PotD – 1/26/10
Ah, another day of reading not quite concluded. Measurement of identity today. Good stuff, but no new research ideas. The funniest thing I’ve read all day, however, is this guideline for Beckites and Tea Partiers explaining the folly and lack of self-interest in their protests.
On the other hand, great music came out today. I’ll focus on some of these as the week continues, but today I’ll look at Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM. Here’s the video for Heaven Can Wait, the first single off her new album:
Charlotte Gainsbourg is the daughter of long-time crooner Serge Gainsbourg, sort of a French version of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Leonard Cohen. She hasn’t had much success in the U.S., as far as I know (though she gained some traction with her last album). But in this case, she teamed up with Beck, he of “Loser”, “Jackass” and “Tropicana” (and many, many better tunes), who produced and co-wrote the album.
His influence shows on this song, which is definitely far poppier than the rest of the album. This song has the percussive emphasis of some of Beck’s early work (I like to call it the drummy side of Beck) mixed in with a decent tune and some nice horn touches.
But the rest of the album is really intriguing insofar as it offers a new direction for Beck’s future work. See, Beck basically has two sides: the drummy side of early albums and 2008′s Modern Guilt, and the folksy side of Sea Change and Mutations. See the difference:
and:
Not sure what I like better, but that’s beside the point. I think this album, for the most part, is reminiscent of a stripped down version of a mid-00′s Air album. Those albums were spacy and futuristic, a 2000s musical version of the 60s fantasies of the future. (Being from the 2000s, of course, they were much darker than anything the 60s would have conjured.) But this album, as I said above, is a stripped down version of this. It’s still spacy, but it subtracts the airy, atmospheric elements of Talkie Walkie. This points to a potentially interesting new direction for Beck.
PotD – 01/19/10
I feel so bleh today. The wash of rain that we were supposed to receive over the past few days was intermittent at best; a sorry disappointment not only for the plants yearning for moisture but for the person looking for consistency between weather predictions and reality. At the same time, bogged down in reading, my head is swimming; floating in and out of a head cold it’s ballooned one moment and excited and hungry the next. And so I’m bobbing in and out of the waves; riding interest as it crests until it crashes and I’m floundering around in the cold, fighting to keep my focus on the page.
And the world isn’t helping. No, Democrats are blowing the one sure thing in their so-called mandate, with disaffected old white men chortling with their “I’ve got mine so fuck you” glee. No, there’s a world awash in poverty, just like there always is. Now we’re focusing on Haiti, a chronically disadvantaged country that the US will forget in 2 weeks when the cameras leave; a country that in 2 months will be little more than another right wing talking point about Obama’s supposed failures (but will really just be a cover for subdued racism). Positive aspects can, at times, be difficult to find, buried as they are, like green shoots pushing out between two rocks in a dry plain.
But here’s one of the more positive reminders; a way to keep an issue salient through the years:
One obvious thing to do is to fire up whatever calendar program you use and tell it to remind you on January 19, 2011 and January 19, 2012 that back on January 19, 2010 you were thinking about Haiti and resolving not to forget the country 12 or 24 months later when the TV crews have moved on. You can bet that by then there will be many worthy charitable organizations that really do need more money.
And I’ll end with that, as I fire up Google Calendar to set up a Time Capsule for myself.
PotD – 01/18/10
Missed a few days there. Generally, I don’t plan on posting anything on weekends, simply because I need a few days’ break. But then I got caught up in work and school and the whole thing slipped my mind.
That sort of thing happens a lot, of course, and to everyone. In retrospect, we always think of things we wish we’d remembered to do – or had the courage to do.
One of the reasons I jumped back into this blog was to ensure that my brain didn’t turn into little more than theory-laden mush (now with symbolism!). But another was to record the general daily sensibilities of graduate school life. And often, it’s easy to look back on what I could be doing now 0 the life I could be having – and not be a bit nostalgic. Instead of constant 18 hour days filled with reading, learning, and developing new ideas, I could have had an average 9-10 hour day doing the same thing (albeit a bit more restricted). Instead of a step or two above abject poverty, I could be living pretty well. Instead of future job uncertainty, I could have stayed in the relative certainty of the job and market in which I was employed.
But as I was trying to convey to a friend today who was spiraling downward in an existential crisis: you can’t think of those things. There were reasons why I made the decision I did, and they relate to life long goals, medium term interests, and, yes, some short term satisfactions.
The past is always a bit shinier in the rearview mirror, but there’s a reason you’re driving away from it.
Photo taken outside (I think) Cincinnati.
PotD – 01/12/10
Beach StairsI’m still looking at farms. Lord do I hate farms. That’s why I have to remind myself there are other things – like beaches – just a few blocks away. A few short, beckoning steps.
Anticipated New Releases – 2010
So I meant to do this ages ago, but work and school intervened like they always do (I’d add life, but those two are my life). Anyway, these are the albums I’m mostly looking forward to, culled from my personal lists and online lists. Ones I’m really looking forward to are bolded.
Of course, the best thing about modern music is the beauty of serendipity. So I’m hoping for a lot of random discoveries as well.
01/12/2010
(or um, today)
- Vampire Weekend – Contra
- Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) – Heartland
01/19/2010
- Eels – End Times
- Spoon – Transference
- Surfer Blood – Astra Coast
- Fyfe Dangerfield – Fly Yellow Moon
01/26/2010
- Los Campesinos! – Romance is Boring
- Basia Bulat
- Retribution Gospel Choir – 2
- Beach House – Teen Dream
- Midlake – The Courage of Others
02/02/2010
- Album Leaf – A Chorus of Storytellers
02/09/2010
- Yeasayer – Odd Blood
- Class Actress – Journal of Ardency
- Scanners – Submarine
02/16/2010
- Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
02/23/2010
- Shout Out Louds – Work
- Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago
03/09/2010
– A really big week
- Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
- BRMC – Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
- Miles Kurowsky (Beulah)
- Broken Bells – s/t
- Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
03/24/2010
- Jónsi Birgisson (Sigur Ros) – Go
- She & Him – Volume Two
After that, the future gets kind of hazy.
PotD – 01/11/10
I’ve spent the day looking at farms. I haven’t been going to them. It’s not like I’m going to them, trucking through the much, smelling the pig shit. No, I’m just looking up addresses online. And let me tell you – farms don’t have the most easily accessible addresses. It’s always 58 Highway 35 N S23 W. Is that even a real address?
God, I hate farms. So, so much. But I do like this picture, so.. it’s ok. Just for today.
PotD – 01/07/10
Always in the last place you look
Picture taken in a park in Virginia the day I got my Nikon. I just liked the appearance of these keys in a random field in a park just off the beaten path. Probably, these were just keys that someone dropped, but I like the idea of someone leaving them there as a reminder – as if that’s where they always leave them, or where they hope to find them again in a few months. Or maybe it’s a spy drop spot, and the keys open a lockbox somewhere. Possibilities are endless.
PotD – 01/06/10
A hideout or just a peaceful meadow?
Not much time to say anything here. This is just a nice little meadow just off a trail in the mountains above Santa Barbara. But it looks like it could be the hideout for a band of smugglers. Just like in Hardy Boys.
The Requisite, and Belated, Best of 2009 List
Yeah, so I didn’t really get around to my expected year end tally yet. I’ve been busy.
Plus, this has been an incredible year for music. I really kicked into gear my music appreciation, which luckily coincided with a dramatic increase in both high-quality new music and channels for its discovery. In other words, my RSS reader exploded at the same time as the amount of available music did.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m under no illusions that there’s some new drug in the water that’s making more people make music in their bedrooms. I doubt that the level of music has changed. But the accessibility of music certainly has. That’s nothing new, of course – this has been a growing trend for years. But I feel like the last year has seen a maturity of a number of high end music blogs, with their proprietors carving out well-defined niches that they’ve really explored fully. I think my favorite has been Fuel, Friends blog, which sits right in the middle of the convergence between indie rock and modern bluegrass. Not all discuss a specific style – others focus on their local scenes or just try to offer a roundup of news that the stereogums and pitchforks miss.
But I’m delaying the inevitable. Here’s the list: 15 this year because I just couldn’t decide. These may not be the best albums of the year, but they are the ones with which I formed the greatest connection.
15.Bad Veins – Bad Veins
This summer was torturous, wracked with indecision and promising a life-changing conclusion. Somewhere in the middle of that, the hot, muggy days leaving me paralyzed in terms of figuring out the rest of my life, I found this album. Its anthems were just bold and big enough to let me escape for just a few minutes (about 40, to be exact) and feel refreshed when I returned to my thoughts. But it’s also exciting enough that it colored the soundtrack for my inevitable cross-country journey.
And you know – maybe this song influenced my eventual decision as well. After all, I did end up in a place where “sunlight is gold and warm.”
14.Ramona Falls – Intuit
I really liked everything Menomena did (especially Under an Hour, which was simply magical). And while we wait for that band’s new album, a couple of the members have managed to put out solo work: Danny Seim’s Lackethereof released a new album last year, and Brent Knopfdropped this one a couple months ago.
I think the thing that’s always impressed me about Menomena is their production value. Every instrument -and they use anything appropriate – is meticulously placed within the tapestry of sound they’ve developed. It’s well-miked and perfectly mixed – which means that every listen reveals new layers missed before. Lackthereof didn’t really capture that, but Ramona Falls definitely does. And until a new Menomena comes out, this will more than tide me over.
13. Woodpigeon – Treasury Library Canada
I have at least a half-decade long (probably longer) obsession with orchestral singer/songwriter pop – most prominent being Sufjan Stevens. Songs in the genre emphasize melody and fragility. They alternate between orchestrating as many musicians as possible and stripping the song to its roots, making each song a surprise in complexity (though not tone). The amazing thing about this album is that it was originally just a series of cast asides recordings – yet there’s an amazing amount of power in the double disc collection.
The song I selected to show this album’s uniqueness is simply beautiful. The melody is carried bu a softly mumbling chorus, with the singer slowly pushing the song along. There’s not much else to the song until about 3/4 of the way through, when a guitar kicks in. Woodpigeon have a new album coming out sometime in early 2009.
12. Telekinesis – Telekinesis!
This is just good, fun nerdy pop (look at the lead singer below). With shades of, well, every power pop band you can imagine, it’s inevitable that a band like this ends up on my list. (Plus, he’s wearing a Devo shirt!)
The sound on this video is.. not so good. So you should just pick up the album.
11. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
I think it was in 2008 that I discovered the collective – large bands, often with 10 or 12 members, whose sound is somewhere in the folk-rock category. Songs are usually anthemic, with a see-sawing violin (or fiddle) texturizing the song. In 2008, I spent a lot of time with Midwest Dilemma, Henry Clay People, and Jared Mees. 2009, it was Scotland’s Broken Records.
When I was trying to select my 10 albums of the year (it was only 10), I kept coming back to the arrangements on this one. The opener, Nearly Home, is just breathtaking: a cello and violin dance with each other while another violin and a brass section pump through the melody. But it’s not until the next song, If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It, that the barnburners begin. And that’s what I probably enjoy most about the genre.
Broken Records – If The News Makes You Sad, Don_t Watch It
10. Metric – Fantasies
I wasn’t really all that big on Metric at first. I liked a song here and there, but they didn’t really do much for me until just before this album came out, when something in their sonic aesthetic clicked for me. But it did in a big way, and just in time, because this album just rocks. Not only is it the perfect late at night driving album, it’s deep enough to keep you coming back when you need some thinking music.
I love this song, the opener, because it really conveys the sense of nervousness lead singer Emily Haines is talking about. It’s the stage fright before a show, or a speech, or anything really important in life, set against the backdrop of a pulsating drumbeat. It’s the perfect opener because it sets the band on a level playing field with the listener by saying, look, we may be rock stars, but we suffer from the same crippling anxiety you all do.
9. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
I’m not sure there was a better crafted album this year, in terms of carefully arranged sonic masterpieces. But the reason this album didn’t end up getting ranked higher was because of the sheer effort required to get into it. When I reviewed it last May, I described it as requiring headphones: that you had to sit down with it, focus on it to the exclusion of everything else, and really embrace the sonic metaphors it develops. But real life makes that difficult, so I haven’t really spent the time with it that I probably should have. Hence, a lower spot than it probably deserves.
8. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
I love Neko Case. Her music has always been incredibly soulful Americana; a set of relaxed, rollicking hymns to a simple life. 2006′s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood spent pretty much an entire summer in my CD player. While this one kind of got lost in the flood a bit, I nevertheless came back to it a lot, putting it on after a long day at work.
And, of course, Neko has the best lungs in rock these days.
Neko Case – People Got a Lotta Nerve
7. Raveonettes – In and Out of Control
I’ll always jump on a good fuzz album. And The Raveonettes have always been able to bring the fuzz in overdrive – but they dn’t neglect classic songwriting techniques. The result is a melding of high intensity fuzz with 60s sunny pop. The song below, Last Dance, sits at the center of that balancing act.
No discussion of this album can be complete without bringing up “Boys who rape (should all be destroyed).” While it’s definitely a great, catchy song, I can’t figure out if they’re being earnest or satirical – do they think destruction for rapists is the most acceptable solution? It would be pretty great to see rapist spontaneous combustion, but that seems outside of the mainstream. Or maybe one shouldn’t try to read too much into a 3 minute rock song.
6. St. Vincent – Actor
I remember learning around 14 or 15 that the sugary memories I had of fairy tales were not exactly true to the originals. In their Disneyification, the hero(ine) always ends up being saved or somehow finding a better life. But in the classic European versions the bad children are punished (usually gruesomely) and every forest path is fraught with danger.
Those are the images I always come back to when listening to Actor. Each song lures you in with a fantasy canvas, splashes of light-heartedness that always lead you into a dark, dystopian wall of sound. It’s an amazing effect, made even more so once you consider that it was all recorded in her bedroom.
Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come
I think this is the perfect album for The Great Recession. It seems like every song is a scene from around the country of how people are dealing with the collapse. At the same time, it’s an exploration of the faith that helps them weather the hard times. Each song is titled after the Bible verse that inspired it, which makes the allusion, well, pretty obvious.
Take my favorite (below): Genesis 3:23. The New International Version reads:
So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Darnielle’s song retells the story of a man visiting a home he’s been banished from. He breaks in, looks around, observing how the new tenants have set up the place: the new carpet, a brighter color scheme, new tsotschkes brightening the room. He wishes the new tenants luck, but it’s a resigned, defeated hope, that of the person who knows he’s blown all his opportunities. No one knows what he expected to find in his old home – maybe inspiration – but there’s no way to get your home back once the bank has seized it.
4. M. Ward – Hold Time
M. Ward’s voice is like molasses. A dusty, 19th century kind of molasses that’s spiked with a little bit of moonshine, intoxicating the listener with its sweetness and its bite. Hold Time sees M. Ward fresh off his success with the She & Him album he recorded with Zooey Deschanel, the album shows a maturity in both instrumentation and song structure. Some songs, like Hold Time, are quietly magical, while others like Never Had Nobody Like You (below) embrace a strong blues riff. He’s definitely one of the most interesting songwriters of the generation.
M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You (Featuring Zooey Deschanel)
3. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – s/t
There’s a lot of similarity between Pure at Heart’s debut album and the Raveonettes album above – in sound, album cover, and general aesthetic. But Pure at Heart just seems more youthful and catchy, awash as it is in its classic shoegazer sound. Maybe that’s because the mixing is more subdued – who knows. But I know that I kept coming back to this album, over and over again.
Plus, they have a song called This Love is Fucking Right! You can’t beat that.
The Pains of being Pure at Heart – This Love Is Fucking Right!
2. The Antlers – Hospice
Hospice is being lauded all over the web this year, and for good reason. This concept album is about a man and a friend he falls in love with in a cancer ward. As such, it’s completely wrenching, filled with bittersweet joy and loss. Both are broken people at the beginning, and through the course of the album, one’s emotional wounds begin to heal. But nothing stops the cancer. Not since Elliott Smith has an artist been able to leave such an emotional mark on me.
Warning: You really have to listen to this album with lyrics in hand to get the full effect. Otherwise, this is just a pretty song.
Antlers – Two
1. Emmy the Great – First Love
Well, this album shocked me. Emmy’s music is powerful but playful, upbeat but dealing with the difficult challenges of adulthood. It’s singer-songwriter fare, but it’s much richer than the standard girl and guitar. Most songs are heavily rhythmic, with a backing piano and drum kit driving the girl and guitar motif. I guess, really, it seems to have the same kind of wit and sensibility of a Wes Anderson film.
There’s a lot more to be said about this album, but I’m frankly tired of writing and don’t have much more to say. Just get it.
Runners Up – all of these were very good and at some point had a spot on the top 15 list above. But for one reason or another I ended up going with the ones above. Usually an album just was inconsistent or had a few shortcomings.
Barzen – Notes to an Absent Lover
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons – Death Won’t Send a Letter
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
Generations – Con Law
Glasvegas – s/t
Headlights – Wildlife
jj – No. 2
Joshua James – Build Me This
Joy Formidable – A Balloon Called Morning
Malajube – Labyrinthes
Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement
Monsters of Folk – s/t
Paper Route – Absence
Polly Scattergood – s/t
Telefon Tel Aviv – Immolate Yourself
Vandaveer – Divide & Conquer
xx – The xx
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
There are even more albums that barely missed the runner up cut. So as you can see, this was a really difficult decision. So many albums released this year were incredibly excellent, both from newcomers and established artists. But there were a few albums that I was really really looking forward to that just didn’t do it for me. Lots of sophomore slump, and some just mediocrity:
Air – Love 2
Asobi Seksu – Hush
Bishop Allen – Grrr
Decemberists – The Hazards of Love — I don’t think any album was a bigger disappointment this year than this one. I just couldn’t get into it.
Gomez – A New Tide
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
New Ruins – We Make Our Own Bad Luck
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – …and the horse you rode in on
The Veils – Sun Gangs
White Rabbits – It’s Frightening
Finally, fuck Animal Collective. I don’t care what the rest of the Internet says. Merriweather Post Pavilion isn’t that great.