Friday, January 20, 2012
Clear Heart Full Eyes
I've gotten one full, intermittently interrupted listen to Craig Finn's first solo record. The initial verdict is very favorable. The sound is much less Replacements/classic rock, and much more alt-country. Craig has not swapped his speak-sing for anything more traditional (which is good) but stripped of Tad's guitars and the busy keyboards of the last few Hold Steady records, his vocals carry the songs well. I haven't gotten the chance to analyze the lyrics, but there seems to be a lot of religious imagery going on here, and a fair bit of lapsed Catholic guilt. There's also a Sex Pistols reference in "No Future" which is cool. First impression: really good stuff.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Comet Gain- Howl of The Lonely Crowd
Broken Record Prayers, Comet Gain's 2009 singles collection, is a sleeper of a record. Various incarnations of Comet Gain have been putting out records for almost two decades now, and compiling a whole album's worth of one-off singles, rarities, session tracks, and whatnot (Comet Gain's Hatful of Hollow???) was a nice gesture. Two years later, with (per the norm) some new members in tow, and headed up by Edwyn Collins, Ryan Jarman (The Cribs), and Brian O'Shaughnessy (whose production credits include Denim, Moose, Beth Orton, and The Clientele), Comet Gain have delivered their most fully-realized album. There are a bunch of songs about literary and pop-culture icons, but there are also some gentle acoustic ballads. The best of the lot, though, are "Some of Us Don't Want to Be Saved", my second-favorite atheistic anthem of 2011 and "The Ecstatic Library", a heartfelt paean to a record collection. I've always felt that Comet Gain is the rightful heir to the legacy of the Go-Betweens, and this record seals the deal.
The Rifles-Freedom Run
Somehow, I completely neglected to put this record on my 2011 list. The previous two records by this London band were fairly mod-dy Britpop, heavily influenced by The Jam (this one was recorded in Paul Weller's studio). But this one is much thicker with melodies and borders on power pop, or at least poppy Brit rock. At some point, I will have to go back and revisit the other records, just to make sure I haven't missed something there. Produced by Chris Potter (who has produced The Verve and Richard Ashcroft, among others), there aren't the shout-along choruses from previous records, but there are SING-ALONG choruses, which is kind of the same thing. The strings at the beginning of "Tangled Up in Love" remind me of the Stones sample at the beginning of "Bittersweet Symphony".
Friday, January 6, 2012
Favorite Reissues of 2011
1. The Smiths: The Complete Smiths. This box is worth the purchase if only for the remastering job, which takes the crappy sounding old CD versions of all of the Smiths records and totally overhauls them.
2. Beach Boys: Smile! After the Brian Wilson/Wondermints version, this might be slightly anticlimactic, but it’s still an amazing accomplishment, unfinished at that. Uncut’s #1 bootleg of all time is now official.
3. The Radio Dept: Passive Aggressive (The Singles 2002-2010). Really great collection of singles (some of them non-album!) and b-sides. “Heaven’s On Fire” is stellar, as is much of the rest. I’m not sure what to make of the dude on the album cover, though. *shudder*
4. U2: Achtung Baby. The twentieth anniversary (!) of U2’s best overall album brought a massive 6 disc box set, which included cleanly remastered versions of both the album and the underrated companion Zooropa, along with b-sides, early demos, and two discs of mostly underwhelming but interesting remixes that show the influence of British dance pop and techno on the songs.
5. R.E.M.: Life’s Rich Pageant (25th Anniversary Edition). Continuing an excellent series of reissues, although missing the live album that came with Murmur, there are some cool demo versions of tracks from this classic. And then there’s Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (1982-2011), the first comprehensive hits set (released not long after the breakup announcement) that has some flaws (WAY too much from Green!) but sums up the career nicely. And I can’t think of a better career coda than the final track, “We All Go Back To Where We Belong”.
6. The Jayhawks: Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow The Green Grass reissues. Nicely remastered, with loads of bonus tracks and demos recordings, these were a nice treat in the year when the Jayhawks returned.
7. Smashing Pumpkins: Gish and Siamese Dream reissues. No band screams ‘90’s alt-rock’ more than the Pumpkins, and Billy Corgan takes a lot of crap (much of it justified because he seems like a giant tool), but these records have aged well. The success of bands aping the Pumpkins sound (I’m looking at you, Silversun Pickups!) just proves that these records seeped into the musical DNA of contemporary indie rock deeply. Great boxed set reissues, with b-sides, demos, and (best of all) full show DVDs from each era.
8. Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle. Often passed over as North Carolina’s version of Pavement, these guys were WAY better than the overrated Pavement. “Web In Front” might be the most representative of the slacker sound of the 90’s, and this reissue (with the Vs The Greatest of All Time EP) makes the case that Archers were one of the lost bands of the era.
9. The Waterboys: In a Special Place-Piano Demos For This is the Sea. Rarely are demos discs much more than curios, but these early, solo piano versions of tracks from This Is The Sea, often featuring different lyrics and alternate melodies merit revisiting. More than once.
10. Nirvana: Nevermind (20th Anniversary Edition). I’m not a huge fan of this record (but I eagerly await the In Utero reissue, hopefully with the ‘unlistenable’ original Albini mix) but it has its charms. Some of the best tracks Nirvana put out come from the b-sides around the time this album was released, so it’s nice to have them all together.
11. Manic Street Preachers: National Treasure-The Complete Singles. I’m kind of a novice to these guys, so this career-spanning collection of all 39 singles is a solid introduction to a long-standing Britpop band.
12. Ben Folds: The Best Imitation of Myself/55 Vault. The entire career, from Ben Folds Five to the Nick Hornby record, as well as new tracks, rarities, and a live disc. The 55 Vault adds to the mix with 55 more rarities of various quality. Over 100 tracks of Ben…tasty!
13. Material Issue: International Pop Overthrow (20th Anniversary Edition). This reissue is a sad one, considering that the talented writer of these songs committed suicide in 1996. But the reissue, loaded with bonus tracks (many from the great Eleven Supersonic Hit Explosions LP), including covers of Thin Lizzy, The Sweet, and Simon and Garfunkel, is essential power pop.
14. Jesus and Mary Chain: Upside Down-The Best Of. All of the main studio albums from JAMC got expanded reissues this year, but I haven’t shelled out for those yet. This two disc set, though, offers a full screen view of the best of all phases of the Chain’s evolution, from the early, noisy stuff (“Just Like Honey”, “Never Understand”) to the later, poppier stuff (“Head On”, “Far Gone and Out”) to the cool duets (“Sometimes Always” with Hope Sandoval, “God Help Me” with Shane MacGowan). Feedback-covered gold, all.
15. Tindersticks: Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009. Always a cinematic-sounding group, Tindersticks (and individual members Stuart Staples and Dickon Hinchcliffe) have put together mostly instrumental scores for six Claire Denis films. This beautiful box collected them, in loving fashion, to soundtrack your rainy afternoon of reading existentialist poetry and pensively smoking.
16. Pete Yorn: musicforthemorningafter (10th Anniversary Edition). This record was released in 2001, but is rarely discussed amongst the great alt-country/Americana records of that year (Ryan Adams’ Gold, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), and sadly so. Some of Pete’s best songs, and the inclusion of the excellent covers EP that followed the record’s release only highlights how good his playing and singing are.
17. Ocean Colour Scene: Moseley Shoals(Deluxe Edition). Of course, this UK-only reissue (the band never made a dent in the US consciousness) piles a bonus disc (23 tracks in all) worth of b-sides from a wildly popular, Weller-influenced Britpop record. OCS always had a little more soul and grit than most of the rest of Britpop.
18. New Model Army: Anthology. A comprehensive double-disc set of hits and deep album cuts from a band with a massive back catalog. A more than capable introduction to the band’s broad span of styles, from crustpunk to postpunk to aggro-folk.
19. Josh Ritter: Live at the Iveagh Gardens. Idaho-bred songwriter Josh Ritter is huge in Ireland. This live double album, with included DVD, shows a rabid Irish fanbase soaking in a set of Ritter’s best songs and his charismatic stage presence. Best straight-up live record of the year.
20. Upside Down: Original Soundtrack. There’s nothing unreleased or rare on this double disc collection of Creation Records tracks, put together to soundtrack the excellent documentary on the label. But any soundtrack with Ride’s “Taste” and Oasis’s “Live Forever” and the Boo Radley’s “Wake Up Boo!” and Teenage Fanclub’s “The Concept”…
21. Billy Bragg: Fight Songs. Compiling Billy’s politically charged free downloads from 2001-2011, these tracks cover anti-Bush and anti-Iraq War tracks, to later criticisms of Wall Street bailouts and (best of all) Rupert Murdoch’s journalistic nightmare (“Don’t Buy The Sun”). If you have a strong favorite in January’s Iowa caucauses, you probably will not like this. Just sayin’.
22. Against Me!: White Crosses/Black Crosses. Shortly after releasing White Crosses on Sire in 2010, Against Me! left the label. They quickly started their own label and re-released White Crosses, including some of the bonus tracks available on only some versions of the original record, alongside a standalone bonus disc of demos, much rougher in form and function than the Butch Vig/Alan Moulder versions from the album.
Favorite Records of 2011
I've been making these lists for at least 8 years, although some of them are long lost. Here's the most recent.
1. The Decemberists: The King is Dead/Long Live The King/Live at Bull Moose/iTunes Sessions.
In a year when R.E.M. released a new record, reissued another, broke up, and put out a comprehensive greatest hits, the best R.E.M. record of the year was made by the Decemberists. Following the full length up with a pair of live EPs and a studio EP that is all killer, no filler just added to the quality of their 2011. Any band that can make me like a Grateful Dead song (“Row Jimmy”) earns a #1 spot in my heart. Not to mention Jenny Conlee kicking cancer’s ass.
2. The Horrors: Skying.
After a dud of a first album, the sophomore record moved from Cramps/Bad Seeds worship to a Big Music approach. This continues that trend, adding shoegaze and dreampop to a mix of Echo and the Bunnymen/Psychedelic Furs styled anthems. “Endless Blue” opens with a blissed out intro that could come from a Spiritualized record, then abruptly switches up midway through into a Sonic Youth flavored raveup.
3. Frank Turner: England Keep My Bones.
PJ Harvey made a Mercury-prize winning album about England this year, but I offer this as the most English record of 2011. Former hardcore screamer Frank Turner has become a full fledged folk singer, and the record is full of references to English places and spaces (“Wessex Boy”). An a capella English folk song (“English Curse”) is followed by a punky rave up. Self-excoriating psychoanalysis explodes into primal scream (“Redemption”) and the album ends with a spiritual anthem for atheism. His popularity has grown so much that he will headline Wembley in 2012, and deservedly so.
4. Dawes: Nothing is Wrong.
A fairly straightforward alt-country record, leaning towards the softer side of California Americana. Both Robbie Robertson and Jackson Browne have used them as a backing band, if that helps solidify the kind of sound they produce. Great road songs and relationship songs, and the closer (“A Little Bit of Everything”) traverses a suicide, an old man in a buffet line, and a woman writing wedding invitations without ever seeming scattershot.
5. Yuck: Yuck.
The 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind (a solid but overrated record) came this year, and it seems clear that the sounds of alt-rock that came after the grunge explosion have seeped into the consciousness of younger bands. The members of Yuck were barely born when the sounds they borrow from (early Dinosaur Jr, Smashing Pumpkins, Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque) were hugely popular, but they merge them with 2011 indie for a catchy pile of tunes. Bonus points for reissuing the album with a bonus EP of b-sides AT THE SAME PRICE six months later, instead of jacking the price up.
6. Noah & The Whale: Last Night On Earth.
In a bid for Coldplay (or, at least Mumford and Sons)-sized popularity, Noah & The Whale wrote some arena-ready anthems, and backed them with big orchestration and instrumentation. The songs are great, the performances bigger than life. There is a strong echo of (early) Waterboys and, particularly, Deacon Blue in these songs. This is meant as high praise.
7. Elbow: Build a Rocket, Boys!
It’s hard to top 2008’s Mercury Prize winner The Seldom Seen Kid, and I won’t say that this record does, but that’s not a shot. More quiet, melancholy musings about life and lippy kids on the corner. When Guy Garvey implores “build a rocket boys”, I’m inclined to do what he says.
8. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: Belong.
Amping up the radio-friendly quality by toning down the twee and turning up the 90’s alt-rock, The Pains turned to the duo of Flood and Alan Moulder to mix and produce this record, which mashes up the best of 90’s alternative (including a hazy shoegaze film over the top of everything) with super-catchy pop songs.
9. Glossary: Long Live All of Us.
Like fellow Tennesseans Lucero, Glossary have added a whole pile of Memphis-style horns to their already energetic alt-country to great success. Joey Kneiser has always had a soulful twang, but the R n’ B edge that the horns bring these songs from solid alt-country to barroom anthems.
10. Middle Brother: Middle Brother.
An odd little alt-country ‘supergroup’ made up of members of Dawes, Deer Tick, and The Delta Spirit. They cover a late period Replacements rarity (“Portland”) and make it sound like a mid-period Replacements album track.
11. Big Troubles: Romantic Comedy.
The debut was a little kooky and underproduced, but this one is guided by the adept hand of Mitch Easter, and he tones the amped up indie pop to something more akin to perfect (indie) power pop a la vintage Guided By Voices. My favorite power pop record of the year, and that’s something when the year contains a Fountains of Wayne record.
12. Butch Walker and the Black Widows: The Spade.
Butch Walker gets credit for being a great pop songwriter and producer, but he also writes evocative story-songs about slices of life. Case in point: “Bodegas and Blood”, which stars a bunch of messed up people, some blood, and (duh) a bodega. Butch’s autobiography (“Drinking With Strangers”) was one of the funniest rock book reads of 2011, and several songs on this record (“Summer of ‘89” and “Bullet Belt”) revisit the days of SouthGang with only a little bit of embarrassment.
13. The Vaccines: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
I didn’t expect anything, really. The latest in a LONG string of super-hyped British bands, I hoped for Oasis but expected The View. In reality, this is one of the tightest, catchiest Britpop records of the year. Many of the songs linger under the three minute mark. They released a standalong single late in 2011 called “Tiger Blood” to prove that they are winning, duh.
14. The Joy Formidable: The Big Roar.
A blast of shoegaze and stadium friendly alt-rock (a Dave Grohl fave) with a pixieish Welsh frontwoman, I expected this to sound like Lush. Instead, it sounds more like gutsy, noisy shoegaze (Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver) and far less ethereal.
15. The Twilight Singers: Dynamite Steps/Live in New York
Another great set of songs from Greg Dulli. A live disc, later in the year, only shows how much grit and dark soul the band brings live.
16. Ryan Adams: Ashes and Fire.
Critics have called this his best since Heartbreaker, which is odd because Ryan has chucked out several great records (Gold, Love is Hell) since his first. This one has a mellow (but not hippy-jammy) vibe, and at times it seems a little one note, but the highs (“Lucky Now”) far outstrip any lows.
17. Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes.
When people talk about how great the melodies are in FoW songs, they almost always neglect to mention how well-crafted the stories in the songs are. Characters worthy of Raymond Carver short stories (the kid who flunked out of FIT and sells overpriced jeans, the middle aged dad who imagines being a superhero while fighting health issues) pop up inside sunny tunes.
18. M83. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
A pretty sprawling, massive double-album filled with gorgeous synths, guest vocals (Zola Jesus steals the show) and impressive singing from frontman Anthony Gonzalez.
19. Real Estate: Days.
All of the jangle of the debut is there, but improved songs and better production make this far more memorable. “It’s Real” and “Green Aisles” are easily in my top 20 songs of 2011.
20. Still Corners: Creatures of An Hour.
Female-fronted orch-pop/shoegaze combo adds the flourishes of cinema scores a la The Tindersticks with melancholic soft vocals. Lovely stuff.
21. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life.
I’m not a huge fan of the hardcore shouting vocals of Pink Eyes, but I appreciate his energy. However, this concept record (which features loads of guest vocals as counterpoint to Pink Eyes’ growling) is loaded with cool melodies and an interesting storyline. Bonus points for the faux K-Tel compilation David’s Town (featuring a collection of bands from fictional Byrdesdale Spa) which features more Fucked Up tunes, fronted by guest vocalists.
22. British Sea Power: Valhalla Dancehall. Yet another in a stream of powerful, sometimes weird, but always memorable records from BSP.
23. Girls. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Christopher Owens seems to have a bottomless supply of catchy-yet-familiar melodies at his disposal.
24. Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness. A breakup record somewhere between punk and twee/C86, full of sadness (duh, it’s in the title) and melancholy.
25. Comet Gain: Howl of the Lonely Crowd. This intermittently active, loosely structured British combo recruited Edwyn Collins and Derek Jarman (The Cribs) to produce. “Some of Us Don’t Want to the Be Saved” was the second-best atheist anthem of the year, after Frank Turner’s.
26. Veronica Falls. Veronica Falls. The influence of 80’s British jangle pop, twee, and C86 loomed large over music in 2011, but this record sounds like a great, lost classic from 1986, unearthed from a pile of musty copies of the NME and a shrine to The Weather Prophets.
27. Rhett Miller: The Interpreter-Live at Largo. I usually include live records in my other list (of reissues, compilations, and whatnot) but this one is too good, and too left-field, to pass by. Old 97’s frontman Miller gets into the spirit of covers at a show in LA’s Largo, playing a set of other people’s songs. Stellar versions of songs by Bowie, Petty, Paul Simon, Aztec Camera, Elvis Costello, and so on. The Jon Brion-assisted studio cover of Robyn Hitchcock’s “Cynthia Mask” takes the stripped down original to its pop conclusion.
28. Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See. The debut was huge, but choppy. Since then, frontman Alex Turner’s singing has improved greatly (check out his contributions to the Submarine soundtrack, or his work with Miles Kane in Last Shadow Puppets) and the production of Josh Homme has dirtied up the Monkeys sound to something really interesting.
29. Male Bonding: Endless Now. A potent mix of 90’s alt rock, including grunge angst and shoegaze melody, but frontloaded with great vocal harmonies and catchy tunes. A leap forward from a good but not great debut.
30. Apex Manor: The Year of Magical Drinking. After the breakup of his previous band, The Broken West, Ross Flournoy went on a bender and got writers block. An NPR songwriting contest got him back in the game (“Under The Gun” is stellar) and power pop’s gain is alcohol’s loss.
31. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Without Liam’s input, Noel leans heavily on Beatles-influenced melody lines (to people who slag Noel as a copycat, I say SO WHAT? It’s the freakin’ Beatles!) but the bulk of the songwriting talent in the Gallagher brood is clearly in Noel’s hands. He proves to be quite capable as a vocalist, as well.
The rest, without much commentary.
32. Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring For My Halo
33. S.C.U.M.: Again Into Eyes
34. We Are Augustines: Rise Ye Sunken Ship. Ex-members of Brooklyn indie band Pela. You might have heard “Chapel Song” on an REI commercial.
35. Marc Carroll: In Silence
36. Kasabian: Velociraptor!
37. The See See: Late Morning Light. This was originally released in 2010, but got wider release in 2011. Reminiscent of Cosmic Rough Riders.
38. Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto
39. Barreracudas: Nocturnal Missions
40. Telekinesis: 12 Desperate Straight Lines
41. Cut Copy: Zonoscope
42. The Head and the Heart: The Head and the Heart. The new sound of Seattle is now pensive and folksy (Fleet Foxes, Motopony, these guys)
43. Beady Eye: Different Gear, Still Speeding
44. East River Pipe: We Live in Rented Rooms
45. Atlas Sound: Parallax
46. Black Keys: El Camino. The Black Keys have back-shelved the blues in favor of classic hard rock, which suits them.
47. Tame Impala: Innerspeaker
48. The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient. I read this album categorized as “Boss-gaze”, implying a merger of Springsteen and shoegaze. That seems about right to me.
49. Cold Cave: Cherish The Light Years
50. R.E.M.: Collapse into Now. Honestly, a very good effort from R.E.M. We can look back through it for clues about the impending breakup, but the songs and performances might be the band’s best overall set of songs since New Adventures in Hi-Fi.
51. Wilco: The Whole Love.
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