I can't really upload anything. Apologies.)
NOW ON TO THE LIST!
—
Bonus: Worst Album of the Year: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
I cannot explain the depths of my hatred for this crap except to say: if this is the future of all music, like in a Bill & Ted type world, I'm selling all my records and becoming a monk. No joke. I can't explain why I hate it so much because to do so would require me to listen to it again and, though I may be a masochist, I'm not that much of a masochist.
Bonus: Most Disappointing Album of the Year: The Flaming Lips - Embroynic
They said it's a return to form. My favorite Lips album is In a Priest Driven Ambulance. Ergo, I thought I'd love it. Three tracks, maybe, but the rest deserves a slow shake of the head and closed eyes. Not a return to form.
Bonus: Album I like but only got after making the rest of the list and I'm to lazy to go back and revise it: Melody Gardot - My One And Only Thrill
I love Gardot's first album — it was one of the main albums that helped me get through the crapsuck of 2009 — despite my dislike (more or less) for jazz and jazz-y type music. I only found out that she released a new album 10 days before the end of the year. It's more consistent than her first and probably better.
#21: Converge - Axe to Fall
So low only, probably, because it was the last one added to the list and I haven't entirely digested it yet. Also it wasn't a big year in metal for me. Converge is a band I've been wanting to get into for a long time. Even so, this is the first (and only) album I've heard from them. It's good, if you like this sort of thing.
#20: Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Mastodon, or "The metal band all the indie kids love," as I like to call them, isn't exactly my cup o' tea. It's fine, and I like Crack The Skye more than Leviathan but less than Blood Mountain, but I don't get why the kids — indie and metal, for that matter — love it so much.
#19: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
A hit-or-miss album with top-notch hits and no horrible misses averages out to "good." All The King's Men is the track that convinced me to get the album and it's probably my favorite, despite the hokey vocal hook. We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues is another highlight and not just for the title.
#18: The xx - xx
It's way to indie for me to truly love it, but I have no problem with it appearing high up on other lists. Infinity is great, but the slow-burn earnestness of Shelter is my favorite track on the album, and one of my favorite tracks of the year. There's enough stuff here that I find middling (including the tedious Fantasy) for it to be ranked higher, but enough good that it still gets a spot.
#17: Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
I've only heard and gotten into Camera Obscura in the last few months. I fully admit that my like of this album may be because we're still in the honeymoon phase. A solid album, even if it lacks many highlights. The opener, French Navy, is one of the better pop songs of the year I heard. The closer, Honey in the Sun, is also up there.
#16: Alela Diane - To Be Still
If this were a list of my favorite albums I got in 2009, Diane's "The Pirate Gospel" could be #1. This album smooths the rough edges that were on Pirate — which is mostly a bad thing. The first half is fine if unexciting, but the second half makes up for it, starting with My Brambles, the best track on the album. Diane is quickly becoming one of my favorite female vocalists.
#15: Wax Tailor - In The Mood For Life
Got into Wax Tailor this year through the excellent and prolific Everything On My Ipod. As with most albums like this — DJ/Hip-Hop/Turntable, beat/sample-based — it's best listened to as one complete whole. Still, the poppy Dry Your Eyes, Leave It, and Greenfields easily stand on their own and are the highlights.
#14: Röyksopp - Junior
Really hit-or-miss, but the best tracks are amazing. The Girl And The Robot with Robyn on the vocals, is probably my favorite dance track of the year and one of my favorite tracks regardless of genre. Tracks 8-10 are what keeps this album from being higher.
#13: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
I may be alone in this, but I always thought that Jason Isbell was a step below Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, his former compatriots in the Drive-By Truckers, as a songwriter. But Isbell's two solo albums have forced me to re-evaluate. This album is — and stop me if I've said this before — more consistent than his first but also lacks the greatness of tracks like Shotgun Wedding or In a Razor Town. Which isn't to say there are no highlights here. Clearly there are: Cigarettes & Wine is my favorite, but Sunstroke, The Blue and The Last Song I Will Write are great examples of Isbell's strength — the mid-tempo number.
#12: Russian Circles - Geneva
How do you judge instrumental post-rock? I have very little idea and I'm still relatively new to the genre. But like porn — isn't this how the saying goes? — I know it when I see it and I know what I like. Russian Circles has more of a metal vibe to it than most other post-rock bands, which is something I dig. The 10 minute closer Philos is the stand out track: reminds me of a more assertive Explosions in the Sky.
#11: Mandy Moore - Amanda Leigh
I know, right? I got this after reading a review at the awesome My Hmphs. Not many pop singers — or modern musicians in general — mine 1940's popular music for sounds and ideas. Moore does that on most of these tracks (the single I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week being the notable exception) to good effect. The best way I can describe highlights like Pocket Philosopher or opener Merrimack River is that they sound like a Preston Sturges film.
#10: Regina Spektor - Far
When I look at my list, I wonder if I ranked this album too high. See, Regina Spektor is an artist that I don't love and, on paper, wouldn't love. I don't find myself wanting to put her music on all that much. But when I do, even if it takes a few songs to get into it, I go all "Why don't I listen to this more often?" So, I don't know what all that means. Apparently it means the tenth best album of the year. The lead single "Laughing With" is my favorite and was an antidote to the crapsuckiness of 2009 I talked about in the introduction.
#9: The Antlers - Hospice
This blurb will say less (remarkable, I know) than any other blurb from this list. Why? I'm not sure how to describe this album — either in terms of its characteristics or in terms of why I like it. For the former, all I can say is that the vocals are mixed too low but that's probably okay given the ethos and pathos. For the latter — get back to me. Maybe I'll be able to say something intelligent after six dozen listens. It's best to listen to the entire album (and get the booklet, which is linked through the wikipedia article), but Bear and Two probably stand on their own the best.
#8: Pelican - What We All Come To Need
See my comments on post-rock in #11, though I think this is more "instrumental metal" than post-rock. Close enough, and the same thoughts apply. A solid album all the way through and difficult to pick any highlights.
#7: Baroness - Blue Record
Justifiably one of the more critically acclaimed metal albums of the year. It has more of a classic rock influence than most metal — this is a good thing! And, to my ears, there's some riffs and guitar lines that wouldn't sound out of place on a late-70's Queen record. Oh, it still rocks and it still shreds and it's still undeniably metal. If you want to get into metal but don't already like it, there are worse places to start. A Horse Called Golgotha is my personal fave.
#6: Tiny Vipers - Life On Earth
I want to say I heard about this album through John Darnielle's blog, but I can't be sure. This album took me a long time to listen to — I do most of my music listening while working or writing. Life On Earth does not lend itself to the background. It's quite and subtle enough that it demands you pay attention to it. Which is all fine because it's a great album and she has a great voice. Dreamer and the 10 minute title track are my favorites, though there are no truly weak tracks.
#5: The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come
And speaking of John Darnielle. First, let me say I love the conceit of using bible verses, but not explicitly talking about what the verses say. This reminds me of Krzyztof Kieslowski's miniseries "The Decalogue," which I also love. Second, there are no bad songs here and picking highlights is difficult since any track could do. Third, and this is the bad part, it's his second worst album (ahead of only Get Lonely) since All Hail West Texas. That it still gets #5 is just a testament to how awesome Darnielle is as a songwriter.
#4: Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
What I said about Regina Spektor, above, is true here as well, even more so: I rarely want to listen to it, but it blows me a way when I do. Between this album, I Am A Bird Now and the Hercules and Love Affair album, I think you could make the claim that Antony Hegarty is one of the best vocalists working today. Best tracks? Epilepsy Is Dancing and Aeon.
#3: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night Of The Soul
This album was never officially released due to a legal dispute with the label. But you can find it out there and the artists have condone the downloading since they like it and want it heard. And it should be. It's a magnificent album and you ought to have it. All I'll say is that the title is apt and it's one of the better late-night-drinkin-whiskey albums I've heard.
#2: William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In The Dark
Whitmore's first three albums are most acoustic, dominated by his banjo or guitar and rarely (if ever) using percussion. So it surprised the bejesus out of me when Mutiny, the first track on Animals, opens with just drums playing a martial beat before he intones: "It's a goddamn shame..." And the only other instrument is an echoing choir. It's amazing and one of the best political songs I've heard. (That's how I choose to interpret it, anyway.) It doesn't get better from there because it can't, but the entire album maintains the quality. Essential.
#1: Yusuf - Roadsinger
You know the story. In 1977 the man known as Cat Stevens converts to Islam, changes his name, and quits music while still at the near-top of his game. I grew up listening to Cat Stevens music so it has a great deal of nostalgic value. But it's not just nostalgia unlike, say, Billy Joel. Stevens had one of the best voices in pop music and wrote some of the more interesting pop music and, philosophically, had some of the better lyrics in pop music.
This, his second album since returning to non-religious music, is the best of his career. And it's the best album of 2009.
His voice hasn't deteriorated. It's still strong and emotive as those early 70's albums. Lyrically, time has only given more to write about and more perspective. Musically, it's similar to his classic albums.
I've long claimed that suffering makes the best music; the worst thing an artist can do to his music is to get happy. You can look at the history of music and find so many examples to support this claim. Stevens' 70's work is a good example. It's difficult not to interpret it in light of his eventual life choices, but it's not exactly wrong to do so: he was looking for something better, something bigger. (Consider Sitting, for example.) That lack, the cause of suffering, informed his best music. What makes Roadsinger his and the year's best is simple: it's a potent counterargument to the previous paragraph.
This album is from a man who is content, a man who has found the truth (or at least believes he has). But unlike crap like the entirity of CCM, it's not necessarily religious and it's not intended as commercial. Yusuf comes of as a man who is it peace with himself and he'll help you if you want him to, but if you don't he'll wish you the best as you move on your way.
Not that it's all happiness and rainbows. There's a recognition of the darkness in the world (ahem - World of Darkness, most explicitly) but it's coupled with the sadness that comes with knowing the right choice is difficult to make but also with the knowledge that we have the ability to make the choice despite the external realities.
Which is why, in the crapsuck that was the year, when the black dog came and came hard, something like this:
Saw a sign on the path: All seekers this way
A very subtle left through a petal my way
As I neard the bridge two soldiers stood and stared
No one passes by us up ahead
But you're welcome here.
and the next verse:
I was still alone and no one knew my face
Then a stranger sang with voice like the wind
Then the hails began to sing:
"Welcome in."
and the conclusion, spoken from experience:
Time rolls on and so we carry on
Time rolls on, ain't no good to sit and moan
provided both the promise of hope and the promise of things to come. That's the saving power of music, the ability of song to make things better, to tip the scales from the red back to the black. Sometimes that's all that's needed even if that little bit won't change the world.
(Posted by Lin)
18 November 2009
Only Mostly Dead
But that means we're partly alive.
We have every intention of starting this up again and soon. It might be after the new year (hopefully sooner); it will definitely be before the one year anniversary of our last post.
If you haven't done so already, add us to your rss feed, that way you won't have to wait one day longer than necessary for new content.
(And our apologies to our fans for just dropping off like that. But, you know, life.)
We have every intention of starting this up again and soon. It might be after the new year (hopefully sooner); it will definitely be before the one year anniversary of our last post.
If you haven't done so already, add us to your rss feed, that way you won't have to wait one day longer than necessary for new content.
(And our apologies to our fans for just dropping off like that. But, you know, life.)
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