list of 2010′s best albums – and why…
1. Beach House – Teen Dream
Teen Dream has to be here because it is just perfect. Beach House’s dream pop is like the most beautiful dream you’ve ever had. Every song is great, crafted with detail and beauty, and Victoria’s voice just has to belong to another dimension. Just let yourself drift to the sound of this Teen Dream, and hopefully never wake up from it.
2. Efterklang – Magic Chairs
Efterklang redefined their sound with Magic Chairs, and it is just original as hell. If you’ve ever heard anything like this, I dare you to show me. The ryhthms, textures and melodies are just incredible and it’s an experience worth your time. I’ve seen them live twice this year and it is surely one of the most original bands in contemporary music.
3. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
If ‘Los Angeles’ was the most refreshing electronic album of the decade, ‘Cosmogramma’ does not let you down from what you’d expect from Flying Lotus. It is a fine blend of electronics, jazz, world music, and whatever crazy things pass through Flying Lotus’ mind. It’s a difficult album to digest, but it’s just filled with surprises and every listen brings a smile to your face as you discover the secrets behind this genious’ mind.
4. Owen Pallet – Heartland
About this guy, i think there is nothing to say. He’s been growing and growing in today’s music scene, as Final Fantasy he enchanted, as Arcade Fire’s choice violinist, as the composer of string arrangements for Beirut’s ‘The Flying Cup Club’, he is just one of the best composers/songwriters living today. Changing from Final Fantasy to his real name, Owen Pallet releases this incredible conceptual album about a farmer, and it is a box of surprises. Pallet is a talented classically-trained musician with a very open mind, and it’s extremely difficult to classify his music. Just listen to it, it’s a trip alright.
5. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
This has to be the best pop album of this year. Bradford Cox’s genious proves once again, creating a collection of songs which sound like 60′s pop songs seen through Cox’s looking glass. Listening to ‘Halcyon Digest’ is magical, it’s beautiful, it’s a dream. I don’t know why but it evokes in my a somewhat Lynchean aesthetic (maybe stupidly), but it somehow posesses that feeling of something/someplace/someone that feels real but doesn’t really exist (like Lynch likes to create). Overhall if you like well crafted songs, this is the album for you.
6. Gonjasufi – A Sufi and a Killer
Gonjasufi is a new talent from the new school of electronics impulsed by Flying Lotus. He made is debut in the song ‘Testament’ in Flying Lotus’ ‘Los Angeles’ and released is own album ‘A Sufi and a Killer’ this year. The album primes for it’s originality, as it is not straightforward electronics, fusing hip-hop, middle eastern melodies, 60′s psychedelia, and much more. It’s a ride on the weird side, like a peyote trip through the desert of Mojave. Really good one.
7. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
It’s hard to beat Sufjan Stevens’ epic masterpiece ‘Illinoise’, but from the look of things we were already expecting something refreshing from this master of songwriting. Previously releasing his ‘BQE’, a completely instrumental album and defying expectations, Sufjan Stevens now presents ‘The Age of Adz’ which returns him to songwriting and introduces heavy usage of electronics along with his well known epic instrumentalizations. Final result : a futuristic monolith of epicness, an opera for the 21st century.
8. Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
For years now, i’ve been following Sunn O))) and watching them refining their sound album after album. After their collaboration with Boris in ‘Altar’, it was obvious they were introducing new elements to their heavy drone music, making it more ecletic and ‘listenable’ (not a good term, i know) and more appealing to other audiences. This might as well be their masterpiece. Introducing a brass, reed and wind section, female choirs, and the AMAZING performance of ex-Mayhem vocalist Attila Csihar, they deliver a epic masterpiece of noise, drone and spiritual voyage. Open your mind and let it go through this dark, dark trip.
9. Polar Bear – Peepers
Polar Bear have been one of my favourite modern jazz bands, ever since I discovered them. They keep pushing the boundaries of the jazz formation with explorations through electronics, noise, pop, rock and whatever may come. And they do it really good. Polar Bear write songs, not in the traditional – melody, solo, melody – jazz structure but, they write songs as a songwriter would, and that is their trump card. The mood in this album swings fast, and it is surely (in my opinion) the best jazz album of this year.
10. Toshimaru Nakamura – Egrets
Toshimaru Nakamura is a japanese ‘musician’ (or soundscape forger) which for many years now has been perfecting the art of manipulating a ‘No-Input Mix-Table’. He has come from the minimalist japanese free improvisation school of Onkyo and is considered one of the best. He participated in David Sylvian’s ‘Manafon’ and appeared in the documentary ‘Amplified Gesture’. I chose to put ‘Egrets’ in my top 10 list, because it is simply beautiful and I think some of you will enjoy this experience. As I said before Nakamura plays a ‘No-Input Mix-Table’ which means he only works with feedbacks and noise. In ‘Egrets’ he invites trumpeter Arve Henriksen and guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama to bring some melody into his noise explorations. It is a quiet, very soft album, a very interesting exploration of textures in sound.
Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat Dan Singa
Arrington de Dionyso
Arrington de Dionyso started his musical life playing organ in the church where his parents were ministers. Not happy with the piano lessons his parents initiated him after they noticed his interest for music, he gave up the piano, but kept exploring music through the local library, devouring everything it had to offer, from Indian ragas to traditional African music. He then went to college and started his own project, the experimental punk/free-jazz band Old Time Relijun, which made various releases until 2007 and received praise from the critics.
Malaikat Dan Singa
After releasing a couple of records in his own name, without much praise, he then comes to the ‘Malaikat Dan Singa’ project. I found this last week and was somehow impressed by the novelty of the sound and the originality of the feelings Arrington is trying to transmit. The album is a tribal, shamanic incursion through heavy rock/punk style with clear influences from tribal African music and sometimes (lots of times actually) with a very acid-driven psychedelic incursion. The most interesting part of this work is without doubt Arrington’s performance. His vocal style is deranged, mad, furious, meditative, and could pretty much have come out of the jungle to scream. The lyrics are not understandable, because they are a translation of a collection of William Blake, David Scherer and texts from the Jewish Zohar to Indonesian. Yes, Arrington sings integrally in Indonesian language, which adds a lot more substance to his vocal style, which oscillates from violent screams to Tuvan throat singing. He also plays the bass clarinet, adding some free-jazz textures to the overall insanity. The album is pretty good, and primes for it’s originality and the trip it creates.
Imagine you’re trying to go to sleep in a tropical forest, while having a high-fever, and the natives just gave you an hallucinogenic medicine. You’re falling asleep and in the distance can only listen to the natives’ chants and rhythms, and the hallucinogenics are starting to mix with the fever.
This is the experience of ‘Malaikat Dan Singa’. Enjoy.
Matt Elliot – Howling Songs – modern songwriting for ghosts.
I came across Matt Elliott when I saw he was the opening act for Yann Tiersen on his last european tour.
Matt Elliott
I investigated and found out his extensive and very productive musical career started in the pioneer post-rock band ‘Flying Saucer Attack’ where he played guitar. He then started his personal experimental electronic project ‘The Third Eye Foundation’ which was blending drum n’bass with dark ambients and heavy experimentation proving himself as a respected electronic composer and musician. As if this wasn’t enough, Matt Elliott started his self-named project, debuting as a folk/songwriter and eximious guitarist. I want to share with you the last work of his trilogy of ‘songs’, following the albums ‘Drinking Songs’ and ‘Failing Songs’, his absolutely astonishing ‘Howling Songs’.
Howling Songs
As his previous albums already had stated, Matt is a ingenious musician and composer with a very unique aesthetic. For sure none of Matt’s fans were expecting an acoustic trilogy of songs, and especially with this level of quality and originality. ‘Howling Songs’ is a ride on the dark side starting by it’s AMAZING album cover, its a collection of non-songs, and listening to it is the equivalent of a trip to another dimension, a dimension populated with ghosts, remains of the past, abandoned victorian houses and dark forests. Matt’s music is an amazing mixture of eastern-european folk melodies, flamenco technique, obscure and broken lyrics and an environment worthy of H.P.Lovecraft’s darkest stories. Added to the incredible guitar work of Matt, we also have haunting violins, ethereal pianos and a complete ensemble of acoustic instruments (glockenspiel, cello, flute, etc). Another genius touch comes in the pace of the songs, sometimes reaching noise driven climaxes, oscillating the mood between the melancholic and the mad.
This is one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time, and it’s terribly underrated. Matt Elliott deserves a hell lot of respect.
HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
I leave you with 2 acoustic versions of these songs, enjoy :
preliminary list of the best albums of 2010!
Here is my preliminary list of best albums of 2010 :
1. Beach House – Teen Dream
2. Efterklang – Magic Chairs
3. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
4. Owen Pallet – Heartland
5. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
6. Gonjasufi – A Sufi and a Killer
7. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
8. Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
9. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
10. Vampire Weekend – Contra
Ladies and gentlemen : the Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards were formed in 1978 by saxophone player and actor John Lurie (famous for his interpretations in Jim Jarmusch’s movies ‘Stranger than Paradise’, ‘Down by Law’ and ‘Permanent Vacation’, and also by his solo work as a composer), where what at first began only as a ‘fake-jazz’ band playing for the downtown New York art community, quickly became very respected for their creativity and avant-gard fusion.
During their career, the band suffered healthy metamorphosis in formation and sound, turning from a very interesting little larvae to an exuberant and beautifully textured butterfly.
The Lounge Lizards S/T
Briefly covering their most important works, the initial self-titled album ‘The Lounge Lizards’ from 1980 features a couple of Thelonious Monk covers, turning it into a work that can be confused with a classic jazz album, but turns out to be deeply rooted in rock experimentation and a special ‘New York feeling’. It is a dark work, with a noir sound, probably perfect for a driving night in the Harlem!
- Voice of Chunk
In the Voice of Chunk (1988) the Lounge Lizards refine their sound and aesthetics creating a very original sound, exploring atonalities, strange and beautiful melodies, textures and layers in their music. They bring the legendary Marc Ribot (Tom Waits and John Zorn’s favorite guitarist) into the formation, helping on the creative part and complementing Evan Lurie’s (John’s brother) wonderful piano work. This is probably their best and most interesting work.
Queen of All Ears
The Lounge Lizards’ last work is their most consistent and artsy work. It breathes through all its pores the maturity and creative force that John Lurie and his band have been building during all these years. It is a multi-layered work, where sounds just keeping stacking on top of each other, creating ultra-rich melodies, textures and environments. The best description i can find for the experience of ‘Queen of all ears’ is the soundtrack for a trip to an unknown, remote and exotic island, where the natives have been given instruments and have no preconceptions of music. It is exotic, it is fresh, and it sure is a great work, done by great musicians.
We can only hope that John Lurie and his Lounge Lizards continue threading the ways of experimentation and continue creating these wonderful worlds for us to travel on.
I leave you with 3 songs from each of the albums, hoping they might exemplify the evolution of the Lounge Lizards :
Maldito Tango!
- Daniel Melingo
Daniel Melingo has been creating his dark, sorrowful and bohemian image over the past few years, revitalizing the Buenos Aires tango music scene by mixing the traditional tango with many interesting influences and styles from dub to experimental music while maintaining the traditional tango band structure and rules. He his a skinny grey-haired man, with a deep deep voice, somewhere between Nat King Cole and Tom Waits, with his very own particular presence. He is slowly becoming the Argentinian king of darkness, singing about wretched stories of low-life and destroyed people.
- Maldito Tango
His last work, ‘Maldito Tango’ is a collection of twisted stories with dark outlines, of people who’s lives were from birth condemned to sorrow and pain. The songs are very well constructed, both lyrically and musically, incorporating many influences that are not so typical to listen in tango, often jazzy, often ambient and also experimental. For instance the masterpiece ‘Pequeño Paria’ has a very somber introduction with a musical saw that almost transports us into an horror film (with an ambiance almost as Mike Patton uses in Fantomas’ work ‘Director’s Cut’) then becoming a rhythmed tango. Melingo’s voice is deep, almost like it is powered by whiskey and cigarettes, and it is very intense and emotionally strong, and it becomes nearly impossible to mention Tom Waits with his bohemian esthetics and underground themes.
Overhall I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this album as it is a masterpiece of tango, boheme and darkness. Melingo is here to stay.
Psychedelic Tropicalism!
El Guincho
El Guincho is the pseudonym of Pablo Díaz-Reixa, a Spanish musician who decided to innovate. His original sound mixes electronica with the so-called ‘tropical’ music-styles (like Afro-Beat, Dub, Caribbean, etc) and a big big dosis of psychedelia. His first album ‘Alegranza!‘ was a success in the electronic music scene and pushed him into becoming recognized. His new work ‘Pop Negro‘ continues in the same line, sometimes reminding us of Animal Collective, sometimes of Fela Kuti or King Tubby (so you can imagine the craziness that’s going on here).
Pop Negro
He will play this next Saturday, 21st of October in MusicBox (Lisbon) and I reckon it will be a very interesting concert.
RECOMMENDED!
Congotronics : Tribal trance from the depths of the jungle!
Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1970′s.
Mingiedi Mawangu, virtuoso of the traditional african instrument likembé (thumb piano, kalimba and another variety of names depending on the country) leads a band called “L’orchestre folklorique T.P. Konono Nº1 de Mingiedi” and records a song with them for the compilation called “Zaire: Musiques Urbaines a Kinshasa“.
Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2004.
Konono Nº1
Vincent Kenis, Belgian musician and producer, who had been related in musical projects with Congolese musicians, re-discovers the metamorphosed Konono Nº1 in Kinshasa and convinces Mingiedi Mawangu to put the band together and record an album. Little did he know, that this work would be internationally recognized and come to win a BBC Award and a nomination for the Grammies.
But lot had changed since 1970 until now, and the band’s sound had to adapt to the coming times. To deal with the always surmounting urban noise of Kinshasa and still keep having the attention of the people, the traditional Congolese music bands had to electrify themselves and somehow amplify their home-made instruments. This transformation led to the usage of effects in their sound, which in some way was responsible for their recognition.
Congotronics
Congotronics was the name of the first album from “Konono Nº1″, and it thrived with success all around the world. Their sound was something absolutely unique, combining the contagious tribal rhythms and melodies of their african roots with some experimentalism, mainly with reverbs, layers of sound and distortion, which resulted into a blend of completely hypnotic sounds.
Following the great success of Congotronics, Vincent Kenis and his record label ‘Crammed Discs‘ decided to keep mining the apparently infinite resources of good musicians in Congo, and created the ‘Congotronics Series‘ which featured Konono Nº1, The Kasai Allstars and a multi-artist compilation.
Kasai All-Stars
Kasai Allstars are a mix of musicians from five bands from the Kasai region of Congo which apart from the cultural differences of their groups (linguistic and musical) formed up a ‘superband’. Their sound is similar to Konono Nº1, although being more ritualistic. Their live shows not only have the tribal music, but also the tribal appearance, as they dress up like they were going for battle. Their album is called “In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy by Magic” and it’s a real trip to the jungles of Congo, and to the traditions of the people.
Staff Benda Bilili
More recently, Vincent Kenis discovered another successful phenomenon in Kinshasa – the Staff Benda Bilili – which were a group of street musicians, most of them victims of Poliomyelitis, rendering them disabled. With a sound that combined rumba, blues, reggae and african traditions, they also became internationally acclaimed, winning prizes, starring in a documentary and ultimately : showing the world that strength and passion can overcome any disability. Their trump card is a 18 year-old boy called Roger Landu which plays an amplified tin can with a string, often being called the ‘Jimi Hendrix’ of his Satonge!
Trés Trés Fort
The exciting discovery of these forgotten street musicians, and their propelling jump into fame brings exciting musical promises from the unknown Africa, and other slighted places of the world.
I saw Kasai All-Stars in 2008 and Staff Benda Bilili in 2010 in the World Music Festival of Sines, Portugal (FMM) and they were astonishing concerts.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
I leave you with videos from these 3 bands :
Epic Journey!
Having recently re-discovered Sufjan Stevens’ masterpiece epic Illinoise, one of the albums from the 50 state project depicting each of the american states, I just had to make an article about it for considering that it is an unique musical experience and a journey like no other.
Although the album itself is from 2005, I thought it was really important to share it with you, because it’s one of my favorites :)
Sufjan Stevens
Starting with the artist, he is a indie/folk songwriter from Detroit with a solo career that started in 2000 and started getting recognized after his fantastic album Greetings From Michigan : The Great Lake State which set the beginning of a megalomaniac project to create a musical portrait of every U.S. state. This project was named ‘The 50 State Project’ but was soon abandoned (unfortunately). Out of it came Michigan, Illinoise and BQE (New York), all of them very good works.
Sufjan Stevens makes very intimate songs, firmly conceptual – specially in the 50 state project – and with a pop sensitivity that few artists manage to achieve. He plays over 10 instruments and composes all the songs. His music can be defined as a mix of pop/folk/chamber music, often having beautiful string and horn arrangements.
Illinoise
About Illinoise, it is a conceptual album about the state of Illinois, and all the lyrics converge to references about the state’s famous people (be it John Wayne Gacy – the serial killer – , Frank Lloyd Wright – the architect – or Abraham Lincoln – the president) or the state’s famous places (the Sears Tower, Jacksonville, etc), mixing them up with some Christian themes – being Sufjan a religious man.
The music is simply amazing with it’s simultaneous simplicity and complexity. The song structures are regularly simple, but the arrangements and the orchestral work are absolutely astonishing, turning each and every one of the songs in this album in epics – the song Chicago is a good example, with it’s lush violins building up an incomparable grandiosity.
My song recommendations go to ‘John Wayne Gacy Jr.” – the song describing the serial killer’s childhood and life – , ‘Chicago’ – the most epic song in the album, and an instant success -, ‘Casimir Pulaski Day” – a really sad song about losing a loved one to death – and every other song in the album, all of them have something magical.
Summing up, I think that Sufjan Steven’s Illinoise is one of the first magnificent albums of the 21st century (i’m kind of crazy for conceptual works) and everyone should own a copy to shelve – along with Radiohead’s OK Computer and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon 
I’ll leave you with some of the songs - sufjan doesn’t have official videos, so i’ll just post some fan-based ones :
Acoustic folk sweetness!
Today I bring you two (recently discovered) young bands that softly fill my childhood imaginary of the countryside’s magic!
Although I don’t really agree with the tag folk for this kind of music, these are two independent folk groups (being that folklore is a very complicated concept for Europeans, specially Portuguese – because we can’t dissociate it from Morris Dance groups or traditional music, although people from the traditional movement also don’t refer to their thing as folk, but as trad) from Canada and England :
Dry the River
Dry the River are a very young band from London, who recently released their second EP (which i’m going to talk about) ‘Bible Belt’ which doesn’t really bring anything new but is amazingly composed. The EP contains some really interesting song craftsmanship (mainly courtesy of Peter D’Artagnan Liddle – guitar/voice/songwriter) with stunningly beautiful melodies and quite nice lyrics. Their sound can be somewhat related with some of the great indie/folk stuff we’ve been listening to lately – Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes are kind of hard to forget when you’re listening to this – but not being plagiary.
It was quite a good surprise for me, and I really recommend the EP if you’re into good songwriting.
Ghost Bees
Ghost Bees (Tasseomancy) are a band from Halifax, Canada made up by two twin sisters. It’s quite difficult to describe their sound, because although they’re doing folk (no doubt about that), they’re sound is really really original. They use very interesting and unusual voice harmonies and melodies, while the music is quite nicely composed, not being linear at all – the guitar/mandolin dynamics they do are something creative and not cliché – and the lyrics are surreal, pastoral and … simply just great Their debut album is called ‘Tasseomancy’ and it’s definitely worth a listen. The album cover is very curious for being an old photograph of the girl’s grandmother, a russian tea-leaf reader that immigrated to Canada in the 19th Century.
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Bible Belt |
Tasseomancy |
I leave you with two videos from these bands :
