Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Late to the party - The Avalanches

One great thing about recorded music, perhaps the greatest thing even, is that since it is recorded, it can be discovered and enjoyed by the listener at his or her convenience. No duh, right? Well, in a time when most albums are leaked months prior to their release dates to enterprising downloaders clamoring to put some tracks on their blog or brag to their friends, it's nice to know, for the rest of us, the music will be there when we get to it.

Case in point: The Avalanches fantastic album Since I Left You, which was released in 2001, and which I am just now getting around to enjoying.

As most of you probably know, this isn't some obscure record that went unnoticed and has just recently garnered some praise. It was pretty much unanimously heralded as a masterpiece and wound up toward the top of many a 2001 best albums list. Add to this I was very aware of the album, and at one point even had the album in mp3 form on a disc full of other mp3 albums. Needless to say, it never got burnt onto a disc in music form, nor did it find it's way onto my first generation iPod. And that is a shame. But it waited for me, just like whole bunch of other bands and albums did, and as many more will continue to do.




Friday, December 10, 2010

My Top 20 Albums of 2010

I would have to say that 2010 was a fine year for music. A lot of really good releases early on, some great stuff in the spring and summer, and then it finished strong, like Michael Phelps anchoring a relay (with a bong waiting for him at the finish). My year-end list is dominated by guitar rock (even more so than usual), but I'm not quite sure what that means other than a lot of great guitar-based albums came out and I managed to steer clear of a lot of the electronic stuff. Which is neither good nor bad. That stuff will still be there for me to listen to in 2011 or 2012, or whenever I get to it. On to the list!


20. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts
Dips its toes in the lo-fi wading pool at times, but really, just a great straight forward rock album. Plenty of hooks and a few surprises, just when you think you got 'em pegged. Worthy debut from these Brits.

19. MGMT - Congratulations
Sure, there's no "Time to Pretend" or "Kids," or even "Electric Feel" for that matter. But if you listened to the rest of the band's disjointed first album, you could tell they weren't really just about those electro-pop moments. This is modern psychedelia at it's finest. Enjoy it for what it is, don't hate on it for what it's not.

18. Best Coast - Crazy For You
Love the West Coast 60s vibe of this album. Clean, simple pop songs, just like they did it back in the day. The perfect album to play in SoCal when you're grilling burgers on a warm summer afternoon. Or, to warm you up when you're outside grilling on a winter night and the temp is inching too close to the 40s for comfort.

17. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Dancey electro-pop with a bit of an edge. Like you're at a party in a sketchy neighborhood and you're having fun, but you feel the need to keep looking over your shoulder, JUST IN CASE. An odd opening track and a second half that fizzles out a bit kept this from cracking my top 10.

16. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Driving beats, subtle atmospherics and darker lyrical content make this the yang to Best Coast's California yin. If BC is the sound of the beach and backyard barbecues, Dum Dum Girls is a night out on the town in Echo Park. Also a bonus - all females.

15. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Los Angeles is in the hizz-ouse!! Counting the album just ahead of this one and the two behind it, that makes four L.A. bands in my top 20. Very nice 2010, L.A.! Standout track "Airplanes" sucked me in immediately and the rest of the album proved to be very solid - packed with interesting percussion and staccato rhythms, whatever THAT means.

14. No Age - Everything In Between
I'll be honest, I was a bit disappointed at first with this album. Not sure what I was expecting, but I had REALLY high hopes for this one. Maybe too high. It's a little more moody and subtle where I was expecting more bombast and hooks. But it IS a good album, expectations be damned.

13. The New Pornographers - Together
I think we've been spoiled by a few bands over the years, and this is definitely one of them. Consistency isn't as cool as whatever the new crop of up-and-comers are doing, but rest assured, most of us will be listening to this album a few years from now while most of those up-and-comers will have flamed out. Ho-hum, another New Pornographers album, another set of catchy indie pop done to perfection. Yawn.

12. Black Keys - Brothers
This album was released in May, but I just got around to listening to it over the past couple of months. Glad I did. More blooze rock mastery from Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. Who needs the White Stripes when these guys keep putting out albums like this?

11. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
These Floridians come off as the perfect mix of West Coast chill and East Coast cool on their debut. Weezer is the comparison that gets thrown around the most, and I see it, but only on a few songs. Only "time will tell" if they've got the "staying power," but this is great guitar rock to "live in the now" with. (Cliche-bot 2000 over here)(Also, BARF). Bonus points for using "Jabroni" in not one, but TWO song titles. Well done, guys!

10. The National - High Violet
The National released one of my favorite songs of 2009, "So Far Around the Bend," off the fantastic Dark Was the Night comp, so I was eager to hear a new batch of songs. High Violet isn't as instantly enjoyable as their previous two albums, but given a few listens, the songs do start to reveal themselves in greater depth. "Bloodbuzz Ohio" just missed cracking my Top 10 songs list.

9. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
Right from the start, Mr. Leo lets you know he's about business on this new one. "The Mighty Sparrow" kicks off the album with urgent vocals and a chugging guitar and it never looks backs. I wasn't a fan of his last release, but I'm back on board with this one. Full review here.

8. Vampire Weekend - Contra
Vampire Weekend really make it look easy, don't they? Simple hooks and simple, pretty little melodies. Well, take it from a guy who has never written a song in his life - that shit ain't easy! The "afro" part of the afropop equation is pretty much gone, just leaving the "pop" on this, their second album. This album routinely cheers me up while driving in traffic.

7. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
There's a lot to digest here. A loose Civil War theme, readings from Abraham Lincoln speeches, references to Billy Bragg and The Boss, and most of that happens on track one! This is really just a powerful, timeless punk record that helps remind me why I spent a good chunk of my early 20s consumed by punk rock. Thanks for the reminder, guys.

6. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
I'm pretty sure I like this record more than most people. What that means to me is that "most people" are totally missing out. And that I am much cooler than most people. BSS may suffer from the same "consistency" plague I mentioned above about The New Pornographers. Damn, we are a spoiled lot.

5. Spoon - Transference
I'm either getting damn boring in my old age or the old guard indie heroes really came through this year. Probably both. All you cool kids can take your Crystal Castles and Salem and I'll gladly take another set of tightly wound guitar rock from Britt Daniel and co.

4. The Walkmen - Lisbon
Imma be straight witchu because if there's one thing I believe in, it's straight talk. Well, that and the fact that there will be a zombie apocalypse in 2012. So I guess I believe in two things. Sue me! We're all gonna get eaten by zombies anyway. Back to the straight talk. I may have this album ranked too high. There, I said it. Again, SUE ME! But it has my favorite song of the year and some other really good ones as well. Perhaps not as good as You & Me, but still very good.

3. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
There's talk that this may be the last LCD album for a while, or forever even. That would bum me out almost as much as a zombie apocalypse. I know James Murphy will still be making music in some regard, but LCD Soundsystem is a fantastic vehicle for his musical talent and wit. Say it ain't so, James!

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
This album is a little less dramatic in scope compared to Funeral and Neon Bible, at least from a musical standpoint. Win Butler's lyrical content is still grandiose, however, and at times, a bit overwrought. But we've come to expect that from him, now haven't we? I like the range of songs on this album, though, and they manage to pull it off without the album sounding too disjointed.

1. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Almost every band in my Top 10 from 2008 made an album this year. Four of them are on this list and the band with my favorite album of that year is the same as this year. Considering how different Deerhunter's 2008 release, Microcastle, is from their latest, it's pretty impressive (as impressive as getting the top spot twice on a blog no one reads can be, I suppose). Where Microcastle was a bit of a post-punk juggernaut, Halcyon Digest has many more pop moments and many of the songs have a more stripped down aesthetic. At this point, if Bradford Cox's next releases were an R&B album followed by a jazz-fusion number, and they were both great, I wouldn't even blink. Right now, he can do no wrong.


And that's that. Looking forward to revisiting this list in a few years to see how my picks held up. Much of what the new kids were doing this year just didn't grab me. We'll see if it hits me in 2011.

Friday, December 3, 2010

My Top 10 Songs of 2010

What was supposed to be a Top 5 has supersized itself into a Top 10. It's the American way, right?

10. "All to All" - Broken Social Scene
Easily the most beautiful song on a beautiful album. Vocals courtesy of not Feist, nor Emily Haines, but one Lisa Lobsinger, whose breathy delivery floats on a sea of bubbling synths.

9. "Infinity Guitars" - Sleigh Bells
I can't make it all the way through this album in one sitting, but damn, if this song didn't end up in a ton of my playlists in 2010. Shouty vocals, like some sort of punk rock cheer, hand claps and fuzzy distorted guitar. All turned up to 11, and then 13 for the final 40 seconds.

8. "Swim" - Surfer Blood
Not much cool music comes from Florida, but these young Sunshine Staters delivered a very solid album (Astro Coast) full of blistering reverb-heavy guitar rock. "Swim" treads in Blue Album Weezer territory without sounding like a rip-off.

7. "Crash Years" - New Pornographers
A gentle-yet-up-tempo pop song with strings and Neko Case's velvet pipes. What the hell else do you need? Nothing, that's what. Well, the coy little Smiths reference, "honey child you're not safe here" didn't hurt either.

6. "Answer to Yourself" - The Soft Pack
This straight-ahead garage jam is like a pep-talk in holey jeans and a threadbare t-shirt. It's sometimes tough to tell if the singer is talking to us or himself, but the sentiment is great and the rolling bass line and tight guitar licks almost will you to get off your ass and DO SOMETHING. San Diego, represent!

5. "Giving Up the Gun" - Vampire Weekend
VW's shimmering pop has gotten even shimmering-er on their second album, and no song illustrates this like "Giving Up the Gun." A bouncy beat buoyed by some well-placed synths tells the tale of an old war hero thinking about his past. The video, however, features famous people playing tennis. And it is fantastic.

4. "Airplanes" - Local Natives
Easily the most sentimental song in my list, a grandson lamenting not getting the chance to spend more time with his dead grandfather as he goes through some old photos and possessions. Sappy shit, to be sure. But the music sounds triumphant and frames the whole event as a celebration of life. I still can't help but picture many a young hipster playing the "I want you back" refrain into their phones after a fight with their girlfriend. Like I said, sappy shit.

3. "A More Perfect Union" - Titus Andronicus
Oh, Titus Andronicus, how you bring me back to my ramshackle (not really, but play along) punk rock past. This song makes me want to find the nearest circle pit (Chain Reaction, maybe?) and throw my skinny elbows around like it was 1999.

2. "Ambling Alp" - Yeasayer
No album made me dance around my house when the wife and kid weren't home this year more than Odd Blood. And the biggest reason was "Ambling Alp," a jam tailor made to make the indie kids test the elasticity of their skinny jeans. No sicko, because they're dancing. Get your mind out of the gutter. Want to keep the dance party going? Check out "ONE" as well.

1. "Angela Surf City" - The Walkmen
When The Walkmen recorded this song, they obviously had me in mind. And by "me" I guess I mean people who are suckers for the quiet-loud-quiet formula. Hot damn, when the drums speed up and signal the onslaught that is the song's perfect chorus, I pretty much lose my shit, metaphorically. I honestly never thought they could record a song I'd like more than "The Rat." Well, they did.


I was going to post YouTube clips of each, but decided against it to keep the post a reasonable length. Most can found in two previous posts here and here.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Tips to surviving a Zombie Apocalypse

It very well may just be a "guy thing*," but there are certain movies and TV series that, after watching, it is nearly impossible NOT to imagine yourself in similar circumstances. Cases in point: Red Dawn, Castaway, Alive. I rest my cases!

Let's take Red Dawn for instance. Any red-blooded American male who watched that movie and didn't imagine themselves fighting off Soviet and Cuban invaders guerrilla warfare-style should be put into a time machine and sent back to 1980s Russia, cuz youz a COMMUNIST!

On to the meat of this blog post. So, AMC has a series called The Walking Dead, which is about a zombie apocalypse, and also which is freaking fantastic. And which, YES NERDS**, is based on a comic book I never read because I'm not a "comic book kinda guy," whatever THAT is. I won't get into the particulars of the show, because you already watch it, RIGHT? Suffice it to say that zombies are fucking everywhere and they are hell bent on eating you, as zombies are wont to do.

A quick aside. I'm not really a horror movie, blood and guts and gore kinda guy. It's just not my thing. That said, I've had a soft spot for zombies ever since I saw The Return of the Living Dead and Night of the Comet as a tween.

OK, back to the matter at hand - surviving a zombie apocalypse. Watching The Walking Dead has given me some REAL insight when it comes to tips to staying alive while the world is crawling with flesh-eating zombies. Here are my suggestions: