I mentioned in my best of 2009 list that Air could make the same music for the next 10 years and I'd still be interested. I think part of the reason I said that is because I am still hopeful that they will release something as classic as 2004's "Talkie Walkie". To be quite frank it's because of this album that I still listen to Air at all, nothing else they have done comes close to it. The album's acoustic guitar and piano driven songs are perfectly mixed with soft pad synths and vocals. There is also something about the music that stirs up nostalgic feelings from around that time; nothing particularly memorable or noteworthy but nevertheless there (if that makes sense). "Talkie Walkie" starts off nicely but it isn't until third and fourth tracks "Run" and "Universal Traveler" that the album really starts to take off. "Run" is perhaps the best song Air have ever made with it's almost hypnotic chorus and little squelching synth hits. I can almost guarantee you that you will be whistling along to "Alpha Beta Gaga" by the second or third playing; it's beyond infectious. Many people will probably recognize final track "Alone in Kyoto" from the movie "Lost in Translation". It's up there with "Run" in terms of quality; the chorus consists of a looped backing of "boops" and a "do" followed by a single xylophone note. Minimal but effective.
On a side note, that album cover has to be one of the worst ever. Agreed?
Standout tracks: Run, Universal Traveler, Surfing on a Rocket, Alpha Beta Gaga, Alone in Kyoto
Add this to the ever growing list of albums that are reviewed as "shit" or "not worth hearing" (or as Pitchfork would tell you to "listen to Animal Collective instead") yet I find amazing. Such is music. My Morning Jacket have released good albums in the past, like the highly reviewed "At Dawn", but it wasn't until "Evil Urges" that I became truly interested. With this album, My Morning Jacket found their true identity which is something they struggled with in the past. "At Dawn" is a nice enough listen, it just sounded to me like they were trying too hard whilst "Z", their album previous to "Evil Urges", was close to attaining that sound but was just a little bit too scatterbrain. This album saw contributions from other band members on backing vocals which was perhaps the key to it all. "Highly Suspicious" is a good example, the backing vocals make the song, and it's the type of sound the band would've never achieved without those contributions. Which brings me to the crème de la crème of the album, fourth track "I'm Amazed", one of my favorite ever rock songs. A great chorus, shredding guitar solo and fantastic vocals from Jim James make it an instant classic. The following track, "Thank You Too", is one of the finer moments on the album as well as it showcases Jim James' lyrical prowess. "Smokin' From Shootin'" begins the massive ending of the album with a bang (ha!) before smoothly transitioning into the second part of "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream", an eight minute behemoth (my new word instead of "epic"). Keep an eye out for live shows as well, they are not to be missed (so I've heard). Fingers crossed that they have a new album in 2010 and then a tour. Please, let it be so.
Standout tracks: Touch Me I'm Going to Scream (Part 1 & 2), I'm Amazed, Thank You Too, Librarian, Smokin' From Shootin'
This album is a behemoth. The overuse of the word epic nowadays has diluted it's meaning and rendered it useless as a descriptive word for an album of such magnitude. As I come back to it now for this post, I find comfort in the familiarity of the music; it is a trait that all classic albums have. The opening crash of "Dónde Está la Playa" immediately brings me back to the first time I heard the album and stirs up memories of the live show that has had such a lasting impression on me. The band as a whole have a unique sound, their preference of vintage instruments makes them "old" yet at the same time refreshing. Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser has one of the more unique voices in music. When I saw him live I couldn't help but think he looked like he was in pain, his yell/sing is amazing. As far as songs on the album go, "On the Water" is one of my favorites; the whistling at the end gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. "In the New Year" showcases that yell/sing I was talking about and the opening guitar bit is classic. Quieter moments such as "Red Moon" and "Long Time Ahead of Us" are reminiscent of the early works of Leonard Cohen, which comes as no surprise as The Walkmen have covered him in the past. Taken as a whole "You & Me" never meanders, never strays, it stays it's course, and it's a ride I will continue to take for many years to come.
Standout tracks: On the Water, In the New Year, Red Moon, Canadian Girl, New Country
The virtual band make their return this March with "Plastic Beach" and, as it has been in the past, the album will feature some interesting guest appearances. Confirmed guests include Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack and Barry Gibb. A collaboration with Barry Gibb is enough to make me want to listen, a strange choice indeed. On the other hand, it couldn't be any stranger than this:
Last week I posted about someone's combination of Zelda music and rap music and it was enjoyable at the time. Only just now I discovered something even better, nay, way way better. Sir Jarlsberg, who is from medieval times, gives accounts of his travels in rap and these tales are enthralling. There is one about his pony, one about his travels to Canterbury and one about a gnome. It really must be heard to be believed but be wary, 'tis infectious, hark thou!
Sorry to mention his name again but Blockhead has a new blog running over here that has some interesting and fairly amusing posts. He has song of the day posts and a particularly hilarious January 13th entry about the various go-getter types he has met. At the very least you need to check it out.
Quick question for y'all: New layout, yay or nay? Leave your comments please.
Too bad, here's another one. I tried my best to include a little bit of everything in this top 10 list so as to keep everyone's interest. The list is in no particular order because I can't say for sure what the definitive album of the year was (if you want to leave your own personal favorites in the comments area feel free to do so). I've said it before and I'll say it again, 2009 was a frustrating year in music so this list took a long time to make. I hope you can appreciate the effort I've put into it.
DMAT Matters' Best of 2009 (Artist - Album - Song)
Blockhead - The Music Scene - It's Raining Clouds When I first heard this album I thought it was amazing and declared it the best of the year. After a few more full listens, my opinion changed a bit. It's not his finest album (Uncle Tony's Coloring Book is still his best) but in this song and a couple others, "Four Walls" and "Farewell Spaceman" in particular, he shows flashes of brilliance not found in his earlier work. When the samples mesh as they do in these songs, you don't even notice that you're listening to a sample based song. Few hip-hop producers are as masterful as Blockhead.
Moderat - S/T - Rusty Nails This album found it's way onto numerous year end lists on several different websites and for good reason. Moderat is a collaboration between German electronic outfits Modeselektor and Apparat and their debut took seven years to be released after their initial EP in 2002. The album gets off to a quick start with the opening two tracks, "A New Error" and "Rusty Nails", being it's best moments. That said, the album does need to be listened to as a whole, you can only truly appreciate it once you hear the songs flow into one another.
Clark - Totems Flare - Future Daniel For me, no other song has been played as much as this one in the last few months. Sometimes you just come across a song that resonates so strongly with you that it almost feels as if it was made for you and you only. Everything about the song is perfect, really. The rest of the album isn't half bad either, Clark's implementation of his own vocals on a few of the tracks was a good idea this time round. "Growl's Garden" is a prime example; an already evil sounding song is enhanced by the deep tones of his voice. My only gripe would be that every song is compressed so much so that the album can at times be unlistenable (don't listen to it if you have a headache).
Nosaj Thing - Drift - Coat of Arms This Californian dude crafted one of the more unique albums I heard all year, instrumental hip-hop or otherwise. The mood and atmosphere it creates makes it a bit of an anomaly in a genre that usually suffers from repetitiveness and unoriginality. Song names are perfectly matched to the music i.e. "Caves" is dark and stifling and "Lords" has an air of majesty about it. Like "Lords", "Coat of Arms" uses choir voices to accent it's mood and stuttering beat. An unusual album but one that I will listen to for years to come.
Delany - Blaze and Ashes - Web Over London Multiple classic tunes from a virtually unknown band, who would of thought? Indeed it has been the year of the underdog, Delany and Heart of Cygnus (still to come) both being perfect examples. "Blaze and Ashes" is a collaborative album and it features a few different vocalists throughout. The female vocalist sounds like the sisters from "Heart" and her first song on the album, "Love Tears", sounds like it could've been an offering from that very band. That said, it's the male vocalists that steal the show for "Delany". "Web Over London" is a shredding ballad and "Planets Turn" channels Rage Against the Machine and other like bands of the '90s. Instant classic.
The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead - Interrupted The sophomore slump can be a tough thing to avoid, especially if your first work is well received. The Twilight Sad's first album was undoubtedly a breath of fresh air in the alternative music scene and their second album, though not as good, manages to avoid the slump. "Forget the Night Ahead" still has that great Scottish tinge to it that so many (myself included) loved about their debut, and it's enough to keep me interested. Perhaps by album number three the novelty will have worn off, but, for now, The Twilight Sad are one of my favorite bands. *No video available on YouTube
Air - Love 2 - You Can Tell It To Everybody Two words: Guilty pleasure. I've always liked Air and they can continue to churn out the same music for the next 10 years and I'll still be interested. Indie, French pop, whatever you want to call it, they've got it down to a science.
Ronald Jenkees - Disorganized Fun - Stay Crunchy Self-taught piano playing nerd who made an album of keyboard solos. The album literally is as the name describes it to be: disorganized fun. It seems every year I find one album that is just a bunch of really good songs thrown together with no real flow or theme or anything to it. His YouTube videos are a little bit strange but his enthusiasm is infectious and it always makes me smile to watch him groove to his songs. I really could've picked any track from the album and been satisfied with it on this list, that's how good it is.
Heart of Cygnus - Tales From Outer Space! - In The Days of Galactic Alliance American two-piece that released two fantastic albums in 2009. Both are concept albums: "Over Mountain, Under Hill" is based on JRR Tolkien's work and "Tales From Outer Space!" is a short but sweet album chronicling tales of space travel. The latter is my personal favorite of the two and is probably in the top three of this year. Queen mixed with Iron Maiden best describes the groups overall sound and "In the Days of Galactic Alliance" illustrates this perfectly. Get to know and follow Heart of Cygnus because although they're pretty much unknown at the moment, I foresee them being big in the near future.
Futures End - Memoirs of a Broken Man - Remembering Tomorrow It is only because of a follower of this blog that I know of Futures End, so to keep it interesting around here, I'm going to leave it up to him to provide a short review of the album in the comments section. You know who you are, do it.
This is a very simple concept: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time + rap music = The Ocarina of Rhyme. If you've played the game, this will make sense to you. Yay nerds.
Well, sort of. I came across this earlier today and thought it was a cool idea. Click here to be taken to a page that contains 20 different YouTube videos with each video containing footage of a different instrument being played. It's self explanatory and the possibilities are endless (once again, sort of).
I mentioned in my best of 2009 list that Air could make the same music for the next 10 years and I'd still be interested. I think part of the reason I said that is because I am still hopeful that they will release something as classic as 2004's "Talkie Walkie". To be quite frank it's because of this album that I still listen to Air at all, nothing else they have done comes close to it. The album's acoustic guitar and piano driven songs are perfectly mixed with soft pad synths and vocals. There is also something about the music that stirs up nostalgic feelings from around that time; nothing particularly memorable or noteworthy but nevertheless there (if that makes sense). "Talkie Walkie" starts off nicely but it isn't until third and fourth tracks "Run" and "Universal Traveler" that the album really starts to take off. "Run" is perhaps the best song Air have ever made with it's almost hypnotic chorus and little squelching synth hits. I can almost guarantee you that you will be whistling along to "Alpha Beta Gaga" by the second or third playing; it's beyond infectious. Many people will probably recognize final track "Alone in Kyoto" from the movie "Lost in Translation". It's up there with "Run" in terms of quality; the chorus consists of a looped backing of "boops" and a "do" followed by a single xylophone note. Minimal but effective.
