Autolux – “Headless Sky”
Transit Transit
While this album doesn’t really live up to the dynamic and creative Future Perfect, it does have some great songs, and this is one of them.
Maserati – “Pyramid Of The Sun”
Pyramid Of The Sun
While it’s not actually the opening track (there’s a sort of atmospheric synth intro, “Who Can Find The Beast?”), it has all the characteristics of an opening track — and a damned good one, too. In fact, for the first minute and a half, it’s one of the strongest opening tracks I’ve heard in a long time (the alternate take, “Pyramid Of The Moon,” is more raw but missing that fantastic call-and-response). Their form of spacey instrumental rock is shown off to good effect, but then they kind of lost track of it and twiddle when they should have whaled. Still a great album, though, especially the last two tracks. (temporary residence)
Growing – “Fancy Period”
Color Wheel
A departure from Growing’s usual deafening soundscapes, “Fancy Period” contains more movements than some of their entire albums… which isn’t saying much, but still. It’s a beautiful and hypnotic 12 minutes.
Matmos – “Regicide”
The Civil War
Sonically disorientating and endlessly varied, The opening track of The Civil War is the whole album in miniature. Baffling instrumentation, punchy beats, and unforgiving noise crossed with delicate harmony, and that playful weirdness that seems to permeate every track Matmos has ever made. Must-listen.
Tarentel – “Bump Past, Cut Through Windows”
We Move Through Weather
When this album came out, I couldn’t bear to listen to it because it was so different from their previous work. Noise collage, tape loops, all kinds of weird stuff — a stark contrast to the lean, extended post-rock fantasies of From Bone To Satellite. But years later, after giving it a few more listens, it started to come together, particularly the last four tracks. They never arrive at the tension levels of even the opening notes of, say, “Ursa Major, Ursa Minor,” but they have a mysterious power entirely new and entirely different from Tarentel original flavor. (insound)
Denali – “Nullaby”
The Instinct
This whole album plays like a tribute to the lead singer’s incredible pipes. She has a voice like a clarion, clear without being shrill, and with a really lovely control over vibrato that gives every high note an excellent wavering coda. The songwriting isn’t stellar, but the arrangements are quite good, the playing is solid, and of course this chick’s voice is something else. (insound)
Cat Power – “Good Woman”
You Are Free
I originally thought “Free” was the best track off this classic album, but I’ve since changed my mind to the much more beautiful and traditional “Good Woman.” This is the kind of song that lives forever – it feels as if it might have been written at any time in the last hundred years. (insound)
The Delgados – “All You Need Is Hate”
Hate
Satire? Or is there more truth here than we’d like to believe? Either way, it’s a great song, the standout from an interesting but grossly overproduced album.
DJ Food – “The Riff”
Kaleidoscope
This fun album comes via Ninja Tune, a label I listened to almost exclusively for a few months. DJ Food is a talented sound collage artist, and while this track isn’t really the most representative, it is one of the more original-sounding. Very fun, very frenetic. (Ninja Tune)
Rachel’s – “The Mysterious Disappearance Of Louis Leprince”
Selenography
Another track from the only Rachel’s record I’ve really ever listened to. This is the other standout from this album, the one that was playing when I decided I must have this record. I wasn’t familiar with post-rock, modern chamber music, or really anything at all when I heard it, so it struck me as completely original then, and while it’s lost some of its mystery to more mysterious artists, it’s notable in my life as one of the songs that got me listening to lots and lots of other things.
Growing – “In The Shadow Of The Mountain”
His Return
Growing’s monolithic soundscapes aren’t for everyone, but for those who can handle them, they’re transportive. There’s little that can be said by way of description. Their songs are less like songs, and more like little worlds you inhabit for ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
Mogwai – “Kids Will Be Skeletons”
Happy Songs For Happy People
This album, the second of the “new Mogwai” so disappointing to some, is understated rather than uncompromising, and although it ends up underwhelming at times, it demonstrates their strength in arrangement rather than raw power. The delicate and deliberately paced “Kids Will Be Skeletons” and the sibilant and triumphant closer, “Stop Coming To My House,” are just plain beautiful, something missing from a lot of loud music these days. (insound)
Thieves – “Silent Servant”
You Hold The World Like A Gun
This totally unexpected record defies categorization, its closest relatives being Secret Frequency Crew, Herbaliser, and Four Tet — yet Thieves maintains a sound all their own, darker, noisier, more repetitive. Each song sounds more like the soundtrack to a scene than a standalone piece of music. Original and arresting.
Espers – “Sightings”
III
While I doubt Espers will ever again attain the heights they reached with their debut album, tracks like this one at least keep me occupied while I hope against hope. Most of this album seems to show too much of how the band works, like a magician explaining his tricks, but a few tracks, like “Sightings,” manage to be as mysterious and beautiful as any they’ve ever made. (insound)
Four Tet – “Angel Echoes”
There Is Love In You
Four Tet has moved away from the magical, Fridge-esque organic electronica and towards a more beat-oriented sound, but that’s not all bad. And of course we’ll always have Pause. And there’s something about the disjointed sampling on this and other tracks from this album that catches my ear. There’s a lot of variety, but early Manitoba is the best reference point I can think of.
Benny Goodman – “Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing)”
Live At Carnegie Hall
I came across this track completely by accident while looking for the more conventional dance hall version of this song, but after putting it on, sat in shocked rapture for the entire 12 minutes. The breakdowns and rebuilds, the departures and returns to the original melodies, the unbelievable playing. I wish I could hear what he says that makes the audience laugh nine minutes in, though. And man do I wish I was there that night in 1938.
Crime in Choir – “Cincinnati”
Crime in Choir
Two. Two. Two songs in one. The first half is a triumphant anthem with unbelievably tight percussion; the second half, a gorgeous guitar soundscape with clattering drums and voice loops. Just an absolutely brilliant piece of music all the way through. (insound)
Bedhead – “The Present”
Transaction De Novo
Bedhead’s understated songwriting makes for such incredibly solid albums, but so few truly standout songs, that it’s hard to pick a track. I’ve always loved the slow grow and sudden end of “The Present.” It’s not exactly representative of this excellent album, but it’s a great song nonetheless. Great being around the house music.
Silent Kids – “Sgt. Dexter Pt. II”
Take Us Home
This is the last track on this album, which to be honest wasn’t that impressive. But if the rest of it were the quality of this track, they’d really have something amazing. The first part is more like the rest of their songs, but the brilliant extended instrumental outro and quiet coda (after about 30 seconds of silence) really shows that they’ve got a lot at their disposal. I love the amp’s cool-off “ahhh” noise in the breaks! You can get the whole album here.
Camera Obscura – “Other Towns And Cities”
My Maudlin Career
Half of this album seems to me to be rendered somewhat toothless by poppy instrumentation; the vocals and songwriting are best left relatively unaccompanied, as demonstrated by “Other Towns And Cities.” It becomes clear once you strip away the backing that it’s really the vocalist’s wonderful cadence and simple counterpoint melodies that are really making the music sing, as it were. (insound)
Stereolab – “Tomorrow Is Already Here”
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
I think this was the first Stereolab track I ever heard. It’s still the one I think of when anyone mentions them. They really did have a knack for rhythm, layers, and timing — and all the rest of the stuff as well. Makes me want to listen to this whole album again. Maybe I will.
Plaid (ft. Bjork) – “Lilith”
Not For Threes
I’ve had this track for years; it dates from the Audiogalaxy period, when I downloaded things willy-nilly with no context and then promptly forgot about them. This little collaboration is fun and uncomplicated, but you still get a little Plaid-ness poking through now and then. It’s a nice listen that pops up for me once every few months.
Portugal. The Man – “Colors”
Censored Colors
My friend has been working on these guys’ music videos, so I thought I’d check them out. As it turns out, they’re very good! Excellent sense of harmony – the blasts of voices never clash with the instrumentation, although that lone violin is a bit overwrought. There’s a lot of variety on this record, but throughout, there’s a range of vocal experimentation that really catches your ear. “Colors” is a little more low-key than the rest of the album but I like it especially for some reason.
Peach Pit – “An Open House Where Horror Is Your Host”
Suspicious Cargo
This is from a much earlier (1999) album than their astonishing split EP with Majmoon. It’s much more subdued but you can still hear a lot of the same tendencies, especially in the menacing final third of this track. They had yet to really apply the math or layers, though. Definitely worth a listen.
Blood On The Wall – “Stoner Jam”
Awesomer
I place this song under the same “nearly perfect” category as the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine,” Radiohead’s “Airbag,” and Skygreen Leopards’ “The Heron.” There are hundreds of such songs in my memory, but it is still relatively exclusive company; it is a category of consummate craftsmanship and a sort of syzygy of every element in a song to make it something more than a sequence of notes. Blood On The Wall’s “Lightning Song” is another good example. (insound)