In absolutely no order:
Cansei de Ser Sexy (literally 'I got tired of being sexy') is dance rock perfection from Brazil. The show at First Ave was a physical dance endurance test for me, shaking my money-maker to The Go Team for an hour and then doing all over again for CSS. (Probably kind of a sad sight, but I enjoyed myself.) Infectious music good for any party.
I spent over a month listening to this album and this album alone. Saturdays = Youth is as atmospheric as any other M83 album, but is infused with irresistible melodic 80s pop sound that is soooo dreamy.
Where is Santogold! When will she come to Minneapolis? Santogold just came out of nowhere with Radio K playing "L.E.S. Artists" and "Unstoppable" months before the actual full length came out. And with good reason. Santogold's image might scream underground New York artist, but her music is pure glorious pop. The fact that Diplo released a Santogold remix album, "Top Ranking," meant that I could hear all these songs that I loved (and more) in a new version.
This nine piece from Michigan is one part Fela Kuti and one part Aphex Twin, sometimes leaning toward a horn heavy sound and sometimes leaning toward a effervescent electronic sound.
This band just keeps getting louder and rowdier. "Super Soaked" never fails to super-charge my jog into an all out run. "Get Awkward" is Be Your Own Pet's second album - owning both means twice the fun. Punk lives in this loud, fun music. Zombie Graveyard Party!
The Black Mountain show was the most purple haze I have seen for some time. Of course half of that was the City Pages pumping them up as stoner music with a glorious Sabbath sound, and although that is true, "In the Future" has so much more to offer than that. First there is Amber Webber's warbling ethereally vocals, nicely contrasting with Stephen McBean's growling Damon Alban-like voice. And second, it may sound like the 70s, but it is 2008 (or at this point 2009, but you know what I'm saying.) The beauty of Black Mountain is that they are making this big riff, super-sonic rock-n-roll now.
I challenge anyone to find four guys that can harmonize better than Fleet Foxes. These songs are so achingly beautiful, that the lyrics are simply an added bonus of earthy sweetness. If that weren't enough, these guys are really funny and smart. Look, they even have a Bruegel painting for their cover art.
Two people standing behind a couple laptops making music may be passe, but High Places is livelier than most in this genre. Their bubbly mechanical pop is lifted by lead singer Mary Pearson's high, child-like voice. It's pretty enchanting music that will have kids and adults bouncing in their chairs.
Marnie Stern - "This Is It and I am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and That Is That"Ponytail produces solid experimental rock lightened by Molly Siegel's unexplainable vocals. Is she speaking English? Or a foreign language? Or her own personal language? Does it really matter? Not really. It only matters that I want to trill and scream and 'wooop!' along with her. Ponytail rips through songs much like Deerhoof, only Deerhoof turned in one of the most tired sounding albums of the year and Ponytail turned in one of the freshest.
One might think that a ten year hiatus might water down Portihead's sound. Quite the contrary, Portishead seems to have honed their melancholic electro-drone to some sort of perfection that is something more subversive than just sounding creepy.
Elbow is Brit pop wonderment that seems like it could explode onto the popular scene at any second. (Or maybe they have, but my head is so buried, I didn't notice.)
What shall I compare "Eat the Low Dogs" to? Monster Magnet? Mudhoney? Pink Floyd? Or some combination of the three and some other stuff? It's a loud, hard hitting album that is equally spacey and psychedelic. There are so many fuzzy layers to these songs, you feel like you could just dive in. Hailing from the mountains of North Carolina, its the perfect music for that setting. In the modern day Deliverance, these dudes will be standing on the bridge howling at you. The ten minute elegy "Silent Tongue" is a force to be reckoned with.
I'm content to have James Lavelle remix Vivaldi or remix his remix on Vivaldi. I love both of these releases.
Honorably Mentionable
Tricky - "Knowle West Boy"
Terry Lynn - "Kingstonlogic 2.0"
Abe Vigoda – "Skeleton"
TV on the Radio - "Dear Science"
Dengue Fever - "Venus On Earth"
Hot Chip - "Made in the Dark"
Sian Alice Group – "59.59"
Ocrilim - "Annwn"
7 comments:
OK, first here's your pat on the back! What are sisters for, eh? Now why am I not surprised that I have only heard of two artists in your list? You have such an eclictic taste in music, always have, even since you were in high school. But I love it. You've turned me onto more cool music than anyone else I know. I have seen Santogold gracing many a "best of" list this year...going to have to look into her!
Pat on the back? No high five?!You should totally check out Santogold; she is awesome. You should also check out Elbow - the lead singer sounds just like Peter Gabriel.
I got about a hundred dollars worth of iTunes for Xmas, so I am well-armed to load myself up on cool music. I will check out both of them.
High five, pat on the back, its all good! You can tell I check blogs at the crack of dawn...
Kathie, consider yourself the person responsible for turning me on to Santogold way back in the spring when you highlighted her album in your sidebar. She'll end up in my movie/music soundtrack year-end list as well.
I've heard a lot about Fleet Foxes. Maybe it's finally time to check them out.
Wow. And here I thought no one checked out my sidebar! I was/am pretty bad about updating, so I got rid of the Listing and Reading sidebar items. But my blog is due for some work, maybe I will put them bad in.
I actually saw Santogold on a Converse ad (before a movie no less.)
Speaking of ads before movies, something, that I'm sure you have seen Daniel, is the Lincoln ad they are playing at Landmark with Cat Power covering "Space Oddity." It's an awesome cover, at least what we are allotted for the 30 seconds. I can't find it for the life of me. Maybe it is only installed in the new Lincolns.
Sadly, Santogold has made her mark on plenty of ads since that Converse one (which I haven't seen), hasn't she? Everything from Ford to Bud Light. Ugh.
And I definitely do know the cover you're talking about from the ad, though I think I've actually seen it on TV more so than the theater. I don't know, in the last decade of internet technology somebody still hasn't come up with a functional website for exactly this purpose - "what's that song from that one commercial"?
Oh man, Ford and Bud Light? That's more painful than the bailout. I am blissfully ignorant of what goes on on TV.
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