This up and coming Swedish trio simultaneously evokes several decades of pop music for a decidedly retro feel. "Young Folks" is one of the year's best, and features ex-Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman. "Amsterdam" brings a relaxed version of New Pornographers to mind. "Up Against the Wall" belongs in a movie during a built up, inspirational, nerd-turns-into-stud scence. "Let's Call it Off" captures the essence of the trio, with super catchy guitar riffs which border on surf psychedalia. "The Chills" is the most 21st century track of the album, and also the most enigmatic. End it all with the strange Gorillaz/Blur vocalist Damon Albarn-esque love literature tune, "Poor Cow," and these guys are all over the pop map and timetable.
From Pitchork
"If lyric poetry is, as Czech novelist Milan Kundera recently wrote, "the most exemplary incarnation of man dazzled by his own soul and the desire to make it heard," surely the pop song is the highest incarnation of all-consuming love and its fundamental need to be shared. Writer's Block, indeed. "
14. Josh Ritter "The Animal Years"
The fact that Ritter hasn't made it real, real big in the good ol' US of A baffles me. While upholding near iconic status in Ireland, where solo lyrical/acoustic/folk acts like Damien Rice have a much easier time of it, Josh Ritter remains absent from the radio airwaves in Wichita, Kansas. The Heartland. While not a trendsetter, Ritter is excellent at what he does- turn simple folk ballads into epic musical poetry. Continuing the trend of his last two albums, Golden Age of Radio and Hello Starling (both highly recommended), Ritter continues to build on his already impressive catalog. While The Animal Years does not have the immediately catchy radio-friendly tracks like "Bright Smile" and "Kathleen," it packs a punch throughout. From the references to Peter, Paul and Mary in the opener, the stripped down homage to his hometown of "Idaho", and the epic "Thin Blue Flame," Ritter makes you feel at home throughout.
He is to music today what Rick Bass is to literature. He invokes a sense of place and spirituality, while remaining shrouded in a veil of mystery and wonder. Some of Ritter's best stuff is pure Americana, singing about Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Lawrence, Kansas, and lillies of the valley in Illinois. Maybe this is why I find his music catalogued in the "folk" section of Borders. I have no doubt that the more exposure this young acoustic troubadour receives, the more his music will become apart of the American musical culture, even if it doesn't set any trends.
13. Man Man "Six Demon Bag"
I remember when my good old friend Conor Broughan and I (where the hell are ya old buddy?) used to make fun of the music reviews in teen girly magazines that described an album without really talking about the music. They just tried to compartmentalize it into an extremely specific genre, without actually telling you anything about it. I am going to dry to describe Man Man's brilliant "Six Demon Bag" in this manner.
This is not your typical spunky punky slap happy bubble gum pop record. This is the soundtrack for silent films of the late 1920's, before the Depression and FDR. This is music for men with curly moustaches, who wear striped skin-tight jumpsuits and lift those ridiculous barbells with huge boulder-like weights on the end. This is music the men we enslaved to build the railroad system in the west would have listened to. This is carnival-panic rock and soul.
But seriously folks, tracks 8-10 are pure genius. "Push the Eagle's Stomach" is probably the most interesting song of the year, "Spider Cider" urges you to run with a loaded gun in your mouth? before interrupting into a stream of horns and chants of the title, and then the detached, Zen-Buddhist "Van Helsing Boombox" would be an incredible opener for a feel-good sitcom about a homeless bum who makes the best of his situation and participates in zany antics and pranks in his dilipidated city block (listen to it again after you read this). And then the closer "Ice Dogs," with the Motown chicks singing Doo-Wop and Mr. Man Man busting his chops and baring his soul. I have no idea either, folks. Buy this album if you like Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, or albums with a bit of thinking or playfulness involved. With so many albums starting so strong and ending on such a weak note, it's nice to find one that gives you your money's worth and finishes so strong.
12. Clipse "Hell Hath No Fury"
From Amazon
"Hell Hath No Fury strikes a brilliant balance between futurism and nostalgia. It's an album of lyrics-driven hip-hop in the spirit of east coast rap's early '90s heyday, but it's also powered by the noisiest, meanest, most space-age production the Neptunes have ever served up."
Bump this one when your cruisin in your Escalade, or pissin on it like a true gangsta:
11. Herbert "Scale"
Inventive and strikingly beautiful dance album from Great Britain's Matthew Herbert. Most songs feature the exquisite vocal stylings of Dani Siciliano, who provides an excellent contrast and necessary female touch to overtly sexual songs like "Harmonise", "We're in Love", and "Down". While the album starts with the catchy orchestral thumper, "Something Isn't Right" and the politically charged thinker "Movers and Shakers", it mostly gives off vibe that this is type of music I imagine that international high-fashion models listen to, with a touch of disco, jazz, soul, and Herbert's signature use of everyday sounds and appliances in his composition. So you can decide, either way, you should listen to "Scale" for either the immediate surface beauty, or delve deeper and enjoy the intricacies.
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