Beaches & Canyons retains its patina in a sonic memory for me. It came to me as a gift from a kind friend who thought I would enjoy it, as a replacement for a limited CD he lost. I would flip through its sides in my studio kind of listening, kind of not, normally preoccupied by something else. Fixing some drawings, making some zines, it wasn’t until the C side that I even really focused. "Endless Happiness" came on caught in a Ashra groove, looping its flute, bass drops and chimes in a familiar kosmiche music way that was entirely its own. Black Dice were familiar to me through the waning days of hardcore in the late 1990s: they seemed to be doing something interesting in comparison to the pallid wash given the genre by emo's emergence, empty tough guy posturing, and boring lectures set to sound by ideologues. Black Dice began as an assault both sonically and physically in a live setting, and this did get carried over in the recorded media; Beaches and Canyons, however, offered little of that repetitive, stabbing, garbled intensity. Instead, it seemed at times more open and more broad, improvised, and sometimes, unfortunately, painfully derivative of a lot of other suitcase-gazers. Stepping back from their impetus and seeing the trail they left behind always made them way more interesting. Make no mistake! Though I began my journey through this 2xLP disengaged, I was halted with "Endless Happiness," its ferocious drumming and blinking electronics; its swelling bass and melancholic melody overtaken by the sea's surf was perfectly hypnotic. I must have listened to this side alone about 10 times the first night I heard it. It finds itself in rotation continually. My attention toward that band hasn't been piqued since drummer Hisham Baroocha departed, but in my opinion this track is a great part of 2002. Listen: Black Dice >> "Endless Happiness" |
Sunday, August 2, 2009
2002 : 45 "Endless Happiness" by Black Dice
Saturday, August 1, 2009
2002 : 44 "Baby, I'm an Anarchist!" by Against Me!
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Party like Seattle '99? Is that nostalgia on your shirt? Baby, I'm an Anarchist!, Against Me!'s 2002 anarcroon lament for love lost lives on the album Reinventing Axl Rose. It's a hell of a transfusion, but if Tom Gabel's muscular voice can't handle it, Axl's surely fucked. Wikipedia calls this folk punk. But punk is always about the folk. However produced, it still feels basement DIY. A kind of shared wit, like being in on the joke because you're in on the moment, you feel kinda clever, a bit cool. Like Tom and co wouldn't give a shit if you climbed on stage and shared the mic. And while the album (however generally uptempo) is about loss—love, political naivete, axl, our axl—the songs kinda feel like we're all gonna get through this. That's a bit funny, a bit banal, and maybe just what we needed. Listen: Against Me! >> "Baby, I'm an Anarchist!" |
2002 : 43 "The Two" by Murs and Slug
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Just another tale of two rapping superheroes trying to make ends meet in a crappy economy. The Justice League said we had to pay dues Nerdy references fly fast and thick. Listen: Murs and Slug >> "The Two" |
Friday, July 31, 2009
2002 : 42 "Sellout" by Here Are The Facts You Requested
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Back when I read Spin magazine, some time in the 90's, they did this section in their year-end issue: "The best albums of the year you never heard." My friends in college used to play a game with that segment. In that spirit I would like to offer the Here Are The Facts You Requested album Felt. I would like to nominate this as the best album of the 2000's that no one heard. I know I would not have heard the album if I did not work with a member of the band. Still, I think that is an amazing album. It is strange to think this is the album from the a guy from the tech writing department and his friends. This album is a reminder that making good music is not enough. There are a ton of talented bands out there that never make it. I think it is as good as anything else I heard in 2002. I thought the long tail was supposed to make it so bands like this could make it without labels. It turns out that model is not as easy as it might sound. I am sad that so few people got to hear this album, but I am happy that I got to hear it. If you want, you can buy it on Amazon. Listen: Here Are The Facts You Requested >> "Sellout" |
2002 : 41 "Six Days" by DJ Shadow
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Although lyrically inappropriate, this song goes great on a "let's get high and fuck" mix. But, when you hear that spine tingling loop and the marching band drums, who is going to notice? Actually, I kind of hate that when I've been going through my list of songs I've liked in the early Aughts so far, there has been a long cloud of pot smoke hovering over it. But truth be told, that is the state I was in during my early 20s. Now that I’m fast approaching 30, I can't remember the last time I felt the urge to listen to Ween live albums. This DJ Shadow track holds up really well—proof that beautiful usage of samples with strong, heartbreaking vocals trumps any substance you ingest to alter your mind. Listen: DJ Shadow >> "Six Days" |
Thursday, July 30, 2009
2002 : 39-40 Aught Music Roundtable: Tallahassee by the Mountain Goats
 Roundtable Part One: "No Children"I didn't realize, until I came to write a blurb for this song, that the Mountain Goats are not a local band. They seem to have an enormous cult following in Philadelphia. Granted, my circle of friends might not be a representative sample of the population, but I don't know anyone here who can't sing along with "No Children." The over-the-top meanness crosses the line into self-parody pretty early on, a condition which is all too familiar for "the city that booed Santa" (as the national media is quick to remind us). Still, like Philadelphia, this song has some warmth hidden within which cuts the viciousness down a notch. The lyrics may be about a couple that hates each other so much that they decide to drink themselves to death, but it manages to inspire enough camaraderie that I have witnessed more than one impromptu public sing-along when this plays, complete with linked arms slung over the shoulders of near-strangers. Aw, shucks. We ain't so bad. Roundtable Part Two: "Southwood Plantation Road"
I have never had a relationship like the ones described in the Mountain Goats songs. Luckily I have only seen them from the outside. I have known people in these relationships. I love the way John Darnielle finds to describe disfunction and hurt. It is just amazing to me to have so many songs like this and so many of them be great. He really knows how to write a lyric. I am not gonna lose you Listen: The Mountain Goats >> "No Children" | "Southwood Plantation Road" |
2002 : 38 "Pneumonia" by Fog
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This song, unerringly focused on the most dreary aspects of the quotidian, uniquely captures the precise flavor of [my] depression. It's nominally upbeat, and it occasionally rallies into a nearly triumphant mode, but these are illusions: the emotions revealed here are nothing more than the tremulous bravery one musters while crumbling internally or, better, the sick sense of satisfaction that one is permitted to indulge in only at one's most wretched.
At the time it was released, Fog was one guy, Andrew Broder, who hailed from Minneapolis, MN—and, sure enough, this track sounds exactly like what one might produce in the midst of endless grey wintertime. Listen: Fog >> "Pneumonia" |
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
2002 : 37 "Please" by Apples In Stereo
I love the Apples in Stereo. They have a high energy that is just unmatched. They just crack up everything. "Please" is the perfect under-three-minute pick me up. I hear this song and I just want to dance around the room. I can hear music history in this song. The guitars make a wall of sound. The song is fun and should be played loud. It is the kind of song that can make you fall in love with pop music again. Apples in Stereo makes me think about the genre of Indie Pop. Some people might look at that as an oxymoron. How can something be both popular and independent? I am not sure, but I am pretty sure that this decade has seen the birth of Indie Pop, and it makes me happy. Listen: Apples in Stereo >> "Please" |
2002 : 36 "First in Flight" by Blackalicious
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Hip-hop is a genre that looks a little weird on this nerdy white gal. And I'll admit my listening criteria are restrictive: live instruments if possible, good hooks, and intelligent lyrics. This is by way of explaining why Blackalicious is one of my favorite hip-hop bands, and why I would argue Blazing Arrow is one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Gift of Gab has a knack for throwing together surprising imagery in getting his message across. Take this line from "First in Flight":
Makes me want to get off my ass and do something, anything that will leave a mark on this world. And that's what great music is all about. Listen: Blackalicious >> "First In Flight" |
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
2002 : 35 "Light & Day / Reach For The Sun" by The Polyphonic Spree
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The Polyphonic Spree fills me with joy and happiness. The music feels like an ocean wave crashing over me. It is so powerful and so much going on. If feels better to just flow with it rather than fight it. I love the idea of them having such a large group of people playing together. I think there is a real power of the crowd here. They make good use of having that many voices. The songs have something that a single voice or an overdub just cannot do. The Polyphonic Spree are in a space between a novelty act and serious music. They are doing something that is a little outside what anyone else in popular music are doing. I think that makes it cool. Listen: The Polyphonic Spree >> "Light and Day / Reach For the Sun" |
2002 : 34 "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues" by McLusky
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"Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues" has one of the best titles ever, plus a fury and energy that enables it to surpass just about every other garage-rock scrapper from this decade. But the real reason I'm writing about it for this project is because it gives me an opportunity to link to Joel Veitch's Flash animation of the track being performed by kittens. Listen: McLusky >> "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues" |
Monday, July 27, 2009
2002 : 33 "My Darlin" by Jay Bennett & Edward Burch
If you watched the movie I'm Trying to Break Your Heart you either think that Jay Bennett got a raw deal or that he got what was coming to him. I am in the camp that thinks he got a raw deal. I think that he was an important part of Wilco and I hear his contributions all over my favorite albums of theirs. On his solo album I think you can hear what he added to the band. He is not as polished a singer or performer at Jeff Tweedy and that is clear from the solo albums. You can hear a heart and a musical idea on his solo albums. You can get a good idea of what he is about. I like the Jay Bennett version of "My Darlin" more than the Wilco version. I think that it has more heart and there is more of a connection between the singer and the subject. The song has both a sadness and joy that the Wilco version lacks. Jay Bennett passed away recently to little notice. He accidentally overdosed on pain medication while fighting his health insurance over a hip replacement. I cried when I heard about it and I cried again when writing this. I used to be a big fan of Wilco and Jay Bennett is the member I felt was the most like me. Listen: Jay Bennett and Edward Burch >> "My Darlin" |
2002 : 30-32 Aught Music Roundtable: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco
 Roundtable Part One: "Poor Places" (First Pass)
I listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot everyday for a year. From the day I purchased it, in April of 2002, until April of 2003, I put this album on every day. Often I listened to it first thing in the morning or last thing before going to bed. For a year, it was part of my everyday life. I do not think any album ever had this effect on me. I could have picked five or six different songs from this album to write about. "Poor Places" is a great example of everything I love about this album. It is an expansive soundscape, it is personal, it is well produced, it is distorted, it is familiar, it is unexpected all at the same time. In the documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Jeff Tweedy is asked about his yet-to-be-released album. He says, "Yes, it will have a lot of tape loops and electronic music. No, it is not a techno album." I remember someone saying to me back in 2002 about this album, "Oh, Wilco, they're an Alt-Country band, right?" All I could do was tell them to listen to the album and tell me if they are still an Alt-Country band or not. The album was so good because I felt there was no sub-genre that covered it. If the question is "what did 2002 sound like?" this album has a huge part of that answer to me. Roundtable Part Two: "Heavy Metal Drummer"He played guitar, not drums, and it wasn't heavy metal really, but all the same I can't help but feel nostalgic listening to this. Along with my other two 2002 picks ("Golden Age of Radio" and "Jenny",) this song makes up the first three songs in my ultimate driving mix. It's always evolving and it never quite gets finished, but these three songs have been on it since I first heard them. To me upbeat tunes with a dose of melancholy or longing in the lyrics make the best driving music. Roundtable Part Three: "Poor Places" (Second Pass)There's really no need to explain the importance of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, not to mention its almost immediate placement on any list of the best albums of the aughts. Every song on the disc is worth mention on this blog, and there are genres abound within the span of the running time: experimental, electronic, classic rock, et. al. "Poor Places," at first glance, is probably the simplest song on the album, yet is arguably the most beautiful. The music works as a full spectrum: it starts off lush, with barely noticeable hints of drum and guitar supporting Jeff Tweedy's voice, but as the song progresses, it increases in contribution and volume, reaching a crescendo of mechanical noise, with the haunting vocal of "Yankee... Hotel...F oxtrot..." closing it out. Tweedy's vocals are the closest they'll ever be to perfect here, and the lyrics alone would work as a poem:
Despite my earlier statement that the song is simple, the lyrics offer much for interpretation: family, depression, love, and creativity. In short: Wilco at its best. Listen: Wilco >> "Poor Places" | "Heavy Metal Drummer" |
Sunday, July 26, 2009
2002 : 29 "Ghost Plants Part VII" by Thuja
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Back in 2002, I picked Thuja's Ghost Plants as my album of the year, and I wrote that it sounded like music composed by a tribe of mutants from the post-apocalyptic future, fiddling with the ruins of our industrial society. The truth of that is embodied nicely in this representative segment (the tracks are all untitled), which jettisons mostly everything about Western song structure and replaces it with little more than ominous electronic oscillations, clattering, grinding, sticks, stones. If you wait for something to "happen" in it you're liable to be disappointed, and yet if you listen to the crenellations and complications of its anti-formal forms with real attention, you will find that they are enormously rich in aesthetic interest, even beauty. Same as anything, I guess, but if that lesson is one that this album can teach then it's well worth the price. Listen: Thuja >> "Ghost Plants Part VII" |
2002 : 28 "In My Heart" by Moby
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I am not ashamed to say that I love the Moby album 18. I know that it is easy to mock me for liking Moby. He is the kind of artist who seems tailor-made to make fun of and the people who like him. The 18 album also got over-played, making it easier to make fun of. When I listen, though, I hear so much. First off, I never thought that Moby would make the album that most reminds me of Pink Floyd. I did not think that 18 would have threads of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here in it. Every time I hear this album I can see the connection. This album is sweeping, expansive, and engulfing. It feels like it creates its own world, like a novel or a movie. It lets the listener live in that world for an hour or so. It moves in a way that makes the album more than just the sum of the songs. The more I listened to it, the more I got out of it. This album still makes me feel great. It still catches me in ways I am not expecting. I think it is really Moby's masterpiece. Listen: Moby >> "In My Heart" |
Saturday, July 25, 2009
2002 : 27 "Insomnia" (excerpt) by Maja Ratkje
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The subculture of "noise music" exploded during the last ten years, producing waves of output so challenging and vast that it's difficult to make even a partial listing of what might be the "best" noise tracks of the decade. That said, I definitely have my favorites, and if I were asked to direct someone to the peculiar pleasures that noise music can provide, I might choose this passage from Maja Ratkje's "Insomnia" (from her fantastically weird album Voice). Its primary sonic element is Ratkje's unnervingly delirious witch-howl, and you can brace yourself for that, but no amount of bracing will really prepare you for the moment that happens about twenty seconds in, when Ratkje's witch-woman abruptly multiplies into an entire armada, which proceeds to flay every living thing on the planet in an orgy of interstellar fury and glee. Terrifying stuff, but also undeniably exhilarating, and (if I'm to be completely honest) more than a little bit sexy. Listen: Maja Ratkje >> "Insomnia (excerpt)" |
2002 : 26 "I'm Yr Here-I-Am" by Diane Cluck
Diane Cluck finally came to the west coast. About three weeks before the show I got an e-mail about it. The problem was I was going to be on a vacation while she was in San Francisco. It was a vacation that I had been planning for months and there was no way I could be in San Francisco while she was here. I could see her in Portland if I extended my vacation another two days. I ended up doing that. Diane Cluck played first on a three act bill. That means she only got to play five or six songs. I know I wanted to see her play all night, but it was not going to happen. It was worth two extra days at a hotel and two more vacation days to hear those six songs played live. She fumbled with the mic a little as she got on stage. Her guitar looked way too big for her. She looked a little shy and unsure on this stage that was really a rehearsal room above a theater. Then she played "I'm Yr Here-I-Am." The room got very quiet as she belted out this song. Everyone took notice and listened to her. There is a point where she knocks on her guitar with her hand to make a sound, It just blew me away. It set the mood perfectly. Listen: Diane Cluck >> "I'm Yr Here-I-Am" |
Friday, July 24, 2009
2002 : 23-24 Aught Music Roundtable: Castaways and Cutouts by the Decemberists
 Roundtable Part One: "July, July!"In discussions, I more often than not find myself alone on the Decemberists' wagon, usually being one of the few music fans in my circle who genuinely appreciates the work of Colin Meloy and company. However, their style is such that there is usually no happy medium. It's just as easy to enjoy their take on Victorian times, sea shanties, and Dickensian low-lives as it is to loathe such a niche. "July, July!" was one of their earliest hits off of their debut LP, and it combines the best two qualities of their style. The music is rollicking, especially during the main chorus. However, this jaunty melody belies the old-fashioned darkness that permeates the lyrics:
There are usually no underlying messages in any Decemberists' song. The joy is in the basic storytelling, and while "July, July!" is among the simplest stories they've committed to music, it does show hints of the longer, more complex myths, fables, and sagas that have been seen in their most recent albums. Roundtable Part Two: "California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade"And the road a-winding goes There are too many things for me to write about this song. How this is the perfect two songs stacked together to make one song. How the length of the song is carried by the dreamy nature of the tune and playing. How the song reminds me of the stretch of the California Highway One between Carmel and Big Sur. How I fell in love with this song while I was traveling alone in Europe. How the first time I heard this song I played it ten times in a row. How the song strikes the perfect chord about being alone. How this song is an amazing ending to an unexpectedly good album. How I cried when I saw them play it live.
What amazes me still is how they are calling to their listeners. They are calling to the misfits and losers of the world and saying "We are you; You are us." It caught me the very first time I heard this song. They are ending their first album by calling all their fans. It is a brilliant move. There are lots of songs about California. I have learned that California is a million different things to 40 million people. This song is about my California. I figured I had paid my debt to society Listen: The Decemberists >> "July, July!" | "California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade" |
Thursday, July 23, 2009
2002 : 22 "How Great Was Husker Du" by Anthemic Pop Wonder
I love love songs. It is even better if the song is not about the love of something traditional. You can tell how much this band loves Hüsker Dü. That is the kind of thing I love hearing love songs about. There is something about sharing your love for something that makes the world better. Listen: Anthemic Pop Wonder >> " How Great was Hüsker Dü" |
