Before my annual New Year’s hedonism quest, I wanted to wish all of you, dear readers, a fine 2009, which coincidentally, will be the UN-declared year of astronomy and the Bono-declared year of Bono (both equally mystifying).  Should be a fine one, indeed.  And oh yeah, you have to wait one more second this time around for the next year…

Immediately before midnight a leap second — the first for three years — will be added to atomic clocks around the world by official timekeepers.

Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, said the Earth’s erratic rotation meant an extra second needed to be added.

“The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year’s Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008 and revelers… will have an extra second to celebrate.”

Traditionally time has been based on the passage of the Sun across the sky — a modern version of this is still used by astronomers to track distant stars and spacecraft.

However, since 1967, an atomic timescale — the extremely accurate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) — has been the world’s official clock and is used for broadcasting time signals across the world.

The accuracy of UTC is essential for the smooth running of GPS and the Internet.

By comparison, the Earth is far less reliable. It does not rotate at a constant speed — it can even wobble — and disruptions to its core, extreme weather, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can influence the length of a day.

Therefore, leap seconds are occasionally added to align atomic time with astronomical time and ensure that the Sun remains overhead at noon.

Whibberley told British media anyone sober enough and who had a digital clock that picked up leap second information from a reliable source, would see the final seconds of 2008 as 57, 58, 59, 60, 00 — with 60 being the extra second.
Source: CNN 

If anyone will be in the Highlands area of Louisville, look for the el guapo stumbling around in a top hat grippin’ some purple drank.  That’ll be ol’ Kenny Bloggins.  Say hi to me.  Happy new year.

MP3 :::
Wooden Shjips - Auld Lang Syne

Before we begin, do you know who this is in the photo above?  No?  Why, it’s Marjorie Merriweather Post, the founder of General Foods, Inc.  Though she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and socialite existence, the cereal magnate also subscribed to the Rockefeller school of philanthropic thought and donated tons of money to various causes, eventually getting an outdoor concert pavilion in Maryland named after her and, ergo, an album I’m getting ready to pop on the ghetto blaster.

So anyway, you know the drill.  When I grip a new and anticipated jam hive, I like to review it in “real time”… that is to say, I fuckin’ listen to that shizz and liveblog my thoughts on it, only revising for grammatical errors and editorial clarity. Today, Animal Collective’s forthcoming Merriweather Post Pavilion gets said treatment.  It comes out on Domino on January 20th in digital format, January 6th on analog (vinyl).  Unfortunately, you get no preview for yourself, as I got Web Sheriffed on Christmas.  Christmas!

I’ll try to keep this objective.  However, I’ve been a huge Animal Collective fan since I first heard “Slippi” from Here Comes the Indian roughly… I dunno, five years ago or so.  Hence, I have rather strong feelings toward this music, lots of nostalgia, and high expectations. This does, however, usually make for a better write-up.  My prediction - Strawberry Jam seemed to act as a bridge between Animal Collective’s weirdo rippin’ and the newer pop movements showcased in their recent live performances and, of course, Panda Bear’s solo outing.  I expect Merriweather to be AC’s most accessible release yet, for better or worse. 

Alright, let’s do this like Buddhists.  Mashin’ play:

“In the Flowers” - Begins in a flurry of somewhat disjointed sound, much like “Peacebone,” and well, “Did You See the Words,” too.  Perhaps this is the standard exposition for an Animal Collective release as of late. The faint, reverberated clean guitars that defined a lot of Feels come back before the track explodes into epic bombasticity.  Avey Tare sings in his absolute most melodic, soaring above a bed of piano, chopped string ensemble samples (or at least what sounds like such), and a lush, shoegazing wall of sounds.  Almost has a classic rock feel, come to think of it…

“My Girls” - Twinkly and glitchy samples introduce “My Girls,” which doesn’t derive too much from the live renditions of “House” heard over the past year or so, with exception of a greater vocal presence in the mix.  “My Girls” is a quite traditional verse-chorus structure, which is unusual for AC.  The lyrics are some of the least After the second chorus, handclaps come in at perfect 4/4 time, solidifying the Collective’s first dance club banger. Similar to much of Strawberry Jam, “My Girls” is sample heavy and devoid of guitars.

“Also Frightened” - This is the first song that I’ve really enjoyed thus far.  “Also Frightened” is Animal Collective’s expansive circus chanty, with twinkly arcade pings in tow.  Enjoy equal throat duty from Avey and Panda over a waltzy rhythm and a Barrett like melody.  Best of the batch, so far.  Love the polyphonic vocal breaks.  Reminiscent of The Soft Bulletin.

Verdict:

“Summertime Clothes” - Fuzzy, grimy, bit-crushed, rigidly rhythmic samples kick start “Summertime Clothes,” originally known as “Bearhug.”  Big treble-riding beats drop in with mechanical Kraftwerkesque flourishes and Lee Scratch Perry reverb, cultivating a definite dubstep vibe.

“Daily Routine” -  Quite different from the live version.  Lots of booty bass, dense dance beats, and some strange glitchy organ swells reminiscent of “Baba O’Reiley” all swell before breaking into the first ambient moment of the record, featuring Panda singing “just a sec more, in my beeeeeeed” repetitively.  Another song about how rad kids are.  Not into this, excpet for Panda’s exceptional vocal intro.  The rest is way too Paul Oakenfold for my taste, though.

“Bluish” - Serious 4AD vibe… Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins specifically.  First AC song that most people would consider “pretty.”  This song is, actually, the most gorgeous, melodic output from Animal Collective ever… but at the expense of not really sounding like them.  Such branching out is very respectable though, and I always applaud experimentation and tweaking.  However, older fans may scratch their head on this record thus far.  I actually really enjoy this song, despite the somewhat corny vibe.

“Guys Eyes” - Aquatic textures and a cricket sound open the track, conjuring the bucolic soundscape that defines Sung Tongs.  With the rhythmic piano, syncopated beats, and two separate vocal melodies sung simultaneously, this is the closest to older Animal Collective.

“Taste” - The total Panda Bear experience.  Person Pitch strikes back.  Sample organic percussion mixed with faint vocals and a sugary hook - this is obviously Noah’s track.  Actually, it seems that Noah has really taken over a lot of the creative direction with this record.  We know he’s really into dubstep and electronic exploration, loves Daft Punk, and enjoys a really good vocal harmony or two.  Personally, I like the play of the ying and yang between Avey and Panda, following the long tradition of ol’ Lennon and the Mac.  We’ve yet to hear Avey lose his shit as he’s wont to do, even on Strawberry Jam.  Regardless, AC ups the psychedelic vibe on this one, so I really enjoy this track.  Second favorite thus far, behind “Also Frightened.”

“Lion in a Coma” - I wasn’t a fan of this song when I first heard it live.  The recorded version is almost exactly the same, with the exception of a prominent didgeridoo sample and a full embrace of low end.  Good soundtrack for goin’ on safaris.  Unfortunately, I never go on safaris.

“No More Runnin’” - Zounds!  A ballad?  Intimate piano and vocals adorn with song almost exclusively, with the exception of a little bit of sonic manipulation from the Geologist.  This tracks sounds like it comes straight from Sigur Ros’ ().  The repeating of the song’s title, mixed with the slow tempo piano, is total Kiss FM style.  This majorly bums me out.

Verdict:

“Brother Sport” - Oh no, this is horrible. The tribal chant sounds like Sebastian the Lobster’s “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid.  This would be the perfect song for the dolphin show at the Louisville Zoo.  What the fuck, dudes?  Befouled!  Leave the stupid African vibe to Vampire Weekend, please.  I don’t know why Animal Collective turned into World Party in the album’s last quarter.  The final track is especially heavy on the 8-bit sound effects, making me wish I still had my old Nintendo.  To top it off, the song features this sort of beat that reminds me of the oft-utilized old school hip-hop “whoo!.. yeah!” sample.  Everybody dance now.  “I know it sucks that daddy’s dumb” is an amusing lyric, though.  Somebody was seriously baked.

I feel kinda bad for raggin’ on the last few songs, espeically after having worked two of their shows in the past and experiencing their (very refreshing) humility, politeness, and gingerly nature first hand.  But I had to be honest - the first half ruled, the second half… ehhh.  However, I’ll still buy this record when it comes out, see them play live, and support them to the maxxx… so it’s all zero-sum in the end.  Wavy gravy.

Final thoughts…

Despite their former and refreshing strangeness over the past decade, Animal Collective has reached the point of deafening critical praise wherein people of all tastes will listen.  This is totally deserved for a group as prolific and eclectic as Animal Collective.  However, Merriweather Post Pavilion, the group’s ninth offering, will probably provide their first truly polarizing record, though not in the way their earlier albums were polarizing.

Gone are the drone examinations, freak folk structures, and Avey Tare’s shamanistic yelps, now replaced with dub-informed booty bass, dance rhythms, and polyphonic vocal harmonies.  Merriweather Post Pavilion features a lot of firsts for the group, and as such, I offer nothing but respect for their daring - piano ballads, dream pop, shoegazing, dub, trance, and more are all explored.  In addition, their earlier approaches to songwriting are peppered throughout Merriweather: the sunny melodies of Strawberry Jam, the grating glitch of Here Comes the Indian and Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, the bombast of Feels, the found-sounds and bellyhoo of Campfire Songs, and… well, nothing really from Sung Tongs.  So it’s an almost retrospective.  Regardless, it’s the tight compositions, catchy song-based structures, and completely dominate vocal tracks that are ubiquitously showcased throughout.  Newer Animal Collective fans will be pleased and impressed with the seamless amalgamation of sonically adventurous ideas and pop music, combining the bit-crushing texture of earlier works with the beat-heavy, soaring polyphonic melodies of Panda Bear’s sophomore solo record Person Pitch.  Fans of Sung Tongs and before, however, will scratch their heads wondering where their strange friends went.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is an enjoyable listen and certainly the next logical next step in context of Animal Collective’s trajectory, adding increasing pop sensibility with each release.  Animal Collective has still held their place in the top tier of contemporary artists.  Unfortunately, this new artistic statement is not the envelope-pusher that the experimentation of Here Comes the Indian and Feels offered.

Of course, the innate issue with the “Real Time Review” that should be addressed is that these thoughts are my initial impression and my opinion may change over time.  But right now, I feel pretty ambivalent overall.  There are flashes of brilliance (the first quarter of the album), and segments of banality (the last quarter of the album).  Perhaps I simply miss the old freaky-deeky Animal Collective I’ve known and loved.  Perhaps it’ll grow on me over time.  “Also Frightened” is the tits, though.

My picks :::  “In the Flowers” - “Bluish” - “Also Frightened”

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating:

MP3 :::
Animal Collective - Web Sheriff Won’t Let Me Post Nothin’, So Enjoy a Sick Jam By Mr. T About How Awesome He Thinks His Mom Is

I was able to grip a little bit of Merriweather Post Pavilion, the new slam jam from Animal Collective, earlier this evening.  Enjoy the tracks until I will (probably) receive a visit from the Web Sheriff in the next couple of days, in which case and coinciding with my better judgment, I shall remove said content…

UPDATE 12.25: OH SNAP! WEB-SHERIFFED!

Some of my holiday favorites from Kenny Bloggins to you and yours…

I was turned on to the made-for-TV Star Wars Holiday Special a couple of years ago, and always make a point to watch it around the holidays. It is truly strange, advanced, psychedelic. A long time ago in a galaxy far away, Wookies celebrate Life Day. And Life Day kicks ass.

To me, Aaron Neville and Christmas are synonymous. To celebrate the Reason for the Season, I’ve been posting myriad Neville videos for my Facebook friends to enjoy, including this one featuring a photo of some cats and shizz set to A-ronz, and an insane, brain-burnin’ duet between Ernie (sans Bert) and Aaron “Tha Block is Hott” Neville doing a concept number discussing why living on the Moon would not be righteous whatsoever. Aaron “Motherfuckin’” Neville never ceases to make me feel stoned. This is my favorite, though. Bow down to a true pimp.

Undoubtedly a classic, androgynous David Bowie and Greatest Generation favorite Bing Crosby yuck it up, hang tough, drank nog,and talk about what the kids are listenin’ to. I genuinely love this duet, though, but it’s still insane to consider that someone thought “dude, let’s get Bowie and Bing Crosby together.”

And finally… oh boy, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, as annotated by Mystery Science Theater 3000. It’s only a segment, but you can follow the embedded links to keep viewing…

Alright, have a good holiday everyone. Lana says she’s getting me a pizza for DMX-mas. Stoked.

MP3 :::
Cocteau Twins - Winter Wonderland

X-mas is one week away.  I guess that rules.  Wal-Mart employees getting pancaked for some plasma TVs, the industrial-sized carbon footprint of the copious holiday-induced traffic, a general feeling of malaise, and not to mention the cliched but nonetheless important observations of the Santa Calus’ pervasive creepiness.  Christmas is weird, and I don’t know if I like it.

So instead, I celebrate DMX-mas, which adopts traditions such as enjoying “‘X Gon’ Give It to Ya,” watching some of his excellent films, and drankin’ malt liquor.  But since most of you don’t celebrate DMX-mas like Lana and I do, I’ll put together a poignant mix fit for the most “wonderful” time of the year.  Have yourself a brain burnin’ Christmas with these whispy sleigh-worn canticles that don’t make me want to stab someone in the face with a morning star.  Speaking of sleighs, remember that part in Citizen Kane when you find out that “Rosebud” was actually the name of Kane’s beloved sled as a child?  This mix fits that mood sorta perfect… 

The holidazed Super Swingin’ Mix kicks off with a muy bueno weed-hazed Christmas miracle. As expected (and totally refreshing), WFMU does ChRiStMaS correctly, with loads of weird photos and a yule-time gem from Wooden Shijps.  Do not listen whilst decorating the tree.  It’ll never get done.  Too baked, dood.

Next we move to shoegazing’s response to Enya, Cocteau Twins, offering a gorgeous, reverberated version of “Winter Wonderland.”  A less traditional version of the previous song comes to us from the much missed and consistently awesome Grandaddy.  The rest of the choices should be self-evident as to why they’re included on this mix, even a little crazy coked-up space age bachelor pad Esquivel was mixed in for good measure.  The Sonic Youth song is absolutely amazing.  Wanna bum out your holiday party guests?  Break this glass in case of emergency.

Finally, my favorite traditional Christmas song of all time… actually, the only traditional X-mas song I really like, is “Little Drummer Boy.”  And nobody, absolutely no one, is more poised to exalt this song on high with majesty and prowess than Low.  This version sleighs me… get it?  Sleigh?  Slay?

If anyone wants to get me a Christmas gift, b t dubs, I want Hootie’s country album and this ornament with Darth Vader treating the Death Star like a lady:

MP3 :::
Wooden Shjips - O Tannenbaum
Cocteau Twins - Winter Wonderland
Grandaddy - Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
Sonic Youth - Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope
The Sonics - Santa Claus
Daniel Johnston - Rock Around the Christmas Tree
Esquivel - White Christmas
Mogwai - Christmas Song
Low - Little Drummer Boy

Sure, the best-of list is already out, but I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to admit missing a few pretty good recordings this year.  New Orleans’ Belong was one of them, and I stumbled upon said artist by way of a time machine.  I was rummaging through a stack of old magazines when I found a copy of Arthur from the summer of 2006 - the one with Brightblack Morning Light on the cover and their interview where they talked about how rad they think nature is.  I had read “Heavy Air” before, a much better title for an article on Belong than the stupid Internet meme I referenced.  However, something really struck a chord with me reading it this time around.  But more on that in a minute…

Belong’s latest is called Colorloss Record.  It dropped a while ago, actually.  But I’m slow at the punch sometimes.  Colorloss Record is a collection of covers, though you probably wouldn’t discern that from just listening.  It doesn’t sound like any of the originals.  Therein lies the power of Belong, covers or originals - Belong appropriates elements of shoegaze, ambient, minimalism, and drone without falling into or sounding like any of the aforementioned genres.  They sound like a pop band through a thick filter, like listening to a neighbor’s stereo.  Really unusual, and pretty exciting.  The volatile surges and swells of balmy, warm analog noise peppered throughout invoke the eroded and washed haze of William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops by way of Kevin Shields.  Despite hailing from a warm and humid climate, I must say that Belong sounds quite majestic as the soundtrack to the silent and cold winter night we’re enjoying here in Louisville tonight.

Belong is Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones, and both gentlemen probably have a lot of love for Tim Hecker, Lichens, and the Goslings.  But on Colorloss Record, they show a love for the likes of Syd Barrett, July, and Tintern Abbey, laying to tape some obscure covers in a completely unrecognizable, sonically aquatic fashion.  Dig “Late Nite” and “My Clown,” por favor.  Yes, the music really is supposed to sound something like the transmission of an extraterrestrial and/or underwater shortwave station broadcasting distant psychedelic pop music, and it’s unabashedly balls to the wall. Totally otherworldly. 

Now, why I decided Belong belongs in my collection (I’m sure this isn’t the first time they’ve gotten such a punishing statement). Turk Dietrich said a couple of things in the interview that really lit a fire for me:

“I think a lot of people’s ears like stuff really loud.  The depth, maybe, that fuzz brings?  You can layer a bunch of noise, something that’s aliasing in a track, it can bury other elements of the track and it kinda makes you pay attention, to work harder as a listener to find the hook in a track.  I think that’s one reason why people love bands that are totally fuzzed out and are not.. it’s a way to make things less obvious, I think.  It reminds me of the effect I get from some Glenn Branca stuff. It’s just like really repetitive for a while, he’s banging on the same chord and then you start to hear different things that maybe weren’t intended to be there.”

Man, it’s refreshing to hear that.  It’s basically the exact same approach to music that I take when I’m writing, as I’ve done with my Meridian Signals project.  It’s really easy to rehash tired rock music.  It happens all the time.  For me, riffs are not enough.  Texture, tonality, detail, intensity - these are the elements that cultivate a rich listening experience.  Melody is better when not as obvious, which is why records can grow on people and catchy songs can wear out easily.  Tweaking certain elements, such as volume or resonant frequencies, to their absolute breaking point can truly reveal remarkable facets within a piece of music.  This is probably why I write and listen to shoegazing in particular, a genre that celebrates the boundaries of sound and layers of ideas, trojan-horsed betwixt major-key harmonies and melodies. It doesn’t have to be challenging to listen to for the music to challenge the preconceived notions of rock and/or pop.  Who cares how incendiary your finger-tap solos are (although my finger-tap solos are pretty incendiary).  Fuck rock and roll, make your music sound awesome!  So to this end, I’m thankful for Turk’s insight, which certainly assisted in me taking extra special notice of what Belong’s been tinkering with lately.  You can grip Colorloss Record here for the right price if you want to get a better idea of what I’m talking about (and Turk, as well).

MP3 :::
Belong - Late Nite
Belong - My Clown

Oh good, glad to see you like my illustration.  Yeah, I had some downtime and wasn’t feelin’ too creative or too much in my graphic design game as far as doing something special for The Decibel Tolls year-end list.  So Lana and I started talking, and it came to us that it would be hysterical to do a collage with people like Bradford Cox eating that Ezra Comma dude from Frankenstein Weekday or whoever, and Franz Ferdinand… stuff like that.  I didn’t have time to add Lil’ Wayne.  And then I had to make, like, the fuckin’ universe as the backdrop.  That’s how we roll here at the Decibel Tolls - no fun, tasteful graphic to designate this article as the accumulative best-of list.  Nope, just crude images of artists I like with their heads detached eating shitty bands.  I’m additionally thrilled that I was able to describe the image even further despite the fact that it’s already annotated.  I rule.

I put some serious thought into this list, and did a bunch of narrowin’ down.  There were other jam hives I was rather infatuated with this year, such as releases from Magik Markers, Burning Star Core, and Vivian Girls.  But I wanted to do just the standard top ten this time around.  No reason to not do things standard every now and again…

10) KOUSHIK - Out My Window

From 7.29.08: Koushik’s Be With compilation was amazing, but a little brief (only one track made it over the three minute mark). That issue is fixed with Out My Window. Lead single “Lying in the Sun” is sunny psychedelia that comes correct and interpreted electronically - kinda like Caribou (Koushik even provided throat duty for some jams on Up in Flames, back in the pre-MySpace days when Danny S was known as Manitboa). However, Koushik remains very distinct, particularly by way of his clam, insanely reverberated vocals. All that was good about Be With is brought to the forefront - the sonically organic, lush, and hazy textures juxtaposed against crashing beats. However, you can tell, with this track alone, that Out My Window is going to showcase a lot more new ideas. Koushik is the latest heir to the Free Design’s throne, as long as that throne has room for some thumpin’ low end. This… this sweet psych slice is so sickeningly good. It’s an IV drip of technicolor beauty. This groove can heal most terminal illnesses.

MP3:::
Koushik - Lying in the Sun

09) THE BLACK ANGELS - Directions to See a Ghost

From 6.30.08 (The first Decibel Tolls post, actually): The Black Angels‘ latest, Directions to See a Ghost, a poignant title encapsulating their increasingly distinct desert-noir dusty psych grooves, picks up right where 2006’s Passover left off. Tom-heavy percussion intros, tremolo-saturated guitar meltdowns, nasty bass rumbles, and Alex Maas’ throat offerings (vocals that, to me, flutter somewhere between Jim James and Gregorian chant) are all still intact from the Passover days. However, Directions to See a Ghost does mature in two distinct ways. First, there’s a very fluid motion to the album, connecting each windswept canticle to the next. By structuring and composing most of the album in a similar vein with slightly altering moods, the Black Angels have created a whole, cohesive work as opposed to simply a collection of songs they dropped off at the studio on the way to the store. Of course, a good psych rock record should have a consistent ambiance as per the clientele since, you know, Beck albums are not the weapon of choice for the 420 LOL contingent. Secondly, the Black Angels have adopted a deeper sense of melody. Dare I say some catchiness abounds in the major-key call to arms “Doves,” the evil-Beatles sitar raga of “Dee-Ree-Shee,” and the funkadelic first movement of “Snake in the Grass.” This newmelodic slant pushes the Black Angels above some of their LSD theater contemporaries like Dead Meadow and Bardo Pond… Ultimately, If you’re going to emulate and lightly interpret bygone music, why not merge the music of the most triumphant groups ever and mold them into one totally epic behemoth? You know, originality often comes at a cost to the listener. Sometimes it works well and makes an urgent statement, but sometimes it doesn’t and is just overly challenging and annoying (Lou Reed and Tony Conrad anyone?). You know exactly what you’re getting with the Black Angels - no frills - just pop on, flip on the iTunes visualizer, take a bong rip, tune in, turn on, and drop out.

MP3 :::
The Black Angels - Vikings

08) SIC ALPS - U.S. Ez

From 10.21.08 This isn’t your father’s unwashable, filthy, no-fi psychedelic rock scuz - Sic Alps twist, creak, and thump, taking you on a cosmically damaged romp through west coast good vibes and future shock trepidation.  The latest, U.S. Ez, has a comfy place on the Siltbreeze roster with the likes of Charlambides, The Dead C, and U.S. Girls. Sic Alps certainly drink from the same goblets as the highest in psych rock royalty, but they also bring the goods to back up their seat at the table… I was casually listening to my iTunes on shuffle whilst engaging in some fast-track multitasking when “Clubbing For $$” came on and I thought “hmm, I don’t recognize this Alexander Skip Spence song.” Both Skip Spence and Alps vocalist Mike Donovan retain a subtle, gorgeous quality through raspy timbre and decimated, hissing melodies, suggesting that both gentlemen have seen the true face of God and didn’t like what they saw. “Gelly Roll Gum Drops” also provokes this same, insane electric folk feel, with a bit of 13th Floor Elevators style celestial boogie and some general Holy Modal Rounders headfuckery tossed in to give this exercise in tape reverb fortitude some serious lift.  I’m also reminded of my favorite work of Neil Michael Haggerty in U.S. Ez, so imagine my elation when I found out they play as his backup band every now and again. The blitzkrieg of fuzz on “Massive Place” might make Mudhoney feel retarded. But enough of comparisons. Comparisons are lame. I’m listening to this record right now as we speak, and all that needs to be said is that it’s so fucking good… I hope Sic Alps sell a billion records.

MP3 :::
Sic Alps - Bathman

07) HIGH PLACES - High Places

Beach House on uppers.  High Places take the hippie thing in a whole new direction.  Whereas Brightblack Morning Light are unabashedly hippie to the point of almost self-parody, High Places keep their love of nature and petuli more subtle.  Very similar to Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, High Places create a veritable tower of power of lush and bucolic sampled layers, all of which are sun-tinged, and some of which lean on that Raymond Scott-esque atomic age quality found in Broadcast’s latter stuff.  Less beat heavy than Panda, however, High Places tear down all walls and allow the fluid hippy trance melodies to flow like urban runoff, letting Mary Pearson’s vocals provide the ropes to keep everything together.  This is undoubtedly the summer jam.  Sometimes those marimba sounding beats come in a little too heavy and everything gets a little too “hey mon, no problem” for me.  No matter, “From Stardust to Sentience” is so grandiose and gorgeous that nothing else is relevant.  “From Stardust to Sentience” is some next level shit.  High Places also gets best album art of the year - what, with the giant pink ghostly baby and the illuminated agrocrag.  Get this album, or else the terrorists will win.

MP3 :::
High Places - From Stardust to Sentience

06) WOMEN - Women

From 10.20.08: I was introduced to Women (that sounds so odd) by a fellow Tiny Mix Tapes writer who proclaimed that Women is prefect for anyone who “gets their dick up to Animal Collective.” I was certainly intrigued after that statement, especially since he said the word “dick.” And while I would concur that the Calgary band sometimes evokes the more menacing material on Here Comes the Indian and Danse Manitee, Women are by no means a knock-off. Whereas Animal Collective has always exuded a playfulness and childlike veneer, here be dragons within Women. The crescendo of the excellently titled “Lawncare” wants to pillage your village and breed with your women (pun intended, motherfucker).  I would also be somewhat remiss to not recognize the pretty spot-on review courtesy of Jagjaguwar’s one sheet: “Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, this self titled album touches upon Velvet Underground, Swell Maps or This Heat while not really having any obvious precursors - a lo-fi masterpiece cloaked in layers of vibrato and guitar wash.” That’s certainly true, as Women adopt the traditional instrumentation of gritty garage punk and stretch its potential across ’60s Nuggets-ready psychedelia, early ’80s no wave, and contemporary, slightly-askew pop peppered with noise flourishes. You also get a heavy-dose of the elusive hummable anthem with “Black Rice,” Fahey-esque guitar noodling on “Sag Harbor Blues,” and a nihilistic Madchester zeitgeist-meets Boredoms thirsty on bloodlust hodgepodge on “Shaking Hands.” The insanity and panning production on “January 8th” attacks your brain with holy water sprinklers. January 8th, as a fun fact, is David Bowie’s birthday. Women’s “January 8th” sounds nothing like David Bowie.

MP3 :::
Women - Lawncare

05) INDIAN JEWELRY - Free Gold

I had the pleasure of suffering moderate brain damage for a sustained period of time after seeing Indian Jewelry in October of 2005, a few months shy of their debut Inevasive Exotics dropping like hot magma.  They were playing a show with some friends of mine whom I came out to see.  I had never heard of them and offered no expectations.  Dudes started wrapping the stage in hundreds of feet of aluminum foil betwixt multiple strobe lights, animal skulls, fog machines, and a large Lone Star state flag backdrop (certainly a sinister symbol in the middle of W’s second term).  It was total brutality.  And while Inevasive Exotics was an excellent albeit very evil album, Free Gold furthers Indian Jewelry beyond shock and swells of noise, moving away from the mechanical squall of their influences like Suicide or Swans.  Free Gold is rich in hooks and melodies, and they’re not necessarily subtle either.  But Indian Jewelry does not completely abandon their destructive forces.  Just about every track is stacked high with sludge, fuzz, and squelches, and all songs remain unequivocally foreboding.  But the song structures are not freeform anymore, but rather, concise, crafty, and almost, gulp, electric folk.  Free Gold’s midsection is flawless and so cohesive that it almost comes across as a suite, starting with “Walking on the Water,” and ending abruptly with the quite, curveball all acoustic Erika Thrasher track “Everyday.”  Indian Jewelry is doing a rather new thing, as far as creating moods of almost-fright within songs that balance catchiness and chaos.  It’s rather unfortunate that Free Gold has not been more celebrated, but alas, that’s the inherent issue with being ahead of the curve, as it were.

MP3 :::
Indian Jewelry - Nonetheless

04) GROWING - All the Way

From 8.20.08: I’ve seen Growing twice. I witnessed them offer a very competitive opening set for Mogwai. Though there was nothing much to watch, per se, hearing their very warm and resonating drone assault, as suffocatingly prominent as their rapid-fire fractured guitar architecture, over a 8,000 watt PA felt like marching into Mordor. Shit was powerful. Growing has often been described as doom. I don’t really agree. Perhaps it’s because I saw them later at a party cracking wise and crushing Rolling Rock on top of a washer/dryer unit, but mostly because their harmonically complex jam hives sound almost hopeful - vast and assuring - like trying to look over the curve of the Earth. Growing seems to be taking a new direction now, offering a more shimmering, melodic approach, not too far removed from Cloudland Canyon [Bloggins note: see blow]. “Innit” is a big fuzzy bit-decimating tremolo defibrillator. “Green Flag” has a charming, delightful little breathing monster under its surface. This is profoundly good.  Growing likes to rip a big hole in the sky only a couple meters above your dome.

MP3 :::
Growing - Rave Pie Only

03) CLOUDLAND CANYON - Lie in Light

From 8.15.08: About 10 years ago, Art Bell, then host of late night alien and conspiracy theory-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, aired the frightening urban legend recording “The Sounds From Hell.” It’s an unsettling clip, but also morbidly fun. It’s also completely a hoax (literally speaking, not theologically). The origin of this sound is as follows: Soviet scientists drilled a hole nine miles deep in the heart of Siberia to study plate tectonics. When they hit a heat pocket, their drilling equipment was destroyed, followed by the sound of millions of screaming souls. As any good scientist would do, they whipped out the mics and recorded it…  I tell this anecdote as it relates the feeling I get when I hear Cloudland Canyon, and subsequently, when I feel my face melt off my skull. I don’t believe in hell, but I believe in nine mile deep holes. And at the entrance of such a tremendous cave, portal, the dark and cavernous chasm reaching deep into foreboding stretches beyond our measly surface existence, is the sound of Cloudland Canyon. It’s huge, it’s beautiful, but it’s teeming with trepidation. If they ever make a film adaptation for Mark Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves, Cloudland Canyon should produce the sound of the ever-expanding house. This is the biggest thing on the planet. Cloudland Canyon, should their discography get too prolific, will knock our planet right off it’s fucking orbital plane.  Fans of Lichens would do well to take notice, as well as folks who like to go get some shit done.

MP3 :::
Cloudland Canyon - You and I

02) HUSH ARBORS - Hush Arbors

From 10.23.08: Hush Arbors, as far as the whole freak folk/New Weird America thing goes (I begrudgingly use this term), has always struck me as the obvious choice for ambassador of the aforementioned movement, as he offers the perfect median point for the disparate sounds found therein. Wood’s take on psychedelic folk demonstrates that it is not necessarily his intent to destroy strong structures, nor is it his intent to play it straightforward and traditional. However, Hush Arbors has gone above and beyond comparison to similar artists. It’s no longer fair to say “this is a great offering from the New Weird America camp,” it’s only befitting to describe this self-titled record as a monumental collection of music that stands up against any album, anywhere. I’m not trying to overhype this really, but Hush Arbors rules so hard. Hush Arbors’ adventurous, wide-ranging sonic paintbrush invokes the past whilst thrusting the very notion of folk rock into future territories. In short, Keith Wood just dropped the type of album that separates the men from the boys…  As a contributing member of Six Organs of Admittance (not to mention Current 93, Wooden Wand, Sunburned Hand of the Man), you certainly hear the familiar Fahey-esque, drone note heavy guitar noodling that defines the Organs’ catalog through each and every track on Hush Arbors. But the riff-heavy structures only accent the music, never existing as the sole focal point. These are well written, melodic, solid songs - simple enough to hum along, layered enough to overload your headphone technology and melt your brain. Also different than Six Organs is that Hush Arbors keeps his weirdness prominent and economical. Whereas contemporaries Ben Chasny and MV & EE like to break down into drone examinations and take lengthy journeys down sunken catacombs, Hush Arbors keeps his ideas contained within fairly concise, brightly colored, accessible songwriting. The album’s rollicking psychedelic folk, with vintage AM radio influences like classic Mayall-style R&B and Byrds-helmed feel good bucolic flourishes, is a shapeshifting exercise in sonically diverse, cosmically dense, warmly welcoming electric folk.  Fuck Chinese Democracy, this is Hush Arbors’ time, as far as I’m concerned.

MP3 :::
Hush Arbors - Gone

01) DEERHUNTER - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

From 8.27.08 and 8.29.08: What other album released this year has a real legend behind it?  The secret album, the accidental self-inflicted leak of the secret album, the ensuing drama, the strange tours, the countless articles always having to mention Bradford Cox’s physical appearance - not to mention lineup changes, ample shit-talkin’, and general boobish antics.  Trouble finds Deerhunter more than the visa versa, though.  Yet they emerged victorious with a massive, sprawling statement.

Deerhunter exists in this strange chasm between fuzzy sludge and krautrock. Though they don’t sound like Neu or Faust, per se (except for “Slow Swords” perhaps), “Calvary Scars II” and “Nothing Ever Happens” are fiercely motorik. If you were fighting in a medieval battle, but rode high on unicorns instead of steeds and bested your opponent with candycanes versus lances, 4:03 - 7:31 of “Calvary Scars II / Aux Out” is the best battle cry you could have. This track could also act as triumphant shag music (it is Deerhunter’s deontologial duty to please that booty). Shit is crucial.

I like Cryptograms a lot. I sorta like Flourescent Gray. But goddamn, I did not expect Deerhunter to slay me. Twice! I’ve been twice slain! Microcastle in conjunction with Weird Era Cont. is one of the most significant, important releases of this decade, hands down. Neither one is better than the other - they’re one sick unit.

And I now take umbrage with the idea that an album is either pop or experimental. Though I’d like to think that the Beatles’ last four albums debunked that myth, the label-happy world of the blogosphere has again segregated these term, shall we say, “terms” when reviewing music. It’s lazy journalism. Weird Era Cont. is a flawless example of toying with pop structures and creating a soundscape that’s both catchy and mind-melting. You can hum along or you can rip the bong. Each is equally appropriate, and Deerhunter does this with an increasingly recherche panache.

MP3 :::
Deerhunter - Calvary Scars II / Aux Out

It really was accident, or at least it wasn’t my intent to provoke a fight, but I guess that’s what happens when you poke a sleeping dragon in the eye.  I did not mean to get in an online nerd fight with Anton Newcombe.  I love the Brian Jonestown Massacre.  I can prove it, just look at my Last.fm, they get mad play… just like me, HEY-OH!

Anyway, here’s the story of the infamous pissing contest between myself and Anton Newcombe by way of the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s MySpazzz that I’ve been promising for quite some time.  It’s a good one.

I realize that I have just forfeit my ability to ever interview Anton by publishing this, but this story is just too good to keep in limbo.  A caveat: I do feel kinda bad that I claimed he wasn’t doing anything before I was aware that My Bloody Underground was already in the works.  However, it was never my intent to be mean, I just felt that there was a correlation between the advent of MySpace/YouTube/et al. and the sudden dropoff of BJM’s output.  I still think that’s fair. Here’s the original write-up I did describing the conversation which happened almost one year ago today…

So, as some of you are aware, I’ve been a big fan of the Brian Jonestown Massacre going on, oh, five years or so. Since around the release of This is Our Music. Of course, the documentary Dig has augmented the BJM’s legend and name recognition. In addition, if you’ve seen Dig, then you understand that the brainchild of the band, Anton Newcombe, despite being impressively prolific, is utterly batshit crazy.

Anton is MySpace friends with Lana, as she is also a fan of the band’s music. Since Lana is a cute young lady and Anton is 20 years her senior, he enjoys sending her messages from time to time and comments on pictures of her in not-necessarily-appropriate inflections. I think this is hilarious. However, on a daily basis, Anton posts two to four bulletins waxing nonsensical political musings betwixt random YouTube videos that have some half-conceived and hair-brained correlation. Be it as it may.

see? do not want.

stop being a fucktard.

also, thanks to my admirers from my original post. your support is appreciated.

My MacBook took a massive doodie a couple of days ago.  The hard drive inexplicably died.  I’m all up in that warranty biz, however, so my precious has been restored on Apple’s dime.  I lost a huge portion of my music in the MACFAIL that I’m slowly rebuilding.  Good news, though - they slammed the Leopard jam on me for free, which is totally tits.  I mention this because all the aforemtioned tragedy accounted for the lack of updates last week.  But also, I’ve been lazy lately.  Sorry.

With all that said, it is with great anticipation that I announce that The Decibel Tolls year end list is coming out on Tuesday!  It’ll be a hoot.

This is my article cross-posted from Tiny Mix Tapes.  Since they’re cool about me reposting my articles on my own blog without any exclusivity clauses, you should make like a tree and visit them and click on their ads and shizz.  And speaking of trees, Caribou speaks for them…

For someone who’s named himself after majestic deer and a lush foresty Canadian province, as well as sample and title songs that greatly concern nature, it’s no surprise that Dan Snaith is stoked on saving the Earth.  In addition, as Snaith has a day job as a teacher, it should be no surprise he also likes to give back.

The man best known by Caribou announced last week that he will be donating a vast majority of his $20,000 Polaris Prize money, coin he won for 2007’s {Andorra},  keeping a small portion to fund his forthcoming album.  The money will be given to environmental non-profit Ecojustice, as well as the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

“I have always thought of Canada as an environmentally progressive place… however, recently the Canadian government has acted as a global obstacle to climate action. In a study this year Canada ranked 29th out of 30 industrialized nations for tackling climate change,” Snaith said, remarking on his choice of giving to Ecojustice.  The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a project-based charity helping communities affected by the AIDS epidemic throughout Sub-Sharan Africa.

Heck of a guy, that Snaith.  Hopefully the money given to Ecojustice will be invested in getting real legislative efforts to come to fruition, and not used on another Live Earth (Sorry, Al).

MP3 :::
Caribou - Medium Sized Working Dog (Steady Steady)