It’s that time of year again folks – christmas trees, hanookah minorras hanukkah menorahs, kwanza… uh menorahs, (don’t forget Atheist contempt) – And Pure Pop Year Enders! And as with last year, you’re all invited to submit your lists! Because of last year’s overload of submissions and because you never start a sentence with “because”, we’d like to lay out a few ground rules to help keep things organized.
- Your year ender should be relevant to Music, music culture and/or pop culture.
- Your list should be not more than a top 5 (short and simple.)
- Your review should contain at least 2 descriptive sentences / explanation for why you picked said year ender list item.
- Each list item should contain both artist name and title, where applicable, if it’s a film list – film title, maybe director… use your best judgement.
- Who you are. Name, Age, Location, Occupation, social security number and images you want to include… your cat, etc.
You’ve got a few weeks to put your thoughts together, and keep your eyes on the our facebook page and the website for more info. We’ll post up a link to a page where you can submit your list info. We’re gonna try and publish all the lists we get that meet the list criteria, so get crackin’!
The cool thing about music is the good shit never stops. First some speculative picks:
Okkervil River is due for a new one after a decent turn as Roky Erikson‘s backing band on last year’s True Love Cast Out All Evil. They’re still hanging on a high note with 2008′s The Stand Ins. While great, it didn’t quite stack up to the masterpiece that is Black Sheep Boy or its superb followup The Stage Names.
Another speculative release, more than overdue, is from dubstep’s catalyst, Burial. Okay, it’s only been three years, but after his contribution to the 2009 Hyperdub compilation 5, it’s hard to sustain patience for a followup to the watershed record, Untrue. I say a prayer before I turn in each night that said followup might grace our ears in 2011.
Here’s the stuff that’s all but officially announced if not already been so:
10. The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts
Nothing out of this camp is ever going to match the eclectic madness of Thunder, Lighting, Strike, but 2007′s Proof of Youth certainly wasn’t a dud. It gave us the manic roller coaster track “Keys to the City” if nothing else. From what I’ve heard, Rolling Blackouts more than keeps pace with its predecessor and there’s still something about double-dutch chants mashed up with car-chase-horn-bombast that doesn’t get old.
9. Panda Bear – Tomboy
Full disclosure: I haven’t heard any of the singles from this one yet, and I have been a little disappointed that Panda is apparently moving away from his signature sample sound found on Person Pitch. It makes sense though, as more than a few have ripped the style from top to bottom. Despite the text descriptions, it’s still Panda Bear.
8. Toro Y Moi – Underneath The Pine
I was way late to last year’s Causers Of This. Late enough that Underneath The Pine is only a few months following to these ears. That said, goddammit, I can’t get enough of the young producer’s blurred-80s-sleaze-meets-J Dilla aesthetic and the man still seems to be on the sharp upward arc in his career.
7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
The 2009 debut did a more than satisfactory job at distilling the best aspects of late 80s, early 90s dream pop and shoegaze into a consistently rad long player. My only concern is the group, which previously recorded with barely any budget, has seemed to have gone the glossy high production route. We’ll see how reserved they’re able to remain with the final product.
6. MillionYoung – Replicants
I may have already heard most of this album, but the potential of a long player from one of 2010′s best sleeper acts is pretty exciting. MillionYoung is still pretty grounded in the chilliest of chillwave, but there’s just a little bit more reverb here and just a little bit more subtlety there that hooks me into the unabashedly bedroom-based output. Also, the album is titled Replicants.
5. James Blake – James Blake
The UK producer absolutely annihilated last year and now has the chance to be a potential dubstep crossover hitter with this LP. Grandeur aside, James Blake just makes damn good music and I’m super excited to see how he shapes a full-length.
4. Cut Copy – Zonoscope
In Ghost Colors, in my humble opinion, is one of the best dance pop albums ever crafted. It sets itself up for greatness every single track and just delivers ten-fold at every pivotal point. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the Aussie trio has in store for a followup.
3. Radiohead – TBA
Um…enough said.
2. M83 – TBA
Other than the lackluster debut, everything M83 has done feels as if its been pried straight from my wildest musical dreams. 2008′s Saturdays = Youth is a spacey John Hughes film score–in all it’s over-dramatic and angsty glory. 2005′s Before The Dawn Heals Us especially ignited my aural pleasure centers, conjuring one of the sign posts of my imagination, Blade Runner, with it’s cityscape cover art and it’s Vangelis synth textures. The good news is, Gonzales is returning to Dawn‘s dramatic soundtrack-styling flair, as he told Pitchfork late last year. I’m so goddamn excited.
1. The Avalanches – TBA
It’s probably disingenuous of me to put this on the list as this record has been supposed to come out for the last four years or so, yet still doesn’t even have a title. The group has been apparently clearing samples or something in the interim. My expectations for this one are so high that they’ve somehow lapped themselves back into cynicism. 2000′s Since I Left You is one of the best, most ambitious, and technically profound electronic records ever created. It was a sound collage that somehow worked as a dance mix. Seriously. Let’s hope they’ve used the last eleven years to make the followup worthy.
Those are my picks. Keep in mind, that most of these are scheduled for the earlier part of the year. In reality, I’m most excited about the surprises that come in the form of late announcements and little indie darlings.
So what are the patrons of Pure Pop looking forward to in 2011?
local other music collective Aether Everywhere have issues their year end mixtape. have a listen below!
We’ve all seen those annoying “Before They Were Famous” bits on tv and in print. Well, here at the Pure Pop Blog we’re not above indulging in cliches. The truth is a lot of you have probably seen this stuff before. However, those that haven’t need to. We must never forget that these beloved artists are fallible.
Phil Collins – Flaming Youth
Claim to Fame - Phil Collins is currently shorthand for soulless mainstream garbage but he used to be pretty cool. He’s a first rate drummer who’s elevated many classic albums with his contributions and he revolutionized the way we feel about things coming in the air at night. His first high-profile gig was drumming for Genesis, a band he would go on to lead into the upper stratosphere of musical success.
Before All That - Collins was the drummer for Flaming Youth, a pastoral rock quartet who to be fair weren’t all that bad. They never really went anywhere, prompting the young and eager musician to pursue other projects. How much does this video remind you of Spinal Tap playing “Gimme Some Money?”
Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve had plenty of people weigh in on the best music of the past year, reinforcing my conviction that 2009 was a superlative year for aural fetishists. However, let us not forget the dross, for there has also been a whole lot of crap. In recognizing some of the worst these past twelve months have had to offer, be grateful you have discriminating tastes. Some people eat this shit up.
Chickenfoot – Chickenfoot
The debut from this “supergroup” is the sonic equivalent of Roger Moore’s performance in View to a Kill, in which a 57-year-old Moore phones in an awkward farewell performance as James Bond, a role he should have given up fifteen years prior. Sammy Hagar (Van Halen), Marc Anthony (Van Halen), Joe Statriani and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) are clearly trying to carry the Led Zepplin mantle but simply come off as a terrible bar band. Even if you love Joe Satriani and Hagar-era Van Halen, this album has nothing to offer you but incompetent riffs and the death-rattle like rasps of a man who used to be able to carry a tune.
Asher Roth – Asleep in the Bread Aisle
With any other album on this list, if you were to say to me, “Herb. I know it’s not your thing, but I like it,” I’d let you have it. Lord knows I listen to plenty of stuff that other people despise. The exception is this musical abomination by Asher Roth, who’s break out single “I Love College” is lazy, derivative and repugnant. The kind of lifestyle Roth celebrates with his music is characterized by merry ignorance, lecherous sexuality and milquetoast wit. Roth is the embodiment of the worst qualities of mainstream music and the manufactured personalities it produces.
Owl City – Ocean Eyes
Tacky. Saccharine. Overly-sentimental. Garbage. Ocean Eyes is a Postal Service record filtered through a Family Circus cartoon. Every song is a polished-to-nothing and empty-headed epic-ballad that makes Captain & Tennille sound like Black Sabbath. I feel a little bad writing this, because I believe Adam Young, who is Owl City’s sole member, is a sincere songwriter. Unfortunately, he gives me a severe allergic reaction.
Various Artists – The Michael Jackson Remix Suite
The crass commercial exploitation that follows a celebrity’s death is as likely as the wetness that follows rain, but as often and inevitably as the macabre exercise occurs, it never loses its capacity to disgust. There were a number of releases in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death that exemplified this, but none more so than The Michael Jackson Remix Suite, a collection of profoundly boring remixes of Jackson’s hits that have sapped the originals of their vitality and charm. If the goal of this album was to reflect via Jackson’s songs what Jackson did to himself, mission accomplished. Like the former King of Pop, these songs are grotesque, unnatural caricatures that have been sedated to death.
Hey, it’s my top ten list for this year. Hope you like. It’s been a rough year for me. High school sucks.
7. The Jesus And Mary Chain, “Automatic”
This tape is really cool, but too short even though it has two extra songs on it. It has a really neat rocking sound with electric drums. Triple-X has been playing “Head On” a lot but I like “Blues From A Gun” way better. I don’t care about the state of my hair!
Best of 2009
I have to admit that I don’t like making year-end lists. First, I’m lazy. I can’t remember what the hell I listened to last month, forget last March. Second, I think the idea of actually naming the “best” albums of the year is a bit dramatic. Do we really need a bunch of opinionated music fans/critics claiming they know what is “best”? Really? (Ed Note: Yes, yes we do.)
All I can do is tell you about a few albums, perhaps a few songs, that I enjoyed listening to this year. Take it for what it is. (Third, I don’t really “follow” everything going on in music as the year goes by, so as I always listen to “older” music, I may have to include it as part of my “best” of 2009.)
Two more things: First, I love songs. Especially ones I can sing along to. Direct songs. What can I say: I’m a simple man. Second, I spent a lot of time hanging out with Vermont musician/composer Michael Chorney this year, so his name pops up a few times.
So, now that you understand me utterly and completely:
It Disappears by Seth Eames & Michael Chorney
Michael gave me a copy of this in the cold months of early spring, right around the time my stepfather had a severe stroke. I drove I-89 and I-91 a lot during that time, and I can say these stripped-bare recordings with Seth Eames’ world-weary lyrics and vocals were a perfect soundtrack to those damp, gray days. A perfect album for imperfect times.
“The Way It Will Be” by Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
A recommendation from Mr. Chorney, who kept talking about this unreleased Gillian and David song that sounded like something off Neil Young’s On the Beach. In the best of the available videos on YouTube, David and Gillian lock into one of their infamously slow, dirge-like acoustic-guitar rhythms, then start singing in beautiful, haunting unison. Dave Rawlings has an uncanny ability to sing behind Gillian in a way that you’re not even sure he’s there; his voice is more like light on a table or a ghost hovering near her. The chorus has one of the best lines I heard all year: “The way you made it, that’s the way it will be.”
Hadestown by Anais Mitchell
Anais Mitchell’s folk opera Hadestown has grown up a lot over the last few years. It started as a stage production playing rooms in Vermont like the Barre Opera House and Vergennes Opera House. The songs were catchy, the acting honest, and the orchestra, Michael Chorney’s Magic City, lent a funky, expansive drive to the musical numbers. The rough mixes of the forthcoming Hadestown album are a completely different animal: With vocals by Bon Iver, Ani DiFranco, and Greg Brown, and a band that includes some of Brooklyn’s finest jazz musicians, the album has drama, drive, and a musical sophistication that prove Anais Mitchell is far more than a folksinger. It’ll either blow up in 2010 or become a criminally underappreciated classic.
Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
I tend to ignore a lot of hype about flawlessly dressed bands of skinny white hipsters from Brooklyn and all their ultra-smart indie pop. That doesn’t mean I should. It’s just jaded foolishness. But I was curious about Veckatimest, so I bought it on vinyl. At first, I didn’t get it. It didn’t grab me. But then I moved into a new house, set up my turntable, and started listening to the vinyl instead of the files. Suddenly the rhythmic interplay between the acoustic guitar and drums demanded attention. (“Idiot!”) The understated drama of the lead vocals pulled me in. The harmonies killed. (“Oooh!”) I was hooked. I’ve turned more friends on to this album in the last few months than any other this year. And all I had to do was play it. It’s was 100% the “I’m now going to sell five copies of Three E.P.s by The Beta Band” scene from High Fidelity. No one had even heard of Grizzly Bear before hearing them. If you want to sell records, track two, “Two Weeks,” is the one to play over and over.
“Temezcal” by Monsters of Folk
I didn’t really get into the Monsters of Folk album. The idea, of course, was great: put Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward (She & Him), and Mike Mogis together and you get the folk-rock supergroup of the decade. But I found the album hard to get into. It had that feeling of three distinct talents and a producer all bringing songs, each of which ends up sounding like the records each guy makes without the other guys in the band. But then I found a YouTube video of the quartet playing Oberst’s “Temezcal” with M. Ward singing lead vocals. His deep, echo-enhanced vocal has crags and valleys of dark mystery that match the lyrics perfectly, making this the best song the band recorded for the album—but didn’t release.
Demo2009 by Surprise Me Mr. Davis
I’ve been waiting for this album ever since the band recorded it with Brett Hughes in Burlington’s own Old North End in the summer of 2008, after singer/songwriter Nathan Moore was turned away at the U.S.-Canada border. (They don’t let felonious musicians into Canada, apparently.) A collection of songs the band wrote in spring 2008, this record has sweat stains on its shirt and grit under its fingernails; it’s evidence of four guys who have been on the road constantly for well over a decade hitting their collective stride and writing some of the best songs of their careers. The biggest surprise and delight is Brad Barr showing some old-school, Sam-Cooke-style pop-love on “That’s the Way.” It’s my favorite song right now.
Phish’s performances at Bonnaroo
I grew up listening to Phish, just like a lot of kids did, during the mid-90s. They turned me onto so many things—bluegrass, country, jazz, doo-wop, Zappa, fusion, the use of tension, release, and humor in music, and most importantly, improvisation. (I was a shut-in until ’93.) What that really means is they taught me how to listen. I’m not the most rabid of Phish fans, and I hadn’t seen the band since their unfortunate implosion at Coventry in 2004. But I can say that after dozens of artists perform at Bonnaroo—from Allen Toussaint to Nine Inch Nails to Merle Haggard to Of Montreal—I can say that Phish’s two nights on the main stage were a master-class in live performance that every artist should have been invited to.
As far as I know, there is not one band that has taken 20th-century music in its many forms, listened to it, learned how it works, and put all of that knowledge to work to create something new and unique the way Phish has. And I am certain there is no band that can improvise as freely, while keeping the music accessible, as Phish does. Though many folks may not think of them this way, they’re the world’s most popular experimental band. They use American pop and folk music forms to launch into fearless group improvisation, creating new music in the moment in a way that makes tens of thousands of people feel something extraordinary. They feed the mind easily as much as the body. I won’t deny their shortcomings, but I know they should be seen as one of the most vital, innovative electric bands playing American music today.
Well, it’s coming around to that time of year again, kiddies, and if you’re anything like me (God help you), your listening habits tend to be influenced by the weather. Darker days call for darker ambient, and what better holiday to bust that shit out than Halloween?! Throw out those spooooooky Halloween sounds cassettes (or at least splice and sample them for beats or something), and click below for your new freakish soundtrack. You can do what you want with it, but my plan is to rock it on my front porch while I pass out candy, which will most likely be a huge hit with all of the burgeoning experimental music fans up here in St. Albans.
1) “Suspicious Drone” – Demdike Stare
2) “No. 1″ – Nuda Veritas
3) “Zenit” – Rumforskning
4) “Lambing” – Philip Jeck
5) “Consigned to a Yesterday” – The Caretake
6) “Why Are You Fearful” – Desiderii Marginis
7) “Dead People’s Things” – Deathprod
8 ) “Listen, The Snow is Falling” – Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet
9) “Prophetic Decay of Angel” – First Human Ferro
10) “Sleep After Toyle, Port After Stormie Seas” – Kammarheit
11) “Drivis” – Elegi
12) “Ictus” – Letum
I Wanna Hold Your Hand ($4.88) - Before the Back To The Future Trilogy or Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis made his film debut with this charming tale of three young women who want to encounter The Beatles during their legendary 1964 New York visit for three very different reasons.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny ($8.88) – Skeptical audiences skipped this one at the box office, all but ensuring we’ll never see a sequel. It’s too bad, because this Tenacious D origin story/fantasy epic is a sturdy piece of comedy loaded with inspired gags, hilarious cameos and classic D tracks.
Cry-Baby ($9.88) - John Waters‘ 1990 nostalgia fest stars a very young Johnny Depp as a 50′s gang member who falls in love with a straight-laced girl. Spoofing the conventions of teen musicals and mainstream portrayals of sub-culture, Cry-Baby is endlessly entertaining.
Nashville ($6.88) - Robert Altman directed a handful of truly great films in his vast career, and Nashville is one of the best. It features most of Altman’s hallmarks, including massive group action, overlapping dialogue and a dizzying number of intertwining plot threads. Even people entirely disinterested in the music culture of Nashville, Tennessee will find a lot in this film to fascinate them.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai ($6.88) – Allright, this is not a music-themed film by any stretch of the imagination. It is a great movie by the incomporable Jim Jarmusch about a modern man living by the samurai code who owes a life-debt to a local mobster. It gets a little complicated from there. Why is it on this list? Well, RZA did the music. Duh.
When all that Beatles stuff came out a coupla weeks ago, mountains of hyperbole, most of it warranted, were tossed around. For example, many people remarked that the band’s creative evolution was the broadest in all of rock. From their conventional beginnings, through their psychedelic studio alchemy to the majesty of Abbey Road’s side 2 suite, it’s hard to dispute that The Beatles covered more ground in their seven or so years then any had before them or has since.
On the other hand, maybe that’s something of a rigged accolade. There was a lot of room for rock n’ roll to open up in the early sixties. Throughout the decade, many artists pushed boundaries and pioneered innovations. The Beatles, with their vast financial resources and army of “best-in-the-biz” studio mechanics, could easily streamline cutting edge-trends into their sound.
The Beatles were a great band, and if anyone deserves the “best-of-all-time” title, it’s those lads, but isn’t their embodiment of the 60′s sound more a result of their ability to follow trends than build them?
Consider a band like Big Star. In three short years, Big Star went from upbeat power-pop to music that was despaired, esoteric and nigh unclassifiable. This did not go-with-the-proverbial flow of their contemporaries. Big Star cultivated their own sound and subsequently evolved via their own aspirations and frustrations. Sure, they proudly wore their influences on their sleeve (Velvet Underground, The Kinks and yes, The Beatles.) What separates their evolution from a band like The Beatles is that Big Star didn’t streamline. In fact, they seemed incapable of making their music palpable for mass audiences. Their third (and dare I say best) album didn’t see release for a half a decade after its creation because labels deemed it “un-listenable”.
So, speaking of Big Star, Rhino’s Keep An Eye on the Sky release of just about everything you could ever want or need by the band is an absolute must-own. I didn’t realize how in-need of a clean-up job their material was before listening to the glorious job the ever-reliable Rhino has done with Big Star’s material. You know how a sip of water can make you realize how thirsty you’ve been? That’s the sort of sensation one has listening to this set for the first time.
In honor of this fantastic release, we’ve compiled a list of what we consider to be highlights from the set.
1. “Oh My Soul” – The opening track of Radio City, Big Star’s second album, is one of their finest. Lively and jaunting, it features some of Alex Chilton’s most creative songwriting and guitar work. The remastered version’s added fidelity highlights the nuance of the song’s arrangement.
2. “Downs (demo)” - In it’s official incarnation on Third/Sisters Lovers, “Downs” is a particularly eccentric piece. It sounds both over and under-produced. The demo version, a simple and straight-forward solo-acoustic rendition, reveals a tight structure and fantastic melody. Both are on the box set. Compare and contrast!
3. “Hot Burrito #2 (live)” & “Slut (live)” – Big Star weren’t shy about covering their favorite songs. On these versions of songs by The Flying Burrito Brothers and Todd Rundgren respectively, Big Star meet the originals halfway by not corrupting their essences while making them their own.
4. “I Got Kinda Lost (demo)” – Contrary to the stripped-down “Downs” demo mentioned earlier, this version of “I Got Kinda Lost” features the whole band performing the song together. The raw and immaculate performance is invigorating, leading up to a highlight of the entire box-set. “How was that?” asks a member of the band at the song’s conclusion.
“It’ll do” replies what I can only assume is an engineer or producer, making the understatement of the 70′s.
5. “For You” - I hate to use the word sublime, but it really describes this song. Composed and sung by drummer Jody Stephens, it’s a simple tribute to the object of Stephens’ affection. “For You” features a haunting string arrangement that benefits greatly from Keep an Eye on the Sky’s remastering job. This track is reason enough alone to buy the set.
