Saturday, December 16, 2006

1-5


5) Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
I owe my discovery of this local Indianapolis band completely to RJ. As far as band names go, let’s be honest, their’s sucks—it’s trying to be too indie. For that reason alone I didn’t want to give them a chance, despite the desperate urging of RJ. It wasn’t until he visited and forced me to listen that I realized RJ’s enthusiasm was completely founded. Every track on this album sounds vaguely familiar, I know I’ve heard a particular melody or arrangement before, but I don’t mind. They seem to take the familiar and make it their own, pairing well constructed songs with thoughtful lyrics about life in the Midwest. Maybe I like them because they are from the middle of the country and I get homesick every once in awhile, but this is truly a great album and I would recommend it to anyone.

4) Thursday – A City by the Light Divided
Confession #2: I’ve always liked Thursday, since their first album. Their music is mostly indefinable, not exactly emo, not straight up rock, not new age. I think the reviewer for Pitchfork put it aptly when he described their music as shit. Call me scatological. However, as much as one may enjoy the smell of his own shit he still lights a match to clear out the room—I haven’t shared my adoration of Thursday with most people. But I never thought they could release album like this one. They haven’t changed their sound, they’ve simply perfected it. Relentless drums, flawless guitar blending, pulsing bass and copious amounts of screaming. Their tale-tell melodic singing to bloodcurdling screaming dynamic is taken to new levels on this album as they sing about religion, car crashes and the death of family members. I can’t help myself, I know they’re over dramatic; I shouldn’t like lines like This is all we’ve ever known of God/Fine with me let me touch you now—but I do. If you’ve never listened to them I wouldn’t recommend this album. You wont’ like it and then you will hate me.

3) Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
When I picked up this album I didn’t really know anything about it. I’d just skimmed through the “recommended” section of a couple of sites when I was desperate for new music. I didn’t know he was a 19-year-old American when I started listening I just knew the music was fantastic. I’ve always been intrigued by near- and middle-eastern music (can you call this music that?) and this fit my tastes perfectly. I love the horns, the accordion and I love, love his voice. Over the summer I went to a free concert in a dried out pool in Brooklyn to watch these guys play. That was the first time I realized I’d just been listening to a kid. But his voice was impeccable, as were the arrangements. I watched his tiny frame belt out that all-too-mature voice and reveled in it.

2) Mylo – Destroy Rock and Roll
Listen. Repeat. Listen. Repeat. That’s what this album was like when I first picked it up. I can seriously say I was addicted, in a bad/good/glorious way. If I went a couple days without listening to it my ears started to itch, I started sweating and an overall sense of depression swept over me. Eventually I weened myself off, but I still go back constantly like the smoker who’s convinced himself he’s quit and so allows himself the occasional cigarette. Slowly pulling the smoke into his lungs and exhaling it through his nose, watching tender curls play in the light, he decides it would be okay if he has one more. Listen. Repeat.

1) Sunset Rubdown – Shut up I Am Dreaming
I’ve been thinking for a solid two weeks how to explain why this album is at the top. It always was, from the moment Nick sent out the email ordering us to compose top 25 lists. Number one: Sunset Rubdown, everything else involved much more debate. I don’t think I can adequately explain why, but I’ll try anyways.
This album is a novel. I don’t know what famous author would write a companion novel to this music; perhaps Borges (though he never wrote a novel) or Angela Carter. The novel would take place in a windowless, basement bar in some lost coastal town. In this sepia-toned setting various carnival-esque figures would gather every night to drink themselves closer to Hell. Each page would draw the reader deeper and deeper into this mystical setting of desperation where the small whore of the bar would proclaim If I ever hurt you it will be in self-defense. The climax would come at the most desperate point in the album when some character, his life falling down around him, would shout out amidst the low whisperings of the bar Fuck me and someone else would say okay. But then something glorious would happen, hinted at by the song “Q-chord.” That brief glimpse of hope would disappear with the line oceans never listen to us anyway until the 5:11 mark of the last song. Then, in an instant, the reader, the listener and every other character would be in a place where lovers have wings and men have faithful hands and would make good boyfriends.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

10-6

10) The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes
One of the Pipettes has an incredibly alluring voice. All of them have lovely pipes but one in particular always gets me. I said as much to Nick, oh you mean….? He said a name but I immediately blocked it from my memory. I didn’t/don’t want to know anything about the Pipettes. About the time they dropped this album a friend became the self-proclaimed herald of the “fifties/sixties resurgence”—it’s coming man, it’s coming. He thought everyone would soon sound like the Supremes and Otis Redding. Luckily he was wrong. I’m not much for gimmicks, and don’t care for artists aiming for a “particular” sound. That said I think the Pipettes have a timeless sound. It doesn’t sound like it’s straight out of the fifties, nor does it sound like a twenty-first century retro gimmick. This is why I don’t want to know their names, their biographies or where they learned to sing like cheating angels.

9) Tapes ‘n Tapes – The Loon
This was the first 2006 album that caught my attention. I listened to once and wanted to listen to it again. I’m not sure why and I still haven’t figured that out. I just know I would queue it up on my computer and happily let the album repeat over and over while I studied. I’ve tried to figure out what “Insistor” is talking about to no avail. I’ve often wondered where they get off saying in Houston/They are slow because I’ve driven on the highway in Houston and it’s no joke, eighty miles an hour in bumper to bumper traffic. But I’m content with letting this album remain a mystery, because the mystery keeps me intrigued.



8) Cat Power – The Greatest
I’ve been mentally composing this entry in my head since my drive to work this morning. I’ve tried to find something about this album someone hasn’t already discussed, but I failed miserably. Following the comment trail I came across this short entry by Hammy Harp (real name?): I kind of want to smoke a cigarette with Chan Marshall, you know? I can’t put it any better than that.






7) The Roots – Game Theory
Every morning I leave my apartment and must turn left, meaning I must venture further west in Philadelphia. Between 52nd street and City Line Avenue the world turns into complete shit. I feel bad when I lock my doors as I drive through but I feel I must. For weeks I drove under a banner that proclaimed “Stop the Violence,” until one day it was almost torn in half, riddled with bullets. Sandwiched between the gentrified University City District and one of the richest areas in the country, the Main Line, exists blocks that our country seems to have forgotten. This album serves as the perfect soundtrack for West Philly—driving through listening to the chorus It don’t feel right/It don’t feel right/It don’t Philly/Don’t Philly c’mon. What’s happening in those few blocks shouldn’t happen. Another telling verse: It’s in the music/Turn it up, let it knock/Let it bang on the block ‘til the neighbours call the cops/the cops gonna come but they ain’t gonna do shit/they don’t want to problems/what are y’all stupid?

6) Destroyer – Rubies
Freshman year in our tiny Humbert dorm room Nick and I would constantly get into phases. During such phases only one artist’s sound would emanate from our door. There was the Smashing Pumpkins phase, the Radiohead phase, the Sigur Ros phase and of course the epic Beatles phase. Since then I only declare I really, really love something if I can get into a ________ phase. Since it came out early this year I continually get into a Destroyer phase. Days pass where I only listen to his wordless choruses and mismashed instrumentation. Rubies is an album I love.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

15-11



15) Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSound
Do I begin with an apology? I feel perhaps I should, tainting a fantastic collection of countdowns with white boy R&B. But I don’t want to apologize; I’ll save apologies for later. At first I hated (hated!) this album. It had absolutely no hooks, the lyrics were insipid and it just seemed mushy. Honestly, I wanted a “Justified II” with mega-hits I could blast in my car and guiltily sing along with—I didn’t want some vain attempt at pop opera. However a “Justified II” wouldn’t have made my list, I wouldn’t have even thought about including it. But this album, with its seven minute pop epics bleeding into one another, mixing falsetto with impenetrably complex beats and crunk rap, deserves a spot. That’s all I got.


14) The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love
The first time I listened to “Don Gon Do It” I thought I had the wrong album. The voice was unmistakable but this was not “House of Jealous Lovers” or “Heaven.” Those songs were catchy in their own right, but this, this catchiness was nearly indescribable. I checked it out and yes, I did have the right album, so then I figured the first track was a fluke, but again I was wrong. I can’t pick out a favorite track on this album, don’t ask me to, any one of makes me bob my head uncontrollably, losing myself in the completely fuzzed out, funkified bass.





13) Benoit Pioulard – Precis
Before I picked up this album I read a review advising me to crank this quiet album as loud as possible. So I did. Some music can be described as airy, atmospheric or breezy. I would describe “Precis” as windy—gusty even. Beneath the soft (though perfectly produced) strumming and the breathy (yet oddly dark) vocals exists a wind storm that fills the room. Beginning with the three minute long opener of beautiful white noise to the happy, almost jangly “Ash into the Sky” this album remains captivating. When the entire album finishes under thirty seven minutes you just want to listen again.







12) Lupe Fiasco – Food and Liquor
Clipse allows you to escape in their stories of packing heat, and getting with every honey in the joint. Lupe makes you feel ashamed of the ghetto life style you never lived. You feel bad for being the chauvinist asshole you most certainly are. Lupe’s confidant flow quickly berates you and moves on before you’re quite sure what happened. Some could argue his beats have a bit too much going on, that he could keep it simpler, but the beat needs all the help it can get to keep up with Lupe’s frantic flow.







11) Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers
Beth Orton is pissed. There are those people who, when angered, lash out with venom dripping from their mouths, biting you with their bitter, enraged words. But such an attack rarely leaves a lasting mark. There are other people, however, who don’t change the tone of their voice, nay they may even smile when they snap at you so that you don’t even notice you’ve been stung. But eventually their words begin to eat at you, restlessly you stare at the ceiling wondering what the hell you could’ve done wrong. Such an attack leaves scars. Orton cuts deep.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

20-16

20) I’m From Barcelona – Let Me Introduce My Friends
Damn, oversleeping again. I love music that creates its own world, existing within its own ambit (new favorite word). I’m From Barcelona is not this music. The subject matter of this album is quite real. True, it’s happy and yes, if pressed I might call it “twee” but real life, as I know it, seeps in. A melancholy underbelly subsists throughout the album: the distant, harmonizing vocals on “I Have Built a Treehouse” or the grocery list of diseases on “Chicken Pox.” For someone who faces the guilt of oversleeping almost every morning this album brings refreshing truth.

19) Joanna Newsome – Ys
Confession: I never liked Joanna Newsome’s first album, but I pretended to. Every person whose musical taste I respected liked it so I played along. Eventually one song sounded bearable—but no I did not like it. When this new album came out I didn't even consider it, especially since reviews said the album needed time. I’d given her enough time. On a slow night, however, I downloaded it. It took no time. The strings, the harp even her voice, yes that voice that had previously grated on my ears sounded transcendent. I listened and listened and continue to do so.

18) Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye
I fell asleep to the Junior Boys’ first album. I don’t mean that as an insult, I just mean I’d switch it on in my final moments of wakefulness and sleep peacefully. I don’t, I can’t, fall asleep to this album. The subtle harmonies on “The Equalizer,” the near frenetic opening of “In the Morning,” the insistent drumbeat on “So This Is Goodbye?”—such moments demand not dreams but attention. I consciously, not passively, create to this Junior Boys album.

17) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
I don’t really know what Karen O sings about. I’ve never broken down the lyrics on this album, perhaps they plumb the profound depths of society and being, I don’t care. For me the words simply fill the spaces between Karen’s Thracian huntress yelps. Yes, my attraction to this album can basically be boiled down to sex. And yes, it helps that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are disciples of distortion (in fact I think they nail that sometimes elusive beast), but I’m in it for simple, base impulses. Apologies if anyone finds this offensive.

16) Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
Where did this album come from? For that matter where did Clipse come from? One moment they’re telling us how a few words turned into sex with Timberlake, then they’re explaining the gangster lean right before diving into the underground and dropping pirated bombs. Now they’re back in full effect. “Here’s the secret about me and the Clipse/ Even in my absence I’m still the shit.” Verdad. Every time I listen the album climbs higher, given time who knows?

Monday, December 11, 2006

25-21


25) Hot Chip – The Warning
Why didn’t I find this album earlier? I, admittedly, lost my edge this year. I didn’t read Pitchfork or Stylus or CokeMachineGlow or any other sites as religiously as I had in ’05 and certain releases just slipped by me. However from the moment Nick passed it on to me it became my background music—for a solid week. Hot Chip intrigues without overwhelming, relaxes but doesn’t dull. Had I listened to it earlier no doubt it would have climbed higher but at least it came along to bump Nelly Furtado off the list. I’m still trying to decide if that’s a good or a bad thing.

24) Yo La Tengo – I’m Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

I picked u
p this album soon after it came out, listened to it maybe once and shelved it. Later, after being berated by Nick and Blake, I picked the album up again and didn’t even get halfway. I wanted to like because it had the best album title, well, ever. But it just annoyed me. Then it clicked. It’s an album of small details: the strings on “I Feel Like Going Home,” the fifties organ on “I Should’ve Known Better.” Even the nine-minute “Pass the Hatchet” feels incomplete, a brief distilled moment, a minute detail.

23) Peter Bjorn and John – Writer’s Block
I don’t like this kind of this kind of music. Don’t ask me to define the demonstrative, I can’t tell you what I mean by this. Just imagine a slight sneer when I say it, this. However I like this (supply required proper noun) as opposed to, say, Belle and Sebastian—which you will not find on this list. I don’t mind the whistling on “Young Folks” or the faux western guitar on “Let’s call it off.” Nay, I like those moments. An example of appreciating quality song writing among almost hated musical elements.

22) Girl Talk – Night Ripper

Musical masturbation. Plain and simple. The ability to shamelessly enjoy ghetto rap spread like butter over late-nineties and indie standards. When I play this for my friend I ask, “Did you recognize the Neutral Milk Hotel, sample?” or “Don’t you love how he subverts Annie’s ‘Heartbreaker’ with ‘My Humps’?” I feel superior, and dance like a white boy. There’s only one reason this album didn’t make my top ten: masturbation, though many will argue, never equals the real thing—he doesn’t actually create music. Girl Talk simply had the time between real masturbation sessions to concoct this pure pleasure of an album.

21) The Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
I shouldn’t like this album. I should ban their over-hyped, over-produced, over-British sound from my ears. My teenage high school students go bonkers for this shit. They lack originality and mature song writing (‘Montagues and Capulets?’ what the fuck?). For this reason no one thought they’d win the Mercury Prize (as if anyone cares about the Mercury Prize)—but they did. Why? This album is simply good. They do what every garage band wants to do: beat the fuck out of their instruments and make it sound good.

Top 25 Intro

It was a strange year for me musically. Perhaps because I teach teenage girls all day I tended to gravitate more towards bubblegum, sorry-ass pop more than usual (as will be evidenced in my countdown). Perhaps it was because Sufjan didn't release a real album, or because the Decemberists released a bad one (might as well take away the suspense, "The Crane Wife" didn't make the cut, which makes me very sad. I have a theory that much good music packed up and ran after Radiohead released a live version of "Arpeggio" but that's probably because I'm obsessed and have really just been waiting for their new album hoping it will blow my mind but terrified that it will suck (Weezer anyone?).

Last year I listened to bands. I got really into Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wolf Parade, Bloc Party and Okkervil River. This year I listened to music. That doesn't really make sense, I realize, but it's true. This year I somewhat disconnected the music from the people who produced it. No I'm not a "new critic," and I didn't do this on purpose. It's just when I reflect on music this year I remember songs or certain strings of songs or even whole albums. I don't look back and say, man that band had a really good year.

Nevertheless I'm very excited (thanks mostly to Nick) to post this year. Let the feuding begin.