As we approach the 4th of July weekend, we take a look back at the second half of what we started yesterday: the best albums of 2009 ... so far, that is. These 10 albums, listed in nothing but alphabetical, could be and are the top contenders thus far for the Top 10 of '09, but we still have many months to go, and many albums to come yet to shake things up. But until then, if the year ended today the Top 10 would include these fine albums.
The first time I heard this record, it was loud and it was abrasive and I couldn't find anything I really liked about it. But with every subsequent listen, I found the melodies hidden beneath the maniacal playing of this Vancouver-based duo. And then on headphones, besides the musical jewels, you listen to the lyrics and you realize this must be a concept record. All this talk of girls and their homeland, getting the sweats and the shits and "x-o-x-o-x" that end letters and text messages. I was listening to it just yesterday and "Sovereignty" and there was one lyric that sealed the deal on this being a great album and a great concept on that I dubbed Teen Angsty Love, Canadian Style: 'It's raining in Vancouver / But I don't give a fuck / Cause I'm in love with you tonight." But their not in love with just girls, but a city, a place far from home that is their hearts.
For their fifth album, the Swedish trio drop their guitars, fire up the samplers and drum machines, and make the best record the 80s just couldn't handle back then. Choruses of kids belt out there's nothing to worry about, and it's true: for those who feared the band wasn't the same band, they still are. All the catchy melodies are there just presented in a different form. The title track with it's nod to Graceland and the first UK single yelling out 'Hey shut the fuck up boy' are just some of the gleaming moments. "I'm Losing My Mind" veers back to what we can now call classic PB&J with a psychadelic guitar riff driving the album, but that's its low point. I much prefer the dark and ominous jams like "4 Out of 5" that will protrude from my car stereo all summer long.
Those who say this third album from one of Spencer Krug's many guises is his most accessible are truly right in their sayings. But for me, I always thought Sunset Rubdown was accessible and easy to get in to. This album features everything you'd want - epic prog moments ("Dragon's Lair," "Black Swan") and driving, hard hitting anthems ("You Go On Ahead," "Idiot Heart"). For me, what I like most is picking up on subtle nuances or just taking in the things no one else would. Like the swirling keyboard notes that open the record on "Silver Moons" or the way everything starts to collide on the aforementioned "Swan". Hell, even their cover of "Paper Lace" (cover because it was originally done by one of Krug's other outfits, Canadian indie supergroup Swan Lake) is worthy of debating whether their version is better than the original. As prolific and as talented as this band is getting along with a spot in the limelight, makes you wonder if this could become Krug's day job over some Wolf group he plays in.
It's not just because of my allegiance to the infamous label that turns 20 this year, but every year I feel they always put out a new record from an up and coming up that just resonates with me like no other. This year it Michael Benjamin Lerner, aka the Seattle-based Telekinesis. On this record, Lerner teams up with producer Chris Walla to brings us tales of obsessions with foreign lands and time zones that, while it appears he's visited on the surface, his bio will tell you otherwise. And boy are the songs catchy - we all know my love for "Awkward Kisser," but the acoustic punch of "Great Lakes" and the soaring guitars of "Tokyo" all give way to the 'I'm in love with you, return the favor' serenade of "I Saw Lightning." Dare I say this is a perfect record?
So, yeah, everyone's favorite band from Chicago caught a lot of flack for the Dad-rock infused Sky Blue Sky. I know back upon its release two years ago I wasn't a big fan of it; I never even blogged about it once! But their new album, it just immediately stuck with me. It's not this mid-tempo 70s record like Sky, and it definitely veers from their meandering ways of A Ghost Is Born. It's not Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, though - but it's on par with the now legendary album. "Bull Black Nova" builds and build over repetitions before exploding. "You Never Know" is driven by a clanging honky tonk piano. "Sonny Feeling" is just that and essentially tells the entire tale of an album full of upbeat moments, and tongue-in-cheek-ism's down to the title track and band theme song.
Showing posts with label Wilco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wilco. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Monday Morning Newsletter (6-1-09)
Jay Bennett, the multi-instrumentalist and ex-Wilco member died last Sunday morning. He was known to have clashed with band leader Jeff Tweedy, but to have been prolific since his departure from the band. He had been in poor health and passed in his sleep. He was 45 Billy Joel is being sued by former drummer Liberty DeVitto. DeVitto now claims that Joel failed to pay him royalties. DeVitto worked for Joel for 30 years stretching from 1975 to 2005 and helped write some of his singles. José says that drummers don’t write songs, they hit things with sticks.
The Atlanta rapper Dolla was fatally shot last week at the Westside Mall. The shooting began at about 3:00 p.m. Monday afternoon. in the parking structure of the popular Westside mall. Dolla, whose real name is Roderick Anthony Burton II, was killed instantly by a shot in the head. D.J. Shabbazz escaped uninjured. Los Angeles police have already detained a suspect.
Green Day lost the battle but won the war with Wal-Mart. Despite the fact that Wal-Mart freely stocks T&A flocks unedited, they requested the punk band bleep their lyrics. Green Day refused. In a move widely seen as political and not fiscal, Wal-Mart refused to stock the record. Billie Joe Armstrong commented: "They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there. We just said no. You feel like you're in 1953 or something." Their album 21st Century Breakdown still managed to debut at number one last week without Wal-Mart.
The Beastie Boys have announced their new LP will be titled Hot Sauce Committee and is due for release in September. 2009 has been a productive year for the Beasties as they have re-released Check Your Head, Paul's Boutique and Ill Communication. Let us not forget that the brass monkey is a funky monkey.
Muse has announced that their new album will be titled The Resistance. The record is tentatively scheduled for a release this fall. Muse is also doing a handful of dates opening for U2 in North America this summer. This will be their first release since 2006.
Pete Yorn and actress Scarlett Johansson have recorded an album together. The unlikely album will be a collection of duets titled Break Up. The album is scheduled for a September 8 release. Last year her album of Tom Waits tanked like a bad layup. York is releasing his own album Back And Fourth on June 23. He was quoted as saying “Because seriously, she is that hot. That’s why.”
You may recall that Depeche Mode vocalist Dave Gahan was hospitalized on May 12th with gastroenteritis. The cause turned out to be a malignant tumor in his bladder. Several shows on their tour have been canceled; doctors have ordered him to rest until at least June 8th.Jose can think of precious few places worse than that for a tumor. take all the time you need.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday Morning Newsletter (3-30-09)
Wilco has confirmed rumors that Feist will appear on their next album. The untitled work is set for a late June release on Nonesuch. Wilco is presently in the missing process with producer Jim Scott at his Valencia, California studio. Clutch also is preparing an as-yet-untitled album for a June release. Their CD will come out on their own Weathermaker Music label. They’ve already booked a set of East Coast and Midwest dates to promote the release. The tour will then close out the tour with an appearance as their other incarnation The Bakerton Group at a May 23rd show.
Friday a judge sentenced Rapper T.I. aka Clifford Harris to a year and a day in prison. Magnum T.I. is up on federal weapons charges for an attempting to purchase machine gusn and silencers last year. The plea bargain for a year and a day allows Mr. TI to get early release. Had he received any less he’d have been forced to serve the full term. Potentially he could have served 10 years like anyone who cant' call MTV.
Rapper 50 Cent will be playing a set of 5 shows with Fall Out Boy. The dates are in Denver, Grand Prairie, Houston, Charlotte, and Columbia Maryland. The Kevlar-clad hip-hopper will be releasing not one but two record this year. Why that’s not a double disc I don’t’ know.
Fergie is auctioning her underwear for charity on eBay. If you've a deranged stalker or just have a very strange fetish today is your day. Other top-drawer donors include Emma Thompson, Helen Mirren and Sacha Baron Cohen. The proceeds benefit the New North London Synagogue.
Chin Up Chin Up have called it quits. They’ve planned a final show May 15 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. On their Myspace page, vocalist Jeremy Bolen wrote: “Thank you to the hundreds of people who have helped us along the way, we have been truly lucky, and as cliché as it may sound, we could not have done any of this without you."
Metallica is being inducted into the Rock N’ Roll hall of fame this April 4th. The dysfunctional band has invited every bipedal mammal tangentially involved in the band for the last 2 decades. The Metallica guest list includes Megaforce and Elektra staff, publicists, music critics, and former bassists Ron McGovney and Jason Newsted, and Ray Burton, father of the late Cliff Burton. Dave Mustaine has decided to stay home and sulk.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday Morning Newsletter (08/25/08)
With the Fritz out on vacation this week, I thought I would do my best to fill his shoes to come up with this week's newsletter. Odds are I will not do nearly as good a job as him being witty and all, but I am willing to give it a try.Mac McCaughn's other band, Portastatic, will release a two-disc compilation of odds and sods on September 9th entitled Some Small History. The 44-song set includes covers, alternate versions and previously unreleased material. I'm just ecstatic there's a place where all can finally get his awesome rendition of Hot Chip's "And I Was A Boy From School". Merge is letting you stream the entire thing for a limited time right now, so get on that.
It wouldn't be right of me to take Fritz's place and not discuss his beloved Metallica. The band offered up a stream of their new single "The Day That Never Comes" on their MySpace page last week. The 8-minute track does indeed sound like the old-school Metallica of the 1980s that the San Francisco four-piece promised their new album, Death Magnetic, would harken back to. They successfully achieve this by rehashing the melodies of earlier songs "Fade To Black" and "One" in the same song. Good job, assholes.
Famed produer Jerry Finn passed away last week at the age of 39. Finn suffered a brain hemorrhage in July and was taken off life support earlier this month. Finn's family will announce plans in the near future for a scholarship in his honor. Finn produced many acclaimed records over the last 15 years, including Rancid's And Out Came The Wolves, Morrissey's You Are The Quarry and Blink-182's Enema of the State. The one album people keep neglecting to mention in obituaries is his tremendous production work on Superdrag's 1998 masterpiece, Head Trip In Every Key. His last work known was his production on the new Morrissey album, Years Of Refusal, which is due out next year.
Some Neil Young guy is going on tour for the umpteenth time this fall in the United States of America, and has drafted Death Cab For Cutie and Wilco to support him on the separate legs. You might remember Young doing this in the early 1990s, i.e. building his indie cred, by asking bands like Sonic Youth and R.E.M. to join him on the road.
If you live in the NYC area and have nothing to do tonight, might I suggest catching a one-off reunion of the original line-up of And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead at Santos' Party House. I guess it's not a reunion really, but just the original duo of current members Conrad Keely and Jason Reece. Either way, I'm sure it will be a pretty cool time and better than staying in and watching the U.S. Open.
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