Jack Ruby Presents is a pretty loaded phrase. Jack Ruby was a complicated and perplexing figure who managed to alter the coarse of history on live television. The idea of Ruby himself presenting anything is both comical and insane. The moniker seems fitting for the roots-rock outfit that is Jack Ruby Presents, though I’m not entirely sure why. It could be that the band possesses a semi-legendary status in the small college town of McMinnville, or it could be that the band projects a sense of sincerity that (however deranged) Ruby himself possessed and tried to express. Or it could simply be that it is a complicated and loaded name for similarly complex band.
I first heard of JRP through word of mouth and decided to give their tunes a listen. The Cardboard EP, as it was called, was making its rounds on campus and was also streaming on the groups myspace. I listened to each song, and while they sounded like legitimate songs in every sense of the word they were missing something. After a few minutes with each song I realized that the arrangements sounded as flat as the name the EP had taken. There was simply no energy. Because of this I maintained a small interest in the band because they’d started at my college but managed to miss all of their live performances in and around campus. Not long after The Cardboard EP the band signed to Homeskillet Records and rumors of a debut LP began to circulate.
Two years later, at the urging of JRP’s front-man, Jesse Hughey, I stood near the back of The Satyricon in downtown Portland with a friend. I watched as a couple of local acts bumbled through their sets and wondered if I’d made the right decision. After a bit of set up Jack Ruby Presents took the stage and with smiles plastered across their faces they launched into their first song. Instantly I realized that this was a different band. The energy that was so lacking on their studio recordings came across ten-fold, filling The Satyricon, pushing its way into everybody’s psyche and bubbling up in the spaces between. I left the show hoping that JRP’s would be able to capture that energy and figure out a way to put it on a disc.
On May 15th, 2010, Jack Ruby Presents released their debut LP: Over Wires And White Plains, on Homeskillet Records. 
The album spans 12 songs of haunted legends, late night drunken blues, heartbreak and home. The band seems to float through the upbeat tunes with a welcoming elegance and sink to the dirty depths of the soul on the more sorrowful numbers. The ability of the band to inhabit these polar opposites with such sincerity is equal parts fascinating and rare. Lead vocalist Jesse Hughey’s voice is the one you want singing you to sleep at night. His deep and homey vocals are those of a soul much older, one well versed in the cigarette smoke and whiskey tunes he often sings. Christopher Hernandez’s song’s are complex tales of lives loved and lost complimented by his emotional vocals and fabulous guitar playing. Melissa Davaz’s tunes are similarly dark but she leaves many of them behind as her beautiful and soaring vocals seem to lift her up and away. Aaron Owens’ remarkably tight and technical drumming rounds out each song without overpowering, something rarely found in music today. But it is when all three harmonize and croon together over Owens’ drum lines that the band is at its strongest. It is during those moments that you realize Jack Ruby Presents is much more than the sum of its parts.
Over Wires And White Plains signals that Jack Ruby Presents is not a small time band from a small town on a small label. Each of the 12 songs holds its place on the album in way no other song could. There is not a wasted chord, or a spare moment and you wouldn’t want one. It’s a rare album in a sea of collections. As soon as it’s over you’ll pray you can give it another hour of your undivided time. It is a powerful album that could compete with anything on the market if given a chance. It carries with it the story of a band growing, learning and loving every minute of it. In a sense, Over Wires And White Plains is everything it could have been, should have been, and always wanted to be. Everybody wants to bottle that feeling you get when you first get home: that overwhelming sense of comfort and joy and sincerity. Jack Ruby Presents has done just that.
Get your copy of Over Wires And White Plains here.
She & Him – Volume 2 Stream
I dug the first She & Him album and their follow up, aptly titled: Volume 2, drops on Merge Records, March 23rd. BUT: NPR, is pretty much king and they are streaming the album more than a week before its street date. NPR is rad, and they do this kind of stuff all the time, so if you’re a fan of She & Him, or just want to hear their new album in its entirety, point your browser to NPR’s website or click just click here.
Finals Silence
Ok, I know. ANOTHER theme change, [for those of you actually re-visiting this site]. I just can’t settle on a new one for that long. I also debated moving my blog to an entirely different provider with more customizable options…but I really dig wordpress.
And jesus h… have I been busy. It’s finals time in the land of public university, which is most unfortunate. The important thing to to remember, is that in the very near future, it will be worth your time to check back, I promise. Lots has happened..LOTS. And I plan to catch up as soon as I can.
Until then, many of my favorite bands have been kicking out new tracks left and right, so for now, here is a list, as well as a way to listen to these great new tracks.
Japandroids – Art Czars {Could easily have made it onto the outstanding Post-Nothing}
Beach House – The Arrangement {Amazing track}
Broken Social Scene – World Sick {After years of silence they produce this fabulous track}
MGMT – Flash Delirium {This makes me excited for the new MGMT album, I wasn’t a huge fan of their first}
Download it here
She & Him – In The Sun {A nice little pop tune, what you’d expect/want from these two}
LCD Soundsystem – Oh You (Christmas Blues) {a distorted (Pink Floyd(y) sounding) new track from the upcoming film, Greenberg}
Neon Indian – Sleep Paralysist {This man can do no wrong}
All apologies..
Man, I’ve sure been a crappy (albeit busy/sick) blogger. I promise I’ll get back to my ways. There is plenty to talk about, I’m just slacking..Check back soon for some updates.
<3
Beach House – Take Care
Here are a couple videos from Pitchfork.tv of Beach House performing songs from their incredible new album, Teen Dream.
Beach House – Zebra
Here are a couple videos from Pitchfork.tv of Beach House performing songs from their incredible new album, Teen Dream.
Beach House – Walk In The Park
Here are a couple videos from Pitchfork.tv of Beach House performing songs from their incredible new album, Teen Dream.
Beach House – Norway
Here are a couple videos from Pitchfork.tv of Beach House performing songs from their incredible new album, Teen Dream.
Panda Bear – Tomboy
Friends, big news.
GorillavsBear.net has reportedly confirmed with Panda Bear’s publicist that his forthcoming solo album will indeed be titled, Tomboy, and as of now it is scheduled to be released on Paw Tracks in September. Check their report here.
It’s a good day on the music front.
However, on a more somber note for the literary/artistic world as a collective:
RIP – Howard Zinn – brilliant historian
RIP – JD Salinger – one of the most important people to ever pick up a pen
No Age Talks New Album
Randy Randall, of No Age fame, recently discussed the up and coming No Age album in an interview with Pitchfork. According to Randall the album would ideally be out this summer, which is exciting news.
Randall goes on to discuss a documentary film he has been working on about all age venues. Read the full interview here.
Beach House – Teen Dream Review
I’ll spoil it for you. Teen Dream..is a good album. In fact, its a pretty dang good. A lot better than I expected. It’s good enough, that it will without a doubt grace many peoples best of 2010 lists in December. I would imagine it’s appeal will only grow as more and more people are able to hear it.If you haven’t heard it: do yourself a favor.
Beach House have managed to harness aspects of, The XX, Bands of Horses, Dr. Dog, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Grizzly Bear and combine them to make a dreamy collection of pop songs. The songs are catchy and fun to listen to while maintaining a surprising amount of seriousness. The lyrical layers are there, though often drenched in echo and reverb, and crooning along is going to be something I do all year.
The album begins as cool and calculated as it ends. Both the opening and final tracks seem to be just those, bookends to a dream. The opening track, Zebra, introduces you to the sound of the album and slowly picks up from there. The closing tracks, Real Love and Take Care, unwind you for a glorious send off back to reality. Everywhere in between is what it needs to me. Meticulously crafted pop sometimes bordering on the psychedelic, always sounding great.
The high points are tracks four (Walk in the Park) and eight (10 Mile Stereo). These tracks are flawless in their construction and placement within the confines of the album itself. 10 Mile Stereo is an amazing song with lackadaisically sung somber lyrics over a programmed drum line that couldn’t fit better with the tone of the album. Walk in the Park has an absolutely infectious chorus that will ensure this album pumps through my headphones for months to come.
The album exhibits a kind of perfect yet elegant construction, similar to Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimist. Everything sounds like it took a long time to plan, there are so many layers, so many moving parts all shifting in unison to pull off this teen dream, but they are able to do it without thinking twice. This type of record could easily come across as forced or contrived. Instead, what comes across is a young band who is already a master of their craft. It will be great to see them live and to see what their future outputs sound like.
Rating: 4.3/5.0
New theme!
And a couple, probably just one, new feature to come in the next day/two/three. Check back for more details!
OMG, the day is a good one, videos have surfaced on youtube of Panda Bear playing two new songs and Animal Collective’s Daily Routine. These videos (posted below) are from a show in Belgium.
In MORE exciting news, the site Ramin-Ton.net (currently not loading in my browser): is reporting that a show in Germany consisted of ONLY new material save Animal Collective’s Daily Routine. The site went on to post an mp3 of that set! It is available, here. The songs sound like nothing you wouldn’t expect from the mastermind that is Panda Bear. Many will most likely pop up on his next solo effort. The album is reportedly rumored to be called, Tomboy and should be out sometime this year I’d expect. Who knows how far along these versions are in terms of what they might sound like, but for what they’re worth, here they are below:
And here’s the video of him performing Daily Routine at the same show.
Enjoy and merry monday.
Updates!
Readers!
I’m excited to “unveil” the album reviews from past years! There are officially mini-reviews in the 2000-2009 tab and there are soon to be more in there and some in the 1990-1999 tab as well! The mini-reviews will look pretty similar to how they do in the 2000′s tab. So read on, and enjoy!
Thanks again!
Dirty Projectors – Free Digital EP
So, Dirty Projectors are pretty awesome. Their album, Bitte Orca (which I ranked 2nd best of 09′) apparently spawned 2 b-sides that have, until now, been unreleased. That’s all changed.
DP’s have released the songs themselves as a free digital ep.
The tracklist and ‘album’ art is as follows:
1. Ascending Melody
2. Emblem Of The World
Getting a digital copy is as easy as going to, dirtyprojectors.net and entering your email address!
For all you purists out there you can pick up a vinyl 7 inch of the ep from the Domino store here
Enjoy!
Album Reviews
Hey all,
I’ve decided to add a new feature to the site, an Album Reviews section. It’s a totally separate page from the main drag and will essentially consist of albums I dig with a blurb and rating. The best part is the album can be from any-time frame, allowing me to review some really great stuff that came out before I started my blog. This will help give readers a sort of context for how I feel about “older” releases and potentially an opportunity for readers to weigh in their opinions as well.
The Album Reviews page can be found in the toolbar on the left hand side of the page.
I posted this message (semi-redundant to what I typed above) in that section.
“This is a new section of the site that I am hoping to update on a weekly(ish) basis of albums that I truly love from throughout music history. Throughout the first couple weeks there might be a barge of stuff added. It’s a way for me to share some albums I feel are truly great that were released before this blog came to fruition. I’ll try to post the album art and a little blurb about each album as well as my overall rating out of 5.0. Check back soon for updates!”
Hopefully I can stick to this sort of deadline. It should be pretty cool so check back.
The static link to get to the album reviews is pretty simple, its just http://gdoody.wordpress.com/album-reviews/
Yoni Wolf – Daytrotter Sessions
In non-Vampire Weekend related news, Why?, sometimes known as Yoni Wolf performed on the daytrotter sessions January 7th, performing the tracks: January-Twenty Something, These Hands, Against Me, and an untitled unreleased song. The sessions are pretty cool and very different than Why?’s usual hip-folk-hop sound. The renditions basically consist of Wolf playing piano and singing.
In other Why? news, Yoni Wolf is rumored to have a solo effort hitting the shelves sometime in 2010, more details as they surface.
You can stream or download all the songs from the Daytrotter site, here: Yoni Wolf Daytrotter Sessions
Enjoy.
Vampire Weekend – Contra Review
OH SNAP!
Vampire Weekend’s sophomore effort, Contra, is out January 12th on XL Records. But, like most things, its around on the nets before it’s scheduled release date.
The great thing about leaks, is that they have the ability to hype an album even more before its physical release. Any devoted fan of any band will also tell you that if that album is good enough, they will snag a copy when it becomes available. So enough blabbering, here is my review of Vampire Weekend – Contra.
It’s important to note before we start here that I wasn’t a real big fan of their first album. It’s certainly grown on me, but I found it riddled with predictable and vapid lyrics that honestly just weren’t all that great. If there is one thing Vampire Weekend has done up until this point, its write a great hook. Contra is no exception, and instead is a huge step in the right direction. In short, Contra sounds like the album Vampire Weekend has had the potential to/wanted to make. Any fan of their self-titled debut should feel just as strongly about this new batch of songs.
Contra begins with what I’d call a bit of trickery. Two of the first three tracks could easily be confused for tracks on their self-titled debut. Horchata, White Sky and Holiday all sound like things Vampire Weekend would do.Horchata is a great warm up to the album itself and sets the tone. White Sky, the second track is a sunshinny song with a sing-along chorus that no one will actually be able to sing along to. It’s a great song that you’ll at least be whistling for hours afterward. The third track, Holiday is a bit different. Ezra Koenig is laughing whereever he is as he thinks about people listening to this song. The guitar line is incredibly chessy and the drums roll along as if something from a cheesy John Hughes film. It comes across as a sort of pop-punk experiment that wouldn’t work it it were any longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The song, while not my favorite does get more interesting and unorthodox as the song progresses and more importantly it fits the tone of the album.
The fourth song, California English is where I started to really get into Contra. The vocals are quick, cut up, maybe even auto-tuned a bit. Koenig croons over rhythmic snare hits and a harmonizing backing track. The song is quick paced and features lyrical gems like, “fake Philly cheese-stake but you use real toothpaste.” Needless to say the song is pretty awesome, and in a different vein then their other stuff.
The five track fits in perfectly, Taxi is, a quiet taxi cab ride through the city after a odd sort of track. Taxi features many of the Vampire Weekend staples: strings, keyboard riffs and an overall more straight forward song structure. The thing that stands out is the lyrics, “In the shadow of your first attack, I was question and looking back” They are all together more sincere and stronger on this album.
The second half of the album is even stronger. Track 6, Run, vamps the energy back up and the output is something similar to Phoenix. Cousins, the lead single is an amazing song featuring crazy lyrics over an extremely unorthodox array of snare drum hits, bass grooves and scale jogging guitar. Pitchfork described it as “a blitzing song” and there is really no better way to describe it.
Track 8, Giving Up The Gun, begins like an Animal Collective track but quickly disintegrates into probably the most pop song Vampire Weekend has produced. It comes right after the unorthodox Cousins, and is all the better for it. The contrast created by these two songs is really cool. Giving Up The Gun is just a fun song to listen to.
Diplomat’s Son is the longest track on the album but you’ll glide through it as though it were the shortest. The song is just plain enjoyable to listen to. Erza’s vocals sound top notch, and the seeming simplicity of it hides the overall complexity of the song. This song is the song that sums up the album most aptly. It’s fun, catchy, simple, complex, cold, warm, sample filled and..bouncy? Seriously. It kind of is.
The album winds down with, I Think Ur A Contra. A quiet track that ends the album nicely. The song meanders in an out of itself, creating a large wall of sound reminiscent of Wilco’s, Poor Places. It’s a strong track and a great ending to Contra.
Contra sounds like a more focused album. But it sounds chaotic. It sounds like an album you could listen to all summer, or all winter. It is certainly a bit more experimental and interesting than its predecessor, but it has some of the most straightforward songs they’ve done. Contra’s strength is derived solely from its ability to exist within the Contra that it has itself created. Even through it is an album of contradictions through this experimentation it never sounds lost, meandering or masturbatory. It sounds like Vampire Weekend. I’d strongly recommend picking up a copy of this LP when it drops.
4.2/5.0
Albums of the Year: 2009
Finally! After three weeks of serious (perhaps WAY too serious) of deliberation, I bring to you, my top albums of the year. 2009 was a great year for music, there was no shortage of spectacular material in the LP and EP format. Some bands managed to pump out multiple great releases while many other broke through in 09′. I battled with myself for a long time about whether to separate EP’s from LP’s and in the end I decided not to, because there were only a few EP’s I would put on my list, so I left them in, but with alphabetical listings instead of numeric. The whole system is pretty easy. In retrospect, I wish I’d started with the bottom and as you scrolled down the numbers got smaller, so it would be..you know.. a surprise. But alas, it is all typed and their is NO way I’m going to go through that headache. The first two wouldn’t/shouldn’t be a surprise anyway. So without further ado, here it is:
The Top Albums of 2009
#1 – Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Without a doubt, Merriweather Post Pavilion is the best album of 2009. The margin of victory is so high that the battle was never what’s the best album of 2009, it was, what is the best album AFTER M.P.P. This album is a master piece in every sense of the word. Each song is beautiful, destructive, over the top, minimal, catchy, abrasive, poetic, dark, and dreamy all at the same time. It is the ability of this bands members to harness and control all of these things within a single record that make them so great. M.P.P. is the album Animal Collective was destined to make. It is the album that everyone knew they would eventually make, from Spirt They’ve Vanished… to Strawberry Jam. They have been traveling up until this point, and this album is the product of pure and genuine humanity. It is an album that manages to harness a feeling, and encapsulate those feelings so strongly that you can’t help but smile at the depth. Each listen is unique and moving. My Girls is easily the best song of the year, and Brother Sport, Summertime Clothes, Taste, and Daily Routine are all in the top 20. This album is disarmingly good and could very well ruin music for you, but it won’t. Instead it will compel you to delve into the onion that is Animal Collective. Good luck pealing back all the layers, there is nothing more fun in all of music.
#2 – Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
In any other year, this album would be a runaway number 1. Dirty Projectors, have finally peaked with an absolutely wonderful album. Bitte Orca is incredibly interesting, more so than almost any other album on this list. It features the most original song structure, lyrics, harmonies and music of any of their albums, a clear step forward. The album has no dull moments and swings and swells with absolute perfect timing. The voices will lure you like sirens into what I imagine is some sort of creepy cult-like musician circle where lead singer Dave Longstreth teaches you the ways of the upside down guitar and harmonizing with three beautiful women. Never since The Beatles or CSN has anyone harmonized so beautifully. Each song will take you down a separate fork from the main album trail, eventually creating some sort of antler on a crazy mythical beast, no really. Bitte Orca is an amazing journey, and when Dirty Projectors invite you to follow them on it, you must not refuse.
#A – Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP
Fall Be Kind EP is further testament as to the absolute and soul crushing power that Animal Collective wields. Proving that even though the 3 (or 4) of them are amazingly talented by themselves, together they are more than the sum of their parts. All five tracks are solid and placed in relation to each other perfectly, as only a few bands can do. Each track segues into the next naturally and at the perfect time. Avey Tare’s vocals play and meddle in the morning light as the songs rise and Panda Bear crushes the last 8 minutes with a epic and bombastic rhythmic assault of the psyche. These gentlemen can do no wrong.
#3 – Wavves – Wavvves
It’s been one hell of a year for Wavves mastermind, Nathan Williams, or as we refer to him around here, Nathan Wavves. He went into a drug/technical failure induced rage at the Primevera Sound Festival, his drummer quit and he got in a verbal and physical altercation with fellow indie rocker, Jared Swiliey from the Black Lips. He then got a new (more talented) drummer, and had Jay Reatards old band join his. He’s built as many bridges as he’s burned and his music is all the better for it. Wavvves is an amazing piece of lo-fi genius, crushed out as only a southern California surfer punk could. Nathan Wavves writes and sings about the things we all wish we had the guts to. Getting high, being lazy, skateboarding, having fun, partying, love, angst and so much more. Nathan sings about being a teenager with a sense of hedonistic abandon that only a teenager could possess. He is perhaps one of the most authentic band leaders around. All of his songs are gritty and poorly mastered, but not to such an extent that he is not understandable. Its amazing how beautiful a song like Beach Demon can be as bar chords are strummed through layers of fuzz. Wavves is already working on new material, and I have every confidence it will be just as ballsy and direct as this batch of songs is.
#4 – St. Vincent – Actor
With Actor, Annie Clark has created the most balanced release in recent memory. This is an album of juxtapositions. Annie Clark’s honey drenched voice is enough to lull the noisiest into bliss. Each song seems to start one way and end another. Clark uses the songs as a means of figuring things out, and like real life, it is never so black and white. The Strangers, the albums first track is not only the perfect beginning to an album, but is a microcosm of these juxtaposed elements. Soft and melodic gives way to noisy and quick and sometimes back again. These are the things that keep the album interesting from front to back. The drumming through the album is phenominal, almost bordering on lazy at times, yet it fits the music so perfectly. The more Ive listened to this album the more Ive genuinely fallen in love with it. There were few moments more beautiful or engaging than this album in 2009. Each time Clark’s beautiful voice fades in over orchestral piano or plucked guitar I forget and when the song inevitably explodes I am surprised every time at just how well it works.
#5 – Neon Indian – Physic Chasms
Just in time for the end of summer comes the greatest sun music of the year. Neon Indian and his style of music (commonly called glo-fi) is all the rage in the indie world. Fuzzed out guitars, heavy and wet percussion and crooning are all commonplace on this album. The songs fly by and it’s hard not to at least pump your fists while listening to it. A couple of the songs are even reminiscent of the late great Michael Jackson. The album will rope you in from the opening intro/track, AM/Deadbeat Summer. Featuring a great hook and a thin distorted guitar line this track foreshadows to all that you’ll find in the next 45 minutes. The album features no truly weak moments, and the hook simply pile on and pretty soon you wont be sure which song you’re humming, but you’ll know its a Neon Indian song. This album presents us with a great debut and is a promise of great things to come.
#6 – Grizzly Bear – Veckitamist
Perhaps the most beautiful album of 2009, Grizzly Bear have broke new ground in the realm of chamber pop. It’s difficult not to like these four gents. Their voices are amazing, and they harmonize like nobodies business. The album is great from start to finish, barely weakening for a moment. Two Weeks, the albums first single is one of the best songs of the year and the last song, Foreground, is chilling to the bone and features a perfect melodic arrangement and vocals that have Jeff Buckley turning in his grave.
#7 - Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
It’s hard to be catchier than these guys right here. Wolfgang… was a perfect follow up to, It’s Never Been Like That. 1901 is my second favorite track of the entire year. lead singer, Thomas Mars, is constantly meandering through lyrical wordplay that sounds as if someone much smarter than myself were simply musing all of their thoughts out at once. One can only be jealous at just how well it works. Phoenix haven’t lost as step with this release, featuring 4 or 5 of the catchiest songs released this year.
#B – No Age – Losing Feeling EP
No Age are so freakin good. What else can I say? They have been pumping out quality material for a few years now and this EP is no slouch. Each track is perfectly set amongst the others on this four-track release. This EP is as gritty and chaotic as ever, No Age aren’t going anywhere, thank god.
#8 – Japandroids – Post-Nothing
Remember that punk-rock album you were going to make with you best friend freshman year? Member how you were just going to lay it all out there? You were going to growl, chant, scream, sing and bumble your way through 8 to 10 tracks of lo-fi awesomeness. The bad news is that most of you missed the boat, and your punk rock dreams died. The good news? Japandroids (awesome name) didn’t only jump on the boat, but they grabbed the helm. This album flat out blew me away. 8 tracks of fuzzed, yet melodic chaos. They remind me of really really early Pavement, when Gary Young was doing handstands instead of playing drums and the band always sounded one step away from falling apart, but somehow they never did. Instead they were defined by this slacker attitude and lazy approach to (especially live) music. The chaos always resolves and it adds a another layer to the music. Japandroids have found a way to capture that same chaos. I can’t wait to here there subsequent releases.
#9 – Atlas Sound – Logos
Bradford Cox manages to always keep me guessing. Atlas Sound’s first album wasn’t a huge draw for me to check this one out, but Deerhunter’s Microcastle forced me to listen to Logos and I’m glad it did. Logo’s is convoluted and complex. Cox layers his voice over loop upon loop creating a large yet lackadaisical sound. Cox just sounds free. This is the album he wanted to make. The title track is features a couple drum kits playing over each other and Walkabout, featuring Panda Bear is one of the years best tracks.
#C – Small Black – Small Black EP
These Brooklyn glo-fi rockers burst onto the scene in October with their self titled EP. If you dig Neon Indian then Small Black is right up your alley. The EP consists of five chilled/fuzzed out tracks, soaked in reverb and distortion. This small collection of catchy tunes features no weak tracks. The second track, Weird Machines, is absolutely amazing. Every time I listen to this EP, I run it through twice. I can’t wait for their debut LP.
#10 – Mos Def – The Ecstatic
This album easily could have been so bad, but instead, it was so good. Nuff said? Naw. This album signals a return to form for Mos Def. 1999′s Black on Both Sides is without a doubt one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Mos Def has an original voice and is remarkably intelligent. On top of his rhymes, his flow is nothing to be messed with. The Ecstatic took an approach similar to Madvillian’s album, short, fast, stream-of-conscious rapping. It worked well for Doom and Madlib, and it works just as well for Mos Def. The Ecstatic closes with an in your face rap attack by the man himself, signally that he is indeed back to stay.
#11 – Why? – Eskimo Snow
“This is the least hip-hop of anything I’ve ever been apart of,” said lead singer Yoni Wolfe of the newest Why? LP. He couldn’t be more correct. This album is much different than any of its predecessors, but it holds a new and interesting place in the Why? catalog. It stands well next to Alopecia, and Elephant Eyelash, especially the first two tracks, which form an epic beginning. The ending is haunting and melodic, similar to the beginning. The album is well balanced and Yoni’s lyrics are always amazing.
#E – Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange
I could be easily ostracized by the indie community for these next words: but I do believe this is the best Deerhunter release. It just sounds more focused than anything they’ve done before. Whether you think that’s a good or bad thing is totally up to you. Bradford Cox’s voice meandering in an out of the melodies which have never sounded so congealed.
#12 – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
When did Andrew Bird do something bad? It’s hard to fathom. All of his efforts in the last decade have been revolutionary, sincere, beautiful, complex and just downright impressive. He puts on a live show like no person on earth can. Noble Beast features some of Bird’s best tracks to date and though it does have a few songs that might be throw aways, the ones that are good, are so good that you forget all about them. Bird is a man that understands how an album should be structured, and it is with good faith that I say he has all of his songs in the right places.
#13 – DOOM – Born Like This
MF Doom (or DOOM or King Geedorah or Madvillian or Dangerdoom or Viktor Vaughn or…) is the most consistent hip-hop artist of the last 15 years. His “bad” releases are better than most rappers best releases. DOOM’s flow is always out of control and more often then not he’s rapping over his own beats. Born Like This, aside from being a great name for an album, is a step back into the limelight for DOOM who’s been dormant a year +. Born Like This features some great beats, so great guest spots (Wu members galore) and of course, DOOM himself, the always entertaining lyrical acrobat. One of the albums best moments is the DOOM produced, Yessir! featuring Raekwon on vocals. It’s an amazing, dark beat with Raekwon’s signature stylings. This album is definitely a keeper.
#14 – The XX – XX
What’s so great about this album is the dangerously clean guitar sound that leads each song. The effects are few and far between on this record and it gives The XX a unique sound in a scene drenched with look-alikes. There love fueled rock tunes provide a nice balance between rock and ballad and will have you coming back for more.
#15 – Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II
If you like cocaine or just raps about them, its hard to beat a Raekwon album. The Wu-Tang great is nothing short of spectacular on his “follow-up” to 1995′s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… hands down one of the best rap releases in the last 20 years. Raekwon, unlike many rappers, isn’t showing his age. This album comes complete with Dilla beats, quality guest spots and of course, skits.
#16 – Real Estate – Real Estate
This is what Pavement would sound like if “Range Life” was an indication of their overall sound. I hesitate to make too many Pavement references, but what can I do? Perhaps the only fault of Real Estate’s debut self titled LP is that the first track, Beach Comber, is so damn good, that it makes the rest of the album seem a little drab. Once you’re able to get over the awesomness of the opening lyric, “what you want is just outside your reach” you’ll find that this is an enjoyable and possibly light listening experience.
# 17 – Cymbal Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
Cymbals Eat Guitars are doing some very interesting things. This album features some amazing moments, moments that seem too good for such a young group. However this album has fallen all the way to #17 because there are also some weak moments. There are some moments where lead singer, Joseph D’Agostino’s voice sounds too forced, and too strained, perhaps even weak. The band typically sounds strong and exhibits elements of Wilco, Pavement, Sonic Youth and The White Stripes. This album is a great and energetic listen with amazing dynamics and unique song structure. This band has a bright future.
#18 – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Someone’s been listen to their 80′s shoegaze, and its this great young band. Sounding like a mix of The Jesus and Mary Chain and New Order, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have presented us with a catchy batch of guitar driven, rock oriented shoegaze. The first track, Contender, will draw you in and the album lives up to every promise made in those first three minutes.
#19 – Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Wilco have taken a gigantic step in the right direction. After what can only be described as a disappointing showing with 2007′s, Sky Blue Sky, Wilco have returned to a more interesting and less predictable incarnation of themselves. If this progressive recession continues their next album should be even better. Tweedy’s lyrics are song structure are as solid here as anywhere else.
#20 – Matt And Kim – Grand
A catchy little indie-rock record featuring unorthodox song stylings and great percussion. The main instruments, keyboard and drums, help create a unique debut album that will leave the listener waiting for their next batch of indie-pop gems.
#21 – J. Dilla – Jay Stay Paid
It’s hard to go wrong with Dilla. May his seemingly bottomless beat bank be just that. “King” is an instant classic.
Vampire Weekend – Contra tracks
Admittedly, I’ve never been a huge Vampire Weekend fan. There self-titled was pretty good at best, reminding me of not so hot Phoenix. There were some really cool songs, but many of them I felt forced at times and were littered with lyrics that could have been written by just about anyone. The songs were catchy enough, but really that was all they had going for them. They weren’t breaking new ground or doing anything incredibly interesting. This being said, there are now 3 tracks from Contra floating around the internet and 1 b-side. The songs are: Horchata, Cousins, White Sky and the b-side track is California English PT 2.The album tracks can all be found at the bands myspace and California English pt 2 can be found here.
The new songs, I think are all superior to almost everything on their self-titled released. The lyrical vapidness seems to be gone, as if lead singer Ezra Koenig figured out how to say what he wanted more poetically. He did an interview with Pitchfork recently where he discussed a lot of things about the new album, it was very interesting. The three album tracks actually have me looking forward to their new venture. The b-side to the first single, California English pt 2 is an entirely different animal for this band. It features vocals cut up and layered in an almost Animal Collective type way. I think it’s really great.
By far my favorite song is the first single, Cousins, an unorthodox, snare heavy romp that moves so quickly it will be over before you’re sure it’s really started. The song is catchy and features some catchy lyrics over a rapid and spastic marching band type snare line. The bridge, “you can turn your back on the bitter wood” is ridiculously catchy. The video is pretty cool too, you can watch it below:
Vampire Weekend seems like a band that has figured out how to be what they want to be. For this reason alone I will be giving their new album, Contra a listen when it drops on January 12th in the USA and January 11th everywhere else. If nothing else, the cover art is really cool.
[UPDATE: Check out my review of Contra here!]
