Last night I watched a documentary about Wilco. It’s called I Am Trying To Break Your Heart and it was filmed while they were recording Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2001. I love Wilco, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of my favorite albums of all time, so it was really interesting to see the behind-the-scenes of how it was made and Wilco’s creative process. While they were recording, Jeff Tweedy explained that they would first get the song down in its simplest form and then deconstruct it, and see if there was something more interesting or creative they could do with it. Obviously I don’t know very much about songwriting or recording, but I think that’s a really ingenious way to go about things, exploring capabilities through multiple avenues.
Another fascinating part of the film: a senior editor from Rolling Stone posits that the reason why Yankee Hotel Foxtrot wasn’t received well by the record label (Wilco was dropped upon delivering the finished album) is because it didn’t cater to our culture’s mentality of instant gratification. Listening to it didn’t tell the record label who was going to like it and how many albums it was going to sell, and thus they wanted the band to make changes. Which makes sense, to a certain degree. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot isn’t an easy, straightforward record: it has mystery, and melody paired with dissonance, and it takes effort to listen to it and appreciate it for what it is. But I think those kinds of records are often the most rewarding to listen to, and end up sticking with you longer than easy albums.
One thing that was kind of glossed over (I felt like) was the conflict going on between Tweedy and Jay Bennett. It was like, they had one pretty bad argument and then once the record was completed, Tweedy asked Bennett to leave the band, but no one really went into detail about why it happened. Bennett, when interviewed, said that he thought it was because Tweedy felt threatened by him and didn’t want to have to struggle over creative dominance with him. I feel like that’s kind of a cop-out, though.
Seeing the tensions between Tweedy and Bennett reminded me of an article I read about Interpol in Spin a couple years ago, right around the time Our Love To Admire was due to be released. Essentially, the article explained how Paul Banks and Carlos D. hated each other, and how Daniel Kessler was trying to keep everything from falling apart. I found that really shocking at the time, because somehow my subconscious image of a band is a group of friends who hang out a lot and jam together, and I think a good deal of the time, that’s the case. So to think that the members of Interpol didn’t really get along was perplexing. At the same time, I think it’s a real testament to the power and importance of art, that people who don’t like each other and who wouldn’t voluntarily subject themselves to each other’s company would do so for the sake of creating something that they love and believe in. And I think it says a lot about the vision and dedication of both Wilco and Interpol to their music that they continued to make music together for several years while certain members weren’t getting along.
I think about if I were making music with someone that I didn’t get along with, and I think that I would probably stick it out with them as long as it was contributing to the vision we had for our music. But if that person was getting in the way of the vision, I could see myself wanting to part ways. I think it would be incredibly difficult, though, to have three or four people with identical visions of what their music should be, which is probably a big reason why bands break up. With conflicting ideas for musical direction, one person’s vision has to be put first, and the other person’s has to be secondary. And if your vision isn’t being realized, why would you want to stay in the band? I think there are probably a lot of musicians who just want to play music and don’t have any qualms about playing a role and surrendering to someone else’s musical vision. But when you have two people who are creatively driven, like Tweedy and Bennett, or Banks and Carlos D., there is bound to be butting of heads. Making music with other people seems to be so much about compromise, and it makes sense that a person would sometimes not want to compromise on what they think is important for the music they’re making. I just find it interesting that it’s rarely a personal issue that tears bands apart, but is rather an issue of the music.
Tomorrow, I will write a real post. But for today, all I have is this.
What a great tribute to America’s favorite telepathic vampire-loving Southern waitress. I’m glad someone else loves Sookie Stackhouse as much as me and my dad do.
My friends over at Bohemian Cuddle Box have recently compiled a list of some of their favorite music of the first half of 2010, as the first six months of the year have sneakily crept by already. Good idea. I usually make a year-end list, and halfway through the year I generally think my list as it is in that moment is how it will be by the end, and then some album released later in the year blows my mind and alters the entire list. It will be interesting to see if my 2010 top faves will continue to be so by the end of December.
Here are some of my favorite albums that have been released this year (in no particular order) and a stand-out track from each. Enjoy!
I love Adrian Brody. I love his giant schnoz and his lanky bod, probably moreso after seeing this. And I love that someone spent the time making this… what a tender and danceable act of love.
My brothers and I have been singing Adrian Brody’s name in robot voices the whole week. I want to go on a BrodyQuest!
There is so much music in the world. But there is so little music that feels like capital-T Truth.
Do you ever put on an album that you listened to in high school, and either think to yourself “Hello nostalgia, I feel like I’m being physically transported back in time to my adolescence,” or “Wow, I can’t believe I listened to this once and loved it, and now listening to it doesn’t make me feel anything”? I started listening to The Good Life’s Album of the Year when I was a junior in high school, and totally identified with it because I was angsty and emotional. But I listened to it recently after a long hiatus, and had a really atypical response: it felt more important and like Truth listening to it now than it did when I was in high school.
A little background information on Album of the Year: The Good Life is the side project of Cursive frontman Tim Kasher, and Album of the Year is a concept album comprised of twelve songs, each representing a month in a year-long relationship. As a concept, the album is golden: each song musically takes on the subject matter it’s dealing with in the lyrics: when the relationship is good, the songs are lilting and calm; when the relationship hits on sour times, the music is frantic and dissonant, or just painfully sad-sounding, like hearts are being ripped out of chests.
But I think what hit me hard this time around was the potency of the lyrics. I loved it in high school because I was dramatic, because I thought I knew a lot about relationships and the pain they cause and the trouble they can be. But looking back, I really didn’t know shit. Now that I’m an adult and have actually had real, serious relationships, the words feel more true than they ever could have when I was seventeen. I understand now how people can trick themselves into a love that isn’t real (“You never fell for me / you fell for how it felt / you fell for being held”), how wanting to fix or save someone isn’t love, how jealousy can be an untameable weed, how there is an irrevocable finality in ending a relationship (“the only thing everlasting / is this vow of silence / well, I guess that’s the vow that we took”). I feel like this is a heartbreak/break-up album that can resonate with everyone who has ever experienced it, regardless of how the details may vary. Or at least that’s how it feels to me. When I listen to Album of the Year, I feel like it was written specifically for me, and that’s something rare and amazing.
This album has just been speaking to my soul as of late, so I thought I should share it’s amazingness instead of keeping it to myself. Listen to some tracks below. Or, if you’re into buying music legally, you can purchase it here on Amazon. You won’t regret it.
joanna newsom is amazing. this is common knowledge.
her new album have one on me is pure sonic excellence. can we just soak ourselves for a minute in joanna’s divine performance of “soft as chalk” on the jimmy fallon show?
i think i would likely give up an appendage to see joanna newsom perform live. her voice is simultaneously so powerful and so subtly nuanced, and in my opinion, she’s the best female songwriter in music today. and the way she sings out of the side of her mouth is so darn cute!
for the past two years, i’ve done a year-end music list on my blog, and while i enjoy doing it, i always run into the same problem: it is inevitable that there will be several albums that i don’t discover until the year after they’re released. because i’ve discovered them too late to be able to count them in my year-end list, i figured i should at least honor them with a shout-out/recommendation even if it’s after the fact.
tegan and sara, sainthood
i’ve been a fan of the twin sisters since high school, but my appreciation for their music is at its peak after hearing this album. their earlier albums sound wholly adolescent (probably because they were teens when they first started making music) but sainthood is a more evolved, adult sound that manages to maintain some of the youthfulness of their earlier recordings. the harmonies are subtle and wonderful as per usual, and their lyrics are a mix of wistfulness and worldliness: on “don’t rush,” the girls sing “all i said to you, all i did for you seems so silly to me now.” growing up makes for good music. tegan and sara – don’t rush tegan and sara – the cure
har mar superstar, dark touches
har mar superstar is a musical anomaly: he sings like justin timberlake and makes music that sounds like it’s being sung by a studly twentysomething, and yet he looks like a younger un-mistachioed version of ron jeremy. but i think that makes him all the more intriguing as an artist. the songs on dark touches are superficial in the sense that they revel in the booze-soaked booty-shaking party scene, but har mar attaches a funny and slightly ironic spin to this variation on a common pop music theme. he just makes good dance music; i’ve had “tallboy” stuck in my head for days. watch him play jimmy fallon’s show: his performances are something that must be experienced firsthand.
girls, album
i am love-love-loving girls. their sound is so loungy and retro, and their lyrics so earnest and honest (i love in “laura” when the singer sings “you’ve been a bitch, i’ve been an ass, i don’t want to point the finger, i just know i don’t like it”). listening to this album makes me feel present in another era, an era where i’m wearing something very jackie kennedy-esque, a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other, dancing the twist outside on someone’s back patio in the sun. maybe that’s just my fantasy. i know they topped a lot of music sites’ year-end list, and i think they probably would have at least made my top ten if i could have a do-over. girls – laura girls – ghost mouth
i have been loving on laura veirs’s new album, july flame, for the past two weeks.
i’d only heard her name a few times, but not her music, before seeing july flame featured on npr’s exclusive first listen. sonically, the album blends guitar fingerpicking and piano with occasional string arrangements to create an understated and stripped-down ambience. veirs’s lyrics are brimming with natural imagery (which makes sense, considering she wrote most of the songs in her barn in portland, oregon): from bears and buffalo to dandelions and maple trees, her songs are a dream of warmth, a longing for summer in the dead of winter.
but july flame isn’t just a tree-hugging album for granolas: veirs, with equal parts softness and potency, sings about self-censorship in the wake of love lost on “i can see your tracks” (“oh i can see your tracks / but i won’t follow them / i’ll just hope for rain /… to erase them”), about being present in the present on “little deschutes” (“why care about yesterday’s haze / when the stars above are all ablaze?”), and about the limitations of human creation (“i wanted to make something built to last / a bottled ship with a golden mast / and through the squall the course stays true / make something good”) as well as its possibilities (“it’s going to take a long, long time / but we’re going to make something so fine”) on “make something good.”
after many listenings, i have a huge appreciation for veirs’s subtlety and sparseness, for how much she says without actually saying it.
Nothing in the world makes me feel older than looking back at a decade’s worth of music that tickled my fancy.
It would be close to impossible for me to rank these albums according to value, so they are ranked chronologically and alphabetically.
Elliott Smith – Figure 8 (2000)
Modest Mouse – The Moon and Antarctica (2000)
Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
Bjork – Vespertine (2001)
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)
Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights (2002) Mirah – Advisory Committee (2002)
Mum – Finally We Are No One (2002)
Rilo Kiley – The Execution of All Things (2002)
Brand New – Deja Entendu (2003)
Cat Power – You Are Free (2003)
Damien Rice – O (2003) Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism (2003)
Her Space Holiday – The Young Machines (2003)
M. Ward – The Transfiguration of Vincent (2003)
Mates of State – Team Boo (2003)
Murder By Death – Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left Of Them? (2003)
The Postal Service – Give Up (2003)
The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow (2003) Sufjan Stevens – Greetings From Michigan (2003)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell (2003)
The Good Life – Album of the Year (2004)
Joanna Newsom – The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)
The Killers – Hot Fuss (2004)
Regina Spektor – Soviet Kitsch (2004)
Ryan Adams – Love Is Hell (2004)
Say Hi To Your Mom – Numbers & Mumbles (2004)
Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans (2004) Tilly & The Wall – Wild Like Children (2004)
Antony & The Johnsons – I Am A Bird Now (2005)
Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005)
Death Cab For Cutie – Plans (2005)
Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow (2005)
Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine (2005)
Great Lake Swimmers – Great Lake Swimmers (2005)
Jens Lekman – Oh You’re So Silent, Jens (2005) The Kills – No Wow (2005)
M.I.A. – Arular (2005)
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cold Roses (2005)
Spoon – Gimme Fiction (2005)
Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise (2005)
Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary (2005)
Beirut – Gulag Orkestar (2006)
Grizzly Bear – Yellow House (2006)
Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat (2006) Joanna Newsom – Ys (2006)
Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)
The National – Alligator (2006)
Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (2006)
Ratatat – Classics (2006)
Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope (2006)
Rocky Votolato – Makers (2006)
TV On The Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain (2006) Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (2007)
Feist – The Reminder (2007)
Fionn Regan – The End of History (2007)
The National – Boxer (2007)
Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger (2007)
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky (2007)
Beach House – Devotion (2008)
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
Emiliana Torrini – Me and Armini (2008)
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (2008)
Lady Gaga – The Fame (2008)
Lykke Li – Youth Novel (2008) Mates of State – Re-Arrange Us (2008)
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (2008)
She & Him – Volume One (2008)
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (2008)
The Welcome Wagon – Welcome To The Welcome Wagon (2008)
Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light (2009)
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns (2009) Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (2009)
Jay-Z – The Blueprint III (2009)
As a preface to this list, I would just like to say that this is not your typical hipster year-end music list: I am not claiming to know anything about music beyond what is pleasing to my personal sensibilities. This list is entirely subjective. I am highlighting the albums, songs and videos that made the strongest impression on me, and detailing my opinions about them.
Read on!
TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2009
20. Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster
I don’t care what anyone says: I like Lady Gaga. She’s insanely talented (watch her perform a piano-only rendition of “Paparazzi”) and is bringing avante garde performance art to mainstream pop. Certainly she doesn’t write songs as profound as other musicians on this list, but she does create infectiously fun dance songs and she does it well. Sometimes a little musical hedonism is a welcome alternative. This album is the perfect yin to her 2008 album The Fame‘s yang; where The Fame reveled in money and celebrity, The Fame Monster explores the internal ramifications of fame: fear, broken relationships, and self-consciousness, all over a dance beat. Go, Gaga. Song: Dance In The Dark
19. Fever Ray, Fever Ray
I first came to know Karin Dreijer Andersson’s unique voice (which, stylistically, sounds almost like a female, Scandinavian Bob Dylan) through her singing with The Knife, but she creates a familiar yet distinct sound on Fever Ray. The beats and sounds are dark and eery, full of hollow paranoia-inducing echoes, and the lyrics are beautifully descriptive and nebulous at the same time; Andersson sings “I want to be a forester and run through the moss on high heels” with heart and conviction on “When I Grow Up.” I like The Knife, but I hope Fever Ray sticks around. Song: When I Grow Up
18. Mountain Man, Mountain Man
One of the most beautiful albums I’ve heard in a long time. I love that a trio of New England females decided to dub themselves Mountain Man. Humor aside, this album is so honest and raw: the instrumentation is minimal, the harmonies are gorgeous, and the voices teeter back and forth between whisper and shrieking, which makes both the silence and the sound equally penetrating. Song: Animal Tracks
17. Beirut, March of the Zapotec / Realpeople Holland
I enjoyed this album a lot even though it isn’t my favorite from Beirut. The album as a whole is a little perplexing, with such short songs and even shorter wordless musical interludes; the overt European sound of previous albums melds with electronic beats on a few songs, but the sound is still distinctly Beirut. I can appreciate when any musician steps outside the box and tries something new, and even more so when it works well. Song: La Llorona
16. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
If I could have a legitimate 80′s flashback, I think this album could easily induce it. The scratchy feedback of the guitars and the simple chord progressions scream new wave, but it’s the vocals that give it something extra: male and female voices play off of each other and give the songs life, and the lyrics are incredibly upbeat and optimistic. This is just a feel-good album in its purest form.
Song: Young Adult Friction
15. jj, N° 2
I am always of the mindset that Scandinavians can do no wrong in the music world, and I think jj’s debut album reinforces that. The Swedish dj’s have created a really chill sound that incorporates so many disparate elements, from world music influences to accordians, but does so with seeming ease. Listening to this album makes me want to smoke weed, and music rarely (and by ‘rarely’, i mean ‘never’) has that effect on me. I also think it’s really cool that they can maintain a certain level of mystery despite all the hype they’ve gotten this year; they made it onto Pitchfork’s top albums of the year, and no one really knows anything about them. I’m excited to see how they evolve, and am super-stoked for N° 3 in March. Song: Ecstasy
14. Coconut Records, Davy I’ve had a crush on Jason Schwartzman ever since I saw him in Rushmore, but this album has elevated him to a new level of attractiveness in my eyes. Schwartzman has dabbled in music (playing drums for Phantom Planet in the early 00′s) but he solidifies his prowess on this album: the songs are light and compressed, but each is quirky and distinct, and many of the songs have a Beatles-esque quality to them. Maybe this is just because he’s been in so many of them, but listening to this album makes me feel like I’m walking through a Wes Anderson movie. And I like that feeling. Song: Any Fun
13. The XX, XX
This album is like the really cool kid in high school that smokes a cigarette behind the gym and doesn’t speak even when spoken to. That kid wasn’t out to impress anyone, and this album has the same aura. The XX combine shared boy-girl vocals, stand-out melodies and a simultaneous fusion of self-assurance and sadness, and it all seems effortless. I also like the way a lot of their songs are structured: with stanzas in which the music fades almost until silence, and then builds back up slowly or makes its reappearance with an easy and understated power. Song: Infinity
12. David Bazan, Curse Your Branches My boyfriend and his best friend are obsessed with David Bazan, and before Curse Your Branches was released in August, they managed to get their hands on a bootleg cassette of the album. I was forced to listen to it (a lot) against my will when I was with them, and with time I learned to appreciate and even like it. Bazan has issues with religion and the idea of God, but his is a distinctly respectful brand of contemplative questioning, as opposed to combative and blatant hatred a la Isaac Brock. Musically, Bazan is no frills, which underscores his existential ponderings; the album concludes as an open-ended and unanswered question, reinforcing Bazan’s assertion in the opening track that “it’s hard to be a decent human being.” Song: Hard To Be
11. St. Vincent, Actor Annie Clark has come a long way since her last album: she’s ditched the cutesy softness that made her a novelty, and embraced a fuller and more diverse sound that has turned her into an artist. I find it amazing that this album began as a songwriting exercise in which Clark watched her favorite films and tried to score certain scenes, and that it took on an identity of its own. Clark’s lilting and liquid voice is a brilliant contrast to the pairing of gnarly guitars and woodwinds, with some synthesizers thrown in for good measure. Song: Actor Out Of Work
10. Kings of Convenience, Declaration of Dependence The beauty of this album is in its simplicity. The Norwegian duo has perfected their brand of whispery harmonies and subtle finger-picking, and this album proves their consistency in creating calm, understated music. I have always been a fan of the way they propose contradictions with earnest sincerity; look at their previous album titles (Quiet Is The New Loud, Riot on An Empty Street). But somehow they generally manage to make it profound: in “Freedom And Its Owner,” they sing “Freedom, freedom never greater than its owner / freedom is the mastery of the known.” And that feels like truth. Song: Me In You
9. El Perro Del Mar, Love Is Not Pop With only seven songs, this album could more easily be classified as a mini-album, but I loved it enough to give it full-album status on this list. Sarah Assbring’s voice is at once beautiful (it reminds me of another of my favorite Swedes, Lykke Li), heartbreaking and despondent. All of these songs pack a melancholy punch, layering subtle piano, mechanical drum beats and ethereal vocals to create a lovely seven-song portrait of longing and hopeful despondence. Song: Change of Heart
8. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
Neko Case is an amazing lyricist: she is so incredibly descriptive, and somehow manages to combine profundity and cunning wit in the same song. Her alt-country instrumentals play second fiddle to Case’s voice, a tender and robust entity in its own right, and one that knows no bounds. A woman I used to nanny for described Case’s sound as “Patsy Cline on heroin,” which I always thought was a very apt assessment; her voice lilts and undulates delicately like Cline’s, but she also has an edge that makes her mysterious and slightly menacing. And I mean that as a compliment.
Song: I’m An Animal
7. The Fiery Furnaces, I’m Going Away I was never really impressed by the Fiery Furnaces before this album, but the scratchy guitars and straightforward piano and rollicking melodies on this album are irresistible. There is so much frenetic energy between the instruments and vocals, and Eleanor Friedberger’s fast-talk-singing gives the Fiery Furnaces’ songs an almost jazzy quality, often verging on scatting. The lyrics are pretty linear, and provide a perfect balance to the frantic sounds and disparate energies at play within the songs. Song: Charmaine Champagne
6. Bat For Lashes, Two Suns
Natasha Khan is an anachronism if ever I saw one: her whispery yet powerful voice sounds almost mythical, and the subjects of her songs (knights, battles, wizardry) harken back to centuries of yore. The combination of tribal drums, synthesizers and piano is hypnotic, and somehow manages to sound antiquated and modern simultaneously. It’s rare to be able to say that I’ve never heard anything that sounds like the music in question, but I can say it without hesitation about Bat For Lashes. Theirs is one of the most unique sounds around: powerful, vulnerable, a folklore frozen in song.
Song: Glass
5. Wilco, The Album I’ve heard mixed reviews about this album, but I loved it. Yes, it’s different from Wilco’s previous albums, but I think that indicates a doffing of expectations more than a lack of effort. I imagine Jeff Tweedy sitting all the guys down and saying “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking: we should hang up our serious hats and just have fun making this album.” And I think that sentiment comes through in their songs; “Wilco (The Song)” is incredibly clever, assuring the listener that when everything is going bad, they will be “a sonic shoulder for you to cry/ Wilco will love you, baby.” And even amid the fun, there are still profoundly beautiful songs like “One Wing” and “Country Disappeared.” Song: One Wing
4. Jay-Z, The Blueprint III
The reason I love Jay-Z, aside from his mad skills on the mic, is because he’s smart, and I think this is his smartest album yet. This album is revolutionary for mainstream rap music: Hova is politically and culturally aware; he is gracious in response to the support of his fans; he wants to preserve the sanctity of rap by killing auto-tone; instead of dissing his fellow rappers, he praises them, and encourages them to commit to raising the standards of rap. With beats from Timbaland and Kanye, and features from established artists (Alicia Keys, Rihanna) and newcomers (Kid Cudi, Drake) alike, this album is a treasure-trove of the best that rap has to offer, and with a fresh ideology to boot.
Song: On To The Next One (featuring Swizz Beats)
3. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
By far my most anticipated album of the year and, for what it’s worth, the only album that I actually paid for in 2009. In a year of great music, Grizzly Bear did not disappoint: they delivered a bulkier and more structured sound whilst still maintaining their airy and organic jam-sesh sound a la Yellow House. But beyond making genuinely enjoyable music that is pleasing to indie sensibilities, the members of Grizzly Bear are just incredibly gifted musicians; their richly gorgeous songs are not a fluke or a flash in the pan, and I think this album solidifies that. And not to brag, but they’re also really amazing live.
Song: Ready, Able
2. Antony & The Johnsons, The Crying Light This album is just beautiful. For me, it’s not one of those albums that I can put on while I’m studying or cleaning that can serve as background noise; it captivates, to where I can focus on nothing else. Antony has such a soulful voice, and each song rises from simple piano and voice to operatic with full orchestral sounds, and falls back down to a murmur. It’s just an emotional listening experience, in a good way. Song: Aeon
1. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion Merriweather Post Pavilion was one of the first albums released in 2009, and it set the tone for the rest of the excellent music made throughout the year. In comparison with Animal Collective’s previous albums that embody a disjointed and intentionally strange experimental vibe, Merriweather Post Pavilion assaults the ears with a plethora of sounds that are wholly listenable, and pleasant at that; and maybe it’s just me, but I hear traces of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys in their intricate harmonies and thumping drums. Aside from being my favorite album of the year, Merriweather Post Pavilion is one of my favorite albums of all time: something I look forward to listening to for years to come, something that will be good and constant in my ever-evolving life, something that I can’t wait to play for my children someday.
Song: Lion in a Coma
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Florence + The Machine, Lungs
If there could have been a 21st spot on my list, Florence + The Machine would have been it. I fell in love with them over a year ago when I heard their raw, stripped down cover of Cold War Kids’ “Hospital Beds”; Florence has a powerhouse voice. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Iron & Wine, Around The Well
Iron & Wine never disappoints; predictably, this 2-disc album is full of musical gems. And hearing the gorgeous Postal Service cover “Such Great Heights” at the end of disc 1 took me right back to my junior year of high school (in a good way).
Passion Pit, Manners
While Passion Pit has done as much as (if not more than) Bon Iver to sensationalize male falsetto, and their electronically-engineered music is infectiously danceable, they lose points for nonsensical lyrics that aim to sound deep, but mostly just come off as pretentious.
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Frenchies that comprise Phoenix undeniably had a runaway indie hit album, and I definitely enjoyed it, but I was obsessed with it like my hipster queen former roommate who blasted it in our living room EVERY SINGLE DAY during the summer.
M. Ward, Hold Time
After a banner 2008 with She & Him, M. Ward returns to his solo work with songs that are characteristically tender and meditative, and uncharacteristically romantic and full of Biblical imagery. The title track may very well end up being the song I dance to at my wedding.
MOST DISAPPOINTING
Regina Spektor, Far I was so excited for Regina Spektor’s new album, and so disappointed when I finally heard it. Spektor’s quirkiness is what initially made me a fan of her music: her lyrics, piano-playing and vocal mannerisms were all so beautifully idiosyncratic, and it made her stand out. All of Spektor’s quirkiness has been groomed and smoothed over on Far, her first album on a big label, so that her songs resemble the radio-friendly dribble of a pop automaton who doesn’t write her own songs or music, but just does as she’s told. This is album is completely uninspired, and sounds nothing like the Spektor I know.
Rihanna, Rated R
Poor Rihanna had a rough year, but if Rated R is any indication of what 2010 will hold for, she doesn’t have much to look forward to. I read an article in which Rihanna said something along the lines of “anyone can make a hit, but it takes an artist to make an album”; I think she might have it backward. I don’t hear a single hit on this album, just songs that are musically dark and a girl who is trying to project an image of bad-assery and hardness (as evidenced in the song “Hard”) that doesn’t suit her. Hopefully this is just a phase induced by public sympathy over the fact that she was beaten unconscious by her then-boyfriend, and she will return to what she does so well: making infinitely catchy pop songs with an edge.
Monsters of Folk, Monsters of Folk
This album is okay. It’s disappointing in the sense that Yim Yames (of My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) and M. Ward failed to create a new sound that is unique to Monsters of Folk, but simply recycled their own individual sounds to create an amalgamation of songs that have no coherent thread as an album. “Man Named Truth” sounds like a Bright Eyes song that Ward and Yames happen to sing on; “Goodway” sounds like an M. Ward song that Oberst and Yames happen to sing on; and so on.
MOST OVERRATED Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz!
In my opinion, YYY just didn’t live up to the hype. Adding disco elements to one’s music is nothing new or innovative, and while I do admit that “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll” are truly fantastic songs, the rest of the album was very mediocre. Where is the fire of Fever To Tell? Nowhere in my line of sight. SPIN ranked It’s Blitz! #2 on their year-end list, which confirms what I have long suspected: that they are no longer a reputable music magazine.
BEST SOUNDTRACK Karen O and The Kids, “Where The Wild Things Are” Soundtrack This was Karen O’s best effort of 2009. I think it was a perfect undertaking for an artist of her sensibilities: she got to be wild and shriek like only she can do, but she also got to collaborate with The Kids to bring a tender childlike quality to the songs. The soundtrack fit perfectly with the film and, in my mind, outshone the film.
Song: All is Love
BEST COMPILATION Dark Was The Night
I can’t even describe how much I love this compilation. It says a lot, I think, that Sufjan was willing to come out of the cave he’s been hiding in to write a new song specifically for this compilation. And the duets are to die for: Feist and Ben Gibbard! Dirty Projectors and David Byrne! Conor Oberst and Gillian Welsh! Ahhh, the pure unadulterated beauty.
Songs: Sufjan Stevens – You Are The Blood, Feist & Ben Gibbard – Train Song
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
The Dead Weather, “Treat Me Like Your Mother”
MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2010:
Beach House, Teen Dreams
Vampire Weekend, Contra
She & Him, Volume Two
jj, N° 3
Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck, IRM
MGMT, Congratulations
Joanna Newsom
The National
Interpol
