Tag: Los Campesinos!

My favorite albums of 2017 so far

I’m not 100-percent sure, but I’m fairly certain that I’ve listened to more new music in 2017 than I have in any other year.

My New Year’s resolution was to listen to at least one album I had not heard before per week. I’m cruising along and already past 40 albums, so barring a monumental collapse I should hit my target.

About 90 percent of my first-time listens this year have been new music.

In no particular order, these are the releases from this year that I’ve enjoyed the most.

White Reaper – The World’s Best American Band

Truly, this is good, uh, rock’n’roll music. The second album from Louisville-based power-poppers, White Reaper, is one of the year’s most fun releases so far. It’s unabashed, straight-forward rock influenced by The Ramones, Cheap Trick, Big Star, The Replacements and The Exploding Hearts. There’s genuine guitar heroics, and the hooks are plentiful.

Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory

Vince Staples released his second consecutive instant classic LP this year. He continues to rap about depressing realities over severe-sounding beats in a way that’s fun, mostly thanks to gallows humor punchlines and a rapid pace. Not a single song surpasses the five-minute mark and most are shorter than three minutes.

Jay-Z – 4:44

I expected this corporate partnership release to be as uninspired as Magna Carter Holy Grail or Kingdom Come or The Blueprint 3, and was floored to hear an album that can comfortable mingle in the upper echelon of Shawn Carter’s discography. Certainly not better than Reasonable Doubt or The Blueprint , but it compares favorably to The Black Album and American Gangster. The No I.D. production sounds amazing. It is warm, slightly opulent and gives the album a cohesion lacking from some of Jay’s lesser works. The tabloid-fodder infidelity confessions are what’s drawn the most coverage, which makes sense because I can’t recall Jay-Z ever sharing this much of his personal life, but equally interesting are Jay-Z’s thoughts on race and black unity, which I don’t recall ever before being quite so explicitly dissected on an album by HOV. Strictly speaking, these aren’t Jay’s best bars. His flow sounds off, and the rhymes aren’t always particularly clever. But, it is some of his most interesting and personal work ever.

Kendrick Lamar – Damn. 

Kendrick Lamar continues his streak of dominating the rap game. His flow continues to be a dense labyrinth of internal rhyme and references, but in a way that’s more approachable than To Pimp a Butterfly. The album is a little less focused than some of Kdot’s other releases (I can’t picture a U2 feature on any of his other albums), but not every album needs to be a Statement.

Ty Segall – Ty Segall

Ty isn’t reinventing the wheel here in any sense. He’s even done a self-titled release before. But this might strike the best balance among the prolific garage-rockers prodigious-but-disparate strengths. There’s straight-ahead rockers, Sid Barrett-esque psyche-pop and a really sweet love song. Unlike some past releases (looking at you Manipulator) this album is a tight collection. This really is a virtuosic display of everything one of rock music’s best working songwriters does right.

(Sandy) Alex G – Rocket

This album is equal parts hummable alt-country and industrial freakout. I prefer the warmer, mellow first half of the album. “Bobby”, “Poison Root” and “Proud” are fine, extremely pleasant and slightly weird pop songs with warm twang. That may sound like faint praise, but it’s meant as a rousing endorsement. That basically describes most of my favorite Wilco songs, after all. The string-filled melodies are made all the more remarkable because they share an album with “Brick”, which has more in common with Death Grips than a lot of songs on Rocket.

Charly Bliss – Guppy

Guppy is an entirely transparent attempt to replicate the soaring buzz of ’90s alternative-rock, and it accomplishes that modest goal with aplomb. Lead singer Eva Hendricks sounds downright effervescent, but her high, perky voice fits in with songs that are all forward momentum and chugging guitar. “DQ” is on my shortlist for songs of the year, and one that I’m sure will be in my rotation for years to come.

Los Campesinos! – Sick Scenes

The hyper-literate twee punks I’ve loved for a full decade now have grown into a wonderfully dependable, mature indie rock band. As always, these songs are lyrically captivating. Gareth never stops being Gareth whether that means setting an almost literary scene, capturing a particular brand of malaise, whip-smart punchlines or super-specific sports references. Musically, this album includes some of the most energetic songs LC! has put out since the absolutely transcendent Romance is Boring. There’s also “The Fall of Home” which is just heart-achingly gorgeous. All snark is set aside to explore the sensation of seeing the places we come from crumble after moving on to some place ostensibly better.

Smidley – Smidley

 

 

I’m not a huge fan of Foxing, but Conor Murphy’s side project was unexpectedly winning. Lightly psychedelic indie rock will always be in my wheelhouse. “Hell” is one of the year’s better side one track ones. It sounds both dark and jaunty in a way that recalls The National, has group vocals that make me think of Local Natives (which isn’t something I’ve done often since 2012} and there’s some trumpet that somehow sounds perfectly in place. “No One Likes You” and “Pink Gallo” make good use of Murphy’s unique voice and are very good and just slightly odd. “Milk Shake” is an interesting, bare bones acoustic take that surprises with its vulnerability, but really shouldn’t considering singing in an emo band is Murphy’s main hustle. For me, the standout track is “Fuck This”, and it’s really what pushes Smidley’s eponymous debut onto this list. It’s essentially a perfect instant classic. A springy, midtempo number with a seesaw melody and shouted chorus that features multiple lengthy crescendoing chants of “Fuck this, fuck this” will always, and I mean always, have a spot in my heart.

The Sadies – Northern Passages

The Sadies are absolutely crackerjack musicians, and that shines through on every track on Northern Passages. They sound equally comfortably on the rave up “Another Season Again” and the sleepy, Kurt Vile-assisted “It’s Easy (Like Walking)” and both songs are positively delightful. Not since The Band have Canadians so effectively mined American to thoroughly winning effect. I think this album has largely gone overlooked, and it might be because The Sadies have served as a backing band for the likes of John Doe and Neko Case in the past. If you’ve got a soft spot for countrified rock, you owe it to yourself to listen to this album.

 

Get down to this Sick Scene

LC! sound pretty darn well on album No. 6

I adore each and every Los Campesinos! album nearly equally.

The bratty snarl and twee chime of  Hold On Now, Youngster, the guy-girl duets counterbalanced by Xiu Xiu-esque noise on Romance is Boring, the Goldilocks zone of We are Beautiful, We are Doomed and the rock-solid literary pop-rock of their later releases all have a special place in my heart and hard drives.

But for all their consistent, excellence, I’m not sure that LC! have ever had a better side one, track one than the opener for their sixth  album, Sick Scenes. “Renato Dall’Ara (2008)” is a jam.

It’s a sub-3-minute blast of guitar and Gareth Campesinos! signature  multi-syllabic, lilting bleat. It’s light, catchy and features some of the strongest group vocals since singer and keyboardist Aleks Campesinos! left the group. Imagine  if Romance is Boring started off with “Romance is Boring”. It’s like that.

And it’s wholly appropriate, because aside from a couple of tracks toward the album’s back half, the energy level hardly flags. This is the most buoyant and boisterous  record sincetheir 2008 debut, and I’d have to say it’s among their best.

 

 

It’s fairly clear from the music, and at one point even explicitly stated, that Gareth’s songwriting focus has moved past the sometimes plodding malaise that marked long stretches of No Blues and Hello Sadness. Not that LC! staples have gone anywhere. Soccer, relationship woes, self-loathing, death obsession, class-ism, anxiety and heart swells are still all over the album, but they’re presented with acceptance and urgency. A sort of declaration : I feel crummy, but I really feel it.

While the album has a uniform urgency, there’s a wide variety of sounds on the back half of the album.

“The Fall of Home” is a delicate, acoustic number about a changing, declining hometowm that musically recalls the prettiest moments of the All’s Well that Ends EP.

The shiny, electronic “Here’s To The Fourth Time” has some legitimate pop chops, and the synthesizer pops up to add a little extra crunch to “For Whom the Belly Tells”. There’s legitimate guitar heroics on the bridge for “Got Stendhal’s”. None of it is exactly earth-shattering experimentation, but it adds to the lively feeling.

And, LC! absolutely stick the landing with closer “Hung Empty”, which is a thoroughly excellent song. It finishes things off with fist-pumping ennui that you’d only expect to find on a Los Campesinos! record.

I cannot wait to sit down with liner notes and lyrics and give this another serious listen or five.

 

Rock around the clock: a song from every hour of the day

Earlier this year, when Girlpool and Hop Along were both in my main rotation, I couldn’t help but notice “Before the World Was Big” starts at 7:45 a.m., while “The Knock” starts at 8:45 a.m.

I wondered if I could track down a song from every hour of the day, and I succeeded. Stumbling across The Human Clock’s list of songs was a huge boon to this arbitrary and wildly unnecessary project, but  a few of my songs are not on the list, and a few of my choices are creative interpretations.

When possible, I tried to eschew obvious picks and select quality tracks.

Midnight: “Midnight City” by M83

The breakout song from the outstanding Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is my choice from a cluttered field of songs referencing midnight.

  • 1 a.m. “In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett

“Wicked” Wilson Pickett is not a punctual man. Sure, he says he’ll come for you in the midnight hour, but I’d be floored if he meant any earlier than 1:15 a.m.

  • 2 a.m. “Gin and Juice” by Snoop Doggy Dogg

There are several times mentioned during this recount of a raucous party, notably 6 in the mornin’, but at 2 a.m., the party’s still jumping, and a bizarre number of good songs reference 6 a,m,

  • 3 a.m. “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” by Outkast

This Outkast classic takes a laid-back approach to recounting a connection made during a wild night. It’s about 3 in the morning when three knife fight combatants are taken to the hospital.

  • 4 a.m. “This Is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics'” by Los Campesinos!

This song with a cumbersome title is off of Los Campesinos! wonderful debut album, Hold On Now, Youngster. It rules, and during the course of the song, an alarm clock is set for 4 a.m. the next morning. Apparently, Gareth Campesinos! does not omit redundancies.

  • 5 a.m. “She’s Leaving Home” by The Beatles

At 5 a.m., on a Wednesday, the day is just beginning, and the song’s protagonist is just beginning to slink away from her home.

  • 6 a.m. “911” by Delta Spirit

This song, which tracks post-9-11 fallout begins with the speaker upset to be waking at 6 a.m.

  • 7 a.m. “Before the World Was Big” by Girlpool

7:45, the song’s speaker leaves her house attempting to ignore the irrefutable passage of time.

  • 8 a.m. “The Knock” by Hop Along

The knock, which sets the opening track from this year’s amazing Painted Shut into motion comes at 8:45 a.m.

  • 9 a.m. “Elevator Operator” by Courtney Barnett

Oliver Paul wakes up at 9:15 a.m., then dramatically decides to skip work. Whose office job starts later than 9:15 a.m? Of course, Oliver enjoys a Vegemite breakfast, so obviously there’s a cultural barrier here, but it’s perplexing.

  • 10 a.m. “10 a.m. Automatic” by The Black Keys

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s also a pretty good garage-blues number.

  • 11 a.m. “11:11” by Rufus Waingwright

Rufus wakes up at the titular time unable to differentiate between Heaven and Portland. Angels don’t wear flannel, so it seems easy enough to sort out.

  • Noon. “Boyz-N-The-Hood” by Eazy-E

Eazy wakes up late, at approximately noon, he is hit with the realization he must make haste to Compton. This is one of the most famous openings in rap history.

  • 1 p.m. “One p.m. Again” by Yo La Tengo

I tried to stay away from songs that just contain times in the title, but the mid-afternoon times were pretty barren.

  • 2 p.m. “2:35 p.m.” by Spaceman 3

YLT and Spaceman 3 are both seminal independent rock bands, and they both adore the middle of the day.

  •  3 p.m. “Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts” by Arctic Monkeys

A bigger, intimidating boy picks up the object of our protagonist’s affection at 3:20 in this early Arctic Monkeys standout.

  • 4 p.m. “Babies” by Pulp

It seems like generally speaking, British rockers feel more compelled to slip a time reference into their lyrics. It’s around 4 p.m. when the singer–hiding in a wardrobe– spies his crush’s sister doing unsavory things.

  • 5 p.m. “A Well Respected Man” by The Kinks

The well respected man gets home at 5:30 p.m., everyday, because he has a predilection for catching the same train. Punctuality is a defining characteristic of this repressed individual.

  • 6 p.m. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”

Famously, these lyrics are incomprehensible, but 6 p.m. is given a quick shoutout right before the, “slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn,” bit.

  • 7 p.m. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot

In this delightful retelling of a nautical disaster, a main hatchway caves in, and death is accepted as imminent.

  • 8 p.m. “Justify my Thug” by Jay-Z

I WILL ALWAYS HYPHENATE JAY-Z. With that out of the way, Hov does a time run down inspired by “Rock Around the Clock” in this song. It was tough to find an 8 p.m. song.

  • 9 p.m. “Girl on T.V.” By LFO

These ’90s boy band also-rans recorded a song about meeting a television star and immediately falling in love. Is 9 p.m. forcefully rhymed with again? Youtube this and find out, The Lyte Funkie Ones do not disappoint.

  • 10 p.m. “The Clock Strikes 10” by Cheap Trick

This hugely influential power pop outfit from Rockford, Ill., managed implement the harmony a grandfather clock makes at the top of an hour into a song, and it’s actually pretty awesome.

  • 11 p.m. “Give Me Scabies” by Kitty Pryde

This song riffs on the inescapable “Call Me Maybe”, and is an early standout from the artist, who now bills herself as Kitty–one of my guiltiest pleasures. Honestly, I think I could more easily reconcile with a love of thrill-killing than fully accept how much I enjoy Kitty’s music. Anyway, it’s 11:11 p.m. when Kitty unlocks her Droid.

I cobbled together a playlist of as many of the songs as I could find on Spotify. Enjoy.

5 Songs about Spider-Man

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For more than five decades Spider-Man has been a prominent figure in print, film and television. He’s brought joy to millions, and his likeness earns truckloads of money. To paraphrase Jay Z: he’s not just a Spider-Man, he’s a business, man. Spider-Man has also made some notable appearances in music. Everyone’s favorite web slinger may be an unlikely muse, but Spidey has inspired some exceptional, or at least interesting, music.

Disclaimer: The actual Spider-Man musical is still bad.

1. The Ramones- “Spider-Man”: This is a faithful cover of the iconic 1967 Spider-Man cartoon’s theme song. It’s performed with The Ramones’ trademark sneer and relentless speed. It rules.

2. Black Lips- “Spidey’s Curse”: This song from the raucous Atlanta lo-fi rockers draws its inspiration from a dark Spider-Man story about molestation. It’s a perversely funny song and catchy to boot.

3. Los Campesinos!- “Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Break Beats”:  A standout cut from the amazing, unapologetically twee album “Hold On Now Youngster”. The song’s chorus contains an admonishment from the female half of a dysfunctional couple, “You know he’s so much more like Spiderman[sic] than you will ever, ever be.”If high-energy, twee-pop-punk sounds appealing this is worth a listen.

4. Weird Al- “Ode to a Superhero”: This song is a straightforward parody of Billy Joel’s piano man, and it details the plot of the first Spider-Man film. It’s a joke song built around the punchline, “Sling us a web, you’re the Spider-Man.”

5.Wu-Tang Clan- “Protect Ya Neck”: Calling this classic off of “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” a song about Spider-Man might be a stretch, but the song does give him a shout out. Peter Parker is a New York resident, and has probably spent some time in the Shaolin Land.

My favorite songs of 2013

This list comes with the obvious caveat that these are my favorite songs of the year and not necessarily the 10 best songs of the year.

I spent entirely too much time listening to the Flying Burrito Brothers this year and not enough time listening to Sky Ferreirra to be a good barometer of taste.

Still below are the 10 tracks I couldn’t get enough of this year. They are in no particular order.

1. HAIM-“Don’t Save Me”

Hercules is the demi-god with the strength of 10 ordinary men, and HAIM is mom-rock with the strength of 3 Stevie Nickses. Just one of several earthy, hooky jams from this year’s thoroughly praised “Days Are Gone”.

2. Ex Cops- “Separator”

The most accurate approximation of ’90s shoe gaze outside of “m b v”. A pleasantly throbbing bass line, a healthy coat of reverb varnish and a build to a triumphant jangle crescendo kept this song firmly entrenched in my head all year long.

3. Black Joe Lewis- “Skulldiggin”

This crunchy slice of blooze rock would be the hardest The Black Keys have rocked in a couple of albums. In a year when indie-pop and Yeezus reigned supreme this unapologetic throwback was a counter-intuitive breath of fresh air.

4. CHVRCHES- “Gun”

Chvrches were the Scottish-indie-synth-pop triumph of the year.  “Gun” is my favorite song off of the excellent “The Bones of What You Believe”. After hearing this song, running away with everything you own probably won’t keep it out of your head.

5. King Khan & the Shrines- “Pray for Lil”

“Idle No More” is an exceptional garage rock album from King Khan & the Shrines. Its standout track is the “Little Wing” and Dusty Springfield indebted “Pray for Lil”.

6. Charli XCX- “Take My Hand”

“Take My Hand” is equal parts energetic, addictive and sweet. It’s audible cocaine cut with pixie sticks. It’s the biggest ear worm on, “True Romance” , an album with so many pop gems even its bonus tracks bump.

7. Los Campesinos!- “Avocado Baby”

I am an unabashedly huge LC! fan, and this is maybe the perfect culmination of the different musical directions the band has pursued. Gareth yelping his sardonic lyrics, twee backing vocals, a muscular rhythm section and a fruit-based metaphor no other band would attempt all make this an instant classic in the LC! catalog.

8. Chance the Rapper- “Juice”

“Acid Rap” is one of my favorite albums of the year, and this track epitomizes what Chano was up to on his excellent mix tape. It has a ragtime sample, Tupac references, plenty of vocal ad libs and some great double-time rapping.

9.  Kanye West- “I Am a God”

“Yeezus” was an intense car-bomb of an album, and no song on it was as incendiary as “I Am a God”. West’s palpable anger is somehow on display next to moments of genuine humor in one iconoclastic statement. Hurry up with his damn croissants!

10. Disclosure- “F for You”

I’ve been infected with the restless urge to listen to this song on repeat. A great, slinky piece of house music.

Honorable Mentions: Get Lucky, Reflektor, Pepe Lopez, Demon Dance, My Number, Rattlesnake