11/14 – 11/18:

Tom Waits, Bad As Me 


A new Tom Waits album is a rare treat these days, some 6 years after his last studio album. But Bad As Me is worth the wait. It almost plays like a career retrospective, with songs evoking his early, almost unrecognizable barroom ballads all the way through his transformation into a truly bizarre musical treasure and through previous album Real Gone, which was just about as unhinged as he could get. But not in that order, of course. Fine guests like Keith Richards, Charlie Musselwhite and Les Claypool are along for the ride, and everyone sounds energized and excited. It’s as if some one made a greatest hits album with all-new material on it. I can’t stop listening to it. 


Tom Waits,“Satisfied”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart 

Metaphorically, of course. I am not that kind of person, really, so I listened to this, too, the first official album by Idle Warship. Talib Kweli and Res have been Idle Warship for many years, touring, releasing a song here and there online, but never managing to release an album. In 2009 they got a full mixtape out, and this year, finally, a proper album. A lot of hip hop team-ups these days just sound like the artists heard the music, wrote some lyrics, and some one put their vocals over the music. So true collaborations like this, where the players interact, riff off each other, and basically justify their pairing is rare and rewarding. The production is varied and adventurous. A handful of friends stop by to contribute (Including the always delightful Jean Grae). And Talib & Res do what they do best, together. It’s a great listen.

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

 PJ Harvey, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea 

PJ Harvey calls this her attempt at a pop album. I’m not sure anyone in the pop world would ever see it that way, but the huge production, bright tones and slick songwriting probably do amount to her most accessible album. A duet about a troubled romance with Thom Yorke provides the album’s secret weapon, but there’s not a bad song in the bunch. 

PJ Harvey with Thom Yorke, “This Mess We’re In”

Some One Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Pershing 

Perfect pop rock. That’s what you can expect from this band. Don’t let their long silly name fool you, they write a fun, infectious, lushly-produced song like nobody’s business. This album is my favorite of theirs. 

Some One Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, “Modern Mystery”

Los Campesinos!, Hold On Now, Youngster... 

I was really impressed by this album when it came out, and it still holds up. The relentless energy, the wall of sound, the sarcastic, often hilarious lyrics, the exuberant backing vocals, the whole package just clicked for me instantly. That they released a whole second album that was just as good mere months later is insane. 

Los Campesinos!, “Death To Los Campesinos!”

11/07 – 11/11:

Mastodon, The Hunter


This should have been on the list for several past weeks. Not sure how I forgot it. Anyway, Mastodon. While all four previous Mastodon records have been increasingly complicated concept albums, The Hunter finds them breaking with tradition and having more fun than they ever have in the past. The songs range in subject matter from simple to intentionally very silly, and this new freedom seems to suit them. The music on this album may not be heavy enough to suit some older fans, but it’s still pretty chaotic for the most part. Perhaps tellingly, songs like “Blasteroid,” “Spectrelight,” and “All the Heavy Lifting” would fit right in on the older albums some fans think the band has forsaken with more distortion and different vocals. For all the cries of change, Mastodon is mostly still writing the same way. There are major departures, such as the bizarre epic “Creature Lives” or “Curl of the Burl,” basically a love letter to 70s rock, but the biggest change in their music is actually vocal. The aforementioned “Blasteroid” features some of their best clean singing to date with real harmonies. The addition of drummer Brann’s fine singing voice on the previous album proved a winner, and he takes up vocal duties on several tracks here. Basically, this is the sound of a band getting older. They haven’t abandoned their sound, they’ve just refining it and expanding it to include more things they like. To ask them for anything else  after over a decade together would be unrealistic.


Mastodon, “Black Tongue”


 Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics

This one caught me off guard. I liked Surfer Blood’s debut album well enough. In this weird lo fi, surf rock kind of thing going on, they were least likely to ruin it with a bunch of fake lo fi distortion and nonsense. But this? This little EP just bowled me over. Super catchy, perfect songs, great playing, everything clicks. Left me wishing it was longer. It’s not revolutionary or life changing or any such lofty thing, it’s just really enjoyable music. That’s more than enough for me.


Surfer Blood, “Miranda”



East of the Wall, The Apologist

East of the Wall make a particular kind of metal that seems much more emotionally involved, but I don’t mean to imply it’s screamo or emo or whatever. More like Isis or Burst or Gojira. their music is heavy and bombastic, but it also has really gentle passages. The vocals switch from a really pleasant clean voice to a powerful bellow on a dime. But whether a quiet moment or any explosion, their songs feel more personal than the average metal experience to me. 


East of the Wall, “Linear Failure”



Lushlife, No More Golden Days mixtape

Philly rapper & producer Lushlife came to my attention via a feature from Heems on this mixtape, which also features Money Making Jam Boys STS & Dice Raw. I’m glad I found it, because this is great stuff. His choice of songs to rap over is inspired, his flow is confident and engaging, and his lyrics are interesting. What more can you ask for? And it’s a free download, too! 



Lushlife with Andrew Cedermark, “The Romance of the Telescope”



Clutch, Strange Cousins From the West

Every time in their history Clutch as made me worry that they were getting stuck in a rut or too comfortable, their next album has proven me wrong. So it was with Strange Cousins From the West. Following From Beale Street To Oblivion, which seemed tame and familiar next to its predecessors (And featured oddly flat production, which didn’t help) with the exception of the Earth-shattering “Electric Worry,” this album brought it all back. It took some chances, tried some new things, tried some new instruments, even, and generally featured much more engaging songs. The mysterious departure of keyboardist Mick Schaur, who had so enhanced much of their recent work, is unfortunate, but Clutch was a 4-piece longer than they weren’t, so it’s not too jarring over all. Some of my favorite Clutch songs now come from this album, especially “Struck Down,” “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” and “Abraham Lincoln.” 


Clutch, “50,000 Unstoppable Watts”



Misfits, Earth AD

The 3rd and final real Misfits album (But only the 2nd one released when they were together) is the reason people associate them with hardcore instead of punk. Taking the gloriously sloppy monster movie cheese of their previous material and hitting the gas, it’s a fitting end to the only incarnation of the band worth hearing.


Misfits, “Die, Die My Darling”



TesseracT, One

I bought this in a hurry as an 11th hour choice for something to listen to on a long car trip. I like having new music to examine in that situation, but this year seems really slow for music releases, and I had nothing at the time. Plus, my metal in-take is at something like an all-time low this year. So, as it turns out, TesseracT is pretty cool. Combining the kind of sprawling, epic atmosphere and build-up of a band like Isis with passages that sound remarkably like Meshuggah, this album is all about mood. The singer has a good clean voice and a good shouting voice. He mostly relies on the clean voice, and it works for the music. There’s a 6-track concept piece in the middle that makes up the bulk of the album. It’s a good listen, and rewards repeat visits as the recurring motifs and  concepts become more apparent.


TesseracT, "Deception, Concealing Fate Part 2”


Yup.
--D