My (first ever) top ten list has only one new band… The
Internet has finally overwhelmed me and I have become boring or all new music
bores me.
10) Woods - Sun and Shade
One
of my few new discoveries is a band that has been around since 2005 and released
many albums. This band always
reminds me of early Ween, with more
pop oriented melodies and less silly lyrics. Songs range from short, fuzzy pop tunes, Any Other Day
to those that are easy to get lost in before they explode, Sol y Sombra
9) SM & the Jicks – Mirror Traffic
Beck
produced blah blah blah bla bl … nothing very Beck-ish about this album.
“I cannot even do one sit-up,
sit-ups are so bourgeoisie”
Classic Malkmus lyrics. Wowee Zowee-esque song structure and
album flow. Maybe Beck told him to leave behind the long - guitar solos
of some past albums and get back to the business of writing awesome songs. Three sided LP, weird.
8) Tune Yards – W H O K I L L
She has the most fun of any performer I have seen in a long time and it
shines through on her album. Fun
rhythms, vocals, and unique energy.
I saw her as an opening act a few years back and couldn’t figure out
what I was watching, but knew I needed more. Semi-shitty video of Gangsta from that 2009 show:
I wasn’t the only confused
person in the crowd. Her sound
seems so familiar now, but it truly is unique and crazy like the person behind it.
7) Braids – Native Speaker
By
far my most listened to album of the year. Long songs with the best elements of pop, drone, and artsy
stuff. Lammicken:
6) Grouper - A I A:
Dream Loss; Alien Observer or however you write it
Technically
two albums. Beautiful, fuzzy-noise over simple folkish songs.
Amazingly loud, delicate, and mesmerizing music that pairs great with a
book or just staring into space.
Atone:
5) Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
Pop
jams for everyone, with enough innovation to keep your attention… and she has
played the moon!
4) The Antlers – Burst Apart
New
band to me. Heard this one first,
then Hospice. One of those bands that combines empty
spaces and full sound so well.
Moving, emotional songs.
Album closer: Putting the Dog to
Sleep:
3) Atlas Sound – Parallax
Maybe
the most prolific artist of our time puts out another hit that somehow takes a
few steps to either side of previous stuff and sounds like a new thing. Bradford exists in his own world and I like hearing about
it. One (very) slight downside was
the reworking of Mona Lisa. He had me with the demo version:
2) St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
duh
1) Panda Bear – Tomboy Expanded
Panda
started releasing singles for this album 20 years ago and the resulting album was all
Sonic Boom-ed. This special release has
Panda’s basic-lofi version, including extra songs (The Preakness, previously available on the KEEP cassette), alternate song order, original titles (Bullseye) and the much missed King
Tubby sample in Scheherazade
Guitars!!! Great change of pace from the almost exclusively
sample based Person Pitch. Ohh and this release also includes the amazing Sonic Boom produced version with so many added bleeps and bloops that it really should have included his name on the
front cover.
Check out the bros. live
Honorable mention: Radiohead – King Of
Limbs, The Horrors - Skying,
Moonface - Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped, Thao and Mirah – s/t, Cat’s Eyes – S/t
VERY SPECIAL Honorable Mention
Chemical Brothers – Hanna
Soundtrack -
> where did this come from?
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