Fave albums of the year
Baby Shambles ““ Down In Albion The Libertines were first, though. That band exploded with the beautiful single “What A Waster“ and continued by kicking Pete Doherty out of the band, mostly because of drug problems, or so I've heard. So, Doherty wasn't going to be kept down. After all, he wrote a buckload of the songs, including almost every bit of lyric, as I understand it, so you can't really keep a good junkie man down. He put together a new group, called it The Libertines, had to strike that name due to...a few legal matters, chose the new name Baby Shambles and then huddled up in a hut with his mates and Mick Jones to make the new album.
The first time I heard it I was en route to a course. On my way to the subway, I remember thinking the first track was utter shit. I still think “La Bàªte Et La Belle“ is a bad song, but at least it feels honestly made, whatever that's worth. Bumping along on the old train, the second song, “Au Rebours“ hit, and I decided to stick with this album for my entire train-ride and see what Doherty with company really had to offer. Hearing Doherty sing “Pay off that big fuck-off dept I owe/To sorrow/To sorrow/To sorrow“ with amazing broken voce, killed me. And he did that just seconds before the guitarist started a great solo. The entire effort reminded me of the relation Bowie had with Mick Ronson, his old, great guitarist.
After the first listen I thought there were a few faint glimpses of hope, and that a second listen might reveal more; mind you, Oasis' “Definitely Maybe“ ruined a lot for me as that album was (and is) brilliant, while Oasis' second album was crap in comparison. So, even though “Down In Albion“ is the debut album from Baby Shambles, I still see it as a follow-up of sorts, much like Morrissey's first solo album was a natural follow-up to “Strangeways, Here We Come“ with The Smiths.
And by the way, why the fuck is Carl Barât hanging his lyrics (not to mention himself wearing dodgy gear) on display in exchange for money from Swedish crap-clothes-maker J. Lindeberg? Another reason to start doing heroin.
Silver Sun ““ Disappear Here James Broad's the name of an English gentleman who looks clearly older than he is. Does that matter? Hell no. What matters is that he fronts Silver Sun since the start of the band, and that he writes melodies like he's trying to addict the world to his hooks. The band's relatively unknown, and stays that way due to the state of the music business today. Am I bitter? Do I have bonds with the band? Hell no again, beeyatches.
So, what's up with this band? Broad and his cohorts make catchy power pop, much in the same sense as Ash and Weezer, but if you're now thinking of the album Weezer made this year, screw that idea and think way better. Silver Sun combine aesthetics from The Beach Boys with those of Ramones and create great pop tracks.
The songs off this album are really great, even those that slap on thick layers of saxophones. Any Swede who hears saxophones as those off this album wants to puke due to a Swedish phenomenon called “gammeldans“, which is played by 30-year-old men (and, at a few times, women) playing music for >70-year-olds. This, of course, isn't the case here.
Even though the lyrics leave a bit to wish for at times, you can't escape the perfect pop emerging from tracks like “Garlic“ and “Bubblegum“. Get to Amazon.com, listen to a few samples off the record and then get it.
Little Brother ““ The Minstrel Show Here's a tasty number. Three great MC's meet up with inspiring producers and make a great album. It's quite De La Soulish, and very modern. I really like this one. If more rappers took themselves less seriously and started making tracks like these, the pap that's currently on the top of the charts would be shelved and forced to make way for quality gear like this.
M.I.A. ““ Arular “Bring di album, it's the Emm Aye Oh and the Ess Oh Vee!“ That's what the offspring would sound like, if M.I.A. reproduced with Lady Sovereign. M.I.A.'s album dropped this year, and is probably at the top of most best-of-year-lists; her gigs with LCD Soundsystem ought to have been the best double-header in my known world, but unfortunately none of them made it to Sweden. M.I.A. mixes great percussion with a grinding vibe, creating the most danceable album of the year. When I dropped “Bucky Gone Done“ at a DJ gig this year, every living soul in the place crowded the floor. The tracks are very good, holding up one by one, which usually isn't the case with dance-oriented albums. Get this one!
Doves ““ Some Cities As Coldplay has now (almost) actually become U2, there's only one, true option for what is generally hated as being stadium rock. Ah, how many bands can you come up with, fitting that description ““ that actually sound good? Doves are the only ones on my list, and with this album they stepped it up. It's still good. Songs like “Snowden“ and “Black And White Town“ make this band great, and they're one of few that bend strings a lot during their crescendos and make it sound good. A little bit of guitarist techy info for you there, but I won't charge for it, bitches. Pick this band up and do yourselves a favour; their own Wall of Sound is grand, and they're also good at playing songs without that kind of arrangement.
Paul McCartney ““ Chaos And Creation In The Backyard How fitting. It took one Beatle to smash the Stones. As Mick Jagger and friends released another boring album worthy of no attention whatsoever, Macca took his time and apparently to getting dissed by Nigel Godrich, the same guy who produced Radiohead's “OK Computer“, among others. “He kept telling me things like 'I don't like that lyric. You can do better.' and at first, I got mad but he kept pushing me to do new things“, Macca says himself, and is pleased with the result. Yeah, he should be.
This isn't a very innovative record per se, but the man has obviously been bending himself to high ground: the lyrics are loaded with puns and I can't name a single solo-album he's made that's better than this one, except for “Ram“, his first after quitting his last band. The melodies are catchy and good. The general air searing through the album is one of playfulness and happiness at doing things in a new way. Most of these songs stay in my memory months after hearing the album, and I still return to it.
Einstürzende Neubauten ““ Grundstuck This is one of EN's “supporter albums“. So, what does that mean? After front-man Blixa Bargeld left The Bad Seeds to concentrate entirely on EN, and at the same time sticking the finger at the multinational ticket-monopoliser Ticketmaster, it soon became evident that the band would need cash to fix their flow. They aren't matching U2 when it comes to sales, if we put it that way, and since this band doesn't whore away, the answer is: turn to the fans. As a paying supporter, EN gets your cash directly and you get access to a buckload of stuff, like this album (apart from the unquestionable, enormous enjoyment of watching the band snivelling away in the studio) and others. The third supporter album, “Phase III“, is due for release early next year.
Don't be scared. This album is great. Most of it's recorded live and EN's done it in a massive church, employing kids to sing with them, creating massive choirs swivelling over industrial sounds run through amplifiers, making polyrhythms that put Talking Heads' albums to shame. This is as German folk-music as it gets, capturing sheer beauty in a basic, human, industrial sense. This is the best, and most, indie album of the year.
Beck ““ Guero WTF, w00t, it's scientology time! Yeah, Beck once again managed to get down with The Dust Brothers, the best hip-hop producers ever (according to a jury consisting of myself) and make this, a disappointment compared with “Odelay“, the last album they made together, but hey ““ this is still good. From the start, “E-Pro“ kicks off an inspirational album that lifts more from “Odelay“ than from Beck's later, slower, sadder albums, and shows how well he's learned from the old and mixed in the new. Tropicalia blends with what Malcolm “idiot“ McClaren would refer to as “chip music“, back to rock latino music mixed with great beats. At best, this album produces one or two of the best songs of the year, “Rental Car“ and “Girl“.
Fuck Me, I'm Famous ““ Mixed by David Guetta If there was a problem, yo, I'll solve it, check out my hooks while-- Even if David Guetta had thrown “Ice Ice Baby“ into this double-CD mix I'd still list it here, so that's how good it is. This is actually a better mix than Dave Clarke's much-awaited “World Service 2“ that also came out this year. Don't get me wrong, I adored the first “World Service“, and even though I'm more of a techno freak than a house fan, “Fuck Me“ by David Guetta takes the bill. It's the mix-album of the year, hands down. Everything from hard-hitting tracks (notably from Tiga, whose coming album, “Sexor“, drops early next year and is sure to incorporate a lot of the hits of this year) to trance-y tunes drop like the best start a party can have. Listen to this on the way to work and start your day speeschul.
Compilations of the year
Public Enemy ““ Power To The People And The Beats What to say? I've dug their compilations of the past, but this one blows those away. If you haven't heard Public Enemy before and you like poetry in the shape of hardened, intellectual lyrics depicting the truth (apart from the fact that PE have supported Nation of Islam, a very anti-white-people-organisation) and great beats ““ this is for you. Chuck D, the head of Public Enemy and one of the greatest MC's so far, once said “rap is CNN for black people“. He said that at a time that CNN was the only, big news-station, but in PE's context, it means people of every colour and nuance are welcome. To The Terrordome.
One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Groups Sounds Lost & Found Ah, the nasty taste of sexism. Yes, you read it. A lot of the lyrics complementing the great melodies bring tears to your eyes for the wrong reason. One can argue a lot of the lyrics are due to love, like “He's Got The Power“ by The Exciters:
Yeah yeah yeah He makes me do things I don't wanna do He makes me say things I don't wanna say And even though I wanna break away I can't (stop saying I adore him I can't stop doing things for him) He's got the power, the power of love over me.
Another one's The Angels' “I Adore Him“:
They say he's cheating on me But I don't care Cause when I need his loving He's always there I can't help but wonder why I've been blessed with such a guy And that he's mine I adore him
Despite of lyrics such as these ““ and you'd best believe there are none like those that are sung by a man, anywhere ““ this collection does contain utterly brilliant tracks as well.
I'm a huge fan of Dusty Springfield's “Dusty In Memphis“ and hail it as one of my top ten albums, ever. Hands down. It might even be in the top five, but I'm not John Cusack, so fuck yourselves before you even start thinking of it. “You're such a slag“, as Vicky Pollard would have said. Anyway, where was I, slag? Oh. Thanks to this collection I discovered Dusty's “Magic Garden“, which is EASILY the best track found this year. It just won't wear out. It's one of those tracks that you want to play again, again, again and then start over and pretend you've never heard it, so you can re-discover it. It makes you play other tracks so you can try and forget it, but fuck that, you lose, and the track starts to dominates your whole existence, so just give up and over-indulge in it!
Other tracks, like The Cookies' “I Never Dreamed“ (the melody of which, through the verses and the chorus, Morrissey stole for his “Girl Least Likely To“), are just great in melody and sound. There are loads of examples of people trying to emulate Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound, some actually succeeding. Other tracks are just cute, like Twinkle's “Terry“ and Petula Clark's “Heart“, while some are eternal, such as Carole “songwriter supreme“ King's “Crying In The Rain“ (yes, the one A-Ha covered) and P.P. Arnold's “The First Cut Is The Deepest“.
Death In Vegas ““ Milk It: The Best Of It's a strange venture. These guys have been deejaying for loads of time, been pals with people like Primal Scream and The Chemical Brothers, and still have had time to make a few brilliant tracks. I'm no modern-day Paul Weller-fan, but “So You Say You Lost Your Baby“ is a great rocking track. There's more to DiV than rock, of course. “Aisha“ is a great track off “The Contino Sessions“, noisy, organ-tinged and beat-laden mother with Iggy Pop squealing for the lost woman on top of it all. Aisha! The second CD contains mixes, of which the best is Dave Clarke's mix of “Rocco“.
John Peel ““ A Tribute There have been a slew of different types of tributes to one of the greatest, truly most eclectic, voices in radio ““ John Peel ““ since his death last year. The most interesting is this one, a double album collecting a lot of tracks by a lot of different bands. Yeah, of course “Teenage Kicks“ is in here, but so are tracks from Peel faves The Fall, Captain Beefheart, Super Furry Animals, The Smiths, Billy Bragg, T. Rex, Altered Images, Ramones and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Super Furry Animals ““ The Reissues
No, that's not a title. A few of their old albums have been reissued as double albums, with a bunch of b-sides tagging along with the original album. Nothing's been remastered or touched, so why buy it? Well, if you're a completist, the answer's obvious, but if you want another one, it's bizarre enough: at times, these reissues are cheaper to buy than the single-disc original. So there you go. If you haven't heard SFA yet, do yourself a favour and go get the reissued version of “Guerilla“. I may have played that album more than fifty times, all in all, no exaggeration.
To look forward to next year ““ coming soon
Immortal Technique ““ The Middle Passage If this is better than “Revolutionary“ volumes I and II, Immortal will overtake the entire business. If only he'd gain a sense of feminism he'd become unstoppable. “The Middle Passage“ will, according to his record company, be released in January.
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit The advance copy is mind-blowing and I don't think I'm saying anything too early, by telling you this is probably their best album so far. They've incorporated a lot of American sound for this number, and all for the best. Far gone is the reverb-and-echo-filled sound of a Glaswegian church. Think compressors and Stevie Wonder-tightness, circa “Talking Book“. It's a twee (pun intended) bit as if the band has listened to SFA's “Love Kraft“. It's playful, crammed with hooks, very good lyrics, loads of falsetto chorii and brilliant melodies. This album radiates greatness, and is set for release in February.
Utter crap (when people should know better)
System Of A Down Alternative? Odd? Hardcore? What more can possibly be said? Well, this is an awkward situation, mostly due to their fans not having listened to more vital music ““ just because it's actually older. The music of SOAD sounds as if Frank Zappa, the second reason why this band makes music (the first being money), would have been raped by Rush and Kyuss, but hey, that's not a fair comparison! A fair comparison would be, say, if Vanilla Ice would have been raped by Rush and Kyuss while (unexplicably) listening to Zappa. Imagine that happening, and the really, really unwanted child becoming SOAD.
So people say they're talented. Believe me, I have nothing against nonsensical lyrics or a constant change of tempi during songs, but this is just too boring despite those traits ““ and how's that even possible? I don't know. I just yawn while they “churn it out“ and are “eclectic“.
The music business in general Yeah, I mean the big ones. Get ready for a rant. The music companies that regard themselves as immortal, claiming downloading actually hurts the artists - when those actually earn merely a pittance off the albums that are sold. I'm not trying to say stealing music is right, but I can't give a flying (or dying) fuck about an industry that shits on the artists that make damn sure these companies stay afloat.
When I interviewed Photek a year back, he said he thought the music business, as we knew it today, which means a mere three gigantic companies that together run over 80% of the business, would soon crumble and die. Surely, I do think he's right; I just don't know how soon “soon“ is. This business is like a gigantic phoenix; as soon as they go down, they're up ““ because of money.
Just as green A&R's will tell, the tastes swing, no matter how bad things are, i.e. how the companies pick what tastes the general public should have. Even though A&R-people can pick the “winners“ (i.e. the artists that will make the most money for their company) at times, this doesn't stop their huge money-machine from turning into something that people don't want.
I'm pretty sure most MTV-watching, radio-pumping persons know that most of the music that's played on commercial TV, radio and mobile phones consists of a few artists who are picked because their company has paid the channels for it to be heard.
Robbie Williams is the biggest male artist on the planet. Does that make him the best? Shakira is probably one of the biggest female artists, having just released an album called “Oral Fixation Vol. 2“. How more degrading and sex-fixated can this business get? Never mind, just go back to watching American Gladiators again, world. That's a Bill Hicks paraphrase, of course.
People tire from hearing the same shit over and over. Never matter if it's Robbie Williams or Shakira playing, you know it's glossy, the production's more important than the artist herself/himself (because that's the big selling-point) and the songs often lack a lot of the oomph, the good in music. Because you don't want to be an idiot, you start listening to new artists, who either stay underground, sell a little or blow up entirely, thus Phoenix-restarting their careers in the bad league, i.e. start working for The Man.
Lady Sovereign is a good example of what might happen. Now 18 years old, LS has pushed out a few singles with English garage-based acts such as Basement Jaxx and The Streets. She recently signed with Jay-Z, who claims to have found her himself. Anyway, she's going to attract big coverage, as the big media and the big companies don't want to miss the wave. When I write “big“ I mean money-wise. When I write “wave“ I mean a wave of money. That's all that a corporation cares about, and you can be damn sure all they really care about is money. Jim Reid, one of the two brothers who founded and were The Jesus & Mary Chain, once said if you throw a brick through a Warner [=one of the record companies they were on] you won't hit anybody who loves music.
It's a question of history repeating. When people tired of the advanced play of bands of the mid-seventies, those that churned out music that was too complex for home-musicians, i.e. the girls and boys pounding a guitar that's missing a string, using cardboard boxes instead of a drum-set, tired of Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, Genesis and Pink Floyd, and started making back-to-basic stuff, like The Animals and The Kingsmen did it. The Modern Lovers broke through, then Ramones, then the movement kicked off in the UK, and The Sex Pistols, X-Ray Subs and the lot came along and all played (sometimes) great songs consisting of three chords and maybe a guitar solo. But that solo didn't have to be hard to play, damn it.
So, is the music damn hard to play now? No. I can probably figure out how to play Robbie Williams' latest single on the guitar, but I'm not interested ““ and I'm pretty fucking far from Jimi Hendrix when it comes to dexterity and technique. So what's the problem? The problem is that there are 20 songs playing on the radio, over and over. And those songs are picked by the rich record companies, that pay the radio channels to play that shit.
Hence I say: support your local lovely record-retailer, and not a corporation. Buy the records you like and support new ideas that make sure the artist gets the money, and not just the record label.