#17: Top 10 Albums Of The Year

We're Still A Long Way From Home

Wow, 2010, what a shitcan of a year, huh? Not totally. I did come away with some important life lessons that have completely reshaped who and what I am as a person. It has been the year of transformations from the lowly, depressed, anxiety-driven little boy I used to be to a confident, well-adjusted, positive man. I kept saying to myself, "shouldn't this have happened years ago?" Maybe. But not everyone is the same person with the same experiences and the same emotions. Some of us take a little longer to gestate in the womb of the world.

But the muffins aren't done yet, folks. Part of being a good human is to constantly keep growing. Keep evolving. Keep learning. And to never stop this process. To be stagnant is to become stale and just another pair of eyes and ears for the half of the world that is too stubborn to change. We don't want you on our team. You will be picked last, if picked at all. And if you are already on our team, you will be cut. Again, we need to keep going and not let anyone get in our way. No one.

Let's make 2011 as positive as we can. Let us all take what we've learned from 2010 and apply it to the problems we may face in the future. It seems as though not enough people are doing this. I used to be one of those people. I never listened to myself or others and I regret that. But I saw the error of my ways and I made it my goal to change them. Shouldn't you as well? It's never too late. The path to home is perilous and is never paved in gold, but that doesn't mean you should stop walking it. We brake for no one.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Here are my top 10 albums of the year.

10. Yeasayer - Odd Blood


With the onslaught of the 80's come back it's nice to know that some bands take themselves a little more seriously than others. Odd Blood is put together with finesse and with no detail left behind. I like it when a band knows what they're doing and knows how to accomplish it without sacrificing their vision to appease a specific group of people. Namely the reviewers at Pitchfork. And while Yeasayer's sophomore album is good enough to slip into the list it warrants the number 10 position because of the album trailing off after track 6. Still, a good album to jam to at a party or perhaps even a bar mitzvah.

9. School Of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

Having lost a member during their fall tour SVIIB became yet another guy/girl electro-duo to add to the already long list in indieland. What sets them apart is obviously their lack of being held back during a live show because of it. They have no shame in running tracks behind them while playing. This gives the listener an experience as close to the album as possible, which in my opinion is what I look for when I go see a band perform. I want that sound duplicated. I want to be able to hear every synth fill and every drum beat that accompanies whatever is being played live. SVIIB does a great job of keeping you interested by filling those sonic gaps that are easily overlooked by others of the same genre. However, the album could've used a bit more variety with the type of sounds being used. Still, it's a hell of a lot better than almost all the duo's swarming the scene right now.

8. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

One part overdrived-synth. Two parts bit-crunched drum loops. Throw in some punk, dance, and glitch and you have an album to keep you going through the night (read: early morning) when you're already hopped up on enough FourLoko for the after after after party. Also a good album to listen to when you're beyond your deadline on a project and are rushing to get it done only to be sent back for more changes anyway. I digress. I have a crush on singer Alice Glass, I also have a crush on Ethan Kath's production techniques. Both of those combined inspire me to want to start a similar project. Having Robert Smith's phone number wouldn't be a bad thing to have either.

7. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart

I have come to appreciate this band a lot more lately. Their previous album In The Future was better, but Wilderness Heart should definitely not go unnoticed. I mean, c'mon, look at the album cover! There's a great white shark on it! That already makes the album awesome without even listening to track 1. Album cover aside, Black Mountain have made another solid LP for the fans of folk and psych-rock alike. I recently had a chance to see them with The Black Angels as their opener. Great show. Another band that doesn't suck in the live sound department.

6. Sleigh Bells - Treats

Another guy/girl duo. They are indeed popular these days. But they deserve all the recognition they receive especially since their debut album totally blew away MIA's new one. And she was the one who signed them to her label!! How do you feel now, Maya? Pretty dumb I bet. All that hype for your new album and it sucked...a lot. At least she did something right by making Sleigh Bells known to the world. It's funny to think that an ex-guitarist from Poison The Well could come up with this kind of stuff. But that's why I put the album on the list. It's unconventional and very raw. A friend had asked me when she listened to it for the first time, "is it suppose to blow out my speakers?" Yes. Yes it is.

5. One Hundred Flowers - Mechanical Bride

Austin, TX has a history of putting out some pretty decent music. I would hope so considering the city is music capital of the world. I could name a few bands for you, but I'd rather just name one. One Hundred Flowers. Their debut album, Mechanical Bride has a lot of heart and guts sewn in and is stronger than most band's third or forth albums. The driving force of these up and comers are the layered vocals of lead singer/guitarist Harrison Speck and keyboardists Eva Mueller and Amber Nepodal. Their three voices create the trifecta of what makes Bride stand out amongst the rest. Along with bassist Gary James and drummer Curtis Henderson the music this quintet plays has something for everyone's taste, as bitter or as sweet as it may be. Be on the lookout for them in 2011. They will be touring the countryside bringing their unique blend of chamber pop and indie rock to your neck of the woods very soon. I hear they may open for Kanye.

4. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

James Murphy. You can't say too many bad things about the guy and his music. Always fresh, always relevant, never stale. But look kids, he's getting older, as he has explained on This Is Happening. What's happening you ask? Age is happening. Getting older is happening. Striving and doing his best to be set apart from the rest is happening. Being bored is happening. Nevertheless, Murphy has made an album dedicated to the fact that his longevity as an artist is in danger. He's been quoted as saying he won't make another album, then later rebuked that statement. Makes you wonder if he really is getting bored with doing it all; Pleasing people that is. Maybe he wants a successor? From the sarcastic "Drunk Girls" to the brutally honest "You Wanted A Hit" Murphy casts his shadow over all the other would-be indie/electronic/dance acts and naysayers alike while politely saying, "This is the level I'm setting for you. I dare you to top me."

3. Beach House - Teen Dream

The best albums, in my opinion, are always the most simplest ones. Ones that seem to be created effortlessly. The ones that make me feel the most without the over-saturation of an emotion connected to a memory. During my growth this year I have let go of a lot of music that has some kind of connection to the past. That's not to say I won't ever listen to it again. They are the friends I have grown apart from, but will never say goodbye to. With that being said and done I can now open myself up to new experiences and memories through the new music I am listening to. I started that process with this album. I kept it to myself. I never shared it with anyone. Sure, I recommended it to people, but I never allowed it to be a part of any situation that may have turned sour and therefore force this album into the "don't listen to this unless you want to think about _____ and blow your brains out." category.

2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Just because Pitchfork gave it a perfect 10.0 doesn't mean it's the Muhammad Ali of all hip hop/rap albums, though it does come damn close. Kanye has created himself a legacy with MBDTF, and it is indeed a great album, but his legacy will also show the antics of Mr. West proving how much of a screwball he is. He takes advantage of his position in celebrity world by giving others who may not be heard a voice. Everyone in New Orleans probably wanted to call George W. a racist, but when were they going to get a chance to do that? Yezzy can do it. And I'm sure some people disagreed with Taylor Swift's getting the award for whatever the fuck it was. Yezzy can tell it like it is. Yezzy can be raw if he wants. Say whatever he wants. And you know what, I can kind of respect that. No one can tell another person to keep their mouth shut. Not our superiors. Not the media. And certainly not the government. Yezzy has indeed taught us well.

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

It's tough getting older. More responsibility. Less time to do what you want. Walls start appearing where before they didn't exist. Conformity takes hold. You've become a peg to fit in their hole. You wake up, go to work, come home, cook dinner, put the kids to sleep, watch your television, and then go to bed to do it all over again. It's the American nightmare, one that most of us are just now beginning to wake up from. We were handed down from our parents and their parents before them a way to live to be happy. Except the same kind of happy they were okay with does not apply to our way of life. We're hungry for more and because of that hunger we're fighting with ourselves, our families, and our friends just to get a taste of a better life. Arcade Fire exploited this battle and wrote an album about it. An aural Revolutionary Road if you will. The roads and houses our parents built, the same ones we grew up with are crumbling. And we're crumbling along with them. No wonder Win Butler says in the title track opener "I want a daughter while I'm still young." He recognizes, as does the rest of the population in our age group, that our own mortality is more transparent now than it ever was. We need to carry on, but how do we take what we've learned from our parents and apply it to today? How do we rebuild our cities, our suburbs, and ourselves?

#16

5 Songs In A Row: The Sequel


"Kill all my demons, and my angels might die too" - Tennessee Williams

It's been long enough I think. I've had ample time to recollect, reevaluate, and reorder some things in my life to get to a point where I need to stop, rest, and start refilling my empty tank. I've been running on "E" for the past few months on purpose. I needed normalcy. Some sense of standing still and not spinning out of control on the X, Y, and Z axes [pronounced ack-sees] of my life. For a while I was getting dizzy. I don't like being dizzy. I don't like the act of throwing up. So here I am again. Writing in the style of middle class for the middle class.

Today while driving it finally hit me. I was coming back from a mild hour of browsing at the bookstore looking through books on graphic design to help rekindle my former addiction to it. I thought, "I miss my loves. I miss creating. I miss inspiration." Music was obviously playing as these words were speed-walking through my head. It inevitably recalled the moment when I first came up with 5 Songs In A Row. I was in my car and listening to music as per usual. I was just about to obsessively start mashing the "next" button on my iPod to a song I wanted to hear. Just then it hit me like a bomb exploding right next to my ear with a voice underneath it all saying, "You love this."

I've missed you. And I'm sorry for neglecting you for so long. I needed a break. But I'm done now. Rest assured that the entire time I did not stop living. My heart did not stop pumping the blood through my veins. My lungs did not stop converting Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide. I did not stop converting RGB to CMYK and then back again. My eyes still see and my hands still touch the keyboard the same way it always has...slightly skewed and off center. I am here again for you. And I plan to stay. I am at "F".

That was written almost a month ago or something. Much has changed since then. Strap yourselves in.

"Floater" - Every Time I Die


"Drag the lake, you'll find it's full of love."


For this 5SIAR I'm choosing my own songs again. I need to be in control. I need stability. I want the wheel to stay straight. Or at least the illusion that it's straight. It feels like I've been driving blindfolded with a blind person in the passenger seat for the past few weeks. We hit a few people. Maybe a dog or two. And had the police on our tail the entire way down the steep hill. Needless to say, I've been leading a dangerous life lately. And so physics eventually has its way. The car must eventually come to a stop. We crashed. But it's not the end. I keep going back and forth with that notion. Life doesn't stop. I mean, people's lives stop. People die, but other people go on living or at least trying to live. The living is the easy part (breath in, breath out). The trying is always the hardest. That's where failure comes in (I wonder what drowning feels like?).

With all the commotion going on around me I've been dragged, nay, pushed back into metal. Some people like the drown their sorrows in the saddest of songs, and I admit I have those moments. But as for moments like these. The moments that have unfolded thus far this year, well, I can only turn to one band. A band that has symbolized the ideal way to move forward and keep banging your head and squeezing the tube for more and more and more out of life. To have no sour grapes. To shotgun a beer every now and then. To not only swing life around by the balls, but to also kick them when life is being a bitch. The boys of Every Time I Die help me cope.

As I write this I'm listening to a song off another album of theirs. The singer Keith Buckley tells me that "all the highs are running low, and every new is getting old." He couldn't be more right. This year started off pretty damn good and then a few days later it went to shit. Got better again. Then dipped back down further than the current level of poverty and unemployment in this country. Then a stimulus package came and all was good for a bit. It was better than good, actually. Then shit collectively hit the fan. It was bad. Imagine if North Korea took over the world. That bad. Still kinda is and I grow tired of it. I'm tired of having a hand in making it that way. This is where ETID come in. They are the big brother I don't have smacking me in the face saying "stop doing stupid shit!" Then again, they are also party animals (Listen to "We'rewolf") and shouldn't be trusted in giving life advice.

Okay, no more quotes. Wait, I've got one more to pinch off.

"I've got a bad reputation to think about. I've been dirty. I've been wrong."

Now I'm done.

"How Mountain Girls Can Love" - The Stanley Brothers

Right now I'm looking at wedding pictures from a couple I've never met before in my life. That's the beauty of Facebook. You get to peek inside another person's life for a minute or two. The wedding took place out in a grassy field that looks like it could be upstate New York. The men are dressed in suspenders and collars and the ladies in light summer dresses. Whiskey is poured into glasses next to wild flowers and whistles shaped like birds are offered up as the favors. There's a rusty teal tractor that carries the wedding party up a dirt road to an apple tree where the ceremony will be performed. Rolling hills cover the background where three men have in their hands a violin, guitar, and banjo respectively, playing bluegrass standards and maybe the occasional John Denver request or two. The guests march single file to the apple tree and instead of sitting everyone circles around the couple that is about to become one. They are surrounded by love. Love from each other, their families, their friends, and from the earth. Now, I've never been one to imagine my wedding in my head. Probably because I'm not a woman. Moreover, I've never been one to look to the future to imagine how any part of my life will turn out. But these pictures. These pictures of strangers make me think about how I would want that moment to look and feel like. Everyone looked happy. I can picture that in the future, but what I want it in is the present.

This is another 5SIAR first. I wrote the paragraph above without even picking the song. I went searching for an old bluegrass song that sounds like it would've been played at the wedding reception. Something the people could clap their hands to. Something I had never heard before. What I found was the song "How Mountain Girls Can Love" by The Stanley Brothers from their self-titled album. A sort of homage to the bluegrass bride in the photographs and to my future bride (whoever she may be). It's a bit unclear when the song was actually recorded and released. Allmusic.com says 1959 while the wiki page says 1961. John Denver also recorded a cover of the song on his 1980 album Autograph. And now as I type this I can already acknowledge the fact that this song will become one of those songs I will tie to a memory. Not a memory of the past, but one of the future.

This is unknown territory to me. Not only researching bluegrass artists from the late 40's and early 50's, but imagining futures that I would like to take place. I'm a man of the present. I think about what's in front of my face rather than trying to figure out what is down the road. But for this one song and the time it's taking me to write about it I'm thinking about my future from where I stand right now. A difficult thing to do considering how much I feel like I'm in limbo with a lot of aspects in my life at this very moment. And then I look at those wedding photos again. I replace the faces with faces from my life. My friends. My family. My bride. My fucking whiskey!

So yeah, new memories. New memories that I don't even know will happen. They are nice to think about and have the ability to put a smile on my face. But so much changes from this moment to that moment. It's impossible to know what is going to happen a few weeks, a few months, or a few years down the road. All I can do, and all you can do is take it one day at time. We have one day to be stronger and grow until the next day comes. We must use our time wisely till we get to those grassy hills. Till we get to hear "How Mountain Girls Can Love" while we dance at our future weddings.

"Candela" - Buena Vista Social Club

I love my Spanish heritage. I'm closer to it than my Italian. My mother was born in Puerto Rico and raised in The Bronx. My father, Italian, born and raised in Brooklyn. I keep in contact with almost all of my maternal side of the family. Especially the group still in Puerto Rico. My maternal grandmother is still alive, living in Lakeland, and I visit her every Tuesday. In return she feeds me some of my favorite dishes. Arroz con gandules. Tostones. Rellenos de papa. And for Christmas our family gets pernil y pasteles. As a bonus she keeps the fridge stocked with Miller High Life. I'm one lucky son of a Puerto Rican. I eat well every time I visit Puerto Rico, too. There are countless of roadside vendors cooking some of the best in Puerto Rican and Cuban fast foods. The crown jewel of them being Platano Loco in Aguada. Everything they make contains fried plantains. It's because of the Puerto Rican diet why I ultimately cannot lose weight.

I find comfort in not only music, but food. There, I said it. I eat when I get depressed. Which is why I'm always happy to learn the recipes passed down from my grandmother to my mother and now to me. I like eating, but I also discovered that I like cooking even more. It's instant gratification to cook for people and see the smiles on their faces when they take that first bite of what I created. Especially if it's the type of food you can't exactly get around here. There are a few Cuban places that are decent. But I'm sorry, they can't put a finger on my mom's arroz con chirizo or abuela's alcapurria. I'm happy to learn and make them and I've been doing just that. So of course I need the music to cook to. The caldero is steaming and Ibrahim Ferrer is singing por la victoria.

Have you noticed I haven't translated anything for you? Stop being lazy and go learn something.

The short of it for Buena Vista Social Club is that Ry Cooder went down to Cuba, assembled all these old cats that used to jam back in the day, and produced an album for them. It's samba. It's merengue. It's jazz. Es pijamas del gato! It's the kind of music you'd hear riding your bike down the street of a small Puerto Rican town. Everyone is sitting on their porches sipping key lime-ade or beer and talking about whatever it is that might be interesting at the time. No one really talks about the bad shit happening in their lives. It's always a time for the uplifting of spirits. For support. To do some mild partying. I like that. It makes me want to call it home. Too bad the poverty level there is worse than ours. If you think you're broke then go down to the Caribbean. It's not Africa poor, but it's pretty damn close. But I don't want to curb you from visiting. Puerto Rico is a great place with even greater people. Sure there's lots of crime and the police are corrupt, but that only means you can drink and smoke weed on the beach if you pay them off. You didn't hear that from me.

"Cruel Summer" - Bananarama

Yeah, that's right, I just put a Bananarama song on 5SIAR. WHAT?!

It's hot here. Obviously because it's summer. But this is no ordinary summer. This is the summer we start melting from global warming or at least the thought of this unbearable heat being caused by global warming. I don't remember Florida ever being this hot, or dry for that matter. It used to rain everyday and now we don't even get that. Seriously, what the fuck? I can't imagine how the people closer to the equator feel. Are they even still alive? Someone should check in on them.

80's new wave - I'm reading about it right now in Rob Sheffield's new book Talking To Girls About Duran Duran. It's an adequate read so far containing a few quotable passages. His last novel, Love Is A Mix Tape, was better. Maybe because it had to do with death? In any case, Sheffield mentions Bananarama during a tirade about new wave. I haven't heard anyone talk about them (or play them) in years. The last I remember hearing them was when I was 8 or 9 years old in the car with my parents going to the beach. My aunt was with us and she had Bananarama's album True Confessions on tape and would force my dad to play the song "Venus" over and over and over. You know, the song that is now famous because of lady razors. I was sick of hearing it (still am). We were all sick of hearing it. Except of course my aunt. She loved them. I just wanted to jam out to some "Head Over Heals", but I was denied. I was being robbed of my earliest childhood music memories because of a terrible girl-pop group from the UK. That was then, but where are they now, you ask? Still stuck on the radio. But at least this song has some relevance.

It is a rather cruel summer wouldn't you agree? I think the heat is making people do stupid shit. Making us go crazy. Turning us into beasts. It's like we're all werewolves but instead of changing when a full moon rises we become the monster when the sun comes out. Our temperatures escalate to a level we can't come back down from. He's pissed. She's pissed. We're all pissed. It's a cruel summer indeed, and the wolves are howling. And I'm not talking about stupid Eclipse wolves either. I can't believe I got suckered into watching that movie. What a pile of shit. Sigh.

"Clones (We're All)" - Alice Cooper

Alice kinda looks like Gary Numan in that picture, don't you think? Maybe that's what Gary Numan is. A clone of Alice Cooper. I think I just blew my mind.

We're at another end of a road, yet another one is just beginning. The year is a little more than halfway over so it's time for me to reflect on what has happened thus far. On second thought, no. I'm tired of looking behind me all the time. It's like looking at the scene of an apocalyptic explosion. It's dusty and there's nothing really pretty or interesting back there. Just a lot of damage. Dead bodies. And maybe a roach or two. I caused it. You caused it. We all caused it. Are you seeing the pattern here yet? If not, then let's get one thing straight. No one is different. No one is better or worse than the next person. We're all cut from the same cloth. We're human. We make mistakes. But what sets us apart from the criminals is that we learn from our mistakes. We take a picture of that destruction and put it in our back pocket for reference material.

We are selfish beings capable of being the monster more often than the hero. You are guilty of it as much as I am. If you disagree with me, get up from your seat, go to the bathroom, dunk your head in the toilet and proceed to pull the handle down to flush. If you’re not human enough to accept and realize that we all bite off more than we can chew at times then you’re what’s wrong with the world. Period. We’re all heathens here and just because we have technology does not make us civilized. In fact, it does the opposite because it gives us the opportunity to be in constant contact with each other about everything that’s going on when we don’t need to be. Talk is already cheap. Why make its value plummet even further down the shitter? Okay, I get it, the dollar and Mel Gibson are lonely down there. Fair enough.

I've learned through life that the distinction between God and the Devil is blurred. But more importantly, they don't even really exist except in us. Again, we are all of it and we are none of it. What counts in the end is making life the best it can be without causing destruction along the way. Our family and friends are there to help, but they can sometimes make it worse. They are clones, too. We're all clones. The ugly ones. The stupid boys. The wrong ones.

"This is the year of the party crashers."

Last one. Promise.

What It Is And What It Isn't: My Top 5 New Album Releases

With the first month of 2010 behind us - and the second halfway gone - I've decided to do a bit of early soul searching. Usually this doesn't happen till May/June (the time that I finally realize that I need to shed my winter weight and stop drinking so proactively), but since January was such a personally intense month for me I figured that going back into my reclusive tendencies to move past - or at least forget about - the insanity this frigid month had brought me. It's a time to reflect and to look toward greener pastures and brighter tunnels and I can't think of any other thing that would make me hopeful of that future than scouring the internet for news of new album releases. It's my ostensible approach to cheering myself up in an otherwise doom and gloom kind of world that seems to want to shit in my cereal.

A few weeks ago a friend and I were sitting at the bar trying to think of new albums that are going to be out this year. We didn't come up with much, but as per usual I don't think of an answer until my brain has had time to subconsciously mull it over. Kind of like George Castanza not being able to think of a good come-back until a few hours later when he's already left the meeting. Well, the jerk store finally called and I've come up with five bands whose new album will be dropped this year. Obviously there are more, but the website is called 5songsinarow, not 10songsinarow. And I'm lazy.

5. Snowden

There's not much going on in the southeast part of the states as far as music's concerned. It's rare to hear of a new band coming out of my home state (Florida) or anywhere remotely close-by. Georgia would have to be the only southeastern state to produce a reasonably decent band. You have the University of Georgia college-town of Athens which spurred bands such as R.E.M., of Montreal, and became the temporary home for Danger Mouse and Neutral Milk Hotel for a while. Then of course there's Atlanta and the one group that immediately makes me think of that city - OutKast. Sure, there are others, including my #5 pick, Snowden - a four piece indie rock outfit whose debut album Anti-Anti caught the attention of many listeners in the audioverse. Including mine.

I hate to make generalizations as to how a band sounds, but the closest approximation I can conjure that would allow this post to not be so lengthy is that Snowden sounds like the southern Interpol. They have a bit more girth and a lot less hollowness than their New York couterparts, but they're not far off from each other in terms of the genre they are categorized in. The same thing happened to Kings Of Leon and The Strokes. KOL was labeled as the southern Strokes when their first two albums - both not that very good - were released. Two albums later they are one of the biggest modern rock bands of the past two years and are about to perform on the Grammy's. I don't see that for Snowden, but that's OK, because then that allows me to be able to actually afford to go see them play. I'm all for bands making money for what they do, just don't dig too deep into my pocket. Art should be accessible for everyone and with the merger of LiveNation and Ticketmaster it's about to get a whole lot less accessible. Billy Corgan would disagree, but then again I don't trust any artist that would willingly allows one of their songs to be used in an advertisement for pro wrestling.

Little is known about the new Snowden album, we just know it'll be released this year proceeded by a new EP with "exclusive" material. If the new forthcoming material is anything close to being as good as Anti-Anti we are all in for a big treat. Keep a look out for these guys (and one girl). they are going to be big. Not Grammy big, but big nonetheless.

4. Interpol

Back in 2007 Interpol released their third album Our Love To Admire to an uproar of praise for going in a different direction with their music. It catapulted them to the mainstage and out of the shadows of the underground. Gone was the signature reverb and darkness that made these four New Yorkers such a catch with Turn On The Bright Lights. Antics - their follow-up to TOTBL - had all the elements of their first album, but was lacking a David Lynch kind of soul Bright Lights had. Still their music intrigued the masses. They snag your attention because of two attributes that in my opinion are essential to making a career out of music. They are digestible and they are memorable.

Being digestible means that any listener who hasn't heard one single track of Interpol's can easily discern and assimilate it into their own repertoire of genre-specific artists that may or may not group them into a race or class. These first-time Interpol listeners may not like them, but they can understand them. They "get it". Interpol is rock. It's two guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a bass, drums, and a singer; Your standard modern-rock archetype (Cocaine optional). Present this same group of people with Animal Collective songs and you'll get a bunch of blank faces staring back at you wondering why someone decided to turn their microwave into a musical instrument. Animal Collective is trying to be artsy for artsy sake with their avant-garde/experimental/electronica type of sound that makes me grind my teeth down to their roots every time I hear them played or someone tries to tell me to "just listen to it, man." I am listening to it, man, and I don't like it. But other people love them, and I fail to understand why. I can, however, understand why people would love Interpol. They are the poster child for modern indie-rock. Most people don't listen to Joy Division or The Chameleons. Which is why they listen to Interpol because it's almost the same experience for today's less-educated music follower. Compare it to listening to Nirvana circa 1992 and not knowing who The Pixies were. There is always a means to an end. Especially in music.

As far as being memorable, that's just Interpol's ability to write catchy tunes that get stuck inside your head without you realizing it until a few days later when you're grocery shopping and find yourself humming along to "Evil". When a song - Interpol or otherwise - gets stuck in my head it makes me think of the future of music listening devices. It won't be too long before we just plug a cord into our brain to download songs and listen to them. Scary to think that when someone says "I can't get that song out of my head", they will be speaking literally and not figuratively.

There is no set release date for the new Interpol album, nor is there an album title either. It is rumored that they are returning to their roots and giving their fans some of the old by channeling some of what made Turn On The Bright Lights a fantastic album. However, I did read an interview the other day with Paul Banks with him stating that the new album will be "elegant" and "orchestral". I hope those aren't synonyms to "dull" and "vacuous".

3. Battles

One dude from Helmet, one dude from Don Caballero, and two other dudes (one of which released a solo album last year that was - to put it mildly - eccentric) make up the band Battles. Mixing elements of rock, electronic, and drum & bass these four musical chemists got immediate popularity with their song "Atlas" and the accompanying video which is one of my favorites. Let's watch!

Their first album Mirrored from which the single "Atlas" comes from is an amalgam of synth and sample riding on heavy hitting drums. But to be quite honest I don't really know what excites me about this band. It's just as experimental as any other band I tend to dislike, so why do I find myself attracted to it? When I started to write this segment about Battles I went back and listened to the entire album and I have to say that it was kind of painful to get through. I realized then that Battles is one of those bands to take in small doses. A song here, a song there. But that's it. It's one of the reasons why the album is a better listen on vinyl. Not because it sounds better, but because it's split into four discs with only two or three tracks comprising each side. This gives the listener the correct dosage for listening.

Regardless of how tedious the music of Battles is it's not going to stop me from wanting to hear more of what they have to say. Sure, the music fits into a specific niche that only a certain crowd will really want to experience, but the other people will be there too. As experimental as Battles is it doesn't count them out of playing in front of a large audience at festivals. There will be the dedicated fans that have weaseled their way to the front for Battles' set which comprise maybe 10% of the group, but there's also that 90% that only want to hear "Atlas". This gives me an idea of how their new album will be considering musicians are always trying to evolve and have their music reach more people. For instance, the new Yeasayer album, which is great by the way (well, at least 60% of it). What makes Odd Blood good is that Yeasayer realized they didn't want to be "that band" for eternity that made weird music that attracted even weirder fans. Once that happens your fan base shrinks to the point of not making any money which means not making any more music which means going back to your shitty job working for the man. So bands compromise. They keep some of their Cageian sensibility while making their albums a bit more digestible to the public. Some would say that's selling out, but I disagree. Selling your song to play on a commercial during the Superbowl is selling out. I'm looking at you, Grizzly Bear. But, here again, bands have bills to pay just like us common folk. Let's hope Battles follows Mirrored up with their own Odd Blood and not something like Neon Bible.

2. Gorillaz

The same friend whom I mentioned earlier about the discussion of new albums coming out this year asked a question concerning everyone's favorite cartoon band. No, not Josey and the Pussycats, not Jem, and not KISS. I'm talking about Gorillaz. When the new single "Stylo" from the forthcoming third album Plastic Beach (Hitting the streets on March 8) was leaked online my cohorts and I listened to it and made our assessment. This was when the question "do you think Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are getting sick of doing Gorillaz?" was posed. My answer- no. If they were they probably wouldn't have done a third album. I have faith in knowing that if these two artists don't want to do something, then they seriously don't do it.

In keeping usual form, Gorillaz they have shed very little light on what has been happening with the band - 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel - since their last album Demon Days. What we do know is Plastic Beach refers to an island in the middle of the ocean made up of remnants of everything fake or "plastic" on the planet after a supposed apocalyptic cataclysm. That's a lot of silicone and Hollywood if ya ask me.

Since there has been a lack of real info on what the band has been up to I decided to go scavenge across the internets for any bit of Gorillaz news I could find on their new album. What I found were a few scattered links off of bass player Murdoc's Twitter page. It makes me wonder who the man behind the cartoon is. Is it Albarn? Hewlett? Or some junkie from Manchester they pay a few quid every week to just so he can ramble off and essentially be a real-life Murdoc? I like the idea of that, actually.

So here are a couple of Murdoc tidbits I was able to scrape up...

A blog that he is now writing up on MTV's website rambling on and on about Lady Gaga. Pretty funny, however I don't really like the idea of it being hosted on MTV, but whatever. MTV in Europe isn't the same as MTV here in the states. To the best of my knowledge they actually still play music videos. In any case, here's the link. Murdoc's Blog

A video showing us that Murdoc is on the run from an assassin. Maybe this is why he hasn't left the island yet and is stuck there as indicated in his blog post from above. Here's the video.

And last, but not least, a trailer for Plastic Beach giving us a fully detailed outside look of where the Gorillaz have been recording the new album.


Awesome, yes? I'm excited. And you should be too.

1. The National

We've come to the end, at least for now. I don't plan to stop writing anytime soon; that is unless my life comes to an abrupt end. But even then I'll make sure to start a new blog wherever I may be in the nether-realm. My hope is to be noticed by the Ghost Hunters and have them film an episode that does nothing but face a camera toward a computer while I spit out opinions on music from the other side along with dead musicians as guest writers. Yeah, I've kinda thought this through already. Does that make me morbid?


The only thing I really need to mention here is The National is obviously my top pick for the new album I'm most looking forward to (Did I say that right?). Is it going to be as dark and depressing as Boxer? I hope so. I want the new album to become an old friend as well. Someone you visit when times are really tough. When somebody else's problems seem to trump yours. Either way, I highly doubt it will disappoint. Even the shittiest National song is better than three-quarters of the other crap that's floating around now-a-days.

No release date. No hint on what kind of sound they are going for. Nothing. The band have collectively been quite secretive about the new album since they are still recording and what not. Understandable. I'd pull the LOST card if I were them, too. I almost don't want to listen to any of the pre-release singles until the entire album comes out. It'll be like a second Christmas for me. Who am I kidding though? I know as soon as a song is out on the net I'm going to want to hear it since all my other friends are going to ask what I thought of it. I'm weak.

To be honest with all of you it's not so much the album I'm looking forward to, it's the feeling I will get when I listen to the album that excites me. It's also the anticipation of connecting these new songs to something in my life happening at the moment. Kind of like a stamp on a letter that never gets sent. It just stays in a shoebox somewhere with about 1,000 others. Sealed away until I start to feel nostalgic one day and decide to open them back up. That happens every time I listen to an album that has that kind of emotional significance to me. Boxer is undoubtedly one of them. I always wonder if the artist ever has any clue as to what their music does to people. Do they think of the bigger picture or do they just contain themselves in their own little world?

To me, music is always something more. Music is a calling. It's a statement of whatever you feel. It can be a disease, an addiction, a judge, jury, and executioner. It's the hair standing on end at the back of your neck. It's murder. It's salvation. Love. Horror. Sadness. It can be anything, really. But what it is is what it's never not. No matter how many people interpret a song it'll always be something different. Music will never be just music.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for a new 5SIAR coming soon. Barring any accidental death and dismemberment, of course.

#15

A Brief History Of Time...And Music

"Disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases." - Stephen Hawking

On the first day of the year 5SIAR was the furthest thing from my mind. I was more concerned with what would happen this year in terms of a personal nature than forming a game plan for this blog that you're reading right now. It was a poor choice. I figured I'd get to 5SIAR when I had the time which would eventually lead to it being put on the back burner which would lead to me forgetting and abandoning it. Maybe I was waiting for some kind of sign. Those signs came earlier than expected and that is why you're getting a new 5SIAR to start off the new year. I want the year to be good. I want my blog to be better than good. They will both undoubtedly take some work.

Sometimes I feel starting something new is like removing a band-aid. A very sticky one at that. The kind that tugs at your skin and rips several dozen hairs off while you're pulling. The trick has always been to rip it off as quickly as possible to reduce the amount of pain that you must endure. To get that sting out of the way and let the healing process come to an end. Yes, there is still pain, there always will be. But would you rather let that pain last longer than it needs to or get it over with in one quick gesture? I'm not here to judge your choice. I'm not here to tell you what's right and what's wrong. I'm just here for the music.

So, in true fast-ripping action I give you the first 5SIAR for 2010. And now that the band-aid is off I can see I have a little bit more healing to do. But it's better to have done it sooner than never. If you wait too long the moment disappears, and you're left with a blank sheet of paper. No one likes a blank canvas. It's intimidating.



"Big Man With A Gun" - Nine Inch Nails

Big Man With A Gun - Nine Inch...

We're starting the year off with a loud, ear-ringing bang. Reznor's period album The Downward Spiral was an industrial masterpiece when all the world wanted was more grunge and alternative. This album was the alternative. It was like when you first heard Nevermind, Dirt or Core or any other one word album back in the 90's. When you got done with it you flipped the tape back over and hit play on the boombox your parents gave you for Christmas and you listened to it again and again. I had bought the CD though. It was right around the time I had friends that could drive and one of the places we would always go is the record store. I'm proud to say that The Downward Spiral was one of the first CD's I bought with my own money (The other one was Siamese Dream). And no, I did not get carded because of the "Parental Advisory" sticker on the album. No clerk really gave a shit about it at the time. Did they ever?

This album represents a lot of the anger and animosity my generation went through during this period. The day-to-day headache known as high school - and pretty much everything surrounding it having to do with class wars - was the main reason behind so many youths becoming attached to what Trent was talking about. Now, I didn't know any heroin addicts during high school, but I did know many people trying to find some kind of group to belong to. Someplace safe. It wasn't with the Agriculture class (though Reznor did use a lot of pig references), and it wasn't with the popular kids either. We formed our own group of outcasts and headbangers to combat what the "normal" people stood for. Which, for that time, now that I think about it, remind me more and more of the conservative newscasters on Fox News - too clean cut for their own good. Everyone had skeletons in their closet, it's just that us metal kids weren't afraid to be honest and show that side to people. The ugliness. The issues everyone faces. Trent taught us that it's okay to feel like this.

The Downward Spiral came to us at the perfect point in time. I try to look back to my teenage years and it's hard to imagine them without this album. Sure, I had other outlets to immerse myself in to escape the fact I was an awkward, introverted teen. Tool and Tori Amos showed me the road, but Nine Inch Nails carried me down it. I could go on and on about what exactly the album is about and what Trent was feeling at the time - which was obviously lost - but again, this blog is more about the experience, not the artist themselves.

I used that Hawking quote in the beginning to acknowledge that like the universe we the people tend to measure our lives in relation to the amount of disorder we've racked up. We're proud of our accomplishments, but without the chaos and disorder, we would've never learned anything from it all. We would still be empty inside. Every time I listen to The Downward Spiral I am reminded of that. We're all a bit untidy and are constantly struggling for a clean cloth to wash ourselves off with.


"Capsize" - Karen O And The Kids

Capsize - Karen O and the Kids

I'm not a big soundtrack fan. I have a bad taste in my mouth from so many disappointments. The only ones that I enjoy are the ones that are able to stand on their own, such as Purple Rain, The Wall, or Ziggy Stardust. I know there are others that are great, but those are the first three that pop into my head. These albums are made up entirely of songs by the artist instead of being thrown together by a producer or director. We remember how far we fell into the depths of the Garden State soundtrack, right? Thankfully Spike Jonze chose someone to create the soundtrack to 2009's Where The Wild Things Are, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She was chosen...wisely.

The song begins with hand claps and Karen O giving the listener a battle-cry chant outlining the movie's intro "running away to escape authority" theme. Soft chugging guitars, a marching drum beat that eventually leads into a stronger lead guitar, and Ms. O singing a few lines detail Max's reasons to take flight and leave his home. We've all felt that way at some point in our childhood as we try to come to terms with our parent's power over us. We are born with an instinct to not be ruled, but to do the ruling ourselves.

The movie takes its shape by showing us how negative emotions affect not just a child, but all of us. Feelings of abandonment, loneliness, egotism, depression, and self-loathing all make cameos. I know, it sounds like a commercial for Prozac, but it's a bit more entertaining when you see monsters become the manifestations of a little boy's melancholy world.

Some of us despise looking at ourselves in the mirror. The mask dissolves to show what we've hidden underneath. For some there is a lot of darkness hidden behind our eyes. Darkness that was never brought into the light. Time heals, but scars are always there as reminders of all the pain we've suffered. I say why not take a more laughable approach to the situation? There's something amusing about seeing imaginary characters going through the same process and handling it in a completely different way - like biting one another, or creating another world out of sticks and stones where nothing bad happens, or just hanging out with owls named Bob and Terry. Even now as adults we feel the need to run away every now and then.


"The Age Of The Understatement" - The Last Shadow Puppets

Before I speak about this song I feel it necessary for you the reader to watch the video for it to fully grasp its meaning or lack thereof. Whichever you prefer.



A lone ice skater with the entire rink all to herself. A few scattered people watching the band (Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of The Rascals) perform while a boy indulges himself with sweets. The band braving a harsh Russian winter riding on tanks while Red Army officers bellow out a gut-vibrating baritone. A single old woman praying in church. What does it all mean you ask? Excess. Which is why the band or director probably chose Russia as the location. It's ironic though because I don't think of that country as being excessive. It makes me think of America. Hrmmm...

There is a lot of emptiness in the scenes. Vast landscapes taken up by one or very few people yet still being able to show the gluttony of power. The army, the church, the delicious pastry, the perfect skater, all of it has to do with an addiction to excess, but it's presented in the form of how hollow that excess really is. The scenes are the understatement. Small snippets of reality candy-coated with the exact opposite of what the scenes portrayed actually are.

The cold war never ended. It was just turned inward. We fight with ourselves to the point of madness and stalemate because we deny our body, mind, and spirit things we are made to think are excessive and should therefore be avoided. Everything in moderation I always say, but some people just can't help themselves. As time goes on fat cats get fatter and the rest of us are left to starve. This is the way it has been for a while now and it's sad to see it getting worse.

At least the song and video are cool.


"A Peak In Time" - Cut Chemist

A Peak In Time - Cut Chemist

Did any of you watch Scratch, the documentary explaining the history of the DJ and turntablism? If not, then you should. A lot of people have protested against the turntable being used as an instrument, calling what is created from it unoriginal and plagiarist. I, on the other hand, have the utmost respect for it. The music produced from turntablism is the only genre that I feel isn't being created for the sole purpose of evoking an emotional response. It's completely unbiased. The listener doesn't have a singer going on and on about his or her problems or rewards. When you listen to disc jockeys like Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Shadow, or in this case Cut Chemist, you are free to think and feel however you want. Which is why DJ's have never and will never make a soundtrack to a television show or movie. They don't have to tell you how you should feel at some moment in time.

When you listen to this track from Chemist how does it make you feel? Uplifted? Intoxicated? Pissed off? Can you even pinpoint the exact sentiment being conveyed? I can't, really, and that's what makes it great. It is in no way connected to emotion so none of it can be used to soundtrack visuals. This is another aspect of the DJ I admire. None of their music is telling me how to feel. I decide. I don't have a Chris Martin or some other sappy lead vocalist with a melodic band backing him/her up to remind me of that one girl that got away or how the government is fucking me in the ass. I can count on Cut Chemist mixes not showing up on American Idol while some newly crowned blond popper bounces up and down for the camera with a piece of yellow paper in their hand. I also won't hear DJ Shadow during the new Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movie about being a tooth fairy. Turntablism doesn't belong there and it's what I detest about television or movie soundtracks. They are played during the key moments when the director is telling the audience how to feel. Sounds like a crutch for actors if you ask me. I go more for a subtle approach. Like the Amelie soundtrack. It stays in the background the entire time and let's you connect with the actors instead.

Turntablists are the graffiti artists of the music world - complete freedom with no constraints and all control. None of them need producers to mold and shape their sound to fit into a specific niche. I like that. It's what I strive for in my own life. Creating myself without the direct aid of others, but taking the past and transforming it into something usable and original.

"Red Right Ankle" - The Decemberists

Red Right Ankle - The December...

What songs from your past do you find stick with you over the years? Songs that you never forget and that catapulted you into a new way of thinking or being. "Red Right Ankle" is one of those songs on my list, but I'll be damned if I can figure out why. I become engrossed and engulfed in so many artists and their songs that it all starts to become one giant radio transmission being sent from a distant world. Can you imagine what all the songs ever played on the radio sound like from space? It's one stream of noise. I feel that way here on Earth. So many songs linked to so many thoughts and memories that it becomes a chore to sort them all out and make sense of it all. Like having to scrub the kitchen floor on your hands and knees. It takes extra work, but the payoff is being able to see yourself in that floor.

I attribute The Decemberists as being my doorway into indie music. Sure, there are other bands and solo artists, but whenever I think of that one moment where I started ingesting every band that was recommended to me I always go back to the beginning. Back to The Decemberists. Back to my friend Eva telling me, "You need to listen to this band." Now when I discover a new band I work backwards to find their influences and from that find older bands that I should've been listening to instead of Korn and Mudvayne. I've labeled that time in my life "The Dark Ages."

Working backwards seems to fit my personality according to the Myers-Briggs test. I solve my present problems by looking into the past and taking that information and applying it to the situation at hand. Instead of devising a new way to sort through it I just stick with what worked or didn't work from before. It seems to work, sometimes.

The last time The Decemberists appeared on 5SIAR I was bashing them. Well, not them, but the song. It was a song off of the Always A Bridesmaid series, a collection of six new songs released before their lackluster rock-opera opus The Hazards Of Love. I only enjoyed half of the songs on Always A Bridesmaid, the half that reminded me of The Decemberists of yore - The Decemberists from Picaresque, Her Majesty, and Castways and Cutouts that I love. Let that be a lesson to you, Colin Meloy. Never try to cover Velvet Underground ever again. But I forgive them. Time heals. It also creates more chaos.

I could use some peace, though.