THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE: a music blog

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2010-01-05T20:49:00.001-05:00

http://saferinthedark.wordpress.com/

...

2009-07-26T19:03:00.001-04:00

...something big is coming. Wait for it. You won't be disappointed.

More details to come.

"1901"

2009-07-09T12:15:00.005-04:00

I apologize for the lack of posts recently; my computer was attacked by a nasty virus and was out of commission until just recently. Anyway, I've been meaning to share a track off of Phoenix's most recent album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, with all of my followers.

Maybe you've heard it already since I'm sort of a latecomer to the Phoenix bandwagon, but the song is called "1901" and it's a perfect, danceable summer jam with catchy guitar riffs and one of the best choruses I've heard in awhile. It's just so much fun to sing along to all the "hey hey hey"s and "falling falling falling"s and I'm sure you enjoy it as much as I do. Here's a link to an mp3 of the track.

Shortly after I fell in love with the album cut, the Hood Internet posted a mash-up remix pairing Thomas Mars' infectious vocals with an exciting beat from Why?'s "A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under." It works so well that I can't decide which I like better, the remix or the real song. Here's the mp3 for that one. Enjoy the song(s) and enjoy the summer!

Upper Air

2009-06-22T20:33:00.004-04:00

2009 is definitely the year for sophomore albums, as a ton of artists have been releasing incredible follow-ups to some not-so-incredible debuts. Acts like Bat For Lashes, YACHT, and Antony & The Johnsons have been straying far away from the common sophomore slump and producing some of their best material to date. Well, Bowerbirds are no exception, and this July they'll hop on the bandwagon with their second and vastly superior album, Upper Air.

Taking cues from other successful freak-folkers like early Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors, Bowerbirds craft an acoustic album of emotive guitar strums and heartfelt, melancholy vocals from front-duo Phil Moore and Beth Tacular. I'm currently listening to the album again after having a rather intimate session with AC's sorely underrated Campfire Songs, and I'm noticing some uncanny similarities: for one, the interplay between harsh, rapid chord-strumming and softer, glistening, arpeggiated plucks. Of course, the songs here are much more structured than the whispery, minimalistic naturalism of Campfire Songs, but the same sort of feeling is expressed through the instrumentation. Others might also notice the similarity between Moore's voice and that of Dave Longstreth, and the musical arrangements definitely resemble those on the recent DP masterpiece Bitte Orca. Despite all these comparisons, though, Bowerbirds manage to forge a sound of their own through the use of more traditional folk instruments like accordions, piano, woodblocks, and flutes. They also sometimes add in a heavy bass drum sound, of which I'm a huge fan. I can't really pick out any tracks to recommend since I would end up listening all 10, but I will say I was struck hard by the opener, "House Of Diamonds," and again by the penultimate "Crooked Lust." Even if you weren't a fan of 2007's Hymns For A Dark Horse, this album is still definitely worth your time, so give it a listen. You won't regret it.

LP

2009-06-21T17:05:00.003-04:00

Discovery, whose name pays due respect to Daft Punk's inspirational 2001 disc, is a collaboration between Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles that sounds nothing like either group's music. Their first LP, entitled LP, is an experiment in electronic pop and auto-tune effects that shows the urgent necessity for the keyboardist and vocalist to develop their side project. When I first heard the album, I absolutely hated it. I thought the idea was sound, but the execution left a lot to be desired. After listening to it a few more times, though, I started to get hooked by each individual track, and now I love the album for exactly what it is: a cute, friendly, and fun romp through beeps, synths, and smoothed-over, half-human, half-machine crooning.

The first song I heard, "Osaka Loop Line," is now one of my favorite tracks, combining an abrupt, pounding bassline with a shimmering cascade of chime-like electronics. It's a perfect example of the off-kilter yet still excruciatingly catchy compositional approach found on each of the short album's 10 melodies. Another track that shows off the duo's finest is "So Insane," which takes one main chorus and turns it all over, starting out with a more danceable club tune (which incidentally borrows a line from "The Electric Slide") and slowing it down to form more of a romantic number, then repeating it all over again on the next chorus. Additionally, the increasingly featured artists Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors fame and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend both contribute to the album, though on separate tracks. Deradoorian plays an androgynous role when she sings both "I wanna be your boyfriend" and "I want a boyfriend" on the aptly-titled "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" while Koenig's voice is later overly distorted on "Carby." As for the rest of the vocals, both Rostam and Wes take turns and both have pretty decent voices, especially when enhanced by auto-tune and vocoding technology on tracks like opener "Orange Shirt" and "Swing Tree." The two also offer an interesting take on Michael Jackson's "I Want You Back," though I vastly prefer the original. Discovery's music has a very futuristic and hip feel, and I can sense that this album is going to get incredibly popular within the next few weeks, so watch for it. It deserves most of the praise.

Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do

2009-06-19T23:26:00.005-04:00

This past week I finally got my hands on one of my most highly-anticipated albums of the summer: Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do. Producers Diplo and Switch did an amazing job of keeping the album from leaking, and I had to wait until I received a pre-ordered copy for my birthday before I could hear their self-described electro reggae-dancehall hip-hop magic.

Major Lazer, whose name you'll never tire of hearing during all 13 tracks of the album, is "a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in a secret zombie war in 1984. He fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has a rocket-powered skateboard." This little description from Wikipedia perfectly captures the essence of the album: it takes various things that people find cool and puts them all together into one ridiculously awesome thing. Indeed, the music is very diverse and is a product of many different influences, including marching bands, found sounds, old-school drum machines, and auto-tune. Each track is completely different, yet the album is unified under the simple goal of pushing everything to the absolute limit (which occasionally crosses over the border and into absurdity). However, it really seems like the album is aware of itself, and that's partly what makes it so good.

By now you should've all heard the first track and single, "Hold The Line," but if you only have the DJ radio edit you need to get the album version, which has an additional Kill Bill-esque intro that makes the showdown between Mr. Lexx and Santogold much more intense (and now Santogold gets the last word, which is great.) The second track, "When You Hear The Bassline," is a fiercer complement to the opener, featuring an incredible vocal performance from Ms. Thing and vocal effects similar to those used on the "Zumbi" song I posted earlier. The album makes an abrupt shift into some chillout reggae on the next track, "Can't Stop Now," which will find you singing and grooving along to the relaxing sounds of summer. Next comes the bad-ass "Lazer Theme" which is darker and much more inappropriate. "Anything Goes" comes next, opening with some awesome auto-tuned Jamaican stereotyped "yeah man"s and then developing a pulsating beat to go with Turbulence's vocal stylings. Another reggae song, "Cash Flow," follows. The halfway point, "Mary Jane," features a marching drumroll, some evil villain laughs, and some manic, high-pitched vocals declaring their love for marijuana, which "gives them wings like a canary" (this is also my favorite song on the album.) "Bruk Out" is sort of a continuation of the same dancehall beat, again featuring Ms. Thing. "What You Like" is a testament to the over-the-top explicitness of the album, and may be one of the most vulgar songs I've ever heard (which is bad for me because it keeps getting stuck in my head and I love to sing along.) "Keep It Goin' Louder" open Diplo and Switch up to a wider audience by paying homage to radio/club hip-hop (only done extremely well) but then "Pon De Floor" brings them right back to a more selective scene, featuring an energetic beat composed of wailing, siren-like screams. "Baby" is more of a skit than a song (it features Prince Zimboo comforting a crying, auto-tune baby) but when a beat gets added on toward the end of the 1-minute track it makes me wish it was much longer. Finally, the marching drums return with closer "Jump Up," which will make you want to do just what the title says. However, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do is more than just a fun collection of danceable tunes (though it definitely is that.) The tracks sound even better in the context of the whole, and the album itself provides an exaggerated yet spot-on representation of the modern dance music scene. Definitely one of 2009's best releases.

Sunset Rubdown Live

2009-06-19T22:55:00.005-04:00

Another well-respected indie rock group, Sunset Rubdown, graced the main stage of the Black Cat on Sunday night (June 14th.) My friend took me to this concert as a birthday weekend treat, and boy was it worth staying up past my bedtime.

Like on their studio albums, Sunset Rubdown's live music is loud, heavy, and intense. Backed by a set of musicians including three different drummers, two guitarists, and percussionist/vocalist Camilla Wynne Ingr, Spencer Krug belted out a set of epic proportions with his distinctive moan-voice. The stage was packed with musical instruments, including two keyboards, two drumsets, basses, guitars, xylophones, and even mouth organs. Krug asked for the lights dimmed (which is why the videos below are so dark) so the stage was only lit by small glowing orbs placed strategically near the performers. Adding to the dark ambience was the air conditioning, on full blast directly above our heads and facing the stage. Sunset Rubdown, like almost every other notable indie rock band, hails from Montreal, so my guess is they wanted climate control to make themselves feel more at home. We were lucky enough to be standing right next to some friends of the band who came along on the first part of the tour, and they shared some stories with us about Spencer: apparently, during his first tour, he sweated so much because he wasn't used to the heat that he short-circuited his keyboard. After hearing that, I was quick to notice every time he pulled out a hand towel to wipe his forehead during the show.

The set consisted mostly of lengthy pieces from their new album, Dragonslayer, which happened to be excellent and just what I wanted to hear. Krug and co. opened with a pairing of an old favorite, "The Empty Threats Of Little Lord," with lead single "Idiot Heart," creating a 10-minute masterpiece that set the mood perfectly (video below, sorry for poor quality.) Guitars, drums, and piano chords crashed all around us as the band moved into "Silver Moons" and "Black Swans" before playing some better-known songs from Random Spirit Lover like "The Taming Of The Hands That Came Back To Life," "The Mending Of The Gown," and "For The Pier (And Dead Shimmering)." "You Go On Ahead (Trumpet II)" followed, then the group debuted a new song (of which I don't know the title) that sounded pretty promising. They closed with the epic "Dragon's Lair" which sounded much better live than on the album. The encore was much more low-key than the real performance, and it felt like it was just out of courtesy to their loyal fans that they played "Snake's Got A Leg" and "Us Ones In Between" from their early albums before packing up to go.

What I liked best about the performance, aside from the incredible live versions of some of my favorite songs, were the personalities of the band members. Unlike a lot of modern indie bands, they had no pretensions. They dressed in normal clothing, were extremely polite, said "thank you" each time the audience applauded, and continuously repeated "you're so kind," as if they were amazed people actually liked listening to their music. They joked with the audience between pieces, laughed at random things drunk people shouted out, and even took the time to introduce each member of the group and thank tourmates Witchies and Elfin Saddle (who were pretty decent as well.) Even though I didn't actually speak to them or interact in any way, I felt like I knew the people behind the music much better after seeing them live.

Here's a short clip I couldn't resist taking during "The Taming Of The Hands That Came Back To Life":

Bill Callahan Live

2009-06-17T20:23:00.013-04:00

On Friday night (June 12th) some friends and I went downtown, DC to see Bill Callahan (Smog) and his backing group play at the Black Cat (a night club/bar/concert venue that specializes in indie, alt, and experimental music.)

Before I describe the main act, let me just express my amusement with the opening band, Lights. The sister-like duo of gold-robed blonde females set a most interesting tone by beginning their set with some a cappella singing and harmonizing into one microphone. This was before most of the concert-goers had arrived, so they were singing to me and about 5 other people. It was rather awkward, so thankfully they quickly moved to their instruments and began to jam out. One of them, who looked remarkably like Julia Stiles, went crazy on the drumset, with arms and legs flailing about and her hair flying all over the place, all the while keeping a sheepish grin on her face. The other girl played electric guitar and they both sang, while a less-enthused man in black played bass on the side. Eventually the guitar-player knelt on the ground to get feedback from her amp, but then started writhing around rather sexually and then the act ended. It was weird.

Then Bill Callahan came on, and his group of string musicians set up their instruments (including an awesome bodiless electric cello, picture example below.) Bill's guitar was also pretty neat, as it had a wood-patterned coat of paint even though it was electric.

Anyway, on to the music. Callahan picked a very representative set of melodies, most from his four most recent albums. Like Animal Collective did at their live show, Bill adapted his back catalog to fit the sound of his newest album, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle. He toned down the bright, upbeat melodies of Woke On A Whaleheart to fit the shadier, more mellow mood while at the same time adding lush string arrangements to his sparse guitar solo-work from the days of Knock Knock. What I can remember of the set list is as follows:

1. Jim Cain

2. Rococo Zephyr

3. Diamond Dancer

4. Sycamore

5. Say Valley Maker

6. Our Anniversary

7. Too Many Birds

8. The Wind And The Dove

9. Rock Bottom Riser

Encore:

1. Let Me See The Colts

2. Eid Ma Clack Shaw

3. Coldhearted Old Times

The choice of the beautiful opener, "Jim Cain," the heart-wrenching closer, "Rock Bottom Riser," and the three more well-known encore tracks showed good taste and, while I am not usually a fan of encores, I was glad he returned. I should also mention that the sound mixing was impeccable: each instrument could be heard vividly, including Bill's signature baritone vocals. The sharpness of the sound quality led to an appropriate focus on the lyrics and string arrangements, both of which are for what Bill Callahan is best known. He mostly sang with his eyes closed, but during the instrumental portions he made direct (and sort of creepy) eye contact with those of us who were standing closest to the stage, and there were times when we could feel the sadness evoked by the song just by the look of the lines on his face. And let's not forget about his dancing, which was quirky and somewhat awkward, but mostly endearing: he would kick out his back leg and hold it, then sort of rock back and forth every once in awhile, but never in any sort of rhythm. All in all, it was a great concert, and for some reason it felt oddly appropriate that the last few hours of my teenage years (I turned 20 during the encore at midnight) were spent listening to a man who understands the weight of living.

I couldn't help but take a few videos, even though it was forbidden by the venue. The first is my favorite excerpt from "Too Many Birds":

The next is a full video of the most downbeat song, "Rock Bottom Riser":

And finally, the most I could record of single "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" before my camera ran out on me (my apologies for the sound quality, my camera gets worse and worse as it fills up):

Dragonslayer

2009-06-10T20:05:00.004-04:00

I must've been in a bad mood when I first heard Sunset Rubdown's new album, Dragonslayer (released June 23rd), because I immediately dismissed it as boring and self-indulgent. I even went as far as to think that frontman Spencer Krug was all washed up and had run out of creative juices, as the latest releases from Swan Lake and Wolf Parade (his other projects) left a lot to be desired. After giving Dragonslayer another few listens, however, I've done a complete 180: it's possible that this is the Rubdown's best release yet.
There is only one word that can properly describe the feeling of the album, and that word is epic. Taking cues from the prog-rock masters of the 70's, Krug and co. craft eight ballads of heavy percussion, powerful piano chords, and screaming steel guitars, forming a sound that is overwhelming to the ears, but in the best way possible. The songs are filled with all of the Sunset Rubdown essentials: manic musical arrangements, dramatic key and signature changes, and the moaning vocals we've all come to know and love from one of the most prolific song-writers of our time. The lyrics are also startlingly good, as each masterpiece tells its own story while still taking part in the overarching theme of the album. An exciting new twist on the old style is the increased interplay between Krug and female vocalist Camilla Wynne Ingr, meanwhile the rest of the band tackles more instruments than ever including woodwinds, organs, and synths. I would make track recommendations, but the first seven tracks are so phenomenal that it would be impossible for me to choose (though the "Idiot Heart" single is pretty tasty.) The 11-minute title track and album closer, "Dragon's Lair", though it serves as an ample representation of the album's adventurous style, is actually somewhat of a disappointment and is almost like a failed attempt at recreating Wolf Parade's "Kissing The Beehive." That's OK, though, because the rest of the album more than makes up for any inadequacies. Perhaps the reason Enemy Mine and At Mount Zoomer fell sort of flat was because Krug was devoting all his time to writing and recording this beauty? Check it out, I highly recommend it.

Greg's Mash-Up Guide, Pt. 1

2009-06-08T21:05:00.006-04:00

Lately I've been listening to a whole lot of mash-ups, as they're fun to listen to while driving and I have an hour-long commute to my summer job. My unquenchable thirst for new music has driven me toward finding a lot of different mash-up artists on the internet, and so I'd like to share some of the ones I've found with all of my devoted followers.

First off, let me say that, at least in my view, there are two different kinds of mash-up. One is more album-focused and creates a lengthy mix of an enormous amount of small samples, trying to include as many popular hooks as possible (perfect for dance parties.) Another finds two songs that mesh well together and then, well, meshes them together. This second category encompasses both mash-ups of individual songs and mash-ups based around an entire album. This post focuses on the first type and a later post will more fully explore the second.

The most well-known of today's mash-up artists is, of course, Girl Talk. Though I do enjoy listening to his albums, something about Gregg Gillis' music always frustrates me. He always finds the perfect blend with which to draw me in, but then usually fails to capitalize on the moment and unleash the true potential of each mashed pairing of songs. His all-encompassing mix of radio hits, indie favorites, and vulgar rap does have a nice balance, though, and the artistic statement of his music is so powerful that it inspired many other mash-up mixes using the same material. Though the whole thing tries to recreate the incredible "Bittersweet Symphony" and "Tiny Dancer" moments from 2006's Night Ripper, his best and more recent effort, Feed The Animals, set the standard for the rest of what's on this list.

E-603's 2008 release, Something For Everyone (follow-up to be released any day now,) has just what the title says. He takes most of what Girl Talk uses on Feed The Animals and re-works it in his own way, pairing up different tracks but mostly trying to capture the same effect that Girl Talk strives toward. It's not too original, but it is just as exciting to hear as Gillis' work.

Easter Egg also uses similar samples on his first and only mash-up album, Jackin' For Beats. He, however, provides an interesting twist on the formula by adding more dance, house, and techno such as Basement Jaxx and Justice (which incidentally make for my favorite moments on the album.) Though I enjoy the diversity in his samples, some of his mashes aren't of as high quality as the others and are somewhat of a let-down.

My favorite mix-type mash-up album (and the one you should all download immediately) is Fuck Bitches. Get Euros. by Super Mash Bros. Maybe I'm partial to the use of DCFC and Modest Mouse samples, as those artists defined most of my high school experience, but I feel like SMB achieve the perfect mix by letting each individual track run its own course. Instead of immediately shifting to another clip from a completely different song, each element gradually emerges to take center stage, then retreats to the back at the exactly appropriate moment, letting another pop melody shine. Even though the album follows the same general formula of vulgar rap over innocent indie tunes, the team does more than just mash the songs together: they instead carefully manipulate each simultaneous track by altering the speed, reversing, or chopping it up to make it fit beautifully with the other. The prime examples of this are the two tracks that close the album, "D.G.A.F.L.Y.F." (based on "Soulja Boy" and the DDR hit "Sandstorm") and "Testarossas For Everyone!" (based on "Flirt" and "Lip Gloss" and set over "Better Off Alone,") which may be two of the most inspired mash-ups I've ever heard.

Another awesome thing about mash-ups: they're completely FREE! You can download each from its respective site with the links I've provided.

Hello Mom!

2009-06-08T20:33:00.007-04:00

While cruising the streets of Miami, my friends and I stumbled across a remarkable little track by Modeselektor being broadcast from UM's equivalent to our BSR. The song, "Silikon," completely dissects and rearranges the hip hop vocal performance of guest Sasha Pereira, and the result was so interesting that I had to get at the whole album.It turns out that the rest of Hello Mom!, Modeselektor's 2005 debut, is just as intriguing as the track we first heard. Though it starts out with some weaker, more typical techno dance grooves, the album takes a turn toward the more bombastic with a creative splurge at around track seven. Sampling anything from human breathing to baah-ing sheep, Modeselektor manages to produce some incredible beats with impeccable technical ability. "Earth (UPS Edit)" is a perfect example of such a beat. Other tracks, like the synth-washed "In Loving Memory" and the breathbeat of "My Anthem," show a more mellow end of the range of emotions on the album and are just as beautiful to the ears. "Hasir" throws some arabic influences into the mix, "I Love You" adds some shimmering Studio-esque tropicalia, and "Dancing Box" does the same to French rapper TTC that "Silikon" does to Sasha, creating breakbeats from his fragmented speech. All show off the diversity and originality in Modeselektor's music and vouch for the necessity of this album in any techno junkie's collection.

The Ocarina Of Rhyme

2009-05-23T20:01:00.005-04:00

And now for something completely different: Team Teamwork, a blog group that prides themselves on "ghettotech" hip hop remixes, has recently compiled an album of mash-ups that take instrumentals from everyone's favorite game in the Legend of Zelda series, The Ocarina of Time, and overlay them with rap from some of today's better MCs. The Ocarina of Rhyme is available for digital download pretty much anywhere online, so get to it!
To some the album may seem lame or nerdy (and it might actually be a little of both) but fans of old-school rap and old-school video games, which I'm sure there are a ton of, will be really pleased. The editing is done very well and the separate elements of each song were carefully chosen to fit together surprisingly well. The first track, which mashes Clipse's "Virginia" with the Lost Woods theme, is especially ironic in its combination of the most playful tune in the game with some pretty serious lyrics. The team does interesting work with "Still D. R. E." and the brief 6-second sample that accompanies Link's discovery of a treasure by altering the speed, chopping it up, and flipping it around to make a pretty royal accompaniment to Snoop Dogg's and Dr. Dre's rhymes. The best tracks, however, use the more simple and repetitive rhythms that play in the background during the game (and are thus deeply ingrained into the player's memory.) These include the mix of Goron Village's somewhat tribal percussion-and-yelping theme with Aesop Rock's "No Jumpercables," Spank Rock's dirty "IMC" over the serene and subtle theme from Zora's Domain, and the "Still Tippin'" duet between Slim Thug and Mike Jones with the high-pitched fantasy-synth melody found in all four Great Fairy fountains. The album is short, sweet, and a ton of fun, especially for those nostalgic types like myself, so go make like Link and explore the depths of google.com until you stumble upon this hidden treasure.

"What Would I Want Sky"

2009-05-23T19:13:00.004-04:00

I just found a clean and edited BBC "Freak Zone" session of Animal Collective's new track, "What Would I Want Sky," that they've been playing at live shows recently, so I thought I'd share it. From the explosive percussion of the first half's crashing beat to the warbled vocals, shimmering guitars, glistening electronic effects, and choir-like harmonies that slowly layer to transition into the second, this song has got it all. Panda Bear's repetition of the title in the background of Avey Tare's ever-so-catchy hooks and melody will have you hypnotized and the seven minutes of ear candy will go by before you even know it, leaving you craving another listen. I wonder what delicious treats ANCO has in store for us next?

Refer back to this earlier post to see a video of them playing it live.

Playlist: Eat Out Your Brain

2009-05-22T09:51:00.005-04:00

The next installment in my personal playlist series is complete: check out the 20 tracks that make up Eat Out Your Brain (a lyric from the previously reviewed "Zumbi" that somewhat captures the essence of the mix but is mostly just really amusing) below. Again, it is meant to be shuffled and the songs are in alphabetical order by artist:

1. "Collapsing At Your Doorstep" by Air France off of No Way Down
2. "River" by Akron/Family off of Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
3. "Summertime Clothes" by Animal Collective off of Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. "Useful Chamber" by Dirty Projectors off of Bitte Orca
5. "Mushaboom [Postal Service Remix]" by Feist off of Open Season
6. "Ankle Injuries" by Fujiya & Miyagi off of Transparent Things
7. "Ready For The Floor" by Hot Chip off of Made In The Dark
8. "Last Exit [Fennesz Mix]" by Junior Boys off of Last Exit
9. "Heartbeats" by The Knife off of Deep Cuts
10. "Yeah! Oh Yeah!" by The Magnetic Fields off of 69 Love Songs
11. "Hold The Line (DJ Edit)" by Major Lazer off of Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do
12. "Zumbi" by Major Lazer
13. "Nonpareil Of Favor" by Of Montreal off of Skeletal Lamping
14. "Moth's Wings" by Passion Pit off of Manners
15. "Eyes As Candles" by Passion Pit off of Manners
16. "Thickets" by Patrick Wolf off of The Bachelor
17. "You'll Find A Way (Switch And Sinden Remix)" by Santigold off of Santogold
18. "Inaugural Trams" by Super Furry Animals off of Dark Days/Light Years
19. "Dinosaur On The Ark" by The Very Best off of The Very Best Mixtape
20. "Damage" by Yo La Tengo off of I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One

Though I try my hardest to put unique and unexpected tracks on every playlist, Animal Collective always seems to end up there in some form, so I apologize (but have no regrets.) Also, even though Passion Pit and Major Lazer are on here twice, their songs are different enough from each other and good enough on their own to warrant two separate places on the list. I found most of the tracks with Elbows music blog aggregator (though "Thickets" and the Fennesz mix of "Last Exit" are TPP originals), so follow the links to download your own copy of Eat Out Your Brain.

Mind Over Time

2009-05-19T21:43:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure when it will be released or if it's even a real Interpol project, but a rarities compilation consisting of 19 remixes and unreleased tracks has been floating around the internet recently. It's called Mind Over Time and it collects Interpol's early self-titled and Remix EPs as well as Japan-exclusive bonus tracks, outtakes, and new mixes of songs from Our Love To Admire, their most recent album. A lot of the remixes are sort of worthless because they sound almost exactly like the originals and true Interpol fans will already have most of the material on the compilation, but there are a few specifics that are definitely worth hearing and owning.
The title track, "Mind Over Time," is a dark, moody piece written and recorded during the sessions for OLTA that resembles the untitled track from Turn On The Bright Lights. It features samples of radio broadcasts and a truly haunting vocal performance from frontman Paul Banks. The entire Interpol EP is also included, but "Song 7" and "Precipitate" are really the only two tracks from the pre-TOTBL era that deserve attention. Banks' alternate version of "Narc" is mostly acoustic and sounds more eerie, subdued, and surreal than the album version. The Carlos D remix of "Public Pervert" is one of the best remixes I've heard in a while, taking all of the best elements of the original song and repeating them over and over in time with a cool electronic dance beat. The Interpool Swimwear remix of "Untitled" is also really interesting as it overlays choppy samples of the song on top of some of the actual instrumentals, creating something both comfortably familiar and excitingly different. The Phones remix of "Heinrich Manuever" is also pretty different from the original and is worth checking out. The closing track on the compilation, "Fog Vs. Mould For The Length Of Love," is actually much better than the Antics version, adding a steady Krautrock beat and switching back and forth between tension and release. The most exciting alternate take presented, however, is the orchestral version of "Pioneer To The Falls," which sounds exactly as it seems: it's as if Interpol were on stage in a theater playing with a full backing orchestra, and it makes the already brilliant song more epic than ever.

"Plutonic Dancing"

2009-05-19T17:58:00.005-04:00

Though I first heard this song almost a year ago on a mix CD, its genius didn't strike me until I heard it as the closing track to new wave revival group Dogs Die In Hot Cars' album of demos for their second effort, Pop Nonsense. The album itself is rather lackluster, as there are way too many mediocre tracks and only four or five standouts out of a hefty 17, but the few songs that are good are extremely so.

"Plutonic Dancing" is one of these, if not the best of the bunch. It combines elements of synth-pop, electronica, and dance music to create a clever pop melody with a cheery enthusiasm. The electronics are bright and bubbly, evoking Swedish acts Air France and The Tough Alliance, while the vocal performance is clearly Scottish, highlighting the band's brit-pop roots. Frontman Craig Macintosh follows the recent trend of singing in falsetto, and on this track he steps up to an even higher pitch that gels wonderfully with the musical backdrop. The lyrics are simple and repetitive, but they also work to greater the sum of the parts: an incredibly catchy tune that will make you want to get up and move.

Other similar tracks that capture the same essence are the title track, "Something For The Good Boys," "Real," and "Beauty US." Apparently, the group is going to compile a more focused album of re-worked fan versions of each of the demos, a project which should be completed before the year is out (the deadline for submissions was May 1st.) Fingers are crossed that all of the aforementioned make it to the proper release!

Sholi

2009-05-18T13:19:00.007-04:00

I don't even know where I heard about this album, but for some reason it was on my list of things to look for this year. It was released back in February and it's taken me quite awhile to find, but now I'm so glad I tried because Sholi's self-titled debut is worth the work and the wait.
The band was formed in Davis, California by songwriter Payam Bavafa and consists of the typical guitar, drum, and bass found in most rock groups. Sholi's sound is an interesting blend that can only accurately be described as "experimental rock," though it has elements of psychedelia and math rock as well, featuring fast guitar-work, strange chord progressions and bizarre melodic arrangements. It was produced by Deerhoof's Greg Saunier, which may partly explain why it sounds the way it does. The album consists of eight somewhat lengthy tracks, most of which take turns in dramatically different directions at several points throughout the song. The percussion is also very propulsive and gives the music a sense of rapid forward motion, especially on standout track "November Through June." Most of the songs have a rather dark feel because of the heavy use of minor chords, such as lead single "Tourniquet" and epic closer "Contortionist," both of which sound alarmingly urgent. Other notable tracks include wandering opener "All That We Can See" and the more march-like "Any Other God" found much later on the album.

Wilco (The Album)

2009-05-17T14:15:00.006-04:00

Combining the meandering laziness of Sky Blue Sky with the more upbeat tunes of Summerteeth, Wilco assemble another album of warm, mellow summer songs, just in time for the season with its release on June 30th.Wilco (The Album), with its in-your-face title and cover art, is a true testament to the band's progress toward mastery of their unique blend of country music and indie rock. The first three tracks on the album are vintage Wilco at its finest: they exemplify everything I love about the band, including Jeff Tweedy's emotive vocal performance and the group's powerful songwriting. The aptly-titled opener "Wilco The Song" is an upbeat opening track that is sure to get stuck in your head (and with it the line "Wilco, I love you," which could be an interesting marketing strategy but was probably intended as an ironic statement.) "Deeper Down" is more interesting musically, with its Andrew Bird-esque backdrop of high-pitched strings, while "One Wing" is an all-around incredible song that captures the essence of the entire album. "Bull Black Nova" is a more experimental track, with extremely repetitive pulsating notes to balance out Tweedy's smooth lyricism. The next track, "You And I," is the charming collaboration with Feist that everyone has been so excited about, and it certainly lives up to the standards of both artists. The album takes a turn toward the more boring with the next few tracks, but then returns to form with the heartbreaking "Solitaire" and the rock anthem "I'll Fight." "Sunny Feeling" and "Everlasting" (which are both steadily growing on me) end the album as polar opposites, with the former continuing the basic rock styles and the latter closing with an extremely mellow build-up that evokes "On And On And On" from Sky Blue Sky and possibly even "Reservations" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The comparisons to YHF end there, however, and those expecting a "comeback album" will be disappointed. Fans of Summerteeth, A Ghost Is Born, and Sky Blue Sky won't, however, and the album is a perfectly-fitting addition to Wilco's extensive discography.

Animal Collective Live

2009-05-16T21:31:00.017-04:00

On Thursday night I had the wonderful privilege of seeing Animal Collective perform live at the House of Blues in Boston. The concert only increased my awe and respect for the members of the collective, and solidified their status as my favorite band of all time. Following the more quiet, reverb-loving noise folk act Grouper (who also sounded pretty cool), Avey, Panda, and Geologist took to the stage with high energy and churned out track after track of danceable animal grooves. The band played continuously for about an hour and a half, rarely speaking but instead shouting random noises into the microphones and playing with the electronic equipment. They only stopped to take a brief break before the encore, to say "thank you" to everyone for coming, and to exclaim "that one was wild" after the audience got a bit too rowdy during "Slippi."

The stage was set up like a DJ dance/disco hall, with a giant floating orb projecting various images and videos while strobe lights flashed and rainbows erupted in time with the beats. The MPP album cover was draped across the back like a flag, and all the flashing lights served to enhance the optical illusion. There was also a drum set behind Panda's sound board, though it remained unused much to my dismay and was probably there just as a back-up.

The AC fans in the audience went wild during the more upbeat songs: people crowd-surfed, moshed, bounced up and down, and knocked into each other repeatedly as the pulsing rhythms filled the venue. I wasn't expecting anything like a dance party when I first got to the concert, but found it was really fun to lose myself in the movements of everyone around me. Clouds of smoke also erupted as various people lit up during the more trance-like parts of the concert, though some were asked to leave by security (not cool.)

Here's the set list (I tried to recreate the exact order, but some things may be mixed up):

Concert:
1. "What Would I Want Sky"
2. "Summertime Clothes"
3. "Guys Eyes"
4. "#1"
5. "Slippi"
6. "Who Could Win A Rabbit?"
7. "Fireworks Essplode"
8. "Bleed"
9. "Comfy In Nautica"
10. "Brother Sport"

Encore:
11. "Chocolate Girl"
12. "My Girls"
13. "Leaf House"

Click on the links to download mp3s of the new songs or see video clips I took of my favorite parts of the concert. (The videos for "Slippi," "My Girls," and "Summertime Clothes" were taken and posted by someone else.)

"What Would I Want Sky" is an awesome new post-MPP song that sounds warm, sunny, and a bit repetitive. "Bleed" is also new, though it might've gone unnoticed by many as it sounds similar to the sonic experimentation between songs. "Fireworks Essplode" is a medley where verses from "Lablakely Dress" and "Essplode" (from Danse Manatee) were inserted between the parts of "Fireworks" from Strawberry Jam. The tunes from older albums were also given new mixes, almost as if the band were updating its catalogue to fit in more with the new material. "Slippi," "Chocolate Girl," "Who Could Win A Rabbit?" and "Leaf House" were all set to a different backdrop of dance beats and electronic samples provided by Geologist and Panda, sounding as if they were part of Merriweather Post Pavilion. Another cool treat was the performance of Panda Bear's "Comfy In Nautica," which none of us were really expecting but went over really well. Though I was pleased to here all of the aforementioned, my favorite was definitely "#1," which sounded even stranger and more bizarrely ritualistic when coupled with the swirling onstage images and the hypnotic ambience that fell over the crowd. I would've liked to hear "Safer," "Daily Routine," or anything from Feels, which was conspicuously absent, but I guess that's what live albums are for and I really can't complain. Check out the audio streams of their other concerts (just search on Stereogum) to hear more.

The bottom line is, if Animal Collective ever comes near you while on tour, GO SEE THEM! I guarantee that you'll have a good time. Also, check out the video clips I took during the concert to get more of a feel for what it was like. Below is my video of one of the new songs:

"Hold The Line"; "Zumbi"

2009-05-11T16:38:00.005-04:00

Two singles from Major Lazer, the new collaboration between recent popular remix DJs/producers Diplo and Switch (or Sinden) are available for free download on music blogs everywhere, and if these tracks show any inkling for what to expect from the debut album Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, it's going to be one hell of an album.

The first single from the album, "Hold The Line," featuring vocals and rapping from Mr. Lexx and Santigold (who has become quite the trendy artist to feature on singles), is an example of the variety, ambition, and strangeness we can expect from the two DJs. It samples horses, phone lines, operators, and various other random things while keeping a quick pace with a rockabilly "Misirlou"-like background. It's crazy, it's weird, and it's extremely addicting and an all-around pleasure to listen to.

Playing up the bizarre side of things is the other single, "Zumbi," which is not actually on the tracklist for the album but should still be downloaded. Featuring incredibly distorted and mechanical vocals from Andy Milonakis, whose growth hormone deficiency leads to some incredibly creepy thoughts considering the subject matter, the track is pretty minimal in its elements (rhythm is kept only by something that sounds like a laser gun and a repeated groaning in the background) but so intriguing that it's hard to stop listening. The lyrics are both corny and bad-ass at the same time: the song is from the perspective of a zombie who repeatedly refers to eating brains as a sexual act. Some of the more hilarious lines include "you can't test me, 'cause I eat your zombie blood like Nestle Quick, and you'll suck my zombie dick" and "me, I'm zombie and me don't eat gays 'cause I don't like the HIV." At certain moments in the song (like the former of the two lyrics I just mentioned) Andy's voice dissolves in an infinite reverb loop: these are the big payoffs that make the song incredibly worthwhile.

The album drops June 16th, and I hope to get a copy ASAP.

The Very Best Mixtape

2009-05-11T16:09:00.004-04:00

Released at the very end of last year, The Very Best Mixtape by The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit) went unnoticed by many, including myself. I just gave it a listen today, and the only phrase I can use to describe it is "really cool."Esau Mwamwaya is an up-and-coming London-based MC born in Malawia, and Radioclit are a European production team. The mixtape itself, which is available for FREE digital download on the team's myspace site, is a collection of tracks which take the instrumentals, beats, and backgrounds from popular recent songs and overdub them with African chants, rhythms, tribal vocals, and rapping. Sounds cool, right? My favorites are "Kamphopo," which uses the tropical percussion from Architecture In Helsinki's single "Heart It Races," "Tengazako," which uses the motif that M.I.A. borrowed from The Clash for "Paper Planes," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," which spices up the Vampire Weekend afrobeat track by cranking up the speed and energy, and "Boyz," which does the same with my personal favorite of M.I.A.'s. Both she and Santigold also appear on another cool track found toward the end of the album, "Get It Up." "Kada Manja" and "Dinosaur On The Ark" are a couple of other tracks that, though I can't recognize any sample material involved, are still just as awesome, thanks to the genius of Radioclit. Other tracks of note are "Salota," "Funa Funa," and "Chikondi," though the whole album is worthy of your time. To cap it off, the mixtape closes with "Will You Be There," which throws some Michael Jackson into the mix and is so well-produced that it sounds like the Lion King-esque additions have always been a part of the song. Once Esau is done singing, he takes the opportunity to tell the listeners how much he loves them and makes a plug for a debut album, which already sounds incredibly promising.

Yesterday And Today

2009-05-10T16:36:00.005-04:00

Another great act from Sweden, The Field, also has a new record on the way. Yesterday And Today, the follow-up to 2007's epic From Here We Go Sublime, will be released on May 26th.
Like its predecessor, Yesterday And Today is about an hour's worth of minimalist ambient techno split amongst a few lengthy tracks, though here there are fewer and they're even longer (with the closer, "Sequenced," clocking in at over 15 minutes.) The new album, though continuing in the same vein, offers an interesting new twist on producer Axel Willner's one-trick formula. You can still expect the same vast, expansive sound that characterized the icy chill of the debut, but it's gotten slightly warmer over the 2-year gap between releases. This is probably due to the increased use of human vocal samples, something which Willner has been incorporating more and more into his live shows of late. These are especially evident on the preview track, "The More That I Do," and on "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime," which borderlines on having vocals and lyrics (gasp!) Though most of the tracks contain the repetitive elements on which the ambient techno genre thrives, Yesterday And Today has a significantly greater dynamic range than From Here We Go Sublime. More electronic effects, layering, and use of different samples push the music in new directions, offering a lot of subtle yet exciting twists and turns that make the album especially enjoyable. However, I wouldn't say the sound is more refined: Yesterday And Today is more like a bolder, more adventurous sibling to the 2007 release rather than an evolutionary step forward (something also reflected in the album art, which is almost exactly the same for both discs.)

Outside Love

2009-05-09T21:13:00.004-04:00

Not having been a fan of 2006's Axis Of Evol, I was very reluctant to listen to the new release from Pink Mountaintops, a side project of Stephen McBean of the Black Mountain collective. After hearing a few free downloads of "Vampire" and "While You Were Dreaming," however, I was convinced that I should probably give the whole album a try, and I am so glad that I did.
I have a feeling that Outside Love is going to be fairly overlooked, and that's a real shame because it might be one of my favorite releases so far this year. The album is simple and continues to re-use the same formula of psychedelic noise-washed folk, but each track is actually very rich and elegant, having a subtle uniqueness that emerges only after repeated listens. While McBean's more upbeat tracks like "Holiday" and "The Gayest Of Sunbeams" are all good and well, the true genius of the album lies in the slow downers with an interplay of male and female vocals "While You Were Dreaming," "And I Thank You," and "Closer To Heaven." All of these tracks have a gradual build-up, slowly adding layer upon layer until a magnificent amalgamation of sounds and textures is formed. Though the songs have simple melodies with decent lyrics, the backdrop of sound on each track is the dealbreaker for me. Because of the lazy ambience of each of the individual tracks, the album as a whole fits together beautifully and ends up immensely improving upon the group's former efforts.

The Snake

2009-05-09T20:51:00.004-04:00

The new album from vocals and drums duo, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, recently dropped on vinyl and I must say it's a pretty great effort. Though the sound is not exactly just drums and vocals, it's definitely limited in its scope of instruments and The Snake a perfect example of an album that uses percussion and the human voice to their full effect.
I must admit that I haven't heard their 2006 debut, Heartcore, but seeing as it was awarded Swedish Jazz Act of the Year and I'm not a huge jazz fan, it's pretty clear how I overlooked it. I'm still not sure what enticed me to this album, as it's described as "alternative blues punk jazz" on Wikipedia, but I guess I've been more intrigued by interesting rhythms lately, and this album definitely has them. I was pleasantly surprised when I gave it a listen, as so many things could've gone horribly wrong with the simple formula, and it turns out that The Snake reminds me a lot of some favorites like Give Up by The Postal Service and Devotion by Beach House while sounding nothing like either of them. Similar to the way Ben Gibbard's voice seems to float over James Tamborello's electronic compositions, vocalist Mariam Wallentin's strange, ethereal singing rides along Andreas Werliin's repetitive percussion patterns as a surfer would ride on top of a wave. Basic drums, woodblocks, chimes, and many other unexpected instruments provide an appropriately weird backdrop for the vocals, which seem as if they're trying to grasp the same sort of sound that Victoria Legrand of Beach House has mastered. Notable tracks include "Chain Of Steel," "Great Lines," "Liar Lion," and "My Heart."

Manners; Chunk Of Change

2009-05-09T20:20:00.010-04:00

Passion Pit has been getting a lot of attention lately, and people have been likening them to groups like MGMT or even calling them "the next Animal Collective." While I wouldn't go that far (I'd actually never go that far), most of the attention is deserved: Passion Pit really knows how to make good music. Both the full-length debut Manners (set for release on May 19th) and last year's Valentines-gift-turned-widespread-EP Chunk Of Change contain some incredibly catchy pop melodies that are sure to please casual listeners and aficionados alike.

The comparison to MGMT is actually very accurate, as Manners is very similar to Oracular Spectacular in that it has a few stand-out tracks (like lead single "Moth's Wings" and "Eyes Like Candles") that are climbing the ranks of my favorite songs of all time, while the other tracks aren't nearly as good but are still pleasant to listen to. The vocal performance is also very similar in both groups, and Michael Angelakos' falsetto is just as endearing and distinctive as James Mercer's and Zach Rogue's. That being said, Manners is a much stronger album as a whole than Oracular Spectacular was. From "Kids"-esque opener "Make Light" to the retro-dance influences on "The Reeling" to the high-pitched vocoder distortion on "Sleepyhead," the tracks on this album all offer different facets of the band while at the same time fitting together in a logical way to make a cohesive pop album that dabbles in the electro genre.

The Chunk Of Change EP sounds quite different, evoking dance-punk acts like Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem on tracks like "Better Things" and soft electronic artists like Kelley Polar and Junior Boys on opener "I've Got Your Number." In case you didn't know the story, Angelakos recorded a few tracks for his girlfriend on Valentine's Day and once it circulated through his group of friends, it got so much attention that the group was signed and released the EP only a few months later. Anyway, all of the tracks on the EP, except maybe "Cuddle Fuddle," are heartwarming, genuine, and excellent ear candy, and when combining forces to form the sum of the parts they pretty much top the debut.

The Bachelor

2009-05-02T14:52:00.012-04:00

With album artwork that evokes (at least in my mind) a cut-scene from the classic Playstation RPG, Final Fantasy VII, Patrick Wolf's follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed The Magic Position finds his music taking on a darker, more adventurous, and more dangerous sound, making the fanboy reference all the more appropriate. The Bachelor, the first in a duo of releases making up the former double album Battle, is a concept album named for the Sussex town in which it was recorded and will be released on June 1st.The darker, more disturbed sound of the album hearkens back to Wolf's debut, Lycanthropy, which incidentally features the musician in a very similar pose on the album cover. The font and placement of the artist name and album title further enhance the similarities, making it evident that the return to form was Patrick's intent. A few of the tracks, such as the incredible opener and second single "Hard Times," are as upbeat as some of the tracks on Magic Position, but there is a stark difference in tone achieved by the instruments used and the electronic manipulation applied in collaboration with pioneer Matthew Herbert. Most of the tracks, however, are slower and more introspective, resembling the more subtle "Augustine" and "The Stars" of the previous album. "Damaris," "Thickets," "Who Will," "Blackdown," and "Theseus" (on which actress Tilda Swinton speaks the "voice of hope") all exemplify a new trend of a gradual build-up of tension followed by an overwhelming release at the very end of the song through use of epic piano and string arrangements. At the same time, some tracks like "Oblivion" have more of an off-kilter electronic beat, another aspect which reminds us of Patrick's earlier work. All in all, the album is an incredibly cohesive exploration of themes of love and warfare, and I for one am already excited for The Conqueror, the second part of what promises to be an incredible double album.

Bitte Orca

2009-04-25T21:18:00.007-04:00

Another hit-or-miss group, Dirty Projectors, also have a new album right around the corner: Bitte Orca. "Warholian Wigs" and "I Will Truck" from The Getty Address as well as "What I See" and "Gimme Gimme Gimme" from Rise Above are examples of experimentation that work beautifully, whereas some other tracks are just too out there to sound pleasing. Bitte Orca, however, is all hit and no miss.Maybe it's because there's only 9 tracks instead of 13 or 14, maybe it's the increased collaboration with Angel Deradoorian (like on the beautiful "Two Doves") and Amber Coffman (who contributes vocals on the stellar single "Stillness Is The Move"), or maybe it's just a natural progression for Dave Longstreth's new-folk project, but Bitte Orca seems like a much more focused album and may be the best they've recorded yet. The sound is more polished and the musical themes are much more fleshed out, while the songs are jam-packed with the same energy present in the best tracks of their discography. They're catchier and more accessible than ever, and while that may seem like a bad thing to some, accessibility is exactly what Dirty Projectors needed. This is not to say that they sold out or even came close, they've just finally refined their sound to its pinnacle: the bizarre song structures, rhythms, and guitar-work are just as weird as ever and the songs still have the distinct Dirty Projectors sound. This is exemplefied in the raucous opener "Cannibal Resource" as well as the more subtle tracks "No Intention" and "Remade Horizon." Though it actually isn't released until June 9th, this album is already on my list of the best of 2009.

"River"

2009-04-25T13:36:00.005-04:00

Akron/Family's more mellowed-out version of Animal Collective's freak folk is usually a hit or miss for me. Some of their songs are ridiculously good, such as "Gone Beyond" from Meek Warrior and "Running/Returning" from their self-titled debut, while others are just plain boring and uninspired. Their new album, Set 'Em Wild Set 'Em Free, continues this traditional dichotomy, but here the ratio of good to bad is slightly improved. The track that makes the entire album, however, is also the first single, "River." With its fusion of tropical instruments and a steady, light-hearted beat, the song is sure to put you in a better mood after listening. The lyrics are charming, the music is bright and sunny, and it's just a catchy track all-around.

You can download it from Pitchfork for free by clicking here.

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

2009-04-14T16:12:00.005-04:00

There haven't been many good new albums lately (hence the lack of posts) but one of my recent finds has slowly grown on me: Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, the new disc from Smog's Bill Callahan.
I'm not too familiar with most of Bill's other work as Smog, but I plan to be after hearing this. Some reviews I've read have said that the songs recorded under his real name showed a stark contrast with his earlier, lo-fi folk recordings in both sound quality and subject matter. That being said, I think this album is somewhat of a return to form. Though there are many layers of instruments over Callahan's monotone vocals, the structures are simple, repetitive, and somewhat hypnotic while the lyrics capture some of the horrid feelings of despair found on the only Smog record I've heard, Red Apple Falls. Bill does a lot of interesting things on this album with the few elements he has at his disposal, including the Arabian sounds on "The Wind And The Dove" and the back-up choir on "Rococo Zephyr." He also uses his words as an important instrument, creating a profound build-up toward the end of "Too Many Birds" just by repeating elements of the phrase "if you could only stop your heartbeat for one heartbeat" over and over again, adding each new word one at a time until complete. Other notable tracks include the single "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" (which is surprisingly dark and atypical), the satisfyingly upbeat "My Friend", and the 9-minute closer, "Faith/Void."

Playlist: Do The Happy Dance

2009-03-30T23:08:00.006-04:00

Every once in awhile, I put together a playlist for myself that's more personal than the ones we throw together for our show. Whenever I do, it seems like the songs pick themselves and come together naturally, and thus they're usually rare as there's a lot of waiting involved (the last was in December.) The mixes usually consist of a wide range of songs I've been obessed with, either old or new, and they are meant to be played at random, as each song fits in so well with the rest that the order doesn't matter. Anyway, I though I'd share this one with you all; it's called Do The Happy Dance. Though most of the tracks aren't "dance" tracks by any means, most of them do have a persistent beat (and electronic effects) and they will most likely make you happy, as they do for me:

1. "Unsolved Mysteries" by Animal Collective off of Strawberry Jam
2. "No Dice" by Beirut off of Realpeople Holland
3. "Major Label Debut" by Broken Social Scene off of Broken Social Scene
4. "Surprise Stefani" by Dan Deacon off of Bromst
5. "The Twist" by Frightened Rabbit off of The Midnight Organ Fight
6. "Hold Onto Love" by Golden Birthday off of Infinite Leagues
7. "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear off of Veckatimest
8. "Angela" by John Vanderslice off of Pixel Revolt
9. "Dull To Pause" by Junior Boys off of Begone Dull Care
10. "We Live In An Expanding Universe" by Kelley Polar off of I Need You To Hold On When The Sky Is Falling
11. "Human" by The Killers off of Day & Age
12. "Tonight" by Lykke Li off of Youth Novels
13. "Middle Is Gold" by Mates Of State off of Team Boo
14. "Sing Me Spanish Techno" by The New Pornographers off of Twin Cinema
15. "Young Adult Friction" by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart off of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
16. "Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur" by Sigur Ros off of Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
17. "Elevator Love Letter" by Stars off of Heart
18. "Sister" by Vetiver off of Tight Knit
19. "Softshock" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs off of It's Blitz
20. "Tightrope" by Yeasayer off of Dark Was The Night

Follow the links to free mp3 downloads, courtesy of the blogs on Elbows music blog aggregator (except "Middle Is Gold" and "Hold Onto Love," which are courtesy of me.)

It's Blitz

2009-03-29T22:30:00.003-04:00

It's Blitz, the new album from Yeah Yeah Yeahs that recently hit shelves, is a departure from their early punk-rock roots in the days of Fever To Tell. However, the new album's experiment in synth-pop just goes to show that the superb songwriting abilities of the group span across multiple genres.
The album begins with the hit single, "Zero," which is energetic, upbeat, and extremely catchy. The use of the synthesizer sets the tone for the rest of the album, while Karen O's distinct vocals carry the sound to a new level. This continues on the next track, "Heads Will Roll." It isn't until the third track, though, that the album really hits its stride. Throwing a bit of oriental music in the mix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs here create their best song since "Maps": "Softshock." This is followed by another incredible oriental-influenced track, "Skeletons," that starts with just Karen and slowly builds up to an excellent amalgamation of drums, guitars, and synthesizer that reminds me of (and I hate to bring it up yet again) Animal Collective's "My Girls." The next few tracks are less exciting, but still decent. Those are followed by "Runaway," another of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's softer, more emotional tracks. The third of the three songs that make this album truly special, though, is the penultimate track, "Hysteric," which throws in a few endearing vocals and unexpected melodies to round off the album, which then ends on the beautiful downer "Little Shadow." It's a very satisfying listen, and fans of Yeah Yeah Yeahs (especially those who love "Maps" as much as I do) will see past the change in sound and recognize the variety of talent in the group.

The Midnight Organ Fight

2009-03-16T11:33:00.004-04:00

Another of 2008's many fantastic albums, The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit was vastly overlooked and under-appreciated by many, including myself. I picked up a copy sometime last Spring but never listened to it, not being particularly fond of their first effort Sing The Greys. On the first listen, I found all of the songs pretty catchy, but as it wasn't that new, experimental, or different, I didn't give it much thought. But now, almost a year after its release, I find that I can't stop listening to it.
The album is a perfect example of the popular trend of Scottish indie rock (a genre I don't even care for all that much); nothing more, nothing less. The difference here is that it's done to perfection. The song-writing is incredible and every track is solid, catchy, and just really enjoyable to listen to. There's nothing wrong with staying in the confines of tradition like this album does, as long as the product is quality. The Midnight Organ Fight, using a euphemism for sex as its title, is an album about relationships. The lyrics are simple and heartfelt (though at times vulgar.) Scott Hutchison's Scottish accent croons over the folk-infused rock music, showing a wide range of emotion especially on tracks like "The Modern Leper" and "Keep Yourself Warm." There's so much variety, ranging from the upbeat excellence of "I Feel Better" and "The Twist" to the soft, bittersweet sentimentality of "Poke" and "Floating In The Forth." Just put away any preconceived notions of this genre, this band, and this album and give it a listen. It's easy to appreciate it for what it is.

Veckatimest

2009-03-11T21:21:00.007-04:00

I just recently got my hands (or ears?) on the latest effort from Brooklyn-based Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest (to be released May 26th, 2009). Named for the summer vacation spot in which it was written and recorded, the long-awaited follow-up to 2006's Yellow House has instantly placed among my list of favorites in 2009.
The album continues and expands the psychedelic splendor of Grizzly Bear's sound, while at the same time pushing the band in new and different directions, probably due to the collaborative efforts of minimalist composer Nico Muhly (who also contributes vocals). A few tracks closely resemble last year's release from Daniel Rossen's other project, Department Of Eagles (see my best of 2008 list), as they have more propulsive rhythm that is common among the psych-folk scene nowadays (Dodos are the perfect example.) In tracks like "Two Weeks" and "While You Wait For The Others," they also capitalize more on a signature Grizzly Bear trait: the use of ghostly, choir-like background voices that harmonize with Rossen and Ed Droste, the other driving force behind the band. A change in song-writing is also present, as several tracks including opener "Southern Point" and "Ready, Able" have more complex structures than what we're used to, though the change is not necessarily an improvement, it just seems different. Apparently Victoria Legrand of Beach House also guests on this album, though I can't seem to figure out where (she's probably lurking in the background of "Two Weeks" or "Dory".) I guess that's just a testament to how seamless the album is, though, and I prefer how Grizzly Bear carefully integrates the individual elements to create something entirely different from its components rather than succumbing to a more gimmicky approach. Yellow House is one of my all-time favorite albums, and as such I am not quite ready to decide how I think Veckatimest compares, but the bottom line is that it's definitely an incredible album in its own right and was definitely worth the 3-year wait.

94diskont

2009-03-02T20:46:00.008-05:00

Oval's 1996 masterpiece, 94diskont, is perhaps the defining album of the glitch subgenre of electronic music. Markus Popp of Oval was one of the founding pioneers of the genre (along with Christian Marclay) and uses the "aesthetic of failure" to create beautiful soundscapes evoking a variety of emotions using source material of beeps, clicks, scratches, and other "bad" sounds. In fact, this album was created mostly through destroying old LP records and splicing their sounds together. Like fellow glitch master Christian Fennesz's Endless Summer, 94diskont could change the way you hear and think about music.The sprawling opening track, "Do While," is a slow exploration of a simple repeated theme that is sure to be ingrained into your head before the 25 minutes are up. Taking hints from minimalist composers such as Terry Riley and Steve Reich, Oval uses repetition to create a subtle but striking build-up that needs every second of the track to truly evolve. "Store Check" continues in the same subtle mannerisms. "Line Extension," the track that drew me to this album in the first place, is just brilliant. At times I don't even know what sounds I'm hearing, but they blend together into such a fluid movement that I find myself getting swept in every time I hear it. "Cross Selling" and "Shop In Store" also develop repetetive themes like in "Do While," though they are a bit more jarring and exciting because of the harsher sounds used. "Do While Apple-X" returns to the same theme as the album's opener, bringing the listener back to the beginning of the journey and completing a truly fantastic album.

Bromst

2009-02-27T13:35:00.003-05:00

OK, I knew this was going to be good, but I didn't know exactly how good. Bromst, the new album from Dan Deacon which will officially be released on March 23rd, turned out to be one of the best things I've heard in quite awhile.
Spanning approximately 70 minutes with 11 tracks, Bromst is an album of truly epic proportions. If you liked "Wham City" from 2007's Spiderman Of The Rings, you'll love the 7-9 minute tracks that anchor the album amidst the frenzied, chaotic pieces we've come to expect from Dan Deacon. It seems as if he's taken all the best elements from Spiderman and expanded and reworked them into a masterpiece of pulsating chipmunk-synth dance music. Just like he promised, however, a much greater range of emotion is included, and new tricks and experiments were also thrown into the mix to create a sound that is both familiar and new. Fans of "The Crystal Cat" will love the fast-paced, chirruping sounds of "Red F," "Padding Ghost," and "Woof Woof." Tracks like "Surprise Stefani" and "Baltihorse" are much gentler compositions, with beautiful layers of synthesizers, bells, and chimes (like "Big Milk" except on a much larger, more grandiose scale.) The centerpiece of the album, however, is the pair of back-to-back epics found a few tracks in. Both of these feature new styles and new source material for Dan Deacon: he arranges tiny segments of sound and arranges them in a rapid sequence, similar to "Orphaned" by Max Tundra (to which I dedicated a much earlier post), in the grand finale of "Snookered" and uses a chorus of tribal vocals as the backdrop for "Of The Mountains." The only new thing that didn't work out amazingly well was "Wet Wings," which consists of several layers of the sounds of women wailing and not much else. It feels out of place amidst the highly-polished, carefully constructed electronica that comprises the rest of this incredible album. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of hype about this album as it gets closer to the date, but you can be assured that it deserves every bit of it.

Yes Or No; Tight Knit

2009-02-23T21:01:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Christine and I did a show where we took random CDs off of the shelves of the radio library and played them on air without ever listening to them in advance (you should check out the archive on bsrlive.com if you wish to listen.) It was actually a huge success, at least in terms of the expansion of my musical horizons. We tried to pick really obscure stuff that we'd never even heard of before, and most of it turned out to be really good (and I mean really.)

One of the tracks we played was "Say Fiesta" by Francois Virot, off of the album Yes Or No. We both loved the song so much on the first listen that I had no choice but to snatch the CD and rip it to my computer, and now, weeks later, listen to it in full. Let me say that I definitely was not disappointed, and the song I liked so much from our show is actually one of the weaker tracks on the album (which says a whole lot.) Virot's voice reminds me a whole lot of both Avey Tare and Zach Schwartz of Rogue Wave, especially when he sings the word "scared." The music itself is very humble and simple folk-pop (though it's technically classified as "freak-folk" due to the vocals) and the songs are both catchy and endearing. My favorites are the opener "Not The One," "Island," and closer "Yes Sun" but all of the tracks are solid.

Another surprisingly solid album is the new one from Vetiver, Tight Knit. This one didn't strike me as much on the first listen as Virot did, but after several all of the subtleties finally began to emerge. The title could just as easily apply to the way the tightly packaged music begins to unravel as you explore deeper as it does to the subject matter. Tight Knit sees Andy Cabic pushing the Banhart-inspired freak-folk into a more Beatlesque realm of psychedelic folk/pop, though it sounds even more relaxed and pleasant than that. Tracks like "Sister" and "More Of This" are more upbeat and fun while closer "At Forest Edge" is mellow and beautiful. Give it a chance and let it wrap around your cerebral cortex for a bit; it may just become one of your favorite albums of 2009 (so far.)

Skin Of Evil; Skeleton; Your Blues; Beet, Maize, & Corn

2009-02-21T00:08:00.009-05:00

I've spent the majority of my time this week doing math homework, so naturally I've listened to a lot of music in the background. Math problems are really repetetive and somewhat mindless, so they're perfect for doing while music is playing. Here are a few albums that stood out after (many) repeated listens:

Skin Of Evil by Blackout Beach: This is a new album reviving an old solo project of Frog Eyes and Swan Lake member Carey Mercer, released in December. It continues in the same noisy, chaotic vein of the two other projects, though this is perhaps even darker and less "musical." The song structures are, as usual, extremely complex, and this time they incorporate a lot more electronic elements, such as the sound of heavy pulsating static that is becoming increasingly common (like on another great album, Palm Fronds by The Double.) "Cloud Of Evil" and "Astoria, Menthol Lite, Hilltop, Wave Of Evil, 1982" bookend the album with awesomeness. I hope this is a sign of good things to come from the upcoming Enemy Mine LP from Swan Lake in March.

Skeleton by Abe Vigoda: An interesting concoction of punk and tropicalia. For some reason it sounds especially good on nice headphones, which means the simple, upbeat tunes also have a more subtle element that really enhances the overall aesthetic. The album itself is really solid as every track is pretty great, though some standouts include "The Garden," "Cranes," and the title track.

Your Blues by Destroyer: All of my friends always rave about The New Pornographers, but I've never really appreciated them as much for some reason. I tried delving into their earlier work, and while I do like some of the tracks on Mass Romantic, it's just not that interesting to me. However, Dan Bejar's other project, Destroyer, is pure genius. A melancholy mood pervades this album (hence the title) and the music is really beautiful, especially "Notorious Lightning" and "New Ways Of Living."

Beet, Maize, & Corn by The High Llamas: The sound on this album is one of the most unique sounds I've ever heard, even though it doesn't seem experimental or avant-garde at all. The High Llamas really capture a certain mood (or maybe place, or even time period?), though I can't quite put my finger on what it reminds me of, except for maybe my image the '50s or old movies/cartoons. I guess that makes it even better though, since now it can almost transcend time and space. Really nostalgic and heartwarming (like sitting next to a fireplace), especially "Rotary Hop" and "The Click And The Fizz."

I guess none of these are typical "background music," but through playing them in the background their intricacies have sort of become ingrained in my head, which always seems to happen at one point or another with the best of albums.

Sweet Love For 2009

2009-02-12T23:17:00.009-05:00

So 2009 is actually shaping up to be quite a year, and it's still only February. Not only are there a ton of great new albums from reputable artists, but there are also some great new groups (and more are on the way!) A key element to the success so far, however, is this compilation album:
Dark Was The Night, the brainchild of Aaron and Bryce Dessner (both members of indie rock greats The National), is a Red Hot Organization compilation released on the 4AD label to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. Also, it's pure genius. It's like they read my mind when gathering these 31 exclusive tracks spread across 2 CDs or 3 LP records. If you like the same music I do, you're likely to immediately recognize about 50% of the artists just from the tracklisting and then recognize another 45% when you actually hear the songs, as there's a lot of solo work here from members of notable bands. Not only are the brand new tracks representative of the best work from each artist (a lot of which happen to be my personal favorite musicians), but about half of the tracks are duets(!!!) I can't really think of anything I enjoy more than hearing two extremely familiar voices pair up to create something greater than the sum of its parts. My favorite tracks from the album include "Knotty Pine," an unexpected collaboration between Dirty Projectors and David Byrne, "Cello Song," which features the vocals of Jose Gonzalez crooning over the electronic sample-based pop of The Books, and "Service Bell," a chilling interplay between Leslie Feist and Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear. I don't think I've ever heard another compilation album that's quite as strong.

Aside from that, I've found more information about some important albums that are due this year and heard some more rumors of things to come that sound very interesting:

1) Hold Time, M. Ward's follow-up to the acclaimed Post-War, will be here on February 17th. It's already gotten good reviews, so keep your ears out for this one.

2) Black Moth Super Rainbow's Eating Us is set to follow their Dandelion Gum and will be released May 26th.

3) It's official: Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear's proper follow-up to one of my favorite albums, Yellow House, is scheduled for release also on May 26th. It will supposedly feature guest appearances by minimalist composer Nico Muhly (who, incidentally, provided the score for "The Reader", possibly my favorite movie of the season) and Victoria Legrand of Beach House.

4) On May 19th, Sub Pop will release a collection of rarities from Iron & Wine, and I'll finally be able to hear that really long ballad song that everyone's been talking about. There will also be some Postal Service, Flaming Lips, and New Order covers, so get excited!

5) In addition, Patrick Wolf, Swan Lake, Akron/Family, Metric, Royksopp, Echo & The Bunnymen, Alela Diane, Vetiver, Phosphorescent, and Architecture In Helsinki will also be releasing new albums this year (some of which should be out before the end of the month.) Crystal Antlers, after a couple of introductory EPs, will release a debut this month as well. Blind Man's Colour, a band gaining popularity through covers of Animal Collective's "Taste" and "Brothersport" and which has a very similar sound (from what I heard from a fellow BSR program), will be releasing a debut album and EP as soon as a record label will sign them. I think someone better get on that...

I'll keep y'all posted on any news, as long as you'll keep your fingers crossed for a new Sufjan, Panda Bear, and Joanna.

Ferndorf; Infinite Leagues

2009-02-10T15:59:00.008-05:00

During our show last weekend I dug up a few CDs that were ignored when they first came in the mail toward the end of last year (our reviewing system is sadly very disorganized.) I'm lucky I decided to go through the bin, because I found two really good albums from last October: Ferndorf by Hauschka and Infinite Leagues by Golden Birthday.

Ferndorf is the third album by neo-classical minimalist composer, Volker Bertelmann, who makes use of a technique called "prepared piano" to create his short pieces of warm, melodic goodness. The technique involves putting random objects between the strings of the piano, and it was first explored by early pioneers of experimental music like John Cage. The result, in addition to the other string and percussion instruments layered over the repetitive piano backdrop, is a folksy, earthy sound that quickly progresses around the musical ideas. The album is named for Bertelmann's hometown, and it actually captures what I imagine to be the feeling of riding a bicycle around some Eastern European country. Very pretty, especially "Rode Null" and "Eltern."

Infinite Leagues had "For fans of early Eno and New Order" written on the distributor label, which is what immediately drew me to give it a listen. The voice does sound like Eno, but that was about the extent of the comparisons. The music is very touching, however, as it combines layers of lo-fi electronic pop to create a sort of surreal environment, again using repetition to set the mood. The closing track, "Good Guys," is especially phenomenal, most probably due to my affinity for vocoder experimentation. Side note: is it just me or does the cover look almost exactly like the cover (at least in idea) of Dan Deacon's upcoming Bromst LP? And, if the similarity was intentional, who copied whom? This one came out last October...

Finally, I somehow managed to get a copy of the new Junior Boys album that is scheduled for release in April, Begone Dull Care. Basically, it's amazing. Fans of Last Exit and So This Is Goodbye will definitely not be disappointed, and at the same time the duo manages to progress into new territory and refine their sound. "Dull To Pause" is just as heartbreaking as "Like A Child" while "Parallel Lines" is just as thrilling as "Teach Me How To Fight." Bravo! I'd post a picture, but unfortunately it's so premature to its release that it doesn't even have album art yet.

March Of The Zapotec And Realpeople Holland

2009-02-02T23:34:00.005-05:00

Another item from the list of things to look forward to has arrived: the double EP from Beirut, March Of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland, though the second disc should actually just be called Holland and credited to Realpeople, another of Zach Condon's musical projects. The rationale for this is that the two EPs are completely different from one another, and Holland is completely different from most of what Beirut is known for.

March Of The Zapotec continues Condon's experimentation with foreign music that began with his trip to the Balkans that inspired Gulag Orkestar and continued through to Western Europe in The Flying Club Cup. This one takes place in Mexico, and while it maintains the typical Beirut sound, I feel like it lacks a lot of the charm and good songwriting that was found on the aforementioned recordings. In contrast, Holland, though it shakes the foundation of what we've come to expect from Zach and is more electronic than anything else, actually retains the charm and is full of beautiful, emotional tracks. It's almost as if Condon was torn between what was expected of him, the traditional world-influenced folk music, and what he actually wanted to make, the synth-pop. He ended up making a little of each, but you can easily tell where his efforts and excitement were focused. "My Wife, Lost In The Wild" is a gorgeous, melancholy piece that is of the same vein as the previously released "My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille," only better, while "No Dice" is an incredibly catchy rollercoaster of a track that moves farthest away from the rest and still captures the emotion inherent in Beirut's music without taking advantage of any of Condon's vocals or typical instruments. I have so much respect for him right now because of his ability to convey the same essence in two vastly different genres of music, and I'm excited to see in which direction he'll go next.

Fever Ray

2009-01-31T13:43:00.006-05:00

So I just recently gave a few listens to an album I mentioned in one of my "things to look forward to" posts, the self-titled debut by Fever Ray, aka Karin Dreijer Andersson of Swedish electronic duo The Knife (it's out now digitally and I think in stores in March.) The more I let it sink in, the better I feel about it as a record, and now I'd like to take the opportunity to share my newfound excitement with you all.

Though the album art is extremely ugly and unappealing, the music is quite the opposite. The repetitive synthesized elements that characterized most of The Knife's work are also found here, yet more natural percussion is also included on some tracks, forming a concoction that is actually surprisingly similar to Animal Collective's "My Girls". While that alone could make for a good album, the real key with Fever Ray is Andersson's off-kilter, piercing vocals. She uses effects similar to Laurie Anderson's vocoder manipulations, and similarly has two separate "voices": one shockingly smooth and deep and the other her usual screechings. The layering of the two works beautifully and creates a richer, more lush feeling for each pop melody.

Most of the tracks are actually really good, but I guess my top picks would have to be "When I Grow Up," "Triangle Walks," and "I'm Not Done." Definitely one of the better releases so far this year, which I guess isn't saying much but whatever. Happy listening!

Born Free Forever; Comments Of The Inner Chorus

2009-01-29T15:25:00.006-05:00

Having been extremely disappointed in most of the new albums I've been hearing lately (probably due to the failure to compare to the genius that is Animal Collective) I was really excited to hear something that I liked: Born Free Forever by Bobby Birdman. It sort of resembles Phil Elverum's masterpiece as The Microphones, The Glow Pt. II, but with a more polished sound and more emphasis on vocals, which sound surprisingly like Damon Albarn of Gorillaz and Blur. While some of the tracks (especially "Fire" and "I Have But To Know What I Want") immediately stand out and are excellent on their own, what I like best about the album is its cohesion as a whole. It seems like one giant piece of intricately woven folk music, electronic effects, and melancholy lyrics, just split among 14 CD tracks for more accessibility. The transitions are so seamless it would be impossible to tell when a new song began if it weren't for the different track titles, but at the same time each "song" is very fresh and different from the ones preceding. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the alternative folk stylings of the aforementioned artists and others like Dirty Projectors and Bowerbirds.

Another interesting record I heard was Comments Of The Inner Chorus by Tunng. Though not as immediately wonderful as Bobby Birdman, I did enjoy the similar mixture of electronica and folk that seems to be a popular trend nowadays. Tracks like "Woodcat" and "The Wind Up Bird" carry some typical catchy folk melodies but add their own unique and exciting twist to the formula. Better yet, though, are the songs with more subtle use of electronics and samples, such as "Jenny Again" and the hidden track after the closer "Engine Room," which evoke favorite experimentalists that range from The Books to Fennesz (featured in the previous post.) It's some good stuff.

Endless Summer; I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling

2009-01-22T22:18:00.009-05:00

Prompted by its surprise appearance in a very vivid dream, I gave another listen to Endless Summer by Christian Fennesz, considered one of the masterpieces of the glitch genre. As I usually am when something inexplicable compels me to listen to something, I was blown away. The album is subtle genius: it combines fuzzy glitch electronics with acoustic guitar strumming to create something that is both artificial and yet deeply human. The result is an awe-inspiring soundscape of pure nostalgia, for what I can't quite place. All I know is that this music perfectly expresses the same feeling of bittersweet hopelessness that settles in when something reminds me of times past. I don't know how Fennesz captures the feeling of good things coming to an end (hence the title) so well, but it's really beautiful.

Another intriguing album I revisited toward the end of my winter break was Kelley Polar's I Need You To Hold On When The Sky Is Falling. When I first listened, I was surprised by 1) the fact that Kelley Polar is actually a man named Michael Kelley and 2) the sparseness of what I thought was going to be a lush album of layered electronics. Having been compared to Junior Boys, it deserved another chance to really sink in, so I gave it one to no disappointment. The songs, like those of Fennesz described above, are bittersweet in that they have dance synths and club beats but also evoke melancholic feelings of emptiness and isolation. Despite the colors of the album cover, the album is actually quite dark and a bit disturbing, especially the track "Chrysanthemum." But the music is still really affecting throughout, just not in the way I initially expected.

"My Girls"

2009-01-21T17:16:00.006-05:00

Animal Collective have posted a music video on their website for "My Girls." Funnily enough, it's almost exactly what I pictured when I heard the song.

Also, I'd like to revise my review from last time. After many more listens, "Guys Eyes" finally clicked and is now a vital part of the album and a good song. "Taste" is also now one of my favorite songs, and the album seems to be coming together as a whole slowly but surely. In addition, I'll concede that some of the tracks toward the end like "Bluish," "Lion In A Coma" and, through title and lyrics, "Summertime Clothes," all go along with the outdoorsy, summery feeling that inspires the album title. I still feel that "My Girls," "Brothersport," and "Daily Routine" sound more like dance club beats and to me only evoke images of flashy multi-colored disco lights piercing through the darkness. But I guess Merriweather Post Pavilion had nighttime concerts, too, so maybe it does line up. Anyway, the album is a very good one once you realize what the new sound actually means, it just takes quite awhile for that to happen.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

2009-01-09T14:25:00.011-05:00

OK, so I think I've finally listened to Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion enough times to give it a fair review. It took some getting used to, probably because Animal Collective completely changes their sound with each new album release with almost no warning except for the occasional warm-up EP like People or Water Curses. This album is no exception, though it's perhaps less of a leap than Strawberry Jam was from Feels or Sung Tongs was from Here Comes The Indian. However, there are also many similar elements from old albums on MPP, whether it be the lyrics and vocal stylings of Feels, the crazed electronics and repetition of Strawberry Jam, or the vocal manipulations of Sung Tongs. Thus, Merriweather Post Pavilion has something for fans of each album.
At the same time, though, the album seems to lack something that the others have. Perhaps it's because it's so overproduced, or maybe it's because it feels overly dense with all the layers of electronic instruments. In whichever case, it's missing the earthy, human qualities of earlier Animal Collective releases. AC explain that they named the album after childhood memories of hearing music outside at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland, but to me none of these songs evoke feelings of being outside in the sunlight. Instead they seem dark and synthetic, like a colored light show in a dance club or something. I must applaud the vocal performances, though: never before have Avey Tare and Panda Bear sounded so good together. Their voices seem to float around each other and occasionally collide for some really exciting moments. Panda Bear especially outdoes himself on his songs, while Avey Tare sees to have reverted to the soft, semi-demonic voice he used back on Feels, and though this isn't necessarily a bad thing I kind of miss the raw emotion of his screaming throughout the insane asylum of Strawberry Jam. The album as a whole, while somewhat poppy, still sounds distinctly Animal Collective, so I applaud them yet again for managing to make completely different music that is still true to their style.

Another problem I have with MPP is that it doesn't feel at all like a cohesive whole. The cover art, while really cool, doesn't really match up with the music like their album art has in the past, and the songs don't really flow in a way that makes sense to me. It feels more like a compilation album, and it's sort of disappointing because we all know AC is capable of piecing together some stellar works. The songs, however, are fantastic and some of my favorites from all of their discography, and, if it's possible, I feel like I love the songs but hate the album.

Since it is more of a collection of songs than an album, I thought it would be more appropriate to review each track individually. "In The Flowers" is the opener and also one of my favorites, especially during the bridge when all of the instruments come in. It's vintage Animal Collective, and it's a great way to start the album. "My Girls" is more electronic and less typical, but this one works amazingly. Panda Bear's vocals really shine, and Avey Tare's backups work better than ever. The song is catchy and the lyrics are really endearing: he sings about how all he wants is a house for his family. "Also Frightened" is another track like "In The Flowers," but it doesn't have as good of a build-up as the first. It's still a nice song, though. "Summertime Clothes" is another really catchy tune that definitely sounds more poppy than most of Animal Collective's music, but I forgive them since it's so fun to sing along.

The best track on the album is definitely "Daily Routine," which features another stunning vocal performance from Panda Bear. He floats around some heavy organ electronics, similar to those on "#1," until eventually the whole song dissolves into a beautiful piece of layered music and extended vocals that closely resembles the latter part of "Chores." Again, Panda Bear sings about his daughter and his home life, though it's not so easy to decipher any precise meaning. The next track, however, is where things start to get iffy. "Bluish" is a sappy/cute love song that hearkens back to those on Feels, and it's pretty good overall. I don't mind the lyrics, but there's one musical part that makes me sort of cringe (right before the chorus) because it sounds so cheesy and fake. I do like the overarching synth melody in the background, though.

"Guys Eyes" is a complete mess, and I think the album would've been much better without it. Here they push the vocal layering way over the limit, and it just sounds like a jumbled mess of words with no clear melody to follow. What really gets me the worst is in the middle of the song when they apply the tried-and-true trick of repeating the same line ("need her") over and over: it angers me to think they can get away with making a bad song just by putting one of their classic techniques to use. The next track, "Taste," is really only good by default, though it does have an interesting Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat-like granular synthesis pattern going on in the background. It sort of resembles "Unsolved Mysteries" but just isn't as good. Fortunately, the bouncy and somewhat silly "Lion In A Coma" takes a similar formula and uses it to save the latter half of the record. The vocal distortions sound similar to tracks at the end of Sung Tongs while the overall style is very Strawberry Jam, and I love it. "No More Runnin" is just a generic "pretty" track, which is disappointing because it's the closest thing to a ballad song on MPP and Animal Collective ballads are usually so epic and beautiful (see "Safer" and "Banshee Beat.")

Finally comes "Brothersport," a song encouraging Noah Lennox's brother Matt to speak (or sing) out, though the lyrics are again hard to decipher. I really wish I hadn't downloaded the leaked version of this song (I've learned my lesson), because now I don't think it'll ever feel like a legitimate part of the album and will always just seem like a bonus track. But, then again, the whole album seems like 11 consecutive bonus tracks, so I don't really know. The bottom line is that, even though some aspects of Merriweather Post Pavilion disappoint, some of the songs are fantastic and rank among the band's best. It just isn't a Strawberry Jam or a Feels.

More Looking Forward

2009-01-09T01:15:00.007-05:00

Really quickly, here's some more stuff I just found to get excited about: (I told you 2009 would be good!)

1. The Crying Light, Antony & The Johnsons' follow-up to the acclaimed I Am A Bird Now, is coming out on January 21st.

2. Noble Beast by Andrew Bird is due the same day, though I've already heard it and wasn't that impressed, except for the incredible track "Anonanimal."

3. Blood Bank, an EP by Bon Iver, is a "warm" response to the "cold" of debut album For Emma, Forever Ago from last January. It, too, will be released on the 21st.

4. Heartland, a new album from Owen Pallett's Final Fantasy pseudonym, will be finished and released in early 2009.

5. Apparently last year Panda Bear said he was working on a follow-up to Person Pitch. Though he didn't give any information about a release date, both he and Avey Tare are known for churning out lots of awesome music in a short amount of time (Person Pitch came out only months before Strawberry Jam, and both were incredible.)

That's it for now. If you have anything else you're excited about, leave a comment!

Looking Forward

2009-01-06T23:24:00.005-05:00

So, after finishing off an amazing year in the music business, the time has come to start anew. Each year, I start off thinking that the previous year would never be topped. After 2007's slew of new releases from really important artists such as The Shins, Modest Mouse, Panda Bear, Stars, etc., I was expecting 2008 to be a bit less active. Now, sitting at the front end of '09, I've been thinking that it can only be downhill from the fantastic albums I just finished describing with my year-end posts.

To get my spirits up, I've been doing research to find out what might be exciting in 2009, and, to my surprise, I found a whole lot to look forward to. Here's 10 things that will (hopefully) get Baby New Year started off on the right foot to beat its older brother:

1. Starting the year off right is Merriweather Post Pavilion, a new full-length from my favorite band, Animal Collective. Though it's already out on vinyl and digitally (I actually just finished giving it a first listen, but I'll save my thoughts for later), the CD doesn't hit US shelves until January 20th, so there're still two more weeks of eager anticipation.

2. A double EP from another favorite, Beirut, is scheduled for release in February. It's called March Of The Zapotec/Holland, and the first is influenced by Zach Condon's trip to Mexico while the second will have more of an electronic sound (according to a reliable source, Wikipedia.)

3. A Modest Mouse EP featuring outtakes from the two most recent albums, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank and Good News For People Who Love Bad News, is in the works. Modest Mouse EPs are usually about the length (and top the quality) of almost any other band's studio albums, so I'll bet it'll be worth the wait.

4. The follow-up to So This Is Goodbye by Junior Boys is slated for release in "early 2009." It's as of yet untitled but I'm sure it's going to be brilliant.

5. Similarly, Menomena is working on a follow-up to Friend And Foe and plan to release it sometime in 2009.

6. The Flaming Lips, after finishing their movie project Christmas On Mars, plan to release a follow-up to At War With The Mystics and said it can be ready for release as early as June.

7. Hazards Of Love by The Decemberists will hit stores in April. I'm not sure how excited I am about this one, however, seeing as the songs on their Always A Bridesmaid singles series were extremely underwhelming.

8. Dan Deacon's follow-up to 2007's Spiderman Of The Rings, Bromst, will hit shelves in March.

9. Dogs Die In Hot Cars, as part of their 2nd album project, will be challenging fans to mix and touch up the 17 song demos they've posted on their website. Sometime this year, they'll choose their favorites and release them as the follow-up to 2004's Please Describe Yourself.

10. Two new artists that sound fairly exciting will be releasing debuts in the near future: Dreijer Andersson of Swedish electronic group The Knife will be releasing a solo album in February under the name Fever Ray while Sholi, an experimental/psych-folk group likened to Xiu Xiu, will be releasing a self-titled album the same month.

On top of all of that, old friends Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens are both long overdue for a new full-length, so keep your fingers crossed that they'll get their act together before the year ends. Also, Grizzly Bear have been working on a follow-up to their mini-masterpiece, Yellow House. And, Deerhoof and Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound have been releasing albums like crazy every year of recent history, so what's to stop them from continuing their trend into 2009?

The 10 Best Albums Of 2008

2009-01-03T16:33:00.005-05:00

Finally, here's what some of you may or may not have been waiting for. To wrap up my year in review for 2008, here are my top 10 albums:

10. Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend: Though some may be sick of them after almost a full year of hype, the debut from the afrobeat ivy league pop band from Columbia University still retains all of its charm in my book. While the lyrics may be nonsensical and the sound may be a bit pretentious to some, there is no question that the songs are still unbelievably catchy and fun. It's hard to pick out notable tracks since each one has its own flavor and intrigue, but my favorites are "M79," "Campus," and "Walcott."

9. Devotion by Beach House: When I first heard this album, I thought it was pretty but boring, with the exception of the track "Astronaut." However, after about ten repeated listens at various points throughout 2008 and finally attending their concert in December, it all clicked. This album is really beautiful, with incredibly soothing vocals from Victoria Legrand atop flowing, dreamy, wistful indie pop instrumentals from Alex Scally. Notable tracks include the aforementioned and "Gila." Also check out the single they released in September, "Used To Be," which is probably my favorite Beach House song as of yet.

8. Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends by Coldplay: This album received mixed reviews upon its release in late summer, and it's pretty clear why. It was a giant leap away from Coldplay's earlier work, which mostly consisted of mellow songs that mostly sounded the same and were pleasant but not too interesting. Everything changed with Viva La Vida, however, most probably due to revolutionary electronic music producer Brian Eno's Midas touch. His influence pushes Coldplay to the extreme edge of their sound, and helps them craft an incredibly cohesive set of amazing tracks, including "Strawberry Swing" and "Death And All His Friends."

7. Women As Lovers by Xiu Xiu: Released way back in January, this album didn't receive much attention except from fans of Xiu Xiu's impressive collection of previous work. However, Women As Lovers is yet another perfect blend of "panic pop" and experimental noise, but this time in a different winning proportion. The songs are louder and harsher than ever, with much more percussion and less guitar than before. This is not a bad thing, though, and tracks like opener "I Do What I Want, When I Want" and possibly the best cover of all time, "Under Pressure" (featuring Michael Gira of The Angels Of Light) are some of the band's best work to date.

6. Dear Science, by TV On The Radio: I didn't think 2006's Return To Cookie Mountain could ever be topped, but this one does it. Every track here is amazing, and the entire album shows off TVOTR's incredible range of musical styles, from the dancy "Crying" to the hypnotic "Stork & Owl" (which sounds even better performed live) to the rocker "Shout Me Out" to the beautiful strings of "Family Tree." This band never ceases to remain interesting and fresh, and I hope the trend of improvement continues with future releases.

5. Microcastle by Deerhunter: I didn't use to like Deerhunter so much. Last year's Cryptograms, while having some good, profound moments, didn't really get to me the way good music is supposed to. Bradford Cox's side projects as Atlas Sound, however, were subtle and wonderful to my ears, and it seems like this album combines the best of both worlds. With a soft, shoegaze sound and some elements of noise pop, Deerhunter's third full-length spans across a wide range of moods, from the achingly melancholy "Green Jacket" to the catchy pop melodies of "Little Kids" and "Never Stops." And, to add to the perfection, the CD comes with a bonus disc of almost equally excellent tracks, entitled Weird Era Continued.

4. Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes: Way back in March I saw this group open up for another great group, Blitzen Trapper, not having any idea how popular they would become. My friends and I were stunned at how well the members of the band harmonized together, and their unique blend of Appalachian folk and Beach Boys-like pop struck a chord deep within all of us, especially with the haunting a cappella ending of the album-closer, "Oliver James." Each listen to this album, as well as the Sun Giant EP, still commands my attention now, 9 months later. More notable tracks include "Drops In The River," "English House," "White Winter Hymnal," and "Ragged Wood."

3. Shallow Grave by The Tallest Man On Earth: I picked this up at the radio station to review after hearing some good things about it from several publications. Nothing I read, however, could've prepared me for the sheer brilliance of this album. Each track is so simple, yet so subtle that with each repeated listen, new things appear and new tracks become favorites, eventually bringing out the beauty of every moment on the album. With a coarse, Bob Dylan-like voice, Kristian Matsson sings and strums, playing chords and plucking rapidly to create an immediately accessible album of folk tunes. The best tracks are the title track, "Gardener," and the album-closer "This Wind."

2. Street Horrrsing by Fuck Buttons: This may be one of my favorite electronic albums of all time. An interesting blend of shouted punk noise, beautiful electronic chimes and bells, tribal instruments, and beautiful background harmonies, the duo create a sound so unnique and wonderful that it is hard to draw yourself away. The entire album flows extremely well, and it can be appreciated on every level, whether using it as background music to work to or listening intently and embarking on the complete journey that is Street Horrrsing. Though the entire album can be considered one piece, each individual track is also an experience in itself, especially "Sweet Love For Planet Earth," "Colours Move," and "Bright Tomorrow."

1. In Ear Park by Department Of Eagles: Though its not as wildly experimental or sonically interesting as some of the other albums on this list, Department Of Eagles' sophomore effort tops the rest of this year's releases with its set of incredible psych-folk melodies. I read somewhere that the album is a tribute to Daniel Rossen's recently deceased father, and that the songs were too personal to put on a Grizzly Bear album (he's a member of both groups.) This is extremely evident on the more delicate pieces, including the title track, "Herring Bones," and closer "Balmy Night." Cohort Fred Nicolaus also lets his brilliance show on tracks like "Teenagers" and "Classical Records," and the two are a perfect pairing for the Beatles/Van Dyke Parks-inspired blend of pop and psychedelia that makes up this year's best album.

Playlist: Top Tracks Of 2008

2009-01-01T21:08:00.009-05:00

Here's a list of my 20 favorite tracks from 2008, in descending order. The song has to stand out from the rest of its album in order to qualify, and thus I excluded songs from my favorite albums of the year. Also, I'm not going to put any album art because, well, it's annoying.

20. "Lost Verses" by Sun Kil Moon off of April
19. "Poor Old Ra" by The Pica Beats off of Beating Back The Claws Of The Cold
18. "Beg Waves" by Ponytail off of Ice Cream Spiritual
17. "Namer" by High Places off the self-titled album
16. "Bang Your Drum" by Wolf Parade off of At Mount Zoomer
15. "Things I Did When I Was Dead" by No Age off of Nouns
14. "Untrust Us" by Crystal Castles off the self-titled album
13. "Give Arm To Its Socket" by Republic Tigers off of Keep Color
12. "Leaves Grow" by Butter Days off of The Habit Of Making Up
11. "Paperback Suicide" by Evangelicals off of The Evening Descends
10. "Lump Sum" by Bon Iver off of For Emma, Forever Ago
09. "Godan Daginn" by Sigur Ros off of Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
08. "Out There On The Ice" by Cut Copy off of In Ghost Colors
07. "Cath..." by Death Cab For Cutie off of Narrow Stairs
06. "God & Suicide" by Blitzen Trapper off of Furr
05. "Kids" by MGMT off of Oracular Spectacular
04. "Orphaned" by Max Tundra off of Parallax Error Beheads You
03. "Cobwebs" by Animal Collective off of Water Curses
02. "Tom & Jerry" by Hecuba off of Sir
01. "The Rabbit, The Bat & The Reindeer" by Dr. Dog off of Fate

I've provided links using Elbows music blog aggregator for your mp3-downloading pleasure. Enjoy!

Superlatives 2008

2009-01-01T20:02:00.011-05:00

Before we get to the best albums and best tracks, here are my superlatives for 2008! Enjoy!

Most Overrated Album of 2008: Vivian Girls by Vivian Girls
I really, really disliked this album and I can't see why it got such good reviews from a lot of credible sources. It's not that I don't like this kind of music, because, as you can see from other posts, I'm extremely partial to noise rock and noise pop when done well. I just feel that the songs on this album are boring and uninspired, so much so that I had to remove them from my iTunes library.

Most Underrated Album of 2008: Skeletal Lamping by of Montreal
I think this album is one where you either love it or you hate it and a lot of reviewers fell in the latter group. In my opinion, however, this album is a miniature masterpiece. It's easier to think of it as one gigantic piece of song fragments split among 15 tracks rather than 15 separate songs similar to those of last year's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? And though the subject matter may be lewd and, to some, immature, I think it's a bold move that pays off with some really good, interesting music.

Most Promising New Artist of 2008: Air France

Introduced to me through a mix CD at the very beginning of the summer, this Swedish pop group gave us a little taste of some wonderful electronic music with their two 2008 EPs, On Trade Winds and No Way Down. Considering the beauty of tracks such as "Collapsing At Your Doorstep" and "Never Content," it's hard not to get excited about a debut album in the near future. I can only hope they live up to their high expectations.

Best Live Show of 2008: Xiu Xiu

I saw these guys perform twice over the course of this year, and both times were truly amazing, but in different ways. The thing I love about Xiu Xiu's shows is how different their live music sounds from their studio recordings: they re-arrange the percussion of every song to create something entirely new with each show. Also, the raw emotion of Jamie Stewart's vocals and the incredible energy he, percussionist Caralee McElroy, and drummer Ches Smith pour into the instruments is shocking and loud. Both concerts were definitely worth the ringing sensation in my ears in the days that followed.

Worst Album of 2008 (and possibly of all time): The Black & White Album by Imani Coppola
My friends and I picked up this gem at a record giveaway at William & Mary way back in January, and let me just say that it is some of the funniest bad music I've ever heard. For example, the lyrics of "Black & White Jingle #1," sung by two dueling voices that reach increasingly higher pitches, are all similar insults to the opening aphorism "Sometimes it may feel like life's sucking you up, but it's not. It's just you sucking." Furthermore, tracks like "Dirty Pictures" and "Keys 2 Ur Ass" show exactly what is wrong with modern hip-hop, "This Is My Chicken" is a 12-second piece of barnyard plucking, "I'm A Pocket" contains only the lyrics "I'm a pocket in my pocket" over and over again, and "J.L.i.a.T.o.Y.O." features Imani shouting "John Lennon is a trademark of Yoko Ono ONO ONO ONO!" until our ears bleed. The lyrics of the last track, "In A Room," perfectly embody how I feel about this album: "A man walked in, completely naked; took a dump and then urinated." This is definitely a must-hear.

13 Great Albums From 2008

2008-12-31T15:46:00.010-05:00

I'm starting off my year-end lists for 2008 with a list of thirteen great albums that should be listened to but weren't lucky enough (get it? 13?) to make the top 10 (which I will post tomorrow, along with the top 20 tracks and the superlatives.) These albums aren't in any particular order (except alphabetical), as it's hard to distinguish them because they're all really good but also not perfect. Here goes:

Alegranza! by El Guincho: Pablo Diaz-Reixa's album of sample-based Spanish pop draws from various styles, such as Tropicalia, afrobeat, and dub. His sound is so similar to last year's Person Pitch through its similar use of loops that he is sometimes called the "Spanish Panda Bear."

Alopecia by Why?: The latest work from one of the better artists on the anticon label, Yoni Wolf's album of underground psych influenced hip-hop strikes a different chord with each track, most notably with "Good Friday."

Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill by Grouper: Refer to an earlier post for a full review of this wonderful gem of sleep-inducing noise pop.

Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats: The latest addition to the mountain of a discography from a very endearing (and sometimes rather whiney) lo-fi indie folk rock group. The songs are very simple and honest; both immediately catchy and also ripen with repeated listens. It's a shame its January release left it forgotten on most other year-end reviews.

HLLLYH by The Mae Shi: The proper debut from Las Angeles pop-punk band combines Dan Deacon-esque electronics with catchy riffs and grating vocals, creating a fine collection of quirky and exciting songs like "Run To your Grave."

Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel by Atlas Sound: An incredible shoegaze/dream-pop solo record from the incredibly prolific frontman of Deerhunter, Bradford Cox. Comprised of beautiful layers and textures of repeated melodies, such as on the phenomenal "Winter Vacation."

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson by Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson: A great freak-folk debut from MBAR and his collaborators, which include Kyp Malone of TVOTR and Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear and Department Of Eagles. How could it not be good?

Saint Dymphna by Gang Gang Dance: The long-awaited follow-up to 2005's masterpiece, God's Money, this album sees GGD go electronic. This album blurs the boundaries between house, dance, jazz, punk and folk music, resulting in another groundbreaking, genre-defying record from a very adventurous group of musicians. Plus, "First Communion" is ridiculously good.

Sea Lion by The Ruby Suns: An exciting collection of pop songs from a group of hip youngsters from New Zealand. The record seems to draw heavy influences from Animal Collective and twee groups like Architecture In Helsinki, and it works quite well.

The Stand Ins by Okkervil River: A continuation of last year's excellent The Stage Names, this album sees Okkervil River produce even more catchy, upbeat tunes. However, the emotion is still genuine and raw, especially on the phenomenal track "Starry Stair."

Visiter by Dodos: Another record inspired by the psychedelic folk of Animal Collective, Meric Long and friends perfect the formula of tribal drumming and rapid guitar strumming to craft a set of wonderful songs, including the increasingly popular "Fools."

Women by Women: Again, see an earlier post to read a full review of this short-but-sweet set of catchy noise-pop melodies blended among beautiful sound art experiments.

You & Me by The Walkmen: There's nothing too interesting about The Walkmen's music, as it's basically just the typical indie rock formula of rock instruments and average-quality vocals, but these guys really have a knack for writing songs, both with the fast-paced and exciting such as "On The Water" and the toned-down introspections of "Red Moon."

Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill; April; Youth Novels; Naked Acid

2008-12-29T21:41:00.007-05:00

Here are my thoughts on four more important albums from 2008...

...the best of which is Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill by Grouper. The album is a majestic piece of melancholy fuzzed-over folk guitar melodies, driven by Liz Harris' soft, echoing voice. The music is very earthy and natural, both themes reflected in some of the lyrics, such as in "Fishing Bird", "Wind And Snow", and "Tidal Wave." The guitar work consists of free-form chord strumming that slowly hypnotizes with swirling notes that are washed in distorted noise yet somehow feel strikingly clear. The overall effect of the album is intricately beautiful, but it could also easily put a listener to sleep. It's as if Harris were a hypnotist, repeating the lyrics quietly over and over until they blend into the oblivion created by her music. Overall, it's a beautiful piece of shoegaze noise pop that resembles notables like Beach House and My Bloody Valentine. And, for some reason, I think the album art is really, really cool.

Sun Kil Moon's April was less satisfying, though it did have some incredible tracks, such as "Lost Verses", "Unlit Hallway", and "Harper Road." Most of the rest, however, were somewhat boring and the entire album, clocking in at over an hour and ten minutes, seemed very drawn out. To me it just didn't have the same magic as Mark Kozelek's earlier SKM album, Ghosts Of The Great Highway.

The third album, Youth Novels by Lykke Li, seemed less like an album and more like a collection of singles. This is not to say that the music wasn't good, however, it just didn't have a cohesive feeling to it. The tracks themselves were pretty good pop songs from an up-and-coming female Swedish artist, but unfortunately none were that incredible. My favorites were "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Tonight." It's fun music to listen to, but it's less satisfying than some of the other stuff out there. Some tracks remind me a lot of Santogold.

My least favorite of the bunch was Naked Acid by Valet. Maybe I'm missing something, but most of the album just didn't sound good to me. The tracks were long and very free-form, lacking any traditional melody or musical structure, which would be fine if done well but to me seemed like sort of a mess. However, a reward for 35 minutes of boredom comes in the last two tracks: the Beach House-esque "Fire" and the surprisingly electronic album-closer "Streets", the latter of which was actually quite good and, thankfully, justified my listening through the entire album.

The year is almost through, so check back for some exciting year-end lists! I hope to do one for best albums, another for good albums that didn't quite make the cut, and one for my favorite tracks. I'll also do some superlatives, like Worst Album, Best Live Act, Most Promising New Group, and Most Overrated/Underrated. I've been working hard on finishing my listening, so get excited! (Or innocuous!)

Third

2008-12-27T13:09:00.009-05:00

Late last night, after everyone else had gone to bed, I gave a first listen to Portishead's Third, and let me say it was an altogether terrifying experience. Gone is the soft, chillout, trip-hop sound of Portishead's first releases from over ten years ago, being replaced by a harshness created through heavy electronic distortion and loud, abrasive samples (such as the gunshots on the track "Machine Gun".) The vocal stylings of Beth Gibbons now sound ghostly and ethereal instead of soothingly calm, and the album feels like a haunted house with thrills and surprises around every corner.

Third may contain some of the scariest music I've heard since Scott Walker's The Drift, and it even evokes some of the same feelings as that album, though the pieces are not as extreme or avant-garde. Still, the music is extraordinarily dark and erratic, with dramatically changing moods at little to no notice. Several times throughout the album, after drifting into a sort of hypnotic state created through repeated psychedelic swirls, I was blasted awake by loud percussion as the album turned in a completely different direction. Despite this, the music is still beautiful, just in an extraordinarily haunting sort of way. Some more typical melodies immediately stand out, such as "The Rip" and "We Carry On," while others such as "Nylon Smile" and "Plastic" seem to need more listens to be fully appreciated. The entire album is very cohesive, and the full 50 minutes is definitely a unique, must-hear experience. However, I feel like it's the kind of cerebral music that needs to take root deep inside the brain over the time (in a similar way to Dummy,) and so I can't offer a definitive opinion after just one listen. Needless to say, I'm intrigued: Third will definitely grace my headphones with its presence many more times in the future.

"Orphaned"

2008-12-25T02:10:00.005-05:00

It's Christmas (on the East coast) and in the spirit of giving, I decided to share with you all a neat little tune that I just recently discovered. It's "Orphaned" by Max Tundra and it's awesome for two reasons: one because it's a lovely piece of the quirky electronic indie pop we've come to expect from Max and two, more importantly, because I think I know exactly how it was created.

One of our assignments in my electronic music class this past semester was to create a rhythm generator (like a simple drum machine) using Max/MSP software and then feed audio samples from other songs into the system to make a more interesting beat. Mine used 200 millisecond clips from two different songs, one by Dirty Projectors and another by Van Dyke Parks, and an interesting mix of vocals and percussion arose. "Orphaned" sounds just like this: Tundra's piece is based off of a few simple rhythms built with tiny clips of other sounds. I feel like the best songs are those that make you want to create your own music when you hear them, and this one makes me want to go back and play around with my drum machine again. Unfortunately, my free trial of Max/MSP just recently expired and I'll have to wait until I can purchase a student version. Lucky for me, though, I'll be able to pass the time just by listening to this song. It's a shame the rest of Parallax Error Beheads You somewhat falls short, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Women

2008-12-24T19:09:00.003-05:00

While I was working my way through the last of the albums from 2008 in preparation for my soon-to-be-posted year-end lists, I stumbled across something wonderful: a short-but-sweet set of fuzzy noise-washed guitar pop melodies mixed among beautifully distorted sonic experiments.

The eponymous debut by Women, an indie rock quartet of four Canadian men, consists of a little less than 30 minutes of music spread across 10 tracks of varying lengths. The song structures are very complex, combining traditional pop vocal melodies reminiscent of The Beach Boys with frenzied harmonious string-plucking. Each individual track is wonderfully inventive on its own, but when compiled together as an album of bright, catchy tunes played over raw, experimental sound art, create an incredibly cohesive album. Even the one-minute tracks, such as the opener "Cameras" and the rapid guitar movements of "Group Transport Hall," are sure to stick in your head with their clever hooks. The standout track of the album, "Shaking Hand," embodies the spirit of the whole: it begins with nice little vocal harmonies that gradually transform into pure, noisy instrumentals over the course of the song. Santa came early with this album, and it's definitely a must-listen for 2008.

Completely changing the subject: Enjoy the holidays, everyone! Sit back, relax, and put on "Sister Winter", an original from Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album. You won't be disappointed.

Winter Break Music Overhaul

2008-12-23T03:05:00.003-05:00

So my Winter Break started on Saturday and before I left school I took about 35 albums from the radio station library and bought another 12 for really cheap on the Amazon Marketplace (great stuff, some of the CDs were less than a dollar plus shipping). I'm planning on listening to all of them over the next month so I can find some good, lesser-known stuff to play on the next season of our show. Basically I used allmusic.com to find artists similar to some of my favorite bizarre-sounding bands like Animal Collective, Frog Eyes, Grizzly Bear, Dan Deacon, Dirty Projectors, Deerhoof, etc. and took any albums that got good ratings to give them a try.

I know it sounds ambitious, but I was already able to listen to eight albums on the train home and I've scheduled it so that I spare about an hour or so each day to just sit and listen to new stuff, so hopefully I can push through the massive mountain of new music. So far I've heard Crystal Stilts, The High Llamas, Bearsuit, Alaska In Winter, Daedalus, Mercury Rev, Piano Magic, Fennesz, and Fridge, all of which were fairly good and deserve some attention. A list of my favorites follows:

1. Alight of Night by Crystal Stilts (Distorted noise pop like The Jesus & Mary Chain)
2. Beet, Maize, & Corn by The High Llamas (Honest folk/pop similar to Brian Wilson)
3. Denies The Day's Demise by Daedalus (Electronica with scratching and exotica beats)
4. Deserter's Songs by Mercury Rev (Experimental 90s pop a la The Flaming Lips)
5. Endless Summer by Fennesz (Beautiful ambient glitch pieces, found through my Computers & Music class)

Other notables: The track "Close Your Eyes - We Are Blind" on Alaska In Winter's Dance Party In The Balkans features Zach Condon of Beirut. The title track on Disaffected by Piano Magic, the only track worth a listen in my opinion, is similarly fantastic.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been going through the stuff alphabetically by album name. I'll probably interject some random ones once my CDs come in the mail (5 of them arrived yesterday!)

Today's album was Es Tiempo by Alla (right), which sounded like a psych-folksy, Spanish version of Portishead's Dummy. Some good stuff, especially the intro "Un Dia Otra Noche" and the title track.

Finally, I'll leave you with a link to one of the best tracks I've discovered so far. Click here to see a fan video accompaniment to "Endlessly" by Mercury Rev (who you'll definitely be hearing more about in the near future.) Enjoy (and check out the wonderful use of theremin in the background!)

Sigmund Freud Would Be Proud

2008-12-23T02:41:00.002-05:00

Welcome to The Pleasure Principle, an outlet for me to rave about any good music I happen to come across, old or new. I'll post ranking lists, new albums, new artists, or any songs that I'm just currently obsessed with for your reading and listening pleasure. Hopefully you'll be able to share some of my joy of finding new and exciting music and you'll have as much fun reading my reviews as I will writing them!