Wednesday, July 25, 2012

2003


                2003 is maybe a high water mark for pop-rock from the indie rockers.  The New Pornographers and the Shins both put out really excellent old-school pop-rock albums (harmonies, big hooks, rockin but not in am aggressive punk/metal way think Cheap Trick, or various other post-Beatles guitar pop bands).  The two bands also sound very much like each other, though Id give a slight edge to the New Pornos: multiple songwriters give a bit more variety, and multiple singers help with harmonies.  The Shins probably have a bit more coherent lyrics, not that thats an essential component for a style of music that lives and dies on the hooks.  I suppose neither is too far from the Super Furry Animals core sound, though the SFA add a lot more to their sound (and have much more coherent lyrics).  This year theyve doubled down on both the prog & techno, and added in a new strain of steel-guitar country. 
                Last time around, I described Death Cab for Cutie as very similar to the Shins in sound, and even started to warm up to them a bit.  That all stops this year.  In their core sonic elements, theyre not so far gone, but theyre dirge-y instead of hooky, and self-pitying like they want to be the new Elliott Smith.  But while Elliott Smith was fantastic lyrically, if you dont want to slap Ben Gibbard after he whinges about how the glove compartment is inaccurately named because it has photos of his old girlfriend rather than gloves, you either a) havent graduated from high school yet or b) are Zoey Deschanel.  Not any better is Gibbards synth/IDM side project.  (IDM, by the way is Intelligent Dance Music: read dance music with wimpy beats you can't actually dance to; I don't really see the point either...)
                Elsewhere in indie, the synths are really rising to prominence, as acts move to ape the 80s much like 90s alt bands aped the 70s.  Most explicit (and also best, this year) are the Dandy Warhols, who actually bring on a former Duran Duran-er to produce.  The hipster poseurs over at Pitchfork slagged them for being poseurs, which neatly misses the point that theyre fundamentally a glam-rock band, and nobody wants a glam-rock band thats not artificial & plastic.  All that matters is that the Dandys Welcome to the Monkey House is fun as hell, absolutely drenched in retro synths, but also big, Bowie-style hooks.
                The Flaming Lips are less revival-focused on a pair of EPs this year, and more interested in mixing modern techno sounds into their mix.  Of course, being EPs instead of proper albums, the songs this year are pretty much either outtakes or (wholly unnecessary) remixes, so the Lips are definitely in a holding pattern, albeit one that suggests that their new look is one they can sustain.  Also playing around with synths, and straddling the border between indie pop and dance punk are Phoenix, who debut this year.  That they can sound a bit like Daft Punk is unsurprising, as their guitarist was formerly in the band that would become Daft Punk, but elsewhere they sound like they owe a lot more to Air's loungetronica (an don one track early Pavement).  More than anything, they're another in a long line of indie-poppers reclaiming AM Gold, though.
The other major scene within indie is dance-punk, which you know is starting to become a real movement because the Johnny-come-latelys are starting to graft dance beats onto their bog-standard indie rock in a bid for au currant cache (this year, Moving Units).  Among the actual movers & shakers, the Rapture put out their debut.  They definitely were originators of this scene, but their album is a less than inspiring affair, all warmed over Public Image impressions and tepid thin beats.  None of this stuff ever really swung, but for the Rapture especially, dancing seems more like a theoretical concept than a real thing.  For music you can actually dance to this year, its hip-hop or bust.
Or the Electric Six.  Grouped with the dance-punks (and probably getting some exposure from being accidentally trend-adjacent), they're really a disco-metal band that takes both halves of the equation seriously.  Though thats all they take seriously.  So as though Judas Priests Turbo really was influential, but also had a sense of humor.  Most importantly, not only does it rock, and swing, but Fire! is one of the funniest albums in my collection.  Just the titles, like Naked Pictures (of Your Mother) or Electric Demons In Love, give you a sense of the type of humor on display.  Also my favorite lyric of the year is, hands-down, who elected you judge & jury in the body of a beautiful girl//I suspect heavy gerrymandering in the singles bar.  I suppose if you dont find it funny, itd lose a lot of its charm, but youd be missing out on a gem.  The world emphatically needs a band like the Electric Six.
                Of course, the last thing the world needs is another band like the Electric Six, which leaves the Darkness in an unfortunate position: also more joke-metal, though more hair-metal focused, but not as funny as the Electric Six, nor as clever.  Also, it was never quite clear whether they were serious power-metal fans or having a joke at the expense of the music (while the Electric Six always seemed genuine in their love of the music).  Regardless, the Darkness are just one of several bands in the garage/new rock wave that show a decided classic rock influence.  Also new (and more clearly of the garage rock scene) are the oft-maligned Jet and the severely overrated Kings of Leon.  The Kings of Leon are actually better than I remember, sounding like a rootsier Strokes, although I can testify that they were terrible live.  Nevertheless, like the Strokes, more hype than substance, as the songs themselves are just pretty good, but not outstanding.  Jet, by contrast, are probably better than their reputation.  Unabashedly derivative, yes, but derivative of good influences, like Iggy Pop, John Lennon, and AC/DC.  Ultimately, they have more in common with the Rapture (and the Darkness) than their critics would concede, as all three are basically just straight revivalists.  At least Jet kick up a credible ruckus. 
                Among the returning garage-rockers, the White Stripes cement their position as the best of this scene, with another ambitious sprawl of an album, this time sounding even more like a two-person Zeppelin with prominent country leanings (vs. the more Sabbath-derived heaviness on the last one).  Not a radical change, but some solidly discernible growth, into more country-heavy territory.  Certainly more growth than the Strokes, who pretty much just repeat themselves on their follow-up.  Nothing you havent heard if youve heard their debut, but if you liked their debut, its not significantly different in quality either.  Maybe a touch more New Wave in their sound, with the Edge-style treated guitars to sound like keyboards.  Over in the UK, the Libertines are also back, but only with an EP that doesnt significantly modify their sound form before.  Im more forgiving of the Libertines, but only because 1) its an EP, and 2) I like them better anyway.
                Finally among the indie kids is the little-heard debut EP of the Arcade Fire.  Already they sound pretty darn solid, like a better version of (fellow Canadians) Broken Social Scenes big orchestrated sound, but in the service of real songs, rather than Broken Social Scenes rather aimless tracks.  Still, theyll be worth paying a lot more attention to starting soon
                So thats the newer groups.  Turning to older groups, its a pretty strong year.  As the indie kids rediscover the post-punk 80s, several of the artists that were actually there are putting out entirely worthwhile records this year.  Joe Strummers last posthumous album is probably his best, even if some of the tracks still have what I suspect are early versions of the lyrics; at least I hope Igot a busy day, Im wearing a vest wasnt meant to be a real lyric.  Regardless, this is the album thats most likely to appeal to Clash fans, as Joe tries his hand at reggae and punk again, but also includes some of the best of his more electronica-type experiments (esp. Midnight Jam).  Joe even gets to sing his own eulogy, the indented-for-Johnny Cash Long Shadow.  A thoroughly fitting last word for one of the absolute best of the Class of 77.
                Elsewhere among those active in the world of post-punk, theres more good stuff.  King Crimson of course were active before post-punk, but the Crimson thats around these days is the post-punk lineup.  Though this year they sound like a harder version of the Red lineup.  Among the real post-punks, Wire disappointed some people when they followed up last years comeback EPs with a studio album thats half best of the EPs and half new tracks, but those new tracks are at least as good as the EP tracks, including one (Being Watched) which reintroduces pummeling dance-style beats to good effect.  Combined with their harder comeback sound, though, it ends up closer to Primal Scream than Wire in the 80s.
                Better still, though, is the Falls latest, the aptly named Real New Fall LP.  Fall fans are a contentious lot, with non-overlapping lists of the bands best & worst, but theres a real consensus around this one, and with good reason.  The Fall havent sounded this focused in their attack in awhile, still pursuing their garage-techno sound and making a record that can stand alongside their 80s classics.  I should also note that its abundantly obvious to me now that McLusky arent neo-garage affiliates, but rather are died-in-the-wool Fall followers.  This revelation also coincides with me thinking of them more fondly this year.  Any band that loves the Fall cant be all bad.
                The Fall have sort of generally surfaced as a bigger influence than I gave them credit for over the course of this project.  I heard them in Pearl Jam back in the day (almost a decade ago), and I definitely hear them in Radiohead this year (esp. on Myxomatosis).  Radiohead generally seem to agree with me that Amnesiac was better than Kid A, as Hail to the Thief sounds like the former more than the latter, albeit with fewer song fragments.  Not a dramatic shift, therefore, but a solid demonstration that they have more to say in their new electro-prog style (and some of that is a wave of cryptic anti-Bush statements).
                Sadly, Blurs parallel attempts at an electro-prog style fall short this year.  Damon Albarn apparently is like Eric Clapton; capable of phenomenal work when driven to excel by a collaborator, but self-indulgent and uninspired left to his own devices.  In Gorillaz, Albarns slew of collaborators fill this role, and Graham Coxon used to do the same in Blur.  But Coxon quits Blur this year, leaving only one track on Think Tank with him on it.  So unsurprisingly its one of the two keepers from the album, the other being the Phil Daniels spoken word hidden track that updates his similar guest spot on Parklife to a grimmer and more techno-driven 21st century.  The rest of the albums sonically not too far from their last couple of singles, but a lot less compelling than Music Is My Radar.  Its a stew of jammy prog-rock, not unlike Phish with more ambitious arrangements (horns, electronica flourishes), a dash of punk, and an air of melancholy borrowed from the Specials.  But Phishs comparable take on jammy prog was helped greatly by the virtuoso playing, and Blur have now lost the only member who was better than average (and Albarn subbing in by looping his own rudimentary guitar parts is a poor substitute).  One hope that the Olympics reunion prompts the band to return with another album, as this is a disappointing way to finish.  Sonically ambitious, but uninspired.
                Over in the US, the alt-rock survivors are similarly not particularly inspired.  Janes Addiction return out of nowhere, but the results are nothing to really write home about.  The Stone Temple Pilots also close out their run with a greatest-hits-bait single, but its the weakest of their singles since at least the Purple days.  Better, but no more original, are Rancid, with another of their shout-y paeans to brotherhood.  This is really the first album where Rancid arent pushing their sound in new directions, and its also (probably not coincidentally) their last for almost a decade.  But its just more punk rock, much like the Dropkick Murphys stuff this year is just more hardcore.
                A bit better are the oldest of the alt-country bands (or, in Wilcos case, the successor of one of the oldest of the alt-country bands).  Regardless, the Jayhawks and Wilco continue their parallel development by both returning to a more orthodox alt-country sound this year.  For the Jayhawks, this is a return to their classic sound, and (like Rancid) the last well hear from them for awhile.  Well hear a bit more from Wilco, who follow up Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with an EP that basically sounds like the YHF songs with the electronica production treatment removed; so pretty stripped roots-rock, though thats a style that Wilco are pretty good at.   Also stripped, but considerably more ambitious is Neil Young, who puts out a concept album/rock opera, which in Young terms basically means that his rambling story-songs connect between the tracks.  Ambitious in concept (and I believe it was a multimedia project), thought the actual songs arent half as inspired as his 90s rockers.  Between this years concept album, and last years soul-tribute, the 00s for Young are shaping up to be another wandering decade like the 80s.
                Finally turning to hip-hop, a pretty solid year overall.  First of all, this years summer jam was one of the best in recent memory, Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love, wherein both decree how much they love Jay-Z.  A monster single, though undoubted overshadowed by Outkasts two-headed monster Hey Ya/The Way You Move.  When acts put out the album of their career, there are a couple of responses they can take to follow it up.  They can do a carbon copy, but Outkast are too good for that.  They can do an expansion, but they did that already, following up Aquemeni with Stankonia.  They can start releasing solo albums, KISS-style.  And they can put out a sprawling double-sized album, shades of Exile on Main St. or Sandinista!  So Outkast split the difference on last two, putting out a double-album thats really two solo albums.  Both clearly have a funk icon on the brain, as André 3000s The Love Below is his take on a Prince record, while Big Bois Speakerboxx is a modern version of a Parliament album.  The Love Below is certainly the more ambitious, including rock songs, jazz jams, funk workouts, and even hoary bits of vaudeville comedy.  The highs on this record are phenomenal, though its also a bit uneven.  Speakerboxx, on the other hand, is more of a straight hip-hop record, though that undersells it a bit, as its probably the finest hip-hop record to come out of Atlanta barring only Stankonia and possibly Big Bois own Sir Lucious Left Foot.  Also, being in The Love Belows shadow makes it easy to overlook how innovative Big Boi also was/is, leaving him tagged as the conventional one, a tag that would stick until his proper solo debut.  But make no mistake, this is a state-of-the-art hip-hop album.
                Elsewhere in hip-hop, its a good year for regions outside of the conventional East and West Coast hotbeds.  Staying in the South, the Nappy Roots follow up their debut with another record thats very similar in style, but for whatever reason just not nearly as compelling (probably the old a decade to write your first album, six months to write your second problem).  But this is also the year that Bubba Sparxx bursts on the scene.  Unfairly tagged as a hillbilly Eminem, but excellent nevertheless, Bubba benefits from what might be Timbalands most innovative production work, fusing his conventional style with bluegrass seemingly on loan from O Brother, Where Art Thou?  The end result recalls slightly the Nappy Roots (at least insofar as both are far more proud of being country than most in the conventionally urban hip-hop world), but really has no parallels anywhere else in either hip-hop or music generally.  Outside of the South, theres Atmosphere in Minneapolis, whos good but probably the unfortunate origin of the emo-rap style thatll culminate in Drake.  And in the UK, in a sign that the indigenous UK scene is bigger than the Streets, Dizzee Rascal first makes some waves (though tellingly on a Basement Jaxx track, showing how the UK scene owes a lot more to techno than to old-school hip-hop).
                And there are some records that are just manna for the hardcore hip-hop heads.  A couple of old favorites return.  Lyrics Born is back with a solo album that keeps the basic Blackalicious sonic template, though the songs are somewhat lacking (along with Rancid and the Strokes, this is kind of a theme this year).  The flow remains outstanding, though.  Supergroup Hieroglyphics are also back, but Ill mention them more below.  Among the newer acts, underground-favorite producers J. Dilla and Madlib collaborate on the Jaylib project, which has (as is to be expected) excellent beats, but some serious deficiencies among the guest rappers.  J. Dillas own solo set will benefit a lot from being just a straight-up instrumental album.  Nevertheless, a gem of production.  Finally, the first appearance in my collection of one of the great MCs of the new century (and a fine producer as well).  MF Doom owes a lot to Kool Keith, but has his own fantastically clever lyrics (probably more coherent than Keith) and a fantastic & original flow (Ive characterized his chunky delivery in the past as anti-flow, but its undeniably effective).  If nothing else, Ive never heard anyone quite like Doom.

Song of the Year:  Outkast (but really André 3000) Hey Ya.  As if there was ever even another contender.  Its probably the song of the decade as well.  You know this song, everybody knows this song, and everybody loves this song.  A monster hit that deserved to be, making rock for the hip-hop crowd & hip-hop for the rock crowd all in a single song.
Album of the Year:  Two contenders this year.  Going in, I thought for sure it would be the New Pornographers Electric Version, and its both probably their best and one of the finest pure pop-rock records Ive heard since Tom Pettys prime.  On the other hand, the Electric Sixs Fire is a whole lot of fun, and Id be hard pressed to deny that I looked forward to each and every one of its tracks coming up on shuffle. 
Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  Hieroglyphics.  This is their second album, but their first album came out amid an embarrassment of riches for hip-hop.  This time Im really able to appreciate the excellent beats, and the way that, in the manner of all old-school-style hip-hop albums, its a concept album about how great at rapping the various members are.
Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  The Postal Service.  At the time, I was thoroughly mystified at why people were praising Death Cab so much, when they were so mediocre.  So I glommed onto the Postal Service, because at least the backing music was a bit more innovative.  But upon listening again, the faults (really, really whiny self-pitying lyrics) outweigh the virtues (moderately innovative beats).

Album List
Andre 3000 - Wedding Songs
Arcade Fire - Us Kids Know
Atmosphere - Seven's Travels
Belle & Sebastian - Misc.
Billy Bragg - Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg
Blur - Misc.
Blur - Think Tank
Bob Dylan - Masked & Anonymous
Bob Dylan - Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs
Bruce Springsteen - Essential Rarities
Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance
Daft Punk - Musique Vol 1
Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
Dropkick Murphys - Misc.
Dropkick Murphys - The Singles Collection, Vol. 2
Edwyn Collins | Orange Juice - A Casual Introduction 1981/2001
Elliott Smith - Misc.
Hieroglyphics - Full Circle
Iron Maiden - Misc.
Jane's Addiction - Up From The Catacombs: The Best Of Jane's Addiction
Jaylib - Champion Sound
Jet - Get Born
Joe Strummer - Streetcore
King Crimson - In The Studio 1995-2003
King Crimson - Live 1994-2003
Kings Of Leon - Youth & Young Manhood
Lyrics Born - Later That Day...
Mclusky - Mcluskyism
MF Doom - Vaudeville Villain (Viktor Vaughn)
Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together
Nappy Roots - Wooden Leather
Neil Young - Greendale
Outkast - Speakerboxxx
Outkast - The Love Below
Pearl Jam - Christmas Singles
Phoenix - United
Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Primal Scream - Misc.
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
Rancid - Misc.
Randy Newman - The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1
Richard Thompson - Misc.
Ringo Starr - Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo Starr
RZA - Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You
Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power
Super Furry Animals - Super Furry Animals Songbook
The Dandy Warhols - Welcome To The Monkey House
The Electric Six - Fire!
The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats
The Fall - The Real New Fall LP (formerly 'Country on the Click')
The Flaming Lips - Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell [EP]
The Flaming Lips - Fight Test EP
The Jayhawks - Music From The North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology
The Libertines - Time For Heroes - The Best Of The Libertines
The New Pornographers - Electric Version
The Postal Service - Give Up
The Rapture - Echoes
The Saltash Serenaders - Demos From The Next County
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
The Strokes - Room On Fire
The White Stripes - Elephant
Wilco - More Like the Moon
Wire - Misc.
Wire - Send
Yo La Tengo - Misc.
Yo La Tengo - Prisoners Of Love

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