2010/02/02
I want to hate it, I really do. The thing about Vampire Weekend is that they are who I think they are. They are a mediocre yet incredibly over-hyped New York indie rock band who have some vague african influences, and big trust funds. And I want to hate them, but I can't seem to muster all of that negative emotion. The truth of the matter is they are kind of *gulp* fun. Sure, their lyrics are kind of empty and dumb, and the music doesn't sound particularly inspired, but sometimes you want a Kripsy-Kreme and just aren't in the mood for Baklava.
I can't say that this second outing is any better than their first. There are certainly songs on this album that I like less than any of the songs on their first, also very mediocre, album, but this album is more upbeat. I would call it a pop-rock record more than an indie rock album. Maybe indie-pop… but that seems to be something of a contradiction in terms. I'm hoping this will be the last album they release. Even though I'm sure they have at least one more in them. Like I said, I want to hate them. I want to hate them so much, but they just have a certain pop sensibility that makes it hard to not at least smirk when you hear some of their songs. I am not going to blow them like almost every other indie critic I've read review from, but I'm not going to hate-fuck them in a dark alley either.
5.5/10
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
2009/01/22
Hardcore is a lot like the mob; it may have found its roots in New York City, but it moved to Jersey to keep the business alive. They diverge in the fact that the mob got soft, while hardcore bands kept getting harder and more calloused until they had skin like leather. Make no mistake, kids from the suburbs are even more pissed off than the kids in metropolitan areas. They live in cultural wastelands where the future is grim and the present is a joke.
LeATHERMØUTH formed in 2007 and soon came to the notice of My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero. Iero talked to the band about signing to his personal label, but then the band fired their original vocalist for not writing any lyrics and invited Iero to join the band. Fearing that he wouldn't be able to properly promote the band from the inside Frank decided to sign the band to Epitaph records. Epitaph has been a bastion for Hardcore for years, and the band were praised by Brett Gurewitz for the "intensity of their songwriting and music."
Make no mistake, LeATHERMØUTH sound nothing like Iero's other band. They are raw, abrasive, and emotional. The songs are about broken childhood, and deteriorating mental health. While the music itself owes as much to Minor Threat as it owes to contemporaries in the Hardcore scene, it is still on point, and precisely executed. Absent are the Queen-like harmonics, and the modern emo caterwauling of Iero's bill-paying gig. XØ marks the first time that Frank has penned the lyrics and contributed primary vocals for a band.
Side-projects have become all the rage in the past decade for good reason; musicians need more than one outlet. Good artists are multi-faceted. One could argue that it's all rock music, but they serve different purposes. The girl in you sixth period English class that really liked "Helena" just isn't going to get these songs. She'll hear the first bar of the first song and bitch about how it is just noise. Which is fine, this music isn't for her. This is music for the disaffected. This is music made for catharsis.
I would liken XØ to United Nations' Self-Titled debut album in both intensity, style, and brevity. They are two of the best hardcore albums that I have heard in the past few years. It is sad to see such potent music relegated to the sidelines of the scene, but I suppose that is where it always lived. It would be nice to see these things rewarded by being the primary focus of their creators, but maybe that would reduce the impact.
8.8/10
2009/01/21
She Wants Revenge write breakup records. Their first record was about lost love, and broken hearts, this new record is no different. Sure it feels like songs about a high-school boy who just lost his first girlfriend a lot of the time, but I don't know anyone who doesn't feel that way for at least a few minutes after they've broken up with someone they cared about. Everyone needs to own at least a few good post-breakup records, and She Wants Revenge are right there to fill the gap. I'd probably suggest a Stabbing Westward album or two as well.
This is Forever can be best described as modern darkwave. There are a lot of elements of The Cure and Bauhaus in the music, as well as tributes to new wave synth-pop. Adam Bravin and Justin Warfield were (are) both world renowned club DJs, they both got their start in the industry as electronic musicians, and disc spinners. While they use guitars in lieu of turntables, but the electronic sensibility is ever-present. They would have fit in well with the new-wave trend of the early 80's and I feel that they fit into the current trend of synth-rock, post-new-wave that sprang up a few years ago and still has a slim following. The problem with writing niche music is that it is quickly forgotten no matter how good the songwriting is. The other thing that She Wants Revenge suffer from are that they are a double niche band. Songs about unrequited love are great, but branching out would be advisable. I suppose their theory is that one should stick to what he knows.
One of the more interesting things about She Wants Revenge are that they were signed to Fred Durst's record label after Durst met them and saw them play. Most people would put that fact in the strike column, but Durst truly has an ear for talent. The other group signed to his label are Ringside another synthy indie rock band who are fronted by the actor Balthazar Getty. Say what you will about Fred Drust as a musician, or even as a public figure in general, but he man has a thirsty ear for under-appreciated talent.
I will continue to purchase She Wants Revenge albums as long as they continue making them. The music is good, and I am usually in a bad mood. It is, however mood music. I'm not going to put this record on during a bright summer afternoon kicking back with my friends, but alone at home on a bitter-cold winter morning it is the soundtrack to life. This is Forever isn't nearly as strong an effort as the Self-Titled debut, but as far as sophomore albums by small bands go it's a knockout.
6.7/10
2009/01/20
God Lives Underwater were a drug band, but it seems more incidental than by design. David Reilly was a heroin addict who stopped his heart a few too many times until the day it stopped beating from abuse due to hyper-stimulation. Both permanent members of the band battled with drug addiction, and that all comes out in the lyrics. They never glorify their addiction, rather it informs the way their relationships have been ruined.
Because the band's record label went under this album sat on the shelf for several years, eventually being re-mixed, and poorly re-mastered, then having tracks removed. At some point before the album was released in 2004 the band, who had already broken up, posted the original mix and track list of the album on their website for free download. This is the only version of the album I have ever heard.
It can hardly be said that GLU songs were ever fun, the were sort of sweetly fragile. They were heavy in tone, and lyrical content, but there was an underlying failing humanity. I had heard that GLU sounded like a metal band when they played live, though I never got the chance to see them. While they are an electronic rock band in the studio. The Keyboards and synthesizers aren't cold like they can be in some other bands, they are just another musical element, they compliment the guitars, they don't overpower them.
By the time they got around to recording Up Off the Floor though, I think that both Reilly, and Turzo were tiring of the drudgery of being in the band, touring, and dealing with one-another. Many of the songs on Up Off the Floor are about the conflict between the band-mates, and the decayed relationships in their personal lives because of what they had done as a band. This wasn't the first time that GLU had espoused their difficulty with being in the small spotlight they had. On "Alone Again" from Life in the So-Called Space Age Reilly laments "the drugs, and the drinking and the touring", but at that point he had caused himself fewer heart-attacks, and been to rehab fewer times. by the time he wrote "72 Hour Hold" He had spent a lot of time in a rehab center in Pasadina, and believed himself not to be " a threat to myself of others", but the rehab center felt otherwise and placed him under a three day suicide watch.
Up off the Floor is the strongest of God Lives Underwater's three albums, the song writing is tight and effective, the lyrics are well composed and heart-wrenching, and the cover of David Bowie's "Fame" puts it into a different light than Bowie's rendition. Make no mistake, though, this is a drug album. There is not a word glorifying the drug use, but the battles that the members of the band had with substance abuse inform every crevasse of this record. It is also one of my favorite albums of the new Millennium.
9.5/10
2009/01/15
Ambient Rock, Experimental Metal, Drone Metal, Post-Rock, Post-Metal, Noise Rock, or whatever you want to call it, this form of loud dissonant aggressive music has become my new favorite genre. It started out Innocently enough when I was in high school and I picked up my first Neurosis album Times of Grace. Then I found out that they had a side-project that made experimental ambient music to play along with the record. The other band is named Tribes of Neurot, and the partner album was titled Grace. All I really knew were that Nerosis, although not very popular were wildly "influential" in the metal community. I would see them name-dropped in the press by very popular, and straight-forward bands like DevilDriver.
I did not really think to start classifying their music as anything but Metal for years until I started finding other bands that were being called disciples of Neurosis. At the time I was afraid that it would sound more like a cheap rip-off than an original re-imagining of a true classic. I was expecting a shot-by-shot remake of Psycho starring Vince Vaughn here. Eventually I broke down and let myself listen to Isis, Cult of Luna, and Jesu. Who are probably the biggest names in the "Post-Metal" genre. I also started listening to a lot of other "experimental" music in the interim, which helped to guide me to these other acts. What I found was that they are good. All four bands are Genius, and they do their own thing without stepping on the toes of any of the other bands in the Genre.
I was afraid of listening to Jesu most of all because the band was founded by the former guitarist/vocalist of Godflesh, who were often touted as the godfathers of Grindcore, and grindcore had gotten a bad name because it was usually basically noise, growls, and barks. There was no real musicianship to it. Thought, I have to admit that I never listened to Godflesh, and I've barely heard more than a song apiece by ten or a dozen grind bands. When I saw labels like "Shoegazing" attributed to this act I was much more interested. To hear something equally influenced by the Cocteau Twins, and Carcass finally seemed novel. Not to say that Jesu are a novelty act, they are anything but. I can hear the heart and soul of the musicians being hammered into every note like a Niponese sword-master banging out a Ninjatō.
Jesu are difficult to describe due to their amorphous nature, but they owe a lot to Slowdive, and to Neurosis. Their sound is at once crushing and beautiful. It is open and haunting. The vocals are sparse, but intelligible, used, much like they are in Shoegaze, more as another instrument than an expression of the words themselves. While the lyrics deal mostly with personal frailty this is something that could be garnered from the structure of the songs themselves, and the way the instrumentation is used.
The guitars are distorted, and the bass is deep and heavy, and the songs are slow and dirge-like, but there almost always feels like there is a bright spot off in the distance, rather than a sinking black hole. Jesu stands out in there genre by being a bit more open, and seemingly inviting with their music. It isn't as dour and depressing, or as overtly aggressive as some of their contemporaries. Time will tell, but I see a line of new acts dropping the name Jesu when asked about influences. The curse of this is that they will never be very popular among a larger audience. It seems that all of the best bands are groups who are only listened to by musicians.
8.9/10
2009/01/12
I thought about eschewing my best of 2008 list, because end-of-year lists are somewhat trite, and a lot of people start trying to either one-up everyone else or they get very same-old, same-old. But the fact of the matter is that I haven't listened to the same shit that every other indie music critic has, and I have a self-selected sample of around 200 records that were released last year that I listened to. There was some really good music released in 2008, and of course, as always a ton of shit.
The situation as it stands is that I have heard one of, but not both of the albums that keep showing up on every indie critic's best of list. I have heard the self-titled release by Vampire Weekend, and was not impressed, but I have not heard the self-titled release by Fleet Foxes, which I'm not convinced I would like if I listened to it, even though it is on the list to get around to "eventually."
There is also the situation that there are two albums from 2008 that I have in my possession but have yet to listen to. Those would be "Eternal Kingdom" by Cult of Luna, and "Mountain Battles" by The Breeders. I do not anticipate either of these records being wrecking-balls to my current list, so I'll just ignore them for now, I might review them both at some point, even though post-metal is a very difficult genre to truly criticize due to its amorphous nature.
On to the list:
01.
One Day as a Lion - Self-Titled EP
The Best fucking thing released last year was the Self-Titled debut EP by One Day as a Lion. It is a very powerful keyboard and drums record recorded by Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine and Jon Theodore, once of The Mars Volta. It feels like punk with a taste of Hip-Hop and the CD cost me less than eight dollars all told. The vinyl version of the EP is a bit more expensive, but is on 180gram audiophile grade virgin vinyl, it is a must-have. Theoretically there is a full-length album coming. Which I will believe when I have it in my grubby hands.
10/10
02.
Portishead - Third
I have been a Portishead fan since way-back-when. The first time I saw the video for "Sour-Times" on MTV after-hours I was hooked. The new album is the first to ever hit the Billboard charts in the United States, for whatever that counts for these days, which isn't much, but it is a step. Third was an album that was many years in the making, and anticipated since 1997. To come out as strong as Misters Barrow, and Utley, and Ms. Gibbons did on this long-anticipated album is amazing. Portishead did everything right for a long-anticipated record, where Guns N' Roses did everything wrong. Though the scope of the bands' radars is vastly different. I'm still shocked by the abrupt ending of "Silence" when I listen to the album.
9.6/10
03.
Meat Beat Manifesto - Autoimmune
Yet again, I have been a MBM fan for along time. I think I started listening at Subliminal Sandwich and went retroactive. I actually let my expectations for this album fall because I hated At the Center which I felt was a failed piece of dubstep filth. I bought Autoimmune not knowing whether to expect more of the same or if it was a return to form for Mr. Dangers and company. Luckily, it was as good as, and probably better than Subliminal Sandwich and Actual Sounds + Voices. Both of which I found to be brilliant techno-industrial records, if not as dubby as some of their other work. However, "I Grab the Mic" is an awesome dub song.
8.8/10
04.
Meshuggah - Obzen
I am a metal fan, and I am a progressive rock fan, and almost everything Meshuggah does is right up my alley. Obzen was a continuation of their technical Progressive-Metal masterwork. Since they migrated away from their Thrash-Metal roots I do not think that this band has made a single mis-step. Re-recording Nothing with eight-string guitars to tighten up their sound was one of the better Ideas they've had, and I'm not usually a big fan of re-recordings, Dimmu Borgir's re-recording of Stormblåst seemed a bit overwrought to me as did Cradle of Filth re-recording everything from their early catalog to put onto a double-CD cash grab. But I feel that Meshuggah were making, and have again made the most brutal music I have ever heard. It is heavy, and angry, and technically proficient. The only gripe I have, and I can't truly gripe about this one, because I love electronic music, is that none of the drums on the album are live. All of the drums are programmed, but luckily they do not feel that way.
8.7/10
05.
Bloc Party - Intimacy"
A lot of people get offended when their Indie darlings veer off into a direction of which they don't particularly approve. This seems to be the case with the latest Bloc Party. Record, but I loved it. I think that everything about Intimacy was a stroke of genius, from incept, to final release. I've already reviewed this album, so I'll let that stay where it is, but the band's technique for release was wonderful. Once the album was recorded, mixed, and mastered they offered it for sale on their website for a very fair price, and the purchase netted you both a digital download and a physical copy. Then the band decided to add a bonus track, and gave that out to those who had already download the album. Then in the U.S. they put a number of bonus tracks and remixes on the record that was shipped to indie record shoppes, but not those shipped to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Target. Seeing that I only shop at my local indie shoppes this mightily impressed me. I like your business plan indie band from England, and I also like your music.
8.2/10
06.
Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles
This album was a great mix of very clever lyrics, and incredibly good turntableism. I was turned on to this record by the single "Thou Shalt Always Kill" which renewed my faith in music that gets popular in Britain but never quite makes it to our sorrier shores. Somehow that big island in the north-Atlantic keeps producing incredibly interesting interpretations of what us "colonists" have been doing poorly for years. The best thing about Angles is the lyrics that Scroobius Pip spits at a fair beat. There is a lot of insight into the human condition, and the state of modern-art in those words.
7.7/10
07.
Slipknot - All Hope is Gone
I have been a Slipknot fan from the first time I saw one of their records, and I have written a lengthy essay/revew about their first self-titled album. Yet again, I love metal, and I love variety, and I love technical proficiency. Slipknot have very obviously mellowed since their inception in the mid-90's but they have also deepened. The message is no longer simply a first-person espousal of rage and anguish, it has become something more. The rage and suffering are still there, but they vary in form. The music is still brutal, but it is more layered and complex and interesting. The band has had nine members since they began releasing albums, but they've learned to use that to much greater effect. I doubt that they'll ever become the next great progressive-metal band, but they'll certainly record a great progressive song at least once in their career. They had to fight The Game (of G-Unit) for their #1 spot on the Billboard charts, but I think they deserved it. Also, who says pop-music can't break your neck?
7.5/10
08.
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
TV on the Radio released a new album this year, it was fucking awesome. next. No, seriously, there should not need to be an explanation for this sort of thing. They went on tour with NIN for Return to Cookie Mountain and did sound-checks with Peter Murphy, they recorded with David Bowie, how much more convincing do you need that TVotR are the best Indie band of their generation? oh, and guess what, they're still on 4AD records.
7.4/10
09.
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
I keep reading shit from "fans" about how Kings of Leon only go downhill with every release, but I think this is that typical indie guilt thing where everybody thinks that "I really liked their early material." What keeps happening with Kings of Leon is that their songwriting gets tighter, and more mature with every album they release. Sure, they might have hit a peak with Because of the Times but only just barely. Only by the Night is smarter, and wiser than their previous recordings, even if "Sex on Fire" seems juvenile.
7.3/10
10.
United Nations - United Nations
I didn't actually buy or hear this album until after the new-year but it is fucking amazing. The band which is comprised of Geoff Rickley of Thursday, Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw and Head Automatica, and a cast of unknowable characters is amazing. You are not allowed to know who is in the band because of contractual issues with their respective labels, but they are a hardcore powerhouse. Think Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and early Cave-In. Everything about this band is brutality incarnate. from the opening bar to the fading crescendo this album is amazing. They would like to bill themselves as a Grindcore band but I think that they are doing themselves a disservice with that label. It is heavy, it is mostly indecipherable, but it is hard and it is great. There are melodic moments that are nearly breathtaking, even if they only last for 15 seconds. Ask yourself this, if you hear an album that takes twenty-five minutes to listen to how do you feel at the end? if the answer is exhausted you have the right record.
9.1/10
Honorable Mention:
Here's the thing, I give 10 albums their places in my list, and this year they're roughly in the correct order of best to not best from what I've heard. Honorable mention is reserved for records that I liked, or in some cases loved, but just don't deserve a spot in the top ten for whatever reason. This year it is an experimental album and a covers record. Draw your own conclusions.
I probably would have put Last Stop: Crappy Town by Reggie and the Full Effect at #11, so I did.
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
This is a great record for what it is, but it isn't truly a record. I liked Trent's idea to release a quarter of the thing as a free download, then put two additional tracks on the DVD multi-tracks. it's brilliant, but ultimately it is a lot of experimental ambient drone. He gets an A for effort, and even an A for execution, but it is what it is and that's an experiment.
6.4/10
Black Light Burns - Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey
Two years in a row Black Light Burns make my Honorable Mention list. This year it isn't for lack of effort so much as the fact that they released a record of covers and instrumentals. I really like this record, but covers can't net you a real spot in the list, and instrumental out-takes from your album, no matter how good they might be, don't win the race either.
8.2/10
Katy Perry wins the Boner prize, do you really have to ask why?
2008/10/07
I have been remiss in writing about music. I have written a few reviews in TextEdit, and they have been sitting on my computer. The truth is that I have not been listening to a lot of music lately, and I haven't even been paying a hell of a lot of attention to the current music pages. I've been downloading a lot of music, and I keep thinking that I want to write about it, but I'm always distracted by other things. I also have a tendency to use music as background noise and not actively listen to it, which becomes a problem for this sort of endeavor. Whatever the case I have not forgotten.
Whatever, I have reviewed two old albums, because I can't think of anything that came out very recently that I particularly care about. There's the new SlipKnot album, but I'll get around to that eventually, and I should probably review the One Day As a Lion EP, but I'll get to that when I get to it too. Oh, maybe the new Juno Reactor album, but that's been out for a while, and it is good. All in due time.
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Loveless is THE shoegazer album. If you want to define the sub-genre of shoegaze to your friends all you have to do is hand them a copy of Loveless and tell them to give it a spin. The warbling guitars, the understated vocals, the heavy distortion and reverb, those are the key elements of shoegaze rock. This album is also the pinnacle of the movement. Until the re-emergence of shoegaze in the past few years this was it what had defined the genre for more than a decade. Loveless was also the first indie rock album to cost upward of one million dollars to record.
The thing about My Bloody Valentine is that there isn't really a lot of talent in the band, but there is great deal of innovation, and creativity. Kevin Shields is not shy about his lack of guitar expertise, and his untrained method. He knows that he isn't ever going to be the best guitar player in the world, but he still does things with his instrument that are stunning all these years later. He makes noises with his Fender that make that fiddle into a third vocalist. Unlike some genres where the vocals become another instrument, Shields has turned his instrument into a new voice.
A lot has been said and written about this album. I don't know that my drop in the barrel is really worthwhile. What I do feel I can contribute is that the sound of Kevin Shields' guitar on This album, and Isn't Anything have more to do with the sound of my guitar when I play than anything else I can think of in recorded history. My second largest influence is Chino Moreno of Deftones, and it makes sense when you listen to them both. It is simple, but seemingly layered and complex.
I saved this and put it away, because I was listening to the album while I was writing this. I was going to let it settle in a bit, and then come back to it, but I think I've waited a bit too long. All I have are my notes scratched at the bottom of the document. Most of which are the names of other bands in the genre whom influenced My Bloody Valentine in the first place. Were it not for Dream Pop and Gothic Rock I doubt that Kevin Shields would have been inspired to do what he did in this band. Without bands like Sonic Youth, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Cocteau Twins Shoegaze might never have emerged, and bands like The Smashing Pumpkins would have been very different creatures.
I am always astounded by the small ripples that create huge waves in the music community. Some little indie band will influence some other indie band that will accidentally make it big. In this case Sonic Youth were inspired by John Cage, and Einsturzende Neubaute, and The Ramones, and they in turn influenced Dinosaur Jr. Who were the favorite band of Kevin Shields, the mastermind behind My Bloody Valentine. My Bloody Valentine in turn influenced The Smashing Pumpkins, and who inspired My Chemical Romance. In an even more esoteric turn of events The Wipers, The Vaselines, The Sonics, and Pixies influenced Nirvana who were the closest the america ever had to The Beatles, and they in turn influenced every band that released a record between 1991 and 1996. Sure no band is ever influenced by just one thing, but there are prevailing influences, and they become very obvious in some cases. Loveless is one of those far-reaching influential albums that not a lot of people listened to, but a lot of the ones that did became musicians and started their own bands.
9.8/10 Nothing is perfect.
Fear Factory - Concrete
Fear Factory didn't begin their career as an Industrial-Metal band. Their original sound was akin to early grindcore acts like Godflesh. It could have been described as death metal if it didn't break down into a plodding sludgy mess as often as it does. A number of the songs recorded for Concrete were rethought, and recomposed for later recordings. A lot of the more intricate themes that Dino Cazares began developing here became the (ahem) Lynchpin for the band's later sound. Raymond Herrera was already a good drummer, but he had yet to approach his later metronomic state. Former bassist Andrew Shieves did what he did, and was, like in a lot of metal bands, especially of that era, largely buried in the mix. Burton C. Bell showed some of the promise he would later exhibit with his singing/screaming style, but mostly he was stuck with the "cookie monster" vocal style that had yet to become associated with both grindcore and death metal.
For an album that's release was delayed for more than a decade it had a sound that would seem to be very influential. Concrete is rough garden stones, and was scrapped for just that reason. The Band's next effort, Soul of a New Machine wasn't a lot better, but it was a more polished attempt. They finally got it right when they recorded their third album Demanufacture which WAS hugely influential in both the metal and industrial communities. The band continued to grow and change and in most cases improve until they decided to break up due to conflicts with everyone in the band and Dino Cazares. After Burton quit Raymond and Christian kicked Dino out and reformed without him. The later efforts are less industrial and more metal, but they never recaptured the rawness of Concrete or the firey paranoia of Obsolete. It is too early to say, but thus far they have not been able to top themselves.
Concrete was more concerned with religious issues than the sociopolitical themes that the band would later confront. Instead of having a vague story line detailing the struggles of man against machine, and man against man the album focused on man against his creator. Conflict has always been the epicentre of Fear Factory's musical, and lyrical themes, and I assume they always will be. But before they had found Rhys Fulber, Macintosh computers, and Keyboards they didn't have a skew against them. What they knew was that at the time they were young, they were angry, and they only had themselves or the etherial to blame, so the latter became their target.
This was the first album to be recorded by both Ross Robinson and Fear Factory, and the rough edges are all there, but one would certainly expect to hear them. I think it is telling that a band like Fear Factory would be the first project taken on by a producer who would become a legend in his own time. They would both go on to make things that would revolutionize the heavy music world, and they would never work together again. They had the impact on one another that each needed.
Probably a 6.1/10
2008/09/17
I'm going to be honest here, the last complete Metallica album of new material I listened to was Metallica (a.k.a. The Black Album). I heard snippets of Load and Re-Load, and I heard Garage inc., but that was a covers album. I missed St. Anger entirely, mostly because of reviews, but I own the Some Kind of Monster DVD, so I've got a taste of that. What I mean to say is that I am not well versed in modern Metallica, but I own ...And Justice for All on vinyl and the black album on CD, and I have borrowed the previous three records from friends. So I know from fucking thrash. I know Megadeth, and Slayer, and Anthrax, and together with Metallica they made the holy quartet of thrash metal.
Death Magnetic is fucking thrash. No, it probably isn't Metallica's best album, Justice... will forever hold that title. What Death Magnetic IS is a return to form. I put the CD in, heard the first bar of super fast buzzsaw guitar and cranked that shit to eleven. If you want to compare Metallica to their contemporaries, they are doing better work than Slayer has done since the mid 90s, and than Megadeth has done since 1991. I think Anthrax is playing a few shows here and there, but they are still basically dead.
What seems to have happened here is that Rick Rubin re-invigorated the the band with the venom of metal. That bearded guru injected quicksilver into the blood and bones of each and every member of this band. The introduction of Robert Trujillo as a songwriting partner certainly didn't hurt either. I think the guys went home after touring on St. Anger and pulled out their old Mötorhead and Thin Lizzy records and remembered what it meant to rock again. And let's be honest, St. Anger was probably a "recovery record" for James anyway. Everybody gets one.
The track sequencing on this album is great. there are two almost down-tempo songs on here: "The Day That Never Comes" and "The Unforgiven III", yes another fucking Unforgiven song, but it's not all that bad. They are spaced three tracks apart, and create good breathing room between the brutality of the tracks that come before and after them. There is one instrumental track: "Suicide & Redemption" which is the band's first instrumental since "To Live is To Die" off of ...Justice... and at goddamned near ten minutes it has all of the ins and outs and intricacies, and slowness, and speed you could want from a Metallica Instrumental.
On the subject of negative fan reviews: I just don't get it. (shh don't mention that this is ostensibly a fan review too) I might be a bad barometer for this sort of thing because I have and listen to such a diverse selection of music, but my home base is always in metal and industrial. Maybe the problem is that the kids don't remember what Metallica was back in the 80s, and they only know post Black Album material. Which makes me wonder how people hated St. Anger and the loads so much. Hell, even the self-titled album was panned by hard core fans for being "too accessible." Let me tell you, "Death Magnetic" does not suffer this fate horrible fate of accessibility, and there was not a single bad song on Black. Then again Lily Allen's Alright, Still topped my best of 2006 list, so take that as you will. The fact of the matter is that metalheads hate everything. I'll bet you a dollar that they are all at home rocking this record every night for the next three months.
The one place Death Magnetic does suffer, however is that it is another victim of the "Loudness War". The Songs are good, they are heavy and they are loud; too loud. So loud in fact that no matter what I do with my equalizer I still get clipping on certain channels. Mostly in the high pitch of guitar solos and the bass drum. I am in no way an audiophile. As a matter of fact I have permanent hearing loss in both ears, but I can still hear the waves warping around the edges, and it isn't a pretty sound. It isn't hyper prevalent in every song, but there are solos in at least half of the songs in the album that just sound wrong because they are pushed into the mud of the rest of the mix.
You want a rating out of ten? 8.3/10 which is a passing grade on any scale.
2008/09/16
I haven't listened to any music for about two weeks, but I have been listening to, and reading a lot about the culture of the music business. I am somewhere around the bottom rung of the music business. I am a consumer. I also used to run an independent record label that managed thirteen artists. The bands were mostly death metal acts, but there were three industrial groups on the roster as well. The Label was also more of a co-op than a traditional label. We had distribution rights for the music we released, but we did not actually own the songwriting credits. Though I'm not sure that more than two of our groups were smart enough to register with ASCAP either, but that's neither here nor there since the publishing wasn't really our concern. Get an entertainment lawyer to explain it to you; I don't have the time, motivation, or expertise to do so myself.
Suffice it to say I know a little bit about the industry. I've made some money selling other people's work, and I do not feel bad for doing so. I am also a strident supporter of independent music, and also a massive downloader of "illegal" files. The funny thing is that the amount I download has very little effect on the amount of music I purchase on CD or Vinyl, but a huge effect on the specific artists and albums I buy. I am also not a fair weather music fan. If a group I like records a shit album I am still likely to buy it even though I don't like it, because I hope that the next thing they record will be better, and I want to give them a chance to do that. I should probably go to more shows than I do, but I live in a place where very few bands that I like will ever tour. I can go to Chicago or Indianapolis for shows, but it is a task to do either.
I do not think that I am in a particularly odd situation, being a person that buys music, goes to very few shows, and downloads a ton of music. I do think I am somewhat unique in my auditory consumption, however. At least in today's culture I am somewhat of an anomaly. When I listen to music I don't listen to a smattering of songs here and there from some artist or other, whatever, in the shuffling capacity that seems to have become the norm for average music consumers. I listen to albums. I have a very short attention span, so I have trouble buying this shit that attention spans are too short, and demand is only for one or two tracks, and no one cares about the whole anymore. Fans care about well constructed albums, and collective ideas. Those people downloading the "radio single" from iTunes are fair-weather, and don't place any real value on the music they are listening to. If those are the type of fans that a musician is going to have, I would say good riddance. But I keep hearing stories from musicians about how every kid in the crowd is singing the words to every song. So someone is listening the right way. Even the kids that aren't going out and buying the record are looking to their favorite band, and paying attention to everything they release.
I am being a bit convoluted, but that is my style. I keep hearing from artists, and I have heard this consistently since the day Kurt Cobain was murdered, that "Music is Dead", or that "the industry is dying." The latter might be partially true, but I think it is just altering. The former is something I think has been said about music since time immemorial. Because the next thing that comes along is either completely different, or exactly the same as something that happened however many years ago. Surely when change occurs in "the scene" it is on its deathbed. This is utter bullshit. There is no more or less good music being produced today than ever before, and the music of the past was no better or worse than what is being produced today. Tastes will absolutely vary, but the truth is that 90% of everything is crap. When consumers come realize that simple fact things start to align in ways that they never before thought possible. The impetus is on the purveyor of the arts to weed the good out from the bad.
A large part of the problem with modern youth is that they expect everything now. I think that as a result of the late 90s technology boom and instant access to good information the new generation expects good material right now for free. I am guilty of this to an extent, but I tent to let gatekeepers make a few decisions for me. I read a lot of interviews, and reviews, and blogs, and news sites. Then I download a lot of albums, but I get on board with some things pretty late in the game. I have this indie streak that makes me believe the bullshit lie that "nothing is any good if someone else likes it." I'll be honest, this is actually a decent metric by which to pick and choose what to listen to, it works a lot, but there are some exceptions to the rule. A few years ago I kept hearing about Interpol in the music press. They were touted as the saviors of indie rock, which wasn't really a big deal back when they were first releasing EPs, but has since become BIG business. So it wasn't until they were in the studio recording Antics that I finally bought Turn on the Bright Lights. In that instance I should have gotten on board earlier, as Interpol are now one of my favorite bands. Last year the new big thing was Vampire Weekend, and I didn't listen to their album until this summer, and well that I didn't because it isn't very fucking good. Yet again, taste is subjective, but how would I have known what to look for without someone "in the know" to tip me off to it.
I read an article, or a blog post, or an essay, or whatever by the lead singer of Hawthorne Heights today, and he espoused his distaste for the current culture surrounding music. I agreed with him on a lot of points, but I think he missed the mark in a few places. For one thing he didn't seem to express himself in a particularly cogent manner. Which doesn't surprise me because he's a Jesus freak from central Ohio, but I also think he wanted to make the world change its behavior. Which is something that is not going to happen. Listen, I think that licensing songs to Rock Band, and video games, and ring tones is hurting the industry too, but it isn't going to stop, at least not today. The simple fact of the matter is that these bands (and their labels) are fighting for every little scrap of exposure they can get in a rapidly decreasing market. Radio plays R&B/Hip-Hop and Top-40 (which equates to least common denominator pop in most cases). Radio no longer plays new music, or rock, or metal, or alternative, or jazz, or whatever else. This is a shame, radio was the primary outlet for new music in the past and it has become a dead end in my lifetime. I remember back in high school I could turn on the local "alternative" music station, and occasionally hear something new and very cool, but they mostly had a pre-gen playlist that was the same for a week or more.
There is no quick fix for the current woes of the music industry. No I will not deny that there are woes. Sales have been down dramatically for the past eight years running and Shawn Fanning and Napster are largely to blame for this current trend, but I do believe that it is just that, a trend. I also think that digital distribution is going to usher in a new golden age for music. The cream will always rise to the top, and the dead yeast is always going to filter to the bottom of the barrel. It is unlikely that bands will be selling ten or twenty million copies of their record, but I do think that people are willing to pay for something they like once a real value is ascribed to it. At this moment in history a lot of music is valueless, but I think that this trend will turn around in the next few years when your favorite band breaks up to go work at Baskin Robins to pay their fucking bills. When that happens a few hundred times and the culture starts to unconsciously understand what is happening the culture will start to course correct. Fare well to your favorite band that got crushed in the rise of the machines, but someone will be there to take their place. Then one of these days we will understand what it means to value art again.
By the way, I listened to Until There's Nothing Left of Us by Kill Hannah, in its entirety while writing this post.