My Favorite Stuff in 2024

I spent the last 18 months in Singapore, where my wife is originally from, and where her parents and siblings live.  Now that I think about it, in a meta way, my best thing of 2024 would have to be living in Singapore for the whole year.  It was incredible (and I highly recommended) living in a different city / country for a while so you can look back at your usual life with fresh & broader perspectives.  Of course, the food was amazing, and the traveling to other SE Asian countries was fantastic.  Working remote on U.S. hours meant I was usually working from 9pm-4am (plus some other odd hours), which allowed me to have some more free time during the middle of the day while kids were still at school.  I got in a great rhythm of picking up my youngest from her kindergarten class at noon each day by talking a long walk in the hot sun / tropical rain while I listened to podcasts, sat and read, or caught Phoenix Suns games.  Anyways, I managed to consume / experience a lot of great stuff throughout the year, and I thought I'd share my favorites.  

(This is not an official list of the best new releases in the calendar year, but mostly things that I enjoyed during the year.)

Best Music

• Fleet Foxes - I went on a big kick at some point early in the year after getting one of their old familiar song stuck in my head.  Then the rabbit hole went deeper and deeper and I listened to all their stuff over and over, and also got inspired to do some guitar and singing of their songs, though I became painfully aware of how not high my voice is able to go.  The album, 'Shore' (2020) is a masterpiece, and it has a great hour-long YouTube movie thing to go along with it.  I enjoyed watching some of their live material on YouTube which also led me to their 'Live on Boston Harbor' (2024) performance and accompanying album.  Transcendent stuff.  I've really taken to live performances lately as there's something about the human achievement aspect that I love witnessing. 
• Alan Sparhawk - 'White Roses, My God' (2024) - With the tragic passing of his wife and musical partner, Mimi, Alan Sparhawk was able to put out an excellent solo project. Very stylistic album with a lot of muffled, voice-filtered vocals
• Bob Dylan - 'Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series' (1980-1985) - I discovered a clip on YouTube of Bob Dylan singing "Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" with Mark Knopfler on guitar ,and the veteran ease of their skillful jamming really drew me in.  Then I checked out the Bootleg album and really dug it, listening on repeat for a while.  
• The Smile - 'Cutouts' (2024) - Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood continue to put out incredible music, adding to their percussive and guitar complexity with each new project.  The song, "Eyes & Mouth" is an amazing specimen of what modern, understated guitar solos can be.  It makes me a little less grumpy about the disappearance of rock-out solos in today's music.  
• Sufjan Stevens - 'Come on Feel the Illinoise!' (2005) - After not listening at all for maybe 15 years, I had an excellent experience putting on the headphones and enjoying the album from start to finish in one sitting.  I hope to have the experience again in 15 more years.  
• Taylor Swift - 'THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT' (2024) - It's super mainstream to like Taylor Swift, but I have to acknowledge the skill in her music.  This album and her last one, 'Midnights', really appeal to me.  Great beats, perfect sound-mixing, and her skillful songwriting and confident singing all combine to make quality music.  

Best Tweet

Best Books

I'm proud to say that I supper upped my reading game in 2024.  I'm surrounded by a bunch of readers in my family, so that helps.  But also, as I mentioned earlier, I had time everyday to sit on the playground while my daughter played with her classmates.  And I found physical books to be a great way to force myself to get away from my phone, and to give my eyes a chance to rest from the bright screen.

• Earthsea Series - Ursula Le Guin - Wow.  I'm so glad my wife hipped me to this series.  A different kind of wizards and dragons saga.  I love the sacredness of language throughout the books.  The characters have so much wisdom and courage.  I hope to read the books again.  
• Exhalation - Ted Chiang - Super cool sci-fi short stories.  There was one fascinating story about a middle-aged father and his college graduate daughter and how the dad misremembers things that are so fundamental to their relationship that it had me feeling floored about how my own relationships might be skewed in my version of events. He spliced this story with a tribal story about people that don’t write words (don't even have a word for “word”) and allow their truth to shift based on what feels right. 
• Dune Series (Books 2-4) - Frank Herbert - I decided to properly read Dune Messiah--I had previously only audiobooked it--and it opened up some new views on the book to me.  Then I got to discussing the book with my cousin which I so thoroughly enjoyed that I decided to keep going in the series and to do a bit of a long-distance book club with my cousin.  The series got me thinking about the difference between villains and heroes, the difficulty of knowing the past ("The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you."), and the different strengths of men vs. women.  And I generally love a good hero's journey story. 
• Underland - Robert Macfarlane - I had audibooked this before, but the allure and mythos of the world beneath our feet drew me back in.  His writing is amazing and his accounts transport me out into the great outdoors.  

Best TV

• Shogun - Episodes 1-6 or so were riveting and fresh.  It started to drag a bit toward the end for Val and me, but it was overall a great show.
• 3-Body Problem - Good SciFi show.
• Better Call Saul - I rewatched this whole show.  It's a masterpiece.  It works for me like a great literary classic, like a Dostoevsky novel where I'm seeing the raging conflict in the characters and how the law is imposing its will.
• Lost - Now that the show has run its course I thought I'd try revisiting it.  Season 1 especially, and 2 to a slightly lesser extent, are incredible TV.  Emotional, philosophically fascinating, and revolutionary for the genre.  Seasons 3 through 4 (where I am now) slow down a bit but there are some real gems in there too.  I have the benefit of seeing which episodes are worth skipping.  I'm interested to see if I can make sense of the finale when it comes to that.   

Best Movies

• Dune - A lot of Dune in my lists, but this movie was awesome.  The cliche term of "visual storytelling" is right on the nose for what Denis Villenuve is doing with this project.  Coupling the reading of the books with the watching of these movies has been a thrill for me.  I love the complicated hero arc we get with Paul Atreides.  
• The Taste of Things - This was one of those rare experiences where I was really glad we watched a non-blockbuster movie in the theater.  Val and I were transported as soon as there was a 20-minute or so wordless opening scene of a small cooking team preparing a decadent meal for a fancy 19th century feast.  
• Furiosa - I saw this on the airplane.  I loved the Dementis character.  For having the appearance of a sand-dune gear-head movie about violence and fast cars, there was actually a lot of plot depth about being trapped into your harsh circumstances.  

Best Games

• Crew - A card game that draws on principles of trick-taking games like bridge, but makes it collaborative and gives you 50 different missions that build up in difficulty, and adds other interesting curveballs like "broken communications".  4 of us tracked our score on completing all 50 missions over the course of a few months and had a great time doing it.
• Dune - My brother-in-law bought this 1960's game for us to play as a group of 6.  It is INTENSE.  You become one of 6 factions (Atreides, Bene Gesserit, Harkonnen, etc.) and you can form alliances and bargain while you try to get a majority of the 5 strongholds on the board while avoiding the great sandstorms and harvesting spice and on-worlding enough troops to engage in battles.  We played twice and it took us like 5 or 6 hours each time.  
• Tetris (Game Boy) - 2024 was a great year for me as my brother and I reached new heights of accomplishments, particularly in B-type play.

The Soundtrack to My Year - 2021

The songs that I had moments with throughout the course of 2021.

Playlist: 2021 - RPB

1. Waking - my brother and sister-in-law tipped me off to the manly passion of Future Islands, and this song really resonated with me. 
2. Lilacs - a song (and an album) that I happily went back to throughout the year. Pleasant sounds. 
3. This Is the Sound - I did a nostalgic playlist project for my sister (born in ‘76) with some of the songs I remembered playing on her tape and CD players from that era. It ended up taking me down a Juliana Hatfield exploration adventure where I discovered that her whole body of work is really great, and holds up well. What’s more she’s still putting out music and it’s still great!
4. Speed it up - in the last few years I resumed following basketball very closely with the resurgence of the Phoenix Suns. This song played during warmups at a Warriors vs Suns game and I loved the sound and felt a real respect for the NBA culture. 
5. Big Appetite - a band I’ve loved for several years. This song just feels like one of those really well put together productions where all the sounds just click really well. Had a good experience debuting this album on my headphones while driving out big van up the Donner Pass en route back to the Bay. 
6. Dime cómo quieres - I went through a Spanish music kick in 2021 (as I am prone to do now and then) and this song stood out as a clear winner. Both artists have a lot of good music individually, and they really bring their talents together nicely here. 
7. Two Of Us - like many others, I really enjoyed watching the “Get Back” Beatles documentary. I think all 4 of them end up as big winners by the end. But in the early goings I was most impressed with Paul for his responsibility but also his musical versatility and mastery. I loved how he was very careful to make sure there was no tackiness to any of their songs, like in the way he would have them rework a strumming pattern or some other timing aspect. 
8. Veg Out (Wasting Thyme) - I learned about Masego through a really cool Apple Music ad campaign. That led me to this song which I love for its chill factor, and since it corresponds to my attitude a lot. I want to veg out too, Masego!
9. Days like these - just a solid track from one of my favorite bands of the last couple of decades.  
10. Grains of Sand - I absolutely loved the Dune movie that came out in 2021. The feel, the cinematography, the story, the acting, and the music. When the credits rolled at the end I loved sitting there in awe and staring at the screen while this song kept the mood going.

Best Music of 2021

*Playlist: Best New Music of 2021*

Intro

The fact that I resorted to picking (old reliable) Low as my album of the year indicates that either a) I didn't branch out of my standard music tastes enough this year, b) the whole industry had a letdown year, or c) Low's album is just really good.  The correct answer is "b)".  

I don't want to take too much away from Low here, who deserve big props for putting out another gem after 20 or so years now of being relevant, creative, and evolutionary.  But their latest album is probably my 5th favorite of theirs.  

The unfortunate news of 2021 was that artists' ambitions were mostly low-key, chill, and uninspiring.  Scouring through a lot of the year's best-of lists I found some great singles here and there, but very few solid albums front to back.  It's like we're stuck in a loop from the early 2000's where artists keep putting out more lo-fi indie music, which was new and exciting at the time, but now it's time for a shake-up.  Artists should be doing more by drawing on the deep reservoir of previous heights that the artists of old have shown -- elements of synth from the 80's, disco from the 70's, shredding guitar solos, etc.  

I've seen some great examples of what music in the 2020's could look like.  Things like Billie Eilish's "bad guy", Beck's "Uneventful Days", and Liars' "Big Appetite". But nobody has really broken through in a big way.  

Watching the "Get Back" Beatles documentary recently drove home this point for me that this was a band riding the crest of greatness.  They were tapped into a sound and a creativity that made for some phenomenal albums, and it didn't come without the painstaking work that comes with being masters of a craft.  

OK - done ranting.  Also, get off my lawn.

Best Albums

1. Low - Hey What
• It's a powerful sonic experience for sure.  The more I listen to it the more I like it, so I think this top-spot pick will age well.  I take back all the complaining I did in the intro above, haha.  Low has found the right way to create new music with the passing years.  They stay true to their slow-core roots while incorporating Dark-Side-of-the-Moon-esque synth samples / sound effects.  And of course they hit those beautiful harmonies.  
2. Juliana Hatfield - Blood
• Embarking on a nostalgia project by creating playlists as odes to my older siblings of the music that used to emanate from their bedrooms in the 90's led me to rediscover Juliana Hatfield.  (May I first of all strongly recommend an exploration of her longstanding body of work by some random iTunes playlist curator: "Juliana Hatfield - Playlist by Erwin Herremans".)  What shocked me about Juliana Hatfield is that she's still putting out awesome music.  Often these old hacks from the past keep just get botox and keep performing and sort of tainting our memory of them in the process.  But Juliana Hatfield isn't like that.  She maintains that feisty adolescent rebelliousness mood in her music, but she adds a lot of new character and complexity to her songs.   
3. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind
• Sufjan is a very particular sound, and so it's hard to keep it on the headphones for overly long, but this album has a lot of great songs on it.  
4. Matthew E. White - K Bay
• Like a mix of LCD Soundystem and Bon Iver.  He gets bonus points for the album having quite a few good songs.  
5. Mon Laferte - SEIS
• A Chilean female artist who lives in Mexico and has adopted their style of music.  Mexican music seems to be having a bit of a revival heyday lately.  And this album is a great example of some of those great sounds with lots of classical guitar.
6. Liars - The Apple Drop
• Another reliable artist like Low.  Some great songs on this album.  While not totally solid all the way through, they add to their catalogue of some excellent work over the years, and I imagine a "Liars Essentials" playlist would rock hard at this point.
7. Ada Lea - one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden
• Her song "damn" is probably my #1 of the year.  She has a couple other good songs on the album, but then there are some that make me cringe a bit.  
8. Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny haha
• Some good songs but otherwise gets lumped into the mediocre indie category that is so prevalent in 2021 -- especially among female artists for some reason.  
9. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview of Phenomenal Nature
• A few really interesting songs on the album -- like a cerebral jazz experience.  This album hits the spot for early evening drives across beautiful country.
10. Snail Mail - Valentine
• This album got a lot of love on some of the best-of lists this year.  I liked it a little less with each listen.  
11. PinkPantheress - to hell with it
• Some great youthful British attitude in her music.  Like Lily Allen but a little more underground.  
12. A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Invisible Cities
• Peaceful atmospherics.  I much prefer their previous albums so far, but I'll keep spending time with this album
13. The Weather Station - Ignorance
• There are at least 2 songs I really like on this album.  "Robber" is great.  Just a solid, repetitive groove that I really dig.  

Notable Omissions

• Olivia Rodrigo - I tried to have an open mind about this album which has been a huge hit, but it just felt too tweeny for me.
• Tyler the Creator - His album got a lot of praise as being a hip-hop masterpiece, but, unfortunately, the content was too explicit for a family blog like Twainfectas.  

Music Since College

I recently had the chance to go on a boys trip to Seattle with some college friends.  We hadn't all hung out together since the glory days at BYU in 2005.  As the de facto DJ of the group I felt a responsibility to come up with a good playlist for our drives from place to place.  I whipped up a quick playlist for the trip (which worked fine) but it caused me to go back and do some deeper digging to make sure my playlist was telling an accurate story of the best music to have come out since 2005.  Accordingly, I scoured through all my music since that time and came up with the below playlists as a result.

First, the rules of what could be considered for inclusion:

• It can't be a film soundtrack or a greatest hits or a release of old material
• I guess that's it
• Sorry for the unnecessary bullet list

My only request is that everyone carve out about 10 hours and listen to each song on headphones so you can get the full experience.

1. Since College - Summa Cum Laude - One representative song from the very best albums of these last 13 years or so.  I highly recommend downloading the entire albums these songs are attached to. (iTunes Link)

2. Since College - Magna Cum Laude - One representative song from the 2nd tier of albums over the time period.  The related albums are very good, but they didn't top their class.  (iTunes Link)

3. Since College - Bros - A second song from either the Summa or the Magna albums that I just couldn't not share.  (iTunes Link)

4. Since College - Stag - Songs that stood out as having distinction but whose underlying albums were not strong enough to be considered in the Summa or Magna playlists.  (iTunes Link)

Best Music of 2017

*Best New Music of 2017*
*Best New Music of 2017 Level 2.0*

Best Albums

1. Big Thief - Capacity 
• The more I listen the more I think it's a masterpiece.  Her ability to write poems that tell stories, and to sing them in such unique (but pleasant) rhythms makes me really appreciate the music.  "We may each want something different from music — when melody and memory tell a tale, I'm in. And right now, no one does it better for me than this band." -Bob Boilen
2. Benjamin Clementine - I Tell a Fly
• I prefer his 2015 album, 'At Least for Now', but this one is still pretty darn good.  A good mix of poetry, jazz, pop, and interesting vocals.
3. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. 
• I was expecting a more typical hip-hop / rap album when I started checking him out, but I was impressed at the depth of the sounds, and I can't deny that some of those rhythms are pretty awesome.  Sometimes I feel like his piano, bass, and drum sounds channel some of the best parts of Radiohead.  
4. Arcade Fire - Everything Now
• Not their best album, but it ages well with repeated listens.  A few of their tracks are a fresh sound from them that I really dig.  And props to them for rounding out an excellent catalog of albums at this point.
5. The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding
• Their prior album is probably still more classic than this one, but this one is really enjoyable on first listen.  
6. Julien Baker - Turn Out the Lights
• Reminds me a bit of the lead singer from the band Wet.  Also her sound reminds me somewhat of Neil Young's 'Le Noise' album from a few years back.  Some raw emotions, and some haunting lyrics.  I enjoyed watching her Tiny Desk performance -- she's super talented.
7. Slowdive - Slowdive
• Chill
8. Valerie June - The Order of Time
• When you've consumed enough 'Alabama Shakes' and 'Black Keys' but you still want that sound, she really hits the spot.  
9. Julie Byrne - Not Even Happiness
• I found her deep but soft voice and acoustic guitar arresting, but I did slightly tire of the album as I made my way through it.  Could be clutch on the right kind of day / location though.
10. SZA - Ctrl
• Love a couple of the songs, but can't get behind it as a whole album.
11. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
• Death is real.  If you needed to know that this is a good album to teach you that.  
12. Jay Som - Everybody Works
• Fun throughout. 

Old Standbys

1. Bjork - Utopia
• Doesn't come close to her last album, 'Vulnicura' (one of my favorites of the last decade), but it's interesting.  I haven't had the patience for it yet but I may someday.  
2. Sufjan Stevens - Planetarium
• It's kind of cool, but I can't get through the whole album
3. LCD Soundsystem - american dream
• I need something more from them on this comeback
4. Beck - Colors 
• This is one of his "fun" albums.  I tend to prefer his not fun albums these days.  

Good Songs for a Playlist

1. Moses Sumney - Lonely World 
• He has one or two other decent songs on his albums as well
2. Bottle Tree - Open Secret 
• I love the sound of this song with all its world beats and percussion.  I wanted to like the album more but could only get behind a couple other songs
3. The xx - I Dare You
• Whatever
4. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Deadly Valentine
• Not a great album, but big bonus points for sounding like a Royksopp song.  

Best Albums of 2013

I preface this post with the same disclaimer I made in my 2012 selections, which is that my musical explorations are more limited than they used to be, and consequently, you'll see a lot of repeat bands in my list.  And maybe it's just that I'm becoming crotchety but I think the industry is partly to blame for this.  For example, why, in the last decade or so, has there not been a single stand-out guitar soloist.  In the quest for bands to differentiate themselves, this seems like a lost opportunity.  Especially when you consider all the skills that the current Guitar Hero generation is acquiring.  Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix (though there may never be another), Eddie Van Halen, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, etc.

Nowadays the best guitar skills seem to express themselves in sound engineering, mood, dissonance, etc.; but sometimes I just want to hear an epic guitar solo.  Who can I turn to in the 21st century?

1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City (8.4)

This one really surprised me.  I had never cared for this band much before.  I equated them with vampires, youth, and other millennial things that I don't fully comprehend.  They achieve a nice sound with their vocal effects and some renaissance-era percussion.  Some standout songs for me are the lead track, 'Obvious Bicycle', and a song about deity, 'Ya Hey'.  One positive residual of the transparent Facebook era in which we now live is that bands can sing about their religious convictions without fear of being ostracized.

This album reminds me of Animal Collective's 'Merriwether Post Pavilion' or Phoenix's 'Amadeus Phoenix', but a little less bubblegum.

2. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (8.3)

A band that's less prolific, but when they speak people listen.  Some of the riffs and loops they conceive are just pure joy to the human ear.  Some of the best examples of this on the album are in the lead track, 'Give Life Back to Music', and in the single that took the world by storm, 'Get Lucky'.  On this album they expanded their sound a bit by inviting some notable guest vocalists to join them, and for the most part I think it works.  Pharrell William's soulfully smooth voice, for example, really makes 'Get Lucky' pop.  And Julian Cassablanca's instantly recognizable voice makes for a unique but enjoyable blend of sound.  And when they apply their proprietary Daft Punk vocoder to some of these guest vocalists it's just the cherry on top.

And their song, 'Within', about the loneliness of being a robot, is surprisingly sensitive and delicate.

Their musical formula of clean sounds + synth + layer build-ups + percussion + vocoders + time continues to equal success and an uncontrollable urge to dance.

3. Low - The Invisible Way (8.1) (Updated rating)

See prior post.  I maintain that I think this album would be better if Alan got more lead vocal and Mimi got less.  

4. Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest (7.8)

It was good to see them come back on the scene after taking a break for a few years.  'Reach for the Dead' (track 2) is the hit track on this album I would say.  Tracks 4 and 5 (roughly) get a little uncomfortable, but just power through the difficult stuff and you'll find it very rewarding in the end.

5. Sigur Ros - Kveikur (7.5)

This album is actually really good song to song, but for some reason I don't find myself playing the songs in my head, or needing to go back for repeat listens like I have with many of their prior albums.  

6. Atoms For Peace - Amok (7.0) (Updated rating)
See prior post.  This album is still good, but definitely has a shorter shelf life.

7. Arcade Fire - Reflektor (6.5)

Getting David Bowie to do cameo backup vocals is really hot right now.  TV on the Radio did this to great effect a few years back.  This album has a few tracks that are great.  The title track has a lot of depth to it and is probably one of the best tracks of the year.  'We Exist' has an opening beat and bass line that remind me of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'.  In the end the album fails to hold my attention, but it has some redeeming tracks here and there.

8. Rhye - The Fall (5.0)

'Open' is good. The title track is also very good.  Sounds like Bebel Gilberto.  If you ever find yourself needing to seduce a woman in your high-rise, hardwood-floor, inner-city apartment building, this album is going to be your best bet.

Others

Classixx - Hanging Gardens (2.0)

'All You're Waiting For' is a decent song.  'Holding On' is not bad either.  But in general the whole album seems to drone a bit too much, even for dance music.  And if you're gonna be a dance/techno band in 2014 I think you need to come up with some new, more interesting sounds than just relying on a good drum beat and some synth sound effects.

Bill Callahan - Dream River (-1.0)

Track 1 is good enough.  Sounds a lot like Pearl Jam's 'Around the Bend' song, which is a compliment.  But then it doesn't change from song to song.  After a while the lyrics and the music start to just sound like improv.  I know some people like that minimalist stuff, but it doesn't work for me here.

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual (-5.0)

A jarring version of Bjork.  Avoid it.

Early Album Favorites for 2013

Below are some good albums that have already come out in 2013.

1. Amok - Atoms For Peace (Rating: 8.0)
Besides being annoyed that now when I have the urge to listen to Thom Yorke music I have to now search for both "Thom..." and "Atoms..." this is a very solid album.
I will say right up front that this album is not as good as Thom Yorke's 'The Eraser' (2006).  That album was semi-revolutionary in my opinion.  It was such a good laptop album.  By that I mean that in listening to it you feel like you're at the airport or something, peering over Thom Yorke's shoulder as he cuts, loops, repeats, synthesizes, etc. on his Macbook.  It was as if Thom Yorke himself were sharing a link with you to his very personal new record.
Now back in 2013 in this new incarnation of a full ensemble of the 4 or 5 band members of Atoms For Peace, I find that the music is still nice but it's almost overproduced to perfection, and feels slightly less personal.  I have to say though that the track, 'Ingenue', is likely to be the best song I'll listen to during the whole year.  I'm tempted to buy tickets to the concert when they come this way in September mostly because I love seeing these kinds of songs played live and being thrown for a loop when I see them performing these songs with real instruments and not just laptops and vocals.

2. The Invisible Way - Low (Rating: 7.7)
I love everything about this band these days.  They have such a good formula going for them with a very simple concept to their music of a tortured male voice harmonizing with a deep, angelic female voice, simple percussion, subdued guitar that continually threatens to scream its head off, and throw some bass and occasional piano in there.  My gripe with this album is that it's a little too soft and too similar from song to song.  Also the fact that Mimi (the wife in this husband-wife duet) has too much of a leading role when she's best suited to backing vocals with occasional lead when you just need to be moved to tears.  I point to a song like "Majesty/Magic" on their 2011 album, 'C'mon' in which you get a powerful and emotional buildup with some incredibly raw guitar and percussion.  There aren't really any songs on this album that have that strong emotional impact on me.  Regardless of all these gripes I'm discussing, the fundamental formula is in place for this album and it's a nice addition to their collection.  My favorites from this album are the opening track, 'Plastic Cup', and 'Holy Ghost'.

Best Albums of 2012

In my increasingly ignorant assessment of the music scene in general, 2012 was pretty weak.  No new artist discoveries to speak of.  Below are some of my favorites throughout the year.  (I'm beginning to feel like a grumpy old man.  Maybe the reason people get grumpy in their old age is because they become less skilled at keeping up with the times and therefore miss out on a lot of the good stuff that is out there.)

1. Wixiw - Liars (Rating: 8.8)
By this point Liars have put out an undeniably good catalogue of albums.  They sound great whether they're doing spacey, experimental stuff, or poppier, more accessible stuff.  This album belongs in the latter category for the most part.  'His and Mine Sensations' is my favorite from this record.

2. Valtari - Sigur Ros (Rating: 6.9)
I didn't get into this album right from the start and I thought I would with time, and that has turned out to be only partially true.  I think I might really fall in love with it if I listened to it on a trip that involved waking up before dawn and wearing my galoshes out in the wet grass and walking up to the edge of a cliff as the fog begins to recede.  But I haven't had that kind of trip so I can't say for certain.  Instead, I find that the songs are generally enjoyable and pleasant, but they don't have as much character as songs from their earlier albums.

3. Tempest - Bob Dylan (Rating: 5.5)
The opening track, 'Duquesne Whistle' had me hooked from the first time I heard it.  It carries the listener away to olden times industrial America in a nice way.  The rest of the album has a few good songs here and there but it generally doesn't live up to the opening track.




4. & 5.  Americana - Neil Young (Rating: 5.0); Psychedelic Pill - Neil Young (Rating: 4.0)
Having recently listened to the Neil Young autobiography, 'Waging Heavy Peace' I was in a good place to be once again immersed in the genius of Neil Young, and thought I would have a greater appreciation for his music now that I had a better sense of his process, and where he was coming from--all the experiences he had had and was recently going through that inspired his music writing.  Sadly for me, Americana was only fun, not enduring, and Psychedelic Pill was maybe a little too half-baked for me.  The latter was I think meant to be a project wherein Neil Young would remount "the horse" (Crazy Horse, his band) and go for a ride and just see where it would take him and what energy would be found there.  To me, and probably to most listeners, it wasn't very cosmic.  But it may have been for Neil Young--I hope it was, anyways.  Anyways, the autobiography was great.  Keep on Rockin', Neil.

Best Albums of 2011

2011 was a medium strength year for music in my opinion.  Below are some of my favorites throughout the year.  Note that I tried to include mostly mainstream stuff, which was convenient since that's what I mostly listen to these days.

1. Hurry Up, We're Dreaming - M83 (Rating: 9.1)

The dude that is M83 (a French guy named Anthony Gonzalez) really hit it out of the park on this one.  Apparently this is M83's sixth album and it seems to me a culmination of talents picked up along the way.  He blends the creepy vocal overdubs with 'Bladerunner' atmospherics and a poppiness that was only found on his 5th album, 'Saturdays = Youth', and then out of nowhere throws out these amazing, passionate vocals to create the album of the year.



2. C'mon - Low (Rating: 8.9)

Not their absolute best album ever but a very refreshing take on their minimalist style.  I enjoy the inclusion of some xylophone and some acoustic guitar.








3. The King Of Limbs - Radiohead (Rating: 8.6)

Short but sweet.  I really love the percussion used in this album.  I heard a rock critic (a former drummer, no less) complain that there was too much digital drumming and looping, but when I watch their live performances I can see that they're actually just using 2 drummers and they're both doing extremely technical stuff.  Radiohead has a rule that their drummers need to be bald white guys.


4. El Camino - The Black Keys (Rating: 7.9)

Not quite as strong as their previous record but a rocking good time nonetheless.  Props on their album art as that Plymouth Voyager has a special place in Barker family history.







5. Angles - The Strokes (Rating: 6.5)

The Strokes are just consistently good.  I've liked all of their albums about the same.  This one has the added bonus of having some songs that sound like The Cars reincarnate.







6. In The Grace Of Your Love - The Rapture (Rating: 6.3)

I need to listen to this album a few more times to see how much depth it has to it but at least the title track as well as 'How Deep Is Your Love?'  are some of my favorite tracks of the year.







6. Nine Types Of Light - TV On The Radio (Rating: 4.5)

It's pretty good but I hate to say that their work has been declining since the excellent 'Return To Cookie Mountain'








7. Bon Iver - Bon Iver (Rating: 3.0)

I try to find that inner being in my soul that craves the peace and tranquility that only Bon Iver can afford, but the impatient and irritable side of me usually comes out first.  There are only 2 or 3 songs that I find myself going back to.

Last Possible Place Somewhere Towards the Bottom: Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay (Rating: -3.0 2.0)

This album sucks.  Supposedly it's a concept album where two people meet each other through a gang in a dystopian, urban environment and somehow fall in love.  The only concept I got out of it was suckiness.

It's got a song or two that are enjoyable but the overall feel of the album is a big step backward for Coldplay.  They've been guilty in the past of cheesy lyrics but I thought they were past that when they scored on 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends'.  Not only did they fall back to some lame lyrics (see: 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall') but they overdid it on the whole anthemic thing and they suddenly seem to be appealing to teenagers.  

It mostly just makes me appreciate 'Viva La Vida...' more.

2/21/12 UPDATE: [...OK, I gave the album a fair listen over the weekend.  I guess only a few of the songs suck--particularly towards the beginning which is why I kept turning it off before I got to the end.  Track 10 ('Princess Of China') is actually a great song.  And there are a few other songs that are OK.  It's still their worst album but it's not as terrible as originally believed.]

High On Low

Back in April when I was living the bachelor dream (i.e. pop tarts and nachos for dinner and never having to do the dishes) my first real act of being a one-month bachelor was going to a concert with my friend Paul.  This is not to be confused with the piano recitals and violin concertos that Paul often refers to as concerts; no, this was a real, check your ID at the door, ink stamp on your fist, people wearing weird clothes, rock concert.

The band was Low and the venue was The Black Cat in DC.  Low was touring their new album, 'C'mon', which I highly recommend by the way.  The new album, and the live performance served as a reminder that Low is an awesome band.  

As white males standing 6'2''and 6'1'' respectively, Paul and I fit right in to Low's target market demographic

They are pioneers and perfectors of the "slow-core" rock movement.  It's the kind of music to which you can get lost deep in thought one minute, and then find yourself doing feet stomps and air drums the next.

I was surprised to see just how good of a singer and performer Alan Sparhawk is (lead vocals, lead guitar).  His vocals were floating up and down the treble clef and he is impressive in his ability to sustain notes at the top of his range (I was further convinced of this when I tried to play some songs on my own at home and was downright ashamed at how awful I sounded).  His guitar style is completely unique as well.  Almost everything is in alternate tunings and he's an unconventional strummer.  When he plays the more intense guitar parts he appears like he's trying to simultaneously chop wood and birth a child.

And on the skins (simple drums) is Mimi Parker.  Her voice is mostly melodic and angelic, but occasionally harrowing.

What is even more interesting to me is the band's personal life.  Alan and Mimi are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (you're welcome, President Packer).  This seems like a real struggle to have to balance what seem like two incompatible lifestyles.  And from what I can tell it has been a struggle for Alan Sparhawk (some skeletons in his closet include drugs and a belief that he was (or is) antichrist).  Add to this the fact that they are raising two children and one has to wonder how they manage.  I won't try and guess; but maybe they manage just fine; maybe they manage better than you and I do.

It seems like a whole different kind of romance and marital connection to me to have two people sing together and harmonize the way they do.  I think all couples should find some format in which they can really get on their own wavelength like these two do.  I really admire it.  This youtube clip is a good example of how they achieve that wavelength (just ignore the fact that they look like drugged out hippies).

My wife still can't get into Low (she cites monotone and boring and heavy as her key criticisms) so I guess they won't be our "wavelength," but I'll convince her eventually.

The King Of Limbs (Music Review)

'The King Of Limbs' is Radiohead's 8th studio album.  It was self-released on Feb. 18 and is available from the band's website for $9 as an MP3 download

I have gone through the whole album about 6 or 7 times by now. I find that the best way for me to enjoy new music is to just clean around the house with my headphones on. If the music is really good (like in this case) I get a lot of cleaning done.

I'm a big fan of the music and they repeatedly cement themselves as one of the best (the best in my opinion) bands since the 90's. They've practically achieved a PhD in sound engineering at this point. Their recent music (particularly 'In Rainbows' and now 'The King Of Limbs') sounds so crisp and rich, it's hard not to enjoy it.

Radiohead: The best band since the 90's 

I find similarities between this album and 'Hail To The Thief'. The style and feel of some of the more avant garde tracks of the latter (e.g. "Where I End And You Begin," "Myxamatosis") find their way back on 'The King Of Limbs' in a big way. Where they were almost afterthought songs on 'HTTF' they are the main attraction on 'TKOL'.

Tracks 1-5 are as strong a string of songs as Radiohead have ever put together. The percussion work is AMAZING and the bass and vocals complement it perfectly. It's almost modern jazz. It's almost techno. It's almost rock. But it's none of those really.

But then track 6 comes along which feels so dull and simple. And then track 7 is kind of cool but it seems a bit campfire-ish and out of place. And then they get back on track with track 8 and before you know it the ride is over.

So, I love the sound they achieve but I think the album suffers a bit from being too short and from having a couple of songs in there that sound out of place to me.  But they get props for managing to blindside the entire music industry with the release of the album.  With only about 1 week to get hyped up about the album and to build expectations it was hard to be disappointed.

You can also buy the "newspaper" collectors edition of the album (available May 9) with vinyl records and tons of original artwork.  It costs $48. 

Rating: 9.0

Best Albums of 2010

1. The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monae
2. Sisterworld [Deluxe] - The Liars
3. Brothers - The Black Keys

This band is two dudes from Akron, Ohio, named Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney.  Their 2004 album, 'Rubber Factory' was the subject of some praise but in hindsight I think it sounds a little too much like an indie version of The White Stripes, whereas this newest album is totally original and more energetic.  It's a fine production and it's apparent that they put a lot of work and finishing touches into the project, and with 15 solid tracks stacked one after the other it really makes for an enjoyable album experience.  "Tighten Up" is one of my favorite singles of the year.  And, "my next girl will be nothing like my ex girl" is just a cool line.

Rating: 8.6

4. Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
5. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
6. This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
7. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [Clean] - Kanye West

Hailed by many critics as a masterpiece, a glimpse inside the mind of one of the most interesting personalities of our generation, best album of the decade, and various other superlatives.  This is a good album, but I don't think it's that good.  When one of your tracks is a Chris Rock voicemail that sounds like he just discovered the echo effect on the Inception app and can't help hearing himself talk I think you just wrote off your chances for the best-album-of-the-decade-award.  "All Of The Lights" is a really cool song and I like the Rockyesque horn bit.  "Lost In The World" is another one of my favorites from the album and I think having a chorus of robots is such a simple yet ingenious idea.

Rating: 7.0  

8. Go - Jonsi
9. Body Talk Pt. 1 (and Body Talk Pt. 2, and Body Talk) - Robyn

An ambitious Two Thousand and Ten for the sexy, sassy, Swedish pop star.  She released a trilogy of albums all within a year for her 'Body Talk' project.  Her music has the bubblegum pop appeal to make you want to sing and dance upon first listen but it also has the attention to detail, and production quality, and clever lyrics etc. to give her music staying power.  "Fembot," for example, has just the right blend of funny computer terms and futuristic sound effects to make me a certain kind of happy that I hadn't experienced since listening to Neil Young's 'Trans'.  The way she uses bass guitar and synthesizer helps to bring an emotional charge to the music and is reminiscent of the great Billy Idol.  This must be why my brother, Des, likes her so unabashedly; at the risk of being a feminist sympathizer... not that there's anything wrong with that.

Rating 6.9
 

10. Le Noise - Neil Young

This album also got a lot of love from critics and it even won a grammy for Best Rock Song with "Angry World" (Neil Young's first grammy, in fact), but I didn't care for it tons.  The appeal is the exposure that Neil Young allows for in this record.  It's just him and his guitar and his producer (Daniel Lanois) in an empty mansion (I heard) somewhere in LA.  It all makes for a dreamy effect and you have to be in a certain mood to enjoy the album.  I still prefer the classic stuff (especially the Archives Volume 1 box set which was released in 2009) but kudos to Neil for continually reinventing himself.

Rating: 6.5

Last Possible Place: The Age Of Adz - Sufjan Stevens

I was dumbfounded at how awful this album is.  But it all made sense after reading an interview in which Sufjan said, "I'm very aware that this material is far less popular and accessible than the kind of songwriting on Illinois. I'm also willing to admit that these songs don't measure up to the songs I was writing five years ago; these aren't great songs in terms of the palpable, fundamental nature of a song. But I'm not interested in songwriting anymore. I'm interested in sound and movement." Translation: "I've gone off the deep-end."  I'm actually OK with sound and movement experiments (I mean, I definitely prefer Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" to David Byrne's more experimental "Glass, Concrete & Stone") but the problem is when you decide to sing like a shameless prepubescent teenager at the very top of his range.  Listening to this album the whole way through was one of my greatest accomplishments in 2010.

Album Rating: -9.0

Good Things to Come: 
Low: C'mon (April 12)
Radiohead: The King Of Limbs (February 19)

New Albums that I Like (Continued)

This Is Happening (LCD Soundsystem) - James Murphy is the dude behind this band.  He is exactly that, a dude.  That's what's so alluring about LCD's music.  He is just a chilled out guy making cool music and not taking himself too seriously (except for on the track, "You Wanted a Hit," which is some sort of backlash at music producers and is painfully reminiscent of Tom Petty's worst song of all time, "My Name's Joe I'm a CEO).  It is dance-punk executed perfectly.  For those who expressed disappointment in this album, I'm not sure what you were hoping for.  Yes, the predecessor, "Sound of Silver," was amazing, but in the end it's just really good dance-punk music.  'This Is Happening' is likewise really good but to a slightly lesser extent.  Fortunately, for the listener, they introduce some new sounds to their repertoire like the funkdafied "Dance Yrself Clean" and the Bowie-esque "All I Want."  Finally, it has been rumored that 'This Is Happening' will be LCD's final album before James Murphy moves on to other projects.  If that is so, then the final track, "Home," represents a great swan song and a culmination of talents, beats, and emotion.
7.4

The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) (Janelle Monae) - In sports people often hope for and talk about "some kid, somewhere that's going to be the next [Michael Jordan/ Tiger Woods/ Babe Ruth/ etc.]."  Based on sheer population and anomalies, the theory goes, someone has to emerge eventually.  In the music arena Janelle Monae is this kid.  She seems, to me, to be a huge talent who just suddenly came out of nowhere (Kansas City, MO, to be precise).  Apparently she was starting a career of training for Broadway but realized her passion is pop music.  This means that she has an awesome voice (both booming and melodic) and great stage presence and dance moves.  'The ArchAndroid' is a continuation of her Metropolis concept series.  Apparently, the series involves the fictional tale of Cindy Mayweather, a messianic android sent back in time to free the citizens of Metropolis from The Great Divide, a secret society that uses time-travel to suppress freedom and love.  Whatever.  The things to note here are that 1) the music is super high quality: good beats, vocals, lyrics, and an amazing range of genres (she channels Michael Jackson, Outkast, James Brown, Beatles, Claude Debussy, and Simon & Garfunkel, all with fluidity and grace), as well as a hefty dose of material (18 solid tracks); and 2) the over"arch"ing theme is actually pretty cool: she uses futuristic worlds and space travel as a metaphor for being free from chains and oppression (possibly inspired by her connection to African-American slavery).

9.1

New Albums that I Like (Update)

Plastic Beach (Gorillaz) – A concept album from a concept band. What impresses me about this album is how fluid it manages to be for having guest artists on most every track (from Snoop Dogg to Mos Def to Lou Reed). It definitely has some catchy songs (e.g. ‘Melancholy Hill’) that you can’t help but like but it also has some less “user-friendly” tracks (‘Sweepstakes’ w/ Mos Def) which have a lot of depth to them upon subsequent listens. This helps make the album a lastingly good one. ‘Some Kind of Nature’ w/ Lou Reed doesn’t really fit any of those categories; it is just awesome.

8.5 (on a scale of -10 to 10)

Sisterworld (Liars) – A friend of mine wondered if the cd had possibly been retrieved after being “discarded somewhere on the floor of hell.” He continued, “I tried, but I just can't do it. I feel like an old man getting his first taste of rock 'n' roll.” This album is definitely not for the faint of heart and yes it may have some diabolical qualities to it, but damn if I don’t LOVE this album. It’s so good. Admittedly, you have to be in a slightly sinister mood (in other words, don’t listen to it on a sunny morning whilst on a power walk) to really get into it. Interestingly, some of the tracks (e.g. ‘Scissor’) are haunting and jagged, yet others (e.g. “Too Much, Too Much’) are angelically melodic. Also, they pull off one of the best album remixes I’ve ever heard. As a bonus disc they do alt versions of each track allowing other artists to inject their influence and remix the track to their style. Two of these remix creations are just annoying and offer no new perspectives or improvements, but at least two of them are homeruns and most of them are just really good.

9.0

Go (Jonsi) – Listen to this album on a sunny morning whilst on a power walk. It will make you happy. Jonsi (frontman of Sigur Ros) steps out on his own to deliver this solo project. It’s very colorful and upbeat and I like that it draws on that signature Icelandic sound that he has helped to create. No song really stands out as genius, and after a week or two you might even forget that you have this album in your collection, but it is good and you will be glad when you play it again after realizing that you haven’t listened to it in a while.

7.0

Forgiveness Rock Record (Broken Social Scene) – The Canadien indie superband is back at it with their fourth studio album. I think this is BSS’s most consistently good album to date. It doesn’t have any immediate hits like ’Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl’ or ‘7/4 (Shoreline)’ but it has two or three or four songs that I really like and more importantly, no duds. This album is pretty recent so I haven’t given it a lot of listens yet but I’ve found that it’s their most complete album and for that reason probably their best.  I'm bored with this album by now.  It has little character and at least one annoying song ("Texaco B's").  It still has a few nice tracks but it's never enough to pull me back in.

7.5 4.0

Summer Toonz

I recently set a new personal record by attending 3 concerts in 8 days. That's an average of 0.375 concerts/day. Was it a good idea? Yes. Let me explain.

6/6/09 - David Byrne (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)

Mr. Byrne dressed up in his pearly whites for this one and had some nice assistance from his interpretive dancers. He, himself, even got in on the dancing every now and then. The songs from his new album are all quite nice. Nothing mindblowingly good but it a nice melding of Byrne pop and Eno ambient sounds--exactly what you would expect and hope for from a Byrne/Eno collaboration. The eye-opening thing about this concert for me was when he played a lot of the old classics from the Talking Heads days (which apparently also had a lot of Eno influence) and I could see that 'I Zimbra' signature sound come to life. The organ playing on a hurried, irregular beat, the double percussion going nonstop, and the high-treble guitar keeping to the rhythm, and some weird sound effects for good measure. I could really appreciate the research Byrne and the 'Heads had done to create that sound and once I caught it, I felt like I could groove to it for hours. He also played a few get up and dance songs like 'Burning Down the House' and 'Once in a Lifetime'.

6/11/09 - Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes (Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane)

I didn't really get into Costello until about 3 or 4 years ago which I realize was entirely too late but I can't really be blamed for that now can I? I started with 'My Aim Is True' and then progressed to 'This Year's Model' and then skipped ahead to 'Accidents Will Happen' and then pulled back a bit to 'Blood And Chocolate'. And then this new album, 'Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane', just came out this month and he happened to be touring at Wolftrap, which is a fantastic outdoor venue here in the DC area, so I just had to go. I would call this show, "enjoyable". Nothing too incredible, or even with a very high degree of difficulty, but it played into the outdoor nature ambiance quite nicely. This album is a shift from the Costello norm as he's teamed up with a bluegrass band to record some Nashville hits. It works as an alternative project but it's not the best use of his talent as some of the angst and rebellion in his strainy voice are best accompanied by percussion and jagged electric guitar riffs. One song I especially enjoyed was 'I Felt the Chill', which he recorded with Loretta Lynn.

6/13/09 - Duke Ellington Jazz Festival

This was a free event held on the D.C. mall next to the Washington Monument. They had about 10 jazz bands, mostly from New Orleans, doing one-hour sets over the course of 2 days. We went to the Saturday evening portion and set up a blanket and picnic. It was fun for the relaxation and the eating and the freeness, but the music was only on and off. Off when the band we heard was playing free-form, cerebral stuff with overdubbed reverend lyrics; all part of their latest concept album. We were just looking for something to bob our heads and snap our fingers to. Fortunately, they closed the set with some more traditional songs, and at long last, fingers were snapped, and heads were bobbed.

And in the non-live music arena, I recently picked up the latest release from Sonic Youth, 'The Eternal'. I heard Greg Kot (Chicago Tribune) describe their sound as urban surf music, like a car ride that you get on and have no idea where it's heading. This album really rocks and has some popping guitar riffs throughout. I might still like their previous album, 'Rather Ripped' a little more but most critics seem to agree that this latest is their best in a long time. Definitely worth checking out.