Sunday, August 19, 2012

2009



                Another very good year.  In fact, a downright remarkably good year, that I dont think I appreciated nearly so much the first time around.  Its very much a deepening of trends already present last year, rather than any revolutionary step forward, which probably accounts for why it snuck up on me.  (this is especially the case in the gradual return to psychedelic sounds, deepening and expanding in three different directions the psych-pop thats always been an undercurrent, this year joined by a resurgent orchestral folk-pop and some pretty excellent deep/hard psych).  But the best point to illustrate how music has gotten worthy again is to note that this year the indie kids of the 21st century get their very own No Alternative: Dark Was The Night is not only also a Red Hot charity comp, but similarly encapsulates some of the variety going on in the c. 2008 indie scene.  Its similarly diverse (even moreso), even if not as rocking as its alt-rock equivalent.  And thats probably a more or less accurate comparison of the late 00s to the early 90s: probably more diverse, but somewhat less rocking.
                Still, lets turn away from the indie world and towards hip-hop to start.  This year my hip-hop collection is dominated by mixtapes, by artists both underground (Mr. Lif, the Cool Kids, Wale) and otherwise (Gucci Mane).  And again what I learn is that mainstream hip-hop rappers just dont interest me that much.  Muck like Jay-Z, Gucci Mane doesnt seem to have a lot to say.  Unlike Jay-Z, his beats arent good enough to make up for that.  (which is to say that Jay-Zs Blueprint 3 is a lot of fun sonically, but typically insubstantial lyrically:  has there ever been a bigger star with so little to say?).  Of course, thats a broader problem with mixtapes: by their very nature, the beats are generally either primitive or recycled, which is forgivable, since theyre generally free, and should be treated more like promo items.  This makes it hard to know what exactly to say about Dels new album, which is free (like a mixtape) but presented like a real album.  Judged as a mixtape, its phenomenal, showing that Del still has his lyrical dexterity intact, and by mixtape standards, the production values are very high.  Judged as an album, though, its a bit weaker.  Comparable to his real album last year, but not a patch his earlier beats.  Major Lazer are another group whose proper album feels very mixtape-like to me.  Its well-produced, in a post-dancehall kind of way, but feels extremely scattershot.
                Elsewhere, though, there are more straight-up excellent hip-hop albums than Ive had in one year in awhile.  Both Mos Def and MF Doom (now just DOOM) return from a several-year exile.  For DOOM, this was a disappearance coming off a career high point (the Madvillain Mouse & the Mask Mmm..Food  triptych), and his return does not disappoint, even as its basically more of the same hazy stuff youd come to expect.  Mos Def, on the other hand, was coming off a limp contract-fulfillment-sounding record, and just as I was ready to write him off, he drops the downright stunning The Ecstatic.  Hes moved away from the rock & hip-hop approach of The New Danger, but this is still almost as sonically inventive and more consistent, with a hard synth sound that is more lush than the Roots similar stuff on their last one, but still pretty hard-hitting, and recasting Def as again an artist with some political fire in his belly. 
                The third excellent hip-hop record this year actually does pick up on the rock & hip-hop gauntlet thrown down by Mos Def (and even features him on a track).  The Black Keys dont have a proper album this year, but do have the Blakroc project, pairing Black Keys riff-rock with various rappers (including a fair amount of Wu-Tang-ers).  This is probably the most successful rap-rock Ive heard outside of Rage Against the Machine, and while Rage were primarily a rock band with rapping, this sounds much more like an equitable partnership of the two.  Not a great classic, but entirely worthy for something thats basically a side-project for all concerned.
                Not the only Black Keys side-project this year, though.  If Blakroc plays up the Keys beat-heavy side, Auerbachs solo album plays up their more melodic side (as befit an album he made without his drummer).  None of these songs are phenomenal classics, but it is a worthy effort.  Elsewhere in folk-rock, Jack White has yet another side project, though apart from prominent female vocals, this is very much in the same roots-rock vein as the last few White Stripes and Raconteurs albums (perhaps a bit more beat-heavy).  And Wilco are back as well, and also not deviating much from their recent trends.  Theyre even less experimental here than on their last album, and seem to be settling into a late-career groove as jammy roots-rock, far from the more adventurous or electronics-enhance sound of their turn-of-the-century records.  Like Tom Petty before them, Wilco seem bent on sounding older than their years.
                The folk-rock veterans, meanwhile, have a mixed year, stuck like Wilco in a bit of a rut.  Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello both have albums that are solid but unremarkable (Elviss is one of his periodic country-rock effords), and neither are particularly exciting, even if theyre solid enough.   Neil Young is a bit more eccentric (as is his wont), recording a rocked-up tribute to his electric car.  But this is a bit of stumble for Young; his albums in this lost decade (unlike his 80s records), tend to be high-concept lyrically, but pretty unremarkable (for good or ill) instrumentally.  So like Greendale, Fork In The Road marries an overarching lyrical conceit to a fairly rote set of Crazy Horse-style rockers.  Better, though, is Dylan.  Hes not changed his pre-rock roots-sound much from the last two (adding a bit of accordion), and this album feels more minor than his previous two, with lyrics that seem a bit more cast-off.  But its a fun, if minor, album. 
                More fun than Hank Williams Jrs, anyway, which mostly reminds me of how little I care about mainstream country, which increasingly just sounds like c. 1983 stadium rock.  Much better is the alt-country side of things, where another son-of-a-great has his debut.  Despite all the folk-rock revivalism, there hasnt been much in way of alt-country revivalism.  This makes Justin Townes Earle (son of Steve) a pleasant exception (although he recalls Being There-era Wilco more than his dad).  And moving from actual sons to more metaphorical descendents, My Morning Jackets Jim James has a very pleasant George Harrison tribute-LP, highlighting how much his main band owes to the ex-Beatles All Things Must Pass era.
                James is also part of the indie-folk-rock supergroup Monsters of Folk this year, with Bright Eyes Conner Oberst, M. Ward, and some other guy (the Jeff Lynne of this particular supergroup, I guess).  Its quite good, if minor.  Not quite the new Crosby Stills & Nash, though like their second album, the songs frequently sound like solo tracks with the same backing band (and backing singers).  Though the light rockabilly glaze means that the Monsters recall Robert Plant & Allison Krauss more than CSN. 
                Of course, the premier supergroup of the 00s is the New Pornographers (and theyre pretty clearly better than any other supergroup of any era, including CSN (who only had 2 worth albums) but possibly excepting Cream).  Nothing new from the band as a whole save a Dark Was The Night contribution, but a pair of noteworthy solo albums.  A.C. Newman shows that hes the chief architect of the New Pornos sound, as his solo album sounds a lot like the New Pornos without the impressive backing vocals, while Neko Case shows that shes the Pornographer evolving the most.  Here shes moved into increasingly abstracted terrain, but still sounding vaguely like an updated Joni Mitchell.
                Really, generally, indie-pop is blurring into folk-rock this year.  Some of this is more straightahead.  The Magnetic Fields complement last years distortion-fest with an acoustic-based disk, while both Bon Iver and the Antlers make gentle folk-pop I have a hard time caring much about.  More interesting (though not necessarily good) is the stuff that gets a bit more experimental.  Grizzly Bear are the premier example here, with a symphonic-folk sound that recalls the post-67 likes of Love or the Zombies (but also with very much the melodic sense of Paul McCartney).  The Dirty Projectors also owe a lot to Paul McCartney, though fused with more of an afro-beat sensibility.  Theyre not as good as Grizzly Bear (who really are quite good at a return to orchestral late-60s pop), but they are better than Vampire Weekend (who they strongly recall).  Still, 1) they sound more like Paul Simon than the genuine article, and 2) I still cant forgive them for their wimp-pop desecration of Black Flags Damaged.  So, in short, not as clever as they think they are.  Better than the Animal Collective, though.  Way back at the beginning of this project, Ive ranted about how much I hate this band, but just to reiterate:  their early stuff (prior to this album) was experimental, but severely hurt by their lack of either compositional or instrumental skill, or anything really to say.  This year they go pop, shifting to a sub-Grizzly Bear sound, that seems to go for a Pet Sounds vibe, but they lack the songs.  I am thoroughly mystified as to how this band got as popular/acclaimed as they did.  Their early experimental stuff is dull, and their later sound is hardly the premier example.  Grizzly Bear does the orchestral pop better, and Black Moth Super Rainbow (among others) does hazy psychedelia much better.  So the Collective are just unremarkable, and while I dont hate this album as much as the earlier ones, I still never make it all the way through before getting bored and switching to something more compelling.
                And one of those bands Ill switch to are the aforementioned Black Moth Super Rainbow.  I dont know much about this band prior to this year, but this year they put out one of the finest albums of deep psychedelia Ive heard in probably decades, all hazy distorted synths and vocals adding up to an obtuse but hooky mess.  It really recalls Love Kraft-era Super Furry Animals.  Also, its an album that would possibly get tedious if it were longer, but is pretty perfect at 35 minutes.  Much longer, though comparably compelling, is the new Flaming Lips album.  Quite remarkably, this is again one of the finest pieces of deep psych (of the Saucerful variety) that Ive heard in awhile.  Embryonic is one I almost wish I had on vinyl, as its the sort of record you expect to find buried in the record store bins.  It also puts me in the mind of Wires Read & Burn.  Like Wire, its a band sort of returning to their original approach, though not exactly their original sound, with the benefit of experience, and returning to it after fading out with increasingly synth-based and non-rock sounds.  Pretty phenomenal, if somewhat out of time.  Its worth nothing, though, that while both of these albums are psychedelic, they dont really sound throwback-y.  Rather, these are modern takes on the sound, not at all interested in retro-sounds, but similar in approach to the likes of early Floyd.
                Also a good year for more pop-psych sounds.  The Super Furry Animals decide to mash up motorik Krautrock with glam rock (and psych) to pretty excellent results, while Cornershop return from a long silence of their own.  Judy Suck A Lemon For Breakfast really sounds like it could have been recorded in the same sessions as Handcream for a Generation, right down to the psychedelic 15+ minute epic at the back end, but I dont mind Cornershop repeating themselves, as no one else comes close to this kind of kaleidoscopic sound (and they do a mean Exlie-era Stones/glam rip).
                Turning to (slightly) more contemporary sounds, theres also a mini-alt-rock revival going on.  This includes newer bands, such as Deerhunter (sounding very Breeders-esque) and Japandroids (returning to pre-Green Day pop-punk sounds), but also a number of older groups.  Dinosaur Jr.s comeback isnt as remarkable as, say, Wires, but like Mission of Burma, they pick up right where they left off, with more grungy guitar sounds.  Phish similarly sound unchanged from their hiatus, though perhaps with a bit more prog in their sound (and a move away from the more radio-friendly direction they were heading in pre-hiatus).  The Eels, meanwhile, are sounding a bit more rocked-up, but otherwise pretty close to their classic sound.
                Also rocking up their sound to good effect are Carbon/Silicon, who actually sound like the band I wanted them to be when they first appeared.  That is to say, theyve remembered their punk energy, but have fused it to the more sonically varied palate of BAD.  (but better than any BAD since at least The Globe).  Jarvis Cocker is also roughing up his sound, though its less effective.  He was so good at being a 70s-style non-folk singer-songwriter that its disappointing to hear him turning to more rote bashing like the punk-rocker he never was.  The Arctic Monkeys are similarly substituting energy for inspiration, unfortunately.  The Hold Steady also dont blow me away this year, with a decent but non-revelatory live album.  Perhaps it could work as an alternate-universe greatest hits, but honestly, if youre going to get just one Hold Steady album, pick up Boys & Girls in America. 
                But, there are good things out there in non-psych indie rock.  The synth-pop revival continues apace, including the return of a pair of former NYC garage-rockers.  The Yeah Yeah Yeahs still sound like trend-hoppers (and like theyre coming late to the dance-punk scene), but Julian Casablancas (of the Strokes) does a bit better on his solo debut.  With the heavy synth-sound and a songwriting style still very indebted to late-70s/early-80s stuff, he sounds a lot like late-era Cars, but its more compelling certainly than the Strokes have been since their debut.  Theres also synth-glam revival from Sunset Rubdown.  Once you get past the fact that this album is far wimpier than any album named Dragonslayer has any right to be, its pretty decent, if wimpy, glam-rock.  Better still though are Phoenix, who continue in the same modern synth-pop sound of their last album.  Its even better here, though, both with tighter pop singles and more interesting lengthier stuff on the back end.  The AV Clubs album of the year, and certainly one of the best of the year overall.
                Finally among the rock bands, and perhaps fitting with all the psychedelic revivalism, you get a few bands with more prog inclinations.  The Decemberists go even deeper into their Tull-influenced sound, with a straight-up rock opera (complete with guest vocalists singing different parts).  They also get harder than theyve been in the past, at times almost metallically-so.  What they really put me in the mind of, though, is the Who, insofar as the problem with the Decemberists is that Colin Meloy can write this stuff, but his voice is far too weedy to sing a lot of it.  So he needs a Roger Daltry to his Pete Townshend.  Also problematic is that, like The Wall, The Hazards of Love is an album you need to listen to as a piece, without a lot of readily-extractable singles.  This is fine as far as it goes, but hurts them in the post-album environment of modern rock. 
                Less successful on their return to rock opera are Green Day.  Partly this is because theyve lost the shock of the new, but a large part of it is that they sound less inspired by The Who, and more inspired by the Broadway takes on rock opera (so less Tommy and more Jesus Christ Superstar).  Also, theyre far from the most compelling prog-punk out there, what with another installment in Fucked Ups consistently excellent Zodiac series of punk song-suites.  Fucked Up are really shaping up to be the single most interesting thing in not only punk, but hard rock generally through the late 00s.
                They also sound not too far from the prog-metal bands this year, of which there are more than a few.  Mastodon, who really got this movement going, are sounding more and more toward the prog end of the prog-metal spectrum, but unlike the Mars Volta, they sound more like a modern reinvention than just rote recreation.  As they move away from metal, though, other bands rise to take their place.  Baroness are pretty successful at Mastodon-style rock, but Converge falter somewhat.  The big difference, I think, is that while both bands are comparably hard and intense, Baroness has a much better sense of how to use space to let their songs breathe.  Converge are more a steadily pummeling assault, which is pretty numbing soon enough, but Baroness know how to use dynamics to hit harder when they do.
                More abstract prog-metal is out there as well, in the world of drone-metal.  Sunn O))) take this to an extreme, with a 4-track double LP of largely unchanging drones.  Not unlike Black Sabbath played at 16 rpm.  Its hypnotic in its own way, but I cant help but feel like this stuff is a bit too easy to do to really put them on the same level as the experimental likes of the Flaming Lips or the like.  Or Isis, who are a far more interesting take on the style.  Like Baroness, they use dynamics and tempo shifts to great effect, though theyre more creative than Baronesss more conventional pummeling.  If they were an instrumental group, theyd be one of my favorites, but they (like all the other metal bands discussed above) are infected with the ridiculous Cookie Monster growl of death metal that just sounds distractingly amateurish amid all the technical precision otherwise displayed by these bands.
                So basically, as ridiculous as he could be in his own right, I miss Ronnie James Dio, who returns to us this year for what is sadly his last studio album.  I really wish the Dio-era Sabbath had reunited first, so that The Devil You Know could have been released as a Black Sabbath record instead of a Heaven & Hell record, and Ozzys version would have needed to tour as Masters of Reality or whatever.  Because without getting into classic-era Ozzy-Sabbath vs. Dio-Sabbath (Ozzy wins there), the reunited Dio-Sabbath were far more interesting than the Ozzy-version.  1) Dios pipes have aged far better than Ozzys, actually perhaps sounding better now than he did then, while Ozzy sounds far far worse.  2) Dio-Sabbath actually have new material, and its quite surprisingly really good new material (better than anything either he or Sabbath have done since The Mob Rules).  Oddly, its closer to the heavy sound of Ozzy-Sabbath than the more aggressive sound of classic Dio-Sabbath (or the power-metal both Sabbath & Dio wandered into without each other), though its really more its own thing.  And what it does more than anything is remind me how, while I may respect and enjoy modern metal, I dont love it the way I do the classic 70s-style version.  So RIP Ronnie James Dio, and I not-so-secretly hope Ozzy-Sabbath fail to put out a new album, as theres virtually no chance it would be a better last Sabbath record than this one. 

Song of the Year:  The Flaming Lips Watching The Planets.  This song is just fantastic.  A pounding psychedelic gem played at a march temp that gives it an almost menacing sense of inevitability.  And it works even better as the culmination of a two-LP-long journey into sonic deep space.
Album of the Year:  The Super Furry Animals Dark Days/Light Years.  This isnt a bold step forward for the SFA (though theyve never been so explicitly motorik-engaged before), but its probably their finest album.  They obviously have had songs that were excellent (and albums full of them), but none of their earlier albums hang together and flow like this one does.  Also among the most inventive of the year, and representative of the neo-psych tinges.
Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation: Carbon/Silicon.  After being disillusioned by their first records, I find that they actually can live up to their promise.  So much the better!
Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  Im not sure I have a specific artist, though I can say I got pretty tired of the third-tier beats cluttering the mixtapes in my collection this year.  So call it less an artist diminished and more a format.  Mixtapes are fun and all, but with only a handful of exceptions, theyre really closer to bootleg live albums than proper studio releases.

Album List
A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
Andrew Mitchell - 2009
Andrew Mitchell - 6B Lounge 12 July 2009
Andrew Mitchell - 6B Lounge 26 July 2009
Andrew Mitchell - Hold on Me - 7 June 2009
Andrew Mitchell - July 2009 hmm
Andrew Mitchell - July 6 2009 - Wedding Songs
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Baroness - Blue Record
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Black Sabbath - The Devil You Know (Heaven & Hell)
Blakroc - Blakroc
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream
Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
Carbon/Silicon - The Carbon Bubble
Converge - Axe To Fall
Cornershop - Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast
Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
DanK & the Funksticks - 2-20-2009 Jen and Jays
DanK & the Funksticks - 39948
DanK & the Funksticks - 39977
DanK & the Funksticks - 39982
DanK & the Funksticks - Live at Mike's - 6/27/09
Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Del Tha Funky Homosapien - Funk Man ( the stimulus package)
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Dirty Projectors - Ascending Melody 7"
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Eels - Hombre Lobo
Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
Fucked Up - Year Of The Rat
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Gucci Mane - The Burrprint The Movie 3D feat. DJ Drama
Hank Williams - Revealed [The Unreleased Recordings]
Hank Williams, Jr. - 127 Rose Avenue
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Metallica - Death Magnetic
MF Doom - Born Like This. (DOOM)
Monsters Of Folk - Monsters Of Folk
Mos Def - Misc.
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Mr. Lif  - I Heard It Today Megamix by Mr. Sonny James
Muddy Rhodes Blues Band - 16 May 2009 West Rutland Town Hall
Muddy Rhodes Blues Band - 25 July 2009 Shrewsbury Town Hall
My Morning Jacket - Yim Yames - Tribute To
Neil Young - Fork In The Road
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Nick Lowe - Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe
Pearl Jam - Ten Redux
Phish - 2009/05/31 I Boston, MA
Phish - 2009/05/31 II Boston, MA
Phish - Joy
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
The Antlers - Hospice
The Cool Kids - Gone fishing (Mixtape)
The Dead Weather - Horehound
The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love
The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
The Hold Steady - A Positive Rage
The Magnetic Fields - Realism
The Notorious B.I.G. - Notorious
The Replacements - D.G.T. - Paul Westerberg
V/A - 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler
V/A - Dark Was The Night: A Red Hot Compilation
V/A - Sub-Pop Sampler
Wale - Back To The Feature - GetRightMusic.com
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Willie Nelson - Willie And The Wheel
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

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