CLOUD NOTHINGS - S/T (Carpark)

Cloud Nothings was one of 2009's most exciting musical discoveries for me. I could not get enough of "Turning On," an amazing premier collection of singles and eps by the one-man punk-pop tour de force that is Dylan Baldi. "Turning On" hearkened back to the days of SST, Homestead and Twin/Tone Records, while introducing Baldi, a fresh new talent with a deft ear for melody and emotional delivery equal to his uncanny ability to play "loud fast rules" as ferociously as the legendary bands that populated the indie-punk landscape of the late 80s and early 90s. As someone who came of age during that time and considers the music that fell between Hüsker Dü and Archers of Loaf sacred, Cloud Nothings were like mana from musical heaven to my ears, especially in a time when vacuous Reagan-era dance music has become more important to indie "rock" than the sounds that blasted out of Minneapolis during the 80s; sounds that saved so many of us who lived through that horrible decade.

Suffice to say, I was more than a little excited by the release of Cloud Nothings' first proper full length, hoping to hear more of Baldi's melodic ferocity before it became too refined, as is often inevitable in these situations. On this account "Cloud Nothings" does not disappoint. Unfortunately, unlike on "Turning On," Baldi's songwriting suffers from a consistency problem here that makes the whole affair rather hit or miss, although, to be fair, it is more hit than miss.

The record leads off with a string of killer jangle-punk rockers that furiously lurch forward only to stop on a dime just in time for the delirious bridges, breaks and other essential linchpins characteristic of classic punk rock ragers. I promise you that if "Not Important" doesn't have you thrashing about and pogoing as Baldi spits out his lyric sheet, then you probably don't have a pulse, and you certainly aren't punk rock enough to be reading this review. Yet, not all is filth and fury, the song comes to an end with a melodic and even kind of pretty epilogue. "Should Have" follows and vers into pop-punk, a genre very seldom done right, fortunately Baldi makes it work here, with addictive hooks and a chorus that sticks with you, even while it is kind of precious. "Forget You All The Time" slows things down and sounds a little like a long lost Archers Of Loaf demo, which is never a bad thing.

Where the album goes wrong, making it less of a killer listen than "Turning On," is that it suffers from some forgettable tracks in the dead center of the record and at the end. "Nothing's Wrong," is just too fluffy to be memorable after its initial sugar rush. "Heartbeat" also sounds fairly anemic compared to what Baldi is capable of. It's an odd song, because it's actually pretty well constructed, it just lacks the umph behind the best Cloud Nothings songs. "Rock" gets things back on track with a barn burning no-nonsense punk rocker. Baldi breathlessly screeches out the refrain "you loved me, but now we're both dead" like it was 1987 and it's fucking glorious. "You're Not That Good At Anything" grabs onto the energy of "Rock" and keeps it rolling with another furious rocker. Next up is "Been Through." If the album had ended on this track I would have almost forgiven its soft center. It's a natural closer; insanely energetic, melodic, anthematic, and easily one of the record's best tracks. Unfortunately Baldi doesn't stop there, instead he includes two second-rate numbers to close "Cloud Nothings" out on a forgettable note. "On The Radio," and "All The Time," are rote pop-punk and that's about all I can say about them without getting nasty.

In the end, seven of "Cloud Nothings'" eleven tracks are absolute keepers. The other four are weak-ass tracks simply not worthy of Baldi's catalog. This is all to say I love Baldi, I really really love him, and think he has a songwriting talent that precious few have, but he needs to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. My advice to him is this: if it sounds like Green Day - that is the chaff. Throw it the fuck out and breathlessly focus on "loud fast rules" all the way to 11.

"Should Have"

"Should Have" - Cloud Nothings from John Ryan Manning on Vimeo.

"Rock"

DESTROYER - Kaputt (Merge)

In the past couple of years Dan Bejar's Destroyer has moved increasingly away from his hallmark Bowiesque indie rock to explore more ambient and experimental textures over the course of two exceptional eps, "Bay Of Pigs" and "Archer On The Beach." "Bay of Pigs" found Bejar mining ambient dance and getting it just right. He was able to match his literary approach to songwriting seamlessly with a cool electronic soundscape that found rhythm not only from beats, but also Bejar's articulation of his rather wordy lyric sheet. That ep was both chilly and warm at the same time, like background music for the sunsetting on the Mediterranean during a posh cocktail party. "Archer" was darker and chillier, but even more exciting. Featuring contributions from Tim Hecker and Loscil, the ep almost put Bejar into David Tibet territory as he read his stream of consciousness lyrics over the greyscale soundscapes provided him by each experimental artist. Given that each release was a progressive step removed from Destroyer's previous indie rock template, I was half expecting, and hoping, "Kaputt" to be an experimental smorgasbord. Unfortunately it is not, on the other hand it is still a very fine album, albeit much more simplistic than I had hoped for in the wake of "Archer."

In a recent interview with Dusted, Bejar discussed having to change one's sound every few years to match "the cultural scenery," citing the Rolling Stones' use of disco elements on "Some Girls" during the era of cocaine and revolving glitter balls as an example. Bejar has always been firmly aware of himself as an indie rock persona, often channelling in self-referential lyrics either specific to Destroyer or indie rock in general, and always with a clear understanding of the indie rock landscape at a given time. Since Destroyer's last full-length, 2008's "Trouble In Dreams," that indie rock landscape has witnessed the strip mining of 80s synthesizer pop and R&B as a foundational bedrock for many new artists, and like the Stones' before him, Bejar has decided to adapt in order to match the current "cultural scenery." As a result, the sound of "Kaputt" is radically different than Destroyer's previous theatrical indie rock. I wouldn't necessarily call "Kaputt" chillwave, but it certainly owes its influences to the same influences that inform Toro Y Moi and Washed Up.

Another serious change in the program is that "Kaputt" is Destroyer's first, by Bejar's own admission, "pop" record. Even if Bejar's lyrics will never really owe themselves to pop in a traditional manner, it is true that this is Destroyer's most effervescent, bubbly and uncomplicated record to date...maybe even a bit vacuous, but more on that in a minute. In the past, Destroyer's music had a dynamic and often dramatic quality that gave it a sense of seriousness and purpose. It's fair to say that "Kaputt" lacks these elements entirely. There are many moments here when the descriptor "adult contemporary" is unavoidable, yet for all the light-rock, chilly sleek electronics and white-boy saxophone, there is always Bejar, whose lyricism elevates each track and provides an internal rhythm that is undeniably seductive, even as it seems too smart for its own good. I say seems, because for the first time with Bejar's lyrics I'm not so sure they really are as smart as they sound. In fact I'm pretty sure that Bejar's lyrics are little more than clever sounding placeholders that allow him to utilize his voice as a rhythmic instrument.

If anything, it's that Bejar's lyrics are impressionistic to a fault, sounding as clever as the listener wants them to, but if you aren't willing to give him the benefit of the doubt it's easy to dismiss them as an articulate word salad. Because his lyrics are matched to such a crisp light musical backdrop here, I cannot help but take them in the same manner as the music itself - pleasant and smart, but without really saying much. Similarly because Destroyer's music was more serious sounding in the past, I found myself taking what Bejar sang as something profound, although now I wonder just how serious those words really were, and how much I was fooled by their delivery. A listen to "Song For America" revels this underlying weakness of "Kaputt." Bejar repeats "I wrote a song for America, they told me it was clever/Jessica's gone on vacation to the dark side of town forever/who knew?" throughout the song. It fits well rhythmically with the band's light-rock groove, but really what the fuck does it mean? If you think you know, and you think it's something deep, I think you are full of shit. Maybe I'm just too dumb for Destroyer, but I highly doubt it. I just think this is a light album with clever word play that doesn't amount to much more than a great soundtrack for a cocktail party.

This isn't to say I don't like this record, or that I don't recommend it; actually, I do on both counts. This is going to be an amazing record to listen to once spring breaks and it is addictive as hell, like any good pop record. I was just expecting something a bit more, something a bit weirder and deeper. At the same time the world needs smart, albeit light, upbeat records and "Kaputt" is certainly that. Even as it boasts a song called "Suicide Demo For Kara Walker" that sounds like Bejar is talking about race and politics, and will probably have the NPR/NY Times Book Review crowd salivating, I still find the record's ultimate essence to be just a bit shallow.

"Kaputt"

Destroyer - Kaputt from Merge Records on Vimeo.

"Suicide Demo For Kara Walker"

WIRE - Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)

When I was growing up it was a given that there was nothing more pathetic than an aged rocker. Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Paul McCartney; none were even a pale shadow of their former selves, their continued popularity only a reflection on the increasing lameness of the baby-boomer generation. As Neil Young famously once sang, before he went through his own creative slump, "it's better to burn out than to fade away." Post-punk came of age feeding on the fires that burned in the aftermath of punk rock's annihilation of those last remaining dinosaur acts. If punk was the final cataclysm that took down stale rock stars who had been living solely off of their former glories from the 60s and 70s, post-punk was the more thoughtful and constructive aftermath, which rebuilt rock and roll after the filth and the fury of 1977. Post-punk appeared to glean cautionary tales from both classic and punk rock, determining that it was neither better to burn out or to fade away, but instead create forward looking music that could last a lifetime. It's no wonder then that bands like The Ex, Killing Joke, Mission of Burma and Wire, who made some of the most influential and enduring work from the late 70s and early 80s are still capable of making important, vital music some thirty years removed from their classic early recordings.

This isn't to say that everything from the past thirty years that each of those bands have produced has been a classic. With the exception of Mission of Burma, who dodged a mid-career slump by disbanding for a number of years, each of the aforementioned artists have blights on their resumes. Yet each have come back strong for the third act with works that not only rival their early groundbreaking albums, but are often leaner, harder and stronger. Take Wire's "Send," for example. Twenty-five years after releasing "Chairs Missing," the record that provided the blueprint for the early-aughts post-punk revival, Wire released "Send" a vicious and violent attack that laid to waste every note that Interpol and Liars had cribbed from them. I know it may be blasphemy to suggest, buy "Send" burned faster and brighter than even Wire's debut "Pink Flag," in my totally humble opinion.

Nearly a decade after that massive victory Wire return with "Red Barked Tree," yet another bases-loaded home-run. While not as relentlessly aggressive as "Send," "Red Barked Tree" is an incredibly strong post-punk record that blends melody with taut and powerful playing by everyone involved.

The record begins with the album's only real throwaway track. Opener "Please Take" is an anemic new wavey song that does little but possibly scare off listeners. The piece had me scratching my head wondering why the initial word on the album was so strong. Thankfully "Please Take" is an anomaly that the band is able to quickly put in their rear view window as the record proceeds and Wire rack up killer track after killer track. "Now Was" follows "Please Take," and immediately improves the album's prospects by 100%. It's a tight, fast upbeat number that recalls the band's "Pink Flag" era, but bares the sound of a band made confident by years of experience. Even when the band goes soft, with acoustic based tracks like "Adapt," their songwriting and delivery combine the best of mid to late 80s early "alternative" (think The Cure, New Order and The Smiths) with what is uniquely Wire to craft thoughtful and effective songs that will hit all the right spots for anyone who ever came of age listening to Robert Smith or Morrissey pout. Of course, Wire doesn't make records to pout and are never far off from getting back into the ring with rollicking punk-fueled tracks like the aptly titled "Two Minutes," or "Moreover" and "A Flat Tent."

Yet, unlike "Send," which was all white hot fury, "Red Barked Tree," finds Wire mining that rich post-punk middle ground, where melancholy and moody atmospherics mix so well with the guitars and snarls of its immediate predecessor. Many of the best tracks here offer up emotive melodies that stick with you a lot longer than the fist pumping barnburners. For instance the poppy Enoesque "Bad Worn Thing," threatens to make the lyric "the overcrowded nature of things" into a veritable earworm. It's too smart to be a pop song, but it's too melodic and addictive to be anything else. Either way it's the kind of intelligent and enjoyable songcraft that very few can pull off, without veering too far in one direction or the other. You can rock out to this, you can dance to it, or you can sit in an armchair and digest it, or a combination of all three as I am wont to do.

The album ends not with a bang, but the ponderous and meditative title track. The song almost sounds like the kind of piece that would fall directly in the middle of a record, acting as a bridge to something else. It's an odd choice in sequencing, but one that I hope is symbolic, pointing toward great things yet to come from the band. Certainly "Red Barked Tree" sounds like a band nowhere near the end of their career, and offers every reason to bet on their ability to continue to produce incredible records.

In the end "Red Barked Tree" proves once again that Wire are no dinosaur act, but a vital band still full of ideas, talent and skill. Not only can they hang with the kool kids, but they still have plenty of lessons left to teach. It remains to be seen if any of today's indie stars will have the longevity of Wire, Mission of Burma, or Killing Joke, for that matter, but one thing is for sure; Wire have proven they have much more to offer as elder statesmen than any of the bloated baby-boomers they replaced over thirty years ago. "Red Barked Tree" is a blueprint for how to age gracefully in rock and roll, proving that age and one's ability to rock have nothing to do with each other.

"Now Was"


"Smash" live

DUCKTAILS - Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics (Woodsist)

Matthew Mondanile has spent the last couple of years crafting what have been some of the most enjoyable examples of hypnagogic pop both as Ducktails, his mostly instrumental lo-fi solo project, and as a guitarist in Real Estate. His breezy, but emotionally effective compositions pull at the mystic chords of memory while offering a comforting and relaxed soundtrack for the present. Beginning as a post-graduate bedroom project, Ducktails' initial snippets of melody mixed into a stew of sonic experimentation grew into something more confident and alluring with each subsequent release. Over the course of two albums and numerous singles, Mondanile carved out his own unique brand of lo-fi chill that sounded both lackadaisical and learned at the same time. Songs like "Parasailing," and "Surf's Up" had more in common with Leyland Kirby than they did Washed Out or Neon Indian. Last year Mondanile offered up a series of inspired releases that found him mining even greater expanses of the experimental universe, like komische on the incredible "Screen Scene," while fine-tuning his previous blueprint and making every limited edition single he released that much more essential. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited "Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics," in fact I expected it to be one of 2011's best records. Unfortunately I was horribly wrong.

To say that I am underwhelmed by "Arcade Dynamics" is an understatement. I am downright disappointed. The record basically meanders for a little over a half an hour (ten minutes of which is a pointless ambient acoustic piece that not even the most rabid fan of experimental music could justify), and goes nowhere fast. The problem, though, isn't experimentation, it's Mondanile's insistence on leaving behind his instrumental template and attempting to craft an album of breezy lo-fi acoustic sing alongs. That wouldn't be such a bad thing, but with the exception of a couple of tracks, most of the numbers here simply aren't very memorable.

The record starts out strong enough with "In The Swing," a solid track reminiscent of earlier Ducktails pieces. "Hamilton Road" follows and does not disappoint either. It's one of the sing along songs, but it's well crafted and effective, and Mondanile's voice only adds to the lazy hazy happy vibe of the piece. By this time I'm thinking this is going to be a spectacular album, but the record quickly devolves into a collection of subpar tracks that sound like so many other like-minded acts. "Sprinter," for example, isn't a horrible song, but it is entirely void of that Ducktails' magic that should set it apart from everyone else in the world. By the time the album gets to the big single "Killing The Vibe," (now staring Panda Bear!) I'm already too bored and put out to care.

There are a couple of bright spots late in the album. "Don't Make Plans" is a pleasant enough strummer that has all the makings of a great song, and maybe with a little fine tuning by Real Estate it will be, but for now it's at least above average. "Art Vandelay" is the album's truly great track. The track contains all of that which made Mondanile's music so great in the first place; dreamy lo-fi electro-acoustic soundscapes anchored by the humanity of its creator. There is an emotional ache at the center of this simple bedroom pop piece that elevates it well beyond it's humble structure, and reminds you that Ducktails is still capable of being something incredibly special. Unfortunately the track also bares the most prescient line on the album, when Mondanile sings "everyone knows that a book is hard to finish when you're not really into it," during the chorus, he is pretty much describing how I feel overall about "Arcade Dynamics."

I don't mean to sound so harsh, but dammit; Mondanile is better than this. Period. Maybe his collaboration with Panda Bear with send a few more fans his way, and that's great. I hope it does. He deserves the recognition. Just not for this record. Thankfully Ducktails refuses to remain silent, and there is likely an ep or single, or even a whole new album in the works for later this year, until then I'll just call this a misstep and move on.

"Art Vandelay"

Ducktails - Art Vandelay from Stephanie Cafarella on Vimeo.

"Killin' The Vibe" live

GHOSTFACE KILLAH - Apollo Kids (Def Jam)

I've always found Ghostface Killah one of the Wu-Tang Clan's most interesting members. Not necessarily on a personal level, although I'm sure he'd be a fun guy to hang out with, but rather because while he has never really had an album that rivaled a proper Wu-Tang album like GZA did with "Liquid Swords" or Raekwon with "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1 and 2)," yet at the same time he has produced a couple of classic hip hop records that makes him that ever lovable über talented underdog forever on the brink of his own "Swords" or "Linx." Furthermore, unlike GZA or Raekwon, even his spotty work is worth a listen. Upon hearing "Apollo Kids," though, I think Ghostface may be destined for something else instead; something that may not include the momentarily glorious victories of GZA and Raekwon, but a fate that is incredibly worthwhile nevertheless, which to be the most consistent and satisfactory rapper in the Wu-Tang stable. Considering Wu-Tang is, well, the Wu-Tang, being their most consistent and satisfactory rapper is pretty much akin to saying that Ghostface is Paul McCartney (which, if you haven't figured out, means Raekwon is John Lennon, GZA is George Harrison, and RZA is George Martin).

All this is to say that "Apollo Kids" is a hell of an album. It's as solid as a rock, and it doesn't bog itself down in skit driven narrative or experiments in R&B, instead it's twelve lean and mean rap songs played without pause that sounds hungry throughout. This is a record that doesn't rewrite the rules, but instead perfects them.

"Apollo Kids" was released with virtually no hype during the last two weeks of the year, a time where releases go to die, or at least remain buried until discovered later sometime in the next year. It's an odd approach that you often don't see for a marquee star like Ghostface that leaves me wondering if Def Jam or Ghostface didn't feel the record deserved better. If that were the case, they are one-hundred percent wrong. Granted "Apollo Kids" isn't a big lavish record like, say Kanye's, but it is a superb hardcore, back-to-basics collection of bangers that deserves more attention than the conditions of its release indicates

In some ways the lack of hype and lavishness is one of the album's greatest strengths. This is no fatted calf, it's a lean, tight record that gets in, does its job, and gets out without any time for slack or excess. This efficiency only adds to Ghostface's furious delivery as does his emphasis on gangster/political/inner city themes. Although RZA is absent from the album's production, Ghostface populates the record with plenty of imitators, and the sound of "Apollo Kids" is close to classic Wu, without hardly any of the R&B flourishes that have dominated Ghostface's recent work. The gritty sound only adds to the hardcore flavor of the record, making it hard not to call "Apollo Kids" a return to classic Wu form.

Ghostface has announced that he has two records set for release in 2011, including the long promised sequel to "Supreme Clientele." That's all well and good, and while it appears that Def Jam and Ghostface are putting their money down on that record they would have done well to bet on "Apollo Kids" as well, because a return this good to the 36 Chambers is nothing to scoff at.

"2Getha Baby"


"Ghetto"

DADAWAH - Peace And Love (Wild Flower)/VARIOUS ARTISTS - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970's Nigeria (Soundway)

Musically early January is much like the weather and landscape; a virtual wasteland. Not much really happens in terms of new releases and people generally retreat to either those releases they discovered through the previous year's "Best Of" lists or old nostalgic favorites to get them through one of the bleakest months of the year. For my part, I hit the black metal pretty hard. Some people drink coffee for breakfast, I shoot my veins full of "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" and Burzum to get me going in the morning. Once the day yawns, I typically turn to the crushing doom of Earth or Sunn 0))). I find that these blacked branches of the Tree of Metal allow me to feel at one to some degree with the dark natural forces that hold us all at bay during these short days. When the weekend comes though, well even I need something a bit more sunny. It feels wrong to go back to the previous summer's soundtracks, and anyway indie rock just seems so trivial and impotent against the dying of the light. It's usually at these times that I find solace in dub, minimalist techno and what we would generically call world music. By world, I of course don't mean that crap you find at Borders and New Age bookstores, I mean the incredible amounts of soulful and brilliant re-issued music that would have been lost on western ears but for labels like Sublime Frequencies, Buda, Soundway, Analog Africa, B-Music/Finders Keepers and Mississippi Records.

This season two such releases from late 2010 have come to find a comfortable resting place on my hi-fi. The first is the relatively unknown reggae/psyche masterpiece "Peace And Love." Originally released in 1974 by Dadawah, "Peace And Love" is a deeply hypnotic and moving piece of "nyabinghi," or Rastafarian spiritual music. Dadawah, otherwise known as Ras Michael, was a session musician at Studio One back in the 1960s and is responsible for a number of singles released through that legendary entity, he was also the first member of the Rastafari movement to have a reggae radio program in Jamaica. While he has released a number of albums, he is also an major proponent of the Rastafarian religion, acting an evangelist, ambassador and diplomat for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahido Church. Dadawah's spirituality informs "Peace And Love" throughout; this is not a dubbed-out stoner record, nor is it a frat-boy party record, it is a solemn sincere spiritual recording that pushes it's politics and religion in the most straight-forward manner possible. That may sound like a bummer, but I promise it isn't.

Dadawah and his crew create a sound close to dub, but in an entirely organic manner. Strikingly, unlike most reggae, there is nary a rhythm guitar to be found on "Peace And Love," instead the predominant musical template features a psyche blues lead that snakes its way around hazy bass and African-inspired percussion. As a result, "Peace And Love" is quiet unlike any other reggae you have probably heard, which typically features that strummed rhythm guitar, and dubbed out but simple percussion. Rather, this is an intensely deep journey into organic textures and sounds, which grooves and trips out in a manner that owes as much to psychedelia as it does to King Tubby. Also unique is that the tracks extend far beyond the norm. The album consists of only four songs, each clocking in somewhere between seven to ten minutes long. That length gives Dadawah the space to stretch out his ideas and draw the listener into each track; a tactic that works, because this recording will have you hypnotized by the end of the second number "Seventy-Two Nations" easily. Once "Zion Land" begins - forget about it, you're in for the night laying on your back staring at the ceiling. This is a record that clearly influenced Massive Attack and Tricky, even if it they never actually heard it. It's truly the original trip-hop.

The second record is yet another amazing compilation by the folks at Soundway. In what is someway a follow up to the essential "Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro Rock & Fuzz Funk In 1970s Nigeria" Soundway has further mined Afro-rock goodness out of the fertile early 70s Nigerian scene with "The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria." Named after the incredible titular track by The Black Mirrors, this compilation brings together the anxiety, tension and anger in the wake of a brutal civil war that found a western-allied military dictatorship in power. The same environment that gave birth to Fela Kuti, one of the greatest musicians in the history of music, gave birth to the songs on this compilation. Certainly while this is not at the same level as Fela, there is much to move the body, mind and heart here. Like all Soundway collections you could spend a year with this record and still not entirely digest all that it has to offer. I feel for Dusted's Nate Knaebel who slaved for four months writing a review of this record and wrote that he still doesn't feel like he did it any justice. As with most Soundway comps, it would take years to fully appreciate everything that is contained within, which is all the more reason to pick this up, have it near the stereo and explore it repeatedly. To get a sense of how great this collection is, just listen to a song like "Be Kind, Be Foolish, Be Happy" by the pointedly named Chuck Barrister and the Voices of Darkness, it grooves like hell, but it also incites ever so subtly. In many ways it is reminiscent of Tropicália, both in terms of musical and intent; this is party music for serious people. It is a groove born out of violence and horror and there is nothing quite like it, other than other early 70s Nigerian music, which for my money is some of the best music made in the history of music - Wagner and Mozart be damned. No seriously, Wagner and Mozart be damned, listen to either of these records instead. Neither of them wrote a scorcher like The Hykkers' "Deiyo Deiyo (Akpuwunlobi)."

Dadawah - Zion Land


The Black Mirrors - The World Ends

TWELLS & CHRISTENSEN - Coasts (Digitalis)

"Coasts" represents the meeting of two very different musical talents. John Twells is the head of Type Records as well as the one man musical force that is Xela, an experimental drone act that goes well beyond Touch or Kranky (or Type for that matter) orthodoxy with forays into horror soundtrack, metal, noise, and, more recently, harrowing music inspired by Christian history punctuated by choral vocals and unnerving rustic percussion that would be perfect for that moment Max Van Sydow uncovers the artifact that kicks off "The Exorcist." This is all to say that Twells is easily one of the best and most original voices in experimental music today. Matt Christensen is the guitarist/vocalist for Zelienople and member of Good Stuff House alongside Zelienople drummer Mike Weis and experimental guitar icon Scott Tuma. Christensen's music centers more on ambient rock in the vein of early Verve, Pygmalion-era Slowdive and Talk Talk, at the same time his music cannot be so easily categorized (a survey of reviews of Zelienople will uncover a plethora of references from genres as divergent as jazz and slow core to artists like Boris, Flying Saucer Attack, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young and Spiritualized). Like Twells, Christensen's music is unique in a field where too many artists sound the same. Unlike Twells, Christensen's music often tacks more toward traditional song structure, even as it remains experimental. So what a collaboration between these two was going to sound like was anyone's guess. There was little doubt that such a collaboration held promise, and it isn't exactly surprising that "Coasts" is an incredible album, what is surprising is exactly how incredible of an album that it is. I mean it when I say this is one of the best drone albums I have heard in ages, and like the two men who made it, it is wholly unique in a field that often suffers from too much sameness.

"Coasts" consists of two side long drones, each over twenty minutes long. While that fact alone isn't entirely unusual for a drone recording, what is unusual is that there are more ideas and variations within each of these pieces to make up a career's worth of music for lesser musicians.

The first piece, "The Crate," starts off languidly enough, recalling the drift of Zelienople's excellent "Ink." The piece quickly grows lusher with drones building and cascading over each other, while slight disembodied vocals work their way through the mix. About midway through, the previous CinemaScope-like drones become submerged under an array of pinpoint tones. Eventually deeper drones emerge, sounding oceanic to the point that one can't help but imagine the deep moans of whales communicating with chirping dolphins. As New Age as that sounds, I promise it is not. Eventually darker and more deeper drones overtake the light, while minor guitar flourishes abound. What is most immediately striking about this recording, and the album as a whole, is that while this is certainly drone music, there is nothing static about it. Tone, color, emotion, scope, everything changes by the second. I can't recall drone pieces this consistent that are also this dynamic. The piece comes to a graceful close with a mixture of slow glacial drones and oscillating effects.

"Burning Bridges Together" begins on a far darker note, as Christensen's single filter sweep note resounds through a blackened atmosphere. Twells' pulsating and whirling electronics, verging on psychedelia, approach the horizon every so subtly before overtaking the listener entirely with washes of wavering and unstable sound, forcing Christensen to counter with bleak laborious notes of distorted guitar. Again, disembodied vocals weave in and out only adding to the disorienting effect of the piece. Eventually Twells and Christensen settle into an oscillating threatening drone that they continue throughout the track, allowing the listener to become completely encompassed by the harrowing soundscape they have created. The only respite comes with Christensen's gently plucked motif at the end of the piece that brings the hellish miasma back down to earth.

"Coasts" was the first new recording I heard in 2011, and it has set the bar dizzingly high for the rest of the year. I've admittedly bagged on experimental and drone music from the past couple of years as simply being a retread of so many records that have come before (with the exception of William Fowler Collins and Locrian). With this record Twells and Christensen have proven that there is much life left in the genre by crafting one of its finest albums in recent memory, and in the process have made a case for experimental music all over again. As with all albums of this caliber the only thing left to say is highest recommendation possible.

A non-album recording of Twells & Christensen live

Twells/Christensen Duo from John Kolodij on Vimeo.

BEST OF 2010 (albums) #1 Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella)

There are so many reasons that this is a monumental landmark album, most of which I've logged in my previous tome about this record. You can read my rather lengthy take on 2010's masterpiece here. In the end, though, this wasn't even close, if there was ever an album of the year, for any year, this is it. Kanye may be nuts, he may be hated, but he is an absolute genius who is more self aware than his critics will ever give him credit for, and that genius and awareness is what powers this beast of a record. You can sleep on this and you can hate on it, but in the end the only person you are hurting is yourself. Like Kanye's tweets, this is an ALL CAPS record, and if it takes an ALL CAPS mind to make music this brilliant, then KANYE, STAY CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER!!!

BEST OF 2010 (albums) #2 BIG BOI - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (Purple Ribbon/Def Jam)

The album that almost never saw the light of day was, in the end, more than worth the wait. Big Boi proved that André 3000 isn't the only one in Outkast with a flare for boundary pushing experimentalism on "Sir Lucious Left Foot," which just happens to be one of the most vital hip hop albums of this young century. Musically and lyrically innovative throughout, this wasn't so much a titan returning to form, as it was an innovator hammering out new ideas and sounds to move minds and bodies, in equal measure, with every delirious twist and turn. It's a simple joy to be alive right now just to hear music like this being made. Full review here.

Big Boi - General Patton from Terry C on Vimeo.

BEST OF 2010 (albums) #3 Twilight - Monument To Time End (Southern Lord)

In the most 'what the fuck?' moment of the year for heavy metal, Twilight's groundbreaking and brilliant "Monument To Time End" was nowhere to be found on Year End lists. I intend to make up for that, because no other album reinvented black metal so exquisitely as "Monument" did. You can keep your Emerson Lake and Palmer, I mean Deathspell Omega, I'll take Twilight any day of the week, thank you very much. This was black metal reconstituted and writ large, bringing in influences from industrial to post-rock without ever losing its grim edge. In the end, "Monument" was one of the most complex and mind blowing metal releases in years. Many of the songs combined variant strains of metal, particularly Neurosis inspired post-metal, with blackened elements to great effect. The songs are not only intensely heavy, but are surprisingly, dare I say, oddly beautiful at times. There is something powerfully uplifting about these tracks, regardless of their dark origin. They sound like victory after immense struggle, and given the history of this USBM supergroup of sorts, it is a well won victory. Full review here.

BEST OF 2010 (albums) #4 No Age - Everything In Between (Sub Pop)

Indie rock started with guitars; lots and lots of distorted, fuzzy, buzzy, wall of sound guitars. Since it's inception though, straight-up indie ROCK has become an increasingly rare thing. Over the past couple of decades indie has come to mean chamber pop, electronica, folk and about a million other musical permutations, none of them having anything to do with rock. In the past few years though, a handful of bands have made it their mission to put the rock back in indie rock by way of the lo-fi garage explosion. No Age was one of those bands, and with "Everything In Between" they went from just another one of those bands to The Band. "Everything In Between" is a diverse and dynamic mixture of barn burning punk rockers, introverted strummers and experimental pop gems, it's also an album that shuns affectation for substance and weight, and pushes indie guitar rock to its boundaries, raising the bar for everyone, old and new alike. If you have been bemoaning the state of indie rock since the advent of Sufjan Stevens and the Decemberists, I promise you that "Everything In Between" will restore your faith.

BEST OF 2010 (albums) #5 Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)

Half Spirit of '77, half Ronettes, The Dum Dum Girls' "I Will Be" may be the most perfect girl group garage/punk album of all time. Front woman Dee Dee's energetic and taut songs mixed the sweet with the serrated in equal measure, a mixture fleshed out with pitch perfect production by Richard Gottehrer, the man responsible for "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy," as well as producer to Voidoids, Blondie and the GoGos. Add to all of this, Dee Dee's edgy, but lush, vocals and a band that knows every right move, and you have an album for the ages. Full review here.

Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

BEST OF 2010 #6 (albums) Harvey Milk - A Small Turn Of Human Kindness (Hydra Head)

"A Small Turn Of Human Kindness" is Harvey Milk's masterpiece. A crushing album centered around a broken man in a broken relationship, there was nothing heavier emotionally, or musically for that matter, this year. The band returned to their roots by playing out this tale of epic frustration and failure over the kind of slow and meticulous doom sludge that made them so great in the first place. At the same time, "A Small Turn" is vastly superior to anything the band has produced before. The music is tighter and more powerful, the lyrics are taut and devastating, and the emotional arch is spot on. In short, this is a perfect record. It is serious music for serious people. You don't play it at a party, you don't play it with friends, you play it during those alone times when every note means everything. Full review here.