If nothing else, The Year That Was certainly reflected the world at large, ranging from systemic unease to pure distress, and everything in between. These were the LP's that saw us through, that said something about where we're at, if not how we got there, and what the hell do we do next... For the so inclined, here's a playlist with a cut off of each LP, otherwise, check the links below... Happy listening, and we'll see you out on the trail next year!
Here we are once again, another year down the pipes, and based on the evidence found within, a further edging away from the bloated corpse of the music industry, as little if any of this list appeared on a major label. Take that as evidence of my curmudgeon-ness as much as any artistic judgement. While the main focus on this blog has always been performance, many albums crossed the transom this year, and we'll stick with the O.G. format of a top 25, although twice that many would have been doable. Perhaps next year. Shout outs to Don Giovanni and Slumberland for being co-holders of the Label Of The Year distinction, a testimony to their depth, balls, and ears, with multiple releases landing on the list.
Notable releases from the year, just bubbling under the list, include the debut of California X, Anna Calvi's second album, a second full length from Nashville's own Diarrhea Planet, the second, (and unforturnately final) entry from Spectrals, and a double LP celebrating the 20th year of Quasi, (can that really be so?!). Also making waves were Brooklyn via Oakland's Weekend, (not to be confused with the vowel and soul-challenged singer with a similar name), Jonathan Wilson, Mikal Cronin, Sky Larkin, Terry Malts, Janelle Monae, and the first new work in many a year from Sebadoh. Lists, of course, are a fool's errand by definition, and any of these records are worth your valuable time.
Without further ado:
25) Chastity Belt: No Regerts
24) SISU: Blood Tears 23) Upset: She's Gone 22) Bleached: Ride Your Heart 21) Dog Party: Lost Control 20) Joanna Gruesome: Weird Sister 19) Veronica Falls: Waiting For Something To Happen 18) Besnard Lakes: Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO 17) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Push The Sky Away 16: Savages: Silence Yourself 15) No Age: An Object 14) Arcade Fire: Reflektor 13) Cate Le Bon: Mug Museum 12) Swearin': Surfing Strange 11) No Joy: Wait For Pleasure
On their first full-length, all the pieces fall together for Speedy Ortiz. Helping to spearhead a Massachusetts renaissance, the band effectively torches its way through, though, interestingly, leaves its deepest mark when it dials the volume back (relatively) on "No Below". This bodes well for the future-it will be interesting to see how far they push their boundaries.
Wakin' On A Pretty Daze is Kurt Vile's State Of His Own Union address, as every Kurt Vile album is, but more so. Expanding his vision onto two discs, the title track spins out to just under ten minutes without a wasted note. Vile and the Violaters are in that rare space where they could take on the phone book and make it work, as evidenced by two festival appearances this year that took the same material and transformed it into acoustic lullabies in a foggy San Francisco meadow and aggressive riff-heavy rock in a parched field in the middle of downtown LA.
4) Superchunk:I Hate Music
There's a special kind of gauntlet being dropped when one entitles an album I Hate Music, and who else but Superchunk could make it work? Like Yo La Tengo's Fade, it's an LP wrestling with mortality, suffused with mourning over the loss of an old friend. The trick is in embracing the shadow of memories and backing it up with music that's nothing short of life affirming. Their most trenchant and affecting work since Foolish, no matter how dark it gets, Superchunk shows the way forward.
3) Yo La Tengo: Fade
The unsinkable Yo La Tengo faced down mortality and came away with Fade, an elegant collection of the Hoboken trio's pop gems, leavened with the lessons learned from Ira Kaplan's recent health scare. Fade reminds us of the importance of community and the work we do, and how easily it can be lost, and the strength it takes to go forward. Nowhere was this more apparent than in their performance of "The Point Of It" during this year's FYF, pushing the hushed song forward in the face of a noisy, distracted field-leaving a devastating mark on those who were actually listening. A potent reminder that punk is not always loud.
2) Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt
Casting aside the acoustic rawness, but keeping the incisive portraits of her debut American Weekend, Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, amped up the sonics and left us Cerulean Salt as a snapshot in time. "Coast To Coast" was a winning single that hit over the head like great 50's rock classics, in and out in under two minutes. The elliptical "Dixie Cups and Jars"might be her finest achievement to date. The prolific artist also found time for an EP and a double album (!) with side project Great Thunder.
1) Laura Stevenson: Wheel
A staggering tour de force from the Long Island wunderkind...the place where all the threads she'd been working with came together in a hypnotic song cycle that flirts with many genres, but can't be confined to one. Ace string and horn arrangements by Rob Moose and Kelly Pratt, respectively, carry the day. Like last year's top choice, Father John Misty's Fear Fun, it's an album I'll be listening to five years down the road.
In closing, this marks the fifth year of BAMNWGAN, and this would be the place to thank you all for your love and support.
Saturday night heralded the return of Los Campesinos! to Los Angeles, on the heels of their most recent LP, Hello Sadness. The lines outside the Echoplex stretched around the corner, and the crowd buzzed in anticipation. While in no danger of laying waste to the charts here in the States, they command a rabid cult, and said cult was out in force for this show.
Ably handling the opening honors were Parenthetical Girls, (Portland, OR), who tuned up the crowd admirably, working mostly from their recent series of 4 EPs'. Zac Pennington didn't let the second billing stand in his way, commanding the stage, (plus leaving it for the audience, more than once), and totally winning over the crowd. Amber was a winsome presence, nailing down the musical side of things, and serving as the perfect foil. It was a shame to see their set end, and I highly look forward to catching them on their own. Hats off to the headliners for being comfortable enough to have a strong band open for them.
The headliners hit the ground running with "By Your Hand", the lead cut from Hello Sadness, and the track of choice performed on the recent David Letterman appearance, then segueing neatly into a rousing rendition of "Romance Is Boring", (see below), title track of their previous LP.
The set was weighted with new tracks, but didn't stint on the old records, and the emotional highlight of the evening was the high energy "You! Me! Dancing!" into the grimly hypnotic "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future". All in all, an amazing evening, and a nice sign that even though Los Campesinos have absorbed new members, the heart still beats strong.
Post Script: LC! bounced back up to L.A. a few days later for an appearance on KCRW's 'Morning Becomes Eclectic', where you can see a live in the studio take on "Songs About Your Girlfriend".
The devaluation of music has recently reached a new low, what with Amazon pimping the entire new Lady Gaga LP for just .99 in a recent two day release special...And one can say it worked, shifting 1.2M 'units' in its first week, 600K of which were digital, & who knows how many of those were the .99 variety, because, along with paying taxes, Amazon is not fond of releasing sales numbers. Looks like the 'Opening Weekend' box office mind set is taking over what's left of the music biz...
But we come here today to dwell on the opposite, to celebrate 'value per dollar', and examine the last vestige of quality in the industry, the Deluxe Box Set! (or, the insane money grab from suckers like me, but fill in your own...)
So far this year, I've fallen for four ventures that fall into the DeeLux category...Here's the breakdown for the morbidly curious in order received, not, (ahem Radiohead), order ordered:
Decemberists: The King Is Dead comes in a lavish cloth box, (Bogart came separately), and includes: one LP on white vinyl no less, a hardcover book with session polaroids done by Autumn De Wilde as well as the CD and the bonus Pendarvia short film on DVD, a print by Carson Ellis, (wife of Colin Meloy), as well as one of the actual polaroids done by Ms. De Wilde.
That they did this under the eye of Capitol Records might be the craziest thing of all. The album itself, featuring guest spots from Peter Buck (R.E.M.) and Gillian Welch, asserts itself as one of their most musically cohesive collections, and if rumors having it to be their last are correct, the beauty and work that went into this box set are an impressive monument to leave behind.
Los Campesinos! have taken an entirely different turn with the first issue of Heat Rash. Their latest endeavor is a quarterly 'zine to fill in the gaps between records, and provide a more literary experience than blogs & files.
On the left is a 7" single of two new songs that will stand alone from the new album, recorded last month and being mixed as we speak. On the right is Heat Rash #1, (the Romance issue), full of lyrics, band poetry, essays, recipes, and closing words from Neil Gaiman!
Okkervil River went all the way with their newest effort, I Am So Very Far in every sense. Their box set, (which came before the CD street date-yay Jagjaguwar), lives up to the name, arriving in a wooden box!
Said wooden box contains: CD, bonus songs/demos on 7'' single, bound hardcover chapbook of lyrics, poster, laser cut cover art from William Schaff, (longtime affiliate of the band), and a signed letter from Will Sheff...
The main event, I Am Very Far, is stretched over three sides of vinyl, the fourth given over to a laser etching of Schaff's artwork. Very cool.
Worth the wait, Radiohead's King Of Limbs (newspaper LP edition) finally arrived after much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Heeding to their In Rainbows random announcement here it is strategy, they notified the world, released the download a week later, then we who ordered the physical package settled in for The Wait. Like the music itself, it's no so much understated as distilled.
Not overflowing with a million goodies, but it does contain the newspaper, the cd, the traditional out of control artwork, and the LP done as two ten inch clear vinyls, mastered at 45rpm, and it sure does sound swell.
What i haven't fallen for yet, although truth be told I had one in a cart and backed off at the last minute, is what might be the piece de resistance of all of the above...Only the Flaming Lips would conjure up the idea of a gummy life size skull enclosing a USB drive with new music. If you wondered exactly how Wayne Coyne would top last years tour posters done in part with his own blood, well, let this be your answer...
And we can't close without mentioning the continued good works of Mr. Jack White, whose latest endeavor is the Third Man Records Rolling Record Store, a mobile truck equipped equally to sell records, merch, and whose custom sound system allows it to do gigs on the go! Someday i'll run into this wonder on wheels, and I will be taking pictures.
Even with the industry in a state of flux, it's nice to know that there's folks out there doing things a little differently...
Ah, as if we needed another lesson in embracing change...latest on the news front is that Aleks from Los Campesinos! has decided to pursue a higher path...returning to that which she calls her studies...
Good on her! For us, not so much...
Just in case this got lost in the shuffle that was the day one Coachella recap, here it is again...
(Aleks would be brunette keyboard/vocals on the left)
Good news is: she's kicking out the jams on one last jaunt across the US, capped off with some time in sunny CA in august, so we'll get to do proper goodbyes!
Think of a monster truck rally for rock geeks...For those who have been, no further explanation is needed. The primary thing to bear in mind is that the 'coachella experience' is extremely subjective, i.e. my coachella will most assuredly not be your coachella, or anyone else's...In reading other coverage and sharing experiences with other attendees, it basically falls under three categories: 1) damn, wasn't that cool! 2) damn, i missed that! 3) ha ha, you missed that! Everyone can fill all three categories by the time the weekend is over, and from the pudding that is my brain, i shall try to reconstruct...
The walk in is all business, the route ingrained over the years...by the end of the 2nd night, eyes will only open every 75 to 100 feet, instantly fixing location and correcting strides...but now, in the day, water bottle in hand, backup stowed in pocket, it's all business, the dusty trek towards the Promised Land.
There is nothing like the grand entrance, that first walk across the grass of the Empire Polo Grounds...it is quiet, just the humming excitement of people starting to mill about in the noonday sun. The familiar sight of the hulking unoccupied stages brings a frisson of anticipation, then the eye wanders over to the jutting art installations, some familiar, but most new, and the mind works ahead, wondering what they will look like at night, a whole world away... It's a slow start, staying low in the heat, (which is actually the coolest in memory-mid 80's), checking out the early sets...drift by the Courteeners, (picture way above), from England, opening the main stage, past Noah & the Whale, camped out on the outdoor stage, then over to the tent to dig alt hip hop act People Under the Stairs, (picture just above), from LA... restlessness sets in, the mind momentarily seizes and panics, have we jumped the shark? Will they all be like this? Am I just jaded? Have i lost the ability to have my butt kicked? Does anything matter? Why are we here? and stuff like that...
Fortunately, the random sampling pays off, and for me, the festival begins with the first of what we shall refer to from here on out as C.M., or Coachella Moments, those specials points in time and space when you're barely paying attention to life around you, when a band seizes the moment, raises some goosebumps, and throttles your ass....
(Molotov: this picture & next)
In most cases it's expected, and a letdown when it doesn't happen...you can't will goosebumps, it just happens, and the first occurence of the festival, and certainly not the last, is the veteran Rock En Espanol act known as Molotov, who take over the stage for a righteously super.tight set of controlled chaos, dynamically reminiscent of vintage 'Rage Against The Machine' rabble rousing. In two songs, the field in front of the outdoor stage has doubled, and the band works it's spell in the heat, crunching through a lively set. I understood not a word of it, quite frankly, but i understood it all. There is a universality about throwing your hands in the air and letting it all go that needs no translation.
The concept of dog.piling bands was the next hurdle to clear, as a mid afternoon cluster of Los Campesinos!, (picture above), the Hold Steady, and the Toxic Airborne Event all conspired to require some careful choosing.
Los Campesinos! turned in the set of the day in the Gobi tent…the seven strong group ripped through selections from their three albums at a breakneck pace, stunning the audience, then whipping them into a frenzy, climaxing with the lead singer diving into the audience, after expressing wonder that the only three year old band could possibly be on this stage…Humble to a fault, but with great pride in their unit, Los Camp won some hearts…
Initially, i plotted to split the Los Camp action with the Hold Steady, (picture left). I drifted over to the tent, and stuck for only a song. The band chugged along, but Finn apparently was pretty sick, hanging on gamely, but i pulled the plug, blew off Airborne Toxic Event completely, (both of these i'll probably live to regret...), but was rewarded with the fantastic finish of the Los Camp. set, (video below)
Then it was back to the outdoor stage to catch M. Ward, (pictured), (whose new record "Hold Time" will probably be haunting one or two year end lists). I didn't know what to expect, but he appeared with a full band from Portland, (whose name i missed in the screaming and tumult), but they more than adequately fleshed out his sometimes hermetic (in a good way) records, and made for a lively set, (the last half that i made it over for...) I took a minute to dash over & catch a bit of the Black Keys, (cut short for having seen them before, but yet another heartbreaking call). Getting back in time for Conor Oberst, (pictured left, in hat), & the Mystic Valley Band, was the primary objective, but also getting a little more relax time on the outdoor lawn, and set up pole position for the next act, as the temps eased off and dusk stole a march. What started as another side project has grown into a life beyond Bright Eyes for Conor, as he readies a 2nd album with his new unit. The set was engaging, but not compelling, drawing off of the Mystic Valley Band material, and not seeming to connect with the crowd at large (maybe just me, but that's how it seemed)...that is, until the final number, when Oberst came to life with a riotously rocking tune that galvanized the audience and brought the field to life, and bringing down the sun for the day... And that's where i will leave part one, as night fell...
