Tag Archives: robyn

Best Music of 2010

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Surprise! It’s an end of year list at the beginning of the year. What, it took me til February to sort out my favorite music of 2010. But it’s still a valuable guide for all you cats and kittens, right? Or at least a quick reference if you’re looking for some new tunes in your life. Keep in mind how I feel about “best of” lists and enjoy.

FAVORITE ALBUMS

These are the albums I’ve been listening to over and over again, with no sign of getting bored.

Midlake — The Courage of Others 

Pitch perfect for obsessive repeat listens during those long winter days and nights. Every review I’ve read has mentioned that it’s a medieval-sounding album, with acoustic guitars and flutes, and that it’s a throwback to ’70s guitar rock. True enough; I immediately thought of Lindisfarne and early Genesis. These minor key melodies sung in echoes have haunted me in the best possible way all year.

 

 

Yeasayer — Odd Blood

When one of these songs pops up on shuffle, I have to go play the whole album through. It’s absolutely that catchy; the bouncy pop, wailed lyrics, and ’80s/futuristic production coalesce into the most joyous album of the year. Yep, even when they’re singing about heartbreak, you’ll be singing along with a smile on your face. Bonus: great live show.

 

 

Wolf Parade — Expo 86

Apparently, Spencer Krug wanted to make a rock album you could dance to, and that’s just what he, fellow songwriter Dan Boeckner, and band did. I don’t know how they settled on the name Wolf Parade, but they always sound a little wolfish to me — aggressive, driving, and wild-eyed. Which is as it should be. Rock n roll should make you shiver.

 

 

Cee Lo Green — The Lady Killer

I think I must be one of those people who talks in their sleep, because while I don’t remember Cee Lo calling me up and asking me what kind of classic Motown style songs updated for the 21st century I’d like to hear on his next album, I must have answered the phone in my sleep, since The Lady Killer is the perfect such album.  The single everyone knows, of course, is “Fuck You,” but “It’s OK” and “Cry Baby” are also winners. You’ll be singing into your hairbrush in no time.

 

Patty Griffin — Downtown Church

Clearly, you could happily listen to Patty Griffin sing from the phone book, such is the power and vulnerability of her voice. She’s also a stellar songwriter, which is why I was a bit nervous about this latest album, a collection of spirituals and hymns. But I needn’t have worried; Patty is a wonderful interpreter of songs and this album is no exception. Her “I Smell a Rat” is appropriately loose and dangerous, and I haven’t heard a spookier “Wade in the Water.”

May Erlewine — Golden

Daisy May has dropped the stage name and now goes by her full name, May Erlewine, but she continues to write the same lovely tunes just perfect for singing along to around a campfire, especially “Down in the Valley” and “Heavy.” She and some other Earthwork Music folks came through Chicago last year, and only noise laws kept them from playing (and us cheering) all night long.


Frightened Rabbit — The Winter of Mixed Drinks

When “more of the same” means more bleak lyrics, catchy tunes, and a mesmerizing urgency, it’s a good thing. Frightened Rabbit’s follow-up to their sophomore album is a fantastic continuation of the sound.


Robyn — Body Talk Part 1

Last July I mentioned how exciting it was to see Robyn at Pitchfork Music Fest, but looking back I can say that it was my favorite concert of the year. She was just so damn happy to be dancing and singing as we all joined in, and this album (as well as Part 2, which I don’t know well enough to include here) is like having that dance party in your pocket.

Janelle Monae — The ArchAndroid

There’s a reason Janelle Monae topped so many critics’ lists; she’s an amazing artist, and the album is bursting with new sounds, new beats, and a mythology made up of equal parts history, cinema, and funky invention. Don’t let the mania for Lady Gaga obstruct your view of this visionary artist and her wonderful music.

FAVORITE HALF-ALBUMS

I pick and choose songs from these albums, but they’re some damn good songs. I generally like more than just the songs in the parentheses, but those are my most favorites.

New Pornographers — Together (“Moves,” “Crash Years,” “Up in the Dark”)
The National — High Velvet Violet (“Anyone’s Ghost,” “Bloodbuzz Ohio”)
Bettye LaVette — Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (“Nights in White Satin” and “It Don’t Come Easy”)
Mark Ronson — Record Collection (“Bang Bang Bang” and “Hey Boy”)
Deerhunter — Halcyon Digest (“Memory Boy” and “Helicopter”)
Lissie — Catching a Tiger (“When I’m Alone,” “Loosen the Knot,” and “This Much I Know”)

GOOD SINGLES OFF ACCLAIMED ALBUMS THAT JUST DON’T MATCH UP

Arcade Fire — “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
Nicki Minaj — “Right Thru Me” and “Dear Old Nicki”

OTHER GOOD ALBUMS THAT DON’T GET A BIG WRITE-UP

Beach House — Teen Dream
Tame Impala — Innerspeaker
Vampire Weekend — Contra
Mountain Man — Made the Harbor
Macy Gray — The Sellout
Teenage Fanclub — Shadows
Blitzen Trapper — Destroyer of the Void
 Marina and the Diamonds — The Family Jewels
 Roky Erickson With Okkervil River — True Love Cast Out All Evil (be sure to check out my friend Josh’s in-depth review of this album at his blog, We Check Records)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings — I Learned the Hard Way
The xx — xx
Neon Indian — Psychic Chasms
John Mellencamp — No Better Than This
Bryan Ferry — Olympia

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Black Mountain — Wilderness Heart
Tom Petty — Mojo
Best Coast — Crazy for You
The Black Keys — Brothers

NO THANK YOU, STOP TRYING TO TELL ME IT IS THE BEST THING EVER

Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

ALBUMS I MIGHT WANT TO GET TO KNOW IN THE FUTURE

Mumford & Sons — Sigh No More
Retribution Gospel Choir — 2
Les Shelleys — self-titled
Mavis Staples — You Are Not Alone
Robert Plant — Band of Joy
Los Campesinos — Romance is Boring
Motion City Soundtrack — My Dinosaur Life
Peter Gabriel — Scratch My Back
Erykah Badu — New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang — The Wonder Show of the World
Drive-By Truckers — The Big To-Do
MGMT — Congratulations
Nada Surf — If I Had a Hi-Fi
The Fall — Your Future Our Clutter
Phosphorescent — Here’s to Taking it Easy
Nas and Damian Marley — Distant Relatives
Reflection Eternal — Revolutions Per Minute
Jenny and Johnny — I’m Having Fun Now
Tift Merritt — See You on the Moon
Various — Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine
MIA
The Books — The Way Out

So what did YOU like best from the last year?

Note: All images taken from Paste Magazine, Pitchfork Media, and other music review sites.

Pitchfork Music Fest 2010

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The Pitchfork Music Festival is in its fifth year, and I’ve been to four of them, so you could say that I’m pretty into it. I don’t actually read the main Pitchfork site all that much, since I can’t seem to get into the writing style of most of their critics, but every time I do head over there, I’m greeted with about 150 artists I’ve never heard of, about 40 of whom I’m likely to really enjoy. Those are some good numbers right there! Pitchfork is at the forefront of making music groups of all sizes and levels of fame more available to the Internet masses, and that’s a great service. These efforts culminate in the annual music fest, which takes place at Union Park in Chicago, IL over the course of three hot summer days.

I worked all day Friday and went straight to the park, just in time to hear the energizing opening chords of Robyn‘s set. This woman is fantastic! She writes or co-writes all her songs, and what songs! Upbeat, perfectly danceable love songs. I put one up yesterday (sorry, I didn’t realize the sound was so bad). Here’s another:

I chose these videos in particular because they’re from Friday’s performance; you can see how much joy she finds in dancing and singing and inviting everyone else to do the same. When she started those wide-flung arm movements, it looked like she took the dancing we do in front of the mirror and put it on stage, as if to say, “Look, just move your body any way you want!” I followed that suggestion so well that a photographer started snapping pictures of me, I suppose because I looked so into the music. But really, when you’re dancing and singing along wholeheartedly, you don’t exactly look photogenic; you look goofy. So if you see a photo out there of me looking like this…

hippie goofy dance

I wasn't even on anything (photo via http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/13056)

…just move along.

After watching Michael Showalter‘s painful on-stage breakdown, I thought about going back to Broken Social Scene, but then Eugene Mirman came on and killed. I think my favorite part was that he was making pro-choice jokes that were actually funny. That’s exactly what we need, is someone reminding people that abortion is something you can talk about and even make jokes about, because hey, it’s a real thing in this world and not just a political flashpoint. (Does my choice of the word “killed” earlier ring a little untasteful in this context? Oops. Oh well, I’m keeping it. Oops, there, I did it again!)

I wandered in late on Saturday, but I was in time to see Wolf Parade rock out most wonderfully. I like on-stage banter if it’s done well, but sometimes I just want to hear the music. Spencer Krug seems to feel the same way; after their first song or two, he said, “We’re not going to talk much, we’re just going to play as much music as we can in the hour they gave us.” Worked for me. Similarly, LCD Soundsystem barely paused between songs but just played one driving beat after another, while James Murphy wailed melodically on top. I didn’t stop moving for over an hour.

And finally, Sunday, which was definitely the most humid of these very hot and humid days. So it was with great pleasure that I laid back and listened to two bands perfectly suited to a lazy summer day — Girls and Beach House. Girls have a jangly sort of sound, and a singer who sounds like Elvis Costello and looks like Darryl Zero:

Bill Pullman as Darryl Zero

Bill Pullman as Darryl Zero (Zero Effect is a great movie, btw) (photo from http://www.billpullman.org/film/zero/z30.jpg)

I heard a bit of Surfer Blood and Local Natives both, but the crowd at that stage was packed tight, and it was simply too hot to hang around without passing out. I couldn’t get into the noise of Lightning Bolt, but it sure had some people in a frenzy. When I left the festival, it was with a grin on my face as Big Boi ripped through “Ghetto Musick” at top speed.

I saw other bands during the weekend, but the last one I’ll mention is the energetic Major Lazer. The hype man and two main dancers certainly had people going, and it was fun to dance to Diplo DJing, but I felt kind of uncomfortable the whole time. You’ve got this white guy, Diplo, presiding over the whole stage, while Skerrit Bwoy and two nameless women dancers, all dressed in very little, shake and scream and dagger below. Major Lazer is the brainchild of Diplo and Switch, two white DJs who decided Jamaican dancehall is where it’s at, and they needed to be in on it but had to have a cartoon black man as their front man. They get all this credit for being DJing geniuses and true to the Jamaican clubbing scene, but while I know that they’ve had a lot of black artists perform vocals on their recordings, it still feels a whole lot like appropriation. “Ooh, look, this is the authentic artistic scene! I will take it now!” It’s the ultimate hipster move.

Also, side note, Diplo’s an asshole. I don’t know if you heard about the M.I.A. interview with the New York Times Magazine last month, but basically, Lynn Hirschberg wrote a long feature article on how M.I.A. is politically naive, musically untalented, and a huge sellout. (Note, M.I.A.’s reaction to the article, Tweeting Hirschberg’s phone number, was not only wrong but dangerous — printing personal information opens people up to physical harm.) For the article, Hirschberg didn’t interview M.I.A.’s current boyfriend at all, but rather her ex, Diplo, who had quite a bit to say on how he basically made the best parts of M.I.A.’s records and she did nothing herself. As commenter Andy at comment 11 on this great Tiger Beatdown post notes, what kind of authority does Diplo have to make these kinds of statements as if they were facts? Why is his the last word as opposed to, I don’t know, M.I.A. herself? And she’s said more than once that she’s upset with Diplo getting all the credit for Kala, as if she weren’t heavily involved in its entire production. (If you’re interested, there are two more really great posts on this issue, one at Pitchfork and one at Change.org.) Diplo’s doing it again on M.I.A.’s latest (which he helped produce), distancing himself from it as it’s less successful than expected, and calling her unmotivated and untalented. Basically, I’d like Diplo to shut his asshole mouth and just make good beats.

Anyway! Pitchfork 2010! It was good times, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with friends, drinking my weight in water, and dancing along to music made for the joy of it. Check back next year to see who sounds good in 2011.