7.1.15
Halfway through the year, and here are my favorite albums so far (in no particular order except the first one, since this is definitely my favorite):
Waxahatchee——Ivy Tripp Sufjan Stevens——Carrie and Lowell Blur——The Magic Whip Hot Chip——Why Make Sense? Girlpool——When the World Was Big London O'Connor——Circle Triangle
Also: I still haven't posted my top 10 lists from 2014, so...
7.2.15
Despite my affection for the records I listed yesterday, there hasn't really been a true knockout of a record this year (although, as with Cerulean Salt, Ivy Tripp is a grower that I seem to be getting obsessed with). We're entering the summer doldrums for record releases, but we do have the new Titus Andronicus to look forward to later this month, which might be our best hope for a clear Album of the Year candidate.
7.6.15 Jens Lekman, "Postcard #27":
Too dancey. Also: no singing. I get that he needs to goof off with this project every once in a while, but this one doesn't do anything for me. Might be my least favorite entry so far.
7.7.15
One of my favorite recent records is from emerging artist London O'Connor, whose debut release is available for free from Soundcloud. The title is the symbol for a circle and a symbol for a triangle, and it's pronounced Circle Triangle, but I don't know how to make the shapes for those in HTML and I don't feel like looking them up, so I'm just going to call it Circle Triangle from now on. But I think it would have been cooler if he had used the words for the Greek symbols and called it Theta Delta.
I don't know quite how to describe this sound——Bedroom hip hop? Twee rap?——but it's got that strange off-the-cuff simplicity that really appeals to me when it's done right. With a name like London, you might think he was British, and he often sounds British in his pronunciations, but he's apparently from California, so I don't know quite what to do with that.
Anyway. If you're at all curious about the combination of bedroom pop/twee and hip hop, you should give this one a listen. Not saying it's going to work for you, but it's definitely working for me.
7.8.15
I have begun the long, slow process of adding tags to my four and five star playists so that any songs with curse words can be easily removed from a copy of the playlist that I can safely play in the car while my son is riding with me without my wife freaking out.
I've almost stopped listening to the rap/hip hop stuff and just started tagging it by default, which kind of sucks because although I'm not a huge fan of that genre, some of my favorite music fits into that category, and I know that he'd like some of it from a purely musical perspective. But the thing that really gets me is when a favorite song casually uses one "fuck" or "shit", meaning it has to be removed from the list (at least for now).
7.9.15
I had high hopes for the Wavves/Cloud Nothings collaboration No Life for Me——I like both artists and could see how their styles might fit together really well. Mostly I was hoping that Nathan Williams' more pop-focused tendencies would bring Dylan Baldi back to his poppier roots——the first Cloud Nothings full-length is one of my favorite records of the past decade——but instead the opposite seems to have happened: Baldi has put Williams in touch with his dark side.
Of the bands two different takes on punk, Cloud Nothings seems to win out here——the pace is slower, the tone more brooding, and the feel more introspective, which are hallmarks of the two most recent Cloud Nothings records. You can hear the Wavves influence winning out for brief moments, but this is a Wavves/Cloud Nothings joint effort in the same way that Divine Fits was a joint effort between Spoon'sBritt Daniel and Wolf Parade'sDan Boeckner——Daniel'sSpoon sound was clearly the dominant force, which Boeckner's tracks used as a template.
It's an okay record——it's probably as good as the most recent Cloud Nothings album——but I was hoping for so much more. This could have been the album of the year for someone like me, but instead it's turning out to just be an interesting side note in the careers of these two artists.
7.10.15 The Walkmen's singer Hamilton Leithauser, fresh off his first solo album, is teaming up with Walkmen guitarist Paul Maroon (what sort of critical mass of bandmates is needed to make this an actual Walkmen release, I wonder?). The album is called Dear God, and the duo have shared a track from that record titled "Proud Irene":
I could see this tucked away on the back half of a Walkmen record being a palate cleanser, but it's hard to get a sense of what this record might actually be like from this track. I don't dislike it, but it's an odd choice for a preview, and it almost certainly is not the first single. So I'll wait til I hear more before I start making any assumptions about how this collaboration might work out.
7.13.15 Jens Lekman, "Postcard #28":
Not as annoying as last week's entry, but just barely. Weird dolphin noise and another instrumental/slightly dancey track are leaving me cold.
7.14.15
So I know that most of the music buying/listening universe moved from physical CDs to digital downloads a few years ago, and I've finally made that transition after a long, long time holding out and trying to buy CDs unless the digital version of an album was significantly less expensive. I've had it with CDs not ripping correctly, and/or with iTunes not matching the songs correctly, plus I'm starting to push up on the limit of tracks allowed in iTunes Match, and any tracks purchased through the iTunes store don't count against that limit.
I might still buy the occasional CD if it's a special edition with extra artwork, etc., from a favorite artist, but those typically come with a digital download code anyway, so I still won't likely need to actually rip the CD to get the songs into my music library.
Of course I realize I'm still way behind the times with this decision——most people have already moved on to the streaming services and now consider buying digital tracks to be too expensive and/or uncool. And I can't imagine ever wanting to get away from owning my music (at least in some sense——the law is still undecided as to whether you can legally pass on ownership of purchased digital tracks the way you can a physical object like a CD or an album), but who knows?——I never thought I'd be comfortable with the idea of only having a file instead of a physical object containing the music.
7.15.15
I ran my first 5K back in April, and I've been trying to run a new one every 3-4 weeks since then. This is the playlist I've used for all of them so far:
Tokyo Police Club——"Argentina (Parts I, II, III)" Cool Kids——"Black Mags" Datarock Datarock——"Computer Camp Love" Liars——"Clear Island" Childish Gambino——"Heartbeat" Belle & Sebastian——"Your Cover's Blown" Run the Jewels——"Oh My Darling Don't Cry" Run the Jewels——"Blockbuster Night Part 1" Gorillaz——"Superfast Jellyfish" Big Boi——"Objectum Sexuality" Kendrick Lamar——"Backseat Freestyle"
This is the same playlist I used for my neighborhood training runs (which are also 5K and which I do 2-3 times a week). I usually finish towards the end of the Gorillaz track or the start of the Big Boi track, and finish my cooldown by the time Kenrick Lamar's track is over the the playlist starts over.
It's been working pretty well for me, but I feel like trying out some new stuff. So here's what I'll be running to for this weekend's race:
LCD Soundsystem——"Dance Yrself Clean" Hot Chip——"Huarache Lights" M.I.A.——"Paper Planes" Outkast——"The Rooster" Los Campesinos——"In Media Res" Skye Ferreira——"24 Hours" Jay-Z and Kanye West——"Niggas In Paris" Stars——"No One Is Lost" The Faint——"Machine In The Ghost" Cool Kids——"Mikey Rocks"
Looking at them laid out like this, it's hard for me to explain this particular combination of artists and tracks, especially in the context of running. But the first one was similarly random and put together on instinct, and that one has been pretty solid for my runs. So hopefully this one will somehow work in that context too.
7.16.15 Wilco have released a surprise album for free online called Star Wars. It features a painting of a cat on the cover for no apparent reason, but I'm guessing if you want to get a lot of Google attention directed your way, posting something that includes both cats and Star Wars is not a bad strategy. You can go get it here in exchange for your email address.
7.17.15
Even though they just released a collaboration with Cloud Nothings last month, Wavves have another record on deck for release later this summer. It's called V, and they have shared a track called "Way Too Much":
I instantly like this more than anything on the collaboration with Cloud Nothings, even though it's a pretty standard-issue Wavves track. This band has become one of the more reliable punk-influenced guitar pop bands of the past few years, and I'm sure I'll end up buying this record, but I hope Nathan Williams stretches himself creatively a little more than he's doing on this song.
7.20.15 Jens Lekman, "Postcard #29":
Dear lord help me. This one is flat-out disco, following two of my least favorite tracks of the series, which were both dance-oriented instrumentals. At least there's singing in this one, but other than that...ugh. I hope he gets out of this phase soon——the month of July is an utter failure so far, and a terrible start to the second half of this yearlong experiment.
7.21.15
Since my concert madness in March and April of this year, when I saw six shows in less than six weeks (including a stretch in mid-April when I saw four shows in a two week period), I've seen two other concerts: the Replacements in May and Morrissey in June.
Being able to attend the Replacements show was a happy bit of circumstance that I didn't plan on. They weren't coming to Atlanta, but as it happened they were playing in DC the night that a conference I was attending in Maryland wrapped up (it was originally supposed to be in Baltimore, but they moved it to the Eastern Shore because of the riots), so I made arrangements to go with my friend Doug, who lives in Northern Virginia, and stay at his house after the show before flying back to Atlanta the next day. A friend from Richmond was also able to join us, so no matter how good or bad the concert was, I was looking forward to hanging out with some friends I hadn't seen in a long, long time.
The show was at a place called Echostage, a new venue that didn't exist when I was living in the Baltimore/DC area, and let me tell you, I was not impressed. Parking was a nightmare, the neighborhood was beyond dicey, and the cavernous space had neither great sound or any good viewing angles unless you got a spot at the very front of the balcony railing (which we did not).
My friends and I ended up standing in the back near the soundboard, and the view in front of me confirmed my observations about the differences between the crowds in Atlanta and the crowds I remembered from DC: the Atlanta crowds are very short, and the DC crowds are very tall. In Atlanta, I feel like I'm usually one of the tallest people in the room, and I never have trouble seeing the stage no matter where in the room I'm standing. But at this show, I felt like about 50% of the crowd in front of me was several inches taller than me (I'm six feet), and all I saw of Paul Westerberg were occasional glimpses of his tiny head popping up in the gap between the cluster of goliaths stationed about 20 feet in front of us.
Anyway. Here's the setlist:
Takin a Ride
Favorite Thing
Take Me Down to the Hospital
Kissin' in Action
I'm in Trouble
Little Mascara
Waitress in the Sky
Valentine
Treatment Bound
Nobody
Kiss Me on the Bus
Seen Your Video
I Will Dare
White and Lazy
Color Me Impressed
I'll Be You
Whole Foods Blues
Merry Go Round
Within Your Reach
Can't Hardly Wait
Bastards of Young
Encore
My Boy Lollipop
("Watering Can Song")
Skyway
Left of the Dial
Alex Chilton
Never Mind
I.O.U.
There was no way I was going to hear everything I wanted to hear, but that's a pretty good selection. It started out a little slow, but starting with "Little Mascara" it got really good, and aside from the songs around "Whole Foods Blues", when they seemed to be taking a pause to build up to the finale, it kept pretty good momentum. The soundsystem aside, the band sounded pretty good——better than I expected them to, actually.
A lot of the rest of the crowd seemed to be douchebags in Ed Hardy shirts that I can't imagine were actually listening to the Replacements in their prime, and it was a little disconcerting to see a bunch of 40 and 50 year olds screaming along to "Bastards of Young" (of course I love the song, but I also realize that it's not an anthem that's particularly relevant or appropriate for grown ups who can afford $80 concert tickets).
But I'd go see the band again if I got the chance, especially if it was a venue that sucked less than Echostage (which wouldn't be difficult). It would also be great if this theoretical show took place in Atlanta, where I would stand a better than average chance of actually being able to see the band.
7.22.15
Prior to his show in June, Morrissey had canceled his previous four scheduled concerts in Atlanta (I had tickets to the most recent one before he called it off two days before he was scheduled to play), so I wasn't counting on the show actually taking place (although I did think I had decent odds this time——he usually makes it through the first half of his tours before some ailment takes him down, and this was only the third show on this particular tour).
Surprisingly, the day of the show came with no cancelation, so I headed down to the venue with fairly low expectations. The Smiths remain my favorite band of all time, but it's been a long time since I loved a Morrissey album, and the one other time I'd seen him back in the early 90s (coincidentally also in Atlanta), I had been less than impressed with the show even though he as likely at the peak of his energy and songwriting prowess as a solo artist.
But Morrissey was a major influence on me as a teenager, and any chance to spend some time in his presence still holds some attraction for me, so I was mainly hoping that the show wouldn't be an embarrassing disaster from a washed up artist (again: very low expectations).
And shockingly, it was actually a really good show. Like, no apologies or nostalgic explanations necessary to justify its existence.
Here's the setlist:
Suedehead
Staircase at the University
Ganglord
World Peace Is None of Your Business
Speedway
Kiss Me a Lot
Earth Is the Loneliest Planet
Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed
Istanbul
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Will Never Marry
The Bullfighter Dies
The World Is Full of Crashing Bores
Yes, I Am Blind
My Dearest Love
I'm Not a Man
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Everyday Is Like Sunday
Meat Is Murder
Now My Heart Is Full
Encore
First of the Gang to Die
What She Said
This is about as close as you can come to playing the hits at a Morrissey show, something that he has seemed traditionally loathe to do, and there were even a few Smiths songs mixed in (something that he emphatically refused to do back in 1991 when I saw him).
I was also really impressed with the visuals for two of the songs: "Ganglord", which mixed footage of police officers assaulting and killing dogs with footage of them doing the same thing to humans, which was especially powerful in light of the recent incidents of deadly force that have been in the media, and "Meat Is Murder", which showed slaughterhouses for various kinds of animals in action. "Meat Is Murder" is far and away my least favorite Smiths song——I would be happy if the universe excised it and I never knew that it existed——and the video that accompanied the live performance underscored the heavy-handed preachiness of the song. But it was incredibly powerful, and that was unexpected.
I thought maybe if I saw Morrissey one more time for nostalgia's sake I could get it out of my system and not feel compelled to see him again if I had a chance to. But I was impressed and intrigued——he put on a more compelling performance than many bands I've seen in the past few years whose music I like a lot more than Morrissey's recent releases.
If I had to make a choice at this point between seeing him live again or buying a new record, the live show would defnitely win out.
7.23.15 Wilco'sStar Wars is not going to stand shoulder to shoulder with their best releases, but it doesn't suffer from the weight of expectations that made their last two studio albums feel somewhat overthought and overwrought, and I'm actually enjoying the experience of listening to it.
"Random Name Generator" and "King of You" are the two tracks that stick out as my favorites so far, and neither of them are tracks that can define or carry an album, but there aren't any tracks I dislike, and they play out in a nice sequence. This is also the band's most concise, straightforward release in a long time——there's only one song that clocks in over five minutes (and it's also the only song that's longer than four minutes), and most tracks are at or below the three minute mark.
The album title and cover art (a painting of a very well groomed and haughty white cat, for no reason whatsoever) point to a sense of playfulness and looseness that you can hear in the music. And while I'd love another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or A Ghost Is Born, it's pretty refreshing to hear a collection of songs from Jeff Tweedy that remind me of the most charming moments from Being There's second disc, when it felt like the band was releasing all the tensions from the high expectations that came with a new major label record deal.
Wilco are established enough now that they aren't really worried about pleasing record company execs, but I'm sure the expectations from critics can be equally stifling. It's nice to hear
them take a breath, step away from the pressure of their back catalog, and share a little bit of a laugh with their fans.
7.24.15 Run the Jewels have shared a track from their Kickstarter-funded cat-themed version of last year's Run the Jewels 2. The record is called Meow the Jewels, and the track is called "Meowrly".
I can't even begin to explain how weird this whole project is to people who don't already know about it, but this is actually happening despite the absurdity of it all.
I naively thought a cat-themed version of this album would somehow also be kid-friendly enough that I might actually be able to let my five year old listen to some tracks, but that was a
ridiculous assumption. I don't think there's any version of a Run the Jewels record that's appropriate for five year olds——and that includes the edited, supposedly clean version they shared earlier this summer.
7.27.15 Jens Lekman, "Postcard #30":
Droning organ and churchbells. And five minutes of it. This might be a pretty song in another context, but this caps off a pretty terrible month in the Postcard series.
7.28.15 Chvrches have a new album coming out in September called Every Open Eye, and they recently shared a track from the record called "Leave A Trace":
Their first record, The Bones of What You Believe, became one of my favorite records of 2013, and it was my fear that with the incredible success of that record that they might lose their way and suffer a sophomore slump.
This track doesn't show much evidence of that, however——it's not as initially compelling as some of the strongest tracks on Bones (like "Gun", "Lungs", and "Lies"), but it's definitely in their style without sounding like it's just trying to mimic the sound of Bones. I'm really looking forward to this album——I'm still waiting for my Album of the Year, and with Titus Andronicus' recent release not quite getting there, this might be the next best hope for 2015.
7.29.15 New Order have a new record coming out (their first without bassist Peter Hook) called Music Complete. Here's the first track they've released from the album, and it's titled "Restless":
New Order is one of those bands that meant so much to me at a certain point in my life, and whose early work I still revisit and love, that I have hope every time they release a record that maybe this one will rediscover whatever it is that they lost between their great albums and the rest of their career (for me, their last great album was 1987's Brotherhood, nearly 30 years old at this point, and I know a lot of their early fans wouldn't even include that one in the list of the band's greatest works).
This song doesn't make me a believer that this record is going to be any different than the others they've released this century——even though it's recognizably New Order, it's that same drama-free midtempo sound that they've become so expert at in the past 15 years.
And like many of the songs on those records, this is tantalizingly, frustratingly close to being an actual good song——more aggressive production, especially in regards to the rhythm guitar, a couple of guitar lines made more jagged and brought to the forefront, and a little tension building to a compelling bridge, and this could have been a great lead single. But alas, it was not to be...
7.30.15 The Chills will soon be releasing their first album in nearly 20 years, and in advance of that record they have shared a new track called "America Says Hello":
I know there are some indie pop aficianados who have been waiting for this record since their last one was released, but I'm only a casual fan——Submarine Bells is the only Chills album I own, and while I like it well enough, it never compelled me to explore the rest of their catalog.
In that context, this sounds pretty much like I would expect the Chills to sound, but I'm not sure if it's compelling enough to make me buy the rest of the album. I'll likly give it a listen through one of the sharing services, but even if it gets great reviews, I'm just not sure there's anything they could do to turn me into a true fan at this point given that they haven't managed that conversion in the last 20 years.
7.31.15 Wavves have shared another track from their upcoming album V, this one titled "Flamezesz", which I can't even begin to figure out how to pronounce:
I like this less than the first song they shared, "Way Too Much", but it's still a decent track. But this band keeps things so simple that drifting into steady midtempo songs with no real variations could help push them across the line from compelling punk pop to boring pop, and if the record is more like this song than "Way Too Much", that could be the deciding factor in how the overall album turns out.
