2009 Wrap #6: Josh Olivo

Bat For Lashes Two Suns (Astralwerks/Parlophone) Sounds like a modern British and/or old American western version of the best Tori Amos album that never happened.

Bear In Heaven Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes) Post-wave-psych-pop-rock-tronica?  This album is great.  And I’m quite pleased the @marathonpacks review pointed it out to me.

Beirut March of the Zapotec/Holland EP (Ba Da Bing) Zach Condon’s voice is really, really cool.  His ever-changing multi-cultural backdrop of musical instrumentation, though, continues to be his secret weapon.

*Bibio Ambivalence Avenue (Warp) It’s pretty impressive that he can make an album like FI, and also make an album like this.  Simultaneously hits at a handful of popular modern musical styles, yet retains unique character.  Not being on the Mercury Prize short list = complete bullocks. 

Black Moth Super Rainbow Eating Us (Graveface) A mellower version of Tobacco’s theorem:  vocoder + old analog synths + large beats + catchy melodies (+ a steady mushroom hook-up?).  The special “furry” packaging should totally get a Grammy.

BLK JKS Mystery EP (Secretly Canadian) South Africa, FTW!  This EP is one of the most impressive releases by Secretly Canadian in YEARS.  And while the follow up LP After Robots was pretty good, this initial EP has the magic juice.

Burial & Four Tet Moth/Wolf Cub 12” (Text) I basically had to ban myself from over playing this record on my radio show.  Except I have broken my own ban several times.  This 12” demonstrates the hot shit mix of dub step and minimal tech house that currently finds itself in clubs all over the world.

Delorean Ayrton Senna EP (Fool House) Some tight, clean electro-pop happiness.  Good use of EP format w/ the extra mixes.

Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca (Domino) A lot of what you’d come to expect from Dave Longstreth: complete awesomeness.  His current band, of mostly multi-instrument-playing female vocalists (?!), is probably one of the tightest performing music ensembles anywhere.

*Do Make Say Think Other Truths (Constellation) Nobody told these Torontonians that instrumental post-rock wasn’t *in* anymore.  So they just went ahead and made one of their best albums to date — which is saying a great deal considering their back catalog.  And personally, it scored a very emotional week that started with my 97yr old grandfather’s death, and ended with the birth of my first child in late October.

*Fever Ray Fever Ray (Mute) In her first “solo” effort, Karin Dreijer Andersson manages to retain a lot of the Knife’s sonic buttons and levers whilst wading off into a down(er) tempo mainstream brand of Swedish electro-darkness.  Album.  Of.  The.  Year.

The Field Yesterday & Today (Kompakt) The sophomore full-length from the Field finds him incorporating live rhythm sections to play along with his long form Scandinavian microhouse jams.  Great for bike riding.

Flying Lotus / Joker Tectonic Plate 2.3 (Tectonic) Probably one of the most sought after 12”s of the year.  Two a-list heads fill this thing with so much wobbly bass, it feels like a whale is about to attack you (or dance w/you).

Franz Ferdinand Blood (Domino) A Record Day exclusive, this is a dance/remixed version of the Franz album Tonight. It’s kind of a no brainer that this stuff would translate well w/ remixes considering it’s already basically dance music.

*Gui Boratto Take My Breath Away (Kompakt) Minimal techno has been, and currently still is, in its heyday.  As is Brazilian producer Gui Boratto.  Great for bike riding, also.

Jónsi & Alex Riceboy Sleeps (XL) Very ambient electro-acoustic bliss which moves slowly but speaks loudly.  This is the musical wing of the art project that the Sigur Rós frontman and his boyfriend started years ago.

*Kate Simko Music From the Atom Smashers (Ghostly International) I saw this awesome Independent Lens documentary on PBS about the Large Hadron Collider.  This album is the music, by one of minimal techno’s rising chicas, that scored the documentary.  And as far as OSTs go, it plays pretty well as a cohesive album.

The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble Summer Suite (Stones Throw) Madlib produces.  And it sounds exactly like the nomenclature suggests.

Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures (RCA) Members of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and Kyuss can make a very good rock album – even at a time when such albums may no longer be quite as popular.  And it reminds us that John Paul Jones is still one of the most musically sensitive bass players to date.

*Major Lazer Guns Don’t Kill People Lazers Do (Mad Decent/Downtown) Diplo and Switch (both of whom make beats for M.I.A.) may have concocted one of the best dancehall albums *ever*.  And the video treatment for the singles are just as dome-blowing.

Memory Tapes Seek Magic (Sincerely Yours) This is a diverse, quirky, and yet somehow self-referential glob of hopeful electro-fun.

*Mew No More Stories Are Told Today I’m Sorry They Washed Away… (Sony BMG) These Danes are back with another album that is so good that you completely forget how ultra-prog it all is.  (*see also: the full album title)

Monolake Silence (ml/imbalance computer music) Much like his fellow countryman Pole, Monolake continues to exploit the more organic and minimal sides of dub and electronic music while maintaining a sound art aesthetic.

Mos Def The Ecstatic (Downtown)  At the height of his cross-over popularity, Mos has managed to make a great record of trademark social flows.

Neon Indian Psychic Chasms (Lefse)  The charm of this Texican’s (relatively-speaking) HUGE success with this album probably has a lot to do with the lo-fi charm that is cleverly masked inside of such a substantial headphone experience.

Omar Soleyman Drabke 2020: Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria (Sublime Frequencies) You know – just your everyday ordinary Syrian techno-pop.  Which happens to be THE JAM.

St. Vincent Actor (4AD) A former Sufjan Stevens and Polyphonic Spree appendage, St. Vincent makes another album full of top notch arrangements and modern song-writing.

Supersilent 9 (Rune Grammofon) Supersilent parted ways with their drummer before this album was recorded.  I was bummed.  But this release continues to keep them near the epicenter of the Scandinavian jazz and European electro-acoustic scenes.

*Telefon Tel Aviv Immolate Yourself (Bpitch Control) TTA caught a lot of heat for what a lot of people thought was a(n incredibly) weak follow-up to their REDONKULOUS debut album.  5 years later, they released a 3rd album containing radically different subject matter and recording techniques which showcased their analog interests.  Just a few days after its release, band (duo) member Charles Cooper was found dead in a park in Chicago, Illinois.

Tortoise Beacons of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey) This is perhaps their coziest and most balanced release since Standards.

*Various Arists Dark Was the Night (Red Hot Compilation) (4AD) I have never heard a compilation that is this compelling in my entire life.  Not to mention it was put together and sold for a good cause.

Various Artists Five Years of Hyperdub (Hyperdub) I have read several articles that call Hyperdub the #1 music label of the year.  And I guess I can’t disagree.  Kode9 probably has one of the best music-releasing batting averages today, all the while heavily favoring and promoting the vinyl format.

*Zomby Zomby EP (Hyperdub) It kind of sounds like this dude is making his grimy beats from inside of a ColecoVision console.  So. Awesome.

( * = top 10 picks )

Josh Olivo performs, records, and remixes music under the name goodhands team. He also hosts a weekly radio show on WFHB, and otherwise occasionally djs as goodhands or DJOSH.

Filed under: 2009 Wrap  Bat for Lashes  Bear in Heaven  Beirut  Bibio  Black Moth Super Rainbow  BLK JKS  Burial  Dark Was the Night  Delorean  Dirty Projectors  Do Make Say Think  Fever Ray  Flying Lotus  Four Tet  Franz Ferdinand  Goodhands Team  Gui Boratto  Hyperdub  Joker  Josh Olivo  Kate Simko  Major Lazer  Memory Tapes  Mew  Monolake  Mos Def  Neon Indian  Omar Soleyman  Riceboy Sleeps  St. Vincent  Supersilent  Telefon Tel Aviv  The Field  The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble  Them Crooked Vultures  Tortoise  Zomby