2010/02/01
I return (for now)
The best music of 2009 as I saw it. (a little bit late)
2009 was my year of "Post." I listened to Post-Rock, Post-Metal, Post-Industrial, Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore, Post-Avantgard (explain that one to me), if it was music and it was "beyond" the music that came before it that's what I was listening to. It seems that nearing this second decade of this new century, NAY new Millennium of ours we are not content to simply claim that things are "new" or nu, or nü, they are POST. We are so far distant from what came before as to no longer be recognized as what we once were but in name alone. Which is patently fucking false. I listened to a lot of fucking rock music this year, but a lot of that rock music was somewhat etherial, and instrumental. A lot of that rock music that I enjoyed was slow and dirge-like. The music I listened to, by and large, still traces its roots back to american jazz, and blues, and central and eastern-European classical music. There was form and structure to much of what I listened to, even the supposedly amorphous noise. Speed up a Sunn O))) record ten times then drop the pitch a few octaves and you will swear that you are listening to Black Sabbath demos.
Why then are we in generation "Post?" I haven't the faintest clue. The only explanation that I can easily come up with is that music critics love to make shit up, and besides making shit up they are super fucking lazy, so they have decided to use that word as a prefix for anything they cannot easily identify. As "Alternative" was to the 90s, "Indie" was to the auties so will "Post" be to this decade. Point being in three years the word will be meaningless, and no one will know what you're talking about and you might as well have just said that you are listening to rock music, but the slow instrumental sort. It's new, or it isn't, but in any case a lot of it is good right now because there has yet to be a chance for the lazy, unimaginative imitators to copy the current trend.
I seem to have forgotten, or missed out on, or just plain misplaced electronic music in 2009. I also seem to have missed the hip-hop train. I won't apologize for this because most of the electronic music I listened to last year was a pale imitation of early 90s techno, and the hip-hop seemed to have degraded even further into braggadocio, bitches, and bling. I had hope for Jay-Z, but he let me down. Pop music didn't hold much interest for me at all, and I still haven't heard a full Lady Ga Ga, or Jonas Brothers song. Though I did listen to Lilly Allen's latest album and quite enjoy it.
No, last year was a year of a lot of exclusion for me. My focus became on over-hyped indie-rock and much maligned Metal music. As much as I avoided it, the "Crunk-Core" thing has it's hooks in me if only because it is so awful that I can't bear to completely ignore it. Even the shows I went to were only by bands afflicted with the "Post" label with the lone exception of my longtime favorite band Nine Inch Nails. I saw bands like Isis, Pelican, Keelhaul, Minsk, and Sweet Cobra. That in a nutshell was my standing with music in 2009.
Lest I forget what I thought about them these are my favorite albums from 2009:
01.
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Far and away the best album released this year was Mastodon's epic concept record Crack the Skye. The theme of the album has something to do with Russian Mystics, and Astral Projection. But Ultimately, underneath the skin it is about Drummer Bran Dailor's sister Skye who committed suicide when she was fourteen. There are also notes in there about guitarist Brent Hinds' brain trauma. Lyrically, just like every Mastodon record, the songs are somewhat convoluted, but the heart is in there. There is feeling and emotion in these songs. Themes of loss and confusion permeate the songs. What really sticks out though, is just how hard this album rocks. Sure there is an eleven minute quartet about The Czar right in the middle of the album, and a meandering exploration of The Last Baron to close out the record, but that is exactly what makes Mastodon great. The other five songs are five to six minute rockers. "Oblivion" builds slowly then blasts the record, figuratively, and thematically into the next dimension. This album is definitely a grower, but after a few listens it will be deeply engrained in your mind.
9.8/10
02.
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Exploding Head is a very close second to Crack the Skye. They don't really share anything in tone, or content, but in veracity, and impact they are nearly equal. Where Mastodon rely on progressive rock tropes A Place to Bury Strangers take their queues from late 70s industrial, and the darker shoegaze bands like Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Cocteau Twins. The Music is abrasive, and mean. At times you will feel as though your head just might explode from the cacophony. Heavily distorted guitars create a dissonant soundscape that seems inescapable. After one listen I wanted more. Exploding head is better than the band's Self-Titled debut, but it is a matter of degrees. The songs seem more intense, the playing more fevered, and directed. Whereas the first record was discordant for the sake of the noise, this record has an intent. They want you brain rapidly increase in size splintering your skull into millions of tiny pieces.
9.8/10
03.
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Speaking of amazing sophomore albums… Silversun Pickups made very few missteps on their debut Carnavas, but where they missed the mark before they hit on Swoon. The songs tend to be formulaic, but the formula works. With few exceptions the songs start out with a pretty pastoral introduction, and weave their way into raucous noisy ragers. The reason the formula works so well is that right about when you notice there is a formula being employed they switch it up. The next song is quieter, more subtle, and a needed break from the loud QUIET loud aesthetic they had been employing to that point. Silversun Pickups are part of the "nu-gaze" movement (as are A Place to Bury Strangers). They take many of there queues from My Bloody Valentine, but they also listened to The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana when they were growing up. That warbling distorted guitar is there, and it's certainly one of the major features of the music, but it doesn't become the only thing they do. There is a lot of obvious growth from the last record to this, and I expect more in the future.
9.6/10
04.
Converge - Axe to Fall
Converge have been active for quite some time now. They are another one of those New England Post-Hardcore bands that you may or may not have heard so much about. The thing that sets them apart is that while they stick to the script they're not afraid to ad-lib a line here or there. Converge make some of the heaviest, densest, hardest, most brutal, impenetrable music you are likely to ever hear. For the pop music fan they are not an easy band to listen to. Hell, even for the old hardcore kids they'd be a tough sell, but once you've gotten caught up in their tempest you will just have to wait for it to blow itself out. (am I mixing metaphors?) On an average release Converge would put more notes into a song than would fit comfortably into three songs of your average rock band. Jane Doe has long been considered the band's masterpiece, with You Fail Me right on it's heels, but I don't think they have reached their peak yet. While Axe to Fall isn't "better" than either of those previous examples it is more complex, and more interesting. Where before they would start the wind machine and blow at gale-force until the last notes rang out this storm has an eye. Instead of working alone on this release Converge invited friends to participate; creating much needed space and atmosphere on the record. This growth bodes well for the band's future. While Axe to Fall experiments with texture where their previous releases relied on sheer brutality, I believe this experiment is a mere stepping stone to a truly amazing and timeless record.
9.1/10
05.
Baroness - Blue Record
Baroness hail from Mastodon's home town of Atlanta, GA. As such the bands have a little bit in common. They both enjoy their progressive rock, and they both get right down and bluesy at times. I was wont to call this album Southern-progressive-metal-billy. The band are likely to play with genre more than any of their peers. They incorporate bits of delta blues, and rockabilly alongside soaring solos, and crushing riffs. they incorporate keyboards with acoustic guitars, and it all just works. It sounds down-to-earth, and authentic. One of the greatest compliments I could pay them is than while they can get loud, and incredibly fucking heavy they never sound angry. Having that sense of serenity is a nice reprieve for my heavy music. While they don't tend to veer into the more "Post" areas some of their contemporaries do, they never fail to surprise.
8.9/10
06.
Russian Circles - Geneva
Right here is where this exercise becomes very difficult. I really like this album but I am not curtain how to quantify it. Seeing that I rarely pay much attention to lyrics it should be wholly unsurprising that many of my newer favorite bands are Instrumental-Progressive-Post-Metal bands. But without that backing of lyrical content I don't really know what this album is about. What I know is that Russian Circles are a part of Chicago's emerging Instrumental-Progressive-Post-Metal movement. They Know how to craft songs into movements, starting quietly and maneuvering through intricate passages to a crescendo and back into a coda that will lead to the next composition. The Intonations of the guitar working with the beating drums, and the pulsing bass somehow inspire me. The Music is powerful and emotive without the aid of words or voice. Which makes me wonder how I can make words do this beautiful music justice.
8.9/10
07.
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
That's Right, Post-Fucking-Nothing. In concept Japandroids aren't such a rare breed. On the surface they are nothing more than two Canadian dudes playing garage rock. But something about this duo just works. They play straight-forward rock music that hits hard in the gut, and doesn't veer off course, or apologize for being what it is. Japandroids' particular brand of garage-rock also sounds much bigger than what it is. One Guitar, one five-piece drum kit, that's it, but if I didn't know better I'd say it was at least a power-trio if not a quartet. This is one of very few straight out rock records that has really impressed me in quite some time.
8.8/10
08.
Pelican - What We All Come to Need
I'm going to have a similar problem here as I had with Russian Circles, because Pelican are another member of Chicago's burgeoning Instrumental-Progressive-Post-Metal scene. I have a few advantages here though: One, I have seen the band live and shaken the hands of the two primary guitar players, and I have a hoodie from their merch booth. Two, I have spent more time with both this album, as well as the rest of Pelican's catalog than I have with Russian Circles music. There is also more of it to be had. Over the years Pelican have done one thing that I can tell; they have shortened their songs. On their first few albums songs tended to be in the ten minute range, but now they are closer to six and seven. Sure, they're spiraling, sure they're chock-full of atmosphere and seeming wonder, but I still don't know what they're supposed to be about. They are riff-laden simple-beat instrumental rock songs. Some of them are kind of metally. Oh, the other thing they did, on the final track of their new album, "Final Breath" yeah, they threw me for a loop and incorporated vocals for the first time ever. The song is something pretty, and etherial, and I don't know how much it adds, but it does show that they were never afraid to venture away from their formula. Pelican write sweeping, cinematic, etherial music, and I can't get enough of it. What We All Come to Need isn't as good as Australasia or The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, but it is better than all but seven other albums I've listened to in the past year.
8.3/10
09.
The Thermals - Now We Can See
The Thermals went from recording in No-Fi, to recording in Some-Fi, and I think they've finally made the leap to Hi-Fi with their fourth album. While I feel that Now We Can See is a step (however small) backward after The Body, The Blood, The Machine it is still the thermals, and Hutch Harris knows how to pen a song. You'd think they were a punk band, what for the fact that they moved from the big indie label Sub Pop to the smaller Kill Rock Stars just as their popularity was beginning to Increase, but they aren't. What the Thermals are is a Pop-Rock band who happen to exist in the independent music world. Being from Portland, Oregon has instilled a strong indie sprit in them, and it can't be faulted. They do things their way, they write the songs they want to write, the tour when and where they want to tour, and they're happy that way. As with previous releases the songs can have a dark tone, but they have a real pop sensibility. I'm sure there are political and religious undertones that I'm missing by not being attentive to the lyrics, but I'm not sure how much I'm missing out on. To me The Thermals are light fare that keeps me entertained, and I can rock my head to guilt free.
7.8/10
10.
Weezer - Raditude
From what I understand a lot of people were pretty disappointed in this latest offering by nerd-rock darlings Weezer. I, however, thought that it was the best record they have released since Pinkerton. Sure it doesn't have the emotional gravitas of the aforementioned masterwork, but thirteen years on that isn't what I was expecting from Rivers and the gang. I think that years of therapy, and marriage, and babies will change a person. Now for the fun part; Raditude is an awesome party record. (as if you couldn't tell from the title) The Songs are fun, they're upbeat, and most of them make you want to shake your ass. There's some lyrical content in there. There are love songs, and songs that are quite poignant about the increasing age and maturity level of the band members, but by and large this is just a fun record that is incredibly enjoyable. It harkens back to the days of the blue album, but with an awareness of being ten years on, and it all seems age appropriate. There is nothing worse than a past-his-prime hipster trying to seem like he's still hip and just hanging on to the last shreds of his former life. Well, except maybe baby rape. But Rivers and Co. are getting on in years, and they aren't trying to deny it.
7.7/10
Honorable Mention:
Every year I like to recognize an album, or a few albums that can't go into the proper list for whatever reason. Covers albums, experimental records, and strange EPs that don't fit in with a band's aesthetic, Live albums and the like fit into this category. Basically, my criteria for this section are things that are great for what they are, but I can't bring myself to pit into the former category. I am a huge sucker for covers albums so it is nearly guaranteed that one will find its way onto the list every year. This year it was a toss up for me whether the second pick should be a comedy record or a live album, and the live album won out. That being said I still think that Incredibad by The Lonely Island was hilarious and well worth the price of admission. You should know these guys from their SNL digital shorts. They are the fellows who place penises into parcels and gangsta rap about the Chronicles of Narnia.
Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV
You probably haven't heard of Nadja, or if you have you probably haven't heard much, if anything by them. That's fine, this album was my introduction to them as well. They are a married Canadian couple who record drone-metal songs. So, Naturally what they would be expected to do is record an album of cover songs. Oh, sure, most of the covers are appropriate, if not to their chosen genre then at least to theme and tone. They cover "Only Shallow" by My Bloody Valentine, which is an incredibly ballsy feat by any band. They cover "Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer, which is an interesting choice as a slayer cover, but really works well for them. They also cover songs by Swans, and The Cure which all seem to make sense, and by the way are brilliant renditions of the songs. Though, they'd probably fit in better at a funeral than a prom. But then they do a cover of a song by the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall, and almost more strangely a song by the 80s new-wave pop group A-Ha. The song, by the way, that is the namesake for the record. Nadja obviously have a strong and well-developed sense of humor, but what is more striking is that while these renditions of the song are squarely the bands own, they do not sacrifice the integrity of the originals in any way. Not only was this the best covers album I heard last year, it was one of the best albums I heard all year.
9.0/10
VNV Nation - Reformation 1
Generally speaking I am not all that fond of live albums. The recording quality tends to be low, and the crowd noise has this tendency to overpower the band, and the vocals get lost in the mix, and someone is always fucking up something, and they're playing different versions of the songs that aren't anywhere near as good as the original, and it is all just a fucking pain and miserable to listen to besides. What VNV Nation have managed to do is bring the live experience onto the recording without sacrificing quality. Unlike other live albums where I want to turn it off and throw away the disc after I hear the first tape hiss, and scream of the crowd this album made me want to dance, and sing along. Most of all this live album made me long to actually see the group live so that I might experience what the attendees of these concerts were enraptured by. Ronan Harris knows how to work a crowd. The songs were largely spot on, and His singing voice does not waver one bit from the opening note to the fading tail of the concert. The recording Quality is great and obviously straight of the board, but with just enough of the crowd to let you get a sense of how it feels to be there. They sing at the right time, they shut the fuck up when they are meant to be out of the way, and they only applaud at the end. I don't' know if I've mentioned that I fucking hate live albums, but somehow this album just works better than any other live record I've ever heard. Even still, I'd rather be there.
9.2/10
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