best of the music of the 2011th year since we started counting up

Happy End of the Year Everyone!

Insert some sort of summary here! Something about how much of the year was dominated by great artists scaling back on their ambition, which makes it difficult to put together a list! Say something about how other than a few exceptions, the year was made great by great artists just doing what they do. Lots of solid efforts here. Very little went beyond that though. When we get down to the top few it will shift a bit.

As always, this isn't about "best" as much as "my favorites." you know, subjective opinions that can't really be backed up by fact? I have only so many synonyms for "gut reaction" and so many ways to describe it, but that's where the order comes from. Don't try to debate it, but please feel free to share your differing opinion!

I will start with some honorable mentions. This may be a long piece. You might want to go to the bathroom. Or maybe skip over these honorable mentions if you're in a hurry and want to get to the list. But I'll do what The AV Club does when they do this sort of paragraph and bold the artist mentioned so you can see if I mention someone you dig and you can see what I said about them while skipping whatever I said about whoever else that nobody cares about.

Although if you read it maybe you'll want to know more about some of these. Maybe?

Start at the end. The Roots just put out what seems to be a great album. A beautiful story told in reverse. I just didn't have enough time to listen through it over and over obsessively (though I should have) because I was already trying to listen through my full list of 2011 music and only got through undun a couple times. My bad. But so far, it's probably as good as anything they've done in the past few years if not better than at least most of it. I better start shortening these honorable mentions, eh? The same can be said about People Under The Stairs and Phonte, although to a lesser degree. Still great albums. I think I just got a lot of hip hop at the end of the year because I realized how lacking my "best of 2011" list was looking in that particular genre. You'll see. Let's knock out all the hip hop first, shall we? Atmosphere's latest had some wonderful moving storytelling as they are wont to do. Beans put out a highly underrated album with some of the sickest production to be heard (there was supposed to be a flying lotus track on there. it wasn't on the album for some reason...but the whole feel of the album is very flylo-esque). Big K.R.I.T. had that one that had everybody raving. I probably would be too if it had hit that gut reaction or whatever. But still wonderful. I'm sure some of you will be annoyed that the Beastie Boys aren't on the list. I don't know what to say, I probably just didn't listen to it enough. I think every track is great but when listened to in one sitting it has that Beastie Boys effect on me, which is that it's too much. Hail Mary Mallon had some unique moments and some highly catchy tunes, some of the catchiest stuff I've heard from Aesop Rock yet. I think I dug it more than most people. And finally, Kendrick Lamar had some brilliant and/or heartbreaking words but for some reason I wasn't into the production. It sounded too much like whatever he is kind of working against. Very optimistic about his future though. That's the hip hop I'm going to mention. What else? Wilco put out their best album in quite some time. Get it if you dig Wilco from before Sky Blue Sky. Lykke Li put out some gold that on another day probably could have made the list (super close!). Other Scandinavians? Peter Bjorn & John had a great opening three tracks on their album and didn't really get bad per se, it just had to slow down and I wish it hadn't had to. And The Lionheart Brothers' album wasn't officially released in the United States, although I will say that that's the only thing that kept if off the list because it was a super strong album that continues to go underheard here for some strange reason. They were masters of dream pop (emphasis on pop) on their last album and this is more of a mood record that is a wonderful place that I want to visit. Yes, I want to visit the album (and Norway, for that matter). Jens Lekman's EP delivered 4 more golden tracks, everything we would have hoped for. Speaking of EPs, Broken Bells' expanded their sound just enough this year. What's next? Los Campesinos! are a band I didn't check out until this year. Their album is very catchy and I need to hear more. Neon Indian expanded on the sound of their first album to create something more resembling their outstanding live show. Nat Baldwin put out something that The Dirty Projectors should be proud of (I just wish there had been more experimentation). Feist outdid herself despite not having a pop hit. St. Vincent made it clear that I should be more of a St. Vincent fan. Mekons put out a solid effort, melding and mixing many styles as The Mekons are good at doing. Raphael Saadiq kept soul alive while Charles Bradley completely killed it (and Mayer Hawthorne revived it with sweet, sweet lovin). Tinariwen brought us another type of African music ("another type" being as opposed to last year's resurgence of Congotronics) with some absolute gorgeousness. And Real Estate put out something that was wonderful the one and only time I've listened to it (again, if I listened some more it probably would be on the list but I'm a busy man).

I hope those mentions were honorable enough for fans of the above bolded artists. All worth checking out despite not getting full-ish paragraphs below that the ranked artists will now get.

The Top 19 (yes, only 19 this year because I'm a stickler. Just put The Roots at 20 if you need a round number) Albums of 2011.

19. Washed Out - Within And Without. Yeah, pretty sexy cover they got there. The whole album just feels like the cover looks. Somewhat PG-13-rated but you get it. What does this sentence even mean? If you need me to describe the music, it's bedroom sexy electronica without being too overtly sexy. Just like I said above! Come on! OK, this is what The XX would have sounded like if they were less minimalist (they were my top album of 2009 for the record).

18. Thao & Mirah - Thao & Mirah. Before this I hadn't really heard of Thao OR Mirah. OK, I think I had heard of Thao (and upon further investigation, I think I'd heard Thao's "bag of hammers" song). But I wasn't really intrigued until I saw a free download of their song featuring one Tune-Yards (I'm going to just spell it that way damnit). It was like a good Tune-Yards song with more vocalists! So I got the album and it's just full of that unique indie folk music that I love so much (that first got me into such artists as Jesca Hoop). Tune-Yards did something special with production and other than a song or two, it doesn't really sound like Tune-Yards, although it has that same spirit of looseness and giddiness of experimentation.

17. Lia Ices - Grown Unknown. More of that female indie folk stuff but on a slightly higher level than Thao & Mirah. The ethereal-ness of this record combined with a certain upbeat-icity made it something both easy to listen to and, in a way, transcendent.

16. Snake Rattle Rattle Snake - Sineater. It is impossible for me to be objective about this, although this was never about being objective. But this Denver favorite's debut LP was everything it should be. It did not disappoint. I already knew & loved the songs so it was easy to get into it from the very first spin. The production keeps the energy almost as high as the live experience of this band, so give it a listen if you're not from here and want to know what Denver's up to these days.

15. Cut Copy - Zonoscope. This is dance floor ready electronic pop music. It's almost like the Hot Chip album that this year was missing. I don't know what else to say about this. It's a lot like Hot Chip. So it's highly enjoyable.

14. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges. I was intrigued by who he's played with in the past and who shows up on this album. Laurie Anderson shows up on this and that should be indication enough what you are getting. Pulsating grooves and sounds that could not (but yes they do!) come from a saxophone. It's a big honkin' thing, let me tell you. And the atmosphere created here is like going into a dark cave with some ominousness lurking here and there, and then Laurie Anderson reads a poem and you wonder how you got there but you need to go deeper just to be deeper because despite where you are and any feelings of unease it's addicting.

13. The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts. They came back in a big way this year. This album is almost as good as their first one, which is to say it is much better than their second one. They have re-discovered the balance of high energy jams and gleeful-but-lower-tempo pop hits (or should be hits).

12. Wild Flag - Wild Flag. On Portlandia, Carrie Brownstein mercilessly mocks hipster culture so much that it's good to get a reminder about what gives her such credibility. Sure, you can just listen to some Sleater-Kinney and have that be the end of it, but that band hasn't been around in awhile. So this is a nice nudge to say, yes, Carrie Brownstein still rules when she's not being ironic/funny (although she rules at that too!). On top of that, it's nice to be reminded of why I first got into the band Quasi. Drummer Janet Weiss impressed me so when I saw them live that I had to have their albums. I can't really continue with these comparisons because I haven't listened to Helium or The Minders but let's just talk about this record. This band is legit, greater than the sum of its parts, a group of people that always should have been playing together (and in some cases they have). This is a showcase of some great individual talents (particularly Janet Weiss, but the whole group is highly skilled) coming together for a great unified statement.

11. Battles - Gloss Drop. The band was halfway through what I will now think of as some great lost album when Tyondai Braxton left. This was a cause of great concern of course, as Battles With Tyondai Braxton had created some of the greatest music of our young century. But all along, this was something of a super group, and if anyone was capable of carrying on it was the remaining trio. Sure, they likely had to scale back their vision a little bit, but that is different than looking back. Battles has always been a well oiled machine of a band, always moving forward into the future. Sort of a new generation of math rock. My engineering genes, love of organized chaos, and robotic hips will always appreciate what Battles does, and I have no doubt that they will pull us into the future.

Top Ten! That's a big deal, right? Ten is usually enough for some people anyway, so if you stopped reading and just scrolled for awhile, time to pretend we're just getting started!

10. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs Evil. Every year there's that early release that piques my interest and is that "early contender" for album of the year. This was that album this year. I was slightly late to get on the Deerhoof train; the first new album of theirs I got was Friend Opportunity (which was quite great!). Now, I don't know if this is just me or if it would be the case if others were to hear this album, but it sounds like the most accessible Deerhoof has been. Without compromising the weirdness that has always made the band something special, this album is just plain catchy.

9. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life. This is just a great story set to a punk rock background. One of those concept albums that can be appreciated on whichever level you feel like giving it at the time. Just enjoying a song here or there? It sounds great! It will get your adrenaline pumping and get you going. Wanting to hear the story? Do it then! It's a great story!

8. The Antlers - Burst Apart. When I first started reading about this new one I didn't think I'd like it as much as Hospice, because it was supposedly more electronic, possibly more poppy, which just seemed like it would be a less intimate experience. However, they don't seem to have lost anything in this expansion. The songs are still deeply personal and heartbreaking, in the same way as they are on the slower Hospice. If anything, the new expansive sound serves as a funnel allowing easier access to the devastation provided by their content. Or more surface area to the ocean of despair? I don't know, it's good.

7. Tom Waits - Bad As Me. Most everything has been said about Tom Waits over the years. Not sure what I have to contribute to the conversation. But this is just a badass record from front to back. Strong as it starts out, I think the back end is my favorite, featuring ballads alternating with some serious rockers (particularly Hell Broke Luce, the most intense song of the year). It's everything you could hope for from Tom Waits.

6. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver. This is such a pretty album for 9 of the 10 tracks. And good for him for track 10 anyway. If you will, allow me to make an outlandish comparison here. For Emma, Forever Ago was sort of his Late Registration (critically adored, great album despite its relatively limited scope). Blood Bank was his 808s & Heartbreak (experimenting with auto-tune, and while it's an interesting album it's more of a diversion than anything else). So yeah, this one is his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Using that previous experiment to expand beyond what we all thought he was capable of to create a masterwork. My only problem was that I listened to this once, recognized its greatness, filed it under "2011 contenders," and didn't listen to it much since then because I felt I should listen to potential "growers" more. I'm sorry Mr Vernon. I'm listening to it now and it definitely deserves to be at least this high and I don't mind that Pitchfork made you #1. No objections to that at all.

5. TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light. When TV On The Radio scales back, it takes them from #1 to #5. That's about as hyperbolic I can get about this band this time. Few things. I wrote an extensive review/whatever on this blog already so seek it out. I'm not sure if I said this before, but I heard that song "Will Do" an impossibly high number of times and never got sick of it. It's such a beautiful song that it will never be played out. There's plenty more on this album though, and I live for the deeper cuts. I could put "Repetition" on repeat all day. Hell of a roll this band is on.

4. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. The opening three on this are just pure glee. "Intro" (when the hell is a song called "Intro" actually this good, this much of a realized song?) followed by "Midnight City" followed by "Reunion?" These are the songs that musical moments in life are made of. I am beyond excited that I found out they are playing in Denver next year because I can just anticipate the reaction (my own and that of the crowd) at the opening notes to every one of these songs. And the dancing. And the sweating. And the absolute joy of every moment of said concert. And it's not like it lets up after this one-two-three punch. This is a double album that is just full of these moments. I recommend this to everyone. Go ahead and use that song in that Victoria's Secret commercial, as long as it spreads these songs around and gives more people a chance to experience the power of this music (although the snippet used in the commercial hardly does justice to the full song's impact) the world will be a better place.

3. tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L. There, I capitalized it "correctly" this time. I'm not sure if I mentioned this when I wrote about the concert earlier this year but here's the thing about this album. I saw tUnE-yArDs a year or two ago opening for Xiu Xiu and was blown away. So blown away, in fact, that when I picked up the brand new album W H O K I L L the day it was released I already kind of knew most of the songs. The songs were so memorable from that one opening set over a year before that I remembered them vividly. This album is what happens when someone has pure artistic energy flowing out of every pore and puts it out there uninterrupted. The fact that this has become as popular as it has is just astonishing to me.

2. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up. The packaging on this vinyl is pretty unique. The material used is some sort of plastic, in a deep black. The art is minimalist, black on black. The inner sleeve is a deep red and it looks really cool peeking through when you first start to reach in and grab it. And then the record itself is black (not that unique, admittedly) but it is very high quality, very thick vinyl. That's what we're working with here. Minimalist beats, highly poetic lyricism with hints of flare but a strong intellectual and emotional core. This is why there's no other hip hop on the list (other than quite a few honorable mentions). This almost ruined hip hop for me. Before I ever listened to hip hop I used to think it all sounded the same. Then I figured out that that was not true. But when I listen to this album, all the rest of the hip hop that was released this year, despite being highly acclaimed, kind of sounded the same to me. This reached a higher level for me and I couldn't listen to other hip hop without being somewhat disappointed (until The Roots' new album came out, at least). And I'm sure I'm still somewhat an amateur as far as hip hop goes and there is other hip hop on this level out there, I just haven't heard it. And this is my personal list. So that's why this is here.

WHOA WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE #1????? YOU WILL NEVER GUESS!

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues. I am almost embarrassed about this. This album seems to be playing in Barnes & Noble all the time and other stores. It's probably all over the radio. This was a pretty successful album, I'm saying. And I don't know if it is particularly the "best" album of the year. OK enough trash talk (because obviously it was a fantastic album and it had to have been to top this list, let me tell you). In 2008 I hadn't heard of this band until they topped a bunch of "best of" lists for that year. I listened to their debut a little but was somewhat unimpressed. I gave them another chance when this new one came out. What is it about this album that makes it my personal #1 for the year? It's simply the fact that it relates to me on such a personal level right now. Where I am in my life, damnit that title track which was also released as a single, A SINGLE, defines where I am in my life. "If I had an orchard, I'd work 'til I'm sore." This album served as the soundtrack to my summer of working on my yard, and I know it's not that literal but "I guess I got old" and every line speaks to me directly. And the music is beautiful and all that, kind of a mix of what Fleet Foxes were on their first album and some experimentalism that I am drawn to. So damnit, this damn album gave me no choice but to put it at #1.

Have a happy New Year! Maybe I'll post more in 2012!

Battles 7.19.11: A Deconstruction of Carefully Controlled Noise

Have you ever gone on a tour of a brewery/factory/etc and seen how something you appreciate gets made? Isn't it fascinating to see the process, to see first hand the amount of love that gets put into it? Well that's what I experienced up at the front of the stage seeing Battles last night.

Listening to Battles on record is already fascinating. Trying to separate out what is actually happening can be daunting. With all the layers and loops, it gets very complicated. Which is fine. Listening to Battles, you don't have to separate out what comes from where. The whole is so cohesive that it just sounds like a machine chugging along. Every element is in its right place, moving this body of sound forward, demonstrating Newton's law that objects in motion stay in motion. The mechanics are not important.

But that's not to say they are not fascinating. I had the distinct pleasure of being right up in front of Dave Konopka, guitarist/bassist and chief loop operator. I imagine that the loop-oriented stuff was handled by Tyondai Braxton in the past (he exited the band last year) but Dave certainly had no trouble managing the assortment of distortion petals, loop machines, and other sound manipulators while rocking the guitar/bass as well.

To use more physics terms, I always viewed Battles as a band of pure kinetic energy. But seeing the sound manipulation, there is a lot of stored up potential energy that is released only when it is allowed to. As the chief mechanic rhythmically pounded on those buttons, turned those knobs, and otherwise adjusted the settings on the devices, I could almost see the sound building up, impatiently waiting to be let out of those speakers.

The departure of Tyondai Braxton from the band last year left me a little nervous. I had little doubt that the remaining three members had all the talent and creative energy necessary to keep the band going, but it was still taking a cog out of the perfect machine. In addition to perhaps allowing for more complicated loops to complement the more complicated guitar playing, Tyondai was the only member of the band contributing vocals. Not that Battles has any need for vocals. But they brought in some guest vocalists anyway for the album. So the question you may have: what about the live setting? They're not going to be able to take Matias Aguayo, Kazu Makino, Gary Numan, and Yamantaka Eye on the road with them. Would they just sing? Or play the songs without vocals? Will it just be a ghost recording?

Yes! Gary Numan, Kazu Makino, and Matias Aguayo appeared in ghost form to add their presence to the proceedings. I don't have anything very important to say about this, I just had to find an excuse to post this picture. Look out! It's two Gary Numans!

So who else is in this band? Well, that drummer that impressed Questlove so much that he had to tweet about it twice is certainly central to the band, and not just because he was center stage. John Stanier is one of the most talented drummers I have ever had the great fortune to see perform. With a relatively sparse drum set (raised cymbal notwithstanding), he played it fast, hard, and with incredible sense of time (well I mean, I would hope so). As the band is primarily a rhythm band, just listen to one of their songs and you will understand Stanier's prowess. It's true that many of the rhythms are created by looping machines, but Stanier's layers of rhythm on top of rhythm are so complicated yet so natural, that he is a crucial piece of the machinery that is Battles.

And then there's Ian Williams. Next time I see Battles, I will have to be on the left side of the stage so I can see what he's up to. He is the only member of the band with whose previous projects I was familiar before hearing Battles. Don Caballero is perhaps the greatest band in Math Rock history, and that is in large part due to the incredible Ian Williams. I could not see his activities very well from where I was standing, but he played keyboards and guitar, and was the main melodic presence of the band (which should never be downplayed as an important piece of this largely rhythmic machine).

So put all of this together and you have one of the most incredible live music experiences you are likely to encounter in this world. If you get the chance to see them, do not hesitate to take the opportunity.

If my words did not convince you, here is video proof (from Paris!) of what they can do.

Battles | Futura | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

web | buy Gloss Drop | buy Mirrored

thinking about shabazz palaces

I've been wanting to write about this new album from Shabazz Palaces for awhile. I just didn't know what to say.

I feel like it is really the next step in hip hop's evolution, but I still feel like such an outsider when I listen to hip hop that I'm sure there have been steps taken that I was unaware of, that have already been here. But I don't know.

But for me, this is another example of music expanding right in front of me. My perception of what music can be. I have listened to a lot of hip hop but there have only been a few groups that have expanded my perception of hip hop's capabilities (please note that I didn't start paying attention until college or so). Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, Saul Williams, Guru (with Jazzmatazz), Outkast (with The Love Below), Kanye West (with MBDTF), and now this. (Please don't argue this list. It is just my personal perception that was expanded. For example, I know people were doing what J5 did before them, I just didn't know about it)

So what's special about this? What's new to me? Well, it seems to take its cues from modern cutting edge electronic music (such as Flying Lotus) and free jazz instead of hip hop. It's rhythmic poetry over music, meaning it probably fits most people's standard definition of hip hop, but it's completely different. And I've heard Antipop Consortium, DOOM, Kool Keith, etc but something about this seems different. It's more immediate to my ears.

It's also surprising to me given the dude's background. I didn't listen to Digable Planets much, but the little I heard didn't impress me that much. It honestly bored me a little bit. I'm sure if I gave them another chance I would appreciate them more. I really should knowing such a talent was involved in the crew. But they were so laid back (based on the little I heard) and this is so aggressive.

Will that do? Sure, that'll do. Check it out if you haven't yet.

And here's a daytrotter session if you want to hear some more.

Wash your feet

One of many repeated images of Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life.

So I guess that's as good a place to start as any. If you haven't seen this film, this post will not make much sense. If you have, it probably still won't make much sense. As I try to put together words about something that my friend compared to poetry in film form.

So...wash your feet. As the mother does. Cleansing that upon which we walk. Mankind's original form of travel. And almost all creatures share that mode. What am I getting at here? I don't know either. Just ride with me. Or walk. But wash your feet. Rinse them off with a hose. Feet tell us where we've been. OK now I'm getting somewhere with this. Cleanse your past by washing the dirt off your feet. Not something we can really do. They will get dirty again. But we won't track in the mud, we will maintain a clean house which will betray our dirty past, be it from ancient times or from minutes ago when our feet were filthy.

But that's not enough, is it? To keep the house clean? We must keep the outsides of our houses clean. The yard. Keep that grass uniform and make sure it grows under the tree, no matter how much it refuses to do so, because it is not in the grass' nature to grow under that tree. Control nature, control the trees as well. Hey, trees! That's from the movie title! We're getting somewhere now!

You take it from here. I want an essay about this. Explain to me how we control the tree of life.

**********

Family life. Follow what I say, not what I've done. Obey your father. Even though your father repeatedly explains how that's no way to get ahead in life, that you must betray people and be bad in order to succeed. So you get conflicting messages. That's how you grow up. Being pulled in different directions. To achieve that conflicting goal. Follow your dreams, don't be like your daddy who could have been a professional musician. But be mean to get ahead in the corporate world. Big buildings. Sean Penn.

Sean Penn?

********

When is the last time a film has been made with this amount of ambition, to be such a broad statement, that has actually succeeded in its statement? I had high hopes for The Fountain, but it seemed to shy away from what it could have been. Southland Tales turned into an epic joke of a film. The Tree of Life reaffirmed in me the power of cinema, the capabilities it has beyond telling a story or simply bringing up deep seated emotions (not exactly simple, but this concept has been achieved beautifully many times before). To be this all encompassing, to be as worthy of "the big screen," to be such a reason for "the big screen" to even exist...

...not that I won't fight tooth & nail for the cinema, for all great movies to be seen on the big screen ON FILM in a darkened theater...

...but to be as grand as the screen it should be seen on, to be a cinematic EVENT...is rarely achieved.

This is intimidating as an aspiring filmmaker. While I would be content to making small character pictures that speak to the simple truths of life, a film like this reminds me of the full scope of what it can be.

**********

Even this write up is way too short for what this movie deserves. But it's all I can say right now. It's too daunting to step up and try to say everything that CAN be said about it. So let's leave this discussion open.

losing my edge

...to the kids that just discovered lcd soundsystem.

errr...start over.

rant below.

last night i went to see the amazing tUne-YaRdS at the hi-dive. the show sold out and i didn't know anyone there. which was strange to me. to me, tUne-YaRdS is an act that is wholly original, uncompromising, just a complete expression of one's creativity. which, more often than not, does not lend itself to sold out shows.

so who are these people packing this (admittedly small) venue? people new to this whole music scene? i know that indie rock is getting more mainstream, more popular and accepted, but really?

it's the kids. these people are like a younger me. somewhat. what i'm getting at is that i'm getting older and people are catching up to me.

or we all just have the same sources. thanks to blogs, pitchfork's "best new music" tag, sirius xmu, this artist is getting her share of love and publicity. i may have seen her last year but that was just because they were talking about her on stereogum and she was opening for xiu xiu. i haven't really been ahead of the curve since the curve disappeared.

(not that any of that matters. listen to music you like and don't worry about how popular it is. obviously.)

my main problem is that i feel as though i have stopped progressing. in college i remember someone a couple years older than me being into anti-flag, and i laughed to myself about it because i am a jerk and because i felt like i was too mature for them in high school. i've always listened to more "mature" music than most people my age. at least up until around the time i got out of college. but since then i've liked the very loosely defined "indie rock" for longer than anything else. part of this is the fact that it IS loosely defined. and i've always leaned to the more experimental side of this. the side on which tUne-YaRdS resides. but i thought i had put in the work to get to this point. and people way younger than me are listening to the same thing? appreciating it on the same level?

but i was there!!

i know this is just an intersection. this is an example of what i've seen many times in my years, of popular opinion intersecting with mine. it passes. this is just the most avant garde point at which it has intersected. but are "they" going to pass me? by now shouldn't i be listening to nothing but ornette coleman, sonny sharrock, ken vandermark, etc? free jazz/noise? it's a pretty safe bet that these kids won't be listening to that. if this were a competition. but it's not. here is what is important:

-helping japan

-helping the south

-ending the wars

-civil rights

-etc

-AND: an artist i love and respect got to play a sold out show without compromising her artistic vision. the show was a lot of fun for the crowd and for her (the smile on her face was huge).

Review or something: TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light

The following is less a review than an assessment of the artist at this time. Does that make sense? More of an essay than a review I guess. But the short answer is yes, buy this album. It is more than worth it.

I wish I could find that quote.

In my old Postmodernism in Film class, we were told a quote that I can't quite remember. Something beautiful. Speaking of how irony & cynicism had completely replaced authentic emotion, how pessimistic detachment was the new standard, the quote read something to the effect of "the solution is pure, unabashed romanticism."

This has always stuck with me. Well, the exact wording has not, but this idea. This is what we need now. And this was years ago! This was when we were discussing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and this is why I still consider that film to be the greatest of the past 20 years or so. Because it had the courage to be unabashedly romantic without compromising on story, character, depth, or anything else that most optimistic movies (I'm looking at you, romantic comedies!) lack. It didn't undercut itself with a cynical joke, a sarcastic comment, or anything like that.

When speaking of TV on the Radio, I have always leapt to hyperbole. I have compared them to the other most influential artists of various eras (Radiohead, Pixies, The Clash). I said that their last album had "conquered art." That may have been a little much. But I remain steadfast that they are the most important band working today.

Back to my original point. Their previous albums always had an undercurrent of cynicism. Which is not a bad thing. Lines like "I was a lover...before this war" demonstrate a yearning for something romantic but unattainable. And here we are, our nation in a huge recession, three-ish wars going on, more divided than ever. We still live in cynical times. We need this. This is the only way out. Romanticism without irony.

So lyrically, that's what we have. Love songs. Optimism.

Now the other side. The music. TVOTR expanded their sound exponentially through each album up until Dear Science. But they have stopped expanding. They had to stop at some point. They are now just using the tools that they have. It sounds like an insult, and I don't mean it that way, but everything on here lies somewhere on the spectrum of what this band has already established. The most chaotic moments on this album do not reach the level of "Shout Me Out" or "Let The Devil In," and the most delicate moments do not match "Family Tree." But it is within these established boundaries that the band has really ripened.

This is exactly what it should be. One can't just keep expanding the hyperbole. TV on the Radio has established a playing field with enormous potential. It is time to explore this field. On Nine Types of Light, they have given us the romanticism we so desperately need as a society. I embrace this direction and look forward to further internal explorations.

Sequel to my birthday thing stuffs

a couple years ago i compiled this. it detailed some awesome people that share my birthday. yet somehow i always manage to find more when i look in subsequent years. here are some that are not on that list (which is awesome, by the way. billie holiday, francis ford coppola, jackie chan??). I also posted one two years ago, which included David Frost (of Frost/Nixon fame), and a dude from Kraftwerk.

-Will Keith Kellogg, perhaps the greatest cereals are Kelloggs?

-Buster Douglas, who knocked out Mike Tyson!

-Russell Crowe

-Karin Dreijer Andersson, also known as Fever Ray, also known as half of The Knife.

I'm starting to think I have the best birthday, at least as far as influential artistic figures goes.

So what about me? When am I gonna be a worth addition to the list? eh?

out of retirement?

i might start bloggin' again. friends tell me to write about music more. so maybe i'll do music reviews. and short fiction. and whatever else i want to write about. we will see. i have been putting some stuff on my facebook notes (such as my excellent top albums of 2010 piece, and my fabulous top albums of 2009 piece, both which i obviously didn't put here since i haven't updated this since mid 2009.

here are some thoughts on recent music releases!
*Beans: I dig it. production by Fourtet and Flylo? sold! Plus he is just a really fantastic MC.
*Lupe Fiasco: I kind of agree with everybody else. That MDMA dude ruins some songs pretty good. In addition to other suckinesses. Fans should have just let Lupe not release this. The few good moments could have been a good part of a good album but now they're just small oases in the desert of bad pop.
*DeVotchKa: Kind of boring compared to their good stuff
*Colin Stetson: awesome. Dig the Laurie Anderson contributions.
*Lykke Li: quite good as well.
*Deerhoof: I think my favorite album of the year so far.
*Akron/Family: missing something.
*Iron & Wine: takes some getting used to but then it's solid.
*Mi Ami: after one listen, I don't really like what they've done to themselves. But I still have some optimism that they'll refine this new sound into something interesting in the future or I will "get it" and like the new EP.

And the most eager of anticipations:
*TV on the Radio. If they disappoint I will swear I am in an alternate universe. They've got a perfect record (as a band, some of the side projects have been less-than-perfect). That song they released is awesome.
*Battles. I was kind of worried but mostly curious when Tyondai left the band. All three of the remaining members of the band do have extensive pedigrees in awesome, so I didn't think they'd turn into something not at least enjoyable. The one song that has leaked blew me away. They just have a way with such odd sounds. Something grows out of them. They are a beautiful odd tree or something.

basically yeah, possibly the two greatest bands working have stuff coming out in the fairly near future. and i thought 2011 was going to be weak!

Anybody hear that new Teddybears track with Robyn? Off the hook! I had no idea they put out an album last year that never saw a US release date. Hopefully this track is a sign that we will get a US release in the near future, and it will include the Robyn track. Pleeeeeeeeease?

i am now on twitter. i am going to try to stick with "worthwhile" tweets. profound and/or funny. i have not come up with my first tweet yet. follow me and i promise not to hog your feed. i might feed your hog though. @quietbrandon

bless Japan. There is nothing of comfort I can even think to say about it. Please donate. If you have anything to give, they need it.