Hello My Future: 2011

This person seems cool, she should read my blog or save me from a burning building.

According to the news, New Yorkers do a “Good Riddance” day celebration. Taking pieces of paper, they write down the things that bothered them most. Once all the pieces of paper have been collected, they are placed into a giant shredder.

                I thought for a minute whether or not this was a true story by the Daily News. Upon reading the ceremony took place in Times Square, I immediately thought to myself “That’s Why”. New York is New York, Times Square is the equivalent of saying you went to Florida when all you went to was Disney World. Come to think of it, most of the Times Square stuff is owned by Disney too. Coincidence, I think not.

                While most are frantically scrambling things to wish goodbye to (or Good Riddance) I look forward to my future. 2011 offers a great deal of opportunities, not only in politics, business, and so on but in more important fields like new music releases.

                Right now we’re in the “Cruise Control” part of the year. Nobody really accomplishes anything towards the end of the year. Yes, some good things did happen: the 9/11 First Responders Health Care Bill passed alongside “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Mostly though, you might as well sleep until your New Year’s Eve party.

                Having said that, there are a few releases I’m looking forward to or am hoping will happen. Below are some of those artists who have stated they may/may not be releasing something this year:

Panda Bear – Tomboy (I hope this is released in 2011, and doesn’t become some kind of alt version of Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” taking years to create yet somehow managing to disappoint everyone).

Deerhoof – Deerhoof Vs. Evil (Yeah, I know they aren’t as relevant as they once were, but I maintain a soft spot for their output.)

Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine (Yes)

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (Yes)

Cake – Showroom of Compassion (I guess these guys got up and realized that their audience was entering into ‘Cool Mom/Cool Dad’ territory. Discovering this, they decided putting out another album would be a great way of attracting a new audience who believe they have taste but really don’t)

Smith Westerns – Dye it Blond (People tell me I should care about this band, but I’ve never listened to them)

Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean (Advertising executives needed more songs to sell Toyota Camrys)

 The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts (Honestly, who gives a shit. News flash guys, it isn’t 2005.)

Cut Copy – Zonoscope (Excited about this one, they usually make me smile and feel happy emotions.)

Yanni – Truth of Touch (Yanni is a beacon of light when all else is dark. I hear in this release he’s going to offer his take on the “chillwave” genre, seamlessly meshing it with progressive rock.)

Mogwai – Hardcore will never die, but you will (Sadly, I fall behind on these guys’ output by about a year. Once I hear the album, I’m upset I didn’t get to it earlier. That will change this year.)

Bright Eyes – The People’s Key (Oh good I need music to sob uncontrollably to)

Heidi Spencer – Under Streetlight Glow (Heidi and Spencer are some of the most imaginative musicians around today, on par with Karlheinz Stockhausen’s experiments involving helicopters.)

Battles – TBA (I promise I’ll see them when they get to NYC. Nothing will prevent this from happening this time.)

Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part II (Ah, five years must have passed.)

Culture Club – TBA (Do you really want to hurt me?)

Fleet Foxes – TBA (To quote the Kool Aid Guy “Oh YEAH!”)

Hercules and the Love Affair – Blue Songs (I can’t express the emotion of pure joy I have upon telling this to you.)

Insane Clown Posse – The American Metaphysical Circus (In this release, the ICP follow-up on their “Miracles” questions. Various sources indicate that Godspeed You! Black Emperor will be their backup band, and Diplo have worked with them on mixing a few tracks. Shaggy 2 Dope states that they were inspired by John Barton Wolgamot’s poetry for the lyrical content.)

Justice – TBA (This will do justice to your face)

Ducktails – Arcade Dynamics (Yes, Chillwave is coming back, out of the cold, towards the light.)

The Strokes – TBA (Inspired by Interpol’s massive failure of a record, they wanted to fail colossally as well.)

Artists I want to have albums from:

Washed Out – Come on, you’ve released countless EPs. Get it together, stop doing Adult Swim bumps, and write roughly 10 songs.

Neon Indian – This year I heard countless people say how your album was ‘the album of 2010’ even though it came out in 09. Wouldn’t it be nice to school those kids with even more infectious noise pop?

Joy Orbison – Your EPs are sick, absolutely massive. If you released an album, I promise to listen to it day and night for a month. Not a good month, mind you, like April or something.

Games – Each EP brings you a little closer. Unlike a lot of EP releasing people, I don’t think you’re blue-balling me. I sincerely believe you’ll deliver on your promise. 

Deerhunter – I’ll see a release from you this year because that’s how you roll. 

Black Dice – Something needs to come out of you guys. “Repo” did not do it for me. You must restore my faith in abrasive noise. 2010 didn’t have enough good noise; correct that problem by next year.

The Samps – Thoroughly enjoyed your EP. Put out an album and I’m certain I’ll drool over it.

Outer Limits Recordings – Your songs are still stuck in my head. Get them out with new material. PS, I like your style and will dress up as you for Halloween if you do come out with an album.

Unouomedude – Florida dude, you are so the man. Your music reminds me of summer bonfires on the beach.

Weed – Adore this sound. Create more of it. The EP never left my head.

Additionally, I also hope for world peace.

Best of 2010: Year End List

Year End lists are a perfect way of showing off your refined taste. Comparing notes with others, trying to see where you stand in comparison with other. Usually there’s a certain degree of a snobby attitude, of an “Oh, that’s cute” feel. Or, what is worse, is being accused of “Too much (insert various website’s name) here. 

By no means definitive, I’ve tried to capture all of my favorite albums for the year. Obviously your choices may differ. My hope with this is to expose you to some artists you might not have otherwise heard while re-confirming some of your particular choices. Let me know what you think. Also included are brief categorizations of where this music falls in terms of being. Lower still is an EP section (I’ve finally discovered the joy of short statements).

Albums:

Hints of my evolution into a “Cool Dad” consumer

1.       Beach House – Teen Dream

2.       LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening

3.       Stereolab – Not Music

4.       Laetitia Sadier – The Trip

Chillwave’s Last Stand:

5.       Toro Y Moi – Causers of This

6.       Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today

7.       Rangers – Suburban Tours

Good Ol’ Rock and Roll

8.       Harlem – Hippies

9.       Women – Public Strain

10.   No Age – Everything in Between

Swimming in a Sea of Sound (Tasting Colors)

11.   Keith Fullerton Whitman – Generator

12.   Chris Weisman and Greg Davis – Northern Songs

Electronic Music Nobody Else Bothers to Listen To

13.   Mark Fell – Multistability

14.   Deepchord Presents Echospace – Liumin

15.   Ja Prawn – Everybody

16.   VHS Head – Trademark Ribbons of Gold

EPs

17.   Weed – DC Hope

18.   Panda Bear – You Can Count on Me

19.   Outer Limits Recordings – I Need My TV

20.   Peter Gordon and the Love of Life Orchestra – Another Heartbreak

21.   Nerve City – Sleepwalker EP

Best Failure of a Politician – Carl Paladino

Some people might pick Sharon Angle or Christine O’Donnell for this role. While both of those politicians are useless, there is a reason I’m sticking with Carl Paladino as the best failure. Sharon Angle didn’t give enough public statements for me to judge her enough. As for Christine O’Donnell, even Bill Maher stated that personally “she is actually really nice”. I highly doubt anybody ever considered Carl Paladino a decent or even presentable person. But his repulsion and predictable failure is somewhat humorous, so let’s go over the bigger problems:

Stupid:

Part of what made his campaign so hilarious was how easy it was to bother him. Anonymous posters on the internet could email him, calling him a ‘jackass’. Usually politicians ignore such jabs, but not Carl. Nearly everything somebody sent to him got a personal, often insensitive in some manner, response. 

Revolt:

He claimed to be part of the Tax Rebellion, stating that taxes were too high. Yes, New York taxes are too high, but you’re too gross a person to actually follow. It’d be like Marquis De Sade leading the American Revolution. Being a Libertine and free of care is great and all, but whipping cats probably isn’t the way to reach that enlightenment. Sure, your ideals are noble, but you’re an asshole. 

Media:

This one is the icing on the cake. Rallying against the media for a liberal bias sounds hollow when you accuse one of the most conservative papers of a bias. I’m talking about Paladino’s vendetta towards the New York Post. Threatening a photographer with a baseball bat usually doesn’t win you many followers.

As a side note, The Post usually backs any Republican candidate. In fact, before this, I didn’t know of a conservative candidate they didn’t endorse. I thought that was only possible through something seriously dark, I guess Carl fits the bill.

Opponent:

Carl’s opponent was a piece of garbage too. Cuomo only looks good once you compare him to Carl’s badness.

Baseball Bat:

This guy mentioned a baseball bat more times than any other politician combined. I’m not sure who he was really appealing to with this professed love, perhaps psychopaths who stopped taking their meds. Nah, that’s too insulting to the psychopaths. Even in his concession speech he managed to mention his “March on Albany” with the beloved baseball bat, brandishing it around. Marching from Buffalo to Albany in November can never turn out well, especially for the elderly supporters he had. Anyone my age, no matter how conservative their views, just couldn’t hold their nose tightly enough to vote for him.

There you have it, the worse politician in 2010. He overcame so many obstacles to win this, such fierce competition. But in the end, he succeeded at his attempts to be the worst human being. Take a bow sir.

2010 end of year list begins

Just randomly picked this after googling "2010". This sort of embodies Canada's true colors.

As October reaches an end, I wonder what will make my year end list. Writing each one of these reviews, I kind of get the impression that 2009 was some sort of “bumper crop” kind of year. So many great bands came out of the woodwork, and we even got a new, actually good genre. I’m still going through all the stuff I have from the year prior, and am shocked at the quality. Definitely I shall include an “apologies for 2009” section in the top list this year. 

Sure, I think that hype was uneven distributed this year. Best Coast was an alright debut, but nothing ground shaking. Same goes for the weak genre known as “Witch House” which barely registers as different enough to count as a new category. Other bands from this year mostly got hyped more than needed (like Vampire Weekend or WAVVES, neither of which is bad but not like some sort of musical savior). 

2010 wasn’t a complete wash though. I got to finally see one of my favorite bands (Beach House) get the kind of respect that they deserved.  Autechre made up for being sort of irrelevant lately with their surprising “Move of Ten”, which had some of those melody beat workouts I adore. And yeah, LCD Soundsystem came out with another album, which is pretty much a big deal anyway you cut it. Fortunately I got to see them live as well so that was a big bonus. 10 years later people care about Ariel Pink, but that should’ve happened much sooner. His style just kind of allowed for him to be proclaimed the founder of chillwave, etc. No worries though, he’s at least going to continue to get the needed attention.

Even in such a quiet year things do get overlooked. I though Keith Fullerton Whitman’s work was absolutely stunning this year, particularly the “Generator” release, but barely anyone paid attention. Toro Y Moi got passed over too, which I was disappointed about since so many other “chillwavers” got much more thumbs up. The Chris Weisman and Greg Davis collaboration got zero attention, even though it was a deeply weird and original take on ambient music. Women did get noticed, but a bit more underappreciated than I would have liked. Oh well, I guess I’ll take what I can get. 

A few old faces came back from the cold. We got the much missed Gil Scott-Heron, who put in a solid performance. Oval returned as much and perhaps flooded the market with too much product. No one had heard anything from you in about 8 years, so multiple EPs and a double disc might come off a bit strong Mr. Popp. Speaking of too much, Uffie finally released an actual album, complete with all the disappointment that was expected. And No Age came out with an album that showed an evolution towards a maturing phase without fully abandoning all that chaos that made me like them so much in the first place. 

I feel that the music I listened to and liked the most tended to be either very ambient or dance based. Deepchord Present Echospace ruled so much, as did the brand new project VHS Head, which only teased us with an EP last year.  Indignant Senility came out of nowhere with its ultra-depressing Lynch-informed doom. 

Before I write any of these bands down, I’m going to give the year some time to hand over a few last albums (cough, Panda Bear, cough). Plus, I want to give some albums a chance to shine. Arcade Fire grew on me over the album, and I feel there may be one or two albums that I’ve already listened to but perhaps not fully connected to yet. Sometimes I think bands fail to realize that music is in fact seasonal, and that realizing a sunny cheerful album over the winter is usually a terrible idea. We’ll see what other albums come my way over the next few weeks, but I feel as if most of my top list has already been made.