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AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #1. Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

Published by almostaghost on January 4, 2012 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

that's the way the cornbread crumbles

So 2011 was kind of an odd musical year for me. A lot of my ALL-TIME favorite artists released new music, even relatively reclusive ones like Tom Waits (7 years since last album), Kate Bush (6), Radiohead (4), PJ Harvey (4), and Gillian Welch (8). I mean, getting one album from one of them would be enough, but all of them?! It was exciting!

When I’m rating and reviewing, I try my best to not compare an artist’s new album to their older work. I don’t always succeed at that, but it’s my goal, and I think makes my reviews more readable. It is one of my rules I follow when writing these things. But sometimes, with some of my favorites–who I know so well and have been following for so long–it is tough rule to follow. How can I not, even subliminally, compare to Kid A?

And when it came down to it, as much as I liked so so so many albums this year, there were not many where I liked an artist’s 2011 album more than my preferred favorites of their older work. I mean, I love the new Kate Bush and Radiohead albums–but more than their classics? In all honesty, probably not. That’s not a knock, or a claim they’re slipping, just tastes. And while I love taking a patient view of a career over time, frankly, the excitement before a release kept ending too soon.

Except for Gillian Welch. Gillian Welch! And David Rawlings! Their new album, The Harrow & The Harvest, is every bit the classic, and THE masterpiece by anyone in 2011. The authenticity of her old-time songwriting has been completely absorbed, as she turned inward to produce an intimate and harrowing record about the aftermath of blues, sin, heartbreak temptation. Dark, yes, but stunning nonetheless.

The album starts with a couple of beautiful, matter-of-fact blues songs. “On the day I came to Scarlet Town / You promised I’d be your bride / You left me here to rot away / Like holly on the mountainside,” she reflects, matter-of-factly, on “Scarlet Town.” “Some girls are bright as the morning, and some girls are blessed with a dark turn of mind.”

A series of three songs (“The Way It Will Be” / “The Way It Goes” / “The Way The Whole Thing Ends”) also turn on this bluesy existentialism. “The way you made it, that’s the way it will be,” she whispers sadly and a bit confused. “Did you miss my gentle touch? Did I hurt you very much? That’s the way it goes,” she sings, flipping the script a bit. The sadness is everywhere, and this existence is explored, over and over again, as inevitable.

But at the same time, she fully embraces it; heartbroken or otherwise, she wouldn’t have it another way. And there lies the power of these songs. “I try to be a good girl / it’s only what I want that makes me weak / I had no desire to be a child of sin / Then you went and pressed your whiskers to my cheek,” she sings on the incredible “Tennessee.” “I’ve tried drinking rye and gamblin’ / dancing with damnation is a ball / But of all the little ways I’ve found to hurt myself / Well you might be my favorite one of all.”

Musically, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (one of my favorite guitarists ever) kind of fall into their own little pocket between country, folk, bluegrass and blues. Rarely are the songs more than two voices and two acoustic guitars, maybe a banjo or harmonica if needed. A couple of songs here have a little upbeat bluegrassness to them, but most are calmer and more laidback. The two of them blend together, vocally, guitarly, everything, into one. This album displays that chemistry better than any of their others, easy. In the past, they have expanded their sound a little bit, but here they’ve got it down to just the essentials, nothing extra needed. This kind of intimate recording/performance, combined with the sadness and blues of the lyrics, make the whole thing feel like a journey on a psychological landscape.

I have no idea why it took Welch and Rawlings eight years to get to this album, but the sound they settled on here is the perfect distillation of what they do better than anyone: intimate, affecting, real, beautiful, stunning.

Gillian Welch “Tennessee”

Gillian Welch “Silver Dagger”

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #2. The Antlers – Burst Apart

Published by almostaghost on January 3, 2012 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Burst Apart

If I don't take you somewhere else / You're gonna make this insincere

I was having trouble weaving this into some sort of coherent narrative, so I’ll just make a list:

1. Burst Apart is an album of songs about destructive love and disturbing dreams. It is creepy, strange and hilarious.

2. The Antlers have turned into quite an adept band, able to follow these songs where they need to go. From quiet reflection to dramatic moodiness to hypnotic to intense, they kind of do it all here. This is the first album like that for them, and they can go anywhere now.

3. The album opens with the line “You want to climb up the stairs / I want to push you back down,” which totally sets the tone of the whole album. The Antlers “I Don’t Want Love”

4. Burst Apart was a big grower for me, as it slowly rose all the way up my rankings to #2 here. Every time I listened, I liked it more and more and I just kept bumping it up.

5. In many instances, these were the catchiest songs I heard all year.

6. Catchy, yes. But slightly odd and off-putting too. (See, #3.) Other lines: “Every time we speak / You are spitting in my mouth” and “I’m a bad amputee with no phantom memory” and “they want to conquer you, abandon you / I want to burden you, belong to you.” I mean, it is not like he crosses a line into disturbing, but the metaphors are just enough off-center to make you uncomfortable. And it’s GREAT.

7. The Antlers reference teeth falling out in a couple of songs. In psychoanalysis dream interpretation, “Teeth in dreams represent your power, your psychical energy, in other words, your strength. When you see your own teeth falling out in a dream this means that you are losing your power. This is a very serious warning. You are in great danger! You are losing your power to act and do something to change reality. You are losing your capability to accomplish something. Why? Because you are making costly mistakes.” Those costly mistakes seem to me to be exactly what this album is about. The Antlers “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out”

8. That falsetto!

9. The drama in the songs is also exciting. The nervous drums on “Parentheses” provide a base, on which the singer joins, and then the bass. It all feels so natural, as well as expertly done. You get a similar feel on most songs: a sense of ease but also perfection, the sense that these songs are what they must be.

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #3. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs

Published by almostaghost on January 3, 2012 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
The King Of Limbs

don't blow your mind with why

In the first season of Mad Men, Don Draper tells a room of hippies that the “universe is indifferent.” This bums them out, but it does get to the heart of Don Draper — this idea is how and why he feels free. (Sorry if you don’t know the character.) Similarly, on The King Of Limbs, Radiohead’s universe is a tumultuous one, and probably also an indifferent one. From within that tumult, Thom Yorke, as always, is trying to feel free.

The first few tracks depict the universe. Oceans bloom, jellyfish float by, the universe sighs. A no-good magpie steals memories, magic, melodies. “Obligations / complications / routines and schedules / drag and kill you,” Yorke sings on the dark “Little By Little.” These are hardly unusual depictions for Yorke, who regularly writes of the havoc in the universe in his songs, from car crashes to ice ages to spinning plates to weird fishes and worms. Metaphors? Sure. But also a world in constant upheaval.

That’s all well and good, but it’s just a set-up for the second half of the album. While this havoc goes on all around, Yorke keeps confronting it head-on. “And while the ocean blooms / it’s what keeps me alive,” he recognizes. This confrontation leads to a freedom, a state of mind, where there’s nothing to fear and nothing to doubt:

- “We will shrink and be quiet as mice / While the cat is away / Do what we want”
- “I will shape myself into your pocket / I will shrink and I will disappear”
- “Jump off the end / Into a clear lake / The water’s clear and innocent”
- “I think I should give up the ghost” (a phrase defined as “ceasing to exist” on dictionary.com)
- “Finally I’m free of all the weight I’ve been carrying”
- “Put the shadows back into the boxes / I have jettisoned my illusions” (on a b-side that didn’t make the album; shared below)

Those are all from the last four songs on the album; and clearly tie them all together. He is free. I’ve read a lot of different interpretive angles about Limbs, from climate change to suicide to dreams to Buddhist rebirth to whatever. And I’m not going to try to get that specific on it (besides comparing it to Mad Men, of course). But that is to say, these are some pretty deep songs when you look at them closely. (Just like Mad Men.)

Musically, of course, Radiohead keeps expanding their sound. My understanding from following them for so many years now is that after every album, they nearly break-up, and then totally rebuild how they create music. The end result may stay the same (killer songs), but the process evolves. The King Of Limbs seems to me to borrow a lot more from electronic music (that gorgeous “cat is away” break in “Lotus Flower,” the creative drums/percussion on “Separator” and “Bloom,” the vocal loops of “Give Up The Ghost,” etc.). In some ways, this is the Radiohead album that feels less like a band performance than ever before; but perhaps that was in reaction to their last album, which totally felt like that.

I’ll be honest here too: out of all Radiohead albums this is probably the one I’ve obsessed over the least. It’s still better than most everything out there though, and that’s why it’s one of the best albums of the year. I won’t claim to be unbiased on this list–it’s Radiohead and I’m me and they’re going to be ranked high. Regardless, I’m sure everyone I know who might possibly be reading this probably has already heard The King Of Limbs. (If not, why are we friends?*)

Radiohead “Supercollider”

Radiohead “Separator”

*lol j/k**
**sort of

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #6. The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient

Published by almostaghost on December 31, 2011 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Slave Ambient

lead me back to the place I'm from past the farms and the debris

I have read a number of reviews and commentaries around the internetz about Slave Ambient. While I kind of find myself disagreeing with a lot of the comparisons (Dylan, what?), many refer to the uplifting sound of their traditional American rock roots. They are clearly meant for a long car ride, turned up loud, sunset behind you. The reviews often leave it at that, though, and not The War On Drugs’ unique stylings.

Personally, I am not sure that traditional American rock is the right description for The War On Drugs. They are definitely closer to shoegaze, the proud genre of loud guitars and mumbled lyrics. The War On Drugs bring some different themes to shoegaze; instead of gazing at their shoes, they seem to be gazing at the open road. (Roadgaze?) A lot of their lyrics are blurry, but certain words jump out – harbors, freeways, rambling, trains, rattling in my brain, farms, debris, Northeast. There’s definitely some sort of world-weariness to the songs, that comes across in the words, the music, and the vocals. He’s just trying to get home, or somewhere. “There is a train we take downtown that buckles and bends from the weight of the ground,” Adam Granduciel sings, “You’ll understand when I leave so suddenly with breeze.”

Despite that weariness though, The War On Drugs have a quite uplifting sound. I think of it in terms of a Woody Guthrie, who also wrote tired-of-the-world songs that lifted you up. But The War On Drugs do it impressively without any choruses. Instead they hook you with the big chord changes, well-timed woohoos!, hypnotic bright drums.

And they make amazing use of the ambient instrumental tracks in between songs. While these tracks do add space between some of the more similarly-paced songs on the album, they also drive the whole thing. “Come To The City,” for instance, is a memorable song, but made even more so by “The Animator,” a 2-minute intro drone that brings “The City” to life. These ambient pieces, I assume, give the album its name, but more importantly make Slave Ambient cohere.

While The War On Drugs are ranked #6 here on my list, the actual ordering is not that precious. I’ve only listened to a couple of albums more often than this one this year. While “number of listens” is not my main criteria in ranking these, it does indicate that, man, Slave Ambient is something special.

The War On Drugs “Baby Missiles”

The War On Drugs “Your Love Is Calling My Name”

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #7. Lia Ices – Grown Unknown

Published by almostaghost on December 31, 2011 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
Grown Unknown

the quiet singing in the language that we don’t know

Much of what I just wrote about Bon Iver, Bon Iver in my last review also applies to Lie Ices’ Grown Unknown. I guess I love this style! Like Bon Iver, Ices has made a patient, rich album that is also mysterious and intriguing. I usually try not to make random comparisons, but this one is apt, as Justin Vernon sings back-up on one of the songs. So, I like to think of these two albums as companions and complements.

Unlike Bon Iver, Lia Ices is a bit more mystical and mythical in her lyrics. “Love Is Won” appears to be about discovering forever/love as a “tiny jewel in the tiger mouth,” and strriving to “pounce so I can tame the cat / so I can find the myth and let forever out.” “Daphne” tells the story of the nymph Daphne who turned into a tree instead of surrendering herself to Apollo. A particularly amazing song, “Daphne” begins delicately, like you would imagine a Lia Ices song to be: her quiet and close voice over guitar and violins. Midway through, the song takes a turn, becoming heavier and more confident. The music parallels the story.

The more I listen to Grown Unknown, the more I am impressed with Ices’ voice. It never falls into cliched fragility or breathlessness, always maintaining strength. This makes these songs all the more memorable, as she keeps charge of their oft-changing nature. “Ice Wine,” as only her vocals and a string quartet, could have been insufferable with the wrong voice, but Lia Ices keeps it together, and fascinating. “I hate to leave you like the eyelash that flew,” is one of the few lines that can be distinguished: it is one of her more mysterious and dark songs. Other tracks also borrow a lot from classical music arranging, but always to add richness and texture (“New Myth” especially).

There were quite a few of these individual, creative, avant-garde female pop singers this year, from Anna Calvi to PJ Harvey to Kate Bush to name a few. Each were stunning in their own way, and Lia Ices was one of my favorites. Grown Unknown is bursting with musical ideas — folky songs, string quartet movements, seductive vocals, orchestrated stories — yet it is her voice that ties all these ideas together so brilliantly.

Lia Ices “Daphne”

Lia Ices “Bag of Wind”

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #8. Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Published by almostaghost on December 29, 2011 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

at once I knew I was not magnificent

The story behind Bon Iver’s first album, For Emma, Forever Ago was relatively famous. Justin Vernon withdrew into a cabin in the Wisconsin woods and recorded a sparse, isolated acoustic record. His second album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver (the actual title), is an artistic reaction to that.

The album cover is a great representation. A house sits there in the center, but instead of it alone, the view expands, revealing the world around it. The titles (and the title) of Bon Iver, Bon Iver are all meant to refer to places, albeit sometimes unreal ones (“Perth,” “Minnesota, WI,” “Michicant,” “Wash.,” “Calgary,” etc.). There’s more to the Bon Iver world now than just a lonesome cabin.

And musically, too, not just thematically. Bon Iver, Bon Iver feels more worldly and full, while maintaining Bon Iver’s trademark shimmer: seductive melodies, abstract lyrics, falsettos. “Perth” is a surprisingly complex recording, using a military drumbeat and guitars to bury all sorts of sounds that just barely leak out.

“Perth” leads into “Minnesota, WI” and “Holocene” and by now it’s clear–this is a gorgeous album. These songs have a patient flow to them, as they take their time and go through different sections and back and forth. There is very little intensity on Bon Iver, Bon Iver, as they leisurely flow where they are headed. “Holocene” for example does not build anywhere, it strolls. “Jagged vacance thick with ice / And I can see for miles miles miles,” Vernon sings, and as is his genius, I have no idea what “jagged vacance” means, but it FITS. This is not unusual in his lyrics. He has that ability to string words together that may not mean anything technically, but overall, they do/must. As he sings on “Wash.” “we’re sewing up through the latchet greens / I unpeel keenness, honey, bean for bean / Same white pillar tone as with the bone street / Sand is thrown.”

The album closes with “Beth/Rest,” which also clearly indicates that Bon Iver is making some of the bravest music around. He fully embraces a normally-maligned ’80s soft rock sound, and somehow turns it into a moody reflection closing this masterpiece of an album.

I first saw Bon Iver live a few years back when he was just becoming more known after his debut record, and I thought, “with his voice, guitar-playing, songwriting, this guy should be a superstar!” Bon Iver, Bon Iver does nothing to change that; if you like your music beautiful and rich and with feeling, nobody does it better than Justin Vernon.

Bon Iver “Beth/Rest”

Bon Iver “Wash.”

- almostaghost

cyanide breathmint’s best of 2011

Published by breathmint on December 24, 2011 in Best of 2011, mp3, review and summary. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This seems to be getting more difficult every year! 2011 was filled with so much great music and I feel like I had such little time to appreciate that. This year’s rankings were truly the hardest ever to compile. Looking past the sheer volume of great new (and “newish”) acts which have emerged, old favorites returned with new offerings, there’s also the fact that my tastes have been diverging in two distinct directions.

My love for shoegaze has has come into the forefront this year, somewhat shattering the usual suspects for top 25 positions. Nevertheless, all those beautiful walls of noise simultaneously crashing down upon my ears couldn’t ever make up for good song writing and talented vocalists. I think that’s reflected in the mix of albums in this year’s Top 25.

I had originally planned doing “reviews” for the top 10. However, I only had enough patience and focus to get the top spot for you. I have included a sample mp3 for each of the top 25 albums. If you would like to grab all of these at once (plus a few bonus tracks), click here.

[UPDATE DEC 26 2011] The honorable mentions have been updated after reading my colleague betweenthesound’s amazing 2011 write up. If you haven’t seen that, you should go read it now (or perhaps right after you finish this post). She managed to (once again) slam me with a gang load of records that were way beneath my radar, but that would definitely have put huge dents in my Top 25 list as it stands.

Without further ado, here they are…

Top 25 Albums:

25) Asobi Seksu – Fluorescence

Asobi Seksu – Counterglow

24) The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck

The Mountain Goats – High Hawk Season

23) The Dodos – No Color

The Dodos – Companions

22) Radiohead The King Of Limbs

Radiohead – Morning Mr Magpie

21) Brute Heart – Lonely Hunter

Brute Heart – Hunter

20) Future Islands – On The Water

Future Islands – Give Us The Wind

19) Dearling Physique – Deadeye Dealer

Dearling Physique – Oh This Currency

18) Neon Indian – Era Extraña

Neon Indian – Polish Girl

17) ∆AIMON – AMEN

∆AIMON – AMEN

16) Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts

Thurston Moore – Orchard Street

15) Screen Vinyl Image – Strange Behavior

Screen Vinyl Image – My Confession

14) The Vera Violets – In Between Fires

The Vera Violets – Down Tonight

13) The Horrors – Skying

The Horrors – Endless Blue

12) Ladytron – Gravity The Seducer

Ladytron – Moon Palace

11) The Antlers – Burst Apart

The Antlers – Every Night My Teeth Are Failing Out

10) Active Child – You Are All I See

Active Child – Shield & Sword

09) I Break Horses – Hearts

I Break Horses – Winter Beats

08) Atlas Sound – Parallax

Atlas Sound – My Angel is Broken

07) Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know

Laura Marling – All My Rage

06) Zola Jesus – Conatus

Zola Jesus – Hikikomori

05) PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

PJ Harvey – In The Dark Places

04) M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

M83 – Raconte-Moi Une Histoire

03) Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi

Anna Calvi – Love Won’t Be Leaving

02) Brief Candles – Fractured Days

 

Brief Candles – The Sentiment

01) Ringo DeathStarr – Colour Trip

In nearly every review, interview, blurb, or blog post post you’ll read about Ringo Deathstarr, you’ll find three common elements.

1. Trio from Austin

They’ve actually gone through a couple lineup changes over the past 5 years, but have mostly stuck to this formula. The creative element is lead vocalist/guitarist Elliott Frazier. After bassist Alex found her way into the band (2007) by apparently just showing up for practice, things have mostly settled down, just finding the right drummer (as of this writing / hopefully “final” – that’s Daniel Coborn).

2. These guys sound like My Bloody Valentine

Drownedinsound put it this way “ If in the meantime you’ve lost your copy of Loveless, you could do far worse than listen to Colour Trip.” Yeah, it’s true. Too bad Loveless

3. The bassist (Alex Gehring) (now going by “galexy”) is so hot

So there, that’s out of the way. If it’s a more recent post you might read about how these kids just toured the UK/Europe with The Smashing Pumpkins. I have to admit kind of hate those dudes, but ultimately it means more exposure for Ringo Deathstarr and so I guess it’s not a bad thing. Moving beyond those tidbits, you get into a the music.

In case you haven’t noticed I don’t do traditional reviews. I leave it to others to finely dissect the record. Instead of telling you how it sounds (just listen for yourself), I offer you how the record felt. Colour Trip hit hard for me. This was probably my favorite record Fever Ray’s 2009 debut, and going back further it would have to be Snowden’s Anti-Anti (2006). Before I totaled my car, this record could very often be heard at extremely high decibels pulsing through the streets of Baltimore weekday evenings. Dark  reverberation and the haunting fuzz draped chanting of Alex form the basis of my song of the year – Two Girls (stream/download below). For the life of me I can’t tell you what the fuck she is saying, but she is saying it just right. Besides being the single most addicting track of 2011, there’s an equally worthy video directed by Alex, which you can also find below. Be forewarned: One might say it’s NSFW.

Ringo Deathstarr- Two Girls

Honorable Mentions [Highly Recommended]

Austra – Feel It Break
Girls – Father Son Holy Ghost
Hunx & His Punx – Too Young To Be In Love
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Radical Face – The Family Tree – The Roots
Shad[]wb[]x – Lady Doome [EP]
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
SBTRKT – SBTRKT
Washed Out – Within & Without

Honorable Mentions [Enjoyed]

Arc In Round – II [EP]
Apparat – The Devil’s Walk
Battles – Gloss Drop
Björk – Biophilia
Big Black Delta – BBDLP1
Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind Of Fix
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Brazzaville – Jetlag Poetry
Chad VanGaalen – Diaper Island
Class Actress – Rapprocher
Com Truise – Galactic Melt
Computers Want Me Dead – Computers Want Me Dead
Cut Copy – Zonoscope
Destroyer – Kaputt
Dolorean – The Unfazed
Ducktails III – Arcade Dynamics
East River Pipe – We Live in Rented Rooms
Echo Orbiter – More Batteries
Feist – Metals
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Grimes & d’Eon – Darkbloom [split ep]
Haley Bonar – Golder
Haujobb – New World March
Hercules & Love Affair – Blue Songs
High Places – Original Colors
IAMX – Volatile Times
Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
LAKE R▲DIO – Delta
Little Insects – Brighter Than Darkness
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – On Welfare
Lumerians – Transmalinnia
Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
Malajube – La Caverne
Morpheme – Infection
Niva – Feverish Dreams [EP]
Mogwai – Earth Division [EP]
Music for Headphones – Life.in.Mono
Niva – Feverish Dreams [EP]
ohGr – Undeveloped
Passwords – Passwords
Phantogram – Nightlife [EP]
Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t – Lost in the Pancakes
Prefuse 73 – The Only She Chapters
Rachel Goodrich – Rachel Goodrich
Seapony – Go With Me
Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
Starfucker – Reptilians
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Mirror Traffic
Stevie Nicks – In Your Dreams
Stumbleine – All for your smile
Taken By Cars – Dualist
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
The Rosebuds – Loud Planes Fly Low
The Sea and Cake – The Moonlight Butterfly
Tropic of Cancer – The End of All Things
TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light
Tycho – Dive
Ume – Phantoms
Vondelpark – nyc stuff and nyc bags [EP]
Wagon Christ – Toomorrow
Warm Ghost – Uncut Diamond EP
Wooden Shjips – West
Woodsman – Mystic Places
Wire – Red Barked Tree
Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting
Yuck – Yuck
††† – † EP

- breathmint

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #9. The Black Keys – El Camino

Published by almostaghost on December 24, 2011 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments
The Black Keys - El Camino

they wanna get my gold on the ceiling

The Black Keys, somewhat surprisingly, are quite adept at evolving their sound. I say ‘surprisingly’ because at their core they’ve always been a two-man electric blues group (drums and electric guitar). Their first few albums explored this, leading up to the dirty blues riffs of Rubber Factory. They had mastered building atmosphere out of their swirling sound of ferocious riffs and powerful drumming.

After Rubber Factory, they started exploring. Attack & Release was produced by famous indie hiphop producer Danger Mouse, who added bits of soul music to their sound, and even other instruments sometimes. Maybe The Keys weren’t just a blues group, but a retro group. Their next album, Brothers, was not produced by Danger Mouse, but was still a big success. These were very good records, but to me, both lacked the ferociousness of Rubber Factory. I bring this up not to criticize, but to compare: El Camino ecstatically brings that ferociousness back again.

This was immediately evident in the first moments, a nasty feedback-drenched riff that kicks off “Lonely Boy,” with explosive touches of keyboards, horns, background singers. The lyrics are standard blues: “I got a love that keeps me waiting,” but the impatient music undercuts that. The pounding drums of “Dead And Gone” come next and it is clear that this album will not relent. “I’ll go anywhere you go!” Dan Auerbach sings, and you know he will. El Camino has more memorable sing-along choruses than any other album this year, that’s for sure.

“Gold On The Ceiling” is another entirely nasty riff, enhanced by Danger Mouse’s electronic keyboards. Danger Mouse was actually a third member of The Black Keys, co-writing the songs on El Camino with them, as opposed to merely producing. Instead of just rawness, the three of them work to get the drama and sounds and moments just right. “Little Black Submarines” exemplifies this, beginning as a gorgeous acoustic track. It feels like a much-needed calm moment after the first three tracks, but that doesn’t last too long. It soon explodes like the rest of the songs: “Everybody knows that a broken heart is blind.” Even if these songs are less bluesy, per se, they still roar the blues as much as anything The Black Keys have ever done.

I could keep going on like this through the entire record, but by now the template is well-established, and the second half stays on track. In the same way Rubber Factory was a culmination of their blues rock trips, El Camino perfects their more recent retro soul rock blasts.

The Black Keys “Little Black Submarines”

The Black Keys “Gold On The Ceiling”

(also if you’d like, you can listen to all my 20 faves here on Spotify) (except The Black Keys…they decided not to let El Camino be streamable there)

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #10. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up

Published by almostaghost on December 23, 2011 in almostaghost and review. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

I can't explain it with words / I have to do it

Black Up
“Free Press And Curl”
atmosphere
spooky
free
infinitum
hypnotic
dark
YOU
felt
glacial
“it’s a feeling”
patient
Digable Planets
shifts
rap
Nubis
trippy
minimal
chant
Youlogy
awkward
smart
ice
cool like dat
endeavors
jazzy
collage
space out
atypical
smooth
creative
odd
“Yeah You”
music capers
postulate
swerve
Shabazz
Palaces

- almostaghost

AlmostAGhost’s Best Albums Of 2011 – #11. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Published by almostaghost on December 22, 2011 in almostaghost and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

In that dream I could hardly contain it / All my life I will wait to attain it

As I wrote about St. Vincent a few days ago, the songs on Helplessness Blues are extremely adaptable – everyone might get something different out of them. Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes’ songwriter) embraces this adaptability with such beauty and craft, yet also providing an intricate mystery, that you cannot help but be left wondering, what are these songs?

I do not necessarily have a concrete explanation to that question, but certain things are woven in, continually hinted at, embedded in the songs. As the title indicates, Helplessness Blues does explore the feeling of longing for something unattainable. On the title track, he explains: “If I know only one thing it’s that everything I see of the world is so inconceivable I barely can speak / I’ll come back to you someday soon myself.” That’s the helplessness part, the inconceivable. Yet from within it he find some hope to pull him out, to latch on to.

Simlarly, in “Bedouin Dress,” Pecknold longs “just to be at Innisfree again,” a simple dream of being elsewhere. This dream is symbolized later in the song, when “in the street one day I saw you among the crowd / In a geometric patterned dress / gleaming white just as I recall / Old as I get I will never forget it all.” Wherever he is, dreaming about Innisfree, he found this hopefulness in a crowd.

This all is just the grand view of helplessness. More intricately, Pecknold drops hints of being a soldier, nature, existentialism. He does not go deep into documenting the terrors of war, instead using it as a metaphor of the blues. “Montezuma” for instance is mostly existential wondering, but right that end he drops the reference: “Oh man what I used to be / Montezuma to Tripoli.” “Bedouin Dress” from its title only seems to indicate he is on some foreign shore, for some reason. Far away, longing to return. As you can see from these examples, the military stuff is very slight, and that’s what I mean by Pecknold writing so intricately. He drops just enough for things to perhaps be seen if you’re looking; and even if you don’t see it, it adds mystery and depths to the feelings.

The music is also intricate and beautiful. Perfect acoustic guitars roll into gorgeous and chilling vocal harmonies and melodies, in almost every song. “Sim Sala Bim” begins calmly, and slowly mutates into some intensity. “Battery Kinzie” has more rhythm, “Someone You’d Admire” is of that famous “Fourth Time Around”/”Norwegian Wood” tempo. While the songs share parts, they are diverse enough in sound so as not to get repetitive or desolate. Fleet Foxes have perfected their style so that it draws you in, so that you can’t help but want to explore the helplessness blues.

Fleet Foxes “Sim Sala Bim”

Fleet Foxes “Bedouin Dress”

- almostaghost