St. Vincent and David Byrne perform on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
Three years in the making, the long awaited collaboration between David Byrne and Annie Clark of St. Vincent finally sees the light of day this week. Love This Giant sees Byrne most energized, and there are lots and lots of horns, which are a highlight even as they come at the cost of Clark's exquisite guitar work, which gets drowned out in the brassness of the proceedings.
Elsewhere, Saturday Night Live returns for its 38th season, and even though it will be without stars Kristin Wiig and Andy Samberg, there's still a lot of excitement for the season premiere this Saturday. At least some of that has to do with Frank Ocean as the musical guest.
Other required viewings: The Avett Brothers on Kimmel (Monday), Grizzly Bear on Fallon (Friday).
Jack White, St. Vincent (above), Alabama Shakes, tUnE-yArds and Pickwick all provided highlights. This year, Brite Lines singer/guitarist and KEXP video operator Zach Gore tagged along for good measure. Don't linger here, though... go forth and view!
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.
Like many indie California artists with interesting backgrounds, Girls has quickly moved from the lo-fi aesthetics of its charming debut, Album, to a return to Hi Fidelity of the early 70s. Frontman Christopher Owens still has that child-like sincerity in his lyrics, but now on Father, Son, Holy Ghost*, his voice has softened to that of a honey-tinged Elliott Smith, occasionally backed here by gospel singers. The songs are stretched out to allow for an incredible attention to detail, begging to hear the album on vinyl on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon. Owens has confessed that Album was recorded in a heroin daze and that he's cleaned up his act, so it should be less of a surprise the amount of focus put into FSHG, but as last year's excellent EP Broken Dreams Club hinted, Owens and partner JR White were working towards this all along. The first two singles, "Vomit" and opener "Honey Bunny," are the perfect representatives of the spectrum that FSHG runs, as the album starts with a burst of energy and then pulls back the pace and brings out the gospel singers. The whole thing climaxes with the epic ballad "Forgiveness," which at about the 5:20 mark moves into a Crazy Horse stoned out jam. Girls' progression through these three releases is so wondrous to behold it's tempting to think about what's coming with the fourth, but that might spoil the beauty currently in hand.
*In title, Father, Son, Holy Ghost references Catholicism, which is interesting in that Owens grew up in the Children of God cult -- it takes one cult to recognize another.
It's tempting to look at Wild Flag as a sort of Sleater-Kinney 2.0, given it's got 2/3 of that illustrious band's members in Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss, but more than that, it's a celebration of music in general -- both the listening and the playing. With Mary Timony (Helium) and Rebecca Cole (The Minders) rounding out the quartet, the band's sound is one of rollicking guitars, Brownstein leg kicks and smiles reaching from ear to ear. Wild Flag starts out strong with the album's default anthem, "Romance," thanks to a Brownstein-Timony shared chorus of "We love the sound/The sound is what found us/Sound is the blood between me and you." The tracks get kind of choppy after that, trading between the slack dissonance of Timony and Brownstein's chop melodic energy -- these songs are all fine by themselves, they just feel a bit incongruous. About midway, during "Short Version," the two parts begin to meld and the rest of the album sounds like the band has found their sound. It's like they tracked the album to represent the growth of the band, a process the listener gets to experience in the convenient length of an album. The climax comes on "Racehorse," with Brownstein singing "Well I'm a racehorse. yeah I'm a racehorse. you put your money on me," leading me to believe if there's a filly out there named Wild Flag, money is being put on it, no matter the odds.
Three albums into her solo career, after getting a nice start with artists Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, Annie Clark's St. Vincent project is at the apex of a sort of "Art for Public Consumption" movement that we're currently enjoying in popular music. Between Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective and St. Vincent, 'difficult music' that still aims to be palatable has rarely been better, and Strange Mercy comes at a time when it should bring Clark to a much larger audience -- even the prog jazz bass flourishes seem ripe for a comeback in her hands. Clark has never sounded so confident and comfortable in her own skin as on tracks like "Cruel" and, especially, on "Cheerleader," which feels like her declaration to once and for all be her own woman, not the beautiful young woman who was once part of Sufjuan Stevens' touring clan. "I don't know what good it serves / Pouring my purse in the dirt / But I-I-I-I-I don't wanna be your cheerleader no more."
Download "Surgeon" from this widget:
Neil Patrick Harris' plan for world domination continues, this time as an animated villain in a special musical episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The Emmy host and star of How I Met Your Mother is the voice behind what could be Batman's most flamboyant villain, Music Meister (sorry Riddler).
Of course, NPH has already played a musical villain, having recently created a stir in the title role for Joss Whedon's Emmy award winning Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, so it's no surprise that he steals the episode, titled "Mayhem of the Music Meister" (premiering* on Friday, October 23, on Cartoon Network). The character is able to send his foes into song, including Aquaman, Green Arrow and the vocal power keg that is Black Canary (scroll down for video).
*The episode was previewed at this year's Comic Con to a standing ovation, and has aired already in the UK.
I've been wanting to plug the series since it debuted nearly a year ago, especially since Jellyfish's Andy Sturmer does the theme song, but now is as good a time as any. And the powers that be are striking while the irons are hot, releasing a soundtrack (Batman: The Brave and The Bold: Mayhem Of The Music Meister! Soundtrack) for the episode (via New Line Records) on October 24, the day after the episode airs.
Elsewhere, the talkies are on vacay, but Austin City Limits picks up the slack this week with the combo of super indie acts Andrew Bird and St. Vincent. Meanwhile, the excellent IFC documentary series on Monty Python continues all this week, and with the Python-a-thon, there's the added bonus of the (very musical) films The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian.
It's an embarrassment of riches this week as far as musical guests on the talkies, with Sonic Youth, Phoenix, Dinosaur Jr., Grizzly Bear, Wilco, Regina Spektor, St. Vincent and Brighton Port Authority & Iggy Pop appearing -- just to name a few.
Nineties slacker sludge purveyors Dinosaur Jr. remain together, three years now since the original lineup of J. Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph gave us alt-warm fuzzies with their reunion. When they play Fallon on Thursday night, they'll be promoting the newly released Farm, which marks the second great album in a row since their reunion, proving the reunion isn't a fluke. Where's your Pixies now?
Meanwhile, Wilco has their seventh proper full length (self-titled - Wilco) coming out next week, but have a bigger challeng in trying to tame the new Tonight Show stage with their sound problems. Conan is still enjoying a honeymoon period, but rest assured, if the sound isn't fixed, don't be surprised if bands start to hit Letterman and Fallon instead first to guarantee a certain quality of sound.
And finally, The Roots may be the house band for Fallon, but don't be confused by their inclusion in the calendar here on Thursday night, as they're scheduled to be the musical guest as well. They have a new album, How I Got Over, and are responsible for booking the musical guests, so why wouldn't they book themselves?
More: I've recently profiled Sonic Youth (Monday on Fallon,) Phoenix (Friday on Kimmel) and Grizzly Bear (Friday on Fallon) but we also need to give some love to the doe-eyed indie queens St. Vincent and Regina Spektor, who appear on Letterman Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Just about any other week, I'd have them in the lede (just to get them purty eyes in the photo).
Recap of events from the second day of Sasquatch now up at Bumpershine. The Wrens (pictured above, Wrens axes Greg Whelan and Charles Bissell,) once again, were the highlight of the festival for me, but there were some interesting performances from TV on the Radio, Of Montreal and St. Vincent as well.
The Sasquatch Music festival has always been my favorite, and it's primarily due to it's location, the majestic gorge in South Central Washington. The lineup of artists ain't too shabby either. I've always found myself avoiding the mainstage in the evenings, and this year, with headliners like Kings of Leon and Nine Inch Nails, that tradition remains intact. The Wookie Stage draws smaller crowds and quite often, better acts. I've got my schedule mostly set, and it's embedded below.
Who am I excited to see this year? Well, readers of this blog won't be surprised by most. On Saturday, there's Passion Pit and King Kahn and the Shrines in the early part of the day, and then Animal Collective and Bon Iver in the evening. Sunday features St. Vincent, The Wrens, TV on the Radio and Of Montreal, who are all need-to-see when in town. The early part of Monday is what I'll be sad to miss -- Grizzly Bear, Deerhoof, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Santigold, The Duchess and the Duke, Monotix, Fleet Foxes all play in a span of about four hours.
It's been four years now since I was last here, a period of time marked by having kids and schedule conflicts (bar mitzvah, wedding, etc.). The weather has also been freakish in the years since I've been, so it's nice to see that we're expecting 85 degrees and dry for both days.
Here are the expected points where my camera will be getting a workout:
