discovery

I have had one spectacular week of music discovery. Some days are better than others, but I've really been on a roll and I feel the need to share it with you. Here's how this works for me. I wake up in the morning, I get ready for work, I get in the car and I decide what kind of music I'm in the mood for. I then pull it up on the ipod and start my day. Sometimes that sparks a desire for something new. Every Tuesday I get on-line and check out the new releases. If I remember and have time, I usually take a glance at Pitchfork.com to see what they feel is worthy of a listen. More often than not, we disagree but it's still an adventure. I also like to stop in at R5Productions.com to see who's coming to town. If any of the shows sound interesting I'll go digging for that band's music on-line. There are also times when I just decide that I don't know enough about a particular artist and will make an effort to get to know their work better. So, here is what my exploring has uncovered this week...




Neil Young - Mirror Ball (1995)

Young is one of those that I really don't know much about and have never taken the time to get familiar with. After seeing him on Conan's Tonight Show farewell, I decided it was time to dig into his extensive discography. I regret having waited so long to do so. Last week I thoroughly enjoyed several of his records from the '70s (Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After The Gold Rush) and '92s Harvest Moon. This week I had Pearl Jam's "Glorified G" stuck in my head, went back to listen to '93s Vs and remembered they had recorded with Young on Mirror Ball. I like. A lot. The sailor sing-a-long on the opener "Song X" is great.

Song X - Neil Young

Retribution Gospel Choir - 2 (2010)

I love just about everything that Low has done. When I received R5's weekly email this week and saw Low front man Alan Sparhawk's name I got a little excited. I had no that idea Sparhawk has a new band. Actually it's the same band with a new drummer. Low's Steve Garrington is on bass. 2 is much louder and much livelier than anything Low ever did. At times, RGC is straight rocking it. It's interesting to hear Sparhawk's voice in this new environment. It's vaguely familiar and as R5's write up said, it's not too difficult to imagine how Low might have stripped down these songs and made them crawl. This is Low's less repressed younger brother, letting the heat flow. It's wicked good.

Your Bird - Retribution Gospel...

Cat Power - The Greatest (2006)

Ms. Chan Marshall is another artist whom I've always meant to spend more time with. After dabbling a bit this week, I think The Greatest is all I can stomach. Her records sort of feel a bit manic. On one she comes across as cold and shrill, on another she's warm and soft. This album seems to be her warmest and most comforting. It's pretty and calm. Her name and the album art could be deceiving. These are simple and quiet songs. One of my co-workers recommended it and calls it her "going to sleep" album. I don't know that anything particularly special is happening here, but it sure sounds nice.

The Greatest - Cat Power

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM (2010)

This one I'll need more time with to adequately describe. I read about it on Pitchfork (I'd strongly recommend reading their review if you have the time). When I saw that Beck wrote and produced it I decided I had to listen. After a couple passes, I'd have to say it's pretty great and probably just what you would expect - Beck's catchy song writing with a female voice to give it some beauty. Their duet on "Heaven Can Wait" is fantastic.

Heaven Can Wait - Charlotte Ga...

Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies (2006)

Destroyer has a bit of a cult following and I have always felt like I should be a part of it but haven't really given them a fair chance. I kind of like '98s City of Daughters and enjoy portions of '08s Trouble In Dreams but have never really been sold. Facebook reminded me of Dan Bejar and company this week. I went looking for an album I haven't heard in the Destroyer catalog and found Rubies. Bejar's voice wears on me a bit, but this album uses it nicely, laying out just the right landscape for it.

Your Blood - Destroyer

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast (2010)

Another one discovered through Pitchfork, Surfer Blood make simple, '90s era rock music. Pitchfork likens them to Weezer and Built To Spill. What else do you need to know?

Floating Vibes - Surfer Blood

Handsome Furs - Face Control (2009)

I grabbed their debut Plague Park from a friend but never really spent much time with it. While I was checking out Beach House (see below) I decided to see what else was good with Sub Pop and I gave this sophomore effort a listen. I'm not sure what happened to this band, but they sound re-energized. Perhaps building on the success of lead singer Dan Boeckner's other band, Wolf Parade (who made a pretty good album in 2008 - At Mount Zoomer), this album seems more focused. It's broader and well written and well...just not as boring as their first.

All We Want, Baby, Is Everythi...

Beach House - Teen Dream (2010)

I will admit that, being from Baltimore, I am partial to artists from that area. I am puffed up with pride about Animal Collective. I'm starting to feel that way about Beach House. This is a brilliant album and you will see it on the year end best-of lists (including mine). Teen Dream is their Sub Pop debut and it does not disappoint. This is the same Beach House, their sound is still slow and a bit haunting but they are bigger and stronger and that's clear.

Better Times - Beach House

What a week, huh? I'll be digesting all of this for the next month or so, for sure.

best of the '00s, pt. 7

In response to a Paste magazine article, I've been listing what I feel to be the best 50 albums of the past decade, in no particular order. Stay with me folks, we're almost there. Here are 20 through 16.




20. Bjork - Vespertine (2001)

Bjork's prior release in '97, Homogenic, is my favorite. In my mind, it's the perfect blend of electronica, pop and her oddly beautiful voice. Even though it was released four years later, Vespertine feels like a companion piece to Homogenic. If she climbed the digital mountain top in '97, she descended it in '01. She was bouncing, pulsing, marching in '97. In '01 she is reflecting, resting and quiet. The digital elements are still there, but they are more ambient, the samples more subtle. It's quite pretty. On several tracks she uses a choir of light voices ("It's Not Up to You" and "Undo" for example), perhaps a slight foreshadowing of the vocal exercises to come on Medulla. I have this idea in my head that as soon as one steps from the plane in Iceland you can hear these voices, echoing throughout the country side. It's a magical world filled with the glorious music of Bjork, Sigur Ros and Mum.

Bonus trivia: According to Wikipedia, Bjork's first official release came at age 11, in 1977. If you have it, I want to hear it. Please share.




19. Sigur Ros - Takk... (2005)

This band has made a lot of great music. One might argue that their 2002 release ( ) should be on this list instead (that's not a mistake, there are no words in the title, just parentheses). You could also argue that 2000's Agaetis Byrjun should be on the list (forgive me, I don't know how to type all the accent marks). While both are great records, I would say that neither "shaped your decade" more than Takk. Remember, that's one of our criteria for the list. I think for many Takk is the Sigur Ros album they heard first and then they made their way back through their catalog. It is, in my opinion, their most accessible album, if you can call dreamy post-rock with vocals sung in a made up language accessible (not kidding, it's called "Vonlenska" or "Hopelandic").

I find this band pretty fascinating. No one understands a good portion of their lyrics but them so the vocals end up being used more as atmosphere. For a couple of years I thought there was a female vocalist in the band, but nope, that's just Jonsi Birgisson's falsetto. He also happens to play his guitar with a cello bow. Oh yeah, and he's blind in one eye.




18. Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce MF Doom, the best rapper you've never heard of. I'll be honest, I didn't know who Doom was until 2004 and I'm a little ashamed to admit it. He had already released several gems under his alter egos. In 1999, under the name MF Doom he dropped Operation: Doomsday. In 2001 through 2004 he released volumes one through eight of his instrumental records, Special Herbs, under the name Metal Fingers. In 2003 he dropped Vaudeville Villain under the name Viktor Vaughn and Take Me to Your Leader as King Geedorah. He had even recorded two albums in the early '90s as one third of a group called KMD. Back then he called himself Zev Love X. Somehow I missed all of that. Maybe it's because I had no idea all of those names belonged to the same person. Geez! Actually, his various personas are one of the many things I like about Doom (apparently it's just "Doom" now). He's a comic book rapper, often taking on superhero or super-villain personalities (which you may have guessed from the mask or the Doctor Victor Von Doom reference). And it's almost as if Doom does not want to be found, like the super-villains he models himself after.

Fortunately, his project with Madlib, Madvillany was pretty easy to find. Seems like it was on everyone's list as one of the best albums of 2004. It perfectly pairs Doom's persona with Madlib's soulful, jazzy, short and sweet, sample heavy beat making. You may not realize it, but these two are influencing rap music from the shadows, from behind the masks, from their secret lairs. Madlib's beats are making their way closer to the mainstream. Doom is doing his fair share of production work himself. Together, they will rule the rap game in villainy! Muhahaha...




17. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

I was a big fan of Marshall in the year 2000. Yeah, he was incredibly violent, sexist, homophobic and downright disturbing but he was also so clever, so razor sharp and, in my opinion, had the best flow in the business. He possesses a unique vocabulary which enables him to paint verbal pictures like non other. Sometimes that's part of the problem. I don't really need or want to visualize Slim Shady killing his wife. He's just so descriptive and it seems to come naturally. We didn't really need a video for "Stan." The song says it all, the images are in your mind and the track includes some of the sound effects. The sound of pencil on paper, the rain, the screams from the trunk, the screeching tires - they're all included in the music without overwhelming Em's lyrics.

Pitchfork included this one in their 100 best albums of 2000-2004. I couldn't agree with their assessment more and for fear of plagiarizing them, I'm going to just direct you to their words.

However you feel about Marshall, I don't think you can argue that his music impacted our culture in the last ten years. His rants about the controversy he created ("The Way I Am" or "Who Knew") are not overstated, which I might add, is a part of his appeal. He's so darn honest and conflicted.




16. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell (2003)

It took me a little while to warm up to this one when it was first released. Like everyone else, I loved "Maps" but I had trouble with the rest of it. I will say, however, that I'm a sucker for a band with a big sound, a sound that's bigger than the sum of it's parts. I'm also an admirer of bands that don't do what they are expected. When songs from the YYY's second album, Show Your Bones, started to leak I was impressed with their range, their diversity. I started spending more time with Fever to Tell and it really started to grow on me. I remember taking a bus ride to New York and blasting the album on my ipod during the trip. It felt like the perfect sound for NYC's underground. It was loud and messy and Karen O sounded so savage, yet so beautiful. Turn the volume up on "Tick" and tell me that O doesn't get under your skin. It's the hardest hitting "garage rock" record I've heard and after a while, I actually wanted more. That's precisely what they did not give us though, more. Nothing they have released since sounds the same. I guess they've grown up a bit.

best of the '00s, pt. 3

In response to a Paste magazine article, I've been listing what I feel to be the best 50 albums of the past decade, in no particular order. The ten I've posted so far were not included in Paste's list. The next five, however, Paste and I agree on. Here are 40 through 36.

40. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)

I must admit that when I heard "Yellow" for the first time back in 2000, I turned the radio off. Ugh. Another cookie cutter, sad sap pop band. A couple of my friends ran out and bought Parachutes and I secretly scoffed at them. Suckers. A couple of years later I was a tiny bit smarter. I had taken some recording classes at Temple and had been around a few musicians whose art and opinions I respected greatly (boy, I sound like a snob, don't I?). I found out that these dudes listened to Coldplay too. They were fans, with t-shirts and everything. This was enough to make me feel like I had to give the band a second chance. One listen to "Clocks" and I was pretty much sold. The repetitive drums, the circling piano and the airy feel make for a big sound.

Now I have a bit of a hard time calling this pop music. But if it is, it's the good kind - like U2, circa 1990. Rush of Blood made Coldplay huge - like U2 circa 1990. Enter your next international super band. This album is near perfect. The second half falls off a bit, but they resurrected piano driven rock music, filling a void left by Radiohead's metamorphosis. Too bad they couldn't live up to the hype this album created (burn!).




39. Beck - Sea Change (2002)

I would like to start by saying that I think producer/mixer/sound engineer extraordinaire Nigel Godrich is a genius. He's been behind almost all of Radiohead's work, Air's brilliant Talkie Walkie, Paul McCartney's solid Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and this, his second of three albums with Beck (the other two being Mutations and The Information). Godrich takes the simple and makes it sound beautiful. He has a way of stripping the sound down to it's core and then layering it on itself, like mom dressing you up on snow days. Take "Lost Cause," for example. It's a folk song at it's core. It's Beck, a guitar and some lite drums. But Godrich adds texture with distorted vocals weaving in and out of the background and Beck's own voice layered on itself. I just think the man does exactly what a good producer should. He brings out the best in the talent he works with and doesn't tread on their sound in process, he simply gives it a new, clear voice.

Beck deserves just as much credit for this album, of course. Agreeing to put down the sampling machines and computer trickery, he explores his deep sea of sadness with live instruments. After all, a good producer can only do his work with a willing talent (if you're in the Strokes and you're reading this, yes, I'm talking to you. Also, thank you for reading my blog). The result of Beck's willingness is a tragically beautiful record that is as equally inspiring as it is depressing. I still can't decide how serious he is about "The Golden Age".




38. The Strokes - Is This It? (2002)

Speaking of the Strokes, they happened to make a few decent records this decade as well. Highly anticipated and overly hyped are defined here. Bring us the band that represents the sound of New York's underground punk, post-punk, garage rock movement. If the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Interpol are not available, I'll take the Strokes. I've read a lot of bad press about these guys recently. Their subsequent releases just seemed to keep letting everyone down somehow. Well, I wasn't expecting much so, perhaps I was too easily entertained. Yeah, maybe Julian Casablancas' writing is not stellar. Maybe it often feels like the band is selling an image and not their music, but I happen to like their rather simple approach to regenerating vintage classic rock sounds.

All the hype and image aside, this album rose to the top of a pile of other similar garage rock trend followers. I happen to believe that Strokes were one of the first to start that trend, actually. I also happen to agree with just about everything Pitchfork has to say about this album and am having a hard time summing it up any better than they do. I just like it.

37. M.I.A. - Arular (2005)

Honestly, I know next to nothing about dancehall music. I know even less about "bhangra". The beautiful thing about Arular is how it has introduced an international audience to those two styles of music, while incorporating hip-hip and grime. This is global dance music, celebrating the sounds of several different continents and I think it's brilliant. It's not only educational, but it pulls together fans of reggaeton, baile funk and pop in general to create one large following. A melding that record companies have to love.

To make this mixture even sweeter, M.I.A.'s lyrics actually contain a message. She not only dances around the globe, but is aware of it's problems and politics. It never occurred to me to shake my booty while simultaneously starting a conversation about poverty until hearing "Pull Up the People". I very nearly dismissed "Galang" as just another throwaway dance track when I first heard it at the South Philly Taproom back in '05. Yeah, it's fun, but I don't dance so, no thanks. Then I had a listen to the entire album and was struck at M.I.A.'s global consciousness. All of a sudden, I was ready to do some dancing for awareness myself.

I also love that her popularity has given beat-making wizard and now Philly resident Diplo some exposure (I beg you to listen to his 2004 release Florida for his DJ Shadow impression and to check out his project from this year, Major Lazer's Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do, for further education in dancehall/reggaeton/grime). Dude was nominated for a Grammy last year for his work on M.I.A.'s second album Kala. Love it!

36. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (2006)

I, for one, feel sad for Amy Winehouse. Yes, Back to Black was a huge success and carried her UK super stardom overseas, invading our airwaves and media with her retro vocals and sound, but it also put her rather manic personal life under further scrutiny. I suppose that's the price you pay for celebrity. I wish I could say it's possible to separate her personal life from her art, but Winehouse doesn't seem to want it that way. "Rehab" is not just a song, it's her experience.

I like the sound of this album, the tribute to '60s soul and jazz. Mark Ronson did a fantastic job with the production. What I like even more is the modern twist Winehouse gives to these songs. They may sound as if they are from 40 or 50 years ago, but she's singing about things of her generation and using language mom and dad would not approve of. It's Motown with a modern view and it comes very natural to Winehouse. She has a big voice, one that is surprising coming from such a little person, and despite the booze and blues, is very likable. I have doubts that we'll hear much more from her, but she's left us with a pretty great record.