Dec. 09, 2009 - Issue #738: Manraygun

Backlash Blues

Love in a dangerous time

Do you find that with each year that passes, life seems to be going by more quickly? It might be the way we deal with media, it might be my own age, but for some reason, years are feeling shorter and shorter. This makes it feel almost quaint for me to compile a list of favourite albums. In today's rapidly expanding universe, who has time to listen to an album, let alone 10? I have a theory that goes against this logic: the next few years will see focus return to albums (or whatever a collected work will be called in the near future). Owing to the typical ebb and flow that seems to exist in all facets of music, people will bounce back to absorbing full albums as a response to an oversaturated singles market. And it may be starting with this list.

10. TUnE-YaRdS, BiRd-BrAiNs

The narrative of how this album was created with just a digital recorder and a shareware sequencing program comes up frequently. That isn't what makes this album special. The songs would be strong no matter how they were presented. They showcase an atypical marriage of Merrill Garbus's expressive voice with weird structural decisions that make for a melodic yet confrontational journey.

9. Black Lips, 200 Million Thousand

Some might criticize them as Nuggets comp cannibals, but I think their new school garage rock is an organic match for their stoned persona. Their stylistic range, from Stooges punk to purposefully censored spoken-word psych to doo wop, is what puts these guys ahead of the pack. The straight-faced '94 rap jam about doing acid ("The Drop I Hold") is a personal favourite.

8. Tiga, Ciao!

Dance is still a dirty word around the plaid-clothed masses. It would be a shame to miss out on one of the most exciting pop records of the past few years because of a rave aversion. Tiga is closer to Brian Ferry or David Bowie than the typical perception of the DJ/producer and his compositions with various esteemed songwriters (Soulwax, James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem) are hilarious, hyper-referential and very clever.

7. Sean Nicholas Savage, Sunshine Melodies/Weird Daze

Savage has tapped into the intangible, something far beyond his age and experience with this (double!) album. He's found a way to convey innocence believably. All the titles with "baby," "girl" and "love" in them aren't a put-on. His unflinching belief in love is infectious. Savage's songs here cover a brave variety of styles in a hazy cross between minimal drum programming and organic instrumental compositions. Some of the songs attempt such overtly traditional forms (gondola pop, AM radio) that they end up feeling like a subversive punk statement.

6. Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II

Sequels are usually disappointing to those clamouring for the past. Those of us not expecting a complete redux after 14 years got to hear a Wu-Tang member make it out of the doghouse with a cinematic, occasionally obtuse thriller of an album.

5. The Juan Maclean, The Future Will Come

Mining the go-to euphoria of male-female vocal interplay, the Juan Maclean's talking heads (John Maclean and Nancy Whang) recast themselves as an icy, electro power couple. The result is obviously made for the dancefloor, but the narrative between them and the changes in tone ("Human Disaster" is a self-effacing John Cale piano joint) make this a deceptively complex record.

4. Smith Westerns, Smith Westerns

Seeing this band live was sobering. The singer wore a puka-shell necklace and the bass player had a Led Zeppelin ringer tee hanging off of him. They didn't look cool at all. They looked like characters from Superbad. They looked young. That said, it was the best show I've seen all year and the positives are all reflected on this record. Ebullient, breathy choruses and repurposed glam stomp, it all sounds draped in chrome. "Be My Girl" comes from a horny place but becomes somehow much more powerful than any mere physical human impulse. They render the longing of a thousand virgins, all tuning their guitars in their rooms, lonely for the hypothetical girl.

3. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

On Merriweather Post Pavilion, AC refine their kaleidoscopic sound and focus on the most interesting element of their music: the ability to make songs with simple sentiments and concepts (familial duty, dancing, cohabitation, materialism) feel larger than the life they spring from.

2. Micachu, Jewellery

The energy generated on this album seems unfathomable. A frantic bouillabaisse of sounds and clanging instruments coalesces into a surprisingly catchy pop framework. Enthusiastic and unchained, there is also a vulnerability behind Mica Levi's delivery that makes for a pleasantly tense ride.

1. Mos Def, The Ecstatic

"Pretty Danger" tells most of the story in its title: Mos Def's The Ecstatic juxtaposes beauty and fear in a remarkably lifelike way. The skits, recurring samples, song fragments and jarring mid-song shifts help to shape a claustrophobic tone, but there are moments of dark humour and glimmering nostalgia to temper that as well. Epic at moments yet strikingly spare in others ("Quiet Dog Bite Dog" is composed almost exclusively of timpani), Mos Def has figured out how to elicit an expansive theme in a way that is never heavy-handed. The Ecstatic will hopefully be received in hindsight as the iconic recession album I think it is. V

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