Since the old Northern Lights venue in Clifton Park, NY has changed hands and been renamed The Upstate Concert Hall the shows have gotten a lot better.  1) It seems as though they have finally put some capable person in charge of the acoustics so that they don’t sound absolutely awful at every show, and 2) They actually attract acts worth seeing; there are still bullshit stoner cover bands which wrangle the desperate, scene-less 40&50-somethings, but NYC’s A$AP Rocky was in Upstate New York a few months back, Foals play there this coming Monday and Wales’ The Joy Formidable played two weekends ago.

I was actually surprised to learn that this wasn’t the first time that they had played there.  According to the emcee from WEQX, the Vermont-based Alternative Rock FM station that hosted the event, this was TJF’s second time across the pond and in Clifton Park.  For better or worse my girlfriend and I weren’t able to get there for the opening band(s) as we had taken an extended day trip that Sunday.  We arrived just fifteen or so minutes before The Joy Formidable ascended the modest four-step staircase, and red lights illuminated the cheering crowd. Aside:  You more regular readers may be wondering why I don’t have any pictures or videos of the live shows any longer.  Since the explosion in popularity of tablets on top of the Swiss Army Cell Phone which acts a telephone/camera/camcorder/computer/etc… I have become reluctant to snap photographs at shows, or in general, outside of the low resolution bullshit header pic that I took of my ticket (taken with my dumpy phone because I’m too poor to own a camera that isn’t disposable).  It’s not that I don’t think documentation or artful, candid photos are important; however, I do struggle, even standing 6’3″, with those concert-goers who happily hold their iPads up above their heads for a song’s duration.  It is rude and distracting.

The crowd was much more tolerable than other recent concerts (namely Dirty Projectors at Skidmore); it ran the gamut from X-handed high schoolers to buzzed math teachers.  And the music was good!  I really liked The Joy Formidable’s 2011 debut LP The Big Roar and although their sophomore record, Wolf’s Law, had me bored at times, the live performance charged up a few tracks.  Singer/guitarist Rhiannon (Ritzy) Bryan, bassist Rhydian Davies and drummer Matthew (Mr.) Thomas played with an intense vigor and the tightness of a practiced trio.  A pink, wolfen silhouette beamed brightly during their newer material, but nothing was brighter than Mr. Thomas’ shoes which Rhydian sniped at playfully between songs.

Aside:  I was never disappointed in the band.  I was disappointed with a miniature Henry Rollins-looking fan; close-cropped hair, beater/sleeveless button-up combo and a pair of shorts who took every opportunity to throw his shirt off and mosh against teenage girls and a giant, harmless looking toad of a man.  It is likely that he would’ve been able to beat my ass, even at 5’3″ 110 lbs., but that didn’t stop my menacing glares.  Why are you moshing at a Joy Formidable Show?  Find a shitty high school punk band that you can catch after the gym.  Don’t get me wrong; TJF were loud and exciting, but I was able to keep my shirt on and refrain from Parkinson’s-esque shadow-boxing.  He reminded me of the misplaced, aggressive assholes at the emo shows I went to in high school.  Some of them were my friends…

The Joy Formidable’s set, if nothing else, was the perfect length.  Their formal set which lasted just over an hour gave way to a two-song encore, including their wonderful “Whirring” (which was listed in my Top Tracks of 2011).  It was basically and hour and a half of solid live entertainment before some polite salutations and waves.  For a band with a catalog that is relatively minute I couldn’t have asked for a better show.  Plus, Ritzy looked cute in that spritely sort of way.  So did my girlfriend.  Whatever.  What’s important is that the band said that they would absolutely be back.

I was thrilled when I heard that Dirty Projectors would be playing at Skidmore College in Saratoga, NY, a mere 30 minute drive.  I had been to the venue before some years ago for a Wilco show.  It’s a gymnasium but the acoustics are surprisingly sharp.

My girlfriend, two friends and I arrived unfashionably early and caught the entire set from the opening act, Delicate Steve, while sitting on the risers towards the back of the gym.  Their sound definitely fit in with Dirty Projectors; odd time signatures, interesting instrumentation and an air of neo-psychedelia which fell somewhere in between Animal Collective and Dr. Dog, although the set was almost entirely instrumental but for some unintelligible hollering during one song.  The band exceeded my expectations and are clearly talented musicians but they could definitely benefit from a unique vocalist, or in the case of Dirty Projectors, vocalists.  Without vocals the music felt somewhat flat.  This, however, didn’t stop my friend from purchasing their first record on vinyl from the merch table solely because his roommate’s name is Steve and Steve is indeed delicate.

After Delicate Steve’s set we began to notice that the crowd looked very young.  We saw a number of college kids (or high schoolers playing the part) on our way in but we were attending a show at a college which made total sense.  But certainly a band like Dirty Projectors would have some 20 or 30-somethings in the crowd…  They are, after all, one of the bigger “indie” acts on the East Coast.  They were on Conan this year for heaven’s sake.  But no.  I swear that 90% of the audience had to have been college freshmen.  Drinking out of water bottles with colored liquid (it was a dry show).  Skipping haphazardly around the gym.  And not one, but TWO hula hoopers!  I was pissed.

When Dirty Projectors took the stage the crowd, which was frankly much smaller than I anticipated, swarmed the stage.  And the crowd was annoying.  Kids held loud, trivial conversations in between and during songs.  Couples sway-danced into me repeatedly despite my purposely pointy elbow.  One moron kept doing ‘Lil John’s crunk call, “O-kay!”  The hoopers kept on a hoopin’.  We joked that we should have brought Skip-Its and Ribbon Dancers.  This was all rather unfortunate because the music was fantastic.  After half of the hour-and-a-half-long set my girlfriend and I meandered to the back of the crowd where we enjoyed the rest of the show thoroughly.

Dirty Projectors’ set was unsurprisingly weighted in Swing Lo Magellan; I don’t have the setlist but I definitely recall hearing “Offspring Are Blank,” the title track and “See What She Seeing.”  Lead singer David Longstreth showed a quirky sense of humor in between songs telling the crowd that the moon looked especially like an emogi that night and, at one point, encouraging everyone to visit the merch table for croissants and cheeses among other things that weren’t for sale.

Dirty Projectors also added a few other treats from their catalog which were most welcome, notably “No Intention” and the unbelievable “Beautiful Mother” where female vocalists Amber Coffman, Haley Dekle and Olga Bell delivered with a mind-blowing echo.   As the time neared 11pm the band thanked the audience and stepped down from the stage briefly before resassuming their positions for an encore.  They played “Stillness is the Move,” which everyone seemed to recognize, and “Dance For You” off of their latest which Longstreth unfortunately dedicated to the god damn hula hoopers.

The show was incredibly satisfying but for the young crowd which just goes to show what a bitter old bastard I’ve become in the ten short years since I myself was a college freshman.  Dirty Projectors proved that their sound, however polished it may be in the studio, is a sound that they can take on the road.  And kudos to Amber Coffman for belting out “Stillness is the Move” with twice the intensity that’s on the record.  That’s a big sound for such a tiny little thing!

Photo by Nicki Bertsch

April 20th is a day that is (in)famous for a number of reasons.  It’s Hitler’s birthday.  It’s the anniversary date of the Columbine school shooting.  Pot-smokers celebrate 4/20 by getting rather ripped.  Today the nation celebrated the capture of the Chechnyan bomber who had terrorized Boston, MA since Monday.  And, on a sunnier note, April 20th, 2013 marked the sixth annual Record Store Day, a day of frivolous spending for audiophiles.

2013 is sure to be the most successful Record Store Day to date.  The popularity of vinyl has risen exponentially over the past six years and it was obvious while out shopping today as the record stores were still shoulder-to-shoulder at 5 o’clock.  My original plan was to visit a friend who works at Vintage Vinyl Records in New Jersey which is widely regarded as one of the best record stores in the country.  When I spoke to him last night I learned that he would be working a 13-hour shift and that it was highly likely that there would be a massive line waiting for the store to open at 8am.  There was a change in plans.

My girlfriend and I decided to take a walk to some of the record stores in Manhattan.  After hopping around a bit we ended up at Academy Records located at East 12th Street (between Avenue A & 1st Avenue) which happened to be where I spent most of the money that I don’t have.  The store was a well-organized mixture of new, old and re-issues sorted by genre.  After about 45 minutes of thumbing through racks and tragically replacing 180 gram reissues of Parliament’s Mothership Connection, Beach House’s Teen Dream, Richard Captain Beefheart’s Safe as Milk, Neu!’s self-titled debut and Richard Hell & the Voidoid’s Blank Generation, I purchased the eclectic/schizoid selection of the albums that you see above.  I am on a budget after all…

Aside:  In replacing the Richard Hell album I got into a conversation with a friendly employee.  ”He lives on this block,” he said.

“No kidding!” I replied.

“And he’s a total dick, haha.”

“I can’t say that I’m surprised.  Didn’t he just come out with a book this year?”

“Yeah.  My friend went to a reading.  Apparently Richard Hell made it sound like reading excerpts from his own work was an absolute chore.”

And so, Richard hell is a total dick.

*     *     *

The Spoils

From left to right, top to bottom…

Faust – Faust IV (1973)

I have gotten very into Krautrock over the past few years.  Faust, particularly Faust IV, have seen numerous plays along with Kraftwerk, Can, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel and the aforementioned Neu!.  I cannot wait to listen to “The Sad Skinhead” on an album that was previously unreleased in the US.

R. Stevie Moore – Phonography (1976)

Phonography is DIY recording legend R. Stevie Moore’s debut record.  The album was originally limited to 100 copies on cassette and this is the first time that the record has been available on vinyl in over 30 years.  RSM is one of my idols and so I am very much excited to listen to his earliest musings.

Guided by Voices – Alien Lanes (1995)

Alien Lanes is Guided by Voices 8th record which followed their iconic Bee Thousand and has some of my favorite GBV tracks of all time in “Game of Pricks” and “As We Go Up We Go Down.”  This record also happened to be inducted in my Indie Canon and for good reason.

Aside:  There will be more inductees to the Indie Canon, I have just been flat out for the past couple of months.

The Left Banke – Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina (1967)

This album was my one true vintage purchase and one that I was elated to find.  Coincidentally my girlfriend was humming the melody to “She May Call You Up Tonight” on our walk to the shop.  I snatched this record off the wall as soon as I saw it.  ”Walk Away Renee” and “Pretty Ballerina” are two of my favorite baroque pop songs of all time and although it looks like a split single, it actually has all of the highlights from The Left Banke’s catalogue.  This is a record that will spin regularly.

*     *     *

I brought the records up to the checkout counter where the clerk that I had talked to earlier was standing.  As he rung me out he told me that I had made the best purchase of anyone today.  I have to admit that I was flattered.

To all of you that have your own gems that you took home on Record Store Day, feel free to brag about it in the Comments section.  Happy Record Store Day to all of you readers!

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook (2013)

This is a book that I was so excited about that I pre-ordered it twice (a drunken oversight as the book’s publication was backed out a few months).  Not only was there a new back-story to one of my all-time favorite bands, it was told by the band’s bassist.  Peter Hook, bassist of Joy Division and subsequently New Order, recalls his memories of his time spent in the quintessential post-punk band.

Hook, or “Hooky” as he likes to refer to himself, has a very casual and colloquial narrative voice; far from stilted, it’s as if you were hearing the tales told by a mate over a few pints.  Also, as a member of the band he is able to offer the sharpest insight (pun not necessarily intended) to date on Joy Division: the music, the production, the egos and some surprisingly hysterical anecdotes along the way.

Hook explains the conceptions of songs in depth like only a member of the band could:

“All four of us had ideas.  One of us would have been listening to Kraftwerk and suggest using that sound as the basis for a song.  We’d all chip in and by the time the song was finished, even though the seed of the song had been Kraftwerk, it wouldn’t sound like Kraftwerk at all.  That was the art.  It sounded like Joy Division.  In this particular case it sounded like ‘Digital,’ in fact.”

He elaborates on their musical influences, how they were shaped by other Manchester outfits that they played with and, of course, the studio time spent with the eccentric, hard-ass production genius Martin Hannett (think 24 Hour Party People).  The most interesting chapters in the book are track by track gl0sses of their two iconic albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer;  Hook encourages the reader to listen to the albums while reading these passages and it’s particularly effective.

Hook also humanizes a band that has been shrouded by an icy veil with his stories of their silly antics and petty squabbles.  Joy Division, a band with a gloomy anti-image, were notorious pranksters who developed elaborate schemes for laughs when they weren’t playing their dead serious music.  Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner, who went on to form New Order in the wake of singer Ian Curtis’ suicide, are constantly at odds with one another, so much so that I was surprised to learn that they are currently touring.  Most importantly, Hook finally gives a more balanced character study of the late Ian Curtis.

“What gets me sometimes about the deification of Ian is that it suggests a real division between Ian and the rest of the band that in reality wasn’t there.  I’ve no doubt he was different with us from how he was with Debbie [his wife] and Annik [his mistress], because that was the people pleaser in him.  The Ian that was with Debbie is the one she talks about in her book; he’s the one in Control, and you see the Annik-Ian there too.  But what you don’t see–and what’s really never come out–is the Ian we saw in the band.  That’s because it doesn’t fit neatly into the myth, which prefers the idea that Ian existed on another plan from the rest of us.”

The book also contains four timelines chronicling the band from their bright beginning to their tragic end.  The timelines are the most conventional aspect of the book and aren’t always terribly enthralling, but they do reveal how much Curtis was struggling with his debilitating epilepsy and plodding on in spite of the fact.  That being said, Hook paints a picture of Ian Curtis with a palette that isn’t exclusive to grays.

Peter Hook’s Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division is an engaging, down-to-Earth treatment of one of the most important bands of the post-punk movement and should be required reading for any Joy Division fan.

Rating: ****

Above:  My ticket to the show atop Al Di Meola’s 1976 debut Land of the Midnight Sun.

I have to say that I’m glad that I subscribed to The Egg’s email list some months ago because I’m not sure that I would have heard about this show otherwise. Last Sunday night two legends of jazz in Al Di Meola and Gonzalo Rubalcaba played at the Swyer Theatre within The Egg.

It was this past Christmas when I strained myself thinking of a gift for my father, one that was thoughtful…and affordable as the man has taste that typically exceeds my budget!

Aside:  Truth be told, all he and my mother really want is to spend time with the family…at least that’s what they tell us.

I thought “Maybe I’ll get him a copy the catalog for the George Bellows exhibit” that was hanging at that point at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Thankfully my mother warned me that he had pre-ordered a copy prior to my charging one more item to my happy holidays line of credit.  As Christmas shopping time dwindled it became apparent that I had precious few options for a present outside of booze or arts & crafts (think macaroni necklaces not the furniture style).  I went with something that was more thoughtful than booze but just about as tacky as arts & crafts: a coupon for a event/concert on my dime to be named later; in other words, a Christmas IOU.

When the email blast went out some weeks ago for an Al Di Meola concert, I immediately recalled a memory from 8th grade.  My father, who had always pushed good music on me, be it contemporary or the records that he remembered from his earlier years, came into my bedroom one night after work holding a few cassette tapes.  One of those cassettes which I popped into the front of my SONY Boombox was Al Di Meola’s Casino.

After a few tracks my father explained that Di Meola is a “jazz fusion” guitarist.  I was familiar with the term “jazz;” I had watched a VH1 documentary which highlighted Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie.  I asked what made what we were listening to “jazz fusion.”  My father replied in so many words: “Just try and think of something in between jazzy guitar-work and rock guitar.  Everything that is going on here is more complex (which immediately resonated, particularly in the absence of lyrics).”  He told me, “The arrangements are usually longer, and they may seem all over the place at first, but with a few listens you’ll begin to recognize the songs’ structures; transitions will become more familiar and seem fitting or even appropriate.”  We listened to the entire album together that night.

With that memory in mind I purchased two tickets for last Sunday night.  Al Di Meola was no stranger to me after that night years ago; I was gifted a copy of Land of the Midnight Sun (shown above) on vinyl from a friend’s father.  I picked up Elegant Gypsy and Splendido Hotel from stupid garage sellers.  I am certainly no jazz expert, let alone a connoisseur of jazz fusion, but I figured that Mr. Di Meola accompanied by an accomplished pianist couldn’t be a bad time.  I bought us two tickets.

*     *     *

The Swyer Theater was the perfect size venue for the show; with a seating capacity of just under 1,000 there isn’t a bad seat in the house.  The concert was scheduled for 7:30pm and would have no intermission.  Di Meola and Rubalcaba humbly took the stage with some polite waves before sitting down.  Di Meola sat on a very economical chair positioned behind a pedal and a stand holding sheets of music that must have been four feet wide.  Rubalcaba postured himself rather calmly at the bench of a regal, black piano on wheels and unfolded his own panoramic sheet of music.  The stage itself was stark but was soon to come alive with the dense, instrumental arrangements compliments of the two jazz titans.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba was admittedly new to me but a welcome introduction.  I learned as he began to play that the man was 1) accomplished to say the very least, and 2) an Afro-Cuban jazz pianist who gave the jazz a worldly touch, complimenting Di Meola’s guitar surprisingly well.  Between songs mid-set Al Di Meola mentioned that he had first come been introduced to Rubalcaba’s work in a freezing touring van in 1987 and found his musical gift other-worldly.  He said that he hoped that they could play together one day and, though it wasn’t the first time, last Sunday they did.

The duo opened with “Siberiana,” a surprisingly warm and unsurprisingly complex fusion tour de force.  At times the two musicians seemed to be in alternative universes of the same composition, Di Meola’s rocketing crescendos paired with a staccato jaunt along the keys from Rubalcaba, but seconds later it was as if one musician was playing both instruments.  Di Meola jokingly quipped after the song that they would now try something little more difficult, but as the show wore on it became clear that he was only half kidding.

The two played for almost two hours with Di Meola leaving the stage for two solos from Rubalcaba and then vice versa before joining forces once again to close the show.  Di Meola included a few songs in the set off of his most recent tribute album to The Beatles.  The breakdown and jazzy reassembly of otherwise familiar melodies sometimes had me guessing for half the song which Beatles track it was.  Fusion as a genre aside, the cool ferocity and incredible dexterity with which the two musicians played was enough to astound any fan of music.  The set was impressive enough to call for two standing ovations from the audience.

Though Guided by Voices didn’t have any big winners this year, they would definitely be up for a Most Productive of 2012 nomination.  The Bears for Lunch was the third LP released this year after January’s Let’s Go Eat the Factory and June’s Class Clown Spots a UFO; that’s 63 songs released in eleven months, not counting frontman Robert Pollard’s two solo albums!  And the best part about their 2012 crop, at least for hardcore GBV fans, was that it marked the reformation of the celebrated mid-90s cast: Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Greg Demos, Mitch Mitchell and Kevin Fennell…the cast responsible for Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes and under-appreciated Under the Bushes Under the Stars.

Two average releases into 2012 and Guided by Voices sounded like they were instead a really talented Guided by Voices cover band playing their own originals.  Sure, tracks like “The Unsinkable Fats Domino” and “Tyson’s High School” proved that they could rock as hard as they did nearly twenty years ago, but the new albums were cluttered with lo-fi duds and misfires that sounded as though they were sequenced after one of GBV’s infamous Budweiser binges of the same era.  Released this week, The Bears for Lunch exceeds the waning novelty appeal of a Guided by Voices “reunion” record.

The Bears’ production runs the classical GBV gamut from four-track basement recordings to stuiod mid-fi, and Pollard’s pared down, free association oddities are once again inexplicably balanced by Tobin Sprout’s harmonious, McCartney-esque jangles.  The band as a whole sounds as though they have reclaimed a sense of creative comfortability that wasn’t quite there on their first two albums of 2012 which is likely due in part to practicing and touring together again for a year now.

“King Arthur the Red” starts the album off with an epic Pollard rock n’ roll kicker followed by the stool-poised songwriter in Sprout’s “The Corners Are Glowing.”  The album is in fact totally solid until the pointless and ill-conceived “Dome Rust.”  The trend continues with a string of starts followed by single stops.  It’s these “stops,” or weak tracks like “Dome Rust,” “Tree Fly Jet” and “Smoggy Boy” that impede the album’s playability.

That being said, The Bears for Lunch contains some of GBV’s best tracks since Under the Bushes.  Guided by Voice’s wonted trope of aviation shines on “She Lives in an Airport” and Sprout’s “Waving at Airplanes.”  Tobin Sprout hits a high point with his finger-plucked “Waking Up the Stars.”  Pollard’s delivery on “Up Instead of Running” and “Everywhere is Miles From Everywhere” sound eerily close to Michael Stipe but is rather satisfying in spite of itself.  The album’s centerpiece, “White Flag,” is the strongest track.  The lyrics, which could easily be interpreted as a break-up song, are equally applicable to the the band’s reassurance to fans that they will not surrender so easily: “What’s the agenda, what were you thinking, a white flag in my pocket? / I think you know how I feel.”

It goes without saying that a compilation of the twenty best tracks of their 2012 output would have been far better than three separate albums, but The Bears for Lunch is markedly better than its two predecessors.  It’s unclear as to why the band’s emphasis was on quantity versus quality it 2012; perhaps it was intended as a monumental statement (which it is in a way), or it’s possible that the former bandmates didn’t expect to tolerate each other’s creative company for more than a year.  One thing is certain, Guided by Voices is still relevant after all these years and The Bears should restore confidence in GBV fans that there is still potential for an album as prolific as Bee Thousand.

Noteworthy Track: “Waving at Airplanes,” “White Flag” and “Waking Up the Stars”

Rating: ***1/2

While most of you are likely past agruing about the Academy Awards with coworkers, I’m still aghast at this year’s Grammys.  February 10th saw the 55th Annual Grammy Awards and to borrow a title from Joy Division it was an atrocity exhibition.  I myself didn’t watch the program, not so much an act of defiance as the absence of cable in my apartment, but after seeing the list of winners and hearing about performances the morning after I’m glad that I didn’t bother.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one because I talked to at least a half dozen friends of mine who consider themselves “very into music” and not a one was able to stomach the entire ceremony.  Why?  Let’s start from the beginning…

*     *     *

The host.

LL Cool J.  For the second year in a row.  Seriously, was he the only one to volunteer?  LL hasn’t released anything of any critical importance since 1990′s Mama Said Knock You Out!  He has released albums straight through the 2010s but he’s more known for his abs, Kangol hats and his dreadful acting than music.

I have nothing in particular against LL Cool J, but I would think that a musical artist of some contemporary relevance and stage presence would have been better suited to host the awards.  Be it LL Cool J’s delivery or the poorly written prompt, I’ve been told that the crowd made applauding sound like an absolute chore.

The categories.

What the hell is the difference between Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year?  I’ll admit, I was thoroughly confused until I visited Wikipedia because I use the terms “record” and “album” almost interchangeably, though I usually reserve “album” for LPs & EPs.  I wasn’t totally off point.  Apparently, the Grammy “record” is meant to be awarded to the composer, producer, mixer, etc… of a single song.  Ok, so how does that differ from Song of the Year?  Right, Song of the Year is awarded to the composer or songwriter only.  Album of the Year, in the case of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, is meant to honor the collection of songs that make up Mumford & Sons’ pitiful Babel.  Stupid.  So [fill in the expletive] stupid.

Best New Artist is another category that I find particularly puzzling.  When I think of “new” artists, I think of debut records; maybe an artist that had a single out last year but they didn’t release a proper record until the current year.  I consulted Wikipedia once again and this is what “Best New Artist” in Grammy-speak means: “A new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist. Note that this is not necessarily the first album released by an artist.”  That makes total sense, particularly in the age of the Internet.  Is there an arbitrary definition of “public identity?”  More than 100,000 people have heard of you?  You signed to a major label?  One of your singles had over 72 hours of airplay on Bible Belt FM radio in a given year?  Fun. or fun. or FUCKING ANNOYING POP DICKLICKS have been around since 2008 and they released a shittier album than Some Nights, believe it or not, in 2009.  The fact that they recorded a song that bled out 1,000,000 ears last year (“We Are Young”) does not make them new.  It makes them three fucking annoying pop dicklicks (period!) who are more annoying presently than they were three years ago.  I’ll make it a point to note this for my year-end articles.  Top Albums of 2013 can be released anytime since 1960 as long as I discovered them and thought that they were great in the current year.

Aside:  That’s actually not a bad idea…  Top X Old Discoveries in a given year??

The 55th Annual Grammy Awards also saw the inception of a new award: Best Urban Contemporary Album.  Mr. Frank Ocean took that one home to a standing ovation…but for Chris Brown (what a twat…even though I would have loved to see them square off on national TV).  But, I can’t help but think that this award was created particularly for Frank Ocean and, if I were Frank Ocean, I would indeed be insulted.  He mysteriously wasn’t nominated for Best R&B Album or Best R&B Song.  Ocean doesn’t really rap.  There is no Best Hip Hop Album category.  So they just make up a category for him to run away with and create beef at the same time pitting him against Chris Brown?  The Recording Academy might has well have nominated him for Best Album Released by a Gay African American Metropolitan.  If the Academy really felt that Robert Glasper Experiment’s Black Radio was the Best R&B Album over Ocean’s Channel Zero, Ocean should have gone home with just one Grammy and a bandaged hand.

Dear Chris Brown,

Stop being a jerkoff.

Regards,

SHH

The performances.

Some of the performances were not nearly as bad as I thought they would be after watching them on youtube, including the Bob Marley tribute, but…

Taylor Swift’s Mad Hatter performance of “We Are Never Getting Back Together” was something in between Tom Petty’s video for “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and a sideshow of Cirque de Soleil layoffs.  The aesthetic had absolutely nothing to do with the content.  One (generic horny male) hoped less for a wardrobe malfunction than drunken stilt-walker or a fire-thrower who was off his game.

The tribute to Levon Helm was heart-warming.  Elton John, three thousand guitarists and Mavis Staples performed “The Weight” by The Band in remembrance.  Oh, and Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard sang a single verse. One of the best new artists, actually NEW, nominated thrice but Grammy-less was allowed to sing one verse while the crowd gawked at Elton John who was tasteful enough to wear a remaindered Liberachi tuxedo as opposed to a Donald Duck suit, Mavis Staples whose dress had to be stapled to her and Dumbford & Sons (I’ve called them way worse).  Oh well, take a load off, Brittany…Mavis was certainly the weight this year.  Either way I’m sure that the ramble-rousing Levon Helms would have very much appreciated the sentiment of artistic collaboration in his honor.

LL Cool J, host of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, was the closing performance.  I don’t think that there’s any chance that I would have been impressed by LL, but he was backed by Public Enemy’s Chuck D. as a hype man, Rage’s Tom Morello on guitar, Blink 182′s Travis Barker on drums and DJ Z- Trip.  The mix proved to be about as interesting as expected.  LL stumbled through some sloppy rap, Chuck D. backed LL up in former Public Enemy bandmate Flavor Flav fashion, Tom Morello got funky on the guitar, Barker drummed really fast with tattoos and DJ Z- Trip (named after the DJ Shadow album??) sort of held it all together.  That is until the best/worst part of the performance where it runs over and the audio for sponsors Hilton Resorts and Delta Airlines bring the show to a close prematurely.  It worked for me.  The track to me sounded a little too Cypress Hill (perhaps subliminally citing Rage’s cover of “How I Could Just Kill a Man” with Morello on guitar) and I couldn’t help but think “Here is something you can’t understand…How I could just kill [an awards ceremony]!”

The nominees.

The nominees this year were snot.  I didn’t expect to see a number of the artists and tracks that I have personally highlighted over the past two years.  After all, I don’t listen to the radio any longer but for brief rides in other peoples’ cars and satellite radio in department stores.  Let us review the Record of the Year category in detail to prove my point.  If there is any confusion regarding “record,” please reference the definitions of this award above.  If not, please continue reading and I will pretend to host the Grammys myself.

Record of the Year.  And the nominees are…!!

Gotye – “Somebody That I Used to Know”

This song was so atrocious that I had a theory that its release and subsequent overplay on the radio was directly related to all of the terrible murders that happened over the past 18 months.  People who are already on the edge hear it and just snap.  I hear this song and I think of faces getting eaten off, babies getting thrown out of windows and actors dismembering kittens.

The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy”

It is a good track.  Not the year’s best, but a marked improvement over Gotye.

Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”

Another song from 2011!  Kelly Clarkson is talented, but I just don’t care for her radio pop style.  “Stronger” reminds me of being trapped in shitty clubs a year and a half ago.

Fun. – “We Are Young”

Fun. is an awful band, period.  Their single “We Are Young” was made popular by the equally awful television show Glee.  I could not believe the number of “Top” lists that I saw Fun. on this past year.  When I first listened to their album I thought, “Maybe this is just one of those pop albums that grows on you after a few listens.”  It doesn’t.  I couldn’t finish the album the second time through without tasting bile in the back of my throat.

Aside:  Is it just me or does frontman Nate Ruess look like the love-child of Mark Wahlberg and French Stewart?

Frank Ocean – “Thinkin Bout You”

Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange was cited by many reputable publications as one of the best R&B albums in recent memory and although the praise may have been somewhat inflated, “Thinkin Bout You” is a great single.

Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Pop Country may be one of the worst genres of music ever imagined and Taylor Swift has it down to a T.  She should have never ever been nominated for this song.

The winners.

And the winner is…Gotye!  “Somebody That I Used to Know!”  Case in point.

In the absence of worthy nominees several of the categories were awarded to undeserving parties.  I can count the number of winners that didn’t piss me off on one hand.  I don’t mind The Black Keys winning Best Rock Song for “Lonely Boy” (despite the time of release parameters mentioned above and the fact that there are better songs on El Camino) or Dan Auerbach for producing El Camino and Dr. John’s Locked Down.  One of the winners I was most behind was Once… for Best Musical Theater Album as I saw it live on Broadway with my girlfriend on her birthday and rather enjoyed it.

With these few exceptions aside the winners’ circle was horrendous.  Many artists that I highlighted this past year weren’t even recognized with nominations.  I am not surprised because the Grammys have become a politicized celebration of radio pop mediocrity, but come on!

Mumford & Sons, who look like a group of modern saloon fruit loops, took home Album of the Year for Babel.  Fun. won Song of the Year for “We Are Young” and was named Best New Artist.  Gotye picked up two more wins for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Alternative Music Album.

The Grammys are proof of the sad state of affairs that is pop/rock music.  I feel bad for those viewers that tuned in, regardless of taste, and were made to believe that those artists who won represent the best contemporary musicians. Contemporary music really isn’t this bad, I swear.

*     *     *

Since you have already been privy to my Top Albums and Tracks of 2012, I will leave you with my suggestion for a new award category for next year’s Grammys: Most Heinous Shade of Lipstick…

And the winner is Nicki Minaj!

It’s a good goddam thing “Beez in the Trap” wasn’t nominated for Record of the Year…I would have lost it.

*     *     *

52.  Alt-J – “Breezeblocks”

An Awesome Wave

Despite the fact that I found Alt-J’s An Awesome Wave to be an overrated record, it did have its moments and “Breezeblocks” is one of those moments.  “Please don’t go / I love you so” is innocent, but why is a woman being held down with “soggy clothes and breezeblocks?”  If you don’t sense the grim undertone, check out the wonderfully warped in reverse music video.

*     *

51.  The xx – “Angels”

Coexist

If you liked The xx’s debut you’re going to like their sophomore release and the lead single off of Coexist, “Angels,” is proof.  The London trio was able to pare down their already simple dream-pop formula to develop a sound that is more accessible than the former despite their admitting the influence of “club music.”  The harmony’s somber tone and the lyrics which dip into the ethereal invoke a warm love song for a recently passed lover.

Aside:  Please reference the movie Ghost.

*     *

50.  Dum Dum Girls – “Season In Hell”

End of Daze EP

Dum Dum Girls owe their name to both Iggy Pop’s “Dum Dum Boys” off of The Idiot and The Vaselines 1989 debut album Dum Dum.  If nothing else the names suggests that these four girls have good taste in music.  End of Daze is their third EP in three years and “Season In Hell” shows that they continue to hone their craft.  Unlike a lot of their songs which sound like garage rock moved to the bedroom, “Season In Hell” has a goth meets twee pop feel to it.

Aside:  I was hardly surprised when I searched “Dum Dum Girls Black Tambourine” to find that they covered “Throw Aggi Off the Bridge.” Like I said, these girls have good taste…

Although it has been a “season in hell” with broken hearts and tears, the song forecasts a new dawn that looks divine.

*     *

49.  Cat Power – “Manhattan”

Sun

Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, sounds her sunniest to date on her aptly titled ninth album, Sun.  The minimalist percussion and three-chord piano progression build a ballad that compliments her vocals, allowing them to take the forefront on “Manhattan.”  Cat Power’s departure from the melancholy of her two most recent albums in The Greatest and Jukebox is surprising but not disarming.  When listening to the song, one cannot help but envision the Manhattan skyline with its myriad lights in skyscraping towers.

*     *

48.  Astro – “Colombo”

Astro

Astro’s self-titled record came to me recommended by way of NPR and to their credit few publications are as dedicated to trying to keep the public informed about world music.  Astro is a Latin psychedelic pop/rock band (not to be confused with the Japanese electronic artist).  Though part of me wished that the manic “Colombo” was a song about actor Peter Faulk, the actor who portrayed the LA detective Columbo in the 1970′s series of the same name, it’s actually a song about bunnies having a party in Spanish.

*     *

47.  David Byrne & St. Vincent – “Who”

Love This Giant

Most every music-lover’s interest was piqued when David Byrne and Annie Clark announced that they would be doing a collaborative record in 2012.  I was super-psyched because Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands and St. Vincent’s Strange Mercy was my number one album for last year.  Love This Giant is a record that grows on you with continued listens, but it ultimately failed to really wow me.  And the album cover screwed with little cutie Annie Clark’s jawline…GUH!  That aside, the opening “Who” has a funky, off-kilter sway to it, complete with campy, Kung Fu hoo-ha-ing.  “Who” should encourage repeated listens.

*     *

46.  Matthew Dear – “Headcage″

Beams

Matthew Dear is approaching the 10 year anniversary of his microhouse debut, Leave Luck to Heaven.  Beams had a number of oddities, but there was something fascinating about aquatic sniffling of “Headcage.”  2012 saw its fair share of estranged pop releases, but the “Your mama won’t care” refrain at the end of the song sounds like Trent Reznor produced Wang Chung.

*     *

45.  Animal Collective – “Honeycomb”

Honeycomb 7″

Animal Collective’s Centipede Hz fell below critical expectation this year, but prior to the album’s release AC released a 7″ single of “Honeycomb”/”Gotham” that was nowhere to be found on the LP.  The bustling tumble of “Honeycomb” did forecast the bizarre anti-pop twist of the forthcoming album, but was better than any track on the album that followed.

*     *

44.  Killer Mike – “Big Beast (feat. Bun B, T.I. and Trouble)”

R.A.P. Music

As Killer Mike makes absolutely clear in “Big Beast” and his new album at large, “I don’t make dance music, this is R.A.P. / Opposite of the sucker shit that they play on TV.”  Killer Mike’s new record is, plainly put, “real G shit” and this track features T.I. among others (Bun B and Trouble were new to me).  As I mentioned in my Top Albums of 2012 article there really were strong rap releases in the East, West and South; Atlanta-based Killer Mike was the mouth of the south this year.

Aside:  1) I knew that most musicians hated Ronald Reagan, but Killer Mike goes as far as to compare him to the devil.  2) Native Georgians loathe the term “Hotlanta.”  If you know somebody from Atlanta, or the South in general, purposely drop “Hotlanta” in casual conversation and see what sort of hot water you end up in.

*     *

43.  Lotus Plaza – “Dusty Rhodes”

Spooky Action at a Distance

“Dusty Rhodes” is the first of two tracks with a pro-wrestler’s name on this list, though it has nothing to do with the “Amewican Dwee-um.”  When doing the review of Spooky Action I learned that there are more than a few Dusty Rhodes: a San Francisco Giant’s outfielder, a Western novelist, a soccer player, a 1960s country music producer and musician Robert Fripp’s touring name with Peter Gabriel.  As far as I can tell, the song in question doesn’t have anything to do with any of them; instead, Lockett Pundt softly coos like an adolescent child to his first love, “If there comes a day when I must go / Would you come with me? / So we won’t be alone.”

*     *

42.  Alabama Shakes – “You Ain’t Alone”

Boys & Girls

Alabama Shakes began as a cover band in Athens, AL.  Their debut LP, Boy & Girls, has several standout tracks that are more upbeat than “You Ain’t Alone,” but Brittany Howard’s soulful vocals, evocative of Janis Joplin, are never stronger.  Howard asks “1, 2, 3 are you afraid to dance for me?”  Truthfully, yes.  That is unless I’ve been fed martinis steadily at a wedding…then I’m a dancing machine.  “You Ain’t Alone” should act as a confidence-booster for anyone who has convinced themselves that asking someone to dance is too much of a risk.  If that doesn’t quite do it, I personally recommend martinis.

*     *

41.  The Men – “Open Your Heart”

Open Your Heart

On their third LP, Open Your Heart, The Men sound like a combination of the Foo Fighters before they got shitty and You’re Living All Over Me era Dinosaur Jr.  The title track leans toward the latter and melds the sentiment of “In a Jar” with the speed and abrasive guitar work of “Lung.”  “Open your heart to me / I’m lost I’m found I’m tugging at your sleeve.”

*     *

40.  The Magnetic Fields– “Andrew in Drag”

Love at the Bottom of the Sea

What would a Magnetic Fields album be without a gender-bending, Freudian field day single?  “Andrew in Drag” is definitely that, opening with “A pity she does not exist / A shame he’s not a fag / The only girl I ever loved is Andrew in drag.”  Love at the Bottom of the Sea marks The Magnetic Fields long-awaited return to synth and over what sounds like a Latin Casio, Stephen Merritt uses his wit a la “Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits” to tell a twisted yet funny love story.

*     *

39.  Thee Oh Sees – “Flood’s New Light”

Putrifiers II

The Oh Sees have been one of the most productive garage rock bands of the 21st century, though some of their releases have come out a little soft.  Putrifiers II is one of their best efforts.   Singer John Dwyer’s airy vocals and the mindblowingly simple “ba ba ba” chorus of single “Flood’s New Light” seep quickly into your lobes and can take hours to drain.

*     *

38.  TOPS – “Go Away”

Tender Opposites

When I heard TOPS’ first single, “Turn Your Love Around,” I thought to myself “Finally, a hipster Fleetwood Mac!” (I mean that in the nicest way possible.)  Then I heard their debut album.  Tender Opposites is unfortunately weighted in near-misses and even the aforementioned single’s pop sheen began to tarnish a bit.  That being said, the cutesy track right before it about a secretive lover found its way onto a handful of my playlists this year…the top 52 tracks playlist included.

*     *

37.  Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – “Intrusions”

Instrumental Tourist

Producers Tim Hecker (not to be confused with Tim & Eric’s Tim Heidecker) and Daniel Lopatin (otherwise known as Oneohtrix Point Never) collaborated to form the first in what is to be a series of collaborative records released on the sonically adventurous Software Label.  Lopatin had been on my radar since his 2011 release of Replicas which I added to my Top Albums of 2011 as a late penalty.  Tim Hecker was an unknown to me at the time that Instrumental Tourist was released, but I have Software to thank for introducing me to his back catalog.  “Intrusions” is an awkwardly comforting cut and fold of the two producers’ visions.

*     *

36.  Sun Kil Moon – “UK Blues”

Among the Leaves

“UK Blues” is the height of humor on Sun Kil Moon’s Among the Leaves.  The entire album feels like a tour with Mark Kozelek name-dropping a city or cross-street at every turn, but it’s the constant take-offs and landings in “UK Blues” that make one feel like a sad stranger in a sad, strange land.  The song is a homesick yet hysterical travelogue through Europe: plane to hotel to show and repeat.  Kozelek sorrowfully groans, “London, London / It’s all the rage if your favorite color’s beige… / Look right, look left / makes me think of death.”  Bristol’s apparently made up of “Cobblestone streets, [and] people missing teeth.”  Each show he plays is a comedy of errors, be it a heckling crowd member at a small venue or playing new songs to an audience that only wants to hear Red House Painters’ early singles.  I’ve always wanted to see Great Britain, but this song has me second-guessing travel plans.

*     *

35.  Breakbot – “One Out of Two (feat. Irfane)″

By Your Side

What would happen if you trapped a French electro producer in a room for a month with Wonder Bread, Nutella, Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall and Hall & Oates’ Voices and then demanded that he record an album?  Likely a record like Breakbot’s By Your Side.  Breakbot puts a sugary spin on the end of disco and the beginning of 80s radio pop.  The lyrics are light and absurd but Irfane’s vocals and the snappy beat will have you dancing before you try and figure out why a robot needs potion to find love.

*     *

34.  Django Django – “Firewater”

Django Django

“Firewater” begins sounding almost identical to Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” before dissolving into a psychedelic folk song about the perils of getting totally sideways.  Vincent Neff adds a bit of humor with lines like “My liver’s up and left me / The devil thinks I’m great.”  Since their conception, Django Django have been compared the Beta Band and “Firewater” certainly validates the comparison in some ways: the heavy guitar strums and the slight echo of the layered vocal harmonies.  Drummer Dave Maclean also happens to be the younger brother of the Beta Band’s John Maclean which doesn’t help to separate the two bands.  Regardless of their sonic kinship to the Beta Band, Django Django can definitely stand on their own two feet and, in the case of “Firewater,” even if they’re hobbling.

*     *

33.  First Aid Kit – “Emmylou”

The Lion’s Roar

First Aid Kit’s “Emmylou” is plain and simple one of the cutest songs that I’ve heard all year.  Sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg celebrate the duets between Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons and June Carter and Johnny Cash, asking sweetly that their own little darling sing along.  The song is so purely sentimental that one forgets that both Parsons and Cash were junkies.  Oh well, I hope that I someday find a Kathleen to my Justin…that’s Kathleen Edwards and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).

*     *

32.  Sleigh Bells – “Crush”

Reign of Terror

Sleigh Bells’ “Crush” borders on Joan Jett-fueled arena rock.  Alexis Krauss’ delivery is her most anthemic and her empowered lyrics border on riot grrrl: “I’ve got a crush on… / I’ve gotta crush you now!”  In a way the album cover is perfect; there’s some blood on a cheerleader’s Keds, but who’s to say that it’s hers?  Where other songs on Reign of Terror were a little too much (think “True Shred Guitar”), “Crush” kicks just the right amount of ass.

*     *

26.  Beach House – “The Hours”

Bloom

“The Hours” is the first song to materialize out of the dreamy haze of Bloom and is certainly the closest thing to a single on the album.  It’s looping guitar and pleasantly redundant chorus need but a spin to ensnare the listener; however, like the album et al “The Hours” has an icy undercurrent.  The message of “The Hours” is cryptic.  A pair of “frightened eyes” are told in the same chorus that they will be protected and yet they shouldn’t have any care for their guardian.

Aside:  Because I could not understand exactly what was going on lyrically, I made up my own lyrics picturing Victoria Legrand on a crowded New York City subway: “Frotteurised / You’re looking right at me / Change your mind / Don’t rub against me.”

*     *

30.  Angel Haze – “Werkin’ Girls”

Reservation EP

It cannot be easy for a lesbian to permeate the rap industry, but if anybody’s made it look easy it’s Angel Haze.  It might be a little easier to envision given the aggressive tone of “Werkin’ Girls”; in the first verse she refers to herself as “Rambo” and admits that she’s trying to find an ass that she can put her foot in.  I wouldn’t stand in her way, particularly when she claims that “You niggas ’bout to be bitches / You bitches ’bout to be Casper” in the hook.

Aside:  I’m assuming that I would be crying in an ICU somewhere.

Her flow is as quick, funny and filthy as Lil Wayne and she’s got pair of stones that are bigger than mine.  Angel Haze has an unlikely formula that could see her rapidly climbing the rap ladder.

*     *

29.  Of Montreal – “Spiteful Intervention”

Paralytic Stalks

Of Montreal is a band that I listened to all the time in high school and college but hadn’t impressed me since 2007′s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?  To my chagrin Paralytic Stalks in 2012 was no exception (click here for my review).  The album which is heavily influenced by David Bowie circa 1980 registers as a bit of a flop, but lead singer Kevin Barnes makes an interesting meta-musical comment at the very end of “Spiteful Intervention”: “Lately all I can produce is psychotic vitriol / That really should fill me with guilt, but all I have is asthmatic energy.”  Barnes could definitely benefit from a breather, but his desperate chorus of “I spend my waking hours haunting my own life. / I made the one I love start crying tonight and it felt good!” is too memorable to dismiss.

*     *

28.  Death Grips – “Lock Your Doors”

NO LOVE DEEP WEB

I decided to picture the censored album cover for those of you who don’t feel like seeing a giant dick with Sharpie all over it.  In any event, NO LOVE DEEP WEB was the second LP that Death Grips released in 2012, the album that dissolved their contract with Epic.  “Lock Your Doors” is one of their most explosive beats with what sounds like the automated female self-destruct voice of sci-fi flicks in the background.  Stefan Burnett less raps than shrieks threats to those who are too stupid to lock their doors.  The song breeds paranoia in the listener and with good reason as Burnett goes as far as to yell “memento mori, dead man’s curve” in the middle of the track.  Just when I thought Death Grips couldn’t sound any more frightening…

*     *

27.  Action Bronson/Party Supplies – “Ron Simmons”

Blue Chips

Action Bronson is one of the most interesting rappers to emerge in the 2010s.  First of all, despite the fact that he makes a point of saying “Don’t ever say my fucking music sounds like Ghost’s shit!” Action Bronson sounds very much like Ghostface Killah.

Aside:  Action Bronson was actually featured on a Ghostface track called “Meteor Hammer” and hearing them on the same track is a strange experience; without paying close attention one  might not even realize that Action Bronson picks up a couple of bars after Ghost’s intro.

Action Bronson is also surprisingly white.  He looks like he could have been the third member of the pro-wrestling tag-team the Natural Disasters which makes the fact that he raps about pro-wrestler Ron Simmons (aka Faarooq) even more interesting.  Samples of old wrestling tape commentary play over a supremely funky beat compliments of producer Party Supplies.  All I can say is “Damn!”

*     *

31.  Julia Holter – “Goddess Eyes II”

Ekstasis

Ekstasis is an arresting album as a whole, but part of what makes “Goddess Eyes II” so tremendous is the fact that it seems to speak for the album as a whole.  Holter revisits the robotic chorus of “Goddess Eyes I”: “I can see you but my eyes are not allowed to cry,” however, this time the chorus is rich and human.  The electronic buzz is sublimated, the vocal loops and a warm keytar backbone allow the track to meander tonally, establishing something that’s not so much a song but an Ekstasis sampler.

Aside:  I discovered the music video for the song only a few weeks ago.  It’s a really inventive set and to confirm my suspicion Julia Holter does have gorgeous, green goddess eyes.

*     *

25.  Chairlift– “I Belong In Your Arms”

Something

Chairlift’s second album, a duo after Aaron Pfenning’s leave, shows a marked improvement over their debut, Does You Inspire You.  “I Belong In Your Arms” is a gushing love song that one would hardly expect on an album beginning with a song about a girl threatening to run over her ex on the sidewalk.  The harmony of “I Belong In Your Arms” echoes a-ha more than any other band and could easily be slid in between “Take On Me” and “Train Of Thought” on Hunting High And Low…that is if singer Caroline Polacheck could get an octave or two higher.

*     *

24.  Swans – “The Seer Returns”

The Seer

Swans’ “The Seer Returns” is an extremely visceral track.  After the 32-minute long title track, Gira growls the lyrics which flesh out the devilish creature that is The Seer: “He’s a greasy beast / Heaving in a field of sticky black mud.”  There’s also an awful lot of light going in and out of mouths and despite how mortified you might be of your destination, an anti-Earth on the verge of completely shattering, Gira and The Seer make you aware that “You have A-rrived!”

*     *

23.  Twin Shadow – “Golden Light”

Confess

The best way I’ve been able to describe Twin Shadow, alias of George Lewis, Jr.,  is Caribbean Phil Collins, although the album cover’s portrait of what could be the child of Prince and Phil Oakey is equally fitting.  “Golden Light” is a song that glimmers on an album that otherwise glows.  A warm wash of synth and ghostly marimba ushers in the initially brittle sounding Lewis over a pulsating beat.  The chorus hits the ground running and Lewis turns up the volume and strength of delivery.  Confess’ 80s pop/R&B pastiche is thusly reinforced and Twin Shadow’s own golden light shines that much brighter.

*     *

22.  Frank Ocean – “Pyramids”

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean’s debut, Channel Orange, won him universal accolades as one of the most impressive R&B (or should I say “Urban Contemporary”) records of the past decade.  While some of that praise is undoubtedly inflated, it’s difficult to argue to greatness of the ten-minute centerpiece “Pyramids.”  Ocean tells the story of a character “Cleopatra” in three separate lives: 1) his black queen, the Egyptian Pharaoh of lore to a dripping dance jam, 2) a modern-day exotic dancer who works at a club called The Pyramid, under the thumb of a pimp who sips champagne, over a sexy laid back burn, and 3) the same stripper seen from her unemployed boyfriend’s eyes.  The jam finally winds way down with some tricky reverse guitar work from John Mayer of all people.  Don’t ask me…

*     *

21.  Grizzly Bear – “Sleeping Ute”

Shields

As per usual Grizzly Bear has an incredible introductory track on their 2012 LP.  Shields begins with “Sleeping Ute” which sounds like a not-so-distant cousin of Jeff Buckley’s “So Real.”  Bear’s quirky time signature and Rossen’s dainty little riffs and finger-picking are at the forefront with jarring percussion at every turn.  “Sleeping Ute” forecasts much of what is to come on the album: angelic guitar work, fluid major to minor shifts and rich, sprawling soundscapes.

*     *

20.  Cheap Girls – “Gone All Summer”

Giant Orange

The opener of Giant Orange is a track that speaks to those who would feel like they could go on an endless bender for better or worse.  The narrator has “seen eleven days and thirty-six nights,” the exhaustive bender’s cycle that extinguishes more than sixty percent of daylight.  At first he doesn’t know when he’ll be due back around, but as the song goes on he’s not even sure if he’ll make it back to Earth; either way, he admits that it might “be for the greater good.”  It’s definitely a summer fun song to be sung with a beer in one hand and a burger in the other.  Enjoy responsibly!

*     *

19.  Jaill – “Perfect Ten”

Traps

Jaill failed to impress me with Traps but the album’s strongest track, “Perfect Ten,” is one of the most listenable songs of the year.  Most often Jaill sounds like a revved up rip of The dB’s, but “Perfect Ten” is  weighted in glam and 60s pop/rock.  The dorky narrator who has slipped into the “friend zone” wonders if he might be admitted back into his best female friend’s life as a lover.  Picture Marc Bolan wearing safety glasses.  The brief, warbling solo also achieves more than others on the album.

Aside:  If you’re into all things nasty, check out the nonsensical music video.

*     *

18.  Cloud Nothings – “No Future / No Past″

Attack On Memory

Cloud Nothings’ singer/songwriter Dylan Baldi immediately shows a maturation with Attack on Memory’s opening track “No Future / No Past.”  One half of the title rings true; if you hadn’t heard any of Cloud Nothings releases prior to Attack on Memory, their past would be almost unrecognizable.  The track functions like a palate-cleanser, but it’s a bitter cleanse.  Baldi sounds as though he’s experiencing sheer mental anguish as the track builds.  He finally explodes for the screamed chorus of “No future and no past!”  As for there being no future…well that’s likely a load if they continue to release albums this good.

*     *

17.  Mac DeMarco – “Cooking Up Something Good”

2

Mac DeMarco is clearly indebted to acts like Ariel Pink who are in turn clearly indebted to the grandfather of lo-fi, R. Stevie Moore, but that doesn’t change the fact that DeMarco’s eponymously titled second album is a lo-fi corker.  DeMarco playfully strums slightly off-key chords on “Cooking Up Something Good” and tells the story of a screwed up family that is reminiscent of R. Stevie Moore’s “Cool Daddio.”  In the case of “Cooking Up Something Good,” the narrator has a mother who can cook, a father who can cook meth and a brother in the ballet.

*     *

16.  Jessie Ware – “Wildest Moments”

Devotion

At a first listen of “Wildest Moments” all one hears is a wonderful pop song and a beautiful voice, but Jessie Ware’s “Wildest Moments” actually documents a dysfunctional relationship that some of us know all too well.  She sings in the chorus “Baby in our wildest moments / We could be the greatest , we could be the greatest / Baby in our wildest moments / We could be the worst of all.”  “Wild” isn’t always positive; there is the wild adventure and spontaneity of a healthy relationship as well as the wild fights and anxiety of those that are failing.  At the very beginning of the song Ware questions “Everyone must be wondering why we try / Why do we try?” and if you’ve ever ignored the writing on the wall in a relationship you’ll know exactly what she’s talking about.

*     *

15.  Kendrick Lamar – “Backstreet Freestyle”

good kid, mA.A.d city

“Backstreet Freestyle” is a track that is catchy as hell in spite of its intentionally juvenile delivery.  Imagine a teenage kid with some definite talent but an inordinate amount of gusto being told to rap over a beat.  In the case of “Backstreet Freestyle,” a young Kendrick Lamar begins by recalling the Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and goes on to outline the details of his own Dream; whereas the late Dr. King’s dream was righting social injustices in order to have all men (and women) regardless of color created equal, Kendrick dreams of having a penis as big as the Eiffel Tower.  The lyrics are totally silly and borderline blasphemous, but the ironic intent is what makes it so funny and sharp.  The same artist that talks about the importance of giving back to one’s city at the end of his debut album skillfully raps about the recurring themes of gangster rap in the tone of an aspiring adolescent: gun violence (lead showers), drugs (pills in the lobby), fast cars (Maseratis that vroom, VROOM!) and fast girls (with asses beyond measurement).

*     *

14.  Purity Ring – “Fineshrine”

Shrines

Purity Ring is another bright pop artist to emerge in the 2010s from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Stylistically the duo is similar to Grimes, but Purity Ring’s lyrics are intensely visceral in comparison.  On “Fineshrine,” the second single off of Shrines, singer Megan James coos: “Get a little closer, let fold / Cut open my sternum, and pull / My little ribs around you / The rungs of me be under, under you.”  Um, Megan, if you want a hug you can just ask…and usually it doesn’t require major surgery.  “Fineshrine” and the debut single, “Ungirthed,” released in 2011 almost propelled Shrines into my Top 12 albums of the year.

*     *

13.  John Talabot – “Destiny (feat. Pional)”

ƒIN

“Destiny” finds John Talabot paired up with kindred production spirit Pional and the result is magnificent.  Talabot has a gift for building tracks layer by layer.  What begins as a loop of muffled hoots at twilight ends up sparkling dance track that could double as a soundtrack for a romantic montage in an 80s action flick.  Towards the end of the song there is a refrain of “I’m destiny” and if Talabot’s multifaceted production continues to expand, he very well might be the destiny of IDM.

*     *

12.  Ty Segall – “Would You Be My Love”

Twins

Ty Segall was a busy man in 2012 releasing three LPs, one as “Ty Segall Band,” one as “Ty Segall and White Fence” and one as just plain old “Ty Segall.”  Like The Oh Sees, Ty Segall is a West-Coast, garage rock powerhouse (not Slaughterhouse like his grungy release this past year as TSB) who has effectively kept hot blood pumping through the veins of the genre despite the cold-blooded refrain of “Would You Be My Love;”  The narrator asks to be loved despite the fact that he and his lover  “are ghosts / Living in [their] heads / Waiting for the notice that [they] are dead.”

*     *

11.  Japandroids – “The Nights of Wine and Roses”

Celebration Rock

At the same time that Japandroids sound contemporary I can’t help but think of some of the bands that I would listen to endlessly in high school, particularly Piebald.  I’m sure that this is owed in part to there being a heartfelt sentiment which balances almost perfectly with energy and sense of humor.  “The Nights of Wine and Roses” is the first track of their second full-length, Celebration Rock, and it appropriately begins with fireworks.  The song represents all that plagues the unsure, unmarried, disaffected 20-30-somethings in an anthem: “Long lit up tonight, and still drinking. / Don’t we have anything to live for? / Well of course we do, but until it comes true / We’re drinking!”

“The Nights of Wine and Roses” encapsulates all of the anxiety of those individuals who frequently suspect that they are letting themselves fall prey to self-sabotage because of their non-compliance to social norms or their complacency regarding their “lost boys” mentality.  Either way the listener is more compelled to “yell like hell to the heavens” along with the band than sit back and mope.

*     *

10.  Andy Stott – “Luxury Problems”

Luxury Problems

Andy Stott’s Luxury Problems was one of the most exciting electronic releases of 2012 with one of the coolest album covers.  Stott beefed up his typically minimal, liquid production with the inclusion of samples of his former piano teacher’s vocals on his third album.  The wraith-like vocal samples create a phantasmagoric serenity on the title track.  Stott’s churning beat is made up of three underwater notes and what could be the gasp and collapse of an iron lung.  As the track progresses a loud chiming sample breaks through the surface at key points, jarring the listener…that is until they’ve heard the track enough times to not only anticipate, but look forward to the breakthrough.

*     *

9.  Fiona Apple – “Werewolf”

The Idler Wheel…

The sentiments expressed on “Werewolf” are indicative of the album as a whole.  Fiona is serious and bitter but there’s also a sense of humor in her analogies and an assumption of partial blame that are absent on tracks like “Johnathan,” the ex who can only utter sprinkles of hot piss.  Over some of the best piano work on The Idler Wheel, Fiona likens her presumable ex to a werewolf or a shark, but then again she admits to acting as a full moon and open wound to the former.

The song also ends with a rare, reassuring quip from Ms. Apple: “Nothing’s wrong when a song ends in a minor key.”  The song itself of course does end in a minor key, but the lyric also points to that rare break-up where the two parties can remain friends given some time to heal.  After all, the lines right before are “We can still support each other / All we gotta do’s avoid each other.”  That’s about as sunny as Fiona Apple gets.

*     *

8.  Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Only In My Dreams”

Mature Themes

Ariel Pink released his second “proper” album in 2012; Mature Themes is actually Ariel Pink’s tenth album, but he tried to make a clear delineation between 2011′s Before Today and those albums that he released prior.  What is the difference?  A more traditional approach to an “album.”

As one of the youngest fans of the R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club, Pink was used to sequencing or re-sequencing 20+ pop oddities for a record like his idol, and listeners be both pleased and damned.  Of course there were always more than a few lo-if gems, but there was typically a stretch of pop misfits that challenged the listener beyond the point listening.

Mature Themes is still an extremely bizarre record (think “Schnitzel Boogie”), but “Only In My Dreams” proves that Pink is capable of writing a traditional pop song.  The Byrds-like melody is a perfect complement for the sweet tale of a man who dreams up the perfect girl because love doesn’t come naturally to him.  Pink’s “Only In My Dreams” is his biggest achievement to date…at least off of his “first two” albums.

*     *

7.  Chromatics – “Lady”

Kill For Love

Chromatics’ “Lady” actually dates back to a 2008 demo which was, thank God, revamped for the release of Kill For Love in 2012.  The song begins with a pared down four-on-the-dark-disco-floor beat and some heavily processed guitar.  Ruth Radelet begins with “If I could only call you my lady / Baby, I could be your man,” which you’d swear you’ve heard somewhere before.

Aside:  I had this song on in the car some months ago when I was dropping my other off and she asked me “Oh, who’s this?”  I replied, “ ‘Lady’ by Chromatics.  It came out this year.“  She said, “No, I think this must be a cover of an older song.  I sat there for a minute and thought, “Shit.  ’Into the Black’ was a mock-up of Neil Young’s ‘Hey Hey, My My.’  Am I missing something?”  As it turns out those lyrics are original as far as I can tell, but Radelet sings some moments later “Wise men say / Only fools fall in love” which is clearly a turn of Elvis’ lyric on “Fools Rush In.”

After the third “Baby, I could be your man” the beat really gets funky.  The percussion picks up and a bass-slide which sounds as though it was pulled from Talking Heads’ “Once” in a Lifetime” gets thrown in the mix.  The slaps you awake and makes you want to dance which is one the reasons why I played it for three weeks straight on my way to work in the morning.  It woke me up, but my office is not a place for dancing.

*     *

6.  Lower – “Craver”

Walk On Heads EP

Lower is one of the punk acts to have sprung up in the unlikely city of Copenhagen, Denmark.  The four songs on their Walk On Heads EP all pack a wallop, but “Craver” is the pinnacle.  The song begins with two simple drum rolls, a shrieking guitar and a surprisingly crisp bass line.  Then a Molotov cocktail lands at your feet.   “Ignited by boredom.”  Singer Adrian Toubro’s violent yet desperate “craving for oxygen” in the chorus combined with the heft of the feedback laden guitar is enough to puncture a lung.  The pulsing drums of the breakdown and anti-solos sock you in the face like jabs at a speed bag. There isn’t a prescription inhaler on the market that could quell the choked anxiety of “Craver.”

*     *     *

5.  Death Grips – “Punk Weight”

The Money Store

“Punk Weight” is perhaps the track most indicative of Death Grips schizophrenically unpredictable sound.  It begins with what sounds like a Mumbai musical played on 2x speed before switching gears, or perhaps double-clutches to a heavy punk blast accented by shrill squeals.  Like one of rapper/yeller Stefan Burnett’s lyrics, “Punk Weight” spreads through you like wild fire.

It’s difficult to tell what is going on narratively in the song outside of the multiple meaning of “weight” (the beat’s heft, weapons one’s person and drugs), but that never seems to be much of the point with Death Grips.  There is no message per se, but instead an onslaught of words that when shouted together cause your head to bang and your lip to curl.  As a sharp spike in the album’s energy, it’s no wonder that Burnett feels like he’ll “never ever ever come down.”  By the time “Punk Weight” hits the listener is just as pumped as he is.

*     *     *

4.  Grimes – “Oblivion”

Visions

If Grimes did one thing in 2012 it was finding a sound that was totally different and totally accessible.  ”Oblivion,” the best track off of Visions, sounds like Mariah Carey collaborated with Depeche Mode and they were produced by Brian Eno (think the keys at the two-minute mark).  And the song grows on you with each listen.

Grimes told some interviewers that the dark lyrics are based on a physical assault that she experienced in Vancouver.  The song does begin with “I never walk about / After dark / It’s my point of view.”  With this in consideration, the upbeat nature of the song is flipped on its head, and “See you on a dark night” either suggests some prepared empowerment or a fatalistic acceptance.  Either way the track is strangely cathartic and vague enough for it to find a meaning with any listener.

*     *     *

3.  Mouse on Mars – “They Know Your Name”

Parastrophics

Mouse on Mars came out with Parastrophics, the first of two releases in 2012, after a six year hiatus.  MoM has always forged new ground in the realm of electropop and Parastrophics is no exception; tracks like “Wienuss” and “They Know Your Name” incorporate elements of hip-hop, previously uncharted territory for the duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma.

The latter is a funky, thumping track which initially evokes Daft Punk’s name-dropping homage “Teachers.”  It’s quite possibly as pop accessible as Mouse on Mars have ever been.  Heavily processed vocals call out the names of random people that supposedly “know your name,” but after doing some light research it would appear that they don’t exist.  Of course, none of that matters when you have a beat that could jumpstart a Mack truck.

Aside:  This remix set to video implies the Mouse on Mars might even know electropop music at a microbiological level.

*     *     *

2.  Tame Impala – “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”

Lonerism

There is only one song on this list that exceeded 150 spins in 2012, a testament to both its superior listenability and my lack of self-control; that song is Tame Impala’s awesome “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.”  As I put in my Top Albums of 2012 article, “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” is a song that neo psych-poppers dream about writing.  Parker sounds eerily akin to the iconic John Lennon in his echoed vocals, the bassline is arguably as trippy as anything McCartney plucked from 1966-67 and the wasted-at-the-kit drum fills are enough to convince you that you’ve been dosed.  What’s miraculous is how the song is innovative in spite of its obvious homage to The Beatles.  Like the narrator who hears his named being called by his beloved in his head all day, it’s nigh impossible to get this track out of your head once it’s in there.

*     *     *

1.  Sharon Van Etten – “Give Out”

Tramp

At this point in the list, one will likely be surprised and certainly fatigued.  I myself was confused and ill-prepared when certain third parties who were privy to this list when it began (on DECEMBER 10th!!) approached me with, “So Sharon Van Etten’s number one, huh?”  These inquiries were usually followed with some combination of the following:

“Why, because you have some sort of crush on her?” – I can’t dismiss this entirely, but if this list were heavily populated by pop crushes, there would have been some other choice names, which I will not be disclosing for their peace of mind and my own, on this list with releases in 2012.

“Why, because you had an interview with her?” – I did have the pleasure of trading emails for a week with Ms. Van Etten by way of her PR rep, but there were other artists whom I interviewed this past year which all had tracks in the running for the Top 52 but were unfortunately ousted by the aforementioned 51.

“Is it really your most-played track of 2012?” – No, I just told you what that was and to be honest, I listened to a number of the tracks above more than “Give Out.”  But great songs aren’t always the ones you play the most.

So why am I so adamant that “Give Out” is the best track of 2012?  After much contemplation, it’s the affecting lyrics, their songwriter’s delivery and personal resonance.  Sharon Van Etten sings “Give Out” with the same heartache and self-doubt revealed in the lyrics to create something that is sad, beautiful and honest.  “Give Out” was all the more powerful live even though her overall presentation was surprisingly light.

What’s the personal business?  I happen to travel regularly back and forth to what everyone in New York State refers to as “The City”…New York City, the city that Ms. Van Etten now coincidentally calls home.  I continually second-guess my refusal to take chances and my somewhat complacent failure to launch.  I always said that I would never live in New York City, but I can no longer say that considering the potential opportunity to be had in a place where some of those closest to my heart live (one in particular)…not to mention the innumerable concert venues!  I’m not by any means saying I have my heart set on moving to New York City, but I do recognize that both “moving” and “leaving” are integral parts of growth.

And with that, I hope you appreciate those tracks which I have left in and don’t abhor me for those tracks which I have intentionally or unintentionally left out…

*     *     *

That’s another year in the books and I will no doubt disagree with the order and selection as soon as I hit “Publish,” but that’s per the norm.  I have to humbly beg your pardon, once again, for a year-end list being released in February of the following year.  But for the numerous recommendations that were made to me throughout the year and some editorial revisions from my generous girlfriend, once again, I compiled a top tracks list unassisted…and as you might be able to imagine, it takes a long, long time.  As sad as it is to say it, this will likely be my last top tracks article unless I can get some help at this year’s end or I decide to abbreviate the list to the point where such a small minority of tracks are honored.  I may instead highlight tracks throughout the year so that I don’t have this hulking project breathing down my neck when I’m busiest in my personal and professional life.  Either way, I hope you enjoyed it!

Year-end articles always seem rather arbitrary and questionably pointless, but one thing is for certain…this year-end article is late.  It’s already the fourth week of January 2013!  To make the list even more arbitrary I decided to do the Top 12 of 2012 (I did the Top 11 of 2011 last year) and you can expect the Top 52 Tracks of 2012 soon.  I refuse to make honorable mentions as that defeats the purpose.  I hope that you deem this article worthy of reading despite its tardy release.

Aside:  The delay is a product of a number of factors: my busy season at work, the holidays, sloth, alcohol and frequent writer’s block to name a few.  One thing that I can say about this list is that it does contemplate the entire year in music whereas most music publications have their year-end lists done by the last week in November.  I was listening to new music straight through the third week in December while higher profile music zines were hashing out who was going to review February 2013 releases.

Initially, 2012 seemed like a 40 watt bulb of a year in music.  Then I started to compile my year-end lists some weeks ago (more weeks than originally anticipated).  I was stunned to discover that I had 40+ albums flagged for the Top 12 slots (a number of which are pictured above) and well over 600 songs to be narrowed down to the Top 52 tracks (dozens and dozens of other records not pictured).

There were more than a few surprises this year.  Montreal, Quebec turned out to be the new indie pop capitol of the world whereas Copenhagen, Denmark kept punk’s embers bellowed.  Cat Power got a bit sunnier and The Magnetic Fields returned to synth.  Lo-fi legends like Sebadoh and Guided by Voices both released records (three for the latter).  Frank Ocean came out and likely doubled his album sales as a result.  Animal Collective defied hipster logic by releasing and album that was only average.  Dexys Midnight Runners reformed as Dexys and put out a decent record after almost three decades of silence.  Post-rock became seriously cool again (as if it ever slipped into obsolescence).  Rap & Hip-Hop had strong releases on the West Coast, East Coast and the South.  European pop artists sounded more American and American pop artists sounded more European.

All in all it’s encouraging that 2012 was not nearly as dismal a year in music as I thought it was and these twelve records are irrefutable evidence.  Enjoy!

*     *     *

12.  Glacial – On Jones Beach

3 Lobed

Glacial is an impressively eclectic trio: Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo on guitar, The Necks’ Tony Buck on drums and Highland Bagpipes’ contributor David Watson on, well, bagpipes.  The fact that this album is dominated by a 48-minute track, it’s an instrumental and bagpipes are involved might immediately sound like a kitschy experiment but rest assured, On Jones Beach transcends the realm of mere novelty.

Glacial makes total sense when broken down by musician.  Ranaldo has been an inventive and influential guitar guru alongside Thurston Moore in one of the most important bands of the past three decades.  Buck has exhibited his percussive fortitude in numerous mile-long productions with The Necks.  David Watson, aside from being an accomplished bagpiper, co-founded Braille Records which championed the experimental music scene of New Zealand. Three pieces to a strange and yet fitting puzzle and so Glacial’s success with On Jones Beach should not come as a surprise.  This album, though a bit of a commitment at first, is one of the more impressive instrumentals in recent memory.

Click here for my full review.

*     *     *

11.  John Talabot - ƒIN

Permanent Vacation

The album title and the artist’s last name (despite “John” vs. “Jean”) had me assuming an early 2000′s Parisian house throwback.  Barcelona’s John Talabot does incorporate elements of house in his debut, ƒIN, however it is far from sounding dated.  The musical chronology is intentionally skewed with track titles like “Destiny” (implying future), “When the Past Was Present” and “So Will Be Now…”

Talabot, like some of his other talented, contemporary electronic genre-benders in Sepalcure and Memory Tapes, savvily blends deep house, world music, disco, funk, club and dub-steppy indie pop into one easy-to-swallow pill.  ƒIN may be the most inappropriate title for John Talabot’s debut as it is about as strong a beginning as anyone could hope for.

Click here for my full review.

*     *     *

10.  Flying Lotus – Until the Quiet Comes

Warp

Great-nephew of John and Alice Coltrane, Steven Ellison, alias Flying Lotus, has once again successfully melded hip hop, electronica and jazz among other genres to create a sound that would be entirely his own if he wasn’t being aped by other contemporary Left-Field Hip-Hoppers.  Until the Quiet Comes is just as complex and engaging as his bombastic Cosmogramma, but far less aggressive in its presentation. Whereas Cosmogramma tasers its listeners, Until subdues.

Until the Quiet Comes is an album shrouded in mystique.    Numerous spins answer some questions but reveal countless others.  Its moodiness and wide range of genre exploration, instrumentation and tonality assure it a spot as one of the most impressive albums of this year, and though some fans of Cosmogramma might find Until to be a “retreat record,” it would be difficult to argue its enhanced accessibility over the former.

Click here for my full review.

*     *     *

9.  Swans – The Seer

Young God

Swans’ second studio record after nearly fifteen years of silence, The Seer, is a terrifying spectacle.  No Wave pioneer, post-rock perfectionist and Swans’ multi-instrumental frontman Michael Gira creates an album that is both representative of Swans’ oeuvre and yet never once feels like a cheap revisitation.  Gira growls “I see it all!” again and again in the title track and The Seer is evidence of his panoramic view of a thirty year career in music.

The Seer spans two hours of sadomasochistic wonder (durationally reminiscent of 1996′s Soundtracks for the Blind) and reinforces Gira’s penchant for grotesquely visceral lyrics and pitting gorgeously diverse instrumentation against pummeling percussion.  Opener “Lunacy” prepares the listener for a warped sermon with its Gregorian-like chanting compliments of Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker.  Five minutes of panted gasps in “Mother of the World” and the title track, which is an expansively dark, instrumental parfait, affirm the suspicion of a mass in the nether-realm, or perhaps an exorcism in progress.  Following the title track, “The Seer Returns” is the strongest “song” on the album; “The Seer Returns,” “The Daughter Brings the Water” and “Song For a Warrior,” a pretty folk song with guest vocals by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O. (Gira’s feminine cipher), are the self-contained minorities on an album dominated by tempestuous sonic maelstroms.

What makes The Seer so fantastic is that it is as listenable as any record on this list while simultaneously dwarfing them in length and aiming to go as far as sound can to puncture an eardrum and then apply a healing salve.   The coda “Apostate” could core one’s brain, but the heart of the record, and perhaps Gira’s artistic vision, seems to be embodied by the sweetly sung conclusion to “Song For a Warrior”: “destroy…then begin again.”  The Seer, album and beast, sees everything, but a large part of what it sees is innumerable sonic constructs, leveling and reconstruction.

*     *     *

8.  Death Grips – The Money Store

Epic

The first time that I listened to The Money Store I wasn’t sure whether or not I should be laughing or cowering in fear.  TMS was the first time I was exposed to Death Grips and their sound was unlike anything I’d ever heard and admittedly not at all inviting at first.  Music critics have attempted to arbitrarily classify them; DG have been referred to as punk rap, rap rock, avant rap.  The common denominator seems to be rap which is likely a product of vocalist Stefan Burnett going by MC Ride and his occasionally rhyming lyrics.  Sacramento’s Death Grips, put simply, combine the incendiary howling of Burnett and the spastic electronic production/percussion of Andy Morin and Zach Hill.  With their uniquity of sound and tortuous MO, Death Grips is the first musical artist since Rage Against the Machine that has me scratching my head and asking myself why are they so angry, what do they want and why do I like it so much?

Death Grips’ first release, the Exmilitary mix-tape, was enough to grab the attention of Epic Records of all labels.  The Money Store was the first of two studio albums recorded while they were signed to Epic in 2012.  It starts fast with “Get Got” and by the time you reach “Hustle Bones” it’s a full on sprint from one great track to another.  The pace is broken briefly by “The Cage” before the awesome “Punk Weight” which accelerates once again.  The album concludes with “Hacker,” a track where Burnett aggressively barks “I’m in your area!” and there’s no doubt of his pride in successful infiltration.

Infiltration seems to play a part in Death Grips’ cryptic agenda.  After all, they were able to infiltrate the commercial music industry using Epic.  As mentioned previously, Death Grips had an Epic contract.  The band cancelled touring dates  in 2012 to record their second album to Epic’s (and fans’) chagrin.  When Epic told them that they had a number of grievances with the album’s material and pushed its release date out into 2013, Death Grips leaked the new album entitled NO LOVE DEEP WEB on the internet, complete with a cover showing an erect penis with the title written on it in Sharpie, along with the disclosure of personal emails between the artist and Epic executives.  Needless to say contracts were breached, ties were severed and not at all amicably.

What’s interesting is that Death Grips, though havoc-obsessed, have remained committed to their craft aesthetically and seem unfazed by the response to their actions which could ultimately strangle their commercial existence.  There is something be said for this bizarre zeal, but I’m at a loss for words.  It would likely take a creature with a enough hands to fill a room with middle fingers.

*     *     *

7.  Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

Constellation

The announcement of a new record, ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, came as a total surprise months ago as Godspeed You! Black Emperor hadn’t released an album in a decade!  The album’s first track, “Mladic,” begins with a sampled vocal loop “With his arms outstretched!” immediately exemplifying the album’s reach and engaging the listener.  If any track exhibits ascension it’s “We Drift Like Worried Fire” which is arguably Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s best work to date.  “We Drift…” is another world to attentively immerse oneself in, a track that climbs, plateaus, climbs, rests and then bounds.

The greedy listener may wish for a third gargantuan closer, but it might be overkill for an LP.  Where other post-rockers may find themselves meandering during longer tracks, the well-seasoned Godspeed You! Black Emperor present two cohesive epics and two contemplative segues.  For a band that had laurels to rest on,‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! acts as a down comforter.  If GY!BE never release another record they have nothing to apologize for, but if they choose to continue to record and release, godspeed and God bless.

Click here for my full review.

*     *     *

6.  Beach House – Bloom

Sub Pop

Beach House have come a long way since the sincere yet immature Casio-under-the-blanky dream pop of their self-titled debut.  Don’t get me wrong, the Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have always been charming, but it wasn’t until their third album, Teen Dream (not to be confused with the shitty Katy Perry song “Teenage Dream”), that they established themselves an indie pop powerhouse.  Fans were equally excited and petrified at the prospect of a new album’s release.

Despite the skeletal beat of synth maracas and cowbell in the album’s first seconds, Bloom begins with one of their grandest achievements to date in “Myth.”  Once again working with co-producer Chris Coady, Beach House are able to build on the sound that they established on Teen Dream and the songs reach out as opposed to hugging themselves tightly which was indicative of their earlier work.  Scally’s plucked arpeggios cascade and twinkle on “Myth” like innumerable patterned stars which makes the album cover’s simple beauty seem totally appropriate.  In typical Beach House fashion they bury heartache in lines like “You came rolling down the cheek / You say just what you need” below the shimmering pop surface.  Legrand asks a few seconds later “What comes after this momentary bliss?” almost rhetorically and likely in reference to a specific relationship, but taken in the context of the album and its songs, the bliss of “Myth” is not fleeting–it permeates the album.

Unlike Teen Dream, Bloom is an album that lacks “singles” or immediate snares like “Zebra” and “Walk in the Park.”  Bloom is an instance of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts; it plays like an album, not a collage of songs.  Though after repeated listens, Bloom’s dreamy pop glow that first allowed listeners’ to get comfortably lost in gives way to lyrical recognition and hum-worthy hooks that seemingly come out of nowhere.  Like delicate flowers, these tracks bud, blossom and bloom given some time.

“Wild,” “Other People” and “The Hours” continue in the same wondrous yet subliminally melancholic vein of “Myth.”  All three tell tales of sorrow obscured by their rich harmonic cover-ups.  The narrator of “Wild” is rescued from a troubled home by a friend only to realize that it is impossible to pretend that the home isn’t waiting for their eventual return.  “Other People” recounts the inevitability of losing touch with old friends at first apathetically but then becomes accusatory when someone’s efforts to maintain a friendship are never “quite enough.”  The message of “The Hours,” the track which most resembles a single, is confusing; a pair of “frightened eyes” are told in the same chorus that they will be protected and yet they shouldn’t have any care for their guardian.

“Wishes” may be an important clue to solving to the emotional conundrum that is Bloom.  In the song the wishes are on a wheel.  At the very top of the wheel one might convince oneself that their wish is to be granted without question, but as soon as the wheel is set in motion there is no way to answer “How’s it supposed to feel?” because a moment later one’s wish would be beneath the wheel.  Mathematically speaking, if a wish were a fixed point on a wheel in motion and its pattern were to be graphed, it would be sinusoidal, representing the emotional peaks and valleys of everyday life.  But, Legrand goes on to sing “One in your life. / It happens once and rarely twice.” which suggests that this wheel may have only one go-round, denying the inherently cyclical nature of its subject.

Aside:  Like you, I’ve grown tired of my review/summary turned pretentious dissertation on the record and so I will attempt to provide a brief conclusion complete with a stupid simile which came to me by way of being a car owner in the wintry Northeast.

Like the refrain of “Irene,” Bloom is very much a “strange paradise.”  It plays like warm breath against the interior of a cold windshield, slowly forming a panorama of frosted foliage backlit by a night sky.

*     *     *

5.  Grizzly Bear – Shields

Warp

In 2009 Grizzly Bear could have boasted (if they weren’t such humble guys) to be one of the only “do-no-wrongs” to emerge in the 2000s music scene, an era of numerous successful debuts and subsequent failures to launch. Grizzly Bear’s fourth album, Shields, had fans tweaking with ached anticipation.  Would the new album potentially risk indie rock credibility and become a “sell-out” record dominated by poppy fare?  After all, “Two Weeks” found its way onto college bar soundtracks a few years ago sandwiched in between MGMT’s “Electric Feel” and Animal Collective’s “My Girls.” Shields isn’t challenging per se, but it certainly doesn’t have a one-spin snare like “Two Weeks.”  This, however, should not discourage the listener.

Shields is an album that builds on itself with multiple listens.  At first it might seem like an average rock record, but a few listens through and one will notice innumerable production intricacies.  As per usual, Grizzly Bear has an incredible introductory track.  Shields begins with “Sleeping Ute” which sounds like a not-so-distant cousin of Jeff Buckley’s “So Real.”  Bear’s quirky time signature and Rossen’s dainty little riffs and finger-picking are at the forefront with jarring percussion at every turn.  “Sleeping Ute” forecasts much of what is to come on the album: angelic guitar work, fluid major to minor shifts and rich, sprawling soundscapes.

Like their awesome intros, Grizzly Bear is also wont to have epic finales (think of the wondrous monument “Colorado” at the end of Yellow House).  “Sun in Your Eyes” is a testament to Grizzly Bear’s ability to build a song from a simple piano chord progression and snare-tick to an absolutely grandiose ballad.  “So bright / So long / I’m never coming back,” the lyrics backed by the staccato piano boom with all the power of an Icarus death-cry; but unlike Icarus, Grizzly Bear’s wings don’t melt away and they instead soar off like a shrinking spec into a distant, blinding light.  Shields isn’t indie rock perfection, but it’s the closest that anyone has gotten in some time.  It is well-orchestrated, well-executed and well, worthy of your attention.

Click here for my full review.

*     *     *

4.  Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city

Interscope

Kendrick Lamar’s debut received so much hype that it became a record that I wanted to hate on just because.  After all, hipsters can be entirely vindictive when an album earns nigh universal acclaim; and it’s also tough to sit back and passively listen to analogies being made to Nas’ Illmatic (my favorite rap album) when the new kid in question only has a few mix-tapes under his low-riding belt.  Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, I realized putting this album down out of spite would not only be vindictive, it would be downright stupid.

good kid, m.A.A.d city allows the listener the unique opportunity to grow up with the artist.  The album’s subtitle is “A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar” which is fitting as the short skits and voice mails which bookend the tracks build a film-like narrative.  good kid starts with a junior year Kendrick with one thing on the brain (the same thing that plagues most teenage male minds), in his case Sherane.  “Backstreet Freestyle” two tracks later is incredibly catchy in spite of the fact that it intentionally sounds like a talented kid reclaiming the most ubiquitous rap tropes of money, drugs and women.

Kendrick’s tone matures on tracks like “Peer Pressure” and “Swimming Pools (Drank).”  Without paying much attention the songs sound like a thug heist and crunk track respectively, but delving slightly below the surface reveals that the narrator, though flawed, is really just a good kid who has been thwarted by his friends and hometown image.  The real message isn’t revealed until “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” and “Real.”  Twelve minutes long, “Sing About Me” begins with an elegy for a fallen brother and ends with an elderly matriarch leading a group of young men in prayer, urging the spiritually parched to abandon their anger.  “Real” finishes off with a stern voice mail from the father character; being “real” isn’t about vengeance, “Real is responsibility.  Real is takin’ care of your mother-fuckin’ family.  Real is God.”

The album’s swan song “Compton” features the one and only Dr. Dre.  The beat finds Dre at his best (complete with the vocal filter of 2Pac’s West Coast classic “California Love”) and carries all the energy of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.”  At the same time that it’s a hometown track which reinforces the positive message of giving back to one’s city, a torch-passing is referenced and it’s clear that Dr. Dre endorses Compton’s new young prince.  good kid, m.A.A.d city is an amalgamation of young libido, Domino’s pizza (“Did somebody say Dominoes???”), liquor, tragedy, hope and faith.  Although this debut doesn’t top The D.O.C.’s No One Can Do it Better, Biggie’s Ready to Die, Nas’ Illmatic, Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, blah blah blah…Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city is an instant classic.

*     *     *

3.  Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…

Epic

If you told me ten years ago that I would ever own a Fiona Apple record I would have likely shrugged it off.  If you told me ten years ago that I would not only own one of her records but also place it in the top three records for that year AND spend a good amount of money to see her in concert I would have laughed in your face (if I chose to be so nice).  I never disliked Fiona Apple.  I liked her radio singles, or at least “Sleep to Dream” and “Criminal.”  I thought she was cute in that dark, wafey, possibly evil but probably just repeatedly heartbroken pixie sort of way.  I was unsure as to why she thought the world was “bullshit” but was “cool with” me anyway.  Basically, I was twelve-years-old and confused in 1997.

I heard the radio singles a few years later from When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts, but only in passing as I had literally tuned out all but two radio stations and embraced what was then glowingly referred to as Alternative Rock.  Fiona took six years to make her third album, Extraordinary Machine, and I was none-the-wiser.  I purchased The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (**gasp, deep breath**) after numerous recommendations from friends.  It was no wonder that the name Fiona Apple seemed like a musical relic; The Idler Wheel… came seven years after its last release that I never even knew existed.  I hadn’t heard the name Fiona Apple since 1999!  Shame on me.

With The Idler Wheel, Fiona Apple once again defied the short-term memory of pop music fans by taking her/a very long time to assemble a record and remain relevant.  She was also brave enough to strip the instrumentation down to her [wonderful] voice, piano and percussion compliments of Charley Drayton.  It’s so bare that songs like “Periphery” are accented by foot-scrapes for a beat…and she sounds better than she ever has!  When I saw her in concert some months ago, she  bounded across the stage like a possessed nymph, a singer/songwriter dynamo in a 90 lb. frame.

Aside:  Please eat, Fiona.  I worry.

As with her previous releases, Fiona Apple’s real talent is the ability to deliver gut-wrenching tales of heartache with the raw grace of her voice, but The Idler Wheel allows one to focus more on her sometimes poignant and other times darkly funny lyrics.  She pleads “Don’t let me ruin me.  I may need a chaperon!” on “Daredevil,” a quirky cry for help.  On “Jonathan” Fiona sings “You’re like the captain of a capsized ship.  But, I like watching you live.”  Jonathan must have been a real douchebag.

Fiona admits “I could liken you to a werewolf the way you left me for dead, but then again I provided a full moon.” in the first line to “Werewolf.”  On “Every Single Night” she sings “I-I-I-I-I-I just wanna fee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eel everything,” but it’s clear that she wants her listener to feel it all too.  And they will.  Listening to this album six months after its release has me realizing that Fiona’s still the hot knife to my butter.

*     *     *

2.  Grimes – Visions

4AD

Montreal native, Claire Boucher, released her third LP as Grimes this year on the ever-growing, (seemingly) do-no-wrong British label 4AD.  Visions is Grimes’ most cohesive and impressive work to date and shows a limitless potential for the one-woman operation.

In an interview with, um, Interview Magazine, Boucher dubs her work “post-internet” as opposed to limiting her sound to a genre or genres.  Boucher explains that she and her age demographic were exposed to myriad pop stimuli in the “age of the internet” and so there is an inherent ubiquity to her sound.  Grimes does pull from anywhere and everywhere. At a first listen, Visions is poppy, silly and sensually chilling.  The second and third listens plant hooks in your ears and you pick up on little, pop Easter eggs that you likely never noticed before.  Boucher cites a handful of inspirations in the interview: “crap like” Disney soundtracks, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey among others.  The Mariah Carey is obvious in the sometimes shrill but beautiful range on tracks like “Circumnambient” and “Skin,” though it sounds like Carey collaborated with Gary Numan and Depeche Mode.

Visions doesn’t have a single track to apologize for.  2012 ushered in a new pop/terminator princess!  If you don’t believe me listen to “Oblivion.”

Click here for my full review.

*     *     *

1.  Tame Impala – Lonerism

Modular

Tame Impala are likely to be written off by some as pointless late 60s psychedelic regurgitators.  There are [at least] two critical camps involved:

1)  Those who would reference Tame Impala as a “revivalist” band.  Revivalism is a pejorative genre which implies that there is little or no creativity associated with the mimicking or replication of sound with modern technology, filters and instrumentation.  Bands branded as revivalists have a critical credibility just exceeding that of a cover band.

2)  Those who would reference Tame Impala as a “neo-psychedelic pop/rock” band.  These critics recognize the obvious homage but appreciate how the artist is able to bend the sound or put their own aesthetic spin on the music.

I belong to the second camp.

At first their second LP, Lonerism, does sound as though it could have been pulled out of a time capsule from the late 60s; however, to chalk Tame Impala up as cheap imitators would be wrong.  There is something to be said for emulation versus imitation and the modern effects, multi-layered production and mixing of the record are proof that although Tame Impala may be tipping a very heavy hat at times, they are no Beatles cover band.  Sure, Lonerism is an unmistakable throwback to 60s psychedelia, but songwriter and lead singer, Kevin Parker, is a very capable songwriter and he has excelled beyond some of the guitar-heavy plodders on his debut, Innerspeaker.

Though Tame Impala is a three-piece, Kevin Parker started the whole production on his own and is the purposely isolated mastermind behind the band.  His inclusion of synth on Lonerism is an integral part of Tame Impala’s sonic evolution.  Where the debut felt like John Lennon was at the helm of a British Invasion band turned Prog-Rock, the focus on synth and subsequently more balanced melodies assist Parker in establishing a Fab Four sound (namely McCartney’s influence) as a Fab One.  Lonerism was also mixed once again by production guru and founder of Mercury Rev, David Fridmann.  The result is a modern masterpiece.

The lead-off track “Be Above It” breathes new life into the lungs of psych pop, albeit spastic breaths.  The refrain of “Gotta be above it!” becomes the backbone to the beat and despite Parker’s Lennon Revolver-era delivery, the track could not have existed in 1966; the looped undercurrent is too modern.  In a similar fashion “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?” owes its sound as much to The Beatles as it does to The Strokes.

Like the debut album, Lonerism also radiates a feeling of estrangement, but it isn’t the same exact feeling expressed on Innerspeaker‘s “Solitude is Bliss”: “There’s a party in my head and nobody’s invited.”  Parker is quite content to be lost in his own mind but the listener is compelled to climb between his ears invitation or not.

“Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” is a song that neo psych-poppers dream about writing.  Parker sounds eerily akin to John Lennon in his echoed vocals.  This of course would give some credence to those revivalist critics mentioned above, but screw them.  ”Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” is a corker.  Like the narrator who hears his named being called by his beloved in his head all day, it’s nigh impossible to get this track off your brain.

Aside:  I’m an admitted psych-pop shill; a frequent revisitor of period Quicksilver Messenger Service, Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Electric Prunes and a the neo-psych of the Elephant 6 Collective and the like, but “Feels Like We Only Going Backwards” is the best psychedelic track since The Apples in Stereo’s “Strawberryfire” and has warranted over 150 listens in the past six months!

The organ on separated pair of “Keep On Lying” and “She Just Won’t Believe Me” evoke a bit of The Zombies’ Odyssey & Oracle, the latter reminiscent of “Butcher’s Tale.”  ”Elephant” is a mercilessly catchy blues chug that could have been on the A-Side of Abbey Road before “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”  The song’s character tries to portray himself as a big swinging [trunk] who “pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac / ’cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back” and yet humorously ends up crying as soon as somebody grabs his collar.

There is a brief sample on “Nothing That Has Happened So Far” where a girl asks a guy “Hey, what are you doing up here?” to which he replies “Thinking about everything at once.”  In a way that’s a perfect fit because Lonerism is a trippy reflection of decades of music, and like every good trip the album ends with the sun coming up and a sleepy haze.

With Lonerism, Tame Impala has produced the most compelling neo-psych pop experiment since The Olivia Tremor Control’s awesome Dusk at Cubist Castle.

*     *     *

So that wraps up albums in 2012.  Some readers will likely find the list predictable, but I hope that a handful of you take away at least one or two tips and give them a listen.  As I mentioned previously, there were a bunch of records that were very close and given the time and energy I might have even considered writing about them.  That being said, you’ll likely find songs off of those albums that just missed the cut on my forthcoming Top 52 Tracks of 2012.  With any luck I’ll have it done by June…just kidding…I hope!

There is no question that this distaste was born and continues to be exacerbated by those choice radio stations that play only Christmas music from Turkey Day until the blessed Mass of Christ.  I had a friend in high school who insisted on blasting Christmas-only music radio stations in his car for weeks with the unnecessary heat blasting even harder.  Even songs that I don’t hate, like “Christmas Wrapping” by  The Waitresses, churn up memories of profuse sweating in late November.

In dissecting this yuletide revulsion I have also noticed, oddly enough, that those albums which do manage to get me in the Christmas spirit are all produced by artists with decalibrated moral compasses.  Let us visit three Christmas albums which I do enjoy and the artists/producers behind them.

Luciano Pavarotti’s O Holy Night (1997) has been a family favorite for a number of years.  1997 was only a few years after my parents sold the turntable that used to rest in our living room hutch and purchased a CD player and speaker set for our family room.  Pavarotti’s rich tenor is backed by the spritely vocals of the Wandsworth Boys Choir and the fact that the lyrics are sung operatically and partially in Italian make for a entirely cathartic experience.  I have listened to this album so many times that I can tell you when Pavarotti falls barely flat, or point out the boom from the upturned microphone in “Panis Angelicus.”

Luciano Pavarotti was a generous philanthropist who supported several non-profit organizations.  He was also, despite his rotundity, a notorious womanizer who dumped his first wife for his personal assistant.   Come his passing it was discovered that his first wife was written out of his will entirely.  I suppose she could have been a mega bitch…

Bing Crosby is for many the voice of Christmas (unless of course it’s Frank Sinatra who was another bastard).  Crosby’s White Christmas (1949) was the album that played on the aforementioned turntable during Christmas time.  There is no denying the splendor of Crosby’s velvety croon and I find it highly unlikely that there will ever be a recording of “White Christmas” that will top his.

There are, however, multiple accounts from his children that the quintessential patriarch used to beat the living shit out of his kids and so Christmas was more likely red at the Crosby residence.  His absence of emotion also played a part in his first wife’s development of a drinking problem.  His one son, Gary, was most vocal about the horror that was adolescence in the Crosby household in a published memoir.

Finally, the man behind the “Wall of Sound”: Phil Spector and his immaculate 1963 A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector.  I know that I said that I hate pop artists covering Christmas classics, but The Ronettes, Crystals and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans are Brill Building pop stars from a bygone era.  Thus, the covers have a proto-R&B charm to them accented by Spector’s production genius.

But, let’s start with the cover.   I would love to see the modern PC reaction to three African American groups standing in presents as though they themselves are gifts.  Now that we have that out of the way, there is the more recent, obvi0us charge against Mr. Spector: murder in the second degree.  After two trials, Phil Spector was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in his California home.  He is currently serving a sentence of 19-years to life in prison, a term which he should have been served for his egregious fashion during the trial itself.

*     *     *

A very Merry Christmas to all of you and yours!  That of course is not meant to alienate those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, and so Happy Holidays to the rest of you that have likely already celebrated!  And I leave you with a gift to you from the Self-Hating Hipster!

Phil Spector’s Wall of Hair.