Aural Quarterly: July-September 2009

Now taking on a more list-less format...

July 2009

I think July has been the roughest month so far this year, musically speaking. Maybe I was distracted by the impending change of season (not weather) or my suddenly random and busy schedule, which usually helps aid in hearing good music, in a strange way,.. I'm rambling...

The Most Serene Republic put out their 3rd Lp on July 7th, so that was gonna be an easy like, but unfortunately I don't think ...And The Ever Expanding Universe, as a whole, holds a candle to their last record, which I still consider one of the only masterpieces of the first 10 years of this century. Yes. They've taken on a more accessible sound, which is good and all, but they lost their old drummer, so the sick fills are pretty much gone, and the songs are more random. I didn't read many good reviews of this thing, but it will most definitely be on my top 100 of the year, just not very high. They can't all be perfect.

July also brought new albums from Bowerbirds who I had good feelings towards before and retain those feelings after hearing Upper Air, and Clark, who I finally gave a chance listen to with Totems Flare and was glad I did. The new and sweetly titled Portugal the Man, The Satanic Satanist was a pleasant surprise when their brand of blues rock struck a chord (no pun int.) in me that I didn't know I needed struck. Jónsi Birgisson & Alex Somers (former of Sigur Rós, latter his boyfriend) put out a decent drone-y sleeper with Riceboy Sleeps. Fiery Furnaces maintained their spot as integral playlist components with I'm Going Away. Starlight Mints failed to impress with Change Remains but gave us a few new tracks. Sax Ruins put out a pretty awesome if frenetic group of instrumental saxophone tunes that made a nice change from the guitar/drums day to day.

A random gem came in the form of a very mysterious band called jj. I don't remember where I found n° 2 or why I bothered to give it a listen, but it's such a pleasant album. Part girlish vocals, part subtle house beats, part tropical steel drum, part drug infused pop, part pure enjoyment. Quite simple songs and quite simple to love. Yes. jj.

There were good singles from Bombay Bicycle Club, Generationals,Wye Oak, & Wheat, but again, nothing to write home about.

August 2009

After a rough July August had to be better, didn't it. Well not at first. The Sian Alice Group album disappointed, Desolation Wilderness was not as impressive on their second attempt and Throw Me The Statue, despite the awesome name, was kind of pop mediocrity. One of my favorite instrumental groups Caspian could fix this right? Nope. I barely made it thru 2 minutes of that thing and I still don't really know why. Have I become so hard to impress?

The clouds began part when new records by Nurses, Julian Plenti & especially Two Dancers by Wild Beasts came across my headphones. All three packed with numerous killer tracks, some that I still play on a daily basis and renewed my faith in late summer music. I got into the new Circulatory System album Signal Morning if only for a momentary folk freakout & a mini album called Bay Of Pigs by Destroyer that's better than most bands full lengths. That brought us into mid August where personally my life takes a dramatic shift and therefore, so goes the tunes.

Enter Mew. What a great album and a lifesaver and a title too long to type. Tracks like Beach and the killer guitar licks in Introducing Palace Players made me smile out loud. Followed by completely listenable albums like Intuit by Ramona Falls & Jack Peñate's Everything Is New, whose lead track I had originally heard on Swedish radio; summer has been saved. I got the Antlers reissued Hospice but wasn't blown away, however in a desperation act very unlike me I dove into the new Calvin Harris with glimmering results. Actually changed a weekend for me.

Closing out the month was the nice enough Curse Your Branches by David Bazan (appreciate the poetry) and a Múm that we had not yet heard. Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know indeed. Another blind date band placed the nail in the coffin of August as even the silly and brightly colored cover of the album by a band entitled fun. left me with little to expect, but the theatrical arrangements and pure power pop bliss overcame and instant sing-along music had come back in a big way. I played a few tracks off Aim & Ignite an embarassingly high number of times.

Good singles off the new Scarlett Johansson & Pete Yorn collaboration, Holiday Shores, Fruit Bats, Arctic Monkeys new-directional release & MuteMath, a band I have trouble totally getting into. Brendan Benson has more than a few nice songs off his new album My Old, Familiar Friend. Oh and I liked the new Lightning Dust album. It's called Infinite Light.

September 2009

This always to be a great month for music and the 2009 would be no exception. If July and early August had disappointed at all, well September more than made up for them. Where to start? How about slowly. Hope Sandoval, of 90's crush Mazzy Star, and her Warm Inventions warmed up more than a few of my early mornings with Through The Devil Slowly, and even more so did Shannon Stephens with The Breadwinner. Both beautiful albums. Noah & the Whale and Dodos new lps, The First Days Of Spring & Time To Die are pretty good, but fail to excavate any new terrain, so in this month I didn't have much time for them. Taking it up a notch is Grand Archives who are slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with on Keep In Mind Frankenstein. Maybe next album guys. Sondre Lerche did the Sondre Lerche thing on Heartbeat Radio and made me bop in my chair. And J. Tillman has made more than a few beautiful albums so no surprise Year in the Kingdom is just that.

Now the good stuff. I have been awaiting patiently the debut by Blk Jks since they put out that stunning ep. New versions of old songs and flexing their dark & furious Afropop muscles on After Robots made sure for a highly ranked end of the year position. Tyondai Braxton totally killed on his new solo album, Central Market. Hard to stand alone and stand out from his Battles, but damn. This album had me laughing and hitting repeat before songs were even over. You know tunes are good when you "have to hear that again right now". Le Loup may have released the single of the year off their subtle-groovy & gentle-chanty album, Family. Perfect morning commute music. I had to listen to Unmap by Volcano Choir a few times before I could even figure out what was going on. Bad maybe for some people. Good for me. Girls may have won throwback Album of the year, if it weren't for Tigercity's Ancient Lover. But they're throwing back to different decades so, they both win.

Monsters of Folk was a risk. At least I thought. Bringing together such giants as Jim James, Conor Oberst & Matt Ward onto one album. Could be terrible. It's not. It's fantastic. And not surprisingly I love every Matt Ward led track. There seemed to be a big to-do about a band called The Big Pink, and now that I've listened thru their Brief History Of Love a few times, I know why. Very cool sounds and dark synth seems to be back and I like that. I haven't listened to an entire Hidden Cameras since 2003. That changed last week when I heard Origin: Orphan. They haven't changed their ways, and that's good to hear. Yo La Tengo failed to repeat the brilliance of their last album, but once again, they can't all be perfect. Still a terrific and varying sound on Popular Songs. A Mountain of One's new album seemed to go on for hours, but I was in the mood for their dark and sinister synth-rock so I didn't mind much at all. Vowels have an awesome instrumental album out of noise rhythms, The Pattern Prism, that I think you might like. Just give it a try.

The Fool's Gold debut gets down with some pretty awesome shimmering Afropop, and I couldn't understand a damn thing going on with Ashes Grammar, the new Sunny Day In Glasgow record, but I liked it. And Shannon Wright (I told you September's were always chock full) has a very good new album out, Honeybee Girls, with her doing her dark piano thing. Love her. Islands took a turn for the weird and wonderful on their third lp, Vapours. Also seemed to be a weird tongue in cheek druggie undertone on there. Haven't figured it out yet. More details to come. Sweet Trip's You Will Never Know Why is just that; a sweet trip and I probably will never know why. I'm getting into these Dappled Cities guys the more I listen to Zounds. Kinda of a little bit of everyone. An album that confounded me tho is a little piece called Threadbare by Port O'Brien. I still don't know what it's all about. A little random, but I keep listening so I guess that's all that matters, huh. New front runner for album cover of the year is Early Day Miners The Treatment. I haven't actually listened to the album yet tho, so that's all I got.

I got myself in a jazz funk this month as well. A jazz funk is not the same as other funks. A jazz funk is good. But mainly because I knew Danielle wanted some jazz at her wedding so I pulled out the old files and uploaded some Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane. All sure things. This was not unlike my jazz funk of the summer of 2003 but different than that of the late fall of 2006 jazz funk. Every jazz funk has it's own personality and all are welcome with open arms.

Good singles off albums by The Entrance Band, HEALTH, Animal Kingdom, Memory Tapes, Taken By Trees (including a killer Animal Collective cover of My Girls), & The Cribs. I was a little disappointed by the new Twilight Sad. Forget The Night Ahead is way less melodic than their debut but the awesome noise chords are still there so you can't be too mad. And Owen's New Leaves, well, it sounds like Owen. One point for consistency. Rain Machine is a solo album by TV on the Radio-er Kyp Malone, and I liked it but didn't expect him to be so angry and potty-mouthed. The new Muse more or less sucked. I wonder if they'll ever make it back to their early stuff. What to say about the new Pearl Jam, what with titles like Speed of Sound & Amongst the Waves; it's vanilla. And not the good vanilla either, like the Breyer's vanilla bean vanilla. But they're Pearl Jam and they deserve a listen. Best part of the album is The End, and no that's not a joke. It's the title of the closing track.

Better Late Than Never

I've been listening to alot more of the new Sunset Rubdown called Dragonslayer (how awesome is that) that I originally overlooked for some reason & some incredible new grooves from the UK's Wave Machines, both who should find themselves quite high on anyone's year end lists. Sometimes it just takes some time to sink in. Timber Timbre put out a pretty awesome folksy downer back in January, perfect for foggy mornings at the breakfast table, and we've used it for just that. Refound the new Metric, Fantasies and appreciated it more this time around. I never was a big fan of Cass McCombs and I now have no idea why. His Catacombs, altho tackily titled, is a great introspective album and now I have to go back and listen to all his other stuff. And if you're into electropowerpop than Moondagger by Deastro is for you. I know it's for me.

I also got into older stuff from Nina Nastasia & Jim White. Their 2007 collaboration You Follow Me is a supremely overlooked gem. And also in 2007 Hjaltalín put out Sleepdrunk Sessions and in 2009 I liked it.

-Who made it thru all that?