2008 Round Up Pt. 4

More worthy releases from last year that we missed.

Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone/Devin Hoff/Ches Smith
Calling All Portraits
(2008, Skykap)

Calling All Portraits is worthy of much more than I am able to say in this little space. In fact, the album is probably the instigator to the writers block I’ve had for the past couple weeks. Consisting of a veritable who’s who of the Brooklyn improve/free jazz scene, Calling All Portraits is a nimble, engaging whirlwind of a record that could only come from talent such as this. The instrumentation is as follows: Halvorson on guitar, Pavone on viola (I think), Hoff on bass and Smith on drums. Each band member takes turns leading the rest of the crew for thick ride that is equal parts composed and improvised, dealing in both free jazz and chamber classical, and all without any of fatty, unlistenable chunks that usually accompany such music. A real tour de force and probably my favourite jazz album of last year.

Murcof
The Versailles Sessions
(12.2008, Leaf)

Culled from compositions prepared specifically for a festival in Versailles in 2007, Murcof makes a bit of a departure from his patented electronics with six tracks composed solely with 17th century baroque instruments. Pitched as unique project to be consumed in-between ‘proper’ releases, The Versailles Sessions certainly holds its own as another monument to Murcof’s eclectic, powerful musicianship. Dark and brooding with a sense of an ancient world twisted into the present, The Versailles Sessions morph with a fluid ease that can only be attributed to inspiration. A beautifully dynamic disc with surprising replay value.

Arve Henriksen
Cartography
(10.2008, ECM Records)

Rune Grammofon mainstay and Supersilent co-founder, has wandered from his home label for his fourth solo release with ECM. I don’t have any background on the label change, but it doesn’t really seem to matter since the already highly esteemed Norwegian trumpeter has created such a devastatingly gorgeous release with Cartography. Extremely measured and soulful with the kind of soul that seem to only be available to the trumpet, Henriksen builds on the shoulders of his prior work with heartbreaking trumpet lines that are often accompanied by vocal specters that float and intertwine with the instrumentation. Cartography is simply gorgeous and worthy of a much better equipped write up. Probably tied with Calling All Portraits as jazz album of 2008.

-Mr. Thistle

2008 Round Up Pt. 3

Three more releases that require a closer look.

Thee Oh Sees
The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
(04.2008, Tomlab)

I blame this 2008 omission on Wooly Mammal. After listening to the record, his basic sentiment was ‘meh’ and you know what? I listen to way too much music to be bogged down by some meh-worthy album. However, I kept seeing the record lauded all over the place and finally decided that I needed to find out for myself and thank goodness I did. The Master’s Bedroom is a garage psych bliss fest! Awesome hooks underscored by a generally bombastic guitars the twist and warp like vibrant specter. Thee Oh Sees got weighed down a little too much by lo-fi tag; no, this is pure, adulterated rock music at its grimy best.


Love Is All
A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
(11.2008, What’s Your Rupture?)

A perfect return to form after a three year hiatus, Love Is All delivers their second album filled with the same sugary Swedish charm that we fell for with their debut. It only took a couple plays before the anthemic, hook-heavy nature of A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night was vying for my soul (just like any good pop album). So, yeah, beware because there is a good chance that you won’t be able shake this album once you’ve heard it, AKA, the album provokes binge listening and will most likely end with a call to a local addiction hotline. Pure audio candy.


Sic Alps
U.S. Ez
(07.2008, Siltbreeze)

Sharing members with my adorably effed up lo-fi troupe of 2008, The Hospitals, Sic Alps produced an album that inhabited the lighter end of the Siltbreeze’s feedback-conscious community and turned out stronger for it. On U.S. Ez, Sic Alps must’ve busted out large portions the ceiling they were recording in because there’s plenty of sunshine shining through these tracks. Sure, there are some squealing amps and light fuzz that crops up here and there, but U.S. Ez is more interested in untainted song craft. That is the heart of the album – a collection of beautifully left-of-center pop songs to relax and sip lemonade to. It would be interesting to see if a more celebrated lo-fi band like Times New Viking would sound even close to this good if they stripped back their songs like this. Whether successful or not, there isn’t a chance it could be as good as U.S. Ez.

-Mr. Thistle

Sassi's Favorite 50

I'll admit that I didn't get around to listening to everything that I wanted to this year. I am sure that I have missed out on some amazing music, but even so I have heard some amazing music as well. I don't claim to know the absolute best most musically relevant releases of 2008, but I do know what I personally enjoyed the guts out of this year, and here they are:

1. The Walkmen - You & Me











2. No Kids – Come Into My House











3. Deerhoof- Offend Maggie











4. Colourmusic – F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13










5. Evangelicals – The Evening Descends











6. Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane










7. Beach House – Devotion










8. Francois Virot – Yes or No











9. Vampire Weekend – S/T











10. Why? - Alopecia










11. Nat Baldwin – Most Valuable Player











12. Black Mountain – In the Future










13. Subtle – ExitingARM










14. TV On The Radio – Dear Science,









15. Meho Plaza – Meho Plaza










16. Women – Women










17. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.










18. Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust









19. Destroyer – Trouble In Dreams










20. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park










21. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
22. Portugal the Man – Censored Colors
23. El Guincho - Alegranza
24. Atlas Sound – Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Who Cannot Feel
25. Skeletons – Money
26. No Age – Nouns
27. Marnie Stern – This is it…
28. Sun Kil Moon – April
29. Pete & The Pirates – Little Death
30. Jamie Lidell - Jim
31. Animal Collective - Water Curses EP
32. The Black Angels – Directions to See a Ghost
33. High Places – S/T
34. Vivian Girls – S/T
35. Andrew Bird - Soldier On EP
36. Hospital Ships – Oh, Ramona
37. Dosh – Wolves and Wishes
38. Santogold - S/T
39. The Ruby Suns – Sea Lion
40. The Mae Shi - Hlllyh
41 The Great Nortwest - The Widespread Reign Of
42. Juana Molina - Un Dia
43. A Faulty Chromosome - As An Ex-Anorexic’s Six Sicks Exit, …
44. Navigator - Songs For Mei and Satsuki
45. Cadence Weapon - After Party Babies
46. Alan Wilkis - Babies Dream Big
47. The Black Keys - Attack And Release
48. Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
49. Thao Nguyen – We Brave Bee Stings and All
50. Blood On The Wall - Liferz

-Sassigrass

Half of 2008

Always being ready to prematurely anoint the next "It" album and be as trendy in the blogosphere as possible, or whatever, we here at FG head quarters never pass up a legitimate opportunity to list some of our current faves, no shame attached. Working together, Sassigrass and Mr. Thistle have come up with 20 albums that have rocked them in 2008 in every way possible. So here in no particular order are...

Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer

We pulled the trigger on this review a bit early on this album and it looks like our gushing had some sort of universally luke warm backlash. It’s no matter though. We (I at least) still am absolutely in love with this record more than any other. So good. Stop semi-hating fence sitting haters!



Pumice – Quo

Handicap bedroom pop doesn’t get any grittier or more enjoyable than this. Not that Pumice main man Stephan Neville is handicap, just his songs. For some reason throwing a wrench in the spokes just sounds better sometimes. Quo is perfect evidence of that.




Kurt Weisman – Spiritual Sci-fi

Pure ear candy on every level, Weisman’s beautifully strange debut solo outing is both spiritual and scientific making it the owner of the most applicable album title on the list. Let Spiritual-Sci fi transport you to an alternate universe’s heaven. Also, Sassigrass nominates it for worst album art OF ALL TIME!




Subtle – ExitingARM

Avant pop hip hoppers, Subtle managed their most complex and commercial album at the same time with ExitingARM. There are not very many musical acts today that could pull off something so amazing on so many levels.




A Faulty Chromosome - As An Ex-Anorexic’s Six Sicks Exit, …

The sleeper hit of sleeper hits. For the ease with which A Faulty Chromosome goes down it is crazy that this band’s debut hasn’t raked in more mainstream indie credibility. The most sugary sweet geeked out shoegazing indie rock this side of the universe.




No Kids – Come Into My House

Formed out of the ashes of inspired but spotty P:ano, No Kids’ Come Into My House is the fully formed album that P:ano was always trying for. Absolutely blissful, booty shaking sun shine packaged with indie pop genius. Sassigrass can't stop rocking this one.




Nat Baldwin – Most Valuable Player

Nat Baldwin has always had the ability of making “pop songs” feel more like precious diamonds than quickly consumed bite-sized candy bars. On Most Valuable Player Baldwin one-ups himself by coating his diamonds with gourmet chocolate. Mmm, delicious!




Evangelicals – The Evening Descends

A theatrical, psychedelic, psychotic plunge into glammy indie rock, The Evening Descends was the musical fix that was first to insured that 2008 wouldn’t disappoint and The Evangelicals sophomore album has shown no signs of letting up on that promise. Classic.




Peter Broderick – Float

Perhaps the most beautiful set of recordings to be released so far this year and definitely the most delicate, Peter Broderick has created a modern classical masterpiece in Float.




The Raveonettes – Lust, Lust, Lust

A ragged buzzing mess of gorgeous pop, Lust, Lust, Lust is The Raveonettes’ unexpected return to form, both in grittiness and consistency. A perfect entry point, Lust, Lust, Lust is the bands best album to date (or the only one that Mr. Thistle is familiar with.)




Scott Tuma – Not For Nobody

Scott Tuma’s mangled take on instrumental Americana is probably the most viable contender Broderick’s Float for most beautiful album so far this year. Somehow Tuma’s hazy, disjointed compositions fumble lazily into the most satisfyingly resolute pieces of music you can remember. Not For Nobody sees Tuma pushing his aesthetic farther than ever before with awe-inspiring results


Beach House – Devotion

The most fitting descriptor I can think of for Beach House’s sophomore release, Devotion, is grandeur. Something about the thick syrupy female vocals and muddled guitar and organ lines soothes as if the band was sucking inspiration through a straw dangling from heaven.




The Goslings – Occasion

As haunting as it is deafening, on Occasion The Goslings have secured their rightful place as the royal heirs to the apocalypse. I don’t know if anything else so austere that has managed to sound so enticing.





Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista

An ethereal mad house of lilting, ghostly beauty, fractured field recordings and pummeling electronics among other things, Paavoharju’s follow up to the astounding Yha Hamaraa is nothing less than pure magic.



Jim Noir – Jim Noir

Bringing back the 60’s in the best possible way, Jim Noir’s self titled sophomore outing perfects and expands everything that made those blissful psychedelics of yesteryear so great. A colorful album packed with sunny adventure and beachside satisfaction.




Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

The hype typhoon for Vampire Weekend has been pretty much unavoidable. First a tidal wave of adulation, then an expected backlash tidal wave, it seems we are just barely getting to the point where we can listen to this album without some else’s opinion butting into our heads. Well, preppy pricks or not, Vampire Weekend’s self titled debut is still absolutely delicious.


El Guincho – Alegranza

Released last year, but hitting US shores in March of this year, El Guincho’s Alegranza is a multi-colored loop dream filled to the brim with samples stretching all around the world. We have attempted to put our words into pictures here at FG, but the album cover pretty much speaks for itself.



Why? – Alopecia

Head nodding doesn’t get any more enthusiastic or dramatic than when the FG staff are blasting Alopecia out the windows. It is pretty much impossible to hear Why? latest avant-indie-hip hop conglomeration and not feel like some quasi thug/hipster while cruisin’ the boulevard. As infectious as it is lyrically uncomfortable, Alopecia is the most enjoyable slice of ridiculousness we’ve listened to so far this year.


Times New Viking – Rip It Off

For those who love sloppy, loud pop with more grit than a Middle Eastern sand storm, Times New Viking pretty much require that your stereo be turned to 11. It is going to sound like it is regardless of what volume level you set your speakers to anyway. Audio destruction has never sounded more glorious or fun.



Some Beasts – Some Beasts

From out nowhere, Some Beasts slowly made its case as an album that required repeat listens – many many repeat listens. Subsequently, the breezy mix of instrumental styles harkening folk, jazz, rock and a healthy dash of the avant-garde has turned Some Beasts into one of the most durable and always satisfying albums we heard so far in 2008; local or otherwise.

Mr Thistle's 2007 Lament

It is that time of year again…uh, yeah…that middle time of the year when we all gasp at the fact that it has already been 6 months or that it has only been 6 months. The only way to relieve that stress is a proper list. In advance of our half year round up for 2008 I felt that 6 months time is probably as good a time as any to look back on 2007 and lament about what we missed. So without further ado here are the 13 albums that should have been on my (Mr. Thistle) 2007 year end list.

The Fun Years – Life-Sized Psychoses

Life-Sized Psychoses is as ominous and sprawling a delusion as the album title implies. Slowly building from the remnants of distorted vinyl trickery and moody, repetitive guitars this debut album proves a ravaging mental cluster bomb as experienced in slow motion. This should have rivaled Sunset Rubdown for my #1 last year.



Gavin Bryars / Philip Jeck / Alter Ego – The Sinking of the Titanic

In a single track spanning over seventy minutes in length, Gavin Bryars, Philip Jeck and Alter Ego performed Bryar’s masterwork, The Sinking of the Titanic. Listening to it is a daunting task, but the rewards are more than worth it as my iTunes can attest (play count is in the double digits already). One of the most poignant musical experiences I have ever had.

Dose One – Skeleton Repellent

It is a shame that among all the Subtle and Clouddead fans out there (groups with which Dose One is most notably affiliated) that Skeleton Repellent will more often than not slip between the cracks. Dose One is at his lyrical and musical peak here. I’m loving on the new ExitingARM but this album is much better.



Radicalfashion – Odori

An oddly silly name for this crystalline piece of home listening, Radicalfashion’s Odori is one of the most aesthetically pleasing and forward thinking albums of classical composition that I have heard. Revolving around an absolutely gorgeous and often playful piano, Radicalfashion mixes virtuosic playing with varied electronic expressions to create something truly life-affirming.


Castanets – In The Vines

Heavy and brooding, In The Vines is the kind of record that feels like it was created from a life times worth of weighty experience. With added elements of subtle, yet intense audio experimentation to Castanets’ signature Americana, In The Vines is gigantic step forward and immensely impactful listen.



Frog Eyes – Tears of the Valedictorian

Whoever recently commented about the absence of Frog Eyes on my year end list was right to do so. It is pretty criminal to have over looked a fair listen to Tears of the Valedictorian while hailing Random Spirit Lover as album of the year. Carey Mercer’s ferociously, eclectic approach in indie rock is absolutely genius. It has steadily wound its way up my list in the past year a still manages to constantly, spontaneously requiring listen after listen. An absolute classic.

John Wiese – Soft Punk

It’s not very often that you are already a veteran by the time you release your “debut LP” but then again nothing about John Wiese is very conventional. After over a decade of experimentation, Wiese has finally given us Soft Punk, a cut-n-paste noise masterpiece that is punk in the purest sense of the word and anything but soft. The most gratuitous and satisfyingly brutal record of 2007 by far.

Chris Schlarb – The Twilight & Ghost Songs

I really don’t feel all that bad about missing this album on my 2007 list seeing as how it was released in December. In fact, I think it was released after my list was posted. Either way, while timing may not have been a friend to Schlarb’s debut solo outing, The Twilight & Ghost Songs is certainly friendly to the ears. A hodge-podge epic cut and pasted into a river of beautiful sound.

Shape of Broad Minds – Craft of the Lost Art

Thank you Shape of Broad Minds for reminding me of why I ever loved hip hop. Inventive beats, free jazz soul, old school flare and relaxed lyricism all combine for one of the best hip hop album to run the indie circuit in ages.




A Place To Bury Strangers – S/T

New York’s “loudest band” is also one of its best. Reviving the idea that the best way to treat any rock or pop song alike is to drown it in a sea of feedback, A Place To Bury Strangers surely make a loud swirling ode to My Bloody Valentine and Jesus & Mary Chain with its self titled debut.





Sawako – Madoromi

Sawako makes ambient landscapes that sound like a dream. Makes sense since the title of her album translates as a word for the space in-between sleeping and waking. With beautiful floating vocals and a majestic array floating tones from various instruments, Madoromi is a warm ocean of happy delusions.


Letters Letters – S/T

For me, Letters Letters’ self titled debut feels a bit like the love child of Gowns’ Red State and Mahjongg’s Raydoncong. Using Midwestern noise, electroclash beats and ambling free folk weirdness as their experimental pop ingredients, Letters Letters is probably the coolest sound record I listened to from last year.



Dust From 1000 Years - Buzzard

Three albums in and these guys are still churning out the best lo-fi Americana around on CDRs with little Fed Ex copy inserts. It shows some dedication for one and secondly a belief in the need for their unique, decaying pop tunes to be out in the world. I would have to agree with that belief.