Now on with it...
OCTOBER
The all too perfect jangle pop of The Fresh & Onlys (left) hit me like a drum full of homemade strawberry jam lit on fire (with a match) amidst a breezy waft of beachy saltwater. On Play It Strange they may have recorded my favorite rollicking pop tune of the year in the track "Waterfall". Now I have to go back and listen to all the stuff by them that I've been ignoring the past few years. Thanks a lot guys. You gotta love, or at least I gotta love, when a band can put out a debut that is so polished and full of filtered restraint that Zeroes QC exhibits. The moody tension Suuns displays is suspect to the point where they may have traveled back in time with a pocketful of the future's hits, but somewhere in the rigorous process of time travel they became distorted and therefore, most glorious.
The Bees have such a great sound. Time capsule type stuff. The music on Every Step's A Yes seems to be flowing out of them with the ease of a stroll down a country road with a loved one, taking pictures of hands and leaves and a broken fence. They continue to be a favorite. And while we're talking about time capsules, Wolf People (right) just climbed out of that one that was buried in Jeff Beck's backyard, dusted themselves off and started rocking out like they never stopped. Steeple seems like a best of collection of albums they released inside there for the past 30 years, PLUS, they rock the flute like no other. You know I'm a sucker for rock flute.
Aside from Essie Jain, Swanlights by Antony & The Johnsons (left) may be Yuula's favorite album of the year. At the time that Laura had to go back to work and I was playing Mr. Mom, this collection of refined ballads had the soothing effect of a mother's touch. That may or may not have been Antony's intention. Sufjan Stevens: the man, myth, the blah blah blah. I actually got a little annoyed when he popped to the top of everyone's best of 2010 lists for making an album that wasn't about facts collected at a city hall but actual real feeling and emotion, as if he is the first one. Don't get me wrong, Age Of Adz is a very good album, but it's not that good. Once an indie darling always an indie darling.
Small Black (right) is what the kids are calling chillwave. I can see that. I can also see this stuff on New Chain playing over a scene in a John Hughes film, at the point where the guy finally realizes he does love Molly Ringwald and they do something retardedly romantic like make out over a birthday cake as the camera pans away into the credits. This is a very, very good thing. The piano laden gypsy chamber pop of Dark Dark Dark came at the right time. Sometime it's all about timing, and Wild Go wild came at a point where I was craving some semi-gothic hooks to dig into, and I didn't even know it. Pepper Rabbit seems to be mining very familiar territory with his eccentric ukulele and smattering of trumpet, makes you think if doors are opened to let people in or just so that they know how a door works. Either way, I like Beauregard just fine.
Their last release was and still is a constant jumping off point come springtime, when the flowers are blooming and the snow is melting, not in that order but One Of Us, the new Pomegranates album, while enjoyable, is not going to instill the same feeling of delight or make me wanna run thru fields of poppies. I give you a free pass, because the lead singer has read my blog before and said he liked a photo I took of Laura by a boat in a dirt field. Young The Giant's (left) self titled debut is an album I had no right enjoying as much as I did, but while it walks the line of guilty pleasure I can't help but feel that beyond the pitch perfect poppy goodness is a treasure trove of kicking tunes just stewing. Kicking and stewing, yes.NOVEMBER
Everything Everything (right) has everything everything. I had to. They're British, they're witty, they can play their instruments, they use falsetto. How could we go wrong? I could chalk it up to Man Alive being a chance listen just because I dug the cover, but I distinctly remember listening to it the very first time and coming to the final track as Laura entered the room and I barely noticed she had arrived because I so wrapped up in this albums grande finale and the work as a whole. And grande it is. Ah Sage was a go-to sleepytime album towards the end of the year. Cocoons of pleasant acoustic guitar and unassuming lyrics, performed with a modicum of intention... sometimes it's hard to put your finger on why you like something as much as you do. But Pears on the other hand, I can put my finger right. There seems to be this insurgence of adorably aimless instrumental ditties hitting the airwaves these past few months and I'm getting into it. The nuggets on this album Sterling Postures are rarely over 3 minutes so there's no need for an emotional commitment. I'm all into relationships where I give none of myself and take and take and take. But hey, they're giving so...
To fall in love with Lula Pena (left) was an kinda expected. She specializes in the Portuguese art of Fado, which refers loosely to the content and style of the songs, but mostly the structure. Many time did her album Troubadour she the hours between 5 and 7 am. Many times did I sit staring at a blank screen. And adding to my ever growing arsenal of ambient dronage, Robert Rich wins the award for the most aptly named album of the year. Ambergris. A solid recording with a greyish waxy tinge that may have been recorded in the belly of a whale. While in some circles I would be considered a jazz aficionado, it would not be the case in any circles containing people who actually listen to jazz. But it doesn't stop me from trying. Enter Eri Yamamoto and his Trio. They explore the hushed piano type of jazz that requires brushes on the drums and a feather plucking on the bass. On In Each Day, Something Good it's easy to find in each track, something better.
Let's get into some tough listens. Women (right). The band. I want to love them. They sound so great on paper. They are the prettiest girl at the prom, but they show up covered head to toe in sticky black tar and sprinkled with the feathers of a rare exotic yellow-naped parrot. Those things are expensive dudes. Among all the twangy guitar, thuddy bass and wavering vocals there are minor key masterpieces on Public Strain, I know it. I've been trying to broaden my horizons with some Afropop lately, sometimes hitting a grand slam, sometimes never making it to the batter's box. The Good Ones Kigali Y' Izahabu is a solid double up against the right field wall. I could've made it to third, but it's the bottom of the 9th and we're down by two. We need baserunners not heroes. Can you tell I'm excited for baseball season?
There seems to be a newly emerging hot bed of music, as it were, coming from Arizona and Gospel Claws (left) are leading the charge. C-L-A-W-S does just that, what with the immediate likability and lo-fi reverb and ramshackle tendency. What's not to like? The 1900s is a pleasant little girl/boy tryst into sultry cuteness. Sing along now everybody. Return Of The Century is much better than most of the other dreck that squeezes it's way into this sort of genre. We're looking at Belle & Sebastian territory here. Margot & The Nuclear So & So's made an album that find them rocking out way more than I expected to. Buzzard is a good listen to say the least, but I feel like it requires a lot of attention in order for it to be fully enjoyed and I just don't have that kind of time folks.DECEMBER
You would never catch me dead wearing white denim, but listening to White Denim (right) is a completely different story. Cutting it close this late in the year they managed to make their way high up my best of list with such awesome tracks on Last Day Of Summer. Inside all the static and layered vocals there's a heart beating to the beat of a sloppy drummer, but they never get so lost that they can't take a moment for clarity, and that is just beautiful. Kaki King, you either love her or you hate her. She has transformed from a freaky guitar slapper into quite the little songwriter. Junior is more rock tunes than I recall on any of her other albums, but I'm no expert. But I'd like to be.
Twin Shadow (left) are the new cool kids in town. Their debut album Forget starts off with a catchy dirge, as catchy as dirges can be. But they seem to be putting all the puzzle pieces where they need to go. Just not sure what the picture is of yet. Like Pioneers is a somewhat bastardized version of one of my all time favorites, Bound Stems. I think I read something about Piecemeal being a laid back rotating door type approach to recording an album, so with that in mind, it's pretty darn good. I just miss the pretty/complex aspect I came to love. Maybe they'll get back to it in time.
Adding to the quirky instrumental landscape, Monster Rally released a couple of eps, self titled and Palm Reader that sound like they took the tropical and foreign sections of a record store, melted down the vinyl into liquid form and made us a delicious audio smoothie. I drink your smoothie. The Weird Weeds (right) are an interesting band, to the effect that I thought I got a bad copy of Help Me Name Melody because the music was so random. Once you can accept the sheer absurdity of non-expectation, only then can you begin to hear what they have to say.
Glasser (left) falls into that weird, tribal, pretty female voiced, bob your head genre. You know, the one we all grew up loving. Ring is quality music. It holds it's own against an expanding universe. With a title like Robber On The Run I half expected a frantic album consisting of tales of debauchery and ill-fated circumstance. But instead Travels gives me a gorgeous finger picked collection of songs of compassion featuring overlaid vocals and rattly percussion on an album consisting of tales of debauchery and ill-fated circumstance. Just as you would imagine the restful sound of an actual cemetery, Cemeteries sings songs about ghosts and fear but manages not to be creepy. Speaking Horrors is like a cuddly fright fest. I ain't scared.
Jazz visionaries The Bad Plus (right) finally prove that they can stand alone with out all the silly, but enjoyable, covers on their albums. Never Stop is the first of theirs that I've really gotten into since These Are The Vistas and I've missed them so. Daddy's coming home boys. That was creepy. Critics are calling Hurley a return to their 90's geek rock greatness for Weezer but I don't get that at all. The sooner we all realize the impossibility of that ever happening the sooner we can just sit back and enjoy the output of these unfortunate souls. Everything they've put out can be classified at the very least as a decent poptune (except for Beverly Hills), and their new album is just a little bit more serious in its content. Just a little bit.--------------------------------------------------
I'll have you know that 2011 is already off to a pretty decent start. I'm opening myself up to a new approach to the process and hopefully the outcome. You have no idea what I'm talking about...
2 comments:
I think you will enjoy Kay Kay and the Weathered underground. Youtube them.
The Fat Canadian.
I checked out their debut but don't have the new one. Hey Mike!
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