marathonpacks' Year-(Fri)end Bonanza, Volume I: The Dudes from "Dwight Gooden Poster"
(As I do every year, I'll devote this week to posting some year-end thoughts, musical and otherwise, from some friends of mine. My own thing will no doubt go up sometime in the early part of January. In the meantime, my year-end mixes are still there for the taking, btw.)
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The following four guys are enrolled in the same graduate program as yours truly. That's one thing. More importantly: these are guys with whom I regularly debate the relative merits of Cris Collinsworth as a color-commentator, NWA vs. WWF, and the importance of "Predators" (NFL players who have dreadlocks or long hair coming out from under their helmets, thus making them resemble the movie monster). In their spare time, and also during their time when they should be teaching, researching or writing their dissertations, they run the sports blog Dwight Gooden Poster.
Travis Vogan:
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down in the Light
Ok, so I like BPB quite a lot. His albums generally find their way on my top ten lists. To be honest, I’m not sure why this album has been getting so much loveage. I mean, I like it but don’t think it is nearly as good as 2006’s “The Letting Go.” Guess that just shows to go you that I haven’t much of a clue what the good people and music maven like. Some of the highlights for me are “Glory Goes” and “Other’s Gain.” One of the things I like about these songs is that they tend to be a bit sweeter than some previous works. I sometimes think of BPB’s gremlin-looking ass giggling as he’s conjuring up these dulcet swamp water ditties.
Boris – Smile
Another album that evidences my out of touchness with what people like. I think this album is SO much better than Pink. “My Neighbor Satan” alone warrants high-fives to our double-necked guitar humping Japanese aural death merchants.
Brightblack Morning Light – Motion to Rejoin
I think this is my favorite album of the year. I like the soft vocals mixed with the organs and decisive breakdowns. The album flows very nicely without all the songs sounding completely identical. But the songs have enough cohesion to make the record sound like a composition rather than just a collection of songs. I also thought it was kind of funny that these guys were involved in sort of Pitchforkian scandal when one of their entourage refused to let a military person into one of their shows. I wasn’t troubled by their representative not letting the soldier in so much as mystified by why someone in the military would go to one of their shows. I guess I shouldn’t stereotype soldiers…unless they're Citizen Soldiers (by the way, I’ve decided that the 3 Doors Down song and video, because of its timelessness, has transcended time, space, and listness. It’s already on my top ten of 2015).
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
This album is so listener friendly. Super palatable and pretty safe electro-pop. But them boys from down under do it right. They know the genre for sure. I don’t really have anything to say about this album except for that it’s really solid.
Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
Similar to Bonnie “Prince” Billy, I just love the shit out of these guys and have trouble not adoring anything they attach their names to. This album is a nice fusion between Earth’s earlier style and the style they adopted for Hex. Very nice drone with enough versatility to give us a bit to hold on to once and a while. This something to grab, I think, is important for those of us who like doom metal but aren’t obsessed with the genre. It’s a weird style and kind of hard to like. To be honest, doom metal might be one of the least dynamic genres out there. The rad-city doomers like Earth will reward the patience here and there.
Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
Lots of comparisons to Cocteau Twins with this band, which is appropriate. They do sound quite a lot like the Twins. But the Twins are good, and why not imitate good musicians. Better than sounding like Silverchair or Seven Mary Three or some shit. Super pretty, very listenable, ignorable but in a good way, kind of creepy. Makes me wanna holler.
The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
A scenario: kill a bum, take a bath with his/her body, then drink the bathwater, then puke it up, make a casserole, put an ear horn in it, listen. I just like the sort of sleeziness that can be cultivated when you bring these two together. Plus, there’s a sort of funny campiness that Dulli brings to any project that is amplified when he’s paired with Lannegan. Aside from my interest in the sleeze, this is a solid record; a range from slow burners to rockers.
Kanye West – 808’s and Heartbreaks
This is not a particularly great, or even good record, but I think context is what makes me dig this one. There’s no way this album would be getting the praise it does if Kanye didn’t make it. And there’s something about listening to a not-so-great singer try really hard.
Mt. Eerie – Lost Wisdom
My second favorite album of the year. Julie Doiron’s voice really adds some nice texture to Phil Elverum’s wispy style. I also think the album’s length (around 25 minutes) adds an important sense of cohesion and style to it. It gives the record the feel of a really good short story: self-contained, tight, and able to address big things efficiently.
Sebastian Tellier – Sexuality
I like the French electro-pop sound. I wasn’t sure it existed until a while ago, but I’m going to go ahead and call it a sound. Ok, the French electro-pop sound. This is a very pretty album with an absolutely hilarious cover. Reminds me of my days riding bareback (IfYakNowhatIMean) through the fields of Marseilles. Tellier is able to balance the tenderness with a sense of humor.
Best Shows I Saw:
The Silver Jews, Birdy’s, Indianapolis
Fuck Buttons, Waldron Art Center, Bloomington, IN
Mt. Eerie, Cinemat, Bloomington, IN
Some tracks I liked not on the top ten albums:
The Saturday Knights – “Count it Off”
Lil’ Wayne – “A Milli”
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Born into a Light”
M83 – “Kim & Jessie”
Britney Spears – “Womanizer”
Fuck Buttons – “Sweet Love for the Planet Earth”
Most Overrated Band:
Fleet Foxes
In some ways, these guys are geniuses. It’s like these dudes were sitting around braiding each others’ beards when one had a revelation: “hey, lots of the hip bands these days either sound like My Morning Jacket or Animal Collective; let’s sound like both.” It’s true, they were a salsa group just months ago; look it up. This isn’t to say that they suck or even that I don’t like them. I think they’re just fine. But I find the gushing reception of them and their Starbucksiness a bit irritating.
Best Older Band I Rediscovered:
Heaven 17
These guys rule. They had me at “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry.”
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Mike Lahey (in alphabetical order):
Mark Benedetti
I didn’t listen to all that many new albums this year, partly because few of my favorite bands released anything, but also because almost everything new that got good reviews seemed to let me down. So, in order to reach the arbitrary ten, I’ve decided to throw in a few of my favorite sound-oriented films that I’ve had a chance to revisit this year.
Elvis Costello “Tramp the Dirt Down”
I expect this to show up on lots of these sorts of lists this year. It may be about someone else in another country 20-odd years ago, but I thought it couldn’t feel more relevant after our presidential election; then I saw George Bush’s post-election disappearance and heard his incomprehensible interview statements. I’m as forgiving as they come, but eight years of Bush’s brutality, pettiness, and venality have made this song of rage sound like something else: hope.
The Gaslight Anthem The ’59 Sound
In which some guys from New Jersey figure out how to play emo without sounding like sad sacks (not that there’s anything wrong with sad sacks, mind you). Their first album didn’t quite nail the emo-Springsteen for me, but they’ve done it here—the songwriting is more anthemic and the vocals are WAY better. The “authenticity” of this album is breathtaking: cars, doing assorted things in the rain, meeting people by the river, listening to Tom Petty, even the sound of a needle hitting wax to open “Great Expectations”—but, well, whatever. I know I love the album when it can plow through all my stupid cynicism about throwback bands, nostalgia, and rock and roll clichés. And when every time I put it on I have to pick up my guitar.
MM Serra Turner
MM Serra is the director of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative in New York and an experimental filmmaker. She made “Turner” in 1987. It is three minutes of mind-terror with a soundtrack so immersive that you can’t focus on it and the image at the same time. I can’t tell you what it looks like. I can’t tell you what it sounds like. But I dare you to watch it only once.
Peter Thompson Two Portraits
There’s a blurb on the back of the Facets tape with this film that says something about how it “nails you to your seat.” Call me unimaginative, but I cannot improve upon this description. As with the “Turner” soundtrack, this one is basically all talking, but it’s a strikingly quiet film—Thompson’s and his mother’s voices are calm and frank, and the images barely move. Yet, the measured tones catalyze the nearly static images to produce a harrowing, devastating emotional effect out of what seems like nothing.
Abigail Child Is This What You Were Born For? series (7 films)
Child’s combination of image and sound in these films, particularly in the aptly titled “Mutiny,” “Perils,” and “Mayhem,” is so cacophonous and unstable that it can’t really be called a linkage, a marriage, or, well, a combination—“divorce” might be the best word, or “streetfight.” Assembled from music by folks like Christian Marclay, Zeena Parkins, and Charles Noyes, along with a stunning array of found footage, the soundtracks are caught in a constant tug-of-war with the ferociously edited images. To say that these films always make me really nervous is to say a very good thing about them.
James Nares, “Paper Factory”
Nares is a multimedia artist who made my second-favorite no wave film, Rome ’78. “Paper Factory” is a video from last year in which Nares cuts and loops the images and sounds of plastic pipes ricocheting off the wall and floor of what I assume is a paper factory. The rhythms he pulls out of the chaos are amazing—breakbeats à la PVC.
Magnetic Fields Distortion
There’s something a little gimmicky about it, but I’m glad Stephin Merritt came up with the Jesus & Mary Chain angle because I found his last album a boring retread of styles he’d already worn out. That double-shot of “Drive On, Driver” and “Too Drunk to Dream” in the middle of the record was my go-to car sing-along all spring.
No Age Nouns
I swear these guys brainstormed on the question “What does Mark like?” and then made an album that cobbled together all the answers. I want to be in this band.
The Dead C Secret Earth
I don’t understand all the people who are saying this album is the Dead C treading water. I don’t think it sounds anything like Trapdoor Fucking Exit or Harsh 70s Reality. So pardon me if I think it’s their best album, partly because it sounds kind of like early Sebadoh if early Sebadoh didn’t suck. I did a lot of writing to this album in the past couple months, and I still love it.
Robert Pollard “Get Under It” (from Not in My Airforce)
Hey, I explained all the other ones. Now you’re just getting nosy.
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Justin Rawlins
is slow when it comes to the music, but he tries really hard. He does like to watch and write about movies, and he found an institution of higher education crazy enough to pay him to share his knowledge with the young people. The following list of music albums is in no particular order.
El Perro del Mar From the Valley to the Stars
I love this album because it manages to combine a somber and somewhat religious orchestral tone with pleasant melodies. The voice is simultaneously bold, expressive, and fragile.
The Minus 5 Down with Wilco
This album plays like a synthesis of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Being There, with other delightful elements mixed in (“The Days of Wine and Booze” reminds me of Brian Eno’s Another Green World). Scott McCaughey and Jeff Tweedy share vocal duties here, and their dulcet tones coalesce with the musicianship (provided in part by members of Wilco, along with Peter Buck) to produce an aurally pleasing record.
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
I really like “Emma.” The rest of the album does not disappoint.
Langhorne Slim S/T
Simple and beautiful. “Colette” and “Worries” are personal favorites, though the entire album is well paced and melodically soothing.
The Pipettes We Are the Pipettes
Poppy women singing about men and love. I do not know how their feminist politics correspond with their music, but I would challenge anyone to listen to “Pull Shapes” and not dance their ass off. As I do not like to dance, consider this a small miracle.
Radiohead In Rainbows
Radiohead rarely disappoints me, and In Rainbows tapped into the same happy place that The Bends did over a decade ago.
Iron and Wine The Sea & the Rhythm EP
I like mellow music. “Jesus the Mexican Boy” is very nice.
The Ditty Bops Summer Rains
I was turned on to The Ditty Bops years ago and have really enjoyed every album. Summer Rains always puts a smile on my face while at the same time stimulating my thirst for finely crafted Americana.
The Unicorns Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?
I listened to Islands a lot last year and decided to revisit The Unicorns over the past few months. Creative, poppy, and all-around great.
Belle & Sebastian Dear Catastrophe Waitress
I just really like this album. I had not listened to it for a few years and came back to it again this year. It’s really strong. “Step into My Office, Baby,” “Piazza, New York Catcher,” and “Wrapped Up in Books” are fun and pleasing to the ears.
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The following four guys are enrolled in the same graduate program as yours truly. That's one thing. More importantly: these are guys with whom I regularly debate the relative merits of Cris Collinsworth as a color-commentator, NWA vs. WWF, and the importance of "Predators" (NFL players who have dreadlocks or long hair coming out from under their helmets, thus making them resemble the movie monster). In their spare time, and also during their time when they should be teaching, researching or writing their dissertations, they run the sports blog Dwight Gooden Poster.
Travis Vogan:
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down in the Light
Ok, so I like BPB quite a lot. His albums generally find their way on my top ten lists. To be honest, I’m not sure why this album has been getting so much loveage. I mean, I like it but don’t think it is nearly as good as 2006’s “The Letting Go.” Guess that just shows to go you that I haven’t much of a clue what the good people and music maven like. Some of the highlights for me are “Glory Goes” and “Other’s Gain.” One of the things I like about these songs is that they tend to be a bit sweeter than some previous works. I sometimes think of BPB’s gremlin-looking ass giggling as he’s conjuring up these dulcet swamp water ditties.
Boris – Smile
Another album that evidences my out of touchness with what people like. I think this album is SO much better than Pink. “My Neighbor Satan” alone warrants high-fives to our double-necked guitar humping Japanese aural death merchants.
Brightblack Morning Light – Motion to Rejoin
I think this is my favorite album of the year. I like the soft vocals mixed with the organs and decisive breakdowns. The album flows very nicely without all the songs sounding completely identical. But the songs have enough cohesion to make the record sound like a composition rather than just a collection of songs. I also thought it was kind of funny that these guys were involved in sort of Pitchforkian scandal when one of their entourage refused to let a military person into one of their shows. I wasn’t troubled by their representative not letting the soldier in so much as mystified by why someone in the military would go to one of their shows. I guess I shouldn’t stereotype soldiers…unless they're Citizen Soldiers (by the way, I’ve decided that the 3 Doors Down song and video, because of its timelessness, has transcended time, space, and listness. It’s already on my top ten of 2015).
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
This album is so listener friendly. Super palatable and pretty safe electro-pop. But them boys from down under do it right. They know the genre for sure. I don’t really have anything to say about this album except for that it’s really solid.
Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
Similar to Bonnie “Prince” Billy, I just love the shit out of these guys and have trouble not adoring anything they attach their names to. This album is a nice fusion between Earth’s earlier style and the style they adopted for Hex. Very nice drone with enough versatility to give us a bit to hold on to once and a while. This something to grab, I think, is important for those of us who like doom metal but aren’t obsessed with the genre. It’s a weird style and kind of hard to like. To be honest, doom metal might be one of the least dynamic genres out there. The rad-city doomers like Earth will reward the patience here and there.
Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
Lots of comparisons to Cocteau Twins with this band, which is appropriate. They do sound quite a lot like the Twins. But the Twins are good, and why not imitate good musicians. Better than sounding like Silverchair or Seven Mary Three or some shit. Super pretty, very listenable, ignorable but in a good way, kind of creepy. Makes me wanna holler.
The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
A scenario: kill a bum, take a bath with his/her body, then drink the bathwater, then puke it up, make a casserole, put an ear horn in it, listen. I just like the sort of sleeziness that can be cultivated when you bring these two together. Plus, there’s a sort of funny campiness that Dulli brings to any project that is amplified when he’s paired with Lannegan. Aside from my interest in the sleeze, this is a solid record; a range from slow burners to rockers.
Kanye West – 808’s and Heartbreaks
This is not a particularly great, or even good record, but I think context is what makes me dig this one. There’s no way this album would be getting the praise it does if Kanye didn’t make it. And there’s something about listening to a not-so-great singer try really hard.
Mt. Eerie – Lost Wisdom
My second favorite album of the year. Julie Doiron’s voice really adds some nice texture to Phil Elverum’s wispy style. I also think the album’s length (around 25 minutes) adds an important sense of cohesion and style to it. It gives the record the feel of a really good short story: self-contained, tight, and able to address big things efficiently.
Sebastian Tellier – Sexuality
I like the French electro-pop sound. I wasn’t sure it existed until a while ago, but I’m going to go ahead and call it a sound. Ok, the French electro-pop sound. This is a very pretty album with an absolutely hilarious cover. Reminds me of my days riding bareback (IfYakNowhatIMean) through the fields of Marseilles. Tellier is able to balance the tenderness with a sense of humor.
Best Shows I Saw:
The Silver Jews, Birdy’s, Indianapolis
Fuck Buttons, Waldron Art Center, Bloomington, IN
Mt. Eerie, Cinemat, Bloomington, IN
Some tracks I liked not on the top ten albums:
The Saturday Knights – “Count it Off”
Lil’ Wayne – “A Milli”
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Born into a Light”
M83 – “Kim & Jessie”
Britney Spears – “Womanizer”
Fuck Buttons – “Sweet Love for the Planet Earth”
Most Overrated Band:
Fleet Foxes
In some ways, these guys are geniuses. It’s like these dudes were sitting around braiding each others’ beards when one had a revelation: “hey, lots of the hip bands these days either sound like My Morning Jacket or Animal Collective; let’s sound like both.” It’s true, they were a salsa group just months ago; look it up. This isn’t to say that they suck or even that I don’t like them. I think they’re just fine. But I find the gushing reception of them and their Starbucksiness a bit irritating.
Best Older Band I Rediscovered:
Heaven 17
These guys rule. They had me at “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry.”
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Mike Lahey (in alphabetical order):
Beach House - Devotion
This was my sleeping album for the better part of the year until summer-ish time came around. It really got in my head. That song "Gila" still haunts me (a little). When I hear it I feel like, you know, something meaningful is going to happen. At night I would leave it on in the other room, which is prefect for the already "distant" sound of the album. I also saw them live in Bloomington and they sounded pretty much the same and I, for some reason, really really like that. I guess I also like moody, darker stuff. This be that.
Devin the Dude - Landing Gear
The fact that I laugh at most of his songs reminds that I still have the humor of a 10 year old. Devin rarely steps out of the weed, sex, personal mistakes triumvirate but his songs are so goddamn laid back and fun to listen to that I don't mind (not that I would mind anyway). He's my favorite super clever and subversively intelligent pothead. Ok, maybe there is nothing subversive about his music. But it's sure fun to listen to.
DJ/Rupture - Uproot
I am a real sucker for the beginnings of media things, whether that be the opening sequence of Serenity or the first few songs on DJ/Rupture's new mix. The beginning sets a tone, let's you know what's up. Thus, if you hook me early, I am in-it-to-win-it all the way through. This time it works out splendidly because this mix is pretty excellent from beginning to end. Above and beyond the fact that he incorporates musicians I enjoy (Ekkehard Ehlers, Ghislain Poirier), the first 3 songs put me in such a great mood.
Dungen - 4
I am a Dungen neophyte. This is the first album I've heard. Well, I wish I wasn't so behind the times because this is really good shit. They have been called, among other things, purveyors of 60s-style psych rock. I am not sure if that is true, mostly because everything I hear that is called psych rock sounds different from the last thing someone told me was psych rock. But, that's not important. I like to call Dungen (Doon-Yen, if you want to be real smart about it at a party) the umami of music.
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Gosh, I ruthlessly made fun of these two laptop playin' dudes before I heard them. Not that I am against laptops or anything. I just thought the name was stupid. Well, I saw them live in Bloomington, IN and ate my words on the spot. The concert was so good. I really like fuzzy, droney stuff and that's what these guys do, so it's right in my sweet spot. Good music to walk and think to.
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlandia
I was skeptical about this album. A friend of mine gave me (eerrrr, I mean I found on lying on the street) a copy of Dis a few years ago and (admittedly only on one listen) it sounded too cutesy Icelandic for me. Well, this album is completely different from that. It's like sad Iceland, not wood sprite Iceland. Bittersweet, melancholic, regret-laden music. Apparently it was inspired by Henry Ford's attempt (mega-failure) to set up a rubber factory in Brazil and cram American-style culture down their throats. So, I guess that is kinda sad, so it makes sense.
Monade - Monstre Cosmic
I think each album they put out is better than the last. The whole album feels assured and measured. I think its because of the languid bass guitar, but, really, I have no idea why. I find myself listening to the whole album from beginning to end when I put it on and that has to be a good sign, right? Oh, and I think someone from Stereolab is in this band.
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
I really love this album. I haven't really followed Q-Tip after Tribe disbanded. "Vivrant Thing"? I guess. Well, all the hype about this new release piqued my interest. Now I feel kinda bad for staying away for so long. This album is mostly all mid-tempo but never feels stale. As far as the lyrics, I forgot how much fun it is to just listen to Q-Tip. Hell, the album even has a Can sample ("Manwomanboogie"). Bonus? Q-Tip does all the producing (sans a J Dilla track). Bonus? D'Angelo (really?? What the fuck has he been up to?) and Raphael Saadiq. Bonus? This album forced me to go find Kamaal The Abstract. Not Bonus? The cover of the album.
Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
Randy Newman's Good Old Boys still stands out as a cherished musical experience from my youth. My mom was into music like The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, etc and I do, more or less, like those bands. But I hold a special place for my memories of listening to Randy Newman. Anyway, for whatever reason I really identify with him (or the him I think he is and not the hims of the characters in his music). I sure do love deep, biting satire mixed with sweet sincerity. This album, which is great, really isn't much different from the albums in his heyday. In fact, it may be better, because his voice seems to only get better with age. Back in 2003 I saw him live in Rochester, NY (hey, it's fucking cold there) and he is an amazing entertainer.
Stereolab - Chemical Chords
First, Stereolab has been my favorite band for about 8 or so years. I don't really like talking about them all that much because I'm pretty irrational about my love for them (What??? You mean they aren't your favorite band too? I hate you!). So, I love each new album as much as the last while all my friends tell me how boring they are now or how this album sounds exactly like that album. Alas, I can't hear them, I'm happily bopping my head in a lost reverie. Also, I did see them live this year and they were super great.
--------------Mark Benedetti
I didn’t listen to all that many new albums this year, partly because few of my favorite bands released anything, but also because almost everything new that got good reviews seemed to let me down. So, in order to reach the arbitrary ten, I’ve decided to throw in a few of my favorite sound-oriented films that I’ve had a chance to revisit this year.
Elvis Costello “Tramp the Dirt Down”
I expect this to show up on lots of these sorts of lists this year. It may be about someone else in another country 20-odd years ago, but I thought it couldn’t feel more relevant after our presidential election; then I saw George Bush’s post-election disappearance and heard his incomprehensible interview statements. I’m as forgiving as they come, but eight years of Bush’s brutality, pettiness, and venality have made this song of rage sound like something else: hope.
The Gaslight Anthem The ’59 Sound
In which some guys from New Jersey figure out how to play emo without sounding like sad sacks (not that there’s anything wrong with sad sacks, mind you). Their first album didn’t quite nail the emo-Springsteen for me, but they’ve done it here—the songwriting is more anthemic and the vocals are WAY better. The “authenticity” of this album is breathtaking: cars, doing assorted things in the rain, meeting people by the river, listening to Tom Petty, even the sound of a needle hitting wax to open “Great Expectations”—but, well, whatever. I know I love the album when it can plow through all my stupid cynicism about throwback bands, nostalgia, and rock and roll clichés. And when every time I put it on I have to pick up my guitar.
MM Serra Turner
MM Serra is the director of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative in New York and an experimental filmmaker. She made “Turner” in 1987. It is three minutes of mind-terror with a soundtrack so immersive that you can’t focus on it and the image at the same time. I can’t tell you what it looks like. I can’t tell you what it sounds like. But I dare you to watch it only once.
Peter Thompson Two Portraits
There’s a blurb on the back of the Facets tape with this film that says something about how it “nails you to your seat.” Call me unimaginative, but I cannot improve upon this description. As with the “Turner” soundtrack, this one is basically all talking, but it’s a strikingly quiet film—Thompson’s and his mother’s voices are calm and frank, and the images barely move. Yet, the measured tones catalyze the nearly static images to produce a harrowing, devastating emotional effect out of what seems like nothing.
Abigail Child Is This What You Were Born For? series (7 films)
Child’s combination of image and sound in these films, particularly in the aptly titled “Mutiny,” “Perils,” and “Mayhem,” is so cacophonous and unstable that it can’t really be called a linkage, a marriage, or, well, a combination—“divorce” might be the best word, or “streetfight.” Assembled from music by folks like Christian Marclay, Zeena Parkins, and Charles Noyes, along with a stunning array of found footage, the soundtracks are caught in a constant tug-of-war with the ferociously edited images. To say that these films always make me really nervous is to say a very good thing about them.
James Nares, “Paper Factory”
Nares is a multimedia artist who made my second-favorite no wave film, Rome ’78. “Paper Factory” is a video from last year in which Nares cuts and loops the images and sounds of plastic pipes ricocheting off the wall and floor of what I assume is a paper factory. The rhythms he pulls out of the chaos are amazing—breakbeats à la PVC.
Magnetic Fields Distortion
There’s something a little gimmicky about it, but I’m glad Stephin Merritt came up with the Jesus & Mary Chain angle because I found his last album a boring retread of styles he’d already worn out. That double-shot of “Drive On, Driver” and “Too Drunk to Dream” in the middle of the record was my go-to car sing-along all spring.
No Age Nouns
I swear these guys brainstormed on the question “What does Mark like?” and then made an album that cobbled together all the answers. I want to be in this band.
The Dead C Secret Earth
I don’t understand all the people who are saying this album is the Dead C treading water. I don’t think it sounds anything like Trapdoor Fucking Exit or Harsh 70s Reality. So pardon me if I think it’s their best album, partly because it sounds kind of like early Sebadoh if early Sebadoh didn’t suck. I did a lot of writing to this album in the past couple months, and I still love it.
Robert Pollard “Get Under It” (from Not in My Airforce)
Hey, I explained all the other ones. Now you’re just getting nosy.
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Justin Rawlins
is slow when it comes to the music, but he tries really hard. He does like to watch and write about movies, and he found an institution of higher education crazy enough to pay him to share his knowledge with the young people. The following list of music albums is in no particular order.
El Perro del Mar From the Valley to the Stars
I love this album because it manages to combine a somber and somewhat religious orchestral tone with pleasant melodies. The voice is simultaneously bold, expressive, and fragile.
The Minus 5 Down with Wilco
This album plays like a synthesis of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Being There, with other delightful elements mixed in (“The Days of Wine and Booze” reminds me of Brian Eno’s Another Green World). Scott McCaughey and Jeff Tweedy share vocal duties here, and their dulcet tones coalesce with the musicianship (provided in part by members of Wilco, along with Peter Buck) to produce an aurally pleasing record.
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
I really like “Emma.” The rest of the album does not disappoint.
Langhorne Slim S/T
Simple and beautiful. “Colette” and “Worries” are personal favorites, though the entire album is well paced and melodically soothing.
The Pipettes We Are the Pipettes
Poppy women singing about men and love. I do not know how their feminist politics correspond with their music, but I would challenge anyone to listen to “Pull Shapes” and not dance their ass off. As I do not like to dance, consider this a small miracle.
Radiohead In Rainbows
Radiohead rarely disappoints me, and In Rainbows tapped into the same happy place that The Bends did over a decade ago.
Iron and Wine The Sea & the Rhythm EP
I like mellow music. “Jesus the Mexican Boy” is very nice.
The Ditty Bops Summer Rains
I was turned on to The Ditty Bops years ago and have really enjoyed every album. Summer Rains always puts a smile on my face while at the same time stimulating my thirst for finely crafted Americana.
The Unicorns Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?
I listened to Islands a lot last year and decided to revisit The Unicorns over the past few months. Creative, poppy, and all-around great.
Belle & Sebastian Dear Catastrophe Waitress
I just really like this album. I had not listened to it for a few years and came back to it again this year. It’s really strong. “Step into My Office, Baby,” “Piazza, New York Catcher,” and “Wrapped Up in Books” are fun and pleasing to the ears.
posted by marathonpacks at 5:55 PM
1 Comments:
Liking the collective blog idea....keep it up!
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