7 From 12

The mist of the new year is starting to clear and some of the records that will define 2012's soundscape have emerged to take over my eardrums. Here are seven that have been exciting me of late.

Breton - Blanket Rule EP I have been burning with anticipation for their first full-length since it was announced last year so this free EP came as a nice surprise to bank the flames. But this is no odds and sods collection - the four new tracks are finely-wrought and fascinating, featuring layers of gritty sonics. Among other signs of increasing mastery, singer Roman Rappak displays a new sensitivity on How Can They Tell, which evokes feelings of confusion, betrayal and sorrow over a slippery background. While you can download Blanket Rule from Soundcloud, this is a band that takes their physical product seriously so I highly recommend getting the exclusive CD from FNAC, which features an excellent bonus track called Not Gospel, which you won't find anywhere else. BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: Breton are making their NYC debut at Mercury Lounge on Wednesday, March 21. There are still a few tickets available and all it takes is $10 for the privilege of saying you were there when.

Field Music - Plumb The Brewis brothers have cooked up another collection of intricate and witty pop to follow up their magnum opus, Measure, which was my number three album of 2010. Considerably shorter than that double album and filled with often very short songs Plumb has the flavor of a suite. It's tough to imagine them not performing the 35 minutes of music in one continuous burst. It's amazing the level of detail they shoehorn into 1:53 and I have the feeling I will be discovering new nooks and crannies for a long time. I was also impressed with their cover of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne for a Mojo compilation. It seems there is even more range to these guys than I thought!

Brooklyn Rider - Seven Steps This string quartet has a well-deserved rep for a wide-ranging repertoire and excellent, passionate playing and their new album does not disappoint. It opens with the title track, a group composition(!) that explores the many ways that long lines can be combined with skittering and plucked sounds to create various moods. Christopher Tignor's threnodic Into This Unknowable Night follows almost with a sense of relief from the sturm und drang but soon becomes unsettling. The composer' samples, percussion and AM radio add texture and detail to the drawn out chords. With their expansive view of music I suppose a trip to the 19th century shouldn't come as a surprise (and they have performed Mozart brilliantly in concert), yet it is still notable that more than half the album is taken up with Beethoven's 14th String Quartet in C# Minor (Opus 131). The more you listen, however, the more it makes sense. This confounding work, published a year before Beethoven died, opens with an amorphous, miasmic movement that was part of the inspiration for the music in Scanners, the David Cronenberg 1981 creep-fest and it is full of frissons. The combination of short and long movements, shifting keys and unexpected variations has me shaking my head thoughout the work's seven movements each time I listen. Brooklyn Rider tackle the demanding piece "guided by the spirit of free play rather than the heavy weight of the auteur's pen," so in a way this is just another performance of a canonical work. But the context is unique and when you circle back to the start of the record, the quartet's commitment to communicating the perpetual freshness of great music becomes blindingly apparent.

Sleigh Bells - Reign Of Terror There may be more noise around this band than there is on their records so I'm not going to add to it at any length. Suffice it to say that if you liked their debut, you will likely find this almost equally diverting. Guitarist/producer Derek Miller and Singer Alexis Krauss give us some more of what we want (cartoonish guitars, distortion, programmed beats, breathy vocals and distortion) while pushing into some new, more emotionally reverberant areas. The key track for me is You Lost Me with its weeping glissando guitars. While the verses are pure teen noir, the chorus of "I don't want you to see me this way/But I'm ready to die" seems to reflect Miller's mother's recent battle with cancer. And as someone who has watched three people very close to me die of the disease, this certainly struck a chord with me.

Hospitality - Hospitality This debut record (besides an EP in 2009) is as warm and welcoming as the band's name, and as expertly put together as something by label-mates Spoon. The lyrics are easily relatable and Amber Papini sings then with a few different voices - pixieish, wry, confessional. It's like a night out with someone you haven't seen for a while but are so glad to have in your life again. The more you listen, the more details you notice in the arrangements. It goes down easy but there are rougher edges lurking underneath the chiming guitars. They betray their inexperience only in the slight overuse of a few tricks, like adding a beat to the bar to emphasize the words ("Don't-You-Know"), something they do on three songs. But this short and sweet album introduces a delightful new group to the world we call Indie.

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas Look up "elegiac" in a dictionary and you won't be far from the overall mood of this collection, but there's more variety here than you might notice at first. From the sly blues of Darkness to the gospel shadings of Show Me The Place and the folk basis of everything, this is the most "Americana" record he's put out since 1984's Various Positions. The lyrics, of course, are deep, witty, and endlessly quotable. If you're new to Cohen, this is maybe not the best place to start - but start! I envy you your journey.

Prodigy - HNIC Part 3 Speaking of endlessly quotable, how's this from Look In My Life MSTR: "The fire in my heart could burn up the planet/The plans in my head are putting me on a hammock/In the Canary Islands, with my canary diamonds"? This free mixtape is neither a career defining masterpiece like the first in the series nor a solid placeholder like the second, but more of a sketchpad, although one with a few thrilling moments and no real weak spots. One of the high points for me is simply titled ex and features an energized P spitting flames over the sparsest of beats. Download it for free and get the rush for yourself. Keep in mind that this is just the warm up for the official H.N.I.C. 3 release, which is imminent.

 

 

Requiem For A Popcast

In my younger days I was fond of quoting the maxim (invented by myself): "All newspapers are lies but the New York Times has the lies you need to know." While I don't feel quite the same way, perhaps that's why I continued to listen to the New York Times Music Popcast, their "weekly guide to new music," even though it was frequently unintentionally hilarious.

 

Now, without fanfare, and with almost as much notice, the Gray Lady has summarily cancelled production of most of their podcasts, citing financial reasons.

So here's a brief obituary of the Popcast - why I won't miss it and why I will. A little bit. When I first started listening, it was introduced by Tom Kuntz, then the Pop Music Editor. While he had a boyish enthusiasm for the idea of the podcast, he seemed to lack all feeling for music. Every time he spoke I would wonder why he was the Pop Music Editor and when he said the name Beyonce, which was distressingly often, it sounded like he was reading a phonetic translation from Swahili. Fortunately, he was only there to set up the episode before passing it on to one or another of the NYT's Pop Music critics - mainly Jon Pareles, Ben Ratliff, Nate Chinen, and Jon Caramanica. Although Kuntz soon moved on, the format basically stayed unchanged until the podcast's demise.

Now these are all intelligent guys, who have risen to the top of their profession, and who often write good articles and publish acclaimed books. Unfortunately, none of them have an especially dynamic vocal presence. Also, as the weeks went by, it became quickly clear that the content, based partially on their taste, I assume, and partially on editorial concerns (the Paper Of Record and all that), was not so much a guide to "new music," but a guide to new recordings, which is not quite the same thing.

What this meant in practice was long conversations over-analyzing music which is already highly publicized, top-selling, and, that will, I believe, prove fairly disposable - Beyonce, again, Rick Ross, Brad Paisley, Adele, L'il Wayne, etc. After a while, I had to wonder who the audience was for this. For pop culture semioticians the discourse was not deep enough and for the people who actually purchase those types of records or mp3's, it was likely far too involved. There is also the unseemly vision of grown men getting home from work and firing up the computer to play the latest from Taylor Swift. For their own enjoyment.

So why did I keep listening? Besides those "lies you need to know" there were the occasional flashes of brilliance, as when Jon Pareles introduced me to Calle 13's spectacular Residante O Visitante. While their subsequent albums have not struck the same chord with me, this was in nearly constant play in 2007 and will go down as one of the best of that year - not to mention that decade. Also, cultural critic Larry Rohter often showed up to investigate music from around the world or from older niches of America. He combined good reporting with a fan's enthusiasm to very satisfying effect. He ought to have his own podcast. Ben Ratliff occasionally had the space to display his jazz and metal chops, critically speaking, which are well known from his books.

As for Jon Caramanica, his self-satisfied belief that the most commercial stuff is on the cutting edge is one of the main reasons I won't miss the Popcast. When I like stupid stuff, I don't make great claims for it. Some things can't - or shouldn't - be explained. About the only time I've agreed with him since he joined the Times was his recent takedown of The Black Keys, Foster The People, etc., which was long overdue.

So no need to shed a tear for the Popcast. There are plenty of other podcasts to help you find new music, which I will explore in the future.

 

 

 

2011: The Year In Live, Part 2

The final post on the year just passed. With 2012 over 1/12th over, it's time to get cracking on what's going on this year!

Besides the concerts I saw with Hannah (see Part 1), I was lucky enough to finally see Fleet Foxes, The Walkmen and Mastodon in 2011 - wow!

Going To Church - Ever since my wife and I saw an extraordinary Bob Dylan concert (yes, they do happen) at the United Palace Theatre in 2009, we have wanted to return to this storied venue. As we didn't get to see Fleet Foxes when they were touring behind their first album, there was no hesitation getting the tickets when they played there in May. We were sat far back, which is my wife's preference, and after enduring the lamentable Cave Singers, we were bathed in the warm harmonies and expansive sound-world of the Seattle band. The new songs sounded great, but perhaps even more remarkable was the passion and freshness of Robin Pecknold's engagement with songs he has sung hundreds of times around the world. It was a stunning show.

Going To Brooklyn - My wife doesn't much like going to concerts, but when Fleet Foxes announced more shows at the Williamsburg Waterfront in September, with our old favorites The Walkmen opening, she had no qualms about making the trek. And, boy, was it worth it. I have been a devoted fan of The Walkmen since their first album and my wife came on board with You & Me in 2008 but we had never seen them in the flesh. I knew singer Hamilton Leithauser was a suave dresser, but we were both unprepared for his fantastic command of the stage. His charisma is white hot and his commitment to the songs is total - and he manages to be charming at the same time. The band completely delivered, their minimal yet epic sound filling the stage and small gestures sounding huge as the sun set at our backs. 

As great as the first Fleet Foxes concert was, it was eclipsed by their Brooklyn performance. The new songs were road-tested now and sounded more of a piece with their earlier works. Also, as I was standing fairly close to the stage, I was able to pay more attention to how they produced their sounds and it was a masterclass. Certainly, you can play a Fleet Foxes song with a beat-up acoustic and it would sound good, but since they are steeped in 50 years of production techniques, they enhance their compositions with brilliant musical touches. The first thing I noticed before they even came on stage was the Hofner bass (made famous by Paul McCartney) on the left of the stage and the upright bass on the right. This told me that they took their bottom end seriously, which became even more apparent when they took a leaf out of Owen Bradley's book and used both together. Combined with J.Tillman's melodic drums, it enveloped the crowd in a rich low end that amplified the emotional impact of the tunes. The whole show was full of instrument-switching, instrument-doubling, and virtuoso flourishes. Robin was as charming and witty as Leithauser had been earlier in the night and made everyone feel included. We walked back to our car with an afterglow that seemed to last for weeks.

Going It Alone - The opportunity to see Mastodon at Terminal 5 in November was not one to be taken lightly - but who to go with? A quick visit to their Facebook page and I quickly learned that two old friends of mine were also fans. Cool! I messaged the first one and although he wanted to see the "saviors of heavy metal" he had to decline as he was in a windowless room in Costa Rica doing top-secret programming for an internet company I can't mention. One down. The other guy showed interest but was so lame about replying to my message that the concert sold out, which drove me to StubHub where I scored one ticket at slightly over face value. Yes, I was going to be facing the monstrous Mastodon on my own. 

Up close & personal
with Red Fang

Only Red Fang was listed on the ticket as the opening band so I was a little dismayed to learn that Dillinger Escape Plan was on the bill as well. Life is a little too short for two opening acts, but I knew they had been around a while and figured this was my chance to check them out. Before the place was half full, the hairy dudes of Red Fang took the stage and - whaddya know - laid it down in fine style. With guitars down tuned so far the strings should have been slack, they played rifftastic punk/grunge/metal songs with distinct melodies and a distinctive style of almost Brucknerian repetition. Along with much of the audience I was more than pleasantly surprised. After over 30 years of concert going, I have found the odds that an unknown opening act is going to be even good to be almost non-existent. When their set ended, I was charged up but a little concerned that the floor would not be the place to be for Mastodon, due to the higher volume of the headlining act. I headed upstairs and took my place along the wall of the mezzanine - and am I glad I did. 


I don't want to go into details, but Dillinger Escape Plan were one of the worst musical acts I have ever experienced. And it is an act. The roadies knew exactly when the lead guitar jackass was going to climb the amps and there were strategically placed apple crates (helpfully painted fluorescent green) for guys to jump up on. The whole thing was so canned - ugh. And the music, while precise, was dumbed down Helmet and I didn't much like them either. Next!

Mastodon - the aftermath

Finally, Mastodon, in all their glory. If you're not familiar (and you should change that - soon), this is the preeminent hard rock band in America today. Melody, weight, conceptual depth, emotional engagement - it's all there. A culmination, in fact, of many genres and micro-genres of heavy music from the past two or three decades. Yes, there are bands that are more abrasive, more bizarre, more obscure - but when it comes to the sheer love of music, Mastodon wins out. And live, it was no different. Just to watch how guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher assemble those jaggedly beautiful riffs was a pleasure. And the rhythm section of Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor swung like a mother. It was a great set ending with the perfect singalong of Creature Lives - see for yourself.

What did you see on stage last year? Here's to more great shows in 2012!

The Best Of The Rest Of 11

OK, this is freaking long but there was so much that I would hate to have pushed under the rug by the reductive nature of the Best Of 11 list that I just have to let it all hang out. Groove along at 8tracks.

Just Under The Wire - In no particular order, these are the ones it almost hurt to leave off the Top Ten

The Whole Love by Wilco - after a couple of slightly too conventional (yet enjoyable) records, the whole Wilco nearly returned to form with this gem. Opening and closing with two their finest songs ever, only one or two fillers kept this from making it to A Ghost Is Born or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot territory. 

Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron and Wine - Sam Beam writes songs that sound like old friends the first time you hear them and there are several new entries into his canon on this beautiful record. One wheezy saxophone too many keep this from hitting the high mark set by The Shepherd's Dog.

The King Of Limbs by Radiohead - Was it fascinating, innovative, often beautiful? Yes. Was it compulsively listenable like In Rainbows? No. Special mention for TKOL Remix 1234567, a massive remix project that yielded often brilliant results.

Dennis Coffey by Dennis Coffey - Damn, this was a good record - play it while pulling out of a Walmart parking lot and you feel like Starsky and Hutch. Coffey's slashing guitar and rhythmic precision have not deserted him and his young collaborators reenergize the legendary axe-man. On the fence? Download the free remix collection.

Bon Iver by Bon Iver - Justin Vernon's second album under this moniker featured a big ensemble sound and gorgeous songs. Some seemingly willful obscurity kept this from being a complete success, however.

Catholic by Gavin Friday - 16 years is a long time between records and, as a huge fan of his three previous albums, I was having trouble managing my expectations. After several months of listening, it seems a little undercooked, but his voice has never sounded better, and it is one of the great voices.

Murder The Mountains by Red Fang - When these (mostly) hairy dudes opened for Mastodon, bros in the audience were giving each other amazed looks and throwing non-ironic devil horns. They were that good and the merch table was busy. Sludgy but swaggering, with some nicely placed Brucknerian repetition and left-field melodies, these guys are not your average slice of metal. 


Nine Types Of Light by TV On The Radio - More multicolored orchestral avant-pop by the Brooklyn standard-bearers, somehow just slightly less satisfying than their last one.

Tassili by Tinariwen - Another great record from the Tuareg band, featuring wonderful contributions from Kyp and Tunde from TVOTR, Nels Cline and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The only caveat is that there is less variety here and I really miss the electric guitars.


Cotonou Club by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo - This hallowed Benin-based ensemble was thought to be defunct or dead until the mega-fans at Strut tracked them down and recorded some hits and some new songs. Unstoppable!


Deadly She-Wolf Assassin Armageddon/Momma's Song by Fred Ho - This trailblazing sax player/composer/arranger/conceptualist is fighting a mean cancer. That hasn't stopped him from releasing four albums in 2011. This one moves from Japanese inflected jams to driving fusionoid grooves. An important artist, let's hope he keeps it up.


Suck It And See by Arctic Monkeys - The lack of interest in this album's expert rock and pop on this side of the pond is almost tragic. It may be their own damn fault for leading with Brick By Brick, perhaps the worst song they've ever recorded. But ignore classics like this at your peril, or Reckless Serenade, which features these brilliant opening lines: "Topless models. Doing semaphore. Wave their flags as she walks by. And get ignored."


How Do You Do by Mayer Hawthorne - A year or two of touring has worked wonders on Mayer's voice and his crate-digging ways have led him to some new byways. The band is as tight as the songwriting and dig the Donald Fagan influence!


Blessed by Lucinda Williams - For me, this is her most engaging and engaged album since Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. While most of the lyrics are great, the groove is strong enough to make it easy to ignore the infelicitous ones. Searing guitar from Elvis Costello is a nice touch.


We're New Here by Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX - Jamie XX makes some funky lemonade out of Gil's final album, which was a bit of a sad affair in its original form. A fitting end to an often magnificent career. Looking forward to reading his memoir in 2012.


Pl3dge by Killer Mike - He's still angry - angry enough that he wants to occasionally inspire the best in all of us, just to piss more people off. But when he hooks up with a Funkadelic groove and raps about destruction, it feels so good to be bad.


Watch The Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West - MBDTF was an incredibly hard act to follow but No Church In The Wild sets a high bar for this ultimate collabo - so high that some of the more half-baked tracks sound more so. 


Biophilia by Bjork - Perhaps overshadowed by her app-mania (which in my cynical moments seems to be a clever way to get us to pay twice for the same songs), this is an often meditative collection of art-songs, played on a fascinating collage of acoustic and electronic instruments. Perhaps she is evolving into more of a niche artist than she was previously - I'm happy to follow her there.


Rhizoma by Anna Thorvaldsdottir - If the cotton candy-haired Ms. Gudmonsdottir doesn't satisfy your need for chilly northern soundscapes, Rhizoma certainly will. Knotty and atmospheric.


Bruckner Motets by The Choir of St. Mary's Cathedral - For these explicitly religious works, Bruckner actually takes a lighter approach than his symphonic statements and his engagement with the texts seems absolute. These performances, beautifully recorded and performed, put nothing between you and this astonishing music. It would be hard to imagine recommending another version of these works over this glorious collection. 


Roots, Rock, Reissues (and other sounds from the past)


Mega-boxes from the likes of The Who, Pink Floyd and Nirvana dominated the reissue scene and have their pleasures, I'm sure. Either a financial windfall or another gift-giving season will have to occur before I can officially weigh in. Here's the old stuff that was news to me.


Not one but two spectacular Lee "Scratch" Perry reissues made this for a banner year for the dub lovers of the world. The Return Of Sound System Scratch one ups its predecessor with more bass-heavy missives from the alien heart of reggae, while The Return Of Pipecock Jackxon brings a 30 year-old album, one of the last recorded in Jamaica by Perry, out of the shadows.


The foundations of reggae are laid bare in Soul Jazz's Studio One Story, which includes a fantastic single-disc compilation and a four hour documentary/interview DVD, which explains how a lot of blissful music came about. As soon as I learn how to build my own speaker box, I'm taking my sound system to the streets of NYC.


Soul Jazz has also been killing it with the Bossa Nova collections and Brazil Bossa Beat is no exception. Featuring the full spectrum of Brazilian sounds released on Elenco records in the 1960's, this works well in the background as well as repaying close listening. 


That Salsa is New York and New York is Salsa is ably demonstrated by the recently unearthed soundtrack to Our Latin Thing, the film of a ridiculously good Fania All Stars concert at the Cheetah Club in 1971. Still need convincing? How about El Barrio, four more CD's of fantastic Fania wax.  


If all of the acoustic jazz in my collection mysteriously disappeared except for the music made by the (second) Miles Davis Quintet, I would be disappointed but only just. So the appearance of Live In Europe 1967 is a major event for me. Not surprisingly, the music is scintillating from beginning to end. The DVD features two wonderful concerts, pretty well-filmed - Miles is the star but try keeping your eyes off Tony Williams. And since it's subtitled "The Bootleg Series Vol. 1" one can assume there is more quality stuff on the horizon.


England in the late 60's seemed to spit out ferociously talented acoustic guitar players like watermelon seeds. Michael Chapman is one such gent I was unfamiliar with until this year. While his dry voice takes a little getting used to and his songs don't always gel, when he nails it, he's amazing. Either get the hipster-approved Light In The Attic reissue of Fully Qualified Survivor or do as I did and get the older reissue that includes his first album, Rainmaker, which is also very fine. And, he's still at full strength today as evidenced by his recent Daytrotter session.

David Bowie's seeming retirement has created a little bit of frenzy around any hint of new sounds so the leak of Toy, his aborted album from 2001, was certainly a happy accident. He was revisiting some pre-Space Oddity songs in fine form and working up originals (some of which appeared in different versions on Heathen). While not quite a lost masterpiece, it's very good and has even appeared on some top ten lists.

Janie Hendrix might be an unpleasant person, but she that she has the Jimi Hendrix's legacy well in hand is proven once again by the Winterland box set, which features concerts from the prime of the Experience just before the release of Electric Ladyland. I can't imagine hesitating before acquiring this slab of goodness.


Speaking of legacies, the Rolling Stones have been playing a bit fast and loose with theirs, what with re-recording vocals and other parts to old songs for the recent deluxe reissues of Exile On Main Street and Some Girls, so the release of a beautifully mixed version of the oft-bootlegged 1973 Brussels Affair concert is a cause for celebration. The Stones at their best (i.e. with Mick Taylor) ably assisted by Billy Preston and a couple of great horn players, playing a near-perfect setlist. They're still excited about everything, especially new songs like Heartbreaker, and the version of Midnight Rambler is the best I've ever heard. Plus, Jagger speaks French in a louche manner that it's hard to imagine anyone else getting away with. Listening to this will bring you right back to why you care about these guys.




What GREAT stuff did I miss??

    

The Best Of 11

What an amazing year for music - I'm like a pig in truffles. If you had told me in January that Wilco, Radiohead, TV On The Radio and Bon Iver would put out new records and NOT end up on my Top Ten, I would have told you to get lost. But that's exactly what happened. Here are the whys and wherefores, from one to (sort of) ten. If you want to listen in, head over to 8tracks.com and just push play.


1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues 
This has not lost its grip on the top spot since July. As I discussed on a recent episode of Sound Opinions, It's more musically and thematically complex and expansive than their debut, perfectly building on the promise of that stunning record. Robin Pecknold is obviously the leader but they are definitely a band and J.Tillman, drummer extraordinaire, is their secret weapon. Give a listen to this Daytrotter session if you want to know why.


2. Mastodon - The Hunter
After a series of knotty and thrilling concept albums, the boys from Atlanta hook up with the guy who co-produced In Da Club, among other things, and let it all hang out, writing songs about meth-heads searching for the perfect tree knot, forlorn cephalopods, etc. After the sprawling epics of their earlier records, concision may have been the only challenge left to them and they conquer it with extreme prejudice. No big story to tell, just a series of virtuoso hard rock tunes that solidify Mastodon's place in the pantheon of American bands.


3. Hollie Cook - Hollie Cook
Who'd a thunk that the daughter of a Sex Pistol would craft one of the most delightful records in recent memory? You can have your Beyonce and Rihanna - they sound positively anhedonic compared to Hollie. She has the perfect collaborators in Prince Fatty and Horseman, creating a rock-steady vibe that is pure fun. I may have listened to this addicting collection more than any other record this year. Take a taste and you too will be hooked.


4. Amor De Dias - Street of The Love of Days
Like Hollie Cook's album, the collaboration of Alasdair MacLean and Lupe Núñez-Fernández sounds deceptively easy. The breezy set of songs features gorgeous production and some of Alasdair's finest singing to date. There's a hint of darkness that adds depth, like the slight bitterness at the bottom of a demitasse.




5. Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit
There's a lot of things about this album that seem unpromising - that title, for one, the amateurish cover art, for another, not to mention a song called Can We Really Party Today? - but it is a spectacular, enveloping listening experience. Wilson is a bit of a journeyman, playing with and producing everyone from Dawes, Elvis Costello, Mia Doi Todd, Erykah Badu and J. Tillman (him again). Several songs on Gentle Spirit feature Wilson on all the instruments, which is astonishing when you consider the interplay and improvisation that's going on. He makes Paul McCartney's similar attempts sound like the work of a gifted tinkerer. The songs are full of unexpected twists and turns, sometimes taking a leaf from Harry Nilsson, and sometimes Pink Floyd or David Crosby. A major talent that is absolutely one of the discoveries of the year.


6. Hilary Hahn (with Valentina Lisitsa, Piano) - Charles Ives: Four Sonatas
Except for her recordings of Violin Concertos by Schoenberg and Jennifer Higdon, Hahn is mainly known for incandescent performance of great repertory works, most notably the mighty and ethereal Sibelius. She takes a brave step here by recording the complete violin sonatas of that spiky American original, Charles Ives. She has steeped herself in the folk songs that Ives drew on and seems to sing through her violin. There is a refreshing lack of defensiveness, apology or obligation here - she knows what great music this is and seeks to communicate that with all the talent at her command. In no small part helped by Valentina Lisitsa's dynamic piano, this recording is a complete success and a joy to listen to. You may even find yourself singing along!




7. The Strokes - Angles
Expectations can really sink a band. If you wanted Is This It Part 2, maybe you should have made it yourself. This is smart, inventive, intricate music that is filled with what can only be called an energetic ennui. It gleams with a very special light and marks its own territory in the dire landscape of today's guitar rock.

8.1 Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) - Complex Presents The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP
This six song download is filled with a unity of sound and purpose that eludes most hip hop. He's not trying to be anything, like Drake or Tyler The Creator, he just IS. It took a minute to adjust to his slower flow on these songs but, as was revealed on my next selection, that was just a demonstration of his versatility. His producers (including Sid Roams and Havoc) come up with some scintillating soundscapes for P to work his magic on. One standout is Stronger, produced by King Benny and featuring a killer Nina Simone sample. QED: "Maybe once in a tangerine moon/I'll be in the mood to paint the town red with your corpuscles and plasma/Some violent art/These thoughts, in the corner of my mind are dark/But then the Times Square lights/They switch my whole attitude." Still on the fence? Did I mention this was a FREE download?


8.2 Mobb Deep - Black Cocaine EP
As I wrote recently, these guys, that name, it's guaranteed to be good. Hip Hop is always on the hunt for the new new thing, but when some old G's come up with the goods, there's no shame it recognizing it. The Bounty Killer sample on Dead Man Shoes is a coup and if it inspired the refrain "Eat food, I'm full, doggy bag 'em, feed 'em to the wolves, toe-tag'em, they walking in dead man shoes," it was worth every penny paid to the dancehall marauder. Prodigy is in full command throughout, stepping up the pace as the music demands, as is partner Havoc. Four other excellent songs have me eager for the full album to drop in 2012.


9. Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu
Let me just say that half the people piling on this record are descendants of the dudes who returned White Light/White Heat to EJ Korvette's for a refund in 1967 because they thought there was something wrong with it. And the other half are insecure followers just doing it out of aesthetic insecurity or those guys who considered ending it all when Metallica cut their hair. This is a great record - big riffs, nasty lyrics, moments of transcendent beauty. Perhaps Lou is dragging the Metallicatz into the world of German expressionism rather forcefully, but they pump their own blood into the songs. Like The Strokes album, I'm convinced Lulu's time will come.


10. Epic45 - Weathering
This achingly gorgeous ambient-folk song cycle is assembled with such care, it should be sold as a single download. However, there are enough standout songs that it's OK if it ends up on shuffle play. At a less fractious time (and one less obsessed with dance music), this album would be an event. In 2011, most people don't even know it exists. In this case, joining the 1% would be a badge of honor - and an entree into a beautiful soundworld.

Whew. It wasn't easy to demote the luminaries listed at the top of this post but they, and many others, will be featured in a Best Of The Rest Of 11 entry, coming soon. Also on the horizon is a look back at the year in concerts. In the meantime, share your comments, or your own Top Ten, below.

2011: The Year In Live, Part 1

With 2011 still ringing in my ears, and on the eve of my first concert of 2012 (Jonathan Wilson, Mercury Lounge, 1/19/12), here's the first rundown of live shows from last year.


Concert-going ran the full gamut this year, from a tribute to a legendary soprano to a world tour with a string quartet, and from psych-rock and folk-rock master classes to ear-splitting metal. Add some filthy hip hop and some twisted jazz and you would have a fair representation of my musical diet. Maybe in 2012 I'll hit all of those marks.


My daughter and I are The Two Live Crew - back for a repeat engagement in 2011.

At the Bon Iver concert, Prospect Park

The Return Of The Two Live Crew - River To River
We once again filled the summer with cornucopia of musical delights. I have already written extensively about the Brooklyn Rider concert we saw during the River To River Festival. That same organization gave us the opportunity to see Sean Lennon's Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger in full flower at South Street Seaport. While I have been his fan since Into The Sun in 1998, this recent project seemed to be getting by largely on the charm of Sean and Charlotte Kemp-Muhl, his partner in music and life, as evidenced in their, yes, charming appearance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert. So I was not expecting the full-on psychedelic freak scene they brought to the little stage by the sea. While his solo albums have focused on his ravaged heart, the new songs are full of play and imagery. Sean is a stunning guitar player and his maniacal exertions were contrasted perfectly by Charlotte's effortless cool and precise bass playing. The three musicians who filled out the band were uniformly excellent. While the Acoustic Sessions album was pleasant enough, I can't wait for the full band album - although with their website two months out of date, I won't hold my breath... The opening act was the entertaining Blood Orange - when his first song ended I thought, "That's what I hoped Lightspeed Champion would sound like." Then I realized it was the same guy. His bedsit pop is punctuated by unexpectedly convincing guitar heroics, a great combination that doesn't quite come over on his album, Coastal Grooves. Worth a listen, but try to catch him live.


The Return Of The Two Live Crew, Pt. 2
Hannah and I also trekked out to Brooklyn for the Bon Iver experience in Prospect Park - and it is an experience to see Justin Vernon & Co. onstage. The large band gave the new songs an increased dynamic range that revealed their structural and emotional intricacies more effectively than the album versions. Vernon is a massive talent and although he seemed to give his all, sometimes heading for an emotional brink, I never worried about him, as he projected a grounded and healthy air. He's the real deal and I expect we'll have him around for awhile. He is also a generous musician, including his band and the audience fully in the proceedings. If you're a fan but found yourself somewhat confounded by the second album, catch the concert - it will all make more sense.


The Return Of The Two Live Crew Pts. 3-5
After summer 2010, Hannah and I were dyed in the wool fans of Tanglewood's Sunday morning chamber concerts. We managed to make it to three this year and were introduced to some amazing music. One concert included Fred Ho's Fanfare to Stop the Creeping Meatball, a witty romp that was an entree into the world of an idiosyncratic and brave musician. We also had the privilege of attending an all-vocal concert that was a 90th birthday celebration for Phyllis Curtin. Appropriately enough, the concert opened with Britten's complex A Birthday Hansel, but soon moved into a wild array of exclusively American song, including a fantastic performance of Marc Blitzstein's poignantly brash The New Suit "Zipperfly" by bass David Salsbery Fry. YoonGeong Lee's take on Joseph Schwantner's Black Anemones was also unforgettable. And I doubt there was a dry eye to be found when the entire company sang The Promise of Living chorus from Aaron Copland's The Tender Land. I know I was tearing up watching Curtin's beaming face as the young singers performed. If you're in the Berkshires at all next summer, stop by Tanglewood at 10:00am on Sunday - you never know exactly what will happen but you know it will be wonderful!


The Return of The Two Live Crew: Encore!
Combining one of our favorite places (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) with one of our favorite activities (live music) seemed like a guaranteed good time and the New York Philharmonic's Contact! concert in December did not disappoint. Hosted by the ever-amazing John Schaefer, the show featured a world-premiere by young Brazilian composer Alexandre Lunsqui, a new classic by Magnus Lindberg and, the big piece of the night, H.K. Gruber's outrageous Frankenstein!! The Lunsqui piece was knotty but propulsive, with some cheeky references to his native Brazilian rhythms. Lindberg's choice of symphonic sections of woodwind and brass - as if "the other bus of musicians didn't arrive" - was an exploration of instrumental textures, but not in an academic way. Frankenstein!!, with its toy instruments, theatrical vocals and (admittedly somewhat dated) pop-culture obsessed poetry, is a unique work that deserves to be experienced at least once, especially with Gruber himself in the role of Chansonnier - although ring-leader might have been as apt a description.


Still to come: The Year In Live, Pt. 2


Did you take your kids to any concerts last year? Tell us about it!