Results tagged “music” from Irish Violet

In one of the email digests I subscribe to, there was link to the trailer of the to-be-released documentary about Creation Records, "Upside Down." Watching the trailer and the cavalcade of music demi-legends on screen along with the transit map graphics name-checking a roll call of vital bands with a Mary Chain song as soundtrack brought back acres of memories.

That's twice in as many days this has happened, as just yesterday I read that New York City's Limelight nightclub is now an indoor shopping mall.

Below is the "Upside Down" trailer, and more of my thoughts on Creation Records from 10 years ago.

Long delayed in posting this; I'm sure the lads are already on to compiling their best-of lists for the 20-tens. And, I'm not done anyway so this entry will be updated in stages. Herewith, my favorite ten albums released from 2000 - 2009.

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In looking back through what I bought, heard about, and maybe even listened to over the past ten years, two themes seem to stand out: albums released in the second half of the decade are unfairly marginalized -- in fact, I suggest compiling best-of-the-decade lists every five years to compensate -- one of my top 10 albums was released from 2005-2009. And, the first decade of the 21st century seemed to have inspired more song cycles/pop operas than I can recall. Off the top of my head, Drive-by Truckers, Decemberists, Green Day, Rev. Hammer, My Chemical Romance, Sufjan Stevens, the Hold Steady. Remarkable, and I'm sure there are many more.

So here's my list...annotated commentary on the jump. Not all completed yet, so check back often. Or even occasionally.

10. Tabla Beat Science -- Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove
9. Spoon -- Kill the Moonlight
8. Death Cab for Cutie -- We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
7. P.J. Harvey -- Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
6. Jay-Z -- the Black Album
5. Sun Kil Moon -- Ghosts of the Great Highway
4. Radiohead -- Amnesiac
3. Arctic Monkeys -- Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
2. Sleater-Kinney --- All Hands on the Bad One
1. Green Day -- American Idiot

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Five days into the new decade. Anyone still remember 2009? Herewith, a quick look at some of my favorite spins. For a while this last year, a long while, I thought I was going to make good on my oft-threatened promise at having a top 10 list with three #3s and no #1, but some good music and a sense of not wanting to upset the DAA applecart won out.

Annual award winner for most overhyped album that I just don't get at all:

Small Band category: Grizzly Collective Animal Bear
Yes, I know these are two different groups, but their records seemed to be released simultaneously, the foaming-at-the-mouth was nearly unanimous, and while there are interesting moments on each, I can't even put together a good 5-song EP from both combined.
Medium Band category: Wilco -- Wilco (the album)
I have to admit I've never "gotten" Wilco. My favorite of theirs is Mermaid Avenue, songs they didn't write played with Billy Bragg.
International Conglomerate category: U2 -- No More Eno/Lanois Behind the Boards

Almost but not quite:
Florence & the Machine -- Lungs
Silversun Pickups -- SwoonSloan -- Hit & Run ep

And, here we go...

10. Green Day -- 21st Century Breakdown

Went to the well once too often. A second overly ambitious song cycle is something of a misfire, but I applaud the attempt and there's enough solid material here worth listening to again and again. Was going to be extraordinarily hard to top American Idiot and the safe route might have been to re-issue Dookie, but they went big and tripped. But just some minor scrapes, the kids will be alright.



9. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
The Glaswegians' third outshone Arctic Monkeys' disappointment this year. The dapper lads could have continued to remake their successful formula; instead they offered some new twists (an eight-minute track that borders on house music, for instance) while not totally abandoning the darkly clever and seductive sounds that got them this far. A top-notch live act, to boot.




8. Anouar Brahem - The Astounding Eyes of Rita
Released on ECM, need I say any more? The astounding sounds of North African jazz is probably the only way to describe it.




7. Gossip - Music for Men
With the dissolution of Sleater-Kinney, Gossip may be the best live band going right now. The downside of that reputation is that studio efforts don't nearly measure up. Music for Men comes close. No doubt Rick Rubin is to credit for that. And, well, Beth is worth every drop of ink spilled about her.





6. Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
The back story only adds color; stick with the solid rock sound and fascinating lyrics.





5. BLK JKS - After Robots
After Metric, I think I listened to this record most often this year. If the compilation Indestructible Beat of Soweto was the gateway to African sounds for many 20 years ago but you haven't listened since Graceland, let BLK JKS introduce you to 21st century South African rock.



4. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Recent releases had a bit too much filler for a band so talented. Yes, the two songs that fill over 25 minutes to close the album probably wouldn't be noticeably different if they were cut in half, but they feel right in this collection. The groove also feels organic and natural not the forced sounds on recent-ish releases like And Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out.


3. Sonic Youth - the Eternal
Gerard Cosloy, the Youth finally paid you back. After leaving Homestead for SST in the mid-80s, and then releasing the titanic Daydream Nation on Blast First!, the
Youth de-camped for the majors for more than 15 years. On their first record songs to be released on an indie, albeit the well-funded Matador, (an yes, I'm discounting the purely experimental SYR releases), Sonic Youth drop one of their career's finest.

My theory on the Youth posits that when Kim is engaged and less hippy-dippy, the album holds. Thurston's and Lee's contributions are givens; Kim is the wild card. Like Daydream Nation, she and Thurston are sharing vocals on songs more so maybe she just needs to write more songs with her husband. No more dissecting, just listen.


2. Metric - Fantasies
I really thought this was going to be #1 for me as it was played early and often and loudly by me all spring and summer and fall. Infectious, rollicking, danceable, hooky, fun, solid from start to finish. If not for a ridiculously ambitious success, it would have stayed #1 for me on December 31st too.



1. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
I've had my moments (in a bad way) with the Decemberists in the past. I believe
they won or shared my "Record That Everyone Seems to Love and I Don't Get in
the Least" award one year. Colin Meloy has already looked at song cycles
 or a sole source of inspiration (The Crane Wife) and come up lacking, but the Hazards of Love absolutely nails it.

"The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" wouldn't feel out of place on a P.J. Harvey record. (Pete(r), ahem.) "The Rake's Song" is a delicious musing on murder. Why folk rock lends itself to storytelling so well is beyond my simpleton ways. But I can say this collection is the best folk rock song cycle since the Rev Hammer's Freeborn John about the life of John Lilburne. (Look it and him up; well worth it.) In the interim, I'm going to have another listen to Margaret's fate.

Mostly for my Dancing About Architecture lads, though whomever else floats this way is welcome to read and laugh or cry or comment or none of the above.

Overall, I'd give the year a C+, a B-minus if I was feeling charitable. Bands I really like, or whose last release I really liked, issued duds this year. Bloc Party, the Hold Steady, I'm looking at you. Don't Look Back nearly overshadowed new releases anyway with entire weekends dedicated to the format. After 17 years, the mighty My Bloody Valentine showed up to play Loveless. Yippee. But no new material Kevin? Really? Can I call you Axl now?

The whole wimpy boy beard music doesn't do much for me. Bon Iver, I'm talking to you. I appreciate the Fleet Foxes a bit more, but my initial exposure to them was at an outdoor summer music festival and their music absolutely does not lend itself to that setting whatsoever. The Doug Fir Lounge on a cold February night? That would have been better.

And, my annual award to the most overhyped, most overrated album that the world seems to love and I don't get in the least...My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges. I urge you to avoid, if you haven't been overexposed already.

If the name of this game was top 15, here are five more records I liked enough not to slag: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazurus, Dig!!!; Jolie Holland - the Living and the Dead; M83 - Saturdays=Youth; Magnetic Morning - A.M.; Ra Ra Riot - the Rhumb Line.

Herewith, what I enjoyed (and I must add here, if you see something of interest, click on the album cover art. I'm now an Amazon affiliate):

10. Kaiser Chiefs - Off with Their Heads

No earth-rattling single on this release and that probably played right into my hands, er, ears. Rather than get overshadowed by an "I Predict a Riot" or "Heat Dies Down," Off with Their Heads is just a solid set of songs, something pretty lacking in many other releases I heard. Still not sure why these guys aren't massive. Oasis can take the piss, but the Gallaghers really haven't done much in the past decade besides fight. 

9. Sons & Daughters - This Gift

Another band who sound so different from just about everything else out there. I should have listed this higher. A solid follow-up to the Repulsion Box. A little cleaner production beefs up the band behind Adele Bethel's mouthpiece. The songs and the tunes are still all manner of creepy - aural film noir, if you must. Though, I could have done with a little more of Scott Patterson's singing on this effort.

8. REM - Accelerate

I still stand by my thought that this isn't a return to form for REM; none of their other albums sound anything like Accelerate. So it's a bit louder, and a lot faster, than the baby boomer pop they had been trafficking in for a while, but it doesn't sound like Murmur or Lifes Rich Pageant either. As it happens, two of the slowest songs, "Houston" and "Until the Day is Done," are my faves.

7. Sloan - Parallel Play

Somehow, after releasing an album last year with 30 songs on it (and two more available as free downloads), these Canucks release another brilliant piece of power pop. There's basically nothing to dislike here though, for a rare change, it's not Patrick's songs I swoon over.

6. Sun Kil Moon - April

I'm nearly a Mark Kozelek apologist, there's little he does that isn't beautiful and inspired. That said, April is no Ghosts of the Great Highway. Though to be fair, Ghosts is probably the best Mark musical release under any moniker. April gets off on an unsteady foot, but by "Lucky Man" and the transcendent "Unlit Hallway," he's hit his stride in full for the remainder of the record. It was a very prolific year for Mark. Some versions of April included a bonus disk; also released were a live ep and another collection of covers. Plus, his lyric book that was originally only available in Portuguese was published in English and some versions of that also included a CD of rarities. A vein of riches.

5. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

A welcome return to form after the mistake of Plans. Chris Walla figured out what to do with all the extra money they have to play around in the studio and it shows in spades. Real clean lines and Ben's voice sounds less thin somehow. Maybe this is too high on the list, a little home-region bias to the PacNW. Song of the year is the full-length version of "I Will Possess Your Heart."

4. Foals - Antidotes

Here's where the heavy hitters begin. I'm not sure any of my 5-10 picks would have cracked the top 10 in another year, but my top 4 certainly would. There are so many sounds and probable influences in Foals I lost track: I could argue they listen to a fair amount of Bowie and Arcade Fire, have one eye firmly on making sure they keep your hips shakin', and then the horns! An antidote to all that ails ya.

3. Last Shadow Puppets - the Age of the Understatement

Anyone in my general vicinity knows I think Alex Turner's Arctic Monkeys are nothing short of brilliant. So with absolutely zero objectivity, I can now say he can do just about no wrong. The Puppets sound nothing like the Monkeys and I still love it. Pour yourself a cocktail and wake up in Barcelona or the Riviera. This is Euro-lounge music for the new millennium. Why it wasn't the soundtrack to Quantum of Solace escapes me.

2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Not really sure there's anything I can say about this album or band that hasn't already been said. I've seen Dear Science ranked first on at least three polls and don't doubt many  more to come. Not my number 1 since it wasn't unexpected. I loved Return to Cookie Mountain and this release was eagerly anticipated by me. So, I'm a tough A: meeting expectations gets you second-best.

1. Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight

Totally unexpected takes the prize. I liked Mercury Rev well enough, even with their Flaming Lips' connection (who I think are sorta frauds), and was similarly looking forward to the new release. But absolutely wasn't expecting to have my ears blown off. Soothing and transporting simultaneously. A headphone album no doubt and even though mine are crappy little iPod ear buds, the sonic joy was inescapable. If this makes any sense, it's some sort of mash-up of early '90s downtempo/ambient with a healthy nod toward a Spiritualized wall of sound (minus the gospel choruses) and plenty of field recordings strewn everywhere. Over the top comes Jonathan Donohue declaiming oddly comforting lyrics alternating between the banal and Zen-ish koans. All perfectly encapsulated in "People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)" and "Runaway Raindrop." I'm not sure what's in the water in upstate New York - though it leads to a man-squirrel encounter as the album closer - and there's no need to bottle it, just throw the Rev on the hi-fi and drift.

In a previous life, I used to write a column called "Sites and Sounds" for a long-defunct web zine. The zine died before the newer generation of music sites like Pandora and LastFM came online. I like them both, though being an extremely opinionated music geek, I am constantly groaning at a recommendation one service or the other serves up to me. I'm probably breaking the Pandora algorithm somewhere along the line. And, in case you hadn't noticed, I clogged up a clean blog template with the album quilt widget from LastFM.

And speaking of clean templates, the original LastFM interface was just that. Until today. The new skin and layout of LastFM has been introduced to widespread hue and cry. On the LastFM blog and forums, it was mostly in English. On Summize/TwitterSearch, it was in many languages. So much for embracing change.

Let's all calm down people. This isn't the "ribbon" in Microsoft Office 2007 which must have single-handedly lowered productivity for Excel users by almost as large a factor as NCAA March Madness. I don't love it either on first perusal, LastFM, but I haven't figured it all out yet. Giving the option for users to default to the old layout would have been a nice touch. Charles Schwab still has the old layout for a user's account position page one click away.

A 100% reversal would obviously be too much of a knee-jerk reaction, but how should beloved brands (household names or otherwise) react to consumer rejection of the new?