Archive for December, 2009
My Top Records of The Decade
Same caveat as before. I’m an artist more than a critic although of course there’s art to criticism. These are the top records that influenced me over the past ten years.
As I review the list, I realize that there’s a lot of dupes from my 2009 list. The perils of being top-of-mind.
Radiohead – Kid A
When Bill first emailed me for my list I had put In Rainbows on it instead of Kid A. In retrospect, I was trying to pose a little too much. There’s much that’s been written about this record. I’ll add that it has the #2 song of the entire decade (for me) in “The National Anthem” and that Radiohead showed the rest of the world how to properly use a Rhodes. The opening notes of “Everything In Its Right Place” slay me every time. I was in Charlottesville when this came out. Me and Hastings driving through the country fields when WNRN played it at midnight. As a follow-up to OK Computer, one of the most important artistic statements in rock since Bowie’s Berlin trilogy.
Spoon – Girls Can Tell
This was the album that introduced me to Spoon. I think most people would say that Kill the Moonlight is a more important record. But this has the better songs, at least for me. Like with Kid A, the record begins on a powerful, magical and mysterious moment with “Everything Hits At Once”. Britt Daniel’s voice is one of the best and coolest in rock. ”Don’t say a word, the last one’s still stingin.” What an opening line. ”Fitted Shirt” is post-modern Zeppelin as far as I’m concerned. Britt’s singing in “Me and The Bean” drips with history, bringing 50s doo-wop into the modern age but dipped in malice and turned on its head. Spoon became my favorite band for a long time after hearing this record.
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
My favorite memory of this record is listening to an advance copy while the snow fell around me, coasting down a mountain on my snowboard in Maine. ”Radio Cure” against the wisps of snowflakes and the gray overcast clouds and the feeling of gliding across the world. To this day, Jay Bennett does not get enough credit for this record and it’s a shame. The band was not the same after he left. And the trilogy of Being There, Summerteeth and YHF is one of the best in the modern era. The 9/11 symbolism pre-9/11 is weird and haunting. ”Jesus, etc” is the best song about 9/11 that’s ever been written, regardless of when it was penned.
Arcade Fire – Funeral
You always remember how certain records made you feel and how the melodies seemed so joyous and uplifting and you were surprised at how music could still make you feel that way. Song after song. A celebration. A revelation. Incredible arrangements. And a wonderful use of the piano. We need brighter pianos higher in the mix. The tradition of Born to Run but forwarded along to Montreal and then back down to ol US of A. You realize that they could probably never write as powerful and as effortless a collection of songs as those encapsulated on this album.
Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes
The greatest mystery in the world is what happened to this band after they released an unprecendented masterpiece. Nothing comes close to this record’s perfection. Everything works. The punk shearing guitar tones of “It Was There That I Saw You” against those beat lyrics and then flowing into those relentless drums of “Another Morning Stoner”. Wonderful melodic songs that combine the best of hard guitar rock and metal with hooks and melody. Aggressive and warm at the same time.
Paul Brill – New Pagan Love Song
I’ve known Paul for almost 10 years now and he’s gone from being some dude to a very close friend of mine. For me, this record represents a lot of different things. First and foremost, it represents the power of a singular vision. Paul retreated from the traditional confines of what he’d been doing (a genre he called “post country heartache”) for something perhaps more modern, but undeniably more personal. I feel like this record is where he really took a step forward as a producer – beyond the restrictive definitions of the label “singer/songwriter”. He dubs this genre “electricana” and that’s about a perfect description. But none of that would mean anything if the songs weren’t there and he was able to deliver not just on a production concept but on a collection of songs that are melodic, and bright, and sunny, and also dark and mournful and all of it with his typically great lyrics attending to the melodies and the production. Matt’s piano playing on “Everything I Believe In” is typically gorgeous. But my favorites are the pop tunes, “Weekday Bender” and the title track. I love the line “Somethings died, it gives life, something else is risen, volcano’s dead, you give thanks for what you’ve got right now.” Paul has an ability to pluck something that might sound pretentious in someone’s mouth and give it its own humble and graceful life.
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
At this point, I’ve covered two different songs off this record. My crush on James Murphy is fairly well known. Why? It’s something to do with his ability to fuse the electronic and the organic and to fuse synthetic with real emotion. I always thought the point of “Losing My Edge” was not just the humor of it, but the admission of his insecurity, the availability and fragility of his emotions. This is an emotional record and it’s never far from my ears. I listen to “Someone Great” or “All My Friends” a few times a month and then I’ll go back to some of the other tunes on the record, notably singing along to “New York, I Love You”. I remember on an airplane and my friend, Tim, was sitting in front of me and I was shaking his seat because it was the first time I listened to the record and it was blowing me away. From the beginnings that sounded like Science-era Eno to something bigger and deeper in the middle section. Something about love and loss and wistfulness and nostalgia. If you know me, you know how I’m down with that sh*t. These are simple two and three chord songs that speak to something inside of us and you can still dance to them or, in my case, run to them. Along the West Side Highway or through Central Park or wherever.
Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In People
One of those records that I picked up after reading about it on, where else, P4k. The thing I love about this record are all the gestures of melody. The small little moments. For many years, I didn’t know any of the song names. I’d just start at the beginning and listen to it all the way through and recall all these little pieces of music, these little grooves that seem impossibly embedded into the roots of the album. Little drum sections. Soft little acoustic moments. Some noodling. All of it bursting with melody and with this hummable groove. The handclaps on “Stars and Sons” are the sound of a group of people listening to a whimsical muse and getting it exactly right. This record feels warmer than its origins. I always think of Southern California when I hear this record even though BSS is from Toronto. The next record never feels this effortless and, like the Arcade Fire, you kind of assume that this is something unique in time that probably can’t be recaptured.
The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
I just wrote about this record here. But it was very big for me this year and one of the best continuous pieces of electronic music I’ve ever heard. A major source of inspiration for the second song on my electronic EP that’s coming out this Spring. So electronic and so human at the same time. I think of thousands of birds flying through the air over the fall trees when I hear this music.
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Every artist has their moment. Their pinnacle. When the affectation bends slightly and captures something bigger than themselves or their pose or their own niche of followers and breaks through into something else. Some people can do it over and over. Is it strange to say this is AC’s Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby or Remain in Light. Maybe the best thing to say and hope is that this is their OK Computer. We’ll see what happens next.
Deerhunter – Microcastles
These things are all happenstance. I just ended up listening to this thing over and over and over again on my drives upstate last Winter. I wrote about that already. It’s simply very special. It flows. It’s not too long. It’s very beautiful and melodic. It’s deeply personal. And it’s idiosyncratic. It’s important. At least to me. In my life. KnowwhatImean?
Songs of the Decade:
“Hey Ya” by Outkast
“All My Friends” by LCD Soundsystem
“The National Anthem” by Radiohead
“B.O.B” by Outkast
“Cry Me A River” by Justin Timberlake
“Boy From School” by Hot Chip
“Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
“Begin At The End” by Paul Brill
“Broken Bow” by The Flying Change (ed note: dude. seriously?)
“Nothing Ever Happened” by Deerhunter
“My Girls” by Animal Collective
“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley
“The Way We Get By” by Spoon
“War on War” by Wilco
“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” by Arcade Fire
My Top Records of 2009
I don’t listen to enough of other people’s music (besides my own of course) to be able to authoritatively comment on what were the definitive best albums of the year. But these were some albums that occupied spaces of time in my life. As you’ll see, many didn’t even come out this year. That’s what makes this list so damn interesting, no?
Last Winter
Deerhunter – Microcastles
This came out in 2008. Still, it was new to me this year. I wrote about this record here when I talked about the power of certain albums to reveal themselves to you over time. Bradford Cox’s songwriting greatly impressed me. Obviously, “Nothing Ever Happened” is something special. But there are moments on every song that I fell in love with. And I fell in love with the production quality. The haze and the squalor and the beauty that lay beneath everything. And I wrote a song called “Anywhere At All” that I stole from “Twilight at Carbon Lake”. Really what happened is that I was driving home and the song was playing very low and I started singing my own melody to it. Not sure if that’s stealing.
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
This actually did come out this year. Near unanimous acclaim and many people’s record of the year. The interesting comment I’ll add: Of all the bands compared to The Beach Boys, Animal Collective actually sounds the most like the Beach Boys/Pet Sounds. Mainly because of the high timbre of their vocals but also because I what would describe as their oblong melodies. Imagine TFC bringing 12-15 people on stage and dancing and shimmying to a live cover of “My Girls”. This plus the Deerhunter record were the staples of last Winter. Demo’ing new tunes. Smoking cigs. Staring at the snow in Kerhonkson. Building fires.
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
Another record that came out in 2008. But it was earlier this year that I fell in love with it. We covered “Hearts on Fire” at The Living Room. My interesting comment on it: It’s a dance record with a strong streak of melancholy and sadness running through it. And I like the way they use the acoustic. This record makes me think about Miami. I’ve listened to it in Miami. But it made me think of Miami before I’d listened to it in Miami.
Day & Age – The Killers
I bought this record on a whim and I can’t testify to its enduring greatness. But I found myself putting it on a lot on the drive upstate. The first three tunes are fun and bright and hilarious and I love Brandon Flowers voice for whatever reason. And there may be something deeper and more profound in the lyrics of “Human” than we had originally supposed. And “Spaceman” is another in longstanding tradition of songs in the “abduction rock” genre that also includes that wonderful song “Face of the Earth” off of the Dismemberment Plan’s last record, Change. Judge me if you will. But a lot of these tunes bring a smile to my face.
Spring / Summer
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
I wrote about this record in August when I’d driven up to the beach over the summer. I enjoy Dave Sitek quite a bit. This record represents a mature and direct step forward for the band and I’m very impressed by it. I love Brian Chase’s drumming on the record. It’s very specific. That’s how I describe it. Everything is placed very intentionally and directly. Nothing cluttered. But still human. The first two tunes are big and loud and fine but the record grabbed me at “Soft Shock” with the layering of that beautiful stuttering melody line against the guitars and the synths. The record then closed the deal on “Skeletons” which is quintessential Sitek. Restrained and elegant and beautifully arranged and great percussion. You keep thinking that the song will explode into something totally enormous and the fact that it doesn’t lends it a stately grace that becomes more affecting with every listen. Finally, “Hysteric” is the second best thing they’ve ever done, second only to “Maps”. And the record is 10 songs. No fat. Just extended anything. Just fully formed electro-guitar pop.
The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
Hastings pointed this album out to me. It became one of my favorite records of all time. I don’t know why it struck me so hard. There’s something so insistent and so elegant and so demure about these beats and these rhythms. Almost celestially melodic. The whole thing feels of one large organic and shifting movement. And again. Almost impossibly melodic. I remember lying on my bed after a long run and listening to this all morning in the summertime with the windows open. Very wonderful.
Sinead O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
I rediscovered this back in June. 7th Grade in El Salvador. I remember sitting by the pool on the high dive and I remember listening to it in the long driveway in my mom’s grey Honda Accord. Something led me to pull it out of the dust bin this year and it left me fairly floored. I wrote about it. It’s like reading her diary. She is bitterly and purely baring her soul to the world and her voice is gorgeous and the songs are amazing. The dark goth notes against the Funky Drummer-sample in “I Am Stretched On Your Grave”. What a song. And the yodeling/crys of despair in “Last Day of Our Acquaintance”. That song is one of the most beautiful heartbreaking things ever put to tape. This album is probably the finest record by a female artist aside from Joni Mitchell in the last 50 years.
Fall / Winter
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
I listened to this record all year really. It’s not start to finish great. It’s too long. The crickets thing at the end is sadly cliche and she should know better even though it’s still fun. Utris did a crickets outro on the Long Walk Home 10 years ago and many others have done the same thing. So it’s a bit silly. But there are wonderful songs on this record and Neko has a great voice and a great pen. ”The next time you say forever I will punch you in your face.” Great line. And bits and pieces of songs reveal themselves to you over time. I fell in love with the outro of “Prison Girls” at one point this fall and listened to it over and over and over again. I don’t love all female singers. In fact, I lean against them if given the option. But I love Neko.
Now
Dan Deacon – Bromst
If you follow my tweets, you’ve seen me tweeting about it. I listened to it when it came out and fell back in love with it when I was going through the Top 50 records of the year on P4k. It’s undoubtedly better than the slot they gave it (#46). I’d say it’s #3 behind Animal Collective and Bitte Orca. The most obvious touchstone is Eno. His singing sounds like Eno and his production has a Tiger Mountain/Here Come The Warm Jets/Another Green World vibe. Like Axel Willner in The Field, it’s fairly simple music but the layers and the humanity behind the beats and the melody win me over every time. There’s a period during “Snookered” when he’s sampling his voice and bouncing it across the mix and then the swells of the synths come up and then the chords change and it’s one of those fist-pumping ecstatic moments in music and it makes you very happy.
PIARS on Best Of 2009 Lists
In case you’re keeping score, Pain Is A Reliable Signal has shown up on three Best of Lists so far. Ron Tremblath, who writes for FensePost, called it the #8 best record of the year.
Somewhere between Sam Jacobs’ saddened personal affairs, and his personal and professional relationships with extraordinary talents, he created a mind-scape of fine-tuned and pop-riddled indie rock.
The gang at Striker Bill have listed PIARS as #18.
This is a stark, meticulously elegant and achingly beautiful set of songs that possess an emotional ardor unlike most music that you’ve heard before.
And Ste Birkett at Heavier Than Air listed it at #14.
Exquisitely orchestrated from the delicate, minimalist passages of Broken Bow to the light-hearted bounce of If You See Something, every song here is a winner.
Not bad for a band, a songwriter and a record that were completely unknown seven months ago. Bring it on 2010.
Avatar
I saw Avatar yesterday. Anyone that knows me knows that I’ve been lambasting this film since August when me, John and Derek saw the 16 minute sneak-peek preview in Imax 3D out in Seattle. My experience in that sneak peek was that the special effects did not live up to my expectations, that the whole thing felt like a weird black-light videogame, and that the dialogue and story were hackneyed, predictable and trite. I walked out of the theater saying it should be called “Dances With Aliens” and I was not nearly the only person that came up with that moniker nor had that experience from the sneak preview.
But, I also have learned to trust Metacritic, and when the reviews started pouring in and they were near uniformly positive and glowing, I decided I may need to admit that I could be wrong. And I decided to find out for myself.
The movie is an immersive, absorbing and all-encompassing cinematic experience. If you like movies. Really like movies. If you love movies. As I do. Then you’ll almost certainly very much like Avatar. It is simply stunning to watch.
Lala + Pitchfork Redux
I’ve written before that streaming music while you’re reading about or learning about music is the killer application and the culmination of what people have been talking about for streaming, at least as it relates to sitting at your desk.
This has come home to me particularly powerfully in the wake of Pitchfork’s recent release of their Top 50 Albums of the Year for 2009. Working from home, focused on the stuff that pays my bills and gives me satisfaction of a different sort than making music, I click my browser over to P4K and start catching up on all the records that I missed this year for this reason or that. Some good computer speakers with a decent amount of bass and I’m set.
The experience would be/could be better if I had a true hi-fi system set up. And I’m not sure the fidelity of the streams themselves although I could find out with some effort.
But the point is that, for free, I can absorb whole albums of music at a time and give myself the time to digest them and consider them. I think LaLa puts a limit on me listening over and over so at some point I’ll either need to pay something or stop listening. Still, it’s a great solution.
At least as a consumer. And as a reflection of a new paradigm for music whereby the recorded music is essentially marketing for other revenue streams.
But as a fun of music, this is working very well for me. I finally had a chance to listen to Bitte Orca and can hop on the bandwagon. It was strange but incredibly intelligent and, somehow, still had more guts and balls, despite it’s femininity, than Veckatimest.
I’ve constructed a series of totally arbitrary rules as I work through the Top 50 list. Namely, that I can’t skip any tracks in an album but must listen through start to finish for any record that I start. So far, I’m through Bitte Orca (#2), The XX (#3), the latest Cass McCombs record (#49) and halfway through the new Doom LP (#48).
Other thoughts:
- Do I sound like a cliche if I say I’m not sure about the year in music? It could be a function of the “grower” affect but a lot of the music isn’t grabbing me. Bitte Orca, even on computer speakers, leapt into my ears. I get that. I get Merriweather Post Pavilion. There’s a lot on that Top 10 list that I simply don’t get, often after multiple attempts.
- User generated content is largely crap and I believe in human intervention. Maybe I’m a luddite. But I don’t really want to hear random people’s LaLa play lists. I want to hear Pitchfork’s. They have a brand. They’ve established some trust with me, despite their snootiness. This seems emblematic of the broader Web to my mind. I want curation. I want a guide. I want someone I trust to lead me to the promised land. And it takes a lot to earn my trust. Or yours. That’s why we still need magazines, and record labels, and taste makers. The world and the Internet and our culture is a dense thicket of brambles and I need someone with a good machete even if they’re sometimes a snob and bad writers and are lecturing me about the Beatles or Steve Reich or writing a long essay about Eno when they were born in the 90s. Even with all that. I need their machete. They’ve honed it and built it and it’s a good machete.
Interview: Alex Lauterstein
We did an interview with John P Hastings when we put out the Processor remix. Now, belatedly, I’m posting the interview with Alex Lauterstein who did the Burning a Horse remix and who is doing a remix of The Ways That We Destroy Ourselves. Put this remix on late at night when it’s time to go to bed and you want one last tune.
Interview: Alex Lauterstein
