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Best of 2011: October Essentials

David Greenwald — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:00:37 +0000

Real Estate / photo by David Greenwald

Here are the October-released albums I loved. All worth your time and money.

Real Estate – Days
Guitar chiming never sounded so good. (At least not this year.) | Album Review | “It’s Real” video | Buy
“It’s Real”: mp3

North Highlands – Wild One
Genuinely quirky Brooklyn chamber-folk act goes electric and hypnotic with its debut album. Come for the hooks, stay for the guitars. | Buy

Wild One by North Highlands

Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
Not his most wildly poetic lyrics, perhaps, but the Alternative Country troubadour’s latest is an exquisitely emotional piece of work. He’s rarely been a better performer. | Live Review | All Posts | Buy

A Classic Education – Call It Blazing
At its best, the Italian band’s debut album is as propulsive and tuneful as the Shins’ early work. Even when they slow down, their usual toolbox — aquatic guitars, forlorn vocals, thoughtful drumming — gets the job done. | “Night Owl” Video | Buy
“Night Owl”: mp3

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CMJ 2011: Six Bands to Watch

David Greenwald — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:00:59 +0000

Ravens & Chimes / photo by David Greenwald

I won’t be at CMJ this year, but here are the bands I’d see if I was. Fun jams for everyone after the jump.

Hospitality: New Merge Records signees. Sounds accordingly Merge-y (guitar fuzz!) with the added twist of a New York Post-Feist Sassy Lady lead singer.

Hospitality – Friends of Friends by MergeRecords

North Highlands: Intricate folk-rock with the added twist of a New York Post-Feist Sassy Lady lead singer. (Do I have a type? I have a type. See also: Twin Sister, not playing CMJ.)

North Highlands “Benefits” by heartmusicgroup

Widowspeak: The only band on 2k11 Label of the Year Captured Tracks not playing ’80s synthesizers. Still terrific!

Gun Shy by widowspeakband

The Stepkids: Funk-pop wiz-kids out on Stones Throw. Sly and the Family Alt-Bros.

The Stepkids – Shadows On Behalf by stonesthrow

ARMS/Ravens & Chimes: Both bands played our SXSW party in March, both have really incredible albums coming out in November and both will blow your mind in totally great-yet-different ways.

Fleeced by ARMS

Ravens & Chimes – “Carousel”: mp3

Previously: CMJ 2009: 10 Bands That Killed It — Or Died Trying

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Best of 2011: September Essentials

David Greenwald — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:00:15 +0000

There were a lot of jams this month! Here are the ones you should pay for with money and what I wrote about them.

Twin Sister – In Heaven | REVIEW
Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know | CONCERT REVIEW)
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy (REVIEW | I still have mixed feelings here, but the first half is the best side of the year)
Wilco – The Whole Love (Drowned in Sound feature)
Jens Lekman – An Argument With Myself EP (ALL POSTS)

Also notable: Ariel Pink’s new single, Sleeping Bags’ debut LP, Geoffrey O’Connor’s solo debut. Didn’t get to the Stepkids, Apparat, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or the Rapture (that came out, right?). Let’s not talk about Girls.

Previous monthly essential lists: January + February/March + Halfway: Songs + Halfway: Albums + August

Hear songs from these albums and more on my Ongoing 2k11 Jams Spotify playlist. What did you listen to this month?

The 8 Best Unsigned Bands in Los Angeles | 2011 Edition

David Greenwald — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:00:09 +0000

Lord Huron / all photos by David Greenwald

For the last 13 months, I’ve written a weekly column first for Brand X and currently the Los Angeles Times dubbed L.A. Unheard. The goal is to point out promising new local artists; during a short-lived concert series, we gave them the chance to play some cool shows, too. I’ve tried very hard to avoid hype and trends and go with my gut, which means the column’s probably missed a lot of fresh electro and hip-hop, though we’ve managed to catch Foster the People, Hanni El Khatib and a handful of other breakouts. Hopefully this list, the first of many, will go one step further: these are all bands who deserve to be on a serious label and playing national tours. Help them out with this, industry folks! And for everybody else: enjoy the music and go to the shows. (For the purposes of this list, “unsigned” will also include bands with micro-label single releases and the like.)

yOya
yOya’s self-released debut is the kind of record that would’ve been Coldplay-huge in 2002, tapped for every NBC medical drama and played hourly on KCRW. Their electro-spined Britpop still deserves to be.
>> “Lovers On”: mp3 + Bandcamp

Lord Huron
The band was an obvious stand-out at SXSW but has stayed quiet since aside from a handful of tour dates. Watching the group’s Animal Collective-turned-jam-band sound mature in the last year has been remarkable — it’s been like watching a toddler grow up and get its driver’s license overnight.
>> “Mighty”: mp3 + Bandcamp

LA Font
Like Lord Huron, garage anthem purveyors LA Font has grown leaps and bounds in recent months, with its Sharks single the band’s best work yet. Now they just need a week with Albini.
>> “Lipsmack”: mp3 + Bandcamp

Big Moves
There aren’t many bands like Big Moves, groups that blend jazz chops with post-punk instrumentation (and energy). Big Moves recall the Dismemberment Plan, the Sea and Cake, Ancient Greeks — but thanks to Jess Imme’s one-of-a-kind voice, there’s no mistaking them for anyone.
>> “Parrots”: mp3 + Official site

J. Irvin Dally
The folk songwriter’s high-flying voice is one of the most compelling in L.A.; once he finds the right band, he’ll be unstoppable.
>> “Sun Room”: mp3 + Bandcamp

Young Hunting
The group’s wonderfully ethereal guitar-rock made blog headlines last year, so it must be a cruel twist of fate that’s prevented them from touring with Memoryhouse on the 2011 Bring Your Pillow And Feelings Tour.
>> “Into Yr Mind”: mp3 + Bandcamp

The Smiles
As with yOya/Coldplay, it feels strange to see the Smiles having not yet outpaced Vampire Weekend: the songs are equally tuneful and the band, perhaps, more cuddly. (They’re certainly less snobby.) As good as the Hermosa EP is, it’s the work of college kids. Can’t wait to see them all grown up.
>> “Cala Cola”: mp3 + Bandcamp

So Many Wizards
There’s plenty of magic in this group’s psych-pop, which evokes the gentler early work of of Montreal as well as local colleagues Pepper Rabbit.
>> “Inner City”: mp3 + Official site

Let me know in the comments: who’s your favorite? Who did I miss?

Best of 2011: August Essentials

David Greenwald — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:00:45 +0000

Pepper Rabbit / Photo by David Greenwald

The dog days of summer didn’t bring us any new 10.0s, but here’s a handful of worthwhile recent releases as a bated-breath autumn (Wilco! St. Vincent! Real Estate! ARMS! Ryan Adams!) comes ever closer.

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lenses Alien: The best of the month, Lenses Alien is that increasingly rare bird — a guitar-centric indie-rock album. That’d be enough in these synth-addled times, but the band manages to push themselves and the genre (!) forward with songs that sprawl and shrink to fit with equal parts melody and ferocity. Strong song-for-song but stunning in total.

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name) by memphisindustries

Pepper Rabbit – Red Velvet Snowball: The band’s sophomore follow-up to Beauregard (itself a collection of EPs) is an improvement on its debut, grounding psych-pop atmospherics with bolder melodies. The choruses will stick in your head, but so, too, will the 1999 Dave Fridmann production influence that pokes cleverly through the tinfoil songwriting. [TRACK REVIEW]
>> “Rose Mary Stretch”: mp3

Widowspeak – Widowspeak: Anything on Captured Tracks gets my full attention this year, though the Cat Power gloom of Widowspeak’s debut marks a shift from the label’s usual New Wave revivalism. Effective, if predictable, stuff that’s at its best when it rocks hardest (the four-on-the-floor “Puritan,” the almost-garage-girl-group of “Hard Times”) or throws itself upon Quentin Tarantino’s feet (the Western fantasia of “Gun Shy”). [REVIEW]

Widowspeak – “Nightcrawlers” by forcefieldpr

Records I didn’t quite get to and still want to: Mr. Heavenly’s debut (their SXSW show was terrific); Thundercat’s The Golden Age of Apocalypse and Hotel Light’s Girl Graffiti. I gave up on Watch the Throne after one spin but it’s probably due for another.

Classics on heavy rotation: New Order – Low-Life; Rose Elinor Dougall – Without Why; Dean Drouillard – Dream at Harmony Motel; The Long Winters - Putting the Days To Bed; Standard Fare – The Noyelle Beat

More Best of 2011: January | February/March | Songs of the Half-Year | Albums of the Half-Year | Spotify playlist

Best of 2011: Songs of the Half-Year

David Greenwald — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:00:31 +0000

20 2011 jams, in no particular order. (Just kidding. Of course they’re in order. Not included: Destroyer and Radiohead, because I couldn’t decide.)

Best of 2011: Songs of the Half-Year: ZIP

1. Little Scream – “The Heron and the Fox”: mp3
2. MINKS – “Cemetery Rain”: mp3
3. Craft Spells – “You Should Close the Door”: mp3
4. Smith Westerns – “Weekend”: mp3
5. Toro Y Moi – “How I Know”
6. High Highs – “Flowers Bloom”: mp3
7. Bill Callahan – “Riding for the Feeling”
8. Anna Calvi – “Blackout”
9. Chad VanGaalen – “Sara”: mp3
10. Junior Boys – “Banana Ripple”

11. Lia Ices – “Love Is Won”: mp3
12. Puro Instinct – “Lost at Sea”
13. Fleet Foxes – “Helplessness Blues”: mp3
14. Sondre Lerche – “Domino”
15. Jill Andrews – “Blue Sky”
16. Hi Ho Silver Oh – “Showers Without Warning”: mp3
17. Seeker Lover Keeper – “Bridges Burned”
18. Zachary Cale – “Hello Oblivion”: mp3
19. Eagle and Talon – “For the Bond”
20. Brave Irene – “No Fun”

Best of 2011: Albums of the Half-Year

David Greenwald — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:00:20 +0000

I want to open this with the mild disclaimer that debating whether or not an album is good is like arguing over whether someone ought to like rocky road ice cream or brussel sprouts: passion-rousing, divise, more than a little silly. (Arguing about why: the world’s most interesting pursuit.) If you don’t like these records or like other records more, I salute you; still, I believe the ones I’ve chosen have enough value to recommend that you give them a try, or two, or 10. Music tends to sound better that way, in case any of us have forgotten.

Many of 2011′s most anticipated and most discussed releases have left me moderately charmed at best. “Often likable” is the kindest description I would currently extend to James Blake, TV on the Radio, Bon Iver, Tennis, Bright Eyes, Smith Westerns and tUnE-yArDs; albums by bands I’ve previously loved, such as the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine, have been painfully disappointing. (Let’s not talk about Odd Future.) It’s a strange and largely disastrous time for indie rock, with nostalgia often cloaking an absence of songwriting chops and the creeping influence of the mainstream and a singles-hungry blogosphere sanding off its outsider idiosyncrasies. Nevertheless, there are still some pretty good records. Here are 10 of them.

Best of 2011: February / March Essentials

David Greenwald — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:00:52 +0000

In which your intrepid blogger once again attempts to present you with a handful of records worth buying as the year rolls on (and, starting with this one, older jams I’ve had on heavy rotation).

February/March:

Shugo Tokumaru – Port Entropy (Polyvinyl) | REVIEW
>> “Lahaha”: mp3
Radiohead – The King of Limbs (self-released) |REVIEW
Puro Instinct - Headbangers In Ecstasy (Mexican Summer)
>> “Stilyagi”: mp3
Brave Irene (ft. Rose Melberg) – Brave Irene (Slumberland)
>> “No Fun”: mp3
Toro Y Moi – Underneath The Pine (Carpark) | REVIEW
>> “Still Sound”: mp3

Also recommended: The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck (Merge), KORT (Lambchop) – Invariable Heartache (City Slang), Cut/Copy – Zonoscope (Modular), R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros.), Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)

On heavy rotation the last two months:

Harvey Williams – California (1999) and Rebellion (1994) | REVIEW
Todd Rundgren - Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971)
Always – Thames Valley Leather Club and Other Stories (1988)
Curren$y – Pilot Talk (2010)
Heavenly – Heavenly Vs. Satan (1991)

Previously: January
(Puro Instinct photo by David Greenwald)