It's no secret that I take a lot of pictures. What's becoming less of a secret, though, is that I'm becoming less bad at it.
Having spent so long as a photo editor, I'm naturally a bit more critical of photographs -- and especially my own. But thanks to lens upgrades (purchasing a 50mm prime, renting a 70-200mm) and software (Lightroom, Picknik), I'm getting awfully close to taking photos that I can hang a hat on (and I have a lot of hats, so...).
Anyway, here's some of my favorites from a great year of live music (note: In the Summer Bonfire series collage, half taken on Samsung Focus mobile phone.)
Every once in awhile, a movie comes along and just lays waste to any expectations you might have had going in. Whether the average viewer recognizes it or not, a lot of that has to do with the soundtrack. This year's list topper was one of those films that defied any expectations going in, and the moment you realize that things are going to be different with Drive was a few minutes into the film when Kavinsky's "Nightcall" played in its entirety for the opening credits.
Ok... I have to come clean. I did not see as many of these films as in the past five years of making this annual list. Since having kids, it's hard to get to the theater to see a film that isn't animated, but I make up for it by being choosy with I do see and then catching up by feasting upon award season screener DVDs in December. So even though I got to see what I consider to be the best films for music of the year (Drive, We Bought a Zoo, The Muppets), not having access to screeners like in the past has made this list more based on music alone (along with reputations/word-of-mouth/etc) than I'd normally like.
Anyway, I hope you take this somewhat subjective, aloofly arbitrary list in the spirit was meant to be taken. (As religion, of course!)
Poorly reviewed and little seen, this indie flick came and went in a flash mostly leaving us only with this soundtrack to remember it by. Sure, you can still catch the film on DVD, but it's likely the soundtrack will all you'll remember it for, which, for purposes limited to this blog post, make the film a success. Any film that utilizes Leonard Cohen, Pavement's "Here," French Kicks, Mates of State, Earlimart and The Shins in one fell swoop would be hard to knock out of this top ten, regardless of how bad the film might be.
I'm pretty sure every top ten soundtrack list I've done contains at least one quirky coming of age indie flick, and filling that slot for this year's countdown is the sublimely funny Submarine. Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys reportedly was inspired by the Scott Walker covers of Belgian great Jacques Brel when he sat down to compose tracks for the film. While they don't come anywhere near the heights of Walker's genius interpretations, the resulting acoustic-based songs work wonderfully well with the film's subtle gifts. And since I'll look for just about any excuse to get Scott Walker into a blog post, this soundtrack was a near shoo-in. Just kidding. (Or am I?)
The bragging rights The Descendants can lay claim to is it's the first big budget film to feature an all Hawaiian performed soundtrack. Gabby Pahinui leads the charge of modern slack key tracks, which also features similar giants of the era in Sonny Chillingworth, Ray Kane and Keola Beamer. Director Alexander Payne even brought in University of Hawaii's ethnomusicology professor Jay Junker to consult with music supervisor Dondi Bastone to help make what some are already calling the best compilation of Hawaiian music ever assembled.
Our Idiot Brother director Jessie Peretz has an inside track on the importance of music, having started out his entertainment career as a founding member of The Lemonheads, so perhaps it's no surprise that he (along with music supervisor Susan Jacobs) found the perfect songwriter to back this quirky comedy in Eric D. Johnson of the band Fruit Bats. Johnson's slack pop folk pop fit, along with a couple select tracks from Willie Nelson*, are a perfect fit for the marijuana loving character Ned (Paul Rudd). Throw in Thao and the Get Down Stay Down's awesome "Cool Yourself" and a couple compositions from Shudder to Think guitarist Nathan Larson and you have a tight collection to, um... imbide to.
*Ned's dog is named after the cannabis-loving country music star.
Even if you haven't seen the film, you've likely seen the trailer featuring the goose bump-inducing version of "Immigrant Song" featuring Karen O's voice over Trent Reznor's signature sound. While the rest of the soundtrack doesn't (and really shouldn't) reach that level of "holy shit," it reinforces the notion that a David Fincher-Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross combination is a winning formula for sight and sound.
Young Adult is a re-teaming of the Juno juggernaut Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, along with Seattle's own Mateo Messina as film composer. So it should come as no surprise we have another soundtrack hit, this time drawing the early-to-mid 90s slacker alt rock. Any film that uses Teenage Fanclub's "The Concept" as its corp musical queue is aces in my book. The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr and the Lemonheads all are featured prominently, and then, as commentary on the protagonist's self-consciousness, we get Messina's marvelous lounge-y interpretations of select hits from the era, like Beck's "Where It's At," Pearl Jam's "Evenflow" and an amazingly sublime take on Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun."
The Chemical Brothers have never been one for subtlety, so it's perhaps appropriate that their first foray into soundtrack composition is for what is essentially an action film. Since it's not your typical action film -- the action is mostly by a 16-year old girl and takes place across Europe -- the ChemBros brand of "electronica for folks who don't necessarily like electronica" works remarkably well. The soundtrack moves between a child-like innocence ("Hanna's Theme,") reflective of a girl who was forced to grow up too soon, and the pulsing rhythms of the action sequences that follow. And helping it move up the list here, the album works well as a fine listen independent of the film. You don't need to see the film to appreciate its charms -- but hopefully those that purchase it as the Chemical Brothers' latest will be spurred on to see the film.
When word came that Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie was going to be writing the music for the new Muppets venture, the films' seat at this table for ten was all but assured. Previous Muppets songwriter Paul Williams has left some pretty big shoes to fill (oh, the irony), but McKenzie was more than up for the task. Aside from the Chris Cooper rap (which was very Flight of the Conchords, minus most of the charm), McKenzie knocks this one out of the park -- especially the "Man or Muppet" song (official video below). Throw in a Muppet barbershop quartet featuring Beaker and the Swedish Chef doing "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and you have some serious musical movie magic. Ending with the Muppets classic "Mahna Mahna" was just the cherry on top.
Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi has been crafting cinematic soundscapes long before getting the call to actually score a film (We Bought a Zoo is his first), so it's surprising that it has taken this long for him to get the call to compose. Given that Sigur Ros was apparently playing in the background throughout the making of 2001's Vanilla Sky ("Svefn-G-Englar," "Agaetis Byrjun" and a live version of "The Nothing Song" ended up in the film), is was only a matter of time until Cameron Crowe made that call. Crowe utilizes Jonsi like Cat Stevens was to Harold & Maude, or like Elliott Smith in Goodwill Hunting, with the soundtrack almost serving as a Jonsi primer. There are new tracks here, including a track co-written by Crowe himself (in English, which feels weird considering all of Jonsi's past recordings utlize the made-up 'Hopelandic' language, mish-mashing Icelandic with syllables that serve the melody).
From the moment Kavinsky's "Nightcall" kicks in on the opening credits, you just knew you were in for a wholly different movie going experience. Director Nicolas Winding Refn was going for a kind of John Hughes experience, where songs get played in their entirety, but Hughes' influence pretty much ends at using full songs. The amount of blood and gore help suggest another musical influence, the minimalist score to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which composer (and ex-Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer) Cliff Martinez said was used repeatedly as a note by Refn on the score. "Make it more like Leatherface," he'd say, as a way to incorporate horror into a non-horror film. Kraftwerk was an obvious reference point here as well, but it's the previously recorded song choices, thanks to the John Hughes music video school of direction, that put the soundtrack over the top. Besides Kavinsky (with great help from CSS' Lovefoxx), the 80s synth heavy sounds of Desire, College and the Chromatics all provide counter balance to the unexpected violence and gore that's to come. And what kind of twisted mind uses music from the horribly offensive film Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971) to underscore a crucial scene? I don't know, but man... that shit worked.
Top 10 includes Destroyer, Girls, tUnE-yArds, M83, Bon Iver, James Blake, PJ Harvey, St Vincent, Shabazz Palaces, Real Estate
If 2010 was 1993 all over again, 2011 seemed to ignore this trend (and all the corresponding 20 year anniversary reissues), instead reaching back a decade prior. Releases from Destroyer and M83 mined that decade to make great albums, while several bands of that era (Gang of Four, Wire, The Feelies) returned with new releases. Another minor trend we noticed here was artists absolutely obliterating the tired "sophomore slump" myth, with Girls, tUnE-yArds, Bon Iver, Real Estate, Fleet Foxes, Male Bonding and Smith Westerns all having strong follow ups to their hyped debuts.
2011 also marks the second year in a row where anyone of my top 5 could have nabbed the top spot, but Destroyer's Kaputt edges out the aforementioned sophomore releases from Girls, tUnE-yArds and Bon Iver along with a career defining release from M83.
As a side note, I've had this Top 50+ Album list done for weeks now, but it's been a real bear to get formatted and find time to write. And since I want to get it out before the year ends, some of the writing is TBD (look for more in the coming days). But the albums are the meat of the matter, right? Here's the list. Hate it, debate it, relate it, whatever -- in the end, I'm just another jackass with a blog and a list.
1. Destroyer - Kaputt Stream / Purchase [mp3]
Every once in awhile, an album comes along that makes you rethink your past listening habits -- a re-evaluation of what is kitsch and what is genuine art. The smooth 80s sax solo, for instance, has long been filed in the 'bad idea' folder (and I'm a sax player!), but in the hands of Dan Bejar, it's a revelation. Much like listening to Steely Dan back in the day, you feel like your hearing something much greater than the smoother-than-smooth parts making up the song. Kaputt does that and more. I didn't know what in the Hell was going with it when I first heard it a year ago, but it quickly became the 'go to' listen for nearly all of 2011.
2. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost Stream / Purchase [mp3
Frontman Christopher Owens was raised in a cult, and with every stellar release, he's unwittingly creating his own. Father, Son, Holy Ghost not only beats the sophomore slump, it's miles beyond and not looking back. The nods to 70s rock abound, with all the modern touches you can't do without -- like Elliott Smith fronting Pink Floyd, with even a nod to Deep Purple ("Die") thrown in for good measure. Required listening.
3. tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l Stream / Purchase [mp3]
Another impressive sophomore long player, w h o k i l l is a brilliant anti-pop pop masterpiece that mixes R&B, folk, jazz, afro hop and funk for an addictive concoction. And Merrill Garbus does it mostly herself, even live, sampling drums, guitar and all her vocal calisthenics. One of the few truly great odd albums that is enhanced tenfold in a live setting.
4. M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming Stream / Purchase [mp3]
Anthony Gonzalez continues to mine his childhood for nuggets of nostalgia, and his fifth release ups the ante to a double album. Hurry Up We're Dreaming mixes up the best parts of his previous releases and throws in some Peter Gabriel-like vocal squalls in case you didn't get the 80s decade reference in the music.
Bon Iver's gotten a lot of love during this year-end list season, and with good reason. With his eponymous sophomore release, he's injected his gorgeous sound with some of the adventure of the side projects he's dallied in (Gayngs, Volcanic Choir), making the songs on Bon Iver reach for, well... more. I didn't find myself returning to this album as much as the other top four, so that's why it's here, but there's a greatness here that provides ample reason for it's near consensus "album of the year" tag that you'll find elsewhere.
