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murlough23
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« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2009, 02:36:17 PM » |
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My Top 10 as of June 30:
1. Vienna Teng - Inland Territory
That's four A-grade albums in a row for the Tengster, and she shows no signs of slowing down. Opening track "The Last Snowfall" is among the most beautiful songs ever recorded (not to mention a wonder to behold when reconstructed from the ground up in concert using a looping device!), and the record only gets more creative from there in. Who else thinks to write a ballad about poor Americans immigrating to Mexico, an unsettling rocker about a triage nurse dealing with the aftermath of a suicide bombing in San Francisco, or to reimagine a lecture from one's own grandmother as a Gospel-tinged acapella romp? Thinking up these ideas one thing; actually executing them as fully satisfying songs is quite another. Teng is one breath away from stealing the title of "My all-time favorite artist" right out from underneath Jars of Clay.
"Antebellum", "Radio", "The Last Snowfall", "No Gringo"
2. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King
The death of a founding band member might lead a lot of groups to either break up, or record a scattershot record made up of whatever scraps they got before that member's passing. Instead, the DMB confidently steps forward with one of their most cohesive, poignant, and ultimately satisfying records. Groogrux brings them back to the upbeat party songs and jazz-tinged folk and rock ballads that made them great - no meandering jams like their 90's material are present here, but there's plenty of instrumental virtuosity on display. Dave's lyrics run the gamut from some of his most convincing (read: least awakward) love songs to his usual ruminations on death and the afterlife (which, theological quibbles aside, seem to carry more weight since Leroi Moore's death), and there really isn't a single dud in the bunch. Best thing the DMB has done in over 10 years, easily.
Favorite Tracks: "Funny the Way It Is", "Lying in the Hands of God", "Seven", "Sqiurm"
3. A. C. Newman - Get Guilty
I'm enamored with Carl Newman's habit of pushing words around. Even when it makes no sense, the way it all rolls off the tongue is delightful, and the sunny 60's era pop influence doesn't hurt, either. This is indie songwriting at its most obtuse but also its most playful, and I have to credit this album for being my gateway into the world of The New Pornographers.
Favorite Tracks: "The Heartbreak Rides", "The Palace at 4 AM", "Submarines of Stockholm"
4. Falling Up - Fangs!
Falling Up gets a lot of flak with each new record - they always seem to drop something that was assumed to be a core element of their sound on previous records. The manic guitar riffs of their first two albums only appear sporadically, and while there's still a spacey/electronic tinge to every song, the synths that dominated Captiva have all but vanished, leaving in their place a darkly hued, percussion-heavy record that worms its way into your brain unexpectedly. Falling Up's lyrical language might be almost as cryptic as A. C. Newman's, but there's a story thread running through these twelve songs, which allegedly sums up some sort of unwritten sci-fi/fantasy novel filled with kings and goddesses and golden arrows and trips into the dark reaches of outer space. I don't understand it, but I am endlessly intrigued by it.
Favorite Tracks: "Lotus and the Languorous", "Magician Reversed", "A Colour Eoptian"
5. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
It's not quite the home run that American Idiot was, and Green Day is perhaps guilty of wearing out their welcome with this album's 18 (!) tracks, but there's so much good stuff here that it's hard to complain too much about the mediocre stuff (even if the radio singles fall into the latter category). These guys genre-hop like nobody's business, returning several times to their core pop/punk sound, but taking several interesting turns into theatrical territory a la Queen, or getting rowdy in acoustic mode, or turning out another pair of suite-like bookends like the ones that characterized AI. Subject matter is a bit dicey here, with the story of an anarchist couple eager to bring down the system telling us that America's real problems have their roots in organized religion, but I can understand where they're coming from even if I don't fully agree.
Favorite Tracks: "Last Night on Earth", "Peacemaker", "Last of the American Girls"
6. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
An intriguing Brit-rock album that manages to carve out its own idea despite carrying heavy reminders of Elbow and Coldplay. The most intriguing tracks here show a drive to experiment, be it the electronic haze of "Jetstream", the progressive, trippy train journey of "10:03", or the unexpected funky rave-up "Compulsion". Even a gooey love song like "Spellbound" has more bite to it than it might have had in the hands of one of those other Brit bands.
Favorite Tracks: "Compulsion", "Spellbound", "Jetstream"
7. Meg & Dia - Here, Here, and Here
OK, so they totally went pop, and now Hot Topic is pimping their album. It's forgivable, because while I appreciated these sisters as songwriters on Something Real, the music got a bit samey after a while. Here, almost every song has an irresistible hook and there's a lot more variance, from the highly danceable "Are There Giants Too, in the Dance?" to the cheeky country spoof "Agree to Disagree", and shoot, there's even a "romantic duet" that turns humorously bitter when we realize that only the guy in the song is actually in love. It's not one of the year's deeper records - Meg & Dia can be a bit bratty and superficial at times - but the lyrics take interesting observational turns and the end result is a lot less predictable than you'd expect a breakthrough album where an indie band goes pop to be.
Favorite Tracks: "Are There Giants Too, in the Dance?", "Hug Me", "Black Wedding"
8. Jars of Clay - The Long Fall Back to Earth
Not my favorite record from the Jars, but even with the handicap of somewhat sterilized, 80's-inspired electronic pop music, they manage to throw in more than enough quirks and eloquent turns of phrase to make it worthwhile. The key here is getting over the obvious CCM pop of "Two Hands" and the shlocky love songs "Don't Stop" and "There Might Be a Light" so that you can get to the good stuff, like the intentionally drawn out "Scenic Route" or the straight-ahead pacifist rock of "Weapons" or the tense, gorgeous "Safe to Land", which explore the complex little wars and misunderstandings between people who say they love each other. Lots of bands write relationship songs, but Jars of Clay does so with more depth than your average band, so despite this being a fairly radical departure, it works quite well.
Favorite Tracks: "Safe to Land", "Scenic Route", "Headphones"
9. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
This exploratory electronic disc takes a bit of getting used to due to some of its noisier and more redundant passages - but to counterbalance every "annoyingly repetitive" moment, there's another "beautifully repetitive" one. Woven throughout is a thread of surprising lyrical warmth, which leads to moments like the dreamy melody of "Bluish" or the glittering synths and irresistible hand claps of "My Girls", which really just seems to be about a dude wanting to provide the best for his family. Brotherly encouragement takes the form of a Brazilian soccer match on "Brother Sport", and the drudgery of a normal day turns into the manic, offbeat rhythms of "Daily Routine", which then morphs into a dreamy meditation. Speaking of offbeat rhythms, "Lion in a Coma" might just be the weirdest and catchiest thing ever to be composed in 9/8 time, a song certainly designed to throw off concertgoers trying to figure out when to clap their hands. I have to be patient with parts of MPP, but the wealth of joyous moments makes the whole thing more than worthwhile.
Favorite Tracks: "Lion in a Coma", "My Girls", "Summertime Clothes"
10. U2 - No Line on the Horizon
U2 has been very hit-and-miss for me with the three albums they've put out in the new millennium (Yes, I know 2000 was technically the last millennium. Shut up.) But this new disc invites a lot of repeat play despite its flaws and its odd pacing. The electronic touches of their 90's work are back in play here, on an album which digs a little bit into the darker ruminations of that era, but which refuses to be tied down to any past U2 sound, evoking the stadium-sized grandeur of the 80's here and there and offering unusual forays into R&B/funk territory on a few tracks. I admire U2's commitment to not repeat themselves too much, so while that makes NLOTH an "all over the map" type of record with a few experiments that don't work, it's hard not to be pulled in by the danceable worship of "Magnificent", the rambling rants of "Breathe", the somber war stories of "White as Snow" and "Cedars of Lebanon", the soulful core of "Moment of Surrender", or even the trashy-but-fun "Get on Your Boots", which seems even sillier than "Vertigo" at first but grows on you in its own wacky way. (Yeah, I know, I swore up and down that GOYB was terrible at first. I was wrong.)
Favorite Tracks: "Magnificent", "Breathe", "Get on Your Boots"
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