I wish I could come up with all the musicology and pithy comments that Court produces, but I'm a get to the point kinda guy. Here's my list for 2013. As usual, Court and I overlap in some areas, but are far apart in others. I think we both agree that "In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery" by Capital Cities was one of the best albums of the year.
1. "Coming Home" - Butch Walker
A friend asked me recently (as often happens), who is that guy you are always going to see live? I said he is the best singer-songwriter of the last 20 years. Its no joke, he writes for himself and he writes for others, and manages to keep those styles perfectly separated.
2. "Done And Dusted" - Less Than Jake
Gainsville's own should have disappeared from existence 10 years ago, like so many other punk/ska bands that had good runs, but the problem is they keep producing great albums year after year. This one is no exception.
3. "Royals" - Lorde
Yeah, you're sick of it now (and so am I), but I loved it the first time I heard it. "We're driving Cadillacs in our dreams…" Yeah we are.
4. "Dreaming" - Smallpools
I can't wait to hear an entire album from this impossibly catchy EIAR (see definition below) group.
5. "Pompeii" - Bastille
The haunting background chants of this track from Bastille's EP "Haunt" are only assuaged by the pure pop of the chorus "How am I gonna be an optimist about this?…"
6. "Diane Young" - Vampire Weekend
Everyone knows I'm an Elvis man through and through, and the pure E and Buddy Holly jump of this track makes you realize that good music never dies, it just gets modified. When Ezra Koenig sings "baby, baby, baby" I think I'm in a malt shop in the 50s. Solid gold.
7. "Sacrilege" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The slow build of this track doesn't get you the first time or even the second, but by the third you are completely hooked.
8. "Save Rock And Roll" - Fall Out Boy
When you're an emo/pop-punk band that can duet with Elton John and make it not sound ridiculous, but ridiculously awesome, you're doing something right. When they play it live they have a constantly changing backdrop of rock and roll icons, including Biggie & 2Pac. Yep.
9. "Wake Me Up" - Avici
Most original song of the year - who knew country and EDM went together?
10. "The Mother We Share" - Chvrches
There has to be a name for all this electronic-influenced alternative rock, let's call it EIAR. Capital Cities, Robert DeLong, Smallpools, Chvrches, etc. - its all awesome.
11. "Kangaroo Court" - Capital Cities
That synthesizer intro is all you need - best track from the best album of the year. "The judge pulls me aside, says c'est la vie, let your darker side come out to feed…" Indeed.
12. "The Way It Was" - The Killers
While their latest album "Battle Born" didn't receive much of a warm welcome from alternative radio or critics, its as good as anything The Killers have ever done. With visceral lyrics like "I drove through the desert last night, I carried the weight of our last fight, Elvis singing 'Don't Be Cruel', and I wonder if you feel it too, its like we're going under…", you feel like you are the one who is lonely and lovelorn in Las Vegas.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Merry Christmas!
(From a 1982 Factory Records flexi-disc handed out free to visitors of the Hacienda.)
Friday, December 20, 2013
Best of 2013
It's that time of year again. And this year I'm offering what looks to be my poppiest list yet: At least four of these songs were mainstays of pop radio in 2013. That said, I think it's a strong list, so without any excuses, or further ado, here goes:
The Messenger, Johnny Marr's first proper solo record, dominated my listening during the first half of the year, and his live set at Irving Plaza was easily the year's musical highlight for me. I've been an evangelist for Marr's guitar prowess for years -- both on this site and off -- but even I was pleasantly surprised with the consistency of this album, and in particular, the quiet strength of this song.
Frank Turner - "Recovery"
A big discovery this year for me was the music of this Wessex boy. A regular punk rocker who discovered Springsteen's Nebraska and morphed his sound into something more folksy, he never lost his edge or his attitude. And his lyrics are smart and literary, which I always appreciate. This year's album Tape Deck Heart was as much a break-up record as it was an homage to his tattoos (and in darker moments to other forms of youthful self-mutilation). On this track, Turner shows off his knack for making the emotionally raw sound like something to celebrate.
Palma Violets - "Best of Friends"
A great song makes you want to pick up a guitar and play. By that measure, there is no shortage of great songs on 180, the stunning debut by London's Palma Violets. Picking the best of the lot was no easy task,
but this rousing sing-along would pump up anyone -- from a crowd in a small club to a stadium. I'm not sure they're heading for the latter, which is too bad because this is as good a debut as I've heard in a while. Like Arctic Monkeys before them, they've perfected the art of the three-minute garage stomp, complete with power chords and 60s organs. Which leads me to...
This is what garage rock sounds like ten years down the road. On AM, the Arctic Monkeys slowed things down and found the funk, all without losing that garage rock sound. Lead singer Alex Turner cited everyone from Outkast to Aaliyah to Black Sabbath as influences this time around, and it shows.
Foxygen - "No Destruction"
This year also brought us a little Brooklyn backlash, in the form of LA's Foxygen. Listen closely and you'll hear it: "There's no need to be an asshole/You're not in Brooklyn anymore." Foxygen's capital V Velvety-smooth sound almost foretells this year's death of Lou Reed, and with this effort their on their way to filling that enormous void.
I include this pop fixture because it is the perfect takedown of all that is wrong with 1) hip hop, 2) conservative politics, and 3) organized religion. My twenty-one year old sister-in-law played this for me this summer -- sat me down and made me watch the video, actually -- and its impact on me was instant and undeniable. Like the best protest songs of the 1960s, this song succinctly captures the progressive mood of a country during a year that saw us hurtle further and faster toward accepting the single biggest civil right of our time.
Avicii - "Wake Me Up"
I'm not a big EDM fan, nor am I that fond of the ubiquitous Mumford and Sons-style folk revival stuff. And you-got-your-peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate mash-ups seldom work. So what's this chart-topping guilty pleasure doing on this list? Tune in at 1:24 and you'll know. When Avici drops his electronic bombast on top of that folk shit, you can't not want to jump out of whatever chair you're sitting in. Nevermind that the lyrics -- by Aloe Blacc -- are pretty dreadful. And that the ho-hum guitars are done by the guy from Incubus. And that the you're-not-one-of-us video is terrificly trite. And that... oh, forget it. Just dance.
Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams - "Get Lucky"
We may as well get through all the pop stuff in one shot. If 2013 comes down to this and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", this wins by a landslide. You couldn't get away from this track at the height of summer, and when it was on, you didn't turn it off. (I even played it at my kid's lemonade stand.) Who would have thought that the French kings of electronica would return after a long absence and conquer the world?
Capital Cities - "Safe and Sound"
Another family dance-party favorite. Or at least another earworm with a killer hook. I could sing that horn part for weeks on end. And as John knows, the bearded guy dancing in the video cracks me up every time.
Editor's note: We're through with the pop portion of this list.
Jesus and Mary Chain weren't the shoegazers who made a new album after decades of silence. That honor goes to My Bloody Valentine. But this Brooklyn band filled in admirably, with fuzzy, shimmery guitars and monotone lyrics... right up my alley.
The Dandy Warhols were often accused of being an American band that wanted to be British. On this track, London's Vaccines are a British band that wants to be the Dandy Warhols. And that's not a knock. The Vaccines have been around for years, but I never really noticed until I heard the nonchalance of this downer of a track. The Dandy Warhols influences are obvious, right down to the lyrics coming in a few beats after the guitars start the verses. It just oozes cool.
Deerhunter - "The Missing"
Atlanta's Deerhunter have made consistently good music in their eight-year career. Their sixth studio album Monomania continues that tradition, taking cues from 80s indie, shoegaze, Krautrock and bands like Sonic Youth and the Breeders. This track leans on a tight guitar riff and Bradford Cox's distorted vocals, and builds to a swirling crescendo before falling back down.
I had this song pegged as a song of the summer back in February. I was, of course, wrong. I figured it was a can't miss. It has the same breezy feel as fellow SoCal band Foster the People's hit "Pumped Up Kicks", with a bass line on warp speed and the sunny influences of the best 50s and early 60s pop. It should have been huge. Oh well.
Holy Ghost! - "Okay"
In a world without LCD Soundsystem, we have to settle for proteges like Holy Ghost! (Notice Arcade Fire's Reflektor, produced by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, is missing from this list.) This song would be right at home in 1985, with its bouncy synths, beeps and bloops.
I've been waiting for years for some band to rediscover the Happy Mondays, and Cut Copy has. Thank the Lord. This is as close to Madchester as we've been since the Hacienda shut down in 1997.
Maps - "A.M.A."
Northampton, England's James Chapman has been making shoegaze-inspired electronic since 2006. On this catchy and majestic single, he reminds us that his first love may well be bands like New Order.
Baz Luhrmann may have had the idea, but Bryan Ferry has the music. This clever collection re-imagines some of Ferry's greatest songs in the style of 1920s jazz. Ferry has traded in the instruments for the role of Svengali, overseeing an assortment of other musicians, and the results were showcased in Luhrmann's film The Great Gatsby. The great thing here is that the arrangements are so good -- and the songs so solid -- you initially don't recognize what you're listening to. And when you finally do -- like when the chorus kicks in here -- it's wonderful. This is the rare cross-cultural melange that actually works.
Some of the best discoveries I made this year were actually from years past -- like Scotland's fabulous Django Django and the terrific 2012 album Something by Brooklyn's Chairlift. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them as they provided many hours of listening pleasure over the past year. And as always, I look forward to reading your comments... and your lists.
Happy Holidays!
Friday, December 6, 2013
75 Essential, Obscure and Influential Bands
Monday, December 2, 2013
New Tune on Monday
Happy Cyber Monday, or, as it's known in Pennsylvania, the first day of deer season. In any event, I heard a new song over the weekend that caught my ear... and it's from a band that we've mentioned here in the past. The song is "Everybody's Gonna Let You Down" by the Vaccines. It has a quiet coolness reminiscent of some of the best of the Dandy Warhols, an underrated band that I always liked.
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