It’s Late. I Am Aware of This. My Ten Favorite Albums of 2008.

2008 was a great year for music. If you keep up with any music blogs at all you have heard that already, and you have seen countless top 10 or 50 lists. If you are anything like me you disagreed strongly with some (PITCHFORK) or just noticed obvious favoritism for bands that website was strongly attached to (Paste). So I am prefacing my top ten list with simple fact. My list is not of the ten “best” albums of the year, simply those which I enjoyed the most, and generally tends to correlate with the number of plays on iTunes or scrobbles from iPod. Nevertheless, here are my top ten favorite albums of 2008.

10. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals

Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals was my (and I think most listener’s) first exposure to Greg Gillis, the Pittsburgh, PA, mashup wizard. I first heard the album in early February and from the first 3 seconds I knew I was in love. If you had read the other stories here on indieBlend you may notice how much I disdain popular rap. The second I heard pop rap over Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park” I knew I would love this album. Indeed I did. The animals is 53:21 of mashup perfection, with Gillis pulling the tiniest pieces of pop history to make the most dance worthy album I have heard in a very long time. In March I will get to see Girl Talk live, which should be amazing, and believe me, it will warrant a story here on indieBlend.

9. Tapes N’ Tapes – Walk It Off

2008 was a great year for alt rock, with releases from The Hold Steady and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; but one of my favorite releases this year was Walk It Off from Tapes N’ Tapes. Pitchfork gave it a poor review (5.9) and I will chalk that review up to their consistent passing off of anything that is popular in the “blogospere” as the reviewer called it. Walk It Off is a wonderfully crafted, catchy, and aureally appealing album. Favorite track: “Hang Em All”.

8. Dr. Dog – Fate

Dr. Dog, on the outside, seems like a one trick pony. We sound like the Beatles and the Band got into a bus crash and the members went with each other and formed a band… is what some may assume Dr. Dog wants to project about their self. However, critics who give them the chance to be enjoyed love them. Yes, their vocal harmonies and southern rock guitar are insipired by the classics like The Band, ELO, and the Beatles, but is that a bad thing? They aren’t a cover band! “The Old Ways” is fantastic and almost all the tracks have their own respective charm. Give it a chance, and you may just fall in love.

7. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrsing

Street Horrsing is an odd album. Mystifyingly beautiful is the incessant synth drone present in about half of the experimental group’s first “full album”. “Ribs Out” is one of the more unique tracks on the album, with reverberating, chilling stutters and calling out over a tribal background. You need patience for Fuck Buttons, as the tracks are generally slowly evolving, yet wonderfully constructed. It’s noisy, it’s loud, but ethereal (and rough at the same time) and pleasing as well.

6. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend has gotten a lot of flak from the “indie” crowd because they can remain loved by those will listen to the usual top 40 trash. Just because a band can cross boundaries and is genuinely talented doesn’t mean they will hurt your “indie music street cred” if you admit to enjoying them. Anyway, Vampire Weekend had some of the most simply crafted, and nearly perfected alterna-pop songs with a Cape Cod rich kid flair ever, which is to be said, the only ones ever. They provide a new perspective on music, some priveleged kids with varied backgrounds and influences, with a genuine love for music, made wonderful music.

5. Beach House – Beach House

Beautiful tales of woe, loss, and love are delivered through a heavy layer of reverberating vocals, organ, and never-to-overbearing drums. The vocals are beautiful and soothing even when weaving tales that are not so happy. This Baltimore duo calmed me down a lot this year. Giving them my fifth favorite album and most soothing album of 2008.

4. She & Him – Volume One

There are several things that contributed to my love of this album. It’s produced by M. (Matt) Ward, one of my favorite musicians. Zooey Deschanel is beautifully spotlighted in her first musical release. I love Zooey Deschanel through her simple association of playing Trillian in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Also, there’s some good music on this album. Composed  almost entirely by Ward himself, the album is viciously retro, which fits Deschanel’s voice well. The lyrics are sincere and meaningful, and fitting since they all sound like 50’s love songs.

3. No Age – Nouns

Noise rock is not easy to make. I have tried. Wait, scratch that, noise rock is really easy to make! But you usually end up sounding like you are trying to make it sound like shit. No Age manages  to produce a lo-fi gritty album without sounding over ambitious in their attempt to sound grungy. All of the high energy songs on Nouns from the well established garage duo work out well, although you may need a bit of an acquired taste to appreciate them. One upside is you don’t need 500 hundred dollar Sennhesier cans to appreciate the album!

2. Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off the Lavender Bridge

Dev is a weird songwriter, to say the absolute least. He writes about being sick in someone’s mouth. It sounds childish at first, but the former noise/dance/rock musician of Test Isicle’s has made a wonderfully complex album, with a plentiful smattering of strings, bluegrass slide guitar, and fine acoustic guitar fun. While the lyrics are unorthodox, there is still an obvious emotional set obvious. The album is catchy, playful, and downright pleasing to listen to. Midnight Surprise is a 9:55 epic that evolves majestically and shows a lot of promise for Dev’s future ambitions, whether they are with a group or solo. The album wasn’t critically acclaimed for the most part, but I certainly loved it.

1. Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping

I did not think I would like Skeletal Lamping so much when I heard Kevin Barnes had oriented it around Georgie Fruit, the black she-male writing persona Barnes had taken on for Skeletal Lamping (much like whatever Ziggy Stardust was for David Bowie). The album is extremely sex oriented, I cannot stress that enough, ever. The album is so incredibly ADD and hilariously fun that you can’t help but like it. Barnes had planned to release the album as a huge mixtape like album and not each bother with splitting up the tracks. But obviously, Barnes has way too much fun with naming songs (Triphallus, to Puncuate! and Beware our Nubile Miscreants are some good examples). Barnes recorded almost the entire album by himself and it really shows a bit of insight into his mind, it’s an eerily fun place it seems. The musical landscapes are shifting like some sugar rushing acid trip. The album is so divinely unique (even for Of Montreal) that I couldn’t resist putting it at number one. Also, I listened to “Gallery Piece” about 90 times.
Thanks for reading, I’ll be writing more often now that Christmas and New Year’s are past. See you around!

The Collective Impresses

If you are a rabid fan, you may have heard, but two songs were recently leaked off of the closely guarded Animal Collective 2009 release, Merriweather Post Pavilion. They were taken down almost immediately, but they have been absorbed into the web much too quickly.

First off is Brothersport:

Next is my personal favorite, My Girls:

I can not wait for the new album. These two tracks have been awesome already. As for the leaks… just use your internet intuition (cough*google*cough) and you will find them.

Edit: Shh… http://tinyurl.com/62qzcv

Band in Review (and other assorted comments): Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian

It’s hard to find bands with such wonderful consistency as the Scottish group Belle and Sebastian. Founded in 1996, they garnered lots of popularity throughout the late nineties due to their slick sound and the beautiful, balladic touching lyrics delivered by Stuart Murdoch. They recorded their first album in 1996 at Stow College, whose music professor was so impressed by their singles that he allowed them to record a whole album, Tigermilk, on their college label, Electric Honey. Only 1000 copies were pressed into vinyl, and now sell upwards of 600 dollars on eBay and the like.
Next, they joined Jeepster Records and recorded their most critically acclaimed album, If You’re Feeling Sinister, which would go on to be named one the best 100 albums between 1985 and 2005 (Spin Magazine).
The band released several more critically acclaimed albums over the next 8 years, notably Dear Catastrophe Waitress, which had several songs used in the unduly indie flick Juno.
In 2006, the band released The Life Pursuit, which is my personal favorite album to date, if only due to how much it varies in genre and pacing. But of course, their generally upbeat nineties alt-rock guitar and organ are present throughout. One of the highlights is “Sukie in the Graveyard” which contains a fantastic organ chord progression, tells the story an odd hipster girl who hangs out in a graveyard, no less, and meets a guy in the attic of the sculpture building at an art school. “Song for Sunshine” is a perfect example of the genre shift, with elements of funk, laced with beautiful harmonies.  On a more technical review, I am moreso impressed by and drawn to their recording style, which somewhat reflects the sound I strive to achieve when I record my own music. Slightly reverberated vocals to add depth, clean guitar, super crisp drums, and dry synth create an aurally pleasant album.
Much more recently, I picked up their compilation of songs recorded at the BBC studios, The BBC Sessions, which is a nice collection of previously unreleased songs. Unfortunately, Belle and Sebastian are currently on hiatus and do not plan on releasing on any more studio albums, but only time will tell.

On a side note, today I visited one of the premiere record stores in the country today, Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas. It is home to many unique vinyl records, some of which I picked up, like Modeselektor’s Happy Birthday Remixes, Aphex Twin’s Analord, and Atmosphere’s When Life Gives You Lemons, You Better Paint That Shit Gold (with really, really awesome yellow pressed vinyl), all of these are fantastic albums as well. If you are ever in Austin, Texas and you have the slightest interest in music, I recommend you visit. It’s adjacent from the enormous Whole Foods, a place I could write an entirely separate blog about.

Furr

I recently discovered the Portland experimental folk band Blitzen Trapper, whose newest album Furr just released. I am really enjoying it so far, and I think you should pick it some time if you like folk music, or the likes of Dr. Dog; you will definitely enjoy it.

I have a new chiptune band with another local artist Josh Kaplan, Cash$Duke, and we are planning to have several shows in Tallahassee within the month of December. Check us out MySpace and on Facebook for the future showdates!

Music from the soul. What music means to me. What does it mean to you?

Self expression is not easy. It is a challenge to most people to be able to fluidly spill their emotions onto paper, whether it be in picture form, simple semantics, or in musical notes and vocals. All my life I have appreciated the emotion and passion that goes into music and how it can psycologically affect us all. Music for me is not just a hobby or fun time consuming extended project, but a way for me to put a piece of me, a piece of my soul into the aether. You can view the undercurrent of emotions I experience in my music. With my earliest written lyrics anti-establishment, then evolving into love songs, and back into pessimistic apocalyptic ballads. All corresponding to real events in my life, or viewpoints I took on.

As for instrumentals, I have always loved unorthodox sounds. The accordion, for example, is something I have always adored. It holds a character not many other instruments can. For the longest time is has been confined to polka bands and Weird Al Yankovic. But after digging into my Polish and Czech heritage and finding out how awesome the instrument really is, I began to use it for my music.

There is no bound to what I can express with my music, and without it, I would not be a complete person.

My challenge to other musician bloggers out there, do this same thing, express how you feel about music and what inspires you to create it in the comments back on Digg. I would love to see what my peers are driven by. Cheers!

TheSixtyOne Spotlight: Stephanie Nilles

Stephanie Nilles

I’ve been a member of TheSixtyOne.com only for about 3 1/2 months under several different artist users and I have found many, many artists that really impress me that I would not have found had I not searched through the wonderful site. For the uninitiated, TheSixtyOne is a user controlled site that is in essence, Digg for music, but with an achievement and point basis. Users ‘bump’ songs that they like and they make the front page if they receive enough bumps.

Anyway, most recently I found the singer Stephanie Nilles. Now, generally her upbeat, jazzy music is not something I would not usually get into, however, I was absolutely hooked after hearing her wonderful witty lyrics and jumpy jazz piano (note: She is an INCREDIBLE jazz pianist); timed with her high pitched, incredibly ranged voice, makes for a really fun listening experience.

Her lyrics are real, not cliche in any sort of way and incredibly sincere. This all combines into one of my favorite new(found) artists so far this year. If you are in New York City (or anywhere in the Northeast or hell, the south pole) check out her MySpace.

Favorite Songs:

“Jump Monk/A Constellation of Endeavors”

“Kool Aid Stand”

Stephanie on TheSixtyOne

Podcast Coming Soon!

Coming very soon, a full 30 minute podcast filled with reviews and all kinds of stuff. Also I’ll actually play some of the music I recommend. Look for an episode to come out every Monday!

So About This Whole Rap Thing…

One thing I hear very often from those who believe they are of the musical taste elite, are the preaching against rap and why it is horrible repetitive music. This outburst is usually caused by a Sigur Rós deficiency or just a lack of hyper-alternative street cred flowing through the music connoiseur. In all reality, rap is just as multi-faceted as alternative rock or any musical genre. You just have to know where to look, and your “HOT 104.9FM” is not the place to look.

Good rap comes infrequently in the pop world. But more recently Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and T.I. have released legitimately good albums that are very mainstream.

The poor quality rap that I may ever refer to is known as crunk, or even the dance rap, such as the Soulja Boy Tell’em song “Crank Dat”. A horrible amalgamation of completely fabricated sounds is all these sub-genres are. The rhymes are extremely simple. The rapper is in essence a one hit wonder. There are no lessons, no poetry, no soul. Just, “YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU”. Don’t even get me started on the incessant use of Autotune. It sounds bad. It doesn’t sound kitschy and unique. NO. It’s sounds like a fraud, like the man in the recording studio should be getting a hell of a lot more money than the fake “artist” who uses it.

So, here are two artists you need to listen to become educated on real rap; rap that reaches back to its roots; has a meaning (besides how one club goer likes when the shorty bends over, and such actions); tell’s a story; or actually (I may sound mad) contains real live recorded instruments. :O

Atmosphere – This Minneapolis hip-hop duo was first introduced to me by a friend who actually moved to my hometown from Minnesota. They combine insanely well crafted rhymes and lyrics to send an overall positive message and/or tell a story of hardships in the city. The beats are well crafted and also many of the songs are performed with real instruments. Slug is possibly one of the most vocally gifted rappers, his enunciation and diction are both impeccable. Yes, that is the lamest thing ever said about rap but still, it makes it so much more enjoyable to listen to.

Great Songs – “Lovelife” not one of the most famous, by far, but the first one I got hooked on. Strong beat with a great rap. Also “In Her Music Box” the story from the point of view of a little girl who’s father seems to be a drug dealer, but tries to be the best father possible.

Buck 65 - A Canadian rapper who melodically drawls through his greatly varying songs, some sounds like demonic beat poetry with an incredible consistent beautiful tone. I greatly enjoyed the entire album Secret House Against the World. He incorporates blues, folk, and country into his music, which leads to comparisons to Beck and even Tom Waits. It is rap. It’s certainly not anything else.

Great Songs – “Blood of a Young Wolf” “Surrender to Strangeness”

What Do I Use?

I am a self professed audiophile. It’s a sickness but nice sounding things make me happy, that’s why I like good music. I’ve been asked many times to give advice on headphones, speakers, etc. So here are my favorite audio items:

Headphones: Sennheiser HD485

Sennheiser 485

I purchased these headphones in Europe for around 99€ but they can be had on Amazon for less than $99. The bass is impeccable in them and they have overall perfect sound. The only downside is they are very audible if you are not the one listening to them, now this is bad for use in public because no one wants to hear your music, even if it is of good taste. But get them for home, music production, or anywhere people won’t get annoyed. Also, the cord is ludicrously long, but this is a small problem. Who jogs with cans on?

Earbuds: V-Moda Vibe Duo

V-Moda Vibe Duo

I am horrible with earbuds, I lose them, they get tangled, and overall bad things happen to them. Until I purchased an iPhone on launch day of last year, I really never needed anything great. I bought these on the day of the launch to accompany my new phone, and I didn’t expect them to be wonderful, just nice looking. It turned out, they were the best earbuds or in ear headphones (whatever you call these) I had ever owned, and believe me, I have been through many a pair of uncomfortable Shures (no offense to Shure, just they don’t agree with my ears). Clear, deep, powerful bass for earbuds, almost shocking at first. Crisp acoustics, overall very nice and good build quality, too. They were around $99 at the time I bought them, but they have gone down since.

Desktop Speakers: Klipsch Groove PM20

Klipsch Groove PM20

For my desktop speakers I needed something high quality, decent looking, and something that has a respectable brand. These delivered.

P.S. Click any of the product pics to take you to Amazon or their product page!

Perfect 10’s: Kill the Moonlight by Spoon

Kill the Moonlight

I first found the 2002 album for the first time in my local record store Vinyl Fever. I had been a Spoon fan from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and the occasional song from Gimme Fiction, but my adoration of Spoon stopped there. Until, that is, I chose the vinyl version and proceeded to the cash register to check out.

It happened to be National Record Store Day and I received three free sample records, which was great timing, seeing as I had just recently purchased a new turntable.

I took it home and removed it from its dust jacket. Placed in on the turntable and sent it spinning. What would follow would be 34 minutes and 50 seconds of minimalist, alt rock wonderment. This was heaven.

The opening track “Small Stakes” begins with a rhythmic bass drum pounding into the onset of what sounds like a distorted organ and eventually tromping piano, this plus Britt Daniel’s voice and little else makes for a wonderful opener to an intelligent simple album.

“The Way We Get By” was featured on The OC at one point and gained decent popularity from the appearance, and may very well have affected the success of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

“Paper Tiger” is the most unique song in the album in my humble opinion. It is begun in the style of an electronic song created with acoustic sounds. Processed but still clean.

I could write about every song, but honestly they are all nearly perfect, an incredible feat in indie music, much too overlooked (although it did place #49 on Blender’s list of the Top 100 Indie Albums of All Time).

Every song seems perfectly crafted, not too much of any instrument. Consistent tempo, happy piano, never overdone or over processed sounding. These are all reasons why I chose this as one of my Perfect 10’s. As much as there is good new music there are still dozens of incredible albums to be discovered by those who haven’t lived on Pitchfork for the past years. So expect me to write about the lost gems as much as the new stuff.

Saturday Quick Hit: “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” by the Decemberists

This epic ballad of revenge ends in the belly of a whale, and begins with accordions and a mandolin. This extremely well crafted tale is so fun to listen to, you won’t realize it’s a great story besides a great song. The chilling, dying voice of the protagonists mother will send shivers deep inside.

One of my favorite newly discovered songs.

(Click the ship for the iTunes link)