2012 Favourite Albums

I know, I know, I’m very late with this one. People were releasing their best of lists since October!

But it’s a good list and timeless music is welcome whenever is listened to. Maybe you will find a new band to like here. Hope you enjoy the reading and the listening. And have a happy 2013!

• Port Of Morrow-The Shins

Album cover

The Shins had been one of those bands that I had never really paying much attention despite having 2 of their previous albums with me. I didn’t dislike them, but I thought only a few of their songs were catchy. Did someone tell that to James Mercer? In Port Of Morrow he has managed to craft an album full of catchy tunes, something you don’t see much these days in pop music. Supposing the experiments with Danger Mouse playing as Broken Bells had some effect on Mercer’s music style, he definetely perfected and evolved The Shins sound. With a new band backing him they sound full of youth and as if they just had some sort of sonic revelation. Mercer, at 41, must be going thru the new 30’s instead of a mid-life crisis.

The delicate folky-psycodelic-pop sounds make a great contrast with lyrics full of wit of someone who observes people.

The Shins are a great band to enjoy live too. I had the chance to see them at Festival Hall in Melbourne during the tour for this album. I leave you a photo of that gig.

The Shins at Festival Hall

• Blues Funeral-Mark Lanegan Band

Blues Funeral cover

When I listen to Lanegan I wonder if Cobain would sound like him was he alive today. After all we are talking about the man who wrote one of Cobains´favourite tunes from the 80’s. When I listen to him I also remember to thank my friend Shelley, a declared fan of everything the man with the deep grave voice has done.

And he has done lots! Lately he had been heard in collaborations with Isobel Campbell (ex Belle & Sebastian) and Soulsavers. You could say he was a bit out of the element you would normally relate him to (that being rock). And that’s when I discovered him. So to hear such a rocky kick-ass record as Blues Funeral was like to finally discover Lanegan’s true musical personality. He does say himself this record is more “something like the music he would listen to”.

I had the chance to see Lanegan at The Forum in Melbourne, a 19th century theatre with an intimate ambience. Lanegan took the stage by assault all with his voice. He did not move nor exchanged a word with the crowd. Not an entertainer but a damn good singer.

Here a link to The Gravedigger’s Song live

• Master Of My Make-Believe-Santigold

Master of my Make-Believe cover

In a world filled with colourful Niki Minajs, Santigold is pure gold with less neon. This is just her second album and the sings with the confidence of someone who’s been around for a long while. Backed by production from people from YYY’s and TV On The Radio and with guests Q-Tip and Karen O the record is full of dancing beats and hooks that make it really hard to turn off.

With electronica, hip-hop, dub, dancehall and a melangé of anything danceable the record has a certain Jamaican air to it (having been partially recorded there). The influence of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s seems clear on some guitars and voices, yet the personality of Santigold’s music, eclectic and full of attitude is what shines through. Filling the space left my Gwen Stefani and mixing similar rythms to those that the No Doubt frontwoman has explored with her band and solo.

Check the video for Disparate Youth here

• Synthetica-Metric

Synthetica cover

The voice of Emily Haines is so erotic, surrounded by pretty pop tunes; and her lyrics are so full of attitude that I can obviate the fact they are in the soundtrack for Breaking Dawn. She opens the album singing “I’m just as fucked up as they say” on the beautiful ‘Artificial Nocturne’.

Synthetica sees Metric following on the trend of their previous super popular Fantasies in terms of music. Less catchy perhaps than its predecesor, but more mature, dark and full on content. An attempt to make a concept album with synthetisers about our synthetic selves, about how we stop being human in this plastic modern world and how Haines “correlates when we lie, hide and cry”. But the album is about the human spirit that survives in this confusion, not about the confusion itself. As Haines sings in the title track ‘I won’t let them make my soul a loser…I will keep the live the I’ve got’

With Lou Reed joining in The Wanderer, this album is a great piece of synth-pop about modern times. And Emily Haines is not just a sexy voice. That’s what’s more attractive of her.

Metric live at Billboard in Melbourne here performing Lost Kitten

• Sun-Cat Power

Sun cover

Chan Marshall likes to reinvent herself. This record doesn’t sound like anything she’s done before. I’m not such a connoisseur of all of her discography, but I can say it is nothing like the soul and jazzy covers of her previous Jukebox or the romantic and somewhat depressive The Greatest, where I heard her first while watching My Blueberry Nights. I was captivated by that song. Since I have been listening to her and discovering little by little her first records.

Marshall took awhile to do this one and the catharsis has paid off after a period of writer’s block and lack of inspiration. Like Metric’s album, with which it shares a song of the same name (Nothin’ But Time) and the guest starring of a monster of rock  (Iggy Pop,  precisely in Nothin But Time; Lou Reed appears on Metric’s The Wanderer), the theme here is more about a new start, a new sun. A record with strong (excuse such a cliché word, but I think in this case is appropriate)  ‘spiritual’ connotations. On Cherokee she sings as if describing a peyote trip. On Sun she says “this is the day people like me being waiting for” as if predicting a shift of ages.

Listen to  Ruin, where she makes a bold and accurate description of modern society: “bitchin’, complainin’ when people ain’t got shit to eat”, and you’ll start to get an idea of the power of this record.

I hope I’m still on time to get tickets to see Cat Power at The Forum in March.

Check here for Ruin live

• Good kid, mA.A.d city-Kendrick Lamar

Good kid, mA.A. city cover

I’m not at all a knowledgeable hip hop fan. But I know how to recognise a classic when I hear it. And this is one. From the beats, the urban narrative of the lyrics and the production team, including the likes of Dr Dre.

This isn’t your typical hip hop record. Not mine at least. Lamar tells of his life in Compton accompanied by beats that create sonic landscapes that bring the genre very close to chill out and electronica wasn’t it for the rapping and the theme of the good kid trying to stay good amidst all the shit going on around him in the neighborhood. An urban album about a kid who refused to be just another man from Compton.

Check Kendrick and Dr Dre at Coachella performing The recipe here

• Bi-Kevin Johansen

Bi cover

If I was a musician I would be like Kevin Johansen. Born in Alaska of Argentinian mother and American father, the man started playing in New York in venues like the CBGB until he grounded a contract. His lyrics describe to perfection the idiosincratic vision of nationalities (those modern casts we inherited in Latin America). And he plays a range that in one album resembles an introduction to latin rythms for those who don’t know them. Eclectic, in one word.

He has managed to stay fresh and unpredictable for a long time. His formula is similar to that of another Spanish-language singer, Manu Chao. But where Manu has become repetitive and a bit boring, Johansen keeps expanding his sound further from tango, candombe, pop, tropical rythms and other South American folk variations. Now he embraces Brazilian rythms such as Bossanova singing and rhyming in Postuguese as well as Spanish, English, and Spanglish, always with a dash of good humor and wit.

Not only that, this is a double record. Johansen has usually delivered albums ranging around 15+ songs, so why not make a double one? The concept of the album, named ‘Bi’, plays with that and the ideas of love among people of different nationalities or in different ‘times’ (Tan Fácil), sexual orientation (No Digas Quizás, Seventeen), finding oneself in the others (Vecino).

And under this idea he closes the record with 2 covers of classics not easy to cover: ‘Everybody Knows’ from Leonard Cohen and ‘Modern Love’ from Bowie, giving them a nostalgia or saudade that suits and turns them into new songs. That’s a good cover right there.

I was really excited to have tickets for his concert in Melbourbe but it got cancelled. They say perhaps in March. Hopefully y ojalá.

Check the video for No Digas Quizás here

• Rooms Filled With Light-Fanfarlo

Rooms Filled With Light cover

Fanfarlo are like a reincarnation of Belle & Sebastian to me. Their music evokes nostalgia but might also elicit a strange feeling of ‘happy’.

On this their second record the remain true to the sound of the first (Reservoir) and add more obvious electronic elements but keep the horns, the violins and other classical instruments that give the album an air of Beirut meets Arcade Fire recorded by the producer of Phoenix. The songs sound as if they could have been recorded in the 80’s for some strange reason. A beautiful pop album that should be more popular.

Check the live performance of Tightrope here

• Blunderbuss-Jack White

Blunderbuss cover

I lost track of White after The White Stripes broke up. Turns out the man had been busier that I knew with The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs. It was becoming a question if Mr White would ever go solo. I guess his collaboration with Alicia Keys for the soundtrack of Quantum of Solace was a nod to that possibility.

Turns out he did and Blunderbuss is another example of why Jack White is considered one of the most prolific and talented musicians of his generation. Spiced up with southern rock sounds Blunderbuss is short and straight to the point. You won’t find 7 minute blues or guitar solos here. Half the song are not even 3 minutes long. Yet the album is adorned with honest lyrics and White’s guitar catchy hooks that make it irresistible.

Recorded in Nashville, White has said, this songs are his expression and could not belong to any of the other acts that he is associated with.

I tried to get tickets for this gig too but they went too fast. Next time. And hopefully Jack White won’t take so long to release another solo album. But if it is as good as this one he might get away with it.

Check a live video at Jools Holland show of Sixteen Saltines and Freedom at 21 here

OTHER ALBUMS WORTH CHECKING OUT FROM 2012

• Here-Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Edward Sharpe opened for Mumford & Sons here in Melbourne. I wanted to go because they have been touring for a while in the US and figured it would be a great concert. But I just couldn’t stand another listen of “I Will Wait”. Maybe a bad call ah? Edward Sharpe sounds more vintage here, keeping the good vibes on a short album that makes you wish for more.

• Coexist-The XX

It was a hard task to match the success of their first album. The XX have done it with an album that doesn’t get too far from their debut and yet evolves. More intimate and dark, still highly enjoyable. And I’m lucky I will get to see them when they come back in April!

• Old Ideas-Leonard Cohen

The man who spent a night with Janis Joplin at Chelsea Hotel #3 is still delivering great records. I was listening to this one one day and Mel asked me if it was a funerary march or something. Might as well be. Cohen sounds old and even having an honest chat with himself on track “Going Home”. A halo of the last Johnny Cash record can be felt here. Is Cohen feeling the time has come for him? I hope not just yet. Though somber and dark, this is a great album in the style of Cohen.

• Come of Age-The Vaccines

What can I say about The Vaccines? Their first album had me believing that catchy rock wasn’t done in a time when everyone seems to be recycling 80’s pop or experimenting with electronica. These guys deliver simple songs that have a happy feel about them and honest lyrics.

AND FROM AUSTRALIA…

• The Rubens-The Rubens

This young band has released an album full of rock with 60’s taste (just check the cover) that would deceive anyone about it being their debut. The single “My Gun” is as catchy as it gets, with organ that reminds me of Kula Shaker minus the Indian orientation of the arrangements.

• Broken Brights-Angus Stone

I’m not yet sure of what (if there is such a thing) makes Aussie rock Aussie. So far, in Melbourne I have found am incredible variety of music talent that breaths and gathers from all trends and genres. In the case of Angus Stone I would have thought he was an American bluesmaninfluenced by 60’s folk. No such thing and I guess you could rightfully call it Aussie blues with a nostalgia for the bush and the farmlands. Don’t miss this one.

• A is for Alpine-Alpine

Went to see Alpine at the Corner Hotel for the launch party of this album and was well impressed. People knew their songs and had a good time. No easy task in a city where people just don’t dance easily (not in a sober state at least).  This is art-pop as sexy as can be with 2 female singers that create angelic atmospheres and a solid beat base.

 

The Shins at Festival Hall. Melbourne, July 23rd, 2012

I’m not a big fan of The Shins. I’ve had their first 3 records in my Ipod for a couple years and never really hooked with them except for a couple of songs. But their last album “Port of Morrow” is brilliant and though this year has so far been very generous with great albums, theirs is definetely going to my top 10 list of favorite albums of the year. Their country/psycodelic pop is at its best. Every song it’s catchy and potentially a hit. So I decided to get a ticket to their concert even if I had to go on my own.

I did go on my own in the end. Mel doesn’t know The Shins enough as to want to go. So I was wondering what sort of crowd would be there to share the music. Considering they are a band that started back in the 90’s I thought I would find people in their 30s. I was very surprised when I arrived at Festival Hall and a very young crowd was there waiting for the doors to open. I felt so old. But then, thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense that young people identify with the lyrics of James Mercer. He talks about his feelings with an honesty that makes you feel like you wanna ‘hug the guy’ (in the words of a critic).

Also the fact that their rise to fame is directly linked with the movie Garden State, a movie that deals with young and confused people, could be a point here. I wondered though how strange it must feel for Mercer (41) to get on stage and find that the audience receptive to their music is barely legal.

I had never been at Festival Hall before so that was new too. The organization seemed very neat. When the guy at the door  asked for ID I showed him a half-broke photocopy of my passport and just said “trust me, I’m older than 18” . He wished me a good night in Spanish. Cool dude.

First stop was the bar. Beers were Coopers for 6 bucks a pop.  Then I proceded to sit in front of the stage, just 2 metres from the barrier. The place was smaller than I imagined it. Maybe 5 thousand people. In fact I just checked Festival Hall’s website: 5445. Not a bad guess. In any case, it became obvious soon that it was going to be a packed event.

The opening act was Husky, a Melbourne band of which I had never heard. They started at 7pm and their set was a good surprise.  Considering the words of that ‘usher’ at The Palais the week before that stated that opening acts are usually shit, Husky were the contrary. I asked a girl in the crowd if she knew them. She said she had seen them opening for Laura Marling – “they are good, kinda folky”. They did remind me of Mumford and Sons. I took mental note to check out their album.

The Shins got on-stage. There were six of them in live form. They started with their old hits to warm up the crowd and the people responded well and applauding. It had the dynamic of a punk concert for a few songs: very little time between songs and just keep bringing the crowd up. Caring Is Creepy, So Says I were among the songs they played first. Then Mercer paused and saluted the audience. They had just arrived that morning and played a couple of radio shows before that night. But they were not feeling tired.

And then, one by one the songs from Port of Morrow started to come. They played every one of them except for ´Summer of 82´and ´For a Fool´. They all sounded great! I had been warned that the sound wasn´t great at Festival Hall, but it sounded pretty good to me. With sometimes 3 guitars (main, rhythm, and pedal steel), the musicians were amazing. Joe Plumm on drums was putting on quite a show. The Keyboardist had a moment of laughs with the crowd. I had imagined him like a funny guy. Mercer, whom I would imagine as a more introverted kind of person, did not do much talking other than introducing the band and thanking the crowd.

The idiot next to me kept yelling to him ‘get naked’ and thought it was actually funny. Maybe she thought she was in a club or something. She could barely stand on her feet, which meant I spent a good couple of songs with her bumping into me. I don´t think I have ever been so close to elbowing a woman. Luckily she passed out or was taken out by security.

The Shins were done after hour and twenty minutes. They came back for an amazing encore that saw them playing for almost another 30 minutes with one song improvising into an epic sound landscape of pop science fiction proportions lasting up to 10 minutes. Then the gig ended and I was left with a good feeling on my way back home. It was a Monday and so a great week started.

My favourite albums from 2011

I’ve always wanted to write for a music magazine. It would be one of my dream jobs just like it was for John Cusack in ‘High Fidelity’. Like his character I also love making tapes for people. On the same note, another film that comes to mind is ‘Almost Famous’. I wish I was that kid.

I also have what I call a ‘DJ complex’ and am always checking other peoples record collections, exchanging, copying, or simply playing them, wether I’m in a pub, a cafe, someone else’s house or car or even public transport. Some people hate me for that, like real DJ’s at clubs because I’m always making requests. I have DJed a couple times too, at pubs I like and when I actually used to run a bar, playing music was one of my favourite parts of the job.I still want to have my own radio show and if things happen this 2012 I will have one, or something similar. What can I do, I am a frustrated musician and music is such an important part of my life.

So writing a list of my favourite records of the year is one of those things that I love doing. I did last year but never published it (this blog was on diapers back then and that would’ve been the first post as a matter of fact).

So here it is, in no order whatsoever. These are simply records I really liked and listened to a lot the past year and all of them were published during 2011. I have included links  to videos of the singles or to cool live performances. Hopefully you will like them too.

• LET ENGLAND SHAKE/PJ Harvey

I can’t believe it was February when I downloaded this album and loved it! I honestly thought PJ had nothing else to give but the woman surprises yet one more time and manages to sound like nothing she’s done before. And she sounds so good. A strong record with a constrict rage and an open statement of what is happening in England. Maybe the first record that speaks so openly of themes related to globalization and loss of culture in a nation that is pretty much the mother of modern world as we know it today. PJ is the Lars von Trier of music, always controversial and able to reinvent herself.

Check a live video of ‘The words That Maketh Muder’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhaEt2Hdod8&ob=av2n

• IN THE MOUNTAIN IN THE CLOUD/ Portugal. The Man

Yeah, their name…

I heard ‘So American’ once on the radio without knowing who it was or what was the song’s name. Thank God now Iphones have that application that tell you who! I was instantly hooked on the good mood of the tune.

This band of psychodelic rock has made a record with so many happy, catchy tunes that it’s really hard to put it down. Potentially every song is a single. This confirms my idea that music today recycles stuff we’ve heard before and though I had something against that before now I’m sold. I fact most records on this list have that element. Don’t think that Portugal are new though, this is their 7th record and that’s why it’s so good, cause they seem to have found their best sound after experimenting for 10 years of record-making.

See the video of ‘So American’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iww-l4UtygE&ob=av2e

• HELPLESSNESS BLUES/ Fleet Foxes

Good blues and folk that has the power to transport you to another time. These guys sound like Bob Dylan´s backing band. That is if Bod Dylan had had a band during his first years. There´s some quiet peace and a something delicate about their music. Some nostalgia that reminds me of Mumford and Sons first record. Not sadness, pure nostalgia is what this is. I gues that’s why it’s called ‘blues’.  Thanks to Elena for the tip on the Fleet Foxes!

Watch the video for ‘Grown Ocean’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDWOKyKkGnI&feature=fvst

• EL CAMINO/ The Black Keys

Ah, the vintage sounds that pour out of the imagination of these two! And how does Danger Mouse manage to be the producer of so many great records one after another? When I got ‘Brothers’, the Keys previous album, their songs became quickly the most listened to in my Ipod. ‘El Camino’ has the same potential, road music to drive tirelessly listening to full volume good ol’ rock. Watch the video for ‘Lonely Boy’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_426RiwST8

• ANNA CALVI/Anna Calvi

While listening to Calvi I couldn’t help but be reminded of Jeff Buckley. That may sound like blasphemy but she does have a similar guitar technique and sometimes her voice sounds similar too. Maybe the obvious resemblance would be with PJ Harvey since they share Rob Ellis as producer, and in fact Calvi sounds like Harvey (on her first records) but it’s undoubtable that she has a talent of her own. So, if she sounds a bit like Jeff Buckley that is if he reincarnated in a woman after actually being in hell. Listen to Calvi and you will understand what I mean. Watch ‘Suzanne and I’ live here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTol6RxtqMk&feature=related

and ‘Love Won’t be Leaving’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4OjzDAtpaQ&feature=related

• METALS/ Feist

There’s nothing metallic about this album. It’s more like a long whispered melody. A low, introspective look into the delicately crafted world of Leslie Feist. Sometimes jazzy, sometimes pop or blues, her music has no hurry to please or to explode. Her beautiful voice fills the songs with life and movement as if a faery was singing you a bedtime story. Listen to Graveyard, The Circle Married The Line, Cicadas and Gulls.

Watch the video for ‘How Come You Never Go There?’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2uVRMBD5RY

• UNDERNEATH THE PINE/Toro Y Moi

The future of electronica is here and sounds like Toro Y Moi. Like their name, I don’t know what to make of their music. It sounds like listening through the stethoscope to the sounds of a living organism from another planet, some sexy alien trying to flirt with me. Reminiscent of Stereolab’s sound experiments. Once again thank you Elena.

Watch the video for ‘New Beat’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4J6bFDvvwY

• SUCK IT AND SEE/Arctic Monkeys

When I read on an interview that the last record from the Monkeys was perhaps their best, I was sceptical. After their first record the 2 that followed were disappointing and had only good moments. But I gave them a chance because I heard ‘Black Treacle’ on the radio and I liked the shift in sound. And guess what? It’s true! Arctic Monkeys are back in full form with music that matches perfectly the witty lyrics of their vocalist. And guess what also, they are recycling music too! With a sound that is reminiscent of the 50s and 60s in spirit they sound a lot better than on their harder experiments.

• WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM…/The Vaccines

I couldn’t resist it, The Vaccines made it to this list actually on the last minute. I listen to ‘Post Break-up Sex’ and can’t help to think of The Smiths or Belle And Sebastian. Maybe that’s what’s got England rendered to their sound. Such misery and beauty altogether. The future of rock is on this guys and I believe this could be the best rock album debut of the year.

Watch ‘Post-break Up Sex’ video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU9hrd35Dsg

• KING OF LIMBS/ Radiohead

Just when you thought Radiohead couldn’t get any weirder sounds from their pocket they surprise you again. At this point these guys have already settled themselves comfortably in a style (a league if you prefer) of their own. Just the other day I was listening to The Bends album and it was actually hard to tell myself that that was the same band that released this record. King Of Limbs is a work closer to In Rainbows than to Hail to the Thief. Don’t be alarmed by the few songs, the record is 40 minutes long and each song  is a gem, some are electronic, some are acoustic, but they all sound like Miles Davis (Bitches Brew phase) was producing . The question now is what (and when) will Radiohead sound like next.

Watch the video for ‘Lotus Flower’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8

• PULL UP SOME BLUES & SIT DOWN/Ry Cooder

Does Ry Cooder need any introduction? well, you’re not gonna get it from me…This bluesy, folk, mexicano music is the ultimate protest record. If ‘Let England Shake’ talks about problems there, ‘Pull Up Some Dust…’ is a mosaic of what’s happening in the USA: economic crisis, immigration, drug trafficking, racism, a political system not representative of the people, etc…Cooder is a radical. He was not on the wave of making a record against Bush some years ago, he’s been riding on that wave for long (he was investigated for openly going to Cuba to record with Buenavista Social Club and has an open posture againts the embargo on the island). He is not an Obama suporter either, he is old enough to know Obama is just another guy in a corrupt system (listen to ‘John Lee Hooker for President’). Cooder’s lyrics have the wisdom of a Noam Chomsky who sings the blues.

Watch the video for ‘Quicksand’ here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf1uAMPETH8