No New Music 2009: A Re-Evaluation of My Music Collection

[transmogrifier]

Inspired by the AV Club, who had a similar concept, I pledge to not download or buy a single album in 2009, with the exception of the new Sonic Youth and the PJ Harvey/John Parish album (a man has his limits after all). This includes back catalogue albums for bands/singers with long careers.

Instead, I'm going to go through the albums I already have loaded up on my computer (or that I have on CD and haven't copied yet), and review them here. I'm going to do it by band or singer. I'm only doing full studio albums, though I may do a recap of singles and/or soundtracks at some stage.

And I'll start at some stage soon. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.

[Benny Profane]

Dude, new Neko Case album in March. All I'm saying.

Anyway, a trans list brings the goods. Looking forward to it.

[transmogrifier]

Just a quick note for album reviews:

**** = masterpiece
***1/2 = fantastic, constant rotation
*** = solid, play in full regularly
**1/2 = mixed, some good to great tracks but tonnes of filler; play whole album only occasionally
** = below average; maybe a couple of tracks worth playing; play all the way through very rarely
*1/2 = poor, ditch except for maybe a couple of tracks
* = ditch

[transmogrifier]

!!!
Album: Myth Takes (2007)

http://culture.froggytest.com/modules/xoopsgallery/cache/albums/albuo42/Myth_takes.jpg

Verdict
This is not an album I have spent a lot of time listening to, and so the two runs through for this project could almost be considered as my first real exposure to the album as a whole. Overall, it’s an album I quite like but there are no incredible highs; it is danceable and sonically interesting, but nothing that really standout as genius. I’m not sure about the relationship between the music and the vocals (for example, in A New Name, the falsetto is all too soul-disco for me, even if the track itself chugs along nicely)

Best Track(s): Bend Over Beethoven

Tighten up: the title track, leading off the album, is filler.

Listen: before heading off to the casino with that stripper you finally convinced to go on a date with you.

***

[transmogrifier]

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

Album: Source, Tags and Codes (2002)

http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/000/156/0000015605_350.jpg

Verdict:
Kind of a schizophrenic album, wandering from emo-ish rock (How Near How Far) to attempted hardcore (Homage) without making much of an impression with either. Accomplished enough, but doesn’t really hold together much as an album. Surprised it’s considered such a touchstone album by the likes of Pitchfork. Still, it may grow on me, as I haven’t listened to it a hell of a lot. Some Sonic Youthesque touches, but not nearly enough; the Youth always seem as if they are tapping into their own deep wells of sonic dissonance and melding them together as one gloriously interwoven unit. Here, it’s all a little rote, mechanical, uninspired.

Best Tracks: Relative Ways (the most Sonic Youthish track here, incidentally)

Tighten up: not a real fan of the last track at all.

Listen: with your emo nephew as the first step in converting him to better, rockier rock music.

**1/2

[keyinblack]

that !!! has grown on me considerably and they really are one of the most of talented indie bands in existence.

their self-awareness can get kind of silly though but they can really crank out some deceptively complex bangers.

good thread, btw.

[transmogrifier]

Dude, new Neko Case album in March. All I'm saying.

Anyway, a trans list brings the goods. Looking forward to it.

I have nothing really to say about Neko Case. I hear she's good from so many people, but she doesn't do much for me.

[transmogrifier]

that !!! has grown on me considerably and they really are one of the most of talented indie bands in existence.

their self-awareness can get kind of silly though but they can really crank out some deceptively complex bangers.

good thread, btw.

Cheers. There are two main reasons for this thread: one, I have a whole bunch of music on my harddrive that I have downloaded from recommendations and never really listened to, and I think I have been guilty of being a simple hoarder, rather than a music follower. Secondly, I have never really written about music, so it'll be good to get some practice, start to figure out in words what I like and don't like. Except a whole bunch of relatively simple comments, but I'll work on it.

Now that I've started, I realise a third reason: recommendations for 2010. I have a bunch of artists where I have only one album, so it'll be good to know where to go to next, or whether to even bother.

[keyinblack]

it's a noble endeavor that i sympathize with.

but with the roster of artists slated to release this year, i would not have the will power to not get their music.

[Boner M]

Seems that AC are next up. Not looking forward to seeing that format applied to 'em (if you haven't already deleted them from your library).

Good thread idea, anyway. Agreed about AYWKUBTTOD.

[transmogrifier]

Actually, there are 17 artists before Animal Collective comes up. (I have their last three still on my computer, so they all get a listen)

It's going to be a long list. :confused:

[transmogrifier]

it's a noble endeavor that i sympathize with.

but with the roster of artists slated to release this year, i would not have the will power to not get their music.

Who's coming out with stuff?

[keyinblack]

swan lake
panda bear
junior boys
yeasayer
joanna newsom
crystal antlers
broadcast
justin timberlake
clipse
autolux
ducktails
sunset rubdown
the wrens
grizzly bear

possibly:
the avalanches (this would be amazing)
broken social scene
gang gang dance

[transmogrifier]

13th Floor Elevators

A band I’d like to hear more of – they don’t have a huge discography, though most biographies seem to infer that they didn’t really get any better than their debut.


The Psychedelic Sounds Of (1966)


http://soledadrecords.com/images/13th_Floor_Elevators_Psychedel ic_Sounds.jpg

Not sure what brought me to this album – I think it may have been via a compilation containing You’re Gonna Miss Me, which is the most well-known of the tracks here. An incredibly distinctive album, with all the proto-computer bleeps actually the handiwork of the electric jug, casting a relaxed, groovy (and let’s be honest, drug-induced) vibe over proceedings. I find it’s the perfect background music – most of the songs tend to run into each other, the album a victim of its own distinctiveness . Still, one of those albums you’re tempted to sample for mix tapes, because they are off in their own little universe, grooving away.


Best Tracks: You’re Gonna Miss Me, Rollercoaster, Kingdom of Heaven


Tighten up: nothing really; it’s an album that doesn’t hang around – straight to the point, no messing around.


Could be the alternate soundtrack for: The Big Lebowski

***1/2

[transmogrifier]

By the way, I was going to do a "Sounds like" blurb for each album, but I decided it is redundant when you have access to the work of a guy like this (http://www.scaruffi.com/history/alpha.html). When I get back into new albums, this site will be my bible for recommendations.

[Winston*]

By the way, I was going to do a "Sounds like" blurb for each album, but I decided it is redundant when you have access to the work of a guy like this (http://www.scaruffi.com/history/alpha.html). When I get back into new albums, this site will be my bible for recommendations.
The amount of effort put into the content of that site contrasted with the stunning terribleness of the website itself is pretty amazing IMO.

[Duncan]

Love the 13th Floor Elevators.

[Spaceman Spiff]

13th Floor Elevators

Sounds pretty rad. I'll have to give this one a listen.

[transmogrifier]

Coming soon (promise!): A Certain Ratio

[D_Davis]

Coming soon (promise!): A Certain Ratio

Perhaps one of the most under appreciated of all bands.

[Russ]

Perhaps one of the most under appreciated of all bands.
Hmm. I'm only familiar with Sextet (which is pretty good). Looking forward to this next installment.

[transmogrifier]

A Certain Ratio

Album: I’d Like to See You Again (1982)

http://www.retromusica.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/a-certain-ratio-id-like-to-see-you-again.jpg

80s pop and funk. I’m not a music scholar or anything, so I may be wrong, but is this the album that proves that 80s newwave evolved out of funk (particularly I Need Someone Tonite)? I haven’t heard any of their other albums, but this one starts off kind of 80s, at least for the first half of opening track (Touch), but by the time the horns kick in, we’re on a whole other plane, strutting between the danc e floor and the bar and back. Vocals take a backseat as we are treated to drums and horns and a timeless sense of rhythmic purpose – even on a track like Sesamo Apriti - Corco Vada, which starts off with the directionless chants I identify with the more atonal indulges of Animal Collective ends up all about the boogie. One of those albums that seems to be straddling two eras, an interesting snapshot of the past but timeless in its own way. Not the type of album I would really pick individual songs out of for playlists, but would rather play in full from time to time, for the vibe it exudes. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Best Tracks: Touch, Saturn, Knife Slits Water [12”]

Tighten up: Axis goes on a bit too long, I guess, without really going anywhere (and it doesn’t help Guess Who follows immediately afterwards with the same groove plus vocals) but it’s still perfectly acceptable background booty-shaker music.

Listen: alone, in your room when you’re in your mid 40s, while trying desperately to find the dance floor moves you lost 20 years earlier for your high school reunion dance.

***