February [07] Podcast
(This is the tricked out feed with chapters and album art and all that good stuff. iTunes only though, but seriously who doesn’t use itunes. I want to hear from you!)
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01. Cat Power – “Could We” – The Greatest [Matdor]
Sure, review after review of The Greatest discussed how Chan Marshall pulled a Dusty and went to Memphis. “Could We” is why. The song is dripping with that rich, warm Memphis pop sound, through which Marshall’s vocal moves smooth as a single sigh, sagging with so much heat and humidity. Do I need to go on?
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02. The Decemberists – “O Valencia” – The Crane Wife [Capitol]
It doesn’t get any better than “O Valencia.” The Decemberists certainly out did themselves with this track off their latest release, [i[The Crane Wife. Not only is this song poppy and melodious but it contains heartwarming and disarming lyrics to truly enrapture the listener. It certainly was the right choice as the first single since it is a perfect example of what The Decemberists have, themselves, perfected. They combine an upbeat guitar melody with pitch perfect harmonies, experiment with any and all instruments (much to the audience’s advantage), and wonderfully pair their tone with front man Colin Meloy’s intricately crafted and poignant lyrics.
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03. Beirut - “Postcards From Italy” - Gulag Orkestar [Ba Da Bing!]
Riding on a noodling uke pattern, an exuberant percussion section, Zachary Condon’s old man croon, and the hint of international flair, “Postcards From Italy” became the symbol of the 2006 model for music: get blogged about, get fiended ridiculously, get forgotten just a smidgen, repeat. Of course, while the album didn’t quite stand the magnifying glass, this song reminds you why the ball got rolling, and the trumpet parts in the second half are enough to make all of us cry out for something, anything. Sweet lord.
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04. The Walkmen – “All Hands and the Cook” – A Hundred Miles Off [Record Collection]
A couple years ago The Walkmen gave us The Rat. In 2006 we got another fine album, even if not received nearly as well. One reason A Hundred Miles Off is worth your time is because of the gem, “All Hands and the Cook.” Perhaps it’s an acquired taste, considering so many people thought Bob Dylan had a bad voice, but when vocalist Hamilton belts out, “Broke my back out in the yard / if you don’t like it / won’t you tell me,” there’s no escaping the urgency and strength these guys put into this song, while Hamilton strains to rip his vocal chords apart on top of the wall of searing guitars.
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05. TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me” – Return to Cookie Mountain [Interscope]
Nope, this song will never get old. And how it not being played on every singly Top 40 radio station across North America remains a shameful mystery. This is TV on the Radio at their finest. Just one listen is all it takes to get completely wrapped up in this wondrous melody and ridiculously loveable chorus. Don’t forget the breakdown, either.
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06. Faris Nourallah – “Black Car” – IL Suo Cuore Di Transistor – [Awful_Bliss]
Faris Nourallah who? That’s right, this Texan native has made one of the most underrated and unknown albums of 2006, the former probably caused by the latter. That’s okay though, because lucky for you there’s one song that you can now here. It’s one super sweet song too, layered in sugary coating so thick you’ll barely be able to contain the giddy happiness. “Black Car” kicks off an album full of unique songs made solely by Faris himself, playing every part in the depths of his home recording studio. The opening pseudo-techno groove bursts into a vibrant synth-line, then joined by garage rock guitars, to full on vocals moving in underlying harmonies and overlapping cannons. All in a blissful three minutes. It’s an undeniably enjoyable slice of pop-perfection. You won’t be able to resist taking it for a ride.
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07. Half-handed Cloud – “A Picnic Few Want to Attend” – Halos & Lassos [Asthmatic Kitty]
At the heart of his manic music, John Ringhofer is just a folkie. Sure, as Half-handed Cloud he’s a folkie with an evangelical passion and a penchant for indie pop like none other, but “A Picnic Few Want To Attend” takes a mere 1:42 to remind us all that he could be quite at home sitting by the campfire, playing his songs and singing his mind. And the little spurts of banjo, horns, and the like keep him in line with the rest of his work.
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08. Herbert – “Something Isn’t Right” – Scale [K7]
“Something Isn’t Right” is the perfect way to open Scale because it lets you know exactly what you’re getting into. That’s just fine though, in that it has everything Herbert does right. The funky groove is smooth as silk and the strings give it a non-threatening glaze, but it’s the interplay between Herbert and Dani Siciliano that add the finishing blow to lure you in. It all makes for a wholly original and distinct feel that could only come from the duo. They’ve reached a creative peak here, a perfect marriage of sound and ideas. With horns popping in out, along with the now expected, yet still surprising use of various natural samples for added flavor, you’ll get swept up in all the textures and tones this one has to offer.
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09. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – “Young Shields” – Etiquette [Tomlab]
Think a heavy doomed and defeated synth, a rapid clapping electronic beat beneath, and a mumbling voice reciting his tale with his crushed and beaten fate expressed in his breathy accentuated expression of gasping insurgence… “There’s a shield around us / it’s invisible & soundless / & we drink too much & fuck too soon / smoke cigarettes in rented rooms/ we quit our jobs & shoot the moon/ & cut our wrists & sleep til noon.” Listen to it.
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10. Lily Allen – “LDN” – Alright, Still [Capitol]
From the opening trumpet-blast fanfare to the sunny, seductive chorus, “LDN” is one of the sloppiest, bounciest, most enjoyable three minutes of pop music from 2006. Look out, America! Now that Lily’s face is plastered all over England she’s bringing the party over here.
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11. Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy” – St. Elsewhere [Downtown]
Crazy It’s miraculous, it’s overplayed, it’s brilliant lyrically, it’s really tiring after a while, it’s cool that all the indie kids and bands loved it and covered it, that’s what made it fucking annoying, Cee-Lo’s voice is incredible, those strings are sappy, it’s the new “Hey-Ya,” remember how sick we were of the old one, etc. Just listen to the damn song for three minutes and try to block out everything else. Or at least step back and think about why everything else happened. Crazy, huh?
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12. My Latest Novel – “The Reputation of Ross Francis” – Wolves [The Worker’s Institute]
Better than The Arcade Fire? Oh boy, that’s a bold statement. But, hey, they are Scottish, and this particular track definitely makes good supporting evidence. But, better than The Arcade Fire? Well, you be the judge.
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13. Fred Thomas – “Wingspan” – Sink Like a Symphony [Corleone]
“Wingspan” wastes no time declaring a different sonic backdrop for Fred Thomas – incessant piano chords on the downbeat – and asserting the same old classic melody, evocative mid-20’s angst, and pure feeling. The slow buildup of drums, backing vocals (Fred double/triple tracking), and then the final push of lazy, emphatic trombone and bright, winsome trumpet to bring us home: it’s like catching up with old friends over a nice cup of tea on the back porch of a warm summer night, the height of comfort and pleasure.
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14. Peter and the Wolf – “The Highway” – Lightness [The Worker’s Institute]
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: This song is downright desolate. Imagine a pasture filled with the hopes and dreams of over 20 million people and then watching that pasture disintegrate into a bottomless trench of emptiness. Then, this track comes on and it might all start to make sense.
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15. M. Ward – “Poison Cup” – Post-War [Merge]
This heartrending and all too brief track off Ward’s most recent album combines a poignant metaphor with Ward’s lamenting tone to create a thoroughly self-conscious and reflexive love song. Even with gorgeously harmonious music behind these intensely personal lyrics, there is optimism in its final notes. This is the kind of song that needs to be devoured the way Ward claims love should be: “…a sip or a spoonful won’t do” you’ve got to “drink it up” in order to fully enjoy what Ward has concisely and poetically recorded as a substitute for our current, lack-luster beverages.
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16. Asobi Seksu – “Red Sea” – Citrus [Friendly Fire]
If you were in Asobi Seksu, you would be grinning ear to ear for the rest of your freaking life, because in Citrus you would have created exactly the album you would have never dared to tell your hipster friends you were capable of. Most impressively, acting as the album’s centerpiece, we have “Red Sea,” where sheets of fuzzy guitar are compiled layer over layer, creating dissonance upon dissonance until within a crescendo of blinding noise you really can’t identify such a thing is happening at all. And as the track patently, predictably washes itself out, nearly reaching the inevitable calm that signals the end of this seductive destruction, you say, “Wow. That was about everything I ever wanted out of shoegaze…Too bad I already got everything I ever wanted from such a thing by the early-’90s, don’t you think?” And then the track suddenly builds again, nearly taking you off guard, nearly sounding thicker and more inescapable than before; faced with what you had subconsciously assumed where minor impossibilities, you say, “Alright. Fine. That was freaking awesome.” At this point it doesn’t even matter that the predictable, inevitable washout actually, finally follows. Honestly, what the fuck else do you want?
