Kinski – “New India”
Be Gentle With The Warm Turtle
I class this song among the loudest ever recorded, along with The Psychic Paramount’s “Para5,” Crystal Antlers’ “Parting Song for the Torn Sky,” and the Red Sparowes “The Sixth Extinction.” The fun thing about “New India” is that you keep thinking they can’t add any more to it, and that’s just when yet another guitar comes in. Kinski has mellowed out quite a bit since this album; I wish they’d stayed monstrous.
Smog – “Palimpsest”
A River Ain’t Too Much to Love
I’d scratched Smog off the list after being disappointed some years ago, but after hearing this album at a cafe recently, I decided to give it another shot. Despite its simple singer-songwriter nature and plain instrumentation, it’s hard to pin down, mostly because of the delivery. His wry and subtle writing is hard to decode, but in this song it’s at least pretty easy to appreciate. (insound)
Ambulance LTD – “Helmsman”
Heavy Lifting 7"
This track and “Straight A’s” (from the same single) are just two fabulously well-crafted songs – the preferred genre of Ambulance LTD, whose 2003 LP remains one of the most solid collections of discrete indie-rock songs of the decade. The sound may not be original, but the frequency with which this band bests their influences is impressive.
The Intelligence – “Like Like Like Like Like Like Like”
Males
A raw, basic, and fun album with the charm and energy of The Lovely Feathers and the stripped-down aesthetic of Japandroids. The songs are simple and bite-sized, the longest track (“Males”) running just 4:47, with more than half being an instrumental breakdown and a full minute of glorious, unaccompanied distortion.
Michael Trommer – “Morning Haze”
Tree Line
This barely-there album is like Tape’s most abstract pieces, further deconstructed and stretched out into soundscapes. Its moments of beauty are like the natural moments of beauty inherent to the world: transient and difficult to isolate. This track doesn’t really get going, if get going is an applicable idiom, until around two minutes in. The album is free.
Black Forest/Black Sea – “These Things”
Forcefields And Constellations
It’s a strange and noisy album, but sounds cohesive in that every track is something that could only come from Black Forest/Black Sea. Often the highest points of more traditional styles of music approach the quality of the best tracks from more popular or ancient bands like the Beatles or Pink Floyd. But it’s nice to have bands that, when they do something perfectly, you think “man, that is so… them.”
The Cubists – “The Orchestra Breathes”
Mechanical Advantage
There’s something soft and effervescent about this song, like it’s reaching you through a layer of drugs and water.
The Dismemberment Plan – “Crush”
Split EP w/ Juno
This deconstruction of the original pop song by Jennifer Paige is, in a way, a precursor to the slowed-down Bieber of memedom. Changing the instrumentation and tempo to let the melody breathe makes for a completely different song.
DNTEL – “Why I’m So Unhappy”
Life Is Full Of Possibilities
A beautiful track from a very interesting album. Most know DNTEL now as one half of The Postal Service, and indeed, “The Dream of Evan and Chan” from this album was the first (and best) of that fruitful collaboration. But “Why I’m So Unhappy” is more delicate and understated, allowing time for both the tripping beats and noise-play that mark earlier DNTEL to show at their own pace. (insound)
Sir Richard Bishop – “Al Darazi”
Salvador Kali
This guy is best known for his dynamic, improvisational guitar playing, most impressively on Fingering The Devil. But on this older album, he takes a piano break and creates a piece that’s.. pretty much the same thing but on piano. But I love it and there’s a lo-fi warmth to this recording that makes it sound like a record from the 30s.
Tape – “Dripstone”
Luminarium
While it’s not as beautiful as the pastoral Milieu, Tape’s latest album is certainly charming, and this too-short track demonstrates their mastery of tone. The album isn’t long to begin with, but with these barely-there tracks, it seems even shorter than it is. A very pleasant distraction. (insound)
Daniel Maze – “Steampunk”
Red After Image
A deliciously atmospheric album, equal parts Tim Hecker, Thieves, and older Manitoba. Soundscapes and beats and untraceable harmonies. The opening track is excellent as well. The best part? This great album is free. Download it here.
Unwound – “We Invent You”
Leaves Turn Inside You
This mystical and chromatic opener is an appropriate entry point for the beautiful, confident landscape of one of the great “post-punk” albums out there. Yes, that first part lasts for two glorious minutes.The first sound you hear is the distortion from the tape reel spinning up.
Oval – Track One
Commers
Some might hear a track like this and wonder how such a confusion of noise could ever be mistaken for music. I don’t blame them. With Oval, either you hear it or you don’t – but if you do hear it, its unique beauty is without comparison.
Black Heart Procession – “Drugs (Eluvium and Jamuel Saxon remixes)”
Blood Bunny/Black Rabbit
This 14-minute remix forms the last third of this collaboration album, and actually has a lead-in from the previous track. It takes more than four minutes for the first piano chord to hit, so enjoy the Eluvium atmospherics, which strongly remind me of track three from Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain. The chopped-up Jamuel Saxon portion is kind of incongruous with the long build-up, but it’s an interesting payoff and worth listening to. (insound)
Junior Boys – “Under the Sun”
Last Exit
I’ve never been able to handle a lot of the indie/dance stuff at a time — a few tracks of Ratatat, !!!, Chromeo, and so on is usually enough. So I rarely get to the second half of this Junior Boys album, and forgot about this excellent song. It reminds me of Spoon’s similarly spare and minor-funky “They Never Got You,” though really they sound almost nothing alike. It’s really a lot more like Studio than anything.
Los Halos – “Reasons To Smile”
Leaving VA
Loud, ebullient, and confident, this is the sound of a band at its best. An anthem for good days and triumphant returns.
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.
