Top Ten Albums I Didn't Review

Seeing as this is a blog, not a job, I simply don't always find time to review all the albums I'd like to. However, with it being the end of the year, and since not all of these albums can make my final top ten list, here's a chance for these albums to get some love and for me to briefly explain what made them great. If you're wondering about how they score, the range is 7.8 to 8.6.

10. Man Man - "Rabbit Habits" - Man Man's third effort is arguably their best yet, with a bigger sound, crisper production, and an even more original reworking of their Tom Waits + pop + vaudeville formula. As with the group's other albums, it's not for everyone. Man Man invite you down the rabbit-hole into a bizarre alternate world of theatrics, and for those willing to make the journey it is a memorable experience.

(video is "Easy Eats or Dirty Doctor Galapagos")

9. Pale Young Gentlemen - "Black Forest (Tra La La)" - Last year, after rewarding Pale Young Gentlemen's debut with a ridiculously high 9.1 rating, they earned spots on both my album and song of the year lists. They also earned a record deal with Science of Sound, which released their second album less than 18 months after their debut. The use of a label is reflected in the crisper production and deeper sonics, but lost in the transition is the spontaneity and, well, fun of the debut. It was still good enough to make this list and avoid a "sophomore slump," but better albums are ahead for this band.

(video is "The Crook of My Good Arm")

8. Flying Lotus - "Los Angeles" - This is how Warp interprets hip-hop. "Los Angeles" sounds like nothing else released this year, yet is accessible to fans of a wide variety of genres. Electronica, hip-hop, IDM; the lines between all three were blurred and erased in under an hour. Not bad, Steven Ellison. I can't even begin to fathom what he's got planned for album number three.

(video is "Riot")


7. Hold Steady - "Stay Positive" - Craig Finn and company are certainly consistent. One knows what to expect from them each time out. Sing-along refrains surrounded by Finn's storytelling sung-spoke vocals and plenty of guitar. Four albums in, and the formula is showing very little (if any) diminishing returns. "Stay Positive" is another solid Hold Steady album, with the usual stand-outs ("Constructive Summer" and "Lord, I'm Discouraged") and hardly a weak track on the album. Sure, the Hold Steady don't change much, but why should they?

(video is "Constructive Summer")


6. Cut Copy - "In Ghost Colours" - Just give in. There's no use resisting. Click play.

(video is "Feel the Love")


5. Deerhunter - "Microcastle" - Bradford Cox has reached the point when he can do anything and critics will adore it. "Microcastle" marks the first time on a full-length that he's deserved the praise. Removing himself from the jam-out tendencies of the band's previous two LPs to find an increased level of structure, and finding originality through variety rather than spontaneity, Cox showcased abilities in composition and songwriting which converted me. I believe in Bradford Cox... except for Atlas Sound.

(video is "Agoraphobia")


4. Black Milk - "Tronic" - In a year in which many big name hip-hop artists released albums, none were able to match what Detroit beat connoisseur and MC Black Milk was able to accomplish with his latest album (unless you thought "Tha Carter III" was a masterstroke). It's fourteen tracks of hip-hop, no filler, ranging from good to jaw-dropping. The frequent comparisons of Black Milk to J. Dilla are easily drawn here, although on tracks like "Hell Yeah" Black Milk out-Dilla's the late Jay Dee himself. With "Tronic," Black Milk rises from the ashes of J. Dilla to become an even more powerful version of the late producer extraordinaire.

(video is "The Matrix")


3. Torche - "Meanderthal" - In a year in which a lot of hard rock albums drew praise ("Fortress," "The Chemistry of Common Life," "Life... The Best Game in Town," etc.), the best of all was an album masquerading as hard rock. Torche explore genres and annihilate each and every one of them. "Speed of the Nail" does up death metal while adding a hint of pop levity, "Grenades" takes the power anthem and soars it to new heights. Torche exemplifies genres while rebuking them, joke too straight-faced to possibly be kidding, and just happen to make kick ass rock music the whole time.

(video is "Grenades")


2. Fleet Foxes - "Fleet Foxes" - The "Sun Giant EP" was good, but Fleet Foxes' debut convinced me the hype surrounding the band was warranted. Robin Pecknold's vocals are an instrument in themselves, with a level of reverb previously reserved only for My Morning Jacket's Jim James. Consistent, gorgeous, and impeccably arranged, "Fleet Foxes" may have gained recognition through hype and buzz, but will be able to sustain it through the shear quality and craftsmanship of its songs.

(video is "Ragged Wood")


1. Jacaszek - "Treny" - Post-rock is dying. Mogwai will never make another "Young Team." Sigur Rós will never make another "Ágætis Byrjun." Tortoise are no longer relevant. Jacaszek offers the solution in this eulogy to the genre. On the surface, "Treny" appears simple but encased within its songs are labyrinthine structures of sound, a plethora of tiny parts each contributing to a massive whole, then muffled to create the illusion of ambience, a façade of peace created by constant war. Maybe it's all a metaphor, maybe I'm over-thinking it, maybe that's why I never wrote a review. Whichever way, it's certainly one of the year's finest albums.

(video is "Lament")

Kanye West / "808s & Heartbreak"

Let me just get it out of the way right now, I'm giving this album a 10.0. For better and worse, it's the quintessential Kanye West album. It's Kanye West telling everyone and everything that isn't Kanye West to fuck off, including rap music and Kanye West's fans. Kanye West doesn't care about any of that shit. Kanye West only loves Kanye West. Kanye West knows Kanye West is invincible. Kanye West can premiere Kanye West's latest video on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." It doesn't matter. There's no knocking Kanye West. Kanye West can make an entire album using autotuner, and expect Kanye West's fans to pay money to own it. Kanye West knows that putting the name Kanye West on Kanye West's latest album guarantees the album will sell 500,000 copies (minimum) its first week. It doesn't matter that it's an over-produced, boring, pile of shit which gets old before the first listen is even through. It's the "Metal Machine Music" of autotuners.

Sure, it could be qualified as a hip-hop album. After all, Young Jeezy shits out an awful verse on the annoying-beyond-belief "Amazing", and Lil Wayne almost sort of raps (terribly) on "See You in My Nightmares." Kanye West fans will wonder why Kanye West doesn't rap on the entire album. Kanye West will say something about how Kanye West is "expanding the very meaning of hip-hop, and forever changing the nature of the music for the better" or some bullshit. The truth is Kanye West is content to do whatever Kanye West wants to do, and will continue to do whatever Kanye West wants to do as long as Kanye West is making money, and then Kanye West will speak out against every review which dares question the artistic merit of "808s & Heartbreak" and question the integrity of the Grammy Awards (as if they had any to begin with) when the album fails to win every major category. The thing is, at first I thought it was all just a big gimmick on the part of Kanye West. Kanye West's ego couldn't possibly be that inflated, right? I was wrong.

I think Kanye West actually believes this is a classic masterpiece of an album, a 10.0 album. Kanye West will stand up for and defend this album against anyone and everyone. Kanye West will hear the criticism, sure, and Kanye West will address it as Kanye West always does. The thing is though, it won't really bother Kanye West. Kanye West will know at the end of the day that Kanye West is still the greatest musical composer since Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Kanye West won't let the fans' disgust at this horrid album unruffle Kanye West. George Bush doesn't care about black people, and Kanye West doesn't care about Kanye West's fans. "808s & Heartbreak" is the archetype Kanye West album for precisely that reason. It's not made for you, the fans. It's made for Kanye West, and you know Kanye West loves it and thinks it's flawless.

Rating: 10.0

(Kanye West loves the score I gave Kanye West, but did complain that I didn't use Kanye West's name enough.)

The Streets / "Everything is Borrowed"

(sigh) I didn't even want to review this album...

Let me just get it out now: "Everything is Borrowed" is a terrible album. That the album will be his penultimate brings about mixed emotions. On one hand, Skinner has shown in the past to be a talented, and in many ways groundbreaking, artist whose work will be missed. However, on the other hand, with the trajectory mapped out by the development (or lack thereof) from "A Grand Don't Come for Free" to "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" to this suggests it's tragically for the best if he just fades out. It's a sad and surprising story that someone who arrived with as much to say on his debut as Skinner, someone who reached even further with his craft on his sophomore album, and looked as though he were ready to be a major musical voice for years to come, would fade out with such a dim light.

Make no mistakes, whereas "Hardest Way" was upsetting in its stagnation and its failure to meet either of its preceding albums, "Everything is Borrowed" leaves the listener stoic. It suggests Skinner is out of ideas, or good ones anyway. Instead of angry, the listener simply sighs in the realization that The Streets is not only failing to meet expectations, but that Skinner has eliminated any reasonable reason for expectations to even exist entering album number five.

There's nothing interesting on this album. It doesn't fail under the weight of its own ambitions. It has no ambitions. I don't even know what he was aiming to accomplish. "Original Pirate Material" sought to translate the life of a regular Londoner into hip-hop with a twist, making the mundane into something of great interest. "A Grand Don't Come for Free" remains Skinner's masterpiece, a soap opera set to music which has lost none of its dramatic flair or intrigue in the four-plus years since its release. Even the mediocre-at-best "Hardest Way" attempted to translate the life-as-art approach of "Original Pirate Material" to Skinner's current life of luxury, but failed due to a lack of creativity and a lack of connection to the listener.

"Everything is Borrowed" is Skinner making an album. Period. His verses, which were always even more of a selling point than his production, are lousy. One listen to "Heaven for the Weather" tells you all you need to know. Skinner has no flow, his lyrics aren't creative, and the song is about as captivating as watching Carnie Wilson's gastric bypass surgery online. His production occasionally shines through ("The Sherry Ends", "Alleged Legends"), but not until the album is nearly over, by which time I was only continuing to listen so I could write this review.

People grow up and mature. You can't expect artists to stay in the mold they began in. Skinner isn't the same kid making beats on his laptop and rapping about smoking pot and trying to land women while turning it all into a social commentary of sorts, just like Conor Oberst isn't the same emo kid screaming his insecurities. But just like Bright Eyes became decreasingly interesting since "Fevers and Mirrors" before bottoming out with last year's neutered alt-country strummer "Cassadaga", The Streets no longer desires to make music like he used to. That's fine, I suppose. I just no longer desire to listen to his music.

Rating: 2.0

Chad VanGaalen / "Soft Airplane"

I'd be lying if I told you I was entirely sold on Chad VanGaalen entering the year 2008. Sure, his debut album, "Infiniheart" was a reasonably impressive lo-fi recorded singer-songwriter album and his most recent album (and second overall), "Skelliconnection", earned some nice buzz and a Polaris Prize nomination. However, the change from "Infiniheart" to "Skelliconnection" did not hint that VanGaalen has ready to make the jump to being a premiere artist. His latest offering, "Soft Airplane", finally sees VanGaalen taking advantage of SubPop's technology and releasing an album that captures and solidifies all of his talents.

Opening with the bizarre but nonetheless interesting Devandra Banhart sound-alike "Willow Tree", VanGaalen finally hits his stride with "Bones of Man" and never looks back. "Bones of Man" begins with VanGaalen's voice accompanying a simple guitar line before adding harmonizing vocals, xylophones, and a myriad of odds and ends. Too many chefs may spoil a stew according to the old adage, but VanGaalen knows the perfect portioning. As the song parlays from refrain to one instrumental solo to the next before fading into static, there are no doubts to VanGaalen's talents as a composer, lyricist, or performer. "Cries of the Dead" combines cryptic lyrics ("I can hear the cries of the dead, muffled by the ground, but still loud enough to make it out") and an upbeat pop beat into a song that would be humorously ironic if it weren't so fucking good

His influences are vast and scattered. "Bare Feet on Wet Griptape" sounds like the Talking Heads, both vocally and sonically. "Poisonous Hands" hints at Grandaddy, with its space-age vocals and distant guitar. Hell, "TMNT" (which, yes, does stand for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) is a dance-rock track in the vein of LCD Soundsystem with a (no joke) harmonica solo! In the same way Beck used to do during his creative zenith, VanGaalen takes a disparate elements, slams them together, and creates a coexistence where one would seem unlikely or even near impossible. It's undeniably captivating music. From beginning to end, "Soft Airplane" explores new sonic possibilities, mesmerizes the listener with its beauty and creativity, and never becomes static or redundant.

In fact, the second half of the album might be even better than the disc's exemplary first half. "Molten Light" embraces VanGaalen's lo-fi roots magnificently and the effects combined with the chorus of "she'll find you and she'll kill you!" gives the song an eerie, hypnotic aura. "Old Man + The Sea" drowns VanGaalen's vocals in effects and instruments, only allowing it to approach the forefront as the song changes fronts and sonics during the refrain. "City of Electric Light" somehow manages to sound like Destroyer, Smog, and the Microphones simultaneously, and is every bit as good as those impressive influences. "Rabid Bits of Time" opens "you've been dead for years, but you never knew" before becoming a slow, quiet, melancholic burner of a track. "No one knows where we go when we're dead or when we're dreaming" sings VanGaalen as the song broods with the percussion of tambourines before more and more instruments slowly enter and exit the picture like characters in a play, each delivering one poignant line and exiting the stage. It gives way to a grumble and effects which sound like a train passing over rails. Closer "Frozen Energon" sounds like nothing else on the album, an ambient noise track with blips and static filling the remaining space. The album opens with a hum, and closes in an eruption of noise. In between, it is no less than one of the most original and exciting albums I've heard all year.

Rating: 9.1

TV on the Radio / "Dear Science"

This is how you get popular without selling out. TV on the Radio have followed an ideal timeline for a band to achieve mainstream success without changing their sound to meet Top 40 standards. Arriving fully-formed and loaded with the incredible "Young Liars" EP in 2003, they were hit-and-miss (fortunately the former more than the latter) on their debut full-length "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes" before fulfilling their early promise with 2006's excellent "Return to Cookie Mountain". Now comes "Dear Science", which takes the astronomical expectations forged by the success of "Cookie Mountain" and strides past them without breaking a sweat. TV on the Radio have crafted a career-defining masterpiece, while sounding as effortless as they ever have on record.

Opener "Halfway Home" swells with the energy of a dormant volcano awaiting eruption. Lead singer Tunde Adebimpe's falsetto floats across waves of muffled feedback and Dave Sitek's programmed drums guide the song on a linear path toward the inevitable eruption at the 4:30 mark. It's an even better opener than the near-perfect "I Was a Lover" from "Cookie Mountain" and establishes both the pop-oriented nature of the record as well as the quality of the tracks. Whereas "Cookie Mountain" was an album of expanding the boundaries of alternative music and creating beauty from the dark chasms of Sitek's production, "Dear Science" sees the band reaching that perfect mixture of pop music's popular sensibilities and the expansion-seeking experimentation of independent music, the way artists like David Bowie used to do. In fact, "Crying" sounds like vintage post-Berlin Bowie, with it's radio-ready beat and smooth yet expressive vocals. Lead single "Dancing Choose" begins with Adebimpe making use of a rap / spoken-verse delivery. Carried more by energy than composition, the song nonetheless succeeds, even if it's not quite the single "Wolf Like Me" was in 2006.

The album's torrid pace slows for yet another stand-out track in "Stork and Owl", before kicking back up to dance music speed with "Golden Age". "There's a golden age, comin' round, comin' round, comin' round!" sings Adebimpe with hope as the strings and drums and synthesizer give the song its intoxicating allure and make it impossible to deny. "Family Tree" is the album's slowest track, and while not as immediate as the tracks preceding it, it nonetheless remains beautiful, both lyrically and sonically. "We're laying in the shadow of your family tree, your haunted heart and me... There's a hundred hearts soar free, pumping blood to the roots of evil to keep it young" sings Adebimpe, his lyrics enigmatic yet poignant, made all the more visceral through the harp and woodwinds which lead the song. If there's any low point on this album, it's "Red Dress". An anti-war song, beginning "a-hey Jackboot! Fuck your war! I'm fat and in love and no bombs are fallin’ on me for sure." The vocals are just as ludicrous as the lyrics read, and the song never really finds its footing.

However, this lack of footing is only a misstep, not a full-out fall. The album reasserts itself with the slowly-building and irresistably poppy "Shout Me Out", which goes from bubblegum to guitar rock without missing a beat. The guitar solo which comprises the song's second half is easily the best guitar work the band has ever shown. "DLZ" is the late highlight of the album, propelled by the darkest mood on the album, recalling the best songs of "Cookie Mountain" and "Young Liars". Adebimpe makes more from a refrain of "la la la's" than should be possible, and the song starts off supremely well and only continues to get better and better as it progresses. Simply put, it's a perfect track.

"Lover's Day" closes the album on a high note, all anthemic rock and no pretense. The band brings out a marching band worth of instruments, holding nothing back. It's an apt summary of the album. TV on the Radio continue to expand their sound, all while making it increasingly user-friendly. I can't imagine that "Dear Science" will fail to add to their fan-base and the fervor which surrounds their album releases. I'd say it would be a hard album to top, but with the level of talent and execution on display, there really is no limit to what this band can do.

Rating: 9.0

A Series of Quick Reviews

The Review is back with three new reviews...

Mount Eerie / "Black Wooden Ceiling Opening": "What's in a name?" asked Juliet in the second act of Shakespeare's famous play. "Would Phil Elvrum's music by any other name not sound as sweet?" asked Erik as he prepared to listen to the newest release by the former Microphones genius under his Mount Eerie moniker. The answer is not as clear-cut as one would imagine. "BWCO" is undoubtedly an Elvrum work, but it never grabs the listener the way that the best Microphones albums did. Whereas with albums such as "The Glow, Pt. 2" or "Mount Eerie", Elvrum would build to his crescendos gracefully and subtly, making their impact all the more substantial, on "BWCO" he seems lackadaisical in his approach. For example, on album centerpiece "In Moonlight", Elvrum begins with an interesting anecdote of walking down a road and seeing what he thinks to be a car, before realizing "there was no car; it was me revealed in moonlight." Then Elvrum decides "what the hell, I might as well just throw a giant guitar jam in" and jerks the listener out of the story. This process of lazily and randomly placing pieces which should act as culminations might seem brave and artistic at first, but over and entire album of repeating the process (albeit only a 6 track EP) it nullifies the effect of these zeniths and leaves the listener to wonder whatever happened to Mr. Elvrum between 2003 (when "Mount Eerie" was released) and now that caused him to lose his grasp on song composition, especially when largely the lyrics are still so strong. Sure, it's a good album, but it so easily could've been great, especially for someone with the obvious talent of Phil Elvrum.
Rating: 7.5

Kingdom Shore / "... And All the Dogs to Shark": You know how someone will play an album for you, and should you dare to not find it revelatory you will be told "you just don't get it"? Well, I just don't get Kingdom Shore. Kingdom Shore, the brain-child of Mark Molnar, consists of four violins all playing separate parts at the same time. The best way to describe the sound is to take Jonny Greenwood's "There Will Be Blood" score at its most dissonant, take whatever means of rhythm still exist, remove them entirely, and then throw another violin or two into the mix each playing with no sense of timing or melody (hear a sample here). The entire thing is borderline unlistenable, and considering the average track runs well over nine minutes, only a fan of the most far-fetched avant-garde music would find this compelling. If Greenwood's "There Will Be Blood" score soundtracked a man selling his soul for oil and power, then "... And All the Dogs to Shark" is the sound of the hell he was forced to suffer in the after-life.
Rating: 0.6

Shearwater / "Rook": Shearwater could be considered a side-project of Okkervil River in the way the Silver Jews were once seen as a Pavement side-project: the two bands share members, one is better-known than the other, and the two bands sound fundamentally different. Just in the way the Silver Jews' "American Water" propelled them to being argued to be just as good as late-era Pavement, "Rook" will arouse debate that Shearwater may have surpassed Okkervil River in quality. The album is relatively slow-paced, and is carried on the strength of frontman Jonathan Meiburg's vocals, and what a voice he has! His gorgeous tenor is able to carry minimal arrangments, or accompany his band beautifully. While the band occasionally loses focus (the second half of "On the Death of the Waters", the too-fanciful "Lost Boys"), when they hit they knock it out of the park. The penultimate track, "Snow Leopard", is the current leader in the race for song of the year. Beginning with a piano line reminiscent of Radiohead's classic "The Pyramid Song", Meiburg coos "let the moon do its work on your body" and lets the mood encapsulate the listener before crying out "waa!" and letting the guitar and drum enter the picture. As the song turns its intensity up, Meiburg matches it and the rest of the song becomes a thrilling game of "let's see you top this!" between Meiburg and his accompaniment. To call it beautiful is to use lazy terms for a song that demands so much more. It's a majestic composition that leaves me no doubt that someday Shearwater could craft some of the finest music in the coming years. This is Shearwater's coming out party, and you don't want to miss it.
Rating: 8.5

What happened to the Review?

1. Two-week trip to New York and Canada.
2. Getting a new full-time job in mid-August as a server.
3. Classes beginning on August 25th.
4. New girlfriend.
5. Watching this:



With all that going on, a review site I write simply for pleasure had to take a step back. Reviews will start up again in the later part of this month. All apologies to those who've enjoyed my writing.