Here's a real treat. This may have been the best year of new music I have really lived through. I was pretty much on it with most of these releases at the time and they have all stood up. So many great albums, just look at the ones that don't make it - Talkie Walkie, Milk Man, Sonic Nurse and you will see that 2004 was one for the ages. This makes the rankings almost irrelevant here. It was definitely the best year for psychedelia since the sixties, and for that, I will always love it. I even know people who claim to not listen to anything, or at least rock, made after this year. If there is going to be such a year this is not a bad choice.
10. Guided By Voices - Half Smiles of the Decomposed
It was really tough putting this ahead of the ones that don't make it, especially Milk Man, but I am C-Mac, this is the Monument, and I am not about to leave out the final (as it appeared for seven years) album by GbV. It is one of their better professional era records and takes their sound to new places like never before, preparing one for Pollard's subsequent career with songs like "Asia Minor" and "Gonna Never Have to Die." As a conclusion to a long and beautiful career, its more ballady songs are some of the best with "Window of My World" a real standout along with the Bergman/Swedish beauty tribute "Girls of Wild Strawberries." On a personal level, "The Closets of Henry" always spoke to me, and does more than ever in the past few months, even if that is more for the title than the lyrics. Great music too. However, it is in the band's usual style to end on one of the highest notes of all. With its guitar structure and seemingly odd title (actually one of their most straightforward lyrically), "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" is truly the ultimate Guided by Voices song and enough to place this album with the others.
9. Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
As the transition between the whimsical early era and the full-blown Prince and Sparks influence Kevin Barnes would embrace soon after, this might my Of Montreal's best album. The electronics do move the sound into dancier territory, but more importantly make their fey psychedelia much more pleasant heard immediately with "Disconnect the Dots" and naturally, "Lysergic Bliss." Barnes' bright and dense vision is perfectly realized without too much cuteness as on the previous releases, though the heartbreak that dominates the darker later work is foreshadowed with "Eros Entropic Tundra." The most-modern fairy take landscape is still the setting with "Climb the Ladder" and the twisted "Chrissy Kiss The Corpse," and with outside lyrics on "City Bird," Of Montreal gets their greatest ballad. Overlooked now, but in my opinion the perfect Of Montreal album, and certainly the starting place.
8. Liars - They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Now it is hard to believe how poorly this album went down with the critics on its release. With the popularity of dance punk many had put the Brooklyn band into a very conforming little trench and buried them on top. Turns out this is the real Liars and always had been and they distinguish themselves with more than just quality on this full-blown concept album recorded in rural New Jersey (yes, that is a real thing and it is very scary). Based on German witch trials, it is the perfect album for Halloween especially on the chilling opener "Broken Witch." As nightmarish as the album is the band's humor still prevails, especially in the long titles like "They Don't Want Your Corn, They Want Your Kids" and "If You're Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses?" showing that yes, this is the same band from two years ago. The Liars really came into themselves on this album and it's hellish atmosphere best heard on the heavy drone of "We Fenced Other Gardens With the Bones of Our Won" made it a classic no matter where they went afterwards. Thank God I could tell that right away.
7. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
Clearly no longer a bunch of haggard dad rockers (for the time being) the Wilco collaborates again with Jim O'Rourke with a stunning follow-up to their masterpiece. It was good enough to tragically make many forget all about the late Jay Bennett, and was perfect for its summer release on cutting out a lot of the darkness and having a song like "Hummingbird" stand out. The influence of their home city also rubs off on the extended tracks like the drone jam "Less Than You Think" and the NEU! tribute "Spiders (Kidsmoke)." Wilco also demonstrates an advanced understanding of tension with "At Least That's What You Said," which manages to be the peak of their long history of excellent opening tracks. Throughout this album full of diverse musical adventures, sometimes criticized as indulgent or excessive, or less cohesive, they close it just as well with the old fashioned "The Late Greats," a song that balances its slight taste of corn by its sentiment: One great musician gives the public THE TRUTH about the highest form of art. I would say that his failure to follow it up is forgivable for that.
6. Blonde Redhead - Misery Is a Butterfly
Another great New York No-Wave inspired band goes into concept album territory on this masterpiece. It is a dark and unsettling listen with all its baroque flavor making it a very metal and spiritual experience and best capturing the band's shaking intensity of all. It is a far cry from no wave, though, as the band's careful compositions are limitless in their approach and the album has a very unified sound throughout, often in moody midtempo driving drones full of keyboards, though upping the tempo on the fantastic "Maddening Cloud." It ends as well as it begins with "Equus" and considering the brother's Italian roots, has an operatic element to the whole thing, with its level of drama and dizzying psuedo-plot. This album's cover almost says it all, but still it is inexplicable and proves how ambitious many of America's artists were in this year.
5. Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Mantra of Love
The loudest band I have ever seen makes one of their best albums by embracing tradition, both of their native Japan and oddly enough with an Occitanian traditional. It only took two songs, but their dense and noisy style of heavy psych gets even more layers. "La Le Lo" is 30 minutes of swirling, hypnotic psychedelia led by vocalist Cotton Casino's chanting of the title. It would be one of her last albums with the band and her contribution is perhaps its best in competing with the other four's endless depths of samurai rock. The other track, "L'Ambition dans le Miroir" is more in their usual style, but is almost a cool-down after from the peaks reached earlier. This was my first real exposure to the band and is still my favorite recording of theirs. Essential heavy jam psych, taking what Les Raillizes Dénudés had done even further for the new millenium.
4. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Proving just how much of a collective they are, AC is down to just Avey and Panda on their breakthrough. For many it was an instant life-changer with "Leaf House" sounding like nothing one could imagine, and to think that most of these songs are based around little more than acoustic guitar and vocals. The new sounds on the rest of the album may go even further. As most of their peers were getting into darker territory, the Brooklyn-based Marylanders created an album bursting with childlike joy like "Who Could Win A Rabbit?," "We Tigers," and obviously "Kids On Holiday." Then there are the moments of quiet beauty on which the band had built their reputation like "The Softest Voice" and "Mouth Wooed Her." They even manage both on "Winters Love," one of the most gorgeous songs of their whole career, pointing the way to their unparalleled ability to mix every style of music you could imagine with many you can't. A huge step up for one of the best bands of the decade, and one that they would use to shoot off to even further territory.
3. Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
Sweden's first appearance on these lists is also one of the country's few international releases in its native tongue. Gustav Ejstes did not need English to connect with lovers of heavy psych all around with this album made with the kind of perfection the Swedes for which the Swedes are best-known. What is most amazing is that Ejstes played nearly all the instruments on this thick album rooted in classic psych, hard rock, and jazz. He proves himself a virtuoso at all the key elements of rock from the rocking rhythm of opener "Panda" to his wailing lead on "Gjort bort sig." Live, he typically sticks to keyboards and acoustic guitar, and "Det du tänker idag är du i morgan" and "Festival" prove that is as noble a choice as any other. The musicianship and songwriting on this album are simply stunning, and the unrelenting energy propels it to an instant classic, with a one-man band not having this same energy probably ever. It will shake you hard, but the title is translated to "Take It Easy," so do that, after all it is very stoney.
2. Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld
Even More heavy psych and again, from Japan. Ghost has a long history of incorporating Japanese folk into their sound and this is implied, along with its spiritual psychedelia from the album art. Still a very worldly group, they sing mostly in English and with the presence of certain harps and woodwinds also have a large Celtic influence as heard on "Piper," one of the songs that has their many influences brought to the front. The four part opener is the strongest, though as it slowly builds from noise into psychedelic drone to part three, one of the heaviest psychedelic rock songs ever under three minutes and finally part four, a 22-second blast of unbelievable energy. Then it kicks into their cover of Dutch group Earth and Fire's "Hazy Paradise" having full stated its purpose for the nearly 70 minute masterpiece. From there on out is is one great song after another full of ancient Japanese mysticism, classic psychedelic rock, international folk, and of course a bit of Syd Barrett. This album was pushed harder than most on its release, and considering its excellence, I am amazed so few, even fans of heavy psych are unaware if its existence.
1. Jens Lekman - When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog
This Swedish genius fooled many into thinking he was a good old fashioned singer-songwriter with this his sample music debut. He did this with tasteful use of these samples, never making the sound too dense or erratic and building his original arrangements off of them, not to mention is wry and sincere lyrics. Every song on here is a timeless pop gem from the dense energetic tracks like "Maple Leaves" to the quiet "Cold Swedish Winter" to the minimal "Do You Remember The Riots?" Lekman is the perfect romantic as he can master any kind of love song, ranging from the hilarious folly of "You Are The Light (By Which I Travel into This And That)" to the sincere folk of "Julie" and even make light of traumatic missteps on "Psychogirl." Though some of these songs had appeared elsewhere, the artist, who would never reach the same heights but wisely put everything he had into making a perfect and enduring album on his full-length debut. A quiet and friendly man and early proponent of Arthur Russell he clearly believes in the transcendental powers of music with his book-ending tracks "Tran #7 To Heaven" and "A Higher Power," winning this album many repeated listens, all full of both laughs and tears. If there is an album so heartfelt without any of the usual trappings that would would imply I have never heard it.
That's that. No more years this good, but keep reading anyway!
Monday, May 13, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
2003
Sorry I took so long. Been busy with work, love, and lots of degeneracy, as usual, but I got some time to re-absorb this music a bit. Maybe I dragged my feet because now we are on the final 10 articles, well, of this format. This year was good, but I like some of the ones around it a lot more. Still, it shows again that the 00s actually were pretty tops.
10. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Fans might not like this one quite as much, but as a non-fan, something about this album connects more than most of Radiohead's work. I think it is that their dynamics had become so tight and transcendent, with the circular arrangements that remove each instrument/musicians separate identity. Here they return to more traditional instruments so they are at their strongest in a milieu that is more rock and song-oriented. It makes it a very enjoyable listen, even with its usual downer material. The band has nothing left to prove at this time and that may have set their ambitions a bit lower, but still they are one of the strongest bands of their time and not everything needs to be as monumental as Kid A. Radiohead's most all-occasion album.
9. Deehoof - Apple O'
While they might not all make the lists, the three albums Deerhoof made with Chris Cohen (whose solo album I still need to hear) are excellent. This one may have been my first exposure to the unique San Francisco band with their heavy and sugary sound. This one really wails, and kicks off with a bang on "Dummy Discards a Heart," one of the definitive Deehoof tracks, even as this one has more acoustic material than usual. Though often thought of as a noisy experimental pop group, the erratic song structures and the astonishing drumming of Greg Saunier give Deerhoof a bit of a progressive feel, compounded by this album's precise guitar dynamics. "Flower" is one of the best examples with its metallic guitars and extra unpredictable structure in addition to the exploitation of singer Satomi Matsuzaki's high-pitched and thickly-accented voice.
8. Lightning Bolt - The Wonderful Rainbow
The Fort Thunder duo was the hottest and heaviest thing around at the time, and with the amount of noise that their unusual rigs could muster up it was no surprise. This album represents their peak with its relentless energy and tight yet unpredictable improvised sound, earning each member the "Brain" identity. With unintelligible lyrics the instruments do most of the talking, and they, along with the titles say a lot. It captures the pure energy of their live shows, a sea of ear-splitting noise with all the musicianship one would hope for from a more traditional act, yet some songs do stick out as stand-alones such as "Dracula Mountain" and the crushing closer "Duel in the Deep." It may have already been more or less over, but this album got many to take notice of Providence's unique art and music scene.
7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - ...And This Is Our Music
By the end of DiG! it may have seemed like the BJM were no more, or not really anything that cool, but that is far from the truth. This version of the band with new members including Rob Campanella and Frankie "Teardop" Emerson is as strong as the more iconic one from the film and this album goes to show that. It may have been Newcombe's decision to go slower with the albums, but this is one of their most solid releases. New member Matthew J. Tow takes over Matt Hollywood's role as the other guy and perhaps overshadows Newcombe with songs like proper opener "Starcleaner" and the amazing "A New Low In Getting High." Newcombe is at his peak as well with songs like "Here To Go" and maybe the finest song of his career "When Jokers Attack." No Hollywood, no Joel Gion, but actually the best LP to meet the Massacre.
6. Manitoba (Caribou) - Up In Flames
4. Guided by Voices - Earthquake Glue
Following one of their weaker efforts, GbV returns with their best LP of the professional era. It is one of their most hard-rocking releases thanks to songs like "Useless Inventions" and "I'll Replace You With Machines" and has some of their longest songs and layers of stunning guitars thanks to Doug Gillard. This is the band's second album after the return to Matador and Pollard's long-standing collaboration with producer Todd Tobias. With their commercial ambitions left in the dust, Pollard and his band become the hardworking live band fueled by their own passion for rock aided by the strongest sense of professionalism of their long career. They have such indisputable classics as "My Kind of Soldier" and "The Best of Jill Hives" to show for that. Even the classic era tendencies return in the form of the guitars on the latter track and having more than one perfect closer at the end, with the epic (4:43) "Secret Star" stealing the show. Their best of the decade, hands down.
3. The Strokes - Room On Fire
Certainly the most difficult album to make. The Strokes live up to the insanely high expectations set on their debut with a follow-up that at many times reaches the same heights. Recorded in a rush it is possible that they could have even outdone Is This It? and the album's highlights like "12:51," "Reptilia," and "The End Has No End" suggest that is not even a bold statement. The unusual tone on Nick Valensi's guitar (which was achieved by blowing out a certain non-traditional amp) introduces the more new wave-inspired sound that would remain and peak on Angles. The band is a bit more collaborative here and sounds less mechanical, though this makes the dynamics even more engaging as Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr.'s interplay gets closer and the rhythms get more complicated while retaining their metronymic and droning qualities. This is an excellent record that can only be seen as flawed compared to a masterpiece as perfect as its predecessor. Those are mere differences, making this album more than just an attempt to make a carbon copy, ultimately proving this young band's talent at their peak of both popularity and artistry.
2. Apollo Sunshine - Katonah
This multi-talanted trio is the greatest thing to come out of Berklee College of music, perhaps the school's most famous example of students actually using their talent and knowledge to create something great. Seeing them open for the Apples in Stereo after the release of this album I know them to be one of the most stunning band's on Earth, with tasteful hippie vibes one other viewer said "reminds me of Phish, but in a good way." A high-energy Flaming Lips, edgy E.L.O., or aggressive Elephant 6 would be a better comparison, but the group is too unique for such labels. Jesse Gallagher plays bass, keys, and guitar, Sam Cohen guitar and pedal steel, and Jeremy Black drums. Even when switching mid-song these proggy pop songs never lose their fury. These lush songs range from the 9/11 confusion of "Happening," the sentimentality of "Sheets With the Stars" to the extended dream of "Conscious Pilot." Some songs get into more surreal and brainy subjects like "Fear of Heights" and "The Egg," and the common favorite "I Was On the Moon" captures all these disparate talents into one song. This can make your brain explode if you're not prepared. I wasn't when I saw them with their projections and strobe lights hanging from their necks nine years ago. This one of the greatest debuts of all time from the most tragically overlooked band of the last ten years.
1. Four Tet - Rounds
This is one that is just like the voice of God. Immediately proving its ability to transcend the cacophony of reality into divine beauty with "Hands" it has the power to play on one's emotions like a harp in a way rare in electronic music. Primarily using samples, Kieran Hebden has a jazz-like approach in constructing this music, taking a cue from John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and maybe surpassing the saxophonist's heights. With no need for breath, it certainly makes the religious ecstasy last longer, particularly on the nine and a half minute "Unspoken" in which Hebden's piano gives the album some of its most touching beauty. However, it is "And They All Looked Broken-Hearted" that hits the hardest with its Celtic harp that could make anyone weep. Regardless of their sources, it is Hebden who constructs some of the best programmed beats I have ever heard, and it is the album's exceptional rhythms that distinguishes it from other electronic records with classically-influenced transcendental aspirations. The glitchy "She Moves She" lets its beat make its sparse Eastern more immediate while "Spirit Fingers" shows that he can even do it with a quick tempo. Following the most life-changing evening so far, this album put the remaining acid in my system back into full-action, and with a good enough system, this one can do that any time.
Next year, the best.
10. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Fans might not like this one quite as much, but as a non-fan, something about this album connects more than most of Radiohead's work. I think it is that their dynamics had become so tight and transcendent, with the circular arrangements that remove each instrument/musicians separate identity. Here they return to more traditional instruments so they are at their strongest in a milieu that is more rock and song-oriented. It makes it a very enjoyable listen, even with its usual downer material. The band has nothing left to prove at this time and that may have set their ambitions a bit lower, but still they are one of the strongest bands of their time and not everything needs to be as monumental as Kid A. Radiohead's most all-occasion album.
9. Deehoof - Apple O'
While they might not all make the lists, the three albums Deerhoof made with Chris Cohen (whose solo album I still need to hear) are excellent. This one may have been my first exposure to the unique San Francisco band with their heavy and sugary sound. This one really wails, and kicks off with a bang on "Dummy Discards a Heart," one of the definitive Deehoof tracks, even as this one has more acoustic material than usual. Though often thought of as a noisy experimental pop group, the erratic song structures and the astonishing drumming of Greg Saunier give Deerhoof a bit of a progressive feel, compounded by this album's precise guitar dynamics. "Flower" is one of the best examples with its metallic guitars and extra unpredictable structure in addition to the exploitation of singer Satomi Matsuzaki's high-pitched and thickly-accented voice.
8. Lightning Bolt - The Wonderful Rainbow
The Fort Thunder duo was the hottest and heaviest thing around at the time, and with the amount of noise that their unusual rigs could muster up it was no surprise. This album represents their peak with its relentless energy and tight yet unpredictable improvised sound, earning each member the "Brain" identity. With unintelligible lyrics the instruments do most of the talking, and they, along with the titles say a lot. It captures the pure energy of their live shows, a sea of ear-splitting noise with all the musicianship one would hope for from a more traditional act, yet some songs do stick out as stand-alones such as "Dracula Mountain" and the crushing closer "Duel in the Deep." It may have already been more or less over, but this album got many to take notice of Providence's unique art and music scene.
7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - ...And This Is Our Music
By the end of DiG! it may have seemed like the BJM were no more, or not really anything that cool, but that is far from the truth. This version of the band with new members including Rob Campanella and Frankie "Teardop" Emerson is as strong as the more iconic one from the film and this album goes to show that. It may have been Newcombe's decision to go slower with the albums, but this is one of their most solid releases. New member Matthew J. Tow takes over Matt Hollywood's role as the other guy and perhaps overshadows Newcombe with songs like proper opener "Starcleaner" and the amazing "A New Low In Getting High." Newcombe is at his peak as well with songs like "Here To Go" and maybe the finest song of his career "When Jokers Attack." No Hollywood, no Joel Gion, but actually the best LP to meet the Massacre.
6. Manitoba (Caribou) - Up In Flames
Canadian Daniel Snaith made a landmark in sample-based music with this breakthrough that (un)fortunately attracted the attention of Dictators' secret weapon "Handsome" Dick Manitoba. In both reconstructing and composing he created a new kind of shoegaze pop with all the heart and warmth of the best singer-songwriters, creating something of a new norm in both the underground and the mainstream. His followers would seldom have the same psychedelic flavor that makes this, and much of his other work so well-loved. Though it is largely the work of one very talented man, it includes two collaborations with Koushik - "Hendrix with Ko" and "Crayon" which I think are the best and catchiest on the album. It is one of the timeliest albums of the year, combining modern electronics, samples/editing with great songs and psychedelic funk, almost danceable but definitely head music.
5. The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers
Luke Steele makes his big breakthrough all over the world with this sunny slice of guitar pop. George Harrison is clearly the biggest influence on this dense and catchy album. Like him, Steele is grounded in the classic sound, but is willing to incorporate new and unusual sounds like the electronics on "Tell The Girls That I'm Not Hangin' Out," and the discomforting child's voice of "Morning Bird." There is a some punk/hard rock influence on "Vampire on Racecourse," but the poppier the better in this case. Sixties-style tracks like "Come to This" and "This Day" are two of the best examples of his timeless pop sensibility. The dreamy opener "Good Dancers" and folk of "Acid In My Heart" further solidify this as one of the best albums of the year and one of the most interesting things to come out of Australia in many years, both before and after its release.4. Guided by Voices - Earthquake Glue
Following one of their weaker efforts, GbV returns with their best LP of the professional era. It is one of their most hard-rocking releases thanks to songs like "Useless Inventions" and "I'll Replace You With Machines" and has some of their longest songs and layers of stunning guitars thanks to Doug Gillard. This is the band's second album after the return to Matador and Pollard's long-standing collaboration with producer Todd Tobias. With their commercial ambitions left in the dust, Pollard and his band become the hardworking live band fueled by their own passion for rock aided by the strongest sense of professionalism of their long career. They have such indisputable classics as "My Kind of Soldier" and "The Best of Jill Hives" to show for that. Even the classic era tendencies return in the form of the guitars on the latter track and having more than one perfect closer at the end, with the epic (4:43) "Secret Star" stealing the show. Their best of the decade, hands down.
3. The Strokes - Room On Fire
Certainly the most difficult album to make. The Strokes live up to the insanely high expectations set on their debut with a follow-up that at many times reaches the same heights. Recorded in a rush it is possible that they could have even outdone Is This It? and the album's highlights like "12:51," "Reptilia," and "The End Has No End" suggest that is not even a bold statement. The unusual tone on Nick Valensi's guitar (which was achieved by blowing out a certain non-traditional amp) introduces the more new wave-inspired sound that would remain and peak on Angles. The band is a bit more collaborative here and sounds less mechanical, though this makes the dynamics even more engaging as Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr.'s interplay gets closer and the rhythms get more complicated while retaining their metronymic and droning qualities. This is an excellent record that can only be seen as flawed compared to a masterpiece as perfect as its predecessor. Those are mere differences, making this album more than just an attempt to make a carbon copy, ultimately proving this young band's talent at their peak of both popularity and artistry.
2. Apollo Sunshine - Katonah
This multi-talanted trio is the greatest thing to come out of Berklee College of music, perhaps the school's most famous example of students actually using their talent and knowledge to create something great. Seeing them open for the Apples in Stereo after the release of this album I know them to be one of the most stunning band's on Earth, with tasteful hippie vibes one other viewer said "reminds me of Phish, but in a good way." A high-energy Flaming Lips, edgy E.L.O., or aggressive Elephant 6 would be a better comparison, but the group is too unique for such labels. Jesse Gallagher plays bass, keys, and guitar, Sam Cohen guitar and pedal steel, and Jeremy Black drums. Even when switching mid-song these proggy pop songs never lose their fury. These lush songs range from the 9/11 confusion of "Happening," the sentimentality of "Sheets With the Stars" to the extended dream of "Conscious Pilot." Some songs get into more surreal and brainy subjects like "Fear of Heights" and "The Egg," and the common favorite "I Was On the Moon" captures all these disparate talents into one song. This can make your brain explode if you're not prepared. I wasn't when I saw them with their projections and strobe lights hanging from their necks nine years ago. This one of the greatest debuts of all time from the most tragically overlooked band of the last ten years.
1. Four Tet - Rounds
This is one that is just like the voice of God. Immediately proving its ability to transcend the cacophony of reality into divine beauty with "Hands" it has the power to play on one's emotions like a harp in a way rare in electronic music. Primarily using samples, Kieran Hebden has a jazz-like approach in constructing this music, taking a cue from John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and maybe surpassing the saxophonist's heights. With no need for breath, it certainly makes the religious ecstasy last longer, particularly on the nine and a half minute "Unspoken" in which Hebden's piano gives the album some of its most touching beauty. However, it is "And They All Looked Broken-Hearted" that hits the hardest with its Celtic harp that could make anyone weep. Regardless of their sources, it is Hebden who constructs some of the best programmed beats I have ever heard, and it is the album's exceptional rhythms that distinguishes it from other electronic records with classically-influenced transcendental aspirations. The glitchy "She Moves She" lets its beat make its sparse Eastern more immediate while "Spirit Fingers" shows that he can even do it with a quick tempo. Following the most life-changing evening so far, this album put the remaining acid in my system back into full-action, and with a good enough system, this one can do that any time.
Next year, the best.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
2002
Now, I don't know what's harder to believe, that I'm up to 2002, even though it has been two very long months, or that this year was over a decade ago now. It's all so vivid, most of these albums still sound so fresh, and man, it was such a great year and somehow it did not even feel like it. Yes, 2002 was indeed very strong, and perhaps the 00s actually was a strong decade overall. I am beginning to realize that. These albums provide a whole lot of proof.
Well, shit. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - B.R.M.C. was apparently released in 2001. That was going to make the list, but things have changed. Not sure if that would have made it for that year, so no loss, I suppose.
10. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
The Texas group hones in what Sonic Youth and many of the other best noisy rockers before them did best on this breakthrough. The arrangements are flawless and single "Another Morning Stoner" is one of the best of its type with all its perfect changes. What really distinguishes this album is its energy and urgency that managed to make it cross over a bit more into the emo-obsessed teen market. It is a solid set of angsty rock, one of the last to really fit the "alternative" bill with great songs like "Relative Ways" and "Baudelaire." They achieve it with strong production values and the incorporation of strings, horns, and other instruments typically not heard in this style. For a minute it seemed like they would be another one of rock's saviors, but it turned out to Jet instead.
9. Sigur Rós - ( )
As the art and lack of song titles explicitly state, Sigur Rós gives what was to be expected after their international breakthrough: Speechlessness. The title implies space, and that is here too. It is generally more quiet and slow than its predecessor, but the dynamics are even stronger. The songs are even longer and with less footing in the pop/rock background, allowing the Icelandic quartet to really make the music float in the air. Still all their viking force is in full effect, but way of building, climaxing, and pummeling the listener is extended, and more dominant throughout, rather than surprising or teasing. They build anticipation like a slow brew. It is like a whiteout of sound, all the beauty and melancholy of the winter slowly setting in, and a worthy follow-up to their previous Earth-shattering effort.
8. The Apples In Stereo - Velocity of Sound
The most underrated Apples album. It is there punk album, and I think that's what left a few people cold. Also, the vocals are even higher than before, almost approaching Chipmunk territory, but in some ways this makes their youthful energy even more of a revelation. To balance it out, bassist Eric Allen finally begins submitting songs and his "Yore Days," is as great as any other on the album. That says a lot with the likes of "Please," "Mystery," and "Ranfall." While the band's sound has never been so focused on this loud, fast fuzz attack, they still demonstrate their open-mindedness and 60s pop tradition with the magnificent "Baroque," with some of the best-arranged, um, baroque-style, harmonies of the last 40+ years. Even if this is their weakest, it is still the Apples in Stereo.
7. Beck - Sea Change
A lot of people did not know what to make of this one either. This album concludes Beck's peak era of getting absorbed into one idea on each album. It could not be any more different from Midnite Vultures, but it lives up to this unique artist's high standards. It is a real downer most famously due to his break-up at the time, but also rumored to have be affected by an attempted more away from the Church of Scientology. The music speaks for itself more, though as he embraces both the lush arrangements of French pop and the American West. This country influence is the perfect compliment to these heartbroken lyrics, particularly on songs like "Lost Cause" and the mesmerizing opener "The Golden Age." The title is dramatically relevant to not only the artist's personal life, but to his career, as his subsequent albums would be a little more similar and typically "Beck" (whatever that means) than in the era this concludes. His taste for psychedelia, makes this emotionally trying album even more absorbing, and shows that Beck is capable of not just making anything, but making it great.
6. múm - Finally We Are No One
Like the other Icelandic contribution to this list, there is a lot of atmosphere here. However, múm is floating in the space between dream and reality with their primarily electronic arrangements having more os a hypnotic pull than brute force. Perhaps it is that feminine element the twins bring. Twins are always weird, but in this case it adds a lot to the already mythical feeling. Their high voices and the icy synthesizers make this a set of otherworldly beauty that can seem so alien, the titles have to show that you are still being guided in "We Have a Map of Piano" and "Don't be Afraid, You Just Have Got Your Eyes Closed." All the titles have similarly surreal imagery and the music more than lives up to them, particularly on "Green Grass of Tunnel," one of the most gorgeous songs ever recorded. Perhaps this is electronica, but the true band dynamics give it a rare warmth seldom heard in any genre.
5. Liars - They Threw Us All In A Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top
This is when people started to really talk about Brooklyn, and what a perfect way to show off what that borough could put together. While this is not the "real" Liars, it is still one of the band's best works and showed them to already be far better than the "dance-punk" label entails. The post-punk energy is still one of the album's greatest strengths on songs like the one-two punch of "Grown Men Don't Fall In The River, Just Like That" and the synthesized hand-claps of "Mr. Your On Fire Mr." They make that aspect of their sound as obvious as they can on "Tumbling Walls Buried Me In The Debris with ESG," probably the closest thing to a cover on any of the albums the remainder of these lists, sadly. The band implies their skill at creating a concept album with the themes in the titles, although that did put a few people off two years later, their intellectualism is in as high effect here as ever. In concluding the quasi-concept there is the droning bottomless pit of a song "This Dirt Makes That Mud," probably the best song on the album and something of a window into the Liars' future along with the short "Why Midnight Walked But Didn't Ring Her Bell."
4. Sonic Youth - Murray Street
Everyone's favorite band made a real comeback when they added Jim O'Rourke. Certainly no surprise for anyone who had heard his last two albums, but for the people who were wasting time trying to convince themselves NYC Ghosts and Flowers was great (that included me at the time, iycbt) it was a welcome surprise. O'Rourke adds a kind of traditional musicianship never heard in the band before, and fits better with their amazingly tight dynamic than Steve Shelley! Still, he supposedly had nothing to do with the song writing which is the best in years, on "Disconnection Notice" in particular. However, his engineering skills go even further with this album having the same kind of lush depth as his solo albums and the whole band benefits from a producer who clearly understands their artistic vision on the deepest level. As new of a band as they may seem their roots are embraced as much as the new post-9/11 future with the tense rage of "Plastic Sun" and the extended "Karen Revisited" which anchors one of the band's absolute best works. If you have this on vinyl I recommend playing it at 45 for some of the best prog you will ever hear, even if the track order is different.
3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I am sure you've all seen the movie, so I won't provide much of the background, though I think a lot of that stuff is a bit overblown. Either way the best roots band in the world becomes full-blown avant-rockers and Jay Bennett is kicked out, but not before possibly usurping Tweedy on musical influence. Of course Jim O'Rourke was involved too. This album is full of layers, but as proven immediately on the drums of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," there is plenty of space in the mix and like a few other albums on this list, there is a truly wintry atmosphere. The eclecticism is what everyone discusses and for good reason. There are the moody atmospheric tracks like "Ashes of American Flags" and "Radio Cure" while the American roots come out on both ends of the spectrum on "Jesus, Etc" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You." True pop like "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "Pot Kettle Black" do not even prove to be the catchiest songs on the album, though they are some of the more joyous moments on this sometimes bleak landscape. The peak of Wilco's artistic ambition begins here in no small part due to the addition of Glen Kotche on drums. Whatever you think of the label "alt-country" it's vocabulary is expanded to infinity here.
2. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Perhaps taking a cue from their West Coast countrymen, eleven of the greatest musicians in Toronto get together and take the plunge from ambient instrumentals into some of the best rock of the decade. All the band's earlier tendencies are still there and it makes this dense album coalesce into big deep perfection rather than an overwhelming mess. This also makes the album have an almost operatic structure as it opens with "Capture the Flag" before kicking into full effect with "KC Accidental." It alternates between those kind of fast rockers and gentle grooves, with the latter blending with dreamy pop on the legendary "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl." My favorite has always been the unrelenting energy of "Almost Crimes," even as "Pacific Theme" may have single-handedly begun the slow-burning return of smooth. This would be the real peak of Canada's dominance of "indie rock," but this big collaborative album is truly in a category of its own in its seamless blend of rock, pop, and ambient music with a kind of studio wizardry only possessed by few. In many ways, a game changer, that set the ambitions of many perhaps a bit too high.
1. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips are one of those few bands whose most popular album is probably their best. We have Dell computers to thank for that, and the Lips to thank for them ditching Steve. This is the last album with the classic core trio unaccompanied and it could only be the product of those three minds after their years of living, playing, and suffering together and letting their imagination run free. While the concept about The Boredoms' drummer Yoshimi P-We does capture the album's essence, it more or less is moved to the side after the instrumental second part of the title track. From here on, the band tackles things even bigger than human-eating pink robots. That is not to say there is anything light and easy about "Fight Test," but tackling time on "All We Have Is Now" and mortality on "Do You Realize??" Wayne Coyne in his new beard and three-piece suit makes himself into the humble prophet that had changed countless lives on the last album, and saved many more with this one. As much wisdom has there is in his voice on "In The Morning of The Magicians" the rest of the band deserves no less credit for this masterpiece. Stephen Drozd, in addition to being the heart of the Lips ever since his entry is a drummer without peer (until he moved to keyboards and Kliph Scurlock took over) and his crashing toms define this album. Bassist and lifetime member Michael Ivins is also at his best on funky tracks like "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell" and "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, part 2." This album managed to strike a chord with America despite being a transcendent, heart-breaking masterpiece and has led the Lips to their place as one of the most enduring and popular bands of their time. Not bad for a bunch of acid-friend weirdos from Oklahima.
Wow. What an incredible year. Next year, pretty great, but no 2002.
Well, shit. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - B.R.M.C. was apparently released in 2001. That was going to make the list, but things have changed. Not sure if that would have made it for that year, so no loss, I suppose.
10. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
The Texas group hones in what Sonic Youth and many of the other best noisy rockers before them did best on this breakthrough. The arrangements are flawless and single "Another Morning Stoner" is one of the best of its type with all its perfect changes. What really distinguishes this album is its energy and urgency that managed to make it cross over a bit more into the emo-obsessed teen market. It is a solid set of angsty rock, one of the last to really fit the "alternative" bill with great songs like "Relative Ways" and "Baudelaire." They achieve it with strong production values and the incorporation of strings, horns, and other instruments typically not heard in this style. For a minute it seemed like they would be another one of rock's saviors, but it turned out to Jet instead.
9. Sigur Rós - ( )
As the art and lack of song titles explicitly state, Sigur Rós gives what was to be expected after their international breakthrough: Speechlessness. The title implies space, and that is here too. It is generally more quiet and slow than its predecessor, but the dynamics are even stronger. The songs are even longer and with less footing in the pop/rock background, allowing the Icelandic quartet to really make the music float in the air. Still all their viking force is in full effect, but way of building, climaxing, and pummeling the listener is extended, and more dominant throughout, rather than surprising or teasing. They build anticipation like a slow brew. It is like a whiteout of sound, all the beauty and melancholy of the winter slowly setting in, and a worthy follow-up to their previous Earth-shattering effort.
8. The Apples In Stereo - Velocity of Sound
The most underrated Apples album. It is there punk album, and I think that's what left a few people cold. Also, the vocals are even higher than before, almost approaching Chipmunk territory, but in some ways this makes their youthful energy even more of a revelation. To balance it out, bassist Eric Allen finally begins submitting songs and his "Yore Days," is as great as any other on the album. That says a lot with the likes of "Please," "Mystery," and "Ranfall." While the band's sound has never been so focused on this loud, fast fuzz attack, they still demonstrate their open-mindedness and 60s pop tradition with the magnificent "Baroque," with some of the best-arranged, um, baroque-style, harmonies of the last 40+ years. Even if this is their weakest, it is still the Apples in Stereo.
7. Beck - Sea Change
A lot of people did not know what to make of this one either. This album concludes Beck's peak era of getting absorbed into one idea on each album. It could not be any more different from Midnite Vultures, but it lives up to this unique artist's high standards. It is a real downer most famously due to his break-up at the time, but also rumored to have be affected by an attempted more away from the Church of Scientology. The music speaks for itself more, though as he embraces both the lush arrangements of French pop and the American West. This country influence is the perfect compliment to these heartbroken lyrics, particularly on songs like "Lost Cause" and the mesmerizing opener "The Golden Age." The title is dramatically relevant to not only the artist's personal life, but to his career, as his subsequent albums would be a little more similar and typically "Beck" (whatever that means) than in the era this concludes. His taste for psychedelia, makes this emotionally trying album even more absorbing, and shows that Beck is capable of not just making anything, but making it great.
6. múm - Finally We Are No One
Like the other Icelandic contribution to this list, there is a lot of atmosphere here. However, múm is floating in the space between dream and reality with their primarily electronic arrangements having more os a hypnotic pull than brute force. Perhaps it is that feminine element the twins bring. Twins are always weird, but in this case it adds a lot to the already mythical feeling. Their high voices and the icy synthesizers make this a set of otherworldly beauty that can seem so alien, the titles have to show that you are still being guided in "We Have a Map of Piano" and "Don't be Afraid, You Just Have Got Your Eyes Closed." All the titles have similarly surreal imagery and the music more than lives up to them, particularly on "Green Grass of Tunnel," one of the most gorgeous songs ever recorded. Perhaps this is electronica, but the true band dynamics give it a rare warmth seldom heard in any genre.
5. Liars - They Threw Us All In A Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top
This is when people started to really talk about Brooklyn, and what a perfect way to show off what that borough could put together. While this is not the "real" Liars, it is still one of the band's best works and showed them to already be far better than the "dance-punk" label entails. The post-punk energy is still one of the album's greatest strengths on songs like the one-two punch of "Grown Men Don't Fall In The River, Just Like That" and the synthesized hand-claps of "Mr. Your On Fire Mr." They make that aspect of their sound as obvious as they can on "Tumbling Walls Buried Me In The Debris with ESG," probably the closest thing to a cover on any of the albums the remainder of these lists, sadly. The band implies their skill at creating a concept album with the themes in the titles, although that did put a few people off two years later, their intellectualism is in as high effect here as ever. In concluding the quasi-concept there is the droning bottomless pit of a song "This Dirt Makes That Mud," probably the best song on the album and something of a window into the Liars' future along with the short "Why Midnight Walked But Didn't Ring Her Bell."
4. Sonic Youth - Murray Street
Everyone's favorite band made a real comeback when they added Jim O'Rourke. Certainly no surprise for anyone who had heard his last two albums, but for the people who were wasting time trying to convince themselves NYC Ghosts and Flowers was great (that included me at the time, iycbt) it was a welcome surprise. O'Rourke adds a kind of traditional musicianship never heard in the band before, and fits better with their amazingly tight dynamic than Steve Shelley! Still, he supposedly had nothing to do with the song writing which is the best in years, on "Disconnection Notice" in particular. However, his engineering skills go even further with this album having the same kind of lush depth as his solo albums and the whole band benefits from a producer who clearly understands their artistic vision on the deepest level. As new of a band as they may seem their roots are embraced as much as the new post-9/11 future with the tense rage of "Plastic Sun" and the extended "Karen Revisited" which anchors one of the band's absolute best works. If you have this on vinyl I recommend playing it at 45 for some of the best prog you will ever hear, even if the track order is different.
3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I am sure you've all seen the movie, so I won't provide much of the background, though I think a lot of that stuff is a bit overblown. Either way the best roots band in the world becomes full-blown avant-rockers and Jay Bennett is kicked out, but not before possibly usurping Tweedy on musical influence. Of course Jim O'Rourke was involved too. This album is full of layers, but as proven immediately on the drums of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," there is plenty of space in the mix and like a few other albums on this list, there is a truly wintry atmosphere. The eclecticism is what everyone discusses and for good reason. There are the moody atmospheric tracks like "Ashes of American Flags" and "Radio Cure" while the American roots come out on both ends of the spectrum on "Jesus, Etc" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You." True pop like "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "Pot Kettle Black" do not even prove to be the catchiest songs on the album, though they are some of the more joyous moments on this sometimes bleak landscape. The peak of Wilco's artistic ambition begins here in no small part due to the addition of Glen Kotche on drums. Whatever you think of the label "alt-country" it's vocabulary is expanded to infinity here.
2. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Perhaps taking a cue from their West Coast countrymen, eleven of the greatest musicians in Toronto get together and take the plunge from ambient instrumentals into some of the best rock of the decade. All the band's earlier tendencies are still there and it makes this dense album coalesce into big deep perfection rather than an overwhelming mess. This also makes the album have an almost operatic structure as it opens with "Capture the Flag" before kicking into full effect with "KC Accidental." It alternates between those kind of fast rockers and gentle grooves, with the latter blending with dreamy pop on the legendary "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl." My favorite has always been the unrelenting energy of "Almost Crimes," even as "Pacific Theme" may have single-handedly begun the slow-burning return of smooth. This would be the real peak of Canada's dominance of "indie rock," but this big collaborative album is truly in a category of its own in its seamless blend of rock, pop, and ambient music with a kind of studio wizardry only possessed by few. In many ways, a game changer, that set the ambitions of many perhaps a bit too high.
1. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips are one of those few bands whose most popular album is probably their best. We have Dell computers to thank for that, and the Lips to thank for them ditching Steve. This is the last album with the classic core trio unaccompanied and it could only be the product of those three minds after their years of living, playing, and suffering together and letting their imagination run free. While the concept about The Boredoms' drummer Yoshimi P-We does capture the album's essence, it more or less is moved to the side after the instrumental second part of the title track. From here on, the band tackles things even bigger than human-eating pink robots. That is not to say there is anything light and easy about "Fight Test," but tackling time on "All We Have Is Now" and mortality on "Do You Realize??" Wayne Coyne in his new beard and three-piece suit makes himself into the humble prophet that had changed countless lives on the last album, and saved many more with this one. As much wisdom has there is in his voice on "In The Morning of The Magicians" the rest of the band deserves no less credit for this masterpiece. Stephen Drozd, in addition to being the heart of the Lips ever since his entry is a drummer without peer (until he moved to keyboards and Kliph Scurlock took over) and his crashing toms define this album. Bassist and lifetime member Michael Ivins is also at his best on funky tracks like "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell" and "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, part 2." This album managed to strike a chord with America despite being a transcendent, heart-breaking masterpiece and has led the Lips to their place as one of the most enduring and popular bands of their time. Not bad for a bunch of acid-friend weirdos from Oklahima.
Wow. What an incredible year. Next year, pretty great, but no 2002.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
2001
This was a great year! Most people won't say that, especially those, who like me, come from the New York City area, but apart from that one thing it was pretty dope. Musically it gave a lot of people hope, even if it disappointed them later, and on a personal level it was a good improvement. Oh, and with Enterprise, the Star Trek franchise really got back on track. I may take up an article on that some time I don't feel like talking about music, but that's not tonight, because as I said, 2001 rocked.
10. Circulatory System - Circulatory System
The Olivia Tremor Control Breaking up was one of the greatest musical tragedies in the preceding years, but three of the five members soldiered on similarly. The ambitions may have been a bit high with yet another double (or perhaps just very long) album, but with Will Cullen Hart handling all the song writing himself, the let-down is no surprise. Still the bones of that band put together another great set of dense lo-fi psychedelia and at a few times approach the greatness of the old band's earlier work. I would argue that it is the lack of Doss' voice that gives this band a darker, more mysterious feel even with bright songs like "Yesterday's World," "Waves of Bark and Light," and "Joy," having an odd depressive quality to them. It is a complex and flavorful psychedelic stew though and all of OTC's more experimental qualities are in full force, even if the songs are not what they used to be, it is still the product of some of the generation's greatest musical minds.
9. Beulah - The Coast Is Never Clear
On their third album, San Francisco E6 cousins make an more solid collection of horn rock than their impressive 1999 album. It was released on September 11 and that could not be any more ironic given both its title and its cheery sound. If anyone bought it that day, "Silver Lining" certainly must have helped with it's blasting horns, fuzz bass, and Miles Kurosky's taste for nostalgia. "Popular Mechanics For Lovers" is the band's best-known song and it is well-deserved with it's clever lyrics and arrangement, but each song has the band's unique touch in their dense arrangements and harmonies. Beulah combines the lush psychedelia of their Eastern contemporaries with a clean production and a classic pop sensibility, evident from cinematic intro "Hello Resolven," but this never hinders their creativity and their music is perhaps the most contemporary-sounding of the collective, despite it's less common influences.
8. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Unfortunately, the Shins, and this album in particular was stained for many fans in 2004, but enough time has passed that it is time to remember this as the great record it is. The Albuquerque group put together a perfect collection of bright folky pop just as that kind of music was getting its due, all with the homemade lo-fi sound indie audiences craved. The song writing is usually remembered as the greatest strength, especially on songs like "Girl Inform Me" and "Know Your Onion!" However, the eerier songs are what really distinguishes the band from its peers and the band's own later work on the likes of "Your Algebra." It is a truly eccentric set from the land of enchantment and earned the band its place as the top indie band for the next few years, quite deservingly with perfect pop, and a fun and casual dynamic.
7. Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
Without his faithful band behind him, Malkmus still continues where he left off on his solo debut. The constant traveller makes the unfortunate choice of relocating to Portland, but manages to not lose any of his creativity, after all he did set the standard and that standard remains high. Not having to combat other extreme personalities allows him a bit more focus and this cleaner sound was beneficial to his songs. Tracks like "Phantasies" and "Jenny and the Ess-Dog" have all the humor of Pavement without any of the derranged sloppiness and Malkmus uses his freedom to take full control and allow himself extended solos like on "Jo jo's Jacket." As great as all the songs are, they all pale in comparison to "Trojan Curfew" - probably the most gorgeous song Malkmus has ever written, a humbling mythological tearjerker that surpasses the high expectations he had set in the previous decade.
6. Guided by Voices - Isolation Drills
Following the overlooked Hold on Hope EP, Pollard and company show the fools that doubted them that professionalism would not be their demise. Making it a little simpler than the last effort, they made another go for the big-time and opener "Fair Touching" is one of Pollard's best songs to kick off this set with some of their best-loved songs. Nothing here is as corny as "Hold on Hope," but songs like "Glad Girls" and "Chasing Heather Crazy" are some of their most accessible should-have-been hits. This was both a beginning and an end as their most commercial period proved fruitless causing their return to Matador, but the birth of the classic 00s lineup with holdover Doug Gillard, Tim Tobias on bass, and his brother Todd. The new band has some of their crunchiest sounds on "Skills Like This," but now Pollard is more of a star than ever with his vocals dominating the likes of "Unspirited" and "Sister I Need Wine."
5. Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future
After the heavy themes that dominated the last two album, Doug Martsch and company (again featuring Brett Netson) goes back to the poppier aesthetic of their earlier work. These songs are short and tight, but still demonstrate all the musicianship to be expected from Built To Spill. "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" is pure joy and closer "The Weather" is one of their most heartfelt, yet subtle love songs. They even let keyboards dominate on the fuzzy pop of opening track "Strange," but "Trimmed and Burning" has more of what the fans of the last two records are looking for. Unfortunately this would be it for the band for five years, but it is a perfect conclusion to their classic period and a great way to hand the torch to the next generation of American indie rockers.
4. AIR - 10,000 Hz Legend
Misunderstood and panned at the time of its release the French duo's second proper LP has endured as one of their most interesting works. They nearly abandon the smooth space pop of Moon Safari and add creepy layers and abrasive sounds like on their unsettling Virgin Suicides score. They also let the vocals and lyrics do more than just decorate the music with felinity. Their treated voices dominate in some truly shaking ways on "Lucky and Unhappy" and opening statement of purpose "Electronic Performers." They even let the computer do the talking on "How Does It Make You Feel?" perhaps their most moving and heartbreaking song, all with their distinctly French sense of humor. Still, it is the guest's vocalists that are best, and that should be expected with the inclusion of former tour mate Beck who adds the hobo blues to their ambient pop on the unforgettable "The Vagabond." This may be IR's true masterpiece and should be overlooked no more.
3. Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Returning to the indies, Spoon makes their best album and shows off their mastery of the studio like never before. The sound here is perfect and take these songs to their full potential. Like many other top bands they begin to incorporate more keyboards, dominating songs like the baroque "1020 AM" and "The Fitted Shirt" and the highlight "Anything You Want." Their embrace of classic hard rock also sets them apart, especially when paired with their more delicate side, though when it stands out most you have songs like the memorable Kurt Cobain tribute "Me And the Bean." This is where Spoon really became the band so many love today, proving themselves masters of sonic landscape and Brit Daniel one of the decade's greatest song writers. Then it ends with the chilling "Chicago At Night," one of the best portrayals of a city's danger in the darkness since Dennis Wilson's "Friday Night."
2. Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
O'Rourke ends his trilogy and his long era of work as a singular entity with this masterpiece. Including fellow Chicagoans/future band mates from Wilco on several tracks, he makes an album more focused on hard rock than ever, proving himself more than just a weirdo avant-garde composer. The one-two punch of "All Downhill From Here" and "Therefore, I Am" show that this is to be one of the beest rock albums of its time, even in the purist, most classic sense with their rocking riffs, that let O'Rourke take it easy as always on the vocals. Still, it's got those "woo woos" to get the rock muscles going in full effect and the former's horns at the end make it as big anything. All of O'Rourke's influences come out, but in a more instantly compete and focused way that never relents, even in its folkier moments such as closer "Life Goes Off." Do not be put off by the album art, this is not too weird, it is just one of the best guitar albums of its time, and will finalize the reality of O'Rourke's great mythology.
1. The Stokes - Is This It?
Of course. Some people hoped this would be the beginning of a new rock revolution, and perhaps it was, though it really did little for the mainstream, as in reality, so did Nevermind. It is a flawless set of songs, though - that is, the true version featuring "New York City Cops," as its replacement is still the worst Strokes song I know of (I have not heard the new album). Even then the strength of the other songs is enough to comfortably place this album at number one, and the way it holds all the beauty of Manhattan in the end of its days as a tolerable place is simply otherworldly. The way such a young man as Julian Casablancas could do this is still perplexing, and his love for his home town gives this album the kind of depth no which transplant could ever hope to achieve. Songs like "Last Nite," "The Modern Age" and the truly godly "Hard To Explain" capture all the rush and splendor of being young with all the world at your fingertips and somehow it managed to reach everybody. It is also hard to believe that the whole band is dictated by Casablancas as they function like the most perfectly-designed musical machine in history, particularly the metronomic Fab Moretti. The Strokes combine everything great that preceded them like an urbane and young Guided by Voices, making it no surprise that the influential band tops their list of thank yous. This is still it, a masterpiece, a perfect rock album and absolutely no joke. The ultimate Manhattan album.
10. Circulatory System - Circulatory System
The Olivia Tremor Control Breaking up was one of the greatest musical tragedies in the preceding years, but three of the five members soldiered on similarly. The ambitions may have been a bit high with yet another double (or perhaps just very long) album, but with Will Cullen Hart handling all the song writing himself, the let-down is no surprise. Still the bones of that band put together another great set of dense lo-fi psychedelia and at a few times approach the greatness of the old band's earlier work. I would argue that it is the lack of Doss' voice that gives this band a darker, more mysterious feel even with bright songs like "Yesterday's World," "Waves of Bark and Light," and "Joy," having an odd depressive quality to them. It is a complex and flavorful psychedelic stew though and all of OTC's more experimental qualities are in full force, even if the songs are not what they used to be, it is still the product of some of the generation's greatest musical minds.
9. Beulah - The Coast Is Never Clear
On their third album, San Francisco E6 cousins make an more solid collection of horn rock than their impressive 1999 album. It was released on September 11 and that could not be any more ironic given both its title and its cheery sound. If anyone bought it that day, "Silver Lining" certainly must have helped with it's blasting horns, fuzz bass, and Miles Kurosky's taste for nostalgia. "Popular Mechanics For Lovers" is the band's best-known song and it is well-deserved with it's clever lyrics and arrangement, but each song has the band's unique touch in their dense arrangements and harmonies. Beulah combines the lush psychedelia of their Eastern contemporaries with a clean production and a classic pop sensibility, evident from cinematic intro "Hello Resolven," but this never hinders their creativity and their music is perhaps the most contemporary-sounding of the collective, despite it's less common influences.
8. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Unfortunately, the Shins, and this album in particular was stained for many fans in 2004, but enough time has passed that it is time to remember this as the great record it is. The Albuquerque group put together a perfect collection of bright folky pop just as that kind of music was getting its due, all with the homemade lo-fi sound indie audiences craved. The song writing is usually remembered as the greatest strength, especially on songs like "Girl Inform Me" and "Know Your Onion!" However, the eerier songs are what really distinguishes the band from its peers and the band's own later work on the likes of "Your Algebra." It is a truly eccentric set from the land of enchantment and earned the band its place as the top indie band for the next few years, quite deservingly with perfect pop, and a fun and casual dynamic.
7. Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
Without his faithful band behind him, Malkmus still continues where he left off on his solo debut. The constant traveller makes the unfortunate choice of relocating to Portland, but manages to not lose any of his creativity, after all he did set the standard and that standard remains high. Not having to combat other extreme personalities allows him a bit more focus and this cleaner sound was beneficial to his songs. Tracks like "Phantasies" and "Jenny and the Ess-Dog" have all the humor of Pavement without any of the derranged sloppiness and Malkmus uses his freedom to take full control and allow himself extended solos like on "Jo jo's Jacket." As great as all the songs are, they all pale in comparison to "Trojan Curfew" - probably the most gorgeous song Malkmus has ever written, a humbling mythological tearjerker that surpasses the high expectations he had set in the previous decade.
6. Guided by Voices - Isolation Drills
Following the overlooked Hold on Hope EP, Pollard and company show the fools that doubted them that professionalism would not be their demise. Making it a little simpler than the last effort, they made another go for the big-time and opener "Fair Touching" is one of Pollard's best songs to kick off this set with some of their best-loved songs. Nothing here is as corny as "Hold on Hope," but songs like "Glad Girls" and "Chasing Heather Crazy" are some of their most accessible should-have-been hits. This was both a beginning and an end as their most commercial period proved fruitless causing their return to Matador, but the birth of the classic 00s lineup with holdover Doug Gillard, Tim Tobias on bass, and his brother Todd. The new band has some of their crunchiest sounds on "Skills Like This," but now Pollard is more of a star than ever with his vocals dominating the likes of "Unspirited" and "Sister I Need Wine."
5. Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future
After the heavy themes that dominated the last two album, Doug Martsch and company (again featuring Brett Netson) goes back to the poppier aesthetic of their earlier work. These songs are short and tight, but still demonstrate all the musicianship to be expected from Built To Spill. "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" is pure joy and closer "The Weather" is one of their most heartfelt, yet subtle love songs. They even let keyboards dominate on the fuzzy pop of opening track "Strange," but "Trimmed and Burning" has more of what the fans of the last two records are looking for. Unfortunately this would be it for the band for five years, but it is a perfect conclusion to their classic period and a great way to hand the torch to the next generation of American indie rockers.
4. AIR - 10,000 Hz Legend
Misunderstood and panned at the time of its release the French duo's second proper LP has endured as one of their most interesting works. They nearly abandon the smooth space pop of Moon Safari and add creepy layers and abrasive sounds like on their unsettling Virgin Suicides score. They also let the vocals and lyrics do more than just decorate the music with felinity. Their treated voices dominate in some truly shaking ways on "Lucky and Unhappy" and opening statement of purpose "Electronic Performers." They even let the computer do the talking on "How Does It Make You Feel?" perhaps their most moving and heartbreaking song, all with their distinctly French sense of humor. Still, it is the guest's vocalists that are best, and that should be expected with the inclusion of former tour mate Beck who adds the hobo blues to their ambient pop on the unforgettable "The Vagabond." This may be IR's true masterpiece and should be overlooked no more.
3. Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Returning to the indies, Spoon makes their best album and shows off their mastery of the studio like never before. The sound here is perfect and take these songs to their full potential. Like many other top bands they begin to incorporate more keyboards, dominating songs like the baroque "1020 AM" and "The Fitted Shirt" and the highlight "Anything You Want." Their embrace of classic hard rock also sets them apart, especially when paired with their more delicate side, though when it stands out most you have songs like the memorable Kurt Cobain tribute "Me And the Bean." This is where Spoon really became the band so many love today, proving themselves masters of sonic landscape and Brit Daniel one of the decade's greatest song writers. Then it ends with the chilling "Chicago At Night," one of the best portrayals of a city's danger in the darkness since Dennis Wilson's "Friday Night."
2. Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
O'Rourke ends his trilogy and his long era of work as a singular entity with this masterpiece. Including fellow Chicagoans/future band mates from Wilco on several tracks, he makes an album more focused on hard rock than ever, proving himself more than just a weirdo avant-garde composer. The one-two punch of "All Downhill From Here" and "Therefore, I Am" show that this is to be one of the beest rock albums of its time, even in the purist, most classic sense with their rocking riffs, that let O'Rourke take it easy as always on the vocals. Still, it's got those "woo woos" to get the rock muscles going in full effect and the former's horns at the end make it as big anything. All of O'Rourke's influences come out, but in a more instantly compete and focused way that never relents, even in its folkier moments such as closer "Life Goes Off." Do not be put off by the album art, this is not too weird, it is just one of the best guitar albums of its time, and will finalize the reality of O'Rourke's great mythology.
1. The Stokes - Is This It?
Of course. Some people hoped this would be the beginning of a new rock revolution, and perhaps it was, though it really did little for the mainstream, as in reality, so did Nevermind. It is a flawless set of songs, though - that is, the true version featuring "New York City Cops," as its replacement is still the worst Strokes song I know of (I have not heard the new album). Even then the strength of the other songs is enough to comfortably place this album at number one, and the way it holds all the beauty of Manhattan in the end of its days as a tolerable place is simply otherworldly. The way such a young man as Julian Casablancas could do this is still perplexing, and his love for his home town gives this album the kind of depth no which transplant could ever hope to achieve. Songs like "Last Nite," "The Modern Age" and the truly godly "Hard To Explain" capture all the rush and splendor of being young with all the world at your fingertips and somehow it managed to reach everybody. It is also hard to believe that the whole band is dictated by Casablancas as they function like the most perfectly-designed musical machine in history, particularly the metronomic Fab Moretti. The Strokes combine everything great that preceded them like an urbane and young Guided by Voices, making it no surprise that the influential band tops their list of thank yous. This is still it, a masterpiece, a perfect rock album and absolutely no joke. The ultimate Manhattan album.
Monday, May 6, 2013
The year 2000
As Conan, La Bamba, and a very talented team of writers had predicted for decades, this year was very strange. I think the musical community kinda blew its collective load in 1999 and did not recover until 2001, as those are much stronger years, and two of the strongest in the last 25 years. This year is full of albums that most people, including my readers, probably would rate higher than I do. Still, I almost feel like I might be entertaining them more than usual with Animal Collective's debut (and best album for many years) does not make the cut and I did not feel right including AIR's Virgin Suicides soundtrack on the grounds of the movie being released the year before. So here it is, probably not too different from Rolling Stone's...
10. Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antarctica
Clearly I'm just not the biggest Modest Mouse fan. Still, this is a remarkable album with some absolutely gorgeous moments that slowly built up the band's reputation enough for their explosive breakthrough four years later. It has a very down-to-Earth approach to its spacey and science fiction themes with all the beauty of both locales - particularly on opener "3rd Planet." Like many albums from the CD era, it is a bit long, had it been a bit more concise songs like "The Cold Part," "I Came as a Rat," and the folk "Wild Pack of Family Dogs" would make me never question people's undying love of this album/band. The band does have a unique cohesion that gives them the same kind of depth in their lush marriage of the dark and psychedelic in a sound that would redefine the standard of Northwestern indie rock. Closer "What People Are Made Of" brings the energy back up, as a cold reminder of the reality apart from this dream-like record.
9. The Sea and Cake - Oui
A lot of this year's best albums are unusually chill - as heard at times in the previous entry, but this one probably the most. This time may have been the peak of the Chicago post-rock scene and the Sea and Cake have always been on the the city's highlights. It's a set of clean, brainy jazz rock with relaxing, breathy vocals. The smooth sounds here with the prominent synthesizers and vibes are the furthest cry from the mainstream at the time, especially coupled with the bright tones and themes around nature's splendor like "Afternoon Speaker," "Two Dolphins" and "The Leaf." It is a perfectly relaxing album with warm songs that stick with fragments of unusual, indescribable joy and atmosphere, rather than simple tunes.
8. Blonde Redhead - Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
This trio of uncomfortably-close foreigners in New York concludes their most prolific era with one of their best works. Their dark and moody sound hits a new depth that could only go further with a concept album. Expertly produced, they are seen to be much more than a group of wanna be No Wavers who showed up far too late. The layers in their arrangement and use of both familiar and radically different sounds gives Blonde Redhead a voice very distinct from anyone else. Even on the most basic level it is hard to name a contemporary. With the power of a classical piece and the fragile aggression that could only come from such outsiders, it is a landmark for modern rock. Noise, samples, and even synths make the album constantly engaging in its range of sounds from "Mother" to "Hated Because of Great Qualities" to "This is Not."
7. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Yo La Tengo sometimes gets too much of a reputation as just being chill, and with it being 2000, that reputation became deserved. While probably their softest album it is also one of their best and most definitive with their pop culture and literary references coming out most explicitly on "The Crying of Lot G" and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" - the latter being Troy McClure telethon show. Even their closing jam is softer and more raga-like, but its title, "Night Falls Over Hoboken" is the best description, along with the cover, for this album with its essence firmly in the beauty of a New Jersey twilight. Like their local influences, YLT captures all this beauty in the most quiet and subtle ways possible, as the band dynamics tighten and allow their rare precision to patiently build and build in this 77 minute soundscape.
6. Radiohead- Kid A
Right, so, like I had said 3 articles ago, I am not a Radiohead junkie, but it is impossible to deny where they excel. The band shows their unusual genius by investing in a whole bunch of new (or rather, old) toys with all their vast profits from the prior masterpiece and showing what they can do with them. Naturally, it made a whole lot of people uncomfortable at the time, people who would rather see Jonny Greenwood behind two turntables than even an analogue synthesizer. However, they became the Radiohead that we all know and anyone with their head screwed on prefers. The atmospheric sounds that had been hinted at before have taken over, but the songs and the five-piece dynamic are stronger than ever, clearly not surrendering to electronica (just yet). Radiohead showed that for the new millennium they were setting their sights on the future, even if it did sound more like it was from the 70s than ever. Their best album of all, and even I enjoy it.
5. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Some people may have noticed that our neighbors to the North have not made an appearance on these lists until now. Perhaps being an underachiever of a country (unless you love Rush) up to this point, the Canucks get the brilliant idea of putting all their talents together at once, and this decade it worked. That all began with this Vancouver project, mostly led by A.C. Newman. They achieve this by playing big, full power-pop songs with harmonies from some top-notch vocalists including the great Neko Case - quite a departure from just about everything going on in the US and UK at the time. The energy and arrangements is also unparalleled making these tracks instantly catchy in more than one way, particularly on the title track, "Letter from An Occupant" and Dan Bejar's "Jackie." However, it is the three vocalists' combined forces that make "To Wild Homes" the album's centerpiece. In truth, this may be the year's most influential album, setting the standard for the more positive indie rock that would emerge in the following years. If you can, pick up the original mix, it's better.
4. Tortoise - Standards
The Chicago post-rock scene's flagship band created this masterpiece, as usual without even needing the use of vocals. It's dense, like a sedimentary rock with all its funky rhythms and incorporation of electronics. This is the group's most studio-based work and its use of layers and manipulation are used to mind-blowing effect that would even make Todd Rundgren jealous. "Seneca" begins the album with a cinematic explosion of sound, both shaking and hypnotic and the big sound of the record carries an almost narrative quality throughout its perfect 44-minute playing time, achieving what music should in its full range of emotional language, as even just the sound of a perfectly-manipulated drum kit can do more than most lyrics. Most of the songs' complexity and mood makes them shrouded in a mystery, though at the core, it is pretty happy music, especially on "Monica," one of my personal favorites.
10. Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antarctica
Clearly I'm just not the biggest Modest Mouse fan. Still, this is a remarkable album with some absolutely gorgeous moments that slowly built up the band's reputation enough for their explosive breakthrough four years later. It has a very down-to-Earth approach to its spacey and science fiction themes with all the beauty of both locales - particularly on opener "3rd Planet." Like many albums from the CD era, it is a bit long, had it been a bit more concise songs like "The Cold Part," "I Came as a Rat," and the folk "Wild Pack of Family Dogs" would make me never question people's undying love of this album/band. The band does have a unique cohesion that gives them the same kind of depth in their lush marriage of the dark and psychedelic in a sound that would redefine the standard of Northwestern indie rock. Closer "What People Are Made Of" brings the energy back up, as a cold reminder of the reality apart from this dream-like record.
9. The Sea and Cake - Oui
A lot of this year's best albums are unusually chill - as heard at times in the previous entry, but this one probably the most. This time may have been the peak of the Chicago post-rock scene and the Sea and Cake have always been on the the city's highlights. It's a set of clean, brainy jazz rock with relaxing, breathy vocals. The smooth sounds here with the prominent synthesizers and vibes are the furthest cry from the mainstream at the time, especially coupled with the bright tones and themes around nature's splendor like "Afternoon Speaker," "Two Dolphins" and "The Leaf." It is a perfectly relaxing album with warm songs that stick with fragments of unusual, indescribable joy and atmosphere, rather than simple tunes.
8. Blonde Redhead - Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
This trio of uncomfortably-close foreigners in New York concludes their most prolific era with one of their best works. Their dark and moody sound hits a new depth that could only go further with a concept album. Expertly produced, they are seen to be much more than a group of wanna be No Wavers who showed up far too late. The layers in their arrangement and use of both familiar and radically different sounds gives Blonde Redhead a voice very distinct from anyone else. Even on the most basic level it is hard to name a contemporary. With the power of a classical piece and the fragile aggression that could only come from such outsiders, it is a landmark for modern rock. Noise, samples, and even synths make the album constantly engaging in its range of sounds from "Mother" to "Hated Because of Great Qualities" to "This is Not."
7. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Yo La Tengo sometimes gets too much of a reputation as just being chill, and with it being 2000, that reputation became deserved. While probably their softest album it is also one of their best and most definitive with their pop culture and literary references coming out most explicitly on "The Crying of Lot G" and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" - the latter being Troy McClure telethon show. Even their closing jam is softer and more raga-like, but its title, "Night Falls Over Hoboken" is the best description, along with the cover, for this album with its essence firmly in the beauty of a New Jersey twilight. Like their local influences, YLT captures all this beauty in the most quiet and subtle ways possible, as the band dynamics tighten and allow their rare precision to patiently build and build in this 77 minute soundscape.
6. Radiohead- Kid A
Right, so, like I had said 3 articles ago, I am not a Radiohead junkie, but it is impossible to deny where they excel. The band shows their unusual genius by investing in a whole bunch of new (or rather, old) toys with all their vast profits from the prior masterpiece and showing what they can do with them. Naturally, it made a whole lot of people uncomfortable at the time, people who would rather see Jonny Greenwood behind two turntables than even an analogue synthesizer. However, they became the Radiohead that we all know and anyone with their head screwed on prefers. The atmospheric sounds that had been hinted at before have taken over, but the songs and the five-piece dynamic are stronger than ever, clearly not surrendering to electronica (just yet). Radiohead showed that for the new millennium they were setting their sights on the future, even if it did sound more like it was from the 70s than ever. Their best album of all, and even I enjoy it.
5. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Some people may have noticed that our neighbors to the North have not made an appearance on these lists until now. Perhaps being an underachiever of a country (unless you love Rush) up to this point, the Canucks get the brilliant idea of putting all their talents together at once, and this decade it worked. That all began with this Vancouver project, mostly led by A.C. Newman. They achieve this by playing big, full power-pop songs with harmonies from some top-notch vocalists including the great Neko Case - quite a departure from just about everything going on in the US and UK at the time. The energy and arrangements is also unparalleled making these tracks instantly catchy in more than one way, particularly on the title track, "Letter from An Occupant" and Dan Bejar's "Jackie." However, it is the three vocalists' combined forces that make "To Wild Homes" the album's centerpiece. In truth, this may be the year's most influential album, setting the standard for the more positive indie rock that would emerge in the following years. If you can, pick up the original mix, it's better.
4. Tortoise - Standards
The Chicago post-rock scene's flagship band created this masterpiece, as usual without even needing the use of vocals. It's dense, like a sedimentary rock with all its funky rhythms and incorporation of electronics. This is the group's most studio-based work and its use of layers and manipulation are used to mind-blowing effect that would even make Todd Rundgren jealous. "Seneca" begins the album with a cinematic explosion of sound, both shaking and hypnotic and the big sound of the record carries an almost narrative quality throughout its perfect 44-minute playing time, achieving what music should in its full range of emotional language, as even just the sound of a perfectly-manipulated drum kit can do more than most lyrics. Most of the songs' complexity and mood makes them shrouded in a mystery, though at the core, it is pretty happy music, especially on "Monica," one of my personal favorites.
3. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From The Sea
While sometimes criticized for being too clean and commercial - especially compared to her previous work, this is another one of many great albums from Polly Harvey. The English country girl moves to New York, a seasoned rock star, but still naive apparently, falls in love or something, and leaves - as usual, quite jaded. The artist has a lot of trouble with this one, and I can imagine it is for personal reasons, it is full of weakness and heartbreak, but resulted in a lot of great music. Like most of her albums it verges on conceptual with opener "Big Exit" and closer "We Float" being the perfect ends to the misadventures in "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore" and "Good Fortune." It is the definitive album about a lost soul venturing into New York City and, of course, leaving more lost than ever, but with a few good stories to tell back in Bumfuck, Wherever-They-Came-From, and that would make anyone who lived it uncomfortable. Her collaborators on this album are some of the best too with old drummer Rob Ellis and Mick Harvey joining her as a full-fledge band both in front of and behind the mixing board. Thom Yorke even shows up on several tracks. Single "This Is Love" should have made her a superstar, especially with that video...
2. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
I thought I had outgrown it too, but this album still stands up. It is an anomaly though, made up primarily of the worst trends of the time, it somehow ends up perfectly. The emo and neo-prog sides of the El Paso group that would lead them into the God-awful projects that would follow are in conflict and it somehow works. The successful blend of screams, pretentiously abstract lyrics, complex arrangements, and occasionally Latin rhythms proved mall metal guru Ross Robinson, making one wonder what he could have done he chosen to work with any other decent groups. The spirited performances and songs are enough to overlook any of its flaws, and even make a contribution from Iggy Pop not one of the highlights. The band's ridiculous aspirations managed coupled with the commercially-minded producer made this one of the most unique albums of its time and its singles were certainly the most interesting thing on the radio until the Strokes emergence one year later. It is an album that may only become more confusing in the future, but it will always sound great, as one of the best post-hardcore records of all time, and certainly the best of emo, if you will. One of a kind, and one of the most exciting things to live through as a kid.
1. The Apples in Stereo - The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
Somehow, even as more know about the band this album still does not get its due props. It is their finest album to date, and the perfect one for right now as the summer approaches. The band, at this point a quintet featuring Chris McDuffie is at their best and it shows on this album. Their sound expands wider than ever before, incorporating a lot of funk into their psychedelic pop sound, now with more energy than ever. The message is clear on opening track "Go," and Hilary Sidnie's "20 Cases Suggestive of..." is the best of the faster punk/hard rock sound they (and she without the rest) would explore in the future. However, both sides conclude with softer moments "What Happened Then" and "The Afternoon." Nature themes are all over the place, far removed from the science fiction of the title and the dull album art with songs like "The Rainbow," the funky "The Bird That You Can't See" and of course the idealistic "Stream Running Over." The romantic undersea fantasy of "Submarine Dream" is still one of their best psychedelic moments, while "Allright/Not Quite," keeps up their tradition of lovable romantic woes. With this masterpiece, the Apples show that while the rest of Elephant 6 may be fading, they are still one of the greatest bands on Earth and have a bright future ahead of them, though perhaps not on a personal level...
If I seemed less interested in this year it's because I was. The next few though...
Saturday, May 4, 2013
1999
Perhaps it was the conclusion of all those arbitrary measures of time - the millennium, the century, and most importantly, the decade, but 1999 turned out to be a real stellar year. Just think about what's missing. A few of these artists I really think were putting all they had in just in case the world did end. Either way it was enough to prove the 90s as vital a decade as most of the others in its last chance. I would say this was a year for the ages as a certain artist who is not on the list had once predicted.
10. Robert Pollard with Doug Gillard - Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department
The Dayton crew put out a lot of great releases this year and the highly underrated Do the Collapse almost made the list as did the now Travese City-based Tobin Sprout with Let's Welcome the Circus People. This one gets the inclusion for being the most unique and possibly least-known. Two years "I am A Tree" proved these two to be some top-notch collaborators and after Jimmy, Sprout and producer Todd Tobias, Gillard is probably Pollard's greatest partner. The music was mostly composed and performed by Gillard with Pollard adding vocals and lyrics afterward. It is full of some of the greatest riffs of all time and expands the GbV sound with longer songs and more hard/prog rock influence. "Pop Zeus" may be the greatest rock song of all time and is worth the price of admission alone, but as usual, it is full of other incredible songs such as opener "The Frequent Weaver Who Burns" and "Tight Globes." Just another sign of how infinitely deep the GbV well runs.
9. Pavement - Terror Twilight
With the acrimonious breakup that followed, Pavement's final album is too often overlooked and underrated. I have even gone through phases where I have cited this as my favorite album of theirs. Maybe even while writing this as it had occupied a higher position in earlier drafts. Still, it's phenomenal, even though the band dynamic is clearly diminishing and the album has the flavor of a Malkmus solo effort. There is a lot less eccentricity and sloppy charm, but the songs are as strong as before and the looseness remains. From opening track "Spit on A Stranger," the album's atmosphere is established with these songs that are slower and spacier than ever, shrouded in a certain darkness at its peak with "The Hexx." The band's performances matched this and the title with their stage lit only with holiday lights (I highly recommend the performances on the Slow Century DVD). Some other highlights are the simple ballad "Major Leagues" and the lovably quirky closer "Carrot Rope," leaving the proof that Pavement's final and "weakest" album is still fantastic.
8. Wilco - Summerteeth
The first of Wilco's trilogy of masterpieces being only at 8 shows just how remarkable this year was. With multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett's contribution at its peak, the group moves into more Brian Wilson-esque territory. They beautifully realize what Being There only hinted, that the Chicago group is more than a talented group of traditionalists, but that an artist can expand into new territory while retaining on root in their Americana roots. The pop songs are tighter and catchier than ever too with songs like "ELT" and "Nothing'severgonnastantinmyway (Again)" perfectly balancing classic pop, country and their incorporation of synthesizers. The production is likewise lusher and lusher with layers of guitars, vocals, keys, and percussion giving incredible depth to these timeless songs, like a Midwestern SMiLE. While less concise and cohesive than some of Wilco's other releases, it is long and adventurous, with every moment as sweet as the last, just like a summer should be, and the album more than lives up to its title, ideal for hot moonlit nights.
7. The Apples in Stereo - Her Wallpaper Reverie
Including this was a tough call as it could be considered an EP. I would argue that it is not, but I will not argue that the countless toy piano pieces are anything but obnoxious. Despite their outnumbering real songs, said real songs are some of the band's greatest. Like most Elephant 6 releases it's just what you would want from more psychedelic Beatles, perhaps more than ever on "The Benefits of Lying With Your Friends" and "Strawberryfire." Well, with so few songs it can be hard to write about, but had this been a better-realized album with nothing but real songs I would say it would be the Apples' best. While it may not be their most future-oriented, the songs are at their best and so is the band. If you don't mind skipping around this is a perfect place to start with them, especially with "The Shiny Sea" being a definitive example of Robert Schneider's fascination with deep-sea fantasy.
6. Built to Spill - Keep It Like A Secret
Perhaps Built to Spill's best album, the trio focuses all their talents in at once. These songs are much shorter than on their previous effort, yet with their dynamic arrangements they achieve and even bigger, symphonic sound. Far from pop, these songs still do not sound like jams, with every not being so perfect in its gigantic swirl of sounds, that is still as immediate and memorable as anything on There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Martsch's lyrics are also their most whole as the dark themes on the last album are still there, though mixed with his sense of humor and nostalgia adding in a more abstract and expressive form. Standout "Carry the Zero"manages to pack that all in, and "You Were Right," is a dismal take on life, yet played out with classic references that are too sincere to be funny, too clever to be depressing, and just too good to be corny. Everything one could want from Built to Spill all at once, through these ten tracks, including the closer "Broken Chairs," their best and longest epic that shows just how much of a powerhouse this talented band really is.
5. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
The Lips really became the band that the world knows today on this album, still considered by many to be their best. From "Race For The Prize," the group establishes their new dedication to spreading hope to humanity. Most of best songs are about overcoming the impossible, with "Waitin' For Superman" and "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton" even tacking the idea of taking on the great star around which our world literally revolves. After the group's dive into pure madness on Zaireeka and evidenced on "The Spiderbite Song," the trio has found a way to harness their huge ambitions onto only two speakers and function like brothers with endless wisdom to offer mankind. Like Gene Roddenberry before them, the Lips gave their fans a bright vision of a future that can happen if the people of the world work together to overcome the impossible with love. After a decade of very grim music, this embrace of science fiction on prog they created a true landmark to take the world into the 21st Century and made themselves the band that will surely be most fondly remembered of their time.
4. Beck - Midnite Vultures
He was probably planning this all his life. Beck lays it all out in the perfect party album that takes all the depraved insanity of Hollywood nightlife and makes it enjoyable for people with taste, intelligence, and integrity. "Hollywood Freaks" is of course the definitive track with its sounds still probably haunting every hip-hop producer at night and proving Beck can rap outside of the Gen X slacker persona. While most of this porno-funk is hilarious, it is not without its more sincere moments with "Beautiful Way," one of the many successful integrations of country into this retro dance party and "Broken Train" a fair and clear-headed take on the album's big theme. Still, he decadent hedonism is the most fun and songs like "Get Real Paid" and "Milk and Honey" are the perfect odes to the shallow pleasures. "Sexx Laws" and "Mixed Bizness" miraculously broke through, and I can attest, made all the people scream. Beck for once put all his talents into creating something fun and what is probably the final great album of the century (released in November 19) is also the feel-good record of the decade. While disowned by its creator, closer "Debra" is still one of the best and many Angelenos owe their love of the city's greatest restaurant to that song.
3. Jim O'Rourke - Eureka
In the middle of his devilishly-titled Nicholas Roeg trilogy Chicago's boy genius puts all his unfathomable talent into the masterpiece. His pop talent meets his compositional genius in this expansive musical adventure that has an unwavering flow as it moves from minimalist folk to Eno-esque cinematic ambience, to touches of samba and beyond. As the title implies, it is pretty eye-opening, like a revelation and with the first two tracks in particular carrying the same kind of hopefulness for the next millennium as the Flaming Lips. His cover of "Something Big," surprisingly true to the Bacharach/David vision takes this idea even further and shows that O'Rourke is an incomparable musical force willing to share with others. No surprise as most of his appearances here are at the side of others. In a lot of ways this is as much a pop album as anything else he has made, though it sounds like nothing else and he usually lets the music speak louder than the words, such as on "Please Patronize Our Sponsors," and while many of these songs are quite long, "Happy Holidays" with its horns and Wilson-esque vocals concludes the album in a bite-sized form reminiscent of Guided by Voices.
2. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
Just when you think you had Iceland's sound figured out, this album emerged with some of the most otherworldly sounds ever recorded. I feel like I have no right discussing this band as someone who has never seen them based on what I have heard from people who have, but this album is enough to suggest its power. The four musicians function like a single mind wired into a divine channel flowing from the geothermal energy source that powers their island home. Their Viking force is used both to pummel with Thor's hammer and capable of unimaginable delicacy with singer/guitarist Jonsí's voice and the band's melodies seemingly only native to heaven. Even with only months to prove itself the Icelandic people regarded this as the finest recording of the century, and their reasoning are unquestionable as this is 70 minutes of beautiful transcendence. It speaks for itself, it's like returning the whom, but with all the wisdom of the ages to bring with you. My favorite is "Olsen Olsen."
1. The Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage: Animation Music, Volume 1
After creating one of the biggest and best albums of all time OTC goes even further and invites ALL their friends into the studio, including most prominently Neutral Milk Hotel members Julian Koster and Scott Spillane who were necessary in live performance, along with a second drummer and cellist. Also, it is the first with keyboardist Pete Erchick who contributes one of the group's greatest songs "I Have Been Floated," with everyone on vocals. With the grand concept finished (despite inclusion of "California Demise 3") the subject matter gets even more abstract, even as the songs get even catchier with "A Peculiar Noise Called 'Train Director" being the best example. As dense as its arrangement is it could be outdone on "Hideaway" their perfect slice of folk pop with I believe 40 acoustic guitar tracks. As catchy as those, and many other songs are the album is psychedelia above all else, and songs like "Another Set of Bees in the Museum," and the Floyd-esque "Paranormal Echoes," being some of the trippiest songs recorded since the 60s heyday. The album is indeed dark at time, though more mysterious than really black, and the title theme places around the album along with the various "Combinations" tracks serving as glue keep the large and unpredictable album together through its many turns. The darkness hits its peak towards the end, but this band's final album concludes on a bright note with the whole Elephant 6 collective joining in the "Hilltop Procession" sing-along. Bill Doss claimed that it too, I believe 86 listens to hear everything going on. It is much higher for someone not so involved with its creation (I still have a ways to go with probably more listens than that), but it is not hard to get there.
Should get to 2000 tomorrow, so long 20th century!
10. Robert Pollard with Doug Gillard - Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department
The Dayton crew put out a lot of great releases this year and the highly underrated Do the Collapse almost made the list as did the now Travese City-based Tobin Sprout with Let's Welcome the Circus People. This one gets the inclusion for being the most unique and possibly least-known. Two years "I am A Tree" proved these two to be some top-notch collaborators and after Jimmy, Sprout and producer Todd Tobias, Gillard is probably Pollard's greatest partner. The music was mostly composed and performed by Gillard with Pollard adding vocals and lyrics afterward. It is full of some of the greatest riffs of all time and expands the GbV sound with longer songs and more hard/prog rock influence. "Pop Zeus" may be the greatest rock song of all time and is worth the price of admission alone, but as usual, it is full of other incredible songs such as opener "The Frequent Weaver Who Burns" and "Tight Globes." Just another sign of how infinitely deep the GbV well runs.
9. Pavement - Terror Twilight
With the acrimonious breakup that followed, Pavement's final album is too often overlooked and underrated. I have even gone through phases where I have cited this as my favorite album of theirs. Maybe even while writing this as it had occupied a higher position in earlier drafts. Still, it's phenomenal, even though the band dynamic is clearly diminishing and the album has the flavor of a Malkmus solo effort. There is a lot less eccentricity and sloppy charm, but the songs are as strong as before and the looseness remains. From opening track "Spit on A Stranger," the album's atmosphere is established with these songs that are slower and spacier than ever, shrouded in a certain darkness at its peak with "The Hexx." The band's performances matched this and the title with their stage lit only with holiday lights (I highly recommend the performances on the Slow Century DVD). Some other highlights are the simple ballad "Major Leagues" and the lovably quirky closer "Carrot Rope," leaving the proof that Pavement's final and "weakest" album is still fantastic.
8. Wilco - Summerteeth
The first of Wilco's trilogy of masterpieces being only at 8 shows just how remarkable this year was. With multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett's contribution at its peak, the group moves into more Brian Wilson-esque territory. They beautifully realize what Being There only hinted, that the Chicago group is more than a talented group of traditionalists, but that an artist can expand into new territory while retaining on root in their Americana roots. The pop songs are tighter and catchier than ever too with songs like "ELT" and "Nothing'severgonnastantinmyway (Again)" perfectly balancing classic pop, country and their incorporation of synthesizers. The production is likewise lusher and lusher with layers of guitars, vocals, keys, and percussion giving incredible depth to these timeless songs, like a Midwestern SMiLE. While less concise and cohesive than some of Wilco's other releases, it is long and adventurous, with every moment as sweet as the last, just like a summer should be, and the album more than lives up to its title, ideal for hot moonlit nights.
7. The Apples in Stereo - Her Wallpaper Reverie
Including this was a tough call as it could be considered an EP. I would argue that it is not, but I will not argue that the countless toy piano pieces are anything but obnoxious. Despite their outnumbering real songs, said real songs are some of the band's greatest. Like most Elephant 6 releases it's just what you would want from more psychedelic Beatles, perhaps more than ever on "The Benefits of Lying With Your Friends" and "Strawberryfire." Well, with so few songs it can be hard to write about, but had this been a better-realized album with nothing but real songs I would say it would be the Apples' best. While it may not be their most future-oriented, the songs are at their best and so is the band. If you don't mind skipping around this is a perfect place to start with them, especially with "The Shiny Sea" being a definitive example of Robert Schneider's fascination with deep-sea fantasy.
6. Built to Spill - Keep It Like A Secret
Perhaps Built to Spill's best album, the trio focuses all their talents in at once. These songs are much shorter than on their previous effort, yet with their dynamic arrangements they achieve and even bigger, symphonic sound. Far from pop, these songs still do not sound like jams, with every not being so perfect in its gigantic swirl of sounds, that is still as immediate and memorable as anything on There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Martsch's lyrics are also their most whole as the dark themes on the last album are still there, though mixed with his sense of humor and nostalgia adding in a more abstract and expressive form. Standout "Carry the Zero"manages to pack that all in, and "You Were Right," is a dismal take on life, yet played out with classic references that are too sincere to be funny, too clever to be depressing, and just too good to be corny. Everything one could want from Built to Spill all at once, through these ten tracks, including the closer "Broken Chairs," their best and longest epic that shows just how much of a powerhouse this talented band really is.
5. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
The Lips really became the band that the world knows today on this album, still considered by many to be their best. From "Race For The Prize," the group establishes their new dedication to spreading hope to humanity. Most of best songs are about overcoming the impossible, with "Waitin' For Superman" and "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton" even tacking the idea of taking on the great star around which our world literally revolves. After the group's dive into pure madness on Zaireeka and evidenced on "The Spiderbite Song," the trio has found a way to harness their huge ambitions onto only two speakers and function like brothers with endless wisdom to offer mankind. Like Gene Roddenberry before them, the Lips gave their fans a bright vision of a future that can happen if the people of the world work together to overcome the impossible with love. After a decade of very grim music, this embrace of science fiction on prog they created a true landmark to take the world into the 21st Century and made themselves the band that will surely be most fondly remembered of their time.
4. Beck - Midnite Vultures
He was probably planning this all his life. Beck lays it all out in the perfect party album that takes all the depraved insanity of Hollywood nightlife and makes it enjoyable for people with taste, intelligence, and integrity. "Hollywood Freaks" is of course the definitive track with its sounds still probably haunting every hip-hop producer at night and proving Beck can rap outside of the Gen X slacker persona. While most of this porno-funk is hilarious, it is not without its more sincere moments with "Beautiful Way," one of the many successful integrations of country into this retro dance party and "Broken Train" a fair and clear-headed take on the album's big theme. Still, he decadent hedonism is the most fun and songs like "Get Real Paid" and "Milk and Honey" are the perfect odes to the shallow pleasures. "Sexx Laws" and "Mixed Bizness" miraculously broke through, and I can attest, made all the people scream. Beck for once put all his talents into creating something fun and what is probably the final great album of the century (released in November 19) is also the feel-good record of the decade. While disowned by its creator, closer "Debra" is still one of the best and many Angelenos owe their love of the city's greatest restaurant to that song.
3. Jim O'Rourke - Eureka
In the middle of his devilishly-titled Nicholas Roeg trilogy Chicago's boy genius puts all his unfathomable talent into the masterpiece. His pop talent meets his compositional genius in this expansive musical adventure that has an unwavering flow as it moves from minimalist folk to Eno-esque cinematic ambience, to touches of samba and beyond. As the title implies, it is pretty eye-opening, like a revelation and with the first two tracks in particular carrying the same kind of hopefulness for the next millennium as the Flaming Lips. His cover of "Something Big," surprisingly true to the Bacharach/David vision takes this idea even further and shows that O'Rourke is an incomparable musical force willing to share with others. No surprise as most of his appearances here are at the side of others. In a lot of ways this is as much a pop album as anything else he has made, though it sounds like nothing else and he usually lets the music speak louder than the words, such as on "Please Patronize Our Sponsors," and while many of these songs are quite long, "Happy Holidays" with its horns and Wilson-esque vocals concludes the album in a bite-sized form reminiscent of Guided by Voices.
2. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
Just when you think you had Iceland's sound figured out, this album emerged with some of the most otherworldly sounds ever recorded. I feel like I have no right discussing this band as someone who has never seen them based on what I have heard from people who have, but this album is enough to suggest its power. The four musicians function like a single mind wired into a divine channel flowing from the geothermal energy source that powers their island home. Their Viking force is used both to pummel with Thor's hammer and capable of unimaginable delicacy with singer/guitarist Jonsí's voice and the band's melodies seemingly only native to heaven. Even with only months to prove itself the Icelandic people regarded this as the finest recording of the century, and their reasoning are unquestionable as this is 70 minutes of beautiful transcendence. It speaks for itself, it's like returning the whom, but with all the wisdom of the ages to bring with you. My favorite is "Olsen Olsen."
1. The Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage: Animation Music, Volume 1
After creating one of the biggest and best albums of all time OTC goes even further and invites ALL their friends into the studio, including most prominently Neutral Milk Hotel members Julian Koster and Scott Spillane who were necessary in live performance, along with a second drummer and cellist. Also, it is the first with keyboardist Pete Erchick who contributes one of the group's greatest songs "I Have Been Floated," with everyone on vocals. With the grand concept finished (despite inclusion of "California Demise 3") the subject matter gets even more abstract, even as the songs get even catchier with "A Peculiar Noise Called 'Train Director" being the best example. As dense as its arrangement is it could be outdone on "Hideaway" their perfect slice of folk pop with I believe 40 acoustic guitar tracks. As catchy as those, and many other songs are the album is psychedelia above all else, and songs like "Another Set of Bees in the Museum," and the Floyd-esque "Paranormal Echoes," being some of the trippiest songs recorded since the 60s heyday. The album is indeed dark at time, though more mysterious than really black, and the title theme places around the album along with the various "Combinations" tracks serving as glue keep the large and unpredictable album together through its many turns. The darkness hits its peak towards the end, but this band's final album concludes on a bright note with the whole Elephant 6 collective joining in the "Hilltop Procession" sing-along. Bill Doss claimed that it too, I believe 86 listens to hear everything going on. It is much higher for someone not so involved with its creation (I still have a ways to go with probably more listens than that), but it is not hard to get there.
Should get to 2000 tomorrow, so long 20th century!
Friday, May 3, 2013
1998
Maybe all that time it took me to get to 1997 paid off as I almost left off a big one for this year! Kinda just another year, but some real classics at the top. I guess this one typifies "90s indie rock" the best even though a lot of the big names are absent from it. What a time to be alive!
10. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Buffalo's greatest band gets more focused and a bit more bright on this release. While the psychedelia and song lengths are cut down a bit, the drama is as high as ever but in a more classic sense. "Goddess on a Hiway" may be their best song of all with the group focusing their big arrangements into the cinematic masterpiece. The classic rock in their sound is channeled better than ever with guest spots from Garth Hudson and Levon Helm, with the former's sax further setting apart Grashopper's personal "Hudson Line." A usual, it is dense symphonic psychedelic rock, incorporating lots of instruments no one wanted to touch in the 90s.
9. Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
Lots of people consider Spoon's one major label record one of their best, but for some reason it has taken me a lifetime to really absorb it in the same way as others. Either way it's another album from one of the best bands of their time, and a noble contribution to some clueless execs' attempt at breaking the "indie rock" to mainstream America. Of course it would take two more albums on Merge to do that for this band, but as always it is full of great songs from Britt Daniel and production from Jim Eno. Spoon does know how to rock, especially to the expectations of 90s hipsters and songs like "Reservations" and "No You're Not" are perfect examples of the style, though their best years were stil ahead.
8. The Gerbils - Are You Sleepy?
With half of this band playing on a certain other Elephant 6 record released earlier this year, this one is overlooked by most who are not supremely dedicated to the E6 way. Too bad as it is one of the best. While simpler, and poppier than most of their Athens peers, the Gerbils made a perfect piece of lo-fi which had it been released 6 years earlier would stand side by side with the likes of Sebadoh, Pavement, and even Guided by Voices. Brassman Scott Spillane's songs have a childlike innocence that borders on twee, but as usual Jeremy Barnes' drumming keeps these songs loud and heavy enough to really rock out. Like a sweet teenage fan these songs give tribute to other bands like in "Crayon Box," and they're pretty much all about girls in some way, making it a the perfect substitute for emo during that style's era for this guy. Teenage heaven, E6-style.
7. The Butthole Surfers - After the Astronaut
Does this count? I will say so because it's too good not to include. Unfortunately, the record company disagreed, changed things around, and forced them to work with Kid Rock, leaving the Butthole Surfer's final album The Weird Revolution a fucking embarrassment. The same songs such as the title track, "Jet Fighter," and "They Came In" sound incredible here and their usual themes of paranoia and bizarre American tragedy sound more sincere than in 2001. Even their further exploration of hip-hop succeeds, but they also go back to their roots with "Junkie Jenny in Gaytown," being the new "Kuntz" and the sludge metal of "Turkey and Gravy" having that good old fashioned redneck rage. Their fascination with sampling, that became King Coffey's primary interest is at its peak on "I Don't Have a Problem," and they get tragically spacey on "The Last Astronaut," still ending with a laugh. The one unreleased album on the list deserves its place in not only the Surfer's discography but in all their fans.
6. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?
After a long break Havery comes back sounding like the seductive witch of her pervious album has been worn down and dragged through hell. Many dismissed this at the time when the battle between electronic and "real" music was at its hottest. While this may not be her best record, one can hardly blame the fact that she lets the keys sound like keys. It is far from a dance record, opening with the blues of "Angelene" featuring some of her most beautiful vocals, showing just how wide her range is and how far it still has left to go. In fact, this album takes all the darkness of To Bring You My Love and cuts out the wink that album had out completely, leaving one to wonder if Harvey is in fact one of the tragic, damaged women she sings about. Perhaps it was all that time with Nick Cave which damaged him so explicitly on his work from the same time. As usual, Polly asks some of the heaviest questions, and finds no conclusion. It's another heavy rocker with "The Sky Lit Up" and "Perfect Day Elise," but it wouldn't be a PJ Harvey album without "The River."
5. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Strung Out In Heaven
Maybe too clean for some fans' liking, the BJM's big attempt at bringing the revolution to the masses actually turned out to be one of their strongest albums. The opener "Going to Hell," has always captured most of what I love about Anton Newcombe and his band, and though they sound pretty together it is them at their DiG! peak, with so many of those lovable characters playing on this record. In fact, the song about love called "Love" is on here and is one of the best tracks. It is the band's most concise album without any extended jams or rambles, just thirteen of the great tunes that the band never had any trouble creating. Though it's hard to tell Newcombe was at his most strung out and Hollywood picks up, best with "Jennifer," and in the case of "Nothing To Lose," the spokesman himself - Joel Gion can provide all the rhythm you need with his cigarette and tambourine. The loose folky psych that defines them is not completely thrown out in favor of typical indie rock sensibility with "Lantern" and "Wasting Away" in addition to the subtle organ that keeps the 60s foundation as strong as ever. It may not have blown up like TVT hoped, but it forever stands apart form those who did hear it.
4. Beck - Mutations
At the peak of his commercial success, Beck put out this album without any hit singles and managed to only attract the attention of those who could really give it. This album shows the unique artist's ability to embrace endless influences and put them together in ways that make him so distinct even from himself. Here he returns to folk with its acoustic guitars and harmonicas, but it is a far cry from the lo-fi hip-hop of Mellow Gold as the blues, psychedelia, and, naturally "Tropicalia" inform the sound of this record. As the cover would indicate it is one of his most personal releases and the songs darkest track "Nobody's Fault But My Own" shows that his "Bottle of Blues," is not merely just another musical adventure. For those who had only heard the hits, before and after Beck shows that he does not need funk to flourish and at heart he has more in common with Leonard Cohen than the Beastie Boys, even considering their more bohemian tendencies. It can appear stripped-down, but in truth it is as lush as ever, with the orchestral subtlety Hansen learned from Master Serge Gainsbourg.
3. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
Following a trio of excellent EPs, the Scottish music machine expands and makes their third masterpiece. Their orchestral folk-pop is stretched into every direction with the strings taking more of a classical lead in the melody and both faster sounds and psychedelia enter the heavy highland stew more. Still it opens in the usual crescendo ballad, though in the most concise fashion to date with "It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career." The growing presence of other members goes a long way too with "Is It Wicked not To Care?," "Chickfactor," and the famous rock nerd tribute "Seymour Stein." The heightened diversity makes this album an even more fun listen than the ones preceding, but the band does not fix what isn't broken and a lot of their old tricks are still the highlights like "Sleep the Clock Around" and the title track. With this growth (including a longer track list) the legend of B&S comes into fruition, with the definitive trilogy being complete and showing that there was a lot more to look forward, even if expectations had to be lowered slightly.
2. AIR- Moon Safari
Leave it to the French to change it all. As the war between rock and electronica rages on the masterminds Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel alter everything. They started with their voices, appearing as a crew of nymphomaniacs on lead single "Sexy Boy," and then smoothly take the satisfied listener to the moon with the opening instrumental "La Femme D'Argent." Like Stereolab, they embrace the retro-cool vision of the future with their analogue synths and tasteful use of vocoder. Still these songs are based not on electronics but on pure humanity and these grooves ooze with Continental sexuality, with and without guest vocalist Beth Hirsch. It is ambient pop more than anything else, though with an alternating funk and poetic vision which comes together best on closing track "Le Voyge de Pénélope." These two men put their brains together to create a sound uninhibited by any trends at the time and managed to cross into such close-minded markets as the US and UK. Live the two played acoustic guitar and keyboards respectively and were supported by Beck's band - a far cry from two men standing at a table. So French it's German, what more could you want, they knew themselves it was "A New Star In The Sky."
1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
What else could it be, but this heartbreaking and frightening album composed in a Victorian home snowed in in mountains of Colorado. Like Weezer's Pinkerton, it has a discomforting quality as Jeff Mangum's love for Anne Frank and lyrics like "semen stains the mountain tops," give a clearer look into a tortured psyche than most would care to find. The song writing does enough to carry it all with Mangum keeping the arrangements simple on the likes of "Two-Headed Boy" and "Oh Comely," but the arrangements are what make this album hit so hard. As the cover implies it is like a mirror universe of the turn of the century with the Scott Spillane's prominent brass and all of Julian Koster's contributions, most famously his singing saw. Even then if the intense lyrics prove too much the instrumentals "The Fool" and "The Penny Arcade In California" prove the perfect intermission without losing any speed. The album's constant changes between soft and quiet and loud and hard make it one of the most pummeling records ever released with "The King of Carrot Flowers, parts 2 and 3" compressing it into a single track. With the leadership of producer Robert Schneider and the participation of Mangum girlfriend/Elf Power Laura Carter it is certainly one of the definitive E6 records and with its apocalyptic old timey themes as worthy companion piece to the Olivia Tremor Control's equally abstract grand concept. The album causes speechlessness and changes lives. Always for the better.
10. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Buffalo's greatest band gets more focused and a bit more bright on this release. While the psychedelia and song lengths are cut down a bit, the drama is as high as ever but in a more classic sense. "Goddess on a Hiway" may be their best song of all with the group focusing their big arrangements into the cinematic masterpiece. The classic rock in their sound is channeled better than ever with guest spots from Garth Hudson and Levon Helm, with the former's sax further setting apart Grashopper's personal "Hudson Line." A usual, it is dense symphonic psychedelic rock, incorporating lots of instruments no one wanted to touch in the 90s.
9. Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
Lots of people consider Spoon's one major label record one of their best, but for some reason it has taken me a lifetime to really absorb it in the same way as others. Either way it's another album from one of the best bands of their time, and a noble contribution to some clueless execs' attempt at breaking the "indie rock" to mainstream America. Of course it would take two more albums on Merge to do that for this band, but as always it is full of great songs from Britt Daniel and production from Jim Eno. Spoon does know how to rock, especially to the expectations of 90s hipsters and songs like "Reservations" and "No You're Not" are perfect examples of the style, though their best years were stil ahead.
8. The Gerbils - Are You Sleepy?
With half of this band playing on a certain other Elephant 6 record released earlier this year, this one is overlooked by most who are not supremely dedicated to the E6 way. Too bad as it is one of the best. While simpler, and poppier than most of their Athens peers, the Gerbils made a perfect piece of lo-fi which had it been released 6 years earlier would stand side by side with the likes of Sebadoh, Pavement, and even Guided by Voices. Brassman Scott Spillane's songs have a childlike innocence that borders on twee, but as usual Jeremy Barnes' drumming keeps these songs loud and heavy enough to really rock out. Like a sweet teenage fan these songs give tribute to other bands like in "Crayon Box," and they're pretty much all about girls in some way, making it a the perfect substitute for emo during that style's era for this guy. Teenage heaven, E6-style.
7. The Butthole Surfers - After the Astronaut
Does this count? I will say so because it's too good not to include. Unfortunately, the record company disagreed, changed things around, and forced them to work with Kid Rock, leaving the Butthole Surfer's final album The Weird Revolution a fucking embarrassment. The same songs such as the title track, "Jet Fighter," and "They Came In" sound incredible here and their usual themes of paranoia and bizarre American tragedy sound more sincere than in 2001. Even their further exploration of hip-hop succeeds, but they also go back to their roots with "Junkie Jenny in Gaytown," being the new "Kuntz" and the sludge metal of "Turkey and Gravy" having that good old fashioned redneck rage. Their fascination with sampling, that became King Coffey's primary interest is at its peak on "I Don't Have a Problem," and they get tragically spacey on "The Last Astronaut," still ending with a laugh. The one unreleased album on the list deserves its place in not only the Surfer's discography but in all their fans.
6. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?
After a long break Havery comes back sounding like the seductive witch of her pervious album has been worn down and dragged through hell. Many dismissed this at the time when the battle between electronic and "real" music was at its hottest. While this may not be her best record, one can hardly blame the fact that she lets the keys sound like keys. It is far from a dance record, opening with the blues of "Angelene" featuring some of her most beautiful vocals, showing just how wide her range is and how far it still has left to go. In fact, this album takes all the darkness of To Bring You My Love and cuts out the wink that album had out completely, leaving one to wonder if Harvey is in fact one of the tragic, damaged women she sings about. Perhaps it was all that time with Nick Cave which damaged him so explicitly on his work from the same time. As usual, Polly asks some of the heaviest questions, and finds no conclusion. It's another heavy rocker with "The Sky Lit Up" and "Perfect Day Elise," but it wouldn't be a PJ Harvey album without "The River."
5. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Strung Out In Heaven
Maybe too clean for some fans' liking, the BJM's big attempt at bringing the revolution to the masses actually turned out to be one of their strongest albums. The opener "Going to Hell," has always captured most of what I love about Anton Newcombe and his band, and though they sound pretty together it is them at their DiG! peak, with so many of those lovable characters playing on this record. In fact, the song about love called "Love" is on here and is one of the best tracks. It is the band's most concise album without any extended jams or rambles, just thirteen of the great tunes that the band never had any trouble creating. Though it's hard to tell Newcombe was at his most strung out and Hollywood picks up, best with "Jennifer," and in the case of "Nothing To Lose," the spokesman himself - Joel Gion can provide all the rhythm you need with his cigarette and tambourine. The loose folky psych that defines them is not completely thrown out in favor of typical indie rock sensibility with "Lantern" and "Wasting Away" in addition to the subtle organ that keeps the 60s foundation as strong as ever. It may not have blown up like TVT hoped, but it forever stands apart form those who did hear it.
4. Beck - Mutations
At the peak of his commercial success, Beck put out this album without any hit singles and managed to only attract the attention of those who could really give it. This album shows the unique artist's ability to embrace endless influences and put them together in ways that make him so distinct even from himself. Here he returns to folk with its acoustic guitars and harmonicas, but it is a far cry from the lo-fi hip-hop of Mellow Gold as the blues, psychedelia, and, naturally "Tropicalia" inform the sound of this record. As the cover would indicate it is one of his most personal releases and the songs darkest track "Nobody's Fault But My Own" shows that his "Bottle of Blues," is not merely just another musical adventure. For those who had only heard the hits, before and after Beck shows that he does not need funk to flourish and at heart he has more in common with Leonard Cohen than the Beastie Boys, even considering their more bohemian tendencies. It can appear stripped-down, but in truth it is as lush as ever, with the orchestral subtlety Hansen learned from Master Serge Gainsbourg.
3. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
Following a trio of excellent EPs, the Scottish music machine expands and makes their third masterpiece. Their orchestral folk-pop is stretched into every direction with the strings taking more of a classical lead in the melody and both faster sounds and psychedelia enter the heavy highland stew more. Still it opens in the usual crescendo ballad, though in the most concise fashion to date with "It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career." The growing presence of other members goes a long way too with "Is It Wicked not To Care?," "Chickfactor," and the famous rock nerd tribute "Seymour Stein." The heightened diversity makes this album an even more fun listen than the ones preceding, but the band does not fix what isn't broken and a lot of their old tricks are still the highlights like "Sleep the Clock Around" and the title track. With this growth (including a longer track list) the legend of B&S comes into fruition, with the definitive trilogy being complete and showing that there was a lot more to look forward, even if expectations had to be lowered slightly.
2. AIR- Moon Safari
Leave it to the French to change it all. As the war between rock and electronica rages on the masterminds Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel alter everything. They started with their voices, appearing as a crew of nymphomaniacs on lead single "Sexy Boy," and then smoothly take the satisfied listener to the moon with the opening instrumental "La Femme D'Argent." Like Stereolab, they embrace the retro-cool vision of the future with their analogue synths and tasteful use of vocoder. Still these songs are based not on electronics but on pure humanity and these grooves ooze with Continental sexuality, with and without guest vocalist Beth Hirsch. It is ambient pop more than anything else, though with an alternating funk and poetic vision which comes together best on closing track "Le Voyge de Pénélope." These two men put their brains together to create a sound uninhibited by any trends at the time and managed to cross into such close-minded markets as the US and UK. Live the two played acoustic guitar and keyboards respectively and were supported by Beck's band - a far cry from two men standing at a table. So French it's German, what more could you want, they knew themselves it was "A New Star In The Sky."
1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
What else could it be, but this heartbreaking and frightening album composed in a Victorian home snowed in in mountains of Colorado. Like Weezer's Pinkerton, it has a discomforting quality as Jeff Mangum's love for Anne Frank and lyrics like "semen stains the mountain tops," give a clearer look into a tortured psyche than most would care to find. The song writing does enough to carry it all with Mangum keeping the arrangements simple on the likes of "Two-Headed Boy" and "Oh Comely," but the arrangements are what make this album hit so hard. As the cover implies it is like a mirror universe of the turn of the century with the Scott Spillane's prominent brass and all of Julian Koster's contributions, most famously his singing saw. Even then if the intense lyrics prove too much the instrumentals "The Fool" and "The Penny Arcade In California" prove the perfect intermission without losing any speed. The album's constant changes between soft and quiet and loud and hard make it one of the most pummeling records ever released with "The King of Carrot Flowers, parts 2 and 3" compressing it into a single track. With the leadership of producer Robert Schneider and the participation of Mangum girlfriend/Elf Power Laura Carter it is certainly one of the definitive E6 records and with its apocalyptic old timey themes as worthy companion piece to the Olivia Tremor Control's equally abstract grand concept. The album causes speechlessness and changes lives. Always for the better.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
1997
So yeah, it took me a week to finally do this. Oh, behave! It's been nice because this was actually a really fantastic year for music. Unfortunately I was unaware of most of these releases at the time. One I remember well, though, one that many will feel is far too low on the list. Yeah, baby!
10. Ween - The Mollusk
This couple of weirdos from gay village New Hope, Pennsylvania headed to the Jersey shore to create one of the few successful neo-prog releases. The initial session was plagued with disaster but led them to a country experiment that was also aided by their sense of humor. Sea monsters, extended solos, fantastical lyrics, and big synths make this album a sincere tribute to some of the goofier aspects of the seventies few would dare to try. Luckily the songs are some of Ween's best and they are not too married to any single idea with "Ocean Man" being one of their best stabs at pop and "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" making the future South Park collaboration inevitable after the show debuted two months later. The nautical prog themes are still greatest such as the title track and "The Blarney Stone," but the punk of "I'll Be Your johnny On The Spot," proves this to be a very eclectic album.
9. Radiohead - OK Computer
Right, this one. I'll admit, and most people will already know I am not the biggest Radiohead fan, but still this album is too good to deny. It's probably worthy of a higher spot, anyway, but I'd rather talk about artists I like more. Though the video for "Paranoid Android" made a gigantic impact on me as a kid, making me lucky enough to have this historic album upon release the best-known singles on this are really not the best ones. The energy here is Radiohead's best, with all the rock of their early period with plenty of the creativity that would take them in to spacey new territory in the new millennium. All the years they had spent together as a band really pay off and they really end this phase of their career on the highest note possible. While I would usually listen to something else now, there is no flaw on this album, even if you have an aversion to darker stuff.
8. Guided by Voices - Mag Earwhig!
This one maybe should be also be higher, but there you go, 1997 was pretty amazing! At this point GbV was releasing one transition album after the other, but here it might have been the biggest change and really asserts the tall tale of Robert Pollard. During the recording he sacked the classic lineup and filled them in with the members of fellow Dayton rockers Cobra Verde in what has been dubbed "Guided by Verde." Both forms of the band excel with the former on "Jane of the Waking Universe" and the latter with "I Am A Tree," written by the one Verde member who would remain (to the very end), Doug Gillard. "Bulldog Skin" might be the first attempt at something commercial (other than Sandbox), but others like "Little Lines," "Learning to Hunt," and opener "Can't Hear The Revolution" make it another classic album from the decade's greatest band.
7. Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
After their poppiest record and the move to a major label Built to Spill move far away from the commercial and oddly predict the success of many, often foreign, bands in their wake with this album. This one shows them as basically a jam band, if that term did not imply a whole bunch of inaccurate and negative ideas. The songs are long and the instruments do most of the speaking, even as the dark and heady lyrics are inescapable. For those who missed the debut this was a real change of pace, and the mood is a change for even the most knowledgeable fans, but this is where Built to Spill really became the band they have been ever since. It is the first with the classic trio and also features guest guitarist/future returning member Brett Netson. One of the finest old-fashioned rock and roll albums of the 90s, ideal for stoners with long hair, with standouts like "I would Hurt a Fly," "Stop The Show" and "Made-Up Dreams."
6. Cornelius - Fantasma
Named after the Planet of the Apes character, Cornelius is sometimes considered the Japanese Beck and this album, more than his later work substantiates that claim. He incorporates electronics, samples, and traditional arrangements in a creative new way that separates him from any pack. He eschews the kitsch of other Japanese crossovers like Pizzicato 5, yet has enough of a grounding in J-Pop to maintain success in his homeland. However, his music is much less limited and uses his bevvy of influences in ways seldom heard such as in the funky opening hip-hop of "Mic Check," and the gorgeous anchor "Star Fruits Surf Rider." Still above all it is a rock album and songs like "New Music Machine" are some of the best, along with his collaboration with the next band on this list on "Chapter 8 - Seashore and Horizon-." This is Japan's first contribution on the list and I am glad it is one so distinctly from the country's modern pop culture, proving that it's more than just a bunch of kuwaii perversions with this album as fun as it is cerebral.
5. The Apples in Stereo - Tone Soul Evolution
The Apples' second LP is a big step up in production value as it gets cleaner and bigger in sound than ever before. After working with the Olivia Tremor Control Robert Schneider appears to understand the studio better than ever and he effectively uses as it as an instrument adding a lot of texture and mood to this set of guitar pop. With the classic lineup firmly in place, they structure an album that with songs like "Seems So" and their best-known track "Shine a Light" actually has a dark and mysterious core with "Get There Fine" and "The Silvery Light of a Dream." Though arrangements and songs would get bigger these songs have a well-calculated simple beauty with hypnotic layers that capture the same kind of brilliance as influences like the Beatles and Beach Boys. "You Said that Last Night" and "The Silvery Light of a Dream (Part II)" are all one needs to know that Robert Schneider is the heir to the psych-pop throne of his time, though wife Hilarie Sidney as usual has plenty to offer on "Silver Chain."
4. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Sometimes if forced to pick a least-favorite Pavement record I go with this one, but man is it still amazing! In fact, this almost seems like a low placing for it! Perhaps this is because I think the popular favorite "Stereo" is actually kind of annoying, but "Shady Lane" more than makes up for it. Even MTV wanted the band to succeed with the way that video was plugged, but oh my God, it didn't happen. Hard to believe when you also have songs like "Starlings of the Slipsteam" and Kanneberg's greatest moment "Date w/ IKEA." With the smoke form the last album cleared, Pavement proves themselves to be a classic pop band in a time when classic pop is horribly understood and to be amazingly cohesive in that sloppiness which people would unfortunately use to define them. Another successful direction for the versatile quintet, and of course, underused.
3. Jonathan Fire*Eater - Wolf Songs For Lambs
I really wish I had been aware of this band. Seemingly written out of history, the hip Virginians by way of New York that would go on to become the Walkmen were set to be the original Strokes. Perhaps it was mismanagement, over-promotion, or heroin, but it definitely was not the music that prevented this band from being legends today. Spine-cracking drums and vintage organ build the backbone for this high-energy quintet with unpredictable front man Stewart Lupton. This is rich kid punk at its best, especially on "Bipolar Summer" with its screaming trebly guitar and lines like, "and I fly first class on a 747, oh I got magazines and gin," with its lust for life and thoughtful observation enough to overturn any unrelatability. The punk energy is turned up even higher on "These Little Monkeys" and the band creates a dark and foreboding mood far beyond what could be expected at their age on "A Night in The Nursery." A flawless and secretly influential album that outdoes anything its creators would do later in the Walkmen, in my opinion.
2. Björk - Homogenic
Following a very disturbing stalker experience the singer returns to Iceland and makes a tribute to her home country resulting in her finest work to date. The darkness and actions taken in her life come out immediately on opener "Hunter" and this album has the most focused sound with its electronic beats, classical arrangements and abundance of often treated vocal tracks. It is an otherworldly and majestic record that sounds like it could have been recorded in a glacier. It is sparse and repetitive as the vocals take over, allowing for infinite depth in the simple arrangements. Even when the arrangements get as big and cinematic as "Bachelorette" Björk's personality steals the show, turning these songs into an opera in themselves with only one character, making her move into film soon after a natural choice. They say that this kind of descent into personal darkness is what creates the finest art, and this album proves that, bringing forth the artist's greatest talents at their strongest and most personal of all. Wisely, it still concludes on a positive note with the Moondog-ispired "All Is Full Of Love."
1. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Somehow in a career of making similar albums YLT hit it best on this double LP. With its eclectic tracks and extended instrumentals, this may be because it captures their live set best. Not only are songs like "Sugarcube" balanced with krautrock jams like "Spec Bebop," but their choice of fun proto-sincere wave covers like "Little Honda" and closer "My Little Corner of the World" is as definitive Yo La Tengo as "Autumn Sweater." James McNew's folk rock in "Stockhom Syndrome" is likewise complimented with the avant-garde groove of "Moby Octopad," making all of the band's many talents heard in this long, yet concise record. It is perfection in the loud and the soft, with the trio's incomparable dynamic filling in all the space that captures all the beauty of modern indie Jersey rock. Regardless of what John Ennis may say, no need to go back to school.
Tired. See you soon.
10. Ween - The Mollusk
This couple of weirdos from gay village New Hope, Pennsylvania headed to the Jersey shore to create one of the few successful neo-prog releases. The initial session was plagued with disaster but led them to a country experiment that was also aided by their sense of humor. Sea monsters, extended solos, fantastical lyrics, and big synths make this album a sincere tribute to some of the goofier aspects of the seventies few would dare to try. Luckily the songs are some of Ween's best and they are not too married to any single idea with "Ocean Man" being one of their best stabs at pop and "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" making the future South Park collaboration inevitable after the show debuted two months later. The nautical prog themes are still greatest such as the title track and "The Blarney Stone," but the punk of "I'll Be Your johnny On The Spot," proves this to be a very eclectic album.
9. Radiohead - OK Computer
Right, this one. I'll admit, and most people will already know I am not the biggest Radiohead fan, but still this album is too good to deny. It's probably worthy of a higher spot, anyway, but I'd rather talk about artists I like more. Though the video for "Paranoid Android" made a gigantic impact on me as a kid, making me lucky enough to have this historic album upon release the best-known singles on this are really not the best ones. The energy here is Radiohead's best, with all the rock of their early period with plenty of the creativity that would take them in to spacey new territory in the new millennium. All the years they had spent together as a band really pay off and they really end this phase of their career on the highest note possible. While I would usually listen to something else now, there is no flaw on this album, even if you have an aversion to darker stuff.
8. Guided by Voices - Mag Earwhig!
This one maybe should be also be higher, but there you go, 1997 was pretty amazing! At this point GbV was releasing one transition album after the other, but here it might have been the biggest change and really asserts the tall tale of Robert Pollard. During the recording he sacked the classic lineup and filled them in with the members of fellow Dayton rockers Cobra Verde in what has been dubbed "Guided by Verde." Both forms of the band excel with the former on "Jane of the Waking Universe" and the latter with "I Am A Tree," written by the one Verde member who would remain (to the very end), Doug Gillard. "Bulldog Skin" might be the first attempt at something commercial (other than Sandbox), but others like "Little Lines," "Learning to Hunt," and opener "Can't Hear The Revolution" make it another classic album from the decade's greatest band.
7. Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
After their poppiest record and the move to a major label Built to Spill move far away from the commercial and oddly predict the success of many, often foreign, bands in their wake with this album. This one shows them as basically a jam band, if that term did not imply a whole bunch of inaccurate and negative ideas. The songs are long and the instruments do most of the speaking, even as the dark and heady lyrics are inescapable. For those who missed the debut this was a real change of pace, and the mood is a change for even the most knowledgeable fans, but this is where Built to Spill really became the band they have been ever since. It is the first with the classic trio and also features guest guitarist/future returning member Brett Netson. One of the finest old-fashioned rock and roll albums of the 90s, ideal for stoners with long hair, with standouts like "I would Hurt a Fly," "Stop The Show" and "Made-Up Dreams."
6. Cornelius - Fantasma
Named after the Planet of the Apes character, Cornelius is sometimes considered the Japanese Beck and this album, more than his later work substantiates that claim. He incorporates electronics, samples, and traditional arrangements in a creative new way that separates him from any pack. He eschews the kitsch of other Japanese crossovers like Pizzicato 5, yet has enough of a grounding in J-Pop to maintain success in his homeland. However, his music is much less limited and uses his bevvy of influences in ways seldom heard such as in the funky opening hip-hop of "Mic Check," and the gorgeous anchor "Star Fruits Surf Rider." Still above all it is a rock album and songs like "New Music Machine" are some of the best, along with his collaboration with the next band on this list on "Chapter 8 - Seashore and Horizon-." This is Japan's first contribution on the list and I am glad it is one so distinctly from the country's modern pop culture, proving that it's more than just a bunch of kuwaii perversions with this album as fun as it is cerebral.
5. The Apples in Stereo - Tone Soul Evolution
The Apples' second LP is a big step up in production value as it gets cleaner and bigger in sound than ever before. After working with the Olivia Tremor Control Robert Schneider appears to understand the studio better than ever and he effectively uses as it as an instrument adding a lot of texture and mood to this set of guitar pop. With the classic lineup firmly in place, they structure an album that with songs like "Seems So" and their best-known track "Shine a Light" actually has a dark and mysterious core with "Get There Fine" and "The Silvery Light of a Dream." Though arrangements and songs would get bigger these songs have a well-calculated simple beauty with hypnotic layers that capture the same kind of brilliance as influences like the Beatles and Beach Boys. "You Said that Last Night" and "The Silvery Light of a Dream (Part II)" are all one needs to know that Robert Schneider is the heir to the psych-pop throne of his time, though wife Hilarie Sidney as usual has plenty to offer on "Silver Chain."
4. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Sometimes if forced to pick a least-favorite Pavement record I go with this one, but man is it still amazing! In fact, this almost seems like a low placing for it! Perhaps this is because I think the popular favorite "Stereo" is actually kind of annoying, but "Shady Lane" more than makes up for it. Even MTV wanted the band to succeed with the way that video was plugged, but oh my God, it didn't happen. Hard to believe when you also have songs like "Starlings of the Slipsteam" and Kanneberg's greatest moment "Date w/ IKEA." With the smoke form the last album cleared, Pavement proves themselves to be a classic pop band in a time when classic pop is horribly understood and to be amazingly cohesive in that sloppiness which people would unfortunately use to define them. Another successful direction for the versatile quintet, and of course, underused.
3. Jonathan Fire*Eater - Wolf Songs For Lambs
I really wish I had been aware of this band. Seemingly written out of history, the hip Virginians by way of New York that would go on to become the Walkmen were set to be the original Strokes. Perhaps it was mismanagement, over-promotion, or heroin, but it definitely was not the music that prevented this band from being legends today. Spine-cracking drums and vintage organ build the backbone for this high-energy quintet with unpredictable front man Stewart Lupton. This is rich kid punk at its best, especially on "Bipolar Summer" with its screaming trebly guitar and lines like, "and I fly first class on a 747, oh I got magazines and gin," with its lust for life and thoughtful observation enough to overturn any unrelatability. The punk energy is turned up even higher on "These Little Monkeys" and the band creates a dark and foreboding mood far beyond what could be expected at their age on "A Night in The Nursery." A flawless and secretly influential album that outdoes anything its creators would do later in the Walkmen, in my opinion.
2. Björk - Homogenic
Following a very disturbing stalker experience the singer returns to Iceland and makes a tribute to her home country resulting in her finest work to date. The darkness and actions taken in her life come out immediately on opener "Hunter" and this album has the most focused sound with its electronic beats, classical arrangements and abundance of often treated vocal tracks. It is an otherworldly and majestic record that sounds like it could have been recorded in a glacier. It is sparse and repetitive as the vocals take over, allowing for infinite depth in the simple arrangements. Even when the arrangements get as big and cinematic as "Bachelorette" Björk's personality steals the show, turning these songs into an opera in themselves with only one character, making her move into film soon after a natural choice. They say that this kind of descent into personal darkness is what creates the finest art, and this album proves that, bringing forth the artist's greatest talents at their strongest and most personal of all. Wisely, it still concludes on a positive note with the Moondog-ispired "All Is Full Of Love."
1. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Somehow in a career of making similar albums YLT hit it best on this double LP. With its eclectic tracks and extended instrumentals, this may be because it captures their live set best. Not only are songs like "Sugarcube" balanced with krautrock jams like "Spec Bebop," but their choice of fun proto-sincere wave covers like "Little Honda" and closer "My Little Corner of the World" is as definitive Yo La Tengo as "Autumn Sweater." James McNew's folk rock in "Stockhom Syndrome" is likewise complimented with the avant-garde groove of "Moby Octopad," making all of the band's many talents heard in this long, yet concise record. It is perfection in the loud and the soft, with the trio's incomparable dynamic filling in all the space that captures all the beauty of modern indie Jersey rock. Regardless of what John Ennis may say, no need to go back to school.
Tired. See you soon.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
1996
This is an exciting year! I could write about it in my sleep, I have listened to these albums so much. What is extra special about it, though is that it is when I really became aware of music as it happened, rather than with a slight delay, so from here on out it gets even more personal. There is one major problem with this year and that is a lack of diversity, but it could have been a lot worse...
10. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Take it From The Man!
The late 90s was full of great great music from the BJM and for a while they rivaled GbV in terms of output. At this time, their quality and time control had left a bit to be desired, so this is the only one of the three great albums they put out this year to make it. It is some of their rawest and most aggressive material of all and opener "Vacuum Boots" kicks it off with their signature multiple-guitar attack. Though the psychedelia/shoegaze is a little lower than usual this is perhaps the definitive BJM record in that it is probably the one that Jones himself would enjoy the most with all its punk-blues swagger. It also has some of Matt Hollywood's best leads like "Who?" and "B.S.A." and plenty of explicit credit given to the band's influence. One of many great records from one of the 90s' best bands and certainly the most tambourine you'll get.
9. Guided by Voices - Tonics and Twisted Chasers
...and here it begins. This fanclub-only LP (later released as a limited edition CD the next year) is now accepted the the regular GbV cannon, though recorded and written almost entirely by Bob and Toby it is more of an Airport 5 project. It is pretty stripped down with few drums and lots of acoustic guitars, but the songs are some of their best and most sentimental, including major standout "Dayton, Ohio - 19 something and 5." Short folk songs like "Is She Ever?" and "The Key Losers" are the greatest, but the loose environment also allows some of the stranger diversions into psych, prog, and the strange language of lo-fi - my favorite being "Ha Ha Man." Bob and Toby may sing together here more than ever, enough of a reason not to skip this one. The CD tracks include more of the band, best with the acid punk of "Girl From the Sun." GbV at their peak and their last all lo-fi album.
8. Butthole Surfers - Electric Larryland
Some people hate this album, but what do they know about love? This album is pretty true to what the Surfers were about the whole time, just a bit more mature and polished. Where the last three, or even four albums had been too much of one thing this one is truly eclectic ranging from the heavy speed of "Ulcer Breakout" to the more gentle "The Jingle of a Dog's Collar" and the Spacemen 3 nod "Space," in addition to the studio creations "My Brother's Wife" and "Let's Talk About Cars." Their experiments with programmed beats proved to be the most successful in scoring the hit "Pepper" with its JFK assassination-themed video being straight out of their original vision. The even more psychedelic "The Lord Is A Monkey" may use the hip-hop influence even better, and "T.V. Star" is their boldest foray into country. In truth, all the songs are great if you don't mind your Buttholes a little cleaner. They're still the same band, maybe more than ever.
7. Tobin Sprout - Carnival Boy
Both Toby and Bob put out their first solo album this year and generally this one gets a little more credit, as the cover would indicate, it is "POP." Sprout would distinguish himself further up the road, but this one is like a set of his GbV songs, though in most cases, most evidently on this version of "It's Like Soul Man," less lo-fi. The most memorable songs on the record are some of the best to come out of the Dayton, Ohio camp such as "Gas Daaddy Gas," "To My Beloved Martha," and the gigantic closer "The Last Man Well Known To Kingpin," in which his lyrics out-abstract Pollard's yet fulfill every rock and roll fantasy even more directly. Though it is full of short, lo-fi instrumentals this is less experimental than the band's project's and is one of the best pop records of its time. Like most of of Sprout's albums it is as essential as proper GbV releases for any official iron man.
6. Stereolab - Emporer Tomato Ketchup
Many consider this Sterolab's best work, but for a band who has taken on so many sounds, that would be a bit trite. It is maybe their most distinct, and certainly better than a few. It has a smooth and clean sound despite all the experimentation, owing more of a debt to Serge Gainsbourg than usual. It makes the album perfect for a lounge setting even at its krautiest thanks to the Laetitia Sadier's voice and some slow-paced, but tright song writing like on the title track. While it may not have the immediate energy of their early work, the catchy songs with the lyrics not being the only thing distinctly French like "Cybele's Reverie" make up for it. The band lives up to its name more than ever in combining styles like exotica, krautrock, and chanson so flawlessly and making it all sound like it's still from the future, albeit the more tasteful one envisioned decades before by the likes of Esquivel and Gene Roddenberry.
5. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
In trying to keep my true beliefs about these albums by not altering the ranking order this is hard to write about, but that's my cross to bear. After Belle and Sebastian blew up they quickly put this second album together which Stuart Murdoch still considers his best set of songs. That is respectable, especially since the other members move din a bit afterward, but there is nothing new to be desired from another ten flawless pieces of folky chamber pop. B&S shows them to be one of the most tasteful bands with their arrangements having such a subtle dynamic, with each letting the other fill their perfect space, much like Speed the Plough. While usually regarded as soft and old-fashioned the band has always been fearless in throwing a surprising new sound here and there, only fitting for a voice like Murdoch's. His lyrics hit the hardest here being a little more perplexing than before and mastering the dark lyrics-happy melody dichotomy with cinematic references in "Like Dylan in the Movies."
4. Beck - Odelay
I was jumping around on the trampoline in the foyer with MTV playing in the family room when they announced the premier of Beck's new video. I did not know who he was by name, but I felt compelled to watch and as the hot California sun rose to that Fender Rhodes my mind was blown. The next few minutes contained nods to and samples of the Fogs, Gary Wilson, Captain Beefheart, William Shatner, and too many others to name. This was of course, "Where It's At," and luckily the mainstream media agreed for once and this album was riding high for the next year with hits like "The New Pollution, " "Jack-Ass," and of course "Devil's Haircut." This Dust Brother's collaboration was and still is one of the coolest things ever created and made the 90s a lot more interesting than grunge, gangsta rap, and mainstream crossover of industrial music (wtf) combined. It's something else and came to define Beck, perhaps for the worst, but it's all there and it's all good, good, good...
3. Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
Legend has it that Stuart Murdoch and bassist Stuart David formed the band with the first five musicians they found. If that's true it is nothing short of a miracle. What may be even more miraculous is how it turned out, not just in the quality of the music and its overnight success, but in the establishment of the group's distinct identity. The cover, the sound, the impossibly disturbed and relatable stories with that old-world charm, it is a marvel. Somehow it also turned out to be the best thing they made with Stuart's greatest songs with such timelessly beautiful songs as "We Rule the School" and closing track "Mary Jo" presenting a kind of song far removed from what was going on on both sides of that Atlantic and rightfully creating swarms of imitators. From the very opening of "The State I Am In," all questions about the band's importance are thrown out and these modern symphonic folk tales take on their full power to move and affect. Truly the dawning of something new and great.
2. Guided by Voices - Under the Bushes Under the Stars
Initially intended as a concept album (in Uncle Bob's words, "our The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway") entitled The Power of Suck, this album had a long history involving the return to real studios and using real producers like Steve Albini and Kim Deal which may have destroyed the classic lineup. The most notable survivor was "Don't Stop Now," with its string arrangements and excellent production making it one of the band's most epic songs and being the story of the band's classic lineup, which was already augmented by new addition Jim Greer. Someof the band's greatest songs are here such as opener "Man Called Aerodynamics," the cautionary crescendo of "Cut Out Witch" and the heavenly guitars of "Drag Days." Even as his home-life falls apart Pollard pays tribute to his daughter one "Your Name Is Wild," one of his best love songs, even if it is about a different kind of love, and Sprout is on top of his game too with "Atom Eyes" and the more rocking lo-fi version of "It's Like Soul Man." As trying as this transition proved to for the band the ending result was yet another amazing album. Don't be fooled by the fact that it didn't make the top spot still waiting to be rediscovered and hailed as another one of the group's many masterpieces.
1. The Olivia Tremor Control - Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk At Cubist Castle
GbV being at #2 says more about the outstanding quality of this album rather than any flaws in the other. Elephant 6's greatest band finally gets to make their big statement around their complicated, if even coherent "California Demise" concept. The plot involving two girls - Jacqueline and Olivia, around the turn of the century attaining knowledge of the devastating West Coast earthquake is completely incidental to the dense psychedelic pop found on this double LP. This is what the Beatles would have sounded like in 1972 had they continued down the strawberry fields and not broken up. The band does it all - constructing long, complicated suites, experimenting with Robert Schneider's complicated lo-fi superstudio, and using both antiquated and futuristic technology to successfully revive the best sounds of the 60s. They can appear as though music has not changed in 30 years on "Define a Transparent Dream" even after beginning with punk overture "The Opera House." Folk rockers like "Courtyard" fit in as well as experimental tracks like "Tropical Bells" and "Dusk at Cubist Castle" while side three forces it all together with "Green Typewriters" unpredictably moving from pop to avant-garde, long to short, and pleasant to abrasive. Proving their skills beyond mere "indie pop" on more complicated arrangements like "No Growing (Exegesis)" and "Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3" they are at their best on the moments of pure beauty "Marking Time" and closer "NYC-25." It may not get any better than this, OTC had it all going for them, but they wanted even more and would do it soon enough...
You can expect 1997 Friday.
10. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Take it From The Man!
The late 90s was full of great great music from the BJM and for a while they rivaled GbV in terms of output. At this time, their quality and time control had left a bit to be desired, so this is the only one of the three great albums they put out this year to make it. It is some of their rawest and most aggressive material of all and opener "Vacuum Boots" kicks it off with their signature multiple-guitar attack. Though the psychedelia/shoegaze is a little lower than usual this is perhaps the definitive BJM record in that it is probably the one that Jones himself would enjoy the most with all its punk-blues swagger. It also has some of Matt Hollywood's best leads like "Who?" and "B.S.A." and plenty of explicit credit given to the band's influence. One of many great records from one of the 90s' best bands and certainly the most tambourine you'll get.
9. Guided by Voices - Tonics and Twisted Chasers
...and here it begins. This fanclub-only LP (later released as a limited edition CD the next year) is now accepted the the regular GbV cannon, though recorded and written almost entirely by Bob and Toby it is more of an Airport 5 project. It is pretty stripped down with few drums and lots of acoustic guitars, but the songs are some of their best and most sentimental, including major standout "Dayton, Ohio - 19 something and 5." Short folk songs like "Is She Ever?" and "The Key Losers" are the greatest, but the loose environment also allows some of the stranger diversions into psych, prog, and the strange language of lo-fi - my favorite being "Ha Ha Man." Bob and Toby may sing together here more than ever, enough of a reason not to skip this one. The CD tracks include more of the band, best with the acid punk of "Girl From the Sun." GbV at their peak and their last all lo-fi album.
8. Butthole Surfers - Electric Larryland
Some people hate this album, but what do they know about love? This album is pretty true to what the Surfers were about the whole time, just a bit more mature and polished. Where the last three, or even four albums had been too much of one thing this one is truly eclectic ranging from the heavy speed of "Ulcer Breakout" to the more gentle "The Jingle of a Dog's Collar" and the Spacemen 3 nod "Space," in addition to the studio creations "My Brother's Wife" and "Let's Talk About Cars." Their experiments with programmed beats proved to be the most successful in scoring the hit "Pepper" with its JFK assassination-themed video being straight out of their original vision. The even more psychedelic "The Lord Is A Monkey" may use the hip-hop influence even better, and "T.V. Star" is their boldest foray into country. In truth, all the songs are great if you don't mind your Buttholes a little cleaner. They're still the same band, maybe more than ever.
7. Tobin Sprout - Carnival Boy
Both Toby and Bob put out their first solo album this year and generally this one gets a little more credit, as the cover would indicate, it is "POP." Sprout would distinguish himself further up the road, but this one is like a set of his GbV songs, though in most cases, most evidently on this version of "It's Like Soul Man," less lo-fi. The most memorable songs on the record are some of the best to come out of the Dayton, Ohio camp such as "Gas Daaddy Gas," "To My Beloved Martha," and the gigantic closer "The Last Man Well Known To Kingpin," in which his lyrics out-abstract Pollard's yet fulfill every rock and roll fantasy even more directly. Though it is full of short, lo-fi instrumentals this is less experimental than the band's project's and is one of the best pop records of its time. Like most of of Sprout's albums it is as essential as proper GbV releases for any official iron man.
6. Stereolab - Emporer Tomato Ketchup
Many consider this Sterolab's best work, but for a band who has taken on so many sounds, that would be a bit trite. It is maybe their most distinct, and certainly better than a few. It has a smooth and clean sound despite all the experimentation, owing more of a debt to Serge Gainsbourg than usual. It makes the album perfect for a lounge setting even at its krautiest thanks to the Laetitia Sadier's voice and some slow-paced, but tright song writing like on the title track. While it may not have the immediate energy of their early work, the catchy songs with the lyrics not being the only thing distinctly French like "Cybele's Reverie" make up for it. The band lives up to its name more than ever in combining styles like exotica, krautrock, and chanson so flawlessly and making it all sound like it's still from the future, albeit the more tasteful one envisioned decades before by the likes of Esquivel and Gene Roddenberry.
5. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
In trying to keep my true beliefs about these albums by not altering the ranking order this is hard to write about, but that's my cross to bear. After Belle and Sebastian blew up they quickly put this second album together which Stuart Murdoch still considers his best set of songs. That is respectable, especially since the other members move din a bit afterward, but there is nothing new to be desired from another ten flawless pieces of folky chamber pop. B&S shows them to be one of the most tasteful bands with their arrangements having such a subtle dynamic, with each letting the other fill their perfect space, much like Speed the Plough. While usually regarded as soft and old-fashioned the band has always been fearless in throwing a surprising new sound here and there, only fitting for a voice like Murdoch's. His lyrics hit the hardest here being a little more perplexing than before and mastering the dark lyrics-happy melody dichotomy with cinematic references in "Like Dylan in the Movies."
4. Beck - Odelay
I was jumping around on the trampoline in the foyer with MTV playing in the family room when they announced the premier of Beck's new video. I did not know who he was by name, but I felt compelled to watch and as the hot California sun rose to that Fender Rhodes my mind was blown. The next few minutes contained nods to and samples of the Fogs, Gary Wilson, Captain Beefheart, William Shatner, and too many others to name. This was of course, "Where It's At," and luckily the mainstream media agreed for once and this album was riding high for the next year with hits like "The New Pollution, " "Jack-Ass," and of course "Devil's Haircut." This Dust Brother's collaboration was and still is one of the coolest things ever created and made the 90s a lot more interesting than grunge, gangsta rap, and mainstream crossover of industrial music (wtf) combined. It's something else and came to define Beck, perhaps for the worst, but it's all there and it's all good, good, good...
3. Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
Legend has it that Stuart Murdoch and bassist Stuart David formed the band with the first five musicians they found. If that's true it is nothing short of a miracle. What may be even more miraculous is how it turned out, not just in the quality of the music and its overnight success, but in the establishment of the group's distinct identity. The cover, the sound, the impossibly disturbed and relatable stories with that old-world charm, it is a marvel. Somehow it also turned out to be the best thing they made with Stuart's greatest songs with such timelessly beautiful songs as "We Rule the School" and closing track "Mary Jo" presenting a kind of song far removed from what was going on on both sides of that Atlantic and rightfully creating swarms of imitators. From the very opening of "The State I Am In," all questions about the band's importance are thrown out and these modern symphonic folk tales take on their full power to move and affect. Truly the dawning of something new and great.
2. Guided by Voices - Under the Bushes Under the Stars
Initially intended as a concept album (in Uncle Bob's words, "our The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway") entitled The Power of Suck, this album had a long history involving the return to real studios and using real producers like Steve Albini and Kim Deal which may have destroyed the classic lineup. The most notable survivor was "Don't Stop Now," with its string arrangements and excellent production making it one of the band's most epic songs and being the story of the band's classic lineup, which was already augmented by new addition Jim Greer. Someof the band's greatest songs are here such as opener "Man Called Aerodynamics," the cautionary crescendo of "Cut Out Witch" and the heavenly guitars of "Drag Days." Even as his home-life falls apart Pollard pays tribute to his daughter one "Your Name Is Wild," one of his best love songs, even if it is about a different kind of love, and Sprout is on top of his game too with "Atom Eyes" and the more rocking lo-fi version of "It's Like Soul Man." As trying as this transition proved to for the band the ending result was yet another amazing album. Don't be fooled by the fact that it didn't make the top spot still waiting to be rediscovered and hailed as another one of the group's many masterpieces.
1. The Olivia Tremor Control - Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk At Cubist Castle
GbV being at #2 says more about the outstanding quality of this album rather than any flaws in the other. Elephant 6's greatest band finally gets to make their big statement around their complicated, if even coherent "California Demise" concept. The plot involving two girls - Jacqueline and Olivia, around the turn of the century attaining knowledge of the devastating West Coast earthquake is completely incidental to the dense psychedelic pop found on this double LP. This is what the Beatles would have sounded like in 1972 had they continued down the strawberry fields and not broken up. The band does it all - constructing long, complicated suites, experimenting with Robert Schneider's complicated lo-fi superstudio, and using both antiquated and futuristic technology to successfully revive the best sounds of the 60s. They can appear as though music has not changed in 30 years on "Define a Transparent Dream" even after beginning with punk overture "The Opera House." Folk rockers like "Courtyard" fit in as well as experimental tracks like "Tropical Bells" and "Dusk at Cubist Castle" while side three forces it all together with "Green Typewriters" unpredictably moving from pop to avant-garde, long to short, and pleasant to abrasive. Proving their skills beyond mere "indie pop" on more complicated arrangements like "No Growing (Exegesis)" and "Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3" they are at their best on the moments of pure beauty "Marking Time" and closer "NYC-25." It may not get any better than this, OTC had it all going for them, but they wanted even more and would do it soon enough...
You can expect 1997 Friday.
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