year-end #4

DJ Scotch Egg - Drumized (Load)
a big step in chiptune's evolution into something legitimate, something that is not just a gimmick. for all of its franticness Drumized hangs together really well. live drums lend an appealingly free-jazz-ish vibe to some songs, and there is a take on stoner metal that is stupendous in its thickness. really unique for a genre that typically ends up repeating itself and a genuinely fun listen.

DJ Donna Summer - Panther Tracks (Cock Rock Disco)
14-year old me would have thought this was the best record ever. non-stop fist-pumping hyperactive rave blasts, totally without pretension, totally balls to the wall, totally made with love. massive.

Clark - Turning Dragon (Warp)
after the deeply textural, rich, and personal-feeling Body Riddle (2006), clark came a bit out of nowhere and surprised with this, a sort of take on techno dragged through industrial muck. consistently dense and inky and at times flat-out thrilling, this is what dance music might be after the fallout.

year-end #3

continuing...

Food For Animals - Belly (Hoss)
my favorite hip-hop record of the year (followed closely by The Bake Sale). distorted, steam-powered, molar-rattlingly heavy production and fiery, aggressive raps. what else do you need? top shelf explosions from b-more that smear some much-needed grime all over that scene.

Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista (Fonal)
it's pretty amazing when a group can wear so many influences on their sleeve while developing a sound that's totally their own. paavoharju does it. on many albums interlude tracks are kinda throwaway sketches. on Laulu, they serve to stitch the fabric of the album into a cohesive entireity, leading from one dream sequence to the next.

Lucky Dragons - Dream Island Laughing Language (Marriage)
many short melodic bursts make up a compelling, joyous whole on Dream Island Laughing Language. the album feels more focused and more expansive than prior lucky dragons releases. tunes for hippies from the distant future.

year-end #2

i don't want to bother numbering things this year. what a drag that was. when i did it.

so here's a bunch that lots of people liked (for good reason).

Why? - Alopecia (Anticon / Tomlab)
the most stubbornly catchy record of the year about bowel troubles and masturbation bar none.

No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
in spite of a more polished and even (samey) sound compared to the ragged charm found on last year's Weirdo Rippers, Nouns is still a fully worthy follow-up. also, if you think the songs here are a bit lacking, they definitely pack some extra teeth in a live setting. go see.

High Places - High Places (Thrill Jockey)
another album that seems to run on a bit of an even keel, perhaps. however, there is nothing wrong with a totally pleasant and inviting listening experience, especially when a number of the songs have a deeper dance kick compared to earlier tunes.

Beach House - Devotion (Carpark)
how nice it is for a band to totally not try to reinvent the wheel and totally succeed. an engrossing and unashamedly pretty album. also, additional good on them for capping off the year with a winning 7".

more to come...

year-end #1

so, it's time for year-end lists. let's get things started by taking care of the gloomy sour stuff right away.

-disappointment of the year
Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements (Tomlab / Slender Means Society)

this was really inevitable.
by no means is entanglements a bad record. it's well produced, has in "a song for ellie greenwich" one of p-girls best songs to date, and retains frontman zac pennington's unique warble as well as his sharp, affecting songwriting. the problem is twofold:
1.) pretty much all of the remaining songs on the album feel loosely constructed / reaching in too many directions, too grandiose (thanks to ever-present orchestral arrangements), at times awkwardly vaudevillian or showetune-y, and in general just a bit too much of a chore to listen to.
2.) i loved (and continue to love) the last p-girls album, 2006's Safe As Houses so dearly that anything that followed was practically doomed to pale in comparison.
pennington and co. have aimed high on this record, as a band surely should, but as a result they unfortunately have missed the mark by a considerable degree.

alright, so now that i have that off my chest, all positive vibes for the rest of this...thing.

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the act of doing it

money

so, i just set up an etsy shop as a sort of half-cocked attempt at trying to make some kind of gain on my adolescent scratchings. only a few things are up right now, but, for better or worse, more will be available eventually.

browse my wares here.

thanks for your attention.