After four weeks of ball-frostingly cold weather, February has mercifully yielded control of the calendar. Despite its chronological impotence, February did find time to produce for us a belly-warming assortment of new music (which we continue to savor, mmm). Unfortunately, we also choked on a few bitter concoctions along the way, and hoping to protect our dear readers, we have chosen to include those in this month’s report.
Without further ado, Brasky team is happy to humbly offer up our assertions on the best–and worst–of new music in February 2010.
Best Albums of February 2010
| Phantogram – Eyelid Movies |
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8.5
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Brasky enjoyed this one so much that it got its own page: Phantogram Review
Snippet: “A phantogram is an image that has been color adjusted in order to make the picture, with the help of 3-D glasses, emerge from the page with new-found fidelity. Immediately upon settling the needle down on the imaginary vinyl of Eyelid Movies, the rookie album from the New York duo that record as Phantogram, the sound emerges in much the same manner… it seems to diffuse out from the speakers, a highly textured mixture of viscous sexuality and fearless mystery-pop that requires no special glasses to tickle your amygdala.”
Sexy, bizarre, morose, delicate… this album is a winner and a solid early candidate for year end top-ten. |
| Local Natives – Gorilla Manor |
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8.0
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Yet another Rookie album took Brasky by surprise: Local Natives are based in Los Angeles, but call to mind Seattle heroes Fleet Foxes and NY indie icons the Strokes. But the comparisons don’t stop there… almost every song is familiar yet instantly enjoyable. It’s safe to say that is the most quintessentially ‘indie’ record ever made. Local Natives scored some big play by gearing one of their singles toward NPR (even imitating ‘World News’ by singing ‘A bomb went off in the parking lot of a newly opened Sunni Marketplace’) and, of course, NPR gave them a shout out. Some reviews deride the ‘been done’ nature of this album, but with no new Shins album in sight and the Decemberists shadows of their former selves, Brasky would like to crown Local Natives as the hipster hit of 2010. |
| Bibio – The Apple And The Tooth |
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7.5
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Bibio turned a lot of heads with his first release on Warp last fall, Ambivalence Avenue. As somewhat of an encore, Warp has released The Apple and the Tooth, which includes some new releases from Bibio plus a set of Bibio remixes by fellow Warp artists. Recent Warp remix albums have disappointed but this album is stacked with sick tracks (including a remix from Warp titan Clark) . Fans of glitched up folk, hi-fi idm, and grimy bass are strongly encouraged to check it out. |
| Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me |
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7.0
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Brasky doesn’t usually review albums not recorded by human beings (Joanna Newsom is either an elf librarian or ten to fifteen cats cleverly arranged under a trenchcoat), but all kidding aside, this is an album worth mentioning. If any discerning music fan hasn’t yet understood that Newsom is among the top songwriters of the ‘millennial’ generation, this record should cement her reputation. Circuitous songcraft, enthralling storytelling, and downright WTF-worthy vocal curlicues make ‘Have One on Me’ a musical rarity: a startlingly original, suprisingly touching work of art. Our only gripe is that the 3-cd bohemoth weighs in just over two hours, with no musical whim left unexplored. Less than half of that time could easily have created the same mystique. |
| The Album Leaf – A Chorus Of Storytellers |
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7.0
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Fans of beautiful, mellow music, can’t go wrong with Album Leaf. This LP is another elegant showcase of ambient post-music, emotionally evocative and deeply communicative. Album Leaf is a full band by now, so on this album, like the last, there are a couple songs that do include vocals to add some variety. Fortunately, the vocals never steal the attention, but instead swirl slowly in pools of soft sound. |
Album Flops of February 2009
| Massive Attack – Heligoland |
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6.5
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All right, so it’s probably not quite fair to call this album a “flop”, but in doing so we also wish to show due respect for Massive Attack’s legacy. This Bristol duo has been producing down-tempo albums since the 1980s, widely regarded as the originators of trip hop. Heliogland features some the familiar voices of Martina Topley-Bird (Tricky) and Horace Andy as well as a few surprise cameos from noteworthy musicians. Star power and skillful production, however, were not enough to charge this album full of the vibrance and soul we have come to expect from Massive Attack, instead delivering a quirky assortment of uninspiring tracks. |
| Shout Out Louds – Work |
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5.5
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We like the Shout Out Louds, we really do. We wanted to like this album and uphold high esteem for our favorite Swedish rockers. And maybe if it had just one great song or a couple share-worthy ones we’d tell you to run out and buy it. Reluctantly, we advise otherwise. The album has a few hummable tracks (See: the single “Walls”), but we simple got bored with it. Is it just us? |
| Hot Chip – One Life Stand |
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3.0
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To quote one of our female contributors, “Weird shit. ‘Huh-man-nuh huh-man-nuh!’ Indeed. I feel like I just got dildo fucked at an electrotash roller derby event during gay festivities week.” We recommend not listening to this album unless that’s your thing. We’ll acknowledge that our dismissal of this album may be controversial, judging by some warm reviews out there, but… that’s weird, because this music is unpleasant. |
| Midlake – The Courage Of Others |
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2.5
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Hipsters everywhere drooled all over their Member’s Only jackets for Midlake’s new record, but this album didn’t fool Brasky. It would be a must-listen if we all worked at Medieval Times or had never heard Jethro Tull before, but for those of us that do not fit either of those categories, this ‘sepia-toned slumber’ passed by like overcast clouds: unmemorable and depressing. NPR executives all clearly drank the Kool-Aid and offered this album as a free listen a couple of weeks ago, and failed to offer a prize for making it through the entire thing. A fitting reward would have either been a seppuku dagger or a big cardboard box with forty-five minutes in it. |
| Yeasayer – Odd Blood |
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2.0
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Do people really listen to music like this? Yeasayer’s newest album sounds as if it is trying very hard to be tangential and structureless, which removes all enjoyability from this record. I could only imagine listening to this album under three conditions: 1. I was forced at gunpoint to do so, 2. I was trying to sound really cool and name-drop bands I was absolutely sure no one else had ever heard of/would ever hear, 3. I was doing an anthropological study on how Old World Monkeys respond to despicable wastes of time. |
| Xiu Xiu – Dear God, I Hate Myself |
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1.0
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This real life Casey and his Brother routine defies belief. While some reviews come clean and make claims such as “[Dear God] is unlikely to win over new fans”, others somehow discard all credibility by asserting “[Dear God] marks a new level of maturity and self-awareness for the band”, while the album itself features high-brow instant classics like ‘Cute Pee Pee’ and ‘Chocolate Makes You Happy’. This is a palpably awful embarrassment that pulls the worst elements of the 1980s, gay culture, and electronic music together into a sickeningly self-absorbed shiny-object of a record. The album title hints at the lunacy it requires to create an amalgam of such repugnance. |
January releases in cinematic terms mean one thing: we are embarrassed, we know these movies suck, but here they are anyway. A studio has to make money, even when Oscar season is stepping up. Who releases a musical album in January, then? The answer is Geniuses. I’m not sure if it is a psychological attempt to be ‘firstsies’ on the new decade so far as releases go, but January was packed with big name offerings. Highly anticipated releases from Vampire Weekend, Beach House, and Jaga Jazzist are exciting early contenders for album of the year. Without further ado, we have reviewed seven albums complete with ratings out of ten. Enjoy (read: Raucously disagree).
Albums:
| Vampire Weekend – Contra |
7.5/10
Highlights:
Holiday
White Sky
Cousins |
This upstart foursome from New York may still be reeling from the success of their first offering, 2007′s self-titled album. Widely regarded as one of the best indie albums of that year, the buzz in anticipation of their sophomore studio album must have seemed daunting. In today’s fast-moving, Internet-spurned music industry, it seems few bands have succeeded in keeping favor with the hip for more than one album. We’re here to say that we think they survived (Just avoid “Horchata“)
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There is no mistaking that this album is by the same band that we all fell in love with in the summer of ’07. Ezra Koenig’s vocals slide all over the scale, as chirping keyboards and peppy guitars weave around each other in that distinct Vampire way. We think this is no truer than on Holiday, this album’s A-Punk. But despite the familiarity, this album seems to experiment a bit more, perhaps influenced by producer Rostam Batmanglij’s explorative journey as part of the duo Discovery. We have all been running through this album and I think we agree that the tracks almost all seem to grow on you–except that damned vocal hook in “Horchata“. Perhaps we have a band that is here to stay. |
| Beach House – Teen Dream |
8.0/10
Album Highlights:
Norway
Zebra
Used To Be |
Teen Dream is both beautiful and atmospheric; the subtle, almost unnoticeable accompaniment of the piano in most songs is a testament to the band’s instrumental harmonization. Upon first listen, though, this characteristic causes the songs to seem indistinguishable, requiring several listens before I was able to truly appreciate their finespun appeal.
I especially love Used To Be. Its introduction is more powerful than that of the other songs, but it slowly tapers, which is suggestive of a progressively emotional ending – a good formula for this group. |
| Four Tet – There is Love in You |
5/10
Album Highlights:
Love Cry |
For those among us who have followed Four Tet, we know that a Kieran Hebden track is a layered and linear cerebral event. There is Love in You is a collection of tracks carries on his legacy of sample-heavy, drummy, beat-loyal chillout music. This album leans toward the minimalist house ingredient in the Four Tet arsenal, making this album less-than-ideal for a focused listening session. Some of the tracks feel a little lackluster, but it’s hard to dismiss the work of an artist whose stirred the emotions of so many with passionately engineered sonic offerings…. but I think we should suggest listeners skip this one unless they know exactly what they’re bargaining for. |
| Ok Go -Of the Blue Colour of the Sky |
7/10
Album Highlights:
WTF |
Ok Go have historically bucked the trend of being easily ‘classifiable’. Are they a radio rock mainstay, as hits like ‘Get Over It’ suggest? Are they niche-pop superstars, measured roughly by the arcing success of singles like ‘A Million Ways’? Are they
the first true internet band? One would not have to have ever paid a visit to Youtube to have seen their treadmill jumping antics (the original video is nearing 50 million views). But even after all that exposure, has Ok Go successfully cemented themselves as a perennially popular band?
They continue to raise questions with their newest album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. Although devoid of jaw-dropping, guitar hero worthy anthems, this album is ready for radio, dance halls, and parties across the world. It is unabashedly sexy, fun, and strange. Many of the songs on the album could be from reunited 80s bands, or even dance-punk masters like The Faint or Electric Six. The bass slams, as usual, and many tracks get under your skin enough to force you to stand up and shake them out. The sexy, ‘licked whisper’ lyrics may polarize many listeners, yet the tone is consistent enough to have manageable highs and lows of stylization. Overall, it appeals to all classes of listeners without forgetting what the band set out to do: be as cool as fuck. This is Ok Go’s ‘Icky Thump’… energetic, daring, confident, refined, and well-honed. It also possesses that quality not often seen in major label releases: it gets better with repeated listens. It is well suited as an early decade release: a step forward, and in the right direction to boot. |
| Eels – End Times |
6/10 |
Many gloomy themes have passed through Eels’ world in the past twenty years. After his sister committed suicide, Mark Everett (or simply ‘E’) recorded the dark classic Electro-Shock Blues, and songs like ‘Novocaine for the Soul’ and ‘Cancer for the Cure’ have achieved some commercial success despite desperation and hopelessness at their poignant souls. End Times, Eels’ newest album, was recorded nearly exclusively on four track, and it thematically follows E’s recent divorce. His aging voice hasn’t lost the articulation to adequately voice heartbreak, confusion, and bitterness, and although the album may find itself exploring the new realm of relationships, a moribund approach is what E does best. As E says in the album’s final track, ‘On My Feet’, “I’m pretty sure that I’ve been through worse, [...] but I’m still dying inside.”
Through and through, End Times is a familiar record. Familiar tones, timbres, and topics. But what stands out beyond the foundation of the Eels repertoire is the ease with which these songs seem to flow, and the sardonic sense of humor that it takes to sit alone with a guitar and pluck out hopeful tunes about death by anonymity and suicide bombing is E’s happy place. If you mix Bob Dylan and Beetlejuice, this is the album that would likely be produced. It may not make any year-end lists or top 40 charts, but it does prove a point: that Eels is a consistently powerful band that always finds its muse, even if that muse may resemble a big stone angel hovering above a gravestone. |
| RJD2 – The Colossus |
6/10
Highlights:
Giant Squid
Let There Be Horns
A Son’s Cycle |
On his last album, The Third Hand, RJD2–a.k.a. Philadelphian RJ Krohn–experimented with more instrumentation and started singing on tracks. Krohn offers up vocals again on The Colossus, but shrewdly limits his singing to a few tracks, seeking out the vocal assistance of others instead. The Colossus features guest vocalists and performers on five tracks, varying from loungy serenades (see: Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kenna) to a full-on hip hop (courtesy the stylings of The Catalyst, Illogical & NP on a strong track, “A Son’s Cycle”).
The album’s overall mood is mellow (psychedelic), funky, and important-seeming in a Flaming Lips meets Amon Tobin way. The production is impressive, something we come to expect from RJD2, but this album’s brew of popular funk/jazz sounds (Jamiroquai? Squarepusher funkscapes?) feels un-serious at times. Or perhaps fit for the movie soundtrack of a PG-13 movie? Or something I’d hear playing in public?
Criticism aside, the album has some good tracks. I especially enjoyed “Giant Squid“, a funky jam that seems closer to the style I had previously associated with RJ’s music. “Let There Be Horns“, the leadoff track, succeeds in entertaining by immersing its listener in Krohn’s world of funky drums, android synths, and–as you may guess-horns. I don’t think fans of RJD2 will be flat out disappointed, but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone else (in its entirety, at least). |
| Jaga Jazzist – One Armed Bandit |
7.5/10 |
In their new album, One-Armed Bandit, Jaga Jazzist manages a number of feats: they take from their previous styles, while also improving on them and moving in new directions. Lush soundscapes form the background, while a blend of prog-rock, jazz fusion and electronica take the fore.
A Living Room Hush, their most acclaimed album, featured tracks that had musique concrète stylings. (As an aside, some of their songs have been remixed by Dat Politics and Matthew Herbert, groups often classified as musique concrète).One-Armed Bandit sees them moving away from this a bit, and more towards grand orchestral tracks fit for a movie score. Jaga Jazzist has been and continues to be an amazing creative machine that produces music fit for musicians, hipsters, and music geeks alike, |
Songs:
Here are some of our favorites from this month from releases not mentioned above:
I Blame Coco (Feat. Robyn) – “Caesar (Diplo Remix)
The Knife – Colouring Of Pigeons
The Xx – Islands (Nosaj Thing Remix)
Phoenix – 1901 (Memory Tapes Remix)
Gucci Man – Photoshoot (Flying Lotus remix)
Air – Sing Sang Sung (Black Moth Super Rainbow remix) (Download)
Rogue Wave – Stereogum (Download)
