Apparently I just don't listen to as much new music as I used to. Chalk that up to growing up and selling out: homeownership and newly-parenting. But I suppose there is a resolution for me.
Dragonslayer- Sunset Rubdown
It's singer's (perhaps) third most famous band after Wolf Parade and Swan Lake, Sunset Rubdown has satisfied the earnest-invocation-of-guitar-and-mythology itch in me like no other these past months. There is something about the inaccessibility of this album that keeps me coming back for more, like the songcraft is a puzzle I need to unlock. Each song enjoys changing tempo and/or key at least once giving a sort of breadth and grandeur to an otherwise succint album. I've heard this album compared to The Funeral, not a comparison I immediately agreed with. But it has similarly long legs, repeating on my MP3 player several times a day, as I slowly break down the artifice behind its hooks. Give this at least three good listens before you disagree with me that it is the best album of the year.
Remember January? Geez that was a while ago, but that's when I was introduced to Animal Collective for the first time. And little to my surprise, I didn't really like it. Not a big "ambiance" fan, me. But apparently all of the friggin hippies I work with conspired to change my mind, playing it every couple of days with a passion I must admit I assumed was drug-induced. But, what it lacks in charm, MPP makes up for with stunning over-production and, more importantly, constant noise. There is something to be said about the ceaseless engagement that they maintain admirably until the only pop-sensible song on the album, "Summertime Clothes," which sparkles with uptempo melody just long enough before the remainder of the album again drenches (and drowns, even) in the synthesized "space" and gurgly waterpipe sounds with which it began. (And if you think THAT was a run-on sentence, check out the lyric sheet for Summertime Clothes) Additionally, my one-month old daughter stops crying when I play this album.
Bitte Orca- The Dirty Projectors
Whatever the previous bands lack in initial charm, Bitte Orca shovels out like some rhythmcore chain-gang. Where are these people from? I refuse to look up their wikipedia page for fear that they aren't in fact from some made-up, poorly-named planet like "Pandora" or "Scandinavia" as I suspect. Although it sounds nothing like it, this album reminds me a little of Deerhoof's Friend Opportunity for it's complete devotion to catchy hooks and little else. Though I will say the Projectors find the time to back up their creepy looping vocals and guitar-work with some very pretty orchestral stuff. I find it strange, however, that they decided to remake Nico's "The Fairest of the Season" with different (nonsensical) lyrics; that was kind of odd.
Hospice- The Antlers
I rarely enjoy concept albums with any relish (I prefer mustard). And this one just seeps with self-pity and depression. But damn if it doesn't make you feel it. This album, like a lot of recent "indie" albums feels basically like a post-rock album with words, lots of extra-drawn-out crescendos and intra-album minor themes. Past the manicured drone-scapes, however, are paper-thin, heart-rending vocals that sound hollow with (presumably) the singer's heart in his throat the whole time. The lyrics often imperfect to accommodate the meter, the effect is that of hastily scribbled lines on a cafeteria napkin: I'm pretty sure one line of the last album is just humming with the tune to complete the verse. All of this combined feels bare and austere like a Godspeed album, but with specificity of mourning for a loved one.
Album- Girls
A bit more upbeat, at least literally, Girls takes sappy love-lorn emo themes and marries them with fun lite-popcorn surfpunk to charming affect. Some of the songs are repetitive (Hellhole Retrace) but when it's on (Laura), it takes me right back to that sunny California high school I never attended.
It's Blitz- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
When I was in college I went to see a Rainer Maria Show in Philly somewhere with some friends. They were co-headlining with the Pharmacists, another band I had not yet become obsessed with. There were three opening bands, so this was an epic show, but the third opener stole it from everyone, even though no one saw it coming. The drummer and rail-skinny guitarist set up alone reminding me of many a basement performance, and when they kicked in the base drum and that ridiculously throaty guitar of "Rockers to Swallow," I was already impressed, but when tiny little Karen O emerged from the back of the crowd with enormous sunglasses and punctuating "Hey"s I had my first "Wow, I'm witnessing something" moment. And sure enough, that shit got pretty huge. Of course, now the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound quite a bit more polished. They mostly abandoned that throbbing hard-chick rock that roused my dander so. It makes a notable appearance on this album in the song "Dull Life." But largely, this is a much softer album, complete with very eighties keyboards and new-agey dance grooves (Heads will Roll). But what's pretty consistent with the earlier Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the translation of a genuine rock-star of a performer into a recorded offering.
The Ecstatic- Mos Def
I'm not just putting this on here to diversify my otherwise hipster-ass music list. If I wanted to to do that: come on, I'd go with Raekwon. But the kind of hip-hop I get down with is a little less aggressive, a little older and more considered. I like me a Wy-clef, a Black Thought, a Mos Def (and I really like that Willy Smith, he raps happy!). And this is the best Mos Def album in some time, though he does fall into the trap of self-hype a bit much. Dude, I know you're awesome, that's why I sat through ALL of Be Kind Rewind. But seriously, you put Slick Rick in your album in 2009 and you had me at "hello," you sonofabitch!
The Mountain- Heartless Bastards
An entire Album of the Heartless Bastards, like with so many hard rockin throwback bands, gets a little repetitive. But these guys are so good at evoking a past I wasn't alive for and it doesn't let up. Also, I feel bad for not noticing their earlier album Stairs and Elevators when it was fresh out the womb, and the song on The Mountain that improves upon that aesthetic (Out at Sea) is so perfectly tight that it leads me to hope that the Heartless Bastards will find a slightly more unique approach to song-writing for their next album.
Hombre Lobo-eels
EELS has been around FOREVER. The lesser step-brother of Beck, it often seems, but he hit a new note with this album that I really enjoy. Once again, a bit repetitive, and a bit sad-sack. But the single, "Fresh Blood," easily wins best hook of the year and then scores extra points for not invoking it too frequently. Ah-WOOOO!
