Nibbishment: Kendrick Lamar

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Sunday, December 29, 2013

Year in Music, 2013: Top 20 Moments in Music

This might be my favorite of the annual lists. Below are my twenty favorite moments in music over the past year - little snippets of songs that made me perk up my ears or just think "whoa". The definition for "moment" varies in length (ranging in length this year from a momentary background noise to a two plus minute rap verse) and makeup (particularly clever lyrics are always welcome, but even minor chord changes can trigger the right effect).

Without any further ado, let's dig in.

20. Puig Destroyer - Stop Fucking Bunting
"STOP FUCKING BUNTING"

It's insane, it's funny, it's poignant, and most of all, it's true. That it's being screamed at you shouldn't dissuade you from taking its message to heart. You hear that, Ron Gardenhire? Play for one (that's all you get).

19. Daft Punk - Get Lucky
The ending funk breakdown

The cherry on top of the disco/funk sundae that is "Get Lucky", and the perfect comedown to the best song to touch Top 40 radio this year.

18. Dessa - Warsaw
"It's a dive bar. Save the game... you drink and you sit"

I'm not entirely sure why some of the lines in 'Warsaw' get me like they do, but I smile every time I hear this one.

17. Sigur Rós - Brennisteinn
(3:41)
One shimmering note pierces through the darkest, most propulsive Sigur Rós song in years, right before the song soars.

16. Deafheaven - Sunbather
Those shimmering guitars 7:55 in.

A huge part of the reason that I liked Sunbather so much was all the post-rock sensibilities that the band built into it. In between blast beats and screamed vocals, we get sections like this one, where an atmospheric, shimmery guitar fades in.

15. The Joy Formidable - This Ladder Is Ours
The Intro Open Up the Throttle

The intro to Wolf's Law gets things going the right way, transitioning from the epic-sounding string section to a proper stadium rock sound.

14. Phosphorescent - Song For Zula
"...and I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free"

The harrowing end to one of the most perfect anti-love songs ever written.

13. Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
The slinky, swaggering guitar line

It reminds me a lot of the opening to "Godzilla" by Blue Öyster Cult, but it stands up fine on its own. Sure, it makes for a good instrumental for a rum commercial (gee thanks, Bacardi), but it's even better once Alex Turner starts sneering lines like "Been wondering if your heart's still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts"

12. The Haxan Cloak - The Drop
What is that groaning??

'The Drop' is the final track to the dark masterpiece that is Excavation. It starts out innocently enough (as innocently as Excavation gets, anyway), a fairly simple, relatively non-evil low bass sound, with what almost appears to be a melody line.

Then, at around the four minute mark, it turns.

11. The Joy Formidable - Maw Maw Song
The sound gets big

'Maw Maw Song' is a stupid name for a song. The song is pretty decent, then, with a blistering snare roll - it decides to go epic. Suddenly, there's guitar theatrics and you wish you were seeing it in a packed stadium.

10. Vampire Weekend - Hannah Hunt
"Dammit, Hannah"

It's during that last chorus to 'Hannah Hunt', where Ezra Koenig's voice strains as he sings "If I can't trust you, then dammit, Hannah" when you can start to understand how everyone is losing it over Modern Vampires of the City.

9. Run the Jewels - Banana Clipper (feat. Big Boi)
"I said El-P didn't do it, so get the fuck outta here."

Over the past few years, the partnership between El-P and Killer Mike has proven fruitful for both rappers. So, when Killer Mike raps "Producer gave me a beat/said it's the beat of the year/I said El-P didn't do it/so get the fuck outta here." it's both a grin inducing like and probably a sign of good sense on Mike's part.

8. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street
"I'm flying..."

About three-quarters through Push the Sky Away centerpiece and highlight 'Jubilee Street', Nick Cave switches from storytelling to stream-of-consciousness euphoria, singing "I'm glowing/I'm flying/Look at me now/I'm flying/Look at me now" as the band soars to match.

7. The National - This Is the Last Time
"Jenny, I am in trouble..."

The ending to "This Is the Last Time" almost feels like a completely different song, going from a relatively peppy "I won't be waitin' anymore/I won't be vacant anymore" to "Jenny, I am in trouble/Can't get these thoughts out of me/Jenny, I'm seeing double/I know this changes everything" as the background singers sing "It takes a lot of pain/to pick me up"

6. TV on the Radio - Mercy
Synth squiggle

As good as the last couple of TV on the Radio albums have been, it's good to see them doing a little faster tempo song. The little synth line after each chorus is pure awesome, and something I'd like to see them do more of.

5. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound
Cheesy fake trumpet!

Seriously. How much money did this cheesy, fake trumpet sound make these guys? One of the best "cheesy fake instrument" spots ever.

4. The Haxan Cloak - Consumed
Exit light.

I'm shocked that some movie studio hasn't handed Bobby Krlic a blank check and given some horror movie commercial the best background music ever. The slamming sound feels like a crypt closing, forcibly removing all of the light from the room.

I've listened to this album on a bright, sunny day. It does nothing to dull that feeling.

3. Big Sean - Control (feat. Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica)
Kendrick Lamar's verse

It's the verse that removed whatever doubt remained regarding Kendrick Lamar's superiority. It's vicious, it's funny, and it takes absolutely no prisoners. It's not particularly rare that a rapper gets upstaged by one of his features, but this is the upstage to end them all.

2. The National - Pink Rabbits
"You said it would be painless..."

Another depressing classic by The National.

You said it would be painless
A needle in a doll
You said it would be painless
It wasn't that at all

1. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
"Thought you were praying to the ressurector..."

What happens in the last couple of minutes of 'Reflektor'

* That great Colin Stetson-led descending brass melody
* David Bowie!
* Some great piano
* The best part of any song this year, or any moment I can think of since maybe 2010.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Year in Music 2012: Top 20 Albums

20. Aesop Rock - Skelethon

RIYL: Tasty word salad, literate rappers, videos about ninjas and deceased cats

A new Aesop Rock album (first in five years!) is always cause for celebration. An album where Aes gives up just a little bit of his word salad in favor of some lyrical depth is cause for extreme jubilation. Mr. Bavitz did not disappoint.

19. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure

RIYL: Paranoia, Someone looking over your shoulder, "them" being out to get you.

I've heard that I need to listen to R.A.P. Music by Killer Mike. That remains to be seen (though I trust everyone who has told me that this needs to happen), but El-P's production is always fascinating to me. Combined with his ever paranoid lyrics, this ended up being one of the treats of the year.

18. The xx - coexist

RIYL: Lovers awkwardly whispering to each other in a crowd.

I wanted to dislike this album. The first few times I heard it, I was unmoved. Over the next couple of months, it just kind of.... moved me. It's got stronger songs than I gave it credit for, and it's got more emotion, depth, and character than I would've given it credit for.

17. Metz - Metz

RIYL: Hitting your head against a wall of guitars and drums.

Sometimes all you want out of an album is a hammer to the face. Metz' self-titled album provided that hammer, along with enough melody and interesting rhythms to stand up to multiple listens.

16. Sigur Rós - Valtari

RIYL: Old School Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós turned back the clock in 2012, sidestepping the pop stylings of their last album and Jónsi's solo work in favor of the laid back, beautiful post-rock arrangements of their earlier albums. It's definitely no step back, though. Rather, it's a marvelous (and underrated) step forward.

15. Swans - The Seer

RIYL: Demon dogs haunting your sleep

This album feels completely inscrutable. It's exhausting (I'm usually only able to listen to one of the sides at any given time), and it's the furthest thing from a "catchy" album.

It's also completely awesome.

14. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (III)

RIYL: Dark, brooding electronic beats, non-traditional female voices

I'm constantly underrating this album. Whenever I thought of my favorite albums of the year, III was never on the radar. Then, when I was constructing this list, I looked over the tracklist and found that it's absolutely packed with solid songs. There's scarcely a weak track to be found. Song for song, it might be their best to date.

13. ...and you will know us by the trail of dead - Lost Songs

RIYL: Source Tags and Codes. Yeah, I went there.

It's got to be tiresome to have everything you do compared to some previous work of yours. Ever album that Trail of Dead ever puts out will be compared (unfavorably) to their magnum opus. This one actually brings the goods, scaling back the proggy stuff from their last three albums, and ramping up the rock.

12. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory

RIYL: Rock music, part one.

Attack on Memory was an early indicator this year that rock was back. I had heard their debut, and found it to be completely unimpressive.This one, though, was ferocious. It blazed and snarled and bit - exactly what music needed to start off the year.

11. Clams Casino - Instrumentals 2

RIYL: Lil B...without all the Lil B

I've always said that I liked the idea of 'cloud rap'. The aesthetics are great - all atmosphere and woozy bass. Unfortunately, every time I queued up Lil B or A$AP Rocky, the rapping just irritated me.

Problem solved.

10. Purity Ring - Shrines

RIYL: Creepy as hell songs sung by enchantingly attractive women

When I heard Grimes earlier this year, it left me with a distinct "this is close to an album I'd really like to hear".Shrines is the album I was hoping that Visions was going to be. It's darkly, catchily awesome.

...even if half its track titles sound like Pokemon names.

9. Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

RIYL: Cheerleaders with brass knuckles

Treats was such a volatile maelstrom of pop, arena rock, and hip-hop that a follow-up seemed like an impossible task. A carbon copy wouldn't have the same fresh feeling; a radical change in style would almost certainly be doomed to fail. Somehow, Reign of Terror ended up being a true step forward, without losing the special edge that made the first album so much fun.

8. P.O.S. - We Don't Even Live Here

RIYL: Chilling on the dancefloor enjoying a few (molotov) cocktails.

This album is different. At times, the 'throw it in' approach feels like it's going to overwhelm the flow and feeling of the project. So then, it's to Stef's credit that it never flies completely out of control. It's more of a "collection of songs" than Never Better was, but it's a damned good collection of songs.

7. Kendrick Lamar - g.O.O.d kid, m.A.A.d city

RIYL: Storytelling hip-hop

It's easy to see why everyone lost it over this album. I bought it having only heard Swimming Pools when it first came out, and it didn't leave my CD player for a solid month. The stories enhance the songs (and vice versa), and everything does nothing but grow on me with each subsequent listen.

6. Beach House - Bloom

RIYL: Beach House.

The joke is that Bloom is "Beach House, part four", and it's more than a little true. There's no great leap here. If you're buying this, you know what you're getting into.

Luckily it's well worth getting into.

5. Ramona Falls - Prophet

RIYL: Really weird album covers that are oddly fit with the music inside

Prophet is an easy album to like. It's got immediate song that still manage to have a lot of depth to them. Nearly every song has lingered throughout the year.

4. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

RIYL: Angry, but resigned women

I doesn't seem like Sharon Van Etten would really make my kind of music. I've not been incredibly fond of female singer-songwriters in the past, nor was I this year. The thing is, she imbues her music with more than she has to. Whether it's the barely contained anger of 'Serpents' or the resigned weariness of 'Ask', she makes every song worth hearing again and again. Plus it does have my favorite song of the year.

3. Mind Spiders - Meltdown

RIYL: Jay Reatard.

I didn't ever appreciate Jay Retard properly while he was alive and making music (more of a Coachwhips guy, I guess), and if I have any enjoyment of his work now (and I do), this is the album that I can thank. Bizarre final track aside, it's a short, punchy set of songs that illuminate every there is to like about lower-fi punk-inspired music.

2. Burial - Kindred EP

RIYL: Burial, with a kick.

Whenever Burial is discussed, everything always seems to revolve around a couple of talking points: "is he going to make another album" and "if he does, will it sound exactly like everything else he's done?". Well, sort of and... sort of. Kindred is 40 plus minutes long, so even though it's an EP, it's longer than a number of the albums on this list. Content-wise, it's not a radical step forward, but it does have the most focused and forceful music he's ever made. It might even be better than Untrue. William Bevan might never come out with that third proper album, but even if he does, I don't know how he'll top this.

1. Japandroids - Celebration Rock

RIYL: Rock Music... part two

Just last year, I lamented that rock had fallen heavily in my listening habits. Then 2012 came around. Cloud Nothings lit the fuse, but Japandroids ended up being the explosion I kept coming back to. There are only eight songs on this album - and one's a cover, and one's a song from 2010. That doesn't really matter, in fact, the lean running time gives Celebration Rock a bite that it otherwise would've lacked. The back half of the album is completely loaded. 'Younger Us', 'The House That Heaven Built' and 'Continuous Thunder' make up one of the strongest three song cycles I've ever heard to close an album.

Most importantly, though, whenever I listen to Celebration Rock, it's an excuse to just lose myself to the "whoa-oh-oh-oh's" and forget about the idea that rock music could need saving or ever be anything less than a life-affirming thrill. Not a bad legacy to leave.