Mid Year Report.

We're half-way through the year and that means I'm gonna do a little speil about my favorite records and songs of 2010. This year the records I've heard have been communicating more with their style than actual lyrics so far, plain songwriting albums like last years "The xx" and "Middle Cyclone" coming up weak, but the broad range of tones and sounds that artisits have hit this year is exciting enough. Also, typically my favorites are somewhat mainstream efforts which this year have been weak also (Kanye West and M.I.A. should be making splashes soon) so the indie crowd have been wooing most of my attention for the first part of the year. That may change, as these lists are highly volatile but here we go.

Ten Best Albums of 2010 (thru June)
10. Heaven is Whenever - The Hold Steady
The Minnesotta-turned-New-York bar-band-turned-classic-rock-revivalists deliver morality soaked if melodramtic tunes about being down-and-out and growing up. Notable Tracks: "The Sweet Part of the City" "Hurrican J". Notable Lyric: "I only had one single it was a song about a pure and simple love...I still play that record/ but it don't sound that simple anymore."
9. Welder - Elizabeth Cook
A country crooner with a pipette voice sqeaks through true-life stories of herion-addict sisters and, of course, lost love, with an attention to emotion honesty and truncated rythyms. Notable Tracks: "Rock and Roll Man" "El Camino" Notable Lyric: "When you say yes to beer, you say no to booty".
8. Contra - Vampire Weekend
I slammed this album early in the year and now I'm having second thoughts. Sure, it's not as exciting or touching as it's predessesor but it's a more mature work that discretly handles the band's preoccupations with class struggle, Ivy-League style. Notable tracks: "Taxi Cab" "Giving Up the Gun" Notable Lyric: "Dad was a risk-taker/his was a shoe-maker/you greatest hits 2006, little list-maker/your caught in the melody/ you wait in the car/ you were born with ten fingers and you're gonna use them all."
7. High Violet - The National
Another unfortunate slamming which shows i'm still getting used to this whole rating thing, I took the lameness of the first two and last two tracks as empty sad-sackery which it is, but the middle chunk of this album has a sweeping gothic grandeur and attention to detail which is rich as the warm thud of the music. Notable tracks: "Afraid of Everyone" "Conversation 16" Notable Lyric: "I gave my heart to the army/ The only sentimental thing I could think of/ With cousins and colors somewhere overseas/ But it'll take a better war to kill a college man like me."
6. The Monitor - Titus Andronicus
An epically-scoped and furiosuly-performed punk-opera about the Civil War and rebellious New Jersey teenagerdom, they mine the teritory of Bruce Springsteen, The Ramones, and The Replacements to probe the idea of what makes America through ambitious and grand anthems which a ruh around the edges and frail at the heart. Notable Tracks: "Theme From 'Cheers'" "The Battle Of Hampton Roads" Notable Lyrics: "I never wanted to change the world but I'm looking for a new New Jersey/ Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to die."
5. Blackjazz - Shining
Truly living up to it's title, this album by the Nordic-metal band Shining is as dense as it is dark, creating an all incompassing soundscape whcih probes madness and violence and while the lyrical quality is typical metal, the music is not, endlessly invintive and challenging. Notable tracks: "Exit Sun" "Blackjazz Deathtrance" Notable lyric: Ican't understand what the hell their saying and i don't care to.
4. Have One on Me - Joanna Newsom
A harpist and mousy-voiced singer who mines the past with a nostalgic romanticism which she reflects in her cryptic lyrics, Newsom spend most of this triple-album probing the relationships between her and the men in her life revealing a complex portrait of the modern young woman and a musical tapestry as difficult as it is rewarding. Notable Tracks: "Go Long" "Jackrabbits" Notable Lyric: "I have sown untidy furrows across my soul but I am still a coward/ Content to see my garden grow so sweet and full of someone else's flowers"
3. Treats - Sleigh Bells
Mining the work of James Brown more than they know, these hipsters want the catharsis most artists crave once a song 24/7 so they make a loud, raging album of dance-jams, amp-explosions and bubblegum vocals for the overstimulated teenager in us all, all while exploring what it means to be, well, and overstimulated teenager. Notable tracks: "Riot Rhythm" "Crown on the Ground" Notable Lyric: "Deaf chords, dead ends/ sling set can't meet their demands/ dumb whores, best friends/ infinity guitars, go ahead"
2. Transference - Spoon
Spoon get into typically deep territory on this album, their best since 2002's Girls Can Tell. The voice existential queries about growing up and facing their own specific splace in the rock pentheon, one which they advance with this serious of dark, adult, rock grooves. Notable Tracks: "Trouble Comes Running" "Written In Reverse" Notable Lyric: "I got nothing to lose but darkness and shadows/ got nothing to lose but bitterness and patterns"
1. This is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
Dance-puck auteur James Murphy ups his game in every way possible, on this final record from his flagship band. The electronic grooves are hypnotic and elusive, with nods to Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, Daft Punk and an entire library of great bands, but ultimately its the sardonic, neurotic lyrics that stand out. They are the last will and testament of an aging hipster who finally finds himself able to cut past the cool and come home. Notable tracks: "One Touch" "Pow Pow" Notable Lyrics: "You're afraid of what you need/ If you weren't, I don't know what we'd talk about"

Top 10 Tracks So Far:

10. Theme From "Cheers" by Titus Andronicus
9. Soft in the Center by The Hold Steady
8. California English by Vampire Weekend
7. Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells
6. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
5. I Can Change by LCD Soundsystem
4. Telephone by Lady Gaga
3. Power by Kanye West
2. Go Long by Joanna Newsom
1. We Used To Wait by Arcade Fire

Most Anticipated
1. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
Exploring middle American upbringing is the best conceit an Arcade Fire album can possibly have; the singles they've released are stellar; the band has never made an album that wasn't masterful. It just all adds up for this band in this year. And if they could throw a single up the charts, the world just might change.
2. Good Ass Job - Kanye West
Mr. West is returning to rap and hoping to return to the populariy he lost at last years VMAs. My guess is, he won't but if the album isn't great, the next one certainly will be. He may be a jerk, but one should never forget that he's also a genius.
3. Title TBA - Fleet Foxes
Their debut was a suprise hit and one of the most universally-loved records of the past decade full of pastoral beauty and aching vocals. The plan is to record the record quickly al-la Van Morrison's Astral Weeks to make a more cohesive, darker, and rawer album. Should be a tight-rope walk well worth hearing.
4. /\/\/\Y/\ - M.I.A.
After making huge artistic and commercial strides on 2007's Kala the Sri Lankan chanteuse has every oppurtunity to take her third record of electropunk into new heights, or to sink under pressure and self-importance. Either way, this will be one of the most intereting and talked-about records of the year.
5. Hot Sauce Committe Pt. 1 - Beastie Boys
After a dissappointing instrumental album, the rap pioneers are preparing a self-produced album featureing Nas and Santigold. Almost none of their albums are let downs and the party boys turned vetrans have plenty of material to mine for introspection and their peculiar brand of humor. The cover art is quite promising as well.

Treats by Sleigh Bells

"Loud" like Beastie Boys means "rowdy"; like Public Enemy, "confrontational"; like Slayer, "brutal" perhaps. For Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells "loud" takes on shades of meaning which is only possible because they're hasn't really been a record that was loud in this blown-out amp, drum machine explosion way before. The first time I put it on it infuriated me (headphones); trying it again in my car it made me rapturuos. Tipped way above safe decible levels with "Infinity Guitars" and "Riot Rhythm" that trudges along with dependable steadiness until overwhelming you, the songs often recall those of label-mate M.I.A. they way their bombastic density clobbers you. With songs about superficial "Kids" on a vacation and another track called "Straight A's" the loud here is a reaction to the overstimulation of young people, the shallowness of modern radio and the pitfalls of attention-seeking blog behavior (uh-oh I'm caught up in it too).

These people aren't hypocrites though, they're not fighting overstimulation with overstiulation as much as attempting an alternative, intelligent album about overstimulation. You know, the way Randy Newman's "Rednecks" didn't actually glorify racism. They get the fuel to make that commentary from the sweet suger-laced melodies that chime from singer Alexis Krauss who has far too much respect for teenyboppers (as she says "I know the part") to deride them or condecend to their audience, something label-mate M.I.A. does too much these days. The lyircs are simple, the melodies catchy, the sound LOUD. This is an album about the fracture between mainstream music and independent music, partuicularly for teens who are just carving their own aesthetic niches, and it insists that they meet eachother half way. Sleigh Bells mine dangerous territory here(the glorious thud of rap, dancefloor synths, abrasive punk guitars, and shoegazer vocals are all derided among some listners) but those sounds combine into something unabashedly (even frighteningly) contemporary. "You gotta march" a chorus of giddy tweens boast in "Riot Rythym" and Sleigh Bells make pop worth marching for. Doubt the kids'll listen, much less march, but glad someone is trying. 4.5/5

Brothers by The Black Keys

It's obvious that this duo bought their first instruments and started mining blues tropes to get the girls almost all these songs are about. That's why each tune is shimmering with the smoky atmospherics of a Quentin Tarantino movie, cutting into White Stripes' stomping ground without the trickness of Jack's lyrics or the intensity of Meg's unrelenting stomp. Instead the beat is laid back into
R&B turf for the seduction of those drawn to oddly vague, cool rock-and-roll.We never learn about who that is exactly since The Black Keys treat women as demographics, not individuals, in songs which go for universalism but end up as glorified song skeletons, lacking the meat of real relationship details. After all, it'd be a shame if those girls found out the whole show was for them. That would make the band and their audience appear to be tangible people instead of faceless blues archetypes, ruining the magic. Only on the last track does the gentleman who does the crooning truly sound flustered, and it's not about girls at all. 3/5

Cosmogramma by Flying Lotus

I heard this in a posh restaurant/hotel once. Or maybe it was a dream of a posh restaurant/hotel. I guess they're the same thing which would be the long-labored point of this record if the West Coast DJ who made (he'd say crafted it) was as interested in points as he was in finding new sonic contexts for windchimes. 2/5

Heaven is Whenever by The Hold Steady

A record with this many problems shouldn’t be this good, but that’s life as usual for the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, a guy just far removed enough from his songs of down-and-outs to act as a bar band moralist, but just close enough to them that you wander why and for whom he’s moralizing. You question his authority even as you start to think that maybe he wants you to do just that. His story-songs are hook-strong and delivered in the nasally grandeur of Finn’s singing (stronger and more nuanced than ever as he sings more than speaks) and they all have tremendous problems. The first is the production, which is steeped in power-ballad, roots-rock cliches (so many choirs!) second is the image Finn is trying to project. This band has always been too big for his britches, going for Bruce Springsteen and inevitably falling short and their ambitions are obvious here, as melodramatic as that album cover. The last minutes of the album are ridiculously maudlin

But I must be honest, and despite all I know about propriety, I love this record. Finn, like me, is more or less a rock and roll innocent who fantasizes about the girl he’s wrong for but curls up in bed alone instead (“Hurricane J”) who wishes he wasn’t so happy so he could write better songs (“Rock and Roll Problems”) who’s livin’ for “The Smidge”. He has a way with honesty that here he pairs with some of his strangest and sweetest sentiments without ever resisting the urge for an arena-filling guitar solo. In a world where tuneful nice-guys are confined to the wasteland of twee, indie pushovers, Finn’s nice-guy is inspiring because he understands how unappealing the nice-guy is, but wants to try for it anyway. 4/5

Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones (Deluxe Edition Reissue)

In 1972, The Rolling Stones were already a veteran band with eight years of experience and a dozen records behind them. While they had always been overshadowed by the Beatles in the sixties, the breakup of that group allowed the Stones to develop artistically on their own and produce some of the greatest records that the worlds ever seen. Beggars Banquet and Sticky Fingers were towering achievements of modern riffage, blues reinvention, and the playful hedonism that has both informed and tarnished the band’s reputation. But even with those masterpieces and era-defining songs like “Satisfaction” and “Gimme Shelter” to hang on their mantle, Exile on Main St. was a revelation. It stood apart in sound and technique from any other work the band made previous, and has served as the archetypal rock and roll record ever since.

Dense and dirty, this record takes multiple spins before the chaos of its grungy production gives way to the order of the songs, the soaring interplay of the guitars, and the bands genius rhythm section. Mick Jagger is at his most acidic on “Rip This Joint” and his most tender on “Shine A Lights” broken-down reverie (for this band tenderness and broken-downiness are the same). Enough has been said about this record that I can only add personal superlatives to the records sterling reputation. I never believed in this band, until this album, and suddenly it all made sense to me. I preferred the slickness of The Beatles and mistook Mick and Keith’s avant- layering of rhythms and tones to be lazy production, but The Beatles never made a record as primally satisfying as this one and they never really made one that stood as a unified whole quite the way these 18 songs ebb and flow against each other. If the sound hear has been cleaned up, it’s not as revolutionary as the treatment of The Beatles catalogue last year, but this record isn’t supposed to sound smooth and digitized, it’s supposed to crack and hiss and move like the notes are coming at you for the first time every time you play it. The deluxe edition has notable bonus material on the second disk (the Richards-sung version of “Soul Survivor” is a keeper for sure), but it’s the original album that stands as a monument to the best rock band of them all. One of the ten best ever made. 5/5

We Live in Exciting Times

Arcade Fire on the prowl = never a bad thing.

As per usual with this bad, play it loud.

High Violet by The National

The first thing that struck me about High Violet, the new album by these Cincinnati indies, is that it has a sort of sweeping beauty which matches the lead singer’s mournful baritone perfectly. This is the music to out an ache in your bones, that kind of beautiful sad-sackery that was mastered by bands like Joy Division and Interpol. They don’t quite maintain the atmosphere or pleasure-in-suffering that Ian Curtis did, and the story lyrics are too vague to put the dopey lyrics (“I live in a house that sorrow built”) into perspective. Every now and then they throw you a great melody like “Anyone’s Ghost” or “Conversation 16” to keep you listening but at the end of the day this is suffering for sufferings sake. The songwriting is additionally lazy; while the distorted guitar soundscapes are gorgeous and haunting, the vocals are often pastiches of unrelated phraseology. While bands like The Smiths could keep this songwriting method afloat with a good sense of humor, this album never relents in its indulgent morbidity. Those morbid hearts are in the right place, of course; it’s all in the name of the album-as-art conceit. But great art isn’t always tragic and great tragedy is always specific. The National aren’t the enemy, but as far as friends go, they’re pretty lame ones. 2.5/5

The Archandroid by Janelle Monae

Janelle Monae is garnering unabashed praise for this debut, which consists of two Afrocentric, neo-futurist suites that try to take OutKast into the stratosphere but are really just the irritating conceits of an ambitious newcomer who thinks she can tackle every genre imaginable while making a two part concept album about futuristic robot societies. Not a bad-sounding album nor a boring one - energy is Monae’s main export - its is regretfully filled with songs that seem strained before they finish even the first time. The lyrics are mostly irrelevant and twee, the kind of sweet nothings meant to draw listeners into a big tent of fellowship, but ultimately they're forgettable and painfully innocuous. Afterwards I can’t remember a lyric, a tune, or a moment that stirred me. This is the Avatar of R&B. 1.5/5

This Is Happening by LCD Soundsytem

As much as I love music of a myriad of styles and textures, there is a special place in my heart for what has come to be known as “Classic Rock” not because it has loud guitars and feverish singing, but because it has soulfulness, a spirituality that can’t be found on your average Kanye West or Radiohead record. There is, in records like Led Zeppelin IV, a hand-worn and labored over quality that resonates deeper than the tunes or lyrics might. Part of this that these records are old, part of it the analog tools used to record them, but a lot of it is that they were crafted with a spirit of adventure: the resolution of mysticism and mythos that bands like Zeppelin infused their albums with. They didn’t just play rock and roll, they believed in it. That belief is something naïve and archaic now, which is why LCD Soundsystem’s 2007 record, Sound of Silver was such a revelation. Singer and composer James Murphy found some of that classic spiritualism in the synthesizers and techno rhythms of modern dance music, making a blend of electric body and organic songcraft that captured the hipster zeitgeist of a generation who no longer believed the classic rock mythos, but longed to anyway. Needless to say, any follow-up to that record has some work laid out for it.

This Is Happening, the aforementioned follow-up, sounds a lot like it’s predecessor, a mismatch of influences that range from Talking Heads and Devo to Radiohead and The Strokes. These songs are more open though, less immediate and desperate than the tracks on Sound of Silver and they are much longer. The average song is upwards of seven minutes, but Murphy has always known how to get the most out of overlong tracks. The record starts off with “Dance Yrself Clean” in a Kermit-voiced accusation, Murphy regales a friend’s who’s “talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk” before exploding into dance-floor euphoria. Murphy takes on the title in all its brilliant, knowing that the music he makes can never really solve people’s problems, but trying anyway. “Drunk Girls” is a frantic pop song, the only on the record, which spits out caustic one liners that aren’t so much about drunk girls but are more about drunk boys and how drunk boys chase and curse and need drunk girls. “One Touch” is a familiar development of Murphy’s Daft Punk obsession and “All I Want” has him peeking over David Bowie’s shoulder to create an infectious sad-sack anthem (It turns out all he wants is pity and bitter tears, and to be taken home. It wouldn’t be as sad if it wasn’t so funny or grand.)

“I Can Change” rips bouncy 80’s synth into the strongest melody on the album and one of the most depraved love songs I’ve ever heard. Murphy, truly grown as a confident and passionate singer, degrades himself for the love of a girl he begs to “bore me and hold me and cling to my arms”. It’s a stellar track about co-dependence gone wrong. Part of what’s great about LCD’s lyrics are the way they often blend the line of irony and sincerity, that they mean the opposite of what they say upfront. If we learn anything from “I Can Change”, it’s that Murphy can’t change and the girl doesn’t really want him to. It’s a vicious cycle of love and hurt placed brilliantly in the middle of the record, the way “All My Friends” cemented Sound of Silver together. The album then careens into the three-minute intro of the boisterously non-commercial “You Wanted a Hit” and then to the frantic rant/art-rock of “Pow Pow” which boasts a chorus of “it goes pow pow pow pow pow” repeated over and over again. The deconstruction of language is intentional here and denotes other Murphy tracks like “Get Innocuous!” where he derides the apathetic nature of music listeners. He seems to think that nobody wants his blend of humor, self-reflection, and nostalgia, and would prefer “pow pow pow pow pow”.

Indeed one often gets the sense that Murphy is getting tired of his audience. Several of the tracks like “One Touch” and “Hit” seem to mock listeners who are unsatisfied with what they get on this go round, or who hear his killer grooves without hearing the killer lyrics he wraps them around. It’s been hinted at that this will be LCD Soundsystem’s final record, maybe because Murphy feels the band or he is becoming stale or unappreciated. That insecurity makes this a fragile record, one that’s as easy to tear apart as it is to build up. It isn’t as tight as the bands first two outings, but there is something disquieting about the looseness of this record. Maybe it’s that archaic, naïve spirituality creeping quietly below the surface. You get a hint of it on “Somebody’s Calling Me” which distorts Iggy Pop’s “Nightclubbing” into a modern blues about the lack of connection in modern society. Murphy ironically relates it to the technology he uses to make the beautiful sounds through which he sings: “somebody’s texting me to be my girl/ constantly texting me to be my girl/ but the text won’t take away the nights that creep/ and my mouth don’t move when I’m in too deep”. He almost growls it, exhausted and sick. The track sticks out from the euphoria of “Pow Pow” and the brilliant resolution of closer “Home”.

“This is what you waited for but under lights we’re all unsure. So tell me, what would make you feel better?” asks what may become the final song by LCD Soundsystem. The irony dealer finally gone sincere, the fanboy finally grown, Murphy sounds like he’s listening for an answer. 5/5

Congratulations by MGMT

We live in a precarious time for album-makers. When I say album makers, I don’t mean all music artists. I don’t mean Lady Gaga or Jay-Z, because even though they are capable of making well-balanced, artistic albums, their records are usually nothing more than a well-sequenced collection of prospective singles and enjoyable filler. MGMT are real album-makers, the kind who know that hits like their synth-poppy “Kids” don’t mean the same thing when you place them along side freak-folk ballads like “Pieces of What” (both off their debut, Oracular Spectacular). On said debut, the band made a clear artistic statement that they wanted to be considered album makers like retro-heroes Pink Floyd or neo-retro-heroes The Flaming Lips. But I doubt most people who heard “Kids” have ever heard “Pieces of What”, because albums are in low demand these days.

On their sophomore attempt, Congratulations, MGMT make a retroactive attempt at sonic unity which they hope will revive interest in the medium of the album as artwork. For that reason they haven’t released any singles, and after hearing the record, none of the 9 tracks seem plausible as singles. They are all amalgams of psychedelic confusion, Andrew VanWyngarden’s notoriously cryptic lyrics, and an attempt at pop breeziness that comes out like a muddled and confused trip. Although anthems remain absent from the setlist, the album does not entice. The opener is a surf-rock odyssey meditation on the difference between drugs and love and the epic “Flash Delirium” trades newfound fame for existential panic. The interplay of these two themes, the difference between the real and the fake, the synthetic and the organic provide the thematic backbone against which these Wesleyan grads throw a mixture of 60’s retro-fitted ideas. What’s amazing is that it often sticks, and they come across as truly genuine fanboys of an era gone by, evoking a nostalgia for the idealistic records of the Beatles and Beach Boys while maintain the indie, hyper-modern sound that made them stars among the youth. This album has a soothing, natural pace that often overrides the shortcoming of tunes like the instrumental “Lady Dada’s Nightmare” which would be unbearable in different context, but in the weird stream-of-consciousness of Congratulations gets by on a cutely humorous title and peaceful dreaminess. You won’t whistle the tunes here and you certainly won’t decipher most of the lyrics, but this record is a sonic blanket in which you can lose yourself for awhile. MGMT retreat into that sonic oblivion in order to reach new listeners, a move that is surely doomed to fail, but for that reason is tinged with the dramatic scope which makes this strange journey worth taking. 4/5

New LCD Soundsystem Tracks Bode Well For New Album

I've been a lil busy for reviews, so I'm giving you a present while I finish up my review of MGMT's new record, Congratulations

LCD Soundsystem's New Album This is Happening is set to release about a month from now, so promotional tracks are coming out. the first single, which is available for purchase, is called "Drunk Girls" and its a fantastic riff of LCD's funky grooves, and social satire. Now you can hear the newwave anthem opener of the new album, "Dance Yrself Clean" and the fantastical freak-jam ballad "Change" which thankfully has nothing to do with Obama (on the surface at least, these are clever little devils). I loved their 2007 album Sound of Silver as one of the very best of the last decade, I'm almost worried by how optimistic these tracks make me for the new album. My brain says it can't be better than the last one, but may ears are saying... well you can check it out here

I'd Rather Watch You

From "Adding Machine: A Musical" which is a current fascination of mine. The original recording is smokier (read: superior), but this girl seems nice too. Plus, I'm a huge advocate for homemade t-shirts.

Contra by Vampire Weekend

The first song on Vampire Weekend’s new record is called “Horchata” where the title beverage serves as a gentle reminder that, no, Ezra Koenig and company haven’t been sweating too much over the economic crises. Instead they’ve been celebrating the newfound fame and success that they rightfully won with their brilliant self-titled debut, an exuberant resurrection of Afro-beat production and snarky lyrics that reminded critics of Graceland and me of Talking Head ’77. So if they’ve been celebrating and making money doing what they love, why is the cinnamon-rice-milk-themed opening cut of Contra so sad? The answer is simple: because Contra is a decidedly and artificially more mature record than its predecessor.

All across the board this is a more focused and production-savvy effort than the debut. We get the beefed up guitars, pounding drums and confident singing of a real rock band. The songs are much longer with hummable choruses and bridge anthems, ska rhythms and M.I.A. samples. On “California English” they even integrate their indie rollick with Auto-tune. That’s right auto-tune! The symbol of misguided pop artists everywhere! This amalgam of new sounds makes the record an often-interesting listen, and with the 80’s inspired “Giving Up the Gun” they could be reaching out for some radio play. This is definitely the kind of larger record which will see them expanding their fan base greatly, and if the first record was too idiosyncratic for you, this one might have some easier points of entry into the band’s aesthetic: “White Sky”, my favorite on the record, has the Paul Simon guitar work and inspired vocal hooks which first drove people to the band while maintaining a steady rhythm and good melodic sense. But I didn’t like the first record because I’ve long been craving the days when Peter Gabriel fans would be vindicated for their belief in the emotive powers of African flutes. I liked it because the lyrics were really clever and the songs were a lot of fun.

While a few songs maintain the fun (“Cousins” in the moment most reminiscent of the first album) most drag in gloomy maturity and the lyric sheet of this record just kind of sucks. “Holiday” and “Taxi Cab” still commit to the band’s detailed descriptions without adding up to anything, the stories just sit there. The songs don’t say much and feel weighty once the spectacle of their production wears away (around the 3rd or 4th listen in my experience), which brings me back to that M.I.A. sample, the one in “Diplomat’s Son”. Why use it? It doesn’t benefit the song in anyway, it doesn’t reflect the themes in the song (something about privilege, sex, regret, and boredom), and it doesn’t go with the sound. Koenig probably decided that M.I.A. is cool and therefore using M.I.A. samples is cool under any circumstances. This kind of lazy attempt at credibility is wrought throughout the record. “Walcott” was a cool song so the band reinterprets it here as “Run”, but again it just doesn’t work, because they miss the point. “Walcott” a great song about cutting free of constraints because the narrator is just as trapped as the person he thinks he’s freeing. In the end neither Ezra nor Walcott could escape Cape Cod, and the song’s frantic melody reflected that tension. “Run” is just a simple construction of phrases that sound clever for awhile. There’s no real insight or conflict in lines like “we mostly work to live until we live to work”.

The record ends with “I Think UR A Contra” which turns an obscure political reference into a poignant moment of regret. “I just wanted you” Koenig laments and really hits home. Funnily enough, it’s the simplest lyric on the record. It goes to show that a beautiful song will always be more powerful than innovative production or oblique lyrics, something they often forget on Contra. They make a lot of pretty noise on this record, but only in these rare moments do they really say something. Older? Certainly. Wiser? If they are, they don’t show it on this go-around. 2.5/5

Blackjazz by Shining

Metal is a genre I’m both compelled to and repulsed by, because while it houses a lot of the most overbearing, ridiculous vacuousness the music industry has to offer, it is also a natural breeding ground for music that is transcendently grand in scale while maintaining dense layers of complex sound, rhythm and melody. Blackjazz the latest offering from Norwegian band Shining is the latter type of metal album, a dark concoction of twisted lyricism with virtuosic touches and complex passages that will continue to reward for dozens of listens. Really there’s no better description for it than the album title itself.

This is not an easy record at all; there are passages that I’m still working through with great tribulation. The songs here aren’t often tight, though they tend to keep structure in the earlier part of the record; “The Madness and the Damage Done” (sure Neil Young’s headbanging along) and “Fisheye” feature hummable choruses and verses whose lyrics you could parse through if you really wanted to. These guys aren’t Mastodon; there isn’t any poetry to be contemplated on this record, but they do give you a saxophone which is often just as good. It’s a great way to ease you into the album, though I promise the tracks compromise none of their mire for accessibility.

And then there are the jams. We’re talking big, monstrous jams that only a Nordic metal band can get away with and not be called pretentious or indulgent (“Blackjazz Deathtrance”), a ridiculous King Crimson cover that improves on the original, and reprises! Reprises! How they make it all hold up for almost an hour is a testament to brilliant musicianship. This isn’t Metallica, its neither tuneful enough nor boring enough, it’s more like a demon possessed Coltrane’s great A Love Supreme and made it writhe with a cathartic fury that modern listeners can find fresh and relevant. If Blackjazz doesn’t scare you away, it’ll enthrall you for a good long while. 4/5

Realism by The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields’ Stephen Merritt is a joker so before the lyrics even begin he gets his three biggest laughs out of the way: the album’s title in association with a band notorious for insincerity and cynicism, the album’s title in association with a female silhouette on the cover as direct juxtaposition to the male silhouette on the band’s previous album Distortion, and the album’s title in association with its sonic theme of American folk music and acoustic accompaniment (as if either have anything to do with realism). As per usual he is obviously crafting an obtuse album where every word matters, where the song about the ex-lovers has nothing to do with love and the song about paint has everything to do with it. In its 35 minutes, Realism, creates the least realistic and perhaps coldest record Merritt has ever made. It’s the sound of someone getting so invested in the lie they’re telling that they start to believe it themselves.

Take “Better Things” one of the standouts here, which regales a myriad of mythological creatures before floating into the CSN chorus ”I have heard the singing of real birds/ Not those absurd birds that simply everyone has heard”. It shows what fools we are in love and in music. Those 69 Songs aren’t about love at all, realism isn’t real. We Are Having a Hootenanny” is a great match.com send up, and the typically ridiculous “Seduced and Abandoned” is required listening for those who think Twilight: New Moon is the epitome of romanticism. All these songs have a brilliant slant, which Merritt delivers in his apathetic bass, playing with perspective, the ideas of truth, often brilliantly but unnecessarily when the tunes don’t hold up. “Walk a Lonely Road” and “From A Sinking Boat” both regale heartbreak in some of the laziest and least interesting tunes Merritt has written. Really the novelties here are the standouts and none are as powerful as about 45 of the 69 Love Songs. This is an album that makes you think more than it makes you feel, and most of that thinking comes from the cover art. To be fair, I’ll thinking about those male-female silhouettes for a long time. Distortion and Realism are male and female respectively; he certainly makes you work for it. It is usually better than this. 3/5

Snakes for the Divine by High On Fire

If you love metal, you could easily ponder the heaviness, incredible hooks, the brilliant speed and drugging sludge of this latest effort for a long time. If you hate metal, you might reflect that at least this is more succinct and cohesive than most of the stuff you’ve heard and, of course, less cartoonish than the faux-metal they peddle out to schoolchildren. If, like me, you have a few metal albums you return to (Remission,Reign in Blood,Master of Puppets when I’m feeling sassy ) but feel ambivalent about the step-child genre of pop music, you might ask: so what? These guys, for all their rock, won’t be able to tell you. Their job is to play, not to signify, and they do their job well. 2.5/5

Volume 2 by She & Him

She (Zooey Deschanel, 500 Days of Summer) is the indie chanteuse who is transforming a fledgling acting career into a serious acting career/fledgling music career with the help of Him (singer-songwriter M.Ward) who is undeniably the more talented one (see Post-War and Hold Time), but is less integral to Volume Two and for all his pathetic sensibility the less interesting of the two. Yes, Him’s production notes, guitar work, and occasional harmonies help define the sound of this recording, making it more interesting than your average folkie offering, but these are Zooey’s songs (two covers, both well-chosen) in Zooey’s voice (over-Appalachian, under-diverse, she can’t muster up a scream?), which means we must grapple with who She is.

Her film performances are so still and quiet - and so much intrinsically linked to her big-eyed charm - that it’s hard to pin whether they are understated or simply lazy. The record is much the same way: a harmonious blend of 60’s and 70’s-lite sounds which takes you away on a breezy vacation without ever really reminding you of why you left in the first place. Deschanel’s songs bounce melodically, and offer lines that are compact and appropriate for her aesthetic (“I’ve gotten over it, over and over again”) playing gentle puns against romantic insight. Her songs rarely come across sincere however: “Home” is a goofy come-on that turns a harp and dream-like vocal distortion into the crudely-drawn fantasy that I’m sure many people have of the singer. It seems like She knows what people want from her and is simply playing into that hand (don't even get me started on the closing number). She conceals her flaws, wanting to be liked, but ultimately people are likeable for their flaws. PJ Harvey is aggressive, Liz Phair is slutty, Brian Wilson is controlling: that’s kinda what’s great about them, and on their records they reckon with those traits. While things like “Thieves”, “In the Sun” and “Brand New Shoes” sport great hooks, they all play for sympathy.

What makes me question the lyrics is the same thing that makes me question the sound of the record itself. This isn’t a full-on cultural renaissance of 60’s harmonics like The La’s tried to be; it’s a charming if dangerous, attempt to exploit nostalgic romanticism for cash, fame, and all that jazz. Zooey’s album is a charming diversion from the real world of human relationships, a diverting fling that’ll tap your toes and flutter your heart, but she’s not the kind of girl you want to settle down with. 3/5

Just In Case Anybody Has Forgotten the Prioreties in Here

Reminds me of so many real talks in my own emotional life:

Quarantine the Past by Pavement

A best-of for a band that broke into the Billboard Top 200 once and the Billboard Top 150 never, but is nonetheless one of the most essential American bands of them all. Poets who thought they were rockstars, they were meaner than Green Day, funnier that Nirvana, and cooler than Radiohead. They made irony sincere and sincerity ironic all in a ghostly jam of nostalgic riffs and familial haze. Sure you should probably just buy the five albums they made in their short life (If you don’t own the first two, stop reading this and buy them now.), but this contains EP tracks and such goodies and you can play it start to finish and love every song. That’s 23 songs you can cherish forever for the price of Ke$ha’s new record. 5/5

Wu-Massacre by Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and Raekwon

The reason the first Wu-Tang record will always be the best is that it’s the only one which (for obvious reasons) doesn’t require any back-catalog knowledge for the listener to get all the jokes and references, so while these three Killer Bees are almost incapable of being mediocre, let alone bad, on record, this thirty-minute sampler is obviously supplemental to a body of work that incorporates some of the best records in rap. Fishscale, Liquid Swords, Only Built For Cuban Linx Pt. 2, and of course the timeless debut are all more accomplished, about twice as long, and half as expensive. If you dig those grooves though, adding this to your collection can’t hurt. 3/5

New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of the Ankh) by Erykah Badu

New Amerykah Part II (Return of the Ankh) by Erykah Badu
The Ankh, also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata, was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life". Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. (Thanks Wiki!)
Erykah Badu has drawn some attention recently over the music video to this album’s first single, “Window Seat”, in which she strolls through the streets of Dallas, slowly removing her clothing until she is shot and falls to the concrete dead, evoking the specter of JFK’s gruesome assassination. In her blending of Neo-Soul beats, and hazy 70’s funk production, her P-Funk croon Badu attempts to use her music as a way of exercising spiritual demons from the past and putting them in relevant context for listeners today. An admirable task, and an admittedly difficult one which she only occasionally pulls off with the grace and dexterity of contemporaries like D’Angelo, Maxwell, and baby-daddy Andre 3000.

This follow up to Pt 1, which I haven’t heard and I think I would enjoy, is rumination about love and relationships accented by her sharp, smoky voice. And while I usually agree with her about love (It’s hard!), I disagree with her about funk. George Clinton believed that if you moved your ass, you freed your mind, where as Badu seems to want to sedate both. The tinkerings of this album are often beautiful, but often sedate, caught in hazy loops which don’t enhance the lyrical concept of this work and, frankly, make the songs kinda boring. “Window Seat” is good rainy day listening and instrumental “Incense” reminds me of my beloved blaxploitation soundtracks but the songs don’t really move. She goes for transcendence but ends up lost in her own earthiness not understanding that that’s the only place transcendence ever goes. It’s tragic, but unintentionally so.

This is an enjoyable retro-fitted record that subverts some of my favorite music, but the funk Badu subverts is jagged and rough, twisting the listener in unexpected directions taunting you with complex rhythms that made you want to dance but are bafflingly asymmetrical. You see, the big joke is that there is no Ankh; there are just asses, brains, and heartbeats. Joke’s on her. 2.5/5

First Quarter Report

The year’s a quarter over and I’m elated so far. These are my favorite records and songs so far.

Albums!
1. Have On On Me by Joanna Newsom
2. Transference by Spoon
3. Odd Blood by Yeasayer
4. The Monitor by Titus Andronicus

Songs!
1. “Drunk Girls” by LCD Soundsystem
2. “Go Long” by Joanna Newsom
3. “Rhinestone Eyes” by Gorillaz
4. “Flash Delirium” by MGMT

First Post

I was doing these on Facebook Every Sunday. I wanna do them here now.