Many of my 2012 LPs

I give up.

I’ve been thinking about the inevitable year-end top whatever list of albums for more than a month now. Countless records have found their way across the turntable or into my phone for listening on the train and some have risen to the top and others aren’t even a blip. But so many of them are just too good to rank, dismiss, or inadvertently diminish by stacking it above (or below) some other great album. The real message that bears conveying is that I’ve listened to a lot of great music this year and, while some of it was new in 2012, some of it dates well back to the past.

In keeping with the spirit of things I’ll limit this post to great things that came out in 2012 but stay tuned for more on those other things that have been occupying my ears in an upcoming post.

First of all, for you listening pleasure, I’ve compiled a Soundcloud playlist that encompasses selections from most of these releases. So fire it up and read away.

New artists are always a delight to encounter. Two that were new for me this year were The Men with their album Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones SBR-071) and Matthew E. White whose debut, Big Inner (Hometapes HT056) blew me away.

The Men – Open Your Heart
Never did get a good pic of that dark cover.

I learned about The Men early in the year when Sacred Bones was promoting their Record Store Day sampler Todo Muere vol 2. (SBR-075). They posted a track called “A Minor” on Soundcloud that convinced me to buy the sampler, look into the band and put their new record on my shopping list. Their 2012 album did not disappoint. Blending the strong hooks and balanced heaviness of post-punk, with sharp lyrics, and excellent chops, Open Your Heart has remained in my play stack since I first picked it up.

Matthew E. White’s name was new to me but I was familiar with some of his previous work either first hand or through friends in Richmond. You can read my longer review of Big Inner here so I’ll simply say that I still love this record and the vibe that it lends me when I spin it up.

I’m always catching up on artists that have been out there for ages doing amazing things. It is impossible, even if it were your full time gig, to know and hear everyone that you might possibly like or even love. Which is why I’m not surprised that I discovered two such artists last year.

MV & EE – Space Homestead

The first is Matt Valentine. He was with The Tower Recordings, a psych-folk group that formed in the mid-nineties before the so-called “freak folk” movement was a thing. They captured fractured psychedelic spaces in such a way that must be heard to be understood. Since the demise of that group, Valentine has been recording with Erika Elder as ‘MV & EE’ as well as solo. I first heard him when he performed as a guest member of Woods in Richmond in December of 2011 and, in 2012 I began to seek out his records. The body of work is quite significant when you begin counting self-released CDr and cassette recordings but last year’s Space Homestead (Woodsist 060) is a perfect launch point into the trippy Vermont mountain space that these guys occupy. I don’t know if they have universal appeal but they certainly appear to my universe.

The next artist that came to my attention is one hell of a prolific performer. Ty Segall released three albums last year with three different bands/collaborations. He’s a San Francisco, CA based multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter whose sound ranges from garage to metal to psych to lo-fi indie rock. All three of his 2012 releases bear note in a 2012 recap so, we’ll start with the most recent. Released in October, Twins (Drag City DC530) swerves all over the map of Segall’s sounds and influences. Ballads, fuzzy psych jams, and folky tunes populate this excellent collection. Slaughterhouse (In The Red Records ITR-231,) released in June, is billed to the Ty Segall Band and presents a heavy, dark, sound worthy of its cover.

Here’s my copy of the 2×10″ Slaughterhouse. This cover scares my kids.

The first release from Segall in 2012 was a collaboration with the lo-fi psych pop excellence known as White Fence. Hair (Drag City DC503) came out in April and delivered a terrific dose of guitar driven garage psych. Not designed so much to rock out but rather to trip out, this album comes together and carries you away to a fantastic electric dream space.

While we’re talking about White Fence, here’s another artist that released three records in 2012 all of which bear mentioning in top ten lists/recaps/etc… In addition to the aforementioned Hair Tim Presley’s White Fence released two albums this year entitled Family Perfume vol. 1 and Family Perfume vol. 2 (Woodsist 057 & 058.) The pair are complementary collections of psych pop that drip with the sounds of mid-60′s Kinks and deeper cuts in the Nuggets catalog. I haven;t been far from these albums all year long. In fact, after the pair were re-released as a compilation, I bought the comp on cassette for my truck.

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without another excellent record from Woods. This year’s entry Bend Beyond (Woodsist 062) holds up to their standard of releasing an excellent album each year. Their sound ranges from blissed out pop on “Cali In A Cup” to heavy janglers like “Size Meets the Sound.” Check my full review of that record here.

While we’re talking about great albums that I’ve already reviewed [disclaimer: I only review albums that I like. Why put out more negativity when the internets already seethe with it? Also, why listen to something that I don't like enough times to write a detailed review?] I should go ahead and let you know that Moon Duo’s album Circles (Sacred Bones SBR-083) still holds up as a ripping fuzzed out psyche rocker. You can read up on it here.

The other record that I reviewed this year (and the most recent previous blog post because I’m a damned slacker with this site although I have been writing elsewhere but that’s not important right now) is Jason Lytle’s Dept. Of Disappearance (Anti- 87166-1).    This record is so good and, as the vinyl release was delayed until earlier this month, I’m currently enjoying a revisit to this beautiful collection of songs. You can see what I said about it in October right here.

Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

Speaking of “beautiful”, if you haven’t listened to Sharon Van Etten’s latest album, Tramp (Jagjaguwar JAG201) you’ve been missing out on a devastatingly powerful combination of voice, lyrics and music. Her lyrics alone will slice your heart out with precision lines like “You’re the reason why I’ll move to the city/You’re the reason why I’ll need to leave.” The first single, “Serpents” builds quickly to a feverish tempo, urgency pulsing as the drums double time and guitars wail deep in the mix. Her movement from a quiet singer/songwriter to a band leader was, in retrospect, inevitable. She commanded the stage and your stereo on her own and now, with a great set of musicians at her back, Van Etten has risen to be a force that you can’t help but notice. Everytime this album hits my turntable, I fall deeper in love with it.

Lastly, I’m going to tell you about a couple surprises from 2012. These next few albums are from artists that go way back and have each bucked the conventional wisdom that states that legacy artists rarely put out relevant music.

Neil Young is here to put that myth to bed. He turned 67 in 2012 and released not one but two solid albums with his old friends Crazy Horse. Americana (Reprise 531195-1) is a look back to the folk legacy of the Americas through the ragged lens that is Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Rides Again. Also, where’s my tonearm in this pic?

Old Stephen Foster songs become dark and heavy rockers and you can’t help but dig it because you already know these songs… Sort of. Young is wringing the sugar out of them and leaving you with the bitter truths about our land and legacy.

The second release, Psychedelic Pill (Reprise 531980-1) is an expansive (3lps!) collection of new material and long, distorted guitar explorations of a sort that Neil and Crazy Horse haven’t delivered on an album in decades, if ever. It’s Young’s longest studio album in his storied career and features an opening cut the tops 25 minutes! The songs are mostly personal, broadening at times to speak of his generation and narrowing at others to mirror themes and ideas presented in Young’s 2012 pseudo-memoir, Waging Heavy Peace. It’ll probably take the next several years to completely unpack this album but the pleasures of doing so make it worth the effort.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor returned to the road from an indefinite hiatus in 2010 and, in 2012 released ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation CST-081-1) to deservedly positive reviews. Is this a marked change for the collective? Not really. But these guys produce music with such an expansive sweep that any new music that isn’t a disappointment (which has not yet happened in my opinion) is a thrill.

Spiritualized – Sweet Heart, Sweet Light

The fact that the two extended tracks on this release are reworking of songs performed live prior to the hiatus matters little when you drop the needle and are carried into the depths of this powerful music.

It had been four years since Spiritualized released an album (Songs In A&E which made my Top of 2008 list) so I was quite excited when not only did they announce a tour but a new album for 2012. Sweet Heart, Sweet Light (Fat Possum FP1263-1) was not only a surprise because it came out at all, it proved to be a stunning return to form for the often ailing Jason Pierce (aka J. Spaceman, the man behind Spiritualized). These songs come with a strength that was scarce on the previous album and while delivering the requisite blend of orchestrations, choruses, and psychedelicized guitars. While Pierce may never top 1997′s Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, he has certainly delivered a work that can easily stand beside it in his catalog.

Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet On Sky

Dinosaur Jr. has been around in some form or another since the mid-1980′s. Although it was largely a J Mascis solo vehicle after Lou Barlow split from the band in ’88 their reformation as a trio in 2005 has earned them favorable reviews. I Bet On Sky (Jagjaguwar JAG228) is their third post-reunion album and hit me as a revelation. Designed to be played loud, this celebration of guitar godliness and laid back vocals catches your ear with vocal hooks, killer riffs and guitar solos that will stand up to any test. Although the album was released in the Summer, I got into it in the Fall and have not gone a week without listening since. It never fails to move me.

And that’s a look at 2012. It’s been a hell of a year and there are tons of great releases that I didn’t include. And then there’s the archival releases (Dick’s Picks on vinyl, anyone?) So, I hope you’ll forgive my longwinded nonsense and lack of ten-to-one format. The enjoyment of music this past year has simply outweighed any possible metrics and made comparisons seem pointless. Here’s hoping that 2013 has more of the same in store (New Besnard Lakes! New Akron Family? Ty Segall already has a single out!)

Dept. Of Disappearance

When Jason Lytle broke up his band, Grandaddy, in 2006 he wanted to get away from music, California, and more. But he couldn’t stay away for long and, in 2009, he gave us the beautiful album, Yours Truly, The Commuter which actually landed on the top spot of my 2009 year-end list. Since then, he’s collaborated with members of Earlimart on Admiral Radley, briefly reunited with Grandaddy earlier this year, and now has delivered another beautiful solo album, Dept. Of Disappearance.

Opening with cassette tape test tones from the 80′s the title cut sounds right at home with Lytle’s earlier work. The synths wash, guitars crunch in with the rhythm section, and the soft-sung vocals flow atop the mix with lyrics that blend paranoia, aggression, and mystery. His grasp of melody and densely layered harmonies is instantly on show here and throughout the record.

The album continues to spin tales of offbeat lives, situations, and worlds. Some are sad (“Somewhere There’s A Someone”), others inspirational (“Get Up And Go”), and some are beyond words (“Last Problem Of The Alps”). “Willow Wand Willow Wand” is infectious and beautiful as it spins a story of an estranged lover looking for forgiveness and the road home. That leads into the aforementioned graceful and haunting, “Somewhere There’s A Someone”. If you’re not a lyrics person, you might simply find this section of the album to be mellow and pretty. If you dig into the words, like myself, you’ll find it to be heartrendingly vivid.

Lytle’s sound is consistent and the songs hang together as a whole in a way that so many artists cannot quite muster. The closer, “Gimme Click Gimme Grid”, soars from a quiet space straight out into the ether and back again in its eight-minute arc, forming a tidy microcosm of the entire record. With that in mind, I wholeheartedly recommend this for straight-through sit-down listening sessions.

Headphones preferred.

http://jasonlytle.com/

Moon Duo – Circles

When I first put on the new Moon Duo record, I expected drones, grooves, and fuzz. It’s those things that I love about their previous two albums (and numerous EPs) so they felt like reasonable expectations. With Circles, I got all of those and a surprising bit more. Guitarist Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) and keyboardist Sanae Yamada, have crafted groovy, shadowy, pop songs from their signature elements and the results hang together in a strong, engaging, album.

The record kicks off with “Sleepwalker” (check it out below in the amusing official video.) Bright, yet distorted, ribbons of  guitar wash through the sharp buzzsaw synth while the groove drives straight into space. There’s clear overtones of 60′s garage pop here; filtered, perhaps, through Spacemen 3. “I Can See” is dark and creepy with its kraut-like rhythm and spiraling, spidery, guitar solo. By contrast, the title track might be the least dark of the nine tracks here. These aren’t just instrumental grooves, either. These are songs and, while the lyrics don’t always pop through the mix, they drive the changes and contain memorable hooks.

If I were to complain about anything (and forgive ma as I will now do exactly that) some of these songs just aren’t long enough. “I Been Gone” and “Sparks” rock and, honestly, I’d love the chance listen to an EP featuring extended mixes of those tracks. That said, it’s better to “leave them wanting more” rather than wanting different. From all reports, this a band worth seeing live so, one can only imagine that these songs stretch and come alive on the stage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Side two contains the lengthiest cuts. The fast stepping, “Free Action” comes complete with catchy lyrics and hand claps in the upbeat rhythm track. The album closer, “Rolling Out”, takes on the band’s more traditionally languid, stoner tempo and cozily inhabits the familiar spaces of their earlier work. It too fades out though, leaving me with a final conclusion: Moon Duo needs to make longer albums.

Saving up for a boxed 4lp set,
-rowjimmy

MoonDuo.org

Buy Circles from Sacred Bones Records

I know you can’t help
That your smile is the brightest
It’s hard to look away

That (almost) haiku that opens Big Inner, the debut release for Richmond, VA band leader, composer, and beard enthusiast, Matthew E. White. The beard thing is, of course, a joke, but the rest is serious business. Founder and composer for the Richmond collective, Fight The Big Bull, Smith has stepped out in front with this album and may find that people won’t want him to simply direct from behind anymore.

My Copy of Big Inner

Those lyrics kick off the slow swaying opening cut, “One Of These Days” which seems, at first, to be a simple soul number. When White begins humming what may be the second half of the verse, one might mistakenly think he’s already out of ideas. But then the horns swell into the mix, the refrain comes along and dammit if there isn’t a haunting choir on the bridge. Before the tune ends there’s even some strings.

Deceptively simple might be the trademark of this album. Judicious mixing keeps so much at bay that would probably overwhelm a listener if White simply pushed up the faders. This is true of many albums but, on Big Inner, many of the tracks are busting at the seams with horns, strings, an excellent rhythm section, straight ahead soul backing vocals, a full on choir and more. “Big Love” pushes more of these out front as the driving tempo is built to carry the bombast. It starts with a (baritone?) sax bleating in the distance before the groove engages and is followed by White’s soft spoken vocals. Two minutes in, the cut reaches the feverish pitch of backing vocals, strings, and hand claps that is the refrain. Then comes the break down. White is smooth and convincing as he declares:

Girl, I am a barracuda
I am a hurricane

I believe this sort of thing used to be called “blue-eyed soul”. I don’t know what color White’s eyes may be but he’s definitely got some soul. His voice breaks slightly as he sings “Darkness can’t drive out darkness. Only love can do that,” on Jimmy Cliff’s “Will You Love Me.” And, as the band rises up behind him, you know that the vocals are sincere.

This buy-in comes just in time for a moving ballad about loss, “Gone Away”. This song cuts to the bone as it questions the loss of a loved one. The contradicting phrases “taken away” and “given away” alternate, revealing a glimpse at the conflict in the heart of grief. In support of this difficult matter, White channels a gospel-influenced choir and majestic horns as a striding, sanctuary piano drives up the center of the mix.

White & Co. at Hopscotch Fest

This is followed by the uplifting “Steady Pace” which, along with a great mood pick up, is a stellar showcase of White’s arranging talents. I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Matthew E. White [billed as Matt White] has arranged horns for Megafaun (whose music readers of this site know I love without reservation.) This favor is returned by Megafaun’s Phil Cook who arranged choral parts and played piano on this record.

In fact, the liner notes read like a Richmond musician’s contact list. White brought in friends and friends of friends in corralling what is not just the first record with his name above the fold but its also the first release from the label he co-founded, Spacebomb Records (the record has been co-released by Portland, Oregon’s Hometapes.) If this is an indication of the direction that Spacebomb will take, I’ll keep listening.

Strings swirl about as White paints a picture of warmed boozing by a Winter fire in “Hot Toddies”.

The lord made lemons and the lord made me
but the devil and his demons gave us sweet whiskey.

As a whisky drinker, I can relate to the sentiment.

From the devil to jeebus, with a brilliant fanfare, the closing track, Brazos engages the listener for a bit of a journey. White explores his thoughts on matters of the spirit as the record slow boils to its final climax. You can’t help but swing with the gospel groove. It smolders with soul as all of the album’s key elements- choir, strings, horns, and a bit of electric guitar (this is not a guitar solo sort of album)- percolate through the extended coda.

Often, it has been said of an artist’s debut album that it is a statement of mission. While that sort of thing may seem trite, this record serves beautifully to remind us that some things, when delivered with sincerity and soul or simply for all the right reasons, are never trite. This album is a mission statement. But it stands as a statement for more than White’s career. It’s about declaring the intent of Richmond, VA to be heard and marked with bold strokes on the musical map of America.

Message received.

Matthew E. White’s Big Inner is available via Hometapes
See also: Spacebomb Records

Check out “Big Love” here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And then get your click on over to NYCTaper to grab White’s set from Hopscotch.

Spinning my copy…

Another year, another great Woods album. What a delightful thing it is to be able to write that sentence. Without doing my journalistic due diligence I’ll venture that this is the sixth year in a row that Woods has delivered a full length album worthy of my attention. The Brooklyn-founded psychedelic folk group continue to meld charming pop hooks into guitar-based soundscapes that alternately jangle into spacey oblivion or stand firmly rooted in the time honored tradition of folk balladry.

If there’s a catch to this group it’s guitarist/vocalist Jeremy Earl’s earnest falsetto vocals. For some, perhaps, that could be a deal breaker. For my part, I love his singing. It just works beautifully with the songs and the instrumentation, driven by Jarvis Taveniere (guitars & more) and bassist Kevin Morby is, perhaps better crafted on this release than any prior. Tape-effects wizard G. Lucas Crane seems to have a diminished roll on this more polished release but this time the songs are pushed further to the front.

Those who have listened to their earlier records (and I do mean records as they release everything on vinyl through their own label, Woodsist) might be concerned that they have stepped away from the extended kraut-esque cuts as found on Sun And Shade. Fear not! Though a bit shorter, the title track contains a stunning distillation of the snarling live beast that floored me at last year’s Richmond show. In less than half the time of a live version they capture the tension, give a dose of the jamming, and deliver the striking lyrics. “Bend Beyond” itself is a stunner but to follow it with the first single, “Cali In A Cup”, whose sun bleached wistfulness makes me long for a Summer that I never had, is as strong a 1-2 punch opener as I’ve heard in a while.

The rest of the record rolls on like this; with the brutally direct “Is It Honest?” (Which caught me off guard on my first spin because the kids were in the room when Earl dropped the F-bomb in the refrain… But I don’t censor music for language too often in my house so I let it spin) followed by the emotional “It Ain’t Easy”. It seems as if the clarity and development of the songs is a deliberate effort to allow them to speak for themselves without the washes of distortion distracting from the point at hand.

Not that the weird doesn’t rise to the top at times. The short but delirious “Cascade” is a garage-surf dynamo with distortion and trippy effects to spare. “Lily” may be the perfect blend of all things Woods. Tape loops, pop melody, charming lyrics, guitar jangle, and hand claps! If that doesn’t have it all, keep listening as “Size Meets The Sound” surely gets there.

And then theres the song “Impossible Sky”. I’m not entirely sure what it’s about, but the check out these lyrics:

without looking up I can see the most impossible skies awake
It’s not our time
It’s horrible, I’m
It’s horrible I’m awake

Those words strike me with the resonance of depression induced reluctance to live. Or maybe it’s just insomnia. Either way this isn’t all sunshine and daisies. These guys breath light and darkness into their music.

My usual song-song breakdown can’t do Bend Beyond the justice it deserves. Suffice to say that I’ve left out some very good bits that you must go discover for yourself. This record highlights some changes that I interpret as growth yet it still has everything I’ve come to love from Woods. Once again, Woods has delivered the goods. Don’t miss out.

As an added bonus, here’s the performance of “Bend Beyond” from Richmond, Va that I filmed. This was on 2011-12-16 and features Matt “MV” Valentine. Woods is on tour now, so check ‘em out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Woodsist.com

Woods @ iTunes