Slightly belated, but I’ve finally thrown together the second podcast of my top 2008 albums, this episode featuring selections from the middle bit, albums 11-35. In case you missed the countdown itself, go ahead and click through to peruse my insightful reviews and precise rankings. As usual, tracks are presented in no particular order.
“Composed in 1987-1989, Rebonds, for solo percussion, was premiered by Sylvio Gualda in July 1988 at the Villa Medici in Rome.1 A comment by Jacques Lonchampt accompanying the score describes the work as “An immense abstract ritual, a suite of movements and of hammerings without any folkloristic ‘contamination,’ pure music full of marvelously efflorescent rhythms, going beyond drama and tempest.”2 Rebonds is a stark contrast to Xenakis’ work previously examined in this document (Psappha), both in terms of musical content and notation. Whereas learning Psappha’s graphic notational system is a central obstacle of the work, the difficulties of Rebonds lie more in the technical and musical challenges of executing the rhythms.
Rebonds is in two movements: Rebonds a features a gradual build-up of intensity and density, and Rebonds b encompasses a relentless, driving pulse. The instrumentation of Rebonds a consists of two bongos, three tom toms, and two bass drums. Rebonds b utilizes five woodblocks, two bongos, one tumba (conga), one tom tom, and one bass drum.” — Alyssa Gretchen Smith, B.M., M.M. (abstract)
Little is more frustrating than falling hard for some new artist, only to discover their 30 separate limited release albums, each in handcrafted editions of 15 copies, are all long out-of-print, and selling on ebay for $60 plus a pint of blood. Thankfully, Portland’s Bonus, the drone troupe of Scott Goodwin, Jamie Potter, and (on occasion) Matt Carlson, feels our pain. The group is has opened a blog, providing free, downloadable copies of their entire OOP cdr back-catalog. Visit the BONUS ARCHIVE. (h/t Maxwell @ Rootblog)
Bonus may be on hiatus, but Scott Goodwin just recently released his debut solo album of electronic drones on Root Strata. I haven’t listened closely, but I have gotten a quick listen and enjoyed its smooth, sinusoidal droning hypnotism.
‘Off Light’ is the first proper CD by Portland based musician Scott Goodwin, who also spends time crafting tones in the trio Bonus. Not a huge departure from that group’s direction here, although Scott has notched the distortion all the way down and cranked the pure tones up quite a bit. Composed entirely from sine waves, ‘Off Light’ and its companion piece ‘Arc’ are thrilling shifts in variation that move at a slight and measured pace, forming soft rhythmic beats that really seem to come alive at a high dose of volume, bouncing around the room like holographic reflections. If you could imagine a soundtrack to a zoned out meditation in a James Turrell sculpture, this would be it. Edition of 300 in an eye-popping two panel folder.
The New Yorker has published a feature length look into the life and work of the grizzled Appalacian bard Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy, essential reading for any music enthusiasts. Read THE PRETENDER by Kelefa Sanneh.
These days, he calls himself Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and his music is a little bit easier to love and a lot harder to dismiss. He has settled into character as an uncanny troubadour, singing a sort of transfigured country music, and he has become, in his own subterranean way, a canonical figure.
Sanneh tries to provide some brief glimpse into Will Oldham’s creative process, to understand what makes him tick. Oldham clearly has little interest in opening up, and the author begrudgingly tells the tale from an outsider’s perspective, reflecting on his background, his extensive backcatalog of recordings, with some brief glimpses into the daily life of the prolific performer, artist and local celebrity.
If he remains a spectral figure, that is no coincidence. In an online tour diary from a few years ago, he wrote, “It is more rewarding to be complicit with scarcity than excess.”
The subltle author-subject struggle is the article’s most interesting feature. Sanneh reveals that Oldham is committed to minimizing his own presence in the music, but still wants his story told a very specific way. Oldham’s Bonnie “Prince” Billy character, the “uncanny troubadour” Sanneh describes, performs this task, a sort of realization of the personality we expect to be behind Oldham’s music anyhow.
“I retreated into a purely imaginary world,” he says now, remembering the time he attempted to stop speaking, in the hope of discovering a more intuitive means of communication and a more sympathetic community. He eventually found both through music, though he started writing songs only because people around him told him to.
(h/t Hank Shteamer @ Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches)
Superwolf — ‘I Gave You’
Bonnie “Prince” Billy — ‘Cursed Sleep’
Drawing Restraint 9 – Gratitude
Johnny Cash — ‘I See a Darkness’
Another incredible year is finally behind us, with plenty of music left behind to document the journey. Plenty of news discoveries this year, as always, and a few surprising efforts from more established musicians like Matt Elliott, Burning Star Core, Kemialliset and Grouper. Looking forward the the new labels, artists, genres, and sounds I’ll discover in 2009. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my list of 2008’s ten best albums.
The latest year-end podcast should be coming tonight or tomorrow afternoon. After the new year, I’ll publish a couple additional retrospective posts, namely a look back into overlooked 2007 releases, possibly a collection of the year’s best music videos, and some additional year-end reading from a variety of trusted labels, djs and artists.
In case you missed rest of my list, here are the previous best-of-2008 countdown posts – Last 13 of 50, The Middle Bit: 11-37.
10. Marnie Stern – This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That [Kill Rock Stars]
Listening to Marnie Stern leaves me itching to buy a bra, just so I can burn it. This isn’t Marnie Stern’s first solo effort, but it’s the first I’ve heard, so the novelty factor might have something to do with my high opinion of this album. This Is It… is thoroughly nostalgic, but completely free of the sickening kitsch that haunts many throwback projects. Its plucky electric guitar riffs are exhilarating, capable of producing miniature adrenaline buzzes. Marnie Stern’s latest is the sort of album that can only be properly experienced with help from excessive pyrotechnics, anything less and the music seems to outsize its surroundings. (Marnie Stern @ youtube — Primer, Ruler)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
9. Emeralds – Solar Bridge [Hanson]
Emerald’s slow growth drones build into a melodic wave of solar radiation. This Cleveland, Ohio trio has been active for nearly two years, but wider releases and consistent quality brought them to a much wider audience this year. (Emeralds @ youtube — live @ No Fun Fest ‘08)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
8. Peter Broderick – Float [Type]
Peter Broderick’s Float, his first of two releases for the year, is a more melancholy affair than the pop-minded Home. Max Richter’s song-sized contemporary classical is close match to Broderick’s work here, filled with aching strings, pattering pianos, guitars and banjos.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
7. Matt Elliott – Howling Songs [Ici d'ailleurs]
Howling Songs, the conclusion to Matt Elliott’s three part songwriting series, rivals his groundbreaking 2005 Drinking Songs debut. This album of drunken, Dickensian folk songs must have been composed in a salty harbor pub, the sort of establishment seared with the steam, grit and stinking sweat of the broken urban spirit. (full review)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
6. Zomes – Zomes [Holy Mountain]
Asa Osbourne’s Zomes is an other-wordly collection of looping, psychedelic 8mm cinematography. Insular tracks leave the album without much cohesion, but this doesn’t turn out to be much of a problem. Instead, these isolated, evolving melodies evoke their own miniature galaxies, each cut recycling and refurbishing the ideas into its own psychedelic tone-poem. (full review)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
5. Burning Star Core – Challenger [Hospital Productions/Plastic]
While I often enjoy the genre, I often wonder how capable noise and drone artists would be if tasked with producing something vaguely recognizable as music. On Challenger, C. Spencer Yeh has somehow managed to redirect the same portion of his brain that develops musical textures from feedback, static and walls of sound to compose an accessible, heady ambient. Even with a lighter step, Challenger is still an imposing beast, its familiar metallic bulk cut and shaved of abrasive edges. This is still noise music, but genuine restraint focuses Burning Star Core’s tectonic sized melodies into a stunning display.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
4. Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill [Type]
Distortion, oscillating vocals, a cavernous electric guitar, and long, echoing harmonics have been characteristic elements of Grouper’s haunting droning folk. After lifting the thick fog of effects and moving away from purely textural drones, Liz Harris finally develops a more accessible style of songwriting, but without completely abandoning Grouper’s characteristic brittle melodies and washed-out pedal effects.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
3. Larkin Grimm – Parplar [Young God]
Larkin Grimm was raised on a hippie commune, ran off to live alone on a mountain in Alaska, before returning to civilization on the advice of a Native American “shaman and… pitbull breeder” named Jezebel Crow. From this sort of individual, you’d expect a raucous album. Parplar is like a musical dime novel, filled with adventures and rugged glamor, all retold in a jaunty, frontier folkrock.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
2. Kemialliset Ystävät – Harmaa Laguuni [Secret Eye]
Tampere’s godparents of the freak folk invasion recast their musical communalism in Moog. with harmaa Laguuni, Kemialliset has continued to hone their synth-laced avant-folk, first appearing in fully realized form on the group’s 2007 self-titled release. (full review, video)
1. Evangelista – Hello, Voyager [Constellation]
Guitars crack wide open on relentless electric notes, gargantuan drums run wild, while the frantic Carla Bozulich wails, whispers, and sings, in complete command of the whole beautiful mess. Hello Voyager’s noisy and delicate songs alike vibrate with seismic intensity. Evangelista is Carla’s raucous masterpiece, a wrecking-ball of prickly, electric songwriting. (Evangelisa @ youtube)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
p.s.
Late Entry for Album of the Year, Portishead – Third [Island/Mercury]
I avoided this album until very recently, just assuming it would be another retread of their well-worn sound. In fact, with Third Portishead has managed to preserve the best of their recognizable sound, and simultaneously reinvent themselves. Within seconds of hitting play, when that plodding, high-altitude kraut melody unfurls, the group’s determination to reinvent is made plain. This is jarring, at first; I think to myself, what the hell is happening here? Gradually, those iconic Gibbons vocals sweep in, and it quickly becomes clear Third is a weird and wonderful record, one that will surely be remembered as some of the group’s best work.
The Social Registry has put together an exhaustive retrospective of their year that’s well worth reading, generously including a mixtape of the label’s 2008 delights (download zip, or stream @ imeem). Gang Gang Dance was a clearly the label’s biggest this success this year, even if it didn’t leave this blog’s heart aflutter. On the other hand, Growing had me smitten, with two new albums of glowing kaleidoscope drones.
Video directed by körner union
www.myspace.com/larytta
www.koernerunion.com
(h/t Centripetal Notion)
Knocking off the whole middle bit here with this second post, in hopes of moving this along to my top 10 albums ahead of the actual new year. Again, the actual numerical ranking is pretty meaningless. I loved all these albums. Novelty plays a big part here, groups who reimagined their sound, and alltogether new sounds tend to stick in my ears.
Podcast for the middle bit to come shortly, as soon as I’m back within reach of my music collection.
37. Ignatz – III [KRAAK]
Crackling, whispered songwriting — III is an album of prematurely aged, over-treated, dusty recordings exposed to electromagnetic waves and solar radiation. Its interference completements the neurotic electric guitar and whispered vocal folk textures at this album’s heart.
36. Lau Nau – Nukkuu [Locust]
Plucky, atonal incantations from Helsinki’s Laura Naukkarinen. Like Islaja, Lau Nau’s acid folk is an easy listen, despite its dissonance. Nukuu’s frosty acoustic melodies, carefree vocals, and electric guitar whiteouts, put together, epitomizes the best of Finland’s bizarre, woolen folk community.
35. Mark McGuire – The Garden of Eternal Life [Arbor]
As a group, and individually in numerous side/solo projects, Cleveland, Ohio’s Emeralds are a three man kraut revival. McGuire’s own solo work is thoroughly cerebral, easily comparable to Terry Riley’s psychedelic minimalism. The Garden of Eternal Life stands out among his numerous releases this year, a cool nebula of warm guitar wanderings ona too-limited Arbor cassette.
34. Xela – In Bocca al Lupo [Type]
Xela has undergone quite the transition in the last several years, from the rubbery electro-idm of 2003’s Frosty Mornings, to his latest experiments with barren field recordings, drone, and noise. Part of me misses the sweetness of Tangled Wool, or 2006 Dead Sea Xela — a middle ground between his warm electronic music and recent nightmare dungeon drone. Mostly I’m just enjoying In Bocca al Lupo’s haunting, bleached-bone ambient. ’Beatae Immortalitatis’ — specifically its clattering percussion and glistening synths — is the album’s clear highlight.
33. Richard Skelton – Marking Time [Preservation]
At long last, Sustain Release ringleader and ambient musician Richard Skelton receives the full label release his work deserves. The album itself is a cool, echoing ambient — Skelton’s wailing bowed instruments, clattering field loops and pinprick piano notes slither straight down my spinal cord. The music feels deeply personal, a layered patchwork of heart wreching performances.
32. Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker – Fantasma-Paratasie [Alien8]
Collaborations don’t always lead to a sum of its parts. The Mick Jagger, David Bowie duo is a horrifying testament to this fact. While Baker and Hecker’s Fatasma-Paratasie isn’t quite a sum of its parts either, the album is still a treat for fans of either musician. I was hoping for something more enduring, but the collaboration is ultimately a wonderful spectacle. The duo’s tracks blend together into an imposing wash of warm, melodic electronic-drone.
31. Pumice – Quo [Soft Abuse]
I’m still waiting for the artist bold enough to really take the lo-fi aesthetic to the next level, recording their entire album from a treehouse, through a tin can and string, straight onto a home-cut phonographic cylinder. Until then, Pumice will have to do. Quo is mostly similar to Stefan Neville’s preceding work, but his songwriting continues to improve. More fun than previous albums, certain tracks sound like sunday morning cartoons themes broadcast from the corrosive planetary surface of Venus.
30. Grails – Take Refuge In Clean Living [Important]
Grails’ first of two incredible releases this year will be familiar to fans. The group still owes some patronage to the godfathers of post-rock, though it’s almost insulting to stick them with that tired genre tag, considering how far their sound has evolved. Psychedelics, eastern influences, and arena-scaled prog rock occupy the album’s five epic instrumentals. I only rank Take Refuge… below Doomsayer (#15) for its relative similarity to the band’s existing work.
29. Steve Hauschildt – Rapt for Liquid Minister [Arbor]
Like band-mate Mark McGuire, Steve Hauschildt is quickly making a name for himself outside of Emeralds. Hauschildt effortlessly parlays his experience behind the Moog into an album of swirling synthetic melodies. In my review, I noticed clear nods to Popol Vuh’s Aguirre, and I can’t imagine better source material for contemporary kraut adulation. I only wish I’d known about Emeralds last year, and gotten ahead of the trio’s group and solo release onslaught.
28. Paavoharju – Laulu Laakson Kukista [Fonal]
Laulu Laakson Kukista is as difficult to describe as its name is to pronounce — bizarro-pop-kitsch seems fitting. The group runs through a huge variety of instruments and noisemakers — piano, stringed instruments, field recordings, organs, accordions and possibly even kazoos. The vocals can be alternately dreamy and jubilant, songs throughout the album are mournful, fun, and curious. This one requires some patience, but can really astound if given the chance. (Kirkonväki @ youtube)
27. Emeralds / Quintana Roo – Bubble Quiet Complication / Beheaded Dynasty [Arbor]
Quintana Roo mossy sax and electric guitar muck-psych pairs nicely with Emeralds, on the top side. Quintana Roo’s music is deeply rooted, sounding thick, muddy and grounded. On the top side of this split lp, Emeralds soars high above the QR’s ceremonial-psych, streaking across the sky in lower earth orbit.
26. The Fun Years – Baby It’s Cold Inside [Barge]
Lofty guitars, bottomless loops, and soaring melodies, speckled with intereference make for a really stunning album out of left field. This crew reminds me, quite favorably, of my absolute favorite Aidan Baker release, The Sea Swells a Bit… (samples). Hadn’t heard of Barge Records until this year, the home of Baby It’s Cold Inside, but they’ve have an absolutely stunning year. (The Fun Years @ vimeo ‘The Surge Is Working,’ ‘My Lowville,’ and ‘Auto Show Day of the Dead‘)
25. Vikki Jackman – Whispering Pages [Faraway Press]
Melodies seem to glance off this recording, notes unable t0 take purchase. This creeping, breezy acoustic minimalism requires a great deal of patience, and a very quiet, safe listening place. Given the right circumstances, its delicate beauty really blossoms. Faraway Press has become the standard bearer, in my mind at least, for the barest of acoustronic minimalism. (Faraway Press’s Andrew Chalk @ youtube)
24. Fire on Fire – The Orchard [Young Gods]
Portland, Maine’s psych-folk supergroup follows their brilliant EP on Young Gods with a proper, full length debut album this year. Brimming with Cerberus Shoal and Big Blood alums, with further assistance from bluegrass folkster Micah Blue Smaldone, the group has managed to cram an incredible amount of talent into this exhilarating, raucous barnburner. Considering the group’s size, The Orchard’s cohesion is surprising, and lends the album an effortless, improvisational feel, like an inspired, late-night campfire jam session between close friends. (Fire on Fire @ youtube)
23. Tobacco – Fucked Up Friends [Anticon]
This Black Moth Super Rainbow solo project is analog-electronica at its trance inducing best. Fucked Up Friends is a bit out of my normal listening universe, but I still adore its creamy analog thickness, candied synth romps, and gritty glitch. (Tobacco @ youtube ‘Hawker Boat,’ ‘Berries That Burn,’ ‘Little Pink Riding Hood,‘ ‘Gross Magik‘)
22. Mark McGuire – Amethyst Waves [Wagon]
I’ve just about run out of things to say about McGuire and Emeralds. While I haven’t heard all of McGuire’s abundant 2008 releases, Amethyst Waves is far-and-away the most hypnotic Mark McGuire release to reach my my ears this year. Underwater explorations in krautrock that are quaking with energy, like an oven of molten rock churning and dragging the massive continental crust along on its endless looping, chaotic cycle.
21. Nico Muhly – Mothertongue [Bedroom Community/Brassland]
Nico Muhly’s deep admiration of and familiarity with the work of minimalism visionary Philip Glass shines through Mothertongue, his second release for Bedroom Community. I feel underqualified to say much about this album, but I can say Mothertongue is almost blinding in its beauty, imparting of sense of scale that leaves me in gaping in awe. I only wish the album didn’t sound like a Philip Glass covers record.
20. Max Richter – 24 Postcards in Full Colour [Fat Cat]
Richter’s 24 Postcards is a collection of contemporary classical vignettes, few running much longer than 1m. These unique recordings were composed as ringtones, and intended to be played in isolation and in reptition. I’m not entirely sure the concept itself really works; drama and emotional complexity doesn’t translate terribly well over a dime sized speaker. Still, you have to admire Richter for working to reimagine his music for the changing times. Fortunately, the catchy piano, bowed and electric guitar microcosms still work wonderfully packaged as an album.
19. John Baker – The John Baker Tapes [Trunk]
John Baker’s recordings have always stood out from the typical early electronic works, along with Delia Derbyshire’s contributions, on the various BBC Radiophonic Workshop collections. His jazz sensibility showed in his electronic work, a sort of guiding light in the uncharted territory of early electronic music and tape manipulation. Until 2008, only Delia Derbyshire’s Radiophonic Workshop recordings had received the individual attention her recordings deserved. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Trunk Record’s Jonny Trunk, John Baker’s work has now received the same treatment. The 2cd set includes previously unreleased home recordings, a slew of program themes, and the best of his work previously available on compilations. The John Baker Tapes is an indispensable cultural treasure.
18. Ulaan Khol – I [Soft Abuse]
Steven R. Smith’s heavy, grainy psychedelic alter-ego, Ulaan Khol, was an early highlight of the year. Already, he’s managed to record and release a follow up, appropriately titled II, again on Soft Abuse. Ulaan Khol’s lurid electric guitars — the record sounds carved entirely by electric guitars — will immolate any speakers they touch. Guitar virtuoso Steven R. Smith’s Ulaan Khol is an epic and filthy steampunk psych-rock.
17. Valet – Naked Acid [Kranky]
Valet’s Honey Owens major label debut is a more deliberate and polished effort than her previous diy cdr releases, and has lost some of its mystique in the translation. Despite its more careful sound, Jackie-O alum Honey Ownens’ latest is thoroughly spaced, droning, and heady. Despite its early release, Naked Acid was still finding its way into my rotation with the year’s latest.
16. Grails – Doomsdayer’s Holiday [Temporary Residence Limited]
Grails latest, Doomsdayer’s Holiday, opens with several seconds of distant, tortured screams, pursued by earth shattering drum footstomps, and flamethrower guitars. This blood curtling pursuit foreshadows the darker tones of this a pitch perfect instrumental thriller. Grails’ 2008 Take Refuge… was a spectacular album, but Doomsdayer is near transcendental — a collision of doom metal’s sinister composure, post-rock’s improvisational, freewheeling spirit, and krautrock’s cerebral experimentalism.
15. Lawrence English – Kiri No Oto [Touch]
Touch tells us Kiri No Oto translates as ’sound of fog.’ That sums up this minimal electroacoustic masterpiece nicely.
14. Country Teasers / Ezee Tiger – W.O.A.R / W.O.A. [Holy Mountain]
Country Teasers’ truly jarring garage rock is certifiably insane. Like the flaming pyre of an explosive highway pileup, W.O.A.R.’s cacaphonious, train-wreck guitars, lager-soaked pub vocals, meltdown percussion and psychopath lyrics make for a gruesome sight that’s impossible to ignore. Its not easy listening by any means, but like the highway bloodstains and torched vehicles of that high speed accident, this album’s overwhelming shock factor is inexplicably alluring. This band has been around for more than a decade, and I’m just happy Holy Mountain has seen fit to expose me to their ridiculous sound. (Country Teasers @ youtube)
13. The Alps – III [Type]
A huge range of instruments — piano, guitars, drums, bass, saxophone and more — are streamlined into an accessible, trippy psychedelic rock. Root Strata’s Jefre Cantu-Ledesma is best known for his heavy, impenetrable psychedelic with Tarentel, but he joins forces as The Alps with two other California musicians Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, Tussle) and Scott Hewicker for a more refined effort. III is simply the warmest, most inviting psychedelic music I encountered this year.
12. Valerio Cosi – Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock [Digitalis]
Saxophone and electronics stir and erupt into a textural work of seafloor spreading. Electronic drones, layered, looping sax melodies and nimble dancing notes collide into an endless wall of sound. Cosi has a slew of saxophone improv, drone an ambient releases under his belt at this point, but Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock stands apart from the rest.
11. Scott Tuma – Not For Nobody [Digitalis Arts & Crafts]
Not For Nobody’s willfully quaint folk songs sounded pretty underwhelming, and even a little silly on first listen. With time though, Tuma’s lilliputian Americana turned out to be one of the year’s most dependable, bizarre folk delights. The album is fanatically delicate and introspective, to the point of sounding almost neurotic; patience and comfortable, quiet spaces are required to really appreciate Tuma’s songwriting and allow its tiny melodies to find some place to unfurl. Folk music’s narrow focus can quickly become tiresome for listeners with a broad musical palate, but Tuma’s miniature, music-box folk adds a genuinely new twist to the genre, freshening up the age-old genre.
Recent Comments