Why does this band get compared to Animal Collective? That band is good, this band is boring. They were good on whatever late night show they were on last month though.
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca, 2009
If this is what passes for great indie rock these days, I guess I'm more into classic rock.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, 2009
I didn't love the super hyped EP but I like the LP a lot more. A band that definitely wears its influences on its collective sleeve but any band that reminds me of a fun mix of Rocketship and My Bloody Valentine can't be that bad, right?
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, 2009
I knew absolutely nothing about this band when Molly excitedly posted about their upcoming Saturday Night Live appearance a number of months ago. I set the DVR and was quite impressed. Then Jeremy started raving about them. Fine, I'll give the album a chance. I'm glad I did. This has been one of my albums of the summer of stay-at-home dadness.
I couldn't find the SNL footage but here's a performance from Letterman.
Sonic Youth - The Eternal, 2009
I've liked their last few LP's quite a lot but this has got to be their best release since I don't know - Washing Machine? Then again, I really liked the last album. Either way, they are in nice little groove. This is a damn fine album. There are a couple clunkers on here but I guess that is to be expected. Youngsters Sean and Rebecca recently mentioned to me that they thought Sonic Youth was too noisy and maybe older folks like me liked Sonic Youth but that younger folks didn't. This was part of a discussion of the silliness of the way Sonic Youth's music was used in Juno. I completely disagree with their sentiment - but if they thought Sonic Youth was too noisy and not melodic enough, I think this new album might be the one to convince them to like the Youth. Plus the song Anti-Orgasm definitely ranks up there with the other anti sex songs by Weezer, The Vaselines, and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Sonic Youth - definitely no Warren Zevon
God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl, 2009
God help Stuart Murdoch get back in the studio to record a new Belle and Sebastian. After you hear the version of Funny Little Frog on this LP though, you might decide to throw away all of your Belle and Sebastian CD's. Ugly. Overall, there are a few good songs on here but they don't outweigh the bad and the mediocre.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion, 2009
Better than the Peter, Paul, and Mary show I saw at Merriweather Post but not as good as the Rick Springfield show.
Robyn Hitchcock - Goodnight Oslo, 2009
I can't even remember the last Hitchcock LP I gave a good listen to but maybe I should go back and listen to some more. This is really good. Good melodies, quirky but not overly so. All around just good. Kind of reminds me of Eye even though this isn't acoustic.
M. Ward - Hold Time, 2009
Post Post-War Snoozefest.
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast, 2009
There are some good tunes here but this is definitely a letdown after his last few. Each of his last three kept getting better. This one is like 3 steps back.
Pete and the Pirates - Little Death, 2008
At first I really liked this, then I cooled on it, and now I'm back on its bandwagon. Power pop fun. Nothing terribly original but when the songs are this much fun, who cares?
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career, 2009
How do you follow up one of the best albums of the past few years? Let's Get Out of This Country was my favorite album of 2006. While this isn't quite as good as that album, this is definitely a worthy followup. The album never reaches the dizzying heights of Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken or the title track of their last album but there are definitely some gems here. Plus, SHR and I both love that the title track of this album sounds like she's singing Korea, all Malkmus style and all.
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8 comments:
Noticed the title isn't "I get to listen to a lot of GOOD music these days" what a putrid list. Outside of SY, who yes still make good albums and young people can F off, and Camera Obscura the rest of these blow. And from your reviews you basically agree. I assume you listen to some good music too. Write about that.
Chris Larry
i've been listening to some older stuff too but haven't really written about it. not sure how many different ways i can say that i like 60's and 70's african rock.
by my count, i gave 7 of 13 albums good reviews.
you don't like robyn hitchcock?
i don't get teh hype on grizzly bear, they bore the teeth out of me. the bitte orca is confounding - with all the positive press i was expecting something...more i guess. i love love love the animal collective, m ward and andrew bird. they all grew on me immensely and i don't see noble beast as a step backwards at all - it's beautiful and woozy and ends with two of my favorite songs of his. souverian and the privateers are insanely great. phoenix and sonic youth are amazing too. i like a lot of thisshit but what do i know, i hated pineapple express.
yeah good point b/c pineapple express ruled. I'd rather listen to a stereo remix of feeding time at the zoo than animal collective.
Obviously hitchcock is the man, goes without saying. he was sorta grandfather claused there...and upon review i'd give pete and the pirates a spin. but i am old, and i like old things...new stuff is for those Mets fans i refrenced a few posts ago.
but personally i'd rather read reviews of stuff that moves you and your digging on, from whenever, than some pitchfork beatoff list!
the hater!
ps i am around all day thursday if you wanna come have the babies freakout to some yardbirds, eleventh dream days's first album or this cool Nerves retrospective...all LPs i recently scored.
jeremy,
i like the new andrew bird enough but i definitely was disappointed in it after the last 3. it just felt like an attempt to be more aor friendly to me.
m. ward still bores me.
chris,
this just happened to be a list of stuff i had gotten around to writing about -the good and the bad.
still loving your whole mets theory. at one point do the hipsters jump off the bandwagon since the mets are so damn bad? is there a kickball team they can root for instead?
Burn me a copy of Sonic and prove me wrong, I'm up for the challenge. I've always found them "meh."
And I think our tastes are still more similar than disparate. After all, Pains, Pete, Camera, Animal and Phoenix (a longtime fave) are some of my favorite albums of the year.
Even if Grizzly and the Projectors represent other two of this year's major faves. I don't know why I love the new Projectors so much, but I do. And Becca loves it too, which I wasn't expecting. And Grizzly is more of a Sunflower/Pet Sounds Beach Boys thing. But more delicate. Or something.
Also, the new Ward, Andrew Bird and Stuart's project all pretty much suck. But I've liked Ward a bit in the past, so therein lies another difference.
But yeah, bring the Sonic. I'm predicting it will be painful, but let's find out.
I had no idea we got such a grumpy shout-out. I'm seriously honored.
I get accused of not being "into" music all the time by Sean, just because I don't read Pitchfork like it's the god damned bible and think Animal Collective sounds like a 4th grade class picking up a bunch of spare saws and violins and murdering each other with them. Noise for noise's sake is lost on me.
There's something about that Dirty Projectors record that keeps making me go back and listen again. I think we can agree to disagree, because Double Trouble's mix is probably the album on heaviest rotation on my iPod.
pitchfork is stoopid.
love your description of animal collective. hilarious.
everyone except for shr and me love that dirty projectors album. i guess i can give it one more chance. maybe.
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