xiu xiu

i've been listening to the new xiu xiu album, which i think is quite good. though i'm not crazy about the cover of under pressure. xiu xiu is generally seen as 'difficult' music - or perhaps 'uncomfortable' - but what i find fascinating about xiu xiu is when they speed things up a bit and produce utterly brilliant pop songs. not in the conventional sense of pop maybe but i just go weak in the knees when i hear those brass-synths on 'oh no friend' and the guitar bits on 'boy soprano' are nearly as effective as those on unwound's corpse pose. below, those couple of songs plus some more 'upbeat' xiu xiu, including a couple of covers, topped off with unwound.

a few new ones

exciting new releases from cadence weapon, sons and daughters, duke spirit, destroyer, earth, blood on the wall, lightspeed champion (last year's best pop song?), beach house and radar boys. plus a couple of older track by thee more shallows, beach house and baby dee.

2007

keeping with tradition i deliver my best of the year list late... but only b/c i have given a lot of thought to it. really. overall i thought 2007 was a pretty shitty year for music. but what can you expect in a year when bruce springsteen has all of sudden become cool? and everything is too damn nice and cute. when the hell did people stop being angry and taking it out on their instruments? i miss music that has an element of danger. or just sounds like people care. at any rate, there were a few exceptions. the list below is undoubtedly incomplete so i do mention some of the albums you might expect to be on my list - like everyone else's - but that i just didn't care for. besides, what is the point of having a blog if you can't complain about how everyone else got it wrong...

On top

Shocking Pinks - st
what a horrible fucking band name. that and the fact that the album was on dfa led me to expect some horrible shit but thankfully i did get the album a try. and granted it took a few spins before i started to appreciate the album. among all the shoegaze revivalists this album really stands out - probably because it was less obsessed with the wall of sound and more concerned with writing songs. + i'm a sucker for the lo-fi sound on the record.

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks
big business was a breath of fresh air in year of wimpy music. loud and over-the-top in the best possible way.

Up there


31 Knots - The Days and Nights of Everything Anywhere
31 knots never really stood a chance in 2007. they didn't have the right sound for 2007, they were somehow uncool and pitchforkmedia hated them. all of which combines to make them very cool in my book. nifty pop songs packed in those difficult-to-open plastic thingies. reminds me equally of man man and the detachment kit.

Venetian Snares - My Downfall (OST)

Funk returns with the genetic follow-up to his album with the hungarian name. my downfall, like its predecessor, succeeds in marrying classic(ally sounding) strings with some drum and bass. of course, there is no reason why this should ever work (except that aphex twins demonstrated it a while back) but it does. And, actually, the album is fairly light on the drums and bass, and as a result it is not miles away from max richter - at least in term of spirit.

Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
i was a bit surprised not to see this on more end of the year lists - perhaps b/c it came out so early in the year? at any rate, up there with the best that deerhoof has done.

Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
the guy from wolf parade is still doing alright...

Liars - Liars

liars have always been more interesting on paper than in reality but i think this album changed that for me. they are still not quite easy listening but i feel like there is more to the songs than before. and the second half of the album is actually somewhat jamc-like.

Other Men - Wake Up Swimming

other men is one of rob crow's outlets. i wasn't terribly impressed by the album on first listen but it grew on me although i can't possibly explain what i like about it. it's nice...

Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm

yes, the album was a slight disappointment after being exposed to 'every single line means something' but, well, there is just not really anything like it.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
how can an album about breaking up be so much fun and yet sound strangely sincere?

Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
no clue why this is on my list - i just like listening to it

Okkervil River - The Stage Names
what can i say that hasn't already been said?

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
ah, guilty pleasures.... except it really is a pretty damn good pop album.

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

and come to think of it, spoon isn't miles away from the klaxons really. only they were jackets instead of jumpers. i always liked their early pavementesque albums more but with spoon's last couple of album i've grown to like their more 'adult sound' (meaning sounding dangerously close to billy joel).

Blonde Redhead - 23

this wasn't Blonde Redhead's best album by far but it was a nice change in pace and some of the songs sung by one of the twins (e.g., publisher and spring and by summer fall) were just stunning.

almost there

Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
this is what a comeback album should sound like (though dinosaur jr. never really went away) - exactly the same as they used to. sometimes you just want your favorites bands to stay away because a new album can only ruin your memories and your respect for the band. maybe it helps in this case that there were a few dinosaur jr. albums that were subpar. i'm dreading hearing the new my bloody valentine.

Battles - Mirrored
fantastically impressive on some level but, unfortunately it is just not that much fun. yeah, there are fantastic moments (e.g., leyendecker) but sometimes it just gets a bit too prog-rocky for my tastes and being impressed only lasts so long.

not even close
m.i.a. - kala
what the fuck is wrong? how can this be considered one of the better albums of the year? it's s.h.i.t. it's political? who gives a shit? what made m.i.a. an authority on anything? the fact that her father was somehow connected to the Tamil tigers? (who, btw, are sometimes credited with the invention of suicide bombing.) or the fact that she appears unable to formulate a coherent political thought? it just appears like a cheap, but very successful, attempt to buy publicity. and apart from all that the music is just plain annoying.

radiohead - in rainbows
what's the big deal here? this is not a bad album by any means but isn't kinda dull compared to, well, most of radiohead's other albums?

lcd soundsystem - sound of silver
a huge improvement over the last one but i'm still missing the point. well, i did get it when i first listened to the album and i thought it was pretty good but then i just never had the urge to listen to it again. i'll admit that it is pretty good but didn't new order really cover this ground some 20 years ago?

panda bear - person pitch
you pretty much have to like the beach boys to like this and, well, i sure as hell don't.

Marnie Stern

i was listening to marnie stern at gvendarbrunnur.blogspot.com and for some reason it reminded me of helium - one of those criminally neglected bands. so... below there are a couple of helium songs. and yes, ash bowie does some of the guitar so further below there is a polvo song. polvo, as everyone knows, is the second best band the world has seen.

Helium - Superball

HELIUM (starring Mary Timony) - PAT'S TRICK

HELIUM (starring Mary Timony) - HONEYCOMB

Polvo - Vibracobra

when dinosaurs ruled the earth [let's all get faded]

ah, refreshing...

marmoset [missing man]

southeast engine [quit while you're ahead]

hmm!

Venetian Snares - Szamár Madár

bon iver [skinny love]

subtle [deathful]

subtle has a new mini album, yell&ice, out and it is even half as good as last year's for hero: for fool we can all be happy and take a 15 min smoking break. for hero: for fool seems largely to have failed to make the impact that it deserves dispite getting pretty good reviews. it is somewhat understandable b/c subtle really doesn't fit neatly into any category so it sounds a little 'unfamiliar' to most people & it is very easy to discard it as 'not my kind' of music. at any rate, give it a chance & you may very well be happy that you did. if you are not convinced, hey, boeckner (wolf parade), adams (hood), adebimpe (tv on the radio), why? (why?), and acher (notwist) make appearances....

rafter [paper]

rafter is apparently writing a song a week and posting it on asthmatic kitty's website. for how long? well, if every song is going to be this good i hope it goes on forever...

castanets [sway]

castanet's cathedral may be one of this decades' best albums i have decided. it wasn't obvious to me right from the start but it is hard to imagine how it could be improved on. in short, castanet's new album 'in the vines' doesn't improve on cathedral. but it is still a pretty stunning album although i admit to have been thrown off a little by the bonnie 'prince' billy-esque folkiness of some of the tracks. it's not as these elements have been present in castanet's work before but normally they are more deeply hidden in the sonic gloom (whatever the hell that is) that characterizes the previous castanet's albums. but once you have adjusted your expectations it is still a pretty characteristic castanet's album.

above, sway, here, this is the early game

his name is alive [silver makeup ep]

free 4 song ep from his name alive. also out is their new album xmmer.

witch [seer]

j mascis + feathers + one = totally sweet

Patrick Watson [The Great Escape]

pitchforkmedia seems surprised that patrick watson won the canadian polaris prize. i guess i am too... but only because it is probably the album i liked the most out of those eligible. to celebrate, three nice vids from patrick watson.

Patrick Watson [Drifters]