I don't get the constant need to review and mark the passage of time specifically in December by being nostalgic for the music of the past 365 days and gazing optimistically into the future with predictions of more music to come in the next 365 days that might just make everything alright.
But if you are going to press me on it then I might do my usual cop-out, I'm not doing a list or a chart rundown of singles, videos or anything like that. It is more likely to be experiences or general moments that resonated with me.
So just give me a moment, okay Blogsphere?!
Here is something old and not from this year to fuck you off.
This is simply due to an old post of mine that I read, from when I used to write well, and while the track and this video (without the amazing Mark Heap) still reflects the inside of my head, I am better off and happier in one particular way.
Obviously I have been living under a rock or something equivalent. And I don't just mean my most recent characteristic period of blog neglect. I have never had Caribou in my life until very recently.
WTF! FFS! And other such acronyms.
I am a thorough Caribou devotee now. But apparently not devoted enough to be able to attend any of the upcoming UK tour dates. I'd give my ability to logic and reason (which is admittedly pretty poor of late) to go to the Manchester date at The Warehouse Project where the line-up also includes - you'll have to excuse me whilst I sob gently through genuine hurt at not being able to come up with the funds to go - Four Tet, James Holden and - I'm biting my quivering lip at this one as I've never seen him live - Nathan Fake. It might be too early for this level of upset. I'm not sharing the Caribou tour dates because I would just be too jealous if you were to go. Go and Google it yourself, you show-off twat!
Uncalled for, I know.
I have a feeling that rather than playing with research proposals I'm going to be looking at cheap ways to get to Manchester. Accommodation is out of the question. And although I have never got free entry to a gig through writing this blog, if it were to happen now, for this, I'd definitely say yes. Just in case. You know.
Oh, the aftermath. It is nearly over, but it has been painful. I would like back all the sleep that I was deprived of. I slept even less than I anticipated I would. 2 hours on the first night. Excellent.
That said, it was, overall, definitely worth it. I have my gripes about the organisation, and there were a few things that are pretty shameful for such a long-running, established and seasoned festival. But when you get to see performances like that of Everything Everything, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and Funeral Party it is made all the better!
Obviously camping was awful. It had a few amusing moments. Some boys nearby quoting Toy Story. Another boy shouting 'Ben' in a strange voice for nearly an hour. On one day someone shouting "FUCK OFF!" then a pause "I FUCKING HATE CAMPING!".. I feel your pain. Waves of cheers were an auditory delight. The bass from Picadilly Party until nearly 5am shredded my famously fragile nerves.
There were moments of sheer joy. Tears at the wonder of Arcade Fire. Elation on seeing Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) in the flesh. Literal slack-jaw gawping at the energy of Funeral Party.
I'm probably going to pick out stand out performances and blog separately about those bands. But needless to say I was very lucky and fortunate and saw some fantastic acts.
But the organisers of Leeds Festival have left a sour taste in my mouth. Over the years they has put on this event they must have learnt an awful lot of lessons. Many things were vastly improved. But in my opinion they sold the soul of the festival to reignite some lack-lustre, nostalgia-provokers. There was little effort elsewhere on the bill. They should not have named the Dance Stage as such. The sound quality on the main stage was disastrous for many of the acts. Don't even get me started on the shambles that left my best friend devastated that was the performance by Mumford and Sons. Horrible advert folk. But nevertheless, if people next to you spoke you couldn't hear the band. WTF Leeds?! £180! I fucking brought my own accommodation, you twats!
Ahem.
I am clean now. I still have all my personal belongings and most of my dignity. Pictures are available on my Facebook.
I had a period of time where I wasn't really crashing the new record bins. Let's call that period of time "February", which is why you haven't seen a continuation of my ongoing count of my favorite records of 2010. This countdown will be from February 1st until...let's just say today. These five records are the albums I've loved the most over this stretch, along with one record that I wanted to talk about it because it is something I simply don't understand, plus one song that I LOVE.
In other words, this is a post about something besides food. Begin rejoicing!
Note: I forgot Portugal The Man's American Ghetto. It'd probably end up at number five on this list, knocking off Freelance Whales. Still, I'm not taking FW off because I wanted to share that nugget about Pitchfork's review. That's right.
1. Broken Bells - Broken Bells
This selection shouldn't really be a surprise if you really think about it. Take the production and the eclectic and eccentric mind of Danger Mouse and pair it with the thoughtful musings and beauteous vocals of James Mercer, and odds are you'll have a solid album. This album is a lot more than that, progressively growing on me since I started checking it out. When you listen to tracks like "Vaporize" or "The Ghost Inside", you realize you're listening to the mad genius work of two A+ pop songwriters.
It's a delectable fusion that I connected with from the very beginning, and that connection has just grown and grown with each passing listen. Which is a lot because it's basically all I've been listening to for a week.
The first Gorillaz record was produced by Dan the Automator, and it was a big funk blast of an album. The second was from Danger Mouse and it was a hodgepodge of eclectica and delicious pop. Now, they're back with Plastic Beach and head Gorilla (or really the only constant member) Damon Albarn is taking a turn producing it. What came out was a whirlwind that features some big names (Snoop Dogg, Paul Simon, Lou Reed) and some of the most diverse pop tracks of the year to date.
Whether it's lead single "Stylo" featuring its creeping synth beats and yin & yang vocals from Mos Def and Bobby Womack, "Some Kind of Nature" with its ambling rhythms and simply cool vocal tracks from Lou Reed, or "On Melancholy Hill" and its oddly beatific melodies and forlorn and loving structure, this album touches on all kinds of different pop milestones and does an exceptional job with each and every one of them. Plus, it's infectious as all get out! I just don't know how you can't love a Gorillaz record.
This record, to me, sounds like an interesting blend of the vocal harmonies of Fleet Foxes, the sunny disposition of The Elected, the hyper evident and driving percussion of The National, and the arrangements and southern flair of My Morning Jacket. So if you're scoring at home, to me:
Local Natives = Fleet Foxes + The Elected + The National + My Morning Jacket
I'm not great at math, but I'm pretty sure that means this record is awesome. Interestingly enough, I like, not love those four bands in the equation. Yet this record seems to take my favorite aspects of their sound and create alchemic blend that I absolutely adore. It's one of the more out of left field albums this year for me, but I love it all the same.
For an electronic album, this is a beautifully spare and affecting release. One of the greatest accomplishments found on it is that Four Tet managed to take a track like "Angel Echoes" or "Plastic People" and find power behind the moments of silence as well as he does on the ones where there are gorgeous explosions of sound. It has the sound of someone who has been cultivating their sound for a long time and really has found out what works and what doesn't, as there is a real sense of confidence in it. No schizophrenic loops or cuts, no spastic breakdowns, just driving, hypnotic jams that stay with you for days on end.
Another thing I think is very interesting about this album is the live instrumentation that is used within. While listening to it, it almost feels like it has an ambient, lounge sound. It's inviting and danceable, but the fact that you can source the sound back to instruments you recognize adds a layer of power to it. It's a beautiful piece, and something I was surprised to like as much as I did.
While this album is still not technically out in physical release nor has much changed since I originally reviewed it in January, I had to talk about it for one reason.
This is a joyful and well crafted album from a young band who is really putting themselves out there. While I have come down from my previous high esteem of the record a bit and I do agree with the lyrical triteness of the record that Pitchfork referenced, Freelance Whales were pretty much assassinated in their review. Sometimes, I wonder if Pitchfork listens to music to enjoy it or to lick their chops at an opportunity to slap down something with burgeoning hype. To those who tossed the record away, I say pick it up and defy Pitchfork. It's a good record that deserves attention, even if it is "derivative."
Why is this loved?!: Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
I want to like Joanna Newsom. I really do. I just don't get it. Sprawling, spastically arranged tracks about god knows what that occasionally touch on what I look for in music are what I find, while others listen to it and hear pure gold.
When I listen to tracks like "Easy", the lead track off this album, I see a little of the glimmer that others see. Yet, when I find myself confounded through the three discs worth of other songs as she plays with her harp and sings in her creepy beautiful voice, I find myself eagerly anticipating its culmination. Please, someone tell me what I'm missing.
It seems like every year features one record that I do not like at all that everyone else loses their minds over. Last year was Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest...I think this year it's going to be Joanna Newsom. Coincidentally, she was the winner of this prize in 2006 as well with Ys (which is even creepier).
Best Track: Raaaaaaaandy and Dave Sitek - Aaaaaaaangry (with Eight A's)
Between his Funny or Die stuff, his random roles in movies, his stand up work, and Parks and Recreation, I've somehow become a bit of an Aziz Ansari fanboy. Basically everything this guy touches entertains me to no end.
Now he's working on a mixtape with Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and I'm loving it as well. This first track finds Raaaaaaaandy (his alter ego from Funny People) calling out all of the rappers who were supposed to contribute to the mixtape but didn't. It makes me laugh every time, like when he calls out Kid Cudi for his ridiculous song titles, shuts down Drake for his Hotmail account, and ESPECIALLY when he calls out Kanye for the inane nature of his blog ("ohh...here's a picture of a dope treehouse in Scandinavia").
Ansari is also a sneaky good MC, and Sitek lays down some awesome beats. Really, this has to be one of my favorite hip hop tracks I've heard this year and I'm not entirely sure it's meant to be serious at all.
Now hurry up and listen to these albums. You're slower than mayonnaise!
I'm not sleeping. Well, not without intense nightmares/sex nightmares. And the medication I take for my lovely friend, my panic disorder, isn't working anymore.
The circumstances of life pave the way, almost entirely, as to what I will listen to at any given moment. Whether it be breaking sub-woofers in an attempt to create the most all-out, rollicking rave while I drunkenly bounce off walls and bruise every inch of my soft body, or whether I'm curled up, face tucked deeply into a pretty cushion with huge, warm, enveloping headphones singing sweet, gentle melodies into my consciousness. So this blog reflects that, increasingly. It is not something I can help, nor will apologise for. Not always at the cutting edge of the latest releases, because, for me, that is not very frequently how music works and, in my humble opinion, is not how music should be listened to. We've kind of got muddled in this world of immediacy where an album or track is forgotten of as quickly as it is conceived.
Right now my life makes Hollyoaks look boring and banal. (Incest and psychotic murder is never boring)
So, if I'm honest with you, I'm trying hard to put on a very well practised facade. Thus, it is probably no surprise I've found myself listening to very garbled and noisy music. Reflects the inside of my head better.
Walking to buy the Guardian and a yogurt. Mind swilling with the idiosyncrasies that appear to be never-ceasing. The ones which are so fundamentally embedded that one would question ones sanity for considering them strange. Making judgements and filling the blanks for possible reason and rhyme to conclude anything logical. Just as quickly realise that is not going to happen.
Left to its own tangled mess my mind somehow chewed a deluded conversation with itself about a track.
Not many artists achieve the sort of diverse, changeable, almost rhapsodic form that Late Of The Pier seem to have effortlessly blended into, a less than 5 minute, song.
So, the worryingly tussled discussion in my head went on, who else would possibly be as talented (and even surpass Late Of The Pier) at the art of rhapsody? And who would it be interesting to hear cover Bathroom Gurgle?
My mainstream mind fell to Muse, also aided along by the all-out prog-rock feel of the track in places. Too obvious was the answer to that and probably wouldn't produce anything more than a refined version of the song.
No, just nothing sparking that feelin -- Wait! Perfection has arrived in the thought process. The epiphany that one can be happy with.
Joanna Newsom*. A true and great representation of strange and intentive ways of creatively playing with musical forms to get the best out of them. Joanna Newsom is truly astounding.
And, to be honest, in my slightly warped head all I have been playing out is my mental equivilent to Joanna Newsom covering, very brilliantly, Late Of The Pier.
