Sorry to have been derelict in my duties as self-appointed music blogger, but here I go: a blast on a stay-at-home Sunday to make up for my slackerdom. I am on the road so much of each week that I listen to the radio several hours a day, also including time at the office, often to the chagrin of my co-workers. There are two distinct categories of song (or instrumental music) that make me reverent– the UPBEAT, PROPULSIVE quality that sets the mind and blood racing, or the CONTEMPLATIVE, BROODING sort of tune, which chills one out, and sometimes GIVES you chills as well. I will try to exemplify each category with my favorites of this past calendar year…and the best of them, like the first on the list, combine equal parts of each, if that is possible. This list is gleaned mostly if not entirely from either WEXT 97.7 FM (Amsterdam/Troy NY), or WEQX 102.7 FM (Manchester, VT.), or both.
At various times in the past year, any one of these tunes might have been considered My Favorite of the moment, but I admit to being fickle in that regard, and my opinion is subject to sudden change at any point…
UPBEAT, PROPULSIVE CATEGORY:
#1: “Holding on For Life” by Broken Bells– My current fave single, which is weird for me because it combines two men’s voices whom I’ve never admitted to liking individually– James Mercer of The Shins (whose most recent tunes I loathe), combined with someone channeling Barry Gibbs of the BeeGees, a disco throwback which would have made me nauseous in my hardcore jazzfreak days in the 80’s, but now sounds amazing in this new context. And if in fact someone can tell me that the falsetto chorus of the title line is NOT Barry Gibbs (or a true sample thereof), I will be even more amazed. (Does Danger Mouse sing that part–? I haven’t heard…) This tune is the # one melody & lyric stuck in my head right now like the needle is skipping, over and over. I can’t wait to hear it again: with its swirling circular synth lines, ostinato bass, and lamenting lyrics (“what a lovely day…to be lone-lay…). It propels me forward as it gives me hope in the face of any despair I may be feeling. Isn’t that a lot to ask of a song?
#2: “Reflektor”– by Arcade Fire– on the other hand, is pure propulsion. Fueled by a rumbling, bubbling-over conga section from start to finish, it reminds me of the offbeat background sound of “Sympathy For The Devil” back in the day. And the hypnotic lyrical redundance on the title phrase holds its appeal for the full seven minutes. When performed on Saturday Night Live back in October the stage visuals were eccentric and riveting as well, and it’s been heavily played in our house, and the car, ever since.
#3: “Trying To Be Cool” by the French band Phoenix, still remains in my Top 5 of ear candy for 2013, and their appearance on SNL helped get me hooked on this tune, as did “Reflektor”. It’s Electronica you can dance to, with that Euro-accent floating atop it all– definitely as Cool as a short tune gets– just wish there was an extended version on the WEXT version, as it seems to last less than 2 minutes, and seems to lack a closing chorus. I’ve heard ‘EQX play the extended version, or maybe it was on David Dye’s World Cafe, where it blended into another tune via a spacy jam… that’s the kind of stuff I love.
#4: “SPOTLIGHT” by the Nashville-based band dubbed Leagues, is another Top 5 tune for me that features skidding, emphatic guitars over a brisk rhythm track that sets off arcs of electricity in my nervous system while I’m driving. Love the singer’s voice– urgent in the upper ranges:
SPOLTLIGHT!
#5: “OHM” by Yo La Tengo— released in early 2013, this seems like a timeless tune with a signature groove by a New Jersey-based trio that has been recording since 1986. Still sounds fresh, transcendent, in fact… I remember them being in the NEW bins during the seemingly final days of vinyl during the late 80’s… they have been making music as long as I’ve been in the real estate profession, in other words. Their spiritual knowledge and sound seem to get better with age, which we might all aspire to as well. Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew– I am re-discovering you, years later. I could imagine this song as a soundtrack for galloping a horse across an idyllic flat plain while in full zen meditation mode. I love it, and would love it more if it were half an hour long jam–it would be the rock version of a Ravi Shankar raga.
#6: “Fitzpleasure” by the British group ALT-J was a ubiquitous, quirky hit from the past summer, which compelled me to buy their CD, AN AWESOME WAVE… good name. I found that I liked the tunes
“Tesselate” and “Breezeblocks” just as much as this first intro-to- America hit of theirs… It’s laid down with a jittery and totally original percussion track which at one point is nothing more than a drumstick on a soda bottle, combined with a mudswamp alligator bassline shaking its tail through the song, making for a great basis. On top of that, singer Joe Newman’s brittle surrealistic phrasing makes them perhaps the most unique and original group on this year’s list. Hence: ALT-J wins Newcomers of the Year, as far as I’m concerned, even though the record was actually made in 2012.
#7: “Don’t Swallow The Cap” by The National, also inspired a CD purchase. Their album “Trouble Will Find Me” proved to be a bit on the dreary side in terms of lyric content and mood, but this song qualifies for being on the UPBEAT side due to a wickedly snappy drum underlayment and the perfectly syncopated monotone of singer
Matt Berninger, despite the strange resignation of his words:it’s a sign that someone loves me.
I can hardly stand up right.
I hit my head upon the light.
I have faith but don’t believe it.
It’s not there enough to leave it.
Everything I love is on the table;
Everything I need is out to sea…
I have only two emotions:
dreadful fear, and dead devotion.
I can’t get the balance right.
I’m not alone, I’ll never be…
and to the bone, I’m evergreen…
*
few seconds during a Gillette shaving commercial (!) on national TV…and are receiving worldwide acclaim from their touring).
What’s different here is that Stellar Young is a true rock GROUP– a five-member bunch who all take a role in the music, not just a leader and sidemen, or a duo, or a solo act. I really hope these guys make it as big as Phantogram, and then they will have in common the fact that a name change preceded their fame. (Stellar Young used to be called The City Never Sleeps.) Go back and see my post about their performance at The Tang, back in July, for more on the live band. This song noted above was the best of their new CD of 2013: EVERYTHING AT ONCE. John Glenn’s shimmering voice surfs on top of exultant chunky Rhodes piano chords and then it becomes a drum-driven anthem. His lyrics are about being attentive to the present tense above all else... and insist that ALL we own is the present moment. Amen. This was in heavy rotation on our car speakers even when it wasn’t on the radio, a soaring motivational song with big hooks.
called PUSHIN’ AGAINST A STONE. This song starts out with her playing an intricate filigree’d lick which seems like a prelude, and then kicks into the nastiest matter-of-fact blues-of-our-time that you’ve ever heard. Her band is dynamite, and the trumpeter in particular gets some nasty little moments to himself toward the end, to compliment the snappy rage of Ms. June’s guitar. You should check out the YouTube clip of her performance on late night TV– Fallon or Letterman I think– I sent the link to my own sisters and they both fully approved.
#10– “Downwind” by Sean Rowe also showed up on national TV this past year– and this song is what he played– a freaking whirlwind of its own, the way it starts out at a loping pace, almost nonchalantly, then slowly speeds up like a guy running as he’s being hunted, and spins more furiously into a guitar-shredding frenzy at the climax…which is mesmerizing both instrumentally and in terms of songcraft.
It doesn’t just END, it kind of implodes on itself and is spent, with a twerky synth spiral, leaving the story ominously unfinished. In person, at the Caffe Lena, he played the guitar part solo, but on the album “The Salesman and The Shark”, and on the Jimmy Kimmel show, it was local guitar hero Chris Carey, I believe, who delivered the goods just as dramatically. Sean’s Rowe’s 2013 record is moody and thickly bluesy otherwise, but this tune flies him into a zone of intensity similar to his days with Mudfunk. (And on that note, if you get the chance– check out his 2008 version of “Poppa Was A Rollin’ Stone” with just him and his percussionist tearin’ up that late 60’s tune by The Temptations.)
Honorable Mentions for 2013, in the UPBEAT Category:
Daft Punk, w/ Nile Rodgers & Pharrel Williams: “Get Lucky”;
Jake Bugg, with both “Lightning Bolt” and “What Doesn’t Kill You”;
SusanTedesky-DerekTrucks Band, “Made Up Mind”;
Dr. Dog, “Broken Heart”;
Milo Greene, “1957”;
Leanne La Havas, “Is Your Love Big Enough?”;
Kings of Leon, “Temple”
Delta Rae, w/ Lindsay Buckingham: “If I Loved You”
Lissie, “Does Anyone Love Anyone?”
OK, now for a separate category:
THE MELLOW, & CONTEMPLATIVE TOP 10.... of 2013
#1— “Baby You Should Know” by Maryleigh Roohan was probably my favorite of the year in this genre, although some other great ones by national acts have given her competition since this enchanting demo was first released. Now that we have the recorded CD version, enriched by cello at a critical point in the song, it’s even more luminous, but her voice is clear and heart-breaking in its sincerity as she sings a rare ode of love in this blues-ridden world. Her album release party, at The Parting Glass in Saratoga, and then later at The Linda in Albany, were packed affairs of devoted fans, and featured some torchy upbeat numbers as well. More on her soon…
#2– “Dust to Dust” by The Civil Wars is the other end of the spectrum, a slowly- harmonic, almost gospel-esque dirge for the end of a love affair. This plus their other current “hit”– “I Wish You Were The One That Got Away” form a funereal tandem that is somehow wickedly compelling, and addictive.
#3– Similarly, the downbeat beauty of “All Things At Once” by Tired Pony grabs me by the heart every time, with a simple, mournful refrain:
“O I’d love you…better than him” sadly sung over and over as a chorus, not as braggadocio, but as a resigned outcast. Killer tune, and brutally sad.
#4– “Somebody I Used To Know” is a re-make of that recent smash by Bon Iver, but now covered, even more effectively, by a group called Army of 3. Here the female perspective takes charge from the start, and seems more authentic, plaintive, and less quirky coming from her than the guy who wrote the song, who seemed a bit like a stalker in the aftermath of an aborted romance.
#5– “Heavy Feet” by Local Natives– an L.A. band, not local to the northeast, despite their name– a phrase I used alliteratively in 1980, lawding our “latent local native talent” even back then, in The High Rock Review– but it applies everywhere, it seems. This band, like Fleet Foxes a few years ago, makes harmonies achingly cool again. Their CD is dubbed “Hummingbird.” So far I like everything they’ve done.
#6– “Love Has Come For You” is performed as a duet by Steve Martin on banjo and my long-distant beatnik girlfriend (before Paul Simon stole her away), Edie Brickell.
With a song and subject matter that might fit into a pure country station, WEXT managed to give it enough airplay to make it a staple, and now a beautiful standard as well. Kudos to them for bringing it to our ears, and attention. Edie’s voice is still a sweet, twangy, treat.
#7– “Bleeding Out” by The Lone Bellow proves them to be in the same category as The Civil Wars, except that their three voices seem to get along quite nicely, as opposed to foretelling divorce and tragedy, despite their equally sorrowful subject matter. I love the irony that this southern-grown alt-country choir-trio is working out of Brooklyn now, not Nashville, and finding fame.
#8– “Million Miles” and “Mercy” both by TV On The Radio are seductive shuffles and sultry tunes by a group that I loved in the UPBEAT category a few years ago, when “Golden Age” first came out. Lead singer’s voice reminds me of a milder version of Andre 3000.
#9– “A New Life” by Jim James, is a soothing, lilting song from the softer side of My Morning Jacket’s great guitarist, who I saw spew a firestorm of new psychedeliac rock this summer at SPAC. His solo CD was grandly entitled: REGIONS OF LIGHT AND SOUND OF GOD… pretentious…yes… but it delivers a whole new sonic quality, so yeah, it works.
#10– “Untitled #2” by Sara Bogran is a song I want to slip onto this list, by virtue of the fact that when I heard it the first few times I had to stop and say, “What was that? Wait…. WHO was that?” And this is where the playlists posted on WEXT come in so handy… I could look her up and find that it was a locally-recorded demo from the station’s private archives. This girl– from Amsterdam, I think?– is going to be great, and this instrumental piece already is in that category.
Some More Honorable Mentions I Must Listen To More Closely:
“One Man Army” John Brodeur;
“Pure” by The Lightning Seeds;
“Penitentiary” by Houndmouth;
“Light Passes Through Her” Blue factory;
“In The Waiting Line” by Zero 7.
“We The Common” by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down
“Shake” The Head & The Heart.
That’s it for now, I finally gave some credit to musicians who’ve impressed me before the end of the year, and when possible will hit you with more musical meandering in 2014
Copyright Wayne Perras 2013