Best Albums of 2009, Part 2: #25-21

PREVIOUS>>
Part 1 - Rules and Runners Up

#25

Blank Dogs - Under and Under
In the Red

Most bands never succeed in carving out a sound that's entirely their own, but Mike Sniper's lo-fi goth doesn't sound like anything else out there. Deeply reverbed synthesizers and guitars take the best from the original goth movement, leaving the melodrama in 1980. What's left are intriguing, dark pop songs. The "lo-fi," effects-laden production buries distorted vocals, leaving everything hard to make out. The effect sends chills down my spine. It's the feeling of encroaching darkness and the sense that some profoundly disturbing secret is lurking in the shadows. If you've ever been in an abandoned hospital or a spooky forest or someplace similarly eerie at night, you know what it's like when you can't quite make out what's frightening or explain it to someone else, but you feel a tangible chill in your bones. That's what this album does to me.

Read more from the original RFR review...

How I found it: the internet!
Track picks: "Setting Fire to Your House," "No Compass," "Slowing Down"
Link: [MySpace]


#24

Cold Cave - Love Comes Close
Matador

Once again, I have to resort to quoting the press release because I can't paraphrase this and be as spot on: "equal parts romance and nihilism." Cold Cave's Matador debut draws from new wave synthpop, but just as much comes from krautrock, industrial and no wave music, making catchy music that's purposefully, powerfully vacant and inhuman. It's a statement of disillusionment and knowingly futile emotion. If Nietzsche had made an album of synth-based love songs, it would sound like this.

Read more from the original RFR review...

How I found it: They opened for Crystal Stilts and Love Is All last year.
Track picks: "Youth and Lust," "The Trees Grew Emotions and Died"
Link: [MySpace]


#23

Thee Oh Sees - Help
In the Red

I wasn't that smitten with Thee Oh Sees when I first saw them last summer, but when I put on their album for the first time, it immediately grabbed my attention. The band's fuzzy, lo-fi garage tunes manage a rare balance between strongly stated professionalism and youthful indie-ness. The songs are well-written pop tunes, but they take themselves seriously, with instrumentation and production that packs a real punch. These guys are fun, but they aren't just fooling around.

How I found it: bunch of ways
Track picks: "Enemy Destruct," "Peanut Butter Oven"
Link: [MySpace]


#22

Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Mute

Fever Ray, a.k.a. Karin Dreijer Andersson, the frontwoman of acclaimed electronic duo the Knife, released her solo debut this year. Dark, dense and wild, Fever Ray is an intensely primal album, both more earthy and more cryptic than the Knife's work. The music evokes dark images of untamed wilderness, ancient times and the occult, enigmatically hinting at the deep pain of some past trauma and an ensuing psychological deterioration. Andersson's powerful voice is one of the strangest and most evocative to emerge since Bjork's heyday, and here, it is fully unfettered.

How I found it: "Salvador" turned me on to it
Track picks: "If I Had a Heart," "Now's the Only Time I Know"
Link: [MySpace]


#21

Dälek - Gutter Tactics
Ipecac

Being the only group in the world (to my knowledge) that can be classified as "noise rap," Dälek never ceases to be exciting. Gutter Tactics may not be their best work to date, but it's still a remarkable accomplishment. Rap's usual rhymes and beats here meet screeching, jarring iceflows of pure noise. Drawing from shoegaze and ambient as well as industrial and krautrock, Dälek is one of those rare bands loud enough to slam you back against the wall the first time you hear them. The lyrics are smart and meaningful, but unfortunately, the MC's delivery can be a little bland. Still, Dälek is one of the most boldly original groups on earth - here's hoping they're a precursor of what's to come in the next decade of music!

How I found it: I first heard of Dälek when they did a split release with "no-gazers" IfWhen.
Track picks: "Gutter Tactics," "No Question"
Link: [MySpace]

NEXT>> Part 3: #20-16
Part 4: #15-11
Part 5: #10-6
Part 6: #5-1

Album: Why? - Eskimo Snow

Album: Eskimo Snow
Anticon, 2009
Rating: ********* (9/10)

In 2008, Ohio-born, San Francisco-based Why? generated some excitement with their indie rock-styled rap album Alopecia. Though original and ultimately one of the most interesting releases of 2008, Alopecia was not the most sophisticated of records, including quite a few skippable tracks and only a handful of really memorable ones.

It's only 2009, but Eskimo Snow could hardly be further from its predecessor. Gone are almost all traces of rap, replaced with rich indie rock and twangy hints of country and folk. And yeah, that sounds awful, but it simply blows Alopecia out of the water. Introspective and startlingly earnest, the album shows a drastic leap in maturity. (True, this was recorded at the same time as Alopecia, but it sounds eons more grown-up.)

Despite the dramatic stylistic shift, Eskimo Snow doesn't confuse Why?'s identity as a band, probably because founder-singer-leader Yoni Wolf has a distinct unpolished voice and a distinct lyrical style, whether he's singing or rapping his lines. Of course, he's dropped the zingers of last year ("I never said I didn't have syphilis, Miss Listless") in favor of more brooding lines ("You might find me in the white pages yet / my name is next to numbers / like someone's father's father / left listed in the book of numbers"), but if anything, he's gotten more clever. From loaded images to morbid questions, Wolf's lyrics are relentlessly smart and sincerely affecting.

These rhymes are backed mostly with piano and percussion, but with some guitars and more synthesized sounds stepping up as needed. Ever the student of hip-hop, Wolf keeps a certain rhythmic sensibility even while departing fully from the genre (for the clearest example, check "On Rose Walk, Insomniac"). The best part of the album, however, may be the melodies. Foregoing simple catchy hooks, Eskimo Snow takes on the harder task of making complex melodies while not drifting off course. And in this, it succeeds far beyond expectation, keeping each song memorable and purposeful despite the lack of short-scale repetition. After each moment of excellence, one expects something a bit weaker to follow, but every single one of the album's ten tracks is as good as the last.

Why? albums have all been frank, but until now, Wolf has diluted his vulnerability with wit and the aforementioned "zingers," plays on words and general badassery. On Eskimo Snow, he rips himself open. It's courageous and profound, as he struggles with early adulthood and its profound fears and realizations. Emotional pain, personal battles and insecurities come flooding out, all with intelligence and a very healthy sense of humor.

Mid-way through the album, Wolf muses "Saying all this in public should make me feel funny / but you gotta yield yell[?] something that you never tell nobody." A surprisingly mature, accomplished and touching album, Eskimo Snow may be an upset in critics' year-end and even decade-end lists. And you should definitely get it in touch with your ears as soon as possible - i.e. its official release date, tomorrow.

[MySpace]

Live: A Place to Bury Strangers + Nine 11 Thesaurus, Reading Rainbow

When: 9/11
Where: The Maze @ Death By Audio

Another day, same maze. The first band I saw on Friday was the hip-hop crew Nine 11 Thesaurus. I was surprised to see a [black] rap group in midst of a [white] indie rock hipster crowd, but it wasn't as awkward a situation as it could have been. Normally, indie rock culture seems to do all it can to skirt around the issue of race, which of course only makes the potential for antagonism worse. However, at this show, mutual respect seemed to be the rule. As for the music, it was pretty hard-edged East Coast rap, though poppy enough to avoid alienating listeners. The beats were unremarkable and the rapping was nothing special. However, the group's rowdy, enthusiastic delivery made up for some of the set's less exciting aspects. [MySpace]

Next up, in the back room, I was able to get a good view of Philadelphia duo Reading Rainbow. Their minimal, noisy garage rock was enjoyable, but I was saddened by the thought that in two weeks, I won't remember them. Minimalist drumming + minimalist guitar + rough-around-the-edges songs is simply one of the most common formulas in post-2000 indie rock, and with so many folks on the bandwagon, you'd have to do something pretty spectacular to stand out, no matter how genuine and solid your music. [MySpace]

I think some other bands played but I had to get some dinner and just made it back in time to secure a spot in sight of the stage for the already-legendary A Place to Bury Strangers. From where I stood in the maze, I could see singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann much of the time and occasionally glimpse drummer Jay Space. They pumped the front of the house so full of fog from a smoke machine, however, that even the few of us whose view wasn't completely obscured by the walls of the maze could barely make out the band.

Two words came simultaneously to describe the show - visceral and visual. The former is just the impact of the sheer volume, pealing feedback and roaring distortion from Ackermann's custom pedals, along with intense, ice-cold, break-speed beats. The latter, however, is a bit of a bummer, given that most of the audience couldn't appreciate the visual components. From where I was standing, however, the visual attack was one of the most notable of the show.

As a general rule, APTBS uses strobe lights to bring things up a notch for the closing parts of their set, and while I'd always thought this was effective, seeing it in such a small space, in such densely smoky air, brought the concept to a new level. Part of me thinks bands shouldn't rely on visual props, and while APTBS's music can stand on its own, it definitely sounded weaker to me when I closed my eyes.

However, during this show, the murk and the strobe suddenly made perfect sense to me. I have a hard time looking at strobe lights and usually avert my eyes, but this time, I made myself stare straight onto the stage. APTBS thrives on overloading its audience with sonic stimuli, and when coupled with a visual overload, this can basically cause an altered state of consciousness. Distortion on a guitar is created by bombarding a circuit with an electric current beyond its capacity. In a similar way, APTBS attacks your brain with too much for its circuits to handle, and the result is a feeling of utter detachment from the surroundings and total physical and mental immersion in the music as it unfolds.

The only band I've seen with a similar psychological effect is My Bloody Valentine, who, of course, accomplish the same thing to a far greater degree (and generally without relying on visuals). MBV redefined what a concert experience could be and APTBS seems to have taken up their mantle in pushing these extremes. They haven't broken new ground yet, but they may well be on their way. [MySpace]

Dust It Off: Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus

Album: Funcrusher Plus
Rawkus Records, 1997

Here at RFR, I don't talk a whole lot about rap, but that doesn't mean I'm not listening to it. And for this Wednesday's "Dust If Off," it seems like it's time to once again step outside the boundaries of rock to review one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

Hailing from our very own New York City, Company Flow represents the hardest line of underground rap. Funcrusher Plus sounds like the music we'll be hearing after the apocalypse - stark, militant and haunted. Unlike many other independent hip-hop artists, Company Flow never went in for electronica, ambiance or indie rock tricks. Their rap is a straightforward, hardcore verbal assault.

Funcrusher is the group's finest achievement and arguably the finest achievement in the history of underground rap. Unlike other 90's hip-hop, it doesn't sound dated, even though it's been more than ten years since its release. This is largely due to the minimalism of the beats, with little other than drums supporting the voice on many tracks.

Funcrusher is a concept album, and while the concept is a bit hard to completely follow, it's undeniably post-apocalyptic - the barren beats imitate futuristic wastelands and the rapping is delivered with an urgency that's unrelentingly ominous. At times, the production borders on avant-garde, without losing its hip-hop cool. For example, "The Fire In Which You Burn" features only a pounding off-beat rhythm and a simple, slowly plucked sitar under the words.

The vocals are dense, with few repeating choruses, so after dozens of listens, you'll still have only caught about half the words. There's a dystopian theme made clear by songs like "Population Control," but this metaphorical setting ties flawlessly in to the album's more concrete subjects - the disturbing cycle of poverty and oppression in inner-city neighborhoods, the corruption of the music industry and the terrifying power huge corporations wield in our lives. I don't usually go in for the political lyrics, but Company Flow makes the politics personal - they aren't talking about ideals as much as trying to survive in a violent and repressive society.

Those put off by gangsta rap's glorification of violence will be relieved by tracks like "Last Good Sleep," a harrowing personal account of the spectre of domestic abuse, and "8 Steps to Perfection," which proclaims "if you murder up in the ghetto, you murder in a temple." It can be slightly preachy, but for the most part, that is counteracted by its absolutely anti-idealistic worldview.

By all counts, this is one of the greatest albums of its time. Its sparseness was a major coup for independent and underground rap, proving you don't need a major label budget to put out something astounding and hardcore. It's a musical triumph as well, pushing rap to its extreme in density and complexity of rhythm - few MCs have ever matched El-P's delivery. Most importantly, the sonic and verbal assault is gripping, with intelligent rage bleeding through on every track.

Five Creepy Songs for Halloween

5. Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus) - Duh.

4. I Love You But You're Dead (Destroy All Monsters) - This song is about the confusion you feel when you love a person, but they have died and are just a corpse. And how that's kind of a problem in your relationship. Key lyric: "I love you, but you're dead / You make my bed all red!"

3. TIE: Mildred Pierce v. Pacific Coast Highway (Sonic Youth) - Hard to pick the creepier of these Sonic Youth tunes. Mildred Pierce involves a tense, repetitive guitar line followed by shrieking. Pacific Coast Highway features really sweet sounding lyrics (read them first if you can) sung by Kim Gordon in a way that makes them deeply disturbing. I don't think I slept for a week after I heard this one. Sonic Youth runner-up: Dude Ranch Nurse ("Let nurse give you a shot / It's something to do...")

2. Blue Flowers (Dr. Octagon) - The production on this underground rap classic sounds like an old horror film. And it's from an album that chronicles the adventures of a serial killer alien gynecologist. Seriously.

1. Carol (Slint) - This song is completely terrifying.