Best Music of February 2014

Albums-

Benji- Sun Kil Moon

Jesus guys what else can I say? My first 9/10 of the year.

DEAD- Young Fathers

Like hip-hop’s version of TV on the Radio Young Fathers have made a fantastically experimental album that combines the best aspects from dozens of genres. Spoken word, industrial, soul, and waaaaay too many others to count are mixed together as the "psychedelic hip hop boy band" calmly makes a spectacular album. 

Dialects- Snowmine

Hopping from one genre to the next Dialects is a wonderfully undeceive album. Indie-pop? Folk? Chamber Music? It doesn’t really matter, as it’s constantly beautiful, no matter what genre it wants to be. Snowmine’s Grizzly Bear covering Hall & Oat’s groove has made one of the most delightful albums made this year.

Voices- Phantogram

Phantogram’s hip-hop beats meets indie-rock has paid off in full. Voices is their strongest release yet and has one of the year’s best bangers in “Howlin’ at the Moon.”

West of Calgary- Shakey Graves

February 9^th is the date when music oriented Texans celebrate their best living blues-man. And on this Shakey Graves’ Day our man delivered some grand gifts; free-downloads of some of his best live work. Who knows what he’ll release next year…

Cosmos- Yellow Ostrich

The New York outfit’s mixing of romantic instrumentation and poisonous lyrics has never been better. Inspired by Carl Sagan as much as failed relationships, Cosmos is an unnerving but excellent listen.

Island Intervals- Death Vessel

Figures that Jonsi would show up here; Death Vessel’s newest album sounds like an American version of Sigur Ros’ excellent Valtari. Joel Thibodeau’s fantastic soprano range gives a child-like wonder to these songs and each piece is finely crafted.

E Rey- We Were Promised Jetpacks

No stage banter, no BS. WWPJ deliver a straight up rocking live album that proves they’re one of the loudest bands in the biz and a hell of a live act.

Lord Steppington- Step Brothers

Hip-hop has been taking a bit of a backseat so far in 2014, but leave it up to Evidence and The Alchemist to make an over the top and fantastic piece of boom bap. It’s as good as it is irreverent.

You’re gonna miss it all- Modern Baseball

Caffeine filed hearts rejoice, you have your album. Modern Baseball’s take on pop-punk has enough American Football emo mixed with droll observations of sexual frustration filled weekends to make even the mopiest of listeners perk up.   

Songs-

Dogs- Sun Kil Moon

Sex isn’t a theme avoided by music. It’s everywhere in fact, from teen-pop to death metal. Most of it is covered in metaphors or abstractions and even when the subject does become clearer it’s usually framed as a singular act. “Dogs” isn’t like most songs. It’s the single most emotional raw and truthful song about sex ever made. Mark Kozelek’s lyrics cut painfully deep as he recalls cheating, being cheated on, and medicating a broken heart with drugs and music. “When you lose control and how good it feels to cum/…nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong,” he sums up.

Bright- Maïa Vidal

Entrancing and seductive Vidal’s newest song is a strange combination of chamber and folk. A banjo walks behind a rising organ as Vidal sweetly sings “My parasitic heart has found a host that meets its needs.” It’s a dark and beautiful epic. 

Delorean Dynamite- Todd Terje

Look at that title. LOOK AT IT. IT’S FUCKING PERFECT. Norwegian disco-overlord Todd Terje has dropped one of the most infectious tracks of the year; driving bass lines, funky guitar, and a stream lined sound, it’s got it all. It’s unlikely that Terje has a time machine and went to the future to find this perfect piece of dance music, unlikely, but not impossible.

Daughters of Erebus- PATRICIA

One of the spookiest dance tunes made in recent memory, “Daughters of Erbus” rides a smooth keyboard line as PATRCIA fills in the rest of the song with disorienting noise. Think of it as club music for Hades.

Lonely Press Play- Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn continuous his meditations on modern technology with the lovely and romantic “Loney Press Play.” He describes the boredom of touring and missing a loved one while wasting the hours away on Skype or youtube. Much like his previous single “Everyday Robots” Albarn has no need to stick to one genre, staccato violins, gliding piano, and clacking percussion all combine for another winner. 

love lo(ve)-fi- Simon SMTHNG

The clever title rings true. The tropical and lo fidelity beat is lovely and when the laid back beat kicks in the song is absolutely blissful. Only two complaints: This needs a rapper, and it’s over far too soon.

Lawman- Girl Band

Gritty ain’t the right word. This post-punk song seems like it was infused with concrete. The grating beat might just drive you insane and, if you’re in the right mood, you’ll enjoy it quite a bit.

Thunderstruck- 2Cellos

Gimmicky? Yes. Fucking awesome? Also yes. 2Cellos don’t flip the “String cover of X” concept on its head; they simply do it better than anyone else. The blindingly fast pace of it all is enough to turn heads but the work they put into every beat shows that they’re rock-nerds at heart.

Down From the Rafters- Hundred Waters

There’s not actually much there in Hundred Waters’ new single. Nicole Miglis’ strangely pretty voice hangs like a ghost as clacking percussion and phantom synths move in nervous ways. The song doesn’t explode, but instead transforms towards the end with a shimmering keyboard line. Despite its apparent simplicity “Down from the Rafters” deserves repeat listens.

Fire-scene - S. Carey

You need a bit of calming folk right now. Don’t lie to me.

Life round here- Ellie Goulding & Angel Haze

Despite James Blake’s cold exterior his collaboration with Chance the Rapper was all laughs. Now that those two are rooming together (in what should be filmed as a sitcom) Goulding and Haze decided to make a drearier version of the Overgrown track. Goulding’s voice is great but the real draw is Haze’s verse, in contrast to Chance, Haze drops hard bars with blinding speed.  

Ronald's Dream- Filthy Frank & Friends

Well this is weird. The absurd youtube comedian (best known for sparking the “Harlem Shake” insanity) is actually a good rapper…and producer.

http://pinkguy.bandcamp.com/track/ronalds-dream

Cold day- Black Milk

Less than a year after his excellent No Poison, No Paradise Black Milk is hinting at future releases and if they sound like this…well damn. Over a Madlib like beat with grimy and swaying bass Black Milk rolls along with is ever-fantastic flow. 

Classixx - A Stranger Love (DE LUX COVER)

Classixx released a criminally overlooked dance album last year but maybe this chunk of dance floor-gold will get them more recognition. Over the best bass line made so far this year Classixx make a head bopping groove. It’s as confident as it is sexy.

Rat- Black Bell Records

Last year’s most obnoxious, and best, punk album was The So-So Glos’ Blowout and “Rat” seems to be a close cousin to those songs. Shifted vocals that slide over each other mix with the song’s pseudo-hook to become more catchy then annoying.

Rattlesnake- St. Vincent

I personally found St. Vincent’s newest album disappointing but just before its release she gave us its best song. “Rattlesnake” slithers its way through a glitchy synth line and Annie Clark talking about “taking off my clothes.” I’m down.

FKA x Inc.

Inc. released one of the most seductive albums of last year and FKA Twigs possesses both entrancing and creepy vocals, so why not put them together. It’s a gorgeously spacey song that melds some of the best aspects of both artists.

Psychic Trauma- Cloud nothings

Cloud Nothings are probably on their way towards making another critically acclaimed grimy punk album but I personally didn’t dig their last effort as much as everyone else, but “Psychic Trauma” gives me hope. The sudden beat change is whiplash inducing and the mad drumming caps off the song’s insane feel.

Be Free- King Dude & Chelsea Wolf

Yeah, this is just what Wolf’s music needed, another deep sultry voice. King Dude haunts the song like Tom Waits with voice lessons and of course Wolf weaves dark and beautiful patterns.

Benji- Sun Kil Moon Album Review

   

I ran into a friend of mine a few weeks back as he was eating his lunch. We talked for a bit before I asked why he had missed our weekly hangout the previous Friday. Turns out he had headed back to the small town where he lived the summer before college started. While me and the rest of the guys were eating oreos and playing Magic he had attended his first funeral.

 “Guess I have to get used to it.”

“Yeah, we are at that age,” I replied.

I felt shocked when those words exited my mouth. That same sentence had been spoken by my dad a few months before. He was discussing his mother’s failing health and how his father had died of a stroke a few years before. He was also trying to console me at the time; my grandmother on my mom’s side was losing all her memories to a butterfly tumor that was engulfing her brain. My dad and I were both at those ages. The ages when his parents and uncles started passing away and my grandparents moved on. It was a strange, sad sensation. A sensation I keep feeling as I listen to Benji.

Mark Kozelek is a few years younger than my dad and the sudden increase in death is evident in Kozelek’s music. Benji is filled with death. Kozelek opens with “Carissa” and over a slow guitar he remembers his 2^nd cousin who died in a freak accident; an aerosol can exploded while she was taking out the trash. It’s the same way that Kozelek’s uncle went and “Carissa” is connected to “Truck Driver” where Kozelek’s Leonard Cohen dirge becomes a eulogy for his long dead uncle. Kozelek hasn’t necessarily seen more close ones pass away, but he tells their stories better than anyone. Yes Benji is filled with death, but to say its death obsessed would be the same as calling life death obsessed.

Kozelek isn’t happy that he has to be the one writing these songs. “Don’t like this gettin’ older stuff” he says on the grim “Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes.” The devastating “Pray for Newtown” has Kozelek rattling off all the mass shootings he can remember in his life. “CNN was promoting the Batman killer/His eyes were glazed like he was from Mars/Yesterday he was no one, today he was a star.” Over jarringly jaunty keyboard Kozelek sits down with “Jim Wise” who mercy killed his bedridden wife before he turned the gun on himself, only for it to jam. He’s on tour when he gets a call saying that an old guitar buddy of his has died and as he bounces from hotel to hotel he frets over his mother’s health. “My mother is 75/She’s the closest friend I’ve had in my life.”

“I Can’t Live Without My Mother’s Love” is a grand reminder that not everything on Benji is rooted in death. Kozelek gives a shout out to the lessons his dad has taught him on the country twang of “I Love My Dad” while simultaneously admonishing his father’s shenanigans. “My dad’s still fighting with his girlfriend/over his flirting with the girls at Panera bread,” he sighs later on the album. Two of most stunning moments on Benji are in league with Kozelek’s parental tributes; songs that don’t have death as the central theme. “I Watched the Film ‘The Song Remains the Same’” is over ten minutes long but passes like a dream. Beautifully watery guitars and Sigur Ros like voices back Kozelek as he uses the Zeppelin film as a tool to explore vivid memories. He punches a kid in middle school to the cheers of his classmates only to feel abysmal. “I was never a young schoolyard bully/And wherever you are, that poor kid, I’m so sorry.” “Dogs” is the other track that cuts frighteningly deep without being immersed in morality. “Dogs” might be the most emotionally raw song about sex written…ever. Kozelek treads through various encounters that he describes with impossible realism. He admits that he only almost got into a threesome due to everyone involved being “Drunk as skunks and high off Darvon,” he lets into sexual temptation and he loses his virginity while cheating on his girlfriend. “When you lose control and how good it feels to cum/…nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong,” he sums up.

Of course Kozelek returns to death. The terrifying “Richard Ramirez” uses the titular serial killer as a lens for Kozelek to unravel stories about his home town and a shocking realization during recording process of Benji. “The Saprano’s guy died at 51/That’s the same age as the guy coming to play drums!” Kozelek exclaims with shock. After “Richard Ramirez”’s dark Modest Mouse guitars end, the warm instrumentation of “Micheline” enters. Kozelek talks his Grandmother in the final verse with falsetto harmonies singing “My grammaw, my grammaw.” It could be hokey but as someone who recently lost a grandmother the slightly sappy vocals only encase memories in warmth. I’m still in denial about my Gram’s passing and Kozelek seems to know the feeling.    

What makes Benji strangely wonderful is how much detail is packed into the songs. Kozelek rambles off the mundane activities of a normal day on “Ben’s My Friend,” eating crab cakes, feeling disgusted with a restaurant “covered in sports bar shit,” and seeing part of a Postal Service concert (“Ben” is Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service). He talks about his aching back and wonders if he looks like a jackass before calling Ben and saying he’ll have to skip out on the “Backstage hi-five” but it’s fine since “Ben’s my friend and I know he gets it.” It’s a song made up of painstaking detail, like every other track here, but this meticulous process makes Kozelek’s music universal. No one in my family has died from an exploding aerosol can, but I do know how it feels to lose a family member that you wish you had known better. My mom never rubbed baking power on my foot to heal it, but I do know that I’ll bawl like a toddler when I lose my parents. The songs here don’t offer solace through hope, instead they act like an empathetic buoy. “I ain’t one to pray/But I’m one to sing and play,”Kozelek puts it. There aren’t any huge life lessons, no musings on god, just a set of stories that can resonate with anyone. 

Black Santa Rides the Fire Train- MONOLITHS album review

Self Defense Family, Converge, Infest, Cursive, Death Grips, The National, and Botch.

What do these bands have in common? Perhaps it’s the playlist of a hardcore fan that’s trying to branch out? Turns out that’s not too far from the truth. The list of bands above found their way into Black Santa Rides the Fire Train a surprisingly great cover album by Massachusetts hardcore outfit MONOLITHS. The young and versatile quartet tackles each of these songs with equal parts passion and ferocity.

Self Defense Family’s “I’m Going Through Some Shit” perfectly opens the album with a bluesy guitar that buzzes with anger. Kehan Larivee hollers like a crossbreed between Tom Waits and Isaac Brock and only withdraws from his strain inducing tone a few times, with each instance becoming a powerful blow. The first break from his vocal cord tearing has him saying “good luck son, I hope you crash,” with all the disinterest of a sociopath watching a plane crash. The second time has Larivee’s voice cracking as he proclaims “you are your own man.” The instruments let him rest as they take the last half of the song down a rumbling and churning road. The Converge track that follows serves mainly as a vehicle for Brian McNally’s fantastic guitar work. He nails the tapping guitar riff and makes the muddied post-chorus section even grittier.

Unlike many of their peers MONOLITHS don’t hide in lo-fi grunge. In fact both “Mistaken for Strangers” and “From the Hips” verge on pretty, even while McNally and bassist Matt Campo fuzz up the lower end of the sound. Drummer Christian Northover also refuses to slip into traditional rock clichés. “I’m Going Through Some Shit”’s outro is a complex piece of work and Northover doesn’t lack in restraint on “Mistaken for Strangers.” But Larivee’s vocal flexibility is eye-brow raising levels of impressive. He moves from the aforementioned hollering to screaming, speaking, and charming vocal-pop. That last quality comes up on the excellent Cursive cover “From the Hips.” Larivee’s voice duets with itself only occasionally reaching into his harsher tones and Northover drives the song along at a great clip after the intro.

Out of the seven tracks here five are evenly solid tracks that flow well. However the other two tracks swing to farther ends of the spectrum. On the less fortunate end is the Infest cover which never comes together as cohesive. It’s the only time that Larivee feels out of place and where Northover falls into classic drummer traps making the song boring, bordering on annoying. Thankfully on the ridiculously surprising end of the spectrum lies “No Love.”  Yes it’s the Death Grips cover and it’s shockingly good. With a little help from guest vocalist Charlie Mansion MONOLITHS turn MC Ride’s serial killer flow into some seriously angry white boy rap, insane in its own way. And that’s not even mentioning how the rest of the band turns the song into a trashing industrial mess that comes to a terrifying head with Northover pulling off a brutal double kick-drum outro.

It should be mentioned that even after the band ran out of free downloads on their bandcamp they’re still insisting that you grab it for free. With their energizing and horrifying work this might be one of the best (legal) free downloads you’ll get this year. 

Listen here: http://monolithswillkillyou.bandcamp.com/album/black-santa-rides-the-fire-train

Same Hate (a response)

                      

To say Macklemore has gotten a fair share of hate over the last few weeks would be a gross understatement. Hip-hop fans took to every form of social media to express their disbelief over Macklemore sweeping the rap categories at the Grammys. Kendrick fans weren’t the only ones attacking Macklemore after the Grammys. The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer called Macklemore’s performance of “Sam Love,” where 34 gay and straight coups were married, an “abomination.”

“…this thing ought to appall you because gay marriage is bad for children. In fact, same-sex parenting…is a form of child abuse," said Fischer.

Fischer wasn’t the only conservative who harshly attacked Macklemore. Houston based Christian rapper Bizzle released “Same love (A response).” This is where I’m going to drop my usual veil of objectivity. It is the single most vile and abhorrent song I’ve ever heard.

“It angers you if I compare you to a pedophile, because he's sick, right, and you're better, how?" He also claims that members of the LGTBQ community are actively attacking “old ladies.” He also calls being gay a “defect.” I’m nearly hoping that in the next few days it will be revealed that Bizzle is a comedian, parodying extremists.  

The song itself is simply a reminder that LGTBQ community is still marginalized in hip-hop and Bizzle joins Lord Jamar and Necro as rappers that have openly denied homosexuality a place in hip-hop. Of course Bizzle has taken it a step further by comparing homosexuals to pedophiles, but the thing that truly angers me is that this song has been promoted on HiphopDx and the Houston Chronicle. Both sources exclude the more revolting parts of Bizzle’s song and instead simply present it as a rational and equal response to the original “Same Love.” Treating this work as anything but hate filled continues to send the message that homophobia is still a dominating trend in hip-hop. It is beyond disappointing to see these two major publications promote this song. If anything is going to change in hip-hop, the music world, and everywhere in general we can't let songs like this pass by as acceptable or profitable.  

Best music of January 2014

Albums-

The Green E.P.- Bibio

This is the modern version of variations on a theme. Electronic and folk scientist Bibio dedicated an EP to tracks that complemented “Dye the water green” off of his last album. He doesn’t just succeed he also argues that EPs can be more than just a random collection of songs, closer to demos than actual albums. He’s made a deeply cohesive and tranquil record and one of the finest EPs made in years.

Rave Tapes- Mogwai

Mogwai have been augmenting their sound with electronics over the years but this seems like the final step across the genre label of post-rock and into more ambient sounds. Not that there isn’t great guitar work here, it’s just that Mogwai make some gorgeous sounds here without the Explosions in the sky amp melting they used to use.

Black Santa rides the fire train- MONOLITHS.

The dangerous youths that make up MONOLITHS. decided to make a proper covers album, ranging from Death Grips to The National. It’s a weird, weird, mix but it works surprisingly well, from the mathy Botch cover to the insane white boy rap of “No Love” Black Santa Rides the fire train ends up being the best free download bandcamp find of the month.

Fuck off get free we pour light on everything- Thee silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

Somewhere between folk, punk, and a full on Opera “Fuck off get free we pour light on everything” is a massive album (three songs here clock in at over 10 minutes). It’s apocalypse obsessed record with a faint shimmering of hope in the shouted choruses and the amazing drum work.  

Transgender Dysphoria Blues- Against me!

I wasn’t one who shouted “SELL OUTS!” when Against me! went to a major label, after all “New Wave” is my favorite album by them, but it is nice to hear the Florida rockers dabble in their folk-punk roots. With lead singer Tom Gabel becoming Laura Jane Grace the lyrics focus on her inner struggles. There’s a cool moment when you realize you’re singing along with “Like they see any other girl/They just see a faggot” and you know this isn’t just an important album, it’s a damn good one as well.

Songs-

Ben’s my friend/I watched the film “the song remains the same”- Sun Kil Moon

Sun Kil Moon has slowly been releasing songs from his upcoming album Benji and I can say, without a doubt, that it is my most anticipated album of this year. “Ben’s my friend” and “I watched the film ‘the song remains the same’” are easily the best two songs released so far this year. They serve as great bookmarks for January, as “Ben” was released at the start of the New Year and “Song remains” closed out the month.

“Ben” is, musically, one of the airiest songs in Sun Kil Moon’s collection with, light guitar, soft “ba-ba-bah”s, and some beautiful sax. Still it doesn’t completely alleviate the somberness of Mark Kozelek as he deals with his “middle aged thing,” “sports bar shit,” and his dad flirting with “girls Panera bread.” The Ben in the title is Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cuite and The postal service who’s been friends with Kozelek for over a decade. Kozelek wonders about Ben’s success and worries about seeing The postal service live and calls Gibbard up instead and skips the show. Through the painstaking small details it all ends on a sweet note “Ben’s my friend and I know he gets it.”

“Song Remains” starts with Kozelek sitting in a movie theatre as a kid, entranced by Jimmy Page’s stance. That’s only the start though as he uses that Zep film as a tool to trace memories of friends, family, and music in stunning detail. He remembers a few years that were filled with death, his manager when he was on the 4AD label, and a playground fight. Kozelek story telling is often at its best when he deadpans his tales but he delivers a swooning and brilliant performance here along with his weaving and winding guitar. It’s truly hard to not get a bit teary eyed during the ten minute long song and man; if this is how the year starts we are in for some truly mind-blowing music.  

Stay happy there- La Dispute

La Dispute had one of the most emotional potent albums made in years with 2011’s Wildlife and it seems like the new record will just has devastating. Jordan Dreyer has always had one of the most powerful voices in hardcore and when he compares a crumbling relationship to wolves hunting deer it doesn’t sound overblown, it makes perfect crushing sense.

Bela Lugosi’s dead- Chvrches

This shouldn’t have worked, yet Chvrches proved they’re not a half bad cover band. The trio give a catchier electronic vibe to Bauhaus’ gothic classic. Shame Halloween is so far away ‘cause this is goddamn excellent.

Everyday robots- Damon Albarn

And of course Damon Albarn continues to be one of the most brilliant voices in pop. Like a more downtempo Gorillaz “Everyday Robots” creeps along at a strange pace as Albarn muses about technology and employs one of his prettiest coos. If the rest of the album is like this, Albarn might have another huge winner on his hands.

Cannibal- Silversun Pickups

Sucks that Silversun decided to tack this on to a singles collection rather than a full on new album. Neck of the woods had some intriguing electronic influences and “Cannibal” seems to be part of the next logical step. The thrashing chorus is made even better by the sliding guitars and the 8-bit backgrounds.

Driver- Perfect Pussy

Perfect Pussy has been making waves as one of the grittier punk bands out right now, and “Driver” might be their best song yet. Taking a page from Melt Banana, the song clocks in at under a minute and is propelled by manic high pitched howling and slashing guitars.

Be mean- Tweens

Dirt filled surf-punk that rolls like a female fronted Wavves. The lyrics seem to come from Florence Welche’s “Kiss with a fist” as the chorus vocals demand that a certain boyfriend drop the sweetness and be a bit more…well…mean.

Step- Vampire weekend ft. Danny Brown, Heems, Despot

The original “Step” was a homage to hip-hop crew Souls of Mischief’s “Step to my girl” so it makes sense that the remix would hit up some of the Vampire’s rapper friends. Brown lays down a surprising sweet verse (until he starts threatening a dude who keeps flirting with his girl), Heems remembers a college sweetheart, but Despot undoubtedly has the best bars. “I'll tie your kicks together if you ever try to step to her/Must be why you trippin' when I ask you, "Why you stressin' her?" Passing notes and texting her, I'm 'bout to shoot the messenger!”

Blue eyed Hexe- Pixies

So the series of EPs that The Pixies have been putting out hasn’t been gaining fantastic praise, oh well, it doesn’t mean they can’t throw down a great song or two. “Blue eyed Hexe” is a straight up rock n’ roll tune, abet with Frank Black’s screeching vocals making the song even more fiery.

Digital Witness- St. Vincent

With the second song off of her self-titled album released it’s pretty clear that Annie Clark is going to be 5 for 5 on excellent albums. Appropriately “Digital Witness” takes off from Clark’s last project with David Byrne. Catchy horns, Clark’s always fantastic voice, and surreal lyrics…man I can’t wait for the album.