10. Twin Shadows – Forget Holy Crap this record is catchy. There is one track on here that immediately reminded me of the Knife (steel drums and beats) and I was hooked. The rest of the album doesn’t really sound like that, more like the vocals of Robert Smith meets the music of Studio or something, but DAMN is it ever good. 80’s new wave and synth pop inspired, and produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear fame – it has been on repeat on my ipod for AWHILE.
9. Blank Dogs – Land and Fixed Blank Dogs is Mike Sniper who runs the amazing Captured Tracks record label. This guy has been getting so much attention lately, which is great. He has unleashed a flurry of releases over the past couple of years, so quickly it’s almost hard to keep up. I am usually a quality over quantity type of guy, so I was skeptical that it would all be equally as good. It is. He does lo-fi blown out staticy garage with joy division type vocals better than anyone out there right now.
8. Bonobo – Black Sands This album is just so listenable. I know a lot of people that just aren’t really into the dub side of electronic music, or didn’t think they were into electro at all that fell in love with this album. He incorporates some dreamy soulful female guest vocals and jazzy instrumentals so make a really great record. I spin this record at any dance party no matter what the mood and it always goes over well.
7. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles I love this duo, and I have been waiting for awhile for this one to come out. It ialways sucks when bands rush their second album coming off of a stunning debut, just to keep their name in people’s ears, often at the expense of quality tracks. Good to know that Crystal Castles aren’t willing to make that compromise. This album is just as solid as the first one, and well worth the wait.
6. Xiu Xiu – Dear God I Hate Myself The latest from one of my all time faves, Jamie Stewart really was an awesome one. The opening track is so beat driven and almost dancey that you just have to sing along, but there is always this awkward moment when you realize that the lyrics you are shouting along with are about about physical violence and emotional abuse and eating disorders and other terrible stuff. He gets at the tense juxtaposition of those two elements better than ever before on this one.
5. Zola Jesus – Stridulum EP and the slew of other stuff she has put out lately. I had the pleasure to see her perform in Austin at this past SXSW and it was definitely one of the highlights of the week for me. Having been pretty into her music for a couple years now, I am so pleased that she has hit her stride and putting out really perfect gut wrenching stuff. I was also so shocked to discover that she is only 21 years old! Her voice is incredibly well trained and the lyrical content of her songs is so dark and mature, it is all the more amazing.
4. Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal This music is a lot like some of my top faves from 2009, Tim Hecker and Ben Frost and also really arpeggiated like the aforementioned Emeralds release. Drone music with a lot of beepy minimal techno influence and psychadelic stuff going on. This record is a lot more pop oriented than his previous outtings and (like that Twin Shadow release) there is one track on here that I could have sworn was the intro to a Knife song.
3. Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here? This record is so so pretty. Their music hasn’t ever before been this blissed out, lots of swirling drone in the background with gurgling arpeggios up front. A soundtrack to one of those Planet Earth type things, but underwater, maybe the coral reef edition.
2. Prince Rama – Shadow Temple Straight forward stoney psychadelic rock. Equiped with chanted vocals and looped sounds, this record it the best of its kind to come out, not just this year, but in many! This is what I was hoping Black Mountain would become, but alas they turned more toward indie/psych/ folk rather than emracing their metal roots.
1. Pantha du Prince – Black Noise This record absolutely ruled my headphones this year. It is good in every mood and for every situation. I also had the cd in my car, I played it a LOT on my radio show, I played it on my ipod at work…it is just plain good. His niche is the perfect balance between minimal techno and a more danceable sound, but there is something that can only be described as post-rock-esque going on. It is a tendency toward the epic and sprawling, the songs often lead toward a crescendo or an abrupt change of pace, which is unusual in mininmal house music and really does the trick here.
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The first ten I feel VERY strongly about. These are the albums that I listened to a shit ton, but I think are a tier down from the top ten.
11. Best Coast – Crazy for You
12. Marnie Stern – Self Titled
13. Teenage Fantasy – CD-R release, I have no idea what this one is properly called, and I don’t think they have a proper release yet…but be on the lookout.
14. Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
15. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
16. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
17. White Hinterland – Kairos – This is the one record down here that I think maybe should be in the top ten. But that would make it a top 11, so that wouldn’t work. This is different than her previous stuff, ethereal and cathcy…check it out.
18. Grinderman – 2
Flying Lotus‘s third full-length, Cosmogramma, was released in May of this year. FlyLo’s personal sphere of inspiration while making the record reportedly gravitated around his own mother’s untimely death, and it’s probably now appropriate to mention the Los Angeles beat-maker’s blood connection to Alice and John Coltrane, as their astral inspired brand of free jazz seemed to be an important musical signpost Steven Ellison aspired to channel on the record (Cosmogramma refers to a lecture Alice Coltrane gave). Trane’s son Ravi can even be heard with a tenor sax on two of the seventeen tracks. With this in mind, it’s a good guess Cosmogramma is much more inspired by the Coltranes or even Sun Ra rather than FlyLo’s contemporaries. The new exploration of sound was a bold move, and one that more than paid off. Flying Lotus has managed to transcend the sound and scene he helped create by completely stepping into a realm beyond the general approach of electronic music.
Cosmogramma itself flows as a singular experience. It creates a context that lives up to it’s astral-based name, born from a place that feels more connected with spiritualism, psychedelia, place and time. Something to fall into. The scene from which it was born still remains though, it’s just hard to imagine anything like this coming from something built upon a collective. It boasts Flying Lotus’s vision as a producer and musician. There’s a moment with some records where you feel the music is really only a means to an end. Where the musician’s voice is alluding to something deeper and bigger instead of just pulling back a curtain to show you a couple songs they made, which in most cases could describe (however fantastic) the sound that’s come out of LA in the wake of Flying Lotus’s Los Angeles. Or even electronic music as a whole. It’s something historically relegated to high concept music, definitely not hip-hop inspired beats.
As I mentioned in Part I, J Dilla‘s Donuts was a sort of opus for his experience and memories. And feels like that in how cyclical and fleeting it is. Dilla is known for aesthetics, but it’s that element of Dilla’s musical voice that lasts, especially as a statement right before his death. Flying Lotus has built that into his own music, starting with Los Angeles and making it completely his own with Cosmogramma. It’s easier to talk about how Dilla’s “submerged” bass lines or FlyLo’s off-beat programming helped create something new in electronic music (it’s definitely important) than how these guys have brought something unique and highly affecting in regard to their personal outlook and perspectives, communicated through their music. But, oh well, I guess. In the end the musical experience speaks for itself. What’s the point of trying to force it into words (like I’m doing right now)? Listen to the records.
With all that said, in 2010 Los Angeles still stands and Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder record label is in a prolific infancy. More than a few talented producers have come out of the city or are making their name as apart of the Brainfeeder crew. Here are a couple of my favorite records out of that scene from this year:
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – Self Titled
Grace Potter means business. She lets you know from the get go with the first “UH!” on her band’s new self titled album, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. This isn’t some poppy, Adult Alternative record; it’s a gritty, passionate affair with swagger, soul and plenty of classic rock influences.
The opening track, “Paris” kicks things off with a heavy guitar riff and the sleaziest drums this side of Don Henley’s The Long Run days. Singing about getting what she wants, Potter proves that she’s a woman with strength and conviction and knows how to work it. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals is full of songs that have a deep groove and a bit of an edge to them, such as “Oasis” and “Medicine,” which feature the kind of exemplary guitar work you’d expect to hear from the Allman Brothers on any given night. This may come from the Nocturnals’ years of touring, or it could be the new chemistry in the band. For this new album The Nocturnals include lead guitarist Scott Tournet and drummer Matt Burr joined by newer members bassist Catherine Popper and rhythm guitarist Benny Yurco; Potter covers the piano and organ. Read the full review
Ratatat – LP4
Past outings from Brooklyn duo Ratatat have been marked by bright lines, big blocks of color, and a sort of inoffensive coolness. It was electronic music delivered by cock-rocking guitarists, but with most of the gristly bits polished away: Think arena-electro for grocery-store aisles. But LP4 is refreshingly strange, the kind of album that’s fine to zonk out to, but even finer to pick through with a big set of earphones. Read the full review
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
We know from interviews that Ariel Pink grew up absorbing throwaway pop from the 70s and 80s, finding a way to make it all fit into his cracked worldview. Something overlooked about those songs, though, is that the people writing them were pros who knew something about intros, codas, and middle-eights, how a certain kind of chord change can cause the turnaround to the chorus to hit a little harder. Ariel Pink’s best songs are surprising, and there’s a real sense of musical delight on Before Today; the sections sound logical but never predictable, and there are wild bridges and short bits that emerge seemingly randomly but wind up taking the song somewhere unexpected. So “L’estat (Acc. to the Widow’s Maid)” goes from a rollicking organ-led opening section to a catchy call-and-response chorus hook the Monkees might have liked to a short double-time instrumental section to a jubilant coda, and all the while the stitches never show. Songs like “Little Wig” have so many interesting interlocking parts that they can almost feel proggy, despite their relative brevity and tight pop structures. Read the full review
The Cure – Disintegration (remastered / expanded)
For the huge number of fans who discovered The Cure through the pop hits off 1985’s Head on the Door and 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, the release of the band’s eighth album, in May 1989, was something of a revelation: Disintegration found Robert Smith sliding back into the thematic darkness of the Pornography era, but with that record’s bleak, brittle sheen replaced by much-needed melody and musical depth.
The resulting album still stands as The Cure’s greatest achievement, a work that’s both filled with despair and heart-rending beauty — as if Smith, however fleetingly, finally struck the right balance between his twin musical personas. Now, 21 years later, Disintegration is the subject of a wildly anticipated three-disc retrospective that not only delivers a sonic upgrade to the original album, but offers before-and-after context via a disc’s worth of demos and outakes, and a full live airing of the record. Read the full review
First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Jay Blanchard, but some of you probably know me better as Spitting Out Teeth, the moniker I’ve used for my now-defunct music blog and radio show on 105.9 The Radiator. It’s also my nom de plume on the comments fields of various local music and culture blogs, including Aether Everywhere, The Contrarian and the very Pure Pop blog you’re reading right now. I’m also an experimental musician, recording and/or playing live with Solah, Yellowknife, the le duo and my solo project, VIKOMT.
But who cares about me….you’re here for music. Specifically, lists about music. Even more specifically, lists about good music that came out in 2009, which is what I promise to deliver. While I could easily write a top ten (or twenty….or fifty) list of my favorite CD, vinyl, cassette, reel-to-reel, wax cylinder, etc. releases from this glorious annus horribilis (didn’t this year suck? and doesn’t that phrase look like “horrible anus”? didn’t he steal that joke from “Saxondale“?), I’ve decided instead to focus on some of the amazing reissues that came out in 2009.
Why focus on reissues? Well, partly because in this post-modern age with ever-advancing technology, I believe in a work of art as a living document, and I’m amazed by how a great technician can improve on an already great album and introduce it anew to a modern generation. Or I’m just an old fogey who’s locked in the past. Tomayto, Tomahto.
Ok, less talky, more listy. Here ’tis.
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10) Warp20 box set
Like many of you, I came of age musically in the early-to-mid 1990′s, a epic time of musical innovation, especially in electronic music. While genres such as House and Jungle were finally starting to reach much broader audiences (did anyone over the age of 15 in 1995 not know at least one person with a set of turntables & a mixer?), more esoteric forms of electronica were starting to show up in the underground.
While most of the electronic music showing up in clubs had steady beats and easy ambient trance synthlines, more avant-garde explorers of the format were creating harsh digital glitches and cut-and-paste rhythms that were anything but danceable. While the music went under many different names, it was most commonly known as “IDM”, or Intelligent Dance Music. At the forefront were artists such as Autechre, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Plaid, Prefuse 73, Richard Devine and Jamie Lidell. While there music varied greatly, they all shared one thing in common—Warp.
“From MTV intros to movie soundtracks to television commercials, the sounds of Warp became a pervading part of the cultural landscape, almost subversively gaining mass appeal through its rapid appropriation.”
Warp Records (founded in 1989) was one of the first, and most definitely the most prominent, of IDM record labels. Starting in 1989, Warp blended cutting-edge album artwork with music that challenged both the mind and emotions. In many ways, Warp releases became the soundtrack of the mid-90s, a fractured timespace of pre-millennial chaos and exploding technological change. From MTV intros to movie soundtracks to television commercials, the sounds of Warp became a pervading part of the cultural landscape, almost subversively gaining mass appeal through its rapid appropriation. I certainly can’t think of another example where avant-garde music so quickly and completely became embraced by the mainstream media.
However, the hottest fires burn out the fastest, and as the confusion of the late 1990s led to post-millenial malaise, IDM quickly lost its fanbase. Taken out of its cultural context, the music failed to have the same appeal, and experimental audiences turned in droves to the sedate post-rock, ambient and drone sounds coming from labels such as Kompakt, Kranky and Constellation. However, Warp somehow soldiered on as a label, continuing their excellent taste in artists with releases by Boards of Canada, Grizzly Bear, Broadcast, Bibio and many others.
To celebrate its 20th birthday, Warp released the Warp20 box set this year, a massive 4xCD, 3xLP collection of some of the best tracks they ever released. This is one set that truly looks as good as it sounds as well, featuring Warp’s famous minimalist white-and-purple design style and abstract 3D imagery. My only complaint about the set would be the lack of a DVD of Warp’s highly influential music videos, but a great collection of Warp videos already exists and can be purchased separately. For anyone who wasn’t old enough to have heard this music at the time of its creation, or for those of you who want to relive your halcyon days, this is your time to get a true Warp experience.
9) King Crimson “In the Court of the Crimson King”/ “Red”
Ok, I’ll admit it—I’m not a big prog rock fan. As much as I appreciate the complex time signatures and love the analog synth riffage, it’s just a genre that appeals more to me in theory than in practice. That said, I was still pretty blown away by listening to these two reissues by the legendary King Crimson.
First off, I’ve been doing a lot of production lately so I’m becoming more and more of a tech geek by the day. As a result, I’m always in awe of a really good remix or remastering of an album. It’s amazing how some fader tweaks & a bit of EQ and compression in the right hands can make a dull album shine like a diamond (or vice versa in the wrong hands–think Metallica’s latest). For “In the Court of the Crimson King” and “Red”, the great Robert Fripp teamed up with Steven Wilson to create a new (and MUCH better) stereo mix of each album, as well as a 5.1 surround sound version. Each album also features a bonus disc of alternate takes or mixes of album tracks.
Another reason to love these albums—King Crimson isn’t your standard sterile virtuoso prog band. There are some absolutely beautiful moments on these albums, full of true emotion. And did I mention these guys can rock a metal riff? Some very Sabbath-like moments on here. So whether you’re a prog fan or not, these albums are worth picking up.
8 ) The Rolling Stones – “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” (40th Anniversary box set)
Ah, The Rolling Stones. Say what you will about their laughable entries into psychedelia in the mid-60s….or their even more laughable forays into reggae in the 70s….or their just plain piss-poor attempts at a return to blues-rock form in the 80s. One thing you can’t deny however is that from 1968′s “Beggar’s Banquet” until 1972′s “Exile on Main Street”, these guys were untouchable. And while their albums from this period are masterpieces of down-and-dirty rock and roll, many who lived through the period would argue that the studio tapes just didn’t capture their best work, which was happening on stage during their raunchy and drug-fueled live performances.
“Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” is the Stones’ sole official live release from this era, capturing what is arguably their greatest performance ever, a November 1969 show at NYC’s Madison Square Garden (along with a few songs from a Maryland show on the same tour). Some of you may know this show from the Maysles’ brothers’ documentary “Gimme Shelter”. While the film helps give the performance context, you don’t need images to release that this show was pure electric magic. With Mick’s vocals ranging from seductive purr to brutal lion howl and Keith’s guitar licks cutting like a razorblade, it’s no surprise that the great Lester Bangs said ” I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.”
This year, to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the performances, the album was reissued in box set form to include previously unreleased bonus tracks from the concerts, as well as tracks by show openers B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner. Long live rock and roll.
7) The Stone Roses, “The Stone Roses”
I will always remember the first time I heard The Stone Roses. It was 1997 and I just couldn’t shut up about Radiohead. My friend Mike, who was a few years older than me, was getting pretty sick of it & decided it was a good time to try to turn me onto something else. He asked me “Have you ever listened to The Stone Roses? No? Then borrow this. But it’s my favorite album, so I want it back.”
Skeptical that I could appreciate anything other than OK Computer entering my earholes at that moment in time, I reluctantly took the album. Half just to humor Mike, and the other half because I was intrigued by the Jackson Pollock-esque cover art (which I later discovered was created by the band’s guitarist, John Squire). I went back to my apartment and popped the CD into my stereo. About 30 seconds into “I Wanna Be Adored” I was completely sold.
While the Ian Brown‘s ethereal siren song vocals and the lush production is enough to make this album a classic, it’s really the tremendous variety of sounds encompassed during its 11 tracks. From the post-punk overtones of “I Wanna Be Adored” to the jangle-pop of “She Bangs the Drums” to the abstract looping beauty of “Don’t Stop” to Irish folk song on “Elizabeth My Dear”. I can hear echoes of everyone from The Beatles to The Kinks to Syd Barrett to Joy Division to Happy Mondays to…..you name it. This is truly a postmodern pop album, completely unafraid of genre-hopping and paying homage to influences. NME’s claim that this is “the greatest debut album ever” is more than arguable, but it’s definitely a contender.
This year, on the 20th anniversary of the album’s release, “The Stone Roses” was reissued as either a single CD, a single LP, a 2xCD & 1xDVD deluxe set, and a massive “collector’s edition” 3xCD, 3xLP, 1xDVD set for the true obsessives. No matter what version you pick up, you’re in for a treat.
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That’s all for now folks. Look for part two of this saga, selections #6-4, next week!
Pete Chiacchieri has been a regular pure pop buyer and more than a little big of a rarities collector – even once doing a short stint back in the mid 90′s at our venereal venerable establishment. We cornered him in the back for a brief discussion on music, and he willingly submitted his answers.
Pure Pop: What are you shopping for today?
Pete Chiacchieri: Today i was hoping to find the re-issue of the Rolling Stone‘s Live Licks - but i couldn’t find it, i might have the release date wrong…
PP: That has to be it…what genre’s do you prefer?
PC: Right now? Progressive Rock, you know bands like Yes, Pendragon – Their new one is the second best record of the year for me. It sounds like what you’d hope Pink Floyd would have done after wish you were here; that professional melodic sound that made Dark Side and Wish You Were Here so fantastic, and lyrically on par with the best of 70′s Floyd.
PP: Where do you find out about new music?
PC: I read lots of interviews in all the various magazines - MOJO is big, Uncut, “Q“ Art Rocker – All British Mags, sometimes if you’re online you can just travel through links, Wikipedia – just following the leads where they take you. The British mags are so much more well rounded than these American mags.
PP: Where do you shop for new music generally?
PC: Locally – here, of course. (Ed – That’s Pure Pop Records, 115 North Winooski Ave. Burlington Vermont, 05401 – Open 7 days a week.) Downtown Discs, Burlington Records, and for the more obscure i use Amazon and cd uninverse and if i’m feeling lucky i go to GEMM, (global electronic music marketplace) It’s sort of like dealing with ebay people but you never know what you gonna get so you have to really want that specific item and be will to take a chance…
PP: What formats do you prefer?
PC: Vinyl. CD. then Cassette – No MP3 as of yet, i’m interested but i’m 50 so i grew up with artwork and liner notes, having this little bit of nothing doesn’t really intrigue me. So far i’ve been able to find everything i’m looking for without getting into MP3.
PP: What was the last album you purchased
PC: Jasper Wrath, American Progressive rock from around 71′ – really astounding stuff, melodic song based progressive rock. It looked like it was a dodgy, limited issue so if you’re a collector, get it fast cause it won’t last.
PP: If you could recommend one album to anyone, what would it be?
PC: Aliens: Luna – If you wanna hear something new that beyond belief, ex-Beta Band, pure psychedelia – they use ever studio trick in the book all to great effect.
PP: Shower singer or car singer? If so, which songs.
PC: I guess both – There’s probably footage on the internet somewhere…. right now definitely belting out the Jasper Wrath, historically – Magical Mystery Tour, what if that album had been better than Sargent Peppers?
