the LUNA music word 'em up

"THE BEST" OF 2011

2012-01-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year again, when music nerds huddle in their bunkers to determine what records they deem worthy of being named “The Best Of” the year. This is done in earnest as if such designations matter and as if these lists were holy writ carved in stone, simply because they were handed down by vastly superior beings; i.e. music critics. I used to live for this time of the year, because a) I’m a music nerd, and b) I’m a male, which means I am predisposed to categorize and rank everything in my world.

As I age, though, I see the absolute arbitrariness and meaninglessness of these lists. To begin with, everyone has different tastes in music, and even if we can agree on a few particular records, it isn’t often that we will agree on all, or even the majority of albums that deserve to be recognized as superior in a given twelve month period. So my list is going to be different from yours, and hence what follows is completely arbitrarily based on my tastes and opinions. Of course, this means your list is just as arbitrary as mine, so at least we share that in common.

Then there is the issue of the sheer number of releases in a given year. It is almost impossible to estimate how many releases there are due to the advent of the self-released record, made easier to accomplish thanks to the internet, but most figures fall somewhere between 75,000 to 100,000. That’s a hell of a lot of records to listen to. I averaged listening to approximately five to six new albums each week throughout 2011. That means at most I listened to 312 new records this year, which is daunting enough. It also means that I have not listened to at least 74,688 records that were released this year, and who is to say that one of those records isn’t actually the best album of 2011?

Finally, with the exception of a small handful of records (very small, in fact, as it accounts for only .006% of that 75,000), there were a lot of records that I loved this year, but can’t really say are better in any way than a lot of the other records I loved this year. On any given day I could love, say, Yob better than Tyler, The Creator, but on the next day the opposite may be true. So, depending on my mood, Yob could be the sixth best record of 2011, or Tyler, The Creator could. In the end it becomes abundantly clear that ranking records, say from 1 to 50, is completely meaningless because over time one’s appreciation for a particular record will change and what was once number 49 is now number 9.

Having said that, I do think there were a few albums that were undeniably the best of the best, and I have decided to rank the five albums that I found to be deserving of extra special recognition (although, in truth, isn’t any record that makes the cut on a “best of” list deserving of extra special recognition?). So this year I have picked my Top 30 records, listing the top five numerically and listing the rest without numbers, because, as already discussed, each of these next 25 could be my number 6 on any given day. Over the next few days I’ll roll out that list, as well as my honorable mentions for 2011 (I initially had a list of my 55 top records, but realized it would take forever for me to do that many records), and the top 5 eps of the year, as well as my dubious award for the worst of 2011. My hope is that at least this might turn you onto something you haven’t listened to before, as that is all these lists are really good for in the end.

Best of 2011 (albums) #1 WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - Celestial Lineage (Southern Lord)

2012-01-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is the one album of 2011 that I consider an absolute masterpiece. My original review follows...

There is something intimidating about reviewing the new Wolves in the Throne Room record. For one, "Celestial Lineage" is the final cumulative installment in the band's trilogy that started with the much loved "Two Hunters" and continued with the brutal but anthematic "Black Cascade." That fact alone is not what makes approaching the album so daunting, but doing justice to the unique world that WITTR have created over the course of these records is no small task. Part of that is because in many ways this is religious music, as much as it is an exceptional black metal release. For those who don't know already, WITTR live on an organic farm outside of Olympia, Washington where they focus on sustainable growing practices informed to some degree by pagan lore. Their interest in ecology and nature-based spirituality is well documented, and their music is a reflection of both. Their lyrics have focused on pagan primitivism, humankind's connection to nature and man's destruction of himself in losing that connection. While the trilogy's first two records focused on the feral naturalistic side of things, "Celestial Lineage" is a more stately vision of the nature-based spirituality that has always been present in the band's work as it evolves into something more ritualized and refined. In that context the band also explores the contradiction between the order of religion and the chaos of nature, and by extension the tension between civilization and primalism, making for a record that alternates between ethereal beauty and grim darkness. There is really no way I can do justice to everything that is going on throughout "Celestial Lineage," it is an epic record that marks the end of an even grander trilogy, and one that could very well act as holy art for a new world beyond our crumbling one. In fact, you would do better to just read Amy Miller's excellent interview with drummer Aaron Weaver and then go lose yourself in the band's trilogy than read anything I have to say about this record. Yet, I can't help myself but to say something to try and capture that which is ultimately inexplicable, which is the essence of this great work.

Unlike the more straightforward "Black Cascade," "Celestial Lineage" sees the return of heralded classical vocalist Jessika Kenney. Her ethereal voice introduces the record, giving it the air of religious ceremony before the band breaks loose with the grandiose atmospheric black metal that has become their trademark. Yet, there is something more massive in the band's sound and approach here than anything they have done before, which is really saying something for a band who has never sounded anything less than epic. Part of that is due to the marrying of the supernal with the grimness of the cold earth and forest simultaneously. While there are distinct moments of beauty and ugliness present on the record, much of it is spent blending the two, as if to reflect the contradictions, and possible dissolution of tensions, between the rawness of nature and the organization of society and ceremony. For instance, the second-half of opener "Thuja Magus Imperium" sounds a bit like Popol Vuh if they were a black metal band. This seamless blending of disparate tensions is found even more so on "Subterranean Initiation" and "Astral Blood," arguably the band's two most cumulative pieces, running the gamut from Xasthur-like blackened atmospherics to muscular metal to transcendental cascades of sound, all often played out simultaneously. One cannot help but be enraptured by the profound and brilliant execution of the band's ideas throughout "Celestial Lineage," but these tracks in particular are the perfect distillation of everything WITTR has been working toward.

Elsewhere the band focuses on ambient interludes, such as "Permanent Changes in Consciousness" and "Rainbow Illness," the former which sounds like metal being sharpened for a ritual and calls to mind the naturalistic experimentalism of the Bay Area's Thuja, while the later sounds like a kosmische interpretation of technology in decline. Then there is "Woodland Cathedral," a doomy and stately vehicle for Kenney's voice. There is an inescapable religious feel to the piece, making for WITTR's most refined production to date.

The record ends with "Prayer of Transformation," a piece that finds the band branching out in new directions and mining a sound that is more majestic than grim. There is both a victorious and elegiac quality to the number, as well as a overwhelming sense of finality. It is a fitting end not only for the record, but the trilogy as a whole. It is the sound of culmination and transformation, containing within it the sadness of death and the joy of rebirth. There has been much speculation as to whether this is not only the final album in the trilogy, but the final album by Wolves In The Throne Room entirely. From what I have read that does not appear to be the case. Instead it seems that the band will be moving on from black metal to create something new. Intentional or not, "Prayer of Transformation" seems like the perfect bridge toward a new sound for the band, and one that holds much promise. Whether it is or not, it is a perfect ending for one of modern music's most auspicious body of work.

"Thuja Magus Imperium"

Best of 2011 (albums) #2 STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS - Mirror Traffic (Matador)

2012-01-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

If you are of a certain age and maintained a proclivity toward independent music in the 1990s then chances are that Pavement are the most important band in the world to you. I don't mean to say that they are objectively the most important band musically to emerge from the 90s (although the argument can certainly be made), what I mean is that Pavement, far more than any other band, has soundtracked a good part of yours and my life. As Stephen Malkmus rightly noted in a recent interview, "a certain strata of middle-class hipsters share Pavement." I would only add to that quote that those "hipsters" are not only middle-class, but have presently either arrived at, or are approaching, middle-age. The days of listening to "Range Life" on long road trips with college friends in-between bars has faded into the rear-view mirror, and Malkmus' core audience is now more likely to be jamming "Cut Your Hair" in the family vehicle while their children sing along.

Of course, Pavement called it quits right as the century was turning, calling an end to the decade that they helped define, but that hasn't stopped fans from playing their records religiously, or traveling long distances to catch them live on their recent reunion tour. While fans have not necessarily wanted to accept that Pavement is no longer, Pavement's members, particularly Malkmus, have clearly moved on. Over the last ten years Malkmus has looked more forward than backward, releasing five albums with his new set of bandmates the Jicks. While nearly each release has been worthwhile, particularly "Pig Lib" and "Real Emotional Trash," nothing has come close to the magic of Pavement-era Malkmus that is until now. Simply put, "Mirror Traffic" is Malkmus' best work since Pavement's "Brighten The Corners."

What makes this record so excellent is that it sounds as relaxed as Pavement once did while maintaining a focus unlike anything before. Gone are the long beefy jams of "Real Emotional Trash," the bizzaro experimental rock of "Face the Truth," and the moody prog of "Pig Lib." In their place is a distillation of the best parts of all of the above coupled with the most inspired pop of Malkmus' career since "Shady Lane." Lyrically and musically Malkmus is switched to the "on" position throughout the Beck-produced "Mirror Trash." Opener "Tigers" is exactly the kind of catchy, sunny tune that made Pavement legends. It is no surprise that my two young daughters picked up on the song's jangly little hooks immediately, requesting that I play it over and over again, which I was able to do without losing my mind - no small reward for any aged "hipster" stuck carting around their respective broods. Even as I write this review I hear one of them off in the distance singing the chorus "We are the tigers, we need separate rooms, we are so divided, let us in." For my part, though, I am partial to the opening line, "I caught you streaking in your Birkenstocks, a scary thought in the 2Ks," a rather choice lyric that announces that Malkmus' wry wit and humor is in effect for much of "Mirror Traffic," which should put a smile on any Pavement fan's face.

"No One Is (As I Are Be)" follows "Tigers" and finds Malkmus at his most relaxed on the record, with a mellow acoustic strummer that is elevated by the addition of french horns midway through. More than any other track, Beck's hand as a producer is evident here, but only as a complement to Malkmus. In fact, with the exception of this song, it is easy to forget that Beck had anything to do with the record. Rather than impose himself of Malkmus' singular talent, Beck focuses solely on making Malkmus and the Jicks sound better than ever, which he succeeds at wildly. The entire record is absolutely pitch-perfect in terms of production, not too much, not too little. Beck's production allows Malkmus to take all of the tightness that has characterized his most recent work with the Jicks and marry it with the easy feel of his earlier career. It all comes off like the most concise and tightest Pavement record never recorded.

Then there are the songs themselves. These 15 tracks are - sorry, but I have to say it - "all killer, no filler." Certainly some tracks are better than others, but each and everyone of these pieces are superb in their own right. Not every song can be as deliriously perfect as the punchy "Senator" or the bombastic "Forever 28," but I'll be damned if I don't to lose myself to the "Wowee Zowee"-like swing of "Long Hard Book" every time it comes on. For my money though, the beautifully melancholic "Asking Price" followed by the elevating "Stick Figures In Love," as well as the epic and emotional "Share The Red" are the album's real sleepers. Yet, the joy in discovering all of the large and small gems throughout "Mirror Traffic" is half the fun of the record, so I won't spoil it any further.

Maybe there will be a few other records that come before this on my best of the year list, or maybe not, but one thing is for certain; there is no other record this year that I will listen to more. That isn't for nostalgia's sake either. "Mirror Traffic" is not a "return to form" or an attempt to recapture youth from twenty-years ago. As Heraclitus said, "you can't step in the same river twice." That is just one of life's many bittersweet truths, and Malkmus is not pretending otherwise. Instead, over the years his music has become timeless, as all great music does. As a result, "Mirror Traffic" will sound just as good on a long road trip with your college friends as it will taking your kids to school and aging. Of all the indie-rock records I've heard this year, this is the one that I'll remember and listen to twenty more years down the road.

"Senator"

Best of 2011 (albums) #3 KRALLICE - Diotima (Profound Lore)

2012-01-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve always liked the idea of Krallice, more than I have actually liked Krallice. Held in suspicion by purists as hipster “boutique” black metal from Brooklyn, the band found more favor among alt-celebrities like Ryan Adams and the members of My Morning Jacket than they did the insular and often overly-judgmental metal underground. As a metalhead who has always had mixed feelings about other metalheads, I loved that Krallice’s debut album made it onto Adam’s Top Ten List in 2008, further pissing off purists, more than I actually liked that record. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid record with some incredible tracks, but there is a certain monotony that eats away at the overall quality of the album. More than anything, their debut stoked the fires of anticipation for their sophomore release “Dimensional Bleedthrough.” Unfortunately, for me, that record ended up being the biggest musical disappointment of 2009. The album was marred by an over-emphasis on the band’s extreme technical prowess, which completely overshadowed everything else. In the end, it sounded like the black metal equivalent of Yngwie Malmsteen; all chops and no soul. It was bad enough that for me Krallice quickly went from being ‘the next big thing’ to an ‘also ran’ in my book.

When the track “The Clearing,” from the band’s third album “Diotima,” debuted on Stereogum in January it was with reluctance that I clicked the play button. Surprisingly the piece was more focused and more vicious than anything the group had previously produced, enough so to reignite the flames of interest in me. As the late April date of the album’s release drew closer, early positive buzz was building, almost to heights that I thought would be impossible for the band to meet, particularly given my spotty history with the group’s catalog. My skepticism was unfounded though, because this time around Krallice the band is even better than Krallice the idea.

“Diotima” is the most purposeful record that Krallice has ever made. As noted earlier, the band’s immense technical skills have come off as wankery in the past, but no longer. When the band does show off its abilities it is in the service of a larger whole, and not just to showcase individual members’ chops. As a result the group has never sounded as emotive or as intense as they do here. This is black metal exploded to cinematic heights and it is deliriously glorious.

Take “The Clearing," after tearing through six minutes of brutal ascension, the track starts to break down into a martial rhythm pattern that most bands would choose to end on, but not Krallice, with Krallice the battle has only reached its half-way point, and what goes up must come down. The latter half of the song sounds like buildings toppling in on themselves and castles burning to the ground, even as the band turns in one of its most melodic chord progressions to date. It’s an insanely tight epic that never wears out its welcome and could probably play on into eternity without slack. It is also the first of four back-to-back tracks that break the twelve minute mark.

The album’s titular track is one of those mammoth numbers, and easily one of the most intense mid-tempo metal songs ever recorded. Foregoing blast beats for most of the song, the band instead focuses on crafting a seething atmosphere fronted by bassist/vocalist Nick McMaster. In the past guitarist Mick Barr’s black metal banshee screech has tracked most Krallice numbers, but “Diotima” features McMaster’s death growl to greater effect. The end result is a more muscular sound, and on tracks like “Diotima” his vocal contributions are downright devastating.

It isn’t just McMaster’s vocals that add a tougher feel to “Diotima,” the band’s jettison of extraneous individual instrumentation in exchange for a more unified and cohesive approach makes for a deeper and darker record, as on the face-melting “Litany or Regrets.” If anyone doubted these guys' authenticity, one listen to the crushingly brutal “Litany” will set them straight once and for all. The track’s concussive blast beat sucks the air right out of the song, making for a relentlessly heavy listen. It’s like listening to the nastiest and most degraded Paysage D’Hiver tape ever made, where everything is in the red and completely disorienting, except it’s way heavier than any of Paysage D’Hiver’s experiments in black metal.

With "Diotima" Krallice have not only made up for past transgressions, but they have established themselves as one of the elite among the current metal horde, and not just for black metal, but metal in general. Being one of the few groups that truly transcends metal's many subgenres by incorporating elements of thrash, death and grindcore into their particular brand of experimental black metal, Krallice have created something that should appeal to fans of all things heavy. Furthermore, their willingness to disregard boundaries while crafting such an intensely visceral record, easily makes "Diotima" a one of the best metal albums of the year, as well as one of the top albums of the year in general.

"The Clearing"

Best of 2011 (albums) #4 REAL ESTATE - Days (Domino)

2012-01-13T12:14:00.002-08:00

Toward the end of 2009 Real Estate shuffled onto the indie rock scene with their effortlessly brilliant self-titled Lp. Despite its mid-November release and lack of deafening hype, the album managed to work its way into more than a few year-end lists. Following in the vein of Pavement at their most lackadaisical the record made for perfect lazy day music to be enjoyed alone or with friends, at home or on the lake, in the dead of winter or in the full blaze of summer. It was the ideal soundtrack for those moments when life was about living and nothing more. The band followed up their debut with a whole lot of touring. Over the past 18 months, I personally ended up seeing them on four separate occasions, and while always a great live band, each subsequent show found them sounding tighter and bigger than the one before. I mention this because all of that touring seems to be partially responsible for the more expansive sound of "Days," the band's much anticipated sophomore album.

While some bands expand their sound by piling on more instrumentation or experimenting with song structure, Real Estate stick to the same basic template as their previous record. This time around, though, their performance is more precise and layered making for a grander sounding record than their relatively lo-fi debut. Whereas previously the band drew comparisons to early R.E.M., the point of reference here is the band that influenced Athens' finest to begin with - The Byrds. Choruses hum with layered harmonies, and guitars shimmer and swell much like the forefathers of jangle rock at the height of their power. It is surely no coincidence that "Days" contains a song called "Younger Than Yesterday," the same title of The Byrds classic fourth album. Also no real coincidence that the hazy dark track recalls everyone from The Byrds to fellow travelers Buffalo Springfield and Neil Young. The net result of this development is that there is a timelessness to these tracks that is sorely lacking from most modern artists' work. There is no doubt that "Days" will sound as spectacular decades from now as it does today.

Another variation in the band's approach this time out is that while everything felt so relaxed and carefree on their debut, here there is a world wariness that seeps into many of the record's tracks. Songs like "Green Aisles" and "Out Of Tune" bare the stamp of resignation, and more than just a little melancholy around the edges of each track. The songs' initial laid-back vibe is deceptive, as closer listens reveals something sounding more like the kind of exhaustion that sets in after life has had its way with you. Of course, some songs maintain their buoyancy against the rising tide of discontent. Tracks like "Easy" and "It's Real" bounce along like the Feelies playing a late-80s house party.

Two of the most interesting songs on the album, "Municipality" and "Three Blocks," find the group pushing themselves in a slightly different direction. "Municipality" is a syncopated rock song (or at least as much rock as Real Estate is capable of) that expresses a longing for an idealized utopia of new houses with well-maintained gardens and freshly-cut lawns where lovers share their lives together. When lead singer Martin Courtney says "that's not anything like my reality," it cuts to the core even as Matthew Mondanile's hypnotic guitar playing soothes. This dichotomy between contentment and sadness runs throughout the album, making for one of the most intriguing musical balancing acts I've heard in some time. "Three Blocks" maintains that tension between light and dark. While the track almost sounds like a romantic waltz, the lyrics reveal something more existential and ponderous: "All those people all around me, were they strangers or was it me, figure out what I want to be."

With "Days," Real Estate have met and exceeded the expectations facing them in the wake of their perfect debut record. Granted there are a couple of extraneous tracks here, like the instrumental "Kinder Blumen," which adds nothing to the band's catalog, but when all is said and done, it is easy to overlook such minor missteps given the strength of the rest of the record. What is most compelling about this album is that even during its most relaxed moments, there is a restless and discontented heart that beats throughout. Given the growth already apparent here, I can't wait to hear what the band does with that restlessness next time out. For now though, I'm more than happy than to lose myself in the sun and rain of "Days."

"It's Real"

Best of 2011 (albums) #5 PANDA BEAR - Tomboy (Paw Tracks)

2012-01-13T12:14:00.001-08:00

I am not even going to pretend to be objective about my feelings toward Animal Collective and member Panda Bear’s solo output. I have not been interested in either for some time. Yes, I know that Animal Collective are oft considered the best band of a generation, and that Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch” helped redefine indie rock over the past five years and that many think it’s one of the top three albums of the aughts. I am just not one of those people. I liked Animal Collective enough when they first emerged as Avey Tare and Panda Bear with the incredibly forward-thinking “Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished.” I almost became a true believer around the time “Feels” dropped, and after seeing them perform live I was open to the possibility that they really were the best band on earth. I even enjoyed the majority of “Strawberry Jam.” But then came the much heralded “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” which left me wondering 'what the fuck?'. I personally detested that record. Aside for a few tracks, I thought it was a half-baked, meandering mess. The words I used to describe it were "a bad jam band playing music for a rave." I felt pretty much the same about “Person Pitch,” an album that has done nothing but bore me to tears every time I attempt to give it a second, third, fourth chance. I realize this puts me on the wrong side of indie-rock history and I realize that both albums are important as historical documents, having influenced more than a few musicians and records, nevertheless my opinion has not budged and I will take it with me to the grave.

So imagine my surprise when I sampled the “Tomboy” single last year and kind of lost my mind over it in a good way. That single was the first in a series of 7”s that would eventually come to comprise a good portion of the “Tomboy” LP. To my own astonishment I found myself seeking out and snatching up every single that Panda Bear released in the lead up to the release of "Tomboy," often paying top price to get my hands on what were essentially limited-edition previews. If someone had told me at the end of 2009 that I would be stalking Panda Bear with such voracity, I would have laughed in their face. And if someone had told me that I would call “Tomboy” a shoe-in for Album Of The Year in 2011, I would have told them they were fucking crazy. I would have also have been completely and utterly wrong, because from where I am standing “Tomboy” is a game-changing classic.

Although “You Can Count On Me” opens the record with the kind of hallucinatory expansiveness that characterized “Person Pitch,” the sound quickly becomes colder and more insular on the title track that follows. “Tomboy,” the song, has more in common with Radiohead’s “King of Limbs” than it does “Person Pitch,” it’s also better than anything on either of those records. It’s a dense number featuring claustrophobic guitar and synth effects built on the kind of steady pulsating tribal beat that Animal Collective used to be known for. There is an urgency to “Tomboy” that is entirely foreign to Panda Bear’s solo output heretofore. Things grow even bleaker and better on “Slow Motion.” Originally appearing as the b-side on the “Tomboy” 7”, last year this song rooted itself inside my brain, repeatedly playing as part of my internal soundtrack. To this day it continues to mesmerize me. There is a M.C. Escher quality to the track which is built on ascending and descending reverbed effects that slowly, but surely, hypnotizes. Panda Bear's vocals float dreamily over the music giving the track an otherworldly quality, even as it threatens to pull you down toward darkness. Yet, just as Panda Bear threatens to jump into the abyss, he changes things up with the sparkling anthematic “Surfer’s Hymn.” The track recalls the music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass if either composer took copious amounts of amphetamines and sequenced a synthesizer piece. It’s hyper, shiny and immediate, and one of the best songs I've hear this year.

While there is certainly an increased heart rate that beats throughout “Tomboy,” Panda Bear does take time out for the languid “Last Night At The Jetty” and minimalist numbers like “Drone” and “Sheherazade,” both of which are deeply indebted to 20th century experimentalism. Each track is a nice departure, but ultimately it’s songs like the chilly pulsating “Alsatian Darn” and downright frantic “Afterburner” that makes the record so spectacular.

Apparently not everyone agrees. Some long-time fans have been put off by the shift in focus here, and by that I mean there exists an actual focus here. I personally think that Panda Bear, and Animal Collective, operate best when there is more, and not less, structure to their songs. I am a huge fan of formless experimental music, but Panda Bear and Animal Collective's failure in this realm is proof that it takes a special kind of talent to successfully produce such music. With "Tomboy" there is a structure and tightness that has been missing from previous Panda Bear efforts that resembles pop music, even though this is hardly a pop record. Unlike “Person Pitch,” this probably won’t be soundtracking anybody’s summer parties, but that is only because it is far more substantive and cerebral. I would even go so far as to say it is the most successful experimental indie-rock recording since Radiohead’s “Kid A,” an album that also challenged expectations when it was released, but is now recognized for the masterpiece that it is.

So yes, I’m calling Panda Bear’s “Tomboy” a shoe-in for Album of the Year. Fans looking for "Person Pitch 2" be damned. For once Panda Bear sounds like he is living up to his potential, and not just painting impressionistic sound worlds for cool kids wanting to chill on a vibe. This record has even renewed my interest in Animal Collective, hopefully they will follow suit and create something as innovative, engaging and rewarding as "Tomboy."

"Slow Motion"

Best of 2011 (albums) WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS - The Resurrections Unseen (Type)

2012-01-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

William Fowler Collins is the modern György Ligeti. He creates the kind of drones that emit from "2001's" black obelisks. He produces some of the deepest music being made today, and by deep I am referring to the philosophy of "deep listening" that experimental legend Pauline Oliveros has dedicated her life toward, which is basically the act of taking the time to put a pause on all the extraneous bullshit in life long enough to immerse yourself into the soundworld being created by a given artist. It's kind of like sonic meditation, and Collins' music deserves to heard under those circumstances to be fully appreciated. As academic as that may sound, his music is also incredibly visceral, calling to mind your most unsettling moment, your worst nightmare or some primal collective memory. Personally, I love to put on his music when I have to drive through rural Indiana, as it casts a blackened grip over the heartland in a way that makes "Children Of the Corn" look quaint.

On "The Resurrections Unseen" Collins moves away from the blasted rural soundscape of the phenomenal "Perdition Hill Radio" for something deeper, more cosmic and more primal. This is an album that takes place in either deep space or far below the Earth's surface, depending on your prospective. Canyon sized drones burn across this record and sink the listener into a place that is both harrowing and familiar. If the evolution of the universe had a soundtrack, this would be it. I can't shake how massive this record is, how entirely beyond our individual moment in time it sounds. It's more like a transmission from the origins of the cosmos than the work of a lone individual living here and now. Although one could easily call this dark experimental music, it is bigger than that; it's a sound beyond the distinction of light and dark. The only other act that I can think of making music this expansive, this primitive and this spectacular are Sunn 0))). With "The Resurrections Unseen," Collins has solidified himself as one of the premier artists on the experimental scene. This record should be in every single serious music fan's collection, it is nothing short of astonishing.

"Abattoir"

William Fowler Collins - Abattoir from John Twells on Vimeo.

Best of 2011 (albums) VIVIAN GIRLS - Share The Joy (Polyvinyl)

2012-01-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

The appeal of the Vivian Girls has always been that they play like they are going for broke, with little regard for fashionable affectation. There is a purity to their sound that simply no one else has.

That purity is evident throughout "Share The Joy," even as the Girls tighten and diversify their sound. While, the darkly-hued "I Heard You Say" is a more subdued version of the band's garage punk, what stands out as the song progresses is lead singer Cassie Ramone's emotional vocal work toward the end that soars above the band's trademark harmonies. It's to the bone stuff that joyfully betrays any restraint musically. Album highlight "Lake House" finds the band blasting their way through the track like a proper punk band, but the song's melodicism and the Girl's deft control of harmonies and instrumentation elevate the number far beyond yet another two minute garage song. Then there is the darker, but rollicking, "Trying To Pretend." As Ramone sings "I'm not the one trying to pretend," although her words may be directed to a lover, they could easily be taken as the band's raison d'être. Each song contains the raw strength of their earlier work, but is slightly more polished, toughened-up and taut as a result of natural progression, and not because of the over-reaching or re-invention that some bands succumb to at this stage in their career, often to disastrous effect.

Throughout, the Girls sound more relaxed and confident than ever as they turn in a collection of melodic and diverse tracks that mix in elements of 60s girl-group, the spooky garage rock of Dead Moon, and even a bit of humour as evident on the wink wink, nudge nudge of "Take It As It Comes." Epic closer "Light In Your Eyes," perfectly combines all of the elements the band cultivates throughout "Share The Joy." It's dark, punky, melodic, spacious and pretty much perfect. When it's over it's hard not to flip the record over and begin the journey again. And it is a journey, but one that you don't realize you've been on until you come to the end of the record. That is because there is a sort of buzzy transcendence that gradually builds from song to song that finally culminates on "Light In Your Eyes." Although every track stands completely on its own, once you step back from the individual pieces and view the album as a whole, you notice an undeniable arc to "Share The Joy," that makes it even greater than the sum of its parts.

"I Heard You Say"

Best of 2011 (albums) LOCRIAN - The Clearing (Fan Death Records)

2012-01-13T12:10:00.000-08:00

Best of 2011 (albums) LITURGY - Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey)

2012-01-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Liturgy is easily the most divisive band in the black metal world, which is pretty damn sad. For a scene that tolerates and makes excuses for racists, homophobes, murderers, and possible rapists, to finally throw a hissy fit because someone wants to create something positive out of black metal is fucking pathetic. Yeah, I get that black metal is about nihilism and nonemoreblack, believe me I do, particularly since most days I would agree with that worldview. But, If I can still talk glowingly about Burzum's music, while recognizing him as the utter piece of shit that he is as a human being, then surely I can give passage to Liturgy's well-meaning and amazingly talented Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. Almost out of spite I went and saw Liturgy play a rather amazing show earlier this year. Afterwards I had Hunt-Hendrix sign a copy of his infamous "Transcendental Black Metal" manifesto. And you know what? He was a really nice and humble guy that I enjoyed talking with. Given all the slings and arrows he has suffered in the scene, having a good conversation with him almost felt more transgressive than stabbing someone 21 times and burning down a church. So damn the haters (and really what could be more black metal than a black metal fan damning other black metal fans), this is a phenomenal record. Frankly, I can't quite condense this one into a mini-review, so I'm going to direct you over to my original full length review as to why this is easily one of the best records of 2011.

"Sun of Light"

Best of 2011 (albums) THE ROOTS - Undun (Def Jam)

2012-01-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love this album so much that it is kind of embarrassing, so much so that I've been toying with naming it the number one record of the year, and had it come out sooner, I very well just might have. "Undun" is a concept album about Redford Stephens, an all too common street thug, whose struggle to escape the streets ends in a life of crime and his eventual demise. Concept or not, this is the truest record of the year about a reality that most of us don't want to think about any longer now that the novelty of acts like N.W.A. and Wu-Tang Clan have worn. I've read some ridiculous reviews that claimed the subject matter is too generic, which says more to me about the critic than The Roots' pitch perfect album. At this point I'm going to pull the "my day job is a criminal defense attorney and I deal with an endless permutation of Redford Stephens on a daily basis" card to exclaim that there isn't a note on this record that doesn't ring true, unlike the oft celebrated bravado of rappers who pretend that drug dealing and crime is a pathway to anything but premature death or incarceration. I wish I could agree with those writers who find this subject passé, but unfortunately there is nothing generic about "Undun," other than insulated white critics pretending that this is anything but the reality of the streets even at this late date in our nation's history.

Musically The Roots has never sounded more expansive or focused. At this point in their career the band has perfected the eclectic organic approach that made albums like "Phrenology" so captivating. It's an incredibly diverse record, yet entirely consistent. If anyone still wonders why The Roots is such a highly regarded band instrumentally, they need look no further than "Undun." Shades of light and dark ripple throughout these songs, and although this is the exact opposite of a party album, the band grooves even as hell is realized. The moving orchestrated finale is a perfect denouement. Recalling Duke Ellington's gorgeous meditative solo piano pieces, "The Redford Suite" calls upon the mystic chords of our collective memory, universalizing the character of Redford as any American born into a mythological land of infinite horizons and opportunity that will soon find out that the American Dream is as much a fairy tale as the stories that our parents used to read to us at bed time.

If there is one record I could make everyone listen to this year, it would be "Undun."

Best of 2011 (albums) YOB - Atma (Profound Lore)

2012-01-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

I've always really wanted to love Yob. Ever since I became a doom freak upon hearing Sunn 0)))'s "White" records for the first time I thought that Buddhism (a philosophy that I am a horrible practitioner of) and the plodding slabs of heaviness roaring out of so many sunn amps went together like bread and butter. Listen to the Gyuto Monks of Tibet (or better yet, the Monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery) and listen to a top of the line doom album and you will find much in common. They both share a singularity of focus through repition meant to bring about the eventual cessation of the listener's ego as it dissolves into the sound field of the recording. Southern Lord described it best while promoting a Sunn 0))) live aktion in 2009: "It will be a return to...primal origins, an approach respecting a zen concept of shoshin." So when I discovered some years back that Yob drew a whole lot of influence from eastern philosophy I was ready to find a new favorite band. Unfortunately I was somewhat underwhelmed by what I heard from them. I liked it, but I wasn't blown away.

A couple of years ago, when I had all but forgotten about the band, I started hearing rumblings again about Yob and their superb 2009 release "The Great Cessation." I eventually gave them another chance and was floored by what I heard. Yob may have had some growing pains, but they have emerged as one of the tightest, heaviest and most effective bands in metal today. "Atma" is their absolute masterpiece that deserves to sit near the top of every "Best Of" list of 2011. Whether it is the razor-sharp riffage of the titular track or the progressive pummeling of "Adrift In The Ocean" the band are at the height of their power, sounding like a far more adventurous and disciplined Sleep.

"Adrift In The Ocean"

Best of 2011 (albums) PYRAMIDS/HORSEBACK - A Throne Without a King (Hydra Head)

2012-01-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

An album unlike any other this year, even within the borderless wilds of dark experimental music. Layers and layers of sounds pile on top of one another to make for a bleak and enthralling whole during this collaboration between Horseback's Jenks Miller and Pyramids. It's like Thuja playing with Tim Hecker playing with Kevin Drumm. Some moments are bone-rattlingly noisy, while others are relatively calm. No matter where the volume is, though, this record is always menacing. There is a dread that runs throughout "A Throne Without a King" that recalls Philip Glass' opening theme to "Koyaanisqatsi," or the finale, when literally everything falls apart, which is more than fitting.

What is most compelling about the record is the pitch perfect mixture of organic instrumentation with electronics. Organ, percussion and electronics comprise the record's backbone, and each contribution is as compelling as the next. Certainly the quality of this record isn't too surprising given the caliber of talent involved, but at the same time, it sort of is. Collaborations, more often than not, miss their mark, but in the case of "A Throne Without a King," both Horseback and Pyramids have turned in a work that is just as good, if not in some ways better, than their work apart.

Pyramids and Horseback - "A Throne Without A King"

Best of 2011 (albums) KATE BUSH - 50 Words For Snow (Anti-)

2012-01-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

"50 Words For Snow," is hands down Kate Bush's best record since the classic "Hounds Of Love." It is the perfect medium for Bush's vision comprised of minimal compositions built on piano that grow gradually over time into quite epics that are as effecting as anything she has produced. I was stunned on the first listen of this record, and as I explore it I am consistently overwhelmed by what I hear. Yes, there is a duet with Elton John on this record, and yes, it is one of the best songs on the album. If one needed proof that our elder statesmen and women can craft much better music than the youth of today, "Snowed In At Wheeler Street" will provide every Rolling Stone critic with enough ammunition to last a lifetime. For my money, though, "Misty" is the song I want to get lost in forever. A beautiful piano melody plays over slight jazz drums and stings working itself into a subtle climax that recalls all that was great about 80s art rock. It's like Talk Talk backing up Kate Bush, and really that is all I need to say.

"Misty"

Best of 2011 (albums) KURT VILE - Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)

2012-01-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Over the course of only a few years Kurt Vile has gone from much mumbled about lo-fi bedroom artist to one of indie-rock’s most recognizable names. His progressive, but laid-back, approach to Americana is easy to appreciate, because underneath the clatter and hum of even his most submerged and fuzz-laden tracks, lies the work of one of the most gifted singer/songwriters that has emerged in some time. He is part John Fahey, part Keith Richards, and part Hank Williams, yet it is clear that he came of age in the 1990s. Nevertheless, there is something almost nostalgic about his music that invokes a road trip into the heart of the vast American night that existed before billboards and cellular towers populated the landscape, when the horizon seemed open and limitless. You can imagine Vile playing on the stereo of a ’57 Chevy as it pulls into to a full-service station off of Route 66 somewhere between Albuquerque and Flagstaff at around 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night. It's sharp, road-worthy stuff that can easily soundtrack your entrance and exit from city to city, but casual enough to take the time and appreciate all of the empty space in between.

"Smoke Ring For My Halo" is Vile's forth album, and his most focused yet. Oddly enough, though, it is more languid and spacious than his last record "Childish Prodigy" which flirted with burned-out blues rock at times. This time around Vile pulls his punches in terms of volume and noise, emphasizing instead all of the tiny flourishes that make up this batch of subdued, but often spritely, Americana-inflected gems. With the exception of a few effects here and there, Vile has left his prior lo-fi leanings behind for a clearer sound that only highlights his talent as a songwriter. The album is populated with immaculately produced acoustic driven numbers, hummable pop tracks and darker, edgier songs making for a consistent whole that holds up no matter how many times you hit repeat. "Smoke Ring" proved once and for all that Vile has the talent and the vision to not only live up to his quickly-earned reputation, but to far exceed it.

"Jesus Fever"

Best of 2011 (albums) TORO Y MOI - Underneath The Pine

2012-01-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

Leaving chillwave far behind, Toro Y Moi, a/k/a Chaz Bundick, virtually reconstructed his sound from the ground up on "Underneath The Pine." Expanding his one man electronic act to include a full band, Bundick's new organic approach found not only the absence of the c-word, but also of the synthpop (except on occasion), IDM and dubstep that characterized his debut album "Causers of This." Instead, "Pine" finds Chaz channeling the atmospheric groove of Air and their forefathers Morricone, Gainsburg, Jean Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream, as well as the hallucinatory haze of Broadcast and "Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders." It all makes for a sometimes dark, sometimes delirious, sometimes dense, and sometimes dreamy trip, but one that is always incredibly engaging and often funky as hell.

"How I Know"

Best of 2011 (albums) ALL PIGS MUST DIE - God Is War (Southern Lord)

2012-01-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

With a name like All Pigs Must Die, and an album called "God Is War," how can this not be great? Resembling Slayer at their punkiest, this is hardcore thrash at its absolute finest. Furious punk tempos are broken up by riffage ranging from lightening fast to brutal and deliberate, as lead singer Kevin Baker screams out lyrics like "kill them all" and "all will burn," and really what more do you need?

What sets APMD apart from the slew of crust/hardcore bands that Southern Lord have been emphasizing lately is that these guys not only have better chops, they also have a sense of songcraft that makes for a listen that is more compelling than those records you put on simply because you need something to get aggro with. Even as the band continues to pummel, there are so many mind-blowing shifts in dynamics here and memorable razor-sharp riffs that this feels like something of a watershed album. I could see this becoming the "Reign In Blood" of the hardcore set, and frankly they need it. Hardcore has never been my favorite of the extreme metal genres, but All Pigs Must Die makes it more exciting than it has ever been. I've listened to this record on a regular basis more than any other release this year.

"God Is War"

Best of 2011 (albums) JASPER TX - The Black Sun Tranmissions (Fang Bomb)

2012-01-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Jasper TX, a/k/a Dag Rosenqvist, has been one of the more prolific experimental artists of the last decade. And while there was a time when that sort of thing had fans scrambling to get whatever limited edition cd-r a particular artist was dropping on a bi-weekly basis, eventually quantity began to outweigh quality (looking at you Campbell Kneale). Thankfully, Rosenqvist scaled back his release schedule and took a couple of years between releases to craft "The Black Sun Transmissions." In doing so, he has created his best work yet. Enlisting the aid of cellist Aaron Martin and drummer Mike Weis, Rosenqvist has produced a record that should catapult him into the upper echelons of experimental music inhabited by such luminaries as Fennesz and Tim Hecker. The sound of "The Black Sun Transmissions" is as massive and all-encompassing as either artist. It is both consistent and dynamic throughout, marked by great beauty and great despair. A lot of people have called this Rosenqvist's darkest work yet, and it is, but it is a lush darkness that comforts as it draws you in deeper. Once it is done you find yourself fully submerged in Rosenqvist's soundworld. More often than not, I've hit the play button on this album as soon as it was finished because I was so entranced. Even if we have to wait a few years for Rosenqvist's proper follow up to "The Black Sun Transmissions," it will be worth every minute if it is as good as this.

Preview of "The Black Sun Transmissions"
Jasper TX - The Black Sun Transmissions by Fang Bomb

Best of 2011 (albums) LA SERA - S/T (Hardly Art)

2012-01-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

La Sera is the solo project of the Vivian Girl's Katy Goodman. Now, in the interest of fairness and full-disclosure, I have made no secret about my love of indie-rock bands fronted by women, or my love for the Vivian Girls. It should also be admitted that I have a thing for redheads. Having said that, I honestly put this record on without any expectations one way or the other. More than anything I simply wanted to see what Goodman was up to during her off-hours. What quickly became apparent was that she was making music that was just as wonderful as the Vivian Girls, even though the two bare little resemblance to each other. Goodman eschews the taut punk/garage of her primary band for a dreamier hazier sound that has more in common with shoegaze and dream pop than punk or garage, although garage certainly lurks at the edges.

Cushioning Goodman's gorgeous and ethereal voice, each track is drenched in atmosphere, yet baited with hooks aplenty to make for some of the most addictive dream pop I've heard. There is simply not a bad song on this album; not one piece that does not have something to love. It's one of those rare little records that isn't about the promise of something bigger and better, because it is perfect as it is; even if what it is, is a small musical offering made without pretense or expectation.

"Devils Hearts Grow Cold"

Best of 2011 (albums) CRAFT - Void (Southern Lord)

2012-01-05T17:22:00.001-08:00

This masterwork of misanthropy almost was not. Craft nearly called it quits following the annihilation fest of 2005's "Fuck The Universe," but thankfully did not. Instead they replaced their original drummer, regrouped and spent a few years putting together "Void," their most challenging and "mature" (in a good way, I promise) album to date. Certainly the band's classic black metal roots underlie everything on the album, but they also continue to incorporate a great deal of experimentation, albeit experimentation dripping with filth and grime.

The band shifts comfortably between incredibly textured pieces like "The Ground Surrenders," stripped down tracks like the brutal "I Want To Commit Murder," and about everything in-between. It's sort of amazing how diverse this record is without ever losing its grim edge. Every time I have put this on, I've found something new to love. There are a lot of dark treasures to unpack here, making it one of the more rewarding records of the year.

"The Ground Surrenders"

Best of 2011 (albums) WILCO - The Whole Love (dBpm)

2012-01-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I even cared what Wilco were doing, and had you told me that I would fall in love with their new record this time last year, I would have laughed in your face and told you to piss off. Deep down I wanted that to be true, because at one time Wilco were the one of the best bands in the world, but that was a long time ago and I no longer believed it was possible to turn their all filler no killer approach to song craft around at this late date. Thankfully "The Whole Love" is a prima facie example of why F. Scott Fitzgerald was full of shit when he said "there are no second acts in American lives." This album is the sound of Wilco no longer going through the motions. Instead, for the first time in years, this is music worthy of their hallowed name.

For the most part, the record channels in catchy pop songs with experimental fringe. Their trademark krautrock meets americana comprises much of the record, yet there is more diversity here than any of their records since their classic one-two punch of "Summerteeth" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," and each song is played with a confidence that few bands could muster. This is Wilco on top again, and it sounds great. I hope they stay there because at their best they are like the best friend that you have known forever and don't see often enough, but when you do you are reminded of why they are one of your favorite people in the world.

"Born Alone"

Best of 2011 (albums) DUM DUM GIRLS - Only In Dreams (Sub Pop)

2012-01-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

"Only In Dreams" is an incredibly polished girl-group garage-pop jangle-rock record centered around real and substantial loss (not just your run-of-the mill heartbreak) that only gets better with each and every listen. Dum Dum Girls' front-woman Dee Dee lost her mother in 2009 to a rather unexpected and virulent form of cancer, and this record is, for the most part, a document of that loss.

While nearly every review of this record has noted the band's move from lo-fi to hi-fi, as well as the death of Dee Dee's mom as the lyrical impetus for the album, I've yet to see anyone discuss how the two may be intertwined; how maybe such a tragedy found the Girls no longer wanting to hide behind a wall of fuzzy sound and irony that ultimately distanced themselves from their listeners. With lyrics this heart-wrenching and honest, it's hard not to read their move toward sonic clarity as a break from detached hipsterism altogether toward something more real and sincere. As a result, "Only In Dreams, coupled with the band's fantastic "He Gets Me High" ep (which, btw, contains "Take Care Of My Baby," one of my top three songs of 2011), made Dum Dum Girls one of the few truly essential bands of 2011.

"Teardrops On My Pillow"

"Take Care Of My Baby" from the "He Gets Me High" ep

Best of 2011 (albums) ICEAGE - New Brigade (What's Your Rupture?)

2011-12-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

A group of teenagers from Denmark sound like they stepped straight out of the early 80s with the masters from a long lost post-punk classic under their arms and subsequently are hailed as the "next big thing" by the music press, even though their sound was the next big thing 30 years ago. Anyway, hype and backlash aside, "New Brigade" really is a fantastic record and is kind of mind boggling in how authentically post-punk it all sounds. It's like these guys have never listened to anything other than This Heat and Wire, which is perfectly fine by me. Frankly I hope these guys really are the next big thing, because I haven't heard a record sound this urgent in years.

"White Rune"

Best of 2011 (albums) EARTH - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 (Southern Lord)

2011-12-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

Earth's most beautiful and majestic record to date, "Angels of Darkness, Devils Of Light Pt. 1," is a perfect combination of doom and hope. Given that the sessions that spawned this album took place following Dylan Carlson's diagnosis of Hepatitis B, the sound makes sense, but only if you understand that no one but Dylan Carlson could make this record. Regardless of how many (countless) imitators have sprung up over the years, there is only one Dylan Carlson, and this album is yet another example of why he is one of our few living legends.

On "Angels" the band sounds like the masters of the medium that they are. The band has a knack for making doom soulful and alive, even when it lulls you into a trance, a feat not easily accomplished, and one that I cannot begin to dissect or explain here. Earth's music simply breaths in the most primal and natural way possible, and in that breath is life and death and everything in between. The epic scope and contrasts inherent within have never been more apparent as they are on "Angels," at the same time the band balances light and dark here better than any album previously.

One of my absolute highlights of 2011 was sitting in the balcony at the Southgate House in Newport, KY while recovering from a thankfully infrequent bout of a reoccurring illness which may eventually spell my own demise as I age and watching Earth play one of the warmest and most comforting concerts of the year. Afterwards I got to briefly meet and talk to Carlson. I'll never forget shaking his hand. It was the hand of a guy who has seen a lot, but still maintained a smile. It was the hand of the guy who makes some of the very best music in the world, but who remains honest and humble. For a brief moment there everything was peaceful and joyful even as a whole lot of fear and sickness loomed. "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light" is whole lot like that.

"Father Midnight"

Best of 2011 (albums) PETE SWANSON - Man With Potential (Type)

2011-12-29T14:04:00.000-08:00

One half of the now legendary Yellow Swans has returned with the noisiest "dance" record since Black Dice attempted (and kind of failed) this sort of thing some years back. Pete Swanson's marriage of noise and techno is one of the most exciting records that I heard all year. "Man With Potential," constantly revels itself as something new and unique, while simultaneously nailing all of the sweet spots that the Yellow Swans used to hit. Given that this is a late year release, I'm still exploring it and finding an unending trove of sounds and emotions to discover. This is easily one of 2011's densest records, and I mean that in a very good way. At the same time, there is an immediacy that hooks you on the first listen. It's kind of the audial equivalent of that old crack commercial where the dealer says 'give them the first taste for free, and they will keep coming back for more,' except this record isn't bad for you; it might devastate you, and you might lose yourself entirely inside of it, but in the end that is a very good thing.

Pete Swanson - Man With Potential by _type

Best of 2011 (albums) GROUPER - AIA: Alien Observer/AIA: Dream Loss (Yellowelectric)

2011-12-29T14:03:00.000-08:00

Grouper followed up her surprisingly successful "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" with her weirdest, darkest and most challenging work yet. Over the course of two records, Liz Harris traveled the distance from loose, minimalist song structure to impressionistic soundscapes. For anyone willing to follow her down the rabbit hole, it was, needless to say, more than worth it. She runs through an entire spectrum of sound, even as she smears it into a blur during these records, making for a meditative and endlessly fascinating experience for adventurous listeners. There are certain days that the only musician that I will listen to is Harris, and that is all you really need to know about Grouper.

"Alien Observer"

Best of 2011 (albums) TYLER, THE CREATOR - Goblin (XL)

2011-12-29T14:02:00.000-08:00

The most divisive album of the year. It was also one of the most brilliantly subversive to anyone willing to get over it's coarse surface and dig deeper. In the end, "Goblin" was a love or hate proposition, and while at first it was totally cool to love it, now everyone and their overly-sensitive brother is piling on to trash it. Regardless of all the politically correct hand-wringing and critics attempting to distance themselves from Tyler, he still has plenty of kids listening. This summer I watched in awe as he drew the largest most passionate crowd that I've ever seen at Pitchfork, even in the kijillion degree heat and humidity. Likely if you are against Tyler and his crew, then nothing I could say will probably change your mind, but if you want to read my defense of the record, and why I still stand 100% behind this record, then you can read my rather lengthy original review here. The short version is that this was the most punk fucking rock record of 2011, and I love punk rock.

"Yonkers"

Best of 2011 (albums) BON IVER - S/T (Jagjaguwar)

2011-12-23T07:59:00.002-08:00

I'll admit that originally I was a bit let down by Justin Vernon's much anticipated follow up to the universally beloved "For Emma, Forever Ago." I thought he crossed the line in terms of poor choices in instrumentation and left great ideas underdeveloped at crucial points on the record. Then I saw him perform one of the best shows of 2011 and each song suddenly made more sense. Mind you, this is not a situation where the songs are so much better live, but it took me seeing them live to understand them fully, to feel them entirely. Since that revelation, I've grown to absolutely love this record.

Minus my own developing existential relationship with this album, Vernon accomplished somewhat of a coup in channelling "Laughing Stock" and "Spirit Of Eden"-era Talk Talk into one of indie rock's most commercially successfully albums of 2011 (it peaked at Billboard's number 2 album and has been nominated for four Grammys). For that alone, this record should be celebrated.

"Michicant"

Best of 2011 (albums) DARK CASTLE - Surrender To All Life Beyond Form (Profound Lore)

2011-12-23T07:59:00.001-08:00

Truly forward-thinking doom. Rather than rehashing the genre's traditional sound, Dark Castle craft a progressively unique and multi-layered approach that maintains all of the crushing power and darkness of metal's most primal form. The duo's harrowing songs are given an extra layer of massiveness by producer extraordinare Sanford Parker, who mixes traditional psych-doom with the kind of colossal heaviness and genre blending that made Twilight and Nachtmystium's albums so amazing last year. This is essential doom metal that will destroy every single molecule in its path. Every listen exposes something new and more devastating. I am continually captivated by this record.

"Seeing Through Time"

Best of 2011 (albums) JAMES BLAKE - S/T (Atlas/A&M)

2011-12-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

There was a lot of hype surrounding James Blake at the beginning of 2011, which I thought was somewhat odd, not because Blake’s work isn’t worth it, but because this is highly experimental stuff, even if it does bare the imprint of traditional pop and R&B from time to time. Essentially a singer/songwriter record, Blake's minimalistic post-post-dubstep approach to song craft is both approachable and challenging, making for an album that can be enjoyed in the background, but deserves to be closely scrutinized in order to grasp the depth of his talent. In many ways this record reminds me of Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago," in that even the slightest increase in instrumentation or dramatic tension has a profound and contrasting effect against what is overall a subtle and nuanced whole. What Justin Vernon did with an acoustic guitar in a cabin, Blake does with effects and a piano.

As an aside, this is the best sounding vinyl record I heard all year, and needs to be listened to in that format. The digital just does not do justice to the spaciousness of this album. And, if you get a chance to see Blake live, do it. He unexpectedly blew my mind when I saw him perform these songs live.

"The Wilhelm Scream"

Best of 2011 (albums) TWELLS & CHRISTENSEN - Coasts (Digitalis)

2011-12-23T07:46:00.001-08:00

Xela's John Twells and Zelienople's Matt Christensen teamed up to create this tour de force in experimental/drone music. As a part of my original review of this album I wrote:

"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."

Little did I know what a harbinger this record would prove to be, as 2011 ended up being one of the strongest years for experimental music in some time. Yet, twelve months and many excellent experimental releases later, this record still astonishes. While this is certainly drone music, there is nothing static about it. Tone, color, emotion, scope; everything changes by the second throughout "Coasts." I can't recall hearing drone pieces this consistent that are also this dynamic.

"Burning Bridges Together"

Best of 2011 (albums) CULTS - S/T (Columbia)

2011-12-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

The summer album of 2011. Lyrically the band focuses on issues of oppression and freedom, which initially seems diametrically opposed to the sunny west coast vibe and 60s girl-group sonics that they channel. Ultimately though, their lyrical emphasis on individual liberation only adds to the freeing, breezy nature of this album. If there were ever a feel-good break-up/fuck you record, this is it. What makes the album worth returning to again and again is the intoxicating melodies and compositions present throughout. There are plenty of twists, turns, breaks and bridges throughout these songs, as well as what seems to be an infinite amount of subtle flourishes that would please even the most discriminating listener (i.e. music snob). In other words, this is pop music with a brain.

"Go Outside"

Best of 2011 (Lps) Honorable Mention

2011-12-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

DEMONAZ – March of the Norse (Nuclear Blast)
BARN OWL – Lost in the Glare (Thrill Jockey)
ZOLA JESUS – Conatus (Sacred Bones)
URAL UMBO – Delusion of Hope (Utech)
PRURIENT – Bermuda Drain (Hydra Head)
SHABAZZ PALACES – Black Up (Sub Pop)
PLANKS – The Darkest of Grays/Solicit to Fall (Southern Lord)
LOSS – Despond (Profound Lore)
JESU – Ascension (Caldo Verde)
MATT CHRISTENSEN - A Cradle in the Bowery (Under The Spire)
BORIS – Attention Please/Heavy Rocks 2011 (Sargent House)
XANDER HARRIS – Urban Gothic (Not Not Fun)
TRUE WIDOW - As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth (Kemado)
LOW – C’mon (Sub Pop)
CLOUD NOTHINGS – S/T (Carpark)
RADIOHEAD – King of Limbs (self released)
MIKE WEIS – Loop Current/Raft (Barge)
DISMA – Towards the Megalith (Profound Lore)
MOGWAI – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Sub Pop)
DESTROYER – Kaputt (Merge)
WIRE – Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)
GHOSTFACE KILLAH – Apollo Kids (Def Jam)
MASTODON – The Hunter (Reprise)
MAMALEEK – Kurdaitcha (Enemies List)
BURZUM – Fallen (Byelobog Productions)
YOUTH LAGOON – The Year of Hibernation (Fat Possum)
JON MUELLER – Alphabet of Movements (Type)
HORSEBACK/LOCRIAN - New Dominions (Utech)
WOLD - Freermasonry (Profound Lore)
BATILLUS - Furnace (Seventh Rule)
BLACK TUSK - Set The Dial (Relapse)
BLACK COBRA - Invernal (Southern Lord)
ANDY STOTT - We Stay Together/Passed Me By (Modern Love)
SUUM CUIQUE - Midden (Young Americans)

Best of 2011 (eps) #1 LOCRIAN - Dort Ist Der Weg/Frozen in Ash (Flingco Sound)

2011-12-18T16:50:00.002-08:00

Technically a 7" release, this is one of the finest releases in any format that I heard all year. What follows is my original long form review:

Attempting to cover Popol Vuh is a particularly treacherous venture. To begin with you are trespassing on hallowed ground. There is simply not much you can do to improve on Popol Vuh at their best. They are legends for a reason. Furthermore, their brand of experimental krautrock doesn't exactly reduce itself to amped-up easy covers of their songs. No one gains anything from knocking out a Popul Vuh cover live or otherwise. Yet, despite all odds, Locrian not only covers Popol Vuh's "Dort Ist Der Weg" successfully, they knock it way the hell out of the ballpark. Adding more than a touch of beefed-up sonics, Locrian maintains the spaciousness of Popol Vuh's original, but turn in a heavier and darker take on the piece. Admittedly, the band sounds less like Locrian, and more like a mixture of Slint and Amon Düül II initially, but by the end of the piece, once the dissonance and screeches take over, you'll remember that you are listening to a Locrian recording, and a very fine one at that. If anything it calls to mind the psychedelic blues metal of fellow traveller Horseback, who the band recently collaborated with on the spectacular "New Dominions" LP.

Side two is a Locrian original and one of their finest at that. "Frozen in Ash" is a blasted drone that owes far more to Xasthur than krautrock. Built on a guitar progression that calls to mind classic Norwegian black metal, the piece gets nastier and noisier as it plays out before dissolving into a brooding apocalyptic folk coda of piano and acoustic guitar before drummer Steven Hess shuts it all down with a galloping snare.

Taken as a whole this is Locrian at their most epic, and it is hard to believe that a simple 7" can contain such a massive statement in sound. Although combined these tracks make up a mere twelve minutes and thirty-five seconds, this feels like a proper album, if only because of the emotional and sonic ground covered. Few, if any, bands could achieve what Locrian have achieved here. Successful Popol Vuh cover aside, the real accomplishment is a recording that contains more variety and depth in less than a quarter hour than most bands can produce in an entire career.

Locrian "Dort ist der Weg/ Frozen in Ash 7" single" by flingco

Best of 2011 (eps) #2 BURIAL - Street Halo (Hyperdub)

2011-12-18T16:50:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time since we last heard from Burial (2007, to be precise), but this year we were finally gifted with a new collection of tracks from the dark dub-step master. Granted there are only three, totaling just over twenty minutes, but they were more than worth the wait. The tracks on "Street Halo" are the best that Burial has ever produced. Each track maintains his trademark spectral haunt, but contains a coiled energy unlike anything he has ever created. His approach is more streamlined, yet just as hazy and dark as his self-titled debut. Some of the pitch-shifted vocals of "Untrue" remain, but they are far more subdued, blending into the overall sound of each track here, rather than rattling about at the forefront. Elements of IDM and even techno and house are present, but it is far too cerebral an affair to call dance. There is also something deeply beautiful and cinematic about each of these tracks, even as they remain entirely restrained. I really can't say enough good things about "Street Halo." I only hope that this is a prelude to another full length soon. I don't think I can wait another four years for a new Burial record.

"Street Halo"

Best of 2011 (eps) #3 KURT VILE - So Outta Reach (Matador)

2011-12-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

Best of 2011 (eps) #4 THOU - The Archer & The Owle (Robotic Empire)

2011-12-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

Clocking in at nearly forty minutes, "The Archer & The Owle" is a rather generous EP that features some of Thou's best and most dynamic work yet. Featuring songs from the same sessions that spawned the band's monumental "Summit" record, this is Thou at their most expansive. Piano, horns and choral-like vocals mix with the band's thunderous doom-sludge to great effect. The band sounds downright victorious on the anthematic "Voices In The Wilderness," while the dirge-like "Bonnet Carre" hypnotizes with sprawling guitar work. To round out the ep, the group includes a cover of Nirvana's "Something In The Way" that doesn't just do justice to the original, it actually kind of bests it, at least for anyone who felt like the chorus should have been screamed and not whispered. Also featured are a set of covers from the folk-rock band Pygmy Lush, which, of course, Thou totally destroys by turning them into hardcore doom epics.

"Voices In The Wilderness"

Best of 2011 (eps) #5 AUTRE NE VEUT - The Body (Hippos In Tanks)

2011-12-18T16:47:00.000-08:00

Autre Ne Veut's "The Body" follows the same template of experimental R&B-influenced pop that characterized 2010's debut full-length, but it all sounds stadium-sized. It's bigger, louder and grander than before and dizzyingly great. In a mere thirteen minutes, "The Body" runs a gamut of emotional highs and lows, while continuing to push the envelop of experimental-pop. When it is all over, you are going to want more, of course, but there is more meat here to satiate you than most artists' full-length efforts. Full review here.

"Your Clothes"

Worst of 2011: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Mute)

2011-12-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

M83's "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" was universally lauded upon its release and ended up landing all the way at number three on Pitchfork's "Top Albums Of 2011." Of course, as a bubbling synth-pop record steeped in infantilism, it was tailor-made for the P4K generation. For anyone born before 1980 who had to actually live through that shitty decade consciously, it reeked of idealized nostalgia of the worst kind. It isn't just that synth-pop, with a few exceptions, was one of the enemies that American hardcore and punk rallied against during that overly romanticized decade, it is that M83's Anthony Gonzalez, who appears to be of adult age, can't seem to leave an idealized vision of youth and that decade behind. This was all sort of cute a few years ago, when pretty much everyone was making this sort of album, but it's tired now. Seriously, it's time to grow the fuck up and stop sucking your thumb. Why this record is somehow being recognized as anything other than just another synth-pop record in love with the 80's is beyond me. To make matters worse, it isn't even that good. It's somehow cheesier than even the cheesiest 80's songs. Yet this is not irony, Gonzalez sounds like he sincerely means all two hours and twenty minutes of this atrocity. I guess because of that sincerity and because of its "epic" nature, he has convinced a lot of people that this is an important work. I am clearly not one of them.

"Midnight City" (which, by the way, is the one song I can actually stomach)

WINTER IS COMING: Ten Records to Keep You Warm During The Holidays and Beyond

2011-11-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

As the year draws to a close, and every music writer in America gears up to countdown their best and worst of 2011, some great records are still being released. Below is a collection of some recent albums that will get you through the dark cold months ahead, and will sooth your soul as the hectic holiday month unfolds. Again, in no particular order.

#1 KATE BUSH - 50 Words For Snow (Anti-)

2011-11-26T12:43:00.000-08:00

Anyone who thinks I'm just a whiskey drinking dunderhead who wants to see Burzum eat the guts of Neon Indian has never seen me listen to "Cloudbusting" by Kate Bush. I don't think I've ever made it through that song without tears pouring out of my eyes. Kate Bush has that effect, even on grown men who eat too much red meat. Her lyrics, arrangements and voice cut to the core of the human heart and remind you of what is truly important in life, which is usually those around you that you hurt the most, causing you to feel a chasm between the person you want to be and the person you are, not that I would know anything about that. It's ethereal music that you should probably listen to ever day in order to be a better person, but it's weight is too much to listen to every day. In some ways it's a good thing that she has only produced two records of original material in the past 17 years, because her records take years to digest and stay with you twice as long. For those novices out there who have never heard Kate Bush, she is sort of like Joanna Newsom, but a thousand times better.

"50 Words For Snow," is hands down her best record following "Hounds Of Love." It is the perfect medium for Bush's vision comprised of minimal compositions built on piano that grow gradually over time into quite epics that are as effecting as anything she has produced. I was stunned on the first listen of this record, and as I explore it I am consistently overwhelmed by what I hear. Yes, there is a duet with Elton John on this record, and yes, it is one of the best songs on the album. If one needed proof that our elder statesmen and women can craft much better music than the youth of today, "Snowed In At Wheeler Street" will provide every Rolling Stone critic with enough ammunition to last a lifetime. For my money, though, "Misty" is the song I want to get lost in forever. A beautiful piano melody plays over slight jazz drums and stings working itself into a subtle climax that recalls all that was great about 80s art rock. It's like Talk Talk backing up Kate Bush, and really that is all I need to say. I probably don't need to explain further why an album called "50 Words For Snow" is the perfect record for this season, but all of the reasons I just discussed above are also why this is one of the best records of 2011.

"Misty" excerpt

#2 BORIS - New Album (Sargent House)

2011-11-26T12:38:00.000-08:00

Every winter needs its stupid rock album to get you out of the doldrums, and this winter has been gifted by one of the best bands in the world with what is arguably their worst album (that is still great in its own way). There is no way to justify this record to long time fans of Boris; the band that at one time stood toe to toe with Earth and Sunn 0))) for sovereignty of the doom drone world are now turning in what can only be described as a J-rock record, but goddamn if it isn't fun. For the most part this is a much more electronicized mix of songs from the band's "Heavy Rocks 2011" and "Attention Please" records from earlier in the year. It basically gathers together all of the pop songs, pumps up the disco and lets loose with abandon. It still rocks, promise, but in a different way.

This record has been out in Japan for a while, but I get the feeling that Boris knew they were going to piss off a lot of American fans with this, and so kind of buried its release, which is a shame, because if you can't get your four on the floor on with Boris and have fun, you probably aren't living. I'm not about to say I want to hear the band go down this road again, but this has became a guilty pleasure that makes even the shittiest days feel grand, in other words: the perfect cure for the winter, or any, blues.

"Spoon"

#3 WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS - The Resurrections Unseen (Type)

2011-11-23T23:35:00.001-08:00

William Fowler Collins - Abattoir from John Twells on Vimeo.

#4 URAL UMBO - Delusion Of Hope (Utech)

2011-11-23T23:16:00.000-08:00

Ural Umbo is the duo of Reto Mäder and Steven Hess, who some of you might recognize as a member of Locrain, Haptic and On. To call them a dark experimental project would technically be correct, but it doesn't quite do them justice. "Dark experimental" gets thrown around a lot (hell, it's getting thrown around a lot on this list alone), but like all such descriptors it threatens to reduce a band's sound into a pigeonhole that sheers off the individual uniqueness of a group, which is often what makes one group or artists better than the next bunch of guys armed with electronics and guitar pedals who have an appreciation for both Burzum and Penderecki. So yeah, Ural Umbo is a dark experimental duo, but their approach is more organic, more fully realized, and, frankly, scarier sounding than their peers.

If you thought Locrian was dark, you haven't heard Ural Umbo. This is brutal nightmarish music that draws on soundtrack, industrial, black metal, doom, drone and krautrock that ends up being the most dynamic and unique sounding collection of sounds that I have heard in the whole "dark experimental" genre. While Mäder is playing with a wide swath of instrumentation that resembles a small orchestra, Hess' massive sounding drums blows it all up with a sense of heated urgency. Even when things aren't smashing and crashing all around you, the sound is tense and creepy, like the best horror soundtrack never made for a film. I'm not saying that an album called "Delusion Of Hope" will give you any comfort in the dead of winter, but it will put you on edge like the protagonist fighting for his or her life against unknown evil in a horror movie, and that may be exactly what you need to beat back the lethargy that accompanies the dark days ahead, or you could just listen to this and succumb to the darkness altogether. Either way, you need this.

"Self Fulfilling Prophecy"

#5 LEVIATHAN - True Traitor, True Whorrer (Profound Lore)

2011-11-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

Leviathan, a/k/a Wrest, a/k/a Jef Whitehead is accused of doing some bad shit. I'm not going to go into it here, since a simple google search will produce all the salient details. I will only say this, while I am certainly hoping that he has been falsely accused, whether or not he committed the crime has little bearing on my ability to enjoy his music. Some people struggle ad nauseum about whether or not you can separate the artist from the art, and whether or not that means the art should be thrown out if the artist is a particularly deplorable person. I am not one of those people. A lot of that probably has to do with my day job as a criminal defense attorney. I've seen a lot of people do a lot of really bad shit, much worse than Whitehead is accused of, and at the same time I have never met a monster. I've only met people who have done some abhorrent things in their lives, stuff that under different circumstances, we would all be capable of, if we are honest with ourselves. Yes, some of them are more, or less, scum, but not a one of them haven't been human to some degree, and humans capable of destruction are also sometimes capable of creating great art. Therefore, the personality or actions of the artists doesn't really ruin the art for me. Burzum is a piece of shit, but his music is some of the greatest of the last 20 years, and I'll continue to buy and enjoy his records as quickly as he can produce them. On a smaller scale, rumor has it that the best new band of the last three years is comprised of a couple of real assholes (and one decent guy), but so what? I'm not looking to be friends with them, I just want to hear their music.

So I went into "True Traitor, True Whorrer" with no real prejudices, but the personal life of Whitehead was impossible to escape when listening to this record. Recorded after Whitehead was released on bond from jail, the album is clearly a response to the charges against him and the person who brought them. It is also the portrait of a human being at the bottom of their existence. Wrest may rip on them now, but at one time his recordings had all the structure and linear power of Wolves In The Throne Room. Such is not the case here. "True Traitor, True Whorrer" is an absolute sonic mess. Oddly, this is the first ever Leviathan album produced in a studio. Producer extraordinaire Sanford Parker is responsible for sound, and given his track record of producing some of the crispest and clearest metal records of the last couple of years, it can only be assumed that this atrocity exhibition are what both Parker and Whitehead were aiming for, and certainly given the subject matter it makes sense. This is a document of a man turned inside out, of a living nightmare that won't end. Parker literally turns these songs inside out until they are a grotesque stew of primal blind rage. As a result, everything is buried beneath the bubbling fiery surface of these tracks, which sound like an animal that is either wounded or psychotic, or maybe both. This is not an easy listen, or one that I completely love, nor is it anywhere near Wrest's best work, but it is a singular unflinching piece of art. Arguably it is also one of the most challenging and confrontational pieces of art in any medium in some time, yet all the same, deep within it's hellscape is a living breathing human being that is clawing to escape from his confines. Whether that hell is of his own making, or one to which he has been unjustly imprisoned to by another remains to be seen, either way "True Traitor, True Whorrer" is a singular and unique monument to the darkest realms of human existence.

"Blood Red and True"

#6 KURT VILE - So Outta Reach (Matador)

2011-11-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

Kurt Vile didn't need to produce an all killer, no filler ep this year, but he did. In fact he produced an ep so spectacular that - for me at least - it threatens to overshadow his excellent "Smoke Ring For My Halo" album. This is Vile at his heaviest sounding. It's basically a collection of tracks for those who were blown away by his best Elliott Smith impression on "Halo's" "Runner Ups," and needed more of that sort of thing. Backed up by the heft of the Violators throughout, the record is the least delicate, and most fully realized Vile release to date, in terms of instrumentation.

Vile has already established himself well enough, but "So Outta Reach" just sort of seals the deal. If you haven't heard Vile yet, then you are missing one of the truly spectacular musicians of the last few years, and one of the few that stands to become a lasting presence. When you realize that he has only been producing records for three years and that he has already amassed a collection of releases of such incredibly high caliber, as in the kind that legends are made of, it's all kind of mind blowing. Each record finds Vile progressing, and "So Outta Reach" is my favorite step forward thus far, and while one can't help to be excited to hear what Vile produces next, this perfect collection of songs should warm a lot of living rooms this winter.

"The Creature"

#7 YOUTH LAGOON - The Year Of Hibernation (Fat Possum/Lefse)

2011-11-23T22:57:00.000-08:00

I've been particularly disappointed by most indie "rock" offerings this year, and was completely ready to throw this one on the ash pile just based on the Pitchfork buzz it was getting. But something happened on the way to me dismissing it, which is that it is actually a pretty great little record. Quiet understated melodies and emotive vocals creep up you and by midway through the album you'll find yourself completely won over by the record's effortless power and beauty.

The album's songs operate like dioramas, slowly but surely drawing you in until you find yourself wanting to live inside of Youth Lagoon's small-scale epics. It's cozy and comfortable in there, and for the time it takes this magical record to play itself out, the outside world shrinks to a point of inconsequentiality. It's that perfect Sunday morning record where everything is slowed, subtle and hopeful. It's also exactly the kind of record you're going to need when the dark gets too dark during the winter season.

"Montana"

#8 BJORK - Biophilia (One Little Indian/Polydor)

2011-11-23T22:50:00.000-08:00

"Biophilia" is not a perfect record, nor is it anywhere near Bjork's best, but it is endlessly compelling nevertheless. Much like Radiohead, Bjork long ago quite caring about making crowd pleasing records, and gave herself over to her muse, wherever that took her. "Biophilia" finds Bjork at her most minimal. Songs often are comprised of one or two instruments and effects and either meander or mesmerize depending on your predisposition toward experimental music.

Yet even as a fan of experimental music, the songs that stick out the most are the record's more dynamic pieces like "Crystalline," which sounds like Bjork is fronting Aphex Twin at his peak. Most of the album, though, rewards over repeated close listens. Tracks like "Moon" and "Solstice" may not be immediate, but they expose their beauty over time. "Biophilia" may not please on the first listen, but once you know what you are in for, it will give the listener a lot to explore on a cold winter day when all life seems to have stopped dead in it's tracks.

"Moon"

#9 BARN OWL - Lost In The Glare (Thrill Jockey)

2011-11-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone's favorite experimental folk doom guitar duo return with their fourth full-length. Following in the wake of their spectacular and majestic Popol Vuh-like "Shadowland," the duo of Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras sound restless and energized throughout "Lost In The Glare." The addition of more drums and percussion throughout helps ratchet up the tension, making for a beefier sound that colors even the tracks that don't feature smashing cymbals and plodding dirge beats. As a result, there is a consistent heaviness here that makes for a more menacing album than anything these guys have done before, which is saying something. All in all this is Barn Owl's most dynamic record to date.

To that end, there is also a healthy injection of middle-eastern and Persian-influenced guitar work that characterizes the record. While drone has always played an important part in Barn Owl's music, those moments of static cosmic bliss are fewer here, instead strings interplay with organs in a dance of desert mysticism that finds transcendence through communal motion rather than solitary meditation. As a result, the record exudes a heat and sensuality that I would have never attributed to Barn Owl before. It's a perfect record for keeping things warm inside, even as winter's winds threaten to batter down your door.

"Turiya"

Barn Owl - Turiya from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

#10 ZOLA JESUS - Conatus (Sacred Bones)

2011-11-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

Zola Jesus, a/k/a Nika Roza Danilova, returns after a series of well received eps with her third full length record "Conatus." The album finds Danilova maintaining the cleaner production apparent on the "Stridulum" and "Valusia" eps, but the overall feel is as dark and gothic and her earlier work. Upon hearing "Valusia," in particular, I was concerned that Danilova was not only leaving behind her lo-fi beginnings, but also shunning the darkness for light. Thankfully, those concerns were unfounded. Instead, she has focused her attention on more complex and experimental song structures. Many pieces start out skeletal and end up as multi-layered anthems of love and loss.

Of course, the real star of the proceedings is Danilova's voice, which is the strongest in contemporary music. As a result, musical accompaniment is almost secondary, but here, as on "Stridulum," the music is often as compelling as it is complementary to the Voice. The record's mixture of 80's industrial dance and art rock is the perfect vehicle for Danilova, giving "Conatus" the feeling of the familiar while maintaining enough edge to satisfy fans of her earlier work. As winter approaches, "Conatus" is feeling more and more like an essential release; a perfect record for the cold dark days ahead.

"Vessel"

LOCRIAN - The Clearing (Fan Death Records)

2011-11-14T15:14:00.000-08:00

Locrain are at the top of the dark experimental music heap these days. Although their songs lack traditional form and structure, there a visceral quality to their music that recalls some of the most potent and powerful metal and post-rock. Last year's stunning genre-smashing "The Crystal World" made Locrian the band to pay attention to, while raising the bar for everyone else. Since then, they have produced a collaborative LP and single with the like-minded Horseback and the "Dort Ist Der Weg b/w Frozen in Ash" 7", which, for my money, is one of the best releases in any format this year. So to say that "The Clearing" was one of this year's most anticipated releases for me is a bit of an understatement. Even without hearing the whole thing, this was already a must have album among discerning music fans. Naturally, "The Clearing" not only lives up to expectations, but exceeds them to an extreme.

As amazing as "The Crystal World" was, the addition of drummer Steven Hess sounded at times like a guest player. A superb guest player, no doubt, but someone who seemed to be brought in to flesh out the sound of the album. Since that record, though, the trio of Hess, André Foisy and Terence Hannum have clearly coalesced as a group. "The Clearing" is their first long-form statement as the incredibly balanced band that they have become. Each member is essential here, and the success of the album's sound can be traced to the ability of each member to play off of each other. That fact is no more apparent than on opener "Chalk Point." The track, which sounds like the liturgy to a secret rite, finds the band at their doomiest, with Hess playing stately drums, Foisy offering up consistently scorching guitar, and Hannum's keyboards simultaneously stimulating while providing a tragic backdrop to the whole affair. Each player interlocks with the other to create a mood that captivates the listener with images of woods, black robes and bonfires where unspeakable things happen.

As awesome as "Chalk Point" is, it barely prepares the listener for "Augury in an Evaporating Tower." I'm not sure what the title means (other than it has something to do with the art of divination...in an evaporating tower), but I can promise you that it is intense as hell. This piece would come in at the climax in any awesome film, and it is surprising that anything else can follow it, but the ponderous and meditative "Coprolite" does so quite nicely. Foisy's melancholic acoustic guitar plays over Hannum's effects and Hess' thoughtful accents to make for what is oddly one of the most effective songs the band has produced. There is such a powerfully mournful feel to the piece that it cuts to the core of the listener in a way that precious little music does these days.

To close the album out, the band produces a nearly eighteen minute title track, which draws down everything that has come before into a singular pinpoint. The piece starts out somewhat reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's legendary soundtrack to "The Thing" before desperate screams pierce the soundfield and give way to a cavernous denouement. Over the next twelve minutes the band heaps effect on top of effect, instrument on top of instrument, to craft a cumulative and crushing drone that results in a blasted finale to what is a perfect record.

What is so stunning about "The Clearing" is how diverse the album is overall, even as it all sounds a part of a whole. The band explores a variety of approaches throughout, each successfully casting a consistent mood that leaves the listener feeling like they have taken a singular journey by record's end. If "The Crystal World" announced the presence of Locrian as the band to pay attention to, "The Clearing" solidifies their position as a powerhouse. Locrian is THE band that matters right now, and if you didn't know that already, "The Clearing" makes damn sure you do.

The Clearing by Locrian

DUM DUM GIRLS - Only In Dream (Sub Pop)

2011-11-04T07:14:00.001-07:00

It's a sad irony that often great and beautiful art grows out of tragedy. Whether it be horrific world events, or individual struggle and loss, artists of note often express their sorrow and quest for catharsis through their art. What usually emerges is a work stripped of pretense and artifice featuring the artist's raw naked soul. Such emotional nudity is easy to discern when the work arises out of an art form that is characterized by melancholia or anger to begin with. Leviathan is getting a lot of press currently for his work "True Traitor, True Whore," because of it's emotional starkness, but really when isn't Leviathan emotionally stark? His brand of black metal is inherently raw. What happens instead when tragedy strikes an artist who channels in poppy girl-group punk? Do they turn in a bleak, downtuned album that breaks with what they know or do they continue on with their patented sound? If you are the Dum Dum Girls, you double down on what you do best and go for broke, as evident on the expansive and exuberant "Only In Dreams."

Last year front-woman Dee Dee's otherwise healthy mother, whose image appeared on the cover of the band's superb "I Will Be," was diagnosed with a series of brain tumors that quickly took her life. Many of the lyrics on "Only In Dreams" center around Dee Dee's reaction to her loss, even as the band lays down some of the cleanest and most accessible music of their career. As a result, what emerges is a collection of incredibly pristine and shiny garage-pop songs whose sunny facade cannot hide the heart-wrenching purity of the emotional turmoil that lie at their core.

Sonically the band eschews their former lo-fi sound for the hi-pro glow that marked the "He Gets Me High" ep. While some old-time fans may be turned off initially by the far more professional sound of "Only In Dreams," Dee Dee's songwriting has always been the Dum Dum Girls' real strength, regardless of what fidelity it is recorded in. Opener "Always Looking" resembles the serrated pop of the band's previous work, it just sounds grander. Yet, there is a move here away from the band's previous tough as nails approach and toward a more classic 60s girl-group sound, as is evident on tracks like "Bedroom Eyes," "In My Head," and "Heartbeat (Take It Away)." Each song is equipped with simple sing-along verses and soaring bridges and chorus that sound not a day older than 1965.

The band saves their best work for the album's second half. The Mazzy Star-like "Coming Down" showcases Dee's amazing vocals while the band provides a gorgeous and spacious backdrop. The record closes out with three back to back tracks that clearly center around the death of Dee Dee's mother. "Wasted Away" is an urgent garage-tinged number that finds Dee chasing her mother in dreams as she fades in real life. "Teardrops On My Pillow" follows, and may be the best track on the record. It begins as urgent as "Wasted Away" as Dee details her anguished emotions, but then the track suddenly comes to a halt and a simple guitar and drum back her as she sings "all that's left is teardrops on my pillow." Lyrically it's an incredibly sad number, but Dee Dee's voice is as strong and determined as ever and one cannot help but be moved by how powerful she sounds in the face of such personal tragedy. "Hold Your Hand" closes the record with a wearier sounding Dee as she sings "I wish it wasn't true, but there's nothing l can do, except hold your hand until the very end." Musically, the track sounds like a 60's girl-group love song, which is fitting given the great love between child and parent evident throughout "Only In Dreams." The track ends suddenly with a simple drum beat, leaving the listener alone in a sea of devastating emotions. It's not exactly what you would expect from what is basically a pop album, but this isn't your average pop record, even by indie rock standards. This is heartfelt and powerful stuff that will bring tears to your eyes if you let it, even as you are humming the songs' addictive melodies and tapping out their beats.

"Bedroom Eyes"

"Coming Down"

REAL ESTATE - Days (Domino)

2011-10-26T12:40:00.001-07:00

Toward the end of 2009 Real Estate shuffled onto the indie rock scene with their effortlessly brilliant self-titled Lp. Despite its mid-November release and lack of deafening hype, the album managed to work its way into more than a few year-end lists. Following in the vein of Pavement at their most lackadaisical the record made for perfect lazy day music to be enjoyed alone or with friends, at home or on the lake, in the dead of winter or in the full blaze of summer. It was the ideal soundtrack for those moments when life was about living and nothing more. The band followed up their debut with a whole lot of touring. Over the past 18 months, I personally ended up seeing them on four separate occasions, and while always a great live band, each subsequent show found them sounding tighter and bigger than the one before. I mention this because all of that touring seems to be partially responsible for the larger and more expansive sound of "Days," the band's much anticipated sophomore album.

While some bands expand their sound by piling on more instrumentation or experimenting with song structure, Real Estate stick to the same basic template as their previous record. This time around, though, their performance is more precise and layered making for a grander sounding record than their relatively lo-fi debut. Whereas previously the band drew comparisons to early R.E.M., the point of reference here is the band that influenced Athens' finest to begin with - The Byrds. Choruses hum with layered harmonies, and guitars shimmer and swell much like the forefathers of jangle rock at the height of their power. It is surely no coincidence that "Days" contains a song called "Younger Than Yesterday," the same title of The Byrds classic fourth album. Also no real coincidence that the hazy dark track recalls everyone from The Byrds to fellow travelers Buffalo Springfield and Neil Young. The net result of this development is that there is a timelessness to these tracks that is sorely lacking from most modern artists' work. There is no doubt that "Days" will sound as spectacular decades from now as it does today.

Another variation in the band's approach this time out is that while everything felt so relaxed and carefree on their debut, here there is a world wariness that seeps into many of the record's tracks. Songs like "Green Aisles" and "Out Of Tune" bare the stamp of resignation, and more than just a little melancholy around the edges of each track. The songs' initial laid-back vibe is deceptive, as closer listens reveals something sounding more like the kind of exhaustion that sets in after life has had its way with you. Of course, some songs maintain their buoyancy against the rising tide of discontent. Tracks like "Easy" and "It's Real" bounce along like the Feelies playing a late-80s house party.

Two of the most interesting songs on the album, "Municipality" and "Three Blocks," find the group pushing themselves in a slightly different direction. "Municipality" is a syncopated rock song (or at least as much rock as Real Estate is capable of) that expresses a longing for an idealized utopia of new houses with well-maintained gardens and freshly-cut lawns where lovers share their lives together. When lead singer Martin Courtney says "that's not anything like my reality," it cuts to the core even as Matthew Mondanile's hypnotic guitar playing soothes. This dichotomy between contentment and sadness runs throughout the album, making for one of the most intriguing musical balancing acts I've heard in some time. "Three Blocks" maintains that tension between light and dark. While the track almost sounds like a romantic waltz, the lyrics reveal something more existential and ponderous: "All those people all around me, were they strangers or was it me, figure out what I want to be."

With "Days," Real Estate have met and exceeded the expectations facing them in the wake of their perfect debut record. Granted there are a couple of extraneous tracks here, like the instrumental "Kinder Blumen," which adds nothing to the band's catalog, but when all is said and done, it is easy to overlook such minor missteps given the strength of the rest of the record. What is most compelling about this album is that even during its most relaxed moments, there is a restless and discontented heart that beats throughout. Given the growth already apparent here, I can't wait to hear what the band does with that restlessness next time out. For now though, I'm more than happy than to lose myself in the sun and rain of "Days."

"Green Aisles" live

"It's Real" live

"Out of Tune" live

6(66) METAL ALBUMS JUST IN TIME FOR HELLOWEEN

2011-10-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I've had serious writer's block for the past two weeks. My day job has sucked the life out of me and yet great albums have continued to be released. What follows is a summation of some of those albums that fall into the metal category. If you like anything hard, I promise there is something among this list that will be your next new favorite album. These are all perfect records for the month that is Rocktober.

#1 MASTODON - The Hunter (Reprise)

2011-10-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

As if my writer's block wasn't enough, I find myself struggling with what more there is to say about Mastodon? They are one of the few metal bands that enjoy both critical and popular success, and who are long enough in the game that you should know what to expect from these guys. Yet, "The Hunter" finds the band switching gears and moving away from the complex concept albums they are known for. Instead, the record is a collection of stand-alone songs that run the metal and hard rock gamut. The end result is easily the band's most accessible album to date, but accessible does not mean "false metal."

Sounding at times like Rush meets Black Sabbath, at others like classic Queens of the Stone Age and Alice In Chains, these songs are easy to like. Yet, even at their most poppy, as on the Torche-like "Blasteroid," the band is as tightly coiled as ever. Throughout the record, the band proves that catchy is not a bad thing, even in metal. Lead single "Curl of the Burl" is full of incredible hooks, but maintains the band's signature beefy sound. For my money, it's one of the best songs of the year, and proof positive that metal doesn't have to be alienating to be powerful. Other songs, like "Stargasm," sound like a Mastodon album crammed into a single four-minute plus song, while still others find the band exploring new territory entirely, such as on ballads "The Hunter" and "The Sparrow" or the bizzaro Celtic/monster movie mashup that is "Creature Lives."

While not having a central concept to form songs around has freed the band to produce incredibly tight and varied epics in miniature throughout "The Hunter," there is certainly an argument to be made that the record lacks the consistency in feel and sound that was evident on the band's other records. In truth, there is a grab bag quality to the record, and you will inevitably like some song more than others. At the same time, the band never loses themselves in pointless interludes or overly technical bridges and segues. Everything here is played with an immediacy that was arguably lacking from some of the band's other work. In the end, it's Mastodon, and it's pretty damn great. There is plenty here to satisfy long-time fans, while new comers will find countless points of entry into the band's sound.

"Curl of the Burl"

#2 YOB - Atma (Profound Lore)

2011-10-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

I've always really wanted to love Yob. Ever since I became a doom freak upon hearing Sunn 0)))'s "White" records for the first time I thought that Buddhism (a philosophy that I am a horrible practitioner of) and the plodding slabs of heaviness roaring out of so many sunn amps went together like bread and butter. Listen to the Gyuto Monks of Tibet (or better yet, the Monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery) and listen to a top of the line doom album and you will find much in common. They both share a singularity of focus through repition meant to bring about the eventual cessation of the listener's ego as it dissolves into the sound field of the recording. Southern Lord described it best while promoting a Sunn 0))) live aktion in 2009: "It will be a return to...primal origins, an approach respecting a zen concept of shoshin." So when I discovered some years back that Yob drew a whole lot of influence from eastern philosophy I was ready to find a new favorite band. Unfortunately I was somewhat underwhelmed by what I heard from them. I liked it, but I wasn't blown away.

A couple of years ago, when I had all but forgotten about the band, I started hearing rumblings again about Yob and their superb 2009 release "The Great Cessation." I eventually gave them another chance and was floored by what I heard. Yob may have had some growing pains, but they have emerged as one of the tightest, heaviest and most effective bands in metal today. "Atma" is an absolute masterpiece that deserves to sit near the top of every "Best Of" list of 2011. Whether it is the razor-sharp riffage of the titular track or the progressive pummeling of "Adrift In The Ocean" the band are at the height of their power, sounding like a far more adventurous and disciplined Sleep.

"Atma"

#3 CRAFT - Void (Southern Lord)

2011-10-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

This masterwork of misanthropy almost was not. Craft nearly called it quits following the annihilation fest of 2005's "Fuck The Universe," but thankfully did not. Instead they replaced their original drummer, regrouped and spent a few years putting together "Void," their most challenging and "mature" (in a good way, I promise) album to date. Certainly the band's classic black metal roots underlie everything on the album, but they also continue to incorporate a great deal of experimentation, albeit experimentation dripping with filth and grime.

The band shifts comfortably between incredibly textured pieces like "The Ground Surrenders," stripped down tracks like the brutal "I Want To Commit Murder," and about everything in-between. It's sort of amazing how diverse this record is without ever losing its grim edge. Every time I have put this on, I've found something new to love. There are a lot of treasures to unpack here, making it one of the more rewarding records of the year. This one gets my highest recommendation and will hopefully prove to be the sleeper record of the year for many listeners. It's that good.

#4 FALSE - S/T (Gilead Media)

2011-10-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

I really don't know a whole hell of a lot about False. From what little I can gather, they are a female fronted band and the guys from Thou dig them a lot. Being that Skeletons & Candy worships Thou just a tinsy bit, I was more than willing to give this band a listen, and was more than a little thrilled to find myself blown away by what I heard.

This self-titled ep consists of two twelve-minute plus songs of some of the most twisted genre-bending metal that I've heard since Portal. False certainly channels in black metal, but also incorporates plenty of doom and math rock into the equation. As if to prove the band's versatility, the most powerful moment on the record is the post-rock interlude during the incredible "Sleepmaker" that sounds not dissimilar to some of Thou's "Summit" sessions. I suspect that there is much greatness to come from this band, and can't wait to hear a future full-length.

"Sleepmaker"

#5 ALL PIGS MUST DIE - God Is War (Southern Lord)

2011-10-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

With a name like All Pigs Must Die, and an album called "God Is War," what exactly do you expect this band to sound like? The answer, of course, is Slayer at their punkiest, which they do, and which they pull off spectacularly. This is hardcore thrash at it's absolute finest. Furious punk tempos are broken up by riffage ranging from lightening fast to brutal and deliberate, as lead singer Kevin Baker screams out lyrics like "kill them all" and "all will burn."

What sets APMD apart from the slew of crust/hardcore bands that Southern Lord have been emphasizing lately is that these guys not only have better chops, they also have a sense of songcraft that makes for a listen that is more compelling than those records you put on simply because you need something to get aggro with. Evan as the band continues to pummel, there are so many mind-blowing shifts in dynamics here and memorable razor-sharp riffs that this feels like something of a watershed album. I could see this becoming the "Reign In Blood" of the hardcore set, and frankly they need it. Hardcore has never been my favorite of the extreme metal genres, but All Pigs Must Die makes it more compelling than it has ever been. I couldn't recommend this album more highly.

"Third World Genocide" live

#6 BLACK COBRA - Invernal (Southern Lord)

2011-10-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Black Cobra's "Invernal" is another brutal full-throttle attack from Southern Lord. As a duo that sounds beefier and heavier than most bands twice their size, Black Cobra are known for mixing breakneck metal with sludge to powerful effect. "Invernal" is the band's fourth album overall, and second for SL, following in the wake of 2009's excellent "Chronomega." The record finds drummer Rafa Martinez and guitarist Jason Landrian ratcheting things up even further, sounding more relentless than ever, which I didn't think possible. Imagine that you are being pursued by every single sentient being on earth, and they will not stop until you are dead. This is the soundtrack to that nightmarish death race.

While onslaught really is what this band does best, when they throw in a little diversity it only adds to the overall effect. Songs like "Crimson Blade" and "Corrosion Fields" stand out as a result of stylistic and tempo shifts. At the same time, even the most monolithic of tracks are full of endless twists and turns to keep listeners hooked for some time. This was one of the most anticipated releases of the year for me personally, and I can easily say that it has more than exceeded my expectations. I'll be dissecting "Invernal" in the weeks and months to come with a large satisfied grin on my face.

"Avalanche"

WILCO - The Whole Love (dBpm)

2011-10-03T12:48:00.001-07:00

Sad fact: I haven't given a shit about anything Wilco has done in years. Given the slew of mediocre to boring releases in the wake of the masterful "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," I can't really be blamed for my apathy. After all, it is not my fault that one of the greatest bands in the world went from all killer to all filler overnight. I spent more than a few moments in time over the years wondering what went wrong. Was the real talent in the band actually Jay Bennett? Was a sober Jeff Tweedy a lame Jeff Tweedy? After a while, I really just didn't give a damn. There were plenty of bands out there making great music to occupy my time. The tragedy, though, was that none of those bands sounded like Wilco at their height. When Wilco was at the top of their game, no one, other than maybe Radiohead, could touch them. Their ability to mix experimentalism with pop was astonishing on a level that approached the Beatles, and the aforementioned Radiohead. So when early positive reviews of the band's latest work "The Whole Love" began to surface, I was hopeful, if more than a little skeptical; after all, "Sky Blue Sky" and "Wilco (the Album)" all received generally positive reviews initially, reviews that arguably were padded by the goodwill Wilco had garnered over the years. Fortunately this time out, those initial reviews were spot on, maybe even a little too conservative in their praise, or maybe it's that the sound of Wilco caring about music again is so damn exciting that I can't really temper my own praise. Regardless, I love this record.

Opener "Art of Almost" starts the album out strong with pulsating electronics, a skittish Radiohead-like bass and beat, and anxious strings that swell at just the right moment. It's a massive, almost unwieldy, number that would sound like slop in a lesser band's hands, but Wilco control this beast all the way up until the end when they let loose with a torrent of blistering guitar that rocks harder than anything their English counterpart has done in years. If there is one drawback to "The Whole Love," it is that there aren't any other songs quite like "Art of Almost" on the album. At the same time what follows is the band's most consistent, catchy and enjoyable record in years.

For the most part, the record channels in catchy pop songs with experimental fringe like lead single "I Might," which is easily the band's most memorable song since "War On War" and "Heavy Metal Drummer." Ultimately, if there is a record most like "The Whole Love" in Wilco's back catalog it is the psychedelic pop candy of "Summerteeth," yet rather than sound like a Brian Wilson production, this sounds like Wilco and Wilco only. One of the record's best tracks, "Born Alone," is the kind of song that only this band could make. The song starts off like a Jayhawks' song, and then explodes into the sky with a shimmering repetitive guitar motif and galloping drums. From there it only grows bigger and better like a fireworks display. It's the mixture of the familiar with the foreign, in this case americana with krautrock, that makes the song so much like Wilco at their best, and also because it is Wilco at their best.

There are lots of little treats scattered throughout the record as well, including "Black Moon," which sounds suspiciously like Tweedy's Uncle Tupelo classic "Black Eye." I guess if you are going to cannibalise your own music, you might as well cannibalise one of your finest moments. It's a welcome song that will strike the mystic chords of memory in more than a few listeners. "Sunloathe" is a nice little slice of the kind of psych-futurism that characterized the Flaming Lips, Radiohead (once again), and Wilco back in the day and is another welcome diversion. The Van Dyke Parks influenced "Capital City" is also a distinctive highlight. Really there isn't a bad song on this record. There is no filler here. Each song has its charm and each finds the band fully awake and engaged.

The record closes with the beautiful and delicate "One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)." As an aside, I couldn't help but think of Badly Drawn Boy at his best when I first heard the track. It's a pitch perfect acoustic shuffle complete with chimes, piano and powerful, but understated, emotion. At over twelve minutes in length, it's the album's longest track, yet it casts such a spell that it leaves you wanting more. The same could be said for the whole record.

If you had told me a month ago that I would fall in love with the new Wilco record, I would have laughed in your face and told you to fuck off. Partly because deep down I wanted that to be true, but believed it no longer possible. Thankfully "The Whole Love" is a prima facie example of why F. Scott Fitzgerald was full of shit when he said "there are no second acts in American lives." This is the sound of Wilco no longer going through the motions. Instead, they are making music worthy of their hallowed name for the first time in years. "The Whole Love" easily gets my highest recommendation possible.

"Art Of Almost"

"I Might"

"Black Moon"

THREE ALBUMS THAT I REALLY DON'T LIKE, BUT YOU MAY LOVE

2011-09-19T18:35:00.001-07:00

Recently I've been more of a curmudgeon than not when it comes to new releases that aren't either metal or experimental. I am willing to acknowledge that this may be primarily due to a character flaw within myself before I blame it on indie musicians putting out subpar material this year. So rather than write three horrible reviews of the following albums, I thought I would spew out my bile in short order and leave it up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not I am suffering from an aneurysm or if this music really does suck as much as I think it does. Admittedly, each of these reviews puts me on the wrong side of the majority of critics who seem to be fawning over each of these albums, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Of course, I could actually be the voice of reason, which would not bode well for anyone.

#1 GIRLS - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther)

2011-09-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

If there is an indie rock album that was tailor-made for me this year, this was probably it. I have been hemming and hawing about the sorry state of indie "rock" this year and the lack thereof actual rock for the past couple of years, so one would think that a guitar driven album that covers the waterfront of styles would be right up my ally. Unfortunately, "Father, Son, Holy Ghost" leaves me feeling cold. Nearly everyone whose musical tastes I respect told me that no matter how I felt about their earlier material (in case you were wondering, I hated it) I would love this. Well, I don't. I still respect my friends' musical tastes, but I just can't hang with Girls. The same tired Elvis Costello/Britpop ripoff pyramid scheme that characterized earlier releases is at play here, and in the end I would rather just listen to the first three Elvis Costello albums or the Kinks. At the same time, I have to give major props to this band for playing rock-n-roll, no matter how unoriginal it sounds. In these dark days of synthpop and chillwave, at least Girls know how to play guitars and play them rather well.

I guess in the end my beef with Girls is that they are a tepid version of what I want to hear more than anything else. I'm learning to respect them, at the same time I'm never going to throw this on the stereo Friday night and rock out to it, because there are about a thousand better albums to actually rock out to on a Friday night. It really isn't a bad album, it just doesn't...well, it just doesn't. For what it is worth, apparently everyone but me loves this record and you probably will too, and in the end I recommend this about a hundred times more than the next two entries on this list.

"Vomit"

#2 BALAM ACAB - Wander/Wonder (Tri Angle)

2011-09-19T18:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Balam Acab, I "wonder" why you "wandered" away from your rather haunting and beautiful take on witch-house and turned in this far too precious little record that sounds like Enya mixed with Passion Pit. Seriously, what the fuck happened here? Last year's mournful "See Birds" ep was one of 2010's best kept secrets. To say that I was more than a little excited for Balam Acab's debut album is an understatement. To say that I am little more than disappointed in this new age post-dubstep tripe is an even bigger understatement. Yet, just as with The Girls new record, I seem to be in the minority of critics who are crying foul on this one, but on this I'm 100% right and they are 100% bandwagon jumping wrong.

If you are a fragile person who likes fragile music, or a critic attempting to be on the right side of what you think will be the next hip album, then you are going to love the shit out of this. Everyone else need not apply. This is music for people who think the most delicate song by Sigur Ros sounds a little too much like Sunn 0))) and needs something prettier. I better stop writing now before I get really mean.

"Oh Why"

#3 NEON INDIAN - Era Extrana (Static Tongues/Mom + Pop)

2011-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

I've saved the best/worst for last. It is no secret that I hate Neon Indian. I've taken about every chance I can to mock and taunt his work while constantly citing it as an example of everything that is wrong with music these days, couple that with my increasing disdain for chillwave, and it is a wonder that I ever broke the seal on this cd. Yet, in the interest of fairness and because he recorded an ep with the Flaming Lips earlier this year that didn't offend me, I thought I would give him another try. Amazingly I made it to track nine before I was finally faced with the choice of ripping my hair out or hitting the eject button, so that's something (I chose the eject button).

Basically this is an archetypal chillwave record through and through that in it's best moments sounds like an Air knockoff and in it's worst moments sounds like Neon Indian. If you like synthpop or chillwave, you will likely love this record, and who am I to judge your shitty tastes. For what it is worth, I would rather hear this record ten times over than I would sit through "Psychic Chasms" a single time more.

"Polish Girl"

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - Celestial Lineage (Southern Lord)

2011-09-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

There is something intimidating about reviewing the new Wolves in the Throne Room record. For one, "Celestial Lineage" is the final cumulative installment in the band's trilogy that started with the much loved "Two Hunters" and continued with the brutal but anthematic "Black Cascade." That fact alone is not what makes approaching the album so daunting, but doing justice to the unique world that WITTR have created over the course of these records is no small task. Part of that is because in many ways this is religious music, as much as it is an exceptional black metal release. For those who don't know already, WITTR live on an organic farm outside of Olympia, Washington where they focus on sustainable growing practices informed to some degree by pagan lore. Their interest in ecology and nature-based spirituality is well documented, and their music is a reflection of both. Their lyrics have focused on pagan primitivism, humankind's connection to nature and man's destruction of himself in losing that connection. While the trilogy's first two records focused on the feral naturalistic side of things, "Celestial Lineage" is a more stately vision of the nature-based spirituality that has always been present in the band's work as it evolves into something more ritualized and refined. In that context the band also explores the contradiction between the order of religion and the chaos of nature, and by extension the tension between civilization and primalism, making for a record that alternates between ethereal beauty and grim darkness. There is really no way I can do justice to everything that is going on throughout "Celestial Lineage," it is an epic record that marks the end of an even grander trilogy, and one that could very well act as holy art for a new world beyond our crumbling one. In fact, you would do better to just read Amy Miller's excellent interview with drummer Aaron Weaver and then go lose yourself in the band's trilogy than read anything I have to say about this record. Yet, I can't help myself but to say something to try and capture that which is ultimately inexplicable, which is the essence of this great work.

Unlike the more straightforward "Black Cascade," "Celestial Lineage" sees the return of heralded classical vocalist Jessika Kenney. Her ethereal voice introduces the record, giving it the air of religious ceremony before the band breaks loose with the grandiose atmospheric black metal that has become their trademark. Yet, there is something more massive in the band's sound and approach here than anything they have done before, which is really saying something for a band who has never sounded anything less than epic. Part of that is due to the marrying of the supernal with the grimness of the cold earth and forest simultaneously. While there are distinct moments of beauty and ugliness present on the record, much of it is spent blending the two, as if to reflect the contradictions, and possible dissolution of tensions, between the rawness of nature and the organization of society and ceremony. For instance, the second-half of opener "Thuja Magus Imperium" sounds a bit like Popol Vuh if they were a black metal band. This seamless blending of disparate tensions is found even more so on "Subterranean Initiation" and "Astral Blood," arguably the band's two most cumulative pieces, running the gamut from Xasthur-like blackened atmospherics to muscular metal to transcendental cascades of sound, all often played out simultaneously. One cannot help but be enraptured by the profound and brilliant execution of the band's ideas throughout "Celestial Lineage," but these tracks in particular are the perfect distillation of everything WITTR has been working toward.

Elsewhere the band focuses on ambient interludes, such as "Permanent Changes in Consciousness" and "Rainbow Illness," the former which sounds like metal being sharpened for a ritual and calls to mind the naturalistic experimentalism of the Bay Area's Thuja, while the later sounds like a kosmische interpretation of technology in decline. Then there is "Woodland Cathedral," a doomy and stately vehicle for Kenney's voice. There is an inescapable religious feel to the piece, making for WITTR's most refined production to date.

The record ends with "Prayer of Transformation," a piece that finds the band branching out in new directions and mining a sound that is more majestic than grim. There is both a victorious and elegiac quality to the number, as well as a overwhelming sense of finality. It is a fitting end not only for the record, but the trilogy as a whole. It is the sound of culmination and transformation, containing within it the sadness of death and the joy of rebirth. There has been much speculation as to whether this is not only the final album in the trilogy, but the final album by Wolves In The Throne Room entirely. From what I have read that does not appear to be the case. Instead it seems that the band will be moving on from black metal to create something new. Intentional or not, "Prayer of Transformation" seems like the perfect bridge toward a new sound for the band, and one that holds much promise. Whether it is or not, it is a perfect ending for one of modern music's most auspicious body of work.

"Thuja Magus Imperium"

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS - Mirror Traffic

2011-09-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

PRURIENT - Bermuda Drain (Hydra Head)

2011-08-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Prurient, a/k/a Dominick Fernow, has been one of the leading noise artists of the past ten years. While abrasive as any noise artist, his music has been some of the genre's most compelling. An overview of his discography is daunting and unwieldy, featuring multiple releases throughout the aughts. Interestingly, he has been relatively silent for the past two years following a trio of releases of various length and format in 2009. During that time Fernow became a member of Cold Cave, whose synthpop is a thousand times lighter and more accessible than anything Fernow has produced on his own, no matter how indebted to darkwave and goth the band happens to be. When it was announced that Fernow would be releasing his first full-length album as Prurient since working with Cold Cave on the experimental metal stalwart Hydra Head, by far the largest label to release a Prurient record, I was more than just a little intrigued. Would the record be as harsh as previous works or would it embrace the dark synthpop he has had a hand in creating over the past couple of years? The answer, it turns out, is a little from column a, a little from column b, and a lot from somewhere else entirely.

I'm going to toss out a lazy one-sentence review of this up front: Imagine Goblin collaborating with Skinny Puppy and you will have an idea what "Bermuda Drain" sounds like. At the same time, there is an immense amount of variety here, making that description more than a little unfair. Komische, electronica, noise, ambient, post-rock, doom and industrial are just a few of the genres that echo throughout this record, making for a wholly unique listen that defies categorized. Consisting of nine songs that average around four minutes in length and containing vocals throughout, I guess you could call this Prurient's most accessible record to date, but accessible is an extremely relative word here. It is accessible in the way early industrial Ministry was compared to Throbbing Gristle, but not much more. This is still incredibly harrowing music, made even more so by a lyric sheet that could double as the journal of a serial killer (choice lyric: "If I could, I would take a tree branch and ram it inside of you, but it's already been done"). In short, this is not for the weak of heart, or anyone looking for a synthpop dance album ala Cold Cave, even if a couple of tracks could fool the casual listener into thinking so. Instead it is a record that reeks of leather, angular haircuts, combat boots and late-80s Wax Trax, but it is also all way better than any of that.

Initially I was put off by the more "accessible" approach of "Bermuda Drain," compared to, say, "Pleasure Ground," one of Fernow's greatest noise statements, or even the more varied, but no less harsh "Cocaine Death," but after repeated listens I've come to realize that the record's diversity allows for even greater depth than in the past. It would be absurd to try to capture into words what is going on throughout this album, but it is easy to say that this is one of the most rewarding records that I have heard all year. Over the last few weeks, I have found myself listening/processing it at least twice a day, and usually more. I've found that as bleak as it is, there is a great and sad beauty hidden in-between the psychotic and brutal, and often all are present at the same time. The album begins with a scream and ends with stately melancholia, demarcating a work that is as fragile as it is menacing.

A sticker on the front of the record recommends that one listen to "Bermuda Drain" while doing a little nighttime driving through tunnels in Europe. There is certainly a connection between that image and the more refined approach that Prurient takes here. The record's cold electronic feel matches the steely precision of a European car as it hums through a sterile artificially-lite roadway. At the same time there is a naturalistic pagan primalism that throbs at the heart of this album. Titles like "Palm Tree Corpse" and "Sugar Cane Chapel" call to mind some twisted nature cult ala "The Wicker Man." Further, it is Fernow's violent and lustful lyrics that bespeak of base emotions which have existed since before our forefather's began to walk upright. The expression of such deep human emotions transmitted so effectively through the cold harshness of the machine are what make Prurient, and "Bermuda Drain" so unique.

"A Meal Can Be Made"

"Palm Tree Corpse"

AUTRE NE VEUT - The Body (Hippos In Tanks)

2011-08-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Autre Ne Veut came out of nowhere last year with a debut record that was so surprisingly great that it managed to scale its way into my top 10 list for 2011, despite a lack of any real hype or coverage. The first time I listened to that record, it caught me off guard to such a degree that I nearly wrecked my car as a result of being startled with joy. While describing it I wrote: "It's a quasi brand of chillwave that incorporates heavy doses of R&B as well as off kilter electronica into heartfelt pop songs. As a result Autre Ne Veut have crafted an original sound that is as challenging as it is comforting. It's soul soothing, yet jarring at the same time. The familiarity locked within the complexity of the music is what makes this immediately lovable, while at the same time rewarding repeated in-depth immersions into this record. It also sounds like it might have been made by Unicorns. Yes, it is that magical." I am almost positive now that this is the music of Unicorns, especially since a year later the sentient being responsible for Autre Ne Veut has yet to unveil his true identity, meaning, of course, he must be a Unicorn. What this magical Unicorn has done, though, is produce yet another superb collection of songs with "The Body."

Only an EP, "The Body" nevertheless sounds more massive than ANV's debut. The same template of experimental R&B-influenced pop runs throughout this record, but it all sounds stadium-sized. It's bigger, louder and grander than before and dizzyingly great. Opener "Sweetheart" should be bouncing off the walls of a sold-out auditorium while being sung by an 80s R&B legend to a sea of lit Bic lighters. "Not the One" follows and sounds like a futuristic chorus teetering at the brink of sanity. Guest vocalist She Wolf repeats the same refrain over and over while ANV provides a backdrop of chilly synths and beats that wouldn't be out of place on the "Blade Runner" soundtrack. The darker sound of "Not the One" informs the beginning of "Just Return," one of the record's best tracks. The number vacillates between moments of atrophy and inertia, and inspired struggle against such decay. Punctuated by the lyrics "now I wanna be light, now I wanna be strong," the piece acts as a rallying cry just before "Your Clothes" closes out things on a pounding up note. When it is all over, you are going to want more. At the same time, there is a lot of meat here to chew on while awaiting ANV's sophomore LP.

Recently I've been thinking of 2011 as the year of the EP, with superb smaller releases from Barn Own, Locrian, Big Business and How To Dress Well all outshining most artists' full-length efforts. Add Autre Ne Veut to that list, because "The Body" proves that sometimes thirteen minutes of spectacular music is more compelling than forty-five minutes of just decent music.

"Just Return"

WASHED OUT - Within and Without (Sub Pop)

2011-08-10T21:35:00.001-07:00

I am increasingly conflicted about the proposition of chillwave as a genre. Of course, if you ask most chillwave artists whether or not such a genre exists, they will deny it, the same way a hipster will deny being a hipster, but it does exist and it has increasingly come to define our musical moment in time, and that is what I find so troubling. When I first heard Animal Collective, arguably the precursor for the genre, I was admittedly smitten by their nostalgic infantilism. It was a pleasant experience to listen to music that somehow triggered the idealized carefree days of a middle-class childhood, where one's biggest concerns (depending on your sex) were securing as many Star Wars/Strawberry Shortcake figures as possible, and watching Saturday morning cartoons. It wasn’t necessarily Animal Collective’s music that evoked such nostalgia, but their spontaneous joie de vivre, reflected in their ecstatic, but innocent, compositions. It wasn’t until more recently that chillwave, as we have come to know it, began evoking similar nostalgia by recycling the sounds of the 80s, albeit in much more modern, ironic and knowing way. Whereas Animal Collective evoked nostalgia by simply being childlike, chillwave evokes it by manipulating the listener with a regurgitation of lost and half-forgotten sounds from their childhood.

Admittedly, when I first heard Toro Y Moi and Washed Out, their plundering of the past sounded as fresh and exciting as youth itself. There is an undeniable romanticism to their music that even a jaded old cynic like myself is not impervious to. It isn't so much the music in isolation that has me questioning the genre, but both the context out of which it has arisen and the context of our moment in time in which we are receiving it. In the past my doubts and concerns melted away once the needle hit the record and I lost myself in the blissed-out sounds emitting from my speakers as a simple, and much needed, escape. Increasingly though, as chillwave becomes less of a novelty, and more of a permanent fixture, I find myself questioning, not just its viability, but its very appropriateness in what are horrifically unchill times. Now is most definitely not the time for us to escape into an idealized version of our childhoods. What troubles me even more about this is that the genre's sound is built on the faded memory of some of the most noxious music of the very same noxious decade that arguably planted the seeds of our current discontent. It is, after all, the saccharine sounds of the Reagan 80s that chillwave is most indebted to. Considering that the synthpop that informs bands like Washed Out was indicative of the shallow materialism that defined that era, and of which punk and the burgeoning American indie rock scene railed against so vehemently, chillwave is an increasingly hard pill to swallow. This is especially true now that Ronald Reagan’s anti-government, anti-tax rhetoric, which helped define the 80s, has come to fruition in the form of oppressive austerity programs the world over, causing incalculable amounts of suffering, including, now, here at home. There is a sense I get while listening to chillwave that I am listening to Nero fiddle as Rome burns. In other words, I just don’t feel that now is the time to really be chill about anything, and I particularly don’t feel like being chill to what is basically an idealized soundtrack of the 80s, the decade where everything began to fall apart. Having said all of that; after the first few bars of Washed Out’s debut album “Within and Without” begin to sink in, I cannot help but to capitulate.

Washed Out, a/k/a Ernest Greene, crafted the finest statement of chillwave to date with his outstanding ep “Life of Leisure” in 2009. A record born out of post-graduate isolation, it captured the halcyon days of summer that was read by some music writers, self included, as a reaction and escape from the dead-end realities facing today's twenty-somethings, while also containing just enough hope for a better tomorrow promised by the Presidential election the year prior. This time out, though, things look considerably worse for the country, but considerably better for Mr. Greene in the wake of the overwhelmingly positive reception for the seventeen minute plus statement that was "Leisure." As a result, "Within And Without" is one of the most anticipated albums of 2011, and the name Washed Out carries with it a certain recognition and esteem that not many artists get to enjoy. This is all a double-edged sword, of course, since Greene went from producing a few songs for what was initially a limited-edition record with zero expectations to having to follow up one the most universally loved releases of the past few years. There was also the concern, in this writer's mind at least, that he would not find inspiration beyond the humble circumstances that led him to tap into that moment in time, now past, which made "Leisure" so successful. The result, ultimately, is that he does and he doesn't.

"Within and Without" starts off where "Leisure" left off with "Eyes Be Closed," a song that sounds like it could easily fit into the track listing of the latter. It's a lazy beginning that regurgitates old ideas and themes. One can't really fault Greene, through, since this is exactly the type of song that we all went nuts for two years ago. It's an offering of the familiar before he expands and diversifies his sound throughout the rest of the album. The good news is that the majority of the new directions here work incredibly well, the bad news is that Greene loses something in translation with a full length release that has just enough moments of filler that I find myself questioning the whole chillwave genre for all of the reasons already stated.

Songs like "Amor Fati" and "Soft" start off strong, but after droning on between four to six minutes in length without much dynamic variation they devolve into generic synth-pop tracks, leading the listener to lose interest, and feel kind of guilty for wasting precious time with what is basically fluff. Thankfully, Greene hits his stride with the captivating "Far Away," a darker and more substantive piece than anything he has produced before. Cellos provide the brooding backbone of the track, which is already dour enough thanks to a downtempo bass and keys. It's very much Washed Out, but a more mature sounding Washed Out. As the album progresses the sound becomes more melancholic than before. The end result resembles a longed for half-remembered memory of summer, rather than the soundtrack of summer itself.

"Before" follows and sounds like a chillwave version of shoegaze, not a genre particularly known for its buoyancy, while "You and I" sounds very much like the end of a relationship, or at least the very hard work it takes to keep one going. Then there are my two personal favorite tracks on the record: "Within and Without" and "Dedication." Both are Greene at his most minimalistic, while still maintaining that Washed Out sheen. Each song speak of longing, striving and regret, and neither are going to soundtrack your summer deck party/bbq, but could do well during those early morning hours after.

I would like to think that Greene wrote the first part of this record two years ago, and the latter half in the subsequent space and time. The first half sounds like cast aways from "Life of Leisure," while the second half sounds like the work of an artist who has grown to be just as thoughtful as he sounded two years ago, but for a very different moment in time. If I am right about that than there is much hope for Washed Out, and "Within and Without" is the pathway to something grander and greater. As for chillwave; in some ways this record, as well as Toro Y Moi's latest offering, "Underneath The Pine," drives a stake through the heart of the very genre that Green and Toro's Chaz Bundick perfected, by moving away from the dream of an endless summer vacation toward the darker realities of relationships and life. That is an important step forward for both artists, because you simply cannot maintain your innocence forever without becoming delusional, particularly in the very cold times we are living in that are anything but chill.

"Far Away"

"Within and Without"

LOCRIAN - Dort Ist Der Weg/Frozen in Ash (Flingco Sound)

2011-08-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

Attempting to cover Popol Vuh is a particularly treacherous venture. To begin with you are trespassing on hallowed ground. There is simply not much you can do to improve on Popol Vuh at their best. They are legends for a reason. Furthermore, their brand of experimental krautrock doesn't exactly reduce itself to amped-up easy covers of their songs. No one gains anything from knocking out a Popul Vuh cover live or otherwise. Yet, despite all odds, Locrian not only covers Popol Vuh's "Dort Ist Der Weg" successfully, they knock it way the hell out of the ballpark. Adding more than a touch of beefed-up sonics, Locrian maintains the spaciousness of Popol Vuh's original, but turn in a heavier and darker take on the piece. Admittedly, the band sounds less like Locrian, and more like a mixture of Slint and Amon Düül II initially, but by the end of the piece, once the dissonance and screeches take over, you'll remember that you are listening to a Locrian recording, and a very fine one at that. If anything it calls to mind the psychedelic blues metal of fellow traveller Horseback, who the band recently collaborated with on the spectacular "New Dominions" LP.

Side two is a Locrian original and one of their finest at that. "Frozen in Ash" is a blasted drone that owes far more to Xasthur than krautrock. Built on a guitar progression that calls to mind classic Norwegian black metal, the piece gets nastier and noisier as it plays out before dissolving into a brooding apocalyptic folk coda of piano and acoustic guitar before drummer Steven Hess shuts it all down with a galloping snare.

Taken as a whole this is Locrian at their most epic, and it is hard to believe that a simple 7" can contain such a massive statement in sound. Although combined these tracks make up a mere twelve minutes and thirty-five seconds, this feels like a proper album, if only because of the emotional and sonic ground covered. Few, if any, bands could achieve what Locrian have achieved here. Successful Popol Vuh cover aside, the real accomplishment is a recording that contains more variety and depth in less than a quarter hour than most bands can produce in an entire career. Absolute highest recommendation possible.

Locrian "Dort ist der Weg/ Frozen in Ash 7" single" by flingco

20 RECORDS YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW

2011-07-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

It seems that every other music site in the blogopshere has been rolling out their mid-year Best of 2011 over the past couple of weeks. I understand the urge to engage in some pre-playoffs speculation, at the same time I feel like it is just a little too early in the year to start declaring "Best Ofs" (even if I am guilty of the same sin in individual reviews). Instead I'd like to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on some albums that deserve more attention than I have been able to give them this year. Not that you likely care, but I have a full-time professional job, I have a family that more than deserves my attention, and unfortunately this year I have suffered two serious debilitating illnesses, so I haven't been able to give nearly as much attention to this blog or my reviews as I have wished. Call this a cop out, but I'm going to take this mid-year opportunity to showcase 20 albums that deserve glowing full-length reviews that I haven't been able to give them, and that you should totally be listening to right now, rather than ranking my best-ofs so far. I am listing these in no particular order, so please don't ascribe meaning to the numbers that appear next to them. #1 is no better than #20. They are all awesome and should be burning up your turntable stat.

#1 WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS/GOG - Malpais (Utech)

2011-07-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

William Fowler Collins and Gog, a/k/a Michael Bjella, have a couple of things in common; both live in the Southwest, America's desolate outskirt (Collins in New Mexico and Bjella in Arizona), and both create incredibly powerful blacked soundscapes that reflect the harshness of the land that surrounds them. So it is little surprise that their first collaboration would consist of mesmerizing blasted drones to soundtrack the 360 degree horizon of the desert, where life and death are separated by the thinnest of lines. The album's title, "Malpais," refers to an eroded landmass in an arid environment that is simply uninhabitable, it is what is commonly referred to as "badlands." This is music born of that geography, and operates in much the same way as Thomas Köner's seminal early dark ambient works did. The difference being that Köner's work was inspired by the ice of the Arctic, and Collins and Bjella are inspired by the more violent holocaust of the desert, making for a much harsher take on dark ambient, but one as equally epic.

#2 DEMONAZ - March Of The Norse (Nuclear Blast)

2011-07-29T09:46:00.001-07:00

Demonaz is more metal than most - especially you. He was once the mind-boggling guitarist of one of the mightiest Norwegian black metal bands ever; Immortal. The thing is that he played so hard and so fast that he developed tendinitis. As a result he had to quit as the band's lead guitarist, but because he was so awesome, Abbath, (pretty much the greatest of the NBM personalities that didn't kill anyone) declared (because that is what Abbath does; he declares) that Demonaz was still a member of Immortal and would write the lyrics to all of their songs and continue to tour with them as a frost bitten road bro just for inspiration because he was that fucking cool and integral to the continued existence of Immortal (loyalty is a Viking value, after all). Of course Abbath was dead on right, and now Demonaz a/k/a Harald Nævdal has produced his first record outside of Immortal, and it is beyond reproach. Imagine Immortal playing with classic Iron Maiden and you might have an idea of how totally metal and totally great this record is. If you like metal, you will love this record. It is a no frills, non-ironic, traditional slab of the genre; the kind of which we do not hear often enough. It is also quickly worming its way up into my "best of" list for the year. Devil horns up.

#3 MELLOWHYPE - Blackendwhite (Fat Possum)

2011-07-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

Tyler, the Creator made more than a splash this year as the first member of OFWGKTA to release an album that wasn't available for free on the Odd Future website. I'm not about to stoke the fires of an ongoing controversy about that record, except to say that I still think that "Goblin" is the best album of this year regardless of the complaints against it. Instead I want to focus on Hodgy Beats and Left Brain's utterly enjoyable mash up of west-coast east-coast back-packer DIY hip hop that is "Blackendwhite." If you hated Tyler, fine, but this isn't Tyler, this is a less bleak and more diverse album than "Goblin," despite the lead single "64" which sounds like a "Goblin" outtake. I can promise you that even if you don't dig on Tyler's meta psychology, Mellowhype will provide you with one of the most enjoyably offensive quasi-gangster records since Wu-Tang at their height.

#4 MAMALEEK - Kurdaitcha (Enemies List)

2011-07-21T21:39:00.001-07:00

San Francisco's Mamaleek has been an enigma since their first underground kvlt classic "Fever Dream," which blew a few choice minds especially hard, mine included. Now the duo has returned with "Kurdaitcha," their second heaping of brilliant lo-fi bedroom black metal. Insanely beautiful slabs of experimental black metal comprise the monoliths of creativity that make up this utterly unique record. This sounds unlike anything before it, and likely anything after it, but to get in the general ballpark of descriptors I'm going to describe this as Jesu if Jesu were a lo-fi bedouin black metal act, which is pretty much my dream of the perfect music. Truth be told, Mamaleek is pretty close to that dream.

"My Body Rock Long Fever"

#5 LOCRIAN & HORSEBACK - New Dominions (Utech)

2011-07-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

"New Dominions" is not a split between Locrian and Horseback, but rather a full-on collaboration that features members of both acts playing together on the record's two hauntingly bleak tracks. Not surprisingly the record is exactly what one would hope for from a collaboration between two of today's best blackened experimental artists. "The Gift" is the kind of cavernous dark soundworld that Locrian crafted on last year's "The Crystal World," while "Our Epitaph" is a doom dirge number that hypnotizes the listener, even as it marches them into an abyss of decay and demise. The only drawback to this record is that it leaves the listener needing more. Two songs of this sort of grim melancholia are simply not enough. Here is to hoping for another collaboration between these guys again, and soon.

#6 JON MUELLER - Alphabet of Movements (Type)

2011-07-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

In 2010 percussionist extraordinaire Jon Mueller released "The Whole," which just happened to be the most criminally underappreciated record of last year. A masterpiece of percussion-based experimentalism, the record found Mueller exploring a wide array of tones and sounds, from the pensive to the expansively epic. If you missed out on that album, do yourself a huge favor and pick it up immediately. For his Type follow up Mueller has produced "Alphabet of Movements," a work consisting of two epic noise/drone pieces based solely on small gongs and a snare drum. As overtones and undertones begin to culminate from the repetitious playing of each instrument, Mueller constructs a sound greater than the sum of its parts. In the end a simple snare roll is turned into a buzzing cacophonous drone and the striking of gongs into a dizzying work that sounds like Steve Reich playing with Black Dice. Both pieces are a wonder to behold, making "Alphabet of Movements" a worthy successor to "The Whole."

Jon Mueller - Alphabet of Movements by _type

#7 SHABAZZ PALACES - Black Up (Sub Pop)

2011-07-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Shabazz Palaces is the amazing new project from Ishmael Butler, a/k/a Palaceer Lazaro, formerly of Digable Planets and Cherrywine. While there are slight, emphasis on slight, echos of both groups heard on "Black Up," this is a much darker, knottier affair. In fact, it does nothing to know where Lazaro came from, because Shabazz Palaces is one of the most original sounding hip hop acts to emerge in years. It is equally discordant and accessible, making for a heady mix of grooves and beats that is something far grander than standard backpacker fare. It's both claustrophobic and spacious, pulling industrial, IDM, psych, soul and jazz into it's gravitational pull. "Black Up" is not a record that you will entirely get on the first, or even the tenth, listen (although you'll love it regardless), but it is one that will continue to reward and has the potential to become a hip hop classic. Yes, it is that good. Expect this to be toward the top of many critics' "best of" lists at the end of the year.

"Swerve"

#8 JOHN MAUS - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (Ribbon)

2011-07-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

It's impossible not to invoke the name Ariel Pink when describing John Maus, and for good cause. Maus shares former collaborator Pink's fascination with lo-fi synth pop, but whereas Pink is concerned with cool detachment, Maus approach is just plain chilly. Like Cold Cave, Maus is steeped in the sound of 80s precursors to goth like Joy Division, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy. If there were ever an album to typify modern dark wave, this is it. Like Cold Cave, Maus knows how to move bodies as well as salve tortured souls, and like Cold Cave, it's more than just a little addictive. The album's strength is in the seemingly sincere delivery of ridiculously overwrought dance goth, making it one of the few successfully serious ironic records I've heard. Although who knows, maybe Maus really is this goth, and I'm the asshole for making fun of it, either way it's a record that can be enjoyed as both serious art or as a bit of a piss taking, neither of which are mutually exclusive.

Some live samples of Maus and his explanation of why I am wrong to think he is taking a piss...

#9 ICEAGE - New Brigade (What's Your Rupture?)

2011-07-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

#10 ZOMBI - Escape Velocity (Relapse Records)

2011-07-11T16:30:00.002-07:00

There have been a slew of electronic artists cashing in on 80's horror soundtrack mayhem recently. Umberto, Xander Harris and Gatekeeper are just a few of the synth driven artists currently re-soundtracking b-movie Zombie flicks and Italian gorefests. Well before Goblin and John Carpenter became the lodestone for so many young musicians, Zombi were dusting off their Dario Argento soundtracks and creating retro-horror soundscapes as the remnants of post-rock burnt down around them. At the time of their first recordings in the mid-aughts it was genuinely unique for a band to traffic in instrumental music that wasn't indebted to Godspeed You Black Emperor or Mogwai. It was even more aberrant for an instrumental band to rock synthesizers instead of guitars. Much has changed since then, now that a glut of retro synth acts have overrun our current musical landscape (although truth be told I am enjoying much of it). Yet even with so many imitators and competitors, Zombi remains at the head of the class when it comes to this stuff. Equal parts krautrock and synth-horror, "Escape Velocity" is their sleekest and most hypnotic record yet, and easily their best since the groundbreaking "Surface To Air."

"DE3"

#11 PLANKS - The Darkests of Grays/Solicit To Fall (Southern Lord)

2011-07-11T16:30:00.001-07:00

Southern Lord has been in love with crust and hardcore of late, recently putting out a series of limited releases from within the punk-metal scene. Of the lot, Planks is by far my favorite. Although German, the band sounds as American as apple pie, Dischord, So-Cal punk and the trash it inspired. The band plays with an emotionality that is immediately accessible. Yet just when you think things might get a little too emo, they bludgeon you with a riff the size of Sabbath. Make no mistake about it, these guys are heavy as fuck, but their onslaught is more cathartic than just simple headbanging. Imagine a more metal classic-era Helmet, and you will have a good idea of what this sounds like. This is intense, melodic and brutal stuff. Thanks to Southern Lord for making this more widely available, hopefully there will be more to come from these guys, because this fucking kills.

"Sacred & Secret" live

#12 BARN OWL - Shadowland (Thrill Jockey)

2011-07-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

Barn Owl are known for producing some of the finest doom drone work this side of Southern Lord. Last year's cinematic "Ancestral Star" was easily one of the year's best. For "Shadowland" the band returns with an ep that may actually be the duo's best work to date. Even though echos of Popul Vuh and Earth break through these three dense and desolate pieces, this is the band's most unique and original sounding recording so far. Also, whereas in the past nearly every Barn Owl record seemed to soundtrack blasted apocalyptic western landscapes, "Shadowland" has an almost cosmic vibe, like a soundtrack to a sci-fi film set in outer space that is full of existential dread. The only drawback here is that once the ep comes to a close you will wish the group had developed this into a full album, as it leaves you wanting more time in deep space.

"Void And Devotion"

#13 LOSS - Despond (Profound Lore)

2011-06-30T15:35:00.001-07:00

The title of Loss's new album "Despond" may be the most literal title in the history of music. This is one of the most crushingly depressing albums I have ever heard, it's also utterly amazing. Glacial doom with quiet interludes that make Harvey Milk sound well adjusted, Loss is music to be listened to alone in a dark room while contemplating the abyss. Did I mention that the vocals sound like a dying beast? Because they do, which only adds to the despair. But, goddamned if this isn't one of the most powerful records I've heard this year. It's also rather beautiful in it's own melancholic way. Instant doom classic.

"Open Veins To A Curtain Closed"

#14 WU LYF - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain (self released)

2011-06-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here is what we do know about WU LYF: they are from Manchester, England, there are four members, their manager is Warren Bramley who worked with the infamous late Tony Wilson at Factory Records, their record is self released for apparently philosophical reasons, and what lyrics can be descerned from their barked vocals appear to be political in nature, a suspicion supported by the overtly political nature of their videos, also LYF stands for Lucifer Youth Foundation, which is kind of cool. The rest is apparently a mystery, which is also kind of cool. None of this is nearly as cool as the band's ability to channel the sunnier side of post-punk into their urgent sounding call to arms. "Go Tell Fire To The Mountain" is solemn as fuck agitpop heavily indebted to afro-beat, making the band's rage as enjoyable as it is inspiring. While the band's earnestness is sometimes jarring, it's also incredibly refreshing in a musical landscape full of bands whose apathy and denial in the face of incredibly dark times finds them fiddling as Rome burns. WU LYF makes bands like Twin Shadow and Wild Nothings smaller than they already were. People are already predicting that WY LYF will take 2011 by storm. I kind of hope so, because it would be nice to have a band that actually stands for something other than faux 80s-nostalgia to rouse the sleeping giant of youth into action.

"Dirt"

#15 CHELSEA WOLFE - The Grime And The Glow (Pendu Sound Recordings)

2011-06-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

You could describe Chelsea Wolfe as post-punk lo-fi goth, but that just doesn't quite do her justice. She bares a passing resemblance to early Zola Jesus, but really she is more early Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. In the end no matter how you try to classify her, you are going to come up short. This is dark, seething stuff that somehow still manages to be comforting. It's little wonder that she recently covered Burzum's "Black Spell of Destruction" and turned it into a hypnotic hazy nocturnal soundscape that seduces the listener before revealing it's nightmarish nature. I'm not sure why, but with the exception of Brandon Stosuy's much deserved recognition over at Stereogum, this album has been criminally overlooked for the most part.

"Advice & Vices"

#16 JESU - Ascension (Caldo Verde)

2011-06-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

I realize that Jesu has been around for a minute now, and Justin Broadrick much longer, but he continues to put out superb records without much deserved fanfare or attention. "Ascension" is Broadrick's most accessible work yet, and while long-time listeners may initially fear a more pop Jesu, their concerns are unfounded. This is still heavy, anthematic stuff, and there are plenty of slow crushing shoegaze metal epics in-between the bouncier fare. What is most rewarding about this album is that it is denser and more complicated than "Conqueror," requiring close repeated listens to unpack all the greatness inside. In other words; it's a grower, which are the best kind of records.

"Birth Day"

#17 RED FANG - Murder The Mountains (Relapse)

2011-06-28T17:25:00.001-07:00

We are currently in the middle of a heavy metal renaissance to be sure. While there are endless configurations and types to be enjoyed right now depending on your particular proclivities, no metalhead, no matter what their tastes, can deny the simple power of the riff. The riff is what makes bands like Queens of the Stone Age and High On Fire above reproach. You can't be metal and not love those bands, it simply isn't possible. Red Fang know this, and on their new album "Murder The Mountains" they master the power of the riff, riding it to heavy metal ecstasy over the course of ten, all killer no filler, songs. This isn't one of metal's many subgenres, this IS metal.

And then there are their videos...

"Wires"

#18 ZOMBY - Dedication (4AD)

2011-06-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Dubstep artist Zomby has never really fit nicely into a pigeonhole. He combines elements of techno, dub, ambient, IDM and on "Dedication" a touch of that 80s synth-horror that all the cool kids are into these days. Although this is hardly subdued stuff, there is a spooky nocturnal vibe that runs throughout the record. At the same time, these tracks are nothing like Burial's hazy post-dubstep, instead the sound is extraordinarily crisp and clear. There is also a lot of energy here, but it is nervous and skittish. The end result is something rather deep, dark and thoughtful. "Dedication" may be more suited to contemplation than dancing, but it's easily one of the most exciting electronic albums of the year.

"Natalie's Song"

#19 DARK CASTLE - Surrender All Life Beyond Form (Profound Lore)

2011-06-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

Best doom album I have heard in years. Hands down. This duo's harrowing songs are given an extra layer of massiveness by producer extraordinare Sanford Parker, who mixes traditional psych-doom with the kind of colossal heaviness and genre blending that made Twilight and Nachtmystium's albums so amazing last year. This is essential doom metal that will destroy every single molecule in its path. Every listen exposes something new and more devastating. I am continually captivated by this record.

"Seeing Through Time"

#20 THEE OH SEES - Castlemania (In The Red)

2011-06-27T15:29:00.001-07:00

I have wanted to like Thee Oh Sees forever, but have never been able to totally commit to them before "Castlemania." The perfect blend of British garage, psyche, lo-fi and plan ol' weirdo rock, "Castlemania" is the one album that I would love to have on while indulging in illicit substances with a thrill kill cult in southern California. It's demented, propulsive and downright fun. Imagine Roky Erickson as a late night-horror show personality fronting the Mothers Of Invention which happens to feature Ray and Dave Davies and you will have a good idea of what is going on here.

"I Need Seed"

BON IVER - S/T (Jagjaguwar)

2011-06-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of things I want to say immediately regarding Bon Iver’s (a/k/a) Justin Vernon) self-titled follow up to his spectacular debut album “For Emma, Forever Ago.” First of all, I need to state upfront that I am seldom a fan of the baroque branch of indie-rock that seems to sell so well these days. I’ve never been able to maintain any appreciation for artists like Neutral Milk Hotel, Decemberists, Sufyawn Stevens and Fleet Foxes. I’ve often found their pomp and circumstance a lot of sound signifying nothing compelling enough for me to pay attention beyond a handful of songs. At the same time, admittedly, I’m a big fan of Arcade Fire and The National, both of whom could easily be classified as baroque. The difference, I think, is that Arcade Fire and the National play with a certain punky muscularity and verve that does not rely on, but is nevertheless complemented by, their use of brass and strings, whereas so many other baroque acts hide behind their elaborate instrumentation in order to cloth what are essentially minor folk songs. “Bon Iver” inhabits a sort of middle ground between these two poles of baroque indie-rock. For some this may not be a problem, but for someone like myself I was worried that all that made Bon Iver so compelling in the first place; the stark minimalistic compositions anchored by raw emotion, would end up subsumed in layers of orchestration and effects. Unfortunately, for the most part, they are. Fortunately “Bon Iver” is still an incredibly compelling and beautiful album, even if, in the end it is not as satisfying as “For Emma, Forever Ago.”

The record starts off massive, with military drums and grandiose horns defining the not so subtle sound of “Perth.” The next track “Minnesota, WI” starts off with a spidery guitar motif that recalls post-rock before woodwinds and acoustic guitars change the hue of the song which eventually morphs into a an amalgam of deep bass, and a cacophony of spring-like horns and effects. It all sounds like a mess on paper, yet it is anything but. Once the track concludes, and it is clear that this is not “For Emma” redux, points of reference come flying fast and furious. Upon a couple of listens of this record I described it to a friend as Peter Gabriel collaborating with “Spirit Of Eden”-era Talk Talk. I stand by that description, but would add that occasionally Bruce Hornsby and Don Henley make guest appearances. If either of those latter names scare you off, they should, but worry not, they don’t spoil the album, or at least until the last song, but more on that later.

Vernon has always flirted with some of the less desirable sounds of the 80s and 90s, like the vocoder effect that makes a disconcerting appearance on “Wolves” from “For Emma.” He can’t seem to help himself here either, insisting on indulging in Hornsby and Henley-like adult contemporary keyboards and lite-folk-rock trappings that run throughout the record. On the first few listens these affectations stuck out like a sore thumb, but over time became bearable, even serviceable to the greater whole of the record that is until the inexcusable “Beth/Rest,” which sounds like a god awful yacht rock song. The song closes out the album with grating adult-comtempo keyboards and, the worst sin of all, jam-band like guitars. In listening to the song a few times I have come to realize that it isn’t a bad song at all, it’s just that Vernon’s choice of instrumentation is atrocious at times, and “Beth/Rest” is his worst crime against the senses yet.

All this may sound like I don’t like “Bon Iver,” yet nothing could be further from the truth. I think that aside from these occasional flaws this is an otherwise magnificent record, and only because it is so magnificent otherwise, these flaws are that much more disappointing and distracting. But enough about the bad, what about the good?

The good is the amazing heart of this album which starts around the gentle “Holocene” and ends with the unbearably beautiful “Michincant.” Both tracks hearken back to the minimalism of “For Emma,” yet each are far more ornate than anything on that album. Again, think Talk Talk, not Will Oldham, as a point of reference. In between is album highlight “Towers,” a lively quasi-country number rounded out with perfectly placed slide guitars and soaring backing vocals. “Wash.” is another incredibly executed number that recalls Volcano Choir, Vernon’s collaboration with Collections of Colonies of Bees. What sets each of these songs apart from a lesser track like “Hinnom, TX” is the restraint show both in Vernon’s vocals and his choice of instrumentation, a restraint that is let loose at only the proper moment.

Lead single “Calgary” is also a rather spectacular number, even if it does start out like something off of Don Henley’s “The End Of The Innocence.” The track soars when it hits its stride as Vernon and his accompanists fall into a propulsive beat accompanied by unadorned distorted guitars. “Calgary,” as well as opener “Perth,” proves that Vernon can do loud equally as well as he can do quiet.

It took some time between “For Emma,” which was originally self-released in 2007, and this much anticipated follow-up. In between Vernon has been involved in a wide variety of projects ranging from the experimental Volcano Choir, to the spectacle that was Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” It’s clear that he has picked up more than a few new colors to add to his canvas, and I can’t help but thinking that “Bon Iver” is in some part an experiment in trial and error as he tests out different approaches. Most of them succeed wildly, while some simply do not. If anything, “Bon Iver” has not whetted my appetite enough; instead it has created even more anticipation for what comes next for Vernon. It could go either way given the highs and lows evident here, thankfully there are vastly more of the former than the latter, making me hopeful that Vernon will take some lessons away from this recording and finally make a record that is worthy of the massive shadow that “For Emma” still casts, and that “Bon Iver” simply cannot escape in the end.

"Calgary"

"Holocene" live

CULTS - S/T (Columbia)

2011-06-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

Every summer needs its soundtrack; a record to listen too while sitting on the porch and drinking beer, or relaxing in the pool, an album to play at parties, or in your car on a sunny day. It needs to be an album that is upbeat and accessible enough that it can satisfy a large amount of people and blend into the background at gatherings, but compelling enough to listen to alone while basking in the sun. Last year it was Best Coast's "Crazy For You," the year before that it was Phoenix's "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," the year before that MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular;" all albums with hooks aplenty, but also numerous subtle nuances to please more discerning listeners. Cult's self-titled debut, a mixture of classic 60's girl-group sonics and melody with indie-pop is easily my vote for summer album of 2011.

Cults are Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion. Originally from San Diago, the couple have since moved to New York City, but a sunny west coast vibe still permeates their music. Of course, that west coast vibe has been dominating indie-rock for the past few years, as has 60's girl-group sonics, but there is something just different enough about Cults to make them stand out. For one their instrumentation is far cleaner and sparser than similar artists Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls. Also their sound is far more indebted to Lesley Gore and the Shangri-Las than anyone else thus far.

Admittedly though, in trying to describe the band's sound, and do it justice, I am having difficulty. It would be easy just to say that these songs are coated in a Spector-like wall of sound, which they are, but even that doesn't quite sum it up. What is most compelling about the band's approach is that there is little to no distortion present on the record, instead beats, bass and drums drive the band's sound, while chimes and keys provide a shiny glittering atmosphere throughout. The album was co-produced by Cults and Shane Stoneback, who is known for producing Vampire Weekend and Sleigh Bells. There is a subtle co-relation in sound between Sleigh Bells and Cults that is likely a result of Stoneback's participation. Both bands rely on massive supporting beats, but Cults' are never distorted or overpowering, whereas Sleigh Bells' always are. Instead Cults let the beats breath and focus on the pitch-perfect voice of Follin to provide the album's many addictive melodies. Those melodies are embedded in some rather intoxicating compositions as well. There are twists, turns, breaks and bridges throughout these songs, as well as what seems an infinite amount of subtle flourishes to please even the most discriminating listener (i.e. music snob). In other words, this is pop music with a brain.

Lyrically the band focuses on themes of abduction and escape, whether it be from a shitty relationship or more generalized repression. Oblivion explained the theme of the band earlier this year in an interview with Pitchfork:

"A lot of the idea of the band and its name is the idea of liberation, of choosing your own way of doing things. Madeline and I both had weird times in our life before we met up and got together and, through the music, got into a really good place. It's about finding your own meaning and how something that's potentially looked down upon doesn't necessarily need to be bad."

That lyrical emphasis on individual liberation only adds to the freeing, breezy nature of the album. If there were ever a feel-good break-up/fuck you album, this is it.

If summer is that time of the year when we cast off the constricts of winter and embrace the carefree nature of its long sunny days, then there simply is no better album for the season than Cults. Lyrically and musically, this record is tailor-made to soundtrack the best summer of your life, so buy it already and start living it like you should. This easily gets my highest recommendation possible.

"Abducted"

"Runaway" live

"Go Outside"

HORSEBACK - The Gorgon Tongue: Impale Golden Horn + Forbidden Planet (Relapse)

2011-06-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

"The Gorgon Tongue" opens with distant strains of Aaron Copland and John Fahey filtered through a lush dronescape. The track, "Finale," shares a passing resemblance with Tim Hecker and Fennesz, but it is a distinctly American piece of music, one that draws upon the mystic chords of our collective memory. It is also the most beautiful piece drone in recent memory. Yet before this record is through, Copland and Fahey will give way to Burzum and sheets of screeching black metal, offering the listener the wide range of tastes and sounds that is Horseback.

Horseback is Jenks Miller, with the occasional help from friends. Over the last few years Miller has crafted works alternating between shimmering experimental sounds and blacked/dirge metal, while throwing in generous chunks of blues and psych-rock for good measure. For the most part, Miller keeps the two separated, although drone certainly plays a large role throughout. “The Gorgon Tongue” collects two radically different previous releases from Miller, yet oddly enough one flows into the other rather well, mainly due to the fact that both are based in drone. Although each recording is based in drone, there is nothing static about either. Rather each record is actually fairly dynamic.

“Impale Golden Horn” comprises the first half of “Gorgon Tongue,” and is Miller at his most beautiful and transcendent. Originally released in 2007, the album was Miller’s first release under the name Horseback. The four track epic is all shimmering effects, subtle organs, guitars and piano. There is an airy lightness to each track, even though they are incredibly dense compositions full of layers and layers of repeated melodic motifs and voluminous sustained drones. “Laughing Celestial Architect” and “Blood Fountain” introduces tinges of post-rock into the mix, which only ratchets up the emotionality already inherent in these pieces. It’s actually all kind of heavy, but heavy in the way that Jesu’s “Conqueror” is heavy. It sounds victorious and cosmic, rather than defeated and isolated. “Forbidden Planet,” on the other hand, is a much darker and claustrophobic affair.

Originally a cassette-only release from last year, “Forbidden Planet” finds Miller indulging his black metal muse. Certainly this six-song recording owes as much to drone and experimental music as does “Impale Golden Horn,” but played at the grey to black end of the color scale. The pieces are mainly comprised of drone-like tremolo-picked guitars and Miller’s snarling vocals, yet just as “Impale” contained snippets of melody throughout, so does “Forbidden Planet.” Also present are subtle, but powerful, rhythms. This mixture of black metal with dynamic drone is nothing new. One need only look to Sunn o)))’s “Black One” for precedent. That doesn’t make this recording any less spectacular. It takes a special talent to do this and do it right, and Miller is one of the very few in the wake of Sunn o))) that can. This is some seriously heavy and powerful stuff, and is not for the weak of heart.

Because of the radically different nature of “Forbidden Planet” and “Impale Golden Horn,” this record finds itself in the unique position of finding favor among a variety of people, some of who may otherwise not listen to one or the other. Yet for someone whose enjoys both ends of the light spectrum, “Gorgon Tongue” is a boon, as well as a major revelation of the substantial talent that is Jenks Miller. Add to this discography 2009’s incredible blues-psych-metal dirge “The Invisible Mountain,” and you have a rather diverse and formidable collection of recordings under the name Horseback by Miller. Needless to say this collection only adds to the anticipation surrounding future Horseback records. Thankfully we won’t have to wait long, since a split LP with the like-minded Locrian is imminent.

"Blood Fountain"

Horseback - "Blood Fountain" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Stream "Gorgon Tongue" here:
The Gorgon Tongue: Impale Golden Horn + Forbidden Planet by Horseback

BORIS - Attention Please/Heavy Rocks 2011 (Sargent House)

2011-06-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have said repeatedly that Boris are one of the greatest bands in the world today. I say that not only because their music is amazing, which it is, but because of their ability to straddle and mix multiple genres into the unique whole that is Boris. Pop, drone, ambient, noise, doom, metal, indie-rock, even a little electronica are the colors that Boris use to create their always provocative compositions. You would have to look to Radiohead to find another band that is able to push boundaries and redefine themselves as successfully from album to album. Boris are also incredibly prolific. Although their output has slowed in the last couple of years, at one time it was nearly impossible to keep up with their release schedule that would often include differing versions of full lengths, numerous splits, live albums, eps and collaborations. It was somewhat surprising that following the release of the band's last proper album, 2008's "Smile," (which, of course, was released in two radically different mixes) they seemed to fall relatively silent (and by silent I mean they released a live album and dvd, rerecorded some of their old tracks for a Japanese only full-length, crafted an excellent series of 7" singles for Southern Lord, and put out a couple of split eps). Apparently the band have been saving up for 2011, because this year will see not one, but three new Boris records, and who knows what else. The first two come courtesy of Sargent House, rather than Southern Lord, who have typically handled the band's US releases. This move away from the stalwart doom/black/crust metal label is indicative of the shift in direction the band explores on both "Attention Please" and "Heavy Rocks." These are easily the band's most accessible releases to date, but accessibility does not mean that they are any less interesting or satisfying than the band's previous work.

"Attention Please" is the most radical of the two recordings. Featuring vocals entirely by guitarist extraordinaire Wata, the record finds the band at their least heavy, most indie-rockish ever. To be fair, the band has hinted at this sort of release throughout the Southern Lord 7" series and on their "Golden Dance Classics" split. Tellingly, some of the music from that split appears here in an altered form. The titular opener is a silky sexy slow burner with a subtle dance vibe that will likely have the band's metal fans scratching their heads. For those whose tastes are as catholic as Boris', the track is an intriguing taste of what is to come. What is to come is a heady mix of alt-heavy rock, electronics and everything else Boris has ever dabbled in, but toned down. Rockers like "Hope" and "Spoon" absolutely soar, but have more in common with 90s indie-rock or, dare I say, Arcade Fire than anything Boris has done to date. Other songs, like "Hand and Hand" "You" and "See You Next Week," recall the ambient soundscapes of the band's "Mabuta No Ura" buoyed by the fragile beauty of Wata's voice. Some of the likely more divisive tracks are also some of the records most enjoyable. "Party Boy" is straight up electro-clash, and it's also downright addictive. "Les Paul Custom '86" is the album's weirdest pop experiment, featuring sparse instrumentation, blown out beats, effects, and a full-on groove, and it is also a hell of a lot of fun. I challenge you not to smile every time Wata goes "E-E." If you don't or can't, I don't think I really want to know you. There are unnecessary rough spots on the album, like the limp "Tokyo Wonder Land," but overall this record works and works well. More than anything I can see "Attention Please," bringing the band a few new fans who would be initially turned off by the crushing sludge of "Amplifier Worship" or the dour doom of "Smile." As for long time fans of the band's heavier material who might be put off by "Attention Please," they need not despair; "Heavy Rocks" ensures that Boris have not gone soft.

Boris revisits the title "Heavy Rocks" from time to time as they redefine their sound. This record is the third incarnation of "Heavy Rocks" moniker; the first being 2002's foray into tight Stooges-like barnburners, and the second being the more experimental Southern Lord 7" series. With this third installment, the band seems to be taking stock of their various metal and hard rock permutations up to now, and creating something a little leaner, a little more accessible, but no less heavy. Opener, "Riot Sugar" is a cavernous stoner-rock number featuring Ian Astbury on backing vocals that sounds similar to some of the band's work on their collaboration with Astbury on "BXI," but better. "Leak - Truth, yesnoyesnoyes" follows and finds the band returning to the psych-rock of their excellent "Rainbow" recording. "GALAXIANS" is the kind of barnburner which populated the first "Heavy Rocks," "Pink" and "Smile," so of course it rocks. "Missing Pieces," my personal favorite track from both albums, has the band returning to the epic ambient-doom post-rock that made "Flood" and "Boris At Last:-Feederbacker-" the classic recordings they are. It even includes a blast of sustained heavy-as-fuck doom drone. Like I said, this is the sound of the band taking stock and pretty much covering every base. No, it isn't as face melting as "Absolutego" or as brutal as "Amplifier Worship," but it will satisfy long-time fans nonetheless, while also offering an easy to digest sampling of the band's heavier side for new comers.

This wouldn't really be a Boris album, though, if it didn't add something fresh to the mix, and fortunately the band offers up new directions in sound on a few tracks here. "Window Shopping" mixes Brit-pop on top of one of their typical go-for-broke ragers, which breaks down into a doom stomp before starting back up again. The real treat is "Tu, La, La," a continuation of the band's exploration of 90's indie-guitar rock. Taken along-side "Attention Please's" similar forays into alt-rock, it sounds like the band has been listening to some serious Sebadoh, and that is a very cool thing, because they rock this sound completely. I could easily take an entire album of this kind of thing. Then there is the tease that is "Czechoslovakia." At only a minute thirty-five, the number inflames with a trash-metal workout that will leave you craving so much more, and is hopefully a glimpse of things to come.

Boris are going on fifteen years now as a band, but with their third album of the year on the way, they show no signs of slowing down, growing old or becoming any less restless as musicians. "Attention Please" finds them at their most adventurous, while "Heavy Rocks" finds them circling the wagons and maintaining their crowns as one of the, if not the, greatest heavy bands of the last decade, while still finding ways to reinvent themselves. Taken together, both albums may be the perfect introduction to Boris given the breadth and depth of the band's various incarnations presented between the two records. For those who are familiar with the group, these albums offer an equal blend of the known and the novel, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call either record the band's best, they are certainly vibrant documents of the group's seemingly undying originality and vitality.

"Hope"

"Les Paul Custom '86"

"Riot Sugar"

"Missing Pieces"

LITURGY - Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey)

2011-05-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

“High Gold,” the lead track off Liturgy’s new album “Aesthethica,” begins with the sort of sound experimentation that has marked black metal ever since Burzum started making albums. The weird pitter patter of tones that trickle out of the speakers is nothing new to the genre. Neither are the blast beats, banshee shrieks and tremolo-picked guitar squalls that follow. What is new to the genre is that the progressions and snatches of melody that spill out of the track sound nothing like black metal. It’s off putting at first, until you start to analyze the song through the lens of free jazz, or even math rock and screamo, then it begins to make sense. Replace the guitars with saxophones and you could have a latter day John Coltrane track on your hands. Or don’t, and you have something that rubs elbows with Lightening Bolt on its way to Ulver’s “Nattens Madrigal - Aatte Hymne Til Ulven I Manden.” In other words, don’t go into this expecting a typical black metal record, even by USBM standards, instead prepare yourself for a hodgepodge of noise that blends musical strains as variant as classical, jazz, drone, minimalism, sludge rock, prog, IDM and chant. Do that and you will be ready to take on the bacchanalian tour de force that is “Aesthethica.”

I have honestly never heard an album quite like this. It is marked by climaxes of unbridled joy and high drama, in between valleys of hypnotic pummeling, yet it never sounds forced or too disparate, as it blends together so many divergent influences and emotions. It’s sort of like the rantings of an unmedicated bi-polar schizophrenic that actually not only makes sense, but is enlightening even.

Liturgy began making a name for themselves a couple of years ago in the wake of their incredible debut album "Renihilation." The Brooklyn quartet seemingly came out of nowhere and created one of the most successful boundary-pushing black metal albums in the genre's history. I say successful, because rather than add strings and synthesizers like Emperor did to create "symphonic black metal" or graft tremolo guitar and blast beats onto post-rock song structures as many USBM bands have (causing some to purists to cry foul), or add industrial and psych-rock influences to create a hybrid form of heavy music via Nachtmystium and Twilight, Liturgy have remained fairly true to the traditional black metal template. What they did within that template was something else entirely. In reviewing "Renihilation" I wrote that "with a compositional style more suited to Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, modal jazz and 20th Century minimalism, than black metal, Liturgy astonishes. The band provokes intellectually, plays with an emotional intensity that an emo kid would cut himself for, and blasts grim with the full frosty fury of the most blacked metal." The same could be said for "Anesthethica," but as one would hope, there is an evolution in sound and a honing of skills present that makes this record superior, which is no small feat.

What Liturgy does better than anyone else, and I mean anyone, is maintain absolute control over what sounds like an eschatological whirlwind. These guys play so intensely - so entirely unhinged - while sustaining an air-tight precision throughout that they seem to defy the laws of physics. Even after listening to this record repeatedly, I still half expect some of these tracks to collapse under the weight of themselves into a muddled mess, but they never do. Listen to "Glory Bronze" with all it's ascending and descending themes whipping by you at a million miles an hour and you will be transformed, as if you just stared into the abyss at the end of all things and lived to tell. It is almost too intense, both physically and emotionally. It's also played with a skill far beyond most musicians' pay grade, yet it never sounds clinical, as so many gifted technical players do, rather the opposite is the case; it sounds like these guys are playing as if their very lives depended on it.

The only real breather comes with the group's welcome forays into math and sludge rock on instrumentals "Generation" and "Veins Of God." Initially both songs seem like a curve balls, but in time they reveal themselves as the record's anchors, grounding it in light of the unbound nature of the rest of the album. And, because I can't resist mentioning all of these bands in the same breath, imagine what it would sound like if "Spine Of God"-era Monster Magnet, High On Fire and Slint got together and formed a supergroup to record a 12", and it was a supergroup effort that actually exceeded its expectations for once. Such a flight of fancy will give you an idea of how incredible each of these songs are.

The rest of the album could easily be mistaken for the work of an ecstatic. Not surprisingly, Liturgy has been described as transcendental, but their music somehow makes the word transcendental impotent. The Master Musicians of Jourjouka and the Whirling Dervishes have nothing on these guys. This is extreme transcendentalism, and the word "extreme" is a necessary qualifier. This is simply unlike anything you have ever heard. That isn't hyperbole. Sonically this band is as extreme as it gets, yet it is far removed from the brutality or ugliness that is often associated with extreme music, instead it is, well, kind of beautiful. Listen to "Sun Of Light," with it's minimalist refrain that wouldn't sound alien to a Steve Reich or Philip Glass composition that suddenly explodes like a supernova into a cacophony of snare rolls, blast beats and screeches while the same refrain plays over and over and you cannot help but find yourself far removed from your mundane surroundings.

Ultimately, as with all truly transcendental experiences, words fail and this review is nothing but a pale approximation to this record, more so than what is typically inherent in the relationship between the written word and music itself. This an album unlike any other, and I know I have said that in various ways throughout this review, but it is true as this is utterly alien, utterly beautiful and utterly brilliant. From a purely musical standpoint this is the best goddamned thing I have heard all year, and I highly doubt that will change over the next seven months. "Aesthethica" is a landmark album that defies categorization and will reward serious listeners of all stripes willing to explore its heights and depths. And frankly everything I just said doesn't quite do it justice.

"Returner"

LITURGY // RETURNER from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

"Veins Of God"

"Glory Bronze"

XANDER HARRIS - Urban Gothic (Not Not Fun)

2011-05-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up no other soundtracks captured my imagination quit like those to the films of John Carpenter. John Williams’ Star Wars grabbed mine and everyone else’s attention more, how could they not with all their Wagnerian bombast, but in terms of losing myself and letting my mind run wild, nothing was better than the scores to Carpenter’s films. I was utterly captivated by Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to “The Thing,” and Carpenter’s own synth-horror compositions for “Halloween,” “Escape From New York,” and “Prince of Darkness.” What made each of these records so remarkable was their use of minimalism, space and tension to up the terror and dread inherent in each respective films’ story lines. They were characterized by a sort of zen-like calm in the face of certain doom, as well as subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, emotional arcs. As a result, I have always felt that Carpenter’s soundtracks were early precursors to post-rock and even the minimalistic doom of bands like Sunn 0))). This belief has consistently left me wondering if Carpenter, and frequent collaborator Alan Howarth, would ever get their proper due as composers. In the past decade people have been tripping over themselves to cite Italian horror soundtrack mavens Goblin as an influence, but Carpenter and Howarth’s names have been mostly absent.

That has been slowly, but surely, changing over the past couple of years as a whole new batch of electronic artists inspired by 70s and 80s soundtracks have emerged, bringing Carpenter’s name, even peripherally, with them. Last year’s “Prophesy Of The Black Widow” by Umberto and “Psychical” by Ensemble Economique both contained a healthy dose of Carpenter mixed in with a litany of other horror soundtrack influences. Now Not Not Fun label-mate Xander Harris has released “Urban Gothic,” the most overtly Carpenter-influenced modern electronic album to date. While Harris cites a laundry list of influences, new and old, it is Carpenter’s distinctly chilly synth-based sound that is most evident here. Although just as Umberto and Ensemble Economique mixed an array of genres ranging from African tribal music to disco into their reimagining of the horror soundtrack, Harris also draws inspiration from 80s synth pop and dance music to round out his own unique vision.

Complete with “Opening” and “End Credit” pieces, Harris’ “Urban Gothic” is the most linear of the modern faux-horror soundtracks that I have heard. Each piece is part of a larger, more terrorific, whole, inspired by writer Brian Keene’s book of the same name. Admittedly I haven’t read Keene’s work (although Harris’ album makes me want to), but a sampling of the book’s reviews all describe the gruesome detail that characterizes Keene’s writing. That emphasis on gore is appropriate as one can’t help but imagine buckets of blood and human viscus painting the floors and walls of “Urban Gothic’s” soundscape. But like all great horror movies from the 70s and 80s, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, even if you have to shield your eyes every now and then.

Scares notwithstanding, Harris never loses his sense of humor throughout this record. Songs like “I Want More Than Just Blood” and “Tanned Skin Dress” are certainly menacing enough, both in title and sound, thanks to the chilly synths that comprise their melodies, but they also groove like dance tracks, giving them each a knowingly playful vibe. In fact a large portion of this record could easily find its way into a club DJ’s catalog, regardless of the record’s macabre origins. On the other hand, the first time I listened to this record it was as a substitute soundtrack to the genre-mashup “Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare.” As would be expected, this album was the absolute perfect record to spin while gunning down zombies and searching for unicorns in the old west. That many of these songs can stand alone in such diverse settings, while still comprising a consistent and thorough horror narrative makes this a particularly strong album and certainly the best among like-minded releases to date. I’ve had this on repeat since first listen, and for fans of horror, dance, synth-pop or the new breed of retro-electronica, I couldn’t recommend it more, particularly if you are drawn to things that go bump in the night.

"Tanned Skin Dress"

Xander Harris - Tanned Skin Dress from Not Not Fun on Vimeo.

"When The Hammer Starts To Swing"

KRALLICE - Diotima (Profound Lore)

2011-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

I’ve always liked the idea of Krallice, more than I have actually liked Krallice. Held in suspicion by purists as hipster “boutique” black metal from Brooklyn, the band found more favor among alt-celebrities like Ryan Adams and the members of My Morning Jacket than they did the insular and often overly-judgmental metal underground. As a metalhead who has always had mixed feelings about other metalheads, I loved that Krallice’s debut album made it onto Adam’s Top Ten List in 2008, further pissing off purists, more than I actually liked that record. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid record with some incredible tracks, but there is a certain monotony that eats away at the overall quality of the album. More than anything, their debut stoked the fires of anticipation for their sophomore release “Dimensional Bleedthrough.” Unfortunately, for me, that record ended up being the biggest musical disappointment of 2009. The album was marred by an over-emphasis on the band’s extreme technical prowess, which completely overshadowed everything else. In the end, it sounded like the black metal equivalent of Yngwie Malmsteen; all chops and no soul. It was bad enough that for me Krallice quickly went from being ‘the next big thing’ to an ‘also ran’ in my book.

When the track “The Clearing,” from the band’s third album “Diotima,” debuted on Stereogum in January it was with reluctance that I clicked the play button. Surprisingly the piece was more focused and more vicious than anything the group had previously produced, enough so to reignite the flames of interest in me. As the late April date of the album’s release drew closer, early positive buzz was building, almost to heights that I thought would be impossible for the band to meet, particularly given my spotty history with the group’s catalog. My skepticism was unfounded though, because this time around Krallice the band is even better than Krallice the idea.

“Diotima” is the most purposeful record that Krallice has ever made. As noted earlier, the band’s immense technical skills have come off as wankery in the past, but no longer. When the band does show off its abilities it is in the service of a larger whole, and not just to showcase individual members’ chops. As a result the group has never sounded as emotive or as intense as they do here. This is black metal exploded to cinematic heights and it is deliriously glorious.

Take “The Clearing," after tearing through six minutes of brutal ascension, the track starts to break down into a martial rhythm pattern that most bands would choose to end on, but not Krallice, with Krallice the battle has only reached its half-way point, and what goes up must come down. The latter half of the song sounds like buildings toppling in on themselves and castles burning to the ground, even as the band turns in one of its most melodic chord progressions to date. It’s an insanely tight epic that never wears out its welcome and could probably play on into eternity without slack. It is also the first of four back-to-back tracks that break the twelve minute mark.

The album’s titular track is one of those mammoth numbers, and easily one of the most intense mid-tempo metal songs ever recorded. Foregoing blast beats for most of the song, the band instead focuses on crafting a seething atmosphere fronted by bassist/vocalist Nick McMaster. In the past guitarist Mick Barr’s black metal banshee screech has tracked most Krallice numbers, but “Diotima” features McMaster’s death growl to greater effect. The end result is a more muscular sound, and on tracks like “Diotima” his vocal contributions are downright devastating.

It isn’t just McMaster’s vocals that add a tougher feel to “Diotima,” the band’s jettison of extraneous individual instrumentation in exchange for a more unified and cohesive approach makes for a deeper and darker record, as on the face-melting “Litany or Regrets.” If anyone doubted these guys' authenticity, one listen to the crushingly brutal “Litany” will set them straight once and for all. The track’s concussive blast beat sucks the air right out of the song, making for a relentlessly heavy listen. It’s like listening to the nastiest and most degraded Paysage D’Hiver tape ever made, where everything is in the red and completely disorienting, except it’s way heavier than any of Paysage D’Hiver’s experiments in black metal.

With "Diotima" Krallice have not only made up for past transgressions, but they have established themselves as one of the elite among the current metal horde, and not just for black metal, but metal in general. Being one of the few groups that truly transcends metal's many subgenres by incorporating elements of thrash, death and grindcore into their particular brand of experimental black metal, Krallice have created something that should appeal to fans of all things heavy. Furthermore, their willingness to disregard boundaries while crafting such an intensely visceral record, easily makes "Diotima" a serious contender for metal album of the year, as well as one of the top albums of the year in general. Highest recommendation possible.

"The Clearing"

"Litany Of Regrets"

TYLER, THE CREATOR - Goblin (XL)

2011-05-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

“KILL PEOPLE, BURN SHIT, FUCK SCHOOL!” goes the chorus of “Radicals,” one of the many highlights on Tyler, The Creator’s brilliant, and likely polarizing, “Goblin.” Never mind that the song kicks off with a “random disclaimer” telling listeners what follows is fiction, so let's not anybody try this at home, some people are going to be turned off by Tyler’s ultra-dark and ultra-violent lyrics. Never mind as well that in that “random disclaimer,” Tyler pointedly tells “white American, “ in particular Bill O’Reilly (whose jihad against rap over the years has been little more than coded racism), not to scapegoat him or his art if some idiot actually does kill people, burn shit and fuck school as a result of “Radicals,” because if Bill O’ gets wind of “Goblin,” you can believe it will only add fuel to the fire of the culture wars.

As I write this, I am sure that there are countless others preparing reviews with critical justifications for Tyler’s lyrics seated in the grim realities of certain socio-economic sectors of our population, and they would be right, but I’ll let someone else write that apologia. What is often missed, or simply ignored, in debates over controversial art is not so much its reflection of grim realities, but its value as catharsis, and catharsis is what I feel when I scream the chorus of “Radicals” along with Tyler and various other members of the much hyped Odd Future collective, of which he has become the de facto head.

Sometimes I think we forget that rock and roll is built on such catharsis. It is rebellion, a middle finger in the eye of the man, and the more transgressive the better. Take, for example, the Sex Pistols. In 1977 England was celebrating the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. To mark the occasion the Pistols released “God Save The Queen” a not so rosy indictment of Parliament, England’s future, and, of course, the Queen. Despite the single being banned from airplay, it ended up at #1 on the top of the charts during Jubilee Week. While certainly it is full of social and political commentary, the real appeal of the song was, and is, singing the blasphemous lyrics snarled by Johnny Rotten, particularly “God save the Queen, she ain’t no human being” and the nihilistic refrain of “no future, no future for you.” The song gave voice to a rebellion festering in the heart of staid British society, and for all of its insight, it was the catharsis of apostasy that made “God Save The Queen” the classic that it is, as well as the most popular song in the land the very week England was supposed to be celebrating the monarchy. High ideals and political protest aside, sometimes what one really needs is to channel all of the anger, depression and futility of the world through the venomous lyrics of a song, which was exactly the appeal of Johnny Rotten and the Pistols.

Even when politics are entirely absent, and emotions are more generalized, there is something to be said for giving the Id its due. Surely we can all agree that sometimes it just feels damn good to let rip a big middle finger toward the sky while shouting out profanities, whether it be via something as vacuous as Soundgarden’s “Big Dumb Sex,” or N.W.A.’s all too real “Fuck Tha Police.” The Id feeds on sex and violence, and it needs to roam free once in a while. History, after all, is littered with the tragic byproducts of individual and collective repression.

Enter Tyler, the Creator. If there was ever a modern album more Id satiating, more cathartic, than “Goblin,” I certainly don’t know it. I’m sure someone would say the same for the rankest death metal, or the stupidest Insane Clown Posse song (a group that Tyler is sometimes unfairly compared to), the difference is that for all of its psychopathic violence, there is a self-awareness, an honesty and a vulnerability that beats at the heart of “Goblin," elevating it from the gutter and putting it on par with Kanye West, who also seamlessly mixes confessionals with fantasy. The end result is something more poignant than simple shock schlock, and something much more cathartic because it channels real human emotions, not just the cartoonish.

“Goblin” begins with Tyler continuing the conversation he began with an imaginary therapist on his debut album “Bastard.” The song’s heart-on-the-sleeve stream of consciousness allows him to set up the emotional parameters of the record, which are sometimes amusing, sometimes depressing, sometimes terrifying and sometimes humane. In other words, exactly what you should expect from an increasingly self-aware fatherless 19-year-old who is trying to find his way in the world, which is exactly who Tyler Okanma, a/k/a Tyler, The Creator, actually is. Tyler’s confessional is told over the sparest of instrumentation consisting of little more than a muted drum roll, sporadic lush strings, downtuned guitar notes and an occasional minor key piano motif. It’s minimalistic and dark, recalling the production of early Anticon and Def Jux more than it does Tyler’s hero Pharrell Williams. The net result is a track that maintains its sinister edge throughout, even as Tyler rolls out lyrics that are far more human and introspective than hip hop is typically known for.

“Yonkers” follows sounding like a cross between an old school Wu-Tang Clan track and Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” score. The imaginary conversation continues and gets more heated as Tyler rages about Jesus, Bruno Mars and hipster bloggers, in between dropping grin-inducing absurdities about popping "pink xannies" and dancing around his house in his “all over print panties.” It’s telling that this is the single for “Goblin.” It’s catchy as hell, but also entirely anti-pop. Its skeletal beat couldn’t be any less radio-friendly, and it's highly unlikely that "Yonkers" will find its way onto Clear Channel playlists around the country, which is partly why it is exactly the shot in the arm that hip hop needs. Musically and lyrically Tyler is more forward-thinking than his peers. He is too raw for Anticon, too weird and progressive for Roc-A-Fella, and too thoughtful for horrorcore. Instead, he capitalizes on elements from each and creates something wholly unique.

Creativity aside, “Goblin” is also a great listen that is as enjoyable as it is challenging. Yes, the album’s love song “She” ends up being about a murderous stalker, but you’d be hard pressed to stop yourself from bobbing your head to the ultra-silky vibe of the number. The same could be said for what is lyrically the heaviest song on the album, “Nightmare.” Tyler deftly blurs the line between fantasy and reality, dividing his lyrics between his rawest emotional lines like “my father called me to tell me he loved me, I have a better chance of getting Taylor Swift to fuck me,” and some of his most violent; “the knives get thrown, and hit her in her fucking neck, now her throat’s all gone, looking like a fucking monster from the Twilight Zone.” All the while a hooky beat plays underneath a mellow jazz piano progression, giving it a chilled-out feel in direct opposition to the piece's lyrical content. These sort of juxtapositions between music and lyrics add to the perversity of “Goblin,” while also making it a record that you can access even when you aren’t in the mood for this kind of heaviness.

Not every song is an example of dichotomy. “Tron Cat” is as dark musically as it is lyrically, but it bounces like the best hip hop. The song sounds like an early EL-P track, but contains much rawer lyrics than ever appeared on a Def Jux album, such as this gem: "rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome." I'm sure that line is going to get plenty of attention sooner or later, but anyone who takes something like this seriously should probably never leave the house. It's a fucking joke. Yes, it's pitch black humor, but it's humor nonetheless, and placed next to the more serious lines on "Goblin," it's absurd grin-inducing levity, and actually a welcome break from the more gut-wrenching lyrics arising out of Tyler's real life.

At times the album does descend into what will easily be dismissed as misogyny, but it would be a mistake to take any of it too seriously. Just as Tyler, who neither does drugs or drinks in real life, raps about smoking weed and drinking, it's easy to view the traditional gangsta posturings that appear sporadically throughout the record as yet another joke born of the kind of hip hop stereotypes that Tyler is all too aware of, as well as the Ids of the young kids who make up Odd Future, and comprise "Goblin's" supporting cast. It's also telling that Tyler ends up killing off Odd Future members Jasper Dolphin and Taco at the end of "Bitch Suck Dick" after they turn in what are easily the most misogynistic lyrics on the record. Admittedly though, Tyler's lyrics succeed best when he combines both real emotion and fantasy, crafting such chilling lines as "let's buy guns and kill those kids with dads and moms, with nice homes, 401ks and nice ass lawns" on the phenomenal Wu-Tang influenced "Sandwitches." Anyone that writes lyrics like that (of which there are plenty on the album) off is frankly an asshole, completely ignoring the righteous rage that burns at the heart of "Goblin."

In many ways "Goblin" is the musical equivalent of the film "Gummo," which examined life in a small Ohio town devastated by tornadoes that killed all of the young resident's fathers. It may be ugly, it may be disturbing, but it's nevertheless art and a brilliant meditation from the mind of a fatherless young man making his way in the world, trying to find humor amongst its horrors. It's also as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, a rare feat for confessional hip hop. In fact, its blasphemies and atrocity exhibitions are downright fun at times, particularly for listeners in a society that increasingly resembles a fatherless child itself. Granted, haters are going to hate, and cultural warriors are going to flat line, but for my money Tyler, The Creator is exactly what the world needs right now. He is our punk rock. He is our catharsis. God save the Queen.

"Yonkers" (edit)

"Sandwitches" live on Fallon

"Radicals"