Okay Dave, for posterity's sake, a top five:
- Thee Oh Sees, Castlemania. I played the hell out of this record all summer. Their double EP in November was icing on the cake. San Francisco garage rock had a big year, and even though Ty Segall gets most of the accolades, these guys are probably what he puts on when he's microwaving burritos.
- Ty Segall, Goodbye Bread. But then again Ty deserves some accolades.
- Girls, Father Son Holy Ghost. So I should just to move to San Francisco? But this album—-unassailable. On every point.
- The Psychic Paramount, II. Oh hi there post rock. Where you been? It's like when Megatron sort of died but then came back as Galvatron, bigger and more unhinged. Sure he was still just a handgun, so a little one dimensional, but he was a pretty kickass handgun.
- Wugazi, 13 Chambers. Mashups are a tired gimmick? Yes. This album is still impossible to turn off? Also yes.
(I should mention that this isn't really a “best of” so much as a “I liked this and played it a lot.” There is a difference. I also liked new albums by old favourites (Wire, Deerhoof, Feelies) well enough, and got pretty enthusiastic about old favourites with new/newish names (Wild Flag, Obits), and a little less but still enthusiastic about new (to me) bands with new (to me) names (Iceage, Trash Talk); I heard a bunch of indie (or easy listening?) bands mostly stick to formula, which is fine when the formula's okay (Antlers, Radiohead, Lykke Li, Gang Gang Dance, Cults, Atlas Sound, Panda Bear, Wilco), but disappointing when the formula didn't used to be quite so easy listening (The Rapture, TV on the Radio); I listened to a bunch of hip hop I found either too predictable (Lil B, Jay-Z/Kanye) or else pretty interesting, but missing the mark for some reason or another (Tyler the Creator, Death Grips, Das Racist, Danny Brown); I tried to like some American (ie. “false”) black metal, but failed (Wolves in the Throne Room, Liturgy); I tried not to like some NPR-approved singer songwriters, but failed again (Tom Waits, Sam Phillips, Bill Callahan); I spun some overrated genre exercises (Washed Out, Destroyer), and an underrated one (Dirtbombs), and some that were highly rated and deserved it (Tune-Yards, James Blake); I smiled at some competent rehashing of 80s electropop (Handsome Furs, HTRK, Drive sountrack, Gotye, Ladytron, M83). And I found myself surprisingly unconflicted about cheering for Lady Gaga, even though I only listened to her album once, if that. But she took a brave and genuinely compelling stand against homophobia in the year it was supposed to get better but didn't. I'm disappointed that her Shania track “You and I” wasn't picked up by country radio. But she made a lot of people a shit ton of money this year, so maybe try try again, and eventually the bible belt will erupt into one giant John Waters freakathon.
That's what I'm talking about. 3 things that I haven't been listening to that I'm now going to check out.
ReplyDeleteGotta say, I'd be surprised if you like Psychic Paramount. Remember Laddio Bolocko? I think we saw them once at the Starfish, opening for Trans Am. This is ten years ago at least. They wore black and smoked cigarettes intensely, then played intense, jazzy postrock. I think you hated them. Anyway, two former members in this band.
ReplyDeleteThen again, some of it sounds like the sprawled out sections of Trail of Dead's one really good album, so maybe you will like it.
You may be correct about Psychic Paramount. But I have no recollection of Laddio Bolocko. I don't really ever remember seeing Trans Am either, but who knows?
ReplyDeleteI really like this time of year. You can weed through all the garbage and start to focus on other people's best of lists. I'm highly unoriginal and only like things that other people think are okay.
Bill Callahan seems pretty good. I like your Ty Segall so far as well.