Bon Iver, Bon Iver

I've been waiting for this for quite a while now, and NPR has it available through their First Listen. Bon Iver's second, self-titled, LP!

I think music can be appealing for many reasons, but you usually connect to something because it hits you in a personal way. For me, this album's fatefulness is almost too much. Justin Vernon, Bon Iver's main man, is Mr. Wisconsin, and this record, just like his last, has it literally written all over it. America's Dairyland isn't particularly known for it's production of musical prodigies (other than This Man), but JV does us proud!

I'll spare you the emotional sap that I can write here and just tell you to listen to the record, a couple times through for best results. But make sure you know the lyrics...Justin wants you to know what he's singing.

Weekend, Sports

This album would have landed squarely within the top 15 of my "Best Albums of '10" list had I been ambitious enough to follow through before the stroke of midnight on December 31st.

Instead, I'll just tell you about it now.

I'm still a bit confused about the title; Jock Jams this is not. The entire length of Sports is full of droney, space rock. Joy Division and Interpol are a couple bands I'd liken Weekend's sound to. Weekend's strongest components are its rhythm elements. Prominent and melodic bass lines and lots of drums. Vocals and guitars are used mostly as additional layers of sound.

I've listened to this album at different times, and I've found it to have an odd chameleonic effect. When I'm in a crappy mood, Sports echoes my sorrow, and when I'm feeling optimistic, the album has been uplifting (unlike the Antlers, whose music just depresses me no matter what).

Additional note: if you like to listen to music while bathing, this stuff is perfect...above- and below-water aural differences seem to be minimal, ha!

Fin de 2010

Always proving to be more difficult than anticipated, here is my personal "End of Year, Best of" list. Because I'm all for instant gratification and I hate suspense, I'm beginning with my ultimate fave album of 2010 and I'm just going down the list sequentially until I get bored.



1. Arcade Fire, the Suburbs: Before its summer release, this album was being hailed as indie rock's most hotly anticipated album. Do I hate being predictable? Yes. Is this album fantastic? Yes. Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, and Co. don't set the bar low. The album's a concept: childhood life in suburban America (Win grew up in Houston). While ambitious to the core, the Suburbs still manages to hit emotional cords on a tiny and intimate level. Taken one at a time, the songs are like miniature vignettes, and when woven together, they create a grand, sweeping tapestry. I feel like I'm waxing uber poetic on this one, but I think that's Arcade Fire's point. They make you feel something, even if its just the lumpiness of your ponytail hitting the headrest while you bounce your head to the vibrant beat of "Ready to Start." http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

2. The Black Keys, Brothers: The Black Keys have a surprisingly deep catalogue for a band that's only been around since 2001. Brothers is the sixth full-length release by the band, and the first to hit real mainstream success; production by Danger Mouse is largely responsible for the latter feat. This time around, the Black Keys' usually heavy-handed blues rock is lightened up with readily accessible pop and Motown sounds. The result is a fantastically catchy album with not a throwaway track to be found. As I've said, I'd be just fine being Dan Auerbach's Ex Girl. http://pitchfork.com/tv/%23/musicvideo/8911-the-black-keys-next-girl-nonesuch

3. Yeasayer, Odd Blood: Released at the beginning of the year, this album could have been easy to overlook for a "Year's Best" list. But no way, it's just too great. While not explicitly an album about heartbreak, it is funny how certain sounds and lyrics can remind one of certain places, people, and emotions. This record is an interesting amalgam of many sounds from many places; specifically, Indian instrumentation cloaked in a blankie of chillwave and weird. When I listen to Yeasayer these days, I find myself reflected in Kristen Bell's character from the "Madder Red" video: burying those boogery, bloody, hairy pet rocks. http://pitchfork.com/tv/%23/musicvideo/8528-yeasayer-madder-red-secretly-canadian


4. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So it is with Kanye. The man spews shit, then he produces pure gold. While his ego is almost repulsive enough to make you ignore him completely, the music he makes is undeniably fresh and creative. Add to that equal parts controversy and celebrity quest spots, and you have a mega-hit of a record. Pitchfork gave MBDTF a 10.0 (almost unheard of), and while I give the Chi connection significant weight in that review, the album flows, well, beautifully, with every track catchier than the last. It really is an enjoyable album to listen to, and at least Kanye has enough self-perspective to know he's a jerk.

5. Janelle Monae, the ArchAndroid: Upon first listening to the ArchAndroid, I was strongly reminded of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Less of an MC and more of a singing whirling dervish, Janelle's first full-length release is diverse, long, and ambitious; we're talking 18 tracks revolving loosely around the story of a messianic android sent through time to rescue her people. That idea was lost on me as I listened to the music, and instead found myself awed by the beauty of Janelle's voice and the pure strangeness of the album's progression (in a good way). She goes from wailing over Big Boi's rap in "Tightrope" to sounding like a futuresque Sleeping Beauty singing about leaving her underpants in "Wondaland." Absolute fave track of the album, and possibly my #1 song of the year is "Cold War," with a bassline lifted right from under Outkast's "Bombs Over Baghdad" and a disarming one-take video to match. http://www.jmonae.com/video/cold-war-music-video/

6. Woods, At Echo Lake: 2010 was a year full of retro sounds...surf rock and psychadelia ga-lore! And if I had to hand out an award to my favorite throwback album of the year, Woods would get it. I don't have a problem with artists paying homage to their infuences, but I do have difficulty listening to a record that doesn't acknowledge like 5 decades-worth of musical evolution. This is where Woods gets it right. The band is heavy-handed with the Neil Young emulation, and At Echo Lake is heaped with Byrds-y guitar lines and harmonies. However, their sound does give way to more current inspiration. Listen to "Time Fading Lines," and you can hear the Shins taken to a 60's psych-folk field filled with lavender and willow trees (at least that's what I get).

7. Darkstar, North: Darkstar is my darkhorse this year. I probably wouldn't have even known about this electro duo's release if it were not for NPR's "First Listen." Listen I did, and love as well. Darkstar is signed to Hyperdub records, which is a lable that reads acts like a who's who of the glitchy, dance club sound. On this go-round, Darkstar slow down and smooth out the frenetic pace. It's an electronic album no doubt, but a finely tuned and chilled out one at that. Listening to songs like"Aidy's Girl is a Computer," "Deadness," or "Gold" puts me in a hyper-aware state of calm, kinda like I'm a passenger on a high-speed train sitting with a mug of chamomile tea in my hands. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJE-hUlvUVMUUQu_JQwPacXr5tC3QYY0Gxb6cgxnfypE2HOtZk51VbfuY9hKcndHUCXP8KPT2UCaRqK_5CeCYjXYrqWyS2AA0BI7WH3uA2nB5wQisMTiUILBFNNWaSDTuqOTMiCINzSM/s200/DarkstarNorth.jpg" />

Under Byen, "Unoder"

Obsessed with this video:



Under Byen is a Danish post rock band with something like 11 members. Translated, their name means "Under the City," fitting for their otherworldly sound, which is ironically produced using fairly traditional instruments like piano and strings. Absent is any sort of guitar and minimal digital sampling. Beautiful.

Salem

Ugh, so I totally should have written about this band a week and a half ago when the time was totally apropos (I feel the need to "sleep on" my music, or something). Instead, I'm writing about Salem's King Night well over a week post-Halloween. Oh well, it's still a great album.

So this band is highly electro, with hardly a human sound to be found on the entire thing. It's all time-warped beats, Gothic-style chants, down-revved raps, and skittery samples. I knew I loved this music from the first listen...I heard it on the radio and remembered the band's name, only to find I had noted them on a sticky note months before. Salem is at the forefront of a Chillwave sub-genre (thanks pretentious Indie rock) sometimes called Witch House, Ghostwave, or Reapgaze...I get a huge kick out of these names, by the way.

I tried to understand what it was that caught my immediate attention regarding bands that have this very distinctive sound, and came to the conclusion that I'm reminded of dreaming. Kind of like those flying or paralysis dreams where you can't seem to control your movements and everything seems oddly slowed-down. That's how I'd describe Salem's creepy sound.

A little more research, by way of SiruisXMU and the NY Times, I gained some insight into the fittingly dark origins of this sub-genre. DJ Screw was a hip-hop pioneer of the "chop and screw" style of record spinning at clubs back in the 90's. He'd spin a record at a pace so sluggish, it resembled the liquid consistency of prescription-grade cough syrup, which was, and continues to be, a popular mode of intoxication for many hip-hop clubbers. DJ Screw ended up dying ten years ago of a Codeine overdose, but the influence of his sound is more present than ever (read this great article to see what I'm talking about: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/arts/music/07witch.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1).

Listen to a few Salem tracks here:

"King Night"

http://www.aquariusrecords.org/audio/salemknghtking.m3u

"Trapdoor"

http://www.aquariusrecords.org/audio/salemknghttrap.m3u

The Hold Steady, live

One of the best shows I've been to this year, and what a way to open up what has turned out to be a month full of live music! The Hold Steady played at the Vic on October 1 (I'm three weeks late in writing about it) and what a great show they put on! But what makes a concert so memorable? I think the answer boils down to several criteria, and they all have to align to create a great and memorable live experience.

A. The band has to be into it! The Hold Steady are known for their relentless touring and they have quite clearly grown comfortable with playing to a live audience night after night for months on end. However, their show was anything but routine for concert-goers; their stage presence was great and they looked like they were really having fun up on stage. The above picture was not taken by me, but, I assure you, Craig Finn really does move, wave, and gesture like that the entire time.

B. The right tunes need to be played. Sometimes artists play new material or their personal faves in lieu of what they know fans crave to hear. The Hold Steady did a great job of incorporating songs from a smattering of their collection. They also played the stuff that gets the crowd moving. "Chips Ahoy!"was a personal fave, and the 4-song encore and mini jam was a nice way to close out the show.

C. The right friends. It's always fun to go to shows with a group of friends, but sometimes it can be difficult to keep everyone together--some people want to be close to the stage, others want to hang back, others make frequent drink/bathroom trips. I went with Murph; we stayed in a spot with a good view, and we were quite content to just chill and listen (I think I may have gone to the bathroom once though). An unexpected bonus was the predominance of male attendees...we were two chicks in a sea of boys, yay!

D. Miscellaneous. Factors like the temperature of the venue, the behavior of the crowd, and the ambiance of the hall/arena/room all contribute to overall satisfaction or disappointment. Also, psychological well-being is important; when I get to a show thinking "Poo, these heels hurt," I know it's gonna be a long concert. I'd much rather go in thinking "Woohoo, Hoegaarden on tap!"

She's an Iconic Artist

And her name is Britney Spears. Those titular words were spoken by none other than the luckiest/most recognizable manager in recent pop music history: Larry Rudolph. To quote him fully, "She's an iconic artist...she's like Madonna. She's here to stay." While the first part of that statement is certainly true, I hope with all my heart that Brit is here to stay.

However, when I first read that bit, I found my emotions flickering between excitement and embarrassment. Why am I so sheepish about my love for Britney?...I mean, I'm not really; all of my best friends know that my iTunes contains a nearly complete archive of her musical catalogue. Yet, I am always initially hesitant to admit this.

Perhaps it's the pop-readiness/sell-out factor of her work...perhaps it's her 2007 head shaving incident...perhaps it's her cringe-inducing usage of the English language. But all of these things end up making her more likable, more relatable, and more human.

The woman is clearly business savvy, as she's been THE pop princess since 1998's "Baby One More Time." She has, albeit errantly, steered her career in the most lucrative of directions. Everyone wants to work with her, and we all want to be her too. She's one of the world's biggest celebrities, and she's been that way for over a decade. She's fought personal demons while the world watched, only to come back with another chart-topping record...and another.

It's easy to find celebrities otherworldly: they're incredibly beautiful, really rich, and driven by Texas-sized ambition. But, for some reason, Britney still seems kinda like the girlfriend who always has your back. Perhaps it's her very human missteps that make her seem real...I mean, who hasn't wanted to crack an umbrella through a windshield?...it's just that Britney CAN.

To drive home my point of Ms. Spears' appropriate place atop the pop-cultural mountain, here's what she's workin' with:

• 100 million album sales world-wide
• Estimated net worth of $150 million
• Production by the likes of Bloodshy & Avant, Max Martin, the Neptunes, Moby, and the Outsyders.
• Total concert performances entertaining more than 10 million spectators
• Really toned legs