Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard - If there's any justice at all in this world, the first thing Paul McCartney does every morning is thank God for everything. He was blessed with a gift for melodicism equaled by few in all of music history, was in the biggest and best band of the century, was set for life monetarily by his mid-20s, found a loving wife, found another loving wife when his first one died, and has made it all the way to the age of 63 (64 comes on June 18, 2006, for you irony-mongers waiting with a copy of Sgt. Pepper in your hand) without a single assassination attempt, fatal car wreck, drug overdose, or terminal illness. And on top of all that, his singing voice remains perfectly preserved, with almost exactly the same range and timbre he had 40 years ago. Paul McCartney is one lucky dude.
Add to that list of amazing fortunes the fact that Paul just released what may be the best solo album of his career, decades after most people thought he had any kind of relevance. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is a set of songs that show off his freakishly great melodic skills as well as anything he's done since the Beatles broke up, and show a depth and introspective nature that I can't remember ever showing up in any of his work, Beatles or otherwise. Even more, there's not a single gimmicky song, stupid cutesy singalong, or lyric about butter pies or anything. It's simply one great pop song after another.
Chaos and Creation exudes a confidence that hasn't really been apparent in any of Paul's work since Ram, or maybe even Abbey Road. There are no self-conscious attempts at keeping up with trends, and there's no forced bombast or pomp. The songs are allowed to breathe and speak for themselves, backed up by Paul's one-man-band approach that gives them a sense of tightness and unity. "This Never Happened Before" and "Promise to You Girl" are classic solo McCartney melodies, "English Tea" and "A Certain Softness" would fit in perfectly on any Beatle records, and "Jenny Wren" and "How Kind of You" are haunting and emotional tunes that prove that Paul McCartney is an actual human being (which was sort of in question for awhile, to be honest). It's a little weird to think that his love songs are no longer written for the Lovely Linda, but it's great to know that one of the legends of rock music still has talent to spare.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Tom's Best of 2005: #5
Ok, So I'm about halfway done when I should be finished. Oh well. I'll continue to keep up with this when I can, and hopefully I'll be finished within a few days. Not that it really matters, since the time restraint was self-imposed and it's not like anybody is eagerly awaiting the rest of the countdown all that much... Anyway, without further adieu:
Animal Collective - Feels - This has been described as the Animal Collective's foray into rock and roll, but really, all they've done is written actual songs to go with their weird sound. This is like nothing else out today, which is quite refreshing, but it's not as if it's something entirely new. Like many other great artists of today (see #6 and #8 on this list), they draw most of their sound from the late 1960s. A touch of the Incredible String Band here, a LOT of the Holy Modal Rounders there, and the slightest bit of Van Dyke Parks' solo work to top things off (and possibly an influence of Van Dyke's collaborations with Brian Wilson... call me crazy, but I can hear bits and pieces of "Heroes and Villains" in there).
The result is one of my favorite combinations of elements: experimental music that's still accessible. Even if the warbling and often incomprehensible vocals and general looseness/sloppiness will turn some people off, these are relatively simple compositions that will hold a much broader appeal than their earlier work, which tended to sound like a bunch of guys just screwing around (which isn't too far off, really) with rare moments of brilliance shining through.
Feels is much more dense than their earlier work as well; nothing they've done has hit as hard and as immediately as the frantic pounding drums of "The Purple Bottle," but a closer listen reveals a brilliant and often subtle arrangement fueling the manic energy. Amazingly, it works as well as atmospheric or ambient music as it does as driving rock music. The same could be said of "Did You See the Words," "Banshee Beat," and especially "Turn Into Something," which fades into a "beautiful chaos" slice of dissonant ambiance that provides a perfect conclusion to one of the most idiosyncratic albums of the year.
Animal Collective - Feels - This has been described as the Animal Collective's foray into rock and roll, but really, all they've done is written actual songs to go with their weird sound. This is like nothing else out today, which is quite refreshing, but it's not as if it's something entirely new. Like many other great artists of today (see #6 and #8 on this list), they draw most of their sound from the late 1960s. A touch of the Incredible String Band here, a LOT of the Holy Modal Rounders there, and the slightest bit of Van Dyke Parks' solo work to top things off (and possibly an influence of Van Dyke's collaborations with Brian Wilson... call me crazy, but I can hear bits and pieces of "Heroes and Villains" in there).
The result is one of my favorite combinations of elements: experimental music that's still accessible. Even if the warbling and often incomprehensible vocals and general looseness/sloppiness will turn some people off, these are relatively simple compositions that will hold a much broader appeal than their earlier work, which tended to sound like a bunch of guys just screwing around (which isn't too far off, really) with rare moments of brilliance shining through.
Feels is much more dense than their earlier work as well; nothing they've done has hit as hard and as immediately as the frantic pounding drums of "The Purple Bottle," but a closer listen reveals a brilliant and often subtle arrangement fueling the manic energy. Amazingly, it works as well as atmospheric or ambient music as it does as driving rock music. The same could be said of "Did You See the Words," "Banshee Beat," and especially "Turn Into Something," which fades into a "beautiful chaos" slice of dissonant ambiance that provides a perfect conclusion to one of the most idiosyncratic albums of the year.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Tom's Best of 2005: #6
Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft - The Super Furry Animals seem to have stopped moving into left field. In fact, Love Kraft might even be mistaken for a fairly conventional rock/pop album. But even if their rapid-fire genre-hopping onslaught has slowed considerably, it certainly hasn't affected their songwriting, and Love Kraft has many of the year's best songs. They're not breaking any new ground here, but a band in its maturity can be forgiven for settling down a little bit and focusing on songcraft (that's pretty much what everybody does).
As I've already written here, the slowed pace has enabled the Super Furry Animals to make the most coherent and focused album of their career, and even if their whirlwind compositions no longer make your head spin, there are still many gorgeous subtleties to be found in their characteristically lush orchestrations and brilliant pop melodies.
--
On an unrelated note, a happy birthday to: Bo Diddley, Sandy Koufax, Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones, Patti Smith, Jeff Lynne, Matt Lauer, Tracy Ullman, Ben Johnson, Kerry Collins, Tiger Woods, Tyrese, Eliza Dushku, Kristin Kreuk, and Lebron James. (Sean Hannity's birthday is also today but I'd be lying if I said I cared whether or not he has a happy one.)
As I've already written here, the slowed pace has enabled the Super Furry Animals to make the most coherent and focused album of their career, and even if their whirlwind compositions no longer make your head spin, there are still many gorgeous subtleties to be found in their characteristically lush orchestrations and brilliant pop melodies.
--
On an unrelated note, a happy birthday to: Bo Diddley, Sandy Koufax, Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones, Patti Smith, Jeff Lynne, Matt Lauer, Tracy Ullman, Ben Johnson, Kerry Collins, Tiger Woods, Tyrese, Eliza Dushku, Kristin Kreuk, and Lebron James. (Sean Hannity's birthday is also today but I'd be lying if I said I cared whether or not he has a happy one.)
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Tom's Best of 2005: #7
Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die - In Case We Die seems to be a "love it or hate it" kind of album, which is perfectly understandable. The songs run circles around themselves trying to hit as many different genres and moods as possible, almost all of the songs would sound perfect as a theme song to a children's cartoon, and most of them are nothing more than pure pop ear candy.
My question is, what's wrong with any of that? If something is good enough, it can overcome any perceived "disposability" or other genre limitations. Are "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" anything more than disposable ear candy, albeit extraordinarily well-done ear candy? If you can accept that bubblegum pop can be great art, you can love Architecture in Helsinki.
So, back to the songs themselves: a high dosage of caffeine is recommended, as they rip through genre after genre with the energy of my little sister after her fourth can of Mountain Dew (that's the only analogy I can come up with after being back at my parents' place for a few days). They could never be labeled "minimalist" either, as there are so many people in the band that there's never a lack of anything to listen to (the CD even comes with a helpful spreadsheet to help you figure out what instruments are played on what songs). Having so many instrumentalists (it's only eight, but that's still twice as many as your average rock band) creates for some interesting and unusual arrangements as well: check out the sitars, synthesizers, and saxophones jamming together on "Do the Whirlwind."
Overall, In Case We Die is an enormous improvement over the previous Architecture in Helsinki album, Fingers Crossed, and fits nicely in the indie rock spectrum somewhere between Belle and Sebastian and the Polyphonic Spree. (Did you ever think you'd hear those two bands lumped together?) Highly recommended for anybody who doesn't think of the word "twee" as a bad thing.
My question is, what's wrong with any of that? If something is good enough, it can overcome any perceived "disposability" or other genre limitations. Are "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" anything more than disposable ear candy, albeit extraordinarily well-done ear candy? If you can accept that bubblegum pop can be great art, you can love Architecture in Helsinki.
So, back to the songs themselves: a high dosage of caffeine is recommended, as they rip through genre after genre with the energy of my little sister after her fourth can of Mountain Dew (that's the only analogy I can come up with after being back at my parents' place for a few days). They could never be labeled "minimalist" either, as there are so many people in the band that there's never a lack of anything to listen to (the CD even comes with a helpful spreadsheet to help you figure out what instruments are played on what songs). Having so many instrumentalists (it's only eight, but that's still twice as many as your average rock band) creates for some interesting and unusual arrangements as well: check out the sitars, synthesizers, and saxophones jamming together on "Do the Whirlwind."
Overall, In Case We Die is an enormous improvement over the previous Architecture in Helsinki album, Fingers Crossed, and fits nicely in the indie rock spectrum somewhere between Belle and Sebastian and the Polyphonic Spree. (Did you ever think you'd hear those two bands lumped together?) Highly recommended for anybody who doesn't think of the word "twee" as a bad thing.
Tom's Best of 2005: #8
Espers - The Weed Tree - For those not really paying attention, folk music has recently been making a comeback, although the rejuvenated version has often been of the odd, psychedelic variety, a subgenre labeled "freak-folk," which simply sounds to me like a name for people afraid of the word "psychedelic." (Then again, when have I ever liked any sort of genre name? Lap-pop? Post-rock? Folk-tronica? Dumb, dumb, and dumb.)
At any rate, Espers aren't really at the forefront of this movement (look toward their more popular peers like Devendra Banhart), but if you ask me, they should be. Nobody quite straddles the line between retro sounds and modern moods like they do, using their arrangements straight out of the Incredible String Band's catalogue to portray a sense of dread and paranoia absent from the peace-and-love era of 1967.
The Weed Tree proves them to be adept at taking others' songs and making them completely and utterly their own, a mark of any good folk artist. Songs ranging from the obscure (Michael Hurley's "Blue Mountain") to the appropriate (a haunting rendition of traditional English folk song "Black is the Color") to the improbable (Blue Oyster Cult's "Flaming Telepaths") get the cover treatment here, and every one of these songs would have fit perfectly on Espers' self-titled and self-penned debut album.
Espers have a rare gift: they can wow me simply with the sound of the six of them playing together. There's something about their chemistry, and the beautiful meshing of singers Meg Baird and Greg Weeks, that make them irresistible to me. "Entrancing" is a good word for it. Their debut album is still a much better listen than The Weed Tree, and this one would probably rank much higher on my list had it been an album of original songs, but nevertheless, The Weed Tree is a fine example of the unusual and appealing sound of Espers.
At any rate, Espers aren't really at the forefront of this movement (look toward their more popular peers like Devendra Banhart), but if you ask me, they should be. Nobody quite straddles the line between retro sounds and modern moods like they do, using their arrangements straight out of the Incredible String Band's catalogue to portray a sense of dread and paranoia absent from the peace-and-love era of 1967.
The Weed Tree proves them to be adept at taking others' songs and making them completely and utterly their own, a mark of any good folk artist. Songs ranging from the obscure (Michael Hurley's "Blue Mountain") to the appropriate (a haunting rendition of traditional English folk song "Black is the Color") to the improbable (Blue Oyster Cult's "Flaming Telepaths") get the cover treatment here, and every one of these songs would have fit perfectly on Espers' self-titled and self-penned debut album.
Espers have a rare gift: they can wow me simply with the sound of the six of them playing together. There's something about their chemistry, and the beautiful meshing of singers Meg Baird and Greg Weeks, that make them irresistible to me. "Entrancing" is a good word for it. Their debut album is still a much better listen than The Weed Tree, and this one would probably rank much higher on my list had it been an album of original songs, but nevertheless, The Weed Tree is a fine example of the unusual and appealing sound of Espers.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Tom's Best of 2005: #9
Broadcast - Tender Buttons - "It sounds like a record made with broken synthesizers" is a description typically reserved for Boards of Canada, but it would certainly fit for the latest from Broadcast, although in quite a different manner. Tender Buttons sounds "broken" in a way that's much more abrasive and occasionally unpleasant, surrounded as always by the icy/semi-comatose vocals of Trish Keenan. A female lead singer of a pop or rock band (and despite the electronica label that gets slapped on them, that's what Broadcast is and always has been) is almost by default a sex symbol (that's a sociological issue for another day), but Keenan will probably never have to worry about that, as her vocals seem to come out of a drugged out robot or something. They're about as close to inhuman vocals as you can have without using a vocoder, which is almost always a bad idea for any band that isn't going for full-out camp value, like Air, for instance.
Anyway, where Keenan's vocals have always been livened up in the past by lush backdrops that provide the human feeling that she seems to lack, here they are replaced by minimalist electronic beats that strip away whatever feeling is left. There is nothing "tender" about Tender Buttons.
However, the change in direction is never a bad thing this time around, and it proves to be a great way to keep the Broadcast sound fresh. Tender Buttons has one quality that I may value above anything else in an album: it grows on you, revealing its subtleties little by little, and songs that may at first seem like a bunch of buzzing noise reveal themselves to have depth and character. Broadcast have yet to let me down, and this is another fine addition to their ever-creative catalogue.
Anyway, where Keenan's vocals have always been livened up in the past by lush backdrops that provide the human feeling that she seems to lack, here they are replaced by minimalist electronic beats that strip away whatever feeling is left. There is nothing "tender" about Tender Buttons.
However, the change in direction is never a bad thing this time around, and it proves to be a great way to keep the Broadcast sound fresh. Tender Buttons has one quality that I may value above anything else in an album: it grows on you, revealing its subtleties little by little, and songs that may at first seem like a bunch of buzzing noise reveal themselves to have depth and character. Broadcast have yet to let me down, and this is another fine addition to their ever-creative catalogue.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Tom's Best of 2005: #10
Well, I've barely started and I'm already a day behind. Serves me right for doing this at one of the busiest times of the year and depending on being able to access the internet at my parents' place. Anyway, here's #10, I should be on #9, but that will be made up at a point that's not today.
Greg Weeks - Blood is Trouble
Earlier I described Blood is Trouble as what Beck's Sea Change might have sounded like if Beck were capable of any degree of sincerity. To this I'll add that Beck would also have to be filled with dread and paranoia. Greg Weeks has specialized in these feelings, although often they are conveyed in vague and subtle ways, and Blood is Trouble is no different. It is by far the most rock-based of Weeks' solo efforts, coming even at a time when he was moving in as folky a direction as he ever has with his band, Espers. Ditching the droning harmoniums and mellotrons in favor of electric guitars and drums turns out to be a way to make Weeks' songs hit a little more directly, and feel less unearthly. While still no match for 2001's Awake Like Sleep, Blood is Trouble is another strong entry in the catalogue of a fascinating songwriter.
Greg Weeks - Blood is Trouble
Earlier I described Blood is Trouble as what Beck's Sea Change might have sounded like if Beck were capable of any degree of sincerity. To this I'll add that Beck would also have to be filled with dread and paranoia. Greg Weeks has specialized in these feelings, although often they are conveyed in vague and subtle ways, and Blood is Trouble is no different. It is by far the most rock-based of Weeks' solo efforts, coming even at a time when he was moving in as folky a direction as he ever has with his band, Espers. Ditching the droning harmoniums and mellotrons in favor of electric guitars and drums turns out to be a way to make Weeks' songs hit a little more directly, and feel less unearthly. While still no match for 2001's Awake Like Sleep, Blood is Trouble is another strong entry in the catalogue of a fascinating songwriter.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Tom's Best of 2005: Runners Up
The countdown starts tomorrow with #10. For now, here are some, in no particular order, that I liked that didn't quite make the cut:
Autechre - Untilted - I listen to a lot of music that could be labeled "difficult," but few confound me as much as Autechre do. Hell, I'm still not entirely sure how to pronounce their name. If they sowed the seeds of what became known as "IDM" over a decade ago, their music now has few characteristics that would merit the "D" in "IDM" (that being "Dance"), as they've delved further and further into clinical excercises in beatmaking, and rhythm as texture. I can't fully explain why I like it, but it's a fascinating listen, experimental in the truest sense of the word, and one that rewards attention to detail.
Doves - Some Cities - Not nearly the ecstatic tour de force of The Last Broadcast, Some Cities is still another fine outing of guitar-based pop. Doves may be a trio, but they rarely sound like it, showing a gift for texture that far outshines most of their contemporaries.
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us - "Cinematic" is an overused word to describe music, but that's exactly what this is, except this is Peter Jackson-style cinematic, where even the smallest detail is made huge and epic. Car crashes, car chases, teen angst, wounded angels smiling, nuclear sunrises. "Raise your arms the highest you can, so the whole universe will glow!"
Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic - Four Tet, a.k.a. Kieran Hebden, continues his experiment with organic and accessible electronic music, although this time opting for more electronic and less organic. The result is still on par with his earlier outings: electronic music with a sense of melody and humanity. If it lacks the subtle charm of Rounds, at least it's more fun.
Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering - Rare is the artist who could take a 35 year break from music and come back sounding almost exactly the same. Such is the nature of folk music, I suppose, but Vashti Bunyan's improbable comeback album is a delightful listen. Some will find it to be a 35-minute sleeping pill, but as far as I'm concerned, there's always room for a nice dose of pretty and uncomplicated folk tunes.
Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow - As soon as Devendra Banhart learns the concept of quality control, he could make some seriously great stuff. For now, we're stuck with wading through a 75 minute album (or, like last year, two in one year) to find the outstanding songs like "Now That I Know" and "Inaniel" in between the pointless throwaway songs like "Chinese Children" and "Little Boys." The best of it, however, is good enough to merit inclusion here. Plus he gets bonus points for being pals with both Espers and Vashti Bunyan (see above).
Kanye West - Late Registration - Pop or rap or both? Obviously both to me, but really, who cares? It's so refreshing to hear a hip hop artist and a mainstream pop artist who is actually fun to listen to without being completely disposable.
Autechre - Untilted - I listen to a lot of music that could be labeled "difficult," but few confound me as much as Autechre do. Hell, I'm still not entirely sure how to pronounce their name. If they sowed the seeds of what became known as "IDM" over a decade ago, their music now has few characteristics that would merit the "D" in "IDM" (that being "Dance"), as they've delved further and further into clinical excercises in beatmaking, and rhythm as texture. I can't fully explain why I like it, but it's a fascinating listen, experimental in the truest sense of the word, and one that rewards attention to detail.
Doves - Some Cities - Not nearly the ecstatic tour de force of The Last Broadcast, Some Cities is still another fine outing of guitar-based pop. Doves may be a trio, but they rarely sound like it, showing a gift for texture that far outshines most of their contemporaries.
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us - "Cinematic" is an overused word to describe music, but that's exactly what this is, except this is Peter Jackson-style cinematic, where even the smallest detail is made huge and epic. Car crashes, car chases, teen angst, wounded angels smiling, nuclear sunrises. "Raise your arms the highest you can, so the whole universe will glow!"
Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic - Four Tet, a.k.a. Kieran Hebden, continues his experiment with organic and accessible electronic music, although this time opting for more electronic and less organic. The result is still on par with his earlier outings: electronic music with a sense of melody and humanity. If it lacks the subtle charm of Rounds, at least it's more fun.
Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering - Rare is the artist who could take a 35 year break from music and come back sounding almost exactly the same. Such is the nature of folk music, I suppose, but Vashti Bunyan's improbable comeback album is a delightful listen. Some will find it to be a 35-minute sleeping pill, but as far as I'm concerned, there's always room for a nice dose of pretty and uncomplicated folk tunes.
Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow - As soon as Devendra Banhart learns the concept of quality control, he could make some seriously great stuff. For now, we're stuck with wading through a 75 minute album (or, like last year, two in one year) to find the outstanding songs like "Now That I Know" and "Inaniel" in between the pointless throwaway songs like "Chinese Children" and "Little Boys." The best of it, however, is good enough to merit inclusion here. Plus he gets bonus points for being pals with both Espers and Vashti Bunyan (see above).
Kanye West - Late Registration - Pop or rap or both? Obviously both to me, but really, who cares? It's so refreshing to hear a hip hop artist and a mainstream pop artist who is actually fun to listen to without being completely disposable.
The Worst Albums of 2005
I like writing about music I like, but writing about music I don't like is so much fun that I can't really resist the chance to write about the very worst of 2005. Here we go:
Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn - Here's what I wrote about this one back in February: "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is probably the worst electro-pop album ever recorded. In fact, it is to that genre what Kenny G is to jazz, what Avril Lavigne is to rock. Kraftwerk probably heard this album and wanted to cry and/or kill themselves, asking themselves, 'This is what we worked so hard to accomplish? We paved the way for some emo hack to rape our legacy with the lamest synth-pop this side of the Postal Service album?'"
Pretty harsh, but I'm sticking with it.
Weezer - Make Believe - Writing about how bad Weezer have gotten is almost redundant at this point, but still, Make Believe is appallingly bad, even by their recent standards. "Beverly Hills" is the bizarro-world "El Scorcho," there are the mandatory and embarrassing retro synth-pop tracks, a whole bunch of mind-numbing generic power pop songs that Rivers Cuomo probably writes by accident while he sleeps, and for Christ's sake, there's a song called "We Are All on Drugs." Yikes.
CocoRosie - Noah's Ark - A brief (but by no means complete) list of things that are probably more pleasant to listen to for 50 minutes than Noah's Ark:
- A duet between Celine Dion and a guy scratching his nails across a chalkboard.
- Fighting cats (this happens pretty frequently between the neighborhood strays where I live, so I have to include it... I saw a cat the other day without a right eye).
- Britney Spears' childbirth.
- A lecture by Tom Cruise on the merits of Scientology.
- Lil Jon in the bathroom after an extra large bowl of chili.
What kind of music is this? It sounds like two 8 year old girls who found a cassette recorder in their parents' attic and decided to bang on some musical instruments they found and "sing" along with it.
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute - Keep in mind that I'm not opposed to prog-rock by default. I enjoy me some Jethro Tull and the first King Crimson record and all that stuff. I even liked the first Mars Volta album, until I saw them play it live. But this isn't just bad because it's prog-rock. It's bad because it flies completely in the face of good taste, common sense, and human dignity. I'll even let artists get away with being unspeakably pretentious if they have the goods to back it up (Radiohead, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, most Sigur Ros), but this is just ridiculous. This is getting toward Dream Theater territory, but at least Dream Theater had the chops to play all that wanky stuff. It's simply an hour of squealing noise and incomprehensible caterwauling (although I don't know why anybody would want to comprehend it anyway).
That's all I've got for this year. Hope you enjoyed it.
Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn - Here's what I wrote about this one back in February: "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is probably the worst electro-pop album ever recorded. In fact, it is to that genre what Kenny G is to jazz, what Avril Lavigne is to rock. Kraftwerk probably heard this album and wanted to cry and/or kill themselves, asking themselves, 'This is what we worked so hard to accomplish? We paved the way for some emo hack to rape our legacy with the lamest synth-pop this side of the Postal Service album?'"
Pretty harsh, but I'm sticking with it.
Weezer - Make Believe - Writing about how bad Weezer have gotten is almost redundant at this point, but still, Make Believe is appallingly bad, even by their recent standards. "Beverly Hills" is the bizarro-world "El Scorcho," there are the mandatory and embarrassing retro synth-pop tracks, a whole bunch of mind-numbing generic power pop songs that Rivers Cuomo probably writes by accident while he sleeps, and for Christ's sake, there's a song called "We Are All on Drugs." Yikes.
CocoRosie - Noah's Ark - A brief (but by no means complete) list of things that are probably more pleasant to listen to for 50 minutes than Noah's Ark:
- A duet between Celine Dion and a guy scratching his nails across a chalkboard.
- Fighting cats (this happens pretty frequently between the neighborhood strays where I live, so I have to include it... I saw a cat the other day without a right eye).
- Britney Spears' childbirth.
- A lecture by Tom Cruise on the merits of Scientology.
- Lil Jon in the bathroom after an extra large bowl of chili.
What kind of music is this? It sounds like two 8 year old girls who found a cassette recorder in their parents' attic and decided to bang on some musical instruments they found and "sing" along with it.
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute - Keep in mind that I'm not opposed to prog-rock by default. I enjoy me some Jethro Tull and the first King Crimson record and all that stuff. I even liked the first Mars Volta album, until I saw them play it live. But this isn't just bad because it's prog-rock. It's bad because it flies completely in the face of good taste, common sense, and human dignity. I'll even let artists get away with being unspeakably pretentious if they have the goods to back it up (Radiohead, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, most Sigur Ros), but this is just ridiculous. This is getting toward Dream Theater territory, but at least Dream Theater had the chops to play all that wanky stuff. It's simply an hour of squealing noise and incomprehensible caterwauling (although I don't know why anybody would want to comprehend it anyway).
That's all I've got for this year. Hope you enjoyed it.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Tom's 2005 Music Review starts now...
As promised a couple hours ago, here's the first part of my 2005 music review:
Tom's Favorite Songs of 2005
(In no particular)
Gorillaz - "Feel Good, Inc." - I was as surprised as anybody that the Gorillaz somehow got it together for a second album, and guess what? They're still better than Blur (Damon Albarn's day job), and they've still got that "ominous yet insanely infectious" thing down pat.
Doves - "Black and White Town" - Can we finally stop lumping these guys in with Coldplay just because they're Brits who play guitar-based pop? If The Last Broadcast didn't already do it, this song proves once and for all that Doves are infinitely better with a pop melody and infinitely more creative in their accompaniment for it.
Fischerspooner - "Just Let Go" - Every time I hear Fischerspooner I could swear that they're from some Scandinavian country, and that their music emerged from the ultra-chic dance clubs that we Americans don't even know about. They don't make this list just because they're actually from New York, but they do make it because "Just Let Go" is probably the best dance-pop song I heard this year. Good enough that I might actually dance if it came on in a club!
Royksopp - "Circuit Breaker" - Now here is the hip Scandinavian electro-pop duo. Their second album wasn't particularly great, but "Circuit Breaker" was easily the stand out track. Put this one on my "dance songs I would actually dance to" mix CD too.
Of Montreal - "Death of a Shade of a Hue" - I've always preferred Of Montreal in their more esoteric moments than in their straightforward rock/pop moments, and this one is certainly the oddest sounding on The Sunlandic Twins. The moody string section, the unconventional chord structures, and the offbeat programmed drums may not make a nice piece of ear candy like some of the rest of that album, but it's by far the most interesting to me.
Paul McCartney - "Jenny Wren" - I am still in shock over how good this song is. A solo McCartney tune that's introspective and dark, and not smarmy and ridiculous? With a melody that would fit in seamlessly between "Yesterday" and "Blackbird"? Is it too hasty to say that this is the best song of Paul's entire solo career?
Coldplay - "Fix You" - A great song on an average album, this one really has more in common with the Polyphonic Spree or even Bruce Springsteen than any previous Coldplay tunes, soaring to heights of bombast attainable only with a major label budget and an unhindered desire to save the world with a single song. Like any good Bruce song worth its salt, it's utterly ridiculous, and it's so good that it doesn't even matter.
Espers - "Black is the Color" - Espers continue the sound of their first album with this rendition of a traditional folk song. Haunting and beautiful in equal parts, it achieves the perfect balance that made their self-titled album so wonderful to listen to. Give me these guys over Devendra Banhart any day. I can't wait to see what they have in store for next year.
Architecture in Helsinki - "It'5!" - Possibly the best pure pop song of the year, from the bouncing melody and the jubilantly shouted chorus right down to the "ooooooooh sha la la la" background vocals. Sugary sweet.
Super Furry Animals - "Zoom!" - If this list is in no particular order, this one is still #1 by a huge margin. Possibly the most perfect example of how to make a seven minute song out of a single chord progression that I've ever heard. Each listen reveals new depths in instrumentation, new unheard vocal parts. In their long career, the Super Furry Animals have never recorded anything so majestic.
Tom's Favorite Songs of 2005
(In no particular)
Gorillaz - "Feel Good, Inc." - I was as surprised as anybody that the Gorillaz somehow got it together for a second album, and guess what? They're still better than Blur (Damon Albarn's day job), and they've still got that "ominous yet insanely infectious" thing down pat.
Doves - "Black and White Town" - Can we finally stop lumping these guys in with Coldplay just because they're Brits who play guitar-based pop? If The Last Broadcast didn't already do it, this song proves once and for all that Doves are infinitely better with a pop melody and infinitely more creative in their accompaniment for it.
Fischerspooner - "Just Let Go" - Every time I hear Fischerspooner I could swear that they're from some Scandinavian country, and that their music emerged from the ultra-chic dance clubs that we Americans don't even know about. They don't make this list just because they're actually from New York, but they do make it because "Just Let Go" is probably the best dance-pop song I heard this year. Good enough that I might actually dance if it came on in a club!
Royksopp - "Circuit Breaker" - Now here is the hip Scandinavian electro-pop duo. Their second album wasn't particularly great, but "Circuit Breaker" was easily the stand out track. Put this one on my "dance songs I would actually dance to" mix CD too.
Of Montreal - "Death of a Shade of a Hue" - I've always preferred Of Montreal in their more esoteric moments than in their straightforward rock/pop moments, and this one is certainly the oddest sounding on The Sunlandic Twins. The moody string section, the unconventional chord structures, and the offbeat programmed drums may not make a nice piece of ear candy like some of the rest of that album, but it's by far the most interesting to me.
Paul McCartney - "Jenny Wren" - I am still in shock over how good this song is. A solo McCartney tune that's introspective and dark, and not smarmy and ridiculous? With a melody that would fit in seamlessly between "Yesterday" and "Blackbird"? Is it too hasty to say that this is the best song of Paul's entire solo career?
Coldplay - "Fix You" - A great song on an average album, this one really has more in common with the Polyphonic Spree or even Bruce Springsteen than any previous Coldplay tunes, soaring to heights of bombast attainable only with a major label budget and an unhindered desire to save the world with a single song. Like any good Bruce song worth its salt, it's utterly ridiculous, and it's so good that it doesn't even matter.
Espers - "Black is the Color" - Espers continue the sound of their first album with this rendition of a traditional folk song. Haunting and beautiful in equal parts, it achieves the perfect balance that made their self-titled album so wonderful to listen to. Give me these guys over Devendra Banhart any day. I can't wait to see what they have in store for next year.
Architecture in Helsinki - "It'5!" - Possibly the best pure pop song of the year, from the bouncing melody and the jubilantly shouted chorus right down to the "ooooooooh sha la la la" background vocals. Sugary sweet.
Super Furry Animals - "Zoom!" - If this list is in no particular order, this one is still #1 by a huge margin. Possibly the most perfect example of how to make a seven minute song out of a single chord progression that I've ever heard. Each listen reveals new depths in instrumentation, new unheard vocal parts. In their long career, the Super Furry Animals have never recorded anything so majestic.
Back with a vengeance!
This post serves a dual purpose: first, to let everybody know I'm not dead, and second, to announce that there will be lots of stuff coming soon. Everybody who's read this knows I like to talk about music, and the end of the year provides a great opportunity to do so. So I will be repeating last year's experiment (although that was at a different site) and doing a list of my favorite 10 albums of 2005, one per day, conveniently started on the 22nd so that it can end on the last day of 2005.
While I'm preparing that, you can look forward to a couple other smaller lists over the next couple days, such as best individual songs (because there are always a few great songs on mediocre albums), albums I hated, and albums I liked that didn't quite make the top 10.
You may be surprised, you may not, you may want to check out something you hadn't heard before, and you may think I'm a complete idiot. Either way, stay tuned if you're so inclined...
While I'm preparing that, you can look forward to a couple other smaller lists over the next couple days, such as best individual songs (because there are always a few great songs on mediocre albums), albums I hated, and albums I liked that didn't quite make the top 10.
You may be surprised, you may not, you may want to check out something you hadn't heard before, and you may think I'm a complete idiot. Either way, stay tuned if you're so inclined...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)