3 posts tagged “singles”
)Top 5 Albums of 2008
1. Beach House – Devotion
Their first album was nice.
Occasionally heavy-lidded and aimless (as in, the mind wanders when
listening), but nice, certainly a curious take on dream pop. Then Devotion
came out and it was like Beach House even further demented the dreamy stargaze domain,
in, you know, a really, really attractive way.
With Victoria’s
sad, velvet voice (not at all, never ever cute,
for godsake), the off-putting pace, the hollow beat, the moodiness, the
sometimes romantic/sometimes painful lyrics, the harpsichord, that Daniel
Johnston cover…it just works. How often do all the pieces fall into
place? It may never happen again. Enjoy, Beach House.
2. The Raveonettes – Lust Lust Lust
So the Raveonettes are getting fuzzier and less defined, and moving further from those neo-noir 60s Phil Spector-inspired melodies into darker territory. Darker, louder territory. Like, seriously loud. I’d probably be less impressed with this album if it wasn’t for the sheer enormity of sound. Every song has a kind of feverish build-up; by the end it’s bye-bye future hearing, hello creepy weird aural enlightenment, or something.
3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
What I like about Real Emotional Trash is that it combines the best of the Pavement core—bizarre/absurdist lyrics and sprawling noise/extended “jammin’/freak deaky guitar rifts. This album sounds very Malkmus; it isn’t the work of a middle-aged rocker desperate to fit in one last reinvention and prove to the twenty-somethings that he’s “still got it.” No, Malkmus hardly seems concerned with too much change; he may choose different directions with each of his solo albums, but there’s always a comfortable familiarity. (And, for the record, he’s definitely still got it.)
|
|
4. Santogold – Santogold
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way: yes, she reminds you of M.I.A. Sure, Santogold sings through her nose, loves a crazy beat, and is scarily supa fly (intimidating to the average-looking), but if you actually listen to her album you’ll realize that she ain’t no M.I.A. Which isn’t to say that Santogold ain’t fabulous. Au contraire, it’s perfect downtown club music (for the mild, hip and white). You can bump, grind, convulse, jump, rapidly move your hands in front of your face, remain mostly still while nodding your head, twirl, whatever. Also, with the absence of any kind of political message you don’t even have to pretend that you care about real things.
5. The Magnetic Fields – Distortion
What an aptly titled album. I’m found of aptly titled things. I wish Animal Collective and Xiu Xiu would take note and start naming their albums “Weird Crazy Things That Sound Like Woodlawn Creatures and Kitchen Utensils.” It would be convenient for writing reviews. Anyway, Distortion is Stephen Merritt doing distortion, which means fuzzy, drone-y guitar that lovers can still swoon to, and sad/silly lyrics like “sober, you’re old and ugly; shit-faced, who needs a mirror” (“Too Drunk to Dream”).
Top 5 Songs of 2008
1. Beach House – “Heart of Chamber” (Devotion)
Honestly, I could have chosen any song from Devotion, but “Heart of Chamber” is the one that gives me the strongest heart palpitations (like remembering a teenage night that never happened). As I said before, it works, and who needs solid logic?
2. Beck – “Walls” (Modern Guilt)
My relationship with Beck is similar to my relationship with thrift shopping: 99% of the time I leave the store irritated and resentful; however, maybe once a year I find something absolutely stunning, like amazingly, disgustingly perfect that I forget about all the previous disappointments. “Walls” is my disgustingly perfect gold lamé romper that I will never wear again.
3. Okkervil River – “Lost Coastlines” (The Stand Ins)
Apparently there are (self-proclaimed) straight men out there that would “go gay” for Will Sheff. Who knew. I cannot make that same declaration, but I will say this: Jonathan Meiburg’s voice keeps me comfortably heterosexual.
|
|
|
4. Benoît Pioulard – “Brown Bess” (Temper)
His name is Tom (hint: he’s not French). Tom taps into those same otherworldly arrangements that Zach Condon used to convince hipsters that foreign music could be edgy too. “Brown Bess” is just too pretty to ignore. I don’t know what he’s singing (it’s in English; he mumbles, I selectively listen), but similar to hearing a beautiful French phrase, do you even care?
5. Lucinda Williams (ft. Elvis Costello) – “Jailhouse Tears” (Little Honey)
The whole album’s kind of a mess: a few old-school bluesy ballads, some terrible angry rockers, and a truly frightening AC/DC cover (Lucinda, no). However, this duet with Costello makes me smile because I think Lucinda’s being a bit cheeky, no?
Top 5 Bands to Think About in 2009
|
|
|
1. Sybris
What: Anti-twee
indiepop
Where: Chicago, IL
Think about: “Oh
Man!” (Into the Trees, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/sybris
What:
Halloween-voiced lad + pop music + geek beats
Where: St. Louis, MO
Think about: “Gamble”
(Classy Entertainment EP, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/jumblingtowers
3. Alina Simone
What: Folk/punk
Where: Brooklyn, NY
Think about: “Half My
Kingdom” (Everyone is Crying Out to Me,
Beware, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/alinasimone
4. The Pharmacy
What: Dirty rotten
indie rock
Where: New Orleans, LA
Think about: “Little
Toys on the Shelf” (Choose Yr. Own
Adventure, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/pharmacy
5. Doomtree
What: White-friendly (read: non-threatening or “not too ghetto”) “smart” hip-hop
Where: Minneapolis, MN
Think about: “Dots
and Dashes” (Doomtree, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/doomtree
Note: Doomtree is
extremely popular within their home state of Minnesota, but have they crossed the
border? Let me know.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
)
|
Le Tigre, "The Tiger", is undoubtably the best project that Kathleen Hanna's been involved in since Bikini Kill. Originally, this band was conceived to be a "live" version of her solo effort, Julie Ruin, but as it developed between Johanna Fatman and Sadie Bennings, they quickly realized this was a birth of a new sound and a new band.
Although Bikini Kill was more DIY/Riot Grrrl, Le Tigre's sound, although still involved in feminism, seems to emphasize on dance, visual performance art, and electro. Take a listen to their first single, Hot Topic to hear what a wonderful tribute to strong women throughout the years, backed by a great drum beat and chorus.
My favorite moment was when I was listening to this song, quite loudly in my car, at a stop light. I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings, but apparently these black youths in the car next to me were rocking out to this song. They absolutely loved it.
I listened to their debut album constantly around this time, and I can tell you these are the songs that never got skipped:
"Deceptacon": absolutely love this song. This is also a great track to play at a dance club, I remember hearing this at Popscene in San Francisco and the audience loved it.
"Hot Topic": See comment above. I love hearing and picking up on all the artists mentioned, including Sleater-Kinny, Yoko Ono, Cibo Matto, Leslie Feinberg, etc.
"The The Empty": Contains the best lyrics: "I went to your concert and I didn't feel a thing/Oh Baby, why won't you talk to me?/Oh baby, you just want me empty!"
"My My Metrocard": When I was in New York, I suddenly realized how much this song is so closely tied to the metro: "Next Stop: Atlantic Avenue/Next Stop: Christopher Street/Next Stop: Transfer to the/Next Stop: A, C, or E"
"Les and Ray": The lyrics to this song suggests that these were Kathleen's neighbors when she was very young. She used to put her head next to the wall to hear these two guys composing music and it really inspired her... at least that's what the song is about.
While waiting for their sophomore album, I found this little EP, From the Desk of Mr Lady, at Circuit City. I think, also by this time JD Samson came on as a full member of Le Tigre, while Sadie retired quietly in the background.
I thought there were a couple of good songs on the EP: "Get Off the Internet" (relates to me...) and "Gone B4 Yr Home" (a nice pop song)
I did wanted to talk about their song "Bang! Bang!", it's about Amadou Diallo, who was shot 41 times by four officers. When I saw Le Tigre live, when they performed this song, they asked us to note how long counting to 41 was (it was the longest part of the song it seems).
By the time Feminist Sweepstakes came out in the winter of '01, I was still in love with Le Tigre. I thought this album was a little militant and I kind of felt slightly discriminated because I wasn't "a lady or a fag", as they put it on "LT Tour Theme".
Some may argue that it's not anti-men, but I really felt like this album didn't want any men to listen to it. The women-only theme continues on "F.Y.R." (which stands for "Fifty years of ridicule"), "Dyke March 2001", "TGIF", just to name a few.
One of the few favorite off this album, for me, was "On Guard", which contains a catchy line: "En Garde, let me see you shake it baby, shake it some more"
After picking up the rather disappointing Remix EP, containing remixes by various DJs, I was pretty much convinced that I should stop buying remix EPs (which is why I've avoided getting This Island Remixes). Like Randy, I'm not a fan of remixes (although occasionally, I will admit, some remixes are much better than the original).
I would only recommend people to pick up the Remix EP if you're a hardcore Le Tigre/Kathleen Hanna fan, otherwise, I couldn't endorse this.
|
|
|
|
In 2004, This Island made its debut on a (gasp!) major record label, Universal Records. No idea why a major label would want to pick up a band with such a niche audience (no offense, but Le Tigre are more political and feminist-charged rather than "mass appeal").
There's a couple of good tracks off the new album, which is tame compared to Feminist Sweepstakes.
I liked "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo", which was a fun song, The Pointer Sister cover song, "I'm So Excited", and "TKO". They tried to market the later as single, it contains the ironic line "TKO/heard it on the radio", which as you know never quite made it to popular radio.
There was another effort to release After Dark as a single, but I have never found this single (and never bothered to do ebay, etc).
So, where are Le Tigre now? They're currently taking an extended break since 2007. The band (minus Kathleen Hanna) formed Men, but I haven't heard anything from this band yet. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for new material from Men, Le Tigre, or Kathleen Hanna, so keep on livin'.
|
Album Discography
|
If you were into Britpop as much as I was, the biggest hype back in '95 was probably Cast. All the regular press (NME, Melody Maker, Q, etc) were mad for these lads, mostly because the primary driving force behind Cast was The La's bassist, John Power.
|
|
The La's with their hit song, "There She Goes", was a heavy influence on then-current Britpop bands... so when Cast appeared with their demo tape in '94, there was a huge hype behind them.
They had a string of hit-singles (all charting in the top 20 UK charts): Finetime, Alright, Sandstorm, and Walkaway from their enormous hit album All Change. I have always thought that among these singles, that "Alright" is perhaps the most famous of all the Cast song. The song was recently compiled in Rhino Records's The Brit Box.
Anyway, I remember picking up All Change at the Virgin Megastore in Los Angeles, on sale for $7.99, along with Gene's Olympian and have been enjoying both albums to this day.
I never followed Cast after the Britpop fallout, but a friend from England sent me a copy of Mother Nature Calls, which I honestly didn't like as much as All Change. I'm almost certain that most critics didn't like their second album either.
That was my last encounter with Cast, until I found out that they broke up in 2002 after their fourth album, Beetroot failed chart. Reading the reviews, they all cited that their last album was a huge departure from Cast's pop/rock sound.
It was only natural that John Power went solo after the breakup, although I was really surprise to hear that he's gone really blues! Even his singing style is more growly, check out "Ain't No Woman" from his third album, Stormbreaker a few months ago.
Also, apparently there are plans to re-release The La's as a special double-disc deluxe edition on April 7th, 2008.
02/16/2008 00:37:26
vu
my♥posts
www.johnpower.uk.com
