It’s been while since a modern singer has hit me in that mythological / metaphorical / emotional sweetspot that Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan has so easily done. Perhaps the last time was on Bjork’s Homogenic, and more recently in rediscovering Kate Bush and The Cocteau Twins. While i maintain some reservations when a contemporary artist uses the trappings of previous and like minded artists; synth washes, synthetic tribalish drums, sweeping grand metaphors, etc – Ms. Khan takes those sounds and by merit of her songcraft and own unique vision blends and warps them into something contemporary and unique.
Tracks Glass and Daniel are the immediate winners giving fans what they’ve come to expect from a Bat for Lashes track, sultry, fantastical, vocals rolling over a background of watercolor synths and propulsive yet understated drums. But where Two Suns really shines is in it’s periphery tracks. Songs like Moon and Moon and Siren Song burn with dark intensity illustrating Khan’s romantic introspection through her high concept alter-ego Pearl. While closing duet with Scott Walker is the summation of her intentions to create a fully realized conceptual album.
There isn’t a weak track on Two Suns, and it’s a testimate to her skills that while some of her textures are referential to her influences, she never resorts to simple idol warship at the very worst she channels some of greatest voices and hearts of her millleu, at the very best she’s creating stunningly new emotional landscapes.
When a band has been around for nearly three decades, as Depeche Mode have, they are treading a slippery slope. In addition to the near impossibility of matching the vitality of their youth, older bands have to work within their genres at the risk of sounding anachronistic. For guys like Dylan, this isn’t much of a problem. His genre is timeless. Depeche Mode, however, have been in danger of sounding dated since 1990. Fortunately, their most recent album incorporates modern elements into the classic Depeche Mode sound. The result sounds like Depeche Mode while being unmistakably contemporary.
Sounds of the Universe may be a little grandiose for the title of a Depeche Mode album. “Sounds of 1980’s Alienated White Middle Class Youth” might be more apropos, but that wouldn’t read so well on the press release. For most of their career, Depeche Mode’s lyrics have straddled the bleak and sinister. On Sounds of the Universe, the trio sounds much more positive and affirmative. They haven’t done a thematic 180, but on songs like “Peace” it seems like the torment the band has been exorcising through there music for the last 25 years has subsided a bit. I dare say they sound content.
Sounds of the Universe probably won’t make a lot of “best-of 2009″ lists, but it’s a testament to the skill and talent of these elder-statesmen of morbid synth-pop. The songs, as always, are immaculately constructed, the production is excellent and the lyrics, while occasionally eye-rollingly overwrought or simplistic, are exactly what you’d hope for from these guys.
If you are a fan, buy it!
It’s exactly what i want to blast in the store when I’m here alone.There is some sick drum solos that aren’t blast beats, although there are plenty of those to be had. Lyrics are hilarious as usual and there is even an anti-drug warning on the back of the CD! Ha! Agoraphobic Nosebleed and an anti-drug warning together! What has this world come too?
Oh, Scott hull.
Ok That’s it come down to the store and buy it. Now.
So here’s the final list. We tried to go with titles that we’re both amongst the best releases of the year and reflective of the discriminating Pure Pop clientele. Remember, next year the voting will be open to the public, and all Picks are currently on sale in the store!
1980. The Clash - London Calling While it came out in the UK in December of ‘79, London Calling was released here the following year. A milestone album whose reputation only grows as the years go by, it’s a perfect album to kick off this list.
1981. Black Flag - Damaged Many albums from SST Records incomparable catalog were considered for this list (Husker Du’s Zen Arcade, Dinosaur Jr’s You’re Living All Over Me), but we ultimately had to go with this release from Black Flag. It’s a searing album whose principled tone would inspire legions of bands and individuals.
1982. Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights Released at a time when the critically-adored Thompson’s were struggling to sell albums and find record deals, Shoot Out the lights would serve as both a commercial peak and a swan song for the pair. The couple’s tumultuous relationship finally caved, leaving a wake of brilliant albums.
1983. U2 – War It’s hard to remember the band U2 were 25 years ago given their current output, but they were great. War embodies all the qualities the Irish quartet used to earn their legendary status and emerge as one of the biggest bands of the world.
1984. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense This is the only live album on this list. 1984 was a rich year for fantastic albums. We had to pick this one over the stiff competition because of its enduring popularity amongst our staff and customers and the fact that it’s uniquely amazing.
1985. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash This album is as great as Shane MacGowan’s teeth are revolting. Blending the immediacy and intensity of punk with traditional Celtic music, the Pogues made a number of great albums, creating a niche that would evolve into a genre.
1986. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead What do you get when you combine a musical visionary, a charismatic vocalist with a razor-sharp wit and insatiable addiction to morbid introspection and one of the greatest rhythm sections of all time?
1987. Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction Axel Rose is a big dick with delusions of grandeur, but it’s okay. Appetite for Destruction is the rock album of the 80’s. It’s a decadent, nihilistic and excessive tour de force. Lightning in a bottle.
1988. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation In stark contrast to this list’s previous entry, 1988 gives us Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation. A stunning collection of songs with incredibly inventive guitar arrangements. Anyone with any ambition to experiment with melody and distortion would do well to study this album carefully.
1989. Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique After establishing themselves as a tongue-in-cheek party band with Licence to Ill, the Beastie Boys reinvented themselves on their follow-up. Paul’s Boutique brought hip-hop production forward and established the Beastie Boys as one of the great groups of their generation.
1990. Depeche Mode – Violator A band so emotionally overwrought they make The Smiths sound like AC/DC shouldn’t be anywhere on this list, but Depeche Mode’s greatness can’t be denied. (Well, it can, but we won’t listen.) Nine tracks of warm analog synth greatness.
1991. Nirvana – Nevermind All of the albums featured here have had an impact, but there is something unique about popular culture’s love affair with Nirvana in the early 90’s. The trio became the centerpiece of the “grunge” movement but their musical legacy transcends genre associations.
1992. Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted Whereas Nirvana had an immediate, broad impact on popular culture, Pavement’s influence would be gradual, helping to shape the aesthetic of the emerging “indie rock” genre. Today as then, listening to this album is an absolute revelation.
1993. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream The Pumpkins were a quartet, but this album was essentially performed by Billy Corgan save for drum support from virtuoso Jimmy Chamberlain. Produced by Butch Vig and engineered by the legendary Alan Moulder, this album is the sonic equivalent of honey & melted butter on toast.
1994. Portishead – Dummy Members of Portishead may scoff at the concept of trip-hop, but the genre had a lot of fans in the mid 90’s. This is due in no small part to the band’s debut masterwork. Immaculately crafted and produced, it’s hard to believe a mere three musicians put this together.
1995. Bjork - Post Oh Bjork Guðmundsdóttir. your world-class vocals and aggressively avant-garde sensibilities. Any one of your first three albums could have been on this list. Post currently sells at Pure Pop for just under $7. There is no excuse not to own this one.
1996. DJ Shadow – Entroducing The only instrumental album on this list. With Entroducing, DJ Shadow showed us something we’d never heard before. Often imitated, never matched, Entroudcing hits most of the touchstones of the emotional palate over its all too brief 64 minutes.
1997. Radiohead - OK Computer Radiohead is one of the world’s most commercially successful and critically popular bands. OK Computer blew us all away when it came out, and it still does. Bold, broad and buoying, this album was an absolute shoe-in.
1998. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea ITAOTS didn’t make huge waves upon it’s initial release. In the decade since, it’s visibility has grown and its influence has become apparent. Warm, eccentric arrangements, superb deliveries of surreal lyrics. Unconventional, evocative, and highly moving.
1999. Beck - Midnite Vultures Mellow Gold and Odelay were the critical darlings, but Midnite Vultures was the party album of its time. Sounding like a coked-up Prince produced by James Brown, Midnite Vultures offers nonsensical anthem after nonsensical anthem before concluding with the falsetto masterpiece, “Debra”.
2000. Outkast - Stankonia Describing the pairing of Andre 3000 and Big Boi as formidable would be an understatement. After improving leaps and bounds with each of their first three albums, they found more room for growth with this dirty south opus.
2001. Daft Punk - Discovery An album with such longevity it would be nominated for a grammy in 2008, seven years after its release. Assembled from a vast array of samples, ingeniously rearranged and supplemented, Discovery brought the French House movement into the 21st century and further into the global spotlight.
2002. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Amid inner turmoil and trouble with their label, Wilco recorded Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, considered by many to be their finest album as well as one of the best albums. The documentary I am Trying to Break Your Heart offers a fascinating portrait of the circumstances of this album’s creation.
2003. My Morning Jacket It Still Moves The major-label debut from this Kentucky outfit propelled them to well-deserved greater heights. My Morning Jacket blend seemingly disparate influences, country and psychedelic for example, and create a unique and compelling style that still moves (har-har) people to this day.
2004. Arcade Fire Funeral The face of indie rock has changed since the 90’s. It is no longer a fringe genre but a mainstream phenomenon as represented by album’s like this superb release from Canada’s Arcade Fire. Fans of rich arrangements and charged emotion shant be disappointed.
2005. Gorillaz – Demon Days Fronted by Damon Alburn, who was making contenders for this list in the 90’s with his band Blur, Gorrillaz are a uniquely great band. Ostensibly made-up of cartoon characters (created by comic legend Jamie Hewlett), Gorrilaz expose most bands who’d claim to blend hip-hop with modern rock to shame.
2006. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain Hailing from Brooklyn, TV on the Radio all but monopolized critical acclaim in 2006 with Return to Cookie Mountain. It’s a testimony to this album’s appeal that Pure Pop was selling out of import copies in the weeks leading up to its release.
2007. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha Former Squirrel Nut Zipper Andrew Bird has been consistently great in his solo career as exemplified in this wonderful release. Baroque with a gritty edge, Armchair Apocrypha has a broader appeal than one might expect from something so eccentric.
2008. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes took the world by storm in 2008 with this breezy, lush and listful album. The perfect compliment to everything from a cold winter drive to a warm summer afternoon, this is an album that measures up to anything on this list.
In Celebration of Pure Pop’s 29 Years in business we’ll be playing one album from each year chosen by the staff – Next year, we’ll be opening the voting up to you, the public. No, you can’t vote for Def Leopard. Below is the current short list we’re making our decisions from. Be sure to come down on Saturday to see who made the cut!
80 clash-london calling, talking-remain in light, rockpile-seconds of pleasure, joy divison-closer, david bowie-scary monsters & super creeps, buzzcocks, diff kind of tens
81 Rip Rig & Panic-God, The dB’s – Stands for Decibels, go-go’s-beauty & beat, black flag damaged, dead kennedies, in god we trust inc
82 xtc-englishsettlement,Richard & Linda Thompson -Shoot Out The Lights -
83 Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones, Yello – You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess -
84 prince-purple rain,Minutemen – Double Nickels On The Dime, Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual,
85 pogues-rum, sodomy, Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love
86 xtc-skylarking, Pet Shop Boys – Please -
87 Music For The Masses – Depeche Mode,Prince – Sign ‘O’ The Times -
88 pixies-surferrosa, public enemy-ittakesanationofmillionstoholdusback, Cowboy Junkies -The Trinity Session, Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man
89 stone roses-s/t,pixies-doolittle, De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising
90 the la’s-s/t, Sinead O’Connor -I don’t what what i haven’t got
91 my bloody valentine-loveless, Massive Attack – Blue Lines, Tribe Called Quest – Low End Theory, nirvana-nevermind
92 moby-s/t, Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92
93 wutang-36chambers,by Underworld – Dubnobasswithmyheadman
94 Portishead – Dummy
95 pavement-wowee zowee, supergrass-if I should coco, bjork post, fugazi-red medicine,
96 aphex twin-richard d james
97 radiohead-okcomputer
98 neutral milk hotel-aeroplane
99 Sigur Ros – Ágætis byrjun, flaminglips-softbulletin,
00 outkast-stankonia, yo la tengo-and then nothing, radiohead-kid a,
01 daftpunk-discovery
02 sigue ros -( ), streets, original pirate material,
03 white stripes-elephant, decemberists-her majesty the decemberists
04 animal collective-sung tongs, joanna newsom-milk eyed wonder, mf doom mm.. food
05 national-alligator, sleater kinney-the woods, edan-beauty and the beat
06 knife-silent shout, tv on the radio-cookie mountain, thermals-thebodythebloodthemachine
07 burial-untrue, lcd soundsytem-sound of silver,
08 breeders-mountain battles, portishead-third, my morning jacket-evil urges, fleet foxes-fleet foxes
————————-
In other news the folks over at Aether Everywhere are having a little NSFW “add your own caption” fun with a photo from the recent WCAX interview with Herb. Wanna kill 5 minutes, click the picture for LOLz.
For over thirty years, Robyn Hitchcock has been cranking out album after album of superb psych-pop. Describing the stylistic elements on his latest is like describing the man’s career. It is at various points rocking, folky and pastoral. As usual, it’s a great set of songs performed wonderfully. Listening to the album, it’s easy to forget the man is 56 years old.
Goodnight Oslo is Hitchcock’s second album with The Venus 3. They’re not quite as vibrant as his former band, The Egyptians, but they’re an excellent compliment to Hitchcock’s sensibilities. Their premier collaboration, Ole Tarantula, was a solid effort. With Goodnight Oslo, the players have really come together. All the musicians sound at ease with each other. No one’s hesitating to bring a little personality into their part, and no one’s stealing anyone else’s thunder.
I’m not sure that this album will win Hitchcock a new legion of fans, but for people already riding the Hitchcock train, it’s a highly enjoyable addition to the man’s catalog.
WCAX News Channel 3 interviewed Herb yesterday on a piece they were doing on the increased interest in vinyl -
“The numbers are there to support it,” said Herb van der Poll, assistant manager of Pure Pop. “I think it was from 2000 to 2008, there was a 900 percent increase in vinyl sales nationwide. So there’s indisputably a lot of interest in vinyl right now.”
Pure Pop has sold music for 30 years, and began selling used vinyl about a year and a half ago in response to consumer demand. Herb van der Poll says he doesn’t see the four stores competing — each has its own niche, and the exposure could build interest as more people take vinyl for a spin.
“Owning vinyl just puts the value back into the music,” he said. “It makes it a more intimate experience and makes it a more enjoyable experience.”
Every Tuesday Pure Pop gets a slew of new albums in – you can check out the early reviews below:
