Re: 2010

Well the 3rd quarter is almost over and I was thinking about some of this year's music and I must say I have been let down by some of the more mainstream fair I usually like. Wolf Parade, Gaslight Anthem and Alkaline Trio all put out albums this year and I can't say any of them stuck with me. They all seamed to be treading water, a few decent tunes amongst them.

The past couple of weeks I have been listening to Big Troubles - Worry, and I must say this is one of the best so far.
[bigtroubles.bandcamp.com]
Although it might be too derivative, there are alot of really well crafted songs here. Sure they might draw upon the big names in fuzz (Jesus&MC, Sonic Youth, My BloodyV, and gulp...Smashing Pumpkins) but there is a distinct thing here...Start with 5, 6 and 11.

The big, big album for me this year was Causers Of This from Toro Y Moi. I haven't listened to anything as much nor have a I loved as much.

What else has been going on?

I see many a Drones reference on this board, so it's worth mentioning that Gareth Liddiard's solo album Strange Tourist is due out tomorrow.

Holy shit! I hope it gets an American release.

Have you heard it? Is it good?

I'm fond of the new album by White Noise Sound. They've obviously never listened to anything other than Spacemen 3, Loop and the 1st Jesus & Mary Chain album, but they play that sound like they've just discovered it.

I have really enjoyed:

Hoodoo Gurus - Purity Of Essence
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Quasi - American Gong
The Walkmen - Lisbon
Bird And The Bee - Interpreting Hall and Oates
Robyn - Body Talk pt 1
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Open Mike Eagle - Unapologetic Art Rap


Nothing's really flattened me this year, alas, but these and a few others have fueled me.



Post Edited (09-29-10 23:50)

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I'm fond of the new album by White Noise Sound. They've obviously never listened to anything other than Spacemen 3, Loop and the 1st Jesus & Mary Chain album, but they play that sound like they've just discovered it.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I was going to quote Spacemen 3 in my rant about the RRHoF burning down.

"Hold on a second ... I smell buuuuurning ..."

I always envisioned them saying that at a drug-rock barbecue. Of course the food would burn - everybody'd be too busy nodding off to mind the grill.

I'm really digging the new Black Angels album, too. And as long as I'm indulging in hometown pride, the new Sword album kicks ass.

Hands down, my favorite album so far is Paul Collins' King of Power Pop. Will probably be my album of the year.

Need to give it more spins, but like what I've heard so far of Praise & Blame by Tom Jones.

In no particular order:

The Love Language - Libraries
Stornoway - Beachcombers Windowsill
Pernice Brothers - Goodbye Killer
Jenny & Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now
Film School - Fission
Kate Nash - My Best Friend is You
Tindersticks - Falling Down a Mountain
Let's Wrestle - In the Court of the Wrestling Lets
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

and several that I know I'm forgetting.

One great benefit of my new radio gig is that I get exposed to a lot more new music. In fact, it's practically a requirement of the job. I've heard quite a few of the CDs on this list in just the past couple months. Lot of good ones on here; I'd add the newest by The Doughboys, The Like and Alejandro Escovedo.

While I'm thinking about it, I'd like to thank everyone on this board for giving me clues where to hunt for good tunes for my on-air shifts.

Delvin - good call on the Like. I'd forgotten about it, but that's a great album and a huge improvement over their first one.

Anybody heard the new Mavis Staples? I haven't yet, and I'm worried that my lingering allergy to Tweedy-hype might color my opinion of it. Which is stupid to begin with on my part, as I actually think Tweedy is a damn fine musician, just ludicrously over-worshipped for the last few years. (I mean, really, someone opened a Wilco themed sandwich shop? Shoot me now.) But I shouldn't let my annoyance with other people who like Tweedy change the fact that I like him, too. That would just be idiotic.

Also, surprising considering my relative loathing of Ys, but I think 2/3 of Joanna Newsom's new opus pretty much justifies her hype. The middle disc of the three is a tedious exercise in yawn production, but disc one (aside from the neverending title track, which is a holdover of Ys's misguided aesthetic of endless = importance) is pretty uniformly excellent, and disc three is on the high side of all right.

The new Mavis Staples is excellent. It doesn't sound like "A Jeff Tweedy Production"...it just sounds like a good Mavis Staples album. I think her touring band plays on most–if not all–of the tracks.

Aside from that, and many of the aforementioned releases (especially the returns of Superchunk and the Hoodoos), here are the rest of my 2010 favorites:

Gay Singles – Hunx and his Punx (“…I think your parents must’ve been cousins, What the hell is wrong with you, I think you sniff too much glue, You don’t like Rock & Roll, and I don’t like you…”)
Odd Blood – Yeasayer
Two Thousand and Ten Injuries – Love Is All
The Family Jewels – Marina and the Diamonds
Burning Like the Midnight Sun – The Choir
The Five Ghosts – Stars
Wake Up the Nation – Paul Weller
Disconnect from Desire – School of Seven Bells
Pharmacy of Love – Bettie Serveert
The Brutalist Bricks – Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
New Inheritors – Wintersleep
Romance is Boring – Los Campesinos!
J Roddy Walston and the Business – J Roddy Walston and the Business
Chant Darling – Lawrence Arabia
The ArchAndroid – Janelle Monae
False Priest – of Montreal
Shut Up, Dude – Das Racist
Yes Yes Yes – Elsinore
Shout It Out – Hanson

Still debating about Jukebox the Ghost’s Everything Under the Sun.

I think this has been a pretty good year for music.

Oops - forgot A Balloon Called Moaning by the Joy Formidable, a Welsh band fronted by a serious contender for the title of World's Cutest Human Being, Ritzy Bryan. (Even her name is cuddly.)

[www.youtube.com]

Another one I keep meaning to get around...the Big Takeover's been praising them to the skies.

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Oops - forgot A Balloon Called Moaning by the Joy Formidable, a Welsh band fronted by a serious contender for the title of World's Cutest Human Being, Ritzy Bryan. (Even her name is cuddly.)

I'd scanned over this entry in the thread while on a break at work and Enormous Search Engined a few pictures of this Ritzy Bryan. My initial reaction was "Harumph! Wonder what Kim Gordon thinks of all this?"

Mind you, she is cute. Ritzy, I mean.

...

Anyway, I was in the local Mom 'n Pop today and heard an unknown record start up. The first track had me thinking "Christine" by The House of Love. Just for a split second. The rest of it all sounded good enough that I asked after the artist(s) and was told it was The Joy Formidable. I had not put the name to the thread, but ended up buying the record anyway. Got it home, opened it up, took one look at the band photo and realized who the hell it was.

Da yn cofnodi! Breno haeddiannau aur seren achos godidowgrwydd!

Unlike Delvin, It's hard for me to keep my ear to the ground for new music...

That having been said, there are two albums that really grabbed me this year:

Morning Benders "Big Echo"
Best Coast "Crazy for You"

It's been my experience this year that some of the old veterans who can be counted on for solid if unspectacular work really stepped up this year and delivered albums that rank with or near their best work. Stan Ridgway, the Hoodoo Gurus, New Model Army, Hawkwind, Superchunk, eels, the Choir and Masters of Reality all put out records this year that knocked me out.

I just got the new Grinderman album and haven't fully absorbed it yet, but I suspect it's great.

My favorite so far, though, is Alejandro Escovedo's Street Songs of Love.

Anybody heard the new Neil Young?



Post Edited (09-30-10 12:07)

New Grinderman is excellent; so are the new ones by the Hoodoos and Superchunk.

The 2010 release that has stayed highest on my radar, though, would have to be Shake/Shiver/Moan by the 22-20s. Probably my favorite album of the year. If this young British band comes down the road to a venue near you, don't pass 'em up.

I've been curious about the 22-20s - I saw them at SXSW a few years ago and had the record; thought they were great onstage but pretty tepid in the grooves. I was surprised to hear they've reunited, and I've heard good things about the new one.

There are several that blew my mind so far (and I'm backlogged by about 50 titles including Grinderman) but one changed my life; one of the best of the last 10 years:

Besnard Lakes - Are the Roaring Night


The new Roxy Music will be released next week as a Bryan Ferry solo, though it has:
Dave Stewart
Brian Eno
the roxy members
Gilmour
Flea
Jonny Greenwood
Scissor Sisters
Mani (primal scream)
Kate Moss (cover model)


Also enjoying the new Versus today.

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Besnard Lakes - Are the Roaring Night

Just picked up a copy of this over the weekend. It's going to be a while as it sinks in, but so far it's been a winner. Nice messed up guitar sounds. The vocals are different.

I hate to mention My Bloody Valentine (but that's my reference point for track 4)
I hate to mention Slowdive covering The Birthday Party (but those are my reference points for track 5).

I like it.

Another name to throw out there: the Mighty Grasshoppers, a roots rock band featuring ex-BellRays guitarist/songwriter Tony Fate and singer/songwriter/Cracker associate Chris LeRoy. They occupy the sweet spot between Rockpile and Doug Sahm. Pretty great stuff.

I liked most of the Black Angels album and Wavves and No Age too. Those have been the only ones that really caught my ear this year so far.

Steve Wynn has an album coming out next month and I almost always like his stuff......



Post Edited (10-02-10 16:37)

I've heard the new Wynn...it's pretty great. Seems more "classic rock" than Dream Syndicate (which is what I was expecting after Tick Tick Tick, the Medicine Show reissue and his DS album shows of late), but it's got a lot of variety and texture. Plus excellent songwriting, of course.

I got to include a few of the above-mentioned in last night's broadcast. The show went more smoothly than the first one, except for a skipping CD. But at least now I know I can handle it, if that happens again. (The closer to flawless a show is, the less I can learn from it.)

Here's the playlist from last night. (Don't worry, there surely will come a day when I get tired of talking about this gig.)

"The Shock of the Lightning" - Oasis
"Dear Prudence" - The Beatles (by request)
"It's Hot" - James
"I Don't Believe You" - The Thermals
"Worm Tamer" - Grinderman

"Ghosts Under Rocks" - Ra Ra Riot
"Anyone's Ghost" - The National
"A Ghost in the Arcade" - Idlewild
"Ghosts of Princes in Towers" - the Rich Kids (vinyl)
(I was going to play The Specials' "Ghost Town" to close this block; that's the one that skipped)

"Hiroshima Mon Amour" - The Church
"Palm Road" - Wolf Parade
"Poison Arrow" - Sonic Youth
"The City is Here for You to Use" - The Futureheads
"Living in a Movie" - Gary Myrick & the Figures (vinyl)

"Spirit" - the Caesars
"Let's Go to Bed" - Ivy
"Everyone's Hip" - Jaill
"It's Alright, Baby" - Komeda
"Flesh and Blood" - Roxy Music

"Shine (In Your Mind)" - The Apples in Stereo
"I Want to Be an Anglepoise Lamp" - The Soft Boys
"The Light Pours Out of Me" - Magazine
"The Man with the Lightbulb Head" - Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians
"What Is the Light?" - The Flaming Lips

"Radios in Motion" - XTC (by request)
"Digging for Something" - Superchunk
"Faith" - Alejandro Escovedo
"Western Union Desperate" - Mary Lou Lord

By the way, the new ones by The Thermals and Jaill are pretty good too. And we just got the new James, The Night Before the Morning After. A few good tracks, but not enough to justify a 2-CD set, IMO.

I really like the new ones by Superchunk, Ted Leo, and The Thermals. For other stuff:

Kathryn Calder - Are You My Mother
Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat
Thee Sgt. Major III - Idea Factory
The Like - Release Me
The School - Loveless Unbeliever
The Young Evils - Enchanted Chapel
The Capstan Shafts - Revelation Skirts
The Mynabirds - What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood
The Indelicates - Songs for Swinging Lovers
Nada Surf - If I Had a Hi-Fi
The Successful Failures - Three Nights
Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard
Crusaders of Love - Never Grow Up
Hanoi Janes - Year of Panic
The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack
The Cute Lepers - Smart Accessories
The Len Price 3 - Pictures

I'm fond of that Mynabirds record as well. Ditto the Len Price 3. People who know me keep telling me I need to check out the Soft Pack, but I haven't gotten around to it.

It's a very solid record. A little samey, but very enjoyable.

I was excited to see Paul Collins recorded this song on King of... Not that it is possible, but is anything nearly as good on the rest of it?

I'm sort of diggin The Besnard Lakes. Kinda proggy pre-post rock sound. Very distinct.

I must be the only one here who cant get into Alejandro Escovedo. It all seams very straight forward. Too transparent. Am I wrong?

"I must be the only one here who cant get into Alejandro Escovedo. It all seams very straight forward. Too transparent. Am I wrong?"

You're not wrong, but you just described one of the primary reasons I love him.

I'm finding myself liking Street Songs of Love a lot more that on the first listen.

Also this year, I've enjoyed releases from this side of the pond, at last.
Full Bore - Hell Crab City
Birdsong Almanac - Lost In The Woods
Autofocus - Go/No-Go

But probably the release I've liked the most has been We Were Only Riders.

Author: totaji
Date: 10-10-10 14:51

I was excited to see Paul Collins recorded this song on King of... Not that it is possible, but is anything nearly as good on the rest of it?

As I stated in the best of 2010 thread, King of Power Pop is probably going to be my album of the year. If you like, well, Paul Collins Beat type pop, it's as good as it gets. And, as good as Many Roads to Follow is, there are some equally choice cuts, including the title song.

Jay

Just picked up a copy of Public Strain by a band called Women. It's rather dense and sing-songy ... the melodies sound like something out of a Syd Barrett fever dream. Says on the sleeve that it came out in 2010.

Lots and lots of 60's-fueled whimsy wrapped up in a crapulous sounding blanket of noise. The vocals are buried in the mix.

There is not a thing "new" about it, but I'm rather "totally digging" it.

On a very similar note (and chord, and progression, and beat, and so forth), I recently heard a self-titled CD by the group Black Tambourine. Apparently this indie band was around in the early '90s; this 2010 release purports to collect the band's entire recorded output. Noise-gaze stuff, nothing new, but worth checking out.

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this 2010 release purports to collect the band's entire recorded output.

Give it a decade (or less - we all know how life speeds up) and they'll have a "Deluxe Reissue" complete with a bonus disc of alternate demos (of the demos) and a DVD of something that you've maybe never seen before.

Perhaps it'll be on Rhino?

.
.
.

I kid slightly. I'd probably buy it.

Anything that involves "noise" and "gazing" is probably going to be just the thing.

"Cause all I do is stare at the sound ..."

Maybe ten or fifteen years from now, someone will be talking about a cool new band (whose members haven't even started kindergarten yet, as I type this) and saying, "I hate to mention Besnard Lakes, but that's my reference point for ..."