Fever Ray's S/T is one of my favorite albums of 2009 and electronic artist Karin Dreijer Andersson's (of The Knife and Honey is Cool) debut. The album plays a lot like the phenomenon of an eclipse. The bleak instrumentals mask, but don't impede, Andersson powerful drone; and in turn her vocals coddle/surround the rich blacks creating a subtle contrast of tone. While the album concocts some of the most intricate music-inspired-moods, it does not position itself for more of a popular listen in electronica or any genre. It is niched.
That was until J-Wow (of Buraka Som Sistema) turned "Now's the Only Time I Know" into a rave-party-banger, making Andersson's vocals less meditative and more dance inspiring. J-Wow doesn't remove the introverted soul from the track entirely, but rather, just makes it get out on the dance floor. One of the best remixes this year!
Pitchfork gave a shout out for this track to appear on Diplo's next mixtape. I wouldn't mind hearing that...
Vivian Girls cover of the Chantels' "He's Gone" is stripped of most instrumentation and of course showcases the band's exceptional vocal harmony. The Vivian Girls are constantly on the road and now its in support of their album, Everything Goes Wrong, released this past Fall (9/8).
James Franco, of Freaks and Geeks, Spider Man franchise and Milk, is going to be on 23 episodes of General Hospital...ask me if I care. Enough to post about it? Initially no, but as originally reported Franco, is doing this as performance art. Say what???
"...Most performance pieces before the 1970s were not well recorded. All that remains of some works are scraps of various media. This wasn't simply a result of oversight. Chris Burden never intended his early pieces to be filmed because he was concerned that the films would be seen as the work rather than as a record of the work. He was more interested in completing the act than getting the greatest number of people to see it. He worried that people would regard the film as the full experience when anyone who has watched a stage play on film knows, it is never the same as seeing it live...."
If at all interested, please read his entire op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal where he does not defend his decision but rather intelligently discusses the history of performance art in relation to his motives. I can respect that.
The constant intermixing-world of remixes can produce some pretty strong material. Salvador Santana, Carlos Santana's son, first remixed "Keyboard City" where GZA does a verse on the track. Dan Deacon then took the remix of "Keyboard City" and remixed the remix. Deacon ups the keyboards and adds his signature distorted synth.
I am really only posting this video because of where it took place and because I have posted Sleigh Bells before. The performance isn't amazing, however, it took place at rap mogul Damon Dash's basement venue, Under 100, in Manhattan. Dash, Mos Def, and Curren$y were on hand for Sleigh Bells, Javelin, and Knife Hyts performance on the venue's inaugural night. What is with the crowd and their lack of groove. No rocking out in sight!
Writing in the blogosphere can start to seem like a cut and paste affair: "I read this, I found this" Drag, Right Click, COPY, Right Click, PASTE, type three grabbing lines of information, and POST. But, that's not why I started my blog. I started the ZenLunatic to be about my taste. I want it to sound from me.
So, in an effort to make my 2009 taste-making more genuine, I have organized a format in which I will post my favorite albums of 2009. In the same vain as Aquarium Drunkards' Decade Piece, I will consistanty post my favorite albums in no particular order from now (end of November) to the end of the year. My goal is that these albums feel as happenstance of a discovery as they did when I first put the disc in my car CD player.
2009 served as a moment in my life where I was clearly starting to define my taste in music. I started ZenLunatic in March of this year , originally out of boredom and fear (to do something meant you weren't failing). So every morning, when I found myself out of work, in my sweat pants, and wired from too much coffee, I wrote about music. It started simply because. As I continued to explore and dig deeper, I found myself exposed to another universe of artists, genres, and creative possibilities. The world of music, as experienced via the web, is an energizing and hopeful place where artists communicate and survive all while remaining dreamers. I hold fast, that our likes and dislikes (opinions) are the guards to what food, what music, what art, what film, what people might come asking to take residency in the place that makes you, you. While exercising my ability to discover within the Clear Channel-less realm of music, I learned that finding what you like and don't like is the same as finding who you are. The following albums are the ZenLunatic.
I've said it this multiple times this year, but, I'll say it again: "Real Estate is my favorite band to emerge in '09." I consider myself a young buck to the music game and Real Estate makes a good companion. Themselves having only been active since 2006, their first volume of material didn't hit the web, vinyl, and disc until this year. From Jersey, the band creates a sound rooted in the Shore. Not the Shore that has been showcased on MTV's True Life (jager bombs), but, the Jersey Shore that strikes any westerner as a contradictory idea. Oceans get cold? Sand can be covered with snow? As contradictory as frigid beaches might sound, so does Real Estate's music.
The album maintaina a common thread of low key optimism that doesn't promise you anything but would never think of taking anything away either. "Beach Comber" is the corner stone of the record, a song about a Beach Comber (the dudes that scan the beach with a metal detector). Analogous to the beach comber is every young human finding their way through life and everyday altering what it is they ultimately value. What is it that we are looking for? Through the multitudes of sand, the excitement and anticipation of finding grand treasure, we realize we are happiest when just looking. Hence, the music follows the lyrical content in rejoicing in a beach sway like a breeze through Palm leaves. "Beach Comber" states the ethos of Real Estate.
Real Estate rests upon their laurels of melodic, low key, and lo-fi indie rock. Real Estate's music is carried primarily by the fresh sound that Martin Courtney has brought out of his guitar. Aquatic, much, like the reflection of a swimming pool, the guitar seems suspended, but always moving. Melodic and upbeat but never overtly optimistic, weather in lyric or instrumentation, Real Estate's s/t never cuts too deep, nor, steps on your toes with idealism. It simply creates a nostalgic backyard BBQ environment where the sun is out and the vibes are chill.
A surprisingly amazing video directed by Yoonha Park. The video for Small Black's "Despicable Dogs" is a character study of singer-keyboardist Josh Kolenick's surfer uncle. Kolenick's uncle exudes the machismo of Chuck Norris, however, Park does a stellar job of digging deeper to portray the man's soul separate from his ambition. Life is composed of doing. Whether it's working a 9-5, surfing, washing your car, watching a movie, going to the local liquor store...all things done make up the landscape of a today and eventually a lifetime. Do what it is you enjoy.
Writing in the blogosphere can start to seem like a cut and paste affair: "I read this, I found this" Drag, Right Click, COPY, Right Click, PASTE, type three grabbing lines of information, and POST. But, that's not why I started my blog. I started the ZenLunatic to be about my taste. I want it to sound from me.
So, in an effort to make my 2009 taste-making more genuine, I have organized a format in which I will post my favorite albums of 2009. In the same vain as Aquarium Drunkards' Decade Piece, I will consistanty post my favorite albums in no particular order from now (end of November) to the end of the year. My goal is that these albums feel as happenstance of a discovery as they did when I first put the disc in my car CD player.
2009 served as a moment in my life where I was clearly starting to define my taste in music. I started ZenLunatic in March of this year , originally out of boredom and fear (to do something meant you weren't failing). So every morning, when I found myself out of work, in my sweat pants, and wired from too much coffee, I wrote about music. It started simply because. As I continued to explore and dig deeper, I found myself exposed to another universe of artists, genres, and creative possibilities. The world of music, as experienced via the web, is an energizing and hopeful place where artists communicate and survive all while remaining dreamers. I hold fast, that our likes and dislikes (opinions) are the guards to what food, what music, what art, what film, what people might come asking to take residency in the place that makes you, you. While exercising my ability to discover within the Clear Channel-less realm of music, I learned that finding what you like and don't like is the same as finding who you are. The following albums are the ZenLunatic.
You know an album and band for that matter is good when it/they make you feel proper and reserved. The Black Lips shook my universe with the release of 200 Million Thousandearlier this year. Spontaneously brash, irrational at times, but contradictory with clear musical decision making the Black Lips showed turthful this year. 200 Million Thousand likens to a more hip version of the Stones' "Exile on Main" and highlights one of 2009's biggest statements: Apathy is the new Fuck You.
The first track, "Take My Heart," showacases Cole Alexander's vocal style with his echoing howl of apathy. Energetic "woo" and guitar whale creates a flailing atmosphere of carelessness. The Black Lips channel spook and gloom in "Trapped In A Basement" with ailing vocals and a waltz that sounds confidently mad, lost inside a house with too many doors and not enough rooms. Ultimately, "The Drop I Hold" is Alexander's greatest lyrical accomplishment and the bands best mood on the album. The track is a Basketball Diary-esque love poem to a drug. The bass line drips in rhythme with Alexander's flow. The guitar's subtle twang adds to the eerie fatalist mood:
feel so lame/what a shame/smoke my brain/got no name/it's insane/what a game/pulled by the pain/will it wain?/nine times out of ten/ain't got no money/But the gods make it fuckin' rain
All of 200 Million Thousand is gripping and inspiring. It feels accessible and friendly even if it sounds conflicted. Its through the struggle that the Black Lips channel a rhythm, flow, and attitude that says "its OK not to give a shit."
Mos Def and Talib Kweli stopped by "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to perform "History" from Mos Def's '09 release the Ecstatic. The Roots (Fallon house band) performed the instrumentals along with guest performances by Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle of Dirty Projectors. This is a truly organic Hip Hop performance.
Neon Indian, crafty chill wave architect of 09's stand out Psychic Chasms, remixed Grizzly Bear's "Cheerleader." Neon Indian puts out two remixes titled "Sega Genesis P-Orridge" and "Studio 6669." Both add a jolt of electricity, removing the patience from the original.
California-grown psyche band, Citay, will release their third LP via Dead Oceans on January 26. The album is called Dream Get Together, and "Careful With That Hat" is the public's first taste. The track is a swinging with bonfire vocals, a hi-freq guitar solo, and psyche jam that shows us the door. It actually feels exactly like the above artwork looks (vintage hot air balloon and all!).
Matador will release a Fucked Up singles collection called Couple Tracks on January 26th. Reminiscent of Mix CD's you would makes as kids, Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2008 will be split into two discs, Hard Stuff and Fun Stuff. "Neat Parts" is on Hard Stuff, but, is still too much fun. Tasty Hardcore that only Fucked Up can bang out.
King Midas Sound released a tone-perfect mix by way of Fact Magazine. The mix starts poetically and is supported by Reggae/R&B/Soul sounds. It features tracks from Burial, Lovejoys, Little Dragon, Gregory Isaacs, and includes some cuts from KMS's full length Waiting For You (due out next week on Hyperdub).
Animal Collective will cap off the year the way they started, in the news and in your ear. The trio will release EP Fall Be Kind on December 15. "What Would I Want Sky?" (first track to hit the web) has been part of AC's set list this Spring/Summer/Fall. The song starts with an extensive intro of drum breaks and roller coaster clanking (as heard in Panda Bear's remix of Santogold's "Lights Out"), however, it emerges and reaches out into the wide open where the air is fresh and crisp. The track is the first song to sample the Greatful Dead and manipulates the original lyric "Willow sky/Whoa, I walk and wonder why" to hit your ears as "What Would I Want Sky?" Humbled and submissive to that greater force, we often look to the sky for answers. While AC poses the question, their ingenuity and consistent creativity makes them near powerful enough to answer most of their own inquisitions.
Ironically, Mountain Man is a group of three girls (Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Amelia Randall Meath) that bring a "wise as oak" folklore to the audible landscape this morning. Perfect for the Fall, "Animal Tracks," is an adventurous and spiritual hike through the wilderness. Pitchfork best categorized Mountain Man as "set up camp between the old-timey lilt of Aela Diane or Fleet Foxes and the laid-back lo-fi vibes of Underwater Peoples pals like Real Estate and Julian Lynch." As a great admirer of both Fleet Foxes and Underwater Peoples (especially Real Estate), it is no wonder that this feels right.
Alex Bleeker and the Freaks (the same Alex Bleeker of Real Estate), covered Mountain Man's "Animal Tracks." Bleeker and the Freaks elaborate on Mountain Man's hand sketched original cut with scuzzy guitar and a wider production. The cover is the first song off of the band's self-titled LP by way of Underwater Peoples.
beck/charlotte gainsbourg "heaven can wait" Recently, Beck made a record with French Actress/Singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. The first track, "IRM" perferated the blogosphere in late summer. The song's production implicates Beck's involvement but there are no actual vocals that place him in studio (although he absolutely was). Proof is in the pudding, but, no writing on the wall...Until the second helping off of IRM, "Heaven Can Wait," scribbles all over the proverbial wall with lipstick and spray paint "BECK WAS HERE." Beck and Gainsbourg elegantly merge their vocal mojo in a track that likens to most material off Sea Change.
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real estate "fake blues" & "basement" Real Estate performed new track "Basement" (as captures by Ray Concepcion) at Piano's in NYC for CMJ and "Fake Blues" at Pitchfork Showpaper Benefit. "Basement" carries the common thread of aquatic, ever expanding guitar that makes Real Estate so pleasant. While "Basement" lingers before shooting for the moon, "Fake Blues" seems to start mid flight. The Pitchfork Showpaper Benefit set includes a performance of Ducktails' "Mall" and is available for free download at Pitchfork.
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dum dum girls "play with fire"
Buzzsaw band Dum Dum Grils create a teasing and distant sounding cover of Rolling Stone's dingy "Play With Fire." With tasteful and purposeful decisions the band create a sonic current or stretch of road with the elongated "fire" that leaves lead singer's, Dee Dee, mouth. While I wish more of the lyrics were audible, that's not in the Dum Dum Girl's vain; playing it the way they hear it.
So I came back with a few posts and then went away again...but it was all for a good cause. Here is The (k)Now with some more music/writing projects on the way.
real estate "black lake"
Another video from Jersey's Real Estate. The band played at CMJ last week and all the classy basement fun was captured by Chocolate Bobka. Real Estate's live footage adds to the charm of the band and is more essential than most of their LP's.
===== them crooked vulture "new fang"
Them Crooked Vultures composed of Homme, Grohl, an Jones is a no brainier on paper (at least to me). The band can't fail in the rock world. Whether it is critically acclaimed is another issue and the band's first song "New Fang" is the critics most tangible piece of material. The track is riff frantic, carries a nice swing pace, and Homme always makes rock and roll sound ghastly. "New Fang" doesn't break down any walls and I hope this is one of the more instrumentally mild tracks. As safe as this song sounds, I am sure it is safer to spend $14 for the whole S/T LP out November 17th...so head to your nearest Best Buy.
previously:
them crooked vultures
For all things mainstream and Best Buy-like, I am curious to wonder what Josh Homme (lead singer/guitarist of Queens of the Stoneage) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin bassist) would want to do with Dave Grohl of the "Foo Foo Fighters." It is understood that Grohl and Homme have worked together (Grohl playing drums on the QOTS's Songs for the Deaf), but, after Grohl's most recent Foo releases, what could they possibly still have in common. All bitching aside, I am excited to hear about this undeniable supergroup called Them Crooked Vultures in which Grohl will once again sit behind a kit, Homme on guitar, and Jones on bass. Let's hope Grohl wipes off the Foo stank from his boots before entering the studio and can get back to basics with some originals.
There are some rumors about a fall album release and tour, however, no official word. Until then stay connected at the bands official website, Myspace, and Facebook. Something smells...
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Distortion in music is mostly associated with what was considered as grunge, or, punk; and gets overused by most alternative styles in an effort to add an edge or aggressive quality to what would normally be listened to as soft. This year specially, I have heard far more lo-fi infused songs/groups. Now add distortion to one's populist palette. "A/B" Machines by Brooklyn's Sleigh Bells, is a hook heavy, indie car guitar driven explosion that takes drum distortion to new lovely brutal level. "A/B Machines" can be found on Sleigh Bells' CD-R called Magic Metal.
Mixtape scary weirdness from the scene, Gorilla vs Bear. They claim this is no party mix (they are right), not even, a mix to get ready to; but, its definitely a music equivalent to a ghost story. So when the night is winding down, bust out the flashlights and scare the shit out of all your friends with this mix.
I can't get sick of rushed sounding music. While I would never assume no effort went into The Mantles new track "Bad Design," their sound is lazy, ambivalent, and unimpressed with everything (even themselves). It is an amazingly spontaneous attitude that I can most accurately be describe as how you feel waking up after a day of making mistakes. "Bad Design" the A-side on the Bad Design "7 is limited to 300 copies and available here.
