02/27 – 03/02:

02/27 – 03/02:

Desk Ark, Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker!

A very interesting record. A study in contrast and contradiction. Emotionally gripping. Pretty much tailor made for my ears. Des Ark put funny titles on serious music. They play fragile, haunting melodies that give way to raucous rock music and then recede again, like a wave. The vocals seem intentionally obscured much of the time, delivering extremely personal stories in a hushed whisper or buried in the mix, which only make the frequent huge choruses and chants that more powerful, while making the listener turn it up and play the record again immediately. The whole album must be taken together, with recurring themes both musical and lyrical and the end of one song blurring into the beginning of another. This is a record that really engages you.

Des Ark, “Bonne Chance, Asshole”

De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead

De La Soul’s second album was an odd choice on their part. Also, one of the finest hip hop albums of the era. But on this record, they seemed to mock and refute the “Daisy Age” peace and love mentality they turned into a brief phenomenon with their debut, 3 Feet High & Rising. This album is framed by a series of skits where some kids find the album itself in the trash, and then some bullies make them play it, hating it. The cover of the album is a knocked over flower pot full of daisies. It would seem a shocking about face for any group. The songs themselves seem to take the stance that everything they were talking about on the first album is played out, maybe overreacting to criticism of its sort of neo hippie mentality. But the album they replaced the Daisy Age with is at least as engaging, a sprawling, experimental record with some of the silliest songs they would ever record, some of the most serious songs they would ever record, and everything in between. Prince Paul keeps the production as diverse and unpredictable as the group’s ambitions, and they get in one of the last great sampled hip hop albums before the law caught up with the genre. From serious topics like sexual abuse and drug addiction to ridiculous nonsense dissing house music and overeager up and comers to a weird little play about relationships set in a Burger King to straight up party songs (Including one of my all-time favorite songs by anybody, “A Rollerskating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’”), there’s nothing they wouldn’t try here. It’s the De La album I revisit the most, for sure.

De La Soul, “Keepin’ The Faith”

Elvis Costello & The Attractions, This Year's Model

My favorite Elvis Costello record, hands down. His 2nd, and his most punk-influenced for sure, This Year’s Model is a pure burst of energy from start to finish. Elvis at his most vicious and sarcastic, excellent performances, some of his most memorable songs... it’s just a can’t miss package.

Elvis Costello, “No Action”

Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush The Show

It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back is held up as the PE classic, and for good reason. It’s the best expression of their politics, the best example of the Bomb Squad’s wall of noise, it deserves its place as a classic. But in all honesty, I think I might personally prefer their debut. There’s a lot less political content. I mean, obviously, the politics are as integral to Public Enemy as anything, but it’s fun and almost refreshing to hear Chuck D just talking about his car, in a way. It’s just a consistent, fun album from a group that would go on to be a lot more. And there’s still a lot of social and political content, it’s just not presented with that all-consuming focus that would come later. It’s a unique album in their catalog.

Public Enemy, “You’re Gonna Get Yours”

At The Drive-In, Acrobatic Tenement

This album’s always kind of amused me. It sounds like they recorded a whole record without realizing they forgot to hit their distortion pedals. It’s got all the signature elements of ATDI, the screaming and the manic energy mixed with more tender moments that still manage to sound kind of ragged, the album would fit right in with their catalog... except for the clean guitars throughout. I’m not really sure what they were going for. If it happened live, I’d assume it was a mistake, but... here it is. I actually like this album a lot, weird or not. Here’s hoping the band’s long-hoped-for reunion is more than just a concert or two.

At the Drive-In, “Initiation”

Outkast, ATLiens

My introduction to Outkast was “Elevators (Me And You).” I won’t pretend I was on board from the beginning, dear reader, I was but a high school student in a podunk town. But “Elevators” made it to my local hip hop station, and that was all the incentive I needed to check this group out. I’ve been on board ever since. And, yeah, Outkast has come to be known for their ambition and their “weirdness,” I guess, which wouldn’t really being until the next record, but there’s still plenty to love on their first two albums. ATLiens is wall-to-wall great songs, virtuosos rapping and crowd-pleasing choruses. I still love it.

Outkast, “Elevators (Me & You)”

Al Green, Call Me

It doesn’t get much better than classic-era Al Green. With long time producer Willie Mitchell, he made some of the finest soul songs ever made by anybody. Those rolling drums, those perfectly-timed horn hits, and Green’s undeniable voice tying it all together. The most insane thing is the vast majority of his famous songs were recording between 1971 and 1975, a period when he produced seven albums(!). Prolific is an understatement. Call Me comes right in the middle of that flurry of activity. It features the essential hits “You Oughta Be With Me,” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, and the title track, but it has a lot more to offer beyond the hits. Green displays his range with masterful conversions of two classic country songs into R&B numbers (“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Funny How Time Slips Away”). Album cuts “Have You Been Making Out OK” and “Stand Up” could easily have been hits in their own right. The sheer amount of quality material Green & Mitchell turned out in their golden era is staggering.

Al Green, “Have You Been Making Out OK?”

Cecil Otter, False Hopes 7

False Hopes is an on-going series of material from Doomtree. Alone or as a collective, they self-release these records. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to “count,” as opposed to records with their own name, but they should, because a ton of great stuff has been released under the False Hopes banner, and this is no exception. People who know Cecil from recent Doomtree material or his excellent Rebel Yellow album are in for a surprise from the stylistic difference on display here. His delivery is a lot more brash and sarcastic, more exuberant. More alone the lines of POS or Sims, in fact. This difference is most striking on “Matchbook Diaries,” a far more somber version of which appeared on Rebel Yellow. But different isn’t a bad thing, and there’s a lot to love in the more fiery Cecil Otter of old. In all honesty, I tend to go for this one more often, just because it’s not as heavy a listen.

Cecil Otter, “Lake Shore Drifter”

There you go.

--D

02/20 - 02/24.

Batman Forever soundtrack

I have a weird fascination with this record. It functions as a remarkably inclusive snapshot of music in 1995. Really! Consider the track list:

U2, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

PJ Harvey, "One Time Too Many"

Brandy, "Where Are You Now?"

Seal, "Kiss from a Rose"

Massive Attack with Tracy Thorn, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"

Eddie Reader, "Nobody Lives Without Love"

Mazzy Star, "Tell Me Now"

The Offspring, "Smash It Up"

Nick Cave, "There Is a Light"

Method Man, "The Riddler"

Michael Hutchence, "The Passenger"

The Devlins, "Crossing the River"

Sunny Day Real Estate, "8"

The Flaming Lips, "Bad Days"

So, you got U2, enjoying the beginning of their renaissance at the time, whose song from this record was a big hit. You have Seal contributing one of the most successful pop songs of the year (maybe the decade). You have then very popular Brandy singing a song written and played on by then very popular Lenny Kravitz. 1995’s radio is well represented.

Digging a little deeper, Offspring’s cover of The Damned represent the mid-90s punk revival. Massive Attack’s Smokey Robinson cover represents the flourishing trip hop scene, with guest vocalist Tracey Thorn, whose main gig, Everything But The Girl, had one of the biggest “alternative” hits of the year. Speaking of alternative music, Mazzy Star is another big name from the era, joined by relative newcomers The Flaming Lips and stalwarts PJ Harvey and Nick Cave. Hip hop is underrepresented with just a Method Man song, but in 1995, Method Man was the breakout star of the relatively new Wu-Tang Clan, and rapidly becoming one of the biggest rappers in the country. Even Sunny Day Real Estate is in there, representing the nascent emocore movement. Who would possibly expect Sunny Day Real Estate to appear on the soundtrack to a Batman movie?

If you had to make a time capsule of the musical landscape of 1995, your work is done immediately. Just make a copy of this.

U2, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

Aesop Rock, Bazooka Tooth

Aesop Rock’s 2nd album for Def Jux really upped the ante. Behind that weird cover by the fantastic illustrator Tomer Hanuka (I love it when people I like work together) are some of the densest, most dizzying productions Ace has ever been associated with, and lyrics that rise to the occasion. Coming off the decidedly less chaotic (but no less great) sounds of the sample heavy Labor Days and the more minimal Float, this thing was the sonic equivalent of an explosion. It was so weird and offkilter that it apparently caused some tension between Aesop and then-labelmate Vast Aire, even. Aesop backed off of the schizophrenic sound and pacing of this album on subsequent material, but controversies aside, it’s a truly engaging record that demands many listens to get its full measure.

Aesop Rock, “No Jumper Cables”

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

I think the people have turned on these guys. But when this album came out, it was a bright spot in a bland period for music that year. Not much going on, and along comes this bright, catchy thing. It wasn’t the most exciting, the most innovative, the most meaningful record, and I coulda done with a lot less lyrical content specific to going to college in Boston, but it was fun to listen to. Sometimes, that’s enough.

Vampire Weekend, “M79”

Craig Finn, Clear Heart Full Eyes

Speaking of fun to listen to... not so much, this. It’s actually much more different from The Hold Steady, Finn’s regular gig, than I expected. The instrumentation and arrangements of the songs are far removed from the... I sort of want to say “classicist rock” sound of their albums. Stripped down, with doses of country and folk styling and a much more spare production feel, it also features a different lyrical content than The Hold Steady. Finn’s stories obsessed with drug and alcohol abuse, initially a hold over from his previous group, Lifter Puller, have given way to a lyrical focus more on a nostalgic devotion to rock music itself on recent records, but none of that is really present on Clear Heart Full Eyes. The material presented here feels at once more personal and autobiographical but also abstracted. For example, religious imagery has been a staple of his work, and an obsession with Jesus winds through the songs, but in a way that makes it hard to tell if Finn even believes in Jesus in the first place. It's the lyrics that prove the album's undoing for me. There is a lot of repetition in the 11 track running time, and while repetition isn't bad in and of itself, in this case it makes the album feel kind of slight. The repeated themes and phrases from song to song don't help this feeling of running in circles. All in all, a frustrating listen.

Craig Finn, “No Future”

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca

This wacky team-up is based on a live performance by the two entities of a set of music written by Dirty Projectors mastermind David Longstreth in 2009. If you know much about The Dirty Projectors and Bjork, it's basically everything you expect. They can't resist adding Bjork's voice to the exquisite chorus that has become The Dirty Projectors' most powerful weapon a few times, and the results are delightful. But, of course, she also steps forward for lead vocals often, and in that role she operates much like she always does. Longstreth also handles leads vocals a few times, while at other times the chorus of Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Haley Dekle take center stage. The things they can do together remain spectacular. Certainly less accessible than The Dirty Projectors' last album, but probably more accessible than recent material from Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca is an exciting experiment.

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, “On And Ever Onward”

There you go.

--D

02/13 – 02/17:

Glass Rock, Baby Baby Baby

Glass Rock is a band I found purely at random one time on eMusic. Glass Rock emerged from two other bands, Tall Firs and Soft Location, combining forces. This is their 2nd album. On their first, they had a real talent for creating mood and atmosphere, but the actual songs didn’t stand out as much as they could. Here, they’ve kept all that mysterious feeling and applied it to songs with a little more unique personality, and it’s a fine upgrade. The album’s highlight, a song in two parts called “Documentary,” begins as a sparse, intimate tune before leaping into a full-band, full-sound take that is the best song they’ve recorded so far. Glass Rock is music for after hours, winding down after a crazy night.

Glass Rock, “Runaway”

Himanshu, Nehru Jackets

Every one in Das Racist promised new mixtapes this year, and Heems is the 2nd one out of the gate with Nehru Jackets. The whole thing is produced by longtime friend Mike Finito, and was released in association with New York non-profit SEVA, whose members appear on the album rapping and singing in Punjabi. There’s also guest appearances from the usual suspects like Kool AD, Lakutis, Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Despot, Fat Tony, and Big Baby Ghandi. But it’s still Heems’ show, and while it might sound like he could get lost in the tide of guest stars and participants, he certainly doesn’t. He brings the ethos that has made Das Racist one of the most interesting forces in hip hop to bear here. That is, he has completely ridiculous songs like “Jason Bourne” (it’s about Jason Bourne) and “Computers” (It’s about liking computers) at one extreme, and then he has songs that are anything but ridiculous like “NYC Cops,” basically just a powerful list of atrocities committed by that police department, and “Juveniles Detained in Guantanamo Bay,” which is about what it says it is, at the other. He’s smart and silly in equal measure, and it makes for a lively listen.

Nehru Jackets is as much a showcase for Mike Finito as it is for Heems. His productions are fantastic throughout, and can be traditional boom bap or draw from some pretty surprising sources (Hip hop beats made from PJ Harvey and Kate Bush songs? Yes, please). Together, they created easily the most entertaining album I’ve heard so far this year, and they didn’t even charge for it. You can get it here.

Heems, “Jason Bourne”

Ani Difranco, Which Side Are You On?

I feel weird to suggest that having a baby had a profound effect on Ani Difranco's music, but it really seems like the case. I certainly understand how having a child would change your attitudes or priorities, but I would expect that to manifest in the lyrics, in new things to sing about. But the change in her music isn't just what she sings, it's how she sings, how she composes, how she thinks of her albums.

She's only released 2 records since becoming a mom, and just like Red Letter Year, this one is a scattershot effort, dipping into a new musical genre on every track, generally happy and hopeful instead of your traditional Ani moody and worried and angry. Her post-baby music isn't afraid to have big production values and over-the-top arrangements, to carene from sound to sound in a way that pre-baby Ani never would've done. Her music could be very different from album to album, but not from song to song. Every album was a pretty unified musical statement. Post-baby Ani seems to be going with every impulse that comes her way. It makes for enjoyable songs, and surprising, but not necessarily great, albums. Which Side Are You On? isn't quite as bubbly and happy as Red Letter Year, but... the difference is pretty negligible. The title track feels a bit like a rehash of a political song on her final pre-baby album, the mostly soul crushing, heartbroken Reprieve... only polished up and made less depressing. Even when she's singing a song about politics, women's roles in society, subjects that have always been close to her heart, she just seems so much less... worried about it. It's a weird transformation, indeed. She's released music as a young woman and a mature woman, in straight and homosexual relationships, married and divorced, under Presidents she liked and Presidents she hated, but nothing seems to have had the impact on her entire way of thinking and working that her child has.

Maybe it just boils down to the opening lyrics of the swinging, horn-and-fuzzed-out-guitar-driven "If Yr Not:" "If you're not getting happy as you get older, you're fuckin' up."

Ani Difranco, “Which Side Are You On?”

Protest The Hero, Kezia

Protest the Hero’s first album was ambitious, invigorating, and spectacular. Mixing metal, prog, punk and even folk influences, presenting a surprisingly effective concept album, and showing off serious musical chops, it’s as strong a debut as you could ask for from a band. In later releases, they would pare down the stylistic mishmash and get to really exploring a prog-metal sound, but here it seems that no idea is out of bounds, and that kind of reckless abandon is infectious.

Protest The Hero, “Heretics & Killers”

D'Angelo, Voodoo

As I write this (Faaaar in the paaaast), I just saw footage from D’Angelo playing in Paris, and it sure is nice to hope he’s finally worked out all his stuff and decided to get back to making music. This album was one of the strongest in the sea of amazing Soulquarians-related releases in the late 90s and early 2000s. Packed with layers, nuances and surprises, with intentionally vague vocals that demand a replay, this album was a puzzle waiting to be put together, and it was rewarding to do so. I guess a lot of peoples’ experience with it begins and ends with the “Untitled” video (Which caused a co-worker of mine at the time to begin excitedly referring to D’Angelo as “The buck-naked-est man!!”), but that’s just scratching the surface of what this album had to offer. Questlove seems pretty confident that it will finally get a follow up this year. I can’t wait.

D’Angelo, “Devil’s Pie”

Lazerbeak, Lava Bangers

Lazerbeak, one of the producers of the mighty Doomtree collective, releases his first beat tape. This package apparently brings together a variety of work that never quite made it onto past Doomtree releases, which have been turned into a continuous mix by DJ Plain Ol’ Bill. Beak’s productions come in a dizzying variety when working with his Doomtree compatriots, from somber, spare tunes to songs that can tear the house down, but here he mostly focuses on keeping the party going. I love instrumental hip hop (All hail DJ Shadow’s early work in that area, and Doomtree member Paper Tiger, too), beat tapes usually don’t get much play from me. Because, as good as the music may be, it tends to sound like what it is, what it was designed for: background music for vocals that never come. Much credit to Lazerbeak, then, for making these 20 tracks as entertaining and exciting on their own as they would be with vocals. I can’t even imagine them with vocals, in fact, so well do they work as presented. Doomtree wins again.

Lazerbeak, “Walk It Out”

Rancid, Rancid 2000

Rancid chose to follow their most experimental album with their most hardcore, taking a large portion of their fanbase by surprise and making me the happiest clam. Rancid 2000 found them operating at blistering speed, producing their most frenetic and intense music to date. But even in that arena, they were able to bring plenty of variety (something aided by having 3 very different singers in the band). From vicious assaults to nigh-on pop tunes that just happen to be really fast, there’s all kinds of material whipping past you in this record’s brief running time, and it is glorious. My favorite of their albums, no question.

Rancid, “Don Giovanni/Disgruntled/Loki”

There you go.

--D

02/06 – 02/10:

Mehuggah, Obzen

Art is subjective, and descriptions of art are even worse, and descriptions of the notoriously sub-sub-sub-sub-genred heavy metal world, even moreso. The labyrinth of what you’re supposed to call heavy metal bands, how you’re supposed to describe them, is so ridiculous that I’ve never even felt qualified to talk about it. I would say that Obzen is one of the heaviest albums I’ve ever heard. Maybe some one with a higher heavy metal acumen would find that laughable, I don’t know. It’s just all relative. Obzen isn’t the most “evil” or the darkest metal album, but its power lies in its relentless, factory-like precision. Not a moment’s respite is offered from their assault until the very last song. Whether you’re listening to black metal, death metal, hardcore or metalcore, or even previous Meshuggah albums, there’s usually a reprieve. A change in tone or attitude, a soaring guitar solo, a spooky atmosphereic part, some kind of interlude, some kind of brief moments surfacing before plunging back into the ocean, but not here. Obzen just starts pummeling you and doesn’t stop until several minutes into closer “Dancers To A Discordant System.” It’s really something. And it’s not to say that there’s no variety on it. Opener “Combustion” lives up to its name, delivering the fastest song they’ve recorded in years. “Bleed” is almost 8 minutes of spectacular, robot-like precision. There’s many different approaches on display. But none of them let up for even a second.

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them’s 3rd full-length was produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou. I can’t imagine that’s the only reason it sounds a lot more like Converge than past Trap Them albums, but I’m sure it contributed. Darker Handcraft continues the theoretical plot that has woven through every Trap Them album and EP (and even a 7” split), but just as they’ve remained dedicated to their concept, they’ve remained pretty dedicated to not really explaining it. Every song on every release is named with a day (Track one of the new album is “Day 46: Damage Prose”), but starting with their 2nd album, the days aren’t even in order. It doesn’t really matter. It’s enough to just get your adrenaline pumping with their super-fast, super-aggressive mix of punk and metal and enjoy the ride, and Darker Handcraft certainly delivers on that front. Also, the chorus to “The Facts” seems like an answer to the chorus of the classic Misfits song “Where Eagles Dare.” Who knows why, but that’s pretty awesome.

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Mikael has often joked that, going in to record the first Opeth album in 1995, he thought he was going to be a minstrel, playing a lute and singing ridiculously pretentious songs. Heritage, shockingly enough, seems to be as close as he’s gotten to getting his wish.

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

It still sounds like Opeth. The unique sound they’ve cultivated over the years is still identifiable. But in the prog rock influences, in some of the acoustic passages, and in the guitar solos. There’s no metal anything to be heard. I’ve listened to this over and over and I’m still not sure what I think of it, exactly. I’ve come to the decision the production bugs me more than the lack of metal, especially when it comes to drums. The bass drum sounds muffled and is actually hard to hear sometimes, and the rest of the drums sound pretty flat. But, beyond the production, there’s a sort of... over the top feeling to a lot of it. Almost like they’re trying too hard. I’m not sure what I’m even trying to say. It’s just so proggy and so noodly sometimes. Sometimes it’s not. They were wise to make “The Devil’s Orchard” the lead single, as it’s the most “Opeth sounding” song on the album. For the most part, I think I have favorite moments instead of songs. It’s a hard thing to adjust to.

Mikael Akerfeldt has been doing this for 20 years. No one can be metal forver. You either evolve into something else or become an embarrassing cartoon of yourself like Ozzy.  In the DVD accompanying this release, Mikael said he thought that going in this direction would mean he “still had something to offer.” He also said he wasn’t ruling out metal elements in the future, and that he hoped not to repeat Heritage on the next album. Who knows, their next one may win me right back over. Their 11th album is the first one that didn’t completely enthrall me. That’s still a pretty spectacular track record. And I’m going to keep listening... trying to figure it out...

Opeth, “The Devil’s Orchard”

St. Vincent, Actor

It’s weird listening to this album in the wake of Strange Mercy. Actor captivated me. The complex layers and layers, the atmosphere and emotion (both extremely emotional and extremely reserved, from song to song, moment to moment, but always to dramatic effect), and of course Annie Clark’s phenomenal voice lilting over it all. It was a lot to take in, and a delight to revisit often. But I have to say, Strange Mercy basically blew it out of the water. I became sort of obsessed with it, listening to it all the time. Strange Mercy took everything I liked about Actor, amped it up and added a new focus on Clark’s jagged, funky guitar playing. This was the first time I’d listened to Actor since Strange Mercy came out, and it just didn’t seem to pack the punch of old. Maybe that’ll change as I gain distance from the new record.

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D