Nibbishment: Sharon Van Etten

Showing posts with label Sharon Van Etten. Show all posts

Friday, January 2, 2015

Oh, hai 2014 best albums list!

20. Todd Terje - It's Album Time - For a long time, I wasn't sure whether I even liked this album, much less whether its cheese was one of my favorites of the year. "Delorean Dynamite" kept bringing me back to it, and while there's nothing else quite that good on here, it's quirky and fun the whole way through.

19. Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World - Pounding and unrelenting, as per usual from Have a Nice Life. "Defenestration Song" is my new favorite song of theirs.

18. St. Vincent - St. Vincent

17. Danger - July 2013 - Short little EP of something called "Synthwave". It's fun to play in the car, even if it gets me sideways glances from Linds.

16. Phantogram - Voices

15. Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again - This reminded me of a version of stuff that I liked back in the early 2000's, without the constant dourness.

14. The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams - It's definitely another step down from earlier stuff, but I would say that the highs ("Spinners", "The Only Thing", "Oaks") buoy the lagging middle ground.

13. Swans - To Be Kind - I didn't spend enough time with this one, I don't think. It's just so... MASSIVE. I'm sure that as I look back on this year, this one will gain ground.

12. Strand of Oaks - HEAL

11. Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World - Loud rock songs to play in the car.

10. Kairon; IRSE! - Ujubasajuba - From Finland. A sort of psych rock/dream pop/post-rock/spacey sort of hybrid. The band put the whole thing for a "pay what you want" on their Bandcamp page, so if that description interests you at all, you have no reason not to check them out.

9. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2 - I don't actually like it quite as much as the first. I still like it a whole lot, but I still think their first is better.

8. Alcest - Shelter - The first album of 2014 that stuck with me, and one I kept coming back to throughout the year.

7. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There - She lays everything bare in this one. There are times where things get honestly uncomfortable to listen to, but things like that little descending melody in the chorus of "Tarifa" balance it out well. Rates right up there with Tramp, imo.

6. Kye Kye - Fantasize - I didn't listen to another album as much as this one this year. "Honest Affection" was one of my favorite pop-ish songs of the year, even if it didn't sound particularly like much on the rest of the album, which trends to the hazy and the moody, rather than a chipper-sounding CHVRCHES.

5. Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

4. Real Estate - Atlas - I love the guitar tones on this album. This should sound like every other blah indie pop act offering, but it doesn't.

3. Cymbals Eat Guitars - LOSE

2. Spoon - They Want My Soul - I've always liked Spoon, but this might just be my favorite album by them now. Not even the slightest wavering in the quality from song to song, but all the while taking their sound in different directions.

1. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream - "Red Eyes" is my favorite song from 2014, and the album that it got placed on is head and shoulders above anything else I heard this year.

Monday, December 29, 2014

2014 Year in Music: Top 20 Moments

Well, isn't this fun? Twenty bits of songs that are cool and awesome and stuff?

Let's dig in!

20. DJ Snake - Turn Down For What (feat. Lil Jon)
The first time...

Eventually (read: the second or third time you heard it), you realized that this was a thirty second song turned into a three and a half minute excuse for the gloriously stupid music video. The first time that hook hits, though... fucking fantastic.

19. Kitty - Barbie J33p
"I'll send you up in the air, wingardium leviosa"

I'm a sucker for a Harry Potter reference in a club rap song, I guess.

18. Swans - Just a Little Boy (For Chester Burnett)
That laughing...

The first time I heard the laughing in this song, I was sort of dozing off a bit, and it completely terrified me. Even now, it puts me ill at ease for the duration of the song.

17. Kairon; IRSE! - Swarm
The swarm arrives

Never let it be said that the post-rock crescendo is dead. "Swarm" ends up being quite generous with them, giving the listener several. It's the big one before the (fake) comedown, though, that really pushes the limits on it. Adding several elements beyond the standard "ever louder guitar and drum buzz" that most examples stop at.

16. Saor - Children of the Mist
Bring in the flutes!

It's like they always say. Black metal just isn't black metal without an extended flute breakdown nine minutes in.

15. Spoon - Rainy Taxi
"I had no good news"

Britt Daniel's voice is generally top notch, but something about the way he delivers the line "I came home last night; I had no good news" sounds so damned cool against the driving beat and menacing bassline of "Rainy Taxi".

14. Run the Jewels - Blockbuster Night, Part 1
Doing deeds and dashing / Mike delivers coffee

"I deal in dirty work / Do the deed and then dash, ditch 'em"
&
"Top of the morning, my fist to your face is fucking Folgers"

The first is by El-P, the second by Killer Mike. Both lines are pretty much completely awesome.

13. Dum Dum Girls - Are You Okay
"I'm reckless at night, I'm sorry for days"

The lingering feeling of unease that's been building throughout the song finally spills over over the narrator admits she might never be over what's eating at her. That wouldd be enough, but the fact that the song kicks into pure 80's goodness on the spot just seals the deal.

12. SZA - Warm Winds (feat. Isaiah Rashad)
"...gardens, flowers, warm winds"

I like the first half of "Warm Winds" just fine, but the second half melts into a hazy reminiscing blur ("Sometimes I bite my lips and close my eyes just to pretend it's you"). For all the hype around Isaiah Rashad's album (and it does have its highlights) this is my favorite thing that he's been a part of to this point.

11. Calvin Harris - Summer
TWAAAAANG

So help me, I like this song. The abrupt twang the punctuates between the crazy revved-up EDM hooks only amplifies that enjoyment.

10. Sia - Chandelier
"like a bird through the night"

The moment that the best Top 40 song of the year turns from being a pretty damned good song to being something else entirely. Her voice gives me chills even today. (the "I'm holding on for dear life" post-hook bit is also aces).

9. Sharon Van Etten - Your Love Is Killing Me
...and it's apparently a very painful death

Break my legs so I won't walk to you
Cut my tongue so I can't talk to you
Burn my skin so I can't feel you
Stab my eyes so I can't see
You like it when I let you walk over me
You tell me that you like it
Your love is killing me

8. Angel Olsen - White Fire
"When you don't know that you're wrong..."

"...or just how wrong you are."

7. Todd Terje - Delorean Dynamite
Release 1 / Release 2

I had a hard time choosing between the first release (1:09 in), where the song pays off the proceedings with a pretty nifty hook, or the second one (3:27), where you realize that the first hook was just a decoy to build the real thing off of.

6. Sharon Van Etten - Traifa
The little saxophone bit

It isn't much, but the descending three note saxophone melody works just perfectly in the chorus to my favorite song off of Are We There.

5. Alcest - Délivrance
Denouement

I always forget how early this part comes in (four minutes in), and how long it lasts (about six full minutes!) For a solid six minutes, from the "built up to almost Explosions in the Sky proportions" swell to the ending, where only Neige's voice remains, Délivrance's back half is golden shimmery goodness.

4. Rustie - Attak (feat. Danny Brown)
"I ain't gotta say shit"

There are so many parts in this song to love ("got the game on lock like we changed the key", or even better "I'ma m--I'ma maniac"), but the one that towers over all of them is the ending, where Danny Brown's forceful flow evolves into shouting, which evolves into a swaggering roar. "I AIN'T GOTTA SAY SHIT, TELL YOUR BITCH TO SUCK MY DICK."
...it works better in context, I promise...

3. Vic Mensa - Down On My Luck
"Fuck that get down"

Great song, great video... great buildup to the instrumental hook.

"Hands up, flip a finger to 'em...fuck that get down"

2. Swans - Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture
The sun is brought

Post-Rock does not corner the market on big swelling crescendos. This one starts light, with Michael Gira chanting "bring the suuuuun" as the song starts building and building until you think it can't possibly get any bigger, lest it explode.

At that point, you are roughly halfway through the explosive climax of the first half of the song.

1. The War on Drugs - Red Eyes
"WOO!!"

The most cathartic moment (well, "moments", since it happens twice) in music since I don't know when.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Year in Music 2012: Top 30 Most Listened To Songs

Due to my obessiveness, we all get to check out the "top 30 most listened to songs of the year" list a little sooner than we might have otherwise expected. Simply put, I ripped the hard drive out of my ailing computer, used a IDE-to-USB adapter and connected the drive to my netbook, where I grabbed the file and manually opened it.

This is my annual "shit I listened to a ton" list. Basically, for the uninitiated, I keep track of every listen to any song that's actually in my music library (about 14,000 songs). This includes plays on CD, iPod, and Radio. I generally count incidental music if I'm out and about, as well. Like I said: obsessive. Here are the top 30.

I'll make a Spotify playlist when I'm on a computer that is running Spotify again.

30. Lost Lander - Cold Feet

"Cold Feet" benefited greatly not only from being the first track on DRRT, but also from being the second best song on the album. I queued up this one and "Wonderful World" back to back multiple times, leaving the rest of the album for another day.

29. Sleigh Bells - Comeback Kid
(21st favorite song of 2012)

The advance single and most immediate song from an album I was (rightfully) anticipating.

28. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)

I'm always up for a good, catchy Kelly Clarkson song. Call her a guilty pleasure, she just makes good pop songs. While I wasn't a huge fan of Stronger, the album, Stronger, the title track was tasty enough to rack up the listens (plus Lindsey plays them all the time).

27. Beach House - Walk in the Park

I'm a little surprised that this is so high on the list. This year was the first year I really got into Beach House (through Teen Dream), and this is the song I kept coming back to. The only strange thing is that, much as I loved Bloom, this was the only Beach House song to crack the top 50 in playcount.

26. Mutemath - Prytania

The "We Are Hunted" Spotify app was huge in finding music, from Sharon Van Etten to Ghost Beach to a revisit to a band I hadn't listened to in a long time. I knew of and listened to Earthsuit, the fairly bad band that a few of the members of Mutemath originally played in, and I own the first EP and album by Mutemath, so I'm quite familiar with them, but for some reason, I slept on Odd Soul. If this song is any indication, I should probably go back and fix that.

25. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Niggas in Paris

This song was number one on this list as of April, but fell off quite a bit as the year wore on. Shit is definitely cray, though. Hell of a video, too.

24. Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless

This spot could've easily gone to 'Fall In' (which finished just out of the Top 30), this one just happened to last a bit longer on the Hotlist.

23. Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites

This is the only Skrillex song I like, which is weird, because pretty much all of his stuff sounds the same to me. I think it has something to do with the way the calmer parts lead in to the drop? Maybe? I never said it was going to make a lot of sense.

22. Lana Del Rey - Off to the Races

It's embarassing how much I enjoy the chrous to this song. "I'm your little harlot starlet" is a line that wedged itself in my brain for days on end. I don't really want to think about what that says about me.

21. Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know

Of course this song was inescapable long after I tired of it. It would've been top ten easily if I liked even one or two more songs on the album.

20. Clint Mansell - Leaving Earth

There's something to be said for piano ballads interrupted by massive bassoon blasts. There also something to be said for keeping your immensely listenable song right around the two minute mark.

19. Coldplay - Paradise

I like Coldplay. That sometimes seems like a bit of a guilty admission, but I don't see why. They excel at making friendly, well-meaning pop-rock songs, and this is another huge winner. It's not going to change the world, but sometimes, a catchy radio song is what I want.

18. Purity Ring - Fineshrine
(5th favorite song of 2012)

My wife would occasionally wonder why I listened to a song where the hook was "Get a little closer/let it fold/Cut open my sternum and pull/My little ribs around you". Come to think of it, I wondered the same thing myself sometimes. Then again, it was the most darkly catchy thing I heard all year, hitting on all the right centers in my brain. That sort of thing covers a multitude of creepy.

17. Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers, Part One

It's a little embarassing to me how many times I heard this song over the last decade without it ever really sinking in. I do like the rest of In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea, but it's no hyperbole to say that this is one of my twenty favorite songs ever, and that the part where the acordian comes in after he sings "what each other's bodies were for" is probably only rivaled by the end of ( ) for "favorite music moments ever".

16. The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
(most listened to song of 2011)

This song had staying power. I knew it would, it's just that kind of song. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it stuck around next year, too.

15. The Shins - Simple Song
(10th favorite song of 2012)

I love the way that James Mercer sings the lyric "feels like an ocean being warmed by the sun".

14. Sharon Van Etten - Serpents

Sharon's "rock" song. Actually, strike those quotes... this song really does rock. When she angrily/incredulously/disgustedly sings "I had a thought you would take me...seriously", it gives me shivers.

13. Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

The detractors can say what they will - the album might not have lived quite up to expectations (though the first half was killer), but when this girl hit a good song, it made you stop and listen. ..or in this particular case, listen, and listen, and listen.

12. Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
(2nd favorite song of 2012)

It feels like I listened to this song a million times, so I'm a little surprised that it's this low on the list. It was the kind of song that felt like a classic the instant I heard it.

11. The xx - Angels
(4th favorite song of 2012)

The clattering drums that punctuate the second verse of 'Angels' just barely missed the top 20 moments list. This song completely captivated me, and racked up a huge number of plays in a very short period of time.

10. Ghost Beach - Miracle
(15th favorite song of 2012)

Another 'We Are Hunted' find. I love the chorus, but I love the end of the second verse, where he sings "I was born in this house/now I'm burnin' it down" like that was the most joyful thing he could possibly think of at that moment.

9. Ramona Falls - Spore

It seems that I somehow left this song off of my "favorite songs" list. That's a fairly embarassing mistake, as it probably sits somewhere in the 6 or 7 spot. Oops.

8. Burial - Loner
(3rd favorite song of 2012)

Clocking in at seven and a half minutes, it's the longest song on this list by quite a bit. The song's ebb and flow made it feel half that long.

7. Lost Lander - Wonderful World
(7th favorite song of 2012)

I've mentioned this song's weirdly math-themed music video (one of my favorites of the year), I've mentioned the little five note segment that caught my ear so. There's not a whole lot else to say, this song's sad sort of beauty had me coming back time and again.

6. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
(18th favorite song of the year)

Okay, I do unironically like this song (I think it's quite easily the best pure pop song of the year, maybe of the last two or three, though trying to delve into that would probably be better done on a later date). However, the playcounts this song received had a lot more to do with the fact that 'Call Me Maybe' was pretty much inescapable. A friend of mine and I were at a bar one night, and someone played it on the jukebox. We sheepishly admitted to each other that we actually enjoyed it, then listened in horror as the girl who had played it queued it up another three times that evening. I heard it five times on a trip to Fargo and back. IN-ES-CAP-A-BLE.

5. fun. - Some Nights
(25th favorite song of the year)

Another song that I like that was buoyed by the fact that it was played every twenty seconds on the radio (I'm pretty sure that if that's an exageration, it's on the low end). Also, Lindsey loved this song/CD.

4. Mind Spiders - You Are Dead
(12th favorite song of the year)

It's not even two minutes long, and it begs you to play it back to back. The only thing that kept it from being ven further up the list was the fact that the rest of the CD was pretty awesome, too.

3. fun. - We Are Young

Before 'Call Me Maybe' and 'Gangnam Style' came along, this song looked like it was going to be the ubiquitous song of the year. I liked it for a while, but not many listens past April were of the voluntary variety.

2. Cinnamon Chasers - Luv Deluxe
(18th most listened to song of 2011)

I didn't expect this. I guess it never left the Hotlist, which meant that anytime I was listening to that playlist (fairly often), I listened to this. I was definitely never not in the mood for it. Then there's the video, which I watched anther ten to fifteen times this year. Yeah, I guess I should've seen it coming.

1. Sharon Van Etten - Give Out
(favorite song of 2012)

It's a great song that I wanted to be listening to no matter what I was doing at the time (though night listening was the best). It's not particularly rare for my favorite song in a given year to also be my most played song for that year. This one was really close, though. This song just sort of stuck with me all year, as other songs came and fell by the wayside.

...and that concludes my self-indulgent "music of 2012" lists. Thanks for reading however much of them that you may have. On with the movie list!

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.