ON ROTATION

Lots of great music. Not enough time to write about it all...but here's what's on rotation for me right now. 

Balthazar,  Fever 

   Song: Fever

Two People, First Body 

   Song: In The Garden

TOP ABLUMS OF 2017

Tough year. It weighed heavily on me. I often found myself overwhelmed by my thoughts, feelings, concerns, and frustrations for the state of our country and the world at this truly polarizing time. Thank goodness for family, friends, community, and music!

The role that music plays in my life is a significant one. No more so then in times like these. And this year, in-particular, my musical tastes, interests, and needs bounced between two extremes. One extreme was music that could totally help me escape to my happy place. The other was music that spotlighted those things that weighed heavily on me. 

My list of favorite albums reflects these extremes, which is why it is twice the length of the past few years. So with 12 months of listening and more albums than I can count, here are my favorite 20 albums of 2017. 

1. LCD Soundsystem, American Dream

   

2. Hurray For The Riff Raff, The Navigator

 

3. Little Cub, Still Life

    

4. Susanne Sundfør, Music For People In Trouble 

    

5. Ulver, The Assassination of Julius Caesar

   

    

6. Trampolene, Swansea To Hornsey

   

7. Wolf Parade, Cry Cry Cry

    

8. Pumarosa, The Witch 

    

9. Everything Everything, A Fever Dream 

    

10. Dori Freeman, Letters Never Read

    

ON ROTATION

After almost a year of listening to lots and lots and lots of music, I will admit that I get a bit burnt out and it becomes harder for new music to get me excited. And the music that does get me excited, I frankly want to simply enjoy listening to it and not necessarily write about it. With this said, here are four recently released albums that I have been listening to and enjoying....a lot! All are quite special and definitely rise above many of the albums that I have reviewed this second half of the year.

M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Anthony Gonzalez, the French wonder-musician behind M83, has been dazzling with his electro-shoegazing music for a decade now. And his latest album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, is by far his most ambitious outing to date. A 22 song, double album, it's epic in its shear scale and effort. Fortunately, the album is also packed full of music that lives up to the ambition. While many of the songs have an early '80's synth sound to them, the album feels quite contemporary. I really like how Gonzalez is less interested in creating pop songs, than a body of work filled with richly textured pieces that create a great listening atmosphere and space. 
Midnight City  

Lisa Hannigan, Passenger

Irish, singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan has one of the most beautiful voices that I have heard in a very long time. The first time I heard her I was absolutely captivated by it. Matching her wonderful voice is her songwriting and musicianship which is every bit as good. In general, I really, really like Hannigan's sophomore album, Passenger. What I absolutely love are the quieter and more tender songs and moments on the album where her voice just shines. She can convey so much with her voice, and it is sometimes lost in the 'bigger' songs. Regardless, this is a wonderful album and it has what is one of my favorite songs of the year in Little Bird.
Little Bird   

The Roots, Undun
Last year I made the mistake of not including The Roots' album, How I Got Over, as one of my favorite album picks of the year. A year later, it is one of the albums released last year that I listen to on a regular basis. What was I thinking? I have always appreciated and loved The Roots incredible combination of musicianship and social consciousness that permeates their lyrics. And Undun is another absolutely stunning and phenomenal album that blends the two perfectly. Described as the existential retelling of the life of a fictional street hustler named Redford Stephens, the album follows his brief rise and fall. It's a gripping and tragic story, and it should not be missed. 
Make My 

Amy Winehouse, Lioness: Hidden Treasures
I was always a fan of Amy Winehouse. As much as I liked Back In Black, her sophomore-break through album, it was her debut album, Frank that really grabbed me. She was only 19 at the time, but she sang with the power, confidence, and knowledge of someone who was much older. She magnificently blended influences of of soul, jazz, and blues from decades that came and went..decades before she was born. On Lioness: Hidden Treasures, I am once again reminded at how special Winehouse was at interpreting the music that so heavily influenced her and how she was so easily able to make it relevant, exciting, and fun. 
                                                       Best Friends, Right? 

Other Lives, Tamer Animals

A few months back, Other Lives, who hail from Stillwater, Oklahoma, release there sophomore album, Tamer Animals. I had read that it took the band almost 14 months to complete it. Listening to it, you know why. It is a dramatic album that is both orchestrally and sonically rich. The attention that the band has paid to detail throughout the album is self evident and listening to it becomes a wonderful exercise in identifying all of the instruments and sounds placed within these songs.  

Last week I had an opportunity to see Other Lives play live at the Paramount Theatre here in Seattle. Having listen to Tamer Animals many times, I was very curious to see how they actually built these songs and how much of what I was hearing on the album was done with live instruments vs. using synthesizers and sampled sounds. I was amazed to see and hear that almost everything that I was hearing was actually being played lived by all five members of the band. They are all multi-instrumentalists in every sense of the word. At one point I had counted six different instruments that Jonathan Mooney had played in the span of two songs: violin, piano, guitar, trumpet, xylophone, and percussions. After seeing them play live, my appreciation for what they have accomplished with Tamer Animals is even greater than before. 

Below are three in-studio performances that the band did last week for hear*ya at Shirk Music & Sound in Chicago. Seeing them play some of their songs again live was a real treat and very cool. Instruments change from one song to the next so take the time to watch them all. They are a very impressive band.

Sóley, We Sink

A few months back I heard I'll Drown, the first track off of Sóley Stefánsdóttir's recently released debut album We Sink. I was completely captivated by the song and by Sóley.

Sóley's, who is a member of the Icelandic band Seabear, has a beautiful, warm, and subtle voice that floats in a just under-the-radar kind of a way. She reminds me of Emiliana Torrini, who I have admired for a long time. I had read that after many years of singing in private, Sóley got used to the sound of her own voice and finally discovered her own vocal skills. I'm glad she did.

Released last month, We Sink is a wonderful album that feels less like thirteen individual songs and more like a journey through a dark and restrained musical dreamland. In it, Sóley uses her subtle vocal style and singing to weave stories, some quirky, some odd, all seemly other-worldly, through her musical landscape. With open and minimalistic instrumentation, perfectly placed elements and little touches throughout.....a simple dancing piano line, adding something whimsical to an otherwise dark and somber moment, a snapping finger or clapping hand to create musical texture, as well as rhythm....Sóley ultimately creates imagery in one's mind that that lingers long after the music has stopped. This is especially true for songs like Kill The Clown and About A Funeral which have a Danny Elfman-Like feel to them. 

I'll Drown 

While my first listen to We Sink was enjoyable, I did not truly appreciate it until I listened to it again and let myself be drawn into it's stories and landscapes. We Sink is an artful album on which everything Sóley does is intentional, but nothing feels forced or false. This is a great debut for Sóley and one that is definitely worth taking the time to explore.  

Smashed Birds 
One of my favorite songs on We Sink is Smashed Birds. It's a beautiful and haunting song. Below is a video for the song that really compliments it well. Enjoy.

ON ROTATION

Bon Iver, Bon Iver
I think that I am one of the few people who did not immediately pay attention to Bon Iver's self-titled album when it was released last month. Having absored myself in it for the past two weeks, I must say that it is truly one of the most amazing listening experience that I have had this year. If this makes any sense, on Bon Iver, Justin Vernon, who is more or less the band, takes us deeper into an emotional place and space than on his debut album by expanding the band's sound. With richly textured and sonically beautiful songs, Vernon, creates a musical landscape that can be explored over and over again, and still feel new and authentic with each listen. Plug yourself into this album with some good headphones and allow yourself to be taken away by
                                                        this one.
                                                        Calgary   

Admiral Fallow, Boots Met My Face
Glasgow is one of my favorite cities and I have always been impressed with the city's vibrant music scene. Admiral Fallow, who hail from this great city have just release their debut album, Boots Met My Face. Putting aside the fact that I am a sucker for a Glaswegian accent, I love what Admiral Fallow is doing on this album. With a kind of rough folk-rock sound, the band beautifully balances the warmth of so much of the Scottish folk music that I love with a more contemporary sound. I hope that Admiral Fallow's album helps this Scottish sound find a wider audience like Mumford and Sons' album Signs No More did for the English equivalent. 
Squealing Pigs   

Bobby, Bobby
Colleges can serve as great incubators for young bands. This has certainly been the case for the band Bobby. What started off as an academic musical project at Bennington College, evolved into something much more. On their debut album, the seven members of Bobby have created an impressive, sprawling twelve song listening journey. I really like the confidence that the band shows in taking its time with these sophisticated, psychedelic, folk-dream pop like songs.
Sore Spores   

Sounding Out: Delay Trees

Back in September of 2010, Delay Trees released their self-title album in their home country of Finland. In the months that followed, the album gained attention outside of Finland and the band saw the album get released in other countries. This past month, American label Friendly Fire Recordings, released the album here in the states.

When I spoke with Rami Vierula, the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the band, he said with the release, Delay Trees have realized a dream that they would not have thought possible a few years back.

“It has been so exciting just the fact that Friendly Fire wanted to release our album in the States….It is a big thing for a Finnish band to get a release in the US. Most of the artists and popular culture that we lived with growing up came from America. And America holds a special place in our hearts, that is also why I am singing about dreams of America on Cassette 2012.”

I had read in another interview Rami describe the band’s music as ‘a quiet melancholic city with a strong Edward Hopperian mood around it.’ I asked him what it was about Edward Hopper’s works that inspired him. He said that the first time he saw an Edward Hopper painting, he was drawn in.

“It struck me as a very pretty and very serene picture, but it also had this weird melancholy around it. I think that his painting speaks the same language as some of our music in that it's minimalistic and it is very concentrated on the mood and the atmosphere in the picture, and there are very small, tiny, spaces that can take the picture into another sphere.”

Rami said that while the world of painting art inspires him, the cinematic art form is closer to his heart. “Sometimes I watch a movie and it leaves a feeling or mood inside me that I just want to somehow use. When I was a teenager, I went to see Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. It left this weird mood in my head and it forced me to create something.”

Rami also pointed to the Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni as another filmmaker that has had a dramatic impact on him as an artist and musician. “I never got into Antonioni’s movies, story-wise, but his imagery really affected me. He has this style that is very, very slow…..slow takes and big, almost panoramic images. I remember when I was writing the closing track of the album 4:45am….it is about an auto-biographical situation or happening that I lived through….I sort of wanted to think about it as an Antonioni movie, so the sounds are sort of static all the time and there is this mellow dreamy canvas that the melody and lyrics fall on.” Musically, his hope is that songs, like this one, create many images in the listener’s head.

4:45am   

There is definitely a story being told in the dynamics of the music. Quiet tender moments give way to walls of sound that crescendo and then fall back down. These changing dynamics are all intended to help create a cinematic feel to the songs, says Rami.

Rami said that the downside of Delay Trees’ music, like the slower art cinema movies that he loves, is that it really requires a commitment of time to fully let it create an atmosphere for someone to go inside. Rami said that for this reason he is jealous for bands like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart who can make wonderful pop songs that are instantly understood. “Our music is very different. But we have to do our music this way even though it may not be the wisest thing to do.” He laughed. “It is definitely not the most popular.”

One of the things that I appreciated about this album stylistically is the clarity and crispness of the vocals. They are placed right there on top and they are not buried in a wall of sound. I find it to be refreshing and I like the juxtaposition it creates between the vocals and the sound and texture that is taking place in the background.

“We love the dream pop style, and bands liked The Cocteau Twins or Slowdive, especially Slowdive. I really like that their lyrics and vocals had this clarity. On this album, we were aiming for something for people to be able to approach and grasp onto a little bit more easily than just a wall of sound in the vocals.”

Rami said that when the vocal are clearer it can definitely give the straight emotion from the singer to the listener. “I am not really sure if our album or my vocal performance does it,” he laughed, “but at it’s best it can do that.” He said that they wanted to maintain the vocal clarity for the lyrics as well.

Lyrically, I told Rami that the main character or protagonist in these songs seems to be really struggling to make sense of his world and find any happiness. I asked if there was hopefulness for this person or these people.

Rami said that he does not like to explain lyrics too much. Leaving open spaces for people to interpret the lyrics is important to him. It is what keeps people coming back to books or music or film over time. “I do think that is why people listen to albums over and over again or go see movies that they have already seen..they want to make sense of it and dwell in the mood that the movie or music creates. And that is what I have wanted to do with my lyrics.”

When I pushed him, Rami did talk a little bit more about his lyrics. Some of the songs he said are about the depression that the everyday life creates because of the unemployment in the country or just the long winters.

Photo By Aapo Huhta

I joked with him that it is warm and sunny out now and reason to be happy. “Well, yeah, and I love the weather now, and I’m quite a happy guy, but during the summer time I usually don’t write very much. It happens during autumn and when it starts to get darker and colder. Now it is full of light and it is warm and it will be this way for the next four months, but when it is six months of darkness and coldness it can get in your head.”

“I don’t know if it is part of being Finnish….we are quite a melancholy people. In America, you do have a much more optimistic way of dealing with life and futures. I do think that it can be quite hard for people to listen to our music, but we don’t want to make it hard. It is just my feelings and stories that I, or people around me have gone through." In Finland, he said, many find his lyrics melancholy, but hopeful.

I asked Rami specifically about the song About Brothers, which is a wonderful song and a band favorite. “This is really about my feelings about ending a relationship with a friend of mine. I don’t have biological brothers, but I do feel that he is a brother of mine. When you come to the point of people having kids and moving to other towns because of their jobs or lives, it feels like the old friends that you had are not the same anymore because of what life makes them.”

About Brothers   

With the album having been out now for nine months, I asked Rami if the band has started working on new songs.

“We actually booked a studio weekend a month or so ago and recorded an EP. It was exciting to go and do something without any pressure or goals.”

Rami said that it has been hard to write new material. I asked if it was harder stepping away from the older material or finding a new space in which to be creative? Rami said that it was a bit of both, but he was not sure which was harder.

“In Europe the record was very well received critically. It creates a pressure for making new music. Should we follow the same pattern with new songs or not? I think that we are over it now. We want to be pressure free and keep things fresh for us as well. I am not sure which one is harder, the space for creating new music or clinging on to the old music."

Without sounding patronizing, Delay Trees feel a bit like ‘the little Finnish band that could.’ They are a band with a lot of passion, a lot of talent, a great debut album, and a humble and hopeful way about viewing their future. With the American release of their album, they hope to find a wider audience to help propel them into the future, but they know that the future is ultimately what they make of it.

“We really do love being in the band. We have a good time together and there is such a passion for all of us. If it does not happen, and I am pretty sure that it doesn’t, you keep going on and keep hoping that good things will happen elsewhere. Sometimes it is a slower path that you have to take, especially when you are a dream pop band from Finland!”

The Antlers, Burst Apart

Photo By Shervin Lainez 

Back in 2009, The Antlers released their amazing album, Hospice. It was a concept album that told the story of someone who was very sick and at the end of their life. It was a deeply personal album for Peter Silberman, the creative force behind The Antlers. It was dark and haunting and beautiful and I was so drawn into the story from both a lyrical and musical perspective.

After almost three years, Silberman and The Antlers are back with Burst Apart. While the album is not another album that draws in the listener with a linear storyline or concept, it is another amazing collection of songs.

Relationships don’t seem to come easy to Silberman. Being loved and or not being loved haunts him and he struggles through these songs to make sense of what he wants or needs. In French Kiss he sings “Everyone I loved kept me tangled in my heart, You’ll tie that knot a bit too loose, not enough to tease apart….Come on. Everyone I hold, holds me strangled, sweet and smart. I’m not a puppy you take home, don’t bother trying to fix my heart.”

Burst Apart

Silberman has a dynamic voice that can pack an emotional punch especially when he goes up into his falsetto range. His vocals along with his gorgeous and lush guitar work carry and convey the weight of his words and feelings. 

Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out   

As the album progresses, Silberman shows glimmers and signs of a man who realizes that he may not be able stand alone. Whether he wants to or not is an entirely different matter. As the album comes to a close with Putting The Dog To Sleep, he is putting himself in someone else’s care, like a wounded animal that needs someone to care for it. He sings, “Well my trust in you is a dog with a broken leg, Tendons too torn to beg for you to let me back in. You said, “I can’t prove to you you’re not gonna die alone, But trust me to take you home, To clean up that blood all over your paws.” Silberman response to them both with “Put your trust in me, I’m not going to die alone….I don’t think so….”

Parentheses   

Happy endings are nice, but not always real or realistic. While this is certainly the case within world that Silberman writes about, but it not the case when it comes to the band's music. Like on Hospice, The Antlers’ music on Burst Apart is richly textured and can soar in a way that many bands can only aspire to achieve. In this respect, this is another very happy ending for The Antlers creatively.

ANGUS & JULIA STONE, DOWN THE WAY

Last week I chose Hold On as one of my song picks of the week. After another week with the album, I really wanted to give the Stones some more visibility here. Angus and Julia Stone are a brother and sister who have been writing and recording since 2006. Down The Way, their sophomore album, was huge hit in their home country of Australia, ultimately capturing the Album of the Year award and Single of the Year award at the Australian Record Industry Awards in 2010. Down The Way is a charming album with beautiful and subtle vocals and music. This is a wonderful album and I highly recommend a listen.
Hold On   

The Radio Dept., Clinging To A Scheme

Every fall when the weather in Seattle turns cold and rainy, my musical taste tends to turn towards the atmospheric and at times the moody. Songs by bands like the Doves, Elbow, Sigur Rós, Flaming Lips (think The Softest Bulletin), Leaves, The Blue Nile, and Mercury Rev find their way on to my playlists. I actually have a playlist entitled Cloudy Days (you can find the playlist at the bottom of my blog).

There is a common theme or thread that runs through the music of all of these bands. And there is an actual genre or sub-genre name for this music sound/style. Dream Pop. And for that music with a bit louder and more aggressive sound....Shoegazing. Never heard of these genres? You are not alone, and yet these sub-genres of Alternative music have been around for almost 30 years.

Common elements to the music of these two sub-genres are longer, slow building songs, which tend to have down-tempos, hazy guitar rifts, syncopated percussions, keyboards and pianos creating atmospheric sounds, and base lines that hold everything down while creating tension at the same time. These songs also tend to have a lot of echo, reverb, delay, and breathy vocals. 

Dream Pop originated in Britain, it is alive and flourishing today on both sides of the Atlantic. Bands like The Radio Dept., Deerhunter, Foals, Beach House, Houses, and the Silversun Pickups, are crafting super songs and albums. It is exciting to see strong, creative work coming from so many new bands. I am particularly enjoying The Radio Dept.'s new album Clinging To A Scheme, which was released earlier in the year. 

With Clinging To A Scheme, The Radio Dept. (from Lund, Sweden) continues to play with rich, textured sounds that fill whatever space they occupy. The band, the songs, and the album, are in no particular rush to get from one place to another, so no one particular track really stands out from another. Both of these aspects of the album are just fine by me. It is a great listen on a cold and rainy day...or any other day really.