My original intention was to scale back this year’s list since 2006’s article turned into a 10,000+ word behemoth. I never even expended that much energy for upper-year university papers. A little bit shorter, a whole lot sweeter, so was the plan that was made to fail. I’m going to break up this year’s edition into more digestible chunks. Luckily 2007 was a much better year where I wanted to move most entries up the list rather than down, so mediocre Incubus albums won’t be allowed to bleed through. Now let me condescend your place in the world by using the collective terms “kids” and “folks”.
Silverchair – Young Modern
With 2002’s Diorama, Silverchair officially stripped themselves of the Seattle grunge-knockoff label, filling their music with vocal harmonies, orchestration, and horn sections. After singer Daniel Johns was sidetracked by his upbeat side-project The Dissociatives, they’ve come back together to follow-up on Diorama’s sound, dropping the minor chord sludge and adding synthesizers while moving toward an even more progressive sound. They are no longer cashing in a currently popular sound – instead ditching the teenage anger and doing their own thing. With the members now at age 27 and the front album art referencing Piet Mondrian (although 3D, how innovative!), you realize the band has obviously matured. Comparing the playful pop sounds of “If You Keep Losing Sleep” to their angsty single “Tomorrow” is kind of a mindfuck in seeing how artists develop. The basic rock three-piece is there, but they seem to take to the background, dominated by the orchestra and lead vocal. Johns still doesn’t seem to have mastered the art of writing lyrics; he probably should refer to fellow-countryman Nick Cave to see how that shit is thrown down. Overall, this album presents a nice escape from the usual banality present in pop music.
Instead of repeating their last album’s mistake of old man rapping, the Beastie Boys stuck strictly to their instruments for this release. As a result, the party-boy and/or politically conscious hip-hop was gone, in favour of funky dub that’s not too far off from the last half of Check Your Head. Of course, I don’t listen to this group for their technical proficiency, but their Caribbean percussion/jazz-infused jam sessions are quite groovy. With no track extended beyond four minutes, they’ve been able to create some groovy cuts that never failed to grab my attention.
Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City
Two years I expressed my sophomore cynicism when it came to Bloc Party. Unfortunately when songs are slowed down, their plodding nature finds Bloc Party at their worst with hearts so far down their sleeves that you can only look down upon it for the awkward lyrics uttered when attempting to be profound. The last tracks “Kreuzberg”, “Sunday”, and “SRXT” are a poor finish with all their Coldplay-isms where the emoting rings hollow. They ain’t no “This Modern Love”. Oh, yes, this is in the best list. The remainder of the songs all keep the tempo in check and the choruses singing of urbanite anxiety are huge. You got your post-punk and you got your dance, merged into a flustering maelstrom of kinetic energy. Just avoid the slow songs. Also, like 2005’s “Two More Years” was to Silent Alarm, the post-non-album single “Flux” is stronger than any of the Weekend in the City tracks, focusing more on the dance-oriented electronic sound.
The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
Every Day was live jazz with some interesting electronic bits and occasional tangents into breakbeats that didn’t quite delve into the now-dated conventions of 90s trip-hop. With the mad respect given to their label Ninja Tune, it’s a bit surprising to have their latest album move toward coffee table downtempo for its focus on acoustic guitars and piano. All is not lost, for strings and brass instruments also make an appearance along with the usual programmed bits. “As the Stars Fall” and the UK release-only “Child Song” are likely the most similar to past albums, but otherwise the songs are closer-to-Earth minimal arrangements. Three guest vocalists appear, including Lamb’s Lou Rhodes on the finale “Time & Space”, where they seem to be the centre of attention rather than the music, as it was in the past. It’s a different perspective for a well-developed act, but The Cinematic Orchestra is still pushing boundaries in emotional directions.
While Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born introduced a post-modern Wilco, on their latest you will not find deconstructed takes or references to The Conet Project. Instead, it’s simply classic rock with organs and dueling synchronized guitars. It’s good for when you’re having a bad day and hate the fucking Eagles, man. However, banality through yuppie soft rock is not present. It isn’t too far off from the mellow perspectives of Being There. Songwriting is a bit more traditional so some fans may be welcomed back after being weirded out by ambient noise freakouts and seemingly dadaist lyrics found in the last two albums.
Clutch – From Beale Street to Oblivion
Attaining commercial success in the mid-nineties due to the alternative rock’s brief flirtations in the western pop music market, this long running group has fought on to release album after album to their now cult following. How many bands do you know from Maryland? That don’t suck? Now you know at least one. Involving a producer that has worked with Queens of the Stone Age, The Melvins, and Tool may not help much when it comes to getting rid of your “stoner rock” label, but Clutch has carved their proper niche in American music. This album is full of dense southern blues rock numbers, with Hammond organ, complimenting harmonica, excessive drum fills, and Wah pedal usage. “Electric Worry” is the standout track, with its shouted/clapped chorus and catchy guitar lick.
The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
Their first two albums were retro-indie rock taking cues from folk, psychedelic, and 60s classic rock, which wasn’t quite my bag. For their latest release, The Shins have brought the rhythm section to the forefront and explore more contemporary sounds. The fast-paced “Australia” and hip-hop beat in “Sealegs” both indicate a band going in a new direction, complimented by the slower drum-less “Red Rabbits”, “Black Wave”, and closer “A Comet Appears”. Whereas their previous songs all sounded familiar in some respects, this new material distinctly sets a Shins signature that will hopefully lead to more experimentation.
The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
After the critical and commercial demise of the Pumpkins, Billy Corgan went off to create the diet Pumpkins project Zwan and then recorded his (disgraceful) solo album TheFutureEmbrace. It seems he had to get over that the unwashed masses don’t listen to art rocks bands not named Pink Floyd. While this is not quite the aggressive return to Siamese Dream as some would like claim, at least he’s rocking out again. Pretentious Billy does return on the closer “Pomp and Circumstances” and we don’t want that, now do we? Well drummer Jimmy Chamberlin also got a solo album out of his system (it’s quite good) and he too is unleashing the fury on Zeitgeist. It seems seems like the drumming is the centerpiece of the recording, which is where the band’s strengths lies. Of course, the rest of the band is a substituted cast of players as James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky are nowhere to be found, but it looks like that doesn’t factor into the songwriting much. The music doesn’t introduce anything new to the Pumpkins oeuvre, but I’ve been more a “Silverfuck” than a “Today” type of guy, so this album suited me quite nicely.
Thrice – The Alchemy Index Volumes I & II: Fire and Water
It was a mistake for me to write Thrice off as another emocore band as I’ve been proven wrong by their last two releases. For the first two parts of an EP set referencing the four elements, the band successfully explores a range of post-hardcore mixed with electronic elements. There are obvious parallels to Chino Moreno’s projects here, with Fire being the Deftones to Water’s Team Sleep. The first part of the EP signified some of the emo attributes that I feared, but the latter Water lowers the whining and increases the experimentation. The surrounding ambient effects, mostly programmed beats, and plucked notes replacing power chords set the band’s work apart from other acts that try to sound like hard-asses by singing like adolescent boys. Stressing my dislike for that characteristic, my favourite track is the instrumental “Night Diving” where distant drones are interrupted by a simple call-answer guitar riff.
Aesop Rock – All Day/None Shall Pass
None Shall Pass is a proper follow-up to Bazooka Tooth, with an even wider cultural palette that explores jazz, ambient, and various forms of electronic music, tied altogether into a smart hip-hop package. Sonically, he’s not very far off from labelmate EL-P, but this product is a little bit more light hearted. My hyphen-happy self likes to describe Aesop as hyper-literate, lightning-fast verbosity, vocabulary-expanding, dictionary-reaching, sci-fi nerd-rap. His nasally speed-of-sound rhymes may turn you off but the production and lyrics in each song are so interesting that it keeps me hanging around. All Day is another entry in Nike’s iTunes Original Run series (brought to you by Fritos, Coca Cola, and Popeye’s Chicken), funding artists to product an album-length exercise mix. Some of these songs stretch even further away from his usual hip-hop base, including 32:45 in that sounds awfully similar to mid-90s Orbital…
The enjoyment of any Björk record hinges on your ability to appreciate her voice. Let’s get that right out of the way. Her a cappella album, Medúlla, from three years ago took itself a bit too seriously with vocals being electronically tuned beyond recognition, although the Mike Patton contributions were appreciated. This one is a little more fun release, although no less eccentric. Her propensity to hit a huge range of notes in most songs is still around, as are the mix of strings, horns, clever electronic programming, and cut-up beats. She brought in Timbaland to produced a few tracks but luckily it wasn’t ruined since he only contributed to 3 tracks (mainstream hip-hop hate here). She also has two duets with Antony Hegarty. LFO’s Mark Bell, who worked on 1997’s Homogenic (probably my favourite Björk release), produces a couple tracks and also has a remix of “I See Who You Are” on the UK and Japanese releases on this disc. The album as whole seem to have a water theme ongoing, with each track containing a related ambient outro: “Earth Intruders” (foghorn), “Wanderlust” (rolling waves), “The Dull Flame of Desire” (beating), “Innocence” (running stream, buoy clinging/bells), “I See Who You Are” (car wash? steam boat?), “Vertebrae by Vertebrae” (falling rain), “Pneumonia” (receding wave), “Hope” (call and answer horns), “Declare Independence” (drowning beat), leading into the sparse “My Juvenile”. These constant movements lead to a very fluid album that explore Björk’s wide range of talents.
Two Lone Swordsmen – Wrong Meeting/Wrong Meeting II
Aside from their namesake bringing up images of a male-on-male bedroom activity, Two Lone Swordsmen started out more than a decade ago somewhere between sci-fi lounge ambient and acid house, later being filed under the IDM tag along with their labelmates on Warp simply for their use of unorthodox samples. Given their genre jumping nature, they hopped on the post-punk funk revival bandwagon starting with 2004’s From the Double Gone Chapel, shifted to live instruments with background electronics. Two new nine-track Wrong Meeting releases delve further in alongside trashy rockabilly and Berlin-era Bowie with deadpan vocals and bass-driven booty-movers. Unlike System of a Down’s Memorize/Hypnotize money-grab, these two releases feel necessary by lacking a weak song in their full runtime. The second is likely the better of the two for its lyrics and tone, however the former’s closer “Get Out of My Kingdom” is my personal favourite track for jumping outside the mold with a haunting wordless female background voice over a simple drum beat and catchy rhymed male vocal refrains. I’m easily amused.
As far as I’m concerned, 1982’s Signals was Rush’s last notable release, with the mid-80s and onward reaching new heights in cheeseballing. 2002’s return in Vapor Trails is one of the pinnacle examples of extreme compression ruining production and musically it completely lacked character. Well they must have been invigorated by Trailer Park Boys cameos, since Snakes & Arrows is solid end-to-end. They’ve returned with a straight-up rock record containing strong songwriting and drummer Neil Peart’s lyrics of faith and conflict being quite relevant for the times (are these themes ever not?). You won’t find the technically proficient skin-work of the band’s golden era from the late 70s to early 80s, but Peart is certainly no slouch in these recordings. Many of the songs are complimented by strummed acoustic guitar while guitarist Alex Lifeson solos. If you’ve hated Geddy Lee’s vocals in the past, you’ll likely not be convinced to convert at this point, but there are a few instrumentals included in “The Main Monkey Business”, “Hope”, and “Malignant Narcissism”, the latter of which reminded me of Porcupine Tree in its short running time, except helluva lot more funky. You can also read up on the Rush’s own account of the album’s recording process.
After two alt-metal albums and a stint of getting the shit booed out of them while opening for Tool, Tomahawk took a left turn for their newest work. Primarily a songwriting vehicle for Duane Denison, also former guitarist for The Jesus Lizard, they decided to make music for their namesake, reinterpreting traditional Native American songs. You can complain they’re pulling a Peter Gabriel-style misappropriation of others’ culture, but when you throw Mike Patton’s off-kilter vocal stylings on top, you have your in. In truth, most of the focus on the album seems to be set on drummer John Stanier (he also plays in that little-known band called Battles), who sets the tempo that other elements are synchronized with. Overall, the music is moody and most importantly, tasteful, although one’s hatred for Patton’s vocals may skew that opinion. Short sections such as found on “Sun Dance” have trashy freakouts that characterize projects like Mr. Bungle, but otherwise the instrumentation and chanting effectively recall Native songs while not becoming too tangential.
In an age of unnecessary reunion tours, this band from Amherst, Massachusetts returned at a time that actually feels right. Even after a ten year hiatus, they still have the energy and skills to not only pick up where they left off, but also improve on their best work. Knowing they already sounded like weathered men singing back in ‘86, there are no complaints on the vocal front. But let’s be real, this is all just an excuse to hear guitarist J. Mascis rip it. In a corner, Lou Barlow weeps.
Portion Control – Onion Jack IV: Corrective Audio
As a segue between albums, these British electronic-revivalists decided to release a tour-only CD-R/iTunes instrumental EP. “Onion Jack” parts one and two both appeared as single tracks on their 2004 comeback double CD Wellcome, clocking in at 161/2 and 25 minutes respectively. Like its predecessors, part four is a sprawling dark electronic piece crossing beat-driven material with ambient come-down passages. It appears as one 35 minute track, however since its divied up into 10 named sections, it’s really a 10 song EP without index points. You can catch their web site preview where you can take in Portion Control’s worn-down urban aesthetic, which translates directly into their music. Just as Filthy White Guy, the compositions are dense in texture. “Lambeth” brings to mind the tribal drum programming of This Morn’ Omina while the last segment “Sunbeam” contains clean synth chords and lush pads to wrap up the otherwise dissonant EP. On the whole, I hope their upcoming album, Machine Code, will contain part three of the “Onion Jack” concept.
As an act that doesn’t have a home in any sort of hip-hop world we know of, I’m happy to know that Dälek is still around to be creative and stay on the fringe. You can question how an act described as industrial shoegaze hip-hop can maintain accessibility, but they manage. For Abandoned Language, they turn down the distortion that has been growing over the last two albums, but the mix is still dense as ever. The rapping is still muffled into that mix, with sometimes indiscernible lyrics. Compositions are breathtakingly thick with ominous saxophones, synthesizers, and minimal drum programming complimented by a bass permeating every track that seems to have disappeared into that mix. The descending string-fest on “Lynch” brings to mind Scott Walker’s latest nightmares. These productions left me nodding my head while at the same time unable to comprehend just how complex the works really are.
