58.

The Books
Thought For Food
(Tomlab, 2002)

Remember when Thought For Food first came out? How it was revolutionary? The deft use of samples in combination with beautiful chamber folk and glitch electronics – it was astounding. Even going back to it now, I am incredibly impressed. The album inspired a lot of imitators, but no one has ever really captured the magic of what The Books have started. And I can’t post about this without mentioning the sample at the beginning of “Motherless Bastard”. I am still shocked with the humor and horror of it every time.

-Thistle

25.

The Books
The Lemon of Pink
(Tomlab, 2003)

When I first picked up The Lemon of Pink I was with my sister. I started playing it in my car and for some reason my sister thought that I had just purchased a scary sounds album or the soundtrack to a horror movie. The tonal impression of the album couldn’t be farther from the mark, but I can understand her confusion. The Books' use of samples in conjunction with the beautiful instrumentation of Nick Zammuto’s acoustic guitar and Paul de Jong’s Cello was certainly unique and totally different from anything my sister might have been listening to on the radio. For me the contrast is significant – The Lemon of Pink inhabits the resilience of the human spirit, and that is reason enough to have it here as one of the top twenty-five very best albums of the decade.

-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

Skeletons - Money

Skeletons
Money
(11.2008, Tomlab)
Verdict = Ridiculously ambitious and surprisingly wonderful

My goodness, here is a surprise. Usually around late-November/December everything is on cruise control which makes an album like this one all the more shocking when it blips on the radar. Skeletons (formerly with various addendums attached to their names but now gloriously bare) have created a monster with Money, their fifth or sixth full length album and first for Tomlab. So what’s the big surprise? We are pretty familiar with monsters here at FG. Why is this album so surprising? Well, I guess an intrinsic part of it is that Money embodies something fresh so it is kind of hard to classify. Money is just alive and I don’t know if there is any other way to put it. There is a fluidity here, something “organic,” something with pulsing lungs, a beating heart and, happily, a brain. Another part of it is that it is big. Not necessarily in size (though it clocks in at a healthy 50 plus minutes) but in its philosophical breadth and creative makeup – Money is just big, like monstrously big. As such, you might imagine that Money isn’t any breezy fast food pop. Skeletons have created something that requires a bit of digestion, but don’t confuse that with indigestion cuz Money’s got nutrients! The album uses the ten track album format to encase a sprawlingly ambitious fusion of avant indie rock with R&B, jazz and world music. Its is definitely odd, but after an introductory trial run, the prancing guitar lines, flush brass, skittery drum passages and thick rhythms will have undoubtedly sparked an intrigued grin. Delving deeper into Money will only expand that intrigue into satisfaction and then to elation. It is just one of those rare ambitious albums that has been fully realized; a classic that can be enjoyed front to back. Skeletons have continually proved themselves to be in the same blissful, forward thinking realm as equally creative bands like The Dirty Projectors or Zs and should be likewise celebrated. Money is their evidence.

-Mr. Thistle

Skeletons Myspace

No Kids - Come Into My House

No Kids
Come Into My House
(02.2008, Tomlab)
Verdict: Subtle genius is the best sort of genius

Rising like a phoenix out of the ashes of Canada's P:iano, a glorious resurrection has taken place and given us an album with a come hither look to draw you in quicker than Adrien Brody or Scarlett Johansson. No Kids is a trio that, when combining forces, is unstoppable in its quest to get my mood at least one level higher on the happy meter or my head bobbing along. Wait, the base heavy hot beats aren't just making my head start bobbing, my whole body is wibbly-wobbly and it's definitely putting my typing in jeopardy. I just can't stop! And I can't stop listening to this album either, it's the only thing other than the first half of Alopecia that has fully kept my interest over the past few weeks. Come Into My House is treading new waters by mixing together a whole lot of oceans of incredibly varied genres. It's seems like all the music that is interesting me as of late are these strange quasi cross bred genre bending freak albums that are difficult to classify. This one is no different: some obvious pop, mixed with R&B, a little electronica, a bit of barbershop, glue it all together with some lounge and package it with wonderful harmonizing vocals and you have a playfully addicting album sounding a little bit like Justin Timberlake, Bon Iver, Dirty Projector, Flight of the Concords, and Sufjan all got together for a weekend and somehow had a gorgeous love child. The sound is eclectic and lovely and won't let me live my life in peace unless it's on, loud!

-Sassigrass

No Kids - "Halloween"