My Favorite Songs of 2013 - 2014

Didn't do one last year, so this one's twice as nice.

Can't Do Without You -- Caribou

When I hear this song, I think of this graph.



A rocket launch to the exosphere.  Bob can't do it.


All Under One Roof Raving -- Jamie xx

I don't really understand any of it.  But parts of it are magical.




Picture You -- The Amazing

A delicate little thing, gray and misty.  The faint aroma of smoldering leaves wafting in over the hills.





A Simple Design -- The Juan Maclean 

Commence boogie.



When the chorus comes back at 5:54, the song seals its place in my heart.


I'm Flexible -- Torn Hawk

Playful, twinkling, noisy.  Melting ice cream.



 
Platinum Blonde -- Lockah

Smoove 80s groove.




Lies -- Chvrches

Just the right amount of dark anthemic electro stomp.  Their other songs are a little bubblegum-y to me.



I much prefer this video to the official one.  I've always had a soft spot for videos that are straightforward live performances of songs and the way they tend to enhance the music rather than distract you with whatever pretentious theme the video director came up with.  How else would you notice little things like the way color kicks in at the start of the first chorus.  And the t-shirt on the guy with the beard.


Nights In The Dark -- California X

Yes, there is still decent guitar rock being made these days.




Wings -- Haerts

Wow, what a pretty song.  Even if the backing vocals sound like Wilson Phillips.



I have a love-hate relationship with the video.  Love: evocative representation of the bittersweet memories of small-town childhood in a dead-end town.  Hate: the rapid-fire cuts that I'm sure are some sort of metaphor for the vividness of memory (and preteen camera-operating skills) give me a headache.

Also: if there are disembodied spirits, I like to think that 2:47-3:20 and 4:33-4:58 are how they see us. 

My Favorite Songs of 2012

Trust -- Shoom

Bleak gothic synth-pop. As good as "Sulk" is, this one is better. Three distinct movements. At 02:28, we are transported into another dimension...



Dinosaur Jr. -- Watch the Corners

A '90s band I never appreciated in situ, being familiar with them only by flipping from Depeche Mode to Dr. Dre at the record store.  I recently happened upon the albums from their late '00s revival and found them quite good.  The centerpiece of any latter-day Dinosaur Jr. song is the J. Mascis guitar solo, and here we get a soulfully soaring one for our listening pleasure, kicking in with a satisfying crunch at 02:56 and continuing for a gloriously solid minute-and-a-half to close the song.

My Favorite Songs of 2011

A mostly retro edition.

Operation -- Yuck

Dinosaur Jr. meets Goo-era Sonic Youth.

Too Much Midi (Please Forgive Me) -- Ford & Lopatin

Sounds like a long-lost a-side from "Purple Rain." Doesn't really start until 1:46 when the guitar kicks in and the synth line brings the funk. Neon and smoky silhouettes. Call me Mr. Clutch...

Midnight City -- M83

One of the best songs of the past several years. The sax solo at the end is icing on the cake. Reminds me (thematically) of the refrain at the end of "Don't Change" by INXS.



The Roller -- Beady Eye

Instant Karma?



Polish Girl -- Neon Indian

Fun play-along: "name that classic video game sound effect."



Tender Mercy -- Au Palais

"Gothic electro", it's called. I agree.



Baby Missiles -- The War on Drugs

Bright, ramshackle, folksy. Springsteen and Dylan.



Sleep Dealer -- Oneohtrix Point Never

A trippy nightmare of '80s commercials samples. Musical spits and sighs.



Locked -- Four Tet

Constructs itself patiently, layer by layer, then quickly dissolves again.

Locked (TEXT011) by Four Tet

Free Agent -- Simian Ghost

Casio keyboard production values, right down to the sticky cassette tape roll.

Stuart Adamson 4/11/58 - 12/16/01

"Glitch" by Rick Holland and Brian Eno: Nugget de música

The vocals sound like Kraftwerk.

Brian Eno worked with David Bowie in the 70s.

But it's not very often that a piece of music comes along that feels so dang fresh.

Brian Eno - glitch (taken from Drums Between The Bells) by Warp Records

...or malfunctioning appliances effects sound so tuneful.

Rush: Greensboro, NC 4/2/11

Because I am dedicated (and the night they were in Louisville I had to work):

There were plenty of empty seats (probably due to the postponement from Friday to Saturday) but thankfully for us it gave plenty of elbow room. The play-through of the entire album of "Moving Pictures" from start to finish was the centerpiece but actually seemed to be only a small part of the show. I was surprised when Geddy introduced a "new song" called "Brought Up To Be" but soon realized it was "BU2B", the b-side to the recently released "Caravan". The overwhelmingly male audience (average early 40s with some teens, pre-teens, and at least one grooving white-hair) seemed polite and sober. Very few of the mouthy drunks you see at most concerts. As an example, the guy sitting in front of me was engrossed in some sort of anime role-playing game on his iPhone during the intermission.

The first and second halves of the show were prefaced with short skit videos (entitled "The History of Rash (sic) Part 2" and "The Real History of Rush Part 9")with the band members playing various characters, Alex as an obese inventor of the titular time machine being the only recurrent character in each episode. The theme was self-deprecating and self-referential humor but with the volume, distortion, and earplugs involved I couldn't understand a fair amount of what was being said.

The opening skit dragged on a bit but soon enough gave way to "The Spirit of Radio" as the opener.



The early setlist was decidedly late-period heavy ("Stick It Out", "Leave That Thing Alone" with the grooving alien things on the video screen, and "Presto" with its poetically wistful black-and-white videos of magicians adding to the sweetness of the closing chorus repeat). They took a break quite early in (Geddy: "because we are very old men...")

The next video intro involved fat Alex and his time machine changing the "Tom Sawyer"-playing band alternately from kids to 70s kimono version to cavemen to chimps to others at random. This eventually led to the real band coming back out with the real "Tom Sawyer." This started the real meat of the concert and my favorite section, with "Freewill", "Marathon", and of course the "Moving Pictures" segment this began. The performance of "The Camera Eye" really opened my eyes (sorry) to the epic nature of the song I hadn't really appreciated before, with the videos of New York and London playing on the video screen as accompaniment to the lyrics. Of course there were fire poofs, fireworks, and an occasional auditory interjection (on "Marathon": "...or a lucky shot [BANG] in the dark"...it's not easy to make people jump in the middle of a loud concert).

Neil really got the crowd going with his "Rhythm Method" solo (has he expanded the jazz section?).



The highlight of the encore was a blistering "La Villa Strangiato".



The last song was "Working Man" finished with a bar or two of the main riff from "Cygnus X-1". There was then one last video of two vaguely familiar actors breaking into the band's dressing room after the show, eating a sandwich sitting on a plate labeled "for Neil Peart ONLY", then getting caught by the band themselves, only to be given a signed double-bass on their way out the door. The allegory seemed to say don't be obsessive, but we're cool guys anyway. I thought this meant a second encore, but then the lights came on.

"Belong" by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Nugget de música

Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, the song you haven't heard.

Why doesn't Billy make music like this any more?

Actually I know the answer to that.

But when the fuzzy wall of guitars kick in at about 15 seconds, nostalgia kicks in and I am willing to forgive the singer's whiny whisper of a voice and the fact that structurally things drag toward the end.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong by Slumberland Records

The Curmudgeon Speaks, or, Why Current Pop Music is Crap

Since our usual independent eclectic mix radio station has been off the air lately, at work we've had to listen to the Top 40 station. It's usually just background noise, but during the times when I have found myself consciously paying attention to it I've been reminded how much I despise Top 40 music. Cases in point:

• That Katy Perry song about fireworks. While her voice was somewhere between mildly irritating and vaguely discomforting before, this song takes its most horrific qualities and condenses them down into a repetitious, syncopated shriek of a chorus that sounds like a yapping pack-a-day chihuahua being given the heimlich. Such songs so ridiculous that I can almost hear her record company handlers snickering about what they can get the public to lap up next.

• That one melodramic slog of a tune by that one hipster chick that they always play on VH1. I didn't think people had the attention span for songs like this anymore. Not only is it excruciating to listen to, but if you are unfortunate enough to catch the video you are subjected to a parade of video cliches du jour: everything is in slow motion but they can still lip-sync in perfect time, gratuitous tattoos, synchronized group dancing, stylized fighting-as-choreography, and overwrought middle-school-drama-class acting. Music to slit wrists to.

• Finally, the most egregious example of what is wrong with pop music today: the cover of Def Leppard's "Photograph" by some American Idol guy. One of the few songs that, upon hearing, I am compulsively moved to extinguish its source immediately. Made all the worse by the fact that the original is one of the most gnarly examples of 80s Camaro rock ever. It was only recently that I was feeling sufficiently masochistic to listen to this clunker in its entirety. Actually I was doing something I couldn't get away from so I had to. Four minutes of my life I'll never get back. Covers can be respectable or even quite good when a band takes another song and makes it their own, so to speak, interpreting and expressing it through their own filter to create something familiar yet unique. This song is not that. There is no originality, rather a rote, paint-by-numbers "update" of the original right down to the vocal fills. Santana should be ashamed of himself. But what should we expect from a sold-out has-been and another nameless product from a televised popularity contest? Write your own songs, people.
  
  
  
  

"Waterfall" by The Fresh & Onlys: Nugget de música

Ghostly ramshackle 60s music, vaguely Western.

The climbing-chiming guitar that plays it out is like crack.

Also listened to:

Broadening my already broad musical horizons with:

So You Ran -- Orion the Hunter.



I'm progressing by regressing, having just bought a turntable. Yes, vinyl records. I'm well on my way to becoming a hipster music snob. And my first record is appropriately obscure, although I'm sure hipsters at the time considered it tripe: little-known Boston offshoot Orion the Hunter, a band I happened upon by chance while looking for records online. The LP has a few decent songs on it, but this one is definitely my favorite. Nice to know that there are some dusty 80s diamonds still left to be found.

Wet Wipe Riddim -- Ginz & Kool Money Kwame.



Ever heard of dubstep or grime? This is it. Trippy wizards in a laserbeam fight.

Rhinestone Eyes -- Gorillaz.



Enjoying the chorus of this song for as long as I can until they're playing it on the PA at Hot Topic and I'm sick of it and disavow ever having heard it before.

Rocket (Richard X One Zero remix) -- Goldfrapp.



80s Stevie Nicks vibe. Thanks for playing.

A Lung -- The Knife.



Oh how I love The Knife. Tuneful. Scary. Weird.

"Facelove" by PS I Love You: Nugget de música

The video is a Joy Division ripoff, the singer looks like Star Wars Kid, but by heck, when he kicks that Big Muff switch midway through, this song shreds, comma.

Slap Chop II: Electric Boogaloo remix

Autotune used for the forces of good. When I start making remixes in my basement, they will go a little something like this:



Phunky phresh. Love the old lady coda at the end.

My favorite songs of the 2000s

Applaud my sophisticated tastes! Marvel at my DJ skills! Create your own at home! Some assembly required!

Huzzah!


Avantasia, Avantasia (2001). Bombastic, artsy and nerdy German power-prog. Dio writes Rush lyrics on an album entitled The Metal Opera. Description sufficient.

Avantasia - Avantasia

Prometheus, Covenant (2002). Anthemic, slow-burning Swedish synth-rock. Blurps and surges like hot MAG-MAH.

Prometheus - Covenant

One With the Freaks, The Notwist (2002). Have you ever been understood?

One With The Freaks - The Notw...

Hey Ya, Outkast (2003). A bit embarrassing, considering how overplayed this was. But it's one of the best pop songs I've ever heard and I'm not ashamed to admit it. And this video never gets old:




Songbird, Oasis (2003). Simple, short, sweet.

Songbird - Oasis

The Buford Stick, Drive-By Truckers (2004). Sure it's fanfiction inspired by a 70s rednecksploitation movie. But the swaggering triple-guitar attack on this song just oozes cool. "Hit an embankment doin one-twenty on a straightaway, the Lord works in mysterious ways..."

The Buford Stick - Drive-By Tr...

Love Steals Us from Loneliness, Idlewild (2005). Sure their earlier albums were better as complete works, but this song is pure sonic melancholy bliss. With one of my all-time favorite and remarkably fitting videos. Like a short Antonioni movie...cold, distant beauty met with sarcasm and resolve.

Love Steals Us From Loneliness...

It Generates, Iris (2006). Sounds a lot older than it really is...reminds me of classic Depeche Mode, especially lyrically. Deals with one of my favorite motifs -- fighting against incredible odds, knowing full well that in the end you're going to lose but giving it all you have anyway. Brings to mind Captain Ahab by way of Khan: "...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee..." I don't think of it in such a sinister tone -- I prefer the valiant Ragnarök of Norse mythology -- but you get my point.

It Generates - Iris

Roscoe, Midlake (2006). Smooth, man, smooth. AM radio down by the lake, in the fall, with the late-day sun filtering through the trees. And weird obtuse lyrics.

Roscoe - Midlake

We Share Our Mother's Health, The Knife (2006). Kicks in like a rusty carnival ride, ends by disintegrating into a puff of smoke. The part in between doesn't translate into English.

We Share Our Mothers' Health (...

Indian Summer, Manic Street Preachers (2007). Sounds like the title. Pair this with "Roscoe" above for a double-feature of wistfulness.

Indian Summer - Manic Street P...

The Escapist, The Streets (2008). Another example of a good song on multiple levels, including an excellent video. Evokes thoughts of two activities that are near and dear to my heart: cycling and traveling. Persistence, exploration, solitude, beauty, self-reliance, escape. "I'll not feel no fear, 'cause I'm not really here. I'm nowhere near."

My favorite albums of the 2000s

In no particular order...

Dopethrone, Electric Wizard, 2000. The wizard is smoking something on the cover...they don't call it stoner metal for nothing. Incredibly heavy.

WARNING: this record is one of them "heavy metal" ones your mommy always warned you about. It talks about smoking dope and worshipping Satan. I am not kidding. You probably can't understand the words, but that's just how they seep insidiously into your subconscious mind without you knowing it. Flee now.

Dopethrone - Electric Wizard

Machina / The Machines of God, Smashing Pumpkins, 2000. I remember being mildly disappointed in this record when it first came out. It started to get stale pretty quickly, and most of the songs sounded processed within an inch of their lives. Funny how the Corgan / "Pumpkins" records released in the interim have made it sound so much better in retrospect.

Machina / The Machines Of God ...

Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today, Slobberbone, 2000. They went downhill fast with their subsequent records...this one is them at their peak.

Everything You Thought Was Rig...

Original Pirate Material, The Streets, 2002. The novelty of heavily-accented British rap gives way to the realization that this stuff is actually more than that and not bad. Garage, they call it. That's GAIR-ij. As thematically dissimilar to the tired old "girls, money, and Bentleys" of American hip-hop as René Descartes is to Dr. Phil.

Original Pirate Material - The...

Southern Rock Opera, Drive-By Truckers, 2002. On my all-time list, so of course it's here. Blew me away the first time I heard it and hasn't gotten old to this day. Tuneful, powerful, epic double album about what it means to be a "Southerner" (depicted most directly in "The Southern Thing", but much more eloquently in the record as a whole) as told through the rise and fall of a fictional rock band.

Southern Rock Opera - Drive-By...

Magnolia Electric Co., Songs: Ohia, 2003. Listen to this weepy album late at night on a dark country road and ghosts will float out of your speakers.

The Magnolia Electric Co. - So...

Mary Star of the Sea, Zwan, 2003. Mostly disrespected. Mostly very good.

(Sorry, no samples available).

Decoration Day, Drive-By Truckers, 2003. Hate to double-dip, but I do have a second-favorite DBT record. And it's too good not to include. Their darkest album, and the peak of Jason Isbell's tenure with the band -- "Outfit" and the title track are the two best songs he's ever written. And "My Sweet Annette" holds the distinction of being the first DBT song I ever heard.

Decoration Day - Drive-By Truc...

Wrath, Iris, 2006. Anthemic, slighty-retro synth-rock, plain and simple. Top-to-bottom awesome.

Wrath - Iris

Silent Shout, The Knife, 2006. Deep Cuts is an excellent album, but this one is The Knife at their best. Trippy scary plastic beats and skiddly screeches.

Silent Shout - The Knife

Zoysia, The Bottle Rockets, 2006. Thinking man's roots rock. Life and politics in small-town USA.

Zoysia - The Bottle Rockets

Age of Winters, The Sword, 2006. Call it poseur metal if you want, but this is good stuff. Honorable mention: the track "How Heavy This Axe." Not on this record, but I would be remiss not to mention it and the sheer coolness of the title.

Age of Winters - The Sword

Boys and Girls in America, The Hold Steady, 2006. Big, manic, and earnest. Horn section and all.

Boys And Girls In America - Th...

The Trials of Van Occupanther, Midlake, 2006. The lost Fleetwood Mac album from 1978. Mellow.

Trials Of Van Occupanther - Mi...

Untrue, Burial, 2007. Smoky, haunted dubstep.

Untrue - Burial

My favorite albums of 2009

2009: crap year for music.

Not much going on, I'm afraid. Not to say there wasn't any good stuff put out for the hungry masses...just more of a case of quality over quantity.

So few of them, these ARE in order.


1. Fever Ray, Fever Ray. Solo project by the singer from The Knife sounds like, guess what...The Knife! This is not a bad thing. Just a bit more laid-back sounding than her other band. And like The Knife, many songs have a vague tropical vibe to them. "Triangle Walks" kind of tastes like Miami Vice.

Best songs: Seven, Triangle Walks (Rex the Dog remix).

Fever Ray - Fever Ray

Triangle Walks (Rex The Dog Remix Radio Edit) - Fever Ray

2. Journal for Plague Lovers, Manic Street Preachers. Crunchy yet melodic tunes garnished with vintage grunge lyrics. Turns out this album was created in part by using the band's vanished bassist's old notebooks.

Best songs: Peeled Apples, Virginia State Epileptic Colony

Journal For Plague Lovers - Ma...

3. The Blue Record, Baroness. It's a metal album, but a grab-bag of one that is hard to pin down stylistically. Also, it is on this list, so it is good.

Best songs: Ogeechee Hymnal, The Sweetest Curse

Blue Record - Baroness

"Untrust Us" by Crystal Castles: Nugget de música

Your Commodore 64 is haunted by yodeling ghosts who are into WorldBeat. They're having a dance party.

Untrust Us - Crystal Castles

Old music made new

I've listened to the new U2 album enough now to have formed a decent opinion. Pretty dang good, in spite of what most people have said. Don't judge the entire record on the basis of the first single, "Get on Your Boots" -- it may have the aggressive sound they were looking for but is actually one of the weaker songs on the album. The second single, "Magnificent", is a much better choice. Even if the record does fall off a little bit toward the end, there are no bad songs on it; some are very good. And that first part of the chorus on "Stand Up Comedy"...high point of the record.

Stand Up Comedy - U2


The verdict is still out on the new Depeche Mode ("Sounds of the Universe"). It was recorded with synthesizers of early-80s vintage...some have said it clinks and clanks like a Commodore 64. I agree, and that isn't bad. I listened to it for the first time somewhere over the North Atlantic at 3am, which had to have helped as far as atmosphere goes. I've heard it's a grower. "Fragile Tension" is without a doubt the best song on the record..."In Sympathy" is a respectable second.

Fragile Tension - Depeche Mode

TintMasters?

Tinted Windows, nascent supergroup.

Members:

• James Iha (underappreciated guitarist / songwriter) Smashing Pumpkins: +5
  
• The oblivious dude from Cheap Trick (drummer): +2
  
• Some guy from Fountains of Wayne (bass): +1
  
• One of the Hanson girls (vocals): -10

Sounds more like Fountains of Wayne than anything, but listening to this song gives me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that in some alternate universe I could inadvertently be listening to something my nightmares tell me the Jonas Brothers sound like.

Worth it for the vintage Pumpkins mini-solo at 1:58, I tell myself.

My favorite songs of 2008

1. Kim & Jessie (M83) -- Shimmering, soaring shoegaze electronica with a French accent. It also twinkles.

Kim & Jessie - M83

2. I'm Outta Time (Oasis) -- This is what latter-day Oasis has morphed into, for better or worse: their best songs are now melancholy knife-in-the-heart ballads. Usually sung by Noel. This one isn't, so there's your present-to-past connection. Really kicks in around the Lennon sample, but unfortunately fades away shortly thereafter.

Im Outta Time - Oasis

3. The Righteous Path (Drive-By Truckers) -- Seldom do I pay much attention to lyrics...this song is an exception. Sums up the Good Fight of Life and the fine line between success and failure better than any I've ever heard. The music's good too.

The Righteous Path - Drive-By Truckers

4. Blind (Hercules and Love Affair) -- This one teleported into my life from 1979. Now it won't leave. I can't believe I like this crap.

Blind (Full Album Version) - Hercules And Love Affair

5. The Rip (Portishead) -- Soft and spooky early, then halfway through, when that vocal note, suspended in midair, is gradually swallowed along with the rest of the song by that Casio keyboard bassline slowly materializing out of the fog, the song goes to another plane. Gorgeous.

The Rip (Current TV 04/08) - Portishead

6. Tyrants (Black Mountain) -- The best 70s prog metal epic from 2008.

Tyrants - Black Mountain

7. A Ghost to Most (Drive-By Truckers) -- The only song on this list I've heard live, twice, four feet away from the guy who wrote it. Would it be "punny" to use the word "haunting" to describe a song about a metaphorical "ghost"? Even if it has the word "britches" in it? What if I use "quotation marks"?

A Ghost To Most - Drive-By Truckers