Green Gerry - Odd Tymes

Green Gerry
Odd Tymes
(2010, Self Released)
RIYL = Julian Lynch, Grouper, Ducktails

Have you ever, in the midst of a fishing trip upon that open lake – the lake lined with sentinel trees, each slung to the next with hammocks and lit up alright with lanterns – fallen into the water-ether and was surprised, while floating amongst the underwater greenery, that the cricket-silence present at the surface, on the rowboat, was juxtaposed so gorgeously with the ear disorienting vibrations swinging below, and there, submerged and sinking, decided that drowning was the best option, because you wanted to eek out a couple more minutes of the blessedly soggy tunes you’d newly discovered and never wanted to let go of? I imagine it is a common experience among us, though, if you’re reading this it is likely that, though you slipped into the sleepy depths unconscious, a boat mate or shore observer (or school of fish) managed to float you ashore an revive your breathing, thinking and (most importantly) hearing capacities. Thus, here you are, remembering that lost experience like it was just a figment of your imagination. Wondering, with your dissolving memory, what exactly those tones were that you’d experienced, that voice. Fortunately for us all, Green Gerry (the pseudonym of one Gerry Green) has produced (with only Garage Band and the internal mic on his computer) that most glorious, layered, submerged paradise and set it to tape so that it might kiss our ears freely while our lungs expand and retract. I promise you, by the axe of Thor, that Odd Tymes, this most honestly gorgeous, intensely atmospheric, odd and timely out-folk album, is indeed that sooty savior you’ve been seeking. And, of course, just like the cost to sink low in that open lake – the lake lined with sentinel trees, each slung to the next with hammocks and lit up alright with lanterns – was yours, Green Gerry in his most generous, throaty way and understanding, humbly of course, of the sheer essentiality of Odd Tymes, something created very much with forces beyond his own, has it propped up on his Bandcamp page using the pay-what-you-want model. It’s worth much more than $0, of that I assure you. So bloody, drowningly good.

-Thistle

Green Gerry on Bandcamp

RxRy - VAEIOUWLS

RxRy
VAEIOUWLS
(2010. Self Released)
RIYL = Pantha du Prince, Burial, Eluvium

It’s only July and already RxRy is breathing down our necks with another full length slab of super-beautiful, minimalist electronica. If you read my review of his self titled debut LP earlier this year, you’ll know that I’m super psyched on this kid. Mixing a knack for shimmering, emotive drones with an expertise at slow building beat-centric perfection, RxRy has matched his debut with an equally elated, equally life affirming, perhaps better album of pure headphone bliss. VAEIOUWLS ebbs and flows spiritually through its ten tracks and, though it is separated into separate suites, there is no reason during the course of the album that you will ever want to stray. It’s a complete structure from beginning to end and, even in its inherent simplicity, quite an achievement of mood construction. Remember those electronic chill compilations? The ones that mixed some of your favourite downbeat electronic artists with a mix of mediocre ones? The ones with the bikini’d babes slapped on the cover? If you remove the marketing aspect of those albums and access the desire for a perfect mix of moody electronic transportation, what’s being sought there is presented here in VAEIOUWLS at is most primal and evocative. Man, I feel bad for even bringing up those old comps. They do not belong in comparison with this record. Even still, that perfectly isolating, interior assemblage of digital mind destruction, it’s here. And, since the record labels RxRy’s pursuing haven’t seemed to catch on to the sheer genius of this stuff, it is available for free. Plan on seeing RxRy twice on my year end list.

-Thistle

Download VAEIOUWLS
and, if track 7 doesn't work for you, click here.


UUAII - RxRy - VAEIOUWLS LP (2010) from Rx Ry on Vimeo.



EUUIO - RxRy - VAEIOUWLS LP (2010) from Rx Ry on Vimeo.



AAIEI - RxRy - VAEIOUWLS LP (2010) from Rx Ry on Vimeo.

The Halfway Point: End-of-Decade revisions

This is a list of could've/would've/should've revisions to my End-of-Decade list I posted earlier this year for 2000-2009. Sorry, new record reviews from 2010 on the horizon. You'll just have to induldge me for now...or wait, or whatever, blahblahblah.

-Thistle

Could've

The "could’ve" section. These are albums that, depending on the day, could have been interchangeable with many of the albums that made the final list, though, most likely in the latter ranks. I’m adding these mostly to complete the whole could’ve/would’ve/should’ve trilogy. Still, I have no problem blurbing about albums that I love, of which these qualify.

Juana Molina
Un Dia
(Domino, 2008)

Who at Domino thought that it would be a bad idea to put this album on vinyl? That’s what I want to know. I mean, people are aware of Juana Molina, right? And Domino isn’t exactly a petty label. And Un Dia is absolutely and completely, unequivocally, her best album, looped to bizarrely wonderful and always organic realms of wonder and mysticism. So, why?

Clinic
Internal Wrangler
(Domino, 2000)

A pretty standard decade-end listmaker, and for good reason. Internal Wrangler is claustrophobically tight, brooding little art rock record of purity and distinction. Oh how I would love for Clinic to reach these heights again. They’ve another new record set for this year, so here’s to hoping.

Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan
Pullhair Rubeye
(Paw Tracks, 2007)

This album is most notorious, to me at least, for receiving a 1.0 rating from Pitchfork. Which is ridiculous. The album is, I suppose (based on such reviews), frustrating because the entire thing was released in reverse: all instruments and lyrics playing backwards. Some have been savvy enough to correct this reversal by reversing it to its original composition, but I have avoided this. Pullhair Rubeye is just too wonderful the way it is, I wouldn’t want to dampen my listening experience by constantly having to refer to the forward playing version whenever I hear it. Really, one of the most beautiful albums of this past decade, there is no doubt. The only reason I omitted it was because I was already feeling guilty for all the Animal Collective albums I listed. Yet, this is a wholly unique venture and deserves a second attention, one divorced from attention deficit critics. So, so good.

Broadcast
Haha Sound
(Warp, 2003)

Gorgeous electropop bliss tempered with ample moments of crumbling electronic breakdowns and nuanced sound fissures, Haha Sound maintains a pitch perfect tone throughout. Mandatory listening for My Bloody Valentine apologists, with a pleasant twist that distances the band from any accusations of a watered down retread. An album (not to mention, a band) which has constantly been on my list of things to get to, but, of which, I never quite got around to until now.

-Thistle

Would've

This is a listing of albums that I came to way too late in the game, and that would have, given the proper timing, been most certainly counted among my favourite albums of this past decade. It’s a category, I expect, will continue to grow over the course of this new decade. Each is worthy, without question, of being listed in any best of the decade listing for 2000-2009.

Fire Show
Saint The Fire Show
(Perishable, 2002)

Saint The Fire Show is one of those completely off-the-charts-unique, slightly grating albums that spins in a universe all its own and, eventually, with repeated listens, turns into something astounding and permanently scarring (an experience reminiscent of Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock or Slint’s Spiderland). Post-rock experimentalism at its most crooked and awry.


Sean McCann
Midnight Orchard
(2009, Roll Over Rover)

I’ve already written this up here.














The Skygreen Leopards
One Thousand Bird Ceremony
(Soft Abuse, 2003)

The pastoral, patchwork folk of The Skygreen Leopards was never so disassembled and airy, pristine and sunlight twinkling, as gorgeous as it is on their debut for Soft Abuse. Why I waited so long to listen to the boys on their debut after so thoroughly enjoying their now more pop oriented psych folk, is beyond me. Don’t let it happen to you. No wait, you knew better. Loveliness.


Peter Kolovos
New Bodies
(Thin Wrist, 2009)

Did I mention that the vinyl packaging for New Bodies is absolutely deluxe? So is everything on Thin Wrist. Of course, I just reviewed this thing last week, but have been listening to it for a good enough amount of time to know that it will imprint on this past decade most solidly. Essential.


-Thistle

Should've

These are the incredible albums that I cannot deny knowing about and still, by some force I have not yet identified, neglected to list among my favourite albums for this past decade. If I did it all over again, each of these would find a spot on the list, without question. Essentially: my bad.


MoHa!
One-Way Ticket to Candyland
(Rune Grammofon, 2008)

What I feel was my largest omission, the biggest hole in my ragged end-of-decade list, was the masterwork of noise and confusion that is MoHa!’s One-Way Ticket to Candyland. Corralling their freejazz noise splatter into tighter, more structured bursts of hardcore punk fury, this album should have sunk deep into the top 50 of my list. I know that I thought of it during my deliberations. The band’s tonal attack must have dislodged a memory circuit or something. They'll do that.


El-P
Fantastic Damage
(Def Jux, 2002)

With production as crumbled and noisy and paranoid as anything on The Cold Vein (of course, you already knew that those are his fingerprints on them beats too, right?) and with a thick cadence and lyricism that constantly informs any attempts I make at poetry/lyrical-fiction, how could I throw Fantastic Damage under the bus? Forever repentant.


Interpol
Antics
(Matador, 2004)

I like Interpol better than Joy Division and I like Antics better than Turn On The Bright Lights (which is a fairly recent development). Sue me. Then sue me again for not listing this the first go around.




Skeletons
Money
(Tomlab, 2008)

An underappreciated (even by me, apparently) avant funk trip, Money is a crowning achievement of hybrid indie rock aesthetics. Jazzy, rocking, bluesy and all that. Skeletons, as the constantly shifting moniker of genius musician Matt Mehlan and his cronies, has never been more vibrant, colorful, dark and enveloping as on this album. That the group will find commonalities with The Dirty Projectors doesn’t mean that they aren’t unique; also, Money is way better than Bitte Orca (IMHO).

-Thistle

The Halfway Point: Best Missed Albums of 2009, Part 2

Part two of the best albums that I missed in 2009. I wanted to add a couple more, but I got lazy. Sorry. Also, there is a 2007 and 2008 review. Lame. In addition to these, sometime later next week, I’m going to finish up this halfway point nonsense with an amendment to my end-of-decade list posted in January. So that’s that. Yeah. Cool. Sure.

Peter Kolovos - New Bodies

Peter Kolovos
New Bodies
(2009, Thin Wrist)
RIYL = Kevin Drumm, John Wiese, Derek Bailey

Peter Kolovos plays the guitar like John Wiese works a circuit board, his guitar squawking and scribbling out its beautiful spit and grit – its malfunction – all over the place. And New Bodies, New Bodies is the best album I missed last year. How good? Well, I would probably place it somewhere in my top 3 albums of 2009. Possibly number one. Which makes it an obvious mention for one of the best albums of this past decade. I understand that Kolovos’s experimental, hard glitching guitar work, like the spastic blues of Bill Orcutt (probably the other best album I missed from 2009), is a descendent of the all mighty Derek Bailey, but nothing from that man mangles me in quite the same way as New Bodies does. It’s as if, in his improvisations, in these obvious new tones, that Kolovos’s intuition knows perfectly the position and placement of each dotted note, each puncturing slice and every extended wall of garbage laced crunch. The album is, simply, perfect in its deconstruction, its balance, its weight and kill. Do not underestimate this. New Bodies is what a guitar was meant to sound like. It has simply taken all these hundreds of years to perfect it. Mind blowing.

-Thistle

LSD March - Under Milk Wood

LSD March
Under Milk Wood
(2009, Important)
RIYL = Boris, Ghost, Acid Mother Temple

LSD March has, apparently, been a longtime psych rock import from Japan. I never knew, and as a result I seem to be a much lesser person than I otherwise could’ve been. So this, Under Milk Wood, with its black and white visual palate and its broken down psych folk branches, its beautiful, haunting Japanese cadence, is simply contorting me into another world completely. Some place with a rain of crows and crows’ feathers. A blackened air backlit by a white, hot sun. It’s a desert type atmosphere, arid and austere, mangled leafless trees perched about and barbed wire fencing, rusted and bent. When they pull out the electric guitar, let it buzz hard into the air, everything burns slow and flat. It’s simply an experience. An enveloping, Jimi Hendrix screwed and twisted into a Japanese horror film, or something. Whatever it is, I’m loving it.

-Thistle

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health

Harlem Shakes
Technicolor Health
(2009, Gigantic)
RIYL = The Shins, The Evangelicals,

A bright, hook infused pop band with well written lyrics and the sweet, pure sound of hope. Dash it all, they’ve imploded and are no longer. But this remains: Technicolor Health, a perfect indie rock/pop album on par with the “life changing” stylings of a band like The Shins. My FG compatriots seem to think that Technicolor Health was killed by overly active blog hype, but I never noticed any of that. Maybe that’s why I’m able to receive this with such utter joy. You should too.

-Thistle

Estesombelo - Oppida Von Ataraxia

Estesombelo
Oppida Von Ataraxia
(2007, self released)
RIYL = Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, The Fun Years

For some reason I thought this was a 2009 release when it was actually a 2007 release. Whatever, I already wrote a review: Estesombelo makes sound of the richest variety. It’s like melting gold into your ears. That may not sound super pleasing – hot, popping gold slipping into and swimming in your ear canals – but rest assured, the image (minus the heat) is spot on. Oppida Von Ataraxia is smooth, glistening and rich with aesthetically appeasing sound. Out of Chicago, the group, currently a trio, create glistening, dreamlike, ambient washes that immerse you, body and soul. And, in terms of droning bliss, Estesombelo manage the near impossible task of maintaining a perfectly beautiful tone register throughout: always satisfying, never boring (though super similar to Stars of the Lid). The soft puncture of blips and dots, the slow tide of guitars and synths, and whatever is all in this gently lapping sound, is like the perfectly temperate paradise of a nighttime beach. Timeless and gorgeous beyond the simplicity of my vocabulary.

-Thistle

Estesombelo on MySpace

Charlie & The Moonhearts - Thunderbeast

Charlie & the Moonhearts
Thunderbeast
(2008, Telephone Explosion)
RIYL = The Von Bondies, Smith Westerns, Women

Alright, this isn’t a 2009 release, but I wrote for the same reason last year and never posted it, so I thought I’d sneak it in: The band name "Moonhearts" kinda sounds like the name of a pack horses that Rainbow Bright and her cohorts would ride; however, in context of Charlie, the apparent leader of this troupe, Moonhearts are actually hardened, gritty rock purveyors of the extremely dirty variety. And heaven knows, boys like dirt, not ponies. Thunderbeast, now that is a name that more aptly conveys the mood of this album. And, literally, this album is a blissful garage rock beast. I really have no qualms with the surge of straight forward retro garage rockers that have been emerging in the latter portion of this decade. Girls, The Fresh and Onlys, The Yolks: all of them are solid and all have a good batch of hook worthy tunes. All of them are also just a little bit stale (though, in the wonderful saltine cracker kind of way that allows you to eat more and more regardless). Charlie & the Moonhearts, on the other hand, somehow avoid this stale-crackerness. The unfortunate thing about this is I can’t quite put my finger on why. I’m not sure why Charlie & the Moonhearts is striving to rank on my decade end list while the rest of these groups don’t stand an inkling of a chance. I don’t know exactly why Thunderbeast is so much more enjoyable and authentic feeling. The guitars are better, the songs more distinctive, the urgency more palatable, the tunes more groovy. I guess it just comes down to my feeling that Charlie & the Moonhearts are a better band. Better bands just make better music.

-Thistle

Charlie and the Moonhearts (now just "Moonhearts") on MySpace