12.26.2007
12.19.2007
On the Horizon
2007 has drawn to a close (at least music wise. face it, it's over). Here's some of the stuff I'm excited to hear in the coming year. Now, a few of these have already leaked and I have already heard them, but this list is just in regards to things that will be officially released in physical form in 2008.
Things are shaping up nicely already!
Oh, and I just wanted to get this off my chest: I will freely admit that seeing Girl Talk this year was phenomenal. A really great experience with friends. But I am getting really annoyed by the whole Girl Talk / Dan Deacon "enforced fun" thing going on at their shows. It seems like the vibe is "you'd damn well better have the greatest fucking experience of your life and be willing to be tossed about in a sea of humanity or don't even show up because no one will like you." I hope that this vibe sort of fades in the coming year. Also, hows does a much-talked about live show translate into a great album? One does not equal the other, y'all.
That was me being cranky. Now I'm finished.
So this concludes the whole music listing ordeal for this year. Thanks to the invisible few who have been visiting and taking interest in my opinions. That's nice of you.
- Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel (Kranky)
- Xiu Xiu - Women as Lovers (Kill Rock Stars)
- Why? - Alopecia (Anticon / Tomlab)
- The Mae Shi - HLLYH (Moshi Moshi / Team Shi)
- The Chap - Mega Breakfast (Lo Recordings / Ghostly)
- Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (Astralwerks)
- Evangelicals - The Evening Descends (Dead Oceans)
- Boris - Smile (Southern Lord)
- Panther - 14K God (Kill Rock Stars)
- Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements (Slender Means Society (presumably))
- Final Fantasy - Heartland (Tomlab (presumably))
- Beach House - Devotion (Carpark)
- Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - #4 (Labrador (presumably))
- Clark - Turning Dragon (Warp)
- Auburn Lull - Begin Civil Twilight (Darla)
- DJ Donna Summer (Jason Forrest) - Panther Tracks (Cock Rock Disco)
- Ben Benjamin (ex-Midwest Product) - The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin Vol. 1 (Ghostly)
Things are shaping up nicely already!
Oh, and I just wanted to get this off my chest: I will freely admit that seeing Girl Talk this year was phenomenal. A really great experience with friends. But I am getting really annoyed by the whole Girl Talk / Dan Deacon "enforced fun" thing going on at their shows. It seems like the vibe is "you'd damn well better have the greatest fucking experience of your life and be willing to be tossed about in a sea of humanity or don't even show up because no one will like you." I hope that this vibe sort of fades in the coming year. Also, hows does a much-talked about live show translate into a great album? One does not equal the other, y'all.
That was me being cranky. Now I'm finished.
So this concludes the whole music listing ordeal for this year. Thanks to the invisible few who have been visiting and taking interest in my opinions. That's nice of you.
12.18.2007
Top 10 Albums of the Year: #1
Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky)Whatever your stance on Deerhunter was over the course of this year, there's no denying they were pretty tough to avoid hearing about (whether it was for the right or wrong reasons). And that got annoying. Hype and such aside, the fact of the matter is I don't think I got as genuinely excited for any release or band as much as this band and this release all year. I've been blabbing about it since it leaked about this time last year, and my blabbing was rejuvenated when the Fluorescent Grey EP came out in the spring and I saw them live in Kansas City (they're a really great live band. luckily when I saw them they pulled no punches and just played a rock-solid set). Cryptograms blends perfect amounts of moodiness and noise and melody and shoegaze nostalgia and frontman Bradford Cox's commanding personality and rockin-ness and beauty and ambiance and just everything. And that's why I'm calling it my favorite record of the year.
"Lake Somerset" is an animal snarl of a track, coming forward with crescendos and pulling back with tense builds that are executed in expert fashion. Beatless numbers like "White Ink," "Red Ink" and "Providence" are not just mere fillers. They're fully realized components of the album as a whole, and stand up next to the output of many of Deerhunter's Kranky labelmates. The looping guitar echo, watery washes and worn drones on these tracks help bridge the more agressive tracks on the first half of the album and makes it so the weight of those songs doesn't become overwhelming. On the latter half of the record there is a bit less of ambient noodling (with the exception of the very nice "Tape Hiss Orchid") and a bit more direct pop / rock oriented songwriting. "Spring Hall Convert" thrills with it's synced near-relentless rhythm guitar and drum pounding and just sort of lifts off the ground with a plucked guitar and Cox's ethereal vocal chants. A lonesome bass opens "Hazel St.," but as the rest of the band joins in, the propulsive song spirals upward into one of the most glorious pieces on the album.
After spending a year with this album I'm still not tired of it. It pulls me in at all the right times and lets me float free in equal turn. The vocals are compelling when they come into focus and extremely effective when layered, looped, and coated with effects, making it another instrument (this was very apparently the case when seeing the band live). Knowing that this album was recorded as two separate halves over the course of a few years and under a number of intense personal struggles, I wonder whether being able to write and create new music in a more stable environment will produce even more focused work or result in a band too comfortable in it's sound. Who knows. With an individual like Cox, whose material seems so focused on youthful desperation and urgency, hopefully he will help guide Deerhunters efforts with the same sort of hunger and abandon that clearly fueled the recording of Cryptograms.
"Lake Somerset" is an animal snarl of a track, coming forward with crescendos and pulling back with tense builds that are executed in expert fashion. Beatless numbers like "White Ink," "Red Ink" and "Providence" are not just mere fillers. They're fully realized components of the album as a whole, and stand up next to the output of many of Deerhunter's Kranky labelmates. The looping guitar echo, watery washes and worn drones on these tracks help bridge the more agressive tracks on the first half of the album and makes it so the weight of those songs doesn't become overwhelming. On the latter half of the record there is a bit less of ambient noodling (with the exception of the very nice "Tape Hiss Orchid") and a bit more direct pop / rock oriented songwriting. "Spring Hall Convert" thrills with it's synced near-relentless rhythm guitar and drum pounding and just sort of lifts off the ground with a plucked guitar and Cox's ethereal vocal chants. A lonesome bass opens "Hazel St.," but as the rest of the band joins in, the propulsive song spirals upward into one of the most glorious pieces on the album.
After spending a year with this album I'm still not tired of it. It pulls me in at all the right times and lets me float free in equal turn. The vocals are compelling when they come into focus and extremely effective when layered, looped, and coated with effects, making it another instrument (this was very apparently the case when seeing the band live). Knowing that this album was recorded as two separate halves over the course of a few years and under a number of intense personal struggles, I wonder whether being able to write and create new music in a more stable environment will produce even more focused work or result in a band too comfortable in it's sound. Who knows. With an individual like Cox, whose material seems so focused on youthful desperation and urgency, hopefully he will help guide Deerhunters efforts with the same sort of hunger and abandon that clearly fueled the recording of Cryptograms.
12.17.2007
Top 10 Albums of the Year: #2
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)Another stylistic turn was had by Noah Lennox (Panda Bear to most folks), precipitated seemingly by contrasting life situations. The last Panda Bear album, 2004's Young Prayer, was made in the wake of the death of Noah's father, and the bare, minimally adorned acoustic guitar and voice spoke volumes about his condition. Person Pitch was created under decidedly happier circumstances (marriage, a move to Lisbon, Portugal, and the birth of his child). Hence, Person Pitch has a different sound about it altogether: warm, full, and buoyant. I'm quite sure that no other album this year made me feel so damn good.
Like the previously mentioned No Age album, Person Pitch collects a series of 7" and 12" singles released on a variety of labels over the course of the past few years. Despite this, the construction of the album feels very organic. The song pacing doesn't seem haphazard or thrown-together in the least.
Now, a lot of this record might have a Beach Boys / Brian Wilson vocal harmony vibe about it. Fine, that's a given. But Noah seem to use this as a jumping off point for creating a sort of pop music that wears itself in and just dwells in its own melodies and sounds. Things keep moving forward, but there's never a rush.
You've already heard most of this, but it's a great album so it bears repeating. "Comfy in Nautica" and "I'm Not" hypnotize in their gentle, honeyed repetitions. "Take Pills" sways like the leaves of a palm tree during sunset and then picks up to a bonfire party tempo. "Good Girl / Carrots" travels through three distinct movements, from a tribal jam traveling in hyperspace to a walking-pace piano-anchored tune to something that sounds like a melted ice-cream truck chime. "Search for Delicious" and "Ponytail" let the album down easy, "Search" with its ambient textures and echoing vocals, and "Ponytail" with its simple autoharp-in-a-rainforest melody. The centerpiece of the album, of course, is "Bros," combining touches of tropicalia, folk, psych, and perhaps even a friendly dancefloor mentality into one of the best songs of the year.
You don't find too many albums with such an intense "good vibes" kind of feeling as Person Pitch. It is...instant levity.
Like the previously mentioned No Age album, Person Pitch collects a series of 7" and 12" singles released on a variety of labels over the course of the past few years. Despite this, the construction of the album feels very organic. The song pacing doesn't seem haphazard or thrown-together in the least.
Now, a lot of this record might have a Beach Boys / Brian Wilson vocal harmony vibe about it. Fine, that's a given. But Noah seem to use this as a jumping off point for creating a sort of pop music that wears itself in and just dwells in its own melodies and sounds. Things keep moving forward, but there's never a rush.
You've already heard most of this, but it's a great album so it bears repeating. "Comfy in Nautica" and "I'm Not" hypnotize in their gentle, honeyed repetitions. "Take Pills" sways like the leaves of a palm tree during sunset and then picks up to a bonfire party tempo. "Good Girl / Carrots" travels through three distinct movements, from a tribal jam traveling in hyperspace to a walking-pace piano-anchored tune to something that sounds like a melted ice-cream truck chime. "Search for Delicious" and "Ponytail" let the album down easy, "Search" with its ambient textures and echoing vocals, and "Ponytail" with its simple autoharp-in-a-rainforest melody. The centerpiece of the album, of course, is "Bros," combining touches of tropicalia, folk, psych, and perhaps even a friendly dancefloor mentality into one of the best songs of the year.
You don't find too many albums with such an intense "good vibes" kind of feeling as Person Pitch. It is...instant levity.
Top 10 Albums of the Year: #3
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (Low Altitude / Polydor)Turning quite the corner after the beautifully stark Wind in the Wires (2005), The Magic Position is largely as gleeful and bright an affair as the cover art might suggest. The cover might also suggest that the music is unabashedly theatrical, melodramatic, and a bit of a guilty pleasure (which it is). It is also a stunning collection of pop songs, essentially another notch in Wolf's already well-notched (and now glitter-coated) belt.
"Overture" kicks things off at a solid gallop and a majestic violin melody. It gets the blood pumping and sets the pace for the rest of the album. Combined with the title track and "Accident and Emergency," the opening trio of songs dazzle with their energy and sheen. Wolf exudes plenty of charisma and personality throughout the album, so song lines about being placed in the "major key" and living through the clouds so you can see the sun come off as surprisingly endearing instead of stomach-turning (which they should be).
All of this flamboyant vivaciousness is countered well by a handful of tracks with a more somber tone ("Bluebells," the mournful "Magpie"). "Augustine" stands out as a sort of classically styled yet updated pop ballad, and it's a great example of how Wolf's vocal style are becoming both continually refined and distinct. Interlude "Secret Garden" makes for a bone-rattling palette-cleanser with its ominous rave-sirens and distorted drums. It is also intriguing because it might point to the sound that Wolf will be advancing to in the future, as he has said he will be working with Alec Empire and tooling a massive, aggressive concept album about war and stuff (I think).
Since this is Wolf's first major-label album, it makes sense that things would go bigger, bolder, bigger, bolder, bigaarrrrrrrrr! And in such a situation an artists' sound might collapse under its own weight, but it seems like Wolf is a big enough personality that he manages his shined-up pop sound very nicely. He continues to follow his muse with each release, and one can only hope that this habit will result in continued diverse efforts.
And yet another personal note, the song "Enchanted" was used for the first dance at my wedding this summer. So there's that.
"Overture" kicks things off at a solid gallop and a majestic violin melody. It gets the blood pumping and sets the pace for the rest of the album. Combined with the title track and "Accident and Emergency," the opening trio of songs dazzle with their energy and sheen. Wolf exudes plenty of charisma and personality throughout the album, so song lines about being placed in the "major key" and living through the clouds so you can see the sun come off as surprisingly endearing instead of stomach-turning (which they should be).
All of this flamboyant vivaciousness is countered well by a handful of tracks with a more somber tone ("Bluebells," the mournful "Magpie"). "Augustine" stands out as a sort of classically styled yet updated pop ballad, and it's a great example of how Wolf's vocal style are becoming both continually refined and distinct. Interlude "Secret Garden" makes for a bone-rattling palette-cleanser with its ominous rave-sirens and distorted drums. It is also intriguing because it might point to the sound that Wolf will be advancing to in the future, as he has said he will be working with Alec Empire and tooling a massive, aggressive concept album about war and stuff (I think).
Since this is Wolf's first major-label album, it makes sense that things would go bigger, bolder, bigger, bolder, bigaarrrrrrrrr! And in such a situation an artists' sound might collapse under its own weight, but it seems like Wolf is a big enough personality that he manages his shined-up pop sound very nicely. He continues to follow his muse with each release, and one can only hope that this habit will result in continued diverse efforts.
And yet another personal note, the song "Enchanted" was used for the first dance at my wedding this summer. So there's that.
12.16.2007
Top 10 Albums of the Year: #4
No Age - Weirdo Rippers (Fat Cat)The concise length of Weirdo Rippers (a bit over 30 minutes) is to its advantage. The pair blow through rousing stompers with gusto ("Boy Void," "Everybody's Down"), but they also spend time developing more atmospheric, guitar-pedal-effect driven pieces ("Loosen This Job," "I Wanna Sleep"). These tracks don't wander on into extended jams. The more freeform elements of No Age's music, and really just everything about No Age's music, is about exploring a particular sound or idea long enough to have it fully conveyed, and then move on before anything outlasts its welcome. Get in, do your thing, and get out. The album never really drags because even after a static-cloud of song, up comes something with a bit more teeth.
I first fell for No Age when I heard the track "Neck Escaper" back in early spring, and it remains a high point on the record. A clicking drum rim and pleasant guitar melody lead the song in, making you think the song might be one thing, but then the drums get a-crashin' and the guitar puffs out its chest and it becomes something else, neo-punk blues with an electrical cord plugged into its back. Brief yet powerful.
And altogether that's what's surprising and captivating about No Age: their capability to explore a formidable amount of sonic territory and manage to mesh everything together so effectively into this sort of amped up heap of fuzzed-out anti/un-punk, making it all catchy and listenable and enjoyable. Also appealing is the entire d.i.y. aesthetic that Dean and Randy so fervently support. The fact that they got their initial vinyl records out on either the label they run or the labels run by friends, the fact that they're so deeply involved with Los Angeles all-ages venue The Smell (it's right there on the cover), the whole youthful energy about it is infectious and encouraging. From interviews I've seen and read, Dean and Randy would probably tell you that Weirdo Rippers and No Age are as much an expression of themselves as it is an expression of the scene that fostered them that they feel so close to. It's rare to come across a record so concise that makes such an encompassing statement about a particular time, place, and particular individuals. It's about putting on and going to shows and dancing and sweating and rocking out and then also making the space to push yourself and push your peers, to create something always, always, always.
And get jazzed for more No Age in the future: another full length is due on Sub Pop sometime in 2008, and a big tour with Liars begins in January. Yesssssssss.
12.15.2007
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